Australian PC World articles from February 2003

Australian PC World archives from February 2003

Talking up a storm. (Editorial).
February 1, 2003... E-mail inboxes full to bursting with spam are making more people adopt instant messaging. More than simply a chat tool, IM has become the essential online communications tool. But how long until the mass advertisers set this little beauty in...

Web ads invade IM. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... A new breed of pop-up messages is proliferating that can evade ad-blocking programs and may indicate a security risk as well as present a nuisance. Internet security monitoring firm myNetWatchman says it saw a five-fold increase in...

Phones will drive flash prices up, Intel exec says.
February 1, 2003... As mobile phone makers pack more flash memory into increasingly capable handsets, the price of the memory appears set to break out of the downward trend of the past two years, an Intel executive said. "The new density... is going to change...

LG.Philips LCD unveils 52in LCD.
February 1, 2003... LG.Philips LCD has developed what it says is the industry's largest TFT (thin film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) for HDTVs (high-definition TVs). The joint venture of South Korea's LG Electronics and Netherlands' Koninklijke...

Slander suit stirs Net. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... The High Court ruled in December that a story published by Dow Jones on a US-hosted Web site can be grounds for a defamation lawsuit against the story to be heard in Australia, as the story was downloaded and viewed here. The ruling that...

Bluetooth battles critics. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced a new initiative to make it easier for consumers to set up products that use the short-range wireless technology. The "5-Minute Ready" program will include implementation guides for...

Australia's ICT trade deficit spirals to $14.4 billion.
February 1, 2003... Australia's information and communications technology (ICT) trade deficit has spiralled to $14.4 billion. A report by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) found Australia's ICT trade deficit accounted for 65 per cent of the 2001/02...

Police, penguin join forces on forensics.
February 1, 2003... Australian federal and state law enforcement agencies have introduced the Linux platform as a new crime fighting tool. The New South Wales state computer crime unit recently installed 40 boxes with triple boot systems. The installation...

PC chip sales to grow in 2003.
February 1, 2003... The worldwide market for desktop and notebook PC chips will grow 8.9 per cent this year, after a sharp 35.5 per cent drop in 2001 and a flat 2002, market researcher IDC said. Revenue in the market, which includes processors and PC chipsets,...

Optus and Vodafone launch intercarrier MMS.
February 1, 2003... GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile customers with Vodafone and Optus can new exchange picture messages across networks. The new inter-carrier service will allow Optus and Vodafone customers to send multimedia message...

New tool to copy DVDs. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... Hollywood says that it's illegal to burn a backup copy of your DVDs, and it builds in copy protection to stop you. But a small firm has launched software that lets anyone with a burnable DVD drive make an exact copy of a commercial DVD,...

Klez tops virus list. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... In a year that saw a number of high profile virus and e-mail worm outbreaks, the Klez worm topped the charts and was the most frequently occurring virus in 2002, according to antivirus company Sophos. Klez, which first appeared in the...

Defence warning issued. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2003... Australia's defence capabilities are "at risk" due to a lack of radio frequency spectrum which could also have a "major impact" on national interests, especially in the current climate of terrorism. According to Department of Defence Chief...

Four search sites dominate festive Web shopping.
February 1, 2003... Most online Christmas shoppers went straight to the four main search engines for assistance in ferreting out the perfect present for friends and family, according a study by WebSideStory. The search engines from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft's...

Toshiba unveils DVD recorder with 160GB HDD.
February 1, 2003... Away from home for a few weeks and missing your favourite television programs? Toshiba will release a new DVD video recorder in Japan in January with a hard disk drive (HDD) capable of recording up to 208 hours of programs. The recorder...

ISPs revamp plans. (Broadband).
February 1, 2003... Responding to increasing competition across the broadband market, high-speed service providers have been busy cutting prices and sweetening plans with increased download allowances in a bid to boost subscribers numbers. Telstra has...

Broadband continues steady growth. (Broadband Briefs).
February 1, 2003... Australia's broadband take-up continues to climb steadily, with latest figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) putting total users at 321,900. According to the latest Snapshot of Broadband report, a total of...

Tech Pac and Telstra connect for ADSL deal. (Broadband Briefs).
February 1, 2003... Broad-based distributor Tech Pacific has been awarded sole distribution rights to Telstra's new ADSL Self Install kits. The alliance sees Australia's largest telecommunications provider join with the IT product distributor to promote broadband...

O2 Xda: personal digital assistant/ mobile phone. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Touted as the ultimate all-in-one device for mobile professionalism, O2's Xda can handle e-mail, voice calls, browse the Web and manage your diary. It measures a svelte 129x73x18mm, and weighs just 201g--much smaller than a jacketed iPaq. ...

Vcomm data power link: electrical socket networking device. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... When the task of physically transporting data between two PCs becomes too arduous, it might be time to research other avenues for reliable data transfer. Many people use network switches or hubs, but these products can be costly and may involve...

Adaptec VideOh DVD: video capture device. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Life is tough for analog camcorder owners. There are very few decent hardware devices that allow us to capture top-quality footage directly from Hi8, Video8, S-VHS and VHS sources to our hard disks. Adaptec has noticed that recent increases...

Iomega HDD 120GB: external hard drive. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Iomega's hard disk drive range uses existing hard drive technology bundled into an easy-to-use, portable external case. The 120GB version is the top of the range and packs a standard 3.5in drive into a largish case (120x187x37mm). This makes it...

Creative MegaWorks THX 5.1 550: channel speakers. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... These hot new speakers from Creative should be available for purchase towards the end of February and come with the THX seal of approval from LucasArts, guaranteeing quality cinematic audio. If you want the best sound solution for gaming, music...

Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2300, HP Color LaserJet 2500L: colour laser printers. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Manufacturers are working harder than ever to make colour lasers a viable option. We took a look at two well-priced models (Minolta's QMS Magicolor 2300 was initially reviewed in the December 2002, Tech.Files) that might fit your budget as well...

iRiver iFP-180T: personal MP3 player. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... A mid a slew of MP3 players of late, iRiver has continued to release quality products that stand out from the rest of the crowd. iRiver's latest offering, the iFP-180T, is a small compact player. It has dimensions of 31x28.5x82mm (WxDxH) and...

PartitionMagic 8.0: hard drive partitioning utility. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... PowerQuest's PartitionMagic software--long recognised as the best program for creating, resizing and generally working with hard-drive partitions--has always come with a warning that it might destroy data. I've been using this program for...

McAfee Firewall 4.0 (2003): internet security tool. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Traversing the Internet's highways and byways unguarded is a foolhardy endeavour. On installation, Firewall 4.0 scans various aspects of the host computer, looking for security holes. It also treats users to a visual trace of given domains,...

Norton Personal Firewall 2003: internet security tool. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Like its competition at the top of this page, this software protects against unauthorised PC access, which means that even when your computer is connected to the Internet, no one can get in and browse your files. Norton's Personal Firewall...

Norton Ghost 2003: disk imaging utility. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Symantec Norton Ghost 2003 looks impressive on paper, but on the job this backup-cum-disk-imaging program is for truly patient PC pros only. Ghost 2003 has some good features. It can make an exact copy (clone) of your hard disk, from data...

Virtual PC for Windows 5.0: PC emulator. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Virtual PC for Windows seems like a bit of a strange idea at first. After all, you already have a fully functional PC, why bother emulating another? However, there are groups like programmers, Web developers, system administrators and...

Cubase SX: music and editing sequencing software. (First Looks).
February 1, 2003... Steinberg's flagship Cubase SX is a complete solution for composing, editing and mixing multitrack audio or MIDI via an array of powerful built-in tools. Be warned, though, it has hefty recommended system requirements and a good sound card is...

Electrovaya PowerPad 160.
February 1, 2003... Notebooks are convenient for moving from A to B, but the majority of work you do on them is usually conducted near a mains power supply. For users who have let their notebook stretch its mobile legs, the results can sometimes be frustrating. It...

ViewSonic wireless smart displays.
February 1, 2003... Imagine being able to turn your desktop PC into a tablet PC. Well, ViewSonic has confirmed its intent to release during the first quarter of 2003 a range of 802.11b wireless smart displays--what it has dubbed airpanels. At the Comdex trade show...

Store half a terabyte with Lacie's big disk. (Quick takes).
February 1, 2003... LaCie Australia has released what it claims to be the world's highest capacity portable drives, dubbed the Big Disk. The drives connect to your PC by means of an easy-to-use and speedy (400Mbps) FireWire connection that is stated to have a...

Teleadapt SIMbackup. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... This tiny device, not much bigger than a matchbox, backs up all the contacts held on a mobile phone SIM card. If you are wondering how this might be useful, just imagine all the numbers you'd lose if your phone was lost or stolen. The process...

VIBRANT VL5A9DL 15in LCD. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... ADO Group has just ventured into the LCD market with its latest Vibrant-branded LCD monitors. As the exclusive distributor in Australia of the Vibrant monitors, ADO is looking to expand into the already competitive LCD market. Tatung, a...

Diskeeper update defrags in background. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... Executive Software has rolled out a new version of its Diskeeper 7.0 file defragmentation utility that is designed to demand fewer system resources during operation. Dubbed Diskeeper 7.0 Second Edition for Windows, the newest version of...

Freecom beatman flash MP3 player. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... The Beatman is a small, square player weighing a mere 44g, and its single AAA battery should last up to nine hours. There's 64MB of built-in flash memory for storing MP3 or WMA files--enough space for about half an hour's worth of high-quality...

InterVideo WinDVD Recorder. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... InterVideo's WinDVD Recorder, along with a TV capture card, lets you record your favourite television shows or any digital video source in real time to hard disk, CD or rewritable DVD disc, using high-quality 720x480 MPEG-2 format. The...

VIA Mini-ITX motherboard range. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... VIA's second-generation EPIA M-series Mini-ITX motherboards have boosted specifications and measure just 17x17cm. Touted as the world's smallest x86 processor platform, the boards feature low power consumption, low heat and low noise. ...

Swann PenCam. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... Almost everyone loves James Bond-style gadgets and as technology storms ahead, such miniaturised marvels are becoming even more accessible to us all. One example of this is Swann's medium-sized, green PenCam--a pen with a covert wireless colour...

Canopus Imaginate. (Quick Takes).
February 1, 2003... Imaginate is a hardware-independent software package designed to allow high level manipulation and animation of still images for video production. It comes on a single CD, is installed within minutes, and supports Windows Me, 2000 and XP Home...

Kerio MailServer 5. (Linux World).
February 1, 2003... Kerio MailServer is an integrated cross platform e-mail server for Windows, Solaris, Mac OS X and Linux, targeted at small to medium businesses seeking a drop-in application to look after all of their e-mail services. Its major selling points...

Budget mobo worth seeking out. (Readers' Forum).
February 1, 2003... I heard about budget motherboards from ASRock in a newsletter (probably one of IDG's) that reported that they'd be cheap and offer an interesting set of features, and the company was part of ASUS. I looked them up on the Internet, found the...

Don't forget the Linux newbies! (Readers' Forum).
February 1, 2003... I look forward every month to getting my copy of PC World, especially now that I've taken the plunge and am trying out Linux in all its glory. I recently read Alastair Cousins's article in the December issue on "File archiving and...

Dilbert[R].
February 1, 2003... IS IT OKAY IF I TAKE NAPS DURING THE DAY? OR WOULD YOU PREFER THAT I MAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS WHILE GROGGY AND DELUSIONAL? EITHER WAY IS OKAY WITH ME. ITS YOUR CALL. HE LOOKS FUNNY ALL PURPLE. MUST... STAY... AWAKE. ...

E-books: an easy read. (Readers' Forum).
February 1, 2003... I recently read the Web review "Read any good e-books lately?" (Backbytes, December 2002 issue of PC World). I own one of the first E-Bookmans sold in Australia and I have found very little difficulty in reading almost any e-book that I have...

E-books: a free read. (Readers' Forum).
February 1, 2003... Brad Grimes listed sites that sell e-books ("Read any good e-books lately?" Web review, Backbytes December 2002), but a person just getting into this medium probably would not want to spend much money. A page from Barnes & Noble's site...

Missive of the month.
February 1, 2003... Congratulations to Gordon Drennan! You are this month's winner of a year's subscription to PC World worth $66. We are pleased to receive your letters, but please keep them to less than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for...

World class sites: getting ready for a new school year? Get online! kids of all ages (and adults) will find a wealth of education-focused information on these sites. (Web & You).
February 1, 2003... Wandering around the Web, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled into the greatest library ever created. There, at the touch of your fingers, is the answer to everything. Today's students can bypass dusty reference books and trudging...

Faster for free: want to get more from your megahertz? These slick tips and tools are like a no-cost PC upgrade.
February 1, 2003... Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? Windows is full of settings and utilities that, if properly applied, can boost your system's performance without costing you a cent. And the Internet is chock-full of free and inexpensive...

Stuff your stuff. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... RoadWired Pod, $94, www.roadwired.com or www.baltronics.com.au **** It's called The Pod, and with more than 20 pockets and compartments, this 17.78x16.51cm bag has space that belies its size. The fully-padded, durable nylon case sports a...

One clever mouse. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Kensington StudioMouse, $89.95, www.kensington.com **** Most of the time, mice don't get much respect. Plug 'em in, click left, click right, scroll--that's about it. The tricks the StudioMouse performs will make you think otherwise,...

A second listen to external audio. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Xitel HiFi-Link, $119, www.xitel.com and www.minidiscaccessories.com **** We weren't so impressed the first time we looked at this product, but Xitel engineers convinced us to give their HiFi-Link PC-to-stereo connector another try, citing...

Any Port Replicator in a storm. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Keyspan Mini Port Replicator, $179, www.keyspan.com and www.fosh.com.au **** Something's missing from most notebooks--and many desktop computers--made in the past year: serial and parallel ports. Maybe that's the price of progress, but you...

Point and light. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Belkin PenLight, $29.95, www.helkin.com/anz ****1/2 Belkin adds a tiny but surprisingly bright LED tip to its PenLight PDA stylus. Spring action in the twist-on power switch at the top of the device permits either short bursts of light or a...

The incredible shrinking hard drive. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... USB Drive, $98 (16MB), www.usbdrive.com.au **** Imagine a hard drive the size of a small cigarette lighter. That's what you get with this tiny 16MB USB storage device. Simply plug it into your USB port, and a new drive letter will appear in...

No more floppies. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... SanDisk Cruzer, $233 (128MB), www.sandisk.com ****1/2 Floppy drives are almost history. Even Zip drives can hardly compete with the latest in high-capacity flash memory. But until recently, people had no convenient way to read and write to...

One plug, four drives. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Addonics Mini DigiDrive, $40, www.addonics.com and www.bits.com.au **** Raise your hand if your desktop PC lacks a drive to read and write small memory cards for cameras, MP3 players, notebooks, and PDAs. No matter what type of card you...

Straighten up and FlyLight. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Kensington FlyLight and FlyFan, $24.95 each, www.kensington.com ****1/2 With their flexible, 38cm extensions, the ingenious Kensington FlyLight and FlyFan are highly practical--and simple--notebook add-ons. They have no switches or...

Quadruple USB. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Ultra Mini USB 4-Port Hub, $50, http:// australia.targus.com **** Targus has staked a strong patch in the market for practical, affordable accessories. This USB hub is all that--and cool, too. It allows you to connect up to four devices to...

Performance pointer. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse, $190, www.logitech.com **** Though the MX700 may sound like the name of some exotic testosterone-driven sports car, it's not: it belongs to Logitech's Lamborghini of a cordless optical mouse--a...

Music wherever you go. (Cheap Champs).
February 1, 2003... Creative TravelSound, $199, www.creativelabs.com.au **** When you're on the move with your notebook, one thing that really limits is the sound quality. This highly portable set of speakers would add little to your load, weighing just 285g...

Ready to serve: they may not be the hottest item on the technology list, but servers are an essential part of an office or expanding home network. This month, PC World offers some advice for choosing the right server for your setup. (Server Buying Guide).
February 1, 2003... When it comes to computer hardware that can fire the imagination, servers are starved for attention. In fact, chances are most network users will be unaware of the server's existence until it goes down and crashes their system. With the...

Full exposure: today's best digital cameras: bigger features, smaller prices--whether you're a special-occasion snapshooter or a serious shutterbug, you can find a new camera with your name on it.
February 1, 2003... Grab your shades, because the future looks bright for digital camera enthusiasts. Last year's $700 digital cameras offered less than 1 megapixel of resolution, relied on digital zooming, and sometimes lacked an LCD or memory card slot. This...

Point-and-shoot cameras. (Full exposure).
February 1, 2003... 1 Fujifilm FinePix 2800 Zoom This shiny, silvery metal 2-megapixel camera takes impressive shots and packs a few nifty features for an affordable $799. It includes a whopping 6X optical zoom and a bright electronic viewfinder, which lets...

Advanced cameras. (Full exposure).
February 1, 2003... 1 Olympus C-4000 Zoom At $1199, the C-4000 Zoom is the one of the least-expensive digital cameras (along with the Olympus C-720 Ultra Zoom) on our advanced chart, but it doesn't skimp on features. Besides offering manual control of...

Top 10 digital cameras. (Features Comparison).
February 1, 2003... TOP 10 DIGITAL CAMERAS POINT-AND-SHOOT PRICE OVERALL IMAGE QUALITY RATING (1) 1 Fujifilm FinePix 2800 Zoom $799 80 Good Distributor: Haminex...

Pocket Power: portable storage explained: who says size matters? Portable storage devices may be tiny, but they pack plenty of megabytes.
February 1, 2003... The floppy disk has been a faithful medium for data storage and transfer to many a PC enthusiast over the past 20 years. These days, though, average file sizes routinely run to several megabytes and the humble 1.44MB floppy can no longer keep...

Surprise packages: good deals for PC buyers. (Best Buys).
February 1, 2003... PCs Over the last couple of months, a few vendors have started to submit packaged deals to the Best Buys. If this continues, it is a trend that should bode well for home users and small business due to the convenience these deals offer....

Dr. Fix It.
February 1, 2003... Scratched or dirty CDs often become prone to skipping if they are an audio CD or, worse, can't be read if they are data CDs. The Dr. Fix It unit is a motorised CD cleaning kit that can repair light scratches with an abrasive cleaner, as well as...

JustCooler power supply.
February 1, 2003... The average end user doesn't often think about power supplies, but they are one of the most important components of a computer system. If you are contemplating building your own system, a quality power supply needs to be at the top of your...

A matter of size. (Best Buys).
February 1, 2003... For many computer users, the amount of space a computer system will take up is almost never a consideration during the purchasing process, as options are very rarely available in this category unless you buy from a big name vendor. Most...

Metalbox TiF.
February 1, 2003... This compact machine is based on a Flex ATX form factor chassis and is only 20cm high, 30cm deep and just under 9.5kg in weight. It is the perfect PC for the keen gamer who attends a lot of LAN parties, but small offices will also benefit from...

Packard Bell iMedia.
February 1, 2003... Incorporating Intel's Hyper-Threaded 3GHz Pentium 4 processor as its cornerstone, this competent and well-styled system is aimed at the home user. Surrounded by 512MB of PC2700 DDR SCRAM, a 64MB GeForce4 MX440 graphics card and a 120GB, 5400rpm...

Compaq Presario 6290.
February 1, 2003... Much like the Packard Bell iMedia, this system is also based on the latest in CPU technology and features a CeForce4 MX440 graphics adapter and a small speaker system. Both are relatively underpowered given the price. Nevertheless, it's an...

Stable positions, price drops. (Best Buys).
February 1, 2003... The third in our series of Sweet Spot Best Buys reflects consistency in the available technologies over the categories we have selected. Some small price changes have occurred since last month, with minor drops in the CPU and graphics card...

Intel 2.53GHz P4, AMD XP 2200+. (CPUs).
February 1, 2003... The latest big noise in the CPU market is Intel's 3.0GHz release of its Pentium 4 chip with Hyper-Threading (HT). This technology has been deployed in file server CPUs because file servers execute a higher volume of multitasking than desktop...

GeForce4 Ti 4200-based, Radeon 9000-based. (Graphics Cards).
February 1, 2003... The graphics card space is still one of the most diverse areas of PC componentry. The best known cards on the market today are based on either NVIDIA or ATI chipsets, both of which boast a wide range of performance and memory configurations....

Intel 845E-based, VIA KT333-based. (Motherboards).
February 1, 2003... As the basis of every single PC or notebook, the motherboard is the most integral part of your computer system and will be the determining factor when looking at your options for CPUs, RAM configuration, storage capacity, graphics, sound and...

PC2700 DDR333 256MB modules. (System RAM).
February 1, 2003... If you look at most software packages--whether it is an operating system, a productivity application or a game--a minimum system requirement is usually written on the packaging. Part of the minimum configuration specification is the System RAM....

Combination DVD-ROM and CD burners. (Optical Drives).
February 1, 2003... It has been years since the advent of the multimedia PC, once a tool for the affluent and now a ubiquitous part of the personal computing experience. An optical drive--a term covering all CD and DVD drives--is central to this. At the low end is...

7200rpm 80GB hard disk drives. (Hard Disk Drives).
February 1, 2003... Most PCs have at least one hard disk drive, usually connected to the IDE controller, although multiple hard disks on some PCs are connected to a RAID controller. IDE hard disks are distinguished by the speed at which their platters spin, their...

Over $4000 home. (Best Buys).
February 1, 2003... Dell Dimension 8250 [1] Dell is the first company to bring the Intel 3.06GHz processor into the Best Buys charts with its Dimension 8250 and this month they have secured the number 1 position thanks to a $500 price drop. It is best suited...