Australian PC World articles from February 2006

Australian PC World archives from February 2006

The A team: ever been talked out of the product you had your eye on, and sold something more expensive? Don't be bamboozled into bad buying decisions. With over 144 product tests to guide you this issue--you're sure to get the gear you really need.(Australian PC World won Consensus IT Writers Awards)(Editorial)
February 1, 2006... Ever got your snazzy new tech gear home to find that it comes with unwanted accessories--like incompatibilities, early obsolescence, incomprehensible manuals and a hefty package of disappointment? And is the gear you buy and install today,...

Ample warning, no notification.(READERS' FORUM)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... I'd like to share my little "rant" with PC World. On my home PC, I run Windows 2000 and I have been quite happy with it generally. In the past few weeks though, I've been having some trouble with things running slower than normal, so I...

Trouble getting XP.(READERS' FORUM)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... John Finlay's suggestion (Easy re-install, Readers' Forum December 2005 issue, page 8) in regard to obtaining a replacement copy of Windows XP (PC World Dec 2005) is not as straightforward as he indicated. I have a notebook with Windows XP Home...

Home users should use SUSE.(READERS' FORUM)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2006... As a long-term home Linux user, I started with a floppy disk version of Slackware on a 386 with 16MB RAM, I have used most of the home user distributions, and some specialised ones as well. Currently I have a 64 bit 3500 Athlon with 1GB...

Missive of the month.(READERS' FORUM)
February 1, 2006... Congratulations to Mark Lawrence! You are this month's winner of a year's subscription to Australian PC World magazine--that's 12 months of all the best PC news, reviews, tutorials and opinions from Australia's leading magazine for PC...

Xbox 360 cheaper than cost.(STARTUP: LATEST REVIEWS, INDUSTRY NEWS)
February 1, 2006... Despite promises from Microsoft executives that the retail price of the new Xbox 360 game console would cover production costs, product tear downs by two different market researchers suggest the company is losing money on the machines. ...

Intel revs up Viiv PC plans.(STARTUP: LATEST REVIEWS, INDUSTRY NEWS)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Intel is working with dozens of movie, music, and game providers around the world to ensure their services work with the living room PC concept embodied by its upcoming Viiv (which rhymes with five) brand, scheduled to be launched early 2006....

RSS growth could aid worm attacks.(Really Simple Syndication)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... A researcher has claimed that increased support for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in browsers could lead to a marked increase in botnet worm attacks. In The Future of Bot Worms, David Sancho, a senior antivirus research engineer at Trend...

Vista feature-set almost complete.(Microsoft Windows Vista)
February 1, 2006... Microsoft is accelerating the development of the next version of its Windows client OS and plans to test a feature-complete version by early 2006, according to a lead on the Windows Vista development team. The company released the first...

Utilities to offer broadband.(UtiliTel)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... A consortium of 11 Australian utilities is preparing to offer telecommunications services in a bid to add value to their existing infrastructures. The move is part of a trend first identified by IT analysts more than 18 months ago, which will...

Dell pilots 'free' PC recycling service.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Hardware manufacturer Dell began a pilot of a free PC recycling service in Sydney and Melbourne in December. The recycling service is free only when you purchase a Dell Dimension desktop or Inspiron notebook and a courier will take away an old...

Gartner changes its tune.(on Microsoft Windows Vista upgrade)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Research organisation, Gartner has issued a "clarification" to its recent advice on Windows Vista upgrades, pointing out that it doesn't think companies should ignore the operating system until 2008 after all. In November, Gartner...

Pocket video recorder.(Archos AV 500 Mobile DVR)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Having pioneered the market for pocket video recording devices, Arches continues to refine its product line, recently introducing the AV 500 Mobile DVR, a device that lets you watch video and listen to music while on the go. It's an elegant...

Surround sound sans the wires.(Logitech Z-5450 Digital Speakers)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Logitech's latest high-end speakers should appeal to anyone who has ever tripped over cables or laboured to hide the wires connecting a surround-sound setup. The company's Z-5450 Digital Speakers system features wireless rear satellites. Both...

New web mail: more polished, powerful.(Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Windows Live Mail, Zimbra)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Microsoft and Yahoo are poised to make their Web-based e-mail applications more powerful than ever with updates that give them a desktop-style interface. We tested beta versions (invitation-only at time of review) of Windows Live Mail and...

Infrared webcam.(MSI StarCam 370i)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... In this age of Big Brother and home-cooked voyeurism, MSI's new StarCam 370i is ready to help fulfil all your snooping tendencies. The StarCam's big eye is a touch cheesy, but sci-fi aficionados will love it! The 370i's CMOS sensor can...

Gaming mouse.(Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... With five buttons, four-way scrolling facilities, a sharp "moonlight silver" design and (naturally) a decided lack of wires, the 6000 is a classy piece of work. The buttons are nicely positioned, and you can reprogram their function with...

Do-it-all ADSL modem: Netcomm NB9W MyNetGateway.(asymmetric digital subscriber line)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... If you are looking for an all-in-one Internet device, Netcomm's NB9W MyNetGateway is one of the best-featured products currently on the market. Not only is it an ADSL2+ modem and router, it's also a wireless router, plus it has a built-in...

Ultralight light on character: Fujitsu Lifebook Pinion P1510.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The Fujitsu Pinion is a lightweight tablet weighing a slight 1kg. With a footprint of 21x15x3cm, it is extremely portable, although it does look a little bit chunky. The screen can swivel 180 degrees and be used as a tablet in a vertical or...

Vying for your attention: Sony VAIO VGN-TX17GP.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good things come in small packages. For instance, Sony's VGN-TX17GP, that weighs a mere 1.2kg (with battery) and has a footprint of 27.5x18.5x2.5cm. Inside this tiny notebook is an Intel Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage processor running at...

Mighty micro music player: Creative Zen Nano Plus.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... As a result of a glitch in the magazine production process this tiny player was beaten to the pages of PC World by its iPod namesake. Don't be fooled, though: Creative was the first to use the Nano moniker. Name aside, the Creative has...

Flexible, cheap network storage: Netgear Storage Central SC101.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Many products let you add hard-drive storage to a network, but few are as flexible and as affordable as Netgear's $229 Storage Central SC101. I tried a shipping version of the compact unit, which has slots inside for two parallel ATA...

Big fish weighs in at 500GB: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Weighing in at a cool 500GB (465GB formatted capacity), Seagate's ninth generation Barracuda drive is ideal for those of us with huge storage needs who don't have the room in our PC case for multiple disk drives. It has a 3Gbps SATA...

Hitachi halfway to 'holy grail': Hitachi Deskstar 7K500.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Hitachi was the first to market with their 500GB drive--the 7K500--which marks the halfway point to the hard disk "holy grail" of a terabyte (TB). The 7K500 has a 7200rpm spin speed, 16MB buffer, advanced Serial ATA (SATA) specifications such...

ASUS motherboards deliver true SLI graphics performance: Enjoy 32 PCI Express Lanes with A8N32-SLI Deluxe and P5N32-SLI Deluxe.(new products from Asus Computer International)(Advertisement)
February 1, 2006... The ASUS A8N32-SLI and P5N32-SLI motherboards, supporting the most powerful processors from AMD and Intel, respectively, adopted several unique technologies to provide users the best video performance and cool and quiet computing operation. ...

Cool running, power performance: Acer TravelMate 8105WLMi.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Staying true to the signature Acer notebook style is the Acer TravelMate 8105WLMi. Weighing 2.9kg, the 8105 is pushing the envelope for sheer power, setting PC WorldBench and 3DMark scores on par with the Alienware m5700 (the fastest notebook...

Hefty notebook packs a punch: Pioneer Dreambook Slim 400AE.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The Pioneer 400AE packs in a lot of muscle for its price of $2999, however, you are going to need a bit of muscle to carry this notebook--it weighs in at a hefty 3.5kg. The notebook's 100GB of storage space and an ATI Radeon X700 256MB PCI...

RAID reaches the low-range PC: TI AMD Deluxe 3800.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The TI AMD 3800 Deluxe is quite a bargain at $1499, it is among the first sub-$1500 desktop PC's we have seen with a RAID array. Two 80GB SATA drives have been configured in RAID 0 (for a total of 160GB), which boosts the overall hard disk read...

Open the drive bay door, HAL: CWSydney SER62209-001.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... This well-priced mid-tower from CWSydney Computers is a decent machine with which to get yourself on the Internet and get a bit of work done. It's based on a 3.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 640 CPU, and its Gigabyte GA-81915PL-G motherboard has...

Don't take filthy pictures: Olympus E-500.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... With the E-500, Olympus has dropped the unconventional oblong design of the E-300, producing a Digital SLR (D-SLR) that addresses some of the shortcomings of its predecessor. It's not backwards-compatible with older SLR lenses, so it's more...

Much more than just a big TV: Fujitsu Deskpower TX.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... While Microsoft's Windows Media Center operating system has opened up the lounge room to invasion by PC manufacturers, media PCs have failed, in the main, to shed their base unit/monitor heritage, and frequently lack the aesthetics for success...

Anti-shake 6MP digital SLR: Konica Minolta Dynax 5D.(single lens reflex)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Konica Minolta's Dynax 5D is the latest budget DSLR (digital single lens reflex) to hit an increasingly competitive digicam market. Like its rivals, it offers 6.1Mp (megapixel) resolution for $1499 including lens, but boasts one important...

Pinnacle's video editor handles HD: Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The launch of a new version of Pinnacle Studio is often followed by reports of program instability and crashes that take a hefty software update to sort out, and the latest version looks to be no different. That's too bad, because this new...

Tooled-up editing suite: Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Though unlikely to challenge leading video editors like Adobe's Premiere Pro or Sony's Vegas, Ulead's revamped MediaStudio Pro 8 has new features that will be extremely useful for video editors who need convenience more than performance. ...

Affordable nForce4: Foxconn NF4K8AC-8EKRS.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Foxconn has recently established itself as a vendor of low-priced yet well-featured motherboards and the NF4K8AC-8EKRS continues that trend. It's an AMD-based motherboard, capable of accepting Socket 939 Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2 and the latest...

No longer leader of the pack: Pioneer DVR-110D.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Pioneer was once at the forefront of DVD technology. The DVR-110D, though, appears at the tail end of a period in which most burner manufacturers have upgraded the speeds of their products. The drive supports all formats--including the ability...

Easy, affordable wireless router: TP-Link TL-WR642G.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... If you want to share a cable or ADSL connection, there's nothing better than a wireless router, except, of course, an inexpensive wireless router. TP-Link's TL-WR642G Super G router costs just over $100. It has a four-port Ethernet switch...

Wi-Fi camera disappoints: Kodak EasyShare-One.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... If you think it takes too long to upload your photos to a computer and then e-mail them, print them, or transfer them to a blog, Kodak's EasyShare-One could speed things up. This $899 Wi-Fi--equipped consumer camera can send pictures and videos...

Security from unauthorised devices: DeviceWall 3.1.(FIRST LOOKS)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Most of us are using firewall, antivirus and spyware protection, so it would be fair to assume you are safe from externally-based information crimes. However, the increased use of portable storage devices means the threat to company data from...

Fast photo archiving: ACDSee 8.0 Photo Manager.(FIRST LOOKS)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The latest update, ACDSee 8 Photo Manager, builds on the powerful batch-processing functions and adequate image editing tools of version 7.0 and adds others. In fact, two things clearly stood out in the $99.95 shipping version: its faster...

Software giant killers: think you need to cough up large sums of money for an office suite, security tools, and other essential programs? These free and low-cost alternatives provide power without the high price.(AVG Anti-Virus)(Thunderbird email software)(CutePDF 3, portable document software)
February 1, 2006... "Free software" used to conjure up visions of a half-baked program with an ugly interface that someone cooked up in a garage--usable, but only for limited functions. Today you can find plenty of top-notch programs that look good and work quite...

A tour of the thoroughly modern motherboard: thinking of upgrading your system or building a new PC? Don't do anything before you read our guide to the latest motherboards!
February 1, 2006... Sooner or later you'll open your PC's case and plug something into your motherboard: a new graphics card, extra RAM, a bigger hard drive, or a stronger power supply. But if you haven't looked inside a PC in the last year or two, you may not...

What's hot for 2006: from a major Windows upgrade, to powerful Web services, to HD-DVD, there's a lot to look forward to in the coming year.(high density disk drives)
February 1, 2006... The New Year looks to be full of change for the way you work and play with technology. Among the exciting developments heralded for 2006: advanced Web apps and tools will further blur the line between the desktop and the Internet. The next...

Playing to win: 15 of the hottest graphics cards put to the test: whether you want performance or top value from your graphics card, read this before you go shopping.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Choosing a graphics card is never a simple task. At any given time, there can be graphics cards based on any of up to 20 graphics processors. In the product ranges of both ATI and NVIDIA there may be three different versions of an entry-level...

New kids on the block: miniDV camcorders are starting to lose ground to emerging storage and video formats, but which one's right for you?(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Last month, we looked at the conventional side of digital video, namely camcorders that record DV25 video to MiniDV tape, but it's hard not to wonder whether the old tape-based format is on its last legs. Recent years have seen massive changes...

Building a better browser: Internet Explorer finally receives an overhaul that helps it match its rivals' features--but Firefox and Opera aren't standing still.
February 1, 2006... Browser competition hasn't been this fierce since the mid-1990s, and the fight is becoming even more intense as Microsoft, Mozilla, and Opera prepare new versions of their software for release. With version 7 of Internet Explorer,...

Buyer's bonanza.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... Powerful graphics cards, half-a-terabyte hard drives and fast double-layer DVD burners are grand ingredients if you're planning to build a new high-end PC and in this issue we looked at these components and a whole lot more. Find out which...

PCs.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... PCs [pc world TEST CENTRE] SUB-$1500 FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS [1] TI AMD Deluxe 3800 AMD 64 3800, 2x 80GB HDD, Eagle Price: $1499 6600GT 128MB, 2 x 512...

Notebooks.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... NOTEBOOKS [pc world TEST CENTRE] SUB-$2500 FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS [1] Acer TravelMate 4064 WLMi Intel Pentium M Processor 760 Price: $1999 (2GHz, 2MB Cache,...

TV tuners.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... TV TUNERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] MODEL FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS [1] Nebula DigiTV PCI PCI interface; SDTV, HDTV; DigiTV Price: $239 software, BDA driver in...

MiniDV camcorders.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... MINIDV CAMCODERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] IMAGE SENSOR LENS STILL CAPTURE ENTRY LEVEL OPTICAL ZOOM MEMORY FORMAT ...

Absolute power & style anytime!(MSI MEGABOOK)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Forget about the traditional laptop look! It's time to explore new realms. Designed to match your style, the MSI MEGABOOK offers breathtaking beauty, exceptional performance and uncompromising style in one compact package. What's more, it's...

DVD burners.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... TEST DVD BURNERS [pc world TEST CENTRE] MODEL CD SPEEDS DVD SPEEDS [1] ASUS DRW-1608P2S CD-ROM 40x DVD-ROM 16x, DVD+R DL Price: $79 CD-RW 32x 8x,...

19in LCD monitors.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... 19in LCD MONITORS PANEL TECHNOLOGY RESPONSE TIME INPUT MODEL DOT PITCH SPEAKERS [1] ViewSonic VA912 MVA *...

Wireless routers.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... WIRELESS ROUTERS WI-FI SPEEDS MIMO ROUTERS WI-FI SECURITY [1] Netgear RangeMax WPN824 11Mbps, 54Mbps, 108Mbps Price: $239 Phone: 1800...

Motherboards.(Buyers Guide)
February 1, 2006... MOTHERBOARDS AMD MOTHERBOARDS CHIPSET CPU SUPPORT [1] Foxconn NF4K8AC-8EKRS NVIDIA Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX Price: $132 nForce4 Distributor: Altech Phone: (02) 8831...

Blank pane.(use of Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q MY computer is running Windows Me. When I select the Folders option in Windows Explorer or My Computer, the left-hand pane is blank and I can't see the folder tree. --Bill Hitchcock A This problem is usually easy to fix, Bill. Click...

Wizard vanished.(use of Microsoft Windows XP SP2)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q I have Windows XP SP2. My computer has stopped recognising my digital camera automatically using the Scanner and Camera Wizard. The camera is shown as a removable storage device, so I can still get my pictures, but this is not very...

Lost drive.(use of Microsoft Windows XP SP2 and maintenance of hard disk drive)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q MY computer runs Windows XP SP2. I have a Maxtor OneTouch 120GB external drive, which is two-thirds filled with digital photos. It used to appear as drive I: in My Computer. But following the clean reinstallation of Windows XP the drive does...

Awkward characters.(use of Microsoft Word 2002)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Mirek Drazil wrote "I am using Microsoft Word 2002 for linguistic applications. I see from the Symbol dialogue box that many fonts have diacritical marks on their own, presumably so that they can be combined with any letter like a "dead key" on...

Bad messages.(use of Microsoft Windows XP SP1)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q I am receiving a pop-up window every five minutes and I can't get rid of it. The window says: "MESSENGER SERVICE. Message from SECURITY to ALERT on 8/12/2005. STOP! WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. Windows has found CRITICAL SYSTEM...

Poor host.(use of Microsoft Windows XP)(security measures for the internet protocol addresses)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q I'm running Windows XP with the Windows firewall, AVG and Spybot, which entered many addresses into my hosts file. I have added my own hosts file entries to disallow certain Web sites and IP address ranges using a format like this: ...

Premature termination.(use of AVG Free)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q MY brother installed AVG Free on his computer and was using it happily until one day, during an update, an error occurred. Unfortunately, he can't remember the details. I advised that he should uninstall AVG and then download and install...

Restricted mail.(use of Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q If Outlook Express 6.0 is set to receive mail in the restricted sites zone, does that mean that e-mails with any of the attributes that are disabled in that zone will not be downloaded by Outlook Express? I have configured my antivirus to...

Dirty DVDs.(use of digital video disks drives)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Q When I put a disc in my DVD-ROM drive, the light showing the system is reading it comes on and stays on. If I then run a program that requires the disc, it asks me to insert it, even though I already have. In the past, this happened...

Get there faster.(use of web browser)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... When you're surfing the Net and want to type an address into the address bar, just press . This moves the cursor to the address bar and selects the current address se you can just start typing to delete it. This timesaving shortcut works for...

Drawing the line.(use of Microsoft Word)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... To draw a line in a Microsoft Word document, type three dashes on a new line and press . If you want a thicker line, type three underscores (, dash) and press . If this tip doesn't work, click on Tools-AutoCorrect Options, select the...

XP and your photos: taking digital pictures is only half the fun. To make the most of your efforts, learn to back up, distribute and order online.(HERE'S HOW: WINDOWS)
February 1, 2006... One of the things I like about digital photography is that you don't have to use expensive software to get a lot out of your photos. The utilities included with Windows XP can help you upload, organise, search and edit your pictures. But that's...

Making the most of mobiles: Jason Whittaker demonstrates the best practices to use for developing mobile web content.(web searching using mobile phones)
February 1, 2006... The number of mobile phones being shipped worldwide is estimated to hit the two billion mark within the next five years. And one of the most significant features of the new generation of phones is, of course, the convergence of voice, e-mail...

The lizard king: our Linux guru finally tears himself away from his favourite Ubuntu distribution, and gives SUSE Linux 10.0 a try.(from Novell Inc.)
February 1, 2006... SUSE Linux 10.0 is the latest edition of a venerable Linux distribution that Novell took under its wing nearly two years ago. SUSE has always been known for including everything but the kitchen sink--like previous versions, SUSE 10.0 comes on...

Virtual privacy, part 2: last month we covered the theory. Now it's time for you to do it yourself ...(HERE'S HOW: NETWORKING)(Column)
February 1, 2006... My previous column was devoted to VPN theory--the various technologies that underpin Virtual Private Networks. This month's column is devoted to VPN practice. But first, a brief recap for the late arrivals among you: virtual private networking...

Suite success: multimedia followers can breathe a sigh of relief as the release of Studio 8.0 offers an insight into Macromedia's future under Adobe.
February 1, 2006... Macromedia's release of Studio 8.0 has assumed huge relevance after Adobe's purchase of its multimedia rival. Anyone involved in multimedia is desperate to know what Adobe will do with its newly-acquired riches, and the contents of this suite...

Torrential reign: if your band wants fame, but can't afford conventional distribution methods, then maybe BitTorrent is the answer.(peer-to-peer file sharing network)(Column)
February 1, 2006... If you're an aspiring artist then there's a good chance that you don't have a penny to your name because you spent it all on your Gibson Les Paul guitar, booze and fast women, leaving nothing left for the important stuff--like actually getting...

Peter Jackson's King Kong.(PC)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Apparently, King Kong was the film that Peter Jackson always wanted to make, as it was the 1933 classic that inspired him as a child to become a filmmaker. Thanks to the success of Lord of the Rings, Jackson can pretty much take his pick of...

Give it a boost.(Netcomm Indoor Wireless Booster)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... There's nothing worse than carrying your laptop and a nice cold drink into the backyard, firing up your Web browser and only then realising you can't access the Internet when it was working just fine in your lounge room. Thick walls and...

Age of Empires III.(PC)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... After a six-year hiatus, the third instalment of the popular Age of Empires series has finally arrived, and this time you take control of one of eight European nations attempting to conquer the New World--the Americas--from discovery through to...

A bit flash.(BACKBYTES)
February 1, 2006... Typical isn't it? You spend a good chunk of your disposable income un a Digital SLR (D-SLR) and you find that there's only a poxy 16MB memory card in the box. One shot in RAW or TIFF mode, and it's full. But while you can get high-capacity...

Sid Meier's Civilization IV.(PC)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Civilization IV brings new aesthetic and strategic elements to world domination, without losing any of the elements that made the Civilization series such a successful franchise. Graphical enhancements are significant; everything is now in 3-D,...

The ghetto is looking good.(Altec Lansing inMotion iM7)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Altec Lansing calls the inMotion iM7 a portable speaker system for all third-generation iPods and above. Personally, we'd say more luggable than portable. It also supports the iPod Photo and new video-capable iPod with composite or S-Video...

The Movies.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Sadly, while The Movies has a lot to like, it's hindered by awkward interface design and poorly balanced game mechanics. The premise is simple; build a studio and make movies. In practice, it's a lot more complex. Actors and directors have to...

Long live Sonic!(Panasonic MX6)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... The two standout features of Panasonic's new MX6 clamshell mobile phone are its gorgeous, bright, 2.2in 16-million colour (approx) screen and built-in game, Sonic the Hedgehog. If you never had the chance to play Sonic on games consoles, now's...

Harvester of soles.(The Unnamable)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... "And inside that rusted iron straitjacket lurked gibbering hideousness, perversion, and diabolism. Here, truly, was the apotheosis of The Unnamable." From The Unnamable, by H. P. Lovecraft I feel fairly confident that, when Lovecraft...

It knows where you live.(BYTESBACK)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... There's nothing I'd like more than a GPS (Global Positioning System) routefinder in my car. At least any arguments about directions can then be shouted harmlessly at the box on the dash rather than the unfortunate soul with the map. But...