Computer Act!ve articles from October 2005

Computer Act!ve archives from October 2005

From the Editor.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Dylan Armbrust. For many of us, vinyl records were what we lived for. Getting the latest 45 or double LP concept album was exciting and playing it incredibly satisfying. Today, unless you're a real vinyl purist, you've probably...

Law cannot block suicide sites. The Government believes eradicating suicide sites is a job for ISPs rather than legislation.
October 27, 2005... The Home Office has backed away from introducing specific legislation to outlaw suicide-themed websites and called on internet service providers (ISPs) to do more. The Government considered amending the 1961 Suicide Act (which states that...

HP recalls notebook batteries.
October 27, 2005... HP has issued a worldwide recall of 135,000 batteries shipped with some of its HP Pavilion and Compaq notebook computers. The units could overheat, causing damage to the computer. HP said that batteries showing any signs of overheating such as...

Lawyers to probe Tiny directors over 'missing' stock.
October 27, 2005... Grant Thornton, the administrator for the defunct Granville Technology Group (GTG) is reported to be considering legal action against the directors of the company as it tries to trace missing assets. GTG, which went bust in July, was the...

'CTSA must be separate body'.(Consumer and Trading Standards Agency )(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... The planned consumer and Trading Standards Agency (CTSA) would be more successful if it was set up as a totally new organisation, according to the UK's consumer councils. The aim of the new body is to give consumers better protection and a...

Red card for illegal streaming.
October 27, 2005... The UK's Premier League said it intends to take legal action against internet service providers (ISPs) hosting sites that illegally stream live football matches. The organisation claimed to have been tracking such sites for six months, and...

Data risk for eBay users.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Many people take security risks by leaving data on hard disks and memory cards that they sell on eBay, security experts have said. Letters, CVs, phone numbers and email addresses were all found on hardware bought from the online auction...

Jargon Buster - Techno babble demystified ...(computer related terms)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... - 3G Shorthand for 'third generation mobile telephone network'. 3G networks support fast data transfer, making such things as sound and video transmission possible. - Chat rooms Online venues for typed chat. - Gb Gigabyte. A measure of...

Podcasts from Yahoo.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Yahoo now offers podcasts available for download from its website. Podcasts are internet radio programmes, created for others to download and listen to at their leisure. The new Yahoo site collects hundreds of podcasts in one place, along with...

ITV to try broadband TV.
October 27, 2005... ITV is to begin a trial of a TV service streamed via the internet. The three-month trial will let viewers in Brighton and Hastings create their own schedules and broadcasts. If it is a success the trial will be widened to other regions. ITV's...

High-capacity USB key.(Carte Orange USB drive of LaCie )(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... LaCie has introduced the Carte Orange USB drive, with a massive 8Gb of storage. The credit card-sized drive, which is also available with a smaller 4Gb capacity, uses USB 2 and is housed in a metal casing. It costs EUR99 for the 4Gb model or...

NSPCC calls for public help.
October 27, 2005... The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has asked for the public's help in building a national picture of attitudes towards child abuse. The 'Talk 'til it Stops' campaign features an online questionnaire...

BBC claims digital services justify TV licence hike.(British Broadcasting Corp)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... The BBC has justified its proposals to raise the licence fee by saying the extra money will be used to invest in digital services for all. The corporation wants the Government to increase the licence fee by the rate of inflation plus 2.3...

Charity warns of internet misuse.
October 27, 2005... A third of children usually surf the internet alone and more than a third think it's safe to give out personal details online, according to a survey carried out by internet safety charity Missdorothy.com. Almost half of the seven to...

New exchange.
October 27, 2005... Instant messaging (IM) is set to become easier after MSN and Yahoo announced they would allow their users to exchange messages. This means users will be able to exchange free text and voice messages when the services become compatible in early...

Double-jointed.
October 27, 2005... Sidekick is a new double-jointed USB 2 adaptor that bends backwards and sideways to connect USB devices. It rotates 180 degrees left-to-right and up-and-down. There is no need for cables, and it works with any device without the need of docks...

Jargon Buster - Techno babble demystified ...(computer related terms)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... - Broadband Refers to high-bandwidth internet connections, such as ADSL. - Chatrooms Online venues for typed chat, rather like the premium-rate chat lines you see advertised on late-night TV. - Instant messaging Real-time-text-based...

EC publishes roaming fees.(European Union. European Commission)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... The European Commission has launched a website that gives consumers advance warning of sky-high mobile phone costs when travelling abroad. The aim is to expose companies exploiting rates for calls made from mobiles while outside the UK,...

Bank customers to trial key-fob security.
October 27, 2005... High-street bank Lloyds TSB is to trial a key-fob device in a bid to beef up security for online banking customers. The bank is sending out Access Code devices to 30,000 of its internet banking customers in what will be the largest trial of...

BT trials TV via broadband.
October 27, 2005... BT is to start offering 8Mbit/s connections to a limited number of customers across the country to see if it is possible to deliver television programmes via broadband. From the end of November, BT will begin trials of the new service for...

Jargon Buster - Techno babble demystified ...(computer related terms)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... - ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A technology that increases the bandwidth available on ADSL broadband connections. It will be used to offer TV over a broadband connection. - Bluetooth A technology that allows devices to...

All change for Gmail.
October 27, 2005... From now on, Google's Gmail service will be known in the UK as Googlemail. The change follows a tradename dispute with a British company, Independent International Investment Research. It claimed ownership of the name Gmail in the UK and will...

Broadband blackspots.
October 27, 2005... The European Commission has approved UK Government aid for an internet project aimed at bringing high-speed internet access to broadband blackspots in England. The Rural Broadband Access Project targets rural communities in the Midlands and...

New printer.
October 27, 2005... Lexmark has launched an inkjet photo printer featuring a built-in CD photo writer. The P450 4x6in printer gives users the opportunity to transfer images from memory cards to discs using the CD writer, without the need for a PC. Users can also...

PIN your number down.(Personal identification numbers)(personal identification number)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Anyone still signing for card purchases rather than using chip and PIN could be left red-faced next Valentine's Day. From 14 February 2006, anyone with a chip and PIN credit or debit card will be forced to type in a personal identification...

EU aims to put heritage on net.(European Union)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Google and Yahoo are working on internet libraries but they have a tough new competitor - the European Commission (EC). The EC announced last month that it would be putting Europe's cultural heritage online by creating a digital archive...

iPod eyes up big screen.
October 27, 2005... After weeks of rumour and hearsay, Apple has unveiled yet another product line up. Topping the bill is the new iPod, which now supports video playback. The wider-screened portable device is slimmer and lighter than the previous model but...

Skype goes wireless.(Skype Technologies S.A.)( partnerships)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Users of the Skype internet telephony service no longer need to be tied to their PC. The company has teamed up with manufacturer Linksys to produce a wireless handset to allow users to call from anywhere in their home. The [pounds...

Jargon Buster - Techno babble demystified ...(computer related terms)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... - MPEG-4 Motion Picture Experts Group. A compressed file format for streaming internet video among other things, such as the video version of MP3. - H.264 A better-quality file compression format used for video. - POP3 Post Office...

Free webmail.(www.mailnation.net)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... MailNation has launched a free webmail service claiming to offer an impressive 1,000Gb of storage space. The service is also advertisement-free and makes Gmail's 2.5Gb allowance seem paltry. MailNation also offers a number of interesting...

Seeing double.
October 27, 2005... BenQ has added two new models to its digital camera line-up. The 6-megapixel X600 has a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5in screen and is only 1.9cm thick. It's available from November and costs [pounds sterling]200. The C500 has a 5-megapixel sensor and...

Consumeractive! Get Some Answers! Consumeractive sticks up for your rights. If there's an issue you want investigated, get in touch.
October 27, 2005... PROBLEM - What is the first port of call? On 1st August I bought a Philips notebook online from PC World. It was to be a present for my daughter who was off to university in September. Apart from loading some music and pictures and...

Cover Story Digitise your music - Revitalise your records. It's easier and cheaper than ever to bring your old records and tapes up to scratch and into the digital age. We show you how to convert them to CD and MP3 using your PC.(Cover Story)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn. Old music formats haven't quite died out in quite the way that many industry pundits predicted. Many of us still have shoeboxes full of C90 cassettes under the stairs and shelves that bow under the weight of our...

Hot New Products - Mesh Matrix Vector X2-Fi. A power-packed desktop computer.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. For many years, the price of a medium-to-good PC was about [pounds sterling]1,100. That would get the buyer a computer that, while not top of the range, would certainly last for a few years before needing an...

Hot New Products - Viewsonic VX924. A high-end screen - in every sense of the term.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. This is a 19in flat screen designed for games and multimedia. The big problem some TFT displays have, compared with old-fashioned CRT monitors, is that they are relatively slow to respond to moving images. If an...

Hot New Products - Motorola Rokr E1. A mobile phone that thinks it's an iPod.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Rory Reid. Many mobile phones can play music, but the Rokr E1 is the first to do so in an almost identical way to the Apple iPod. This is thanks to the integration of the iTunes music management software, which is used to transfer...

Hot New Products - Paint Shop Pro X. A brand-new makeover for an old-faithful photo-editing package.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Cliff Joseph. Paint Shop Pro has always had two main problems. The first was that it's always been more expensive than rival photo-editors such as Adobe's Photoshop Elements and Ulead's PhotoImpact. The second was that it wasn't...

Hot New Products - Aldi Medion Multimedia Design Laptop. Aldi combines credible computing power with wallet-friendly prices.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. This is quite a powerful computer for the price. For [pounds sterling]900 you get an Intel Pentium M 740 processor, which runs at 1.73GHz, and a large 1Gb of memory. The ATI Radeon X700XL graphics has 128Mb of...

Hot New Products - Gateway 8550GB. An affordable desktop replacement from a once-familiar name.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Will Stapley. Although it's had a foot in the UK market through its eMachines brand, the Gateway name has fallen off the radar since its disappearance in 2001. It's now making a comeback with the 8550GB notebook as part of a...

Hot New Products - Bullguard Internet Security 6. An all-round internet security suite for your PC.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Rory Reid. Bullguard Internet Security 6 is a set of programs to keep your computer data safe. It incorporates an anti-virus program, firewall (to protect against hackers and spyware), spam filtering and backup tools. Despite...

Hot New Products - Steganos Safe 8. Secure any files on portable disks.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. What with the many different types of portable storage available nowadays, data security is becoming ever more important. Because of the risk involved in carrying files and documents around with us as data,...

Hot New Products - Toshiba Gigabeat 20Gb. An affordable media player in the iPod mould.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anna Lagerkvist. The Gigabeat is a sturdy but stylish media player available in sizes up to 60Gb. Toshiba has tried to emulate the iPod Photo, both in terms of storage space and the ability to view photos on the device. The large...

Hot New Products - Sandisk 512Mb SD Plus.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. At first glance, the SD Plus card looks just like a normal SD memory card, until you notice the pair of hinges halfway down the card's body. Pushing down on one side of the hinges exposes a tiny USB connector,...

Hot New Products - Xingtone.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. Mobile phone ringtones are a lucrative business, selling for up to [pounds sterling]5 each. A cheaper way is to use software such as Xingtone, which allows users to create a ringtone based on a digital music...

Hot New Products - Buffalo USB 2 40Gb External Portable Hard Drive. A hard disk with a novel approach to solving a common USB power problem.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Paul Allen. While USB external hard disks are by far the easiest way to add extra storage capacity to a PC, they can suffer from a lack of reliability. This is usually not a fault of the disk, but because of a lack of power to the...

Hot New Products - Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPod.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Luke Peters. There have been rumours for some time that Apple will be adding some kind of wireless ability to the iPod. Since it hasn't happened yet, Logitech has come up with its own pair of wireless headphones. They use Bluetooth...

Hot New Products - Dualphone.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Tim Smith. The Dualphone integrates internet telephony calls from Skype into a landline phone so that either can be used, depending on which is cheaper at the time. There are two calling buttons, one for the BT line and the...

Hot New Products - Kodia Album CD-R. An all-in-one recordable photo album on a disc.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. There are plenty of programs available that will create CDs of photo albums from digital pictures on a computer, but this one is slightly different. Instead of installing a program on the computer, this disc...

Feature Make wireless networking work - Break free. Wireless networking is now easier to set up than ever but glitches can occur. We show you how to overcome wireless problems and enjoy stress-free networking.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Gordon Laing. Ah, the joy of wireless networking! No more tripping over messy cables or taking turns on the internet. Whether it's a PC in the bedroom or a notebook PC in your garden, wireless networking, or Wi-Fi, means you can...

Feature Photo-editing basics - Image makeover. If your snaps are too embarrassing to show the family or just not up to scratch, it's time to take advantage of photo-editing software and make a good impression.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Alvira Khan-Gordon. So you've made the leap to digital photography and it really does seem as easy as everyone says. Until, that is, you download the snaps from your digital camera. With hindsight, perhaps auntie Rita won't...

Feature Document security - Preserve your documents. Tools to stop people tampering with your documents are already present in most programs or are freely available on the web. We show you how to use them.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Martin Courtney. Sharing detailed information with others has never been quicker or easier. Whether it's a community newsletter, a list of the equipment needed for a school trip, or the minutes from the local sports club's meeting;...

Digital Home DAB digital radio - Radio revival. The digital revolution has finally taken off for radios with the latest models allowing you to record your favourite shows - some will even record them for you.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Niall Magennis. Snap, crackle and pop may be fine for breakfast cereal, but it's certainly not much good for radio broadcasts. However, that's what we've had to endure with radio for years. While just about everything else went...

On Test CD-Roms - The sound of music. From learning to play the guitar to creating your own music, the software is out there to help you make easy progress.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Martin James. With the right software, your PC can be everything from tutor to studio, or mixing desk to radio. This issue we've brought together five diverse programs to cater for all musical tastes. Creating music is fun, but...

On Test CD-Roms - Hutchinson Music Reference Suite.
October 27, 2005... Many of us would like to know more about music in general, even if we have no inclination to play an actual instrument. This program is a basic reference guide to the genre of classical music, primarily in the form of articles but backed up...

On Test CD-Roms - Cakewalk Music Creator 2.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Cakewalk is a market leader in the field of sequencing software, and with Music Creator 2, it brings many of the features found in its high-end products within reach of the man on the street. The core of this program lies in its ability to...

On Test CD-Roms - Maximum MP3.
October 27, 2005... As yet another program that helps you record, organise and play MP3s, Maximum MP3 faces some stiff competition. It certainly has a wide range of functions. Digital music can be converted between formats or recorded to disc, ID3 tags can be...

On Test Games - Civilization 4. If world domination has always been one of your ambitions, you'll find it impossible to resist the latest version of Civilization.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Eddie Henderson. If you were to take a worldwide poll of gamers' favourite all-time title, we'd happily gamble that Civilization would be somewhere close to the top. Created by the legendary Sid Meier, it's appeared in many...

On Test Games - Starship Troopers.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Mike Anderiesz. Starship Troopers may only feature a single 12-level campaign, but it does have a further three Co-Op, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes. Overlooking the glitchy graphics and occasional bugs (not of the...

On Test Games - Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... Byline: Eddie Henderson. Brothers in Arms was released a mere six months ago so this sequel may seem a little premature. But although the content and style in Earned in Blood may be very similar to its predecessor, the quality of gameplay...

On Test Games - Bet on Soldier.
October 27, 2005... Byline: Mike Anderiesz. You have to admit the premise of Bet on Soldier sounds interesting; combining the run-with-gun style of Counterstrike with the kind of betting frenzy seen in Arnie's 1987 movie The Running Man. If only developer...

On Test Games - Games Top 10.
October 27, 2005... Here are the top 10 games according to the official UK Leisure Software chart. (C)ELSPA. Compiled by Chart Track. 1. Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion [pounds sterling]15 (real-time strategy) Sega 2. The Sims: Nightlife [pounds...

Net Chart - Free Downloads. We've trawled the internet to test what you can get for free ...(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 27, 2005... EARTH VIEW www.computeractive.co.uk/2142100 A picture of the Earth as a screensaver This program uses imagery taken from satellites that can then be downloaded either as a Desktop wallpaper or a screensaver. Type:...

Site seeing ... As autumn turns to winter and brings with it coughs and colds, we take a look at some health websites. Go to www.computeractive.co.uk to find quick links to all these featured websites.
October 27, 2005... www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk The self-diagnosis site of the National Health Service, NHS Direct has a guide to many common ailments as well as a 'body key' that can help you diagnose symptoms, along with advice on what steps to take if you are ill...

site of the fortnight. http://del.icio.us.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2005... Del.icio.us describes itself as a social bookmarks manager. What this means is that, for users who sign up (free of charge), it's possible to save bookmarks on the web, rather than on the computer. This means that bookmarks can be accessed from...

No Problem! Q&A - Answers to ... PC problems. Our resident technical doctor is here to cure your PC ailments.
October 27, 2005... Autoplay options Q My computer has two disc drives. I want to use Winamp as the default player for music CDs and Power DVD as the default player for DVD films. On checking the Autoplay settings in the drive Properties tabs for each drive,...

Readers to the rescue ... Can you help your fellow readers? Do you need a problem solved? Join our forum dedicated to PC trouble-shooting at www.computeractive.co.uk.
October 27, 2005... The problem When I switch on my PC, the floppy drive stays on but the PC will not read from the drive. I have tried installing another drive and running Scandisk, without success. I have also tried putting a start-up disk in and rebooting...

Letters Your say! We want your opinions! Write to us on any of the topics covered in Computeractive.
October 27, 2005... Candid camera Recently while shopping in a large supermarket, I passed a display unit and experienced a sharp pain in my leg. Looking back, I saw that a square bar supporting this unit was missing its plastic protective cap (a total of...