November 3rd, 2009

Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for Nov/Dec 09

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 3:48 am

Categories: Components, Cutting Edge, DIY PC, Gadgets, Gaming, Graphics, Hardware

Tags: Card, Board, Western Digital Corp., Overclocking, Motherboard, Price, CPU, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Corp., Radeon

Welcome to the updated and revamped Hardware 2.0 “Very Best Kit List” for Nov/Dec 09, the last such list for 2009. Here I’ve put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you’re thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!

See also my Holiday Gift Guide 2009 for even more cool kit! 

This time around sees the addition of several new categories, such as netbooks, notebooks, all-in-one PCs, and wireless routers. I’ve also added new products to some of the existing categories too.

These components are on this list because I firmly believe them to be the best either in terms of performance or price - although I’m ready to admit, as always, that there’s room for debate and some choices “go with the gut” more than others.

NOTE: Each time I come out with a list of kit I always end up fielding a few emails and comments from people wondering if companies have “bought” space on the list. Let me tell you now that the only way for a product to get on this list is to be the best - period. Manufacturers, vendors and PR companies have zero influence over this or any other recommendation that I make.

Final note: All prices are approximate … shop around for the best deals!

• CPUs
• Motherboards
• RAM
• Graphics Cards
• Hard Disks
• Sound Cards
• PSUs
• Coolers
• Cases
• Monitors
• Keyboards/Mice
• Netbook
• Notebook
• All-in-One PC
• All-in-One Printer
• In-Car GPS
• Wireless Router 

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October 2nd, 2009

Amazon clears up Kindle content deletion policy

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 9:02 am

Categories: Copyright, Gadgets, In the news

Tags: Settlement, Amazon.com Inc., Litigation, Financial Services, Business Operations, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

It seems that Amazon has settled a lawsuit that it picked up after deleting George Orwell’s “1984″ and “Animal Farm” from people’s Kindle devices. As part of the settlement, Amazon has finally cleared up Kindle content deletion policy.

Here’s the settlement, as uncovered by TechFlash:

Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).

As part of the settlement, Amazon will pay $150,000 to the plaintiff’s lawyers, and the lead law firm KamberEdelson LLC has said it will donate its fee to charity.

If you are a Kindle owner, does this make you feel better about Amazon’s remote delete feature?

October 1st, 2009

"Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n" logo make an appearance

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 8:51 am

Categories: Gadgets, Mobile Technology

Tags: Wireless LANs, Wi-Fi, Wireless And Mobility, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced a new updated “Wi-Fi Certified n” program that introduces a new logo for 802.11n products. If you’re in the market for new kit, this is the logo to look out for.

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n builds on the success of our draft-n certification program and marks a point of maturity in 802.11n technology,” said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. “Our expanded testing and branding program helps ensure the best user experience in the context of the Wi-Fi industry’s continued innovation and the evolving landscape of products implementing next-generation Wi-Fi.”

The new logo is longer than the older logo and shows all the protocols that the device supports, going all the way back to 802.11a. Additionally, some devices with specific features will be labeled as “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED dual-stream n” or “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED multi-stream n.”

September 17th, 2009

Are you worried that your cellphone is harming you?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 3:09 am

Categories: Gadgets

Tags: Cell Phone, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

I’ve had a cellphone for well over 15 years now and not a week goes by where I don’t come across a study or report that suggests that using (or sometimes even just holding) my cellphone is in one way or another causing me harm.

Are you worried that your cellphone is harming you?

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Despite all the reports and studies, I feel that there’s very little science behind much of what is said. I’m not surprised by that given that any time there’s any sort of widespread liability issue that even touches on big business, there’s a vested interest in keeping everything as muddy and unclear as possible. Most reports I’ve read which suggest that cellphone usage is bad for us seem to be filled with menacing words such as “radiation”, “tumors” and “cancer” but the actual science seems flimsy Read the rest of this entry »

September 15th, 2009

Zune HD teardown

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 11:26 am

Categories: Gadgets, In the news, Microsoft, Mobile Technology

Tags: Apple iPod, Microsoft Zune, Battery, Apple iPod Touch, Battery Capacity, Engineering, Digital Music, Digital Media, Processors, Personal Technology

I love teardowns, which is why one of my favorite websites is iFixit (I like the site because they tear stuff down so I don’t have to!). Today they take a brand new Zune HD and strip it down for us.

And sparing no expense, they rip apart a 32GB “Platinum” Zune HD!

Some highlights of the teardown:

• iFixit describe the OLED screen as “cutting-edge technology” and “something we haven’t seen in any Apple devices yet.” It’s 1mm thin and seems more rugged than LCD panels
• The Zune is lightweight at 2.6 oz (74g), some 35% lighter than a comparable iPod touch.
• The device is held together with with tamper-proof tri-wind screws.
• There doesn’t seem to be any warranty-voiding stickers to mess with when taking the device apart, and iFixit describe the Zune HD as “both pretty and serviceable at the same time.”
• The processor is an NVIDIA Tegra 2600 processor supporting OpenGL ES 2.0 and programmable pixel shaders. That one chip is a CPU, GPU, northbridge, southbridge and memory controller all in one package.
  
• To the left of the Tegra is the Kionix KXSD9 accelerometer.
• There also a SiPORT HD Radio receiver (the HD stands for Hybrid Digital) which supports AM, FM, HD Radio, Microsoft MSN Direct Data Services, and a whole host of other frequencies (including Weather Band) and Hynix H5MS1G22MFP J3M 926A DDR SDRAM.
• The battery capacity is 660 mAh. That’s about 16% less than the 789 mAh battery in the new iPod touch.
• WiFi is handled by an Atheros AR6002 which, unlike the chip inside the new iPod touch, this does not support 802.11n.

For more inside shots, visit iFixit.

August 31st, 2009

Your next PC .. next year and the year after!

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 4:31 am

Categories: Components, Cutting Edge, Gadgets, Gaming, Graphics, Hardware, Industry, Mobile Technology, New-Tech

Tags: PC, Graphics, Intel Corp., Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

People seem to be very interested as to what the PC they’ll buy in the future will be like. Well, by taking a look at what technologies hardware vendors such as Intel and AMD have already announced, we can make some educated guesses!

2010

The big hitter of 2010 will be Intel as it plans to introduce the the six-core 32nm behemoth to the Core i9 Extreme line, currently codenamed “Gulftown”. his monster piece of silicon will be able to handle 12 threads and will debut at a clock speed of 2.4GHz.

Also from Intel will be the 32nm Clarkdale processors that feature integrated graphics. These chips will Read the rest of this entry »

August 17th, 2009

Is $99 too expensive for the Apple App Store?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 12:02 pm

Categories: Apple, Gadgets, Software

Tags: Apple iPhone, TomTom, Apple Inc., App, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

For a mere $99 you can transform your iPhone into an in-car navigation device. But is this app too expensive for the App Store?

TomTom for the iPhone sounds too me like a brilliant app. In fact, there are features of the app that I really like the sound of, such as being able to flip between landscape and portrait. I’m already a big TomTom fan and have traveled thousands of miles with my trusty TomTom GO 920 to keep me company. If TomTom for the iPhone is of the same caliber as other TomTom gear I’ve handled, it’ll be a robust, solid bit of kit.

But is $99 too expensive for the App Store? After all, the App Store feels like a race to the bottom in terms of quality and price. I’ve bought a few apps for my iPod touch, and while I’ve been pleased with some (Twitterific and Bejeweled 2 spring to mind), but to find this small nuggets of gold you have to sift through a lot of Read the rest of this entry »

August 13th, 2009

Can Zune HD topple the iPod touch?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 7:26 am

Categories: Entertainment, Gadgets

Tags: Apple iPod, Microsoft Zune, Apple iPod Touch, Zune HD, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Microsoft is having a hard time breaking into the portable media player market, but can the combination of the Zune HD, along with undercutting Apple be what finally works?

The Zune so far really wasn’t the success that Microsoft had hoped that it would be. Or, to put it more bluntly, compared to Apple, it’s been a flop. OK, not a total flop, but lets just say it didn’t live up to the hype.

The Zune HD seems different to other devices in the Zune lineup. It’s basically an iPod touch without the App Store. In fact, in some ways it’s better than the iPod touch in that it offers HD radio and a OLED screen. And here’s the sweet part - Microsoft has confirmed that a Zune HD with 16GB of storage will sell for $219.99, while the 32GB version will set you back $289.99. Compare this to the iPod touch, where Apple wants $299 for the 16GB model and a Read the rest of this entry »

July 29th, 2009

Dead-Finger Tech: My three "must have" bits of tech!

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 5:02 am

Categories: Gadgets

Tags: Software, Password, USB Flash Drive, IronKey 8GB, Flash Memory, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

When I was asked to come up with a list of my “Dead-Finger Tech” of things that my IT day revolves around, it took me about 2.5 seconds to come up with my top three things.

Gadget: IronKey 8GB

I have literally hundreds of USB flash drives littered about the place, but my every-day carry is an IronKey 8GB. The problem with regular flash drives is that I either had to encrypt the data that was on the drive or just take a chance that I wouldn’t lose it. I don’t have this any more thanks to the IronKey. Everything in strongly encrypted automatically.

The IronKey is a USB flash drive with a difference. Not only do you have an ultra-tough and waterproof drive where the delicate innards are protected by being encased in hard epoxy and then then wrapped in a tough metal shell (believe me, this thing is tough) but you get all the benefits of always-on hardware encryption. No more having to mess about with software driver of applications. Because all the encryption is done by hardware all the data is protected against cold-boot and brute force attacks.

At $199 for 8GB, the IronKey isn’t cheap, but it’s also no ordinary flash drive. If you fear losing your data, then the IronKey is a mush-have gadget.

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July 2nd, 2009

Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for Jul/Aug 09

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 12:22 am

Categories: Gadgets, Gaming, Graphics, Hardware

Tags: Performance, Antec, Board, Overclocking, Motherboard, Price, CPU, Intel Corp., Core, GTX 295

Welcome to the updated and revamped Hardware 2.0 “Very Best Kit List” for Jul/Aug 09. Here I’ve put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you’re thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!

These components are on this list because I firmly believe them to be the best either in terms of performance or price - although I’m ready to admit, as always, that there’s room for debate and some choices “go with the gut” more than others.

NOTE: Each time I come out with a list of kit I always end up fielding a few emails and comments from people wondering if companies have “bought” space on the list. Let me tell you now that the only way for a product to get on this list is to be the best - period. Manufacturers, vendors and PR companies have zero influence over this or any other recommendation that I make.

Also note: I’m looking to expand this list by adding more categories and components. If you’d like to see anything added, let me know!

Final note: All prices are approximate … shop around for the best deals!

Next –>