MINI PCsPUT TO THE TEST

Plus• The Once Popular ActivitiesWe've All Abandoned

• How To Choose A BagFor Your Laptop

• Google's Latest BigProduct Announcements

- Backlash over 'forced'Windows 10 upgrades- Big write-down on mobilephone business- Unhappy customers

£2.50

09 15 JUNE2016 ISSUE1417

tinyurl.com/mm1417mm

TROUBLESMICROSOFT HITS

SOWHAT'SGOINGWRONG?

Customise your new PC and make it your own with our PC customiserView many more great PC offers atwww.cclonline.com

Designed for 4K gaming and deliveringultimate gaming performance!

DELIVERED

GTX 1080

SLI CCL IRIS 4KGaming PC

2473£1465A gaming powerhouse!

Now with the brand new GTX 1080!

£DELIVERED

CCL Omega ProGaming PC

NEW

GX 1080!

699£Limited offer, save over £50 on this PC!

VR Ready with room to upgrade.

DELIVERED

CCL Horizon 100Gaming PC

FREE

GAME

CCL Gaming PC Ranges specifically designed to get the most from today’s popular games.

CCL Tower 400Business PC

725Hugely powerful system for anyoffice or business environment!

DELIVERED

£

INCREDIBLY

POWERFULCC a Pro 200Home PC

589Quad-Core Skylake Technology

with blistering SSD speed

DELIVERED

£

OS

GCC a 0

H PC

295£Skylake Pentium processor provides

the latest Intel technology

DELIVERED

n l P um G 3 3G z4GB DDR4

1TB Hard D eWindow 0

LP

r

CCL Ho e d g s off g h b l f ll he home and office computing needs.

www.cclonline.com

Prices correct at time of going to publishing(2nd June 2016). Images & designs

are for illustrative purposes only. Monitors and desktopbundles are available separately. Please call for details.

call: 08000 50 10 10visit: www.cclonline.com/pc email: pcsales@cclonline.comfind us: CCL Computers Ltd, Inmoor RoadOff Cross Lane, Bradford, BD11 2PS

Latest Windows 10 and

Why choose CCL for your new PC?

FREE Next DayDelivery

FREE Help andSupport

3 Year Warrantyas Standard

Skylake PCs from CCL

w . lo l . om

puters Ltd recommends Windows

Bu s

l i5-6500 3.2GHz8GB DDR4

120GB SSD2TB HDD

Windows 10

ntel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz16GB DDR4250GB SSD

1TB HDDWindows 10

l Core i5-6600K 3.9G z8GB DD 4

240GB SSD, 2TB H DGeForce GTX 1080

Windows 0

el Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz16GB DDR4

256GB M.2, 2TB HDD2x GeForce GTX 1080 SLI

Windows 10

l e i5-6500 3.2G zGB DDR4 2400Mhz

1TB HDDWindows 0

FREE DOOM Ga e

View many more printer offers at www.cclonline.com/printers

This printer is ideal for up to 5 userswith great connection choices

DELIVERED

Print only (automatic double-sided)38 ppm Print Speed, 1,200x1,200dpi

BrotherHL-5450DNLaser Printer

169£140Mobile and tablet connectivity including

AirPrint and Google Cloud print.

£DELIVERED

BrotherHL-L8250CDNLaser Printer

Up to 28ppm mono/colour print speedAutomatic 2-sided and booklet printing

106£

Go bigger with 9.3cm touchscreen and330-sheet paper capacity!

Print up to A3. Copy, Scan, Fax up to A4Automatic 2-sided printing. Wireless ready

DELIVERED

BrotherMFC-J5620DWInkjet Printer

More Deals on Brother Range of Printers:

I C

Y

PO

UL

www.cclonline.com

Prices correct at time of going to publishing(2nd June 2016). Images & designs

are for illustrative purposes only. Monitors and desktopbundles are available separately. Please call for details.

call: 08000 50 10 10visit:www.cclonline.com email: sales@cclonline.comfind us: CCL Computers Ltd, Inmoor RoadOff Cross Lane, Bradford, BD11 2PS

BrotherMFC-J5320DWAll-In-OneWireless Colour Inkjet Printer

www.cclonline.com

Print up to A3Copy, Scan & Fax up to A422mono / 20 colour ipm print speeds6.8cm colour touchscreen LCDAutomatic 2-sided printUSB +Wireless +Wired Connectivity250 sheet paper capacity

82.50£Ultra-efficient, high-quality A4 print, copy and scan from thewireless, compact device with class-leading print speed, mobileand cloud connectivity and added A3 capability – not to mentionwaste reducing 2-sided print, 250 sheet paper capacity and thelowest cost of ownership in its class.

SAVE £48!

SAVE £100! SAVE £98! SAVE £57!

This week...

08Has MicrosoftLost Its Way?The recent controversy over the aggressive pushing ofWindows 10 is causing some understandable backlash,but that’s not all Microsoft has to worry about. In fact,it’s having all kinds of problems at the moment. What,then, can it do to get things back on track? David Crookesassesses the situation

18 Google I/O 2016Never one to stand still, Google has been hard at work,developing new software and hardware products. We knowthis because, as it’s done previously, it announced a wholeraft them at its annual I/O conference. We’ve been looking atwhat was unveiled, and musing on how it will affect us all

24Budget Laptop BagsIf you wanted to, you could spend several hundred poundson a bag or case for your laptop, but if you don’t havethat kind of money, then do not despair. There are plentyof decent bags you can get for less than 50 quid – andsome of them even have wheels! If you’re looking for aconvenient way to carry around your notebook PC, thenthis guide is for you

50 PC Sticks On TestIf you ever needed proof of how far we’ve come, justconsider the PC on a stick. These tiny devices can runa full copy of Windows, despite being not much largerthan your average USB pen drive. To help you choose thePC stick that’s right for you, we’ve been looking at six ofthem, and what they offer

Contents08

Has MicrosoftLost ItsWay?

BudgetLaptop Bags

24

18Google I/O 2016

58 Social MediaBuffer AppsWhether we like it or not, social media is a big deal.It’s particularly useful for businesses, whether large orsmall. But if you’re busy with other matters, you mightstruggle to find time to update your Twitter or whatever.Thankfully, there are apps that can help, by letting youwrite your posts all at once, before publishing themthroughout the day. Aaron Birch looks at what’s available

62 Things We’veStopped DoingRemember when you used to defragment your hard driveon a regular basis? Or when you burned all your importantfiles to a CD to keep them safe? So do we, but can youremember when you did it last? Maybe not... because, likea lot of things, it’s become largely unnecessary. Join us aswe look at more activities we’ve abandoned

Also InThis Issue...30Remembering

David Hayward looksback at one of hisfavourite game series

31 Alphabet PiWe continue our strollthrough the world of theRaspberry Pi

57 Top 5This week, we puttogether a small rogue’sgallery of cybercriminals

86Crowdfunding CornerTwo more interestingprojects that havecaught our eye

87 App Of The WeekThrow out all ideas ofreality with MonumentValley

Issue 1417 5

Group TestPC Sticks

50 Hannspree Micro PC51 Archos PC Stick52 Lenovo Ideacentre Stick

300 Lenovo IdeacentreStick 300

53 Intel Compute Stick54 ASUS Chromebit CS1055 MeeGoPad T0256 Sum up

Reviews42 Asus Zenpad 10 ZD300C

With Keyboard Dock43 27” Samsung Curved

Monitor44 TP-LINK Archer VR2600

VDSL/ADSL2 GigabitModem Router

46 Portrait Professional 1547 Corsair SF Series PSU

450W48 From Bedrooms to

Billions: The Amiga Years49 Lumo

Experts82 Ask Aaron84 Ask Jason

Specialists68 Linux Mart69 Amiga Mart70 Mobile Mart71 Hardware Mart72 Gaming Mart

News34 Your Letters36 The Latest News

Regulars32 Subscriptions74 Ad Index76 IT Essentials78 Classifieds88 Logging Off

SAVE A BUNDLESubscribe to Micro Mart

today and save 24% on theshop price.

Call 0844 844 0082Basic annual rate

UK: £77.50Europe: £185

Rest of World: £340

Online subscriber serviceChange your address and renew your

subscription atwww.subsinfo.co.uk

Email:micromart@servicehelpline.co.uk

58Social Media Buffer Apps

PC Sticks OnTest50

SUPERB MORGAN BARGAINS WITH 10% DISCOUNT!*

Get an extra 10% OFF most new sale items or almost anything on our site!

Enter the promotional code MMTEN at the checkout online and see your prices reduce byan extra 10%! OR call FREEPHONE 0800 008 7451 and we’ll do the work for you!

Just visit our website todaywww.morgancomputers.co.uk

MASSIVE COMPUTING SALE!WITH AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT*

E&EO. All trademarks are acknowledged. Prices are subject to change without notice. Our terms and conditions of trading apply. Copies are available on request.*The extra 10% discount is unavailable on a very few selected products

£359.96NOWONLYPart Code:47509

DELL C1760NW COLOUR LASER

Part Code: 47531

HP 8000 ELITE SPECIAL!

ACER CLOUDBOOK 14" DUAL CORE LAPTOP£224.96NOWONLY

Now with an incredible 8GB DDR3 RAM, a Massive1TB HDD,WiFi and a 1GB Graphics card the reliableand powerful 3.0GHz Core2Duo Intel processor willmake short work of most tasks!Intel Core 2 Duo E8400/3 GHz (Dual-Core)3.0 Ghz 8GB RAM (installed)/16 GB (max)1TB - SATA DVD/CD Stereo SoundNetwork:Wi-Fi & Gigabit LAN Asus G210 GraphicsUltra Small: 33.8 cm x 37.9 cm x 10 cmWindows 7 Professional Operating System

TOPSPEC! LOWPRICE!

HP Z400 QUAD CORE TOWER PC

£359.96NOWONLY CALLNOW!Part Code:

4346

Hard Disk

1TB

G210Graphics

3.0GHz

RAM

8GB

PRO

MASSIVE COMPUTING SALE!SUPERB MORGAN BARGAINS WITH 10% DISCOUNT!*EXTRA

Get an extra 10% OFF most new sale items or almost anything on our site!

Enter the promotional code MMTEN at the checkout online and see your prices reduce byan extra 10%! OR call FREEPHONE 0800 008 7451 and we’ll do the work for you!

Just visit our website todaywww.morgancomputers.co.uk

WITH AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT*

AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNTPRICESINCLUDE

Go to our website and place your order for anyof theses superb offers. Enter your specialpromo code MMTEN at the checkout onlineto enjoy these specially reduced deals

PRICES SHOWN INCLUDES An EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT* Buy most of theseproducts and claim a special MicroMart readers ONLY extra 10% discount!

An impressive & powerful PC – Designedfor multi-tasking and high performance

applications, programs andmore!

Top Specification, Wireless,Network Colour Laser!

All we ask is that you buy a few IJT branded cartridgesand we’ll send you the printer ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Part Code: 41820

£134.96NOWONLYTop spec Intel Celeron and fast SSD driveprovides power, speed and versatility froma great responsive all round laptop. ComeswithWindows 10 OS as standard and a oneyear subscriptions to Office 365 Personal.

Light, powerful and easy to use! A stunningultra light touch screen laptop that runs

Windows 10 has a fast Quad core processor,plenty of hard drive space and RAM to runevery day apps and programswith ease. Usekeyboard, mouse or screen and interact betterthan ever at a fraction of the original price.

RAM 32Gb SSDGB2

1.6 GHz Intel® Celeron® N3050 Processor(2.16 GHz with Turbo Boost)2 GB RAM 32 GB Solid State Drive14”1366 x 768 Hi-Res LED Bright Screen802.11 b/g/nWi-Fi Bluetooth 4.0USB 3.0 port USB 2.0 port HDMISD Card Reader IntegratedWebcam

2.9Ghz Turbo i7 processor8GB RAM 128Gb Solid State Drive

13.3”HD Wifi Ethernet

Part Code:42537

All Pricesinclude VATMonday to Friday8.30AM TO 6.00PM

Perfect for both work and play,the Acer Cloudbook 14” laptop

offers great-value home computing!MAJOR PRICEREDUCTION!

Intel Xeon Quad Core 3.06GHz Processor16GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM

2TB Hard Drive DVD SuperMulti Optical DrivenVidia Quatro 2000 1GB 3D Graphics CardSupplied withWindows 7 Professional OS

and eligible for FREE upgrade toWindows 10

FAST HI-RES PRINTING! 600 x 600 dpi - 15 ppm Black & 12 Colour ppmTOP QUALITY! Via Dell Clear View LED printing technology

WIRELESS & USB! ROBUST!With 30,000 pages per month duty cycle!

Toshiba Portege R930 Powerhouse Laptop!lightning fast 13.3” laptop withsuperb graphics & SSD Drive!

£1300+WAS (PastAmazon Price)

LOWEST PRICE EVER!

PRINTEROFFER!FREE

Price shown is after special discount

Go to our website and place your order for any ofthese superb offers at our standard discount price.Enter your special promo codeMMTEN at the checkout online to enjoy these specially reduced deals!

PRICES SHOWN INCLUDES AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT* Buy most of theseproducts and claim a special MicroMart readers only extra 10% discount!

GET A COPY OFOUR CATALOGUE!Scan this QR code to go online,order your free catalogue and

we will rush you our latestgreatest offers by post

IMPRESSIVE APPLE 13.3" MC516 MACBOOKSuperb Apple MacBook -No detail overlooked or

underthought. Top quality!

HP ENVY 15-AH150NA LAPTOP

The MacBook series always offers great reliability, style andthe renowned apple OS. Now enjoy one for less! These fastcapable MacBooks are now updated and running the newer

iOS 10.10 Yosemite and are at the low price of under £300 Inc VAT!

P owerful Quad AMD processors and custom designed Radeon graphicsprocessor system, combined with Bang & Olufsen Audio make this 2TBlaptop suitable for gaming, power users as well as day to day use. Also

featuring a metal body its far more durable than cheap plastic alternatives!

1.8 GHz AMD Quad-Core A10-8700P APU Processor with up to 3.2 GHz, 2MB cache Radeon™ R6 Graphics 8 GB RAM 2 TB Hard Drive

15.6”(1920 x 1080) FHD IPS Anti-GlareWLED-backlit ScreenWi-Fi Ethernet Bluetooth 4.0 USB 3.0 x 3, USB 2.0 x 1 HDMIMemory Card Reader HD webcam Bang & Olufsen with 2 speakersand 1 subwoofer Sound Windows 10 (64-bit) Operating System

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz Processor 13.3”HD Screen 4GB RAM250GB SATA Hard Drive DVD-RW Optical Drive2 x USB 2.0 Ports WiFi Ethernet WebcamMicrophone Mac OS x 10.10 Yosemite OS

£296.96NOWONLY

£356.96NOWONLYSPECIAL NEW PRICE WITH AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT

NEW LOW PRICE WITH AN EXTRA 10% DISCOUNT

QUAD CORE HIGH SPECWINDOWS 10 HP LAPTOP UNDER £400

Part Code:47557

Part Code:475206

CORE!QUAD

What’s the definition of Windows multitasking?Screwing up several things at once!

Okay, we’re getting our coats... but, as lamea joke as that may be, it isn’t just another cheap

way of bashing Microsoft and its operating system, which stillleads the market. For a good while now, the Redmond giant hasbeen a spinner of plates, a company that has sought to entervarious markets and take on all comers and yet, in trying to doeverything all at once, it has fallen far short in some areas ofwhere it could actually be.

To some degree, there is a sense of a checklist being tickedoff one by one. Compete against Google in the search enginespace? Tick. Try to knock iOS and Android off their perch? Tick.Make it big in the virtual reality/augmented reality space? Tick.The list goes on and on, with some successes, some failures –but Microsoft watchers could see it all coming. Three years ago,

Microsoft has been attractingmore brickbats and blows thanbouquets recently, but what doesthis mean – and is it justified?

HasMicrosoftLost ItsWay?

Issue 1417 9

HAS MICROSOFTLOST ITS WAY?

Microsoft’s then-CEO Steve Ballmer admitted that the companyhad been focussing too much on Windows and it prompted asea change in the organisation’s thinking.

Ballmer was reflecting on the company’s unenviable task ofbattling against Apple, a company it once thought it had seenoff, only to see it come back strong thanks to the iPhone and iOS.Apple was making Ballmer and Microsoft rethink its past and thefuture. “If there’s one thing I regret, there was a period in the early2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do aroundWindows that we weren’t able to redeploy talent to the new deviceform factor called the phone,” Ballmer told Business Insider.

That thinking led to a bold decision, and one which annoyeda good number of shareholders: Ballmer looked to reorganiseMicrosoft so that it would focus on ‘devices and services’. Itwas essentially a message to the world that the firm’s traditionalbusiness model, which had stood it in good stead for a good 30years or so, wasn’t working any more; that it had to do more thanjust develop and sell software. Six weeks later, Ballmer announcedhe was stepping down, but the message was loud and clear. Notonly has it been the wheel that has steered the ship since, SatyaNadella has continued in the same direction, to a point at least.

Service, PleaseOne of the general themes surrounding Windows in recent yearshas been ‘Windows as a Service’, in keeping with what was putforward in 2013. It was a confusing and vague term even backthen, but it boiled down to Microsoft wanting one operatingsystem for which it could steadily roll out predictable updates,features and functionality and keep everyone at the same level.Underpinning all of this was a burning desire to unite the splitWindows user base. Microsoft wanted – and still wants – toput Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 andWindows 8.1 in a steel coffin and bury them once and for all.

The way it has gone about it has rankled, though. At first,Windows 10 was introduced gently. It was free for anyone withWindows 7 and Windows 8 and 8.1 and there seemed to be

Anyone buying anunlocked Lumia 950 XL fromthe Microsoft Store in the USbefore 1 May was given a freeLumia 950

Play OnMicrosoft made some mistakes with the launch of theXbox One. Not only was priced it higher than Sony’sPlayStation 4, it was going to require an always-oninternet connection and come with Kinect motionsensor as standard. Just as bad, used games were set tobe banned from being played on it. As you’d expect,it incurred the wrath of gamers and before long ablog post (news.xbox.com/2013/06/19/update) said aninternet connection would not be required and usedgames would continue to be playable just as they hadalways been.

In 2014, the Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, admittedMicrosoft had made a mistake but with a focus verymuch on games, he went full steam ahead. Althoughthe console is still said to be lagging behind the PS4which is outselling Xbox One by as many as two toone, it is still selling 97% better than the Xbox 360was a the same stage and, by all accounts, it is doingvery well, thank you.

A slimmer, less expensive machine is due to belaunched very soon together with a couple of Xboxstreaming devices and there have been some decentexclusives including Forza Motorsport 6, some coolXbox-first titles such as Rise Of The Tomb Raider andan expected forthcoming goody in Halo Wars 2. PCgaming is also very buoyant with Windows 10 Gamesoptimised specifically for the operating system andusing Xbox accessories. Lots of Xbox games such asQuantum Break and Gears of War Ultimate Edition areavailable for Windows 10 computers. It’s a winner forMicrosoft showing it’s nowhere near Game Over yet.

cred

itEv

an-A

mo

s

Issue 141710

a choice. You either wanted it or you didn’t – it was entirelyoptional. However, as the weeks and months went by, Microsoftappeared to take some element of choice away. First, it madeWindows 10 a Recommended Update, which meant that it wouldquietly download on to people’s systems. If the settings allowedRecommended Updates to be automatically installed, then itwould suddenly appear on people’s machines: bewildering for agreat many and downright annoying for those who realised whatwas happening.

It is a controversy that has not gone away, and it certainlyhasn’t helped that Microsoft has denied forcing Windows 10upgrades on people. There is a whole swathe of Windows10 holdouts crying foul over the heavy-handed nudging itis employing to get the operating system on to as manycomputers as possible. This, they say, is not a crucial securityfix – the reason why they have Recommended Updates set toautomatically install. It is, they contend, all a bit underhand andwell, not very nice.

To make things worse, there have also been on-screenmessages which seem to give no choice. Users were seeingoptions for “Start download now” and “Start download,upgrade later.” Some were being faced with “Upgrade now”and “Upgrade tonight”. For those who didn’t want to do

anything, there was seemingly no option to say, “forget aboutit, leave me alone, please”. The way to do with was to close thewindows. It would come back again and again, though, and itdidn’t get around the fact that a plain and simple, “no”, didn’tseem to be on the cards.

Microsoft did relent and change the way it prompted the‘recommendation’ for those who hadn’t set upgrades to installautomatically, but it was accompanied by a small link that neededto be clicked to express the negative. This still didn’t dampendown the anger of users, however, and only now is there a chinkof light on the horizon for those who just do not want Windows10. That’s only because, as of July 29th, the free upgrade periodis coming to an end – and, when that time comes, Microsofthas said that it will turn off the ‘Get Windows 10’ app so themessages prompting an upgrade will finally discontinue.

“Details are still being finalised,” Microsoft told WinBeta,“but on July 29th, the Get Windows 10 app that facilitates theeasy upgrade to Windows 10 will be disabled and eventuallyremoved from PCs worldwide. Just as it took time to ramp upand roll out the Get Windows 10 app, it will take time to rampit down.” After that date, anyone who does want to upgradewill have to pay £100, the same as it currently costs to upgradefrom a Windows XP or Vista computer although it will remainfree for those who use its ‘assistive tools’.

Which Path?The grumbles have been seen as an indicator that Microsoft islosing its way. That mere suggestion would dishearten the company,because it was an accusation being levelled at it long beforeWindows 10 was launched. It shows that, while one problem wassolved (Windows 10 being infinitely better than Windows 8 and8.1), other niggles continue to hold it back. Just as in September2014, when Forbes contributor Adam Hartung was highlighting “the

The Windows 10 brandisn’t enough for people whouse Android or iOS

HOSTING? ONLY THE SAFEST!

DOMAINS | WEBSITES | HOSTING | CLOUD SERVERS

SAFE!SAFEST OF THE

1&1 provides the highest standard of protection available! Show your online visitors thattheir security is your top priority with: SSL Certificate included

Certified data centresGeo-redundancyDDoS protection

SSL CERTIFICATEHIGHEST SECURITYEXCLUSIVE TO 1&1!

INCLUDED

1and1.co.ukVisit 1and1.co.uk for full product details, terms and conditions. 1&1 Internet Limited, Discovery House, 154 Southgate Street, Gloucester GL1 2EX.

TRIALTRY FOR30 DAYS1 MONTH

SHORT TERMCONTRACTS1 CALL

SPEAKTOAN EXPERT1

0333 336 5509

Issue 141712

week Microsoft lost relevancy” (he brought attention to televisionannouncers referring to Surface tablets as iPads in the wake of a dealbetween Microsoft and the NFL, which allowed teams to use thedevices during games) so today, many are asking, “what now?”

It’s fair to say that things are not as bad as in 2012, whenit was Vanity Fair questioning the company’s mojo. Back thenWindows 8 was still in preview and Windows Phone 7 wassuffering poor sales (a demo of its voice-to-text messagingfunctionality reached embarrassing heights when it just plainfailed to work). Journalist Kurt Eichenwald painted a bleak

picture of the company saying Microsoft had suffered “a decadelittered with errors, missed opportunities, and the devolutionof one of the industry’s innovators into a ‘me too’ purveyor ofother people’s consumer products.”

It was hard to argue against that. Windows 8 didn’t help thesituation much, either.

Jumping back to 2016: while the share price is now around$52 (up from $34.20 when Nadella became CEO two years ago)and while Windows 10 is – in itself – an excellent operatingsystem, people are still seeing fit to pick fault. Then there is stillthe ‘small’ matter of mobile, a market sector that Microsoft has

barely dented, and shows no sign of working out. Figures suggestthat Microsoft still has only 1% of the total mobile space, whichis unsurprising given the sheer dominance of iOS and Android.Edging into that party would take something special, andWindows 10 on mobile just isn’t that. Not yet, at any rate.

Phone homeIn order to give its mobile division a boost, Microsoft boughtNokia’s mobile device business in September 2013, concluding thedeal on April 15th, 2014. By October, it had begun to phase outthe Nokia name in favour of its own, its first handset being theLumia 535 in November 2014, and the latest being the MicrosoftLumia 950 (together with its bigger-screen sibling, the 950 XL).

The 950 – released late last year – was the first phone to haveWindows 10 installed on it, and it was a decent enough handset.Microsoft went for a more understated black or white design withthe phone, while allowing the backs to be swapped out with morecolourful plastic alternatives from other manufacturers. Microsoftalso added some nice touches – or non-touches, if you like -such as an iris recognition system to unlock the screen. The 950included a great 20MP camera, a vastly superior pixels per inchwhen compared to the iPhone (564 to 326ppi) and even a decentenough battery life. It should have done okay, to be fair.

Fast forward six months from its launch, though, and Microsoftwas embarrassingly selling the handset as part of a BOGOF deal.Yes, anyone buying an unlocked Lumia 950 XL from the MicrosoftStore in the US before May 1st was given a free Lumia 950 –and with sales of just 2.3 million handsets in the most recentquarter, a drop of some 6.3 million from the same time the yearprevious, its something of a low point. The smart money was noton the firm’s smartphone, then, but rather on Microsoft decidingenough was enough in terms of making mobile hardware. Latein mid-May the firm sold its feature phone business to a Foxconn

Nadella is a safe pair ofhands and one suspects he knowswhere Microsoft’s strengths andweaknesses lie

From Zero to 100 MB/sin the flap of a wing

www.buffalo-technology.com

New user interface

Buffalo™ Technology’s LinkStation™ 510 and 520 are customisable, largecapacity Network Attached Storage solutions with great flexibility. Both featurea robust Dual Core processor and are super-fast with impressive start-up andshut down speed as well as read and write speeds up to 110 MB/s!

Populated 1 or 2-Bay NAS and 2-Bay NAS Enclosure

Fast and efficient Dual Core CPU

Read and write speeds up to 110 MB/s

Intuitive, super-responsive User Interface

WebAccess – easily access your data from anywhere

Enhanced Power Management: on/off scheduling, Wake on LAN,and HDD spin down

Issue 141714

subsidiary and then, on May 25th, the company announced afurther significant “streamlining” of its Nokia-derived Finnishoperation, which it’s estimated will involve something like 1,800job losses. Most reports characterised it as the end of the Nokiahardware experiment, certainly in terms of the consumer market.

Playing Catch-upIn many ways, this goes way back to Ballmer’s observations,showing that Microsoft was indeed playing catch-up on to havefound that the competition has driven too far ahead of it, makingit hard to make back the lost ground. One of the problems it hasin the phone space is that a lot of people are hooked into anecosystem that they are reluctant to swap for the unknown. TheWindows 10 brand isn’t enough for people who use Android oriOS: they are used to having app stores with more than 1.4 milliongoodies on offer. The Windows 10 store, by comparison, hasaround than half of that.

So it wouldn’t be a shock if Windows Phone is axed this year.There has been a lot of speculation that Microsoft’s is lookingto end its attempts to take on Apple and Samsung – especiallygiven the company is losing close to $1 billion on the businessand is making so many people redundant, the majority of themin Finland, between now and the Summer. If Microsoft doesdecide to pull out of the phone hardware market, it would be anail in the philosophy put forward by Ballmer when he tried tomove the focus away from software. Buying Nokia was his actand it’s not been one that Nadella has followed with the samekind of devotion. Nadella placed Nokia within the arms of theWindows division last year. The writing has been on the wall forsome months.

That’s not to say Windows 10 for mobile will disappear. Morelikely, development will continue for a while longer and dealswill be struck with other manufacturers. “We are focusing ourphone efforts where we have differentiation,” Nadella said in astatement. “We will continue to innovate across devices and onour cloud services across all mobile platforms.“

However, all of this comes on the back of $7.5 billion ofwritedowns and 7,800 redundancies in the phone division lastyear. Reducing the nominal value of such an asset to that degreewas an admission that the smartphone business was not ashealthy as it should have been.

“Upon completion of the annual testing as of May 1, 2015,Phone Hardware goodwill was determined to be impaired,”Microsoft said at the time. “In the second half of fiscal year2015, Phone Hardware did not meet its sales volume andrevenue goals, and the mix of units sold had lower margins thanplanned. These results, along with changes in the competitivemarketplace and an evaluation of business priorities, led toa shift in strategic direction and reduced future revenue andprofitability expectations for the business. As a result of thesechanges in strategy and expectations, we have forecastedreductions in unit volume growth rates and lower future cashflows used to estimate the fair value of the Phone Hardwarereporting unit, which resulted in the determination that animpairment adjustment was required.”

It doesn’t actually help that even Apple is ‘struggling’ inthe smartphone market (and we say that with strong invertedcommas). In April this year, iPhone sales fell for the first timesince the flagship smartphone was launched in 2007, an event

AThriving OfficeThe presence of free suites such as OpenOffice andLibreOffice has not dented the success of Microsoft’s Office,which has beennigh-on ubiquitous for since 1988. Availableto Windows, OS X, mobiles and tablets, it’s now up to Office2016 and allows for the creation, opening, editing andsaving of files in the cloud straight from the desktop.

Office Online has been a hit. It allows for closecollaboration on documents and the ability to holdSkype-enabled chats. Office has very much movedwith the times and it looks set to continue doing so.There are so many users who are au fait with its innerworkings that many companies would not contemplatechanging over. That’s not to say they would rule itout forever, though. The UK government has longbeen moving away from Microsoft towards the OpenDocument Format as a cost-saving measure.

Microsoft hasn’t taken such threats to Office lyingdown, however. For example, It put out a press releasein August last year saying Office 365 was 80% cheapercompared to OpenOffice. To back up the claim, it citedthe example of the City Council of Pesaro in Italy, whichhad spent €300,000 on installing OpenOffice only tohave issues with document formatting.

Issue 141716

that only goes to show the battle Microsoft faces. In a worldwhere iOS is perhaps not the force that it once was (in thefirst quarter of the year iPhone sales were 16% down on theprevious year and a worrying 32% down on the last quarter of2015), there is even less chance of Microsoft shaking things upwith Windows Phone. Even worse, Apple’s 51 million sold unitsdwarfs the Lumia’s revenue into insignificance.

Just as worrying for Microsoft is Apple’s continuing growth inthe desktop and laptop markets. Apple’s shipments are rising ina PC market that is otherwise declining. From the fourth quarterof 2014 to the fourth quarter of 2015, Apple grew by 2.8%while Acer dropped by 11.2% and HP fell by 8.1%. It wouldbe silly to say Windows is threatened by this – just walk intoa few offices, hospitals, universities or manufacturers and seehow many Apple Macs you spot compared to Windows PCs andyou’ll see what we mean – but even if Apple’s share is 4.5%overall, Microsoft can still be forgiven for being a bit envious.

TimeTo Experiment?So where does this leave Microsoft? For the next few years, it’sunlikely to be too worried. There are many positives such as the factthat Bing is starting to eat away at Google’s market share and openup a revenue source. Windows 10 is also ending up on millions ofcomputers and it could well achieve Microsoft’s desire of a billioninstalls by next year. The problem with gripes is that they eventuallybecome something rooted in the past. Give it a year or so and mostpeople will have likely forgotten how Windows 10 came to be ontheir machine and they’ll just be enjoying it instead.

From that point on, it’s anyone’s guess. Nadella is a safe pair ofhands and one suspects he knows where Microsoft’s strengths andweaknesses lie. The market is changing, though, with social mediacompanies such as Facebook having a greater say in the future oftechnology. In a lot of ways, it’s a time for experiments. Microsoft iscontinuing to do well in the field of artificial intelligence (even if it hadto delete it’s Tay chatbot because it was highjacked into loving AdolfHitler and spouting some pretty disturbing tweets). It is also turningheads with its Surface tablets at last (with some suggesting that it mayhave one last plunge into the phone pool with a Surface handset).

Then there’s HoloLens: the big one, an intriguing move awayfrom the VR tech that’s everywhere right now, and a glimpse atwhat augmented reality could bring us. The first major update forthe development edition has just been released and it can now runmultiple apps and make use of new voice commands. It’s multi-tasking and it’s working by all accounts. NASA has collaboratedwith Microsoft to recreate the experience of walking on Mars and itis being geared up for use in the military. It shows Microsoft can bea hit in hardware if it gets in there early enough. With HoloLens, itis leading the field and taking strides to victory. It could so easily beits big triumph.

That’s only one path, though, and Microsoft is treading many.While it is currently being bolstered by increased revenue ($98.58bn) and assets totalling $176.22bn, if Microsoft isn’t going to trulyget lost, it needs to get back some of the focus that it once felt didit no favours. It’s all well and good having fingers in lots of pies, butwhen there are too many holes it can start to look sloppy. So, whileit’s too early to say if Microsoft is in trouble – it is 41 years old andweathered so many storms that it should sail through – it is also nowvery much aware of the consequences of missing the boat. mm

Venturing ForthMicrosoft is making a renewed push in funding start-upswith the newly unveiled Microsoft Ventures. As well aslooking to make investments in companies it is curiousabout helping develop, the move will also help to buildits ecosystem. With the right choices, it should be able toexpand its horizons and keep its finger on the pulse.

Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president of MicrosoftVentures, said: “In Microsoft’s history of engaging withand supporting start-ups, we’ve done a lot of investing,but not a lot of early stage. Because we would ofteninvest alongside commercial deals, we were not a part ofthe early industry conversations on disruptive technologytrends. With a formalized venture fund, Microsoft nowhas a seat at the table.”

Issue 141718

Google I/O is all about motivatingand encouraging the developmentcommunity to build software forGoogle’s projects and products.

Apart from the keynote address anyone whoattends all three days can choose from scoresof in-depth sessions. This year, in a breakfrom tradition, it was held at the open airShoreline Amphitheatre venue in MountainView California. A move, in part, designed toaccommodate a larger developer audience,while also giving the event a new feel.

PositivityAs usual this Google I/O conference focusedon the positive and was full of upbeatmessages. There are lots of reasons to bepositive, too: for a start, Android is nowthe dominant mobile operating system,relegating Apple’s iOS to the number twoslot, and the Microsoft/Nokia smartphonechallenge is as good as dead.

Chrome-based products are anothera good news story. Despite being late tothe party, the Chrome Browser also sits atthe top of the charts and now boasts overone billion mobile users. The Chromebookbandwagon is rolling along nicely too,recently outselling the Apple Mac rangein the US. What’s more, the low-costChromeCast video and audio dongles arestill a popular purchase.

Last YearGoogle I/O 2016 had a very differentagenda to last year. In 2015, Androidcontent was still in evidence – specifically,the new features of Marshmallow – butthe 2015 keynote was packed full of newtechnology announcements. Developerswere entranced by Project Soli, whichcaptured tiny finger movements and fullhand gestures in three dimensions. Anothercrowd pleaser was Project Jacquard, which

puts a gesture interface right into the veryfabric of garments. Project Ara, the eagerlyanticipated modular smartphone, seemedto be a little closer and some new hardwareappeared for Project Tango and it’s 3Denvironment mapping capabilities.

None of these projects were mentionedin this year’s keynote, though. They are stillongoing, and some popped up in thosein-depth sessions, but this year the focuswas on core Google projects.

Conversational PushEarly on in the keynote Google CEO SundarPichai revealed that voice queries alreadyaccount for 20% of all mobile queries inthe US. He went on to explain that Googleintends to build on this momentum with anew breed of conversational user interfaces(CUI) powered by its machine learningtechnology. He also stressed that naturallanguage translation is advancing quickly

David Briddock examines all thebig announcements at Google’slatest developer conference

GoogleI/O 2016

Issue 1417 19

GOOGLE I/O 2016

and that, by training its learning algorithmsto deal with background noises, Google hadimproved voice translation accuracy by 25%.

Google’s AI capabilities have been ablydemonstrated by the recent Go boardgame challenge win, and its autonomousvehicle project. However, its TensorFlowsoftware – which powers natural languageprocessing and AI – requires a lot ofprocessing power. On stage Pichai revealedGoogle has built its own Tensor ProcessorUnit (TPU) chips that significantly enhance

AI processing power in its massive datacentres (see boxout).

Backed by all this advanced technology,plus a mammoth collection of personaliseddata, Pichai announced two newconversational user interface products calledGoogle Assistant and Google Home.

Assistant And HomeGoogle Assistant is a voice-powered, AI-enhanced app for mobile phones. In scopeit goes far beyond the simple queries andWikipedia-like answers currently offered byGoogle Now, Siri and the like. Here the goalis to enable smart conversations and deliverhuman-like intelligence.

The real benefits come from task basedinteractions. Here Google Assistant uses acollection of cloud-hosted AI ‘Bot’ services tosend text messages and emails, check traffic

conditions, book events, order taxis, makedinner reservations, buy goods and more.

Google Assistant is an attempt to makevoice interaction the preferred choicefor mobile device owners. Apple’s Siri,Microsoft’s Cortana and other mobileplatform players must now rise to theconversational challenge or risk dominationby Google apps and services.

In its next announcement Google tookaim at Amazon’s Echo voice interfaceproduct (goo.gl/rs6ijL). Google Home, due

to appear later in 2016, is a sleek colour-coordinated piece of smart-home hardware.Unsurprisingly, it’s designed to make themost of Google’s voice-powered technology.Apart from acting as a conversational hubGoogle Home can communicate with theNest Learning Thermostat (nest.com) andother home automation devices or act asa wi-fi speaker for music, podcasts, newsand so on. Once again Amazon, Apple andsmart home players must respond quickly toavoid their offerings appearing outdated.

Allo And DuoNext up on the keynote agenda wereAllo and Duo, two brand new socialcommunication smartphone apps. Allo isGoogle’s latest attempt at a messagingapp; the core functionality revolvesaround chat, along with new emojis and

stickers, but there’s also an innovativetext scaling feature to indicate a ‘shout’ or‘whisper’ plus an Inking mode for photoand image annotation. There is also anIncognito mode that delivers end-to-endencryption, discreet notifications and user-defined message expiration, but – unlikeWhatsApp and some other – this level ofprivacy does not come as standard.

That’s because, behind the scenes, Allobacked by a suite of AI software that needs toknow what you’re chatting about. Softwarethat can offer appropriate ‘Smart Reply’suggestions, or act as a front-end to GoogleAssistant. Features that put it in competitionwith the new Facebook Messenger.

Complementing Allo is Duo, a one-to-onevideo calling app. Duo’s advanced engineeringshould make video calling a more secure andmore reliable experience, even on slowernetworks. While the clever ‘Knock Knock’feature offers a live video preview of thecaller, before you’ve accepted the call.

Allo and Duo will officially launch insummer 2016 and target both Androidand Apple iOS devices.

Instant Apps redefine what’s meantby a smartphone app

KeyAnnouncementsGoogle AssistantGoogle HomeAllo appDuo appAndroid NAndroid Instant AppsAndroid VR ModeDaydreamAndroid Wear 2.0Android Auto update

Google I/O 2016 stage Google Home

Issue 141720

Android MomentumThese days we’ve come to expect a newalphabetically-named Android operatingsystem release every twelve months. Lastyear at I/O it was Marshmallow so this yearit’s the turn of ‘N’.

Since it was introduced 10 years agoAndroid has become the dominantmobile operating system. That’s thanks tomanufacturers around the world buildingmore and more Android devices. In factPichai said that there’d already been over600 new Android device launches in 2016.

It’s not all good news, though. Typicallyonly a limited number of new Androidhandsets install the most recent operatingsystem. This means Marshmallowinstallations account for well under 10%of the total number of active Androidhandsets. Of course, this isn’t whatdevelopers want to hear. They want towrite code that utilises the latest featuresand functionality. What they’re after is abigger incentive for manufacturers to installAndroid ‘N’. Google hopes to do just thiswith a raft of Android improvements amajor push into the VR marketplace.

Let’s look at what’s new in Android ‘N’first, then.

Android NAndroid N users will benefit from anumber of new features when it finally

appears later in the year. One keychange is that software updates nowhappen seamlessly in the background.This replicates what happens with theChrome browser, Chromebooks andother Chrome OS devices. Auto updatesimprove security, which has itself beenstrengthened with measures like file-levelencryption and updates to the AndroidSafety Net app verifier.

Android N needs less storage capacity,we’re told, and should run down thebattery more slowly than its predecessors.Multi-tasking support is also beingimproved through a new split screenmode for mobiles, plus a TV-centricpicture-in-picture capability. Notificationmanagement has also been simplified.

Performance was another priority forN. The new runtime is said to be between30% and 60% faster, and Google say itsnew Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler is 75%faster. What’s more, to improve graphicalperformance Google has its Vulcanengine, a low-overhead cross-platform APIfor high-performance 3D graphics.

Surprisingly, there’s no official name for‘N’ as yet. While all previous versions have,of course, been named after sweets andpuddings, this time around Google wantsmembers of the public to make suggestions(add yours at android.com/n). So, during theBeta phase the ‘N’ moniker will be retained.

DaydreamFor the last few years VR at Google wassynonymous with the cheap-as-chipsCardboard headset (goo.gl/RFaj6N). Duringthis period over five million have beenshipped and developers have put thousandsof Cardboard apps into the Play Store.

Cardboard will still be around, but tocompete with likes of Oculus Rift andSamsung Gear VR Google announced anew, higher quality VR platform calledDaydream. So what is it?

At this point Daydream consists of threethings: design specifications for a headsetviewer and Wiimote-like controller, a set ofhigh-end VR-ready smartphone specificationsand a new VR mode that’s built right intoAndroid N. Smartphone manufacturerswere given the new hardware specs sometime ago and will be including a powerfulgraphics processor (GPU) to make full useof the Vulcan graphics engine. The targetthey’ve been set is to reduce image latencydown to less than 20 milliseconds. MeanwhileGoogle and its partners are already buildingDaydream-spec viewers and controllers.

CUIConversational User Interfaces, or CUIs, are the next step in voice interfaceevolution. Appearing first on our mobile devices and within the home theyoffer the prospect of smart conversations. Which means we’ll spend much lesstime gazing at our screens.

CUI aim to be more precise, more intelligent and far more personal byutilising natural language recognition to piece together spoken phrases intomeaningful data. It won’t just recognise the words we say, but will understandthe context and intent behind our words.

Behind the scenes there’ll be an army of cloud-hosted AI Bots, smart servicesthat transform our spoken questions and requests into actions. Actions thatembrace social communication, scheduling and reminders, booking andreservations, local weather and traffic reports, instant purchasing and much more.

Allo messaging app

Daydream

#coacheffectfitter+healthier+happier

EFFECTTHE

The new health & fitness magazineFree every wednesday

Find out where at coachmag.co.uk

Issue 141722

As for apps, the stage presentationmentioned VR-enabled version of Googleapps like YouTube, Street View, PlayMovies, Google Photos and the PlayStore. Third party developers are alreadyworking with prototype hardware, sothere’ll be a sizeable collection of apps inthe Play Store when Daydream hardwarehits the shops, probably in the last quarterof this year.

Android Instant AppsIn addition to the VR push, Androiddevelopers had another reason to cheerwhen they heard the Instant Appsannouncement. Put simply: Instant Appsredefine what’s meant by a smartphoneapp and, at a stroke, neatly sidesteps thefrustrations developers encounter whentrying to construct apps that run smoothlyand bug-free on a cross-section of AndroidOS versions.

To understand how it works a littlebetter, let’s consider the web appexperience. When using such apps – like,say, Gmail or Google Docs – we just clickor tap an app link and it starts running.We don’t have to install something first –and we’ll always be running the most upto date version of the app.

Well, Instant Apps applies this scenarioto native smartphone apps. Tap a linkand few seconds later the latest versionof the app is running on your Androidsmartphone. This is possible because theapp is dynamically loaded from the cloudin a module-by-module fashion.

Developers will have to make somechanges to their app code it wouldseem, but once that’s done their InstantApp will work on a wide range Androidversions, from the JellyBean (4.1) rightup to Android N. These apps will evensupport Android Pay, and offer an optionto download and install a full version witha double tap action.

Android EverywhereOf course, Android isn’t just limited tosmartphones and tablets. There’s AndroidWear for your wrist, Android TV for yourhome and Android Auto for your car.Smartwatch developers can play aroundwith Android Wear 2.0. This major updatehas a much cleaner look, extra navigationgestures and watch face embeddedwidgets. Messaging now offers smartreplies, better handwriting recognitionand a new keyboard. Plus you can nowdownload apps direct from the Play Storeto your wrist.

Another key feature is standalone apps,which work without smartphone support.These apps can, say, start tracking yourrun, cycle ride or gym session immediatelywithout the need to communicate with asmartphone. So look out for a new rangeof Wear 2.0 smartwatches and fitnessgadgets later this year.

As for Google Auto, its three mostrequested features are coming: ‘OK Google’voice interface, Waze – a real-time animatedtraffic feedback app (waze.com) – integrationand seamless wireless networking, whichmeans you can interact with your smartphonewhile it’s still in your pocket.

Even better, you won’t actually needan Android Auto equipped car. Insteadthe Android Auto experience can bereplicated by an app running on anin-car console-docked Android handset.This includes turn-by-turn navigation,maps, messaging with auto-reply, voicecommands and so on.

Summing UpI/O remains the premier Google developerconference, but this year it was also anopportunity to launch a multi-prongedattack on its rivals. Siri and Cortanasuddenly look rather limited, Amazon’sEcho now has a strong competiton,Daydream will turn quite a few heads andAndroid Wear 2.0 erodes Apple Watch’svalue-for-money proposition still further.However, the majority of announcementswon’t see the light of day until later thisyear. So rivals have a six month time periodto respond if they can.

Will Google Home be a success? Wouldyou find the Allo app useful? Does theDaydream VR initiative sound exciting?Would you buy an Android Wear 2.0watch? We’d love to know so write to us atletters@micromart.com. mm

Tensor Processing UnitAll this conversational technology, natural language translation and smartintelligence required huge amounts of processing power. In fact, it’s led Googleto design its own Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU.

Built around an application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, these TPUsoptimise the performance of its TensorFlow neural-net-based machine learningsoftware. Google uses neural nets to map the web, identify objects and facesin photos, translate languages, identify spoken commands plus a whole hostof other pattern recognition scenarios.

A TPU board fits into the same sized slot as a hard drive and have beeninstalled in certain data centres for about a year. Google says these TPUsprovide, “an order of magnitude better-optimized performance per watt formachine learning” than other hardware solutions.

Of course, news of this chip making venture is bound to concern other chipmanufacturers like Intel and Nvidia.

Android Wear 2.0 input options

MINECRAFT

CHEATSSECRETS&

How tobeat yourenemies!

Leato

findi

s The bestrecipesrevealed!

Available Now!

Issue 141724

There’s no doubt we live in a world of smartphones and tablets,but there are still plenty of reasons to buy a laptop for yourmobile computing needs. Whether you want to write a few

letters, create some PowerPoint presentations or just make thingsblow up in the latest videogames, you’re better off doing it with afull-size keyboard and a decent-sized screen. And you’ll also findit easier to play non-standard media files that aren’t necessarilysupported by operating systems like iOS and Android.

If you do buy a laptop, though, then you’ll need a way to carry itaround, not only to make it less cumbersome, but also to protect itfrom accidental damage.

And as well keeping your machine safe, laptop bags and casesstraddle an area that covers both functionality and fashion. On onehand, they need to do the job of protecting your laptop, but on theother hand, you might also want one that looks good when you’recarrying it. As you might well expect, designer laptop bags are

Carry your notebook PC aroundin comfort and style – withoutbreaking the bank

Papa’s Got A BrandNew Laptop Bag

Issue 1417 25

LAPTOP BAGS

going to cost more than basic ones, but you also might pay morefor other features, including locks and solar panels for chargingyour laptop’s battery.

That’s all well and good, but you might not have huge amountsof cash to spend on a bag, especially if you’ve just spent abucketload on a new laptop. Thankfully, you don’t need to spenda lot to get a decent case or bag, as we’re going to show youhere. First, let’s kick things off by looking at the most basic level ofprotection: laptop sleeves.

SleevesRight now, you can walk into your local Currys and buy an EssentialsP15LS11 15.6” laptop sleeve for just £4.99 (goo.gl/AUzEjz). Wewouldn’t particularly recommend you do, though, unless yourlaptop never leaves your house, and you just want a way to carryit from one room to another – in which case, we’d suggest simplyusing your hands.

Yes, it’s an extremely basic sleeve, consisting of little more than ablack bag with a couple of handles. In fact, it’s most exciting featureis the inclusion of ‘dual zips’. Unfortunately, it just lacks enoughpadding to make it worth buying.

Head on to Amazon.co.uk, though, and you can find theiCozzier’ 13.3-14” Diamond Foam splash and shock resistantneoprene sleeve (goo.gl/SibCCU) for £11.99. This offers muchmore padding than the Currys sleeve, but it’s missing any kind ofhandles, so you’ll have to carry your computer under your armsor in a separate bag. Of course, at a maximum of 14 inches, yourlaptop is probably fairly light anyway, so a sleeve like this mightactually do the job.

If you do need handles, then check out the Falcon International16” laptop sleeve, which comes in at a piddly £9.77 from the PostOffice shop (goo.gl/fFGG17). Much like other laptop sleeves, it’sbasically a big zip-up wallet with some padding inside, but unlikea lot of other sleeves, this comes not only with handles, but also aremovable shoulder strap, so it’s close to being a full-blown carrycase. Plus it comes with a “detachable utility pouch”, which isapparently for you to store your stationery in. Personally, we’d callthat a pencil case, but there you go.

Soft CasesWith a proper full-size soft case, you can carry your laptop aroundin style, while also giving it enough protection to survive knocks andbumps and even the occasional fall. And although prices can be highfor such products, you can also get something perfectly serviceablefor less than £20.

Feel The PowerOne of the biggest problems with laptops is keeping theirbatteries topped up. Their large screens require a good dealof power to run, and firing up a game will drain your batteryin no time at all.

If you can’t find a plug socket, then you could carry aspare battery. Or you could let your laptop bag lend a hand,provided you buy one that has a battery pack built into it.

The Ampl Smart Backpack would be perfect for this, butcurrently this IndieGoGo-funded bag isn’t widely available,but you can go to ampl-labs.com to reserve one. There area few different packages available, but to get one that willcharge a laptop and not just phones and tablets, you’ll needto spend at least US$429. This will get you the bag itself,a 15,000mAh battery and a smaller 6,000mAh one. Spend$499 and you get an AC inverter too.

Not only will this set allow you to keep your laptop andmobile devices charged, but you can control the chargingwith a mobile app.

Of course, you’ll need to remember to charge Ampl’sbattery packs, so that will again mean finding a plug socketevery now and then.

Another option would be to buy a bag with a solar panel,like those made by Voltaic (www.voltaicsystems.com).Obviously, though, we live in the UK, where the sun onlyreally puts its hat on for about three weeks of every year,which would explain why Voltaic’s products are really widelyavailable in this country. Still, if you’re going somewheresunny for a while, then it might be worth seeking out one ofthese bags for your travels.

Essentials P15LS11 15.6” laptop

sleeve

Targus laptop carry case

Falcon International 16”

laptop sleeve

iCozzier Diamond Foam neoprene

sleeve

Falcon 17” ABS laptop attache

case

Product SheetSMARTNOMADACCESSORIES

COMPATIBLE

iPad is

a trade

mark o

f App

leInc

, reg

istered

inthe US

, and

othe

r cou

ntrie

s

*iPa

d Air3

*

Available from Northamber.Visit www.northamber.com

Product SheetSMNOACCESSO S

COM

BACK ViVue

F O wV d CE

CR t O O

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

PRODUCT NAME Muskoka iPad Air 3

REF - EAN 201387 - 3567042013872

PRODUCT OUTSIDE SIZE 245 x 180 x 12 mmPRODUCT WEIGHT 298 gr

PACKED OUTSIDE SIZE 270 x 185 x 18 mm

PACKED WEIGHT 344 gr

MATERIALS Polyurethane / ABS

WARRANTY Limited Lifetime Warranty

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN China

PCB 5

APPLE iPad Air 3 tablet caseÉtui pour APPLE iPad Air 3

iPad

isa tra

demark o

f App

leInc

, reg

istered

inthe U

S,an

d othe

r cou

ntrie

s

*iPa

d Air3

*

• Matériaux premium : similicuir élégant• Multi positions vidéo : intérieur antidérapant,angle de vue 100% ajustable

• Accès complet à la caméra : rabat pliant pourprise de photo optimale

• Accès complet à la connectique et aux boutons• Rabat magnétique : protection et sécurité• Rabat magnétique compatible avec les SmartNomad Accessories

• Premium materials: elegant synthetic leather• Video multi positions: non-slip grip interior,100% adjustable viewing angle

• Full camera access: folding flap for optimalpicture shooting

• Optimal access: full access to connectionsand buttons

• Magnetic flap: protection & security• Magnetic flap: compatible with Smart NomadAccessories

Issue 141728

For example, for just £15.54 from Ebuyer (goo.gl/izYg74), youcould get yourself a basic Targus laptop carry case, which will fitsystems up to 16 inches in size. Obviously, this isn’t going to match upto more expensive bags, including Targus’s own higher-end products,but you get a lot for your money anyway. As well as a bunch ofpockets for pens, phones and so on, it has a cushioned section for thelaptop, which will provide more protection than a simple sleeve. And ithas a strap inside, so you can secure your computer in place.

Also worth a look is the Port Design Liberty notebook case, whichcosts just £15.08 from Kikatek (goo.gl/Oiumik) with free postage.As well as a decent bag that can house laptops up to 15.6 inches insize, it also comes with a free Polaris 800dpi optical mouse.

Increase your budget slightly, and you could pick up theAmazonBasics rolling laptop case for £33.99 (goo.gl/s4Iy53), whichhas the added benefit of wheels and an extendable handle, so youcan pull your laptop around behind you like a suitcase, instead ofputting all the weight on your shoulder. It takes systems up to 17inches in size, which can be fairly hefty, so if you travel a lot, such acase could be a godsend.

Of course, you could spend a lot more on a soft case. There areplenty around that cost more than a hundred quid, but we wouldn’trecommend spending any more than £50 or £60 unless you wantsomething with special features or a design you particularly like.

If you really wanted to, you could buy an Acqua Di Parmamessenger bag from Harrods and stick your laptop (which is probablya MacBook) into that. It’ll set you back £1,299 (goo.gl/g6rWt9),though, so if you happen to possess more sense than money, thenwe’d suggest you look elsewhere.

Ultimately, whether you spend 15 quid or 50, you should be ableto find something that’s up to the job of keeping your PC safe.

HardCasesOffering an extra layer of protection, hard cases have a couple ofdistinct disadvantages. Not only are they bulky and inflexible, butthey’re naturally heavier than soft cases too. If that’s not a problemfor you, then there are plenty of great cases, most of which are eithermade from plastic or a lightweight metal like aluminium.

Prices vary, of course, and hard cases can be expensive, but if youlook around there are some cheaper items to be had, such as theAluminium Laptop and Test Equipment Flight Case from cases-and-enclosures.co.uk, which costs just £26.44 (goo.gl/PypsBr). It’s notclear from this website what size laptops this case will accommodate,but this seller is a British firm, based in Hertfordshire, so it would beworth getting in touch to get more details.

Up your budget, and you can start shopping for cases withcombination locks on them. For example, for £42.99 you could geteither the Alumaxx Kronos laptop attache case from Paperstone

(goo.gl/4NOANs) or the Falcon 17” ABS laptop attache case fromBagsDirect.com (goo.gl/D45ZUX).

The Kronos is an aluminium case, with two combination locks,a padded area for your laptop and a selection of compartmentsand holders inside. Paperstone doesn’t give a laptop specification ininches, but it does list the size of the compartment as 42cm (W) x30cm (D) x 7cm, so to be safe, we’d say 15 inches.

If you’d rather not have something so shiny and metallic, thenthe Falcon’s sleek black design will no doubt be more appealing.Made from hard-wearing ABS plastic, it comes with all the pocketsand compartments you might need for stationery and so on. It onlyappears to have one combination lock, but one advantage it has is aweight of 1.8kg, which is significantly lighter than the 2.4kg Kronos.

RucksacksFrom personal experience, we know the pain of carrying around alaptop in a satchel-style case. Once you’ve packed in the computeritself, the charger, accessories and other bits like your smartphoneand stationery, it can put a huge a strain on your shoulder if you’reusing a shoulder strap. And if you carry it by the shorter handles, yourarm will quickly feel like it’s going to drop off.

Absolutely Fabulous BagsFor the most part, cheaper laptop bags and cases aren’thugely good looking. You can pay for designer products,but they’re expensive, of course. Thankfully, leather orleather-effect bags like the Snugg Crossbody Shouldermessenger bag (£49.99, Amazon – goo.gl/Djw3Z6) canoffer a good dose of physical beauty without breakingthe bank.

And if that’s still just too mainstream andgeneric for you, then head onto sites like Etsy.com,NotOnTheHighStreet.com and Folksy.com for eventrendier-looking items.They won’t necessarilyoffer the same kind ofprotection as other laptopbags, but they do lookgood, without screaming‘Look at me. I’m carrying alaptop’, which could be asecurity risk in itself.

Snugg Crossbody Shoulder

messenger bag

Acqua Di Parma messenger

bag

AmazonBasics rolling

laptop case

Aluminium laptop and test

equipment flight case

Port Design Liberty notebook

case with bundled mouse

Issue 1417 29

LAPTOP BAGS

This is where a decent rucksack can be a major asset, andthere are now loads of them that are specially designed to carry anotebook computer.

As ever, prices range from the cheap to the ridiculous. The Briggs& Riley 15.6” Laptop and iPad Backpack, for example, costs £219from John Lewis (goo.gl/0ZqRHk), and it comes with a lifetimeguarantee, but you don’t need to spend anywhere near that much toget something that will do the job and last a long time.

For just £21.98, you can get a Targus Classic Laptop ComputerBackpack from Misco (goo.gl/BJe9gW), which will take laptops upto 15.6 inches in size. As well as providing plenty of pockets for allyour accessories, your actual laptop has its own section at the back,where it’s provided with plenty of protection.

At such a low price, though, certain corners are likely to be cut,and this case, you’re probably looking at lower-quality materials,weaker stitching and fewer luxuries. It’s also not waterproof, likeother bags. Targus does make higher-quality bags, of course, but youdo need to accept this is a budget product and that it won’t matchup to those.

Again, though, you don’t need to spend a lot more to getsomething of much higher quality. The Wenger SwissGear Mythos15.6” laptop bag, for instance, is currently on offer at CCOnline forjust £34.98 (goo.gl/FShTo0), which is fantastic, because it normallycosts around £40. User reviews suggest that not only is it well made

and robust, its waterproofing is good enough to cope with the GreatBritish weather.

However, it’s not specifically designed to be water resistant – notlike the Targus Drifter North Sport Backpack (£46.66, Amazon –goo.gl/HM0ooC), which comes with its own rain cover. It’ll onlyaccommodate a laptop up to 14 inches, but assuming that’s okayfor you, you get a well-made bag that will keep your computer safein a downpour. Plus it has a secret compartment for you to storeyour valuables.

SummaryOf course, there are hundreds of different bags and cases we couldhave chosen to include in this article. Companies like Wenger,Samsonite and Targus create some excellent budget products, butequally, you can find worthwhile entries from AmazonBasics andlesser-known brands too.

You can potentially pay hundreds of pounds for a case or a bagfor your laptop, and if you can afford to do so, then you’ll no doubtbe rewarded with high-quality materials and extra features, but whatwe’ve tried to show with this small selection is that you can also getwhat you need for less than £50.

The best thing to do, of course, is to try out these thingsbefore purchasing, because as well as features like pockets andlaptop space, you also need to consider comfort and thingslike waterproofing.

Of course, these kind of qualities may be more difficult toassess just from product descriptions and reviews. Popping into alocal shop is one solution, but it’s also worth bearing in mind thatanything you buy online is covered by a 14-day cooling off period,so you can send things back easily enough if they don’t meet yourrequirements. Just be aware of any return postage you might haveto pay if you take this route. mm

LinksWhen looking for a laptop bag or case, these companiesare likely pop up. To see more of their ranges, head to theirofficial websites:

• Targus: www.targus.com/uk/laptop-bags-cases• Samsonite: www.samsonite.co.uk/laptop-bags• Wenger: int.wenger.ch/en/gear• Falcon Bags: www.falconbags.co.uk• Port Designs: ww.portdesigns.com

Targus Classic laptop

computer backpack

Targus Drifter North Sport

backpack

Briggs & Riley 15.6 laptop and iPad

backpack

Wenger SwissGear Mythos 15.6”

laptop bag

Alumaxx Kronos laptop attache case

Issue 141730

T here are numerous famous charactersin gaming that are recognisable nomatter where you travel in the world

– with the exception of some of the more far-flung destinations, of course.

Lara Croft, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog,Q-Bert and countless others have left theirmark on society. For those of us of a certainage though, there’s also Horace. That strange-looking blue creature, with haunting largeeyes, lack of facial features and hand-lessarms that seemingly grow from the top of his/her/it’s head.

Although Horace only starred in a trioof games he soon became the icon forthe Spectrum, mostly due to the fact thatSinclair Research was one of the publishers.Despite his perpetually gloomy visage, Horacemanaged to dip his pointed and oddly shapedtoes in a number of cloned games.

Hungry Horace, the first of the series,was simply a Pac-Man clone. Horace GoesSkiing was a mixture of Frogger and Slalom.The third title, Horace and the Spiders,featured stages in the same vein as Pitfalland Space Panic.

ItsHistoryHorace was developed by William Tang, achap who also programmed Asterix andthe Magic Cauldron, H.U.R.G., Way of theExploding Fist and Mugsy’s Revenge.

The first Horace appeared in the 1982 andwas released by Sinclair Research Ltd. At the

time, it was fairly well received, although itdidn’t quite have the quality of some of theSpectrum games that were released monthslater. It did offer something a little different tothe average Pac-Man look-alike, with the C64version even having a level editor for gamersto share.

The relative success of Hungry Horace,in that it didn’t cost much to create and ityielded a healthy return, led to the mostpopular of the titles, Horace Goes Skiing.Here Horace took a, for the time, quantumleap from being a mere Pac-Man clone tosomething else entirely.

Skiing was a fun game to play. The firstsection, where for some unknown reason theplace to hire the skis lies on the other sideof an extremely busy dual carriage way, wascertainly challenging. It was less a game ofFrogger timing and one where you hopedand prayed for a slight gap in the trafficbefore launching yourself at full pelt acrossthe bitumen.

Any collision resulted in you losing £10 andbeing picked up in an ambulance. And shouldyou run out of money, then you couldn’thire the skis to the slalom section, and it wasgame over. Ironically, you were still charged£10 if you were hit by the ambulance.

Finally, we had Horace and the Spiders, agame of much running, swinging from spiderwebs and jumping on spiders while theyfixed their webs in order to kill them. Why?Absolutely no idea.

William Tang was set to work on anotherHorace game, but the internet tells us that hesuffered a collapsed lung and therefore retiredfrom gaming. Not much else is known aboutMr Tang these days, but wherever he is, wehope he’s in good health.

TheGoodFun games, quite challenging and anendearingly odd main character.

TheBadNearly £6 for each game, which was a fortuneto a ten-year-old! They weren’t exactlyground-breaking titles.

ConclusionHorace, whatever the heck you are, thanks forsome odd, but rather pleasant memories. mm

We recall a strange blue character this week

Remembering…Horace

DidYouKnow?• There was a poke that removed

all the traffic off the road inHorace Goes Skiing.

• Horace in the Mystic Woods wasdeveloped in 1995 for the Psion 3,but not by William Tang.

• Horace made an appearance inthe PS2 game Dog’s Life.

• William Tang also wroteSpectrum Machine Language forthe Absolute Beginner – a ZXSpectrum user’s bible.

What the devil are you

supposed to be, Horace?

The only road in the world where the traffic

swerves to try to hit you

Pac-Man versus Horace? I’d put my money

on Horace

A

Og

d

h

je

bf

CI

m

Issue 1417 31

ALPHABET PI

David Briddock meanders throughRaspberry Pi technology from A to Z

Nano is accessible fromthe desktop menu or from thecommand line in a terminalwindow

Alphabet Pi:

NOOBSTo work, a Raspberry Pi needs an operating system distributionimage. This image has to be installed on the SD memory card. ForLinux newbies this can seem rather a daunting process, so theRaspberry Pi Foundation created NOOBS (New Out Of the BoxSoftware) to transform operating system installation into a threesimple steps.

The first step is to download the NOOBS zip file and unpackit onto a blank SD card using any PC. Next, slot this SD card intoyour Pi’s SD card slot and boot the Pi. You’ll see an operatingsystem menu with options such as Raspbian, ArchLinux,OpenELEC, Pidora, RaspBMC and RiscOS.

Now you just select the OS you want. On selection, the SD cardis automatically partitioned, and the OS image installed. You canaccess the NOOBS menu at any time by holding the ‘shift’ keywhile booting your Pi, so it’s easy to reinstall the OS or replaceit with a different one. To find out more visit the Pi website(raspberrypi.org/blog/introducing-noobs).

These days there are two versions of NOOBS. The full versionalso comes pre-loaded with the Raspbian image; in other wordsit’s all you need to get started with your Pi. However, it is a verylarge download, so now there’s NOOBS Lite, which just containsthe three-step installation software. Use this version if youalready have a Raspbian image or wish to install one of the othersupported operating systems.

The easiest solution of all is to buy an SD card that’s alreadypreinstalled with the full version of NOOBS (modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/SD cards-and-adaptors).

NanoThere are a number of text editors preinstalled on the Raspbiandistribution image. Vi is a classic editor and has been aroundfor 40 years since the early days of Unix, but some find its very

individual set of keyboard commands a little tricky to learn. Thenano editor is a rather more straightforward alternative.

Nano is accessible from the desktop menu or from thecommand line in a terminal window. It still uses a series ofcommands, but the most commonly used ones are displayed atthe bottom of the editor. For example, the control (Ctrl) plus ‘o’key combination saves the file, while the Ctrl+X shortcut exits theeditor.

The Raspberry Pi Spy website has an ‘introduction to Nano’page and a list of Nano shortcuts (goo.gl/2UNwTD).

NetworkingNetworking is a key feature of every modern operating system.The subject encompasses both local networks and the internet.These days, most of us gain internet access via a wired or wirelessrouter, but this same router can allow PCs, laptops, tablets,smartphones and Raspberry Pis to communicate with each otherinside the home.

Understanding how networking technology works is animportant part of computing education. To help, the RaspberryPi Foundation has put together a series of networking lessons,with lesson plans for teachers and worksheets for students(raspberrypi.org/learning/networking-lessons).

Lesson one covers basic communication. Lesson twointroduces the Internet of Things (IoT), while the thirdand fourth lessons cover the Dynamic Host ConfigurationProtocol (DHCP) configuration and the Domain Name System(DNS) respectively. mm

NTHIS WEEK: NOOBS, Nano and Networking

Nano editor

34 Issue 1417

By emailletters@micromart.co.uk

By postMicro Mart30 Cleveland StreetLondonW1T 4JD

Onlineforum.micromart.co.uk

GETINTOUCH…

Broadband SpeedsR : M , ‘ ’.

I f j y foptic speeds since March 1st this year. I regard my area as rural.

I have attached a copy of speeds that I have obtained duringthe month of May and is representative of speeds obtainedsince March. The figures are from using Ookla as my downloadspeed guide.

So its well done to Open Reach Scotland.Regards,

James May (No, not him)

Rodents and Large Particle CollidersYour ‘News and Views’ section has a piece about a ‘gopher’breaking the Large Hadron Collider. It was a weasel.

Please don’t tell me you dumbed down in case more peopleunderstood ‘gopher’ than ‘weasel’. Is Micro Mart published inthe USA? This would explain things to some extent.

Alastair Cannon

Dumb down our small mammal news? Never! And toprove it, have a picture of a proper weasel.

Actually, that might be a ferret…

Why I Like Linux MintAlthough Mark Shuttleworth did well to sponsorUbuntu Linux, the Canonical team have persisted inmaking it over-complex, which Clement Lefebvre’steam have to undo as a basis for Linux Mint releases.

They have done this ever since Version 4(Daryna), producing a system that has been morestable and less intrusive than successive releases ofMicrosoft Windows, thus coming closer to achievingShuttleworth’s dream. Indeed Linux Mint doesn’tdemand the often laborious application of Updatesbefore permitting use.

Instead Linux Mint merely notifies via a red-tickedshield symbol that Updates are available, which canbe applied whilst continuing with other tasks, such isits multi-tasking robustness.

The latter also enables multiple virtual desktopsthat Microsoft has been unable to replicate. Forexample, whilst browsing the Internet it is possibleto create notes with screen-shots on another virtual

desktop, whilst the Force Quit tool can close downapplications without crashing everything else. It’salso possible to restrict Updates to those have beentested, so I am a Linux Mint fan, especially sincefinding a better way to install it which I have calledBrucesWay, to distinguish it from other methods.

Whilst there are many folk seeking changes tofunction and appearance, I simply use it as a platformfor safely installed and configured applications, thusavoiding the glitches of default settings. Whilst 32-bitMATE LinuxMint Debian Edition (LMDE) installed ona 32GB SanDisk UltraFit device has been useful forold PCs, BrucesWay has also allowed the creationof a triple-boot, SSD-enhanced E5700 PC for LinuxMint, Windows 7 and Windows 10, together withFLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software), therebyconfirming Mark Pickavance’s words and reducingthe impact of forced changes to Windows.

Bruce R

Broadband SpeedsRe: your article in the latest issue of Micro Mart, ‘Broadband Speeds’.

I live 2.5 miles from Lanark in Scotland and have enjoyed fibre

Broadband Speeds

Issue 1417 35

Component

Watch

N ow that the summer months are (theoretically)here, you might be thinking of getting in shape.And what better way to do that than with thelatest wearables? We’ve looked at a selection of

affordable fitness bands and activity trackers to pick the bestone for this summer season – assuming it actually gets started.

Deal 1: Milestone Altitude Activity TrackerRRP: £34.99 / Deal Price: £21.29One of the cheapest activity trackersaround, the Milestone Altitude trackssteps taken and distance travelled,and uses them to give you anestimated number of calories burnedas well. There are two modes – sleepand day – and it also comes with asilent vibrating alarm to gently wakeyou up in the morning. It’s water-resistant for outdoor use, and itsapp is compatible with iOS 7.0+ andAndroid 4.3+. Bargain.Where to get it: Kikatek – bit.ly/1OO6mZ8

Deal 2: Jawbone UP2 Activity TrackerRRP: £59.99 / Deal Price: £39.98The Jawbone UP2 activity tracker doesn’thave a screen, but it does have threesingle-colour LEDs, which can be usedfor notifications and alerts. There arethree levels of sleep-tracking includedand activity tracking includes steps,distance, calorie estimation and more.The built-in smart coach app also helpsyou personalise your training and activitygoals so you’re always getting the bestadvice for you!Where to get it: Scan – bit.ly/1Y4GDob

Deal 3: Acer Liquid Leap SmartActivebandRRP: £69.99 / Deal Price: £50.74Acer’s Liquid Leap smartband includesa 2.4cm touchscreen so you can use itindependently of your phone, but it alsoallows you to operate your phone from

the band, including checking your email, controlling your musicand triggering your camera. It does both sleep and activitytracking and it’s waterproof, so the only time you’ll have toremove it is when it’s being charged. A great all-rounder,especially at this price.Where to get it: Ebuyer – bit.ly/22Ai0zX

Deal 4: FitBit Flex Activity TrackerRRP: £89.99 / Deal Price: £59.00Fitbit are pretty much thekings of mid-to-high pricedactivity tracking, and the FitBitFlex remains one of the bestexamples of its kind. You geta five-LED display, which candisplay progress towards andnumber of goals, wirelesssyncing with your phone orother Bluetooth device, sleeptracking and alarms and theusual set of activity statstracked. The app also allowsyou to log food and workoutsfor a complete all-in-one health tracking solution.Where to get it: Tesco – bit.ly/1RQWNtC

Deal 5: Mag Echo Smart Running WatchRRP: £99 / Deal Price: £89.99Although it looks like a smartwatch, the Mag Echo is reallymore of a watch-shapedfitness band, since it doesn’trun apps; it’s all about trackingyour movement. It does havea watch mode, but a fewpresses of a button gets youaccess to sleep-tracking, step-tracking, distance-tracking andfeatures commonly associatedwith running watches, liketimers and lap counters. Unlikemost trackers, this one uses astandard watch battery, so youdon’t have to charge it and can get over six months withoutneeding a replacement!Where to get it: Wiggle – bit.ly/1TYdtUP

Component WatchLooking for a fitness tracker for the summer? Check these out

36 Issue 1417

Xara UpgradesPhoto EditingPackage

F ans of Xara’s software might like toknow that the company’s new UpdateGuarantee initiative, bringing regularsoftware updates throughout the

year, has been brought into effect for the firm’snewest release, Photo & Graphic Designer 365.

The software promises to be easy to use(don’t they all?) and provides all the toolsneeded for a whole range of graphic design andphoto editing tasks. Not only that, but this latestversion of the package also provides “exciting”new photo tools (if you happen to find that kindof thing exciting), SmartShapes, significant textenhancements and some great new content.

Within that new content are two new typesof photo grids: Static and Smart. Static photogrids are simple fixed grids onto which users

can drag and drop their own photo, whileSmart grids smartly resize to fill the rectanglesas photos are added or deleted, and photopositions can also be swapped. Add to thisnearly 30 photo filter presets, an Effect Paintertool allowing for direct painting into a phototo brighten or to add other effects such assaturation and dodge and burn, plus flexible texthandling, and you have yourself the makings ofa very full editing package indeed.

Along with the Update Guarantee, usersalso get an enhanced online content cataloguewith a free library of over 500,000 royalty-freephotos, and all of this is available for a closerlook at www.xara.com. The cost, by the way, is£49.99 (upgrades from the previous version arehalf price).

40Million PS4Consoles SoldBut not all at the same time, of course

Update guarantee brings regular updates throughout year

QUICK BITS... Australia is going to sell at auction a bunch of confiscated bitcoins said to be worth around £8m

Several years ago, I had aNintendo DS, and Ipurchased a cartridge thatallowed it to play video. Butit wouldn't play ordinaryvideo files; they had to beencoded into a format theDS could read. This took awhile and, to be quitehonest, the result wasn't allthat great. But it worked,and I appreciated that.

I also did somethingsimilar with the NokiaN-Gage (yes, I know),re-encoding files beforethey could play.

These days, of course,operating systems likeAndroid and iOS make iteasy to play nearly all filetypes, and the processingpower of modern mobiledevices means they can evenplay full HD videos. Theneed to re-encode files,then, is far less prominentthan it used to be.

I was reminded of doingthis, though, by MarkPickavance's look this weekat things we used to dowith computers, which weno longer do today.

How about you? Are thereactivities you used to carryout that you have been madeunnecessary by newtechnology? Tell us all aboutit at letters@micromart.co.uk.

Editor

Anthony

S ony has announced to the worldthat it has sold around 40 millionPlayStation 4 consoles aroundthe globe.

The fastest-selling console in Sony’s history,the PS4 has done rather well for itself, helpedno end by the success of titles such as therecently released Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,

which recorded a quite marvellous 2.7 millionunits in just one week.

The president of Sony InteractiveEntertainment said of the sales achievement,“We are truly grateful for the enormoussupport from our fans and partners across theglobe, which helped us achieve this significantmilestone in such a short span of time.”

Magix’s Video easyHD package hasbeen renewed,which could be

good news for amateur editors.Video easy HD promises to

help users to create the perfectvideo in just three simple steps,which is always the kind of thingtime-poor editors like to read.The software has also beenhanded a redesigned programinterface and a whole lot ofhelpful wizards and automationsthat help users to edit and sharetheir own videos without anyprevious experience necessary.

The software’s native 64-bitarchitecture and H.264 supportlet users import, edit and exportvideos faster than ever before

while the three steps towardscreating a video – import andedit, optimise, and present –all promise to be handled well.On the video optimisationside of things, this new versionof the package contains abunch of tools allowing forcreative freedom includingautomatic image optimisation,backlight correction, lightingconditions adjustment and newblur transitions.

As for presenting, video canbe burned-in resolutions up to4K to DVD or Blu-ray, uploadeddirectly to YouTube and Facebookfrom within the programitself, while videos can also betransferred to mobile devices (iOSand Android), which is nothing

more than you’d expect thesedays. The price is set at £29.99from www.magix.com, whichisn’t too bad at all. As ever withMagix, you can also trial thesoftware beforehand for 30 days.

Videos MadeEasy WithMagixRedesigned interface and a ton of wizards

38 Issue 1417

Meanwhile... On The Internet...

.AVWhy? Videos For Your Eyes...Not Necessarily For Your Brain

You may well have seen the golf.com YouTube channel's video of thegiant alligator crossing the third hole at Buffalo Creek Golf Club(tinyurl.com/MMnet17y) and wondered, like us, whether it was someclever employment of CGI in order to create some viral buzz (tinyurl.com/MMnet17z). We're not alone in being that cynical, apparently(tinyurl.com/MMnet17aa), but apparently this is one case whereseeing really does mean believing. While we don't trust much we seeon the interwebs, we do trust the good folks of Snopes.com, and ifthey have taken the time to check, and say it's the real deal, thenthat's good enough for us (tinyurl.com/MMnet17bb).

QUICK BITS... The expansion pack for the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine – is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox

W hile 'mega breach' (tinyurl.com/MMnet17a),or 'megabreach' if you prefer (tinyurl.com/MMnet17b), may not be a totally new phrasein our lexicon – Symantec's Internet Security

Threat Report (tinyurl.com/MMnet17c), declared 2013 to "Theyear of the Mega Breach" as far back as April 2014 – it's certainlya word that has been rolled out significantly more over the lastfew weeks (tinyurl.com/MMnet17d). Indeed, the endemicpatter theft (tinyurl.com/MMnet17e) of the internet tech newsjuggernaut has rendered it as the term du jour for hacks that havemade allowed a massive number of account credentials to floodthe public domain recently (tinyurl.com/MMnet17f).

It's usage is far from common, and it is yet to feature onWordcount's fascinating list of the most commonly used wordsin our language (tinyurl.com/MMnet17g), or the same site'swonderfully meta Querycount, which ranks the words searchedfor using Wordcount (tinyurl.com/MMnet17h). Despite this,it does seem a fitting way to describe the hundreds of millionsof account details and poorly-encrypted passwords liftedfrom the systems of LinkedIn (167m), Tumblr (50m), MySpace(360m) and Fling (40m) and eventually put up for sale onlineby someone operating under the moniker Peace_of_Mind (oh,the delicious irony).

The only upside to all of this, is that none of these breachesare new; in fact, some date back five years. However, thatdoesn't mean that people's tendency towards slapdashpassword choice (look at this list of the most commonpasswords from the LinkedIn hack, have and little sob toyourself, and then wonder if much has really changed in thelast three years: tinyurl.com/MMnet17i, reluctance to changepasswords regularly and penchant for linking multiple accountsfor convenience hasn't lead to real world consequences(tinyurl.com/MMnet17j), or that the data hasn't been doingthe rounds under the radar for all that time.

The bottom line here is probably that anyone seriously nefarioushas probably been making use of this data for quite a while andnow moved on, but the ripples will continue for quite a while.When Troy Hunt of haveibeenpwned.com ranks the hacks we'vementioned as four of the top five breaches in his database (onlythe 2013 Adobe hack breaks up the quartet, at number three),notes that they amount to around two-thirds of the data in hissystem, muses on the curious fact that all of these have come tolight in such a short space of time, and concludes his blog on thematter (tinyurl.com/MMnet17f) by noting that he "honestly[doesn't] know how much more data is floating around out there,but apparently it's much more than even I had thought only a weekago", you kinda know it's not great, right?

If you like your internet security paranoia to be of the fresh,2016 variety, don't worry – we've got a little something

for ya right now. Specifcally, it concerns the has-it-hasn't-ithack of remote access/online meeting service Teamviewer(tinyurl.com/MMnet17k), which has been a topic of hotdebate in the days before we go to press.

What's not in question, apparently, is that the German firm'ssystems went offline on June 1st under the stress of a DDoSattack (tinyurl.com/MMnet17l). What is more controversial,is claims that since it managed to get back online, users haveseen their machines hijacked and money stolen as a directresult (tinyurl.com/MMnet17m). A couple of high-profileReddit threads (tinyurl.com/MMnet17n) quickly became thego-to source for horror stories (tinyurl.com/MMnet17o), withsome users going into great detail (tinyurl.com/MMnet17p).Unsurprisingly, the TeamViewer subreddit subscriber numbersexploded (tinyurl.com/MMnet17q) at the same time as peoplesearched for news and advice (tinyurl.com/MMnet17r).

The firm itself, however, was having none of it. Even in theface of some very insistent customers, it went straight for the'nothing to do with us, guv' card. In a couple of rather bluntstatements (one of which was strangely dated a week prior tothe event – insert your own conspiracy here – tinyurl.com/MMnet17s) it alleged that "Unfortunately, users are still usingthe same password across multiple user accounts with varioussuppliers. While many suppliers have proper security means inplace, others are vulnerable." and reiterated that "There is nosecurity breach at TeamViewer."

Reddit, and some other news outlets, appear unconvinced by itsassurances, however. Such strident statements are meant to inspireconfidence in the product, we suppose – but, should they turn outto be misleading, or just wrong, it's the kind of victim shaming thatcould put several more nails in a company's coffin instread.

We're sure that you will join us in playing your tiniest violin(tinyurl.com/MMnet17t) for the people Blizzard have so

far banned from Overwatch (playoverwatch.com) for the use ofaimbots and other hacks (tinyurl.com/MMnet17u). A recent poston the game's Chinese forum named and shamed around 1,500users that had fallen foul of its well-documented, widely reported,hardline policy on unfair play (tinyurl.com/MMnet17v) and otherevidence suggests (tinyurl.com/MMnet17w) that Western cheatersaren't having any easier time of it (tinyurl.com/MMnet17x).

While, as PC Gamer points out, there is a chance of falsepositives here, it's a laudible campaign from makers of Warcraft– one that some other games could take note of. Battlefront,we're looking at you. Yes... yes, we are...

Issue 1417 39

This chap was the subject of the Caption Competition in MicroMart issue 1415, and here are the best suggestions you cameup for this week:

• JayCeeDee: "Trial of new hearing aid hits a problem!"• Dwynnehugh: "You know that little voice in your head

– it's just got louder!"• Ondrive: "Fitbit's new Personal Training wearable was a

bit over the top..."• EdP: "The next evolution of the 'Snooper's Charter'. Big

Brother is not a patch on mini-GCHQ."• doctoryorkie: "It's Monday morning. Turn off Warcraft

and get a shave.• Ondrive: "Microsoft's augmented reality motivational

app – known as 'Shouty' – meets with a mixedresponse from consumers..."

• Thomas Turnbull: "It seems I'm being headhunted by asmaller company."

• Thomas Turnbull: "Microsoft is making changes toCortana to make it more personal."

• Thomas Turnbull: "I keep hearing voices saying thatWindows 10 is ready to be installed."

The winner this week, however, is regular contributorThomas Turnbull, with "I keep hearing voices saying thatWindows 10 is ready to be installed." Nice one, Thomas!

If you have a caption for the picture below, head to the‘Other Stuff’ section of our forum (forum.micromart.co.uk),or email us your funnies via caption@micromart.co.uk,remembering to add the issue number to the email.

Caption Competition

"I keep hearing voicessaying that Windows 10 is

ready to be installed."

Tim Cook:Teach CodingTo Kids

A pple head TimCook has spokenat the Startup FestEurope event in

Amsterdam ,and he’s made quitethe statement in saying that allprimary school children shouldbe taught coding alongsidelearning the alphabet.

Cook said at the eventthat coding is “just anotherlanguage” and therefore itshould naturally be taughtin schools alongside otherlanguages. He said that "Weare doing our kids a disservice ifwe are not introducing them”to coding, which are powerfulwords indeed.

Fundamentally, Cookthinks that coding is “beingabsorbed by everything” andthat universities should create

links with companies in orderto help kids to develop theirskills further. We have madesome fantastic developments incoding initiatives over here inthe UK in recent years, and it’sgreat to hear a major industryvoice like Cook pushing thecoding conversation further.Quite right too.

Primary school children are the focus

Micro-Bit NowFor Sale

If you have £13 to spare,then you might want toreconsider what you weregoing to spend it on. The

BBC Micro-Bit is now availableto pre-order from element14,the chaps that built the thing inthe first place.

The decision to allow all-comers to buy a Micro Bit seemsa no-brainer to us, allowing it

to get into more hands thanthe schoolchildren who wereoriginally handed the devicesthis year. The spanner in theworks is that element14 isonly selling them in batches of90. The good news is that theBBC reports that Microsoft andTechnology Will Save Us willbe among companies sellingindividual units. Hoozah.

Retail release for BBC’s computer

One

Issue 7

Dubai OpensWorld’s First3D-Printed Office

Hey, it’s not just just us who hatereading through reams andreams of terms and conditions. Infact, our friends in Norway have

d cided that they have had just about enougha d have launched a campaign against lengthyT and Cs in protest.

According to the Norwegian ConsumerC uncil, the average Norwegian has 33a ps at their disposal, including the likes of

uTube, Skype and Facebook, and the termsa d conditions for those apps when placed

gether run longer than the New Testament.

Wow. The council thinks that this is “absurd”and to prove this it launched a campaign inwhich Norwegians read out each of the Ts andCs in real time via its website. That took over30 hours (31 hours and 49 minutes, to beprecise), and a spokesperson for the Councilsaid of the readings that “Their scope, lengthand complexity mean it is virtually impossible tomake good and informed decisions.”

We’re delighted that somebody is taking aserious view on this, and we can only hope thisthis will make some kind of difference. Whetherit will or not is doubtful, frankly. Shame.

Norway GoesOn Ts And CsOffensive

QUICK BITS... The BBC has said that it will never host adverts online

Snippets!WWII Teleprinter CostMuseum A TennerIt’s not every day that youcan pick up a genuine sliceof history for ten quid, butthanks to eBay and some eagleeyes at the National Museumof Computing, the museumfound itself in possession of ateleprinter used in the SecondWorld War.

The teleprinter was beingadvertised on eBay as a“telegram machine”, anda volunteer at the museumthought it was worth a bid,as they thought it could havebeen related to the ciphermachines used in the war.The hunch was right, as theteleprinter would indeed havebeen paired with a Lorenz-typemachine to help crack theGerman codes.

What a find!

Opt Out Of SpamAnnoyed by unsolicited salescalls to your phone? Want tostop them in an instant? Thensend your thanks to Ofcom forteaming with the TelephonePreference Service in bringingyou a new, easy way to stop allannoying marketing calls.

All you have to do is textTPS followed by your emailaddress to 78070. From there,you’ll be sent a confirmationtext that you’ve been addedto the UK’s official ‘do not call’list, which means it’s illegal forcompanies to bother you withunsolicited calls. Yay.

Hyperoptic PlansWider RolloutFibre broadband providerHyperoptic has announcedits expansion to anotherseven cities. Those cities arePortsmouth, Watford, Leicester,Southampton, Slough,Edinburgh and Woking, andthis expansion will mean thatthe firm has a presence in 20towns and cities across thenation. The headline news hereis that Hyperoptic is promisingto give citizens access togigabit broadband, the fastestbroadband service in the UK.

40 Issue 1417

Prototype building shows power of 3D

Campaign suggests things have got out of hand

To Dubai we go now, as thegovernment has announced what it’scalling the world’s first functioning3D-printed office building.

According to Reuters, the building isapparently part of a drive by the Gulf’smain tourism and business hub to developtechnology that cuts costs, and this prototypebuilding has used a mixture of cement, withreliability tests carried out beforehand in Britainand China. The building itself took just 17days to build and has a floorspace of around

250 square metres. The printer used for thiswas a 20ft by 120ft by 40ft so it was rather awhopper, as you’d expect.

The Arab Emirates Minister of CabinetAffairs was quoted by Reuters: “We believethis is just the beginning. The world willchange”, and while we can’t see thesepopping up everywhere any time soon, there’sno doubt this is a significant development.Hopefully, those currently occupying thebuilding, the Dubai Future Foundation, willenjoy working in it.

Issue 1417 41

Toshiba TopsUpHardDrive Range

Not wanting tobe left behindin the hard drivebusiness, Toshiba

has launched a new 8TBcapacity desktop drive.

The 3.5" X300 drive isclearly aimed at high-endprofessional or gaming PCs,the 7200rpm drive comingwith a 6Gbps SATA interfaceand 128MB cache. The keystory underpinning all ofthis is that manufacturers

obviously still see some lifein the traditional hard drivemarket, despite flash-basedstorage having been the go-tomarket for consumers inrecent times.

While it’s unclear on thewebsite, a quick hunt aroundthe web suggests that the driveseems to cost around £260,which isn’t ridiculous given thetarget high-end market. Thewebsite for more information iswww.toshiba.eu.

8TB capacity drive now in the mix

O ne of the year’s most-anticipated games has tobe No Man’s Sky. The space exploring title is aPS4-exclusive to begin with, which is a shamefor PC owners of course, but it remains a title on

everyone’s lips, not least because it has been in developmentfor so long.

What a shame, then, that its release has now been delayeduntil 10th August over here in Europe, with the good chaps atHello Games confirming in a statement on the PlayStation blog

that, “As we approached our final deadlines, we realised thatsome key moments needed extra polish to bring them up toour standards.”

Games have been delayed before, of course, and they will beagain, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the finished productwon’t be any good – look at the other recent PS4 exclusiveUncharted 4 – but delays are never fun for the consumer.

Here’s hoping for everyone’s sake, not least Hello Games,that No Man’s Sky is as good as we all want it to be.

Meanwhile, the world continues to spin…

ARMUnveils VRFuture

A RM hasannounced anew Cortex-A73processor

alongside a new Mali-G71GPU, which it claims will helpto power virtual reality andaugmented reality experienceson the flagship mobile devicesthat will be coming our waynext year.

While both processorspromise the usualperformance and efficiency

improvements, the realheadline here is that ARM isactively focusing its effortson VR content. With theseprocessors in place, mobiledevices will also be ableto handle 4K video whilesustaining performance,because the Mali-G71represents a 50% increase ingraphics performance.

Virtual reality has come along way since the humbleView-Master.

New processors will feature on next year’ssmartphones

No Man’sSky Delayed

42 Issue 1417

Asus Zenpad 10 ZD300C

If you’ve ever doubted theimportance of shoppingaround, then may weintroduce the Z300C from

Asus. Comprised of a 10” tabletand detachable keyboard/speakerdock, this set sells for anythingbetween £160 and £240.

We’re going to base thisreview on the lowest price,available from Amazon and theBT shop, and we wouldn’tsuggest paying any more that,for reasons that we'll explainshortly. It’s also worth bearing inmind that you can buy the AsusZ300C for around £140, whichis exactly the same tablet butwithout the dock.

Clearly, there’s very little pointin not buying the dock. Andthat’s fortunate, because it’sundoubtedly the best thing aboutthe ZD300C package. Attachingmagnetically to the tablet andconnecting wirelessly viaBluetooth, the dock offers both aQWERTY keyboard and a set ofstereo speakers.

The keyboard, as you’d expect,is cramped, but it’s perfectlyusable. You can even touch typeon it, although you’ll need a bitof practice to avoid pressing twokeys at once with each finger.The keys, though small, feelmuch like those found on aMacbook, and you’ll find a rangeof shortcut keys at the top,offering useful functions likevolume control, screen grabbing,wi-fi toggling, brightness controland a shortcut to the Androidsettings menu.

The speakers, meanwhile, aresurprisingly loud, offering clear

audio for movies and music. Theywon’t replace a dedicatedexternal speaker, but they’rebetter than what you get fromthe tablet itself. That said, thestereo speakers at the front ofthe ZD300C aren’t bad at all for abudget device.

Unfortunately, there’s little elsepositive we can say about thistablet, other than it comes withan SD card slot. As it turns out,you’ll need that, because a goodchunk of the 16GB of storage istaken up by Android and Asus’sZenUI launcher. To be fair, it’s nota bad launcher: it looks good andit runs fairly well. But it’s alsobloated by Asus’s useful butpotentially unwanted apps, whichcan't be removed.

The good news, though, is thatyou won’t have to worry aboutfinding room for high-endAndroid games, because theywon’t work anyway. We triedrunning the racing game Asphalt8: Airborne and found theloading times and menus solaggy and unusable, we weren’teven able to get into a race. Wecan imagine it wouldn’t run well,

though, because the specificationof the ZD300C is poor, even for abudget device.

Its single-core and multi-coreGeekbench scores were 350 and1,029, respectively. The KindleFire 7, for comparison, getsscores of 356 and 1,143, andcurrently, you can buy that for£40. Of course, that’s subsidisedby Amazon, but even so, it’s clearthe ZD300C should offer morefor its price.

Instead, you get a Intel Atomx3-C3200 processor that seemsto have been underclocked to900MHz, which doesn’t matchup to the ARM chips found inthe Kindle Fire or even the four-year-old Nexus 7. The Mali-450MP4 graphics do little toboost performance, with our3DMark test returning anaverage of 17fps across all tests.The highest it reached was 26frames per second.

Comparing it again with theNexus 7, this tablet has thesame 800 x 1280 screenresolution, in spite of beingthree inches larger across thediagonal. In fact, even the Kindle

Is this budget hybrid too good to be true?

Fire, with its 600 x 1024resolution, has a higher pixeldensity (149ppi versus 170ppi).Thankfully, the screen is bright,the contrast levels are good, andit looks fine in general use.

The same can’t be said of thecameras, however. The frontcamera is just 0.3MP (otherwiseknown as VGA), while the rearsnapper is just 2MP. This is exactlythe same as the cameras on theKindle Fire.

To make matters worse, theN-class wi-fi doesn’t support5GHz networks, the battery isnon-removable and the OS isstuck at Lollipop (5.0.2), with nosigns of a Marshmallow update.

Quite simply, the ZD300C is apoor performing tablet. But thatdoesn’t mean there's no reasonto buy it. Its build quality, as wellas that of the keyboard dock, isexcellent, and if you want a tablethybrid device for accessingemails, the web and officesoftware and for watchingmovies, then this set will do thejob reasonably well for anaffordable price.

If you want to do anythingmore demanding and youdon’t need the keyboard, thenyou’re better off looking forsomething else.mm Anthony Enticknap

A great dock with abelow average tablet

56

Quality

Value66Overall

DETAILS• Price: £160• Manufacturer: Asus• Website:goo.gl/j8WsOo• Requirements: n/a

REVIEWS

Issue 1417 43

ONTEST

Reviews

27 Samsung Curved Monitor

C urved monitors havegrown in popularityover the last fewmonths and have

gone from being an extremeluxury item to something alittle more affordable.

We’ve already seen a coupleof examples in Micro Mart,from BenQ and Philips, andnow it’s Samsung’s turn toshow off one of its newercurvaceous displays.

The SamsungLC27F591FDUXEN is a 27"monitor with a screencurvature of 1800R, amaximum resolution of 1920 x1080, a response time of 4msand a 3000:1 standardcontrast ratio from a VA panel.In addition to that, Samsunghas also included the MegaDCR feature, whichdramatically improves thevisual quality of the blacks andwhites on screen. AlthoughMega DCR may well bemarketing speak, it’s a featurethat actually does a prettygood job of heightening thequality of the output.

Connectivity is okay, withHDMI, DisplayPort and VGA,and alongside the availableinputs you’ll also find a coupleof audio ports and power.There’s also a joystick-typecontrol at the rear right-handcorner of the screen, which

DETAILS• Price: £240• Manufacturer:Samsung• Website:goo.gl/BU4jFw• Requirements: HDMI,DisplayPort, VGAoutputs. CompatibleAMD GPU for FreeSynctechnology

when pressed will activate theOSD and allow you to navigatethrough the available menus.

The design of theLC27F591FDUXEN is reallyquite stylish. With a solid whitechassis and a super-thinmetallic bezel, it certainly looksthe business. There’s a circularmetallic-looking plastic basethat’s connected to the monitorvia a thin stand. This doesn’toffer much in the way ofergonomics, for height

adjustment, but you can tilt thescreen to around 20º.

As for the quality of thedisplay, Samsung has done anexcellent job here. TheLC27F591FDUXEN offers asuperior level of colours andcrisp lines, as well as FreeSync,Samsung MagicBright, Flicker-free technology, an easy eyemode and other quality-enhancing features. Gaming,movies and even everydaywork is a pleasure to view; you

An immersive viewing experience at a great price

could be forgiven for notwanting to return to yourregular monitor after an houror two using this model.

What’s more, and somethingthat’s quite unique amongmonitors, the AMD FreeSynctechnology is available over theHDMI port, not just theDisplayPort. This gives gamerswith the right hardware abetter choice of how to hookup their screen; not everyonehas or wants to purchase anadditional DisplayPort cable.

While it may still seem morelike a gimmick among theTVs, the curve does work wellon a monitor, generallybecause you’re sitting closerto it than a TV. In this case,the LC27F591FDUXEN’s curvegives a far better field ofvision than a standard 27"flat monitor. And the curvefeels a lot more natural to theeye when viewing the edgesof the screen.

We were quite impressedwith the SamsungLC27F591FDUXEN. It’s stylednicely, has a fantastic displayand is reasonably priced.In fact, we’re going to besad to see this one returnedto Samsung.mm David Hayward

An excellent curveddisplay, with a wealthof features

88

Quality

Value88Overall

The curve feels natural, and improves the field of vision

44 Issue 1417

However you look atTP-Link’s new flagshiprouter, the ArcherVR2600, it’s a monster.

Being 263mm wide by 198mmdeep and 33mm high, hiding thisone could be a challenge even ifit can be wall mounted.

This hardware isn’t all aboutaesthetics, thankfully. Instead it’sthe rather special blend of wi-fithat’s the critical lure for thosewho want to revamp their router.

This design builds on TP-Link’searlier C2600 model with theaddition of an internal modem,specified as suitable for UK use.

That makes this is a drop-inreplacement for BT’s Home Hub,supporting both conventionalADSL and VDSL2 standards(Infinity) with an built-in modem.

As this is also a gigabit switchwith an Ethernet WAN port, itcould also be used in conjunctionwith a cable modem, ticking thatbox also.

But the real specialfunctionality is the 802.11acimplementation, where itoffers a theoretical 800Mbpson the 2.4GHz frequency anda whopping 1733Mbps onthe 5GHz range. Using specialmaths, those numbers add upto AC2600, through a popularrounding error.

If it could actually achieve thatspeed, it would run smack intoa slight problem, that being that

gigabit Ethernet doesn't haveenough bandwidth to establisha link that fast without channelbonding, a feature the VR2600doesn’t offer.

This is resolved, partly,because TP-Link built thishardware to support MultiUser/Device MIMO, allowing itto simultaneously divide thatwireless bandwidth betweenmultiple users, each of whommight be communicating with adifferent wired target device.

If they're accessing theinternet at the best speedthat VDSL2 can manage, thenthis performance is largelymoot, because the router hasten times as much wirelessbandwidth as the potentialupstream connection.

The target audience thereforeis those that want to streamlots of high-definition video tomultiple users in resolutionsbetween 1080p and 4K.

DETAILS• Price: £205.51 (Scan)• Manufacturer:TP-Link• Website:goo.gl/57Qex9• Requirements:Cable or DSL modem

TP-Link delivers a heavy duty AC class broadband router

TP-Link Archer VR2600 VDSL/

ADSL2 Gigabit Modem Router

Features• Operation Modes: xDSL modem router, 3G/4G router,

wireless router.• DHCP: server, client, DHCP client list, address

reservation, DHCP relay.• Quality of Service: ATM QoS, traffic control (IP QoS).• Port Forwarding: Virtual server, port triggering, DMZ,

ALG, UPnP.• Dynamic DNS: DynDns, NO-IP.• VPN Passthrough: PPTP, L2TP, IPSec passthrough,

Supports up to 10 IPSec VPN tunnels.• ATM/PPP Protocols: ATM forum UNI3.1/4.0, PPP over

ATM (RFC 2364), PPP over Ethernet (RFC2516), IPoA(RFC1577/2225), MERIPoE (RFC 1483 routed), bridge(RFC1483 Bridge), PVC - Up to 8 PVCs.

• Security: NAT firewall, access control, MAC / IP / URLfiltering, denial of service (DoS), SYN flooding, Ping ofDeath, IP and MAC address binding.

• Advanced Functions: Parental control, network addresstranslation (NAT), port mapping (grouping), staticrouting, RIP v1/v2(optional), DNS relay, DDNS, IGMP V1/V2/V3.

• USB Sharing: Samba (Storage)/FTP server/media server/printer server, 3G/4G modem.

• Protocols: Supports IPv4 and IPv6

Issue 1417 45

ONTEST

Reviews

Four-antenna AC2600wi-fi router with internalVDSL2 modem

77

Quality

Value77Overall

To shift that much dataaround, the router has a 1.4GHzdual-core ARM processor, andthat also manages two USB 3.0ports for minor NAS duties or forsharing printers.

But they also have anotherreally interesting function if youadd the yet-to-be-released USB3G/4G modem. This has beendesigned as a fail-over device, soshould your VDSL go down, itflips over to a 3G/4G connection,maintaining a service.

I do really hope that when itreleases this it has some meansto warn customers, becauseusing a mobile connection like it'sbroadband could have significantcost consequences. And Ipresume you’d need a dedicatedSIM and account for that job.

In terms of what you get outof the box, the VR2600 is stillpretty impressive, and it’s alsogenerally rather easy to set up.

If you’re doing a swap, thenyou simply plug the VR 2600in where your previous routerwent, and then fire up theTP-Link Tether application on yoursmartphone (iOS and Android).

This allows you to make somebasic configuration selectionsand set the admin password,among other things. There'sa full web interface you canoperate once it’s all up andrunning, should you need tocreate a DMZ or Static Routing.

There are only a fewreservations that I have about theconfiguration side of this product,one being that it doesn’t use thesame SID for the two frequencyranges by default.

In my tests, 2.4GHzconnections were fine and hadgood range, but they didn’tdeliver the level of performanceI was hoping for. However, the

5GHz range was an entirelydifferent matter, and speeds ofover 300Mbps when near therouter were normal.

The USB ports were also fastwhen shared over wireless orwired connections, justifyingusing the USB 3.0 specification.

If this product has a realproblem, it’s the price. Part of methinks that more than £150 for arouter is just too much, especiallyconsidering how rapidly thistechnology churns.

That said, almost all thecompeting products are aroundthis price, and the majority don’tinclude a modem internally.However, it's worth noting thatone aspect that this hardware isunlikely to improve is broadbandspeed. You could just keep yourexisting hardware to performthat function and use an AC3200class router like TP-Link’s ownArcher C3200 (£165) to providethe wi-fi.

Compared with the AC1300spec of the BT Home Hub 5, theVR2600 is a significant upgrade,but it’s not the quickest wirelessnetworking you can buy. mmMark Pickavance

46 Issue 1417

PortraitPro 15

It is not just celebrities, orthose who believe theyqualify as such, who feel theneed for their digital images

to be enhanced with a case ofair-brushing. If you have photosyou'd like to touch up, thenPortraitProl from Anthropicscould be just what you'relooking for.

Now up to version 15,PortraitProl, as its title mightindicate, acts as a digital facemakeover tool with the ability toremove blemishes, and touch upand restore elements. Dependingon your needs, this software isavailable in Standard, Studio andStudio Max editions, with thedifferent versions being pricedaccordingly. My review is basedon the 64-bit Studio Max version,which comes with additionalfeatures such as support for RAWfiles and plug-ins for Photoshop,Aperture and Lightroom.

Opening with a fairly basicinterface, PortraitProl presentsthe user with a split screencombining a main work andviewing area, with a controlpanel on the right. You canremove the control panel if itspresence is not required. In itsopening mode, the control paneloffers the user a choice ofopening a single image or abatch of images using standardWindows protocols.

Selecting batch mode willbring up an Auto Batch Save

Option dialogue box. Thisfeature will allow you makesome general selections, such aswhether to use a suffix or prefixwhen naming the new files andselecting from a range of presetsregarding the sex and age rangeof the subject matter. You canalso opt to save images in a sub-folder of the original source or aspecific folder.

Working on a single image, asyou will tend to do, you need toindicate its gender, as you selectfrom a dialogue box offering achoice of male, female, boy orgirl. Showing an overlaid Tipwindow in the lower-left cornerof the screen, the followingdisplay gives you a three-panearrangement consisting of

before and after views of thesubject and a control panelpopulated with a zoomableimage of the current face withvarious presets and sliders forimproving areas of the face. Thisis all clearly laid out, and itgreatly simplifies matters.

As you move your mousecursor over the Before image,areas of the face will behighlighted with a pen marker.While tackling areas such asmouth, nose, chin, eyes,eyebrows and hair line aregenerally reasonably accurate,you do have the option to makeadjustments by moving anchorpoints. Helpfully, any alterationsyou make will be instantlyreflected in the After image.

Michael tries to improve his looks with this next software item but no such luck

Along with the adjustablesliders in the control panel, youhave access to some extra toolsarranged across the top of thescreen. Brushes are provided totouch up and restore facialattributes. In both cases, you canadjust the size and strength ofthese brushes using slider bars.Other options include undo/redo,save and post an image toFacebook plus create a hardcopy – all fairly standard stuff.

With regards to this lastoption, you have the choice ofusing your own print facility ormaking use of a facility set up byPortraitPro to have printsprofessionally produced byPwint.ly. These will incur an extracharge, with pricings varyingbetween £44.99 and £125.99.This seems perhaps a tadexpensive, especially seeing asthese prices don't includeshipping costs.

PortraitProl 15 can certainlyhelp improve digital portraits.With a little ingenuity it can alsobe used to turn a reasonableportrait into something thatcould be considered grotesque,although it is not meant to beused in such a manner.

Whatever you use it for, itoffers a great blend of user-friendliness and functionality.mm Michael Fereday

A useful set of tools forair-brushing portraits

98

Quality

Value88Overall

Before and after view

Select gender

DETAILS• Price: £99.95• Manufacturer:Anthropics• Website:goo.gl/MH3iS• Requirements:1GHz processor, 2GBRAM (4GB for 64-bit),170MB disk space,Windows XP or later

Issue 1417 47

ONTEST

Reviews

Corsair SF Series PSU 450W

M any years ago, Iowned a tinyPentax Auto 110SLR that looked like

a 35mm film camera that hadbeen shrunk in a crazy scienceexperiment.

Opening the box to Corsair’snew SF Series PSU remindedme of the Pentax and howirresistibly cute miniaturisedtechnology can be.

Looking at the pictures, it’seasy to dismiss this design asjust another ATX powersupply made to the exactingstandards of 80 Plus Goldcertification with full cablemodularisation. But what theydon’t convey well is scale.This PSU is just 100mm frontto back, 63mm high and121mm at its widest point.It's specifically designed to beused in SFF cases like thoseoften used for media centresand tiny servers.

Having owned a few ofthese types of systems, thePSUs that come with them aregenerally underpowered (300watts or less), and they oftenhave limited cable supportand a fan that kicks in at highRPM from the point youpower them up.

Amazingly, all these pointsare addressed here. Thereview model offers 450 wattsand allocates a healthy 37.5Ato the 12V line, with supportfor a single PCIe 6+2 line.

If that’s insufficient for your

DETAILS• Price: £69.99• Manufacturer:Corsair• Website:www.corsair.com• Requirements: SFFsystem

needs, Corsair also makes a600W version, which has dualPCIe lines, bumping the 12Vline to 50A.

Both supplies include thecorrect cabling for ATX12Vv2.4 and EPS 2.92 standardsand four each of SATA andMolex power connectors.

This connector load-out isas applicable to a full ATX rigas a standard-sized PSU.However, you can’t easily fitinto an ATX case, because themounting holes aren’tcorrectly spaced.

Corsair considered thepossible reuse of the PSU in afull ATX spec design, and foran extra £5.99 it will supply ahandy adapter plate.

Cooling is provided by asingle 90mm fan that’s

thermally controlled by thesupply's own sensors. Becauseof that, it won’t run at allunless the PC it’s connected tois pulling more than 90 watts.

Fan speed scales from300rpm at a 135W pull to2010rpm at the full 450 wattload, and it’s a speciallydesigned NR092L PSU fan, nota repurposed case fan. Theupshot of that design choiceis that you won’t really hearthe fan at all on most systemsuntil you use the GPU, andwhen it does come on, itwon’t be intrusive.

Efficiency on this design isalso exceptionally good. On230Vac at 100% load, it’s92.14% effective,guaranteeing that most of thepower makes it to the PC.

Small system builders have a friend in Corsair

The build quality on offerhere more than justifies theprice. It’s built using the best105°C rated Japanesecapacitors and is superblyengineered throughout.

If I have a criticism it’s that Idon’t see the point in the ATXlines being modular, becausewithout them the PSU can’tpower up. All connectors area possible point of failure,above and beyond one that’spermanently soldered.Arguably, though, it couldmake a tricky SFF caseinstallation easier.

If you’re building a smallsystem, I can’t recommend theCorsair SF Series more highly.mm Mark Pickavance

A tiny PSU that’s equalto its bigger brothers

98

Quality

Value88Overall

48 Issue 1417

From Bedrooms ToBillions: The Amiga Years

The seconddocumentary fromAnthony and NicolaCaulfield of Gracious

Films is now available. Andinstead of looking at thehistory of British influences onthe gaming world and thetechnology behind it, it’s timefor one of the most iconichome computers everdeveloped: the Amiga.

As with the original FromBedrooms to Billions, thedocumentary starts with thehumble beginnings of whatwould become a machine farbeyond its time. It opens withlate Ralph Baer, inventor of theBrown Box and credited as thefather of videogames, thenmoves on to interviews with JoeDecuir, Larry Kaplan and TripHawkins, providing the history ofAtari and how the key players inthe history of the CommodoreAmiga found their place.

The emphasis here is on theinnovation that brought adiagram drawn on graphpaper to something physical,in the form of several sizeablebreadboards with a multitudeof criss-crossing wires. The realgenius from there lay in thefact that the hardwareengineers, most notably JayMiner, took this prototype for

a new computer and turned itinto the multimedia chips usedin the Amiga.

There are numerous accountof how Atari changed itsmanagement structure andhow through one way oranother, various peopleeventually decamped from thecompany and came togetherunder the Hi-Toro brand,which was later renamed tothe Amiga Corporation.

It’s an extremely engaginghistory, with its fair share ofups and downs, and theCaulfields manage to keep theflow of the story withoutreducing the core of thedocumentary to the vilification

of one party or another.Toward the end of the first

half of the film, you get a realsense of just how precariousthe future of the Amigacomputer actually was. Andwith that, an idea of how verydifferent things could haveturned out.

It also covers the tumultuousrelationship between theAmiga and Jack Tramiel’s Atari– complete with his philosophyof “business is war”. Again,it’s an eye-opening account ofwhat happened at the timefrom the people who were inthe firing line.

The second half of thedocumentary looks at the

From humble beginnings, a technical icon grew

software side of the Amiga, thegaming in particular, but alsothe demo scene and some ofthe more iconic programs thatmusicians and artists of thetime used. Here we see justhow advanced the Amiga reallywas, in that the programmersof the day could create someincredible things with thehardware at their disposal.

The documentary instils thesense of the pioneer, from theearly days of the foundation ofAtari to the view of the Amigacircuit diagram written on awhiteboard – which issomething that’s often talkedof during the interviews.

Just like the previous film,this documentary pitches itselfperfectly to those of a certainage, as well as enthusiasts andthose interested in history,without stretching itself toothinly over its two and halfhours running time.

In short, for a mere £3.99rental or £10.54 purchase,From Bedrooms to Billions: TheAmiga Years is an engagingand thoroughly interestingexploration of an influentialand iconic computer.mm David Hayward

Another superbexploration into ourtechnical history

99

Quality

Value99Overall

DETAILS• Price: £3.99rental/£10.54purchase• Manufacturer:Gracious Films• Website:goo.gl/13Mql6• Requirements:Vimeo account,downloadable MP4viewing

From Bedrooms to Billions: The Amiga years charts the history of the

iconic machine

Interviews with key people lead you through the beginning of the Amiga,

through to the height of its success

Issue 1417 49

ONTEST

Reviews

Lumo

T hose of you oldenough to recall thelikes of Head overHeels, Fairlight, any

of the Ultimate games andother such wonderful 3Disometric classics of the 8-bitera will instantly look at Lumowith fondness. This is a gamein which the best elementsof the aforementioned gameshave been combined andlovingly crafted into amodern adventure.

Having been magicallytransported into an 8-bitisometric world, the youngprotagonist must find his orher way through a maze ofrooms and locations. At firstyou can’t do much as acharacter; you have limitedjump abilities, and contactwith water is fatal. However,as you progress, you collectupgrades that enable you tojump higher, swim and cast alight from the end of a staffto stave off giant spiders andreveal hidden pathways.

Along the way, you’ll comeacross collectible items suchas tapes, coins and rubberducks, all of which add to thechallenge of thoroughlyexploring an area beforemoving on. Ultimately,though, your target is tolocate four main pieces ofancient computer components

DETAILS• Price: £14.99• Manufacturer: TripleEh?/Rising star Games• Website:goo.gl/osblLQ• Requirements:Windows 7 or later,Linux, Mac OS X, dual-core 2.4GHz CPU, 4GBRAM, Nvidia 670 orbetter

– a task that’s far easier saidthan done.

Graphically, Lumo is adelight. The isometricprojection is perfect, offeringyou just enough visibility towork with, but while alsohiding some areas from viewand forcing you to eitherapproach each room withcaution or to spend a littlemore time seeing if there’s ahidden room.

Most rooms involve someform of puzzle: finding anobject to unlock a door,pulling a lever on someremote level to operate a lifton another, or locating thewheel of a mine cart toengage one of the many mini-games. Other rooms, though,require a higher degree of

dexterity that’s missing frommost modern games.

The challenge of Lumo,therefore, comes from severalangles. You have to explore toadvance, you have to timeyour jumps to dangling chainsand thin beams over certaindeath, and you have to beprepared to retrace your stepsfrequently – oh and die. A lot.

Loss of life comes quick inLumo, and often many timesin a single room, before youwork out the right method ofcircumnavigating the obstacle.It may sound frustrating, butit only adds to the game’smany qualities.

There are also countlessnods to an older generationof gamers. Look carefullyenough, and you’ll notice a

An enchanting breath of fresh air in the form of an isometric adventure

mention of Manic Miner,Monty Mole and even pokesfor Head over Heels. Whencollecting the tapes, you’llcatch a quick soundbite of aSpectrum loading noise, andat the very start of the game,see if you can identify theloading screens of theSpectrum games in thebackground.

The minigames wementioned earlier give you aquick breather from the mainadventure, and again you’llfind many references toclassic titles and even movies.Raiders of the Lost Ark, TheLord of the Rings, that minecart chase in Temple of Doomare all there. And there arealso mini-games that apeTrailblazer, Nebulus and evena spot of Jet Set Willy.

Lumo is a fantastic indietitle. The developer, GarethNoyce, has done an excellentjob of mixing up the past andpresent. Great fun and worthevery penny.mm David Hayward

Delightful andchallenging, with heapsof nostalgic references

99

Quality

Value99Overall

Lumo has its fair share of head-scratching puzzles to overcome

Challenges are plenty, but very rewarding

DETAILS• Price: £80• Manufacturer:Hannspree Micro PC• Website:goo.gl/GG71hr• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse,Windows account

The Hannspree Micro PCwas one of the first PCsticks to hit the market,beating the Intel

Compute Stick by a goodfew months.

Inside it, you’ll find a quad-core 1.83GHz Intel Atom Z3735F,2GB of DDR RAM, Intel HD BayTrail graphics and 32GB ofSamsung eMMC NAND storage.Furthermore, there’s Bluetooth4.0, 802.11n wi-fi, a micro-USBport for power, a full sized USB2.0 port and a micro-SD cardreader to further expand thestorage. Ingeniously, all thismanages to fit into a shellmeasuring just 110 x 38 x 9.8mmand weighing 38 grams.

The Micro PC consists of ahard, piano-black shell, withthe aforementioned portsdotted either side, in betweensome heat exhaust vents. Itterminates at one end with aprotruding HDMI connector,next to which is located thetiny push power button.

The Micro PC comes with acopy of Windows 8.1 BingEdition pre-installed, with theobvious free route to Windows10 (for the time being, anyway).All you need to do is simply plugthe HDMI section of the deviceinto a relevant socket on your TVor monitor (there’s even an HDMIextension cable provided in thebox if you’re struggling to fit thewider than normal Micro PC) andprovide power through the micro-USB port with the supplied 5V 2Apower adapter.

Gaming isn’t something you’dexpect from a PC stick, so don’texpect something like TheWitcher 3 at the highest possiblegraphical detail. Older titles willfare better, but it’s still a strugglefor the Micro PC.

The Micro PC did get a littlewarm to the touch after we'dfinished putting it through itspaces. Obviously there isn’t a fanhidden somewhere in the case,so all heat has to be pushedthrough the tiny ventilation holeson the sides of the device. Thisisn’t too much of a problem,though, despite how it sounds.Although it was warm to thetouch, the Micro PC neveroverheated, even when leftdangling around the generallypoorly ventilated back of our TV.

At around £80, the Micro PC isreasonably priced and aninteresting device to consider.

Due to the processor inside theMicro PC being of the x86variety, everything you wouldnormally install on a standarddesktop PC can be installed onthis device without anyperceivable problems. That meansyou’ll be on familiar ground tobegin with and can happily installVLC, Office and even Steam.There’s also the potential formore niche project work, like aretro emulator machine or somekind of kiosk PC.

The Micro PC is alsosurprisingly quick, considering itsdiminutive dimensions. Bootingthe OS takes a tad less than 16seconds, and the desktop and UIis extremely smooth and perfectlyoperable. Furthermore, whenconnected to our network,browsing our video collection onthe NAS drive worked a treat, asdid normal internet duties.

We tested the HannspreeMicro PC with a selection ofHD films, all of which playedperfectly well, thanks to thedecent hardware h.264 videodecoding built into the Atomprocessor. At full 1080p, therewasn’t any hint of a strugglefrom the tiny PC, and thanks tothe HD audio through theHDMI connector, a connectedsoundbar to the TV providedthe ultimate in ultra-smallhome theatre PCs.

§

GROUPTEST

With x86 technologynow being used insidetablets and phones, itwas inevitable thatwe’d one day end upwith some reallysmall PCs.The PC stick is the

result of theminiaturisation of thattechnology, and wecan now enjoy thelatest version ofWindows onsomething that plugsinto the back of a TVor monitor andmeasures onlyslightly more than astandard USB stick.

PC Sticks

PC Sticks

HannspreeMicro PC

87

Quality

Value77Overall

Issue 1417 51

GROUPTEST

PC Sticks

does have a slight impact onthe overall performance ofthe device.

Media duties performedwell enough, although wedid see a slight stutter onsome 1080 HD videos when

resuming from a pause orwhen skipping through thetimeline. The likes of Netflixand BBC iPlayer, though,played without any problems.

The lack of processinggrunt also affects the otherduties that the Archos PCStick can carry out. PC sticksaren’t gaming machines, butyou may even struggle with

as the sides to help cool itdown. Thankfully, though,the Archos PC Stick doesn’tget too hot, even after beingpowered up for some time.It’s certainly a lot cooler tothe touch than the

Hannspree Micro PC andcooler than a tablet that’sbeen running full pelt for anhour or so.

While the combination ofZ3735F and 2GB of memoryis something we’ve alreadyseen in the Hannspree MicroPC, this version has a lowerclock speed. While onlyaround 500MHz slower, it

DETAILS• Price: £77• Manufacturer:Archos• Website:goo.gl/b4Jif8• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse,Windows account

Doesn’t get too hot,

even after being powered up

for some time

T he Archos PC Stick isone of the latestmodels to be released,and it's the youngest

of this group. We recentlymanaged to review one on itsown, so we thought it wouldbe a good opportunity tosee how well it fared againstthe competition.

This particular devicemeasures 113 x 37.6 x18mm and weighs 60g.Inside you’ll find a 1.33GHzIntel Atom Z3735F quad-coreprocessor, a 311MHz IntelHD GPU with a burstfrequency of 646MHz, 2GBof memory, 32GB of eMMCstorage, and Windows 1032-bit Home Edition.

Connectivity consists of802.1n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0, afull-sized USB 2.0 port, amicro-USB port, 5V power,power button and a micro SDcard slot for up to 64GBcards. Naturally, removing thelid from one end of the stickwill reveal the HDMIconnector that plugs into themonitor or TV.

The PC Stick itself comes ina light metallic blue plasticcover. It’s lightweight enoughto not put too much stresson the HDMI input of thedisplay you’re plugging into,but attaching other USBcables to it can cause a bitof a problem if they’re notlong enough, plus they addextra weight.

There are plenty of ventholes on both faces as well

some of the lightweight titlesin your Steam library. Again,though, it makes for acracking retro emulator.

The Archos PC Stick maywell be slightlyunderpowered in comparisonto other sticks, but it’s still agood little PC. Plus, it’scheaper than most of theother models in the group atjust £77, which isn’t a hugesaving, but a savingnonetheless.

Archos PC Stick

78

Quality

Value77Overall

52 Issue 1417

I t makes perfect sense forthe likes of Lenovo to getin on the PC stick scene.After all, these are micro-

sized PCs and can offerbusiness users a handy, fullyworking machine that’spitched better than some ofthe terminal machines we’veseen in the past.

Sadly, the Lenovo IdeacentreStick 300 doesn’t bringanything new to the table. It’spowered by an Intel AtomZ3735F processor 11n1.33GHz, with anaccompanying Intel HD GPU at311MHz – the same specprocessor as found in theArchos PC stick.

It has 2GB of DDR3L-RSmemory, 32GB of flash storageeMMC and Windows 10 32-bitHome. In terms of connectivity,you get micro-USB 2.0 forpower, a full-sized USB 2.0port, an SD card reader forcards up to 32GB, 802.11nwi-fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

It measures 100 x 38 x15mm and weighs around50g, which makes it ever soslightly smaller and lighterthan the Archos model andmore in line with thedimensions and weight of theHannspree Micro PC.

The design is obviously verysimilar to the other models ontest, with the HDMI connectorunder a removable cap at oneend, variously placed ventholes and the other portslocated along the sides. Thedifference here, though, is thefact that the Lenovo

We liked the fact that theIdeacentre Stick 300 didn’t gettoo hot after prolonged use. Infact, we’d go so far as to say itwas significantly cooler to thetouch than the Archos PCStick. We put this down to thebetter quality build of theIdeacentre Stick 300.

But in spite of its superiorbuild, it has a major downside:the price. At around £130, it’sthe most expensive PC stick ofthe entire group, by quite afew pounds.

That said, the LenovoIdeacentre Stick 300 is a goodPC stick to consider. Theaverage consumer, though, willmore than likely look elsewhere.

DETAILS• Price: £130• Manufacturer: Lenovo• Website:goo.gl/Dc3rZM• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse,Windows account

Lenovo Ideacentre Stick 300PC Sticks

Ideacentre Stick 300 is asomewhat better quality buildthan the Hannspree andArchos models. It lacks thecolour of the Archos PC Stick,this being matte-black withglossy black sides, but it feelsa more sturdy device, using abetter quality plastic casing.

In terms of performance,the Lenovo Ideacentre Stick

300 performed pretty muchthe same as the Archos PCStick. Video playback at 1080HD was fine, although itdidn’t like resuming from alengthy pause or skippingthrough the video timelinetoo much.

Other PC duties such asphoto viewing and lightweightgaming worked well enough.

85

Quality

Value77Overall

In spite of its superior

build, it has a major

downside: the price

Issue 1417 53

GROUPTEST

PC Sticks

The original PC stick, ifyou will, the IntelCompute Stick wasannounced amid much

enthusiasm a few years ago atCES and had all present in abit of a lather.

The design was differentfrom anything we’d seenpreviously: smaller, with moreperformance and in the samedesign as a standard USB stick.However, when it was finallyreleased, Intel missed the boatby a good few months, withother PC sticks having alreadyestablished themselves, andthe result was ratherunderwhelming.

Now, though, we have thesecond-generation IntelCompute Stick, complete witha 1.44GHz Intel Atomx5-z8300 quad-core processor,a 500MHz Intel HD GPU, 2GBof 1600MHz DDR3L memory,32GB of flash storage andWindows 10 64-bit Home.

Connectivity includes802.11ac wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0,a pair of full-sized USB ports(one USB 2.0 and the otherUSB 3.0) and an SD cardreader that’ll happily takecards up to 128GB in size.

The design is slightlydifferent to the original IntelCompute Stick. This version isa little bigger, measuring 113x 38 x 12mm and weighingjust under 100g. The extrasize and weight are thanks toa tiny fan that Intel hasinstalled toward the HDMIend of the Compute Stick. As

DETAILS• Price: £125• Manufacturer: Intel• Website:goo.gl/tfCWJJ• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse,Windows account

Intel Compute Stick

85

Quality

Value88Overall

with the other examples,there are numerous vent holespunctured around the device,with a larger section abovewhere the fan sits.

The fan is of course verysilent, and although you canbarely feel it when you placeyour hand over the vent holes,

it appears to do a goodenough job of keeping theentire setup cool. TheCompute Stick is also muchlike the Lenovo model, in thatit has a far better quality buildthan some of the otherexamples here. It also has thesame matte-black finishplastic, with sections of glossyblack plastic scattered hereand there.

The performance of the IntelCompute Stick was excellent,outshining everything we’vepreviously had to test. We’deven go so far as to say it’ll

keep up with a MicrosoftSurface 3. Needless to say, the1080 HD video test ranperfectly well, and we evenmanaged to get some goodframe-rates in a collection ofgames from our Steam library.

We did see a rumour thatthe x5-z8300 was capable of

delivering 4K quality video, butwhen we tried with some ofthe examples on YouTube, theCompute Stick refused to play.Perhaps this is something wecan see in new models in thecoming years.

The boost in performanceand quality build comes at aprice, though: around £125 tobe exact. While it’s not asexpensive as the Lenovo model,it’s still quite a lot of money tofork out on. However, the IntelCompute Stick is the bestperformer here, so you getwhat you pay for.

The performance of the

Intel Compute Stick was

excellent

54 Issue 1417

S omething a littledifferent now in theform of the AsusChromebit. While

having a Windows PC Stick isgreat, Windows isn’t alwaysthe best choice of operatingsystem to fit into such a low-performing device. With thatin mind, Asus has opted forChrome OS.

The Asus ChromebitCS10 consists of a 1.8GHzRockchip quad-core RK3288Cprocessor, a RockchipMali T764 GPU, 2GB ofLPDDR3L memory and 16GBof eMMC storage.

Connectivity comes in theform of a single USB 2.0 port,802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0.The eagle-eyed among youwill already have noticed thelack of an SD card slot, whichseems like an odd omission.

The Chromebit is quite aslender device. It measures123 x 31 x 17mm and weighs75g. At one end, there’s theHDMI and at the other there’sthe USB port, with the powersituated on one of the sides.

As far as the quality goes,it’s reasonably good, if alittle cheap feeling. It’s notas good in terms of buildquality as the Lenovo or Intelsticks, and it does feel quiteflimsy when next to theHannspree model. It’sfunctional enough, though.

The performance is a bit ofa mixed bag. While ChromeOS is fluid enough, we didhave some trouble when it

DETAILS• Price: £90• Manufacturer:Asus• Website:goo.gl/wykIAV• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse, Googleaccount

Asus Chromebit CS10PC Sticks

came to playing the 1080HD video via our NAS. UsingVLC for Chrome, weexperienced all manner ofplayback problems, includingstuttering, refusal to resumefrom a pause and no outputat all. If we left the videoto play, there was a lot ofscreen tearing during fastpaced scenes.

Lightweight Chrome OSgaming didn’t work out toowell either. There were timeswhen the devices lagged andthe frame-rate dropped to the

point where we thought we’dhave to pull the plug.

One major advantage is theinclusion of 100GB of GoogleDrive space for two years.

The lack of Windows mayput a lot of users off. WhileChrome OS has its benefits,it’s not really an OS thatwe’ve come to appreciate inthe same way as a ‘true’ Linuxdistro, Android or Windows.

Don’t get us wrong; it’s notthat the Asus Chromebit is apoorer relative to the otherPC sticks, but it seems that

Chrome OS isn’t quite asgood an operating system asthe others we’ve mentioned.

The Asus Chromebit CS10may lack some of the punchthe other sticks have to offer,but for those who preferChrome OS, it’s certainly anokay stick. However, the £90price seems a little steep.

65

Quality

Value66Overall

We experienced all

manner of playback problems,

including stuttering

Issue 1417 55

GROUPTEST

PC Sticks

problem if the device ispowered up for some time.

Since the MeeGoPad T02 isa somewhat cheaperimported PC stick, it goeswithout saying that it doesn’tcost as much as the otherPC sticks in the group. Infact, you can pick oneup for around £60, althoughwe saw one for as little as£46. So far, we haven’tbeen able to get a confirmedprice for the Ubuntu versionof the T02.

The MeeGoPad T02performs no differently toa few of the other devicesin this group, and for thecost, you could be thinking itwould be worth investing in.

T he MeeGoPadname has improvedsomewhat over thelast few years. Since

it first started to appearon eBay, selling Chineseimported technology, itsquality of products has gonefrom the really cheap andoften quite nasty, to the situp and take notice variety.

There’s quite a range ofMeeGoPad devices thesedays, including various PCsticks such as the T02. Thisdevice features a 1.33GHzIntel Atom Z3735F 11n, a500MHz Intel HD GPU, 2GBof LPDDR3 memory, 32GBof eMMC storage and eitherWindows 10 32-bit Home orthe latest version of Ubuntu.

Connectivity comes in theform of a pair of USB 2.0ports, a 3.5mm audio portand a micro-SD card withsupport for cards up to 64GBin size. You also get 802.11nwi-fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

The design is a littledifferent from what we’vealready seen. It measures 115x 54 x 10mm and weighsjust over 50g. While still aflat device, the opposite endof the HDMI connector isformed to a narrow head,and the device seems a littlethicker than the others we’velooked at so far.

Sadly, it also feels verycheaply made. There’snowhere near the samelevel of quality that we’ve

But it isn’t a well-constructeddevice and, in truth, youcould be wasting your moneyshould the one that turns upbe one that overheats andgoes pop under the strain.

DETAILS• Price: £60• Manufacturer:MeeGoPad• Website:goo.gl/kk6h8o• Requirements:Keyboard, mouse,Windows account

MeeGoPad T02

seen in the likes of theIntel, Lenovo, Archos orHannspree PC sticks, withthe T02 having a flimsyplastic shell that, despitethe various vent holes, getsextraordinarily hot after anhour or so of use.

The performance of theMeeGoPad T02 wasn’tmuch different to that ofthe Archos or Hannspreemodels. Video playback at1080 worked well, as didphoto viewing and somelightweight gaming fromour Steam library and theWindows App Store. Theonly real major concern wasthe level of heat produced,where it could cause a

56

Quality

Value55Overall

56 Issue 1417

Intel Compute Stick

How We Tested

Although it’s quite expensive, the IntelCompute Stick is the best PC stick out of theentire group.

The performance is better, and its design andbuild quality is far better too – all of whichmakes it worth the higher price.

Each PC Stick was connected to a 42" LG smart TV, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. We used a selection of 1080pYouTube videos, as well as a selection of HD movies from a NAS drive. For gaming, we used various old computer and consoleemulators, as well as Steam games such as Lumo, CS:GO and Blockstorm. We also tried several less demanding titles from theWindows 10 App Store.

Archos PC StickThe competition was pretty tight for therunner-up spot, but we think the Archos PCStick may have it, thanks to its price andokay performance.

We also liked its build quality and itsdesign too.

Hannspree Micro PC Archos PC StickLenovo

Ideacentre Stick300

Intel ComputeStick

Asus ChromebitCS10 MeeGoPad T02

Price £80 £77 £130 £125 £90 £60

Dimensions 110 x 38 x 9.8mm 113 x 37.6 x 18mm 100 x 38 x 15mm 113 x 38 x 12mm 123 x 31 x 17mm 115 x 54 x 10mm

Weight 38g 60g 50g 95g 75g 55g

CPUIntel Atom Z3735F

1.83GHzIntel Atom Z3735F

1.33GHzIntel Atom Z3735F

1.33GHzAtom x5-z8300

1.44GHzRockchip quad-coreRK3288C 1.8GHz

Intel Atom Z3735F1.33GHz

Memory 2GB 2GB 2GB 2GB 2GB 2GB

Storage 32GB 32GB 32GB 32GB 16GB 32GB

OS Windows 8.1Windows 10 32-bit

HomeWindows 10 32-bit

HomeWindows 10 64-bit

HomeChrome OS

Windows 10 32-bitHome/Ubuntu

USB Ports 1 x USB 2.01 x USB 2.0, 1 x

micro-USB1 x USB 2.0

1 x USB 2.0, 1 xUSB 3.0

1 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 2.0

EDITOR’S

CHOICE

HIGHLY CO

MM

ENDED

Issue 1417 57

Causing mischief is what these guysare all about…

Top5InternetCriminals

1KimDotcomBorn Kim Schmitz, this Finnish and German internetentrepreneur has made millions from founding onlineservices like Megaupload and, later, Mega. Of course, both

of these are closely linked with copyright infringement, and this, alongwith accusations of money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering,is why the US Department of Justice is trying to have him extraditedfrom New Zealand, where he currently lives.

But his rap sheet doesn’t end there. He was already given a two-year suspended sentence in Germany for a variety of computer-related crimes. Later, he was given another suspended sentencefor embezzlement, and he was also fined for failing to discloseshareholdings.

In short, he’s a very naughty boy.

2Dread Pirate RobertsTaking his online handle, Dread Pirate Roberts, fromthe book The Princess Bride (or more likely the 1987film adaptation), Ross William Ulbricht must have

thought he was unstoppable when he was heading up the SilkRoad black market website. Running on the darknet, Ulbricht’sanonymity must have seemed assured, but just two yearsafter the sites’s 2011 launch, Silk Road had been shut down,and Ulbricht found himself being arrested and charged withmoney laundering, computer hacking and conspiracy to trafficnarcotics. By 2015, he had been convicted of those crimes andsentenced to life in prison without parole.

Unfortunately for him, his troubles haven’t ended yet.He’s still facing a separate trial in Maryland, USA, for hiringa contract killer to do away with six people (a witness, ablackmailer and associates of the blackmailer). Tut, tut.

3 Gary McKinnonAccused of carrying out the biggest hack of all timeof military computers, Gary McKinnon worked his wayinto the systems of none other than Nasa (among

others). The matter of his guilt is without doubt, because hehimself has admitted to the hack. The problem, as you’ll no doubtremember, is whether he should be extradited to the United Statesto face justice.

On the face of it, yes, he should, even if he really was justlooking for evidence of UFOs and free-energy suppression, as heclaims. But because he was diagnosed as autistic, he was declareda suicide risk, so it was claimed extradition would contravene hishuman rights.

Ultimately, the extradition was granted but eventually blockedby Home Secretary Theresa May. That, at the moment, is howthings stand.

4 Gottfrid SvartholmAlong with Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, Svartholmco-founded The Pirate Bay. He was, of course, convictedof copyright infringement, for which he received a one-

year prison sentence. But his illegal activities extend beyond this,and he’s served a few sentences for other crimes too.

In 2013, he was given two years (reduced to one on appeal)for hacking into Logica, a company that was working for taxauthorities. After that, he was sent to Denmark to face trial forhacking into computers owned by technology firm CSC. There hewas handed a sentence for three and a half years.

He has, however, been free since September 2015, so he’s clearlybeen behaving himself in prison.

5 SabuIn 2011, LulzSec was a big deal. This hacker grouphad carried out a huge attack on Sony and apparentlytaken down the CIA website, among other high-profile

attacks. At the heart of this collective was a hacker going by thename of Sabu.

The real identity of this person was revealed in 2012 as HectorXavier Monsegur, but authorities were aware of his identity longbefore then. In fact, he had been arrested in June 2011 and hadbeen working with the FBI ever since, continuing his LulzSecactivities and helping to build a case against his fellow hackers.

We can’t really blame him for that, but we don’t imagine many ofhis old chums will be sending him Christmas cards any time soon. mm

Loving his new work placement, apart from the poor canteen food and the

bright orange jumpsuit

Issue 141758

Who would have thought that social media wouldbecome a viable business tool, and even aprofession? Yes, in this modern world of constantcommunication and always-in-touch-with-everyone-

at-all-times culture, the ability to use social media tools likeFacebook and Twitter is not just a socially expected skill, but it’salso an important skill, even to the point where some employerswill actively look for it in a potential employee.

This is best demonstrated by marketing and advertisingcompanies, which have embraced social media with gusto,realising the huge benefits the new avenue of potential coverage.Even firms not concerned with marketing, as such, utilise socialmedia for various reasons. Then you have the self-employedsocial media pros, such as online personalities on YouTube,successful bloggers, and other people who have made abusiness online, with social media residing at the centre of it all.

Social media isn’t just for the professional, of course, andeveryday users make up the majority of traffic here, with millionsupon millions of posts being placed online constantly. The amount

If you’re a heavy user of socialnetworks, either personally orfor business, these apps could

be indispensable

A Guide To SocialMedia Buffer Apps

Issue 1417 59

SOCIAL MEDIABUFFER APPS

of traffic social media generates is incredible, and all of thisrelies on people logging on and manually posting their thoughts,experiences, and other content.

In our busy lifestyles, however, it’s not always easy to keepon top of social media posts, and for business users, it can bedifficult to keep the tempo going, especially in fast moving socialspaces like Twitter. What’s needed is an aid that can help with thisposting, taking some of the heat from the user and automatingtasks to some degree.

Enter the social media management app. This breed ofsoftware is designed to augment social media use, taking someof the strain out of being constantly plugged into the world, andwe’re going to look at this topic here, as well as casting our eyesover a selection of some possible applications you may want tocheck out.

SociallyAutomatedSocial media management applications are mainly designed for heavysocial media users, the kind of people who post a lot, and often haveto post at specific times. With this in mind, one of the main featuresof any social management tool is the ability to schedule posts, whichare then posted for you by the program at a specified time. This hasobvious benefits for marketing, but can be very useful for consumeruse too, such as family announcements.

This scheduling often extends past simple timings of certainposts, and using one of these tools you can write a collectionof posts in one go and have the program post them to socialmedia over a period of time. So, if you need to keep a socialpresence, but don’t have time to be online every day, you canlet the program keep you active, even when you’re busy withother things. Posts can be automatically staggered throughout amonth, giving the illusion that you’re online. A very useful tool formaintaining your profile.

Another common feature is the ability to bridge the gapsbetween social media. Most management apps support all of themajor social networks, and can post to, and interface with all ofthem. So, whether you need to post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,or Pinterest, a single management app will let you do this, insteadof having to use each social media’s own tools or websites. That’s abenefit for any user who uses multiple networks.

Posting images is an important aspect of social media, be itfor business or the spreading of memes and jokes. Managementtools offer functions that also deal with images, and lets users notonly post images via the program, but also create and manipulatethem before posting. Some apps also provide analytics, which arevery useful for users who need to keep tabs on trends and whatcontent is popular.

These are just some of the basic features you’ll find in mostsoftware of this type, as well as support for multiple platforms,including mobile devices, which are arguably the most important tosupport given the nature of social media and its massive popularityon mobile devices.

Of course, not all programs are equal. Applications of this typehave different features, and focus on specific user types, aimingfor at either professional users or consumers. This means thereare plenty of different tools out there, and you’ll need to pick thecorrect app for you. Let’s have a look at some.

ManagementOhm-haBuffer (buffer.com)Buffer is one of the most popular social media managers outthere at the moment, and it’s available in free and subscriptionforms. The free incarnation is for a single profile, whilst the paidfor variant supports up to ten profiles per sub, with a greaternumber of posts in your ‘buffer’ (up to 100 instead of 10 for thefree version).

The app itself offers all of the basics, which it does very well.It can schedule posts, upload images and video, will staggerposts over your chosen time period, and provides importantanalytics for your various social media accounts.

The social media supported includes Facebook, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest, and as well as use on a homecomputer, the service is also usable via mobile phone, with bothiOS and Android apps available. There’s also a business variant,which offers features more tailored to business use.

Buffer is a great service, but although it has a free option,it’s more limited than others if you don’t pay for a subscription.The most basic paid plan is $10 per month, or $102 per year.This isn’t all that expensive, but when there are free optionsavailable, it may be steep for some.

Not all programs are equal.Applications of this type havedifferent features, and focus onspecific user types

Buffer is popular, although to get the most out of it you need to pay

Hootsuite is a business-centric app, but offers very powerful functions

Issue 141760

Hootsuite (bit.ly/1T0YiGB)Hootsuite is the other big name in the social media managementworld. Like Buffer, it’s not entirely free. In fact, whereas Bufferhas a free individual account option, Hootsuite has no gratisplans. This is mainly as it’s not really designed for non-businessusers, and is instead aimed at small to large businesses, whichwould include users with a heavy presence on social media, andwho use it for more than simply keeping in touch with friendsand family.

The app is powerful, and it boasts all of the features userswho depend on social media could want, including scheduling,analytics, and the ability to keep tabs on what others are saying.There are tools that can access client accounts if you representmultiple people on social media, and marketing tools helpdevelop strategies and drives to push online presence.

As it’s much more focused on the business and advertisingside of things, Hootsuite isn’t quite as fitting for individual use,even for online celebs, but it’s certainly one of the most powerfulin terms of drilling down to the fine details and pushing socialpresence into the public eye. It supports, Facebook, Twitter,Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Wordpress. If you’reinterested, there a 30 day trial available.

SocialPilot (socialpilot.co)This is another management tool aimed at the larger scale user,specifically those with the need to manage multiple profiles –such as agencies, or simply users who operate more than oneaccount for whatever reason. Along with the usual abilitiessuch as scheduling posts and the like, SocialPilot particularlyspecialises in tying multiple profiles into one account. Think of itas the One Ring for social media, if you will.

It makes it easier to work with teams, or collaborate withothers, and is able to focus on custom Facebook branding andthe delivery of content under a specific banner. It also supportsone of the largest ranges of social media portals, includingFacebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr,Vk.com, and Xing. A mobile app is available for Android andiOS, and there’s also a plug-in for Google Chrome, giving youaccess to your social media feeds and management tools at alltimes, something any professional social media user will require.

All of this is actually available for free, too. Though,admittedly that’s in a limited form, of course. Up to threeprofiles can be connected to your SocialPilot account, with up to10 posts per day and 30 in your scheduled queue. You’ll also getsome content discovery and suggestions.

The paid for version is pretty cheap, costing only $4 permonth or $50 per year, and this gives you up to 10 connected

profiles, 50 posts per day, 250 scheduled posts in your queue,five RSS feeds and content discovery and suggestions. There aremore expensive packages too, offering even more features.

Kuku.io (kuku.io)Billed as “The World’s most user-friendly social mediamanagement tool,” Kuku.io is one of the more attractive socialmedia apps. While it certainly has a very clean and simpleinterface, though that doesn’t mean it’s simple in terms of whatit can do for you. Although it may not be quite as in-depth assome others, it still allows users to tie together all of their socialmedia accounts so they can post content to multiple locations atonce, and there are some useful analytics delivered to help trackyour effectiveness.

As with many of these apps, there is a focus on marketing,but as useful as it is in this regard, if you’re a social media homeuser with a profile to keep up, such as a YouTube channel,for example, this is probably one of the better apps to use,inasmuch as it tends to scale down to let intensive needs a littleeasier than most.Kuku.io supports Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, OK.ru, VK,

and Pinterest. It also has a limited free account, as well assubscription packages.

SocialPilot is another business-focused app, but it has more uses for

smaller scale use too

Kuku.io is more simplistic in its approach to dealing with social media,

and has a very easy to use interface

Jarvis is a simple app, but one that’s every bit as useful

Issue 1417 61

SOCIAL MEDIABUFFER APPS

Jarvis (choosejarvis.com)Jarvis is a smaller-scale management tool, and as such it’s probablya very good option for a lot of home users, even though it’s stilldesigned as a marketing tool. It’s free, and currently only supportsFacebook and Twitter, with Instagram support on the horizon.

It’s designed solely to keep your online presence alive andkicking, and can action posts for you using its set it and forget itapproach. You input your posts into the tool, and it’ll do the rest.It also has the option to re-use your most popular posts if yournew content runs dry, so even if you’re away for longer than youplanned, it’ll keep your covered.

Socioboard (www.socioboard.com)Socioboard takes us back to the heavy-duty social mediamanagement tools designed for business and marketing. Itcomes in various modules, with the Socioboard ‘Core’ being thecentral pillar of the suite. It’s this that provides the social mediamanagement, delivering scheduled posts, managing multipleaccounts, delivering analytics, and generating reports.

BoardMe is a tool for creating your own collection of socialmedia boards and content, with the option to stream themto other devices. BrandBuzz is a marketing-centric tool forcommunication with team members and customers. BrandHitis designed to help you reach more viewers and subscribers bynetworking with other people.

We’d say that Socioboard is arguably the most powerful socialmedia management application, and it features a wealth of featuresnot found in other similar tools. For many, it’ll be straight up overkill,but if you’re looking for a truly powerful tool that can help youdominate the social space, this is probably one of the best options.

Socioboard supports Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn,Instagram and more, and it’s open source and cross platform,including Linux support. There’s a free, basic plan, as well as anumber of subscription-based options.

Minutemailer (minutemailer.com/en)Guess what the Minutemailer social media tool is designed for?Yes, you guessed it, marketing. There’s a definite pattern here,but don’t be put off as marketing yourself is very similar to aproduct if you’re trying to get your online personality off theground. Minutemailer is another tool that aims to make socialmedia management easier in terms of actual use, and it features awell-designed interface and tool set.

The main feature of the tool, alongside the standard socialmedia manager tasks, is the creation of newsletters, emails, and

other unique content, all of which can be shared to social media.The templates used for these are mobile-friendly, and the editoris easy to use and flexible enough for some creative contentcreation. As well as this it features contact importing, unlimitedimage storage, and 256-bit encryption for security of your data.

There’s a free account option, of course, as well as severalsubscriptions, and the social media support includes Facebook,Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Socialdraft (socialdraft.com)Our final example social media management tool is Socialdraft.Once again it’s a a marketing tool, as most of these apps aregiven the obvious benefits of social media, and as such it featuresvarious tools to get the most out of your marketing strategies, bethey for a product, company, or personality.

Along with social media scheduling, a core feature of any self-respecting tool of this type, Socialdraft has the ability to monitorreview sites and other feedback, has a visual calendar, and can createspecial projects for managing your various accounts. It supportsFacebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and mobile devices.

Oddly, unlike most other social media managers, Socialdraftdoesn’t have a free option outside of a free trial, and thecheapest option is a very expensive $41 per month account (ifyou pay in one annual payment otherwise it’s more expensive permonth), with the most expensive costing $104 per month. That’sa lot of cash, and when so many other apps offer similar, or evenbetter features cheaper, or even for free, you may easily be putoff. As far as power and quality goes, though, Socialdraft is a topnotch service, so you should think about the trial, just in case youlike what you see and don’t mind the price tag. mm

Socialdraft is expensive, but it has a wide range of features to back up the cost

Socioboard is possibly the most powerful social media manager around Minutemailer is designed to create and share newsletters and mail content

Issue 141762

Being along for the ride, it’s oftendifficult to appreciate the sheeramount of change that has

occurred over the past 30 years or so.Larger storage, faster processors andbetter technology have all come alongand rewritten the PC playbook, alongwith the internet.

Because of this, there are activitiesthat many PC owners did that they nolonger do – and I’m not just talkingabout loving the colour beige.

Do you remember doing any ofthese, or are there some you’resheepishly still doing?

Compressed StorageAbout the time that Windows camealong, there was a curious phase wherethe cost of storage and the size of drivesgot completely out of balance with whatPC owners could actually afford. Aspeople used their systems more and theircollection of apps and data grew, they

rapidly discovered that the hard drivethey’d bought just wasn’t big enough.

Luckily, the power of the processorsavailable at the time offered a potentialsolution in the form of compressedvolumes, as first appeared with AddStor’sSuperStor that came bundled with DRDOS 6.0.

The thinking behind these productswas relatively simple but effective. Asingle large file was defined on theexisting volume and then, via the app,

Mark Pickavance looks at a collection of once-commonactivities, which have now been all but abandoned

Things We’veStopped Doing

On The PC

Issue 1417 63

THINGS WE’VESTOPPED DOING

bolted onto the OS as if it was anotherphysical drive. Any data being placedin that container was automaticallycompressed and then uncompressedwhen it was required.

How well this generally workedwas rather shocking, I recall. Often adocument would load faster when it wasin a compressed volume than from anuncompressed one.

The downside was that it was verydifficult to work out how much extraspace this would extract from thestorage you had, because some datacompressed better than others. Usingzip files, for example, gained younothing, as they really couldn’t becompressed any more.

Where it really shined was withdocuments that by their very naturecontained lots of repeated bytes orsequences, like those typically found inword processed content.

Pretty soon, everyone was using one ofthese compression tools, with the mostpopular being Stacker by Stac Electronics.

Disturbed by the popularity ofthis tool, Microsoft decided to putthis functionality in MS-DOS 6.0 anddeveloped ‘DoubleSpace’, whicheffectively did exactly what Stackerdid. However, it later turned out thatDoubleSpace infringed on two datacompression patents that Stac owned,and litigation ensued. Eventually,Microsoft paid for this problem to goaway – over $80 million, all told.

Within a few years of this, thenecessity for compressed volumes hadpassed, as drive capacities increased,

as did speeds, and the cost permegabyte dropped.

Ten years later, very few people wereusing compressed volumes, and thosewho needed that type of technologyused operating systems with thefunctionality baked in, rather than as

an additional app. The last version ofWindows to include it was Windows 98SE, which had DriveSpace 3.

But drive compression generally wasa very popular solution that most PCowners in the 90s used, but it failed tostand the technological test of time.

Use KVMsThey still sell KVMs (keyboard videomouse) hardware, so is my contentionthat this is a thing of the past valid?

It is, because the entire point of theKVM originally was to allow one monitorand one keyboard to be used to controlmultiple machines, and these days thereare much better ways to do this thansome horrific rats-nest wiring solution.

My first experience with a KVM wasin the control of servers, where in themachine room there was only room for

one screen, so it needed to be connectedto multiple machines.

Thinking about it logically, surely itwould have been better to put morethan one input on a monitor? But theKVM came along, and by twisting aphysical dial you could direct a keyboard,

display and later mouse, to initially acouple of machines.

There were however multiple problemswith these devices, which made themless than a joy to operate – not least theamount of cabling that came with them.For each machine on the KVM therewere at least three cables, and the VGAline was also rather thick and inflexible.As these boxes progressed from two,to three and even more supportedmachines, the number of cables and thecomplexity of the wiring inside becameexponentially greater.

But that wasn’t the only problem,because the PC was never designedto have its keyboard disconnected andreconnected while it was running. Thekeyboard has a processor that’s poweredfrom the PC, and it’s initialised when it’sfirst turned on. Having it reset repeatedly

Pretty soon, everyone was usingone of these compression tools, withthe most popular being Stacker by StacElectronics

Stacker for OS/2: two things we don’t do any

longer for the price of one!

Where we’re going we don’t need cables!

Issue 141764

could lead to problems, loss ofconnection and spurious key sequencesbeing sent to the attached system.

The solution to this was an electricallyactive KVM that kept the keyboardpowered and thinking it was attachedto a PC while its physical connectionswere redirected.

These improvements helped, but theother problem was that there was still apractical limit as to how many machinesyou could manage using one.

What really spelled the end of the KVMwere two things: USB and remote desktop.

USB by its very nature doesn’t like tohave two or more masters, so that didn’twork well in a KVM context. But also withthe advent of remote desktop tools, thenecessity for IT staff to actually visit themachine room to make server adjustmentsdiminished. They could make the samechanges from their own PC and do it foras many servers as they needed.

For those changes that neededa physical presence, USB mice andkeyboards are built to be attached (anddetached) at any time, and screens thesedays can have multiple inputs.

I’m sure there are plenty of people stillusing KVMs, but in reality they’re unreliableand overly complicated accessories thatneed to be consigned to history.

FaxBefore the letters page goes crazy withpeople declaring themselves as fax fans,I’ll point out that I’m just the messenger,so don’t shoot me.

Originally called telefacsimile, thistechnology was referred to as fax onceit became popular with business in thelate 70s. But the concept of sendingimages using a telephone line datesback to the 1920s.

These machines became the darlingsof the print industry and enablednewspapers around the world to putpictures on their cover stories fromaround the world within hours of thosebreaking events.

The breakthrough for the fax came inthe 60s when Xerox developed a machinethat was small enough to transport easily,and a decade later they started to invadeoffices all over the world.

After early analogue standards,eventually digital ones came along thattook their cues from the speed increasesthat dial-up modems experienced.

In the ultimate incarnation, they usedISDN to achieve about 8KB/s transferspeed, though both ends needed ISDN toachieve this.

The problem with the fax was thatit tied up an entire telephone lineat both ends to send a poor-qualityrepresentation, usually in mono, and ittook an age to do it.

Given the amazing technology wehave these days, how is this still a thing?I’ve heard numerous arguments aboutwhy the fax still exists, most of which areutter rubbish when you analyse them.One is that businesses have confidencethat a faxed message will always getthrough, whereas an email could easilybe overlooked or deleted.

Much of this confidence seems tostem from the receipt that the systemappears to give you that the fax wasreceived at the other end, ignoringthe reality that at that point there isno guarantee that the fax was actuallyprinted. Failure to have available paperor toner/ink and the ability for thememory to be easily reset underminethat argument further.

Also, because of the lack of effectiveerror checking, the sender has no ideaif the critical information on the sentdocument made it over the transmission

or even if an omission would be noticedby the recipient.

When you compare this with an email,where the contents are identical onarrival to how they were sent, the faxseems terribly ineffective.

There is only one situation wherethe fax still has sway, and that’s in alegal context. As silly as this is, in manycountries, electronic signatures oncontracts are not yet recognised by law,while faxed contracts with copies ofsignatures are.

This scenario is purely about theinability of the legal framework to addressthe changes of technology in a reasonabletime, rather than a validation of a fax

as being in any way superior to a dozenother methods of identity confirmation.

Unless you’re a lawyer or Japanese,if you’re still using fax technology withthe excuse that ‘it’s a technology Iunderstand’, then you really need toretire, along with your fax machine.

Desktop PublishingIn the 80s, probably the coolest thingyou could do with a computer was todesktop publish with it. Only a few yearsbefore, producing typeset output wassomething only union approved expertswere capable of, and then everyone gotto try by simply installing software.

Fax technology, like advertising like this, is

hopefully a thing of the past

Adobe Pagemaker was once something that

everyone wanted, until they didn’t

If everything user accessible is ina single partition, then that just isn’tnecessary

Issue 1417 65

THINGS WE’VESTOPPED DOING

This did, however, miss the pointsomewhat that the real skill oftypesetting was not throwing words ata page or using as many fonts as thesystem came with.

So for at least a decade, many peopleproduced unreadable newssheets andposters and wrestled with the demonsof hyphenation-justification tables, whilethe likes of Adobe and Quark made anabsolute mint out of them.

And then, probably not before time,our interest in killing trees just to see ourown page composition skills in actionwaned and the market for desktoppublishing tools dried up.

Yes, there are some, like those whoput together this publication, who useQuarkXpress or Adobe InDesign, but forthe majority of people these are toolsthey’ll never own or even aspire to have.

At school, you might encounterMicrosoft Publisher, but many people canas easily make Microsoft Word producevery similar results if they need to createa pamphlet or poster.

QuarkExpress for the PC costs around£1,000, so it isn’t an application thatmany people would invest in on theodd chance that they might need topublish something.

I haven’t had a desktop publishingapplication on my work PC since thePentium II was popular, which tells youjust how beyond that era we really are.

DefragmentingDid you ever defragment your drives?Most people did at some point, becauseotherwise your system would becomereally sluggish and temperamentalwhenever you went to write a big file.

That’s because if the file can’t bewritten in successive disk sectors, then itends up in little pieces all over the disk,making both the write slower and theretrieval of the data later.

But actually when I think back,defragging was also about what happenswhen you use 90% (or more) of a harddrive and the writing and reading of filesbecomes highly inefficient.

Since then, there has been amulti-pronged approach to solvingfragmentation that’s all but eliminatedthe need for defragging.

For starters, far fewer people runtheir systems anywhere near full, butalso the operating systems try to bemore organised when writing data,to reduce the build-up of fragmentedlayouts. Having more RAM to pre-organise data before its written hashelped, and also the cache space onthe drives is also another buffer to aidthis process.

All these developments helpedminimise the impact of fragmentationand the necessity to run a defrag.

On most modern systems, the defragtool is now entirely redundant, becausethey use SSDs that don’t have movingparts. It takes no longer to write orread data to an SSD in a fragmented orcontiguous space, because there are nospinning disks or moving heads.

What’s much more important onthese devices is that they writeevenly to the whole capacity, notrepeatedly favouring one locationover another.

What’s slightly curious about this isthat in Windows the defragmentationtool is still available for drives thesystem knows are SSDs, even if runningit achieves nothing.

Actually, it’s worse than nothing,because rewriting gigabytes of data intosequential blocks actually reduces the lifeof your drive for no appreciable benefit.

If you have an SSD and defrag, pleasestop! And those with hard drives, makesure you really need to do this beforestarting, as it can take an age on a high-capacity drive.

In the days of MS-DOS, defrag was one of the tools that told you that your hard drive was dying,

when lots of bad blocks started to appear

These days, Windows does its own thing in respect of partitions, so why would you want to mess

with that?

Issue 141766

Partitioning Hard DrivesWhen I first got into computersm‘Winchester’ drives didn’t really exist forthe home user, though they arrived soonenough once we’d fully exploited thehumble floppy disk.

The first hard drive I owned was a30MB (not a typo, 30MB!) Megafile formy Atari ST, and even with that littlespace on it, I partitioned it!

Why? Because the TOS operating systemit used was a derivative of CP/M-68K, so itcould only address a 16MB partition.

As systems evolved through the 80sand 90s, this was a problem that wasstumbled into numerous times. FAT16could only handle 32MB initially. Thatgrew to 2GB before FAT32 came alongand supported 16TB partitions but only

4GB (minus one byte) for the maximumfile size.

But even under FAT32 people wereoften encouraged to take a single harddrive and split it into logical volumes,so they could run more efficient namingtables and also learn to keep the OS anddata separate.

Part of this was to do with academicnotions of organisation and also theinfluence of Unix on early computing,where symbolic links allow you todistribute parts of the file system arounddifferent drives.

However, if you look at what Microsoftdid with MS-DOS and then Windows,you’ll see it ignored all this and put

everything in a single partition anddirectory structure, with sub directoriesas the only segmenting control. Evenwith Windows 10, it never actuallymoved away from this model, andorganising a Windows system to usedifferent partitions for system, apps anddata is really challenging for those whoinsist on doing that.

The problem with doing that is thatby dividing up a drive into multiplepartitions, you’re assuming that youknow exactly how much of each you’relikely to occupy, and rarely are peoplethat accurate.

If you run out of space in the Apppartition but have plenty in the dataarea, then you’ll need to resize thepartitions to move unused space around.

If everything user accessible is in a singlepartition, then that just isn’t necessary.

The only solid argument these daysfor partitioning is if you wish to isolatemultiple operating systems from eachother, as in dual-booting. By giving eachOS its own partition, you can hopefullystop them making changes that otherswouldn’t care for on their file structures.

But we’re talking about very technicalthings here that the average userwouldn’t understand or want to. Andeven those who are technical havebetter things to do than mess with thepartitioning of their drives when justletting their operating system allocatespace logically works 99% of the time.

There are plenty of apps for adjustingpartitions, and Windows itself has manyof facilities to grow, shrink and evenspan them over multiple drives. Butfrankly, most people would probably liketo spend time using their computers thanreorganising them at a partition levelthese days.

Connecting Printers DirectlyFor older readers, I’m going to use a rudeword that only they would understand.Centronics! There, I said it. Early printersused either entirely proprietary connectionmethods or the dreaded RS232 serialinterface, and then parallel printing camealong with the Centronics connector.

This was a really horrible thing thatwasn’t sufficiently standardised and gavemany IT people headaches through itsabysmal level of reliability.

Based in a bi-directional parallelcommunication interface developed byCentronics in the 1970s, it later becameIEEE 1284, but it still had 36 pins onan overly complicated cable and onlyworked when it was in the mood.

What was really scary about thistechnology was that people actuallystarted using it for other things, likescanners and even tape backup drives,because every PC had one.

As PC technology spread intobusinesses, they often whined aboutthe cost of buying a printer for everyPC and those abysmal cables to connectthem. So in a very similar fashion toKVM hardware, office suppliers startedoffering Centronics switch boxes, soa printer could be easily connected tomore than one computer. The numberof wires in these was tremendous, evenif they only switched between twocomputers. Ones that could handle moremachines must have looked like earlyBletchley Park experiments internally.

Placing computers on desks was aninherently silly idea, and once peoplerealised that, it soon went away

Issue 1417 67

THINGS WE’VESTOPPED DOING

With so many connections, thisgenerally unreliable technology didn’t getany more robust by doing this with it.

Thankfully, USB came along eventuallyto save us from Centronics, but this wasstill promoting the idea of one PC equalsone printer.

And then wi-fi came along, andwhile it only appeared on the mostexpensive printers first, soon it wason even the cheapest. Today HP’s Envy4502 Wireless e-All-in-One Inkjet costsless than £30 and it has a means tooperate without ever being physicallyconnected to the PC that’s using it.This frees you up to put the printerwhere it best suits you and not onyour desk next to your computer.Unless you have a PC with no wi-fi orno access to a wi-fi router, then there’sno need to connect your printer toyour computer directly.

For those with printers that predatethe wired/wireless network revolution,there are now devices you can purchasethat add this functionality locallyto them.

The era of wiring up printers tocomputers is behind us, and theonly reason for doing it is to avoidconfiguring the wi-fi properly.

Using ScreensaversA decade ago, if you went into an open-plan office at lunchtime, all you’d seewas screensavers running. Often they’dbe the ones that came by default withWindows, but occasionally you’d seeones people had installed themselves, likethe fish tank.

These appeared in response toproblems that happened with CRTmonitors, where if they got left on thesame thing for prolonged periods of timethey’d permanently burn that image intothe screen.

Logically, you’d think that it wouldbe better to have a blank screen andthe monitor in power saving mode, butCRTs didn’t fire up immediately, somoving images were generally theapproved solution.

However, modern LCD monitors don’tsuffer with these problems, and peoplestill run screensavers on them. Why?Well, it does tell you that the computeris on, if you can’t see the power light,but other than that, it doesn’t servemuch purpose.

It’s much better for the person payingthe electricity bill that they go intopower saving mode, and that’s thedefault that Windows uses.

While custom backgrounds are stillpopular, the notion of a screensaver isone we’ve moved beyond.

Those who are using them almostcertainly aren’t saving their screen ortheir pocket, even if they can be apleasant distraction.

Placing PCs On DesksI’ve thought quite hard about this, andI’ve come to the conclusion that this allstarted with systems like the CommodorePet, where the monitor and system wereall in the same box.

The Apple Mac was the same, thoughthe IBM PC did have the screen andsystem box as separate items. However,to use the PC, you needed to accessthe floppy drive slots, and the monitorneeded a plinth to raise it up to a decentworking height.

The idea that the computer wouldoccupy your desk space also seemedto represent the notion that you didn’tneed that work area for papers, becauseyou had a computer.

The reality was that many officesended up buying extra workstationfurniture so the desk wasn’t occupiedby the PC, ironically. This model of thecomputer with a screen on top went onfor a significant number of years, andsystems like the iconic Amstrad PCW512reinforced this notion.

It wasn’t until the 90s that floorstanding systems started to become

more popular, and people started tore-establish control of their desk space,with floating support arms for theirdisplays and keyboards.

The only computers that are generallyplaced on the desk are those like nettopsystems that are inherently small, orif there isn’t any leg space to put thatunderneath. Most powerful desktopsystems are far too large to go on adesk, and they’re not designed to beplaced in any other orientation thanstanding up.

Placing computers on desks was aninherently silly idea and once peoplerealised that, it soon went away.

Final ThoughtsI’m sure some of you reading this willbe doing some of the things I’ve justmentioned, but generally they’re thingsof the past.

What we can take from this is thatthings we do now, like looking asscreens or using keyboards will, intime, become something people oncedid on computers.

It’s an evolution, and everythingwe do turns into a historical footnoteeventually. Just because we hang grimlyon to concepts and structures that wecan relate to, that doesn’t preserve themfor the next generation in perpetuity.

All systems are the now, coloured withthe past, with just an exciting hint of thefuture, and that’s as it should be. mm

Lin

ux

Specialists

A few months back wereported on how agroup of hackers hadfinally managed to

circumvent the protection on aPlayStation 4 and install aversion of Linux, thus allowingthe PS4 to boot to a desktopand run a collection of meagreLinux titles.

In the ensuing monthsthings have improvedsomewhat, and one particularuser has managed to trumpthe original hacking group andbrought the Steam Clientunder Linux to the PS4.

OsirisX, the user in question,posted a YouTube video andsome information on theWololo Forum, whereby he/she managed to install ArchLinux, as well as both the 32-and 64-bit patched Radeonlibraries from the originalhacker group fail0verflow.

The end result is not exactlyspectacular, involving anincredibly slow boot process,followed by the user runningthe Steam Client in Big PictureMode. What’s interesting here,though, is that Steam actuallyrecognises the hardware anAMD 1.6GHz eight-core andeight-thread system, with anavailable 7.3GB of memory,and an AMD Liverpool GPU.

Purely from a curiosity pointof view, it's certainly a heck ofan achievement, and the userOsirisX goes on to play Bastionfrom their Linux Steam Library,which incidentally works quitewell from what’s displayed inthe video.

68 Issue 1417

A SteamPowered PS4?

David Hayward hasbeen using Linuxsince Red Hat 2.0in schools, businessesand at home, whicheither makes himvery knowledgeableor a glutton forextreme punishment

Where there’s Linux, there’s Steam

Next-gen Console?I suppose it’s hardly surprisingthat it should work, really.After all, the new generationof consoles – both the PS4 andthe Xbox One – are little morethan glorified PCs. Althoughit’s a worthy project to manageto crack, there are some voicesout there who use this as astick with which to poke themodern console.

“This gives us even furtherproof that consoles are nothingbut an underpowered PC.While it's cool to see Linuxworking on PS4 hardware,this must be the least practicalthing I saw in a while now.”One user commented. Anothersaid: “So what? You gonnago through all this trouble toinstall Linux, possibly riskingyour console getting bannedor, even worse, bricked, to playold PC and indie games at low-medium settings with unstableframe rates?”

Reasonable comments, in away, as to actually get Linuxinstalled you’ll need to use anolder firmware for the PS4,

and there is the risk that youmay indeed end up having anexpensive lump of useless plasticinstead of the world’s mostpowerful console in your hands.

Furthermore, the exampleused in the demo, Bastion, isn’texactly a game that stretchesthe hardware; this is a gamethat can be run in a Chromebrowser on a PC with 2GB ofmemory, a 512MB GPU and a1GHz CPU.

For The CraicWhile there’s a fair amount ofnegativity associated with theproject, what many peopledon’t seem to be seeing is thatthis is simply an experiment. It’sa bit of fun, to stretch the skillsof a group of enthusiasts to seeif they can warp one system torun another OS.

True, there may well becopyright repercussions in thefuture, but for now let’s justenjoy the fact that Linux andSteam can be run on a PS4.

Running Linux and the Steam

Client on a PS4, whatever next?

Am

iga

Sven Harvey hasbeen our Amigaspecialist for over16 years, drawing onhis 25 years retailingcomputer and videogames and even longerwriting about them

Shadow Of The Beast

Reflections (as eaten byUbisoft) developedShadow Of The Beast,which was released by

Psygnosis (as eaten by Sony) in1989. Its main strengths –wonderful music and eye-popping graphics – were anutter revelation and sold manymachines. It was released in anoversized box (even for thetime) that also included a tee-shirt and was adorned byPsygnosis' signature style andRoger Dean artwork, at a then-unheard-of £35.

This new version has clearlybeen crafted by people wholoved the original, and evenMartin Edmondson from theoriginal team gave the newversion his blessing. The teamat Heavy Spectrum have workedwonders to get this gameas polished as it is, togetherwith XDEV (surely they shouldbe named Psygnosis). Polish,however, was never an issue forBeast... the gameplay was theproblem. Yes, it was massivelydifficult, but the original games'real Achilles' heel was theoverall playability. The samecannot be said of the 2016game, though.

Starting off in the grasslands,you guide a still tethered Aarbronas he hacks and slashes his waythrough waves of enemies (andnot-so-much-enemies) with hisclaws. Once free of the will of hiscaptor and corruptor, Maletoth,the quest starts properly (I'll notgive away too much about thereimagined storyline, though).

The landscapes of Karamoonare gorgeously rendered and,though the gameplay is – in themain – 2D, the use of specialtimed attacks and combos raisesit above your average brawler. Its'Rage Chain' system also allowsyou, with appropriate timing, totake on foes coming from in frontand below with ease; mind you,a blood powered gun helps youtake on a very Hydra-like levelboss, so it's not all hand-to-handcombat. I am not sure whetherthe gameplay would be enoughto be 2016 release – but then,this isn't selling for £60!

With tons of content to unlockwith the gained in-game currency(including the full original Amigagame, and a version of theAmiga game with invincibilityas well), there's plenty here foryour £12. The depth of the storymakes it more of an experience.I could see Sony turning thisinto a film given half a chance.However, like the original, it's the

sound design that really drawsyou in.

The game has all the good bitsfrom the original release – thestyle of the graphics, the music– and echoes of the originalpunctuate throughout wholepackage. This, however, is exactlywhat a 21st century reboot ofan Amiga game should be. Thegameplay is much improved,and puts it firmly in my topthree games on the PS4... And,potentially more importantly myson agrees! It's just a shame itwasn't released on disc, in anoversized box with a tee shirt anda CD – I'd have happily handedover £35 for that!

Issue 1417 69

DETAILS• Price: £12• Website:store.playstation.com• Required Spec:Sony PlayStation 4

The Amiga seller rebooted, Sven Harvey takes a look!

The SoundtrackThe PlayStation store also offers the game soundtrack at £6.49,which includes not only the music from the new version of thegame, but also recordings of the original Amiga game music,which is a nice bonus (though you can play the original gamemusic from within the main game in the extras menus).

The soundtrack is in a wrapper program that installs on thePS4, but allows you to plug in a USB stick to export the musicas MP3s to play on other equipment.

Suffice to say I always loved the music from all three originalBeast games, and though the music as originally presented inthe trailers didn't enamour me, the final music in the gamedid... So the soundtrack got bought, as I can't envisage it everturning up on CD.

810Quality

Value

99Overall

Mo

bil

eI/O, I/O, It's OffTo Work We Go!

Ian McGurren looks at more goodies to come out of Google I/O 2016

Ian McGurren isa professional ITanalyst, a semi-professional writerand a pretty amateurelectronic musician.He likes gadgetry andloves making gadgetsdo things they werenever designed to do

Daydream VRFinally, it's one of Google'sbigger announcements of theevent, Daydream VR. Googleis no stranger to VR, with itsCardboard project being oneof the most fun things youcan do with a smartphone foraround £10. Daydream VR,however, is not Cardboard,it's a real, fully featured VRplatform for Android.

Like other projects, it has areference design, so devicesthat comply with that standardshould be able to run theDaydream software like it runsany other software. Thereis a hardware element to it,not too far removed from theheadset available for Samsungdevices – which itself is muchcheaper than, say, the HTCVive or Oculus Rift.

Realistically, this could wellbe the cheapest way to getinto 'proper' VR, and with theexponential growth in phonehardware power showing nosigns of stopping, in a fewyears it might even rival thosetop-end systems and still be inyour pocket.

Last week I looked atthree interestingdevelopments in theAndroid world, revealed

by Google at their recent I/Oannual event – their newmessaging apps Allo and Duo,Android Instant Apps – theapps that run without installingand the as-yet-unnamed nextgeneration Google Assistantcomplete with even more eerieprediction and artificialintelligence. It's this nextgeneration assistant that is atthe heart of the first of thisweek's items, the vaguelynamed Google Home.

Google HomeIt's not quite Demon Seedjust yet (or Treehouse OfHorror with Pierce Brosnan,depending on your frameof reference), and Googlehasn't made an actual home– at least not yet. No, GoogleHome is a piece of hardwarebased on the Chromecast OS(not Android) that is actuallycloser to Amazon's Echo, thevoice-commanded personalassistant-cum-wireless-speakerthe retail giant revealed lastyear. So, imagine a wirelessspeaker that you can alsouse to call up your GoogleAssistant. At first that mightsound a bit pointless, butthink of the times you checkyour phone for messages,appointments, email and more– all can be passed over to theassistant for you to check atyour leisure while getting onwith other important things,like feeding yourself.

70 Issue 1417

Taking it further, there'sintegration with smart homedevices (yes, your GoogleHome could tell your smartfridge not to open becauseyou've already eaten too muchthat day... brilliant) and, in thefuture, even smart clothes.Talking of which...

Project JacquardAs the title might have hinted,this is Google's pet smartclothing project, in collaborationwith Levi Strauss. So far it's forrelatively simple wearable tech,so items of clothing that respondto touch, allowing control ofdevices without touching themphysically – think a coat thatallows you to skip tracks bybrushing your arm one wayor another. The tech is basedon superconductive fabric andcommunicates via a low powerwi-fi connection, and currentlythe tech isn't quite fabric-sized,more button-sized, but we couldbe seeing a future where ourclothes are only too happy to letus know when we're a bit widerround the waist than we werethe week before.

Ha

rdw

are

Nvidia Helps SetFilters To Stun

As much I appreciatethe ability to takephotos and videos ofevents and everyday

life with my phone, I’ve neverbeen one to share themreflexively on social media. Ihave nothing against those whodo, but I’d rather catch thespontaneity of somethinghappening and not have to askmy mates to “do that again”until they’ve got it looking justright for Facebook or Instagram.If I’m setting up a shot onpurpose then a bit of planningand setup is a good idea, but ifit’s something that’s happeningon a night out then I want it tolook natural and uncontrived.

As a consequence I’ve neverreally played around with thefilters on social media sites.This goes back to wantinga natural and realistic log ofoccasions and my life. For me,introducing filters on a non-arty shot carries too much riskof introducing false memories,even if the falsehood is simplythe lighting. I know I probablysound like a luddite on this,but I have enough troubleremembering if a memoryis real and not a particularlyvivid dream rememberedfrom childhood as it is. I’dlike to say this is an age thing,but my beloved wife is alwaysuploading filtered images tosocial media sites, and we’re ofa similar vintage.

However, I’ve found onefilter-type that I do like the lookof, and that’s a filter that appliesthe artistic style used in a pieceof art to a video or photograph.The filter has been developedby researchers at the University

Issue 1417 71

Andrew Unsworth hasbeen writing abouttechnology for severalyears, he's handy witha spanner and hishandshaking skillsare second to none

of Freiburg and more details ofit can be on the Nvidia website(tinyurl.com/zss6mxt).

The team at the Universityof Freiburg have developeda technique that employs aform of artificial intelligenceto study the artistic style ofone image and apply the styleto another image or video.The story appears on Nvidia’swebsite because the researchersuse Nvidia GeForce GTX TitanX graphical processing unitsto accelerate the computationrequired to apply the filter toa video. Nvidia says “artisticstyle transfer takes eight to 10minutes a frame for a high-resolution video. That’s 20xfaster than with a multi-coreCPU.” That certainly is impressive– although, as Nvidia’s blogstates, it’ll be a while until wehave the ability to apply thistechnique to video in real time.

A video demonstratingthe technique (“Artistic styletransfer for videos”) can beseen on YouTube (tinyurl.com/hhbfzsj), and the resultslook amazing. There are clipsof various films including StarWars, Cloud Atlas and TheJungle Book among others, andthe video shows how these clips

appear with and without thefilter applied. The video is wellworth a watch.

This work ably demonstratesthe power of the GPU incomputer science and softwareengineering. As lay geeks,the graphics cards in our PCsare mostly used for gamingor playing YouTube videos.While most AAA games requirevery high-end cards to deliverthe kind of graphical fidelityadvertised and desired, themany day-to-day tasks weundertake do seem to bewasted on our GPUs.

Thankfully, the ability tounlock the computational powerof the GPU is not confinedto the laboratory. It’s beenpossible to use the CUDA coresof Nvidia’s graphics cards toperform tasks in Adobe PremierePro or After Effects for a whilenow, for example.

As computing becomes moredistributed, and moves furtheraway from the traditionalPC model, we’ll see greateruse of GPUs and other non-x86 processors in everydaycomputing. This is prettyexciting, and I look forward toseeing more innovation in thenext few years.

Nvidia and the University of Freiburg have created asmartphone filter that is worth having, says Andrew Unsworth

72 Issue 1417

Ga

min

g

Plug&PlaySuch was the marketing jamboreesurrounding Ubisoft’s most recentTom Clancy-based game, TheDivision, we almost forgot aboutanother major forthcominggame with the Clancy branding.Ghost Recon Wildlands wasunveiled at E3 last year, wherethe first footage revealed thatUbisoft is pushing the tacticalshooter franchise into open-world territory. Since then, thegame seemed to quietly fadeinto the background somewhat– no doubt to avoid drawing thelimelight away from Ubisoft’snew IP, The Division. But withthat game now released andgenerally considered to be aroaring success, Ghost ReconWildlands has quietly re-emerged,as stealthily as one of its specialops soldiers.

Set in a present-day Boliviawhere powerful drug cartels arerife, we’re cast as one of a quartetof US military types whose job isto sever the drug barons’ chokehold on power. Eschewing thehigh-tech weaponry of AdvancedWarfighter, Wildlands returns tothe grounded tactics and stealthof the original Ghost Recon,with planning and cooperation(whether it’s between threeother human players or a trio

of AI soldiers in solo mode)being the key to success. Whatdistinguishes Wildlands, however,is the sheer range of optionsavailable when tackling eachmission. When assaulting adrug baron’s headquarters, forexample, we’ll be able to makeall kinds of tactical decisions forourselves: do we attack in broaddaylight or when the sun sets?How and where you and yourquartet of soldiers are deployedwill also be entirely up to you.The latest trailer showcases someof the possibilities: parachutingfrom the sky in the dead of night.Roaring in via military helicopter,perhaps with 'Ride Of TheValkyries' playing on the stereo.Alternatively, you can have yourtroops dropped off miles fromyour destination and either pickyour way there on foot or travelabout using a range of vehiclesavailable – bikes, jeeps, evenspeed boats if you’re not afraid ofgetting your feet a bit wet.

Wildlands’ coarse expansesinevitably recall the more recententries of the Far Cry series,though it isn’t yet clear whetherthe new Ghost Recon will sharethat game’s survival elements.The special ops guys are showndashing on foot through desertsand scrubland, but will all of

that running have an impacton their stamina once theyfinally reach their objective? Willacquiring food and water playa part? Ubisoft is particularlyadept at creating beautiful-looking sandboxes – just lookat the wintry Manhattan settingin The Division. But as thatgame proved, a realistic settingcan sometimes clash with theartificiality of the game itself;The Division’s hoodie-wearingenemies move realistically butcan soak up a distracting amountof machine-gun fire at times.

The answers to these questionswill probably start to surfacein the coming months. Untilthen, Wildlands certainly lookspromising and ambitiously huge.

Ghost Recon Wildlands is dueout in March 2017.

OnlineThink of the hand-to-handcombat in most MMOs, andthings like nuance and subtletyprobably won’t spring to mind;it’s generally more the case ofchoosing your weapon or spell ofchoice and repeatedly tapping abutton. The forthcoming Absolverpromises to be rather different,though – mainly because fightingis the game’s main event ratherthan a means to an end.

Ryan Lambie has lovedvideogames since hefirst stared up in awe ata Galaxian arcadecabinet in his local chipshop. 28 years on, Ryanwrites about gaming forMicro Mart. He’s stilladdicted to chips andstill useless at Galaxian

Specialists

This week, Ryan takes a look at Ubisoft’s forthcomingtactical shooter Ghost Recon Wildlands, and checks out theindie marshal arts MMO, Absolver...

According to Ubisoft, the open world in Ghost Recon Wildlands will be its

biggest yet – even bigger than The Division’s Manhattan, it says. Yikes

Born To Be WildBorn To Be Wild

Issue 1417 73

GAMING

It’s the debut from Paris-based studio Sloclap, which wasfounded last year by a bunch offormer Ubisoft employees (theylist Watchdogs and the GhostRecon games as projects they’veworked on in the past).

Set in an unspoiled,mountainous world seeminglyinspired by martial arts movies,the game casts the player asone of a masked band of elitefighters called the Absolvers,a group whose sacred task isto wander the lands and kicktheir enemies repeatedly inthe face and neck. What thismeans, in gaming terms, is thatplayers will roam Absolver’s lush

landscape in search of potentialopponents, though whether youchoose to attack, befriend ormaybe do a bit of trading withthe other players you encounteronline will, apparently, beentirely your choice. Assumingyou’re up for a fight, the gamewill offer a range of attacks,dodges and other moves,and you’ll also be able to pickweapons and combat stylesthat best suit your style of play.Absolver’s debut trailer revealsa range of swords, sticks andpossibly even magic attacks, andit also looks as though we’ll beable to customise our characterwith things like masks and hats.

As well as one-on-onecombat, there’ll be three-on-three battles and dungeons ripefor plundering. Depicted in alush, cel-shaded style, Absolverlooks refreshingly different fromMMOs we’ve seen in the past.It’s certainly a change of pace forDevolver Digital, a publisher thathas, until now, brought us suchsmall yet perfectly formed indiegems as Hotline Miami, The TalosPrinciple and the Japanese pigeondating sim Hatoful Boyfriend.

Absolver clearly takes placeon a larger canvas than thosegames, though what we’ve seenso far still displays a sense ofhand-crafted individuality. Sloclapshould be revealing more fromthe game at this month’s E3, andwe’re looking forward to findingout what else its leafy onlineworld will contain.

You can find out more aboutAbsolver at absolvergame.com.

IncomingIO Interactive took a brave left-turn with its Hitman reboot, inthat it opted to release the gamein episodic chunks rather than asa traditional all-in-one product.

Thus far, the approach seems tohave paid off, with the generalresponse to the action-stealthsequel being far more warm thanthe widespread disappointmentthat greeted Hitman Absolution.And while some argued thatHitman’s initial lack of contentand overall refinement madeit feel a little unfinished, thegood news is that IO’s episodicapproach means that, for now atleast, there’s always another bigmission on the horizon.

Released on 31st May, Hitman’sthird episode is available nowand takes the ice-cold killerAgent 47 to the heat and bustleof Marrakesh. It’s the largestmap we’ve seen in the game sofar; one of your major targetsis a banker holed up in thecity’s Swedish embassy, but asin previous episodes, it’s almostas much fun to wander aroundthe map and discovering itssecrets. Episode Three is a furtherreminder of just how muchdetail IO has put into its Hitmanreboot. A further four episodes– Thailand, the US and Japan –are planned for release over thecoming months. mm

Looking for an MMO with a difference? Forthcoming online brawler

Absolver will offer hand-to-hand combat, three-on-three battles and even

a spot of dungeon looting

Agent 47 takes to Marrakesh for the third episode of IO’s Hitman reboot.

Packed with detail and things to discover, it may be the game’s best map yet

Index

74 Issue 1417

w

AD INDEX

NOTE TO ADVERTISERSMicro Mart © Dennis Publishing, 30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD. Company registered in England No

1138891. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or in part without the

written consent of the publisher. Quotations for re-prints or other use of material are available on application.

THE BUSINESS ADVERTISEMENT DISCLOSURE ORDER 1977 (effective from 1st January 1978) requires all

advertisements by people who seek to sell goods in the course of a business to make that fact clear. It is the

responsibility of the advertiser to comply with the order. Lineage trade ads in Micro Mart carry this *T symbol.

It is an offence for which you may be prosecuted not to advertise the fact that you are a trader.

MICRO MART is published weekly by Dennis Publishing. Subscriptions rates available on request. Micro Mart

welcomes the submission of articles and reviews for publication. Please enclose a stamped self adressed

envelope; otherwise the return of material cannot be guaranteed. Contributions accepted for publication by

Dennis Publishing will be on an all-rights basis. Views or opinions expressed by freelance contributors are not

necessarily those of Dennis Publishing. Advertisements and goods/services offered are the sole responsibility

of the particular advertiser and Dennis Publishing cannot be held in any way responsible. Whilst every care

is taken the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for any errors in articles or advertisements or any

resulting unsatisfactory transactions. We will however investigate incidents on a written complaint. © Dennis

Publishing 2006. This publication may not be reproduced in or transmitted in any form in whole or in part

without the written consent of the publishers. ISSN 956-3881. Blimey.

2/3 CCL

6/7 Morgan

11 1&1

13 Buffalo

15 MSI

26/27 Port Designs

91 iiyama

92 Box

Toadvertisecontact :

JoeTeal:+44(0)2079076689Joe_Teal@dennis.co.uk

6

11

16

21

26

31

36

41

46

51

56

Name

Address

EMAILEmail us at MicroMartClassifiedAdverts@gmail.comSubmit before 5pm on Monday to appear in the following week's issue

POSTSimply fill in the form & post to:Emma Corbett, Micro Mart, 30 Cleveland Street,

Write the wording for your advert in the numbered boxes below (one word each box). Maximum 30 words free.Please complete in BLOCK CAPITAL LETTERS, then proceed to Step 2

2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10

12 13 14 15

17 18 19 20

22 23 24 25

27 28 29 30

32 33 34 35

37 38 39 40

42 43 45

47 48 49 50

52 53 54 55

57 58 59 60

Choose a category you would like your advert to appear in and tick the box.Hardware for sale Software for sale General for saleHardware wanted Software wanted General wanted

Complete all fields of your personal detailsand payment method.

BoxedPrivate

w C o

== .. t;

£1.70 £8.50 £17.00 £9.70 £19.40

£3.40 £10.20 £20.40 £11.40 £22.80

£5.10 £11.90 £23.80 £13.10 £26.20

£6.80 £13.60 £27.20 £14.80 £29.60

£8.50 £15.30 £30.60 £16.50 £33.00

£10.20 £17.00 £34.00 £18.20 £36.40

Accessories

If I have more than 30 words, I have enclosed due payment. I am notadvertising pirated, pornographic or any other kind of Illegal softwareand my advert is both honest and legitimate. MM reserves the rightto refuse or alter adverts at the discretion of the management. MMcannot be held responsible for the condition or quality of goodsadvertised. Your advert will be processed on receipt and will appeara.s.a.p. subject to space and availability.Please tick appropriately Trade

Post Code

PrivateCheque Postal orderI enclose payment by

'-------------' or pleaseDebit my MastercardNisa/Amex account NoLandline Telephone No. Email DDDDExpiryDate:

DODD DDDDc=JAuthorise payment for �1£____�1

Essentials

77Issue 1417

TO ADVERTISE CALLIT 02079076689joe_teal@dennis.co.uk

JOE TEAL

Computers,

Technology

And The Occas

ional Cat

Download the Micro Mart iOS App

tinyurl.com/MicroMartiTunes

Buy or subscribe using Zinioon your tablet, mobile phone or PCtinyurl.com/MicroMartZinio

Read Micro Mart on Magztertinyurl.com/MicroMartMagzter

or you can follow us...

@Micro_Martwww.facebook.com/micro.mart.mag

Now There Are More Ways Than EverTo Read Your Favourite Magazine!

Classifieds Please mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts

78 Issue 1417

Have you got old kit lyingaround? Fancy making a fewpounds while you’re at it? Whynot advertise here? It’s easyand it’s free, just email whatyou’ve got, how much you’d likefor it, and your contact detailsto micromartclassifieds@gmail.com, and we’ll do therest. There are thousandsof enthusiastic readers outthere looking for componentsevery week, and you may havesomething unwanted they’vebeen searching for, so get intouch and save your kit fromgoing to the tip!

Coolermaster HyperTx2 coolerexcellent condition for LGA 775 andAMDAM2/754/939/940All fittings included. Very quiet. £5+p&p or collect from BradfordTel: David (01274) 610045Email: dgaguine@gmail.com

Coolermaster 650WPSURP-650-PCAP. Tested and working, mintcondition. Quality Product, SLIcertified £15 o.n.o. p&p extra or freecollection BradfordWY areaTel: David (01274) 610045Email: dgaguine@gmail.com

OCZ stealthstream2 PSU 500W.Mint, very quiet. 20+4pin ATX,4 Pin CPU, 6+2pin PCIE, 4peripheral, 3 SATA. £15. p&p extra;free collection BradfordWY areaTel: David (01274) 610045 Email:dgaguine@gmail.com

Socket 370 CPUs Intel. I got lots ofthese of different speeds, all testedand working. Please let meknowwhat kind of speed you arelooking for I will try andmatch upas close as possible. Please email orcall me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

ATX PSUs. I got lots of these ofdifferent types and wattage, alltested and working. Please let meknowwhat you are looking for Iwill try andmatch up as close aspossible. Email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Sound cards. I got lots of these ofPCI and ISA types all tested andworking. Please let me knowwhatyou are looking for I will try andmatch up as close as possible. Pleaseemail or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

LAN network cards. I got lots ofthese of PCI and ISA types wiredand wireless, all tested and working.Please let me knowwhat you arelooking for I will try andmatch upas close as possible.Please email or call me for a price.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

PCI GFXVGA cards. I got lots ofthese of different brands all testedand working. Please let me knowwhat you are looking for I will tryandmatch up as close as possible.Please email or call me for a price.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Desktop DDR2 RAM. Differentsizes and speeds just ask what youwant and I will let you know if Ihave it pulled from a workinglaptop.This is the quickest way toboost your laptop speed. Pleaseemail or call me for a price.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Any distro version 64 or 32bitLinux CD/DVD £12.50 incpostage. Email or call for infoTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Laptops different specs please letme knowwhat you are looking foror what you will be using it for and Iwill let you knowwhat I have pleaseemail or call me for information.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Asus Sabertooth X79Motherboardwith socket 2011Intel i7-4820K 3.70ghz processorand 32GBCorsair memory, manual,driver CD, cables. £300 plus postage.Email for pictures.Tel: Ken (01502) 500724Email: kenmardell@hotmail.com

Motherboard Bundle 2.8GhzIntel 64 bit CPU 1gb Ram (max4gb)2pci-e 2pci 1IDE 4SATA 8usb portsLAN 6ch sound. Great for gaming,work, surfing the net, watchingmovies. A good allround spec canslightly be changed if requiredplease email or call me for a price.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Motherboard Bundle 3.33GHzIntel 64-bit CPU 1GB RAM (max4GB) 3pci agp 2IDE 2SATA 8usbports LAN sound. Great for gaming,office work, surfing, watchingmovies generally a good all-roundsystem. Spec can slightly be changedif required. Email or call for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

LaptopDDR2RAM different sizesjust ask what you want and I will letyou know if I have it pulled from aworking laptops this is the quickestway to boost you laptop speedplease email or call me for a price.Tel: David (01616) 888119 Email:pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

160GB 3 1/2 inch desktop harddrive IDE and SATA clean pull(little to no use) no bad sectorstested all you need to do is plugin and go. £20 +p&p. Please emailor call me for more information.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

SDRAMSIMMDIMMDDRDDR2DDR3 call or email me forthe RAM your requireTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Desktop cases. AT and ATXtypes and tower and flatbed formfactor different sizes and colourscan be posted or picked up fromManchester please email or callme with your requirements fora priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Motherboard Bundle. 2.8GhzIntel 32bit CPU 512MBRam 3xpci2xSATA 2IDE LAN sound good forgaming, office work, surfing the net,watchingmovies generally a goodall round system spec can slightly bechanged if required please email orcall me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

AGP graphics cards.Also PCI andPCI-e graphics cards please emailor call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Cisco 4MbRouter Flash Card £10Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

PC gaming hardware. I havegot 1x force feedback steeringwheel 1x force feedback joystick1x normal joystick lots of gamepads please email or call me fora price.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Internal 3 1/4 floppy drives.Choice of white/black/silver/noface plate please email or call mefor a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Ergotron LX Dual Side-by-Side LCD Monitor Arm Model:45-245-026. Create a fullyadjustable side-by-side monitorconfiguration, suitable forscreens up to 24"Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

PS/2 Keyboard These arestandard keyboards please emailor call me for more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

To place an ad in our classifieds, simply fill in theform at www.micromart.co.uk or send your adby post to Maaya Mistry, Micro Mart, DennisPublishing, 30 Cleveland Street, W1T 4JD

HARDWARE FOR SALE

ClassifiedsPlease mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts

79Issue 1417

Laptops.Different specs please letme know what you are looking foror what you will be using it for andI will let you know what I have.Please email or call me for info.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

AT Keyboard These arestandard keyboards please emailor call me for more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Zalman Z11 SSD 3.5 Inch To 5.25InchConverter Tray £5 inc p&p.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

MinoltaDimage ScanDual35mmfilm/negative scanner withAP10 APS cassette adaptor. 2438DPI. SCSI 2 interface.Working.Complete with original software,instructions and cables. £15.Tel: (02084) 497724Email: murray.ailes@sky.com

Adaptec 2100S Scsi Raid CardWith 128mb Ecc Cache RamMemoryModule - £15.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

DlinkAirplus G+Wireless PciNetwork Card £15.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

HPPO2015 Laserjet Extra LowerPrinter Tray £20.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

Desktop Digital Psu Tester. £10.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

Coolermaster Centurion 5midtower case. Excellent condition.All front and back blanking platespresent. Can be supplied withcoolermaster 650WPSU £15extra. £15.00 +p&p or collect fromBradfordWYTel: David (01274) 610045mail: dgaguine@gmail.com

IntelWireless PCI-E LaptopNetwork Card. £10.Tel: Gary (01415) 712822 or(07941) 486760Email: gary.gemmell@ntlworld.com

Any distro version 64bit or 32 bitLinux CD/DVD. £12.50 inc postage.Please email or call me for info.Tel: David (01616) 888119 Email:pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

WI-FI wireless pcmcia cardwill fit in older laptops to enablethem to connect to wirelessnetworks £10 +p&p if intrestedplease email meTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Coolermaster Centurion 5midtower case. Excellent condition.All front and back blanking platespresent. Can be supplied withcoolermaster 650WPSU £15extra. £15.00 +p&p or collect fromBradfordWYTel: David (01274) 610045mail: dgaguine@gmail.com

Motherboard Bundle 3.2Ghz Intel64 bit CPU 1GB Ram 2pci-e 2x PCI2IDE 2SATA 8usb ports LAN 6chsoundCOMESWITHDRIVERCDANDMANUALGreat for gaming,office work, surfing or watchingmovies. Generally a good all roundsystem spec that can slightly bechanged if required please email orcall me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Retired PC for sale, will split if notaker for whole. Antec Sonata case,Asus P5Q LGA775 motherboard,Core 2 duo E8400 CPU w. Freezer7 pro (and unused stock cooler),4GB Patriot PC2-6400 C4 ViperRAM, Nvidea GT 440 1GB GPU.Just £80 plus free LEDmonitor,keyboard and mouse if collected.Email: rylandp@gmail.com

Fractual Design R5 case,with allaccessories and original packaging.This is a beautiful bit of kit and adelight to work with, it was onlyused for a week as it was just toolarge for my desk. Just £60Email: rylandp@gmail.com

Motherboard Bundle 3.5+GhzAMD 64 bit CPU 1gb Ram(max8gb) 2pci-e 4pci 2IDE3SATA+ 1eSATA 8usb ports LANsound Great for gaming, officework, surfing the net, watchingmovies generally a good allround system spec can slightly bechanged if required please emailor call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

AMDAthlon 64x2 6000+CPUADA6000IAA6CZ. tested andworking. £15 +p&p £1.84Tel: David (01274) 610045Email: dgaguine@gmail.com

Motherboard Bundle 3Ghz AMD64bit CPU 512MBRam 5xpci2xSATA 2IDE 1Gb LAN 6 channelsound firewire COMESWITHDRIVERCDANDMANUAL greatfor gaming, office work, surfingthe net, watchingmovies generallya good all round system spec canslightly be changed if required £35 +p&p please email or call for infoTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

WindowsXP proComputersFresh install of Windows XP Prothis Computer great for gaming,office work, surfing the net,watching movies generally a goodall round system from £100 +p&pmight also have laptops price onrequest please email or call mefor more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Windows 7 Computers Freshinstall of Windows 7 thisComputer great for gaming, officework, surfing the net, watchingmovies generally a good all roundsystem from £150 +p&p mightalso have laptops price on requestplease email or call me for info.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Brand new Laptop bag still sealedin the plastic bag and never used(it came as part of a bundle)please email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Sapphire ATi Radeon HD3850512MB 256Bit GDDR3 AGP 8xDUAL DVI/HDTV GraphicsCard to of the range AGP GFXcard i beleve it supports DirectX10 great for gaming, watchingmovies, video editing, CAD/CAMapplications and any other hightdemand gfx programs generally agood all rounder £80 +p&p pleaseemail or call me for more infoTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

2.1 speakers with subwoofer slightbuzzing £25Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Internal 3 1/4 floppy drives choiceof white/black/silver/no face plateplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

WI-FI wireless pcmcia cardwillfit in older laptops to enable themto connect to wireless networks £10+p&p if intrested please email meTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Brand new Laptop bag still sealedin the plastic bag and never used(it came as part of a bundle)please email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

160GB 3½" desktop hard drive.IDE and SATA clean pull (little tono use) no bad sectors tested allyou need to do is plug in. £20 +p&pplease email or call for more info.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Laptop RAM 2x1GB PC3-8500DDR3 1067MHz pulled form aworking Macbook pro but canbe used in other laptops. Thequickest way to boost you laptopspeed please email or call me fora priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

LaptopCPUsmainly inteldifferent speeds please email orcall me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Classifieds Please mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts

80 Issue 1417

RetroWin98se ComputersFresh install of Windows98SE ideal for running legacyprograms and for playing older"memory lane" games as wellas for car garage or industrialuse as heavy duty and has serialparallel ports. from £50 +p&pmight also have laptops price onrequest please email or call mefor more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Different types of ram SDRAMSIMMDIMMDDRDDR2DDR3call or email me requirementsTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Desktop cases AT and ATX typesand tower and flatbed form factordifferent sizes and colors can beposted or picked up fromManchester please email or call mewith your requirements for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

AGP graphics cards also PCI andPCI-e graphics cards please email orcall me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Motherboard Bundle 2.8GHzIntel 32bit CPU 512MB Ram 3xpci 2xSATA 2IDE LAN, soundgood for gaming, office work,surfing, movies. Generally a goodall round system specm can bechanged if required please emailor call me for prices.Tel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Motherboard Bundle 2.4GhzAMD Athlon XP 32bit CPU512MB Ram 5xpci 2IDE LANsound good for gaming, officework, surfing the net, watchingmovies generally a good allround system spec can slightly bechanged if required please emailor call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

PS/2 Keyboard.These are standardkeyboards please email or call mefor more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

PC gaming hardware. I have 1xforce feedback steering wheel 1xforce feedback joystick 1x normaljoystick lots of game pads pleaseemail or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Fans different sizes and typesplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

AMDPHENOM 905E. SocketAM3CPU in perfect working orderand cosmetic condition. 65W TDP,so it runs cool. 2.5ghz. 6mb cache.Bare chip only. Will send recordeddelivery.£43 inc. postage.Tel: (02088) 899344Email: hh872@myopen.ac.uk

As New/Unused PCCHIPSM811LU R3.1. Box scruffybut contents are new/unused.Contents Motherboard/cableset/backplate/cd driver disk. 7 daywarranty. Socket A/462. £25including recorded delivery.Tel: (02088) 899344Email: hh872@myopen.ac.uk

SSD 120 GB. Sandisk Plus Solidstate hard drive. SATA 3 – 6GB/s.Perfect. Very fast drive. Only twomonths old and never used. Freedelivery. PayPal accepted. £36.Email: geofry@tiscali.co.uk

RADIOACTIVE FAIR - CivicHall, Nantwich, Cheshire,CW55DG. Sunday 19h Feb 2017.Computers, Electronics, HamRadio ~ Catering, Free Parking.Trade enquiries welcome via ourwebsite contact formWeb: www.radioactivefair.co.uk

Like new hardly used Mac Mini.2014, w/ upgraded storage to128GB SSD. i5 3rd generation and4GB RAM, Optional Bluetoothkeyboard. £360 text/email.Tel: (07950) 298812Email: ghzrepairs@gmail.com

IDECDROMDiskDrivesDifferent colours/white/black alltested and fully working £10 +p&pplease email or call me for more infoTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

20"HP LP2065 LCDmonitor.High res 1200 x 1600. Couple ofUSB 2.0 ports, ideal for connectingamouse and keyboard. Also has 2xDVI ports. One dead pixel in upperleft corner. Hardly noticeable. Noother defects. Perfect upgrade fromolder 17 or 19”model. Just £40!Tel: IanMatthew (01132) 629028Email: ianmatthewuk@yahoo.co.uk

FloppyDiskDriveswhite blacksilver all working £10 +p&p pleaseemail or call me for more infoTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

PCI GFX VGA cards I got lots ofthese of different brands all testedand working please let me knowwhat you are looking for I will tryand match up as close as possibleplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

NVIDIAAGP 128MBGraphicsVideo Card; model number P162£3 plus postage. (untested)Email: paulvwells@gmail.com

Sound cards i got lots of theseof PCI and ISA types all testedand working please let me knowwhat you are looking for i will tryand match up as close as possibleplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

35x Rammodules: mostlyKingston 133x64cs 258mb (168pin) and a few 128mb and 512mbmodules as well. Only £30 inc pp soless than £1 per module! (untested)Email: paulvwells@gmail.com

LANnetwork cards.Various PCIand ISA types wired and wirelessall tested and working please let meknowwhat you are looking for I willtry andmatch up as close as possibleplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

HPCompaqNX7010 Laptop.Verygood all round condition. Comeswith a new charger. 60gbH.D. 2G.B. Ram. £60.00 o.v.n.o.Tel: (01726) 61355Email: arcanu@tiscali.co.uk

AT Keyboard.These are standardkeyboards please email or call mefor more informationTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

Socket 939 CPUs AMD. Four ofthese of different speeds all testedand working please let me knowwhat you are looking for I will tryand match up as close as possibleplease email or call me for a priceTel: David (01616) 888119Email: pcmadnessltd@yahoo.co.uk

NVIDIAAGP 128MBGraphicsVideo Card; model number P162£3 plus postage. (untested)Email: paulvwells@gmail.com

Netgear; RangeMaxDG834PN&WPN824 routers. No Cables oradaptors. £5 plus postage for thepair. (untested).Email: paulvwells@gmail.com

D-LinkDWL-G510Wireless LAN54Mbps Low Pro PCI NetworkInterface Card £2 + P&P (untested)Email: paulvwells@gmail.com

Toshiba L450 laptop. 2.1ghz -2gb ram windows 7home premium 64bit- plasticbackspace button missing £50inclusive of postEmail: shamashi@hotmail.co.uk

PCDesktop Ram (DIMM)Memory: Siemens PC100 -222- 620 16M x 64 SDRAM.HYS64V16222GU-8 Only £8.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205Email: scobieg09@gmail.comWebcam (Trust Spacecam).Boxed with CD of installationsoftware and manual. Perfectcondition. £10.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205Email: scobieg09@gmail.com

LaptopHardDiskDrive. Fujitsu.20GB. Excellent condition: £10.00.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205Email: scobieg09@gmail.com

WesternDigital Cavier SEDesktopHard Disk Drive 160GB.Perfect condition. Only £10Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205E-mail: scobieg09@gmail.com

ClassifiedsPlease mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts

81Issue 1417

Toshiba Satellite ProA210 Laptop.AMDDual Core 1.90GHz CPU.3GB RAM. 120GB SSDDrive.Wifi.Windows 7 Ultimate. Office 2007.BitDefender 2015 AV. £95 ovno.Tel: Paul (01564) 200162Email: pridding@blueyonder.co.uk

Netgear DGND3700-100UKSGigabit Dual Band WiFi ADSL2+Router. UK N600 Wireless GigabitModem Router. Five GigabitEthernet ports, two USB2 portsPLUS an ADSL2+ port. Comesin original packing with Ethernetcable, ADSL filter and cableTel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

Dell Latitude E5410 i5 (very fast)2.4, 4gb ram, 160 gbHard driveDVDRW fantastic condition.Cheaper than any on Ebay. Verygood battery life. You can collectfromManchester or Portsmouthor I can courier out to you next dayfor an extra £10. Please call or emailfor any questions. It hasWindow 764 bit installed and activated witha genuine certificate of authenticityBargain price ONLY £124Tel: DaveThomas (07828) 982930 or(01942) 706571Email: davethomas96@aol.com

Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P-B3motherboard with Core i5 2300AND 8GB 1333Mhz RAM. Allyou need is a HDD, case and PSU.Very reliable. Runs XP up to 10.Drivers included. All for £175!Tel: IanMatthew (01132) 629028Email: ianmatthewuk@yahoo.co.uk

56kb FaxModemExternal. £10.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205Email: scobieg09@gmail.com

WesternDigital Cavier SEDesktopHardDiskDrive 160GB.Perfect condition. Only £10Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205Email: scobieg09@gmail.com

PCDesktop Ram (DIMM)Memory. Siemens PC100 -222- 620 16M x 64 SDRAM.HYS64V16222GU-8 Only £8.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205E-mail: scobieg09@gmail.com

Trying to breathe life backinto an old machine? Whynot submit a wanted ad toMicroMartClassifiedAdverts@gmail.com and see if any ofthe thousands of computerenthusiasts who read themagazine each week have whatyou’re looking for?

WANTED: Tape drive backup.Either DAT320 or later generationLTO system in good condition.Please contact me.Tel: (07949) 407022 Email: tape.20.odaily@spamgourmet.com

WANTED: You bought a Corsairwater cooler, with a squareblock. You fitted it to your Intelprocessor. You want to makea few pounds from the spareA.M.D. bits? Contact me!Email: johnrpeel@gmail.com

WANTED: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H motherboard wanted.Email: johnbeiry@gmail.com

WANTED: PC Tower case(beige colour if possible) torehome an Amiga A1200vintage computer. The Amigamotherboard is H 410mm x L190mm (H 16" x L 7.5"). PSU notan issue but if available 250 wattmore than enough.Tel: Bill (07742) 061569 or(02641) 769503.

WANTED: 3G dongle for Archos80 G9 tablet.Email: alancox28231@gmail.com

SimCity 2000: Boxed and original.Classic gaming. £15.00Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Email:scobieg09@gmail.com

Adobe Photoshop Elementsand Premiere Elements 12Full Version - Windows/Mac.Original Boxed CD with unusedproduct key. £47.50Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

PCBdesign software. 127 layers,schematic entry, PCB entry, PCBto Gerber file converter, output toprinter. £9.99Tel: NigelWright (07967) 527693Email: cresswellavenue@talktalk.net

Microsoft Office 2013.OriginalSoftware only £100.Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205E-mail: scobieg09@gmail.com

Cyberlink PowerDVD12 Standard.Runs underWindows 8, 7, Vistaor XP. Original CDwith unusedproduct key £7.50Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

Nuance Omnipage 18. OCR;Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP, OriginalCD with unused product key £25.Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

Acronis True ImageHome 2012.Bootable CD. Application runsunder Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP.Original Acronis CDwith unusedproduct key £5.Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

Norton Family Premier 2.0.RunsunderWindows 8, 7, Vista or XP,Original Symantec unusedproduct key £15.Tel: Ian (01932) 856971Email: a2345@btinternet.com

GoodText to Speech programWinXP or 7 to read ebooks aloudfor a pensioner with few resources.Tel: Wilf James (01767) 699809

Wanted: PictureToExe software, formaking picture shows.Tel: (01202) 610602Email: ivor.mary@talktalk.net

Wanted: Quicken 2001. Idesperately require a copy ofQUICKEN 2001, UK Edition.I need to reinstall the programbut have lost my originalinstallation CD.Email: david.maddams@icloud.com

IMPORTANTBUYING ADVICE

We work very hard topolice our classifiedads, and make themas secure as possible.However, please doyour bit too and use thefollowing guidelines:

• Never - NEVER - pay bybank transfer or post out cash,

unless you know the trader

already, or are sure it is okay

to do so. Pay by cheque, Paypal,

Nochex etc wherever possible.

• Be wary of anyone who insists

on you paying by the above

methods if in doubt, get us

to check them out by mailing

editorial@micromart.co.uk

• Keep copies of all

correspondence

•When sending out goods, at

the least obtain a certificate of

posting from the Post Office

If you are in any doubt,feel free to send us a mailvia editorial@micromart.co.uk.

Every year, thousands ofsuccessful transactionstake place through ourclassifieds, and that's justhow we like it.

Help us help youkeep them one of thesafest and most secureplaces to buy and sellcomputer kit.

HARDWARE WANTED

SOFTWARE FOR SALE

SOFTWARE WANTED

Send your questions to:Aaron BirchMicro MartDennis Publishing30 Cleveland StreetLondonW1T 4JD

Contact Aaron by email at:aaron@micromart.co.uk

Please try to keep yourqueries brief and limitthem to just one questionper letter, simply so wecan squeeze in as many aswe can each week. Pleaseinclude relevant technicalinformation too.

Aaron

Meet Aaron Birch.He’s here to help youwith any generalupgrading, softwareand system buildingproblems. He’s gotadvice aplenty andyou’re very muchwelcome to it!

AARONASK

82 Issue 1417

Flushed awayI have just read your replyto the printer jam problem. Ihad this problem many yearsago and found a batch fileonline called printflush. Thisjust needs to be placed onyour computer (in my case thedesktop), and if I get a printerjam I just double-click. TheURL for the download is brad-kovach.com/printflush.

Keith

Batch files can be great littletime savers and can also bevery powerful tools for allsorts of uses. They can beused to automate a lot oftasks, including the steps Idescribed for emptying or'flushing' the print spooler.The batch file you found isjust that, an automated scriptfor fixing printer spool issues,and it makes it even easierto clear a clogged printerqueue. Thanks for pointingthis out.

However, there is a reasonI often avoid recommendingsuch fixes and that's security.Basically, downloading sometypes of file from the internetand running them can bedangerous, especially if you're

running automated scriptsand you don't have theknowledge required to editthe file and check the codewithin to make sure it's safe.

If you trust the site, youshould be fine, but often asearch for files and scripts likethis can point you to websitesyou've never visited before, so

you're in uncharted territoryand won't know if the fileyou've downloaded is safe. Insituations like this, I'd alwaysurge caution.

The site you recommended,however, appears to beperfectly fine, and the batchfile code is innocent and willdo what is advertised.

UnhingedI've had my HP laptop for only seven months,and already it's suffered a problem, which I'mhoping you can help with. I haven't droppedthe laptop at all (at least I know I haven'tmyself. It's possible someone else in the housedid, but no one is owning up), but one of thehinges that holds the screen onto the mainunit appears to have snapped and broken off.Half of the hinge casing has come loose, andnow the screen doesn't open properly and theframe surrounding the display has come loose.

If I look inside the split, it appears as thoughsomething has bent, but the screen works fine,so I'm not sure if any damage has been done.

Is it worth me taking the whole thing apartto try to fix it, and could this even be done?

I'm concerned I may do more damage thangood, but I know leaving the hinge as it iswill only lead to more damage anyway, so I'mbetween a rock and a hard place.

Gary

I think the key piece of information here is theseven-month period you've owned the laptopfor. It sounds as though the hinge is damaged,therefore it should be covered by yourwarranty, which should be at least 12 months,meaning you're within the warranty period.

If this is the case, I'd hold off on any fixesand take the laptop back to the point ofpurchase. It should be covered as long asthe damage wasn't caused by something not

Batch files utilise simple script commands to perform various tasks and

can be very useful

Issue 1417 83

THEEXPERTS

Missing DLLI'm trying to load an application I recentlypurchased, but after installing it and try-ing to run it, I get an error message thatsays 'Api-ms-win-crt-string-l1-1-0.dll ismissing', and it doesn't run. I installedthe application as instructed and, as faras I'm aware, it did so properly, but it justwon't work.

I've read that you can download .dllfiles from the internet, but I just find thisa little worrying and I don't want to putanything untoward on my computer. Doyou have any suggestions?

Ste

Downloading individual DLL files can bean easy way to fix missing DLL errors,but it can also be risky, and you'reright to be cautious. DLL files are veryimportant for software, but they're aneasy vector for malware. There are manyDLL websites and most are fine, butif possible I'd always suggest you tryofficial support or solutions first.

In this case, the missing file seemsto be related to Visual C++, which theapplication you're trying to run must use.For some reason, the file isn't present,so you'll need to grab it. You can dothis easily by running a specific updatefrom Microsoft's own website. You'llfind this at support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2999226. This is an update forUniversal C Runtime and it covers themissing DLL file you need.

Run this update and then rebootyour PC. Once the update is complete,try running your application again andit should work fine. If it doesn't, tryuninstalling the application and thenreinstalling it.

If you really want to try adding theDLL yourself, one site a lot of peopleuse is www.dll-files.com. I obviously

can't guarantee everything on this site issafe, but it's popular and site checkingtools give it a green flag. Just rememberto scan anything you download withantivirus, just to be safe.

DLL download sites are usually safe, but

could also be havens for malicious code, so

always be careful

included in the warranty. This shouldnet you a replacement laptop or, atthe very least, a full repair. Trying todo this yourself will likely void thewarranty, so it's best to check first.

If your laptop is out of warrantyand as long as you're confident inyour abilities, you could try to fix it.Just be sure to be very careful anddon't stress the components toomuch trying to get the hinge backinto place. It may be best to crack thelaptop open and remove the displayso you don't damage any connectorsor boards. If the hinge has actuallybroken, though, you may need topurchase a replacement from HP oreven eBay.

You can often find spare parts for PCs and laptops on eBay, and they're often cheaper than

official sources

JASONASK

Send your questions to:Jason D’AllisonMicro MartDennis Publishing30 Cleveland StreetLondonW1T 4JD

Contact Jason by email at:jason@micromart.co.uk

While we try to cover as manyquestions as we can, we regretthat Jason cannot answer yourquestions personally, but he’ll coveras many as he possibly can eachweek. Please ask one question perletter and remember to include thefull specification of your computer,including its operating system.

Jason

Meet JasonD’Allison, a veteranof Micro Mart’s panelof experts. He’s hereto help with anytechnical questions,including anythingto do with tablets orsmartphones, as wellas PCs

Most in trouble

are those running

64-bit Windows 8

A Bit Of Bother?I’m trying to upgrade my lad’s old Socket 939system to Windows 10 (before the July 29thdeadline), but it keeps giving a BSOD on boot.I’m told everything used to work great, but allI’m getting since bringing it home with me is aTDR failure. The consensus online is that this isa graphics problem. I’d try a different driver ifonly I could get the PC to boot! The specs areas follows.

CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2.4GHz, dual-core)Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3HRAM: 4 x 1GB OCZ DDR2-6400GPU: Radeon HD 6670 (silent)OS: Windows 8 Pro (not 8.1)

I’ve tried reinstalling Windows 8 Pro, but theTDR error soon shows itself before the processfinishes. I’ve reseated the graphics card, too andalso the RAM. No dice. This leads me to concludethat there must be a hardware issue. What doyou reckon?

Francis Kinsler, Gmail

TDR stands for ‘timeout, detection, and recovery’.Yes, it’s graphics-related – the driver is crashingand restarting. Maybe the driver’s simplycorrupted or buggy, though during an installationWindows will use its own generic driver, not onefrom AMD. I think you’re right, then, Francis:the culprit is the graphics card itself. Perhaps it’sbeen regularly overheating – a common scenariofor fanless cards, especially if there’s inadequatecase cooling. A Radeon R7 250 (about £60) orGeForce GT 740 (about (£70) would make asuitable replacement for a Radeon HD 6670.

Now, regarding Windows upgrades, I shouldmention that your lad’s PC isn’t in fact based onSocket 939. The motherboard is a Socket AM2affair, and a Socket 939 CPU would use DDR(DDR1), not DDR2. That’s all very good news, as

it means you’re not missing CMPXCHG16b (alsocalled CompareExchange128). This is an x86-64CPU instruction that’s almost essential these days.32-bit versions of Windows are trouble-free,but without that instruction, 64-bit Windows8.1 simply won’t install (64-bit Windows 8 will).64-bit Windows 10 can only be clean-installed,not upgraded to.

The users most in trouble are those running64-bit Windows 8. They can’t upgrade to 8.1,and without 8.1, they can’t upgrade to 10. Theanswer is to wipe the PC clean and install 32-bitWindows 8. Afterwards, Windows Update canbe used to upgrade to 32-bit Windows 8.1. Fromthere, Windows Update can be used to upgradeto 32-bit Windows 10. Once that’s activated,it’s just a case of wiping the PC clean again andinstalling 64-bit Windows 10. It’ll reactivate justfine. There’s a commonly held myth that productkeys and installations are locked to a specific bit-depth, but it’s just that: a myth.

PS – Windows 10 downloads are availablehere, legitimately: goo.gl/jECLtx. Getting holdof Windows 7 and 8.x downloads might requirea visit to a torrent site, however. Yep – I did saythat. In my view, anyone with the right to run thesoftware has the right to acquire the installationmedia, by whatever means necessary.

Does Microsoft care if you switch between 32-bit

and 64-bit on the same licence?

84 Issue 1417

Issue 1417 85

THEEXPERTS

Dell Of A DealI’m after an inexpensive desktop PC for the usual basic stuff, andat www.ebuyer.com I’ve spotted the Dell PowerEdge T20 (model20-3692). It’s priced at £162.99, but it’s on a £70 cashback deal.So unless there’s a catch, just £92.99 will get me a full PC with aPentium G3220 processor (3GHz, dual-core), 4GB of DDR3 RAMand a 500GB hard drive. Is it some sort of con? There’s no OS, butthat doesn’t worry me. Would there be upgrade potential, perhapsfor gaming?

Shaun, Gmail

I’ve just totted up the cost of doing a self-build using similarcomponents. About £154, I reckon. Even at full price, then, Shaun,the Dell is great value. It’s no rocket ship, but for day-to-day useit’ll be grand (ignore that it’s advertised as a server). There areplenty of USB ports, a raft of drive bays, gigabit Ethernet, a PCIslot, and even serial and PS/2 connections. You don’t get a DVDdrive, though. If that’s a problem, throw a laptop-style job intoyour basket. Bear in mind, too, that the video outputs are 1 x VGA/D-sub and 2 x DisplayPort. No HDMI.

And while we’re on that subject, could the system be made intoa gamer? Well, the Pentium’s integrated HD Graphics will handlelittle more than Candy Crush Saga, but there’s a PCIe 3.x x16 slotfor adding something beefier. For any card requiring a dedicatedpower cable, you’d need to replace the 290W PSU and buy a£2.99 ATX adaptor off eBay (the motherboard’s PSU socket is non-standard). And remember that a lowly Pentium would hold manygames back. Really, if you think you’ll want to play games, this Dellisn’t the right starting point.

There’s no OS, as you say. If you’re not already sorted there,head to eBay. A Windows 10 key can be bagged from as little as£6.99 – even the Pro version. A key for Windows 8.x is similarmoney (if you’ve lost your marbles).† I’ve no idea how such keyscan be so cheap, and they appear to be legit. Some of the listingsare weeks old, maybe months old, and eBay’s red hot with itsVerified Rights Owner programme (VeRO). Dodgy software doesn’tlast five minutes.

How does the cashback work? It’s not a con, Shaun. The systemhas to be bought between 1st May and 31st July (still plentyof time), and you need to make the claim 30 to 60 days afterpurchase. That’s it. Once the claim’s authorised, the refund willcome through within 30 days. Follow the rules and you’ll get themoney. See goo.gl/Sv39BD for more details. The offer is run byDell, not Ebuyer, so feel free to buy from whichever authorised Dellreseller has the best price.

All in all, for under £100, you could have a brand-new Delldesktop running Windows 10. It’s daylight robbery! If any readershave some spare cash, why not buy and set up several? Knock ’emout on eBay at £175 a pop. Dell allows ten claims per individual ororganisation. A nice little earner and no mistake.

† Windows 7 keys can be found for around a tenner, thoughusually they come as stickers retrieved from scrapped towers andlaptops. Windows 10 and 8.x keys come as ‘digital purchases’ –that is, emails.

They appear to be legit, so how come they’re so cheap?

OverThe LimitIn a moment of madness (it cost over£600), I recently bought a Galaxy S7 Edgesmartphone. I love my music and wantto carry as much of my collection aroundas possible, so I was thinking of buying a256GB memory card. However, the manualfor the phone states the biggest cardsupported is 200GB. Will a 256GB cardwork?

N Ferguson, Cheshire

A 256GB card *should* work. The SDXCstandard – common for a few yearsnow (SD/SDSC and SDHC having beensuperseded) – supports capacities from64GB to 2TB. The S7 Edge specs specify amaximum capacity of 200GB, it’s true, butthat’s merely because until recently that was

the biggest microSDXC card available. It wasmade by SanDisk – still is.*

Of course, technology improves, andshrinks, and now Samsung has managed tosqueeze 256GB into the same form-factor.512GB cards can’t be far behind (full-sizecards are already here), and I doubt mostdevices with an SDXC slot will have troublewith those either.

But be careful. Those 256GB Samsungcards are rare. Indeed, on a quick scout, Ican’t find any genuine ones for sale – andthat’s a key word: genuine. You’d be amug to buy a 256GB card from anywherebut a well-known retailer, as fake cards areeverywhere (that’s solid advice for memorycards and USB sticks in general). Currently,Samsung is the only manufacturer, so ifyou see 256GB cards labelled up with adifferent name or a ‘Samsung’ card with a

price south of about £125, keep your walletin your pocket.

* Although the company’s now owned byWestern Digital.

Will this work in a phone with a 200GB limit?

Issue 141786

A lot of tech-based crowdfunding projects are concerned with making accessoriesfor tablets and smartphones. This week, we’re glad to show you a pair thatrevolve around the most traditional PC hardware you can imagine: a keyboardand a mouse.

SilentKeys: A Keyboard that Protects yourPrivacy & SecuritySilentKeys is a Plug & Play keyboard that helps protects you online byoffering easy, quick access to a completely secure environment at thetouch of a key. By pressing the secure button, you can either open afully anonymised browser or boot your system into a completely secureenvironment with a secure file vault and encrypted network features.You’re then free to type save from software or hardware interception.

The idea is that the keyboard will protect your data from interceptionand viruses, while helping you keep your private files secure on the go.Each SilentKeys package contains a keyboard in either black or white, a16GB micro-SD card, a USB cord and dice. The keyboard itself is housedinside a tamper-proof aluminium shell, so you know they take securityvery seriously.

There are some ultra-cheap early bird tiers available, but at thecurrent pace those will probably be gone by the time you read this. Ifyou want to get a keyboard, we think the best price you’ll be able tocatch is €169 (£130), which is still a hefty chunk off the €249 (£190)price. With over a month to go, the campaign already has more than80% of its goal, so we think this one’s definitely happening.URL: kck.st/1TBUcWIFunding Ends: Friday, 1st July 2016

MouseDrive. Turn Your Mouse Into APersonal Wireless CloudThe MouseDrive combines the technology of both the mouse andexternal hard drive to create one ergonomic device. Compatible withboth PC and Mac, Android and more operating systems besides, theMouseDrive saves space and improves portability by combining twocommon devices into one.

The hardware is USB 3.0 compatible, has an on-board flash drive(so no moving parts for data storage) and a high-impact casing.When wired, it’s powered completely from your USB port, so there’sno need to swap and reinstall batteries, and when disconnectedit runs off its own internal li-on battery charged through the USBconnection.

Early backers can pick up a 16GB wired MouseDrive for 20% offretail, at a price of $66 (£46). At the other end of the spectrum, youcan get a 512GB Wireless Mousedrive for $199 (£137), and if youwant anything smaller, there are various tiers between the two aswell. If the campaign hits its $49,000 (£34,000) goal, units will startshipping in December 2016.URL: kck.st/1sACa0dFunding Ends: Friday, 1st July 2016

Crowdfunding Corner

Disclaimer: Images shown may be prototypes and Micro Mart does not formally endorse or guarantee any of the projects listed. Back them at your own risk!

Issue 1417 87

APP OF THE WEEK

App Of The Week

I ’m a little late to the party wheresome Android games are concerned.True, I do play a fair few games on my

phone and tablet, but I’m an old schoolgamer at heart, so I tend to opt for PCor, at a push, console gaming insteadof mobile games, which are often of alower quality.

However, in the last few weeks I’vebeen working my way through the ratherexcellent Monument Valley. It’s been outa long time, but I thought I’d share withyou, just in case you also missed thisstartlingly good adventure puzzler.

Escher’s WorldMonument Valley has you playing asPrincess Ida, who must work her waythrough ever increasingly complexgeometric puzzles of an MC Eschervariety, to find the missing componentsof an ancient world and ultimatelyseek forgiveness from higher beings

for stealing the game world’s SacredGeometry.

The game is played out in adimensionally confusing isometric viewof paths, ladders, lifts and other suchmoving sections. To move from one endof the play area to the other requiresyou to manipulate the game worldby twisting your perspective throughmoving platforms, rotating sections ofa building and even, at times, walkingupside down.

The trick here is to forget all aboutreal-world physics. For example, whereyou’d view four pillars, each separatedfrom one another in the shape of asquare, there’s no way you’d be ableto cross from one to the other withouthaving to traverse a platform betweenthem. In Monument Valley, though, byrotating the scenery, you change theperspective so the top of the closer pillar(in a 3D isometric view) looks like it’s

touching the further one. You can thenmove Ida from one pillar to the next inthis fashion.

The puzzles are based on thegeometry of the world, but they alsohave you moving blocks around, openingdoors and setting off pressure pads tounlock or release a new section. Oftenthere are pressure pads that are releasedas soon as you move off them, soyou’ll need to work out a way to keepsomething over the pads to permanentlyactivate them.

However, it’s not just the minimalistgraphics, the excellent sound effectsand superb geometry puzzles that keepyou hooked. Monument Valley is also anevolving story that’s really quite gripping– making you want to play the next levelto reveal the next chapter.

ConclusionAlthough it was released a couple ofyears ago, Monument Valley has agedwell. It does cost £2.99, but consideringit’s such a great game, I don’t mindspending such a small amount.

There aren’t many mobile games thatstick with you, but I think Monument Valleymay well be one that remains installed onmy tablet for the foreseeable future.

Graphically, Monument Valley

looks fantastic

It’s a geometric enthusiast’s

dream come true

The story behind Monument

Valley captures you as much as

the puzzles

We fall into the mind-altering perspective of a mobile game this week

FeaturesAtAGlance• Stunning graphics.• Immersive gameplay.• Great puzzles and geometric

designs.• Beautiful musical score and sound

effects.

Monument Valley

wondering why my Blu-ray collection is still on a shelf whenthe PS3 that can play them isn’t even wired up!

But an even greater problem for me are the literallyhundreds of PC-related discs I’ve accrued and myoverriding urge to just bin them. Some containsoftware, others data files, tutorials or documentation,but it’s almost all irrelevant to what I do today in oneway or another.

What I’ve decided to do (and even I admit this issomewhat OCD) is to sift through it and isolate thosethings I’d really like to keep, for whatever reason. Andthen, so that this all becomes a bit more manageable,I’m going to take groups of relevant disc data and

assemble them onto Blu-ray media.At least that will reduce some of the clutter, especially

when you consider that you can get the contents of at least35 full CDs onto a single sided Blu-ray disc, and even five

single-layer DVDs on one.For those wondering, I’ve already accepted that if I live long

enough, I’ll end up with one disc that have everything I wantto pass on stored on it, should Blu-ray ever be superseded in anymeaningful way.

But surely the replacement for discs will either be cloud based,if you trust that and the businesses that underpin them, or morebelievably a solid-state device with tens of terabytes on it.

And surely such an external drive is only a couple of years away,and probably one with a petabyte, being 1,000 terabytes (TB) or1,000,000 gigabytes (GB) is foreseeable within a decade or so. Thatcould do plenty for decluttering my home, should those things cometo pass.

The only caveat I can see to all this reorganisation is the way thatmedia and the connection technologies that they use are as equallytransient. I often come across old storage technology, like disks from

OffOffLoggingLogging

88 Issue 1417

EDITORIALEditor: Anthony Enticknaptheeditor@micromart.co.ukDesigner: Laura Jane GunnionDesigner: Kevin KamalBonus John: John MooreContributors: Mark Pickavance, JasonD’Allison, Joe Lavery, Sven Harvey,Simon Brew, Dave Edwards, RyanLambie, James Hunt, Mark Oakley,Roland Waddilove, Cheesy Pasta,Kebabs, Sarah Dobbs, David Hayward,Michael Fereday, Ian McGurren, AaronBirch, David Briddock, Craig Grannell,Kevin Pocock, Andrew Unsworth, DaveRobinson, Rob Leane

Caricatures: Cheryl Lillie

ADVERTISINGGroup Ad Manager:Andrea Masonandrea_mason@dennis.co.uk

Sales Executive:Joe Teal

Tel: 0207 907 6689

joe_teal@dennis.co.uk

US Advertising ManagerMatthew Sullivan-Pond

matthew_sullivan@dennis.co.uk

MARKETING

Marketing Manager:Paul Goodhead

Tel: 0207 907 6393

PRODUCTION

Production Coordinator:John Moore

MicroMartAdCopy@gmail.com

Digital Production Manager:Nicky Baker

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Save 24% on the cover price:

£77.50 for 51 issues by credit card.

Visit subscribe.micromart.co.ukTel: 0845 126 1014

ONLINE SUBSCRIBER SERVICE

www.ManageMyMags.co.uk

Change your address, renew

subscription or report problems: call

0844 844 0082 (UK) or email

micromart@servicehelpline.co.uk

NEWSTRADE SALES

Newstrade Director:David Barker

DENNIS PUBLISHING

Group Publisher:Paul Rayner

paul_rayner@dennis.co.uk

Managing Director:John Garewal

Group Managing Director:Ian Westwood

COO: Brett ReynoldsCEO: James TyeCompany Founder: Felix Dennis

PUBLISHED BYDennis Publishing30 Cleveland StreetLondonW1T 4JDTel: 0207 907 6000www.dennis.co.uk

PRINTINGPrinted By: BGPDistributed By: Seymour

Certified Distribution:13,712 average copiesJan-Dec 2010

In 1984, I bought my first Marantz CD player, along with aversion of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Brothers in Arms by DireStraits. It was a seminal moment, and at the time I couldn’timagine a time I’d treat this media – and its replacements –

with such little respect.At this time, I’ve long since relegated my CD collection to

the attic and given or thrown away most of my DVDs, and I’m

long discarded systems tothe very early flash cards andwonder if there is anythingon them.

With no way to read practically read them, thetemptation is often just to bin them and fret no more,because irrespective of my interests, archiving isn’t my life,and it isn’t my object to build a museum honouring myexistence in this era.

Surely, unless you’re a megalomaniac, life is all about whatyou do during it than the scale of legacy you leave? Not thatI’m doing anything remarkable with mine, but equally I’m notconscientiously attempting to be a goldmine of informationfor a future historian to delve through centuries from now.

In the end, they’re just discs, digitally encoded with a laserthat was once considered an impressive technology. Or givena few decades, they’re rubbish that isn’t easy to recycle evenif they contain some valuable materials.

And once you think about it that way, they’re easier to bin.

Mark Pickavance

Across

7 A specific area of the celestial sphere

as defined by the International

Astronomical Union. (13)

8 A sequence of characters that define

a search pattern, mainly for use in

pattern matching with strings. (Abbr)

(6)

9 Being up to a particular standard or

level especially in being up to date in

knowledge. (2,4)

10 The trade name for a shortwave

antenna marketed by Bilal Co. for use

as an amateur radio transmitting

antenna for restricted spaces. (7)

12 A community or territory over which

a sovereign rules; it is commonly used

to describe a kingdom or other

monarchical or dynastic state. (5)

14 A subatomic particle, such as a

photon, which has zero or integral spin

and follows the statistical description

given by Bose and Einstein. (5)

16 A regular and intelligible form or

sequence discernible in the way in

which something happens or is done.

(7)

19 A number crossword-style puzzle in

which each row and column of

consecutive numbers must add up to

the total given at the start of each slot.

(6)

20 A satellite of Saturn, the furthest

from the planet and with an eccentric

retrograde orbit. (6)

22 A substance that flows like a liquid

but has some degree of ordering in the

arrangement of its molecules. (6,7)

Down

1 The world’s first eye tracking virtual

reality headset. (4)

2 The act of changing location in an

upward direction. (6)

3 The marketing name used by AMD

for several different budget desktop

CPUs that replaced the Duron. (7)

4 Give an additional equivalent more

user-friendly name to an entity, (5)

5 Restrain a reaction or stop oneself

acting on an emotion. (6)

6 A type of app that aims to create a

shared virtual reality space where users

can interact with each other and even

participate in activities. (6,2)

11 .sk TLD. (8)

13 Trusteer’s online security software

application. (7)

15 American virtual reality technology

company founded by Palmer Luckey

and Brendan Iribe 2012. (6)

17 A Chinese philosophy based on the

writings of Lao-tzu, advocating humility

and religious piety. (6)

18 Codename for a British Secret

Intelligence Service operation to

penetrate the Polish security

establishment in the early 1960s. (5)

21 In statistics the difference between

the expectation value of an estimator

and the true value. (4)

THIS WEEK'S CROSSWORD

LAST WEEK'S CROSSWORD

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed by contributors

are not necessarily those of the

publishers. Every care is taken to

ensure that the contents of the

magazine are accurate but the

publishers cannot accept

responsibility for errors. While

reasonable care is taken when

accepting advertisements, the

publishers cannot accept any

responsibility for any resulting

unsatisfactory transactions. For

many, many years now, we’ve

followed this magazine’s disclaimer

with a bit about what’s been

happening with the Micro Mart team

or what we’ve been thining about

during the week. This time around,

we’d like to follow the normal

disclaimer with another disclaimer,

in honour of the Norwegian

Consumer Council’s campaign

against ridiculous terms and

conditions. Of course, this is just for

fun, so please don’t sue us. Anyway,

here we go. First, by reading this

disclaimer, you agree to forthwith

forfeit all assuant propultory actions

that would otherwise be assured by

your implied agreement. Secondly,

you will not mention the made-up

words we used in that last sentence

or the fact it made no sense. Thirdly,

you are to tell all your friends and

family how great Micro Mart is, and

tell them to buy a subscription.

Fourthly, you will follow us on Twitter

and like our Facebook page, and

we’ll agree not to online stalk you.

Fifthly, if you ever play us at Scrabble

or Word With Friends, you have to let

us win by at least 34 points. Sixthly,

thanks for reading.

Across: 7 Expression Web, 8 Tsetse, 9 Encode,10 OneNote, 12 F Flat, 14 Snide, 16 Falsify, 19 VGACAD,20 Thumbs, 22 Andy Hertzfeld.Down: 1 Axis, 2 Triton, 3 Aspects, 4 Pixel, 5 UNICEF,6 Red Dwarf, 11 Nonagons, 13 Cantata, 15 Dactyl,17 Stuffy, 18 Idler, 21 Bulb.

Home security special! IPcameras, smart locks andmore

Books and appsfor aspiringcoders

What to do afteryour free Office365 subscriptionruns out

Plus the usual mix ofnews, features, reviewsand advice

* May be subject to change

PCs And Stuff

(including cats

)(includi

ng cats)

In Next Week sMicro Mart*

’

27’’24’’