And What You Can Do

Plus • Facebook And Its Big Plans For The Future • What Is GitHub And What Can It Do For You? • On Test: Affordable Colour Laser Printers

HOW MICROSOFT IS TRYING TO GET WINDOWS 7 & 8 USERS TO UPGRADE - AND WHAT YOU CAN DO

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08 Forced Upgrades Have you upgraded to Windows 10 recently? No? Are you sure? You might think that’s a simple question to answer (and it should be), but it seems a lot of people are finding they’ve upgraded to Microsoft’s latest OS without ever actually choosing to do so. The reason for this, of course, is the company’s underhanded methods of getting this software on users’ computers, as David Crookes explains

18 PC Peripherals Whether you’re a gamer or not, high-end peripherals designed for gaming can demands some pretty high prices. They also come with the kind of features you won’t normally find in basic office equipment, though. The good news is there are also plenty of more affordable gaming 18 peripherals to be found, as we’ve been finding out PC Peripherals 30 Top Tips As well as giving us an excuse to mention Scotty talking to a computer mouse in Star Trek IV, Cortana is also a genuinely useful addition to Windows. It also has a lot more depth than you might think, so to help you get the most from Microsoft’s chatty new friend, Roland 30 Waddilove has a handy selection of tips and tricks 50 Group Test: TopTp Tipsips Laser Printers Once expensive items reserved for busy offices, colour laser printers are now well within reach of home users. With running costs that can be as low as 1p a page, if you do a lot of printing these are a great route to take. To help you choose the right one for your needs, we’ve been checking out six models you can buy right now

4 Issue 1196 GROUP TEST GroupGroupTTeest:st: Colour Lasers 50 Brother HL-3170CDW 50 Laser Printers 51 HP Colour LaserJet Pro M252dw 52 Lexmark CS310n 53 Xerox Phaser 6600 54 Epson Aculaser C2900N 55 Dell C1765nfw 56 Sum up Reviews 42 BenQ BL2205PT 43 CorelDraw X8 44 Dell Inspiron 11 3000 58 Series 46 Archos PC Stick 47 Gigabyte P35X v5 Guide To GitHub 48 Archos 50e Helium 49 Urbanista Melbourne Portable Bluetooth Speakers Also In Experts 58 Guide To GitHub This Issue... 82 Ask Aaron Whether you’re a Linux developer or an ordinary user, 84 Ask Jason GitHub should be on your radar. In around six years, 57 Top 5 Specialists this cloud-based development repository has become A selection of the most 68 Linux Mart one of the most essential resources for the open-source disappointing PC games 69 Mac Mart 70 Mobile Mart community. David Briddocks takes a looks at what it is, ever made 71 Hardware Mart how it works and how you can get involved in it yourself 66 Alphabet Pi 72 Gaming Mart This week, we have our News eye on the i in Pi 36 The Latest News 62 Facebook’s Future 34 Your Letters Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, drones, lasers and 67 Remembering Regulars telepathy: it all sounds like the makings of a sci-fi novel. David looks back at the 32 Subscriptions Yet these are, in fact, areas of technology that Facebook Windows XP, an OS that 74 Ad Index is involved in, and which it sees as part of the future was made to last 76 IT Essentials of the corporation. Of course, things don’t always go 78 Classifieds according to plan, but we’ve been looking at what could 86 Crowdfunding Corner 88 Logging Off Got a few quid to be heading our way courtesy of Mr. Zuckerberg and co. spare? Maybe one of these campaigns will tempt you

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As Microsoft foists Windows 10 onto Windows 7 and 8 users, David Crookes examines the effects of this aggressive strategy

8 Issue 1412 WINDOWS 10

indows 10 is doing well. With This changed everything. For those machines,” he told Windows Weekly. 14.15% of the market, it’s systems that are set to automatically “And so, as we are pushing our ISV Wnow the second most popular process recommended updates, it [Independent Software Vendor] and operating system in the world, more amounted to pushing Windows 10 hardware partners to build great new than edging Windows 8.1 into third onto a machine. Users would not only stuff that takes advantage of Windows place (and old faithful Windows XP into find the OS controversially and quietly 10, that obviously makes the old stuff fourth). Installations for March were 25% downloaded onto their system in the really bad – and not to mention viruses higher than in February, according to the background but actually installed. Waking and security problems.” analytics vendor Net Applications, and of up to a whole new OS on a computer can He went on to say that it was almost those who have tried the OS, the majority be rather disconcerting and yet that’s just Microsoft’s duty to get people upgraded, are happy with what they see. what has been happening. as if those poor people using older OSs But there’s an elephant in the room called Windows 7, which Microsoft wants to push out with all its might. It wants to Windows is continuing to ﬁnd its way heave and ho and shove this unwanted  bulk onto the streets so it may wither and onto machines to the surprise of users die and become a distant memory. Yet  with 51.89% of the market, this old OS is proving to be one stubborn beast, and it shows no signs of being in a minority Windows watchers had seen this – namely Windows 7 and 8/8.1 – were just yet. coming. Analyst Gartner predicted the vulnerable and deserved protection. Microsoft has been trying hard. When migration to Windows 10 would become “It is hard to move anyone to a new it unveiled Windows 10, its aim was to the fastest yet after Microsoft switched model without angering some people,” rapidly replace all that had gone before. Windows 10 to a recommended update. Capossela continued. “We don’t want Windows 10 was purported to be a fresh But it has left a bitter taste in the mouths to anger anybody, but we do feel a start, a new OS that – in skipping right of many a user. responsibility to get people to a much past a Windows 9 – was all set to put better place, and Windows 10 is a much some distance between the future and the Through The Window better place than Windows 7.” past. But although it has been used by at In order to persuade people that the But is it? Well, it’s certainly true that least 270 million people in the past month, migration to Windows 10 is a good Windows 10 represents the future of the task of getting folk to upgrade in even thing, Microsoft’s rhetoric has been in Microsoft’s operating system, and there’s greater numbers has proven to be more overdrive. In February, the company’s nothing inherently wrong with it. It difficult than at first imagined. chief marketing officer, Chris Capossela, follows the usual path of ‘bad OS, good Over the past few months, we’ve seen issued a stark warning of the risks OS’ to the last letter and it has a wide what appears to be a change in tactics involved in using Windows 7. The OS, he range of superb tools and smarter apps. by the Redmond-based giant. At first, it said, was less secure than Windows 10, The early problems of lost sound and was all very friendly (“Hey, here’s a new and it ran into problems when installing incompatible drivers have been resolved, operating system, why not give it a go; newer software. and Cortana is proving useful. The you’ll love it – honestly you will”). But “We do worry, when people are browser Edge has improved HTML5 and then it became something that Microsoft running an operating system that’s ten CSS3 support, and the expanded Smart really, really wanted you to have. To years old, that the next printer they buy menu is a treat. hammer that point home, Windows 10 isn’t going to work well. Or they buy But to suggest that Windows 7 is ceased to be an optional update this year a new game … a very popular game, somehow unsafe says more about and instead became a recommended one. and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older Microsoft than the motivation of the users: the company has promised extended support for Windows 7 until 14th January 2020, so it has a duty to close security loopholes. Indeed, Windows 8 mainstream support ends on 9th January 2018 and extended support on 10th January 2023. Even Windows Vista is set to enjoy extended support until 11th April 2017. As for whether or not a new printer would fail to work with Windows 7, it’s again something for manufacturers to consider, not the users. If a printer company wants to cut out more than half of the Windows userbase, it’s unlikely to be thanked by its balance sheet. But Microsoft wants Windows 10 on a billion devices, and it seems determined to

Issue 1412 9 achieve its ambition, even if it’s leaving my son wasn’t so lucky. Same thing be a problem for some people. Here’s a nasty taste in the mouths of a fair few happened to him today.” a simple one: Some software is not users, a good number of whom have As if to underline the problems it has compatible with W10. End of debate.” headed online to vent their spleen. been causing, yet another – who appears Except it isn’t. Windows is continuing to work for an IT company – wrote: to find its way onto machines to the Reddit All About It “We’ve been getting calls trickling in surprise of users, and anyone who doesn’t One of the problems is that Microsoft all week from doctor’s offices, dental want it is being told the same thing: that has been at this point before. In October practices, B&Bs and roofing companies – there’s a 31-day period in which you can 2015, it ended up apologising for among others – that have been hit by this revert back to the previous OS. It could delivering notifications from Windows and it’s a ****ing mess. In some cases be argued that this is a little underhand; Update that Windows 10 had been the upgrade went OK and the user is just why should someone go through the downloaded and was ready to be really confused. In others, Windows 10 is hassle of rolling back an OS to an older installed. The optional update was asking for a login password the user set version when they didn’t want the new checked by default, so it meant that the years ago and hasn’t used since – that one in the first place? But when you think prompt was being seen by people who had never tried to upgrade and who hadn’t sought to reserve a copy. But come It feels like someone broke into my February, the same notifications began  to appear, and that got a lot of people’s house, installed spyware on my computer backs up. Some of the subsequent discussions and rendered my favourite applications took place on Reddit, where users are not known for holding back their thoughts. useless In a thread called “Warning: Windows  7 computers are being reported as automatically starting the Windows 10 upgrade without permission”, users spoke was fun. In still another it’s screwed up that most people are likely to shrug and of their problems with Microsoft forcing access to their shared folders. I’m >this< stick with it, not really knowing what has through the updates. close to telling the techs to disable happened, this is actually a canny way of “Went afk [away from keyboard] and automatic updates completely for all getting Windows 10 in front of people’s saw this message box that said something business customers.” eyes. Besides, even if someone ends up like ‘Your update is ready! Restarting and And so they go on. “I thought my ex hating it, there’s every chance that the installing in 13 minutes’,” said one user. was crazy when she said her computer user won’t be able to figure out how to “If I made myself a meal or watched TV, just randomly rebooted and started roll it back. Not everyone in the world is I would have had Windows 10. Oh, and installing Windows 10. I guess she isn’t an IT expert, after all. the best part is how they hid the ‘Decline’ crazy, at least on this one thing”; “It So just what are you able to do button in the More Info button.” happened to me last week. I’m still about this? How can you head off this “Yep this happened to me this furious. It feels like someone broke problem? Thankfully, there is a way to morning,” added another. “Working and into my house, installed spyware on my ensure that Windows 7 remains on your all of a sudden Windows closed all my computer and rendered my favourite machine up until the time you actually programs, logged me out and started applications useless”; “I struggle want to upgrade. But before we get to the upgrade. I quickly shut down my to believe some people here can’t that, let’s address one of the reasons computer and was able to stop it but understand why a forced change may why you really need to make up your

31 Days And Counting Has Windows 10 been installed on your computer without your say- so, and would you like to roll back to a previous version? You can do that as long as you take action within the 31-day window, otherwise – unless you’re willing to take drastic action – you’ll be stuck with it. The main way to resolve the problem involves going to Settings and selecting Update and Security before selecting Recovery. After a short while, the older, more familiar desktop will appear once more, and this is the best option, because all your data will remain intact. The alternative is far less straightforward. Microsoft says you can either roll back to a manufacturer’s factory settings, as long as the option has been provided, or physically reinstall an older OS using the product key that you were provided with. Neither are without their hassles.

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Please Read: Sales subject to terms & conditions (copy available on our website). Advert does not form part of a contract. Pictures shown for illustration purposes only - colours may vary. Full specifications available online. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All trademarks are acknowledged. At Mesh our PCs are custom built, fully burn-tested with professional CPU overclocking options - Free overclock configuration is available for an unlocked CPU and when a liquid CPU cooler is selected. 0% Finance - Pay 10% deposit, and pay the rest off within 12 months and pay no interest. *Lifetime Gold Warranty - Lifetime Labour, 2 Year Parts, 1 Year Free Collect & Return. Sales line open Monday - Friday 9am - 6pm. Online ordering 24x7. Prices and specification correct at time of going to press on 29/4/16. E&OE. mind right now. Unsurprisingly, it relates The deal was that users could upgrade think about whether they want to take to cold, hard cash. for exactly one year following its release. the plunge or else risk having to spend Since it was made generally available on £99.99 for the Home edition and £189.99 Free Windows 29th July 2015, that has meant people have for Pro further down the line. This is the When Microsoft announced Windows 10, until that date this year in order to make up only option for those running XP or Vista it said users would be able to upgrade their mind. After that date, it’ll be a case and, come late summer, it’ll be the only for free. It promised that it wouldn’t be a of getting out your wallet and paying for available path for everyone else too. ‘lite’ or beta version of the OS but would the upgrade – some may say that looking It means you may regret ruling out an be the full operating system in all of its to beat the deadline is the ultimate forced upgrade today, although it could be that perceived glory. In this, it was following update, but at least with this one, the aim you’re willing to wait until you eventually in the footsteps of Apple, which has was stated at the very start. buy a new computer, in which case you been giving away its Mac operating We can expect this date to crop up could keep working with Windows 7 right system, OS X, since 2013. But unlike numerous times in adverts and online now and move ‘up’ the ladder only when Apple, it introduced a deadline. The free over the next few weeks. Anyone with you’re ready to. offer, Microsoft said, was for a limited Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows It’s also worth pointing out that you time only. 8.1 Update will be prompted to seriously get the equivalent version of Windows

Never 10 If you prefer an app to do the legwork for you when it comes to preventing your machine from downloading and installing Windows 10, then software developer Steve Gibson has come up with the answer. Never 10 (www.grc.com/never10.htm) lets you disable automatic updates by performing the system editing on your behalf. It hides in the background and monitors any attempt by Microsoft to upgrade your system. In order to work, it needs backdoor access, which was granted by the Windows Update version released in July 2015. From that point on, it will stop any annoying prompts or installations, but if you do decide at a later date that you would like to upgrade, it won’t step in your way.

12 Issue 1412 to the one that you’re currently on. So through Windows Update’, and you recommended update, but going through if you have Windows 7 Starter, Home should be safe from future nags. the steps we went through earlier would Basic, Home Premium or Windows 8.1, Alternatively, open the registry editor, solve that (you can also right-click and you’ll end up with Windows 10 Home, which you’ll be able to find by opening select ‘Hide’). and if you have Windows 7 Professional, the Start menu and searching for regedit. Ultimate or Windows 8.1 Pro, you’ll get Then, in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\ More Upgrades Windows 10 Pro. Those wanting to jump Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate, The problem of Windows 10 being forced a level shouldn’t feel pressured to do set DisableOSUpgrade to 1 and in on users is only part of the story, though. anything at this point. HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ A pair of automatic Windows 10 updates What, then, should you do if you CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\ in April – KB3147461 and KB3147458 decide you don’t want to upgrade? Some OSUpgrade, set ‘ReservationsAllowed’ – have been causing some major may be attempted to turn Windows to 0. headaches, which have again highlighted Update off. Doing this will definitely prevent you from inadvertently installing Windows 10, but it will also prevent you The company has promised from receiving security patches, so it’s not  advisable to do. Instead, you want to turn extended support for Windows 7 until off the specific instruction that allows the Windows 10 upgrade function to appear 14th January 2020 on your machine, and the first thing you  ought to know is that the update appears under the name KB3035583, which makes it all very mysterious and baffling But what if KB3035583 has already the problems of new feature sets being to those out of the loop. got through? In this case, you’ll need to forced on people. Not having updates Anyway, on to the instructions. remove the update, so go to Windows automatically installed allows users to take Microsoft’s official advice on its support Updates (look for it using the search a step back as they wait for the various page is to do one of two things: go via bar in the Start menu) and select ‘View flaws to be ironed out. When they just Computer Configuration or make changes Update History’. ‘Installed Updates’ will land, millions begin to feel the effects to the registry. In the first instance, you be displayed on the pop-up, so click on almost immediately. need to click ‘Computer Configuration’, it and search for KB3035583. By right- According to various reports, critical go to ‘Policies’ and select ‘Administrative clicking and selecting Uninstall, you’ll be error pop-ups, blue screens of death, Templates’, and then click ‘Windows taken through the necessary steps and and PCs that install the updates, restart Components’ and ‘‘Windows Update promoted to restart your machine. It and try to reinstall them again and again in turn. Now double-click ‘Turn off the won’t be the end of the matter, because have been noted. The Start menu has upgrade to the latest version of Windows now KB3035583 will be shown as being a appeared prone to crashing, and apps

14 Issue 1412 are not working as well as they should. Computers are also taking longer to load. A software engineer asked Insiders to report their findings abut the new updates, but it only led to a deluge of people complaining. At the last count, 1,045 people had responded and pretty much everyone had a problem. “I updated yesterday and have had two problems,” said a user. “1. My preferred monitor resolution is now longer available. I have an HP Compaq LA2006x with a preferred resolution of 1600 x 900. That is no longer an option under “Display Settings,” closest I can come is 1400 x 900. Reinstalled the driver, which did not help. The graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 4200; when I check for an update it says the most updated driver is already installed. 2. Like some others, most of my apps no longer work (Windows Store, Calculator, Photo Gallery, Messaging, Alarms, Solitaire, etc). I tried sfc/scannow, no corrupt files found.” Once again, it underlined the folly of allowing automatic updates. It makes it harder to nip issues in the bud, potentially undermining confidence in the operating system. A fix has to be rolled out in the anticipation that everyone affected receives it. The hope is that doesn’t make the problem worse. It’s sure to cause a biting of nails on both sides of the fence, within the walls at Redmond and the BOGOF Windows Phones homes and offices of the users. The idea Microsoft is continuing to struggle in the mobile phone space. It has begun is sound in principle, with auto updating offering Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones on a buy-one-get-one-free deal in meaning everyone is potentially brought the US and Canada. up to speed at the same time, but it also The initiative should boost the number of Windows 10 mobiles being used, means disaster can strike on a large scale. but with just 2.3 million having been sold in the last quarter, it would appear that Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do with rivals. Happy Anniversary That brings us to the next big update, which is looking to make its debut this giving the Anniversary Update the once you sit tight for long enough. Few would summer. The so-called Anniversary Update over, and it will form part of the “two-or- be happy with that, so it stands to reason is intended for PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox three times-a-year” update plan. When that not many are happy with forced One, Microsoft HoloLens and the Internet it’s finally available, it will become part of Windows updates either. of Things, and it’s set to bring some major the recommended update that will install But it’s something we may well have to new features to the table. Among them will automatically on computers unless you live with. Jeremy Korst, general manager be Windows Ink, which claims to put “the take steps to stop it. of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices power of Windows in the tip of your pen”, During these kinds of processes, choice team, says there are users who want a letting you write on your device and use is being taken away. It’s similar to buying simple, seamless way of staying up to Maps, Edge and Office in a different way. a CD from a shop (old fashioned, we date with the latest, most secure version Cortana will be available before login, know) and then having the store manager of Windows, and that the current way of allowing you to play music, set reminders come round to your house and swap it working enables them to achieve that. and scribble notes. And with Windows for the next album while not allowing you The rest of us just have to keep a keen Hello, it will be possible to unlock a PC access to the old one. All the songs you eye out for what may be happening in via a compatible phone, which should liked have gone, and the new ones have the background – or switch to Linux make it far more secure. Gamers will be some duds among them that do very little or Mac OS X. At a time when other able to benefit from DirectX 12 games for you. Worse, the new CD is scratched operating systems – notably Android – are and Xbox Live features, and there will a so it jumps about a bit. But the store making gains on Windows’ overall market freebie on offer to entice upgraders: Forza assures you that it will replace that CD share, Microsoft really cannot afford to Motorsport 6: Apex. Testers are already with a new one in due course as long as annoy too many people. mm

16 Issue 1412 SAVE Use code HJFI48HX5L7D for a 3% discount Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7

Logic3 TopDrive FreeBird The Big Gaming Peripheral Guide

From mice and keyboards to headsets and more, we look at some performance peripherals that have caught our eye…

Qpad QH-90

Thermaltake Tt eSports Talon

18 Issue 1412 GAMING PERIPHERALS

or as long as it’s been possible, people have used computers for more than just serious work. Sure, plenty of users The very things that Flearned to code on Spectrums and Commodore 64s, but  it’s a safe bet that many people just used them to play Pac-Man make them good for play also or Paperboy. And as these games became more sophisticated and gamers began to demand better graphics and sound, more make them work well for more powerful hardware was needed. Thus gaming became one of the key forces driving progress in computer hardware. serious tasks There are, of course, loads of other reasons to own a  powerful PC, but there’s no doubt a lot of components and systems are aimed specifically at gamers. Most obviously Other features to look out for are DPI switches, which enable graphics cards, processors and other internal hardware are you to change the sensitivity on the fly; programmable buttons; marketed with a marketing spin, as are high-definition, quick- profile buttons, so you can quickly change between your custom response monitors. But it doesn’t stop there. Peripherals like configurations; on-board storage for your profiles; specialist mice, keyboards and headphones are also now created with software for macros and fine tuning; and build quality designed gamers in mind, and the number of companies invested in this to withstand years of long gaming sessions. market is expanding all the time. As with many gaming products, though, these aren’t only Budget buy (£1 – £24) suitable for gamers. They normally offer high-end design and If you’re really on a tight budget, you can get a mouse with features, and the very things that make them good for play also gaming features for less than £3. As you can no doubt guess, make them work well for more serious tasks. So whether you’re though, at this price it’s going to be from an unnamed Chinese shooting zombies in Left 4 Dead or shooting off emails in a web brand, which comes with all the risks and disadvantages browser, many of the peripherals here should be of interest. you’d normally associate with such items. But at such a low price, it still might be worth consideration. For example, we Mice found a decent-looking wireless gaming mouse at GearBest If you’ve only ever used cheap, bog standard mice, it’s hard to (goo.gl/6256GY) for only £2.72 with free appreciate just how much different a gaming mouse can be. For shipping. It has a maximum 2000dpi a start, their physical designs are frequently more comfortable sensitivity, a four-level DPI switch, (although it’s worth bearing in mind that many of them are right- six buttons, on-board memory handed only). They also tend to have more buttons than ordinary and 2.4GHz wireless with mice, which can useful outside of games as well as within them. an operating distance of More importantly, they usually have highly sensitive sensors, up to ten metres. It’s which allow for much greater levels of accuracy than you might also available in black otherwise be used to. Even if you’re just word processing or or red. What you filling out spreadsheets, this will help you to click on the things you want the first time you try and not the second or third. And in games, that means shooting the enemies, rather than the Element Gaming walls behind them. Mouse Cobalt 120

Issue 1412 19 GearBest Wireless Mouse Mad Catz R.A.T. Pro Razer Naga probably don’t get is high-quality configuration software or a Also worth checking out at this sort of price are the decent warranty. SteelSeries Rival (£29 from Box.co.uk – goo.gl/WKgzZr) and the If you’re willing to spend a bit more, then there are tons Logitech G300s (£32, Ebuyer – goo.gl/8hC9iM). of non-brand gaming mice on Amazon and eBay for around Climbing the price scale a bit (between £35 and £59), you’ll a tenner. But if you’re spending that much, then you might find mice from all the big names, including gaming peripheral as well pay a bit more and get one from a company you’ve specialists like Razer, Roccat and SteelSeries (They also offer actually heard of. For example, you could pick up the Gigabyte cheaper products, but they tend to be quite basic, missing M6900 for just £15 from Dabs.com (goo.gl/z6TklG). It offers features like navigation buttons and DPI switches.) You’ll also three sensitivity levels up to 3200dpi, a DPI switch, a scrollwheel find names like Corsair, Gigabyte and Logitech selling great mice with left and right tilt, a total of seven buttons and a specially at these kind of prices. designed software tool. What we couldn’t find was any mention The Gigabyte M8000X can be found on Amazon for just of on-board storage, but if you’re not taking your mouse away over £40, which isn’t bad for a mouse with a 5600dpi sensor, from your own PC, then that won’t matter too much. a weights system, a set of replacement feet, on-board storage, There are loads of other capable mice at this kind of price a tilting scrollwheel, a DPI switch and navigation buttons. Also, too, but a couple of notable ones are the Thermaltake Tt eSports check out the odd-looking Mad Catz R.A.T. 5, which you can Talon (£15 from CCL – goo.gl/DZ6izi) and the Trust GXT 152 get from Box.co.uk for £45 (goo.gl/tZRFBo), the ambidextrous (£14.62 from Kikatek – goo.gl/jx0EgS). SteelSeries Sensei Raw (£41, Box.co.uk – goo.gl/aRSU6J) and Also, check out the the Element Gaming Mouse Cobalt 120, anything from the other big names we’ve mentioned. At this which can be yours for a mere £8 (Ebuyer – goo.gl/V5xgrn). kind of price, you really are spoilt for choice. This has all the features of a more expensive gaming mouse, like navigation buttons and a DPI switch, but it’s far more affordable. Gamepads Mid-range (£25 – £59.99) Although keyboard and mouse is the traditional This is the price range in which you’ll find the majority of gaming control system for PCs, controllers are becoming more mice from reputable manufacturers. At the cheaper end of the useful for a number of reasons. For a start, they’re scale, you can get something like the Speedlink Kudos RS (£29 supported more often in new games, and there are from CCL – goo.gl/motUok). This offers seven programmable more console ports than ever before. And things like buttons, a collection of weights that can be put inside the mouse, Steam’s Big Picture mode and streaming devices show a scrollwheel with tilt, a DPI switch, a maximum sensitivity of that many PC gamers want to play games while sitting 5700dpi, a profile switch and on-board storage that can save up on a sofa instead of a desk chair. to five profiles. Plus you get the necessary software to tweak its Our first recommendation is definitely the official settings and get the most out of it. Xbox 360 controller for PC, which you can currently get from Amazon (goo.gl/nmF06q) for £20. Not only does this provide guaranteed support for most modern games, it’s also just a really good controller. There are plenty of other controllers worth considering, though, including ones that feature the same Xinput support as the Xbox controller. These third-party pads, however, usually have extra functionality, such as turbo button modes. It would remiss to leave out the Steam Controller. Available directly from Steam for 40 quid (goo.gl/ iPBNjJ), it’s an innovative piece of kit, which uses dual trackpads instead of joysticks, and although the learning curve is steep, reviews have generally been positive. Definitely worth it if you’re after something a little different. Gigabyte M6900

20 Issue 1412 LinkStation™ 510 / 520 From Zero to 100 MB/s in the ﬂ ap of a wing

Buffalo™ Technology’s LinkStation™ 510 and 520 are customisable, large capacity Network Attached Storage solutions with great ﬂ exibility. Both feature a robust Dual Core processor and are super-fast with impressive start-up and shut 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 efﬁ cient Dual Core CPU  Read and write speeds up to 110 MB/s New user interface  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 www.buffalo-technology.com Logitech G910 Orion Gigabyte Aivia Osmium

Money is no object (£60 or more) to type on, but they can be error prone and slow, due to the Although it’s not necessary to spend this much on a gaming way the circuit works. mouse, there are plenty of them that cost in excess of 60 quid. That’s one reason why a lot of gamers and other computer For example, you could buy the Mad Catz R.A.T. Pro X for users prefer mechanical keyboards. These work in a much around £150 (goo.gl/A7aYnP), if you’re feeling flush or if you different way. Instead of a membrane under the keys, each just take your gaming that seriously. Like other R.A.T. mice, it individual key has a separate switch. If you’ve ever used one, looks like some kind of miniature robot, but it also offers some you’ll notice they often produce a satisfying clicking sound intriguing features, like three hot-swappable sensor units, a when pressed. They’re also said to be more comfortable to use, magnesium alloy chassis, and an analogue scrollwheel with causing less stress on your fingertips. adjustable tension and the ability to pivot. Plus you get the usual Ultimately, which one you go for depends on how much extras such as built-in memory, ten buttons, maximum 5000dpi you’re willing to spend, how much typing you plan to do and sensitivity and so on. Is it worth 150 quid? Maybe, but other which kind of typing feel you actually prefer. models in the R.A.T. range offer similar features for less. If you want to keep your spending below £100, then there are plenty of other high-end mice to consider. The Razer Naga, Joysticks for instance, can be found on Amazon for about £70 (goo. Before the Nintendo Entertainment System and its ilk came gl/UfEjxR – £60 for the 2014 version). Designed for MMO along, the joystick was the dominant form of control system players, it features an impressive 12 thumb buttons, as well as for video games. These days, though, they’re generally only a DPI switch, 16,000dpi sensitivity, a tilting scrollwheel and fully used by fans of flight simulators, but they’re a lot more customisable colours for the built-in LED lighting. complicated than the simple one- or two-button sticks of the Amiga or Atari days, and their prices vary massively. A Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog, for example, will set you As you’ve probably back at least £258 (YoYoTech – goo.gl/MaBu27), but it’s a  very high-end device, featuring mostly metal construction noticed, cheaper keyboards and all manner of other goodies. For those with more limited budgets, though, there’s still tend to have a soft, springy plenty of choice. The Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X, for example, costs just £32 from Scan (goo.gl/DWbGK1), but it’s feel to them still a highly rated stick, which will be perfect for anyone  dipping their toes in the waters of flight sims. There are plenty of other familiar names in this market, Also, worth checking out are the Logitech Proteus (£62 from including Logitech, Speedlink and Saitek, so do shop Viking Direct – goo.gl/eMFNZO) and the Roccat Kone XTD around before making a purchase. (£60, Scan.co.uk – goo.gl/QJTbhA). Keyboards As you likely know, there are two main types of keyboard: membrane and mechanical. If you buy a cheap keyboard designed for basic office tasks, then it’s most likely a membrane model – or, more accurately, a full-travel membrane keyboard. Whether they use full-size keys or flat ones (also known as chiclet or island-style keys), the technology is essentially the same. Below the keys, there’s a rubber or silicone membrane (hence the name), and under each key, there are domed areas. Press down on a key and you invert this dome, causing it to press down on a kind of circuit called a switch matrix. This then sends a signal to your computer that you’ve pressed a key and which one it is. As you’ve probably noticed, cheaper keyboards tend to have a soft, springy feel to them, and this is why. They can still feel fine

22 Issue 1412 THE EFFECT

The new health & fitness magazine Free every wednesday Find out where at coachmag.co.uk fitter+healthier+happier #coacheffect Speedlink Parthica Core Logitech G19s

Mechanical Keyboards Money is no object (£100 or more) Budget buy (£1 – £59.99) Although you can buy specialist keyboards for a few hundred If you’re not sure which type of keyboard to get, the good news quid, mainstream mechanical gaming models tend to top out is that for less than 60 quid, the decision is pretty much made at around £160. For that price, you can purchase a Logitech for you. At this kind of price, mechanical keyboards are nearly G910 (you can also find it for about £142 on Amazon – goo. impossible to get hold of. gl/uH8rF7), a keyboard that uses a relatively new type of Nearly but not quite. If you once again turn to GearBest, mechanical switch designed by Logitech itself. Named Roma-G purveyor of cheap Chinese imports, then you’ll find you can get switches, they’ve been created from scratch with gaming in a Motospeed Inflictor CK104 mechanical keyboard for around £38 (goo.gl/k4ZwLO). Available in a selection of different colours, it offers a variety of backlighting modes, blue switches, Steering Wheels anti-ghosting and… well, that’s pretty much it. Details are scant As with joysticks, the name Thrustmaster comes up a lot on the GearBest site, but there are some YouTube videos of when looking at steering wheels for the PC, but Logitech, the keyboard in action. From what we can tell, it doesn’t really Speedlink, Trust and others crop up too. For just £30 have any gaming features, other than some pretty lights, but it (LambdaTek – goo.gl/Mdbca0), you can get the Logic3 is a mechanical keyboard for less than £40, so maybe it’s worth TopDrive FreeBird, which is a wireless steering wheel, taking a risk on. However, we’d recommend spending more and complete with two pedals, adjustable steering sensivity getting something more reliable. and force feedback. Plus it’s compatible with PS2 and You might also find the Zalman ZM-K500 in your search for a PS3 as well as PC. It looks very plasticky, but you can’t new keyboard. Available for around £38 from places like Maplin really expect more at this kind of price. At the other end and Dabs.com, it comes from a company that’s well known in of the scale, you have things like the Logitech Driving computing circles, mainly for its cooling products. Unfortunately, Force G929 wheel and gearstick bundle, which comes in user reviews have been mixed. Some suggest it has poor at £230 from Currys (goo.gl/ZMtj63). With this you get a reliability, with keys failing after a relatively short time. It sounds dual-motor force-feedback mechanism, helical gearing, tempting, but we’d still suggest exercising caution before buying stainless steel paddle shifter and pedals, 900º rotation so this keyboard. you can turn the wheel two and a half times, and an all- round more realistic driving experience. Mid-range (£60 – £99.99) Whatever you go for, try to take your chosen wheel Once you reach this level of spending, you have a good chance for a spin, so to speak, before laying down any cash, of getting a decent mechanical keyboard from a reliable because you obviously want the most realistic driving manufacturer. The Gigabyte Aivia Osmium, for example, can experience you can get for your cash. be bought for £65 from CCL (goo.gl/gck3nb), which is a bargain, considering you get Cherry MX Brown switches, backlit keys, a USB 3.0 port on the side, headphone and mic ports, anti-ghosting, support for 64 simultaneous keypresses, five macro keys, five on-board profiles, a volume wheel, a backlight adjustment wheel and the software you need to set it up. It’s a few years old now, hence the low price, but it will still do the job perfectly well. For the same price, you can get the Cooler Master Quick Fire TK from Box.co.uk (goo.gl/CkCsVP), which also has Cherry MX Brown switches. It also offers backlighting, a detachable braided USB cable, N-key rollover and seven multimedia keys. Pay £5 more and you can change to Blue or Red switches, which is great if you know exactly which sort of keys you like most. There are many more high-quality mechanical keyboards at this price, so here’s a quick list of some notable ones: the Razer BlackWidow Tournament (£70, Currys – goo.gl/8z6l1g), the Corsair Vengeance K65 (£75, Dabs.com – goo.gl/HajXqw) and the Thermaltake eSports Meka G-Unit (£67, Scan – goo. gl/4RxiOo).

24 Issue 1412

Novetech headset Element Headset Neon 250 mind. Cherry switches, apparently, did not have this focus when Arvo Compact (£30, LambdaTek – goo.gl/YNZ1l6) and the they were originally designed. Thermaltake Challenger Prime (£27, CCL – goo.gl/St3aTI). Logitech’s switches offer a shorter travel distance and a higher actuation point, and they’re said to be 25% faster than Mid-range (£40 – £79.99) other mechanical switches. Also, the spring and stem have At this kind of price level, things open up a bit more, and we been designed in such a way that more effective backlighting even start to find keyboards from premium peripheral brands like is possible. Razer and SteelSeries. Beginning with a cheaper item, though, That’s not all you get for your money, though. As well as the Genius GX Manticore (£45, Ballicom – goo.gl/Tla1sT) is a the usual sort of gaming features like nine programmable decent buy. With its backlit keys, eight macro keys, three profile buttons, anti-ghosting and so on, the G910 is compatible with Logitech’s Arx Control mobile app, which enables you to monitor your PC settings using your phone or tablet, as If you’re not after well providing system information and a second display for  supported titles. It might be expensive, but clearly Logitech has mechanical keys, then it’s tried to make it worth the cost. Also, look out for the SteelSeries Apex M800 (£140, Box.co.uk much easier to ﬁnd a gaming – goo.gl/ilgcbu) and the Roccat Ryos MK Pro MX (£120, PC keyboard at a low price World – goo.gl/UrvFjK).  Membrane Keyboards Budget buy (£0 – £39.99) buttons, on-board memory, two USB ports, Windows key toggle, If you’re not after mechanical keys, then it’s much easier to find a mechanical switch simulation and more, it offers a lot for your gaming keyboard at a low price, usually stuffed with all kinds of money. It’s not without its problems, but it’s good for the money. features for gamers. The Sharkoon Shark Zone K30, for instance, At the time of writing, however, there were only two in stock, can be yours for £27 from Novatech (goo.gl/P05S4f). That’s a with two more at CCL and a few at Amazon, so this model is great price for a fully backlit keyboard with dedicated software, probably on its way out. five micro keys, three profile buttons, a full-size numpad and Raise your budget a little, and your options increase hugely. more. You don’t get dedicated media controls, but the Fn key Any of the following keyboards would be well worth checking does enable you to use the F keys for this purpose. At this kind of out, because they all come with similar features, such as on-board price, it’s never going to match up to more high-end keyboards, memory, macro buttons, multimedia controls, backlighting, but you do get a surprising amount of features for your money. configuration software and so on: the Roccat ROC-12-902 Isku Increase your spending a bit more, and you’ll be able to get a FX (£64, Amazon – goo.gl/Ky9D5S), the Razer DeathStalker Speedlink Parthica Core for approximately £38 from CCL (goo. Essential (£53, LambdaTek – goo.gl/nQmiU7) and the SteelSeries gl/x8FWA2). This is a fairly hefty keyboard, and it’s absolutely Apex 300 (£57, Box.co.uk – goo.gl/i2tcQe). packed with features, like anti-ghosting, six-key rollover, a Any of these will do the job, but it’s worth looking around Windows key toggle, five macro buttons, ten multimedia keys, as much as possible to find the keyboard with the right features 128KB of internal memory, dedicated software, four levels of for you. response time and a profile button. For the price, it’s a great item, even if it doesn’t match up to mechanical units. Money is no object (£80 or more) Other budget buys that caught our eye include the Asus At this kind of price, you could buy a mechanical keyboard, which Cerberus (£30, Kikatek – (goo.gl/YDQMF0), the Roccat are generally more highly regarded by gamers and typists alike.

26 Issue 1412 MINECRAFT SECRECHEATSTS& Ho beatw to yourto enemies!your

e Learnra totore ﬁ nd rar Th items re e best recipes vealed! mindcraft-bookazine-cover-final.inddAvai 1 lable Now!01/06/2015 13:18 But each to their own, of course, and there are actually a fair few Budget buy (£0 – £34.99) membrane-based keyboards that cost more £80, and as you’d Although you can get a headset for just £2.22 from DealsMachine expect for this kind of financial outlay, they come with all the (goo.gl/frilfM), it’s highly likely that this headset will be of very premium features you’d expect. low quality. Of course, at such a low price, you wouldn’t have Once again, Logitech provides one of the most noteworthy much to lose if you did buy one. This seller, though, as you can high-end examples – this time with its G19s gaming keyboard, guess, is based in China, so if your item does ever arrive, it’ll which has an RRP of £180, with most sellers listing it at around probably take a long time to reach you. £150. Currently, however, you can pick one up on Amazon for For this reason, we’d recommend upping your expenditure a £109 (goo.gl/yxC1P2), which makes it an intriguing prospect. tad and looking at something like Novatech’s own-brand gaming It has all the usual kind of features you’d expect from a gaming headset, which costs just £10 (goo.gl/uPSyJZ). This uses 3.5mm keyboard, like programmable buttons, profile keys, multimedia connections for both the mic and the headphones themselves. controls and backlighting (fully customisable in this case), but We haven’t had one to test, so we can’t comment on the sound none of this alone would justify such a high price for a non- quality, but a tenner is a small investment and, unlike cheap mechanical product. alternatives from overseas companies, you get peace of mind, What might sway you, though, is the LCD screen that sits knowing that you’re buying from a UK firm. upright near the back of the keyboard. This full-colour screen, If all this unbranded stuff is of no interest to you, then you called the GamePanel, can display all kinds of information, like might be happy to hear the name Turtle Beach. For £30, you can game statistics, system feedback, VoIP data, custom applets, easily find the company’s Earforce Recon 50P headset, which is images and even YouTube videos. Of course, such technology available from many retailers, including Currys (goo.gl/E0FKIe). needs to be powered, which means you’ll need a spare plug This a standard 3.5mm headset, with an in-line volume control. socket to use the G19s, which isn’t ideal. It does, however, mean Unfortunately, customer reviews suggest it’s particularly fragile, with some saying it broke within a matter of weeks. This isn’t If you’ve only ever used surprising, because at this kind of price, you’ll find most headsets  are made almost entirely out of plastic, which is often not strong cheap, bog standard mice, Virtual Reality it’s hard to appreciate just As you are no doubt aware by now, there are lots how much different a gaming of virtual reality headsets coming our way, with the HTC Vive and Oculus leading the charge for PCs, and mouse can be Microsoft’s augmented reality device, Hololens, coming  at some point too. But they’re not the only names in the VR market. In fact, there are loads of other companies vying for a slice of the VR pie, many of which you can the two USB sockets it has are powered, which could be useful find at www.virtual-reality-shop.co.uk. for things like external hard drives. These might seen tempting, because they often cost Another high-priced membrane keyboard that stands out is considerably less than the Rift or the Vive, with the the Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7, which comes in at a quite ludicrous 3Glasses D2, for instance, costing just £265 (Gearbest – £214 at CCL (goo.gl/S7SHHJ), and that’s actually cheaper than goo.gl/peqi7a). But it’s unlikely that any of these devices most sellers. Like a lot of Mad Catz products, you get a huge is going to get the kind of support that the main players amount of functionality, but most notably it has a detachable are going to, and they probably won’t offer the same touchscreen LCD, active wrist rests and a detachable numpad. level of customer support either. We can’t comment on The amount of features this thing has could probably fill a whole the quality of the hardware without trying these other page, but ultimately it’s let down by its lack of mechanical keys headsets, but for now, you’re best off either saving up and its high price. for a mainstream VR headset or waiting for their prices to come down. Headsets Possibly more than any other peripheral, what makes a good gaming headset is extremely subjective. Audiophiles might well point to things like driver size or impedance values, but in our experience even cheaper headsets can sound decent, while premium brands aren’t always as amazing as they’re cracked up to be. In general, though, you do get what you pay for. While some cheaper products might punch above their weight and more expensive alternatives might not live up to expectations, most of the time if you pay more, then you’ll get better-quality headphones. This same logic applies also to headset microphones, with higher- quality products generally having more effective noise cancelling. And as with anything, build quality varies massively. Since you’ll probably be wearing a headset for extended periods of time, you want something that’s going to be both comfortable and robust.

28 Issue 1412 GAMING PERIPHERALS

SteelSeries Siberia Thermaltake eSports Level 10

enough to last. On the plus side, most people seem to be happy Box.co.uk – goo.gl/ehQ84z), the Corsair Void (£50, Scan – goo. with the sound quality, so if you’re careful, this headset could still gl/KJRCzd) or one of countless other such sets, they’re often be a good buy. characterised by great sound but potentially weak physical Perhaps of more interest is the Element Gaming PC Headset materials. Of course, if you’re careful with your headphones, Neon 250, available for just £24.99 from Ebuyer (goo.gl/ then you won’t experience any problems. Also, there are some IZebS6). This comes with USB headset comes with 3.5m cable, very affordable metal-reinforced headsets too, like the Element a retractable microphone and a reinforced headband. But its Gaming PC Headset Xenon 700 (£45, Ebuyer – goo.gl/8E1YFk), headline feature (other than the low price) is 7.1 virtual surround which are definitely worth a look. sound with built-in vibration – the kind of feature usually found Headsets can cost several hundred pounds (as we’ll see on more expensive products. momentarily), but you can also get some high-end features Finally, just making it into this price bracket, we have the and technology for around £70. The Qpad QH-90 Pro (£71, Mad Catz Tritton Trigger headset (£34.99, PC World – goo. Amazon – goo.gl/4G6AZq) is a good example of this, with its gl/dGMFWR), which has a 3.5mm connection and an in-line strong aluminium construction, detachable microphone, 55mm control module. What it also offers is better quality audio, larger drivers and excellent sound quality. You’ll also find names like earpieces and stronger build quality. It still can’t compare with Plantronics, Asus and more at this kind of price, so it’s worth more expensive alternatives, but it’s not a bad investment, if you shopping around. handle it with care. Money is no object (£90 or more) Mid-range (£35 – £89.99) If you really wanted to, you could easily spend around £200 As soon as you get over £35, a lot of familiar names will suddenly on a headset, with something like the SteelSeries Siberia P800 be in reach, whether it’s the Corsair Raptor Hs30 (£35.50, (£190, Box.co.uk – goo.gl/q0Tj7Y). Undoubtedly, this is made Ebuyer – goo.gl/GlmXBn), the Logitech G230 (£40, John Lewis more expensive because it’s wireless, but you also get top-quality – goo.gl/2EUChr), the Speedlink Xanthos (£36, Scan – goo.gl/ (although still plastic) construction, lag-free audio, two 20-hour yMr7GD) or something else. These all have 3.5mm connections lithium-ion batteries, Dolby technology and an excellent level of and in-line control modules, and although their quality will vary, comfort. they should all be perfectly adequate for gaming and media use, That’s a pretty hefty chunk of cash to drop on a headset even if they don’t match the fidelity of more expensive solutions. for most people, though, and there are even more expensive For £50, you can afford the Razer Kraken USB Essential alternatives, from companies like Audio Technica and surround sound headset from Laptops Direct (goo.gl/ZUTN9D). Beyerdynamic. But unless you have money to burn, you don’t As you’d expect from a Razer product, the sound quality is have to spend this much to get great-quality audio. For £94 excellent, with the virtual surround sound being a particularly from Amazon (goo.gl/AI9B56), the Thermaltake eSports Level useful feature. The unidirectional, noise-cancelling microphone 10M gaming headset features an aluminium reinforced frame, will also enhance your gaming experience. If we have any a removable headphone cable that can be connected to either concerns, though, it’s about the build quality. It might be a mid- the left or right ear cup, a noise-cancelling microphone and an range ‘essential’ product, but 50 quid is a still a lot to spend on adjustable headband that can be locked into place. It’s a few a wholly plastic headset, and experience tells us that even the years old now, and there were only three in stock at time of most fancy of plastic headsets are liable to snap one day, due to writing, but it shows the kind of quality you can get for your frequent bending when putting them on. money if look at older headsets. Unfortunately, plastic construction is abundant in the gaming Also worth checking out: the Sennheiser PC363D (£171, headset market. Whether it’s the SteelSeries Siberia 150 (£45, Amazon – goo.gl/uXz6gy). mm

Issue 1412 29 Top 10 Tips For Cortana

Cortana is one of the biggest new features in Windows 10. Roland Waddilove shows how to make the most of this personal assistant

Hey Cortana! Play Music A variation on this is to ask what the Cortana has some useful settings that If you store music in the Music traffic is like. Press Windows+C to wake up 1 can improve the way it works and 3 folder in the OneDrive folder, Cortana and say, “Show me the traffic to...” the results it produces. Click Cortana on the you can play any track simply by telling A route map is displayed in the Cortana Start menu or click in the search box on the Cortana. Let’s say you have an Ed Sheeran window, along with a comment saying taskbar. Click the Notebook icon just below folder in the OneDrive Music folder, and in whether there’s heavy or light traffic and the home button on the left, and a long list that subfolder is an MP3 of ‘Thinking Out how long the journey is expected to take. of topics, plus Settings, are displayed. Click Loud’. You could say “Hey, Cortana! Play each one and enable all the options. Thinking Out Loud.” Cortana would start Set Alarms In Settings, turn on Hey Cortana, and the Groove Music app, find the track and Cortana can ensure that you never Cortana listens all the time. When you want begin to play it. 6 miss another appointment, event or information or to perform an action, just Game of Thrones episode because you were say “Hey, Cortana!”, followed by whatever Get Maps too engrossed in whatever you’re doing on you want. You can choose to have Cortana When you need to look at a map, your computer. You can set alarms, then respond to anyone or just you. If you select 4 you could open the Maps app or Cortana reminds you when they’re due. the ‘To me’ option, Cortana asks you to simply say to your computer, “Hey Cortana! Press Windows+C to wake up Cortana, speak several sentences so it (she?) can learn Show me a map of London.” The maps are and say “Set an alarm for...” It recognises to recognise your voice and distinguish it quite small because they’re in the narrow different ways of saying the time, so you from other people’s. Cortana pop-up, but you can then click a can say things like 2pm, 7.30 or quarter map to open it in the Maps app. past four. You can also set an alarm as a What’s That Track? countdown timer. For example, say “Set If you listen to music while using your Get Travel Directions alarm for 40 minutes,” and the alarm will go 2 computer and want to know what If you’re going on a trip, whether by off 40 minutes from now. track is currently playing, just ask Cortana. 5 public transport, car or on foot, ask If you want to know what alarms are Click the Cortana app or the search box in Cortana for directions. Say something like active, just say “Show alarms,” and if you the taskbar and click the music icon in the “Show me directions to...” Sometimes this want to cancel an alarm, just say “Cancel top-right corner. Cortana listens, and after a opens a web browser to show the directions alarm at...” followed by the time. It’s all very few seconds it displays the track title, artist via Bing, but other times it opens the Maps natural, and you just say what you want like and artwork. app to show the directions. you were speaking to a real person. C

Configure the settings and let Cortana listen all Ask Cortana what music is playing right now When you need to see a map, just ask Cortan the time to show it to you

30 Issue 1412 WINDOWS 10 APPS

What will the traffic be like today? Just ask Cortana It is easier to ask Cortana to create Calendar appointments than running the app

Reminders and included right from the start, so you can say one type to another, including currencies. For appointments “Remind me at nine o’clock tomorrow to pick example, you can say “What is £50 in US 7 There is no need to open the up Sue on the way to work.” dollars?” Cortana replies using the current Calendar app when you want to make The most obvious problem with exchange rate. Ask Cortana “What is 100 an appointment. Cortana can do that for reminders and appointments is that you miles in km?” Quick as a flash, you’ll hear you. Wake her up with “Hey, Cortana!” might not be sitting at your computer at the answer. or press Windows+C and say “Create an the time, so you won’t see the notice. Just Cortana can also perform calculations appointment for 3.30pm tomorrow.” An install Cortana on your phone (Windows, involving addition, subtraction, multiplication appointment has more than a time, it has a Android and iOS). It syncs with your and division. Just say what you want to name, so Cortana asks you to say the title. It PC, and when you’re out you’ll see the know, such as “27.5 x 34.3” Not only does could be “Dentist” or “Lunch with Bob” and notification on your mobile. Cortana speak the answer, a calculator so on. Just say what it is. appears in the Cortana box so you can Cortana is quite intelligent, and you can Store Notes perform other calculations. You can ask say things like “Create an all-day event on When you’re working on your more complicated questions like “What is Friday, going to the seaside.” Cortana will 8 computer and need to remember 7.5% of 350?” schedule the all-day trip to the beach as something, just ask Cortana to save it as a requested. The event is always displayed in note. Say “Take a note” and follow it up by Get The Weather the Cortana panel, so you can see it’s correct, speaking whatever it is you want to save. Forecast then you just confirm that it’s to be set. Cortana stores notes in OneNote, so if you 10 You can ask a variety of If there’s insufficient information, Cortana want to read your notes, open the app and questions about the weather and Cortana asks you for each piece of information. select the ‘Quick notes’ tab. The first few will supply the answers, saving you the For example, you can say “Create an words are stored as the note title and the bother of opening the Weather app. You appointment,” and Cortana asks When? You rest is stored as an audio file embedded can ask obvious questions like “What is the reply with the date and time, then Cortana within the note. Think about those first half weather forecast for tomorrow,” or any asks for the name of the appointment and dozen words and make them describe the day of the week. You can even ask for the so on. content of the audio note. Double-click the weather forecast for next week. Cortana Reminders are very similar to appointments audio file, and Groove Music opens and speaks the weather and also displays a mini and are made in almost exactly the same plays it. forecast with symbols indicating cloud or way. You can say “Remind me on Wednesday sun, maximum and minimum temperatures to...” Just say what you want to be reminded Calculator And Units and so on. about. Cortana will ask for the time you want Cortana can perform mathematical Cortana also understands questions like to be reminded. This information can be 9 calculations and convert units from “Will I need an umbrella tomorrow?” You sometimes get a definite yes or no, but Cortana is occasionally a bit more chatty and says things like “It is hard to know for sure; here is the forecast.” If you’re planning a trip tomorrow or later in the week, just ask Cortana what the weather will be like in the place you’re visiting. Say, “What is the weather forecast for Paris on Friday?” Just think how much work would be involved using the weather app or a website. Asking Cortana is so Cortana is good at arithmetic. Ask any Will you need an unbrella? Cortana can tell much easier. mm calculation and see a calculator with the result you the weather forecast

Issue 1412 31

Latest Versions In this, it would seem, he has much in Old Versions Ross Paton (letters MM1410) says “You choose common with Satya Nadella. In reply to Ross Paton to run Windows, you have to put up with the I’m actually quite looking forward to the day (“Windows 10”), who wrote latest version.” when the orders come whistling down the line “Can you choose to run Really? “You WILL upgrade to Windows 10!“ an older version of Android, Then, presumably, on July 28th. 2015, the day My Linux PC will happily reply: “Microsoft? Apple OS or even Linux?” before Windows 10 was released, every single Nadella? Never heard of either of you. Now the answer is YES for Windows user in the world was on Windows 8.1 get lost!“ Linux, usually YES for What Ross has obviously never heard of is a Android and NO for Apple. little matter called ‘User choice’. John Todd Rather ruins the point of his letter!

John Win 10 Not Downloading Updates Ransomware I have just found a brilliant way of solving the I read the article in Issue 1409 very carefully, annoying problem of Windows 10 unilaterally having twice been the victim of attacks. The refusing to give you updates that it has found. first was two years ago, I had never heard On both occasions that I have had this problem, of ransomeware, and I was so shocked and GET IN (and spent hours screaming one or two choice words apprehensive that I paid the E100 demanded in the direction of California), and not finding a to get my computer back, although I had no TOUCH… solution that works for me I have put the digits to the real idea of why I had been targetted. keyboard and started drafting a letter to the gurus The second time was about six months that are yourselves (long may you and your forums ago, and having become a bit more aware, By email reign as the supreme font of all PC knowledge and I just turned my machine off overnight, and [email protected] the saviour of all things microish). in the morning, the threat page had gone, On both occasions the mere hint of a missive and everything was back to normal. Which By post heading in your direction has scared the living didn’t stop me formatting the C drive and Micro Mart daylights out of the MS gremlins and the reinstalling the system image. 30 Cleveland Street downloads begin – until next time! I have saved BUT, my question is this. Do some law London the e-mail in draft form just in case the Redmond enforcement agencies actually issue these W1T 4JD lot send the big boys after me! Keep up the good ransomeware notices, or are ALL these work, you are a lifesaver 10 times over. things just a scam? Online forum.micromart.co.uk Laurie Gutsell Douglas Johnston

34 Issue 1412 Component Watch Component Watch

Buying a graphics card can be a minefield, but these deals will get you gaming and save you some dosh...

icking a graphics card is never easy, especially if you don’t Deal 3: Asus GTX 960 2GB have an infinite budget. Even if you know the chipset you RRP: £163 / Deal Price: £15050 want, you still have to pick out a model and Asus cards are well-known for Pmanufacturer from the crowd, and then face all the other being high quality so, while considerations that come with that. To try and make it a little easier this isn’t the cheapest card out for you, this week we’ve looked at the mid-to-high end GeForce there, this is worth considering GTX 960 cards and picked out the best current deals. – especially if you want the overclock, because it also runs Deal 1: Zotac GeForce GTX 960 2GB at 1190/1253MHz, like the RRP: £160 / Deal Price: £147 Gigabyte card. That said, it Zotac’s implementation doesn’t have a dual-fan cooler, of the GTX 960 chipset is so if you want a low-noise clocked at 1127MHz, and version and/or aren’t worried comes with three DisplayPort about the card’s temperature, outputs, HDMI 2.0 support this might be a better prospect since the prices are nigh-on identical. and a 128-bit memory bus. Where to get it: Novatech (bit.ly/21hfYEb) Zotac make the cheapest version of the card on the Deal 4: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Superclocked 2GB market, and thanks to a deal RRP: £170 / Deal Price: £15656 on the cards right now they EVGA’s model is superclocked also throw in a free game to the fastest levels yet – a (the eye-catching Rise Of 1216MHz at base, and The Tomb Raider, in this case) so if you want a powerful card at 1279MHz at turbo. It has a the best bargain possible, this is the one to go for. You’ll save single-fan cooler, so it’ll have lots of money – well, a little less than 10% of the RRP – and the to work pretty hard compared card’s still better than anything cheaper. to the slower cards further Where to get it: Novatech (bit.ly/1XX0IdE) down this list, but those extra few MHz might be important Deal 2: Gigabyte GTX 960 OC 2GB for getting an extra frame or RRP: £160 / Deal Price: £148 two out of a game. The best This factory-overclocked for speed, if not price. version of the GTX 960 Where to get it: Scan (bit.ly/1VWvFRz) from Gigabyte is one of the better versions out there Deal 5: Palit GeForce GTX 960 OC as it happens. The base RRP: £164 / Deal Price: £15858 clock speed is 1190MHz, The Palit GTX 960 is an hike that rises further, to overclocked slightly less than 1253MHz, in boost mode. most (base 1165MHz / turbo You get DVI, DisplayPort, 1228 MHz) so, when it’s the HDMI and DVI-D outputs for most expensive card of the up to four-screen support. five, it’s hard to recommend A WindForce dual-fan in any particular way. It’s a cooler makes it louder than viable option, though, so if most versions, admittedly, but you do get the improved heat it’s the only one available (or dispersion and the overclock to make up for it – so if noise isn’t you find it at an even better a problem for you, this is a card worth getting. price) there’s certainly no reasonti to giveit a miss. i Where to get it: Novatech (bit.ly/1XX0IdE) Where to get it: CCL (bit.ly/1SSBvTE)

Issue 1412 35 Digital Divide “Holding Back” UK Economy

Kickstarter Campaign For iPhone Grip

Camera grip brings DSLR functionality to smartphone

ere’s news of another Kickstarter campaign that you might just be interested in. miggo, a manufacturer of protective carrying solutions for digital cameras, has Hunveiled a fundraising campaign for a device that it’s calling the Pictar. Pictar is an ergonomically-advanced camera grip made for the iPhone that is designed to bring the familiar controls of a DSLR camera to Apple’s smartphone. The Pictar ergonomic grip is compatible with most iPhone models and key features include five user-programmable wheels/ buttons for full user control and access to a dedicated app featuring patented high-frequency dual tone sound control. The firm’s thinks that this sound control is important as it can activate and control the camera without the need for Bluetooth, ultimately saving battery life. Pictar’s external controls will let iPhone users take selfies, zoom in and out via a zoom ring and a multi-state shutter button locks focus and exposure for easy tracking of a moving object. You can find the link to back this over at Kickstarter.com but it looks like the project is going to happen as it’s already reached its target.

36 Issue 1412 QUICK BITS... Youʼve probably heard this one already but Microsoft has stopped manufacturing new Xbox 360 CBI says half of firms falling behind The research also states that this divide has nothing to do with businesses not taking he CBI has reported on a digital divide technology seriously – 94% of businesses felt that among businesses in the UK that it says is digital technology could revolutionise the business “holding back” the economy. The group, landscape, growth and job creation – but firms have Twhich represents businesses across the cited security concerns and connectivity problems as country, has carried out research on the adoption of possible barriers to adopting digital technologies. digital technologies and found tha, while 55%)of The CBI wants companies to broaden the age ‘pioneer’ firms are adopting digital technologies and and skills ranges on their boards to get firms up processes, others are falling behind. to speed.

Whatever you think about Facebook – about its tax arrangements, its use of its users' data and so on – it's hard to deny the sheer effectiveness of its business model. It's not only survived when other social networks have failed, it's continued to grow and innovate, expanding New Flagship into areas that no one could have predicted it would. Much of this consists of technology created by Facebook itself and strategies it has implemented, but it's Tablet From also true that Facebook has made some canny acquisitions too over the years. And it often has an eye to the future when it's making these HANNspree purchases. Whatsapp, for example, was recently made free to all users, having previously cost a yearly (but very small) subscription. Of course, there's no doubt Facebook will beneﬁt from this Full HD display with octa-core performance app in due course and that it forms part of a long-term plan. So too does the Oculus Rift. he folks over at HANNSpree have smart media center solution. The price on this is Anyone entering the VR been in contact as they have another £199, so keep an eye out on your web travels – market is taking a risk at this device they’d like to run past you all. or you can type www.hannspree.eu into your stage, but is prepared to take T The HANNSpad Titan 2 is billed as the browser for a closer look. that risk to play a part in this company’s new flagship tablet, superseding the potentially massive market. previous Titan device to offer more grunt. This is all exciting stuff, of The core specification of the Titan 2 is as course, but we shouldn't follows: a 13.3" full HD screen with IPS display forget the more controversial technology powered by an octa-core CPU, aspects of this company, 16GB internal storage (plus the usual Micro SD because it's going to playing a expansion up to 32GB), 2GB DDR3 RAM, a dual major part in all our lives for camera setup with rear-facing 5MP and front- some time to come. facing 2MP snappers. Behind the scenes, the Titan 2 is running by Android 5.1 out of the box. hony With additional built-in GPS, users can turn Ant it into a fully-functioning route and mapping device, while a Mini HDMI port means that the Editor Titan 2 can be connected to a display for a consoles Issue 1412 37 Meanwhile... On The Internet...

ing has, ever since it first appeared, played Johnny- eturning to the subject of Microsoft, Micro Mart used come-lately second fiddle to the verb that is Google R to run a popular little feature called Windows Crashing. (nobody's 'Binging' anything... they're just searching For those who don't remember it, or more recent converts B using Bing). While it's not quite the punchline it once to the magazine, it was a place where we celebrated the was, it's still the place people go when their browser isn't set up appearance of the infamous Blue Screen Of Death in public to automatically direct them Google's way. While that may sound places: advertising boards, cashpoints, timetable screens, quiz a harsh assessment, a news story coming our way directly from machines... you name it, our readers managed to snag pictures Redmond leads us to believe that Microsoft knows it to be true. of Windows making it not work. Users of Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant may have noticed While that particular feature of ours may have slipped off to that, as of last week, should they have been employing one of the wherever it is that tech features retire to, it's good to know that workarounds (tinyurl.com/MMnet12a) that allowed it to search the internet still enjoys watching Microsoft's flagship sink under using another service, that the hack no longer works. That's because its own logic. If it didn't, we probably wouldn't have come Microsoft is closing up its ecosystem to ensure that Cortana only across the unfortunate case of Utah's KCCI 8 News – specifically works in conjunction with the Edge browser and Bing from now on. its Meteorologist, Metinka Slater. Her attempt to inform While browser searches can still be made via your search engine of the residents of the state on matters of weather was rudely choice, if you want to use Cortana, it's the Redmond way or no way. interrupted by Windows' current bête noire, the Windows 10 As The Verge points out in its article on the matter (tinyurl. upgrade prompt, which inconveniently appeared in the middle com/MMnet12b), this is only the same as Google and Apple allow, of her green screen at a most inopportune moment. as both restrict the changing of default search engine when using While Metinka managed to shrug of the matter in a very their respectivevoice assistants. However, for Microsoft – which is professional way, making light of the situation before the feed struggling to win back the market shares it once enjoyed in both promptly switched (you can see it at tinyurl.com/MMnet12h), areas, pre-Google, Chrome and iOS – it could backfire badly, and whether or not she has since given in to Microsoft's prompts is, at simply lead to an exodus away from Cortana. One presumes it's a present, unclear. calculated gamble; we'll see whether it pays off or not. hile we, of course, applaud the progress of technology, ou may remember that last week we spoke of how a US court Wwe also mourn the passing of certain things. For Yhas thrown out a ton of evidence that incriminated users of example, as the music industry's move to digital streaming an highly illegal, highly unsavoury dark web site called Playpen on and downloads has meant that we see less of the ostentatious a technical point of law that dictated the warrant the FBI had used sleeve art (tinyurl.com/MMnet12i) that used to be a staple to get access to their computers was invalid as it was not within of shelves across the land (tinyurl.com/MMnet12j), the the jurisdiction of the magistrate that had given it (tinyurl.com/ rise of streaming services will eventually, you suspect, mean MMnet12c). Well, unsurprisingly, the Feds don't appear to have changes in sleeve art in the film world too. been too happy with this... and thus have immediately put forward For many nostalgia hounds, the zenith of that particular genre plans to change the law in question (tinyurl.com/MMnet12d). was to be found in video stores during the early-mid 80s. A time While that may seem a sensible move if it stops potential before computers took hold and before almost ubiquitous access and very real paedophiles trading images online, more than to trailers and footage allowed films to be sold with a kind of a few organisations are keen to point out that there is a visual hyperbole that just wouldn't fly these days. If you, like us, baby in the bathwater, and that the proposed changes would are one of those people, we'd like to point you in the direction effectively give the FBI permission to hack any computer, of the Instagram account of the artist Canadian artist Steelburg anywhere in the USA (tinyurl.com/MMnet12e), with little (tinyurl.com/MMnet12k), who is making a bit of a name for more than a sign-off from a judge (tinyurl.com/MMnet12f). himself on social media by recreating the look and feel of 80s The irony is that the Supreme Court's recommendation to change VHS covers using a variety of modern movies and TV series as the law comes in the same week that congress unanimously passed a his subject matter. Bought to our attention to by our friends at bill dictating the need for a warrant to access emails (tinyurl.com/ Mental Floss (tinyurl.com/MMnet12l), which had a brief word MMnet12g), which sets up the potential for another schism between wit the artist last week, it's not surprising that he's getting a lot the legal eagles who want easier access to potential evidence and of attention, as they certainly caught our eye. the politicians who have to sell their policies to voters.

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

We realise it's been a bit, erm... Nintendo-y in this corner of the magazine over the last few weeks, but bear with us on this one... Anyone who's ever played Super Smash Bros. will have a handle on just how frantic it can all get. Our very own John Moore once described the game as "just too quick, too bright, too dazzling a spectacle for anyone without an invisible alien friend helping them to deal with" (tinyurl.com/ MMnet12m) in his review for Den Of Geek, so he will be unsurprised, perhaps, to discover that it blends well with the frantic rhythmical patterns of free jazz (tinyurl.com/ MMnet12n).

38 Issue 1412 QUICK BITS... Congratulations to Tim Peake for completing the London Marathon while on board the International CaCaptptioionn CCoompmpeettiitiont n Kent Police Fined Over Data Breach

Phone data upload lands Police in trouble

he Information evidence in support of the Commissioner’s Office victim’s case, was given to the “Phone boxes make an has fined Kent Police solicitor in error ahead of the unexpected comeback” T £80,000 after it was misconduct hearing, with the reported that officers had given solicitor then disclosing that the contents of an alleged victim’s content to his client. Let's see what you made of this image from issue 1410: mobile phone in a domestic abuse The fine was handed out in case to the suspect’s solicitor. light of the insufficient security • JayCeeDee: “Celebrity Squares meets Blind Date!” It transpires that the procedures that were put in • doctoryorkie: “Phone battery longevity test. Spot the ringer.” phone, which contained video place to avoid such a mishap. • Dwynnehugh: “As house prices continue to escalate, few can now afford the traditional home.” • Sawboman: “Don't blame them for being on the floor, they were babies when they were put on hold in the call centre queue.” • BullStuff: “…and I'm telling you, some guy named Schrödinger called me up and asked me to take part in an experiment!" - "Yeah, me too!" "And me!" Dropbox • wyliecoyoteuk: “Michael G Coney was right!” • pesukarhu: “Not quite what they understood when the estate agent promised ‘Live like Andy Warhol’.” • Thomas Turnbull: “You heard of battery chickens we now have Drops battery workers.” • Ruud: “I’m the only one who's connected (with a cord).” • Alan Masters: “The new Cube sequel suffers from extensive budget cuts.” Windows • Chris Page: “Rumours of poor working conditions in telemarketing unfounded, says man working in tiny box.” • Sam Valsler: “Proof that one in four office workers still uses fax.” XP Support • Ed Winslet: “The BBC’s new boxing coverage turns out to be a disappointment.”

The winner this week is Jonathan Smith with “Phone boxes Done, done, done... Another one bites the dust make an unexpected comeback.” 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 ile sharing site people towards more recent [email protected], remembering to add the issue Dropbox has written in versions of Windows is that on numberber to the emai email.l. a help page on its site August 29th the desktop app Fthat it is going to end will no longer support Windows support for Windows XP within XP at all. Any Windows XP users a couple of months. On June will be automatically signed out 26th “the Dropbox desktop app of any Dropbox accounts and for Windows XP will no longer will have to use Windows Vista be available for download on or later to sign back in. dropbox.com," users were told, In terms of the stored while "signing in to an existing content, all will remain safe. account or creating a new Presumably, more and more account will also no longer be online services will have to take possible on Windows XP”. this stance on Windows XP in the The next stage in the process foreseeable future as security and of Dropbox trying to push performance are paramount.

Space Station. Issue 1412 39 Snippets! Android Device Vulns The latest annual Android security report from Google Average Web Page has revealed that nearly 30% of all active Android devices are not supported by its security updates. As Big As Doom Any devices running on a version of Android earlier than 4.4.4 do not receive security updates, so Google is quite understandably Big pics are to blame calling on users to update to the most up-to-date version of Android. Consider software engineer has worked out By comparison, 2016’s web struggles to deliver a yourselves told. that the size of the average web page of web content in the same size.” page is more-or-less the same size as On the other side of the coin, Cremin also writes A Robotic Future? A the original version of classic scary that the top ten websites have managed to reduce Good grief. If the results shooter, Doom. Stats at website HTTP Archive their average page size, so it’s not all bad news. coming out of research on (httparchive.org) show that the average web behalf of the FutureFest event page is around 2.3MB these days – just shy of the are to be believed, it’s time installer for the classic FPS. to worry. According to a The reason behind the ever expanding study of over 1,000 adults, a size, we're told, is the increased use of larger quarter of young people aged images, while script code and video account 18-34 said that they would for other larger chunks of that 2.3MB figure. happily date a robot as long Ronan Cremin warned in a blog post that as it looked like a human. this was symptomatic of the problem of web Surely these can’t have been bloat: “Recall that Doom is a multi-level first genuine responses? person shooter that ships with an advanced Also, half of those 3D rendering engine and multiple levels, each surveyed who already used comprised of maps, sprites and sound effects. Does anyone not like Doom? contactless bank cards said that they would be happy to have microchips implanted in their skin to open doors or log on at work. FutureFest 2015, which is sponsored by innovation Bangladesh Bank foundation Nesta, is in September. Get more info at www.futurefest.org Hack Down To Spanish Spy This one may be a little hard to believe, but we assure you that it is oh-so-sadly true. Bad Security Manufactured in Spain, the Smarttress smart mattress promises to help anyone suspecting their significant other of infidelity to confirm Second-hand routers to blame their suspicions through the use of connected technology. The mattress uses various ebruary’s hack into the Bangladesh better hardware would have made the hack, in sensors that pick up on Central Bank's systems would have which $81m was stolen, far more difficult to pull movement, so that the owner been an easy day's work for the off. As for using cheap routers, this also meant F perpetrators, as the bank had really that little network data was collected to help in will know that something is not quite right when they’re poorpoo security systems in place. the search for the hackers. away from home. ReutersR has reported that there was no firewall It bears remembering that this is a country’s Quite ridiculous, of course, andand that the bank used secondhand routers to central bank that we’re writing about here. Proof, if but all very real. How dreadful. connectcon to global networks. The news agency ever it was needed, that you need to spend money alsoalso quoted a forensic investigator as saying that to save money (or at least keep your money safe).

4040 IssueIssue 14121412 QUICKQU BITS... It took him three hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds. Is there nothing this man cannot do? EE Looks FBI Paid Over $1m Towards A For iPhone Hack? 4G Future Blimey omments from fee. Although, in the FBI and FBI director James government’s eyes, probably Comey regarding not all that much in the grand Cthe money the scheme of things. Also bringing customer services back to UK agency paid for hacking into Remember when John the iPhone that was used in McAfee promised to do the tinging criticism for mobile firm EE has led to some the San Bernardino attack job for free? We wonder if the big changes, the most notable of which is surely the have raised eyebrows. FBI ever had a chat with him? relocation of its customer services from overseas call Responding to a question Could have saved themselves a Scentres to the UK and Ireland. posed at a security event in few bob there. Remember last year when EE was fined £1m for its poor London, Comey reportedly handling of customer complaints? Well now it’s decided to be told delegates that he all proactive to make things better. Bringing service centres back considered the cost to be to our shores by the end of the year is probably worth it, the money paid was a good step towards achieving that. It will also “A lot. More than I will make provide a bit of a boost for the economy, as it will in the remainder of this job, mean the creation of 600 jobs. which is seven years and four Apart from its service improvement promise, EE months for sure.” is also planning on bringing 4G to 95% of the UK Given that his annual salary by 2020. Currently, EE’s 4G service covers 60% is over $183,000, that’s led to of UK landmass and it’s planning on achieving its an estimation of around $1.3m target by focusing on 4G ‘notspots’. – and would be quite the

Trump Tweet E-sport Stars Leads To Arrest Arrested

Match fixing scandal lands several in trouble Bomb threat lands man in court

s the presidential a friend that his family should ews has emerged tens of thousands of dollars election campaign leave the rally so that they that a couple of to manipulate games. As continues across the wouldn’t be hurt. His posts were, professional gamers, for the two big gamers that A pond, one man’s unsurprisingly, picked up by Nwho are masters of were charged (one of whom ire over The Donald’s ongoing the US Secret Service who then strategy title StarCraft 2, have is a multiple tournament popularity has led to his arrest. tipped off the Police. been arrested and charged with champion), they stand accused Sean Morkys tweet, posted Morkys was later released on match-fixing offences. of throwing matches over the while Donald Trump was bail, but he now faces a date The investigation into match past 12 months. speaking to an audience in on court on May 4th. Passions fixing ensnared more as eight The South Korean Connecticut, wondered “Is are clearly running high over individuals were indicted and prosecution service in this case someone going to bomb the the campaign in the States, but arrested, including programmers has also said that e-sports Trump rally or am I going to have nobody can defend the posting and financial backers who match-fixing is happening on a to?'' He then also tweeted to of things like this. were charged with receiving “large scale”. Troubling.

Issue 1412 41 REVIEWS

BenQ BL2205PT

Great ergonomics and an even better price

good ergonomics at work, but DETAILS it’s also clear, and uncluttered. • Price: £105 The screen quality is good • Manufacturer: BenQ too. It’s admittedly not quite • Website: up to the same level as the goo.gl/lLo1QW more expensive monitors in • Requirements: DispplayPort, DVI or the BL-range, but it’s certainly VGA output good enough for the average worker. The colours are reasonable, and the display is quite sharp considering it’s he BenQ BL business not an IPS screen. range of monitors is The biggest lure, though, is widely accepted as the cost. Whereas a lot of T one of the better ergonomically designed series for CAD users, business-class monitors designers and those who sit can hit £200 or even £300 in front of a screen for long and beyond, the BenQ stretches of the working day. BL2205PT comes in at very It offers a good mix of reasonable £105, or slightly technology, ergonomics and lower with free shipping if quality, so we’re interested to you shop around. see how one of the So while it’s not the latest company’s newest model, the Ergonomically, the BenQ BL2205PT is a great monitor and most impressive gaming- BL2205PT, fits into the grand spec monitor available, the scheme of things. BL2205PT is an excellent The BL2205PT is a 21.5" TN choice for those who need to LED backlit screen with a comply with H&S while still maximum resolution of 1920 having a good-quality monitor x 1080, a dynamic contrast at a good price. ratio of 20,000,000:1 and mm David Hayward decent viewing angles of 170º horizontal and 160º vertical. Connectivity is adequate, A decent enough with DisplayPort, DVI and Connectivity is okay, but the price makes up for any loss business class monitor VGA, but there's no HDMI, which seems a little of an odd choice for a business- The display is quite class monitor. However, as  we said, the connectivity is more than enough for most sharp considering it’s not office settings. The BL2205PT offers the an IPS screen 7 Quality low blue light levels and  other special screen modes, 8 7 alongside an anti-glare keep the local health and you this screen set up. Value Overall screen coating and flicker safety office happy. The BL2205PT is also VESA free technology. Of course With a forward and back wall mountable. the ergonomics don’t stop tilt of -5º and 2º respectively, It’s actually not a bad with the screen technology. a 45º swivel, portrait and monitor for the average Since this is a business landscapes modes, and an workstation. Usually you get model, the BL2205PT can be adjustable height from some pretty dire quality at this moved through a variety of 110mm to the base of the sort of price, but with the angles – enough at least to stand, there’s plenty to help BL2205PT, not only are there

42 Issue 1412 ON TEST Reviews

CorelDraw X8

Joe Lavery looks at the latest version of Corel’s premier graphics suite

the Photoshop version, is a poor DETAILS imitation, I’m afraid. It produces • Price: £529.00 quite obvious blurring and is subscription, £179.40 cumbersome to use; even on my (a year) i5 machine the cursor trails well • Manufacturer: behind as it tries to clone an Corel Corp. • Website: area in real time. It’s easier to use www.corel.com the standard clone tool. In • Requirements: contrast, the red eye removal Windows 7 or later, tool works much better than the Intel Core i3 / AMD Photoshop one, which is Athlon 64, 2GB RAM 1GB disk space decidedly a hit and miss affair. I see the Adjustment menu has Sort and preview your fonts with the new Font Manager also had some work, particularly the Perspective Distortion and ere we have version 8X Gaussian Blur tools, which work of the CorelDraw Suite, a lot better and are quicker than bristling with new they were previously. Hfeatures and a few Finally another new feature tweaks for the old ones. If you’re introduced to both Draw and familiar with the product, you’ll Photo-Paint is the Get More already know it contains a lot docker (not a burly welder from more than the illustration Tyneside). It’s basically a web program that forms the core part interface for downloading of the package, because you applications, plug-ins, and also get Corel Photo-Paint, Corel extensions, designed to expand Website Creator, Corel Capture, the overall scope of the product. Corel Font Manager and more. Some of these, like the Corel The company have now made The Corel interface is now fully customisable Website Creator, are free; others purchasing the product more like AfterShot Pro have to be flexible. Naturally, you can still you to set up your workspace for makeover to the font list paid for. buy it with a one-off payment, the task in hand. dialogue, which now works in As usual, if you’d like to see but alternatively you can start a Version 8X now supports 4K tandem with the Font Manager, what Corel has on offer, you can 365-day subscription for £14.95 monitors and allows you to displaying any highlighted text in download a fully working version a month. At a total outlay of spread the interface across each font as the mouse pointer from the company’s website. £179.40, it’s considerably multiple screens. It also supports passes over it. You’ll also find some great video cheaper than upgrading. Windows 10 and with that its In previous versions, it was far tutorials to get you started. I accept that many people touchscreen interaction – too easy to grab objects you mm Joe Lavery don’t like change, yet I feel one assuming of course that you didn't want to, particularly if you of the first new features was have a touchscreen system. You were working with objects laid A genuinely worthwhile badly needed. It’s the ability to can also use it with any one on top of the other. Now fully personalise the interface, Windows Real-Time Stylus pen- you can lock individual objects update effectively creating your own compatible tablets. within a layer and carry on workspace, from the size of the I’m pleased to see that Corel working, in the knowledge that icons and toolbars, to the has dumped the old font everything hidden will stay background colour of the navigator and introduced a new where you put it. The only way desktop. You can even change Font Manager. This is a much to do this before was to use lots what tools will be displayed and better program, in which you of layers and lock off the ones 8 change the overall colour can browse the fonts both on you’d finished with. Quality scheme to make the GI look your system and those provide Corel Photo-Paint has also 8 more like an Adobe product. online by Corel. You can install been updated with the same 9 Value Overall Clearly the designers have or uninstall fonts, create interface enhancements as Draw realised that users have different collections and type in your own and a few new tools of its own. needs and aptitudes, and these text to get a preview of each The first of these, the Healing new customisation options allow font. Corel has done a similar Clone Tool, when compared to

Issue 1412 43 Dell Inspiron 11 3000 Series

Dell decides to take on HP’s Stream 11 with a new affordable laptop

DETAILS • Price: £179 • Manufacturer: Dell • Website: www.dell.co.uk • Model: Inspiron 11-3162

ot long ago, Atom- based laptops were relentlessly awful, as the Nmakers entirely focused on lowering the price and performance to implausibly low levels. The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 series, however, demonstrates that you can have a low price and enough performance to actually do some work – as well as offering great portability. But being realistic, this isn’t a gaming platform, and you're operating rather close to the edge when it comes to more demanding applications. At this With default storage so system’s heart is a 1.6GHz Intel  The screen, for example, Celeron N3050 that has just two might only be 11”, has 1366 cores and no Hyper-Threading, tight, this system probably x 768 resolution, but it’s really and it’s only party trick is an sharp, and the colours are occasional sprint to 2.16GHz. isn’t ideal for students vibrant and saturated. It uses When I first started using this  TN display technology, so you machine, the N3050 really took need to have it at the optimal a beating, because along with angle, but once there, it looks me trying to use it, Windows great unless you’re outdoors in 10 was trying to upgrade in the bright sunlight. Model: Inspiron 11 3000 Series background. The keyboard, by necessity, Processor: Intel Celeron N3050 1.6GHz. Boost to 2.6GHz That gave the impression that is small, and it uses membrane Screen: 11.6" 1366 x 768 pixels. the N3050 and 2GB of RAM technology, but it works well Graphics: Intel HD graphics. wasn’t nearly enough power for enough to type on for short Storage: 32GB eMMC. Windows 10, but that wasn’t periods. I wouldn’t want to key Memory: 2GB. the case. a big dissertation on it, but for Wireless networking: Wi-fi 802.11a/c, Bluetooth Once the seemingly endless note taking and emails it's more Operating system: Windows 10 (64 bit). upgrade cycle completed, the than adequate. Camera: Widescreen HD 720P webcam with digital machine entirely transformed Those wanting to type more microphone (front-facing). in terms of responsiveness and could easily add a full-sized Ports: 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 1x audio jack, 1x Kensington therefore its usefulness. That’s mechanical keyboard using one lock, 1x DC-In, 1x HDMI, 1x micro-SD card important, because in almost of the two USB ports, and with Dimensions: H1.845 x W29.2 x D19.6cm. every other respect, the Inspiron a HDMI output you could also Weight: 1.18kg. 11 3000 series is acceptably connect a bigger screen too. Accessories included: AC adaptor, user guide/ specified, and in a few places it's The only significant place that actually rather good. the build-to-a-price mentality

44 Issue 1412 ON TEST Reviews

USB 3.0 port using a Lexar S45 With default storage so tight, I managed 135MB/s – close to this system probably isn’t ideal the 150MB/s performance of the for students, but for anyone who internal eMMC. wants something cheap and In the USA, Dell sells this cheerful to surf the web and chat machine with a 128GB SSD or online, it’s practically ideal. 500GB physical hard drive, a And while this product doesn’t better quad-core CPU and 4GB offer hardware options in the of RAM. Hopefully those versions UK, at least it's available in three will make it to the UK eventually. colours: Bali Blue, Alpine White Impatient people intent and Tango Red. on custom upgrades will be But the real challenge for the unsurprised to hear that it Inspiron 11 3000 series is that requires you to completely currently it costs £30 more than dismantle the machine to the HP Stream 11, which has an rears its uglier profile is in the least include a micro-SD slot, so achieve – something I expect almost identical spec. amount of storage. In the review you can expand it a little using would void your warranty. Those mm Mark Pickavance version, we had just 32GB a micro-SHDC or micro-SDXC keen enough can upgrade of eMMC flash storage. That card. On any system that would the RAM and storage using A Dell alternative to the capacity leaves just 8.5GB of be a welcome feature, but standard parts – or so the HP Stream 11 available space for the user once on this system it’s an absolute service manual suggests. Windows 10 has been accounted necessity, especially when the While you can’t easily swap for, and each new patch and next major upgrade to Windows the battery, its life is decent and update Microsoft releases erodes 10 comes along. substantially better than I was this further. Alternatively, you could use expecting. Whereas most cheap That there is any space left an external drive, and because laptops can only manage three is testimony to some restraint one of the USB ports is USB or four hours even on light 7 by both Dell and Microsoft, 3.0, that would get you better duties, the Inspiron 11 3000 Quality who only preinstalled a few performance than the USB 2.0 managed more than seven on a 7 7 superfluous items on here, like connected card reader slot. regular basis. And it can charge Value Overall Candy Crush Soda. In my testing, the best I could entirely from flat in about two For those who want more get out of the micro-SD slot was hours, should you need a quick productive tools, Dell did at 28.5MB/s, whereas from the turnaround.

Issue 1412 45 Archos PC Stick

A new palm-sized Windows 10 PC

DETAILS • Price: ~£85 • Manufacturer: Archos • Website: goo.gl/U4lfhy • Requirements: Windows/Microsoft account, spare HDMI port, keyboard and mouse

ast year, for a while, the media couldn’t get enough of the Intel LCompute Stick. This small device connected to the HDMI port of a monitor or TV and booted into a fully working copy of Windows 8.1. Since then, there have been a For under £100, it’s a great Windows PC It has its limitations, but for most users it’ll suffice number of contenders, each offering a slight advantage in The PC Stick itself comes in a The Witcher 3 at full HD possible, as is watching terms of performance, ports light metallic-blue plastic cover. resolutions, it’s certainly more something from Netflix, BBC available and so on, but the It’s lightweight enough to not than enough for everyday PC iPlayer and the like. furore has calmed a little since put too much stress on the duties. Word processing and The Archos PC Stick is a great then. Until now, of course. HDMI input of the display other productivity works well; little device. It’s slightly more The latest Windows on a stick you’re plugging into, but even some mild photo and video powerful than the other models to be released is the Archos PC attaching other USB cables to it editing are acceptable provided we’ve looked at and, better still, Stick, a device that measures the price is around £85. just 113 x 37.6 x 18mm and It’s slightly more Considering you’re getting a weighs only 60g, and it's  Windows PC for less than a effectively a handheld Windows hundred quid, the Archos PC 10 PC. powerful than the other Stick is a pretty good deal. Powering the PC Stick is a mm David Hayward 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3735F models we’ve looked at quad-core processor, a 311MHz  A reasonably powered, Intel HD GPU with a burst frequency of 646MHz, 2GB of handy Windows PC on memory, 32GB of eMMC can cause a bit of a problem if you don’t try to push the a stick storage and Windows 10 32-bit they’re not long enough and processor too much. Home Edition. add extra weight. Gaming is limited to very Connectivity consists of There are plenty of vent holes lightweight stuff; you could 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a on both faces as well as the probably get away with CS:GO full-sized USB 2.0 port, a micro- sides to help cool it down. or something on very low USB port, 5V power, power Thankfully, though, the Archos graphical settings. We had it 7 button and a micro-SD card slot PC Stick doesn’t get too hot, running as a retro console and Quality for up to 64GB cards. Naturally, even after being powered up for home computer, emulating the 8 removing the lid from one end some time. Spectrum, Sega Mega Drive and 8 of the stick will reveal the HDMI While the combination of the so on. Value Overall port that plugs into the monitor Z3735F and 2GB of memory It also works magnificently as or TV. isn’t going to enable you to play a media centre. Full HD video is

46 Issue 1412 ON TEST Reviews

Gigabyte P35X v5

A gaming laptop with some stunning features

on high settings never dipped DETAILS too much below 60fps. • Price: £1,799.99 The quality of the display is • Manufacturer: very good too. The colours are Gigabyte good, and this 4K screen • Website: performs remarkably well goo.gl/KRt8XZ • Requirements: when displaying games and Windows/Microsoft video. account, deep pockets Battery life while gaming lasted just short of a couple of hours from a full charge. Using it for everyday tasks he Gigabyte P-series of and watching a video, we gaming laptops are squeezed a tad over three pretty impressive. hours out of it before we TWe’ve seen a few of needed to plug it back in them in recent years, and with again. On the whole, that’s each new version the bar is set not too bad since we're a little higher. The Gigabyte P35X v5 is an impressive gaming laptop talking about a laptop that This time around, we have could put most gaming the P35X v5. This particular desktops to shame. 15.6" laptop boasts a sixth- Of course, this level of generation 3.5GHz Intel performance doesn’t come i7-6700HQ processor, 16GB of cheap. The £1,800 price may DDR4 memory, a 128GB seem a little steep for most Samsung M.2 SSD with a copy users, but considering the of Windows 10 64-bit Home powerful graphics and Edition preinstalled, and a performance on offer, you can further 1TB 2.5" hard drive. be forgiven for thinking of Graphics come courtesy of splashing out on it. an Nvidia GTX 980M with an We really like the Gigabyte astonishing 8GB of memory, P35X v5. It’s a wonderfully which helps drive the 15.6" compact yet extremely UHD 3840 x 2160 IPS LCD powerful laptop, and although screen. And in terms of it’s a little pricey, it’s worth connectivity, there are three every penny. USB 3.0 ports, a single USB mm David Hayward 3.1 Type-C port, HDMI, VGA, mini-DisplayPort, gigabit Excellent performance Ethernet, a DVD drive, and an 8GB of graphics memory! That’s just huge! and specs but expensive SD card reader. It also features 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and a HD webcam included. does feel a little bland, Booting into Windows took The design of the P35X v5 especially if you stand it next around ten seconds, and the is very much a Gigabyte to some of the current P35X v5 managed to score standard, with a modern mix gaming laptops from Asus. 9,546 3DMark 11. In real- of matte-black plastic with a It is, however, remarkably world terms, this meant The splash of orange colouring slim, measuring just 20.9mm Witcher 3 at high quality in 8 Quality throughout. It has a nicely thick, and at 2.4kg it’s not too the full resolution had an spaced backlit keyboard set in difficult to carry around either. average frame-rate of around 7 7 a slightly recessed area, with The power brick is a hefty thing 45, while Star Wars: Value Overall the large touchpad and to move around, though, but Battlefront at the same button strip below. While that’s expected to some degree, resolution in ultra settings good, though, the design considering the specification. managed 48fps, and Fallout 4

Issue 1412 47 Archos 50e Helium

A sub-£100 phone with plenty to offer

well, but there’s only so DETAILS much a sub-£100 phone can • Price: ~£95 handle before the cracks • Manufacturer: begin to show. Archos There’s little of the Archos • Website: footprint in Lollipop. Other goo.gl/tk4sXL • Requirements: than a few media apps and a Google account, collection of games, Archos SIM(s) has left the OS as vanilla as possible. One good element included here is the Archos version of Android Adaptive Storage, called Archos Fusion here are numerous Storage. Fusion Storage entry-level essentially allows you to smartphones available extend your internal storage T at the moment, but with a micro-SD card, finding one that manages to combining the two. The offer close to top-of-the- advantage is you don’t range features at a decent manually have to move apps price can be quite difficult. between the two, so by Archos, however, might adding a 64GB micro-SD card, have what you're looking for along with the 8GB internal right here. storage, you’ll have 72GB of The 50e Helium is a new total storage available. entry-level device with a 5" The Archos 50e is a really 1280 x 720 IPS screen, a good entry-level smartphone. 1.1GHz Qualcomm MSM8909 The company has done a quad-core processor, an great job of cramming it full Adreno 304 400MHz GPU, of worthy features while still 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM, keeping the price lower than 8GB of storage and Android the competition. 5.1.1 Lollipop. For around £95, the Archos In addition to that little lot, 50e Helium would make for an Archos has also squeezed into ideal first phone or separate the thin frame of the 50e dual-SIM work device. Helium a pair of micro-SIMs, mm David Hayward 4G, 3G, NFC, Bluetooth, an 8MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera and micro-USB. The A good entry-level 2100mAh battery is similarly phone that’s ideally good as well, lasting a couple priced of days with light use, and an excellent five or so hours The Archos 50e Helium is a good entry-level phone when playing games, watching videos, browsing The 8MP camera is certainly Helium. The response of the and so on. good enough for most screen is good, with very The build quality is decent average users, but those little lag, and the 8 all-round. It’s plastic who are used to higher-spec combination of Qualcomm Quality throughout, but it doesn’t feel Apple and Samsung models CPU and Adreno GPU do a 8 cheaply made or lacking in will undoubtedly be left good job of keeping the 8 any way. It has a good weight wanting more. performance up to scratch Value Overall too at 150g, and it's only Android 5.1.1 runs too. Our CPU-killing Bloons 8.5mm thick. perfectly well on the 5e Tower Defence 5 test ran

48 Issue 1412 ON TEST Reviews

Urbanista Melbourne Portable Bluetooth Speakers

Urbanista delivers a small speaker with big sound ambitions

DETAILS • Price: £59 • Manufacturer: Urbanista • Website: uk.urbanista. com/ • Requirements: Bluetooth audio device

here was a time when anything Bluetooth was inherently special, but T these days this low- power wireless technology is practically omnipresent. I’d suggest. That’s not One trick it can do that’s exceptional, but ones I’ve seen helped it succeed is the ability to that lasted longer were stream stereo audio while not substantially larger than the exhausting the battery of the Melbourne and could therefore source phone or tablet. include more battery capacity. The Urbanista Melbourne was 40mm drivers, plus a 50mm splash resistance, but it doesn’t The true strength of this design designed to exploit the wonders passive radiator. actually enable it to survive is that the sound quality is half of Bluetooth 4.0 and provide The ‘passive’ radiator isn’t as complete immersion. decent, and it’s such a small and output better than a phone static as that description might As good as this covering is, insignificant weight that it won’t speaker for those on the move. suggest, because when audio is there are a couple of drawbacks overload a beach bag. Portability is excellent, as it’s being pumped through the to it. The first was that it took me It’s not the cheapest Bluetooth almost exactly the same size as Melbourne, it oscillates in and out an age to initially locate the small travel speaker I’ve seen, but it the old iPhone 4 (or new 6SE), of the back – something that can panel that peels back to reveal does generate a decent volume but a good bit thicker at 22mm. feel momentarily odd when you the USB charging port and the of undistorted sound from a Being relatively small, you pick it up. direct 3.5mm audio socket. And remarkably compact and might think it wouldn't Another curiosity is the it also makes reading the symbols generally well-conceived design. generate much noise, but it’s rubberised coating that encases on the control buttons almost mm Mark Pickavance surprisingly loud. According to the whole device. This empowers impossible. These either need Urbanista, inside are three +3W the unit with IPX4-certified more relief or to be highlighted in a different colour, because A small speaker with impressively high Urbanista Melbourne Features otherwise they’re almost invisible on the black review model. volume • Bluetooth 4.0. Maybe on the white, ‘blue • Speaker size: 3 +3W 40mm full range plus 50mm petroleum’ or ‘rose gold’ passive radiator. alternative colour schemes they're • Sensitivity: 80dB ±2dB SPL @1KHz. easier to see, I hope. • Impedance: 4ohms ±15% @1KHz. Urbanista also provides a very • Frequency: 100-20000Hz. short charging cable and what • Microphone for answering calls. 7 looks like a short shoelace, which • Playing time: about 6h/li>. Quality is used as a carry strap. • Charging: Micro-USB, about two hours charging time. 7 A full recharge takes about • OS Support: Android, iOS and Windows. 7 two hours, and after that you'll Value Overall • Weight: 180g (without box). get about six hours of playback • Size: 130x65x22mm. – less if you like thrash metal,

Issue 1412 49 §

GROUP Colour Lasers TEST Brother HL-3170CDW 9 Quality printer functions over the network just as well as if you 8 Colour DETAILS 7 • Price: £199 were standing in front of the Value Overall • Manufacturer: tiny LCD control screen. Lasers Brother Furthermore you get an • Website: automatic double-sided print goo.gl/t3B5MW • Requirements: to help save paper, and a In fact, the HL-3170CDW has Windows, OS X, Linux, ‘Deep Sleep Mode’, which can one of the better colour laser networking, USB cable be configured to send the print-outs we’ve seen in a for local connection printer into hibernation for a long time. custom amount of time after The replacement cartridges the last print. When in this are reasonably priced as well. mode, the printer drops to a The genuine Brother multi- he Brother very economical 1.5W power pack for this model costs in HL-3170CDW is a consumption. When a print the region of £165 and offers reasonably compact does come through, it takes a yield of 2,500 for the black T printer that’s aimed at about 12 seconds for the and 1,400 for the three At one time, colour the small, busy office or home, printer to wake up and start colours. This comes to around laser printers where users need lots of printing. 2.5p per page for consumer connectivity and reliability. It There’s a 250-page input costs, but we also found a frequently cost more would just be another bland- tray as standard, which fed third-party brand that offers a than the companies looking box if it wasn’t for the our text test document 2,500-page yield for the black added benefit of it being one through at a rate of around 16 cartridge and a better 2,200 using them, and each of the first LED technology pages per minute, with the pages in the colour cartridges page printed was printers, which makes it more first page appearing within 18 – all for just £84.86, making reliable than the average laser seconds of the request being the consumer running costs valued at tens of printer and a little cheaper to sent through. The colour PPM 0.9p per page. pence. produce too. was good too, coming to Although the initial cost of Not any more, However, the technology around 12 pages per minute. the printer is around £200, doesn’t just stop with the LED The page quality was good, depending on where you though. A decent feature. The 333MHz and the printer accepted shop, the lower running costs colour laser printer processor and 128MB of everything we threw it at it and higher than normal yield memory help drive a printer without any misprints, queue of the average toner doesn’t cost a king’s that has ample connectivity in errors or anything else like replacements make for a far ransom any more – the form of USB, Ethernet and that. more efficient printer. And 802.11n wi-fi. Mobile The text page quality was considering the quality of the and here are six of connectivity is supported well, sharp and readable, and the print you get, the ample them to prove it with AirPrint, Cortado Cloud colour print test was connectivity and the power Print, Google Cloud Print, remarkably good and of a saving feature, the Brother iPrint&Scan, and WiFi Direct. much higher quality than we HL-3170CDW certainly has a And you can administer the initially thought it would be. lot going for it.

The Brother HL-3170CDW is a good compact LED laser The toners too are reasonably priced

50 Issue 1412 GROUP TEST Colour Lasers

HP Colour LaserJet Pro M252dw

though. The genuine high- DETAILS yield multi-pack, consisting of 2,800-page black and 2,300- • Price: £150 • Manufacturer: HP page colour, costs £234, • Website: which offers a cost per goo.gl/Oz3Tge page of 2.4p. The standard • Requirements: multi-pack of 1,500-page Windows, OS X, Linux, networking black and 1,400-page colour costs a cheaper £185, at 3.2p per page. If you shop around, you t times, it feels like could probably find a third- HP releases a new party set for less. Obviously printer every other you’re better off buying the A day. As soon as one higher-yield cartridges, as the is delivered, another takes its standard multi-pack will make place in the list of available this the most products. That’s not a bad expensive printer in thing, though, because it the group in terms of running means the company is always costs. pushing the envelope. The HP Colour LaserJet M252dw is a great colour laser printer Saying that, the print The Colour LaserJet Pro quality is good, and you can M252dw is one of the newer easily pick the HP Colour entries to the HP fold. It has LaserJet M252dw up for an 800MHz processor and around £150, which isn’t too 256MB of memory as bad. You also get a 1,500- standard, with a single USB page and 700-page yield port, Ethernet, 802.11n wi-fi black and colour cartridge and a USB host port for you in the box, which again is to stick a USB pen filled with quite good. photos into. The HP Colour LaserJet Pro There’s a 150-sheet paper M252dw has a lot going for tray at the bottom front of it. It’s a good colour laser with the printer and a 73mm flip- great quality and connectivity, up colour touchscreen where and we like the top-mounted you can get to the basic USB port too. If we could find settings as well as view any It’s easy to use and has more than enough features for most users somewhere with much thumbnail images from the cheaper cartridges for it, we’d USB stick you’ve inserted. You be even more impressed. also get access to a small What made this printer collection of HP online apps.  Print speeds are generally good. The text document we stand out from the others was fed through took around ten pages per minute, with the just how quiet it was first page being printed within  8 15 seconds. The colour test Quality managed a respectable nine 8 pages per minute, with the photos we tested were good factor wasn’t something we 9 first page being printed within too, although they weren’t were paying too much Value Overall 18 seconds. quite as bright as the attention to, the HP M252dw The mono print quality was Lexmark model. was virtually silent in excellent. The characters What made this printer comparison to the other were crisp, easy to read and stand out from the others, printers we tested. showed no sign of misprints however, was just how quiet Pricing for the multi-pack or banding. The colour it was. Although the noise of toners is quite expensive,

Issue 1412 51 Colour Lasers Lexmark CS310n

from the CS310n was more DETAILS than adequate for most users. • Price: £170 The same can be said for • Manufacturer: Lexmark the colour output, which • Website: completed the first page in 14 goo.gl/WMBh3s seconds and after that settled • Requirements: Windows, OS X, Linux, down to about 27 pages per Unix, USB cable needed minute. Colours were good, for local connection reasonably bright and well balanced. Provided you’re not considering printing out a full-colour magazine, you’ll be he Lexmark CS310 satisfied with the output. range was launched a The best price we found for few years ago and a multi-pack (black, blue, T has proved to be yellow and magenta) was quite popular for home and £330. This is for a 3,000 page businesses users alike. yield on the colours and Surprisingly, it’s still at the 4,000 pages with the black, top of the Lexmark product Although it doesn’t look to thrilling, the Lexmark C310n is a good printer which roughly equates to 2.5p list, which goes to show just per page, and that’s with a how sturdy and versatile the genuine Lexmark set of range is. cartridges. The alternative The Lexmark CS310n is a third-party brand offering four-colour cartridge printer comes to a reasonable £166, that can take 250 pages on a with the same page yield as standard input capacity tray the genuine Lexmark (with the option to purchase cartridges, which translates to an additional sheet feeder), around 1.3p per page. and it comes with a decent- The printer itself costs in sized 750-page colour and the region of £170, although black toner cartridge. you could probably shave off Connectivity is a reasonable £10 or so if you shop around. mix of USB and Ethernet, with This is undoubtedly a good an optional wi-fi adapter printer, but it’s probably available through various overkill for home users. Lexmark retailers. It’s powered by a remarkably powerful dual-core 800MHz processor with 256MB memory installed as standard, but again this can be upgraded to a far more impressive 2GB should There’s a lot of business speak within the specification, but it’s all good 7 you ever deal with ultra-large Quality documents from many users. protocols. There are far too a higher than average level of 8 The business elements of many to list, but simply put, technology. 8 the printer are some of its there’s not much this printer In terms of quality and Value Overall main features, as it’s can’t be connected to and speed, the Lexmark does well. compatible with Windows, work with. The text test document Mac, various Linux distros, For the home, this is quite printed within 12 seconds for Citrix MetaFrame, Unix and an impressive workhorse. The the first page, then around 25 Novell systems. That same OS and networking support pages per minute thereafter. support also extends to the may seem a little extreme for The text was clear and many network printing printing out the odd receipt readable, and although we’ve protocols and methods, as or full-colour holiday snap, seen sharper prints before on well as network management but at least you’re guaranteed other models, the output

52 Issue 1412 GROUP TEST Colour Lasers

Xerox Phaser 6600

in around ten seconds. The DETAILS colour print even managed a • Price: £260 decent ten pages per minute, • Manufacturer: Xerox but the first page took over 40 • Website: seconds to start once the job goo.gl/QhwX3R had been sent to the printer • Requirements: Windows, OS X, Linux, over the network. USB cable needed for The quality of the basic text local connection print was decent – at least as good as the HP model. The characters were sharp, well defined and easy to read. The e imagine colours, however, seemed a little somewhere out too dull for our liking and not as there, someone has vibrant as some of the other Wa room full of Xerox printers in the group. Phaser 6600s and says on a daily Despite that, the cost of toner basis, “Fire all Phasers!” – or cartridge replacement isn’t too something to that effect. In bad. The genuine four-colour reality, of course, we’re quite multi-pack of 8,000-page black jealous, because we only have and 6,000-page colour costs one available, and it doesn’t £440, offering 1.7p per page. make a cool Star Trek sound The third-party set of cartridges effect when powering up. were far better, offering the same The Xerox Phaser 6600 comes yield as the genuine cartridges in two different versions: the V/N, The Xerox Phaser 6600 sounds pretty cool, but it’s not the best laser we’ve tried but at a more agreeable £132, which doesn’t have a duplexing which comes to an impressive feature, and the V/DN model that 0.5p per page. does. Beyond that, both models The quality of the colour The Xerox Phaser 6600 can be are similar and feature a 533MHz  bought for around £260, which processor with 256MB of prints makes us wonder if it’s makes it one of the most memory as standard with the expensive printers on test. While option to increase that to 768MB. the toner is reasonably cheap and There’s a 250-sheet output tray actually worth it the print speeds are fast, the located at the bottom of the  overall quality of the colour prints printer, and it comes with a USB does make us wonder if it’s port and Ethernet connections – actually worth the initial expense. sadly the wi-fi isn’t standard, but Having said that, it's a sturdy comes as an optional extra. printer and will no doubt suffice The printer itself looks okay. for home users or small offices. It has a large plastic, sloping For better quality prints, though, top that’s coloured blue, which look elsewhere. meets the familiar off-beige of the main body in a wave pattern. There’s a simple digital readout LCD on one side of the top of the printer, with a circular button arrangement clustered underneath. It’s pretty basic, but it works, and you 6 can get to all the necessary Quality functions easily enough. 6 The print speeds were quite 6 Value Overall good here, with the text tests fed through at 18 pages per minute and the first page printed The design is a bit more colourful though than some of the competition

Issue 1412 53 Colour Lasers Epson Aculaser C2900N

reds did seem a little darker DETAILS than what we’re used to. • Price: £250 However, the other colours • Manufacturer: Epson used were quite bright and • Website: vibrant – enough for a good goo.gl/CDv9qm print-out of a photo. • Requirements: The genuine Epson toner Windows, OS X, USB cable for local connection multi-pack we found cost £268 and offered a 2,500- page yield for the three colours and 3,000 pages pson’s range of home, for the black. This comes to SOHO and business around 2.6p per page, but we class laser printers also found a third-party multi- E are pretty impressive. pack of cartridges for just There are lots to choose from, £80, with the same colour with their own unique feature yield of 2,500 and 3,000 sets, printing speeds, toner pages for the black. This usage and so on. dropped the overall cost to The Aculaser C2900N an impressive 0.8p per page, is one of the base models making this quite a cost- available in the range, but effective printerr. that’s not to say it’s lacking in We found the Epson any way. It uses the AcuBrite The Epson AcuLaser C2900N’s design reminds us of an old Apple printer Aculaser C2900N for around toner system, which uses £250, putting it just behind smaller, chemically grown the Xerox in terms of cost. toner particles along with It’s not a bad printer, but we special pigments, delivering have seen better examples higher print quality than from the likes of HP, which normal. Epson also claims the are somewhat cheaper too. AcuBrite system has less of an On the whole, though, it’s environmental impact through okay and fairly cheap to run its manufacture and use. and maintain. It has reasonable connectivity, with USB, gigabit Ethernet and a handful of network management protocols in the form of SNMP, HTTP, DHCP, BootP, DDNS, mDNS, SNTP and Ping. 7 Internally the printer has Quality a 400MHz processor with 7 256MB of memory as default, 6 with the option to further Value Overall increase the amount to a maximum of 768MB. It’s a good enough printer, and it's cheap to run As for design, the C2900N reminds us of an older Apple The C2900N comes with per minute, with the first printer. Other then the slightly a 251-page standard input colour page printed within nostalgic appearance, though, tray, which fed our text print 20 seconds of the data it’s a fairly nondescript printer. tests through at a reasonable being sent. That's not a bad thing, 20 pages per minute, with The print quality was however, since Epson clearly the first page being printed good throughout. The text decided to focus on the at around 16 seconds. The was clear, sharp and very operation rather than splashes colour pages came through readable. The colour pages of colour or wavy lines. at a more sedate 12 pages too were good, although the

54 Issue 1412 GROUP TEST Colour Lasers

Dell C1765nfw 4 Quality 3 3 DETAILS Value Overall • Price: £350 • Manufacturer: Dell • Website: goo.gl/Jv8UHR • Requirements: Windows, OS X, Linux

his is the second LED printer in the group, and it’s from Dell as opposed Tto one of the bigger printer manufacturers. In case you’re not aware, an LED printer differs slightly from a more traditional laser printer. In layman's terms, instead of using a laser to target a spot of toner, the LED uses an array of LEDs across the entire print area of the page. The process doesn’t make an LED printer faster or have a better quality output, but it makes them cheaper to manufacture and in some respects a little more reliable, since there are fewer moving parts. The Dell C1765nf is pretty much at Moving back to the Dell, this the end of its life is an all-in-one office printer that scans, copies, faxes, prints, has Although cheap to run, it’s not a support for USB, Ethernet, wi-fi, great printer mobile printing, cloud printing and goodness knows what else. The only thing it apparently 3.2p per page, but if you shop doesn’t do is make the tea. around for the premium third- As standard, it has a 150- party cartridge, you can pick page tray, a 295MHz processor, up a multipack for around £59 128MB of memory and support for the same page yield. This for a number of operating means that with the third-party systems. Controlling and cartridge, you’ll be getting administering the printer is easy something like 1p per page, enough via the LCD panel and which isn’t too bad at all. numerous buttons; the same The main problem we have goes for setting it up on the with the Dell C1765nf is that network as well. printing, during which time there was muted and quite dark. it’s at the end of its shelf life. Print speeds were okay, with were some horrible grinding Whether this is something Dell seems to be in the process the text document coming noises coming from somewhere inherent with older LED of removing all trace of it, but through at a rate of about 12 within the bowels of the chassis. printers, we’re not sure. the likes of Amazon are picking pages per minute and the colour The print quality wasn’t The genuine Dell toner multi- up the slack, as are a number one taking a little longer at ten brilliant, unfortunately. The text pack costs around £198, with of other sellers. It’s not the best pages per minute. However, we that was produced, while okay, a yield of 2,000 pages for the laser printer on test, and with it did find that the printer took wasn’t as sharp as we would black and 1,400 for the three costing £350, it’s also the most nearly four minutes to start have liked. The colour, too, colours. This works out at about expensive. One to avoid.

Issue 1412 55 ITOR GHLY D ’S I C E H O

M O

E C

N E D D E

Brother HL-3170CDW HP Colour LaserJet Pro M252dw We really liked the Brother HL-3170CDW. It Even though we couldn’t find any good has pretty much everything you need from a third-party toners to use, the cost per page workgroup laser. of the HP Colour LaserJet Pro M252dw isn’t The prints are good too, and if you stick with too bad. the third-party multi-pack, the cost per page is What’s more, it’s the cheapest printer to less than one pence per page. buy in the group and the quality is good.

How We Tested Each printer was tested with a selection of 20 full pages of text, and 20 full-colour photos and blocks of colours. We used all connections where possible, as well as printing from the cloud and apps via phones, tablets and PCs. All toner costs were calculated through CartridgeSave.co.uk.

Brother HP Colour LaserJet Xerox Phaser Epson AcuLaser Lexmark CS310n Dell C1765nf HL-3170CDW Pro M252dw 6600 C2900N

Price £199.98 £150 £170 £260 £250 £350 Technology LED Laser Laser Laser Laser LED 291 x 442 x 430 x 488 x Dimensions 410 x 465 x 240mm 392 x 412 x 236.2mm 404 x 469 x 413mm 410 x 379 x 338 407mm 384mm

Weight 18.1kg 12.2kg 20.1kg 25.5kg 18.4kg 15kg

USB, Ethernet, wi-fi USB, Ethernet, Connectivity USB, Ethernet, wi-fi USB, Ethernet, wi-fi USB, Ethernet USB, Ethernet optional wi-fi Genuine Toner Cost £165 £234 £330 £440 £268 £198 (Multipack) Premium Toner Cost £84.86 Not found £166 £132 £80 £59 (Multipack) PPP Costs 2.5p 2.4p 2.5p 1.7p 2.6p 3.2p Genuine PPP Costs 0.9p N/A 1.3p 0.5p 0.8p 1p Premium

56 Issue 1412 APP OF THE WEEK Disappointing To p PC Games 5 We waited, we waited some more, and then… meh

Alien: Colonial Marines Bionic Commando When your game is so disappointingly terrible that it results The original Bionic Commando came out in 1987 and in a class action lawsuit being brought against you, you was a simple 2D platformer. By the time this remake 4 was released, it was 2009, so Capcom’s relaunch of this 1know you’ve failed in a really special kind of way. Yes, that’s exactly what happened to this game’s developer, Gearbox franchise was always going to be a departure from its origins. Software, and its publisher Sega. According to the people who Nevertheless, fans of the original were excited by the prospect of initiated the lawsuit, footage of the game shown at press and public once again donning the hero’s bionic arm and grappling gun. events before its release weren’t representative of the final product, But like many hugely hyped games, it couldn’t live up to in spite of being presented as actual gameplay. If you haven’t seen expectations. And what made things worse is that the game, the preview footage or the actual game, this video is worth a look: like other Capcom titles such as Resident Evil 4, was a lacklustre youtu.be/g1orK2qj_9k. console port. It did still garner some positive reviews, but it’s safe to In short, they promised sophisticated AI, gorgeous graphics and an say many people, particularly PC players, didn’t get the experience immersive story. What player actually got was something that looked they were expecting. like it was made to run on a PlayStation One, with the stupidest aliens in the universe to fight against. Spore Ah, promises, promises. Way before its release, we were Duke Nukem Forever told how we’d able to take a simple one-cell organism When Duke Nukem Forever was first announced, R 5through every stage of evolution, right up to the point they Kelly’s ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ was flying high in the charts, develop space travel. And yes, Spore did give us that, but it was also 2 Channel 5 had just been launched, and the world had surprisingly lacking in depth. just got its first taste of the Teletubbies. By the time it was released, In spite of this, critics lavished the game with praise, and it looked someone called Pitbull was asking you to ‘Give Me Everything, like it might actually live up to its hype. Players, however, did not Freeview had massively swelled the number of TV channels, and form the same general opinion as the critics. For a start, they had to the Teletubbies had disappeared (and were no doubt planning their deal with the hell that was SecuROM, a DRM system that limited the 2015 comeback). number of installations and required always-on internet access. Yes, this game took so long to be developed and released, many Once they’d got past that, what they found was a game that was people considered it to be vapourware. Eventually, though, in 2011, oddly limited, extremely linear and generally quite repetitive. As the it was released, but by this time it had changed developer and was current Metacritic scores suggest (84% from critics and 5.2 out of ten created by… ahem… Gearbox. As we all now know, the 15-year from users), the positive scores seem to have been little more than a wait was most definitely not worth it. The game turned out to be a case of the emperor’s new clothes. complete dud. Watch Dogs By no means a bad game, Watch Dogs suffered from being hyped far too much before release. The promise of being 3 able to hack anything in a huge virtual city was an intriguing prospect, but the reality was nowhere near as revolutionary as players were expecting. In the end, with all the driving elements and open-world play, Watch Dogs felt more than a little like a Grand Theft Auto clone, with just a few novel differences to make it stand out. Ultimately, it was a decent game, and the healthy sales reflected that, but if you were basing your anticipation on the publicity that surrounded it prior to release, it was hard not to feel let down. This image is approximately 293% more exciting than the game itself

Issue 1412 57 Guide to GitHub

David Briddock explains how to take advantage of this cloud-based development repository

itHub was created to act as a cloud-based development source code repository for individuals, established companies and startups. Despite appearing only six Gyears ago, today GitHub (github.com) is an essential resource for the open source community. Did you know its appeal extends far beyond software development, though? In fact you can store any kind of textual document, spreadsheets, presentations, images and other media files using it’s resources. For example, visit the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s GitHub repository (github.com/raspberrypi) and you’ll find a wide assortment of files including firmware, Linux and NOOBS software, the complete HAT specification and a full set of official documentation. In this guide we’ll explain why GitHub is so popular, highlight some of its key features, then show how to get involved by creating your own GitHub repository. History Git was created by Linux kernel developers to manage their own source code files (see boxout). However, while Git is still a very popular tool in the Linux community, the command-line interface tends to restrict its widespread adoption. It’s this deficiency that led to the creation of the GitHub project. The GitHub website is essentially an easy-to-use front-end to Git. Conceived by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath and PJ Hyett in late 2007, after a short beta-testing period, this team launched the website in April 2008. GitHub delivers core Git functionality through a simplified graphical user interface, or GUI, and being browser-based means it supports any desktop or laptop PC, plus many tablets and smartphones. So every project, large or small, can use the same set of powerful tools to help push it towards completion. Today GitHub is the largest code hosting environment on the planet, with over 31 million repositories, which are accessed by around 12 million users. It offers both free public-access accounts and paid-for private-access repositories.

58 Issue 1412 GUIDE TO GITHUB

The try.github.io website GitHub Raspberry Pi people

Key Features This copy and paste approach is fine if you’re cherry-picking GitHub delivers two key pieces of Git functionality that aid bits and pieces. However, if there are a few things that spark your collaboration between teams of coders, they are known as source interest it’s better to download the complete repository using the code management and distributed revision control. button on it’s home page. This will download a zip file to your PC The former is sometimes referred to as ‘version control’ or containing all the repository’s files, folders and sub-folders. ‘revision control’, and works to track each and every change that’s made to source code, configuration files, documentation and other similar textual documents. These changes could be as small as a Git History single character or extend to the complete replacement of the text. Up until 2005 the Linux community relied on the BitKeeper Each block of changes corresponds to a specific version of the code source control management (SCM) tool to handle or document file. And this means it’s possible to travel back in time collaborative projects. BitKeeper wasn’t open source, and retrieve a specific version, something that’s immensely useful however, and the copyright holder Larry McVoy withdrew when trying to track down software bugs. free usage after falling out with another developer, who Source management is of critical importance when files are he accused of reverse-engineering the BitKeeper protocols. authored and edited by a team of people. This type of interaction is Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, wanted a generally called ‘distributed revision control’ or ‘decentralised version replacement. Yet he couldn’t find a freely available control’. In practice it means the various files have a distributed solution that met his needs. Performance was a particular collection of working copies that are shared between a group. problem with one SCM tool needing 30 seconds to apply Additional collaborative GitHub features include granting read/ a single patch and update all associated metadata. read-write/admin-level file access, bug tracking utilities, task This wasn’t acceptable when Linux kernel maintenance management tools and project-specific wikis. Also, its social operations often require 250 such actions at a time. networking integration helps team members keep tabs on project So in 2005 a team of Linux developers, headed by status and easily follow activity feeds. Torvalds, started the Git project. The primary focus was on building a fast and fully-featured SCM tool for the Browse And Download Linux kernel community. Anyone can browse a public GitHub repository, all you need is a Git is designed around a distributed version control browser. Most have a sizeable collection of files. In fact, the majority architecture. So every Git working directory is a fully- of repositories have numerous named folders, each of which can fledged repository with detailed change history and contain more files and sometimes a number of subfolders. full version-tracking capabilities. Each one is completely Exploring a repository is a great way to discover what it takes to independent of network or server. create an app, plugin, utility or game. You’ll probably be surprised at It’s no surprise to find that Git, just like the Linux how many files are involved. Along the way you’ll learn quite a bit kernel, is free software distributed about software development and pick up some coding tips and tricks. under the terms of the GNU General A typical software project has code files written in more than Public License (version 2). As for one programming language. For example, a web browser plugin the rather unusual name it was invariably has numerous HTML, CSS and JavaScript files, which are chosen by Torvalds because he’d often supplemented by plain text, XML configuration and image files. always considered himself to be If you find something of interest, say a cool piece of code or a an unpleasant, strong-minded, handy app, there’s a couple of things you can do. If it is a text file confrontational individual. you can simply copy the content, either everything or just specific sections, and paste it into your own file. Linus Torvalds

Issue 1412 59 Clone To PC Once you have an app or plugin you’re next step is to get the repository files. There’s a dedicated ‘Clone’ button on the repository home page. It’s located next to the ‘Download Zip’ button and has an icon that looks like a desktop with a downward facing arrow. Simply click this button to initiate a digital transfer between the GitHub website and your PC. It won’t be too long before you’ll see the chosen repository appear in your GitHub app’s window or development tool. Now you can simply edit the files with your favourite tools, before synchronising any changes. Here’s a useful tip. When committing your changes make sure you provide meaningful comments. Informative comments ensure the change history log is an accurate record of what actually happened. It’s especially important when working in a team environment. Collaborative Coding At some point you might decide to contribute to a GitHub project owned by someone else. For instance to perform a documentation update or add some new functionality to a web GitHub Activity example browser plugin or enhance a Minecraft mod. The starting point is to create a new branch. Sign Up A branch is essentially a duplication snapshot of the current Free and open access to all these GitHub goodies might be all you’re repository. With this branch you can experiment all you like, after. However, if you’d like to create a repository and upload your own adding new code and even breaking things, without impacting content you’ll need to go online and sign up for a GitHub account. anyone else. All branches have names. In fact when you create a It’s a pretty simple and quick process: provide is a username, email repository something called the ‘master’ branch is automatically address and password and you’re free to create and manage your created for you. repositories. Though remember, by default anything you store in your To create a new branch in GitHub you’ll need to perform a fork repositories is publicly available. operation. There’s a dedicated ‘fork’ button on each repository home You can create as many repositories as you like. However, as page. Once clicked you’ll need to select a destination repository to your repository collection grows, it’s important to give each one a complete the operation. This may be a repository you already own or meaningful name. These names also help others when searching for one where you’ve been assigned write access. specific GitHub content. GitHub also has a social network graph capability that helps to As a signed up user you’re also able to contribute to repositories visualise a repository’s fork and branch activity over time. So you can set up by other people or organisations, by submitting new content also see what other people are working on. or modifications (more on this later). Once you’ve finished making your changes and completed any relevant testing it’s time to submit them back to the original Apps And Plugins repository. However, it’s always up to the repository owner to decide Once you’ve created a repository or two on the GitHub website whether any of these changes will be accepted. This collaborative you’re free to add, update and remove files. However, this is invariably change review process is an essential part of the GitHub workflow. a rather tedious process using only the browser. So the best plan is to do all the editing on your PC. The simplest way to manage your repository files on a PC is GitHub Repositories to download a Git app or plugin. They make it much easier to Here’s just a few public repositories for you to check out synchronise your additions and changes with the online GitHub while you get to finding your way around: repository. Apps are available for all the popular platforms including Windows, Mac OS X and all flavours of Linux. These Raspberry Pi: github.com/raspberrypi apps offer an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI), so Google: github.com/google you don’t have to learn a collection of Git commands to create Google Chrome: github.com/googlechrome repositories, upload new files and update existing files. Microsoft: github.com/microsoft GitHub plugins are all about integrating Git functionality Twitter: github.com/twitter into an existing development workflow. This means you’ll Facebook: github.com/facebook likely download and apply a plugin for your favourite editor or Apache: github.com/apache Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Popular examples YouTube: github.com/youtube include the Eclipse IDE (eclipse.org/egit) and editors like W3C: github.com/w3c Sublime (sublimegit.net). Oculus VR: github.com/OculusVR For fans of the good-looking Atom editor (which incidentally BBC News: github.com/BBC-News includes myself) it’s even easier as this editor has built-in Git The Guardian: github.com/guardian support, including colour-coded flags in the file tree, code gutter GOV.UK: github.com/alphagov and status bar (atom.io). NASA: github.com/nasa Simply download and install your chosen app or plugin, fire it up, The White House: github.com/whitehouse sign in to GitHub and you are good to go.

60 Issue 1412 GUIDE TO GITHUB

GitHub App

Pull Requests Organisational level plans are aimed a business teams and So how do you submit your changes? With GitHub, it starts offer permission level configuration support. They start at the with something called a Pull Request; once again there’s a $25 a month Bronze level with 10 private repositories, then dedicated button on the repository home page, although this go through Silver, Gold and Platinum up to the $450 a month time it will be the repository hosting your forked branch. A key Diamond option with 300 private repositories. aspect of Pull Requests is that they contain information about There are also a number of Enterprise level licences to choose the changes made and the reasons behind each change. If you between, should they suit your needs. They start, however, at $2,500 click the change log link, it will display all the changes (additions, a year – but include maintenance, upgrades and support. mm updates and deletions) made on a specific file. They are shown as coloured-coded highlight lines. Open the commit tab to enter your change comments. Learning Git A Pull Request instigates a ‘live conversation’ that streamlines Exploring what’s possible with Git can be a little the process of discussing, reviewing and managing repository daunting at first. Git has an extensive list of commands changes. This conversation allows all interested parties to to learn and becoming proficient demands plenty of evaluate the proposed modifications. It’s a key step as it allows hands-on experimentation. Fortunately help is at hand. everyone to have their say on the changes as a whole, certain One of the most useful resources is GitHub’s Git Cheat sections or even one specific line. Sheet (training.github.com/kit/downloads/github-git- Once accepted, a Pull Request can be ‘merged’ back into the cheat-sheet.pdf), which includes all the most commonly original repository. This is typically done on the ‘master’ branch. used commands. However, in some circumstances it may be better to merge it Git newbies might like to try the online Try Git into another branch first, say to allow further testing on a suite experience, which is designed to teach you the basics of proposed changes from multiple developers before final in just 15 minutes (try.github.io). This website presents acceptance is given . an interactive set of Git command lessons based on an imaginary GitHub repository. Going Private If you’re after a comprehensive reference, one that GitHub is completely free to use for public projects. So anyone can covers every aspect of Git in detail, then download the create a repository and its contents will be shared with the world. open source ProGit book (progit.org/book). Written by However, in some cases organisations or individuals want to Scott Chacon it’s available in PDF, EPUB, have the ability to restrict access. This is achieved with a paid-for MOBI and HTML formats. private GitHub repository, which operates in a similar way to a And finally GitHub has its own collection public repository and uses the same tool set. of help pages at help.github.com plus an Costs vary depending on the number of private repositories official YouTube channel with stories and required. For an individual who only needs five private useful tips (youtube.com/user/github). repositories the cost is a reasonable $7 a month, while those working on bigger projects who need 50 private repositories will Pro Git book have to shell out $50 a month.

Issue 1412 61 Here’s Zuckerberg standing in front of the slide mentioned in the article Facebook In The Future

Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for hen you’re running a company as enormous as Facebook, it might be easy to rest on your laurels. his company – and big predictions Facebook is so ubiquitous that it’s become easier Wto use it than not to use it, whether you’re a about the future. Sarah Dobbs grandparent wanting to see what your grandkids are up to, an checks out what’s in store for up-and-coming musician wanting to promote your work, or, you know, just a person who likes to keep in touch with their friends. Facebook (and us) So it’d be hard to blame Mark Zuckerberg and co if they just sat back and let things carry on as they are. However, as Zuck’s presentation at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference proved, that’s not the plan. Actually, Facebook has got a pretty detailed and ambitious ten-year vision for what comes next. 2026 might sound like a

62 Issue 1412 FACEBOOK IN THE FUTURE date from a science fiction movie, but Facebook’s head honcho To that end, the firm is building a chatbot platform for its has grand plans for what he’ll be doing by then, and it includes Messenger client. The plan is that, rather than companies having all kinds of equally sci-fi sounding technologies, which Facebook to employ social media managers to sit and chat to consumers will adapt to, profit from – or maybe even develop. Ready to with questions or complaints all day, they’ll build bots that can peer into Zuckerberg’s crystal ball and see what the future has in figure out a customer’s issue and offer solutions – or even offer store? Yes? Let’s go… promotional discounts. Though it sounds pretty straightforward, in reality there are Virtual Reality likely to be plenty of bugs to work out. Just ask Microsoft, whose Virtual reality, as an idea, is hardly new, but when Zuckerberg Tay.ai bot was rapidly hacked by Twitter trolls and taught to spew talks about the potential for using virtual reality in the future, Nazi propaganda. Any algorithm for responses built into Facebook he’s not thinking about the clunky headsets of the 90s, or even bots would need to be robust enough to withstand that kind nowadays... Facebook acquired Oculus Rift in early 2014 – at the of gaming of the system – or maybe just have such a limited not inconsiderable cost of $2bn – and Zuckerberg has also appeared repertoire and capacity for learning that it’d never pick up bad at events to talk up Samsung’s Gear headset, so it’s pretty clear that habits, even though that’d also limit its usefulness in dealing with Facebook reckons there’s a much sleeker, powerful and desirable genuine customer queries. Still, Facebook reckons the chatbot version of virtual reality tech in our near future. revolution is imminent, so keep an eye out for bots in your inbox in the near future. Artificial intelligence will also help Facebook to maintain its Make a 360° video and platform and serve up relevant promotional content to users.  Facebook already has AI in place for authenticating users and post it to your proﬁle, ready weeding out spammers, and its Top Stories algorithms are sorted by ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence that’s trying to for your friends to view with learn exactly what you want to see. That’s not as simple as it sounds either, since so many posts on Facebook involve images their VR goggles or videos, so Facebook is working on teaching its AI to interpret  this kind of content. You might have already noticed that when you upload pictures, The virtual reality Zuckerberg envisions is one that lets people Facebook’s software can pick out faces and suggest which of your share their experiences with one another in a totally immersive way. friends you might have snapped photos of. That kind of thing is So instead of typing a Facebook update to tell your friends about only going to get more prevalent as time goes on. your amazing holiday, or even posting a few pictures, you could Again, there’s something ever so slightly creepy about the idea make a 360° video and post it to your profile, ready for your friends of super intelligent computers programmed to recognise us and to view with their VR goggles – which, according to Zuckerberg, understand what we do and don’t like. This is the world we’ve will be soon as light and easy to wear as normal glasses. All sorts built for ourselves, though. of milestones and experiences could be recorded and shared, both personal and, inevitably, corporate too. Imagine VR concerts, or Drones And Lasers sporting events, all available exclusively through Facebook. Okay, now it sounds like Zuckerberg has designs on becoming an That might well be the future we’re heading towards. The slide actual Bond villain, but the reality of Facebook’s vision for using Zuckerberg used to illustrate Facebook’s 10 year plan at F8 also these scary-sounding technologies couldn’t be friendlier. In short, explained how he sees all these new and exciting technologies the plan is to provide internet connectivity to places that don’t working with Facebook: essentially, Facebook will be the currently have the infrastructure in place to get online. ecosystem in which these various technologies exist, the platform Facebook has been working towards a more connected world on which developers create and display their products. for years now; back in 2013, it launched Internet.org, a non- It makes sense, as Facebook already has the user numbers profit aimed at connecting up the estimated four billion people to support all kinds of new things. There is a hint of dystopia who don’t currently have internet connections. The company’s about it too, however, especially when you think about the Connectivity Lab has come up with a few innovative ways of various products and services Facebook has already snapped up: providing that connection, among them projects dubbed Aquila, WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus Rift central among them. Will Terragraph and ARIES. the future see other innovative and popular properties similarly Aquila is probably the most audacious of the lot. Facebook snapped up? Well, this is the Facebook version of the future, reckons it’s figured out a way to deliver data via lasers beamed so for now, let’s assume the answer is ‘yes’ and ignore any from solar-powered drones. It’s even built and tested a prototype misgivings that might stir up. aircraft, which can deliver reliable internet connections. It’s a pretty imaginative way of getting round the lack of cabling and Artiﬁcial Intelligence infrastructure in some parts of the world, though it’s got its own Artificial intelligence might seem like another hangover from the challenges as well – like keeping the drones flying out of the 90s, but Facebook is banking on it finally stepping out of its sci-fi way of other aircraft, and keeping them powered and running shadow and becoming mainstream. One way we’ll see artificial in adverse weather conditions. If it works, though, it’d be far intelligence pop up on Facebook is in the form of chatbots, but cheaper and quicker than setting up traditional connections in the kind you may have tried to converse with back in the bad remote regions of the world. old days of AOL Instant Messenger. Nope, Facebook’s plan for Speaking of conventional infrastructure, the cabling that most chatbots is for them to finally become useful enough that they of the world already uses is also struggling to keep up with ever can serve as a first point of contact between consumers and the increasing volumes of data transmission, but Facebook is also brands that will drive it’s profits. working on a solution for that, in the form of Terragraph. That’s

Issue 1412 63 Facebook HQ looking futuristic its name for its in-development wireless internet system that In His Own Words would see nodes installed throughout cities, delivering high-speed Zuckerberg’s F8 presentation was far too long to print in full, connections to urbanites. but here are some choice quotes: Then there’s ARIES (Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum), which is Facebook’s experimental method for On connectivity and the power of the internet: improving radio towers, in order to increase the speed and “We stand for connecting every person — for a global capacity of mobile networks in remote areas. community, for bringing people together, for giving all Each of these projects is part of Facebook’s grand vision for a faster, people a voice, for a free flow of ideas and culture across better and more widespread internet in the future. The company isn’t nations. And this idea of connecting the world has gotten quite ambitious enough to want to run the whole show, though. No, stronger over the last century. You can now travel almost the plan is to invest in getting these technologies up and running, so anywhere in the world in less than a day. Countries trade that other operators can take over. Facebook would just benefit from more openly and cooperate more easily than ever. And introducing potentially billions more people to the internet and also the Internet has enabled all of us to access and share more helping to up connections for the people who are already connected. ideas and information than ever before. We’ve gone from Altruistic, or a cunning plan to gain billions more eyeballs for its a world of isolated communities to one global community, advertising? Depends how cynical you’re feeling. and we are all better off for it.”

Te lepathy And Constant Communication On artificial intelligence and bots: Everything covered so far sounds realistic, if ambitious. Chatbots “I have never met anyone who likes calling a business. And are already a thing we mostly understand; virtual reality seems no one wants to have to install a new app for every service like it might finally take off; and drones, well, they’re not quite as or business that they want to interact with. We think that menacing or impractical as they might once have seemed. So to you should just be able to message a business in the same finish off, let’s look at something Mark Zuckerberg has predicted way you would message a friend. You should get a quick for the future of communication that does seem rather unlikely. response and it shouldn’t take your full attention like a Last year, in an online Q&A session, Zuckerberg mused that phone call would and you shouldn’t have to install a new eventually people will be able to share their thoughts directly, without app. So today we are launching Messenger Platform, so you having to type them in or go through any interface. Nope, apparently can build Bots for Messenger. It’s a simple platform that is you’ll just be able to think something and all your friends will be able powered by Artificial Intelligence, so you can build natural to pick up on it, or experience what you’re experiencing. language services to communicate directly with people.” He also reckons we’ll all be communicating with one another even more regularly than we already are – constantly, in fact. On Aquila and drones: Looking at the way communication has already evolved, especially “If you had told me 12 years ago that one day Facebook over long distances, that might make a sort of sense. You used to was going to build a plane, I would have told you that have to write a letter, then you could make a phone call, or send

64 Issue 1412 FACEBOOK IN THE FUTURE

And a data centre looking futuristic an email, or post a Facebook update; each new development you were crazy. But here we are. It has a wingspan makes things faster, and the faster the communication method, wider than a 737, but it weighs less than a small car. It has the more frequently we tend to use it, sharing things we might solar panels on the whole width of the wings, so it can fly never have bothered to communicate in the past. at about 60,000ft in the air, which is about twice as high Will we all want to share our every thought, all day every day, up as normal commercial flight, and it can stay in the air though? That sounds like it might maybe be a leap too far. After beaming down internet for a few months at a time. In a all, most of us already have some privacy-related concerns about few months, we’re going to launch our first satellite into the idea of sharing all our data with one or two big companies. space to connect sub-Saharan Africa and people who don’t Imagine letting a corporation in on your actual thoughts? That have access the networks there. really is terrifyingly dystopian, with hardly any way to rationalise that paranoia away. On Virtual Reality: “We are building technology that’s going to change the way Will We Still Like Facebook In The Future? that we all experience the world. … Later this year, we’re The big question mark that hangs over all of these amazing going to release these touch controllers that bring your predictions of the future, of course, is – will Facebook still be around hands into VR. So instead of looking around and feeling like in ten years? After all, even the biggest brands can sometimes fail. you are immersed, you will now also be able to modify the Ten years is a long time, during which a lot of things can change. world, where you will be able to pick things up and give The good news for Zuck and Co. is that all the signs look pretty them to other people and interact. It’s going to add a whole good for Facebook’s continued existence. Recent figures about social new layer of immersion. And one reason why I think that network usage show that Facebook is still top of the pile, with a this is also important is that – for our mission is that we’re massive 44% market share – Twitter, for the sake of comparison, working on a whole new set of social experience as well was at just 5%. In terms of actual user numbers, Facebook has across all these different VR platforms. Virtual reality has the around 1.5 billion monthly users, which sounds pretty healthy. potential to be the most social platform because you actually Its bank manager is presumably pretty happy too, as Facebook’s feel like you are right there with another person.” reported profits from the fourth quarter of 2015 stood at $1.56bn. (that’s £1.09bn) over just three months. No wonder the company On the next decade: feels it can afford to invest in developing new ideas. “That’s the roadmap for the next 10 years. We are building If we could make one prediction to add to Zuckerberg’s stock, the technology to give everyone the power to share though, it’d be this: something massively disruptive will happen anything they want with anyone else. And everything we between now and 2026. A decade in technology is a really, really are doing is about building technology that brings people long time, and no matter how well prepared anyone thinks they together, because whether you just want to hang out with are, something always comes along to surprise them. Ten year a few friends or start a business, or help solve the world’s plans are all well and good, but you’ve always got to leave space problems, the path forward is to connect people.” for the unexpected… mm

Issue 1412 65 m O CAlphabet Pi:

David Briddock meanders through g Raspberry Pi technology from A to Z I I

THIS WEEK: ISS, IoT and IP address

ISS With a Sense HAT, plus a few other inexpensive electronic components, you can transform the humble Raspberry Pi into a high-quality scientific instrument. An instrument worthy of being d taken to space by British ESA astronaut Tim Peake, for his six-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). All this activity took place as part of the Astro Pi project (astro- pi.org). The Astro Pi device is built on a standard Raspberry Pi 2 board with attached Sense HAT, plus the official camera module and an infra-red camera module (the official camera module minus its infra-red filter). The whole thing is housed in a custom-designed flight case (astro-pi.org/about/hardware). Tim Peake took two Astro Pi devices with him to the ISS. During his six-month mission they’ll be used to measure the environment inside the station, reveal how it’s moving through space and detect the Earth’s magnetic field.  Tim Peake took two Astro Pi on ISS The term refers to a network of physical objects, devices, Astro Pi devices with him to vehicles, buildings or other items that contain embedded electronics, sensors and software. All these objects are able to the ISS collect and exchange data across a network – typically the internet.  In other words, it’s a technology that integrates the physical world AThe low-cost Astro Pi hardware offers a unique learning with our computer-based systems. opportunity. Last year, students from schools across the UK took Examples include smart homes and home appliances, smart part in an Astro Pi competition (astro-pi.org/competition). The city infrastructures and services, intelligent and autonomous challenge was to create the best scientific Python-coded programs transportation, even bio-chipped farm animals and a variety for the Astro Pi. In the end, seven winners were chosen, spanning a of health-related medical implants. This is a fast growing number of different age groups. phenomenon, with some estimates suggesting there’ll be around Programs ranged from game-like reaction time tests to 50 billion IoT objects on the planet by 2020. monitoring radiation levels inside the ISS (astro-pi.org/ competition/winners). Tim Peake will run each winning IP Address program inside the ISS European Columbus module, before Every computer has an IP address to identify it on a network. It’s downloading the results back to Earth for all to see. A long-term important that each network device has its own unique IP address. h ISS environmental monitoring programme will continue to run So on a home network, your Raspberry Pi’s IP address has to be these Astro Pi experiments, adding the time-stamped sensor data to different from any PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones that are downloadable CSV file. also connected to your router. Once connected to a network, your Raspberry Pi be assigned IoT an IP address. To discover what this address is, on a Pi running These days, we hear the term Internet of Things (or IoT) bandied Raspbian open a terminal window and type the command faround quite frequently, and it’s often used in association with ‘sudo ifconfig’. e small, bare-bones computing boards like the Raspberry Pi. But what Look at the command output, locate the ‘wlan0’ entry and make exactly does IoT mean? a note of its ‘inet addr’ value. mm 66 Issue 1412 b j REMEMBERING... Remembering… Windows XP

David Hayward looks back at one of the most successful operating systems ever

he operating system that refused One of the most important factors, to die. Despite being released though, was that it was still simple. Did Yo u Know? T nearly 15 years ago and Microsoft It didn’t have an Aero interface, tiles, • As of 8th September 2015, trying to kill it, Windows XP is still on-screen dashboards, gadgets and there were still 500 million hanging around. goodness knows whatever advances are active Windows XP PCs. Even after Windows 10 was a month present in a more recent OS. It had the • The IRS still used Windows XP, old, Windows XP was still ranked as the desktop, icons and a Start button. And it although it’s mostly phased out third most popular operating system in allowed even the most unknowledgeable now. terms of use. But what made this OS such users to interact with it easily. • MS paid Charles O’Rear millions a popular choice for PC users? for his ‘Bliss’ rolling hills image It’s a combination of factors that really Its History for the XP desktop. helped XP cling on to the PC. One was Windows XP was released to manufacturing • Due to a hidden folder, you the release of its successor, Windows on August 24th 2001, but it was originally can’t create a folder called CON. Vista. Although Vista isn’t a bad OS – one part of two separate products once you’ve applied all the updates and codenamed Neptune and Odyssey. such – it didn’t really go down too well Odyssey was to be the successor for out of televisions the world over, and the with the majority of users at the time. Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 new experience that was Windows XP Another factor was that Windows business users, whereas Neptune was to was finally being showcased to the public XP was really the last working bridge continue the Windows 98 and ME lineage prior to it being made available a couple between legacy and more modern for consumers. Both projects came across of months later. hardware. Not every user has the latest problems within Microsoft itself, with Three Service Packs later and after an PC and components. Many have some each dropping into development hell at extended support period up to 8th April legacy kit they still use to this day, along nearly every step of the way. The result 2014, Microsoft drove the final nail into with the relevant software. Getting was a lot of leftover code and a couple of XP’s coffin and ended all support and that hardware to work correctly under shelved projects. updates. XP, though, has other thoughts Windows 10 can be a pain, if it works at Shortly after, Neptune and Odyssey and is still being used on a vast number all. But with Windows XP, and even if this were shelved, and project Whistler came of PCs, cash machines and other services hardware and software was designed to to the forefront. The goal of Whistler around the world. work on Windows 95/98, it still worked. was to combine both the consumer and And it worked well. business models into a single operating The Good It was also a remarkably stable system, and with it came all the advances A fast, stable and legacy-friendly operating system, provided you’d built it that had already been worked on with the operating system that worked well. up yourself and kept it in good order. We Neptune and Odyssey projects. can count on one hand the number of By June 2001, the Microsoft PR The Bad times the Blue Screen of Death appeared machine was well under way. Madonna’s One of the most targeted OSs for viruses on our XP machine. song ‘Ray of Light’ was being blasted and other malware. mm

¯¯¯The Windows XP desktop, Bliss Sadly, XP is no longer supported by MS Bill Gates at the XP launch

Issue 1412 67 Specialists Windows Subsystem For Linux Overview

A look at what WSL has to offer

s the time rapidly system? There’s no way of And with regards to accessing approaches for the knowing yet what the impact the Windows file system, what public release of Bash would be, since it’s still in safeguards are in place in case A on Ubuntu on Linux, developer mode, but it’ll be someone accidentally deletes a Microsoft has been busy getting interesting to do some vital Windows file. Or to expand the various documentation and benchmarks before and after the on that, will any Bash deleted surrounding write-ups ready. system is implemented on a files from the Windows file With mere weeks left now, the clean Windows 10 machine. system be put into the Microsoft Developer Portal has Windows Recycle Bin or will recently released the Windows File System info they be gone forever? David Hayward has Subsystem for Linux Overview, a The blog then goes on to There has also been some sizeable document that covers a describe the file system used: concern from developers that this been using Linux lot of background on the project could be a flash in the pan since Red Hat 2.0 and how it’ll work. “File system support in WSL project for Microsoft, and that in schools, businesses According to the Microsoft was designed to meet two goals. after a while it’ll eventually be left and at home, which Developer blog: to gather dust without any either makes him “WSL is a collection of "1. Provide an environment updates. Obviously that’ll be a very knowledgeable components that enables native that supports the full fidelity of long way off, but if MS hopes Linux ELF64 binaries to run on Linux file systems users will develop and cross the or a glutton for Windows. It contains both user 2. Allow interoperability with Windows-to-Linux bridge with extreme punishment mode and kernel mode drives and files in Windows Bash under Windows, it’s going components. It is primarily to have to keep the structure in comprised of: The Windows Subsystem for line with the current Linux provides virtual file system developments from the wider "1. User mode session support similar to the real Linux world of Linux and the kernel. manager service that handles the kernel. Two file systems are used The whole Linux under Linux instance life cycle to provide access to files on the Windows 10 thing is shaping up 2. Pico provider drivers (lxss.sys, users system: VolFs and DriveFs.” to be quite an impressive bit of lxcore.sys) that emulate a Linux work, and it’s something we’ll kernel by translating Linux syscalls There’s a lot of work going certainly be looking at in more 3. Pico processes that host the on under the hood here, but it depth as we get to grips with it. unmodified user mode Linux (e.g. does raise some questions. For Until next week, folks. /bin/bash)” one, exactly how similar to the real Linux kernel is the virtual Bash then is called up by the file system going to be? Will it, LXSS Manager Service within for instance, be able to handle More information regarding Linux Windows 10, as a broker to the different processes at once? under Windows 10 has been released Linux subsystem driver. This service is used to hold everything together, along with other elements, and is what’s used to keep track of the processes within the Bash instance. Whatever you may think of the entire project, you have to admit that this is pretty clever stuff. One thought that did spring to mind was the resource overhead that the extra service will have on a Windows 10 Linux

6868 IssueIssue14 119112 Tipping Point

The Mac experience has always attempted to balance control and convenience, but it doesn’t always get things right

remember friends trying hard There is, however, a tipping be anything particularly to convince me I was an idiot point for everyone regarding catastrophic, such as apps failing for liking the Mac during the compromise, and I think I’ve to launch or merrily obliterating a I1990s. They merrily noted reached mine on the Mac due to hard drive. For example, I recently Apple was doomed and that a combination of software discovered two writing apps I using a Mac was akin to playing release systems and automatic favour decided to start supporting with a toy. As far as they were updates. I’m old enough to MultiMarkdown’s table of concerned, the command line remember when a common contents feature. I’d not spotted was king. Even today, there’s a means of updating software was the tiny mention of this buried in perception that Macs are through a shiny disc taped to a update notes. Now, when inherently less technical devices magazine. You’d scour release exporting Markdown to HTML, than Windows- or Linux- notes, get excited about new loads of cruft goes along for the flavoured computers. features, and ignore the fact the ride. I’m having to paste between Much of this stems from the disc was compiled months ago different apps or manually delete Craig Grannell is battle between convenience and so a new version of the bits I don’t want. and control, and the notion software was probably available In other words, the a writer, designer, that in order to have one of via that fascinating (yet convenience of automatic occasional musician those things, you must inaccessible to the masses) thing updates has now left me in a and permanent compromise the other. called ‘the internet’. situation where I have less time, loudmouth. He’s Therefore, if you’re using a Soon enough, though, because updates automatically owned Macs since Mac, you may well get a user everyone was connected, updates applied added new features that 1996, when Apple was experience that’s relatively fluid came thick and fast, and we got cannot be removed, and there’s and simple for anyone to to the point where even clicking no way to downgrade the apps. facing certain doom, understand, but everything’s a button became too much So I’m now manually clicking and is therefore going to go horribly wrong the effort. Now, devices automatically update buttons again, more pleasantly surprised second you need to do update software, without you carefully reading release notes by its current success. anything involved. lifting a finger, which is and cursing developers who add Find Craig on Twitter I’ve never really agreed with convenient. The nagging problem new features on a whim without this line of thinking. I recall is a massive loss of control. considering the ramifications of at @craiggrannell frazzled friends complaining Subscription-based software is doing so. I’m stopping short of about how yet again they’d had all about the current version, and deciding my 1990s friends were to nuke and reinstall their PC, although Apple’s Mac App Store right, though; living in the because something or other had typically has a ‘pay once’ command line is a step too far. hosed the entire system or some mentality, even it isn’t interested piece of hardware had abruptly in anything prior to the very latest

decided to go off in a huff and release. That’s fine when things Update all? No chance. Even Mac ignore everything else around it. I go well, but a horror show when individual update buttons won’t be remained baffled when even as problems occur. And this needn’t clicked until release notes are read Windows improved, people continued banging on about the merits of a command-line interface, presumably thinking they were immersed in The Matrix, typing thousands of words per minute while glowing green characters raced before their eyes. My Macs had their moments, naturally, but for the most part sat there in their ‘toy like’ glory, enabling me to get on and do things, rather than demanding constant and time- consuming maintenance.

IssueIssue14 119412 6969 Apple TV 6 Months On

Ian McGurren got an Apple TV six months ago. How's he getting on with it?

he Apple TV, Apple's little iPlayer, YouTube and a clutch of touchpad is over sensitive, box that hasn't. Yes, fun games, but mostly there was meaning just a brush can mean despite being on the right the promise of more to come. you're 15 minutes forward in your Ttrack some time ahead of Six months later we still have film. It's difficult to use without every service and its dog having or Netflix, Now TV, BBC iPlayer, looking at it too; it feels the same Ian is a professional being on a tiny media playing YouTube and… well, that's it. Still. either way up, so you frequently IT analyst, a semi- box, the Apple TV has struggled What's more, the iPlayer for tvOS hit the wrong button and exit to gain ground in the UK. Mostly, is lacking, mostly due to having applications. It's black too, so you professional writer this was because unless you to conform to the tvOS layout. can see the symbols in low light, and a pretty amateur literally purchased all your media But no 4OD, Demand 5 or ITV and fumbling for the concave electronic musician. from iTunes, it wasn't that good. Player. The lack of Amazon Video button often results in brushing He likes gadgetry and There were precious few is less unexpected, but annoying the touchpad. loves making gadgets applications built into it, and if all the less. Luckily, Plex and VLC Apple won't give up on the do things they were you wanted to play anything are available, meaning you can Apple TV hardware or the tvOS other than Apple-approved at least get access to your own platform, but being six months in never designed to do content, you had to iOS jailbreak media without jumping through and still not having three of the it. Apple did listen, though, and a ton of hoops, though again the basic terrestrial VOD apps – apps six months ago it released the interface is dictated by tvOS (here already on the iOS platform – fourth version of the unit, and the it's not too annoying). does not bode well at all. Were first major update: this was the Games and other apps have the ATV4 a console, owners first Apple TV with… built in been an interesting distraction, would be wondering if it has memory. Just kidding, it was apps with some genuinely fun titles been abandoned. That we still (and memory, technically). With on the platform, such as Lumino have to put on the Now TV box the iOS-based tvOS platform City, Alto's Adventure and – a box a tenth of the price – to bursting with software, this Oceanhorn. The problem here watch them is a pretty poor show. looked like the ATV4 could finally is not that they are difficult to It hasn't been sold yet, but with be the best of both worlds: TV play with the remote; they're not the thrill of apps unfulfilled, the box and iOS device. Is it? bad at all, though it's no joypad. Fire TV stick is looking increasingly In our house, we have been No, the problem is that they more attractive. media player curious for many were launch titles, and while the years, from media centre PCs amount of subsequent releases a decade ago to Xbox 360 has been reasonable, very few extenders and WDTV hacking have lived up to their quality. – it's all been done. Recently, You rarely find some of the the media player of choice has more successful titles been a hacked Now TV box, as or big name games I was told media boxes need coming to the ATV4, to be more other half friendly or if they do, it's a long – preferably easy to use and time after their standard not require hacking or network iOS release. The rest of faffing. While the Now TV was the titles are frankly not okay, it wasn't powerful, nor much better than smart TV did it have Netflix. When the padding apps. Apple TV appeared, it offered Talking of the remote, a recognised name, an easy UI other than its attractive and, on release, both Netflix and design, it isn't living room Now TV. Plus there was the BBC or low-light friendly. The Mobile

7070 IssueIssue14 119112 Intel Inside The Classroom

Andrew Unsworth says teachers are assisted by some great technologies

’ve spent the last few weeks used Intel Learning Studio, please learning how to use a VLE covering the use of computer write in and let us know what requires an initial investment of technology in education, and you think of it. time and energy to understand it II want to continue that for and become proficient in its use, this week’s column. It may not Virtual Learning but once that investment has be hardware exactly, but a few Environment been made, the benefits can be months ago, Intel announced Although the Intel Learning tapped and the skills transferred something called the Intel Studio is designed to be used by to other VLEs. Learning Studio. This is a tool teachers as part of their ongoing I think it’s also worth Andrew Unsworth has that seeks to help teachers professional development, I pointing out that virtual been writing about improve the learning of their can’t help but be reminded of a learning environments aren’t charges through the use of classroom tool that first started a replacement for the teacher technology for several gaming or 'gamification' to to make headway in schools (or or good, effective teaching years, he's handy with borrow the exact term used by my school at least) around nine skills. The material provided by a spanner, and his Intel. Gamification is a horrible years ago in 2007. The tool in teachers through virtual learning handshaking skills word, but much like 'selfie', it’s question is the virtual learning environments is analogous to the are second to none become part of the modern environment (VLE), and it’s a type photocopied tests and handouts lexicon, so I apologise in of server-based software that given to those of us educated

advance for using it. allows teachers to design and in the 80s and 90s, except that Hardware Back to Intel Learning Studio: create virtual lessons that pupils VLEs allow greater interaction and Intel has teamed up with can access from computers at support for teachers and pupils. Arizona State University and home or at school. These lessons That’s it for educational Professor Sasha Barab of the can contain images, hyperlinks, technology, for the present time Center for Games and Impact to text, radio buttons and all sorts at least. I hope the last few produce a platform for teachers of other components to create weeks have been interesting. that teaches them how to use engaging lessons, and especially I haven’t been able to cram as gamification to enhance the for creating homework. much detail into the 600-or-so education of their pupils. Intel’s There was some hostility word limit of this column as I press release (tinyurl.com/ towards such systems infiltrating would’ve liked, but hopefully it’s gwkubvh) says “The demand the classroom at my school, but given some food for thought and for gamification and game- to be fair VLEs must have seemed some hope and reassurance that infused learning methods is threatening to those who didn’t computer technology is improving growing”, and that the Intel ‘get on’ with modern technology. the education of this and future Learning Studio platform’s As with any new technology, generations of schoolchildren. lessons “are designed for inquiry-based teaching and learning, and will give teachers the resources and information to develop collaboration, problem-solving and inquisitive learning in a playful way in the classroom.” I’m sceptical by nature, and I have my reservations about the Intel Learning Studio, but I understand the intuition behind it, and if Intel’s approach can instil a desire to seek knowledge in pupils, then that’s a good thing. If you’re a teacher who has

IssueIssue14 119412 7171 Specialists

Future Shock Ryan Lambie has loved videogames since he first stared up in awe at Devolver has released some of the best indie games of the past few years, and its a Galaxian arcade future offerings, which include the cyberpunk shooter Ruiner, look just as good cabinet in his local chip shop. 28 years on, Ryan writes about gaming for This week, Ryan checks out some of the forthcoming games Micro Mart. He’s still from Devolver Digital, and takes a look at how Blizzard’s addicted to chips and still useless at Galaxian Project Titan gave rise to Overwatch...

Plug & Play 2 and Dying Light. Inspired by and Quake. First announced In the space of just seven years, such cyberpunk touchstones last year, Strafe was amusingly Devolver Digital has established as Blade Runner, Akira and described by its creator as itself as one of the industry’s Neuromancer, Ruiner is an “the goriest shooter of 1996,” best independent publishers. isometric shooter set in a dark which provides a suggestion Picking up games from such future city of gleaming towers of the kind of retro, pared- diverse places as Croatia, and garish neon signs. Casting back action we can expect. Sweden and Japan, Devolver the player as a masked, Its graphics are blocky and has an eye for vibrant, creative impossibly agile assassin its AI simple, but like those games in all kinds of genres. fighting a shady outfit called shooters of old, Strafe is sold Starting with the Serious Sam Heaven, it’s a hectic-looking on its pace, flow and dramatic HD games in 2009, the firm blaster in the mould of Dead showers of pixellated gibs. grabbed plenty of attention Nation or Hyper Light Drifter. Continuing the retro theme, with the violent and wildly From the little we’ve seen so Devolver also has Mother addictive top-down shooter far, Ruiner’s depiction of a Russia Bleeds lined up. If you Hotline Miami. The product dystopian cyber-city looks quite can imagine what it would be of a tiny core team of two stunning. Like Bulldog’s classic like if the makers of Hotline designers, the game’s glowing Syndicate, Ruiner provides Miami made a side-scrolling reviews and widespread press the illusion of a metropolis, brawler in the vein of Double coverage belied its humble which goes about its business Dragon or Final Fight, you’ll origins. Other great games independently of the player – have some idea of the grimy, picked up by Devolver have until, that is, the gun-blazing, gratuitous (and not entirely so far included the disturbing sword-swinging action kicks in, serious) combat coming up point-and-click adventure Gods and all hell breaks loose. here. A stage presented at Will Be Watching, bonkers We don’t yet know what else last year’s E3 shows the player dating simulator Hatoful – if anything – Ruiner will bring punching and kicking their way Boyfriend and the cerebral, besides its action. Light RPG into a nightclub; the gameplay eerie first-person puzzler The elements, perhaps? Hacking doesn’t exactly look strategic, Talos Principle. mini-games? Whatever but like the arcade hits Mother Devolver’s eclectic taste is Reikon’s game will entail, Russia Bleeds references, it just as in evidence in its other its fleet-footed mayhem has should be perfect for short, forthcoming releases. First, already grabbed our attention. sharp bursts of old-school fun. there’s Ruiner, the debut title Looking further ahead, Ruiner and Mother Russia from Polish studio Reikon – a Devolver has Strafe lined up, Bleeds are both due out in team composed of veterans a first-person shooter directly 2016, with Strafe scheduled from such games as Witcher inspired by the likes of Doom for 2017. Gaming

7272 IssueIssue 1412 1229 GAMING

nevertheless shares some even when it first came out. similarities. The studio’s story Released in 1989, it was a developer, Chris Metzen, single-screen shooter that admitted as much at BlizzCon pitched one or two players in 2014, when he said that against an army of giant the two projects share certain bubbles. The aim was to elements in common, with blast the bubbles with a Overwatch reusing some of strange gun that resembled Titan’s map designs. a grappling hook; the Overwatch was Kaplan and weapon required careful aim his team’s attempt to make and expert timing, since its “something really fun,” and projectile moved slowly and the reaction to the game so took time to reload. Far more far suggests they’ve hit that entertaining than it sounds, target – no mean feat, given Pang was widely ported that it’s Blizzard’s first foray to home computers and into FPS territory. Meanwhile, consoles, and became a fondly we can’t help wondering what remembered hit. Titan was like and why it was Thanks to DotEmu and cancelled after so many years Pastagames, the bubble-blaster of work was put into it. At is back with Pang Adventures. one time, a Blizzard executive Once again a frothy mix of said that Titan would “blow Space Invaders and Asteroids, people’s minds”. Now, it looks it really comes to life when a as though this once huge second player joins the fray. project will remain forever Younger readers will probably under lock and key. scowl at it; for those who Overwatch launches on remember the original game, Blizzard’s MMORPG Project Titan “failed horrifically”, designer Jeff Kaplan 24th May. Pang Adventures may just says. Fortunately, it gave rise to the far less horrific shooter Overwatch trigger a wave of misty-eyed Incoming nostalgia. Online "You had these people Pang was one of those games Pang Adventures is available After years in development, who either came from other that seemed a bit quaint now from Steam. Blizzard’s eagerly awaited companies or from within first-person shooter Overwatch Blizzard,” Kaplan continued, launches later this month. “and were used to working As longtime readers of these on games that were very pages will know, the game’s successful like a World Of history has already been a long Warcraft, for example. To and unusual one: Overwatch go through such a complete emerged from the ashes of and utter failure is very hard Project Titan, an MMORPG for people who are used to that many speculated would experiencing success.” be the successor to World When the plug was Of Warcraft. The top-secret ultimately pulled on Titan – project was in the works for leaving the team with “the at least seven years before its smoking pile of a cancelled abrupt cancellation in 2014; at project”, as Kaplan puts it – the time, all Blizzard boss Mike the pressure was on to create a Morhaime would say was, “We success out of that failure. didn’t find the fun.” "We saw it as a last chance," In an April interview with Kaplan continued. “We use Gamespot, however, designer the phrase often, 'You’re only Jeff Kaplan opened up a little as good as your last game,' so more about Titan and how you don’t get big headed […] its failure ultimately led to my most recent game was an the very different Overwatch. utter failure called Titan that According to Kaplan, Titan got cancelled.” “failed horrifically in every Work on Overwatch way a project can fail” – began as a result, a game despite the best efforts of that, although very different some of Blizzard’s most from the MMORPG Kaplan The 80s bubble-bursting action game Pang is making a welcome return. Pang talented designers. was originally overseeing, Adventures is available now on Steam, and looks just as colourful as ever

Issue 1412 73 Index AD INDEX

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78 Issue 1412 Please mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts Classifieds

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Generally a good 160GB 3½" desktop hard drive. required please email or call me all round system from £100 +p&p all round system specm can be IDE and SATA clean pull (little to for a price might also have laptops price on changed if required please email no use) no bad sectors tested all Tel: David (01616) 888119 request please email or call me or call me for prices. you need to do is plug in. £20 +p&p Email: [email protected] for more information Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: David (01616) 888119 please email or call for more info. Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: David (01616) 888119 Retired PC for sale, will split Email: [email protected] if no taker for whole. Antec Motherboard Bundle 2.4Ghz Windows 7 Computers Fresh Sonata case, Asus P5Q LGA775 AMD Athlon XP 32bit CPU install of Windows 7 this Laptop RAM 2x1GB PC3-8500 motherboard, Core 2 duo E8400 512MB Ram 5xpci 2IDE LAN Computer great for gaming, office DDR3 1067MHz pulled form a sound good for gaming, office CPU w. Freezer 7 pro (and work, surfing the net, watching working Macbook pro but can work, surfing the net, watching unused stock cooler), 4GB Patriot movies generally a good all round be used in other laptops. The movies generally a good all PC2-6400 C4 Viper RAM, Nvidea system from £150 +p&p might quickest way to boost you laptop round system spec can slightly be GT 440 1GB GPU. Just £80 plus also have laptops price on request speed please email or call me for changed if required please email free LED monitor, keyboard and please email or call me for info. a price or call me for a price mouse if collected. Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: David (01616) 888119 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Issue 1412 79 Classifieds Please mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts

PS/2 Keyboard. These are standard IDE CD ROM Disk Drives Socket 370 CPUs Intel. PC Desktop Ram (DIMM) keyboards please email or call me Different colours/white/black all Different speeds, all tested and Memory: Siemens PC100 - for more information tested and fully working £10 +p&p working. Please let me know 222- 620 16M x 64 SDRAM. Tel: David (01616) 888119 please email or call me for more info what kind of speed you are HYS64V16222GU-8 Only £8. Email: [email protected] Tel: David (01616) 888119 looking for I will try and match Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Email: [email protected] up as close as possible please Email: [email protected] PC gaming hardware. I have 1x email or call me for a price. force feedback steering wheel 1x 20" HP LP2065 LCD monitor. Tel: David (01616) 888119 Webcam (Trust Spacecam). force feedback joystick 1x normal High res 1200 x 1600. Couple of Email: [email protected] Boxed with CD of installation joystick lots of game pads please USB 2.0 ports, ideal for connecting software and manual. Perfect email or call me for a price a mouse and keyboard. Also has 2x ATX PSUs.I got lots of these of condition. £10. Tel: David (01616) 888119 DVI ports. One dead pixel in upper different types and wattage all tested Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Email: [email protected] left rnco er. Hardly noticeable. No and working please let me know Email: [email protected] other defects. Perfect upgrade from what you are looking for I will try Laptops different specs please and match up as close as possible Fans different sizes and types older 17 or 19” model. Just £40! let me know what you are looking please email or call me for a price. please email or call me for a price Tel: Ian Matthew (01132) 629028 for or what you will be using it for Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: David (01616) 888119 Email: [email protected] and i will let you i know what i have Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] please email or call me for info Floppy Disk Drives white black AT Keyboard. These are standard Tel: David (01616) 888119 AMD PHENOM 905E. Socket silver all working £10 +p&p please keyboards please email or call me Email: [email protected] AM3CPU in perfect working order email or call me for more info for more information and cosmetic condition. 65W TDP, Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: David (01616) 888119 Laptop Hard Disk Drive. Fujitsu. Email: [email protected] so it runs cool. 2.5ghz. 6mb cache. Email: [email protected] 20GB. Excellent condition: £10.00. Bare chip only. Will send recorded Socket 939 CPUs AMD. Four of Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 PCI GFX VGA cards I got lots of delivery.£43 inc. postage. these of different speeds all tested Email: [email protected] these of different brands all tested Tel: (02088) 899344 and working please let me know Email: [email protected] and working please let me know what you are looking for I will try Western Digital Cavier SE what you are looking for I will try and match up as close as possible Desktop Hard Disk Drive 160GB. As New/Unused PCCHIPS and match up as close as possible please email or call me for a price Perfect condition. Only £10 please email or call me for a price M811LU R3.1. Box scruffy Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Tel: David (01616) 888119 but contents are new/unused. Email: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Contents Motherboard/cableset/ Email: [email protected] backplate/cd driver disk. 7 day Motherboard Bundle 3.33Ghz warranty. Socket A/462. £25 NVIDIA AGP 128MB Graphics NVIDIA AGP 128MB Graphics intel 64 bit CPU 1gb Ram including recorded delivery. Video Card; model number P162 Video Card; model number P162 (max4gb) 3pci agp 2IDE 2SATA Tel: (02088) 899344 £3 plus postage. (untested) £3 plus postage. (untested) 8usb ports LAN sound Great for Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] gaming, office work, surfing the net, watching movies generally a SSD 120 GB. Sandisk Plus Solid Sound cards i got lots of these Netgear; RangeMax DG834PN good all round system spec can state hard drive. SATA 3 – 6GB/s. of PCI and ISA types all tested & WPN824 routers. No Cables or slightly be changed if required. Perfect. Very fast drive. Only two and working please let me know adaptors. £5 plus postage for the email or call for a price months old and never used. Free what you are looking for i will try pair. (untested). Tel: David (01616) 888119 delivery. PayPal accepted. £36. and match up as close as possible Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] please email or call me for a price Email: [email protected] Tel: David (01616) 888119 D-Link DWL-G510 Wireless LAN Toshiba Satellite Pro A210 Laptop. RADIOACTIVE FAIR - Civic Email: [email protected] 54Mbps Low Pro PCI Network AMD Dual Core 1.90GHz CPU. Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire, Interface Card £2 + P&P (untested) CW55DG. Sunday 14th Feb 2016. 35x Ram modules: mostly Email: [email protected] 3GB RAM. 120GB SSD Drive. Wifi. Computers, Electronics, Ham Kingston 133x64cs 258mb (168 Windows 7 Ultimate. Office 2007. Radio. ~100 Traders, Catering, pin) and a few 128mb and 512mb HP Compaq NX7010 Laptop. Very BitDefender 2015 AV. £95 ovno. Free Parking. Sun 14 Feb. Trade modules as well. Only £30 inc pp so good all round condition. Comes Tel: Paul (01564) 200162 enquiries, Roger Reeves less than £1 per module! (untested) with a new charger. 60gb H.D. 2 Email: [email protected] Tel: (07747) 618131 Email: [email protected] G.B. Ram. £60.00 o.v.n.o. Web: www.radioactivefair.co.uk Tel: (01726) 61355 Dell Latitude E5410 i5 (very LAN network cards. Various PCI Email: [email protected] fast) 2.4, 4gb ram, 160 gb Like new hardly used Mac Mini. and ISA types wired and wireless Hard drive DVDRW fantastic 2014, w/ upgraded storage to all tested and working please let me Toshiba L450 laptop. 2.1 condition. Cheaper than any 128GB SSD. i5 3rd generation and know what you are looking for I will ghz -2gb ram windows 7 on Ebay. Very good battery life. 4GB RAM, Optional Bluetooth try and match up as close as possible home premium 64bit- plastic You can collect from Manchester keyboard. £360 text/email. please email or call me for a price backspace button missing £50 or Portsmouth or I can courier Tel: (07950) 298812 Tel: David (01616) 888119 inclusive of post out to you next day for an extra Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] £10. Please call or email for any

80 Issue 1412 Please mention Micro Mart when replying to adverts Classifieds questions. It has Window 7 64 HARDWARE WANTED PCB design software. 127 layers, bit installed and activated with a schematic entry, PCB entry, PCB IMPORTANT genuine certificate of authenticity Trying to breathe life back to Gerber file converter, output to BUYING ADVICE Bargain price ONLY £124 into an old machine? Why printer. £9.99 Tel: Dave Thomas (07828) 982930 or not submit a wanted ad to Tel: Nigel Wright (07967) 527693 (01942) 706571 MicroMartClassifiedAdverts@ Email: [email protected] We work very hard to Email: [email protected] gmail.com and see if any of police our classified the thousands of computer Microsoft Office 2013. Original ads, and make them Gigabyte Z68X-UD3P-B3 enthusiasts who read the Software only £100. motherboard with Core i5 2300 magazine each week have what Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 as secure as possible. AND 8GB 1333Mhz RAM. All you’re looking for? E-mail: [email protected] However, please do you need is a HDD, case and PSU. your bit too and use the Very reliable. Runs XP up to 10. WANTED: Tape drive backup. Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 Standard. following guidelines: Drivers included. All for £175! Either DAT320 or later generation Runs under Windows 8, 7, Vista Tel: Ian Matthew (01132) 629028 LTO system in good condition. or XP. Original CD with unused Email: [email protected] Please contact me. product key £7.50 • Never - NEVER - pay by Tel: (07949) 407022 Email: tape.20. Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 56kb Fax Modem External. £10. bank transfer or post out cash, [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 unless you know the trader Email: [email protected] WANTED: You bought a Corsair Nuance Omnipage 18. OCR; already, or are sure it is okay water cooler, with a square Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP, Original to do so. Pay by cheque, Paypal, Laptop DDR2 RAMJust ask what block. You fitted it to your Intel CD with unused product key £25. you want pulled from a working Nochex etc wherever possible. processor. You want to make Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 laptops this is the quickest way a few pounds from the spare Email: [email protected] to boost your laptop speed please A.M.D. bits? Contact me! • Be wary of anyone who insists email or call me for a price. Email: [email protected] Acronis True Image Home 2012. on you paying by the above Tel: David (01616) 888119 Bootable CD. Application runs methods if in doubt, get us Email: [email protected] under Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP. WANTED: Gigabyte GA-Z77X- to check them out by mailing D3H motherboard wanted. Original Acronis CD with unused Brand new USB brackets Add product key £5. [email protected] Email: [email protected] 2 extra USB2 ports to your Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 computer at little cost and very Email: [email protected] simple to fit cable connect onto WANTED: PC Tower case • Keep copies of all (beige colour if possible) to the motherboard and uses a spare Norton Family Premier 2.0. Runs correspondence rehome an Amiga A1200 slot on the back of your computer under Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP, vintage computer. The Amiga no drivers required please email Original Symantec unused motherboard is H 410mm x L • When sending out goods, at or call me for a price product key £15. 190mm (H 16" x L 7.5"). PSU not the least obtain a certificate of Tel: David (01616) 888119 Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 an issue but if available 250 watt Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] posting from the Post Office more than enough. Western Digital Cavier SE Tel: Bill (07742) 061569 or If you are in any doubt, Desktop Hard Disk Drive 160GB. (02641) 769503. SOFTWARE WANTED Perfect condition. Only £10 feel free to send us a mail WANTED: 3G dongle for Archos Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Good Text to Speech program via editorial@micromart. 80 G9 tablet. Email: [email protected] WinXP or 7 to read ebooks aloud co.uk. PC Desktop Ram (DIMM) Email: [email protected] for a pensioner with few resources. Memory. Siemens PC100 - Tel: Wilf James (01767) 699809 222- 620 16M x 64 SDRAM. SOFTWARE FOR SALE Every year, thousands of HYS64V16222GU-8 Only £8. Wanted: PictureToExe software, for successful transactions Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 making picture shows. take place through our E-mail: [email protected] Sim City 2000: Boxed and original. Tel: (01202) 610602 classifieds, and that's just Classic gaming. £15.00 Email: [email protected] Netgear DGND3700-100UKS Tel: Gordon (01314) 660205 Email: how we like it. Gigabit Dual Band WiFi ADSL2+ [email protected] Wanted: Quicken 2001. I Router. UK N600 Wireless Gigabit desperately require a copy of Help us help you Modem Router. Five Gigabit Adobe Photoshop Elements QUICKEN 2001, UK Edition. keep them one of the Ethernet ports, two USB2 ports and Premiere Elements 12 I need to reinstall the program safest and most secure PLUS an ADSL2+ port. Comes Full Version - Windows/Mac. but have lost my original in original packing with Ethernet Original Boxed CD with unused installation CD. places to buy and sell cable, ADSL filter and cable product key. £47.50 Email: [email protected] computer kit. Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 Tel: Ian (01932) 856971 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Issue 1412 81 Bitdefender Free? lock until you create an account. with Bitdefender going ASK I've read in your magazine that Once you do this, the program forward, you may want to try Bitdefender is free for home will work again as normal – the aforementioned Avast, AARON use, as well as being a very again, I reiterate that no money as this is a good free security good antivirus application. As needs to change hands. app. Be aware, however, that I ran into problems with my If you still have the program you need to register to use previous antivirus application installed, simply follow the link that program too, but it costs (AVG), I decided to take in the program's interface and no money. This registration your advice and downloaded Bitdefender to try. We were correct with regard I installed it, and have been  using it for a while. Initially, I agreed with you and found to Bitdefender's free status. The the program to be very good. It seemed to offer good program itself is free protection and stopped a few threats to my system – and  it didn't interfere with other apps, remaining mostly silent. register. Once you're done, has to be renewed each year, It also didn't slow my system Windows won't worry about but that's free too. down as much as others. a lack of protection any more, Then I ran into a problem and Bitdefender will operate Bitdefender's free edition is just that contradicted your advice. as normal. If, for some reason, that, but you need to register for The program stopped working you decide not to continue an account and Windows warned me that I had no anvtivirus protection. I opened up Bitdefender which Meet Aaron Birch. said it was deactivated and needed me to sign up for a He’s here to help you Bitdefender account. I do not with any general want to do this, as I wanted upgrading, software a free antivirus application, and system building which you said this was. problems. He’s got Why did you inform readers that Bitdefender is free when advice aplenty and it's not? I'm left without a you’re very much decent antivirus program welcome to it! now, and am not sure which alternative to try, and if they'll actually be free. Send your questions to: Aaron Birch Micro Mart Graham Dennis Publishing 30 Cleveland Street Thanks for your question London Graham. While I apologise for W1T 4JD any misunderstanding here, we were correct with regard to Contact Aaron by email at: Bitdefender's free status. The [email protected] program itself is free but, like Please try to keep your many other similar programs queries brief and limit (including another that we them to just one question recommend, Avast), you are per letter, simply so we required to register and create can squeeze in as many as we can each week. Please an account to use it in the include relevant technical long term. This doesn't cost information too. any money, and although it's worded in the program in a way that suggests the need to spend money, this isn't the case. The program can be used for a limited time without Aaron registration, but after this, it'll

82 Issue 1412 THE EXPERTS

Cyclic And Redundant With multiple discs experiencing the issue, I suspect your I've been experiencing problems reading discs on my PC. It's not problem lies with your actual disc drive. It could be the laser of happening to one disc, but several, and each time it happens I the drive that's at fault, either because of dirt or malfunction. get a cyclic redundancy error message. I've never seen this error You could try a disc drive cleaner, or, if you're not worried about before, and have no idea what it means. Well, aside from it tinkering, you could open the drive up and use some cleaning preventing me from using my discs. fluid on a cotton bud to clean the laser manually. Always be very Can you tell me what this error means, and how I an fix it? I'd gentle when doing this, though. like to be able to use my discs, as some of them are great older Failing this, the drive itself could be faulty, and you may need to games I miss playing. replace it. If you have a spare, fit this and give it a go, or simply try the discs you wish to use in another PC. You can buy new disc Pete drives for a very low price these days, and a quick look online will net you many different models. This is an error I've not seen for a long time, and it can relate If any readers are getting the error when using hard disks, to both optical and internal storage. The full name is Cyclic the same kind of fixes apply, although cleaning a hard disk isn't Redundancy Check, or CRC for short, and it's a data verification something you can easily do, at least not without damaging the method used to check the integrity of data. Basically, it means hardware. However, there is a software tool you can use that may that the expected data cannot be read into memory, and help, and this is CHKDSK, short for Check Disk. Windows is unable to continue the operation it's performing. In To use this, right-click the drive in question and select Properties your case, this is reading data from the discs. During the read > Tools > Error Checking > Check Now. Run an advanced scan operation, the raw data is unable to be read or be validated and let if go. It could take a while, depending on the size of the properly, prompting the error. Fixing it can be easy in some drive. Scanning the main OS drive will need a reboot. You can instances, but in others it's difficult, and may require the also run CHKDSK from the command prompt. To do this, open purchase of new hardware. up a command prompt and type 'chkdsk /f C:' replacing C with You mention that not one, but several discs are prompting the another drive letter if needed. error, which would point to either a big coincidence, or a problem When the scan is finished you'll be given a report, and if able, with your disc drive. A common cause of the issue that's easily CHKDSK will fix the errors. If it cannot fix these, the damage may solved is dirt build up on the disc, and a good clean can help. A be too great, and you may be out of luck. You could try third disc may also be scratched, so fixing it may not be quite as easy, party tools, but be aware that any physical damage is unlikely to but a simple clean could help if the scratches aren't too severe. If be fixed by software, so don't expect miracles. the scratch is too deep, though, the disc may need professional repair, or replacement. Check disk is a useful Windows tool that can help find and fix errors

Issue 1412 83 Access Denied? Windows Explorer). You’ll get a If you do need more time, ASK My MacBook Pro has died. drive letter, Brad, just as normal. consider HFSExplorer: goo.gl/ It dates from 2007, so I can Both reading and writing ‘just iaMCWN. This only offers read JASON hardly complain, I guess. For work’, even from within other access, but to be fair, writing its replacement I’ve gone to programs. You’ll completely to the HFS+ drive isn’t on the the dark side and bought a forget you’re accessing a non- agenda in your case. All you cheap laptop running Windows native drive. The software’s fast, need to do is copy the relevant 10, but now I’m faced with compatible with XP onwards, data and write it to your retrieving my data from the and even supports GPT drives, Windows drive. Unlike HFS+ for Apple machine’s hard drive. I’d not just traditional MBR drives. Windows, however, HFSExplorer not considered that this would It’s a beautiful thing. does launch its own file manager be a problem, but Windows Beauty usually comes at a (the drive won’t be inaccessible doesn’t recognise the drive at price, of course, and so it proves in any other program). It’s a all. How can I access it? here. HFS+ for Windows costs nasty-looking thing. Operation $19.95 (a little under £14). is pretty sluggish too, largely Brad, Gmail However, there’s a trial that because the program’s written lasts ten days. No limitations. in Java. There’s one big positive, OS X uses the HFS+ file system No catches. I imagine you only though: it’s gratis. (typically), not NTFS or FAT32, want to back up a few folders, so ordinarily Windows hasn’t a so you’ll probably not even need z clue what to do with it. What ten hours. Here’s the link: goo. How easy is it to access Apple you’re after is a tool that’ll act gl/CIEPxL. HFS+ drives in Windows? as a go-between. In my view, by far the best is Paragon HFS+ for Windows. It’s one of those very rare tools that, without any fuss, frills or fanfare, does exactly what it’s supposed to. Meet Jason For starters, there’s no kludgy, D’Allison, a veteran unintuitive, reinventing-the- of Micro Mart’s panel wheel file manager. Paragon’s of experts. He’s here software simply hooks into to help with any Windows’ own File Explorer (or technical questions, including anything to do with tablets or smartphones, as well as PCs A Bit Of TLC For any given capacity, an MLC drive requires I own a Toshiba Satellite C850-1MC laptop. It only half as many cells as an SLC drive, and a TLC Send your questions to: works well enough but isn’t the nippiest of things, drive drops this to a third (or two-thirds as many Jason D’Allison so I want to fit an SSD in place of the spinner. I’m as an MLC drive). Clearly, manufacturers can use Micro Mart considering the 240GB Toshiba Q300, available for MLC and TLC technologies to offer big capacities Dennis Publishing under £50. The spinner is a 500GB unit, but about at reasonable prices or mainstream capacities at 30 Cleveland Street 350GB is still empty, so a 240GB SSD should be dirt-cheap prices. MLC technology is the single London W1T 4JD enough. I’ve been advised, though, that the Q300 reason why SSDs took off with end-users in the is TLC-based – whatever that means – and should first place, and TLC technology is why SSDs can Contact Jason by email at: be avoided. What are your thoughts? now be found even in bargain-bucket products. [email protected] As ever, there are downsides. In general, the J Cook, Kent higher the bit-density, the lower the durability. While we try to cover as many NAND cells can only handle a certain number of questions as we can, we regret Yes, the Toshiba Q300 range is TLC-based. But as program/erase or P/E cycles – write cycles – before that Jason cannot answer your you say, what does that mean? Well, the NAND packing up. Broadly, SLC cells are good for about questions personally, but he’ll cover flash used in SSDs comes in three flavours. With 100,000 cycles, MLC cells for about 3,000–10,000, as many as he possibly can each SLC or single-level-cell NAND, each cell stores just and TLC drives for about 1,000. week. Please ask one question per letter and remember to include the one bit of data. We’re talking binary, so the bit can SLC drives are intended for server-type use, full specification of your computer, be either ‘on’ or ‘off’, storing either 0 (0) or 1 (1). where huge quantities of data will be written including its operating system. With MLC or multi-level-cell NAND, each cell stores on a daily basis. They’re expensive and often two bits of data. This leads to 00 (0), 01 (1), 10 (2), low-capacity. High-end consumer drives are MLC- or 11 (3). And then there’s TLC or triple-level-cell based, while drives on the bottom rung tend to be NAND, where each cell stores (wait for it!) three bits TLC-based. There are also enterprise MLC or eMLC of data, granting 000 (0), 001 (1), 010 (2), 011 (3), drives, which use MLC cells rated for 20,000– Jason 100 (4), 101 (5), 110 (6), or 111 (7). 30,000 P/E cycles.

84 Issue 13611412 THE EXPERTS

Does this mean TLC drives are prone to early failure? No. Wear-levelling algorithms ensure no cells are written to significantly more than any others, and most of the activity on consumer SSDs is reading, not writing. Reading doesn’t impact on lifespan. It’s estimated that a 240GB TLC- based SSD sustaining 10GB of writes per day – far more than most of us will rack up – should last for over 20 years (smaller capacities tend to have shorter lifespans). Worry not! The other factor is performance, of course. In theory, SLC-based drives are the fastest, though many focus on reliability rather than speed. On paper, the specs of TLC drives often look similar to those of MLC drives, but the reality is usually a different story. Consider the specs below.

240GB Toshiba Q300 (TLC) Sequential read: 550MB/s The only TLC-based SSDs that match the performance of MLC-based SSDs are Samsung’s Evo models Sequential write: 520MB/s (and the prices reflect this, sadly) Random read (4KB, QD32): 86,000 IOPS Random write (4KB, QD32): 73,000 IOPS in-class affair and turns in real-world OCZ drives, now that Toshiba has taken OCZ numbers pretty close to those advertised. over). For under £50, the 240GB model is a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro (MLC) The Q300, on the other hand, is only half steal. Just be aware of what you’re buying. Sequential read: 550MB/s as good at best (especially when writing Would the 256GB 850 Pro give you a better Sequential write: 520MB/s for long periods). experience? Well, possibly, marginally. Is it Random read (4KB, QD32): 100,000 Does this mean you should give the Q300 worth more than double the money? For Random write (4KB, QD32): 90,000 range a wide berth? Not a bit of it. You’ll most users, I’d suggest not. still be getting performance far in excess Now look at this review on AnandTech: of any spinner, and reliability-wise Toshiba Note – Toshiba’s Q300 Pro range is MLC- goo.gl/YLzRhs. The 850 Pro is a best- SSDs are proving to be rock-solid (as are based. The 256GB model costs around £90.

Slots Of Fun in HD Graphics? Definitely. Would you be able to game? Yes, but only I’d like to upgrade the small-form-factor PC I built a couple of years at modest settings. Only you know whether that’s good enough or ago. It’s got a mini-ITX MSI C847IS-P33, 4GB of DDR3, and a soldered whether you’d be better off building a new PC. Celeron 847. It’s also got a PCIe x1 graphics slot. And that’s the rub, as I want to do a bit of gaming. Can I fit a graphics card? Do PCIe x1 What on earth is it? cards exist?

Alex Collins, Gmail

Yes, you can fit a graphics card, Alex. I could be wrong, but I think the fastest PCIe x1 model available is Zotac’s 1GB GeForce GT 730 (PCIe 2.x). It’s not exactly popular, but it’s currently listed on Amazon, priced at around £55. That’s pretty competitive with ‘normal’ GT 730s. I can’t give any guarantee about performance, but you may find this test at TechPowerUp rather illuminating: goo.gl/oLihN9. Here, a GeForce GTX 980 is run over PCIe 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x and at x16, x8, and x4. In most games, there’s only a marginal difference in performance across the whole lot and, at worst, in some recent titles at 4K, the PCIe 1.x x4 configuration falls away only by around 25%. Astonishing. Now, your MSI’s PCIe 2.x x1 slot provides half the bandwidth of a PCIe 1.x x4 slot, but that may not matter – the GT 730 is hardly a speed demon to begin with. And your Celeron 847 might prove a bottleneck. Yes, it’s a dual-core Sandy Bridge affair, but at 1.1GHz it’s a bit of a sloth. Sorry! Would a GT 730 give you better numbers than the built-

Issue 1412 85 Crowdfunding Corner

Portability is the way computing and its accessories are going now, so it’s always good if hardware is wireless – and whether that’s a battery charger or a pair of headphones, Kickstarter can help you

Jiffy Charger Truu Earbuds Charging devices isn’t always easy at short notice. Remembering The way wireless technology has improved means it’s now possible to carry a battery pack can help, but you don’t always have the to fit both wireless charging and wireless receivers into a unit the time or foresight to charge that in advance. Solar chargers are a size of an earbud. At least that’s what Truu promises. So, if you want nice idea, but in the UK they’re not normally much help. So what headphones that are virtually impossible to see, don’t give away the about this alternative? fact you have a phone on your person and can’t get yanked out by The Jiffy charger is a wind-up power bank which you can mistake, these might be exactly what you need. charge by turning the handle. It’s completely energy independent With built-in Bluetooth and a wireless charging cradle that only design means you can charge anywhere, at any time, as long requires them to be placed on it, these earbuds need never see a cable. as you’ve got the ability to turn the handle. It’s unrestricted When not in use, the buds connect to one another using grade N52 by temperature or altitude, and while its USB port allows it magnets, so you won’t lose time searching for them both. Memory compatibility with a huge number of devices already, the multi- foam tips ensure a comfort-led fit for any ear. The battery lasts for USB cable comes with 10 different connectors, so you don’t even five hours of play time, and one even has a built-in bone-conducting have to remember the appropriate leads for your device. All that, microphone so they can be used as a wireless speakerphone. and a USB add-on can turn it into a handy LED-based light source If you’re quick enough you might be able to get a pair of Truu in an emergency. earbuds for €150 (£116), but there should still be pairs available at The charger itself can be received by backing just €25 (£19.50) slightly the less discounted levels of €170 (£132) and €200 (£155) while the LED torch and multi-USB cable add on both cost €5 even if you miss those – the projected retail price is €250 (£194). An (£3.80) each. You can even receive a discount by backing €45 expensive deal for headphones, yes, but that’s the price of sweet, (£35) for two Jiffy chargers! Everything is aiming to ship in cable-free progress. They’ll ship to you in October 2016, assuming August 2016, assuming the target of €25,000 (£19,500) is met they hit the project goal of 50,000 – and since they’re 4/5ths there by the start date. Things look promising. at the time of writing, we don’t expect that to be an issue. URL: kck.st/1VUuJOd URL: http://kck.st/1rBPH7K Funding Ends: Friday, 20th May 2016 Funding Ends: Thursday, 26th May 2016

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!

86 Issue 1412 APP OF THE WEEK App Of The Week Audials Tunebite Platinum

Finally, an app that records, converts and plays everything we want

e’ve looked at a few media Apple Music and others. Likewise, the video conversion and stream recording streaming recording supports Netflix, iTunes, Features At A Glance W utilities in the past, and they’re Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and more; you can • Record audio and video streams all reasonably good. What we haven’t even paste in an unfamiliar URL to record the from many popular sources. found, though, is an app for recording streamed content. • Converts audio and video to and from nearly every streaming service, which The conversion process allows you to add from virtually any format. also offers media conversion and media individual files or folders, simply by dragging • Copies DVDs for backup. playback. Until now. them into the main conversion selection • Fully featured media centre built in. Usually you have to rely on a selection window. It’s a quick and easy process and of apps to get what you want. One for one that supports pretty much every format recording a video stream, another for music, going. Also, there’s also a tool to allow when purchased from the Audials shop at a conversion app to get it in the right format you to make a backup of a DVD and save goo.gl/ijm2E0. to watch or listen to, and then another app the converted content to your PC, a cloud What’s more, Audials has a number to play the content. But there is a better location, a smartphone, a USB device or a of other high-quality products available, solution: Audials Tunebite Platinum. NAS drive. including a media centre and an internet This extensive collection of tools lets you The media centre element is surprisingly radio streaming and recording package. record both music and video streams from good, considering it’s a built-in service. You a host of popular sources, then save the can choose the location of your music and Something For Everyone content and convert it to a huge range of video collection, as well as any other media We’re quite impressed with what Tunebite formats. It also features a media centre, which files. From there, Tunebite Platinum will Platinum has to offer. It’s easy to use, the is optimised for smartphones and supports process the content and present it with the UI is uncluttered and simple to navigate, ID3 tags, album covers and so on. relevant album covers and other metadata. and it’s excellent at recording from all our favourite streaming sources. Tune-in The Audials Collection We’re pretty sure there’s something for The list of features is impressive. The music Audials Tunebite Platinum is a paid-for everyone in here, and it’s not too badly recording covers Spotify, Groove, Deezer, product, but remarkably it only costs £29.90, priced either. mm

The media centre builds your collection, ready for playback Streaming music and recording is extremely easy

Issue 1412 87 Experts were lined up to say, unequivocally, that they had no idea what would happen if a drone entered the engine of a big jet, because nobody was prepared to pay the cost of an engine to find out. They were agree, however, that it certainly wouldn’t be good. Logging What I found curious from the outset was how it was reported that the drone had hit the aircraft, when quite obviously it was the other way around. In general, when a pedestrian is run over by a car, we don’t generally say that they hit the car, do we? It’s a speed thing, because it’s easier for the faster moving object to avoid a collision, surely – unless I’ve got it all wrong, and that hedgehog I saw on the way Off to shopping was intentionally trying to ram oncoming traffic through a fit of environmental rage when he met his untimely demise. So where was the broken drone, and how much damage did the less than iron-clad 1kg device do to the 64,000kg (take-off weight) Airbus A319? The answers to those questions got much less coverage and expert analysis, because examination of the plane revealed no damage, not even scratched paintwork, and no bits of broken drone were located along the flight path. Transport minister Robert Goodwill had this rather less newsworthy statement to make in the commons on the subject, “And indeed the early reports of a dent in the front of the plane ne curse of the modern era is that we tend to were not confirmed – there was no actual damage to the plane, and overanalyse things, and often to the point of there’s indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic complete silliness. Take, for example, a recent story bag or something.” Oabout the Heathrow-bound flight BA727 from Geneva And at that point the buck passing started, as you might reasonably that was reportedly hit by a drone on final approach. This story got expected it to. Mr Goodwin pointed out that “the local police force very widespread coverage on TV news and in the printed press, that tweeted that they had a report of a drone striking an aircraft”, where it was debated with some fervour that the lack of control of handing the complete overreaction duties to the Met – which in turn these devices had led inevitably to this life-threatening encounter. said the pilot “believed a drone had struck the aircraft”.

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88 Issue 14121213 What was revealed at this point was that THIS WEEK'S CROSSWORD numerous people have an agenda regarding Across 3 A portable gun. (7) drones, and they wanted 7 Surface acoustics that travel on 4 A conductor having low resistance this story to be true so much solids. (8,5) in parallel with another device to that they couldn’t resist involving the media when zero 8 Formerly ShBoom and PSC 1000, divert a fraction of the current. (5) concrete evidence existed that anything actually happened. this stack-based RISC microprocessor 5 .tw TLD (6) What’s really annoying about this is that lots of people saw was introduced in 1994. (6) 6 Immediately available in computer and read the initially scary drone story, but I’d contest many 9 An inexperienced newcomer, memory, rather than having to be fewer heard that it was most likely a paper bag. especially in computing. (6) loaded from elsewhere. (8) However, I haven’t seen anyone yet demand that all paper 10 Search the internet for instances 11 The branch of mathematics bag users be registered, that they should have technology of one’s own name or links to one’s concerned with the properties and on them to stop them blowing away, or that they should be deployed within a wide radius of airports. But surely it’s just a own website. (7) relations of points, lines, surfaces, matter of time, isn’t it? 12 Conclude by reasoning. (5) solids and higher dimensional And next week, I’ll be discussing knives, and how in a 14 A speech sound made with the analogues. (8) modern society, it’s surely about time they weren’t allowed to vocal tract open. (5) 13 The Japanese art of folding paper be sharp and pointy at one end. 16 The force of attraction between into shapes representing objects. (7) all masses in the universe. (7) 15 In the Ptolemaic system, an 19 Popular name for the cavernous imaginary circle introduced with the Airbus A300-600ST super transporter purpose of reconciling the planetary Mark Pickavance aircraft. (6) movements with the hypothesis of 20 Linux penguin? (6) uniform circular motion. (6) 22 Relating to the distribution or 17 Excessive pride in or admiration of LAST WEEK'S CROSSWORD measurement of grain sizes in sand, one’s own appearance or rock or other deposits. (13) achievements. (6) 18 A live Linux operating system, that Across: 7 Augustus Pugin, 8 Skewed, 9 Exabit, Down is optimised to preserve your privacy 10 Smitane, 12 Cubit, 14 Snark, 16 Leander, 19 Sienna, 1 Charging scheme where you’re and anonymity. (5) 20 Thwack, 22 Interferogram. only debited for the mobile phone 21 The ROM flashing tool for Down: 1 Punk, 2 Outwit, 3 Student, 4 Ashes, 5 Tuvalu, calls you actually make. (Abbr) (4) Samsung Android smartphone and Minimize, 11 Mentions, 13 Reuters, 15 Render, 17 New 6 2 Demands for something as rightful tablet devices. (4) Age, 18 Gaffe, 21 Chat. or due. For example, insurance payments or compensation. (6)

DISCLAIMER awake when they wrote some of The views expressed by the dialogue. For example, in one contributors are not necessarily episode someone mentions using those of the publishers. Every care nanites for some reason, and one is taken to ensure that the contents of the officers asks what nanites of the magazine are accurate but are. Is it just us, or does anyone the publishers cannot accept else think that in the 24th century, responsibility for errors. While pretty much everyone except reasonable care is taken when toddlers should know what nanites accepting advertisements, the are? Of course, such niggles are publishers cannot accept any only the tip of the iceberg. If we responsibility for any resulting really wanted to, we could ask why unsatisfactory transactions. A few anyone walks anywhere on the ship months ago, we started watching when they could just use the Star Trek: The Next Generation transporter. Or why there’s a bar from the beginning. We did have a with waiters when there’s no break for a while, but this week we money and people just need to ask returned to it, to finish season a replicator to get their food and three and begin season four in drink, making the staff redundant. earnest. As much as we love the Or we could just chill out and adventures of Picard and co., we’re watch another episode. Yeah, we not sure the writers were fully think we’ll go with that…

Issue 13581412 89 In Next Week’ s Micro Mart*

Keep your PC safe with security hardware

The best motherboards for overclocking

How the QWERTY keyboard came to be and its PCs And Stuff cats) influence today (including cats)

Plus the usual mix of news, features, reviews and advice

* May be subject to change

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