Will Apple’s Final Cut Pro X update placate the pros?

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Apple’s Final Cut Pro X was received with derision in some circles when it launched last year. Ostensibly it replaced the old version – Final Cut Pro 7 – but in fact it had been rewritten from the ground up. And there were gaping holes.

Erstwhile fans of the application moaned so hard I felt moved to write about the backlash, proponents of which complained about the lack of multicam features, as well as support for previous projects, XML and broadcast monitoring.

Now, Apple says, the free 10.0.3 update has filled in those gaps, fixed what was until now broken, and generally brought the new version up to the same level as before.

(more…)

Switching to Office 365’s Outlook Web App

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

As part of an IT roll-out in the office the entire PC Pro team was moved over to Office 365 last week. For the most part it meant no change at all. After a quick call to IT the morning after the transition to get some some account details adjusted (I’d had no email since 9pm the previous day), I was able to carry on working, using my standard desktop installation of Office 2010, including Outlook, just as normal.

That’s no surprise. After all, Office 365 principally represents a change in the way businesses purchase and manage licenses for Microsoft Office software. From a user perspective, the desktop software – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook – stays the same.

However, we have received one major upgrade – from our old, clunky webmail service to the swanky new Outlook Web App – and it could be about to change the way I work.

(more…)

Amazon Kindle Fire review: first look

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

When Amazon launched the Kindle Fire last year, it made the rather irritating decision not to bring it to the UK at the same time. The rotters didn’t even let us have the Kindle Touch, leaving us with the (admittedly excellent) fourth generation Kindle. If the rumours are to be believed, however, changes are afoot, and with the UK braced to receive Amazon’s latest baby, we’ve managed to get our hands on an import to see what’s what.

(more…)

Ice Cream Sandwich on the Transformer Prime review: first look

Friday, January 13th, 2012

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is currently the pick of the bunch when it comes to Android tablets, but one of its few weaknesses was the lack of the latest version of the OS. Not any more. It’s received its update, so we thought we’d do an update of our own.

You can read about our first encounter with Android 4 – or Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) – in our Samsung Galaxy Nexus review. We were impressed with it, but had a couple of concerns, chiefly concerning the use of soft buttons and the potential waste of valuable screen real estate. That, fortunately, is a non-issue on tablets. We’re already used to it on Honeycomb tablets, and it takes up a negligible amount of room on a 10.1in tablet such as the Prime.

(more…)

The worst tech of 2011

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

There’s nothing more exciting than getting your hands on the latest technology. Occasionally, though, a product comes along that falls completely flat, or has a fatal flaw; a product that really should never have got past the design stage in the first place, let alone into the factory and onto the shelves.

You might think we hated these products, but in their own inimitable way they’re just as fun to write about as the market leaders. So, for your delectation and ours, we’ve compiled our favourites from the past 12 months: the PC Pro rogues gallery…

(more…)

Sony Reader Wi-Fi review: in-depth first look

Friday, September 30th, 2011

The announcement of the new Amazon Kindles caused all manner of excitement in the PC Pro office this week, until we realised Amazon actually had no plans to release the most exciting products in the UK. What a let-down. Still, that does at least give other manufacturers a chance to steal a march, and that appears to be exactly what Sony has done with its new Reader Wi-Fi, of which we have an early sample.

The first thing to notice when you pick up the Reader Wi-Fi is how light it is. It tipped our scales at just 162g, which makes the current Kindle look positively portly. With no keyboard it’s small enough to slip into an inside jacket pocket, and although it does feel a touch plasticky, it’s well made and the soft-touch plastic rear gives you a nice grippy surface to hold onto.

(more…)

Fusion Garage Grid10 review: first look

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Fusion Garage is a company that doesn’t believe in doing things by halves. Not content with mounting the most overblown marketing campaign – “Who is TabCo?” – seen in recent years, it has now gone on the offensive, and slashed the price of its forthcoming Grid10 10in tablet to £250.

That price undercuts pretty much every Honeycomb tablet and iPad currently on the market, so we were keen to see how the tablet itself stacked up. When Fusion Garage CEO, Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan, came in for an interview he was keen to show it off too.

(more…)

What’s really killing your Wi-Fi? Here’s a graphic illustration

Friday, August 19th, 2011

We’ve written many times about how crowded the 2.4GHz frequency band is becoming these days, and how that can affect the reliability and speed of your wireless network.

There are so many devices and routers now using the unlicensed space between 2,400MHz and 2,475MHz that finding a quiet, undisturbed channel for your network to reside on is nigh on impossible. That’s why we recommend anyone upgrading their wireless router chooses a dual-band model — one that gives you the option of connecting in the less congested 5GHz frequency band.

(more…)

Olympus PEN E-P3 review: first look

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

I’ve had a soft spot for Olympus’ retro PEN cameras ever since the E-P1 was released two years ago. The design harks back to the days when old-fashioned rangefinders were all the rage and photography was a game of patience, not instant gratification.

(It might also have something to do with the fact that I’m the proud owner of an Olympus 35SP 35mm camera – a legend in its own time, and a wonderful portrait camera.)

Nevertheless, the original E-P1 did have its flaws. Quality was great but not quite a match for a DSLR, and performance, particularly with the contrast detect autofocus system, was sluggish. Olympus is aiming to address those issues with the PEN E-P3, which I had the chance to tinker with yesterday.

(more…)

Toshiba’s glasses-free 3D laptop review: first look

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Toshiba first showed off its glasses-free 3D laptop as a concept back in February – and the company has now put flesh on those bones, giving it a name, launch date and a price. At a press launch in central London, Toshiba announced it would be shipping the Qosmio F750 to UK retail outlets in August.

3D laptops are nothing new – we’ve seen quite a few in the past couple of years – but the difference with the Qosmio F750 is that it features a lenticular 3D display, which means you benefit from the full 3D effect without having to don a pair of uncomfortable specs.

(more…)