Acer Android netbook review: first look

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Following Acer’s announcement of its dual-boot netbook that boasts both Google Android and Windows 7, I got an opportunity to spend some time with the netbook in question: the Acer Aspire One D250 with Android.

On this occasion, it isn’t the hardware I was interested in, but the software. For this is the first netbook PC Pro has seen to include Android as the OS, and the big question is – just how well can an operating system designed to work on a phone work on a full-blown PC?

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Has video conferencing finally come of age?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

I spent yesterday morning with a company called LifeSize, whose CEO (Craig Malloy) was keen to suggest that 2010 would be the year when video conferencing became massive. (Strangely enough, LifeSize is a company that sells video conferencing products.)

He certainly gave the most impressive demonstration of video conferencing I’ve yet seen. We were in a small meeting room with room for around eight people, and sitting at one end was a 40in LCD TV.

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The Microsoft Windows 7 party pack in pictures

Friday, October 9th, 2009

The sacrifices we make. You see, PC Pro went undercover and applied for one of the Microsoft Windows 7 party packs, as advertised in the unmissable video below.

We’re still undecided whether this is a parody or a serious ad; we’d love to believe the latter, but we’re starting to wonder if Microsoft has a sense of humour. Worrying.

Our undercover plan worked, however, and I can now reveal exactly what you get in the box…

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Poll result: 61% of people listen to music on their laptop’s speakers

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

After being abused and mocked by various colleagues in the PC Pro office, and in particular deputy editor David Fearon, I’m delighted to say that the PC Pro poll has backed up my theory – as detailed in my recent blog, Do you listen to music on your laptop’s speakers?. Turns out the majority of laptop users do precisely that.

To be precise, out of the 303 people who took part in the poll, 72 said they frequently listened, while 112 only listened occasionally.

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Toshiba Satellite T110 and Satellite T130 review: first look

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Last night we got our first glimpse of the Toshiba Satellite T110 and Toshiba Satellite T130 for a hands-on, first-look review of the two laptops – both based on Intel’s CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) processors.

Toshiba claims the new chips are a step above the Atom found in most netbooks, “They offer more performance and features, while allowing better design and battery life,” said Tony Alderson, Toshiba’s consumer product manager, at the central London event where the laptops were launched.

“To misquote Nigel Tufnel from This is Spinal Tap, they go up to 11: you get a full 11 hours of battery life.”

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The truth about the “free” Windows 7 upgrades

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Microsoft launched its Windows 7 Upgrade Option on 26 June to great fanfare: “Get Windows 7 for free” screamed the headlines, with the promise that all participating laptop and PC makers would provide a voucher that you could redeem for Windows 7.

But, as we move closer to the launch of Windows 7 in a month’s time, it’s become clear you could pay up to £30 for the privilege. Just to rub salt into the wounds, that’s as much as it costs for students to buy Windows 7 outright.

There are also a number of catches you should be aware of, although for the thousands of people who’ve bought a new laptop or PC since late June this warning will come too late. (more…)

In search of the world’s most ridiculous email address

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

This is inspired by a friend of mine who has surely the world’s most ridiculous email address. She works for the local government here in London, and due to the convoluted logic involved – and no doubt some exciting regulations – her email goes something like this:

firstname.portman-early-childhood.westminster@lgfl.net

Just imagine for a second that was your email address. Would you ever attempt to tell people what it is? You can’t even hand out a business card as it would need to be double-width (note that my poor friend isn’t even given a business card… and only gets access to the work email computer once a week).

Anyway, I’m open to alternative suggestions. Have you ever met someone with a worse email address? Or is your own more ridiculous? And while I’m at it, has anyone got a shorter email address than my nice, succinct editor@pcpro.co.uk?

(Obviously, don’t quote your address in any way a bot can harvest it.)

Do you listen to music on your laptop’s speakers?

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Surely I can’t be alone in this: when I go abroad, I’ll often listen to music on my laptop’s speakers. Now according to some in the PC Pro office (I’m looking at you Fearon), that makes me a freak of nature of the same sort of scale as Mister Blobby.

Yes, of course, I could listen to any assortment of devices using a pair of earphones, but I prefer not to have things stuck down my ear canals all day. So I open it to all of PC Pro’s readership: one simple question. Do you listen to music on your laptop’s speakers?

Let me know by casting your vote on the PC Pro poll on this very subject (it will take approximately three seconds), which will be live for the rest of this week.

Toshiba JournE Touch: first look

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Following Toshiba’s launch of the JournE Touch last Thursday I was delighted to get my hands on the tablet itself at the company’s IFA stand in Berlin. But I am using the word launch advisedly, because this product does seem some way from being ready for retail.

To be fair, my impressions weren’t helped by the fact that the IFA wireless connection was flakier than the plot of Snakes on a Plane. This meant I couldn’t test the JournE’s flagship offering, which is the ability – according to Toshiba’s Marco Perino – to browse the web like you would on a desktop PC. (more…)

First looks: Toshiba Satellite P500

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

The Toshiba Satellite P500 is a big laptop. Not a-little-larger-than-a-typical-laptop big, more size-of-the-universe big. Take a look at the photo if you don’t believe me: this is a kind and perfectly normal-sized lady at the Toshiba booth at IFA Berlin, yet it dwarfs her.

“It’s not funny,” she said, having held the laptop for 30 seconds as I fiddled with the camera, “this laptop is heavy.”

That’s also undeniably true, but then the Satellite P500 wasn’t built to be carried between home and office. This is a machine designed to entertain, and Toshiba packs in all the hi-tech goodies you can think of to make it a pleasure to use. (more…)