The computing relics unearthed in the PC Pro Labs

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

The PC Pro Lab is a dark, dingy place full of cardboard boxes, benchmarks and more motherboards, processors and PCs than we care to count, but it’s also home to a variety of kit that’s slipped through the net –  some of it even dating back to before PC Pro launched in 1994.

From iconic machines like the IBM PC to the silliness of Sony’s £1,190 netbook, we’ve scoured the darkest corners and blown dust off some of the oldest, oddest and rarest kit we can find – starting with a true icon of the industry. (more…)

The Great PC Pro Christmas Quiz

Saturday, December 24th, 2011

How clued up are you on the world of computing? We’ve put together a fun quiz – well, let’s say a quiz, anyway – to test your knowledge of recent events, and not so recent technological lore. There are sixty questions: hover over each question with your mouse to check your answers. If you’re on a mobile platform and can’t hover, scroll down to the end for a complete list of answers.

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Set-top censorship Virgin on the offensive

Monday, December 19th, 2011

When you have channels such as Television X and Playboy TV loitering in the nether regions of your electronic programme guide (EPG), it’s perfectly admirable to asterisk out some of the more risqué titles on offer, lest innocent teenagers accidentally wander into the listings.

But using a crude find-and-replace across your entire EPG can have unintended consequences. As Virgin Media has discovered, much to the amusement of the Twitterati…

God alone knows what Virgin’s EPG will make of Willy Thorne’s Guide to Scunthorpe’s Snooker Balls, which is coming to Eurosport in the spring.

Grabs from @MarcSettle and @TheMediaTweets

Black Friday tech deals in the UK

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Like Halloween and the NFL, Black Friday is the latest American import that the British love to moan about, but secretly actually quite like. And with good reason — tech retailers are offering some fantastic deals, whether you’re shopping for Christmas gifts or yourself.

Here’ are a few of the best deals. Drop a line in the comments if you’ve seen any other discounts worth sharing.

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Eight of the best projects at Intel’s Research Day

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

I’ve just got back from one of Intel’s occasional research days. The last one I went to – in Santa Clara, California last June – showcased some fascinating projects, including wireless power, a processor with 48 cores and a home energy sensor that could automatically identify when particular devices were switched on and off.

None of them has so far become a real product (though there are definite similarities between the 48-core Rock Creek CPU and the 50-core Knights Corner architecture). But it’s always fascinating to see what the chip giant’s boffins are working on. This week’s event – held at the company’s offices in Leixlip, near Dublin, and opened by Irish business minister Richard Bruton (above) – showcased several intriguing new ideas – as well as one eerily familiar one. Below the cut are some of the highlights. (more…)

500px – the site to finally topple Flickr

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Yahoo hasn’t got much right over the past decade, but one of the best decisions it made was to buy the photo-sharing site Flickr. Alas, like many of the other once-excellent services in its portfolio, Yahoo has allowed Flickr to stagnate to the point where the only reason to keep using the site is the size and talent of its user community.

The Flickr homepage looks like its designers went on strike in 2003, its uploading facilities are basic and it simply doesn’t display your photos in their best light.

For months I’ve been looking for an alternative to Flickr, and at last I think I’ve found it: 500px.

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€19,000 software and an Excel spreadsheet: how to run a Renault World Series car

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Motorsport is big business, even away from the glamour of F1, so we jumped at the chance to head to Silverstone and check out the World Series by Renault – a high-octane event that tours Europe with a mix of cars in tow.

We tagged along with TDS Racing, sponsored by PC Tools, and later interrogated the team’s technical director Jacques Morello to discover what techy demands are placed on a team at this level of the sport.

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Toshiba AT200 tablet review: first look

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Another day at IFA 2011, and yet another launch of a brand-new Android tablet. This time it’s Toshiba’s turn with the AT200: a 10.1in tablet that can (currently, at least) lay claim to being the lightest 10.1in tablet in the world.

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Sony Tablet P review: first look

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

With the torrent of carbon-copy Android tablets showing no sign of abating, Sony’s Tablet P is a welcome breath of fresh air. With a lightweight clamshell design, two 5.5in touchscreens and a 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, Sony’s put together something rather extraordinary.

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Sony Tablet S review: first look

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Amid a bevy of product announcements at Sony’s IFA 2011 stand, its brand new Android tablet, the 9.4in Tablet S, caught everyone’s attention. We fought through the crowds to get up close and personal with Sony’s new media darling.

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