Akihabara Electric Town: the good, the bad, the simply bewildering

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

As listeners to the PC Pro podcast will know, I’m stuck in Tokyo thanks to a certain volcanic eruption. As listeners will also know, my colleagues have absolutely no sympathy for me, and for good reason: Tokyo is geek paradise, especially if you head on the metro to Akihabara Electric Town.

(more…)

If you’re going to do something stupid, do it well

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

So Dell has launched its own download store, describing it as “an online music and software superstore where consumers can easily download a wide variety of songs, and the most popular gaming and software titles”. And I suppose that’s fair enough.

Even though I give Dell a bit of a hard time about the fact it’s even attempting to rival the likes of Amazon and iTunes in this week’s podcast, my biggest problem isn’t with the fact it’s offering a download service; it’s that it’s doing it so badly. (more…)

Vostro does the business. But where next?

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Turns out yesterday’s fruitless visit to Dell wasn’t quite complete – I had only considered Dell’s consumer offerings. A quick jump to the business section took me straight to Dell’s cheapest Vostro PC, which at £211.60 including VAT and delivery is well within my price limit. So what else can I squeeze into the remaining £38.40?

It’s built around a Pentium Dual-Core E2200, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk and integrated graphics. My choices for affordable upgrades are:

• Vista Home Premium – add £20+VAT
• 2GB RAM – add £10+VAT
• from DVD-ROM to DVD-RW drive – add £20+VAT

As useful as it would be, I draw the line at paying more than £20 to upgrade to a DVD writer, so with the first two upgrades selected my new baseline system comes to £246.10 inc VAT and delivery.

(more…)

First stop: Dell’s PC emporium

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

So my job this fortnight, as you may have discovered in Tim’s call to arms, is to spend £250 of his money on a brand new fully-built PC or laptop, using only the medium of this interweb thingy. All phones off the hook, face-to-face conversation on hold; this is just me, my surfing skills and his wallet. Heaven.

My first port of call was obvious: Dell. Where better to find a rock-bottom bargain PC to make this whole task as easy as a few quick clicks, feet up on the desk and a delivery in the post room? Well, as you ask, quite a lot of places actually.

(more…)

Tesco touches up shopping software

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

If you had to put money on which software developer would have been among the first to take advantage of Windows 7’s new touch technology, few would have placed a tenner on Tesco.

Yet, the supermaket goliath joined Microsoft on the stage here at PDC in LA this week, to unveil a prototype shopping application that the company hopes will be launched by the second half of next year.

Although not a solely Windows 7 touch application – it works with a mouse/keyboard and XP/Vista too – the software gives a glimpse into how touchscreen PCs could be used in places like the kitchen, where there’s not always space for a mouse and keyboard.

(more…)