Computer Act!ve back issues from November 2005:
From the Editor.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Dylan Armbrust. Saving money. We all like to do it whenever we can. Shopping around for great deals is part of our nature, and the internet has been one of the greatest tools invented to help make finding the best deals easier. Now it's possible to go even further and ...
Epson forces out compatibles. Consumers face saying goodbye to low-cost cartridges as Epson takes to the courts.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Consumers will have to pay more for Epson-compatible inkjet cartridges and are likely to find fewer suppliers willing to sell them as Epson continues to crack down on illegal consumables. Companies that manufacture Epson-compatible cartridges, which are often much cheaper, have ...
High-speed broadband is 'unrealistic'.
Nov 10, 2005 ... The majority of UK residents may never be able to get the 24Mbit/s broadband services that are being pushed as possible by some internet service providers (ISPs). The imminent arrival of this super-fast service has been heavily promoted by some ISPs. But broadband monitoring ...
Hackers AIM for chatters.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Researchers at internet security company FaceTime have identified a worm spreading through AOL's instant messaging client (AIM) and chat rooms. The Trojan Horse is considered particularly dangerous and is being passed through instant messages from members on a user's 'buddy' list. It is ...
VSO looking for IT teachers.(Voluntary Service Overseas )(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... People with teaching and IT knowledge are urgently needed to train teachers in underdeveloped countries in IT skills. The call for volunteers has come from VSO, the international development charity. More usually known for recruiting people who can teach the so-called 'three ...
Website tackles increase in phishing scams.
Nov 10, 2005 ... European internet service providers (ISPs) have joined forces to raise awareness of the dangers of phishing. The result is a website offering advice on how to avoid phishing scams, which has been developed by Euroispa, the European umbrella organisation for ISPs. ...
By a factor of two.(Association for Payment and Clearing Services )(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Customers of most UK banks are likely to be using some form of two-factor authentication online by the end of next year, according to the Association for Payment and Clearing Services (APACS). APACS said last month that it was close to finalising a standard for the development ...
Jargon buster - Techno babble demystified.
Nov 10, 2005 ... 3G: Mobile telephone networks that support fast data transfer, making sound and video transmission possible. ISP: A company that provides you with an internet connection. Mbit/s: Megabits per second. A measure of data transfer speed. Phishing: Internet ...
Computer crime busters.
Nov 10, 2005 ... The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced plans to create a network of lawyers dedicated to tackling hi-tech crime involving child pornography, computer hacking and identity fraud. Computer crime can be especially ...
Sky's the limit.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Vodafone UK customers with 3G handsets will be able to watch Sky Mobile TV on their phones in areas of 3G coverage. There will be two Sky Mobile TV packages offering a combined total of 19 mobile channels including Sky One, Discovery and MTV. Some channels will be broadcast 'as live' and ...
Latest opera.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... A test edition of the next version of the Opera web browser is now available for download. Opera 9 includes an improved pop-up blocker and some keyboard shortcuts have ...
Speak out about spyware.
Nov 10, 2005 ... The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) wants the public to comment on guidelines it has drawn up to help detect, rate and protect against unwelcome spyware programs. Spyware and adware are widely hated for their sneaky distribution methods, unauthorised data gathering and the fact ...
E-commerce comes of age.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Children could soon find it harder to buy goods and services that they are too young to use. British company Metacharge is offering to verify the information given to e-commerce websites by their customers before any money changes hands. At the moment, it is ...
Ebay fights back.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Ebay's UK arm will soon ban direct payments via Western Union in a bid to combat fraudsters using the auction site to con users. The US arm, eBay.com, has already banned people from wiring money to sellers via Western Union. The news comes after three Romanians living in London ...
Mobile media player speakers.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Neutac has released the SP1001, a portable docking station with battery-powered speakers for the Apple iPod. The SP1001 has six watts of power and improved bass output without a subwoofer. Rechargeable batteries are supplied. These batteries, and any devices with a USB connection, are ...
Christmas creativity.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Avanquest has produced a creativity pack to help with party invites and other projects for the Christmas season. The software includes clip art and fonts for use in cards and present tags with background sets. There is also a photo editor. The ...
Mac colours.
Nov 10, 2005 ... The ColorVision ColorPlus colour management system is now compatible with Apple Mac computers. ColorPlus is a special scanner that is placed on the computer monitor to check that the colours displayed are correct and are the same as those ...
Recycling's toxic time bomb.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Recycling firms in the western world are creating a ticking time bomb of toxic waste for developing countries by offloading useless PC equipment under the guise of charity. This was the damning conclusion of environmental group the Basel Action Network (BAN) in its report, ...
Toolbar opens up web for dyslexics.(Textic introduces a toolbar for visually impaired people)(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... A new toolbar could make reading web content and word documents easier for dyslexics and people with visual impairments. About 10 per cent of UK citizens are dyslexic, and one in five have visual problems, making it hard to read text using particular colour combinations. ...
Pull the udder one.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... UK farmers are milking the latest technology with an automated dairy system that lets cows decide their own milking schedules. The techno-milking system, which has been investigated by the Institute for Animal Health, is now in use in over 30 farms around the UK. The cows make ...
Governmental bird watching.
Nov 10, 2005 ... The Government has brought forward its plans for a national poultry database. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked poultry farms to put their flocks on its books so that they can then be entered into ...
On the dot.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Users of some colour laser printers can be tracked by means of unique dot patterns automatically printed by the device. The dots are an anti-counterfeiting measure designed to allow governments and police to follow the movements of fake ...
British only.(Seekport)(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Seekport is an internet search engine for finding websites based in the UK. Results can be filtered to show results from news websites, blogs and reference works. A preview option shows the website of the link and ...
Online advice on the web.
Nov 10, 2005 ... A Government website that will advise the public on how to protect themselves online is now open for business. With the Government's recent research showing that 83 per cent of the UK's population don't know enough about protecting themselves online and with nearly half failing ...
Changing faces.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Criminals who steal mobile phones may be confronted with a new test if they want to use the handset, thanks to the development of face-recognition software by Oki Electric Industry. Mobile phone ownership has increased rapidly in recent years but so too has the theft of these ...
Avatars go on air.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... TV weather reports could soon be presented by avatars - computer-generated personalities. Software developed by Televirtual can take information from the Met Office and convert it into a full weather report. The 3D animated character uses a bank of over 30 hours of pre-recorded ...
Museum catches the bug.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Visitors to the Science Museum in London are now able to put themselves in the place of a computer being attacked by viruses and online threats. The Digital You exhibition, which opened on 8 November at the South Kensington museum, gives visitors a look at how computers on the ...
Wi-Fi camera.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Canon will launch a version of its compact Ixus digital camera with built-in Wi-Fi in January next year. The Ixus Digital Wireless will be the company's first camera that allows pictures to be ...
Trust speakers.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Trust has introduced a new speaker set to match Apple's iPod and other white MP3 players. The Trust 2.0 Speaker Set SP-2700, which cost [pounds sterling]15, has 2x2 watt RMS power output and ...
Consumer Active! - Get Some Answers! Consumeractive sticks up for your rights. If there's an issue you want investigated, get in touch.
Nov 10, 2005 ... PROBLEM - A very long road to recovery I built myself a new PC recently. Most of the parts were ordered from www.microdirect.co.uk. Two months after building it, the line-in connection on the on-board sound card failed. I contacted MicroDirect and was told that I would have to ...
Cover Story - Cheap online calls - It's cheap to talk. Online phone calls are now becoming the cheaper alternative to standard telephone systems. We explain how it works and the services on offer.(Cover story)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Cliff Joseph. PC users have long been able to make free calls through instant messaging services such as MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, but many were dissuaded by the idea of having to buy and wear a headset and the inconvenience of having to first make sure friends ...
Hot New Products - Epson PictureMate 100. Cheap doesn't always mean nasty as Epson's latest photo printer proves.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Luke Peters. This year it seems compact photo printers have reached the market-flooding levels achieved by their digital camera cousins. There are dozens out there, being made by not only recognised printer manufacturers, but also names more associated with photography ...
Hot New Products - Creative Zen Nano Plus.[SO] COMACT; Light, colourful and multi-functional. But it's not just the Nano's name that evokes Deja vu[QQ].
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Mike Anderiesz. [SH] Light, colourful and multi-functional. But it's not just the Nano's name that evokes Deja vu [BB] Mike Anderiesz. [PP] 29 [PL] UK They're a smart bunch at Creative, not just re-branding their existing 'Muvo' range but doing so ...
Hot New Products - X-oom Movies on PSP. Turn your PSP into a handheld cinema with this movie conversion software.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Jonathan Parkyn. Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) can play movies, music and photos as well as games. The console is already supported by a fine selection of commercially available movie and TV titles available in its own UMD (Universal Media Disc) format. But, at ...
Hot New Products - Nikon D50. Budding photographers will be chomping at the bit to get their teeth into Nikon's feature-packed digital SLR.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Gavin Stoker. A few years ago true photography enthusiasts would baulk at the idea of using a compact digital camera and would rather plump for a traditional SLR model instead. But with the continued improvement of digital SLRs, most professionals have now gone digital. ...
Hot New Products - Ulead PhotoImpact 11. A cheap photo-editor that seem to offer more for the advanced user than the novice.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Cliff Joseph. PhotoImpact is one of the underdogs in the photo-editing market. This latest upgrade is clearly an attempt to grab more of the limelight as it includes several major new improvements designed to appeal to both newcomers and the more experienced ...
Hot New Products - Roxio Easy Media Creator 8. The media management software that does everything.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. Every time we look at Roxio's Creator software we are surprised by how much is crammed into one product. For this eighth outing there are a few new additions and, thankfully, the overall quality remains the same. Anyone familiar with ...
Jargon Buster - Techno babble demystified.(computer related terms)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Bluetooth: A technology that allows devices to communicate with each other wirelessly. CCD: A light-sensitive component used in digital cameras and camcorders. Desktop: What you first see when you switch on a computer. Displays your Taskbar and a series of icons. ...
Hot New Products - Adobe Premiere Elements 2. The second version of Adobe's cut-down video-editing software.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Cliff Joseph. Adobe's Photoshop Elements has been a big success because it manages to take some of the powerful photo-editing tools from the full professional version of Photoshop and wrap them up in a redesigned interface simple enough for novices to use. ...
Hot New Products - Konica Minolta Dimage X1. A small and compact 8-megapixel camera.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Will Stapley. More megapixels doesn't always mean better quality, but Konica Minolta has released its first 8-megapixel compact camera, the Dimage X1. The main advantage of 8-megapixel images is that it's possible to severely crop them and still end up with a ...
Hot New Products - Hermstedt Hifidelio. Listen to music throughout the house with this hi-fi with a hard disk.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Luke Peters. As well as being able to stream music from a PC over a home network, the Hifidelio can also record music from CDs and store them on its 80Gb internal hard disk. It's quick to do so, taking around 40 seconds for a one-hour CD at the highest MP3 quality ...
Hot New Products - Archos AV700.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Tim Smith. The AV700 offers widescreen video when on the move, with enough features to satisfy any media addict. In addition to video it can play music and display slideshows of photos, which can be copied direct from compatible digital cameras. A 40Gb hard disk offers ...
Hot New Products - ABBYY OCR Software.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Tim Smith. The paperless office is great in theory but in practice it can be hard to convert large amounts of paper to electronic format. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software should be unobtrusive and fast. FineReader 8 is both and includes several methods of ...
Hot New Products - Canon MP 150. Canon's latest all-in-one device prints in photo quality.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. The MP150, Canon's latest multifunction device, is branded with its Pixma logo, indicating that it should be capable of high-quality photo printing. The MP150 is not much bigger than a standard good-quality inkjet. Although there are ...
Hot New Products - Western Digital Netcenter.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Luke Peters. More and more houses now have their own networks and it is common to share files between the related PCs. Rather than using the file and printer sharing built into Windows, the Western Digital Netcenter, with 320Gb of hard disk space, can store and ...
Hot New Products - Fossil Abacus Wrist PDA.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Tim Smith. The Fossil Abacus squeezes a fully functional handheld computer into a large wrist watch. There is 8Mb of memory, enough for extra software, as well as the standard contacts, calendar and to-do list options. It can run any Palm software written for ...
Hot New Products - Undelete 5. Avoid deleting files by accident.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. Even though Windows has included a Recycle Bin for the past 10 years it's still annoyingly easy to accidentally delete a file. The Recycle Bin can't handle files or folders over a certain size, and files that are automatically deleted, say ...
On Test - Freeview boxes - Points of view. Tired of the same old five television channels? Freeview receivers offer much greater choice and there are no monthly fees. We look at what's out there.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Will Stapley. Subscription TV has been around for a while but not everyone wants to get locked into monthly fees for hundreds of stations we may never watch. If only there was a way to get access to a wider range of channels, with full digital quality, without forking ...
Feature - Free games - Free play. Although there's no such thing as a free lunch, the world of gaming is a bit more charitable. We tell you how to access countless games for nothing.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. Most of us have whiled away spare time playing some of the cheap and cheerful games that come with Windows, while others invest a little more time and money in the latest 3D games. This is an expensive luxury for lots of people, but the good news is ...
Feature - Erase your data - Erased from memory. Simply emptying the Recycle Bin doesn't trash data. Here's how to remove unwanted files and web history safely.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Iain Thomson. Given that data is invisible, it's not hard to let your PC become overrun with it. A good clear-out freshens up a PC no end, and if you're disposing of a computer, there's an even better reason to clean it up. Whether passing an old computer to a charity, ...
Feature - Green computing - Waste watchers. Electrical and computer waste damages the environment and new laws aim to impose strict controls on its disposal. We explain how this affects you and how you can help out.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Byline: Dinah Greek. Take three tons of old computers, add some electronic toys, tools and gadgets to the mix and then bung in a few fridges, washing machines and other white goods. Mix together well and form into one huge sculpture standing seven metres high. Believe it or not, ...
Digital home - Digital television - Digital deadline. By 2012, Britain will have officially said farewell to analogue television. You could say goodbye to it now and enjoy all the benefits that digital TV has to offer. Here's what you need to know.
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Scott Colvey. You may be quite content to let the worlds of digital radio, digital photography and digital video recording pass you by, but if you like watching television, there'll soon be no escaping a dalliance with digital technology. The Government has signalled the ...
On Test - CD-Roms - Variety show. Our latest software offering will have you looking at the stars, mastering languages and shooting the baddies.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Martin James. Variety is the spice of life and in this issue we've rounded up a bunch of software titles to suit young and old. We start off with FPS Creator, which allows you to create your own detailed first-person shooter titles and share them with friends ....
On Test - Games - Black & White 2. The follow-up to one of the biggest games of recent times.(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Mike Anderiesz. Let's be honest, we were all a bit misled by 'Black & White'. Yes it was unique, impressive and duly waltzed away with 2001's top honours, but was it a great game? With hindsight, not really. At first Black & White 2 seems different. Lionhead, ...
On Test - Games - Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Eddie Henderson. As you might have guessed, this is a new expansion pack for one of the greatest games of last year, Rome: Total War, so we should begin by stating the obvious - you need said title to play this add-on. Although it doesn't change the game in ...
On Test - Games - Fable: The Lost Chapters.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Eddie Henderson. Any game created by the legendary Lionhead Studios will immediately be benchmarked against its previous PC classic, Black & White and now Black & White 2 (see page 76). Thankfully, Fable has enough content and diversity to place it on a podium of its ...
On Test - Games - Football Manager 2006.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005; ... Byline: Anthony Dhanendran. The yearly update to Football Manager is something of a ritual for fans of the game. It has never been a case of explosive new features being added, but every year sees a nice selection of refinements. In the 2006 release, most of the bugs ...
On Test - Games - Games Top 10. Here are the top 10 games according to the official UK Leisure Software chart. (C)ELSPA. Compiled by Chart Track.
Nov 10, 2005 ... 1. Black & White 2 - [pounds sterling]35 (real-time strategy) EA Games 2. Rome: Total War -Barbarian Invasion - [pounds sterling]20 (real-time strategy) Sega 3. The Sims 2: Nightlife - [pounds sterling]20 (add-on pack for the Sims) EA Games 4. Brothers in ...
Net Chart - Free Downloads. We've trawled the internet to test what you can get for free.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
Nov 10, 2005 ... OPENOFFICE www.computeractive.co.uk/2128963 Improved free office suite A great alternative to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice now includes a full database program in addition to word and a spreadsheet. Type: Freeware File size: 75Mb ...
Net Chart - Site seeing. Audiobooks are a great alternative to listening to music as a way to pass long journeys.
Nov 10, 2005 ... Go to www.computeractive.co.uk to find quick links to all these featured websites www.audible.co.uk: Audible is an online shop for audio books with a collection of 12,000 titles from Sahara by Michael Palin to Lord of the Rings. Books can be bought individually or through ...
Net Chart - Site of the fortnight - http://my.opera.com.(Brief Article)
Nov 10, 2005 ... Registration with Opera offers more than just a chance to receive updates for the internet browser. The Opera Community website lets you write a blog or post an online photo album. With 300Mb of space for each user, there is no ...
No Problem! Q&A - Answers to ... PC problems. Our resident technical doctor is here to cure your PC ailments.
Nov 10, 2005 ... AOL alternatives Q: My wife and I both use our computer, with an AOL account for connecting to the internet. Is it possible for me to use Outlook to read emails and my wife to continue using AOL? Barry Johnstone, Bristol A: It is quite possible to use ...
Readers to the rescue. Can you help your fellow readers? Do you need a problem solved? Join our forum dedicated to PC trouble-shooting at www.computeractive.co.uk.
Nov 10, 2005 ... THE PROBLEM I use the Living Pictures software but I cannot add sound to images using my microphone, so I need to use the Windows Sound Recorder instead. I am not entirely sure how to do this. David Randall, issue 199 YOUR ANSWER Although the ...
Letters Your say! We want your opinions! Write to us on any of the topics covered in Computeractive.(Letter to the Editor)
Nov 10, 2005 ... A high price to pay In issue 200 you reviewed auction sniping tool OnBidder, which costs [pounds sterling]20 a year to use. Why do people pay subscription charges for this application? I thought eBay was an auction and you simply entered the maximum amount you want ...
From the Editor.
Nov 24, 2005 ... Byline: Dylan Armbrust. Welcome to our special Christmas buyers' issue where we round up some of the best bargains. This year we've reviewed and rated over 100 products ranging from photo printers to PCs. There's a whole range of items to fill your family's stockings or even ...