Samsung 7 inch TAB for only £199.99

Posted on by
Reply

CPW are offering pre orders on the latest Samsung TAB for only £199.99

Here is the spec

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is ideal for watching your favourite videos on the go, and if you enjoy nothing more than catching up with your social life, you’ll love the built-in social networking features.

Made for portability.
A tablet is at its best when it’s easy to carry around. With a 7” screen, a thickness of 10.5mm and weighing in at only 345g, the Tab 2 7.0 is great for one handed holding, throwing into a bag or even squeezing into a pocket.

Speed and power.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is powered by a 1GHz dual core processor that gives you great performance and maximum usability during even the most demanding apps. No worries about exceeding memory limits as there’s a microSD card slot that’ll take a card up to 32GB in size.

The latest version of Android.
With Android’s latest OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, you can enjoy the most ramped up, up-to-the-minute features and hordes of apps. Enhanced performance, including better web browsing, faster response and screen transitions, gives you a great experience. There are some great innovations including a brilliant spellchecker, face recognition for unlocking the lock screen and a fantastic new Gallery app.

Apps, apps & more apps.
You’ll get instant access to the 450,000+ apps in the Google Play store, but also a huge selection of exclusive Samsung-only apps. These are found in the improved Samsung Hubs. There are Reader, Music, Game & Video Hubs giving you more choice and entertainment, right out of the box.

The ultimate sharing tool.
You have the freedom to download photos or movies to store on your tablet, then using AllShare Play push them wirelessly onto your DLNA-enabled TV or computer to watch later on the big screen. AllShare Play also acts as a gateway to web storage services where you can conveniently and securely upload and backup your data for safekeeping or sharing.

Keeping in touch.
It’s easy to start spur-of-the-moment group video sessions with Google+ Hangouts – as easy as bumping into somebody on the street in fact! The free pre-installed ChatON instant messaging app connects your friends and family no matter what device or platform they’re using. It’s got loads of unique features too like Group Chat, Multimedia Transmission, Buddy Interaction and more.

If you’re after a superbly portable tablet that’s designed to give you a cracking multimedia experience, give the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 a go.

Kindle Touch – What Accessories Should I Buy?

Posted on by
Reply

Many of you may have picked up the brand new Kindle Touch from Amazon, that was released on the 27th April in the UK and Europe, a few months after its original release in the US. All those that pre-ordered the device early enough will have received the device a week early if based in the UK or Germany – if you were lucky!

Now that you have your hands on the top-of-the-range eReader, you might be thinking about what accessories you should buy for it. Here is a short rundown of what accessories we think you should be considering.

Firstly, you have got to get your hands on a decent Kindle Touch cover. When spending so much money on a device, you definitely don’t want to be damaging it needlessly. You can pick up a case for Kindle Touch from a variety of different places, but we can’t stress the importance of keeping your device safe enough.

Secondly, you might want to consider getting a light for Kindle Touch. As the screen reads like paper, when you are in lowlight conditions things to get a little tricky (the e-ink screen is not backlit). The obvious solution is to turn a light on, but if you are travelling on public transport late at night, or lying in bed next to a loved one, you won’t want to disturb them. The best way to stay discreet whilst reading is with a light.

Finally, you will need to get your hands on a mains Kindle Touch charger – one that plugs into your wall, rather than the USB charging cable that arrives with the device. Whilst it is handy to have such a lightweight USB charger delivered with your device, what use is that when you are away from a computer (or other USB port for that matter)? You should be able to pick up a good charger for less than £10 and they really are worth it.

Orbyx FM Transmitter Review

Posted on by
2

It’s been a few weeks now since I bought the new iPad, and I must say I’m finding it a lot better than I first thought. I didn’t buy the iPad 2 – but I did have the original iPad – so the step up between the original iPad and the new iPad (iPad 3) has been pretty spectacular.

I’ve seen people complaining online about the heat of the new iPad – which does warm up to around 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the iPad 2 (or so I’ve read). However, I’ve also read that it’s still not as warm as some of the other tablet competitors in the market such as the Asus Transformer and the BlackBerry PlayBook, and hardly hotter than the newer Asus Transformer Prime and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, so take that Apple-haters and Android-fanatics alike.

I had been on the hunt for a couple of cool accessories for iPad, when I came across the Orbyx FM Transmitter:

Orbyx FM Transmitter

Seeing the FM Transmitter for just £9.95, I was a little sceptical of how good the device would be, but after reading a couple of short positive reviews for the product online – I decided to take a punt on it. Also, the fact that the website said 75% off made me feel like I was getting my hands on a real bargain; and now I’ve tried it out, I would definitely say that I did!

The device is extremely small and compact (it’s roughly the same width as my iPhone 4, although this review is based on using it with my iPad) and has a similar style design to that of my Apple products, which is always good. No matter how good the FM Transmitter was, I wouldn’t have bought it if it didn’t complement the iPad in the way that it does.

Setting it up was easy, there was no installation needed at all, which I did need to do when I previously owned the Griffin iTrip (before I returned it!). I just plugged it into the bottom of my iPad, selected one of the preset channels on the FM Transmitter and then scanned my radio until the station matched that displayed on screen of the Transmitter. All I could hear was crackling, but then I pressed play on my iPad music and the sound instantly came out. The sound was crisp and clear – just what I wanted. I had my iPad placed in a car holder which meant it was easy to hold in place and the transmitter was never going to come loose. I can’t imagine it would have fared as well if I didn’t have the holder, but it would still have worked great with my iPhone or iPod – I guess.

So anyway, that’s the end of this little review – and you can probably tell, I’m chuffed to bits with this bargain of a product.

What camera bags do I use for my NEX 5N?

Posted on by
Reply

Like most Sony NEX users finding camera bags to suit the NEX and the small amount of accessories you use isn’t an easy task. I personally was looking for a bag which just holds the NEX camera and the standard kit lens (18 – 55mm) The Sony bags are over priced, offer little protection and just don’t cut the mustard for me.

After trying loads of cases and bags I came across the Case logic compact camcorder bag which as i’m sure you can tell from the name is meant for a camcorder and not a compact systems camera.

Case Logic Compact Camcorder / Compact Systems Camera Case - DCB-303It turned out to be the perfect bag for me, well at least until I get the 16mm pancake lens, spare batteries and so on.

I haven’t took any pictures of my camera in the bag yet but I will take some tonight and i’m sure you’ll agree it is an excellent bag for people like me looking to just carry their NEX C3 / 5 / 5N with the standard lens. Finding a NEX 7 case or bag like this is my next plan

Here are some pictures showing how good a fit the Case logic bag is for the NEX 5N, sorry about the poor quality, I had to use my phone to take the pictures

Sony nex 5n in case logic bag

Sony nex 5n in case logic bagSony nex 5n in case logic bag

The new iPad (iPad 3) vs iPad 2 – What has changed?

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a table of the difference in specification

Ipad 2 New iPad / Ipad 3
Display 9.7-inch
LED-backlit IPS LCD		 9.7-inch
LED-backlit IPS LCD
Resolution 1024 x 768 2048 x 1536 “Retina Display”
CPU 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 dual-core Apple A5X
Graphics PowerVR SGX 543MP2  ”Quad-Core,” maybe a PowerVR SGX MP4+)
Memory 512MB RAM 512MB RAM
Storage 16GB / 32GB / 64GB 16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front Camera VGA (640 x 480) VGA (640 x 480)
Rear Camera 0.7-megapixel, fixed focus 5-megapixel, autofocus
Cellular EDGE plus Quadband HSPA or CDMA EV-Do Rev.A (Verizon) “World-Ready” 3G, HSPA+, DC-HSPA, 4G LTE (AT&T, Verizon)
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 4.0
Accelerometer 3-axis 3-axis
Gyroscope 3-axis 3-axis
Thickness 0.34-inch (8.8mm) 0.37-inch (9.4mm)
Weight (WiFi) 1.33 pounds (601 grams) 1.44 pounds (652 grams)
Weight (3G / LTE) AT&T 1.35 pounds (613 grams)
Verizon 1.34 pounds (607 grams)		 1.46 pounds (662 grams)
Battery Life 25-watt-hour lithium polymer (rated 10 Hours) 42.5-watt-hour lithium polymer
(rated 10 hours / 9 on 4G)
Ports 30-pin dock, 3.5mm headphone 30-pin dock, 3.5mm headphone
Location (WiFi) WiFi, Digital Compass WiFi, Digital Compass
Location (3G / LTE) aGPS, 3G, Digital Compass, WiFi aGPS, 3G, 4G, Digital Compass, WiFi

Sony NEX 5N Case review

Posted on by
Reply

As you can see this Sony NEX 5N Case is very neatly packaged in a neat and compact plastic outer. This gives a really good overall feel to the product, there is nothing worse than buying a product online and it turning up in a cheaply printed cardboard box.

On opening the packaging the first thing I grabbed was the nex 5n case its self, the outer neoprene case that clips on the half case to protect the camera as a whole.

The picures show the case as being an over bright red colour but in real life its not so shiny and not as bright as the pictures make out. This is a good thing for me as I do like red but it shining away would be a little too much.

The next part of the case is this red leather half case, it fits very well and has a nice lining to protect your nex 5n if any movement should happen when its placed in a camera bag. There are several clips to attach the camera outer and the case attaches to the camera uses the tripod screw. Thankfully Capdase have threaded the screw so you can still use a tripod without removing the case. This is an excellent feature as I personally use a tripod regularly.

The half case still allows the screen to pop out and doesn’t restrict any of the controls or buttons. There is a very small gab bellow the screen but this is because of the design of the Sony NEX 5N camera and nothing to do with the half case its self.

The 3rd part of this Sony NEX 5 & 5N solution is this funky looking lens pouch which can be used to store either the 18mm – 55mm lens or the 16mm prime lens. It offers a good balance between being nice and compact and offering decent protection. Being Neoprene when its not in use you can flatten it down and put it in your pocket or bag.

So to sum up the product

- Designed to fit the Sony NEX-5 / 5N perfectly
- Stylish design offers full protection
- Allows access to all controls
- Moulded base with soft suede lining
- Main cover is made from high quality water-repellent neoprene
- Excellent quality
- Complete with water-repellent lens pouch

Click here to see the product description

For £29.95 at the time of purchasing and writing this review it really is a bargain. It is currently available from Lovecases.co.uk who ship worldwide for a very good rate.

a guide to removing malware from your laptop / pc

Posted on by
Reply

We often get questions on how to remove various malware We get asked for help when someone’s computer is acting funny. They are sure it isn’t malware, because they’ve run regular scans. What people don’t always realize, is there are some ways of scanning that are more effective than others. There are also some anti-virus software and some malware scanners that are more effective than others. I’ve seen some people desperate to remove malware, and are paying lots of money to some websites that are supposed to ‘optimize’ and ‘clean’ their computer.

I’ve cleaned up a lot of infected systems, and there are some real effective and free software out there that can clean up most any infection. Here’s a simple guide to scan and remove malware. If you follow this guide step by step, you can clean up most any infected computer.

1. Boot into safe mode with networking. To do this, tap the appropriate function key repeatedly on startup. It’s usually F8.

Once in safe mode with networking,download, install, and update Malwarebytes. Do a full system scan.
www.malwarebytes.org/

This is a great program that will detect and remove most any malware. It’s very important to do this in safe mode with networking. There are far less services and programs running in safe mode, it’s less likely that there will be an active infection running, that will suppress your malware scan. This is why people can run scans all day long, and never find anything. The malware is suppressing the scan before it even starts.

2. Download and run Combofix.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/co [...] e-combofix

This is a powerful tool for removing malware. It runs several stages to systematically scan and purge any and all infections. This is a good way to verify that malwarebytes has removed everything.

Combofix doesn’t run well on 64bit operating systems. So, if you have a 64bit OS, substitute Spybot Search and Destroy.
http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

3. Download and install ccleaner. Use the registry tool to scan and repair all issues. You may need to run this several times to resolve all the issues.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

This will attempt to repair any registry damage, inflicted by the malware. In addition to the registry tool, it has several other useful optimization tools to help keep your PC clean. There is also a nice uninstaller.

Any registry editing can be risky. If it makes you feel better, you can backup your registry before using this registry tool. However, this program is fairly conservative, and very reliable. I’ve never seen it cause adverse effects.

4. Install a quality anti-virus software.

There are a ton of different options out there. Some use more resources than others. Some catch and stop more potential threats than others. Some have optimization features. Some have annoying pop-ups. The choice here may vary from user to user. However, I’ll list what I believe to be the best options, in my order of preference.

Avast free
http://www.avast.com/index

Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus
http://www.avira.com/en/download/index.php

Top tips for a faster, happier laptop

Posted on by
Reply

There is nothing more frustrating than your computer locking up, freezing, or just being plain slow.  Laptops are extremely accessible to everyone, yet if only the knowledge to keep them optimized was that easy to come by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These 10 tips are simple things you can do to make your laptop run faster.

  1.  Start with a disk cleanup.  There are several ways to access this, but one is to click on the Start Program>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup.  This will allow you to delete temporary Internet Files, Offline Files, the recycling bin, and other types of unnecessary files.
  2. Through the Control Panel, go to Internet Tools and delete cookies and history.  This can take several minutes if it hasn’t been done in awhile.
  3. Disk Defragment.  You can access this the same way as a disk cleanup, but select disk defragmenter instead.  Many programs allow you to schedule a time to do this application, as it can take several minutes or several hours depending on how much work is to be done.
  4. Malware or Spyware are big offenders of slowing down laptops.  Installing and running an anti-malware or anti-virus program and running it regularly will often times make a tremendous difference.
  5. Check your power management by accessing the Control Panel.  Select power management and then Maximum or Best Performance.  If you use your battery pack rather than being plugged in it will drain quickly, but will give you optimal speed.
  6. From the Control Panel, go to Add or Remove programs.  Remove programs that you know you are not using.  This can be a daunting task, since some programs affect others, and therefore you may want to know what’s important before you remove it.
  7. Check the memory usage of your computer.   You may need to add more random access memory (RAM) to store memory, rather than using disk space that is slower in all cases.
  8. Consider using registry software cleaner or repair program.  There are many good ones out there such as ccleaner.com or registryfix.com.  These will identify and repair problems within the registry.
  9. New computers that use Windows Vista can be slowed down by excess animation.  It is possible to turn it off by going to the Control Panel>System and Maintenance>Performance Information and Tools>Advanced Tools.  Then select Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows.  The Performance Options box will prompt, and if you select Custom, then uncheck Animate Windows when Maximising and Minimising.  You can consider other options as well, but this definitely pep it up.
  10. Use an external hard drive to store all music, photos and games.  It can be unplugged and used with multiple computers, and will save valuable space.

These ten tips are proven ways to get that computer moving and prevent untimely frustration.  By utilizing some or all, you will be optimizing your system and working efficiently.