Zath! Archive for

November, 2010

Richard Branson’s PROJECT Digital Magazine iPad App Launched

PROJECT, the first major Apple iPad only publication on the App Store has been launched today by Sir Richard Branson in New York. Representing Virgin’s first experience of digital magazine publishing (there can’t be many more markets left for Virgin to be in can there?!) the app is available for free from the App Store, with each issue costing $2.99 or £1.79.

With a new issue being released each month content of the magazine is updated regularly, essentially giving readers a month of reading material for a one of price. It also encourages contributions from its readers and bloggers, giving lots of people a chance to make themselves heard.

Continue reading »

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Review

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (12A)

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Jason Issacs, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Brendan Gleeson
Running Time: 146 minutes
Director: David Yates

Here it is. The penultimate film of the Harry Potter phenomenon. Some people were a bit unsure as to whether splitting JK Rowling’s final book into two films would be the best idea. But from watching the film and being a massive fan of the series, I’m glad they did…so far.

The general consensus has been that Part 1 of The Deathly Hallows was good, but lacked that extra sparkle to make it the magical film we were all hoping for. But given the story, I’m glad it’s been done like this to let everyone know what Harry, Ron and Hermione have got themselves in for.

Continue reading »

Leather RFID Blocking Wallet – Keeps You Protected From 21st Century Thieves

Why might you need to consider getting a Leather RFID Blocking Wallet? Well crime sucks, but you can usually feel some pride in putting up a decent fight when you have a burly criminal wrestling your wallet away from you on the Tube, and feel just a little satisfaction when you attempt to knock seven bells out of him.

What really sucks is having your card details stolen from you wirelessly, with RFID skimmers and demagnetisation. That’s what criminals are starting to do, so they don’t even have to physically take anything. These devices can take super personal information from not only your bank card, but anything with an RFID chip in it.

Continue reading »

BitDefender ‘safego’ App Reveals One Fifth of Facebook Users Subjected to Malware

To call Facebook ‘massive’ would be an understatement: if it were a country its 500 million active members would make it the 3rd biggest in the world (behind China and India) and a staggering 250 million of these (enough to make it the 4th biggest behind the US and ahead of Indonesia) log in each day. So if you want a big market for your malware, this is the place to go!

Unsurprisingly that is exactly what people have been doing, but last month BitDefender who specialise in Internet security solutions announced the Beta launch of ‘safego’ which is a free application for Facebook focusing, surprisingly enough, on security and BitDefender have now released some of the statistics gathered by the app and they make very interesting reading.

Continue reading »

ASUS Lamborghini Eee PC VX6 – Ultra-Portable Laptop Design Inspired By A Sports Car?

So we’ve recently seen ASUS release the Eee PC 1015PEM and now they are back with another edition to add to the already expansive Eee PC range: the Lamborghini Eee PC VX6, which aims to match its namesake’s ‘quality, speed and air of mystique’, which does seem a lot for a brand best known for its netbook credentials!

But in fairness this isn’t really what you would classify as a netbook: there are high performance graphics and processor capabilities on show here that really sit the Lamborghini Eee PC VX6 in the realms of the ultraportable rather than the netbook… but let’s have a look at what it has to offer.

Continue reading »

Do Mac OS X Users Need Anti-Virus Protection?

The necessity of anti virus applications on Mac OS X has long been debated. Just the other day, we brought Sophos’ latest malware figures to you which showed that a small percentage of Macs were infected with various pieces of malicious software. Only 2 of these viruses were capable of executing on OS X, and the rest were designed for Windows. The most prominent virus infected just 4.62% of machines, and isn’t even capable of running on Mac OS X.

Many people argue that Macs are less likely to become infected because they’re more secure by nature. After all, there are very few viruses written for the Mac compared to the plethora of threats created for Windows systems. Is this because OS X is more secure due to its UNIX back-end though, or is Windows simply a more tempting target for virus creators due to its mammoth market share?

Continue reading »

YouTube 5 For Safari Converts YouTube Videos To HTML5 On The Fly

There’s nothing worse than watching the CPU usage on your computer zoom to 100% when you load a YouTube video, before you spend the next 10 minutes cranking up the volume to drown out the sound of your fan going crazy.

Since Flash plays havoc with my Mac when watching video I tend to avoid YouTube, but when Apple released Safari 5 with extension support something wonderful happened. HTML5 happened in Safari via a wonderful extension called YouTube5.

Continue reading »

Uncharted Movie Casts Mark Wahlberg As Nathan Drake – Why Not Nathan Fillion?

We reported not so long ago that an Uncharted film was being made based on the massively popular series developed by Naughty Dog. When I first read the news, I was really excited and thought that Uncharted could be the film to break the barrier of the whole, movies about games are crap, conundrum.

Well no longer. It’s been announced that Mark Wahlberg will be playing the part of Nathan Drake with the possibility of Robert De Niro playing his father and Joe Pesci as his uncle…..are you friggin’ kidding me?!

Continue reading »

Slingbox Pro-HD Review

If you’ve never heard of Sling Media, or the Slingbox media content streaming range, then the thought of trying to access your home entertainment setup whilst on the go may not have even crossed your mind. If it has, though, then there is no doubt some sort of Slingbox that will suit your needs.

Today I have the Slingbox Pro-HD for review, which is the premium offering from the company setting you back a princely sum of £200, but will in theory transport your HD content from a variety of devices to a different selection of devices via the Internet.

Continue reading »

How To Install Mac OS X From A USB Memory Stick

I recently had a bit of a Mac-related disaster when I decided to upgrade one of my Mac OS X computers to Snow Leopard, only to find that the optical drive decided to be stubborn and spit out discs right left and centre. Not one to be defeated, I tried a different approach: USB installation.

MacBook Air owners will know how painful it can be to use remote disc install for various installations, so to be able to install not only applications, but also operating system updates, via USB is a big advantage.

The MacBook Air isn’t the only Mac now without an optical drive either; the Mac Mini server edition sacrifices the optical drive for an additional hard drive.

Continue reading »

Aiptek 3D HD Camcorder – Create Your Own 3D Home Movies!

If I had to choose a single new technology which has really caught the eye this year it would be the developments in 3DTV technology. Not just because it’s actually pretty good, but also because of the potential it brings and the debate that it sparks. So, what better gift this Christmas to cap off the year than a 3D camcorder?

Enter the Aiptek 3D HD Camcorder. It will set you back £199.99, but when you consider the diminutive form factor and the facts that it shoots 1280×720 3D HD video, you can switch between 2D and 3D on the fly, as well as capture stills and movies interchangeably, it is actually not a bad price for these kinds of features.

Continue reading »

Renovo USB Photo Scanner – Backup & Digitise Your Old Photographic Memories!

At this time of year there are of course a lot of photos taken, memories shared and new ones created, and photography has long been the preferred standard for preserving these memories, whether they be of people, places or even presents.

So why should the Renovo USB Photo Scanner interest you? Well over the last number of years there has been a shift in the way people manage their photographs and many have found themselves looking for simple ways to transfer their photo albums onto their computer.

Continue reading »

iLuv iPhone/iPod Speaker Dock Alarm Clock

There have been many times in the last year or so since I got my first iPhone/iPod speaker dock from Altec Lansing, that I wish that you could operate the clock app for longer than just how long it takes for the screen to go off.

However, it seems that the creators of the iLuv iPhone Speaker Dock / Alarm Clock felt the same way and were inspired to create a solution for all us who felt the same way.

The circular speaker docking station allows you to charge your iPhone á la any respectable dock, as well as use the purportedly very impressive sound system to play your tunes. Just like any iPhone dock in that respect, but there are some interesting ‘twists’.

Continue reading »

5 Things I Want To See In Apple iOS 5.0 (iPhone 5)

You already know five things that I’d love to see in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but what about the next version of Apple’s iOS? Admittedly, it will only arrive with the iPhone 5 in 2011, but it’s never too early to start thinking, right?

1. A More Functional Lock Screen

We’re at iOS 4, and we’re still using the same lock screen that we had in the original version of the iPhone OS when the iPhone was first introduced to the world. It serves it’s purpose as a lock screen, but it becomes incredibly tedious when you have to unlock your phone before you can see how many messages or emails are waiting for you.

I’ve been using Element on a jailbroken iPhone for all my notifications, and to go back to a stock version of iOS is pretty painful where the lock screen is concerned. Apple could take a lot of cues from this app and implement them in a future lock screen.

Continue reading »

Xbox Live Gold Free For Everyone This Weekend Only! Will You Make Use Of This Gaming Bargain?

Microsoft have started Christmas a little early this year and are going to be giving all, that’s right, all Xbox users complete free access to the Xbox Live Gold subscription for this weekend only, and it will start on Friday 26th November.

So all those users on Xbox Live Free (or Silver as it used to be know) will now be able to play some of their favourites games online with their mates, take advantage of the online chat function as well as watch Sky TV, if you have a subscription, and Zune.

Continue reading »

Football Manager 2011 Review (PC/Mac)

Yes, readers, it is indeed that time of year again! Football Manager 2011 was recently released, and after becoming completely addicted for what will probably be the better part of the next few months, I’ve decided it’s about time I just got the Football Manager 2011 review written up and get on with my game as soon as I can. So here goes…

The transition to Football Manager 2010 from 2009 took quite a bit of getting used to. We saw an overhauled user interface which was received with mixed reception, although after over 200 hours of gameplay, I got used to it in the end.

We were promised a number of improvements for FM 2011, but not much mention was given of the interface this time around. This is because the user interface remains mainly the same, with not many changes on that front. There is, however, a slightly revamped theme as default which I really dislike. There is a dark skin on its way though, so no need for panic there.

Continue reading »

Death Star Planetarium – Astronomy In The Star Wars Galaxy!

I like to consider myself a somewhat nerdy individual. I even have a t-shirt to prove it, but that’s another story for another day. Let’s be honest for a second: you can’t call yourself a true nerd until you’ve watched Star Wars, hated Star Wars remastered, got a Lego Star Wars T-Shirt and have the Death Star Planetarium to prove it.

I’d like to think that most of us here have at least three out of four of checked there, and I’d be willing to bet you just need the planetarium to complete the collection!

Continue reading »

WoW, Why is the Ground Shaking? – What To Do Until The Cataclysm Arrives! (Preview)

We’re all waiting for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. People who are playing are waiting. People who are thinking about playing again are waiting. People who have no interest in WoW are waiting for those who are interested to quit talking about the expansion and are thus waiting for the expansion as well.

The question is: what do we all do while waiting for Cataclysm to change WoW as we know it? Fortunately, there are plenty of things to do while waiting for everyone.

Those waiting to renew their account or start playing for the first time have a lot to do. Start thinking about what kind of character you’re going to roll. Faction and race are entirely up to you, but I do have a few suggestions for classes.

If you’re playing by yourself snag a hunter or warlock, they both have pets and with the recent changes to the class spells and the talent trees those pets are more than capable of keeping you on your feet long enough to figure out what you want to do with your character.

Continue reading »

Google Street View WiFi Data To Be Deleted – But Was It Really An Issue?

When Google Street View went live in the UK it was hailed as many things when it was released ranging from a ‘thief’s dream’ to a ‘flagship for user-friendly technology’ but the service was eventually cleared of privacy concerns after some people set up privacy blockades.

Regardless of your thoughts it is hard to escape the controversy, but finally it was announced that the latest saga in the Street View ‘epic’ has ended: Google’s WiFi data is to be deleted.

Continue reading »

Sophos Releases Mac Malware Statistics, Should OS X Users Be Worried?

Security firm Sophos, who has developed a free anti-virus for Mac OS X, has just released some interesting figures that give some indication of where the Mac is at where malware is concerned.

Cult of Mac reports that the data was collected from 50,000 malware reports generated by 150,000 users of Sophos anti virus for Mac in the first two weeks of November.

Continue reading »