September, 2011
It’s Official! Star Trek: The Next Generation Being Remastered For Blu-Ray Release In 2012
September 29, 2011
Ever since the original Star Trek series was remastered and released on to blu-ray in 2009, there have been countless rumours of The Next Generation receiving the same treatment. Now, its release has been confirmed thanks to a post on startrek.com.
The Next Generation on blu-ray won’t be hitting our shelves until 2012, and even then it won’t be coming all at once, but there’s a good reason for this. Instead of simply upconverting the existing content and throwing it on blu-ray to make a tidy profit, the producers of the new blu-ray version are using the original 35mm film and working through over 25,000 reels of footage to make the video look as good as possible.
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Amazon Unveils The Kindle Fire Tablet With 7-inch Colour Touchscreen For $199
September 28, 2011
Amazon has just unveiled their rumoured tablet, the Kindle Fire, at a press event today, and it certainly hasn’t disappointed. Not in the US anyway.
Running a heavily modified version of Google’s Android and packing a dual-core processor, the Kindle Fire will allow you to do all of the things that you would do on any other tablet. You can browse the web (more on that in a little while), download apps from Amazon’s own app store and consume as much media as you can handle.
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Amazon Announces The New Kindle, Keyboard Not Included
September 28, 2011
Not a fan of touch? Fear not! Amazon hasn’t left you behind just yet. In addition to launching two brand new “Kindle Touch” models today, the US company has also announced an update to the traditional Kindle.
Like the new touch models, the latest generation Kindle no longer has a physical keyboard. Instead, users will have to search content and use the built in browser using a virtual on-screen keyboard which will be controlled by the 5-way controller beneath the screen. In short, if you use the keyboard on your current Kindle a lot, you won’t want to upgrade to the new model anytime soon.
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Amazon Announces The New Kindle Touch And Kindle Touch 3G
September 28, 2011
And we thought today was going to be all about Amazon’s new tablet! Au contraire, the e-ink Kindle is still very much with us, and it’s received a great update today as it enters the world of touch.
Gone is the physical keyboard reminiscent of the previous generation, and as a result the new model Kindle is 11% smaller than the last. It’s also a little bit lighter, shedding 8% of its weight.
The new generation e-ink display is, according to Amazon, their most advanced, although given that they’ve had a year to improve on the last generation that shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.
Continue reading »Windows Phone ‘Mango’ Starts To Roll Out to a Lucky Few
September 27, 2011
It seems an insufferably long time since I finally managed to install the ‘NoDo’ update onto my Windows Phone, after as many problems as you’ve got time for, but now it’s time for another update to Windows Phone and this one brings a lot more to the table than just something as trivial as copy & paste.
‘My Windows Phone’ Launches Ahead of Mango, Adds Web Marketplace
September 25, 2011
In the eyes of many, including myself, Windows Phone is well overdue an update, and it’s in line to get one pretty soon if Microsoft is to be believed. And it just got a lot more credence given the recent launch of a new site called ‘My Windows Phone’, which aims to collect the bulk of the data stored on your Windows Phone device in one easy-to-use web interface.
Dyson Unveils ‘Hot’ Fan Heater, Available Now For £269.99
September 18, 2011
When Dyson introduced the Air Multiplier – their bladeless fan – in 2009, a lot of people were impressed by the elegant design and efficient cooling methods that you couldn’t get from traditional fans. Despite the hefty price point (the fans start at £200 for the smaller models, and work their way up to £300), there’s no denying that the technology used by Dyson is really impressive.
Fast forward to an unseasonably warm September in 2011, and the result of three years research and development, based upon the design of the Air Multiplier, has resulted in a new product: Dyson Hot.
Continue reading »Swann DVR-460 Waterproof Mini Video Camera Review
September 15, 2011
Whether you’re a keen photographer or not, the chances are you’ll take some snaps or some videos once in a while, whether it be on a fully-fledged DSLR, or just the camera in your smartphone, so you can easily relive your memories. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend slipping into the sea or a swimming pool with your smartphone or camera attached to your hip, it could have disastrous consequences.
Fortunately, there are cameras designed for that very purpose, and today I have with me the Swann DVR-460 SportsCam, which claims to be able to do it. So let’s take a look, shall we?
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TP-Link TL-WR1043ND Router Review
September 13, 2011
I’ve been in the market for a new router myself recently, and I have to say it’s an increasingly tricky decision to get right in this modern world of dual-band, gigabit and all sorts of other mind-boggling jargon. Anyway, once you’ve figured it out, you might realise that this router from TP-Link, despite being labelled ‘ultimate’, falls short of the competition as it is just a single-band. That means it’ll only operate on the 2.4GHz frequency, neglecting the 5GHz frequency that other rival routers use to gain a clearer path to half of your devices amongst other things.
Interestingly, though, unlike many of the competing entries to the market, the TL-WR1043ND features a trio of antennae fixed along the back of the router, similar to the dual antennae found in the Netgear DGN2000, which are useful for really maximising the range and strength of that single signal. It’s noticeable, too, with the range far outstripping that of my recently procured Belkin PlayMax router.
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TruLink HDMI Over Cat5e Extender Review
September 12, 2011
We use Cat5 cabling for a number of networking related tasks, but not many people will have seen it used as a HDMI extender. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what TruLink has gone and done with this extender. They’ve taken a HDMI connection and paired it with Cat5e technology which will allow you to transmit video over a long distance in your home or workplace up to 60 metres.
TruLink 2-Port HDMI Splitter Review
September 11, 2011
Following the digital switchover here in the UK, almost every man and his dog now has a television that is at least HD ready. That means that demand for HDMI cables and accessories is going sky high. Even HDMI DVD players are available to take advantage of upscaling content and getting the most from your old discs, but what happens when you want to watch the same content on two TVs instead of just one?
TruLink’s 2-port HDMI splitter aims to solve your predicament by offering you an extra port to connect your peripheral in to, but how does it stack up when compared to the plethora of other options available out there? Let’s check it out!
Continue reading »TruLink TV To PC Converter Review
September 10, 2011
There are lots of converters and adaptors available that can take a video signal from your computer and display it on your TV or projector, but there aren’t many that work the other way around. That is, to take a signal from an external device such as a DVD player or cable box and convert it to display on a conventional computer monitor.
For many people who don’t want to use a TV, just a external input device, this could be quite useful, as computer monitors tend to be less expensive than their aerial packing counterparts.
If you want to buy a computer monitor instead of a TV, or you’re just re-purposing an old monitor that you no longer use, then you’ll want to take a look at one of TruLink’s many adaptors.
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TruLink VGA To HDMI Converter Review
September 9, 2011
If you buy a new television now, you can guarantee that it will have at least one HDMI port available to use. Large sets will even have up to 3 or 4 ports for you to connect up all your peripherals and enjoy your media.
What happens when that media is on an older computer, though? Most laptop and desktop computers will, for the past decade, have shipped with a VGA port to connect to an external display or projector before anyone could even say ‘Digital Switchover’. If you still have an older machine that you need to hook up to a new TV, then you’ll need an adaptor like this one from Trulink.
Continue reading »PC Tools Performance Toolkit For Windows Review
September 8, 2011
I’ve always been skeptical of so called ‘tune-up’ programs for Windows. There are quite a few of them, such as Uniblue Registry Booster, around from various software companies, but how much good to they actually do?
Whether it’s worth your while purchasing a tune-up program for your PC depends on how long you’ve been using it without formatting the hard drive, and why it’s running slowly. Of course many people like to stay on top of these things and run programs such as Performance Toolkit as a preventative measure, so that there are no registry errors present to slow down your system. If you want to use a tune-up program, and you’re interested in Performance Toolkit, read on to see what we make of it!
Continue reading »Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium For Windows Review
September 7, 2011
This time last year at Zath, we reviewed Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 and found it to be one of the best speech recognition options available on the market despite its high resource usage. This year, we’re back with the latest version of the software, NaturallySpeaking 11.5, to see how it compares to its predecessor and whether any of the updated features can further tempt consumers to buy in to the speech recognition scene.
The new version is a free update for existing users of version 11, but it is also shipping as a boxed product for buyers who haven’t used the previous version before.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo Review
September 6, 2011
Whenever I approach a review for a phone, I try my best to do so without any pre-judgements about the device that I’m about to use. I’ll ignore the vast majority of reviews already written, and get a feel for things before loving or hating it, but for the Xperia Neo this is particularly difficult.
You see, as far as I was concerned, the Xperia Neo is simply Sony’s Xperia Play without the ‘Play’. It has a very similar look and feel to the so called Playstation Phone, with the same style chrome finished buttons beneath the screen and the same curvature around the edges. The only problem is I didn’t particularly like the Play until I used the Playstation app…
Still, I’m a firm believer in clean slates, and a clean slate is just what I gave the Xperia Neo. After all, it’s cheaper than its gaming relative and can still pack a fairly powerful punch. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Continue reading »Jamie Oliver’s Recipes For iPad App Review
September 6, 2011
The iPad is a great portable cookbook that can be placed in the kitchen whilst you’re cooking. You no longer have to keep large, heavy cookbooks with lots of recipes that you’ll never use lying around. Instead, you can mount your iPad on a stand and view only the recipes that you want to use.
That’s the idea behind ‘Recipes’, a free app from Jamie Oliver that allows you to purchase packs of recipes for just £1.49 each as an in app purchase. Each pack includes several recipes and comes with some instructional videos as well.
Continue reading »Miranda IM For Windows Review
September 5, 2011
Instant messaging clients are all ten-a-penny nowadays, whatever platform you’re using, and it’s a market that’s incredibly difficult for software producers to differentiate themselves in. After all, there’s only so much that you can do with an instant messaging client, and if you go too far when trying to introduce additional features, many people will stop using your product because it has too much bloat.
You can’t say that Miranda IM, the instant messaging client we’re looking at today, has bloat though. Quite the opposite in fact; Miranda is just a 3MB download and doesn’t even have to be installed locally in order to work. Sound like your kind of client? Let’s take a closer look!
Continue reading »Revo Uninstaller Review
September 5, 2011
Reviewing so many products across different platforms, I’m constantly installing new software on to my Windows based computers to try out new things. Sometimes, I’ll keep a product that we review on Zath, but a lot of the time I will probably uninstall it after I’ve used it. The only problem is that when you uninstall a program on Windows, a lot of crap gets left behind. Registry entries, stray folders and dead shortcuts are left scattered across your hard drive.
If you want to fully uninstall a program, along with all of its registry entries and hidden folders, you will have to use something that carries a little more weight than the Control Panel. Something like Revo Uninstaller.
Continue reading »Slim PDF Reader For Windows Review
September 4, 2011
Whenever you send or receive a read only document, the odds are that it’s sent in PDF format. Adobe’s portable document format has enjoyed a monopoly for many years now, so it’s not surprising that there are so many PDF reader applications out there to choose from.
Over the years, though, a lot of these applications have developed quite a bit of bloat. Adobe’s own application weighs in at over 26MB, and both Nuance Reader and Nitro Reader aren’t too far behind. If you’re looking for a bulk free, lightweight alternative, then you should check out Slim PDF Reader.
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