Christian Milsom

Here are all the Zath articles written by Christian Milsom...

What’s The Most Wanted Gadgets For Christmas 2011?…Well It’s Good News For Apple, Again!

Although unseasonably warm weather continues to hamper high-street Christmas sales, and another recession still looms ominously in the background, people are already well into the mindset of deciding what they would like and it seems that ‘all they want for Christmas’ is a gadget. And preferably one with a small silver Apple on it.

Yes it’s that time of year already when the consumer gloves come off and the annual hotly contested competition for the highest Christmas sales begins. Last year we saw Apple leading the way with the iPad being the most desired gadget followed closely by the iPhone 4 with the Kindle, TomTom Sat Nav and the Sony Playstation Move bringing up the rear. Now vouchercodes.co.uk have surveyed the same number (3,000) of people again and the results show a very interesting trend.

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F1 2011 Game Preview (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

F1 finally came back to the PC and major consoles last year in the form of Codemaster’s F1 2010 video game and, the occasional AI and pit-stop bug aside, it certainly lived up to the hype receiving widespread critical acclaim including a gaming BAFTA for best sports game.

However, whilst the game created a solid base there was still much room for improvement and so this year’s version of the franchise aims to build on the successes of last year whilst learning from the mistakes, and all indications suggest that there have been some substantial leaps forward in F1 2011.

The first major change in the game mirrors those occurring in the sport in real life: the rules. DRS (which stands for ‘Drag Reduction System’) and KERS (‘Kinetic Energy Recovery System) have both been introduced into the sport this year as a way to increase the excitement of races; the former opens a rear-wing flap reducing drag (and thus increasing speed) whilst the latter gives a speed boost from a battery charged under breaking. Both of these technologies along with the new Pirelli tyres  have proven very effective at creating interesting races in real life, and there is no reason given that they are present in the game that they will not do the same.

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SteelSeries Spectrum 5xB Xbox 360 Gaming Headset Review

Back in July of last year Steelseries announced two headsets specifically designed for Xbox 360 gaming: the Spectrum 5xb and 4xb, and over the last couple of weeks we’ve had our hands on the former of these to see how well it matches up not only to the pretty good pedigree that Steelseries have created for themselves but also against the competition.

The SteelSeries Spectrum 5xB Gaming Headset is their first (or more correctly, the better of their first two) headsets specifically designed for gaming on the Xbox 360 which means that not only do they come with the usual headset paraphernalia  but also a neat little box that allows you to adjust the audio from your Xbox to ‘optimise your gaming experience’.

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Is Owning An iPhone A Sign Of…No Wealth? – iPhone Users More Likely To Be Overdrawn

Probably ever since the first wheel was invented, people have rated their wealth by their possessions and how well they compare to others: in medieval times it was the number of wives you had, in the 1930s it was your radio, in the 60s it was colour TVs and now arguably it is your phone.

However some interesting research suggests that in fact many of those who own fancy mobile phones are those that are further down the earning hierarchy than they may first appear and that there is one phone that suffers from financial deficiencies in it’s owners more than others: the iPhone.

Despite the logical inference that the high price tag would mean that only the wealthy could afford to buy an iPhone almost one in five iPhone owners in this survey admitted that their main account is always overdrawn, a statistic that is around double the national average of one-in-ten people.

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Plans For Mobile Phone Coverage On London ‘Tube’ Underground System Are Finally Scrapped

It was in September last year that we first brought news of Boris Johnsons’ plans to introduce mobile coverage to the underground in time for the London 2012 Olympics, and in fact it was just last week that we saw a hostile reception from Londoners to the idea of introducing Wifi in the same areas.

However it has been announced by the companies actually involved - Transport for London and mobile operators including O2, Vodafone, Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile),Three Mobile and the French engineering company Thales – that the plans will not be going ahead and the project has been abandoned due to issues regarding the complexity of the project (given the limited time) and also the cost implications.

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Google Facing Microsoft EU Complaint & Tax Investigation From China

If you’re not a fan of irony then you may want to skip this story as both parts are simply swimming in it! To start with Bill Gates’ brainchild Microsoft have in the past week (the same week in which Google +1 social search features were unveiled) taken another step towards out-and-out war with Google by filing a formal complaint to the European Commission for Competition claiming that the dominance of the company is restricting competition.

On the other side of the world Google is also in trouble this time in China as the authorities are investigating possible tax avoidance in three companies linked to Google Inc, two investigations which if they go against the search giant could leave them in very hot water.

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Google +1 Brings Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button Functionality To Search Results…Without The Social Network!

Last week Google announced the latest in a long list of new social features that will be added to their search service, but interestingly the idea behind it is remarkably similar to one that we have seen already in the form of Facebook’s ‘Like’ button and before that, from the likes of Digg.

Google’s version of the one-click button will be called +1 (or Plus One) and will be the most significant social feature that we have seen on the Google service to date given that we’ve not seen the appearance of a Google Me or Google Circles social network as has been rumoured in the past.

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WiFi On The Tube Underground Network Not Wanted By Londoners?

Back in September 2010 everyone’s favourite bumbling Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced plans to introduce mobile phone coverage to The “Tube” Underground network and we assumed would go down well with everyone expect the mobile phone operators that would be forced to foot the bill, but a recent survey has cast a little doubt on these plans as it revealed that in fact the majority do not want WiFi on the tube or for that matter mobile phone coverage.

This is perhaps a little surprising and although it may well be overlooked what does is mean for The Tube, and is it reflective of the nation’s view as a whole?

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Ricoh CX4 Compact Digital Camera Review

Looking compact, discreet and not that much different from its CX3 predecessor the Ricoh CX4 is one of Ricoh’s latest offerings in their point-and-shoot compact camera range and from the outside it doesn’t look like anything special – Ricoh themselves have described it as “workmanlike”.

Fortunately for me and you as the reader however “workmanlike” is a pretty big overstatement as this camera has a lot more to offer than the 10-megapixel, back-illuminated and 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor featuring CX4 suggests from the outside and is in fact one of the best cameras I’ve had the pleasure of using.

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Sex Domain Extension .xxx Approved By ICANN – But Is It A Good Or Bad Move?

Perhaps somewhat disappointingly one of the main uses of the internet is for sex and although it is really quite difficult to gauge just how much of the internet is used for adult entertainment it’s pretty clear that it’s a lot.

So really it should come as no surprise that for the last 10 years the industry has be trying to get it’s own top level domain .xxx,  but finally the battle of the virtual red light district is over and the internet overseer ICANN has approved the application meaning that very shortly it will become a reality.

Unsurprisingly given the context, debate over whether or not this is such a good idea has been going on for some time and has drawn some surprising divides between not only the general public, but also between pornographers themselves.

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Google Improves YouTube By Buying A Parrot!

If you actually look at number of companies that the giant-that-is-Google owns you may actually be quite surprised, true examples like YouTube and Blogger aren’t that surprising, but you may be surprised to know that Google own BeatThatQuote.com and as of today the Irish company Green Parrot Pictures.

The latest of these acquisitions is an attempt to boost the quality of the videos that are uploaded to YouTube by using the technology developed by the small Dublin based firm, technology that has been used in many big Hollywood films such as X-Men and Spiderman.

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Denmark Introduces ‘Postage Stamps By Text’ – Are Smartphone Apps Next?

Given how quickly the world seems to have moved on with communication in the last few decades it is perhaps surprising that the stamp has survived, we’ve already seen here in the UK you can get Royal Mail “intelligent stamps” but the Danish Post Office have become the first in the world to begin to change the way we use stamps by replacing them with texts!

From the 1st April the Scandinavian service will be bringing in their Mobile Postage Service which looks like it could well spread to Sweden and, quite possibly, over to the UK in the near future… but how does it work?

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Google Chrome 10 Web Browser Update Released – Boasts Better Speed, Security & Syncing Features

Despite only being released back in late 2008 Google’s internet browser Chrome has been exponentially increasing in popularity to the point that in this January it had risen to over 10% of all browser usage, the third most popular behind Firefox and Internet Explorer.

This week Google announced on their Chrome blog that version 10 of the Google Chrome Web Browser will feature an updated version of the JavaScript engine which should bring with it a 66% improvement with JavaScript performance, increases security from malicious web pages by extending Chrome’s sandboxing technology to the integrated flash player and offers password sync enabled by default.

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New Panasonic LUMIX TZ20 & TZ18 Compact Digital Cameras Announced

Perhaps best known for the adverts sporting a large Egyptian dog statue the TZ series within the Panasonic LUMIX camera range have been reasonably successful with the TZ7, TZ8 and TZ10 all offering super zoom capabilities and providing them in a sleek compact form.

Hoping to build on their success, they’ve now released two more additions to the TZ series in the form of the Panasonic LUMIX TZ20 and TZ18 both of which boast HD movie recording, full manual control, a 24mm ultra wide angle lens and 16x optical zoom all in a body that can slip nicely into your pocket.

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European-Based Website Cookies Set To Crumble Thanks To EU Directive

Just in case you don’t know what a cookie is (other than a tasty snack) it’s a small piece of text that is saved onto your computer by websites which is then used for things like authentication, storing preferences and even your shopping cart details – it basically tells the website who you are and when you’ve been on that website before.

However, they do have their nasty side in certain circumstances and it is because of this that new European laws have been introduced to try and regulate the manner in which businesses can use cookies on their websites something which could have a real effect on how we use them.

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MyVoucherCodes iPhone & Android App Shows UK Shoppers Want Mobile Bargains When Going Out!

One only has to spend a few minutes browsing the web before you find some sort of offer claiming to save you money off everything from clothes to games and food to Viagra, and although the vast majority of these are simple ways to try and get your credit card details there are many that are genuine and apparently here in the UK thanks to these we are becoming increasingly picky when it comes to paying full price on the streets.

In the past we’ve already taken a look at the VoucherCloud iPhone App, and now one of the other leading companies that’s offering discounts is MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and after having analysed how their voucher codes are used over the last three months they’ve come up with some interesting statistics about what we will refuse to pay full price for.

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Battlefield 3 Gameplay Trailer Released

Whilst there have been quite a few COD: Modern Warfare 3 rumours flying around, today EA and DICE released the first actual gameplay trailer for Battlefield trailer today, and to put it succinctly it looks nothing short of amazing.

Of course it does look a little too good for real gameplay footage from a game about 10 months away from release, but if the finished article looks anything like this it will put some serious pressure on the more established shooters out there.

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STM Vertical Laptop Shoulder Bag Released

It wasn’t that long ago that we looked at the new STM JET laptop bag but the Australian bag manufacturer are back again this time with the STM Vertical Laptop Shoulder Bag offering that offers the same sort of laptop protection just in a more vertical and, erm, shoulder orientated form.

Although the overall shape is a lot more angular than the JET we looked at before, the design is very similar with the same varied colour scheme of black, black and black (yes, sarcasm!), multiple large pockets and what look like reasonably sturdy metal zips.

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Google Deletes Around 150,000 GMail Accounts Due To Reset Bug – Do You Have Backups?

With over 100million accounts, Gmail is one of the biggest email providers out there, and as we increasingly use email to conduct and document pretty much everything we do it would pretty annoying if the provider of your email service accidentally deleted everything that you had on your account, but that is exactly the situation that about 150,000 individuals woke up to this morning.

Throughout today on Twitter and a variety of support forums victims of the bug (which Google say has affected less than 0.08% of their users) have been reporting that years worth of messages, chat logs and attachments have been lost as their accounts were effectively reset, complete with welcome messages.

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Activision Say Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Rumour Is A Hoax

Earlier this week we brought you the rumours surrounding the next game in the Call of Duty franchise brought about by the launch of a countdown site at www.findmakarov.com and the release of dog tags to the press with the name Sheperd on them suggested to be the same character that appeared in Modern Warfare 2.

However Activision has announced today that the countdown site is a ‘hoax’ and that there will be no announcement from them regarding the future game in the coming weeks; the result of this fresh information is that its rivals, EA, are now suspected of the hoax as the countdown points to when they are due to reveal Battlefield 3 at GDC.

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