John Thompson
Hoping to study Computer Science at University in the near future, you’ll seldom see John without a computer in touching distance! His interests include building computers, reading all sorts of literature and of course writing for Zath to keep you updated on all the latest in the world of tech! You can follow John on Twitter as @british_geek.Here are all the Zath articles written by John Thompson...
NanoWatch Strap – Turns Your iPod Nano Into An iWatch
January 21, 2011
Do you remember a little piece of tech that we told you about in September? The new iPod Nano which took a real new turn in terms of design from the previous model.
Yeah, well due to this rather minimal and nifty design, there’s a whole host of accessories available for it including this one, which is aptly named, the NanoWatch Strap, which promises to turn it in to the wear on your wrist, little touch screen watch that you always wanted!
Continue reading »Hoping For Light Peak In Your Next PC? You May Have To Wait Longer Than You Think
January 12, 2011
It’s been two years since Light Peak, Intel’s super-fast, 10Gbps USB killer, was shown off on a Hackintosh running OS X, and it got lots of people excited about the possibility of Light Peak arriving on Macs and other computers in 2010.
Of course now we’re in 2011, and we know that the 2010 estimate was wrong, but just how far away are we from using Light Peak to connect all of our external devices and monitors to our computers? According to PC World, LaCie’s senior engineer, Mike Mihalik, discussed the upcoming technology following a period of no news after Intel also demoed the technology with LaCie in 2010.
Continue reading »Did You Purchase Tweetie From MacHeist? You Can Unlock A Ton Of Cool Features In The New Twitter!
January 8, 2011
Any customer who purchased the Tweetie Mac Desktop App from the last MacHeist bundle was promised a free upgrade to Tweetie 2 at the time. Fast forward a good few months, and the newly named ‘Twitter’ app is available in the Mac App Store, free for everyone.
Don’t worry though, if you bought Tweetie from MacHeist, you can still take advantage of some super cool features, and here’s how…
Continue reading »Sony’s 3D Capable Vaio F Series Announced, Available From The End Of February
January 8, 2011
How do you differentiate your product in a market so saturated with products from a plethora of companies? If you’re Sony, you offer 3D on just about everything you produce including the latest Vaio notebook: the Sony Vaio F Series.
The Vaio F Series includes a 3D display – which can be toggled from 2D to 3D at the touch of a button – and 3D Blu-ray disc drive, so you can watch your latest 3D movies on the go.
Of course, the 3D display isn’t the glasses free variety just yet, so you’ll have to wear a pair of shutter glasses to view the 3D content just like you would with one of the new 3D BRAVIA TVs. If you own, or plan on owning, one of the new Sony Cybershot cameras then you can view your 3D still images on the screen as well; just put it in to 3D mode, slip on your glasses and you’re good to go!
Continue reading »4 New Sony BRAVIA HD TVs Announced
January 8, 2011
If you absolutely despise 3D televisions, and don’t want to spend the extra money on one when there are perfectly good 2D options in the market, then you may want to pay attention to Sony’s new line up of 2D HDTVs. It appears that they haven’t ditched the good ol’ two dimension approach just yet, with four new models being offered to consumers in 2011. Care to take a closer look at them?
EX521 / EX421
Carrying on where the 3D BRAVIA models left off, the EX521 / 421 models will allow you to make Skype calls directly from your TV whilst you stare in to the LED display.
You’ll also be able to appreciate a better image with the X-Reality chip built in to the set. Although it isn’t as powerful as the X-Reality PRO chip found in the 3D models, it’ll still have a tough go at giving you the best picture it can which is always appreciated, right?
Continue reading »5 New Sony BRAVIA 3D TVs Announced
January 8, 2011
Sony are keeping us busy at CES this year aren’t they? We’ve seen new Bloggie mobile cameras as well as new Cybershot models and now we’re being treated to a whole new BRAVIA line up for 2011. Here’s a closer look at Sony’s 3D TV offerings for the year!
HX920
All of the new BRAVIA models have integrated Wi-Fi for internet services such as BBC iPlayer without the need for an additional set top box. The HX920 includes Intelligent Peak LED backlighting for a beautiful cinematic picture with deep blacks and boosted white levels, and it looks absolutely stunning.
It supports both 2D and 3D viewing, includes two pairs of 3D glasses for watching TV, and even has Skype built straight in so that you can video call from the TV with the bundled camera and microphone.
There’s also been an improvement to the underlying technology of the BRAVIA line up with the introduction of X-Reality PRO image processing chips in the HX920. The chip helps to sharpen images and claims to be able to boost web video to near HD resolution. You’ll also find Motionflow XR 800 present for smoother images; 800 frames per second will make a huge difference when watching sports broadcasts.
Continue reading »Sony Refreshes Its Cybershot Camera Line-Up With 3D Capability And Full HD Video Recording
January 8, 2011
Sony has continued to impress at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yesterday we took a look at their ‘Bloggie’ mobile cameras, and today we’re taking a look at the release of a new Cybershot line up.
Five of these models (the DSC-TX100V (pictured above), DSC-TX10, DSC-HX7V, DSC-WX10 and DSC-WX7) include 16.2 megapixel camera, and can take 3D still photos with one lens and imager. The DSC-TX100V model comes with a 3.5″ OLED display so you can view your images on a high resolution display on the go to see how your pictures turned out. This model also claims to be the world’s first still compact digital camera to offer Full HD progressive video shooting.
Continue reading »Sony Releases Three New ‘Bloggie’ Mobile Camera Models
January 6, 2011
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to spend half a day preparing the perfect shot, and you’d rather just get a camera out of your pocket and snap a picture in a second, then you may be interested in Sony’s new Bloggie line-up, announced at CES earlier today.
All three models – the Bloggie, Bloggie Duo and Bloggie 3D – are capable of capturing 1080p high definition videos, as well as having a 5MP point and shoot camera mode.
Bloggie
The Bloggie, or MHS-FS1, is designed to be ultra-compact and lightweight so you can take it wherever you go without being weighed down all day. It comes with a large 2.7-inch wide LCD screen, and is available in both black and white.
All of the content that you capture will be stored on the 4GB of internal memory in the Bloggie, so you won’t be running out of space too soon if you stick to still images. If you’re recording a lot of 1080p however, you may want to be a little more cautious with storage.
Continue reading »Viewsonic Set To Launch TV With Boxee Built In
January 6, 2011
I’m a big fan of Boxee, and I use it on a daily basis with my HTPC connected to my TV. I’d love to cut down on the cords though, and if you’re looking to do the same then Viewsonic’s new TV with Boxee media center software built in may be just your cup of tea.
The TV is powered by Intel’s CE4100 Atom processor – the same chip that drives the Boxee Box – and is completely integrated meaning that no external boxes of any sort are required.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use Boxee with live television broadcasts, the two are being kept separate.
Continue reading »Boxee & CBS Get Together To Offer Full TV Episode Downloads In The US “Later This Year”
January 6, 2011
Boxee and CBS have agreed on a deal that will allow Boxee users in the US to download full episode of CBS TV shows straight to their Boxee Box or other device.
The move signals what could be the beginning of more deals for users both in the USA and other countries as well, as more devices begin to appear using Boxee software. We told you of plans to for Boxee to bring us UK on-demand services such as TVCatchup.com last year, so hopefully such deals are still in the works for us Brits too!
Continue reading »ASUS Eee Pad Slider & Eee Pad MeMO With Android 3.0 Honeycomb Launched (CES 2011)
January 6, 2011
ASUS has just launched their new tablet line-up for 2011, which consists of numerous devices running on three different screen sizes and either Windows 7 or Android OS. Here’s a closer look at two of the more mobile Android powered devices on show: the Eee Pad Slider and Eee Pad Memo.
Eee Pad Slider
The ASUS Eee Pad Slider gives you a 10.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, and as the name suggests, the screen of the Slider will slide up, revealing a full QWERTY keyboard so that you can take notes and create documents without having to rely on the software keyboard built in to the operating system.
Continue reading »ASUS Eee Slate Tablet Running Windows 7 Announced (CES 2011)
January 6, 2011
The Eee Slate is the only device in ASUS’ tablet line-up to come running Windows 7 in favour of Android 3.0, but boy is it worth a second look!
The Slate has a 12.1″ multitouch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, and is powered by Intel’s Core i5 CPU. There’s no messing around with ARM chips inside this one, with Windows 7 running the show. The unit also comes with a stylus (or ‘digital pen’ as ASUS call it) for writing, high precision drawing or, you know, stabbing at that tiny little start orb in the corner of your screen…
Continue reading »ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, Honeycomb-Powered Tablet/Netbook Device Announced (CES 2011)
January 6, 2011
At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is your everyday netbook. It has a 1280 x 800 10.1-inch display with a capacitive touch screen, and can un-dock itself from the QWERTY keyboard base to transform (clever, eh?) in to a tablet device.
The docking station also acts as an additional power source when it’s connected to the screen, with ASUS claiming that it allows for up to 16 hours of power. Real life figures will most likely be lower than that, but it’s still a nice touch if you’re in need of lots of power.
Continue reading »Tablet-Friendly Honeycomb Confirmed As Android 3.0, Shown Off On Video
January 6, 2011
Oh, Samsung, read ‘em and weep. Your Froyo-sporting Galaxy Tab looks like an antiquated piece of junk next to this baby. A video from Google’s androiddevelopers YouTube account has leaked out, giving us an up close and personal look at Android 3.0, otherwise known as Honeycomb.
Designed especially for the big screen, Honeycomb has been given a complete user interface overhaul and is a long way away from what we’re seeing with other versions of Android. The operating system now has a more desktop like feel to it, stepping away from the mobile constraints seen by iOS on the iPad.
Continue reading »How To Subscribe To Your Spam Folder Using IMAP & Thunderbird/Postbox – For When You Can’t See It!
January 3, 2011
I recently switched e-mail clients from the default Mail application on Mac OS X to Postbox, which I will be reviewing in the coming weeks.
Based upon Thunderbird, Postbox works great for my needs, but one things really annoyed me: I couldn’t get to my spam – obviously an issue in case any important emails find their way in there by mistake.
At this point, it’s worth noting that you need to connect your mail server using IMAP for folder support, as POP will just forward emails in your inbox to you.
Continue reading »
Apple iPad Review (iOS 4.2 With Multitasking & Folders)
January 3, 2011
The Apple iPad has certainly taken the world by storm since it was released in the US back in April, and a further nine countries including the UK in May. It’s got a good number of mentions here at Zath since we were first introduced to the iPad at Apple’s announcement of it.
Despite being a huge success, though, there were still a number of features missing from the iPad that iPhone users were happily using for quite some time, such as multitasking and the ability to store apps in folders.
This update came in the form of iOS 4.2, with early beta versions being released to developers in September. Although it took a while for the final iOS 4.2 version to come to consumers, we got there eventually! Won’t you join us as we take you on a tour of the iPad and iOS 4.2? You know you want to…
Continue reading »Nuance PDF Converter Professional 7 Review (Windows)
December 27, 2010
PDF is the mainstream standard for transferring documents between people online, and many programs such as Microsoft Office 2010 now have the ability to export documents and other files to PDF.
If you really wanted to get down and dirty with the format though, one of your only choices would be Adobe’s own Acrobat X. With a cost of over £500 direct from Adobe, I think we can agree that it may be out of the price range of most people.
Enter Nuance PDF Converter Professional 7. It’s priced at £50 – much more reasonable than Adobe’s pricing of Acrobat X – and packs a lot of the same features as its more expensive counterpart. How does it match up? Let’s find out.
Continue reading »Guinness World Records iPad App Now Available – Will You Be A Record Breaker?
December 24, 2010
Everyone loves browsing the Guinness World Records book when given the chance; it’s full of the most obscure, cool and creepy facts you ever wanted to know. It seems a logical progression, therefore, for it to be available on the world’s most popular tablet device, the Apple iPad.
For just £2.99 from the UK App Store, you can take a look at the brand new Guinness World Records iPad App, which features interactive content that hasn’t been available in print versions of the book, and attempt to break some iPad-related world records for yourself, too.
Continue reading »CopyTrans TuneSwift Review – Get iTunes Library Transfer Software Free With Zath!
December 23, 2010
You remember CopyTrans, don’t you? We’ve taken a look at a few of their products in the past, including their iTunes music and photo alternatives as well as their iPod backup utility. Now they’re back with the latest addition to their line-up: CopyTrans TuneSwift.
TuneSwift has been created to help you transfer your iTunes library to a new computer, and is capable of preparing a PC to PC transfer as well as a PC to Mac transfer. The whole process is so simple, anyone can do it without a hitch, so let’s take a closer look!
Continue reading »iPad Bluetooth Keyboard Leather Case Released For $50
December 23, 2010
There are a number of iPad peripherals available on the market, some of them are more expensive than others, and some of them are more functional than others. This particular accessory which merges an iPad leather case and bluetooth keyboard, however, seems to hit a decent price point whilst maintaining a good level of functionality.
The case allows for the Apple iPad to be slid in to the ‘screen’ section, and the keyboard attached to the bottom side. When folded upwards, the iPad can be held in a similar fashion to a laptop so that you can type on a physical keyboard without a problem.
Continue reading »