Microsoft’s wireless solution sounds pretty good … except for the part about needing Windows 8.1 in order to use it with a PC.
Google’s Chromecast device has been around for some time now. It enables you to stream contents from a computer or supported mobile device using apps to a compatible screen. The price point is very tempting and setup is not difficult at all as well.
Chromecast provides a simple, basic way to play videos from the internet on your TV set (providing that your TV includes an HDMI port.)
I have to admit that I was curious when I first heard about Chromecast and how some people used the device to play Internet or local videos stored on the computer on a television. While I do not watch a lot of TV, I do watch the occasional YouTube video or TV show on the PC. That’s fine most of the time but there are situations where I which I could stream videos from my PC or the Internet directly to the television instead.
Interesting. The article does a good job of describing what the device does, but I still don’t understand why anybody would want it … maybe they feel like Big Brother is neglecting them or something.
I really like what I see on the crowd sourcing platform Indiegogo at the moment. The offers there are quiet different from what you find on the rivaling platform Kickstarter. The latest campaign to catch my attention is the Misfit Shine, a wearable activity tracker that is tiny enough to carry it with you regardless of what you are wearing. The device comes in a couple of different flavors, from a clasp that you can attach to underwear, bathing suits or shoes over sports and leather bands to a necklace to carry it around your neck.
Speaking as an old guy, who grew up in the desktop era, the phrase “bulky laptop” always cracks me up.
I had high hopes for the Surface Pro ever since Microsoft announced that it would release the device a few months after the Windows 8 operating system. It was the device that I was looking for, running a full version of the operating system allowing me to run my legacy x86 programs on the device. The Full HD resolution, enough RAM, the form factor and the design with its integrated kickstand and attachable keyboard had me hooked.
It looks like Microsoft is sort of blurring the line between laptop and tablet here …
Microsoft’s mystery event took place yesterday at a time that may have been ideal for journalists and interested users from the U.S., but less than ideal for people from other parts of the world. In it, Microsoft announced the Surface tablet running on Windows 8. According to the demonstration, Surface will ship in two different models. First a regular Intel-powered tablet running Windows 8 Pro, and then an ARM-based tablet running Windows RT.
Come to think of it, I could use a new router at home too …
Recently Netgear sent me their new DGND3700 router for review, which was very lucky as mine was playing up at the time. Now on the face of it you might not think the arrival of a router for review would be anything exciting, in this case you could very well be wrong. This model is one of the company’s top-end N600 range and it somehow manages to pack in just about every feature you could ever want in a router. The big question though is, is it any good?
More proof that bigger isn’t always automatically better …
When it comes to using a computer mouse, I like mine as plain and simple as possible. I only need three mouse buttons (left, right and middle) and a scroll wheel and that is it. A friend of mine, avid gamer, recently bought a 20+ button mouse as he likes all of the game controls on the mouse.
Computer mice come in all size and shapes. You can buy small models for mobile use, gaming mice with more than a dozen different buttons, plain two button mice and even mice for big handed individuals.
Call me a Luddite, but I still can’t figure out why I’d need a TouchPad in the first place …
The HP TouchPad is dead, long live the HP TouchPad! It feels very odd reviewing a product that you can’t buy any more. When you factor in though that this new tablet computer is brand new out and still in its review period, and that many people will this week be taking delivery of their shiny new gadget, it begins to make more sense.
This is a great idea; it’s kind of surprising that this feature isn’t more wide spread …
The best way to protect data on one of your storage devices is to encrypt it. There are several free solutions out there, for instance by using the Open Source encryption software True Crypt, to protect data from unauthorized access.
The speed and silence of solid state drives are definitely attractive, but it looks like the hardware manufacturers still have a few bugs to work out …
Modern Solid State Drives are faster than their platter-driven brethren. They do have additional advantages like being completely silent when operating and better shock proof. The disadvantages are the high price per Gigabyte of storage space and unreliability when it comes to erasing or deleting data from the storage media. Especially the latter point can have severe security implications.
