Monthly Archives: May 2008
Home design CAD
I must be one of the only mugs buying a house at the moment; this is at a time where the majority of other prospective buyers are running for the hills due to the current economic climate.To make matters more interesting I also made an offer before the property officially came on to the market so I was unfortunately unable to use some generic comment regarding the apparent ‘recession’ in order to leverage the price.Anyway, my foolhardy attitude aside, I am now faced with the task of becoming an interior designer and rather predictably felt that we had to get a computer involved somewhere along the way.
Last year I reviewed Google SketchUp for Click and thought that I’d give it another spin before decided it was possibly a little bit too complicated for the relatively simple room designs that I wanted to create.I was looking for something more along … Read the rest
AVG 8.0
I always know when AVG release a new version of their fantastic free anti-virus software as it usually results in a torrent of abuse being launched towards me by my readership – “you said this software was free and now it’s asking me for money or it’ll stop working.”
Now, I must admit that it is true that whenever a new version of AVG is released and an old version is discontinued, they do try and push users down the route of buying the more advanced package.I don’t blame them for this as everybody needs to make money, however those that actually bother reading the message will see that there is still a free option available.It is this version, AVG 8, which I will be reviewing today.
I have always pitched AVG as being the anti-virus checker that my readers should be using and amazingly the best thing about this … Read the rest
Technology Flops #2
Last week I started looking at some technologies which, after having started life with such a potentially promising future, were quickly consigned to the history books.Along with the infamous Microsoft Bob application and Smart Appliances such as a fridge that connects to the Internet we had the formats HD DVD, Minidisc, DAT Tapes and of course Betamax.As you’d expect, I’ve saved the best until last.
OS/2
Originally a joint venture between IBM and Microsoft in 1987, things in the first few years looked optimistic with Microsoft publically insisting that OS/2 was the future.This was until the release of Windows 3.0 which sold extremely well due to the Operating System being bundled with many PC’s – OS/2 on the other hand was considered an expensive alternative.
As you’d imagine, their marriage hit the rocks and IBM went alone.In 1992, they released OS/2 2.0 which they touted as being “a better DOS … Read the rest
Technology Flops
I’m not sure if it’s possible to feel sorry for a format, but if it is then I think I might actually feel sorry for the HD DVD standard; after living such a short life it has been consigned to the history books having been trounced by the technically superior BluRay format.In order to ease the pain I thought it might help to take a look at some other technologies that the future looked so promising for, but in reality they failed so spectacularly:
Microsoft Bob – I have only used Microsoft Bob once in my life before immediately deleting it from the PC it came bundled with way back in 1995; by my estimation this would have made me thirteen.Bob was an application which sat on top of your existing Windows installation and was designed for making simple tasks such as deleting a file or writing a letter easier … Read the rest
Wii Fit
With all the talk of video games corrupting the minds and bodies of youngsters it’s nice to see Nintendo taking a completely different direction to video gaming in the form of their ‘Wii’ console which I previewed last year just before it was released in the UK.The unique selling point behind this console is that rather than relying on the conventional video games controller, the Wii interacts through various movements that the user makes in real life.
The basic package comes with a ‘Wii remote’ and ‘nunchuck’ – these are held in either hand then your hand movements get translated in to on screen actions.In the mini games supplied with the console these actions are used to simulate playing a game of tennis, ten pin bowling, golf or cricket.
The combination of movement and cute characters lead to an experience that is a lot more innocent and physically involving than … Read the rest
