Articles, Technology

Most of us who use a computer today use a TFT LCD display panel for everyday work, which come fairly cheap for their size. All of them boast great resolution, viewing angles, fast response times and mind blowing contrast ratios. But here is what some of them lack - ability to accurately recreate colour. So when you buy a display it is important to know not only what it can show you but also what it cannot show you.

Some of you, like me, may have walked into a bookshop recently or an electronics superstore perhaps and noticed a new section featuring the plethora of e-book readers that have come into the market. If you pick up one of these and play around with it, the first thing that will probably strike you as different is how 'paper like' the text display appears. Well you are looking at Electronic Ink or e-ink.

Laptop prices are on the rise and they will continue to do so, making laptops an expensive investment. In this article I am going to discuss some of the techniques you can use to prevent loss of your beloved machine and its data. I am going to focus on physical theft of data because many people don't do enough to avoid this. I'm also going to explain how to build security in layers, making it tighter as you go deeper.

Steampunk is a form of art where modern day objects are transformed to look like 19th century steam powered devices. An example is this laptop complete with its power-on key. Rich Nagy the creator of this beast sums up his passion for tinkering with technology "[Computer technology] was robbed of the fleeting, wonderful period right after invention, where it is celebrated and honoured by the finest craftsman, artists and creative minds and given a structure befitting its potential and greatness."

There is so much noise around LEGO Mindstorms on the web with enthusiasts and universities all attempting to do the NeXT big thing that it is hard for kids wanting to do more with their Mindstorms kit to figure out what is happening.There are three different Mindstorms kits and on top of this there is a plethora of tools for programming, different versions of NXT firmware and NXT software. Plus LEGO has changed the Mindstorms update pages on their website since release of NXT 2.0, so most old links don’t work any more, including links provided within the kit 8527 software. This article aims to provide concise information and resources to budding Mindstormers.

In the last few months I've had a hard time finding a reasonably priced dual core processor laptop in the consumer PC market. Most of the models I loved have been discontinued and moved off the shelves. You would think that they have been replaced by more powerful models, but no. Computer manufacturers are taking a step back in time and actually building slightly less powerful laptops but instead offering more portability and style. I take a trip down memory lane and look at the philosophy behind the next generation of laptops.

In the recent CEATEC Japan 2009 exhibition Sony presented a conceptual prototype of the future VAIO laptop that would use the flexible OLED technology or FOLED. While these may look and sound fairly futuristic, FOLEDs could become common in mainstream electronic devices of the future.

It seems that wireless devices are taking over our lives. Starting with wireless internet most other computing devices are now also wireless. We have wireless keyboards, wireless mice, wireless telephones, wireless headphones and wireless CCTV. Companies that sell these devices are fairly quick to point out how convenient it is to use the wireless device and how long the wireless range is, but very few of them actually publish information about if the wireless communication on the device is secure.

Security is a increasing source of concern for home owners today. Bad economic times have led to an increased risk of home breakins and theft. Most security installations are done by professional organizations which will charge you a hefty sum and provide you will iron clad security. However what many home owners need is a simple deterrent system, that will stop the street thief from getting in and wiping the house clean. There are an increasing number of security products in the market which you can install yourself, but it is important to understand the advantages of using each because incorrect use could create a false sense of security while actually leaving your home more exposed than protected.

In the small world of digital pocket cameras, increasingly the trend is to buy one with higher number of megapixels. Camera manufacturers have recognized this trend and are providing even higher megapixels at even higher prices. However, in reality they are not building better cameras that support higher mexapixels, they are simply extracting more megapixels from their existing cameras. This means picture quality is being compromised. So you may get better picture quality from a lower megapixel camera.