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Techradar |
- Tutorial: 10 PC disaster recovery tips
- Tutorial: 25 cool Windows 7 interface tweaks
- In Depth: Are you heading for computer burnout?
- Review: Roberts Revival DAB RD60
- Review: Electrocompaniet ECI5 MkII
- This Week on Mac|Life
| Tutorial: 10 PC disaster recovery tips Posted: 14 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PST  Here's the scenario: one minute you're working and surfing quite happily, the next the Blue Screen Of Death rears its ugly head and your machine won't boot. Whatever's happened to Windows is serious and the problem is confounded by the absence of backups. You've been promising to make some but never quite got around to it. Don't panic! Just follow these steps. 1. The easy win Before you bring out the big guns – which we'll discuss later – it pays to explore the easy options. Try using Windows' own repair and recovery tools, accessible from your installation disc. Depending on the version of Windows that you're running, the choices will differ. For Windows 7, the key is Startup Repair. This will hopefully "automatically fix problems that are preventing Windows from starting". 2. Leave your hard drive alone If you're dealing with sensitive data on a crashed PC, it pays to be careful. It's safest to leave the operating system alone and try to access data, files and folders indirectly. This is particularly true if you suspect you're battling a virus attack. By running the host OS, you give the contagion the opportunity to call home, update and send out more of your data. With all this in mind, we say don't boot a damaged OS – use a Live CD rescue kit instead. 3. AVG Rescue CD If your PC has been brought to its knees by a virus, getting back into Windows with enough control over the system to remove the contagion can be tricky. Thankfully, there's an easy answer – the AVG Rescue CD. Download the ISO image from here and burn the image to a CD or create a bootable USB key. Whatever you choose, the Linux-based rescue CD makes it easy to scan and remove viruses. The Inside Security Rescue Toolkit isn't strictly a rescue system – it's more a tool for forensic security analysis.
It can, for example, examine a huge variety of different filesystems, from common NTFS to more obscure systems. The toolkit will scan for viruses and let you get online from a defunct PC. It can also sniff out rootkits. 4. The Ultimate Boot CD If nothing we've discussed so far has worked, go for the big guns. It's time for The Ultimate Boot CD, a collection of 100 applications that should help even the most knackered PC get back on its feet. The interface breaks apps down into categories, such as BIOS, CPU, Memory and so on. Follow the menu structure. Given the number of apps on offer, you should be able to find one that will salve your PC's ills. 5. GParted GParted is a classic among opensource applications. It's essentially a program that lets you move, resize, check, copy, create and delete hard disk partitions. It's not uncommon for these to be damaged during a serious crash, so having GParted to hand as a Live CD is essential. Despite the program's obvious power, it's extremely simple to use. You can download it from here. 6. Free ISO burner To turn an ISO disc image into a functional Live CD, you need an ISO burner. Newer versions of Windows feature such tools as standard, but if you're after something more feature-rich, try Free ISO Burner from www.freeisoburner.com. It can burn to a wide range of media. 7. Undelete a file Pandora Recovery can resurrect deleted files. Use the portable version – installing it natively risks overwriting the data you're trying to rescue. Get it from www.pandorarecovery.com and build a bootable USB version of the program on another PC. 8. Ghost for Linux Norton Ghost is a classic application – we've used it and loved it since version one. It's a partition-cloning tool and can be vital in a disaster. To experiment with the concept of partition cloning, try Ghost for Linux. It's an open-source project and you can download it from here. 9. A beeping PC If your PC does little more than beep after its crash, it's sending you an encoded diagnosis of its ailments. All you need to do – albeit from a different machine – is visit www.computerhope.com/beep.htm, where you'll find a complete guide to beep codes. 10. What went wrong? When you're back up and running, you need to work out what caused your PC to fall over. Here, the Windows Crash Dump is your friend. Microsoft does offer some help, but for the ultimate insight, visit Crash Dump Analysis. 
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| Tutorial: 25 cool Windows 7 interface tweaks Posted: 13 Nov 2010 04:00 AM PST  Your fresh installation of Windows 7 gives a 'one size fits all' configuration, but there are countless ways in which you can tweak the standard operating system to make it better suit your particular needs. Built-in customisation options include the usual controls over the interface theme and the way in which Windows alerts you to important events. There are also a bevy of free add-ons, which provide an even wider choice of customisation options – from ways to change parts of the OS that Microsoft doesn't cater for, to adding clever new features that make Windows 7 even more capable. Here are 25 of our favourite tweaks. 1. Change the colour of the Aero UI Windows 7's sleek Aero theme is a definite improvement on Windows XP's ugly Luna, but you may not like its default colours. Right-click the desktop, choose 'Personalize', then 'Window Color', and you'll be able to tweak the colours to your heart's content. Shades of red work particularly well for distinguishing between active and inactive windows – unlike the default blue tones. You can turn off transparency here too, should you wish to. 2. Change the Windows theme Customising the colour scheme of Windows 7 is one thing, but how about more drastic changes? Right-click the desktop, then choose 'Personalize', and you can change the entire interface theme – the desktop wallpaper, colour scheme, system sounds and mouse pointers. A handful of themes are installed by default, but click the 'Get more themes online' link and you can download others for free. 3. Change your user account picture
Customising your user account image is a great way to differentiate quickly between multiple accounts on a single PC. Windows 7 comes with a selection of images to choose from – just go to 'Start | Control Panel | User accounts and family safety | Change your account picture'. The 'Browse for more pictures' link at the bottom of this window also enables you to choose one of your own images and Windows will automatically resize it to suit. 4. Switch system sounds Windows has long been able to make noises to reflect just about anything it does, but not everyone wants to hear a ding, beep, buzz or click for every system event. Go to 'Start | Control Panel | Appearance and Personalization | Change sound effects', and you can selectively change or disable the sounds that Windows 7 assigns to each system event. You can also select from a range of other novel sound schemes, or opt for 'No Sounds' if you prefer to work uninterrupted. 5. Add a taskbar toolbar Windows 7's ability to pin programs to the taskbar has eliminated the need for the Quick launch Toolbar, but you can still add other types of toolbar for quick access to certain tasks. Right-click on an empty part of the taskbar, then select 'Toolbars' and you can an address box for quick-launching URLs, or a desktop button for ready access to desktop shortcuts when your screen is full of windows. Touch-screen PC users can also add a tablet PC input panel for quick onetap access to the on-screen handwriting input. 6. Customise the Start menu Microsoft has removed the 'Classic Start menu' option from Windows 7, but you can still alter its look and feel to make it better suited to the way you work. Right-click the 'Start' button, choose 'Properties' and a dialog box will open with some basic privacy settings. Click the 'Customise' button and you can then make more drastic changes to the Start menu's appearance. 7. Change what the Start menu 'power' button does Thankfully, the excessively complex shutdown option on Windows Vista's Start menu has been streamlined in Windows 7, but Microsoft has also changed the default power button behaviour from 'Sleep' to a full shutdown. If you want to change it back, right-click the Start button, choose 'Properties' and select your preferred option from the 'Power button action' dropdown list. 8. Calm down UAC Microsoft wisely opted to reduce the constant pestering of Windows Vista's User Access Control with the release of Service Pack 2, but Windows 7 brings more granular control over when you're asked to confirm certain system-level actions. Go to 'Start | Control Panel | User Accounts and Family Safety | User Accounts | Change User Account Control Settings' and you'll see a slider. The bottom position disables UAC completely, but the next notch up is the best (and least annoying) option for safe computing. 9. Turn off Notification Area alerts Windows 7 likes to keep you informed about the state of your security settings, but you might not want to know about every single thing that crops up. Go to the Action Center, accessed via 'Start | Control Panel | System and Security' and you can alter what Windows badgers you about – including the fact that UAC is disabled. Just don't think that turning off warnings about inadequate antivirus protection is a good idea… 10. Move the taskbar Don't like the Windows 7 taskbar at the bottom of the screen? Then why not drag and drop it to one of the desktop's three other sides? You might need to unlock it first, though – just right-click on an empty area of the taskbar and deselect the appropriate option. You can also click and drag the edge to the taskbar to make it wider, which is ideal if you've pinned lots of applications to it. 11. Go Gadget crazy Windows Gadgets enable you to add at-a-glance information to the Sidebar at the right of the screen to save you looking it up in the web browser. Right-click the desktop, choose 'Gadgets' and you'll see a list of available tools, with a link to download more at the bottom of the window. To enable a Gadget, right-click it and select 'Add'. Most Gadgets have individual settings – hover the mouse pointer over an active one to show its 'spanner' icon. 12. Stop the screensaver interrupting video playback Disabling the Windows screensaver and setting your monitor to turn off after several minutes' inactivity is a great energy saver, but it's a pain if it kicks in when you're watching an online video. The solution is Mouse Jiggler – a free download from http://mousejiggler.codeplex.com. Run the tiny program and it will make Windows 7 think the mouse is moving imperceptibly, even when you're nowhere near it, thereby preventing power-saving options from activating when you don't want them to. 13. Change the login screen There are various clumsy hacks that enable you to change the Windows 7 user login screen, but the free Logon Changer utility from www.tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon does all the hard work for you without fuss. Just point the program at the picture you want to use and it will resize it accordingly, back up the original and then make the change. Simple! 14. Do more with dual monitors If you use two or more monitors with Windows, but want a taskbar on more than just the main display, Ultramon is the software for you. As well as making windows on each monitor easier to manage, Ultramon enables you to assign different wallpapers to each desktop, and enables you move to windows around each display with a mouse click. You can download a 30-day demo from www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon – the full program is available for £25. 15. Makes Windows easier to see Ultra high-resolution monitors can make certain parts of the Windows interface tricky to see, particularly if your eyesight is far from perfect. Switching a TFT display to a lower, non-native resolution will only make things worse, but Windows 7 offers a better option. Go to 'Start | Control Panel | Appearance and Personalization | Display | Make text and other items larger and smaller', and you'll see two options for making everything in Windows, from on-screen text to the taskbar, look bigger. 16. Customise the Start button If you don't like the look of the round Windows 7 Start button, you can change it with Start Orb Changer. You can download the program for free from here and switch to one of 10 ready made Start button images, or use one of your own. 17. Get Rainmeter Rainmeter takes the Windows 7 Sidebar Gadgets idea and extends it to the whole desktop. A free download from www.rainmeter.net, it enables you to integrate all kinds of useful system information, along with RSS feeds and Twitter updates. 18. Add backgrounds to windows If you like your desktop to be busy, Windows 7 Folder Background Changer will probably appeal. It's free from here. After downloading, there's no installation – just run it, select a folder, pick an image and re-open the Explorer window. 19. Make Explorer windows more XP friendly To make Windows 7 more familiar, enable the menu bar from 'Organize | Layout | Menu bar', then turn off the bottom 'Details' pane. Go to 'Tools | Folder Options', then enable 'Show all folders' and 'Automatically expand to current folder'. 20. Control window sizes with the keyboard If Windows 7's Aero Snap doesn't offer enough control, try Window Manager. This free download from here enables you to set window sizes and positions for applications, then activate them with keyboard shortcuts. 21. Turn off combined taskbar buttons You can disable Windows 7's combined buttons. Right-click an empty part of the taskbar and choose 'Properties'. Use the 'Taskbar buttons' dropdown to disable button-combining, or use it only when the taskbar is full. 22. Customise the Notification Area Windows 7 tries to manage the contents of the Notification area at the right of the taskbar, but you may need to lend a hand. Right-click the taskbar, choose 'Properties' and then click the 'Customize' button on the General tab to see options for each Notification area icon. 23. Turbo-charge file transfers TeraCopy, a free download from www.codesector.com/teracopy.php, supplants the Explorer copy function with its own buffered copy. This can be far quicker and enables you to preview file operations before committing to them, and to pause transfers. 24. Change desktop icons Right-click the desktop and choose 'Personalize', then click 'Change desktop icons' and select the icon you want to change. Click 'Change Icon' to see a list of other icons you can use, or hit 'Browse' to use your own – www.iconfactory.com has a good, free selection. 25. Make Windows look like Mac OS A simple way to make your PC ape Mac OS X is with the free Snow Transformation Pack from www.winxsoft.com/stp/download.html. The changes are dramatic, reversible and extremely convincing, with only a handful of compromises. 
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| In Depth: Are you heading for computer burnout? Posted: 13 Nov 2010 02:00 AM PST  While computers can bring so much to our lives, they can also be fiendishly addictive, and free software makes them even more compelling. Open source makes computers so much fun, exposing our world to a global community of people like us who work together to make our computers better. Many of us join this global community, and many of us spend every waking moment thinking about, enjoying, and contributing to open source. It's fun, rewarding, and energising, but it can sometimes come at a cost – burnout. Burnout is a problem that affects all walks of life, all people, and all professions. As such, it is a problem that affects all communities, and ours is no different. Burnout refers to long-term exhaustion that typically causes lack of interest and focus. Unfortunately it can be devilishly difficult to spot and prevent in our community. Burnout appears as a series of often subtle changes in personality, perspective, values, and behaviour in the sufferer. As these changes progress, it can be difficult to identify that members are suffering from burnout. Unfortunately, burnout is often misdiagnosed as irrationality, short temperament, unusual behaviour or lack of tolerance. While burnout syndrome is difficult to identify categorically, there is some compelling research. Two psychologists, Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North identified 12 phases that outline the progressively serious steps that are part of burnout; this is known as the Burnout Cycle. These steps don't necessarily happen in a sequential order (it can vary from person to person), and some sufferers will skip some of the steps whereas some will dwell longer on them. These steps offer a list of warning signs for potential burnout victims. The Burnout Cycle Let's take a look through the 12 parts of the burnout cycle. As you read this list, remember that these steps are just guidance. I am not a doctor, so you should seek medical attention if you have any questions or worries about these steps. Secondly, remember that not all of these steps affect everyone, and they don't always happen in this order. 1. A compulsion to prove yourself Burnout typically begins with a tendency to want to prove yourself. This often stems from a feeling of insecurity that your work is not being respected or valued. When this happens, the burnout sufferer will often try to compensate for it and try to prove themself. 2. Working harder Working long hours is a common sign of the first stages of burnout. With an existing feeling that you need to prove yourself to others, a natural conclusion is that you will work harder, work longer, and provide more and more visible examples of your success to others. In these cases it is not uncommon to stay late at work, or in the case of open source contributions, work later and later. You will often find yourself awake late at night, possibly working until two or three o'clock in the morning under the belief that more will make you feel better and prove your value. 3. Neglecting your needs In this stage, simple pleasures such as sleeping, eating, socialising with friends and watching Seinfeld are seen as just that: pleasures, and as such a distraction from work. In this situation your desire to prove yourself is strong and your top priority is to find ways of working more and more. As such, you will find it easier and easier to say no to people who want to spend time with you, and you will find it easier to find reasons to work. Late nights and early mornings will be common, and the lack of sleep will result in an increased caffeine intake and tiredness and irritability during the day. It is also likely that you will be eating junk food, as it is quick and convenient and your tiredness will make cooking seem like more of a chore than it is. 4. Displacement of conflicts At this stage some friends and family are likely to notice that something is up with you, and may have asked what is wrong. In this early stage of the burnout cycle you will be firmly of the belief that nothing is wrong, and that friends and family are just being overly analytical. You will shrug it off and suggest that you just have a lot on your plate. 5. Revision of values In this phase, the obsession with work means that traditional values such as friends or hobbies are pushed aside. Here your only evaluation of success is being good at your job. This is a dangerous part of the cycle, as you are actively starting to distance yourself from your friends. You will not see social interactions and time with your family as things to be proud of and rewarding parts of your life, but instead continued distractions that get in the way of feeling rewards from the work you are doing. You will find yourself making excuses to work more often. Evenings and weekends will be taken up with work, and your friends will stop asking you to spend time with them as you are always saying no. 6. Denial of emerging problems In this phase, cynicism, intolerance, and aggression raise their ugly heads. Colleagues are dismissed as idiots. Your increasing problems are blamed on lack of time, incompetent coworkers, and unfair workloads. You are tired from the lack of sleep, you are probably pretty unhealthy from all the pizza and caffeine, you the pressure to prove yourself causing you to feel sorry for yourself and that other people don't understand the pressure and stress you are under. You are increasingly lashing out and snapping at people, and will find yourself causing arguments and finding it difficult to apologise. Life is feeling rather stressed at stage six. 7. Withdrawal You reduce your social interaction and contacts to a minimum and dial up your work to 11. You are at a point where relief from the feeling of burnout is becoming more and more important. You may start to relieve the stress by boozing more often during the week or possibly even resorting to drugs. Whatever your choice of substance, you appear to be indulging in it a little more than usual –and dangerously so. 8. Obvious behavioural changes Your strange and erratic behaviour is obvious to your friends, family, and colleagues. You are not yourself, and your nearest and dearest can see it a mile off. You even more physically exhausted, and you are likely to be experiencing some health problems such as headaches, skin problems and low energy. Your personal relationships are under a lot of pressure and you will start to feel increasingly depressed, particularly when you are alone at night. 9. Depersonalisation At this point you feel like you offer no value to the world, and lack confidence in what you could once do. Your life feels like one long series of mechanical and emotionless functions. The previous desire to demonstrate your worth will be decreasing; you just feel like you are going from one step to another. 10. Inner emptiness You feel an express sense of emptiness. You resort more to booze or drugs or possibly find relief in overeating, strange and exaggerated sexual behaviour, or other unusual and destructive activities. You are feeling more and more depressed. 11. Serious depression At this late stage of the burnout cycle you feel hopeless, lost, and exhausted, and see little cause for optimism for the future. 12. Burnout syndrome At this, the most serious level, you feel suicidal and desperate for a way out. You are on the verge of mental and physical collapse and need medical attention. With the risks evident in the list of symptoms, you are sure to be wondering what the best approach is to manage this risk. Understanding the risks of burnout is not only important to help you recognise the symptoms happening in yourself, but also to see burnout happening in those around you. There is also the wider question of how we prevent burnout happening with the communities that we participate in. Unfortunately, there is no recipe or secret formula for dealing with burnout in a community. The best solution is to subscribe to one simple philosophy that has helped people deal with complex life changes and decisions for years: I've got your back. Although it may seem outrageously simple, the easiest and most applicable method is to first develop a nose for symptoms and then to extend a personal hand of friendship to the sufferer. Having that sense of companionship through a tough time can really help with burnout. To detect the symptoms you should first read, re-read, and then read again the 12 items in the Burnout Cycle. These items provide a core set of knowledge for understanding the nature of burnout. You should then keep a general eye out for these symptoms in your friends, family, and community. Specifically look for and be conscious of changes in behaviour. If someone just 'doesn't seem themself', they may be getting bitten by burnout. It is these changes in behaviour that are the typical signs. If you suspect that someone is getting burned out, just strike up a personal conversation and be entirely frank. Tell the person you noticed they have been a little different recently and that you are concerned. Ask if they're OK, and whether there is anything you can help with. In many cases the person will tell you what's on their mind, what is stressing them out, and any problems they appear to be having. With overwork as a common cause of burnout, you should also ask how they're coping with their workload and if there is anything you can do to ease it. This offer of help can in itself be a stress reliever – it's a validation that someone is there to help the sufferer get through their to-do list. Work/life balance At the centre of the somewhat unpleasant universe that is burnout is the problem of balance. Although there is little concrete scientific evidence to determine who is likely to be affected by burnout, mere observational evidence suggests that technical folks, musicians, counsellors, authors, and teachers have a higher than normal risk of reserving a place on the dreaded Burnout Cycle. Balance is a surprisingly complicated goal for many to achieve, particularly if your community is online. Years ago it was easier to get balance: you simply switched your computer off and went and lived the parts of your life that didn't involve a mouse and a keyboard. As the internet has steamed into our lives more and more, the amount of time in our lives that doesn't involve said mouse and keyboard is being reduced. In addition to the familiar tools of the workplace, such as email, office suites, web browsers and accounting packages, we now have social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace; blogging sites such as Blogger and WordPress; microblogging with Twitter and Identica; and online chat services such as Skype, Google GChat, MSN, Yahoo IM, and AIM. Let's also not forget the entertainment on the web: countless websites, animations, videos and articles are all there to attract us to the computer. We can then seal the deal with the countless other online facilities such as internet banking, reviews websites, mapping tools, online shopping, games and more. Break free It's easy to see how this merry band of pixellated distractions can take control, and it's not uncommon for people to spend an entire day and most of an evening in front of a computer. This is itself not exactly healthy: computers are great, but everyone should spend some time away from them to decompress, get some fresh air and energise other attributes of the human condition, such as getting out, playing sports, spending time with friends, romantic embraces, and other things that don't involve staring at a screen. The problem is that when the rest of your life is wrapped with window borders, you are only ever a click away from either work or other commitments, such as community. While we want to encourage our community members to throw themselves into our goals and enjoy every moment of it, it's important to ensure that in the process of doing so they don't neglect other parts of their lives. Addiction has affected many online communities: there are contributors and members who spend every conceivable moment of their lives embedded in the community. This can be seen everywhere. We all know people today who appear to be constantly online at all times of the day, always responsive to chat messages and queries and seemingly never away from their screens. Many people can wake up at 7am, work all day, spend the entire evening in front of the computer in pursuits of their own, head to bed at 1 or 2am and spend a valuable six hours sleeping, only to wake up and repeat. That may be OK because these people can easily go away for a weekend or spend a few evenings doing something else, and go on vacation without getting jittery. For some, though, even spending one evening – let alone a whole weekend! – away from their familiar screen can seem like too much. In these cases we are seeing strong signs of addiction. You should be very cautious of addiction: it is never healthy in anyone. Unfortunately, the nature of addiction typically means that these people are in a state of denial about their condition. Just as with alcohol, cigarettes, or gambling, claims that "I could stop if I wanted to" are often thrown in the general direction of naysayers, but this claim is rarely, if ever, tested. The reason for your caution is that at some point an addicted member will burn out. It may take longer than expected, but when it does, it could have catastrophic results. Keep an eye on your community members and how much they are online: if it feels too much, a quick and sensitive word in their ear can help them get away for a few days. Watch yourself This has been a slightly different article for Linux Format, but one that we feel is an important topic to share. Burnout can have complex and long-lasting effects on our lives, and just having a basic understanding of the symptoms can be enough to prevent it in yourself and your friends. The real key to understanding burnout is that rest and diversity in what you do is important to help you enjoy and be successful in your passion. No matter how much you love open source, you have look after yourself first. 
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| Review: Roberts Revival DAB RD60 Posted: 13 Nov 2010 02:00 AM PST  The writer of this review is certainly not the only person to have walked into a shop and asked, in all innocence, "How much is that second-hand Roberts in the window?" only to be put right with the answer, "It's new." Roberts has always been the king of the retro, making radios that were straight out of its 1950s catalogue, generations after that decade had ended. Or at least, radios that bore a strong external resemblance to those trusty old models. 100 hours Long gone are the 10-transistor circuits of yesteryear. The current FM models are powered by integrated circuits and this DAB model probably includes about as many transistors in its construction than Roberts used in an entire year in the early days of the 'tranny'. The case is made of MDF and there's a text display on the top: tuning of both channels is digital (the usual twist'n'push control) and the push-buttons are momentary action types, rather than the latching ones used on the originals. But the overall effect is well done, complete with carrying handle and the use of four large 'D cell' batteries, which gives the RD60 a playing time potentially in the region of 100 hours. Creature comforts Other modern creature comforts include a couple of mini-jack sockets for headphones and line output, another for line input, a USB socket for firmware upgrades and full text information on both DAB and FM. There are presets and a useful one-touch 'Favourite' button to bring up your main station in a single press. Casual duty One doesn't expect a small, mono radio to sound amazing. Nevertheless, the use of headphones does allow the electronics to give of their best (in stereo) and frankly the DAB performance of this model is more than acceptable. FM's not bad, either if you can arrange the antenna for good reception. (You could in principle attach an external antenna, but who on earth is going to go to that trouble?) Compared with a dedicated, hi-fi, FM tuner, clarity is lacking, but it's perfectly listenable for speech and casual music duty. But that's not the most likely mode of operation and the internal loudspeaker is far more to the point. Its success varies considerably from station to station, for the simple reason that it sounds extremely dull. That's easy to verify by moving from headphones to speaker and it's true even when listening on axis, even more so when off to the side. One can mitigate this somewhat, bizarrely, by opening the back of the radio (it's hinged with a simple catch, to allow for access to the battery compartment) and listening from behind, but then the bass goes all to pot because the case is designed as a simple reflex-loaded speaker enclosure. Ear-splitting Bass and midrange are not bad tonally with the radio conventionally closed up and we were quite impressed at how loud it will go without any obvious rattles. The dull treble is most obvious on stations such as Radios 3 and 4, but works much better on highly-compressed pop stations which tend to be ear-splittingly bright. Detail is fair for the breed and it's reasonably easy to hear everything that's going on, but things do tend to sound a bit flat dynamically. Of course, on the stations with the best subjective tonal balance, they are a bit flat. We're torn between admiration for the looks and general build quality of this radio and reservations about its sound. On the whole, we prefer the sound of the fine models from Vita Audio, but there's a certain charm inherent in a Roberts and we could probably get used to it... Related Links
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| Review: Electrocompaniet ECI5 MkII Posted: 13 Nov 2010 01:30 AM PST  The ECI5 MkII replaces the ECI5, which in turn replaced the ECI4.7. Rather confusingly, the changes involved in going from the 4.7 to the 5 were generally considered detail ones, but warranted a new model number. In contrast, the MkII has virtually no components in common with the MkI, but retains the model number! This might prove a challenge to dealers and customers, but we are sure everyone will manage. Classic look The ECI5 MkII is a 120 Watts per channel integrated amp finished in the company's traditional casework, complete with a thick Perspex front panel and a quartet of control buttons – left and right selecting inputs, and up and down controlling volume. Aesthetically, this rather divides opinion. Some people love the rather retro-futuristic appearance and others regard it as a fingerprint magnet and dust trap. The MkII introduces a neat LED display to show the selected input in place of the older backlit 'block' design. This is easy to read and a marked improvement on its predecessor. We had hoped that this might have included the facility for the ECI5 MkII to default to the last selected input – something that the ECI5 and ECI3 cannot do – but the MkII selects the first balanced input on start-up, whether you use it or not.
The casework is comparatively large, with the ECI5 MkII nearly half-a-metre wide and over 400mm deep. This means that most equipment racks will struggle to accommodate it and you will most likely need to place it on a top shelf. The fit and finish is extremely good with negligible panel gaps, excellent paint finish and the casework seems less resonant than on some older models. This also contributes towards the impressive 20kg weight. Mention must also be made of the excellent quality speaker terminals and input connections that feel superbly over-engineered in use. Under the hood Internally, the only major component retained from the older model is the transformer. This is understandable, given Electrocompaniet's use of its distinctive floating transformer technology (FTT). Otherwise, the MkII takes the basic premise of the original ECI5 and makes substantial improvements. The MkII doubles the number of output devices used to improve bass control and stability when driving difficult loads.
This is further improved by the larger bank of reservoir capacitors, which allow for greater current delivery. In practice, the ECI5 MkII is unlikely to struggle with any speaker design at a comparable price point, including electrostatic and planar designs. Like virtually every other Electrocompaniet component, the ECI5 MkII is a fully balanced design and sports a pair of balanced inputs to take advantage of this. Electrocompaniet makes no apologies for preferring the balanced connections and, to this end, supplies a set of RCA-XLR adaptors to allow any would-be owner to experience at least some of the benefits, even if his or her source equipment isn't equipped with XLR outputs. The ECI5 MkII is also fitted with a balanced preamp output, allowing it to connect to a matching power amplifier, either in a bi-amping configuration or exclusively as a preamp. The other four line inputs are the conventional RCA type. The ECI5 MkII has to be considered relatively good value. The build quality is up to the standard we would expect and it supports a healthy number of inputs with full remote control. Most importantly, the amplification stage itself appears to be well thought-out and comprised of high-quality components. The 120W output seems believable under the circumstances and means that system building around the Electrocompaniet should not be very difficult. The lack of internal phono stage places the ECI5 MkII at a slight disadvantage for vinyl fans, however, against some of the similarly priced competition. But equally, the pair of balanced inputs is a useful feature for anybody with more than one suitably equipped source Wide boy Sonically, the ECI5 MkII is classic Electrocompaniet. The defining characteristic is an extremely wide soundstage, which seems to extend well beyond the physical placement of loudspeakers. This enormous sense of space gives the ECI5 MkII a relatively easy job when placing musicians and instruments coherently in relation to one another within it. The large soundstage does have a habit of persisting, even when listening to small recordings, so there can be slight loss of intimacy to their reproduction, since they're given more space than perhaps they had in reality. Many will accept this trade off for the sense of realism that the ECI5 MkII can bring to proceedings with larger-scale recordings. This performance is complimented by excellent bass response. The bassline of any recording is presented with a force and weight that helps the overall sense of realism greatly.
This low-end force is deceptive, because despite the considerable heft that the Electrocompaniet has, there's no sense that it overwhelms the more delicate upper frequencies, or is out of proportion to the rest of the performance. There's also a useful speed to the bass response – it starts and stops with commendable speed and helps give the ECI5 MkII a sense of timing and poise that we have not experienced with older designs. In terms of tonality, the ECI5 MkII is a strong performer, if not a perfect one. The amp can sound fabulously real with vocals both solo and group, but instruments can occasionally sound fractionally flat and recessed by comparison. This is not hugely pronounced and may simply be a reflection of how adept the ECI5 MkII is with vocals, but it can contribute to a wider sense that – like some other Electrocompaniet designs – there is a slight sense of smoothing off absolute detail and losing some excitement and vitality as it does so. Depending on what you're looking for, this need not be a bad thing. It helps the Electrocompaniet stay entirely listenable even when playing back poor or harsh recordings, and the overall performance is so civilised that you can listen to the ECI5 MkII for hours without it ever becoming grating or tiresome. Equally, there will be those who would prefer a little more excitement in their replay and are happy to accept that their listening may not be so even-handed. Here, the Electrocompaniet may prove too smooth and relaxed. Fit and finish The ECI5 MkII has much to commend it. It takes many of the traditional Electrocompaniet virtues and builds on them, adding a much-improved sense of timing and rhythm that gives a greater sense of life and enthusiasm to complex material. This is coupled to a useful power output that should handle most loudspeakers that it is likely to be partnered with in most domestic listening environments, and a useful selection of inputs and outputs. The calm, unforced presentation may prove too laid back for some and this lack of perceived excitement may put off those who want a more forceful performance. Others will enjoy the way that the ECI5 MkII goes about making music and find it is exactly what they're looking for. Related Links
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| Posted: 13 Nov 2010 01:00 AM PST  Apple is on an updating spree. We've already got OS X 10.6.5 and we're expecting iOS 4.2 any moment now. While you're waiting, why not take a gander at our how-tos to help you get your iOS device and iTunes ready for the next level. How-Tos This week's tips are a mixed selection of topics that will help just about any iOS user. We'll show you how heavy MMS messengers can save a bit of cash and how befuddled travelers should deal with multiple time zones. Also, we'll teach you tricks about automating your dialing to cut back on finger wear and tear, and show you a way to label your iPhone with your personal information so that your hopes of recovering it are way easier. How To Sync All the iTunes Libraries In Your House Learn how to set up MediaRover on multiple Macs, configure a NAS device using an AirPort router, and then sync and manage your libraries. How To Keep Your Mac Software Up to Date Keeping your iPhone apps current is a breeze, but with a few tools, updating software on your Mac can be just as easy. Here's how. How To Make AirPrint Work Under Mac OS X 10.6.5 Wednesday was a day of disappointment for many -- at least those of us currently rocking the iOS 4.2 gold master who were looking forward to using the new AirPrint service, which was widely believed to require yesterday's Mac OS X 10.6.5 release. But where there's a will, there's a way. How To Fake Out FourSquare on a Jailbroken iPhone Faking your location on your iOS device may be easier than you think thanks to a jailbreak application available from Cydia called FakeLocation. Whether you want to steal the Mayorship of your neighborhood hang out Foursquare, or you want to pull a prank on a friend, we'll show you how to fake your location no matter where you're at. How To Turn Your Jailbroken iPhone into a Wi-Fi Hotspot If you own an iPhone and have been yearning to use it to tether your Wi-Fi enabled devices to the internet (especially your iPad), all you need is a jailbroken iPhone and an ingenious iOS application to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot anywhere you go. How To Make Safari Pretend to Be Firefox, Opera, or Even Internet Explorer It doesn't happen often anymore, but once in a while I'll surf to a page that won't open in Safari, and I get a message saying something like, "Sorry, you are using a browser that isn't supported. How To Record Audio From Just About Any Source here are thousands of applications out there that let you record audio. Some are swell for podcasting. Others can rip the audio right out of a YouTube video or suck the sound out of a Skype conversation so that you can listen to it at a later date. You could use any number of one-trick ponies to take care of the various audio chores in your life; or, if you're a savvy Mac user, you could whittle that number down to just one. How To Switch Windows with Your Keyboard As you've discovered, the Mac keyboard shortcut Command-Tab is used to switch between applications. To switch between windows of one application, you must first switch to that application, and then use Command-~ (tilde) to cycle through its open windows. Features The Best Free Mac and iOS Apps Got your attention? Of course we did--who doesn't love great software, entertainment, and even hardware for the low, low price of free? That's why we're pointing you to the best Mac and iOS apps; the top sources for free music, videos, and other fun; and even the best ways to make phone calls without dropping a dime. Six Mac Web Browsers: How Do They Stack Up? RockMelt blasted into our collective conscience this month to compete for web browsing dominance against Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Flock -- not to mention a handful of smaller competitors. So which one is right for you? iOS Game Time: Hedgehogs in Space (and Other Marvels) This week, you've got a chance at winning the excellent Sims 3: Ambitions expansion! Free App Friday: Chatting Away the Day You know the routine--you come home from a long day at work, plop yourself down in front of the computer and start chatting away with your friends about your hard day at the office. Before you know it, you've got three empty plates in front of you of food half eaten and a night's worth of catch up work still waiting to be started. It's not the most ideal situation, but it happens. Ping + Twitter Sitting in a Tree While Facebook and Apple are still working things out over the Ping social music service, Twitter has decided to hook up with Apple, allowing users of the 140-character microblogging service to spread the joy of music they purchase in iTunes. This partnership means there are a few new things for users of both services. OS X 10.6.5 Update Does Not Include AirPrint for Shared Printers Turns out earlier reports of OS X 10.6.5 not supporting AirPrint via shared printers were correct. Reviews Gorillamobile for iPhone 4 Review The iPhone 4 is a phenomenal on-the-go camera. It takes wonderful pictures outside in the sunlight, and crisp, clear photos in the evening with the HDR setting. However, getting that perfect photo is really hard to do when you're holding on to the iPhone 4 with a shaky hand, which is why a mobile tripod is an excellent solution. Joby's new GorillaMobile for the iPhone 4 does just that, though if you're looking for a tripod that doesn't require its own case, you might want to look elsewhere. Active noise cancellation is meant to reduce unwanted sound--the drone of an airplane's jet engine, the hum of your office air conditioner, that kind of steady background noise. A tiny microphone detects the sound waves outside your headphones, then the headphones play an opposite sound wave which cancels out the original noise. That's why they need a battery to work. SuperMegaUltraGroovy Capo Review A novel, visual way to learn songs on your guitar Unison would be perfect if we found ourselves time traveling to the '80s and needing to look up job listings, download software, or pose questions to an online community. 
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