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Techradar |
- In Depth: Where next for speech recognition on the Mac?
- Review: Swype
- Review: Swype
- Review: The Daily
- Review: The Daily
- Review: Audio Analogue Crescendo
- Tutorial: 14 tips and tricks to speed up Vista
- Tutorial: 14 tips and tricks to speed up Vista
- Review: Audio Analogue Crescendo
- Review: Isol-8 SubStation LC/HC
- Review: Isol-8 SubStation LC/HC
- Catch up: this week's most popular posts
- Catch up: this week's most popular posts
| In Depth: Where next for speech recognition on the Mac? Posted: 19 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PDT  Ten or so years ago we imagined the future would be all about holograms, virtual reality and voice control, but now, in 2011, we've not quite reached those lofty expectations. While 3D TV is slowly filtering into the mass market and augmented reality has begun to replace the chunky headsets seen on 90s gameshows, voice control really hasn't made the mark we were expecting it to. So what is it about voice recognition that has left more of us typing than talking? Voice recognition in a nutshell In order to fully understand the ins and outs of voice recognition we need to look at its main uses, of which there are three distinct categories. The first is voice control; simple spoken commands that can do anything from check for new mail to switch between applications. Voice control within Mac OS X is an assistive technology but can be used as a quick way to handle common tasks. The same technology is used for Voice Control in iOS to switch tracks, as well as by in-car stereos to control playback, phonecalls and SatNav. Dictate the proceedings Then there's dictation, which requires more impressive speech-recognition work. This is handled by apps from Nuance such as Dragon Dictate, which uses algorithms to learn your voice and understand what you say. For these more advanced applications you will need a decent-quality microphone or headset and a profile will need to be created so that your unique voice patterns can be understood accurately. This also applies to apps such as Scribe from Mac Speech, which learns your voice from audio files and can transcribe audio notes you have made into text documents. The final category has seen an increase in awareness and functionality with the rise of the iPhone and Android handsets. Apple recently acquired a company called Siri that specialises in voice search and Google already has voice search included as part of its Google apps. Voice search, while not as technologically advanced as the dictation apps, picks out keywords from your requests and actions them based on its understanding, for example, searching for nearby restaurants. This category slightly overlaps with voice control, but with advances made by Google especially, it deserves its own category for its location-aware nature. You may not know it, but your Mac actually has speech recognition technology installed by default. Try it out for yourself.
Head to System Preferences and click on the Speech button. From here, you can not only name your Mac in order to give it commands ("Computer, check my email" and so on) but you can also tell it to be constantly listening for your commands, so if you do need to switch apps and don't have a hand free, you can just say it out loud. Amongst the many spoken commands a Mac will understand, you can even ask it to tell you a knock-knock joke. Just say "Tell me a joke", and your Mac will respond "Knock-knock", to which you must reply "Who's there?", and so on. For more advanced tricks, head to the Command tab under Speech in the System Preferences pane and click the Open Speakable Items Folder. Here you will find scripts for individual actions and specific applications that you can edit and rename to suit you. To create your own shortcuts, you can simply change the name of a script that already exists or duplicate a script and edit the contents using AppleScript. If you want to change what you need to say in order to invoke a shortcut, simply change the file name of the speakable item to anything you wish to use instead. Applications that aren't already featured in the speakable items folder can be added, as well as shortcuts and voice commands included or made from scratch. When used correctly, this speech recognition is a handy tool, but it's far too easy for it to mistake a command or mistake a conversation (or you talking to yourself) for a command. The outcome is a lot of repetition and accidental actions taking place. There is an option available to turn a key on your keyboard into a kind of "push to talk" button, but using a finger to allow voice input kind of defeats the object of handsfree voice control. With a little tweaking and care, it's easy to control a number of applications and basic functions on your Mac without having to touch the mouse or keyboard, but it's certainly not perfect. Talk to your phone The iPhone and certain models of iPod also make use of speech recognition to change tracks, make calls and create playlists. By invoking Voice Control on the iPhone, a number of voice commands are available, much like speech recognition in Mac OS X. Also like the Mac speech recognition software, voice control on the iPhone provides feedback to help ensure you select the correct command. As with desktop voice recognition, the iPhone's voice control can also be hit and miss, and you run a likely risk of calling the wrong person at the wrong time or playing obscure tracks from your iTunes library by accident. With the new second microphone in the iPhone 4, audio clarity has been dramtically improved, leading to fewer mistakes, however it is still possible to make errors, especially when the headphones are plugged in. Mac speech recognition software For this section of the article, we thought it was only fair, while extolling the virtues of voice control and dictation, to attempt to write it using only our voice.
Making use of Dragon's Dictate software we are currently sitting in front of an iMac, looking pretty strange, speaking aloud as if to a secretary. In terms of accidents, the speech recognition in Dragon software is far more accurate, as it performs a series of tests and procedures that learn your voice and build a profile for specific uses. So, even if you have a particularly unusual voice, your dictation is surprisingly error-free. The other benefit speech recognition offers is pace. While commands spoken to your Mac may take a few seconds to execute as the computer attempts to understand what you've said, Dictate can handle large sentences at a time. The software provides a floating window that hovers over your currently running application and enables you to perform basic dictation as well as related tasks, such as saving files, sending email and more. With word processing the difficulty arises in distinguishing between the words you want dictated and commands such as punctuation, therefore you have to be very careful when adding commas and full stops. As if to illustrate the point, that last sentence took a little longer than normal due to the app thinking we wanted a comma followed by the word "is" rather than the word "commas". One of the most important things you will learn when using software such as Dictate is that you need to speak clearly but naturally, as if you were speaking to another human being. Tiny intonations in your voice and the raising and lowering of pitch give clues to the software as to what you're trying to say, especially when using words with more than one meaning. Dictate can work with your Mac's built-in microphone or another microphone you may be using, however it's best to use the recommended hardware such as the Plantronics headset we were provided with. Headsets with a push-to-talk or mute button are the most useful as they avoid accidental inputs if you happen to clear your throat or begin a conversation with a friend or co-worker. The application is constantly working to learn your voice in order to provide a flawless experience, and you can return to the practice tests at any point to give it a clearer idea of the way you speak. You can also create profiles for different locations where there may be background noise, such as in an office or a coffee shop (although how many of us would want to be speaking out loud to a computer in a public place?). Despite the comma issue (which Dictate seems to think should be "congress you") it's very easy to ramble on for hours and hours, while the application hastily notes down everything you say. Nuance also provides a piece of software called Scribe, which does largely the same job as Dictate, except it works with audio files you have recorded previously using an iPhone or another recording device.
Again, this software has to learn your voice before it can accurately transcribe your audio file and can only do so when it has a profile created. Once complete, it's a simple process of importing your audio note, checking for errors and receiving the transcribed text. The same applies to the Dragon Dictation app available for iPhone and iPod, which does a pretty good job of recognising your voice in real-time and saving it as text. While Dragon is the best way we have found to control applications and accurately dictate, it doesn't provide the totally hands-free experience one might expect. While it's a great deal easier to walk around the room calmly speaking your thoughts while the computer does the work, there has to be a level of editing and adjustment before you save your final copy. Once again, as if to illustrate the point, we just changed 'savior' to the correct 'save your' in the last line. We dictated more than 50% of this article, amounting to 1000 words or so, and found we only had to weed out a few common mistakes such as similar-sounding words, grammatical errors and missing capitalisation, but it was light work in comparison with many options we've tried before. Get bossy It seems that speech recognition isn't quite at the level one would expect at this stage in its development. The software understands what we are saying and can accurately transcribe those words, it can also perform basic commands based on voice input, but it's perhaps the software performing the actions rather than the engine transcribing the text that needs further development. Rather than simply telling a computer to check for mail as you could do in the same amount of time with a mouse click, why can they not answer more complex questions such as "Do I have any important email?" There would be more use in a method of using simple scripts along the lines of Google's priority inbox, which understands that when you say "important" you mean a specific set of contacts who may have emailed you.
The same is true of apps such as iCal, where currently scheduling meetings or events isn't as simple as one might think. What if you were able to say to your computer: "Set lunch with Dave tomorrow at two" and the computer understood your command, set the calendar date, emailed Dave and even went ahead and reserved a table at your favourite restaurant using an online booking form. The technology exists, it's just about how it's applied. And here is where the crossover between desktop and mobile voice recognition is making the biggest difference. Voice Search Google search facilities get better and better with each update and now, via the iPhone and Android handsets, it can provide search results based on a spoken question, taking into account your location and preferences. This is as close to true voice control as we have ever been. Siri performed a similar job on the iPhone then mysteriously disappeared from the App Store before the announcement was made that Apple had bought the company. Following its public spats with the search-engine giant, Apple is unlikely to continue using Google's search, maps and voice recognition tools, but sees the major benefits voice recognition offers mobile phone users, hence this acquisition. Perhaps smartphones and the explosion of powerful GPS-enabled devices is exactly what the speech-recognition industry needs - an injection of awareness to bring it into the mass-market. As the world becomes increasingly mobile with iPads and iPhones taking on more of the daily burden traditionally consumed by laptops and netbooks, speech recognition is a much-needed tool, the popularity of which is likely to increase. It won't be long before a synced phone mounted in a vehicle will respond to voice controls as standard and companies such as Ford, with its Voice Activated Sync, are leading the way. This control of devices through voice is not only convenient, but a serious safety measure to counteract the dangers of using a phone while driving. Fancy talk or careless whispers? With the many benefits of speech recognition, it seems strange that it hasn't quite taken off in the way some would have expected. But it appears that things are now beginning to change. On the desktop, it seems that voice recognition is likely to remain limited to just dictation apps, however the mobile platform is where more exciting voice-recognition apps are beginning to emerge. To control your computer with your voice isn't quite as natural as some might think, and without 100% accuracy leads to too many time-consuming errors. The fact is you always need to use a keyboard even if you can do the majority of tasks with just your voice, and therefore voice recognition will never truly rule as an input method. As smartphones become more powerful and more like computers, they become the ideal tools for voice-recognition software. And when combined with a search engine such as Google's Voice Search, keyboards could almost become a thing of the past. If it weren't for games, perhaps a manufacturer would have already attempted a completely voice-controlled device? In a way, Apple already has, with its almost buttonless iPod shuffle. The latest shuffle still offers voice control, however buttons were reintroduced after a lack of interest from consumers in a solely voice-controlled product. "People clearly missed the buttons," said Steve Jobs at the time. Perhaps none of us want to be limited in control options; perhaps we're a little too shy to tell our electronic devices what to do in public. We certainly felt a silly during the writing of this feature as we babbled away into a microphone while others looked on quizzically. Ultimately, it comes down to adoption and a sense of 'normality' from technology. Remember, handsfree calling was once a niche feature but is now widely accepted, even if users do appear to be talking to themselves. For voice control and speech recognition, the same is true. If telling a device what to do with your voice becomes the standard, more and more people will start giving their fingers a rest. 
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| Posted: 19 Mar 2011 04:00 AM PDT  One of the benefits of Android over iOS is that Google is quite happy to let you rip bits out of it and replace them with your own, if you choose. Swype does this for the built-in keyboard, and it takes roughly 0.4 picoseconds for you to start wondering how you ever lived without it. You can still tap out words a letter at a time, so you're not losing out on any features. What you gain is the ability to form words by simply dragging your finger between the letters, with Swype instantly working out what you mean. It works amazingly – magically for words in its dictionary. There's no need for pixel-perfect precision, as is often the case when tapping at individual keys, or worrying about details like whether you should leave your finger hovering over a letter for longer in words like 'bubble'. Most of the time, Swype will work it out without a fuss. If it's not sure, it pops up a menu with the most likely contenders – 'time' for instance might also be 'tinge' – which is still no slower than having typed it. The increase in input speed is incredible, making it a breeze to write emails, shoot off a quick tweet or respond to an SMS. Best of all, this keyboard appears in absolutely every app you use, slotting in where the now officially rubbish Android default used to be. No software updates. No incompatibilities. If you're using Android, install this now. You need it. You'll never look back. It's not on the Market yet, so visit www.swypeinc.com to sign up for the beta and download it to your phone immediately. Related Links
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| Posted: 19 Mar 2011 04:00 AM PDT One of the benefits of Android over iOS is that Google is quite happy to let you rip bits out of it and replace them with your own, if you choose. Swype does this for the built-in keyboard, and it takes roughly 0.4 picoseconds for you to start wondering how you ever lived without it. You can still tap out words a letter at a time, so you're not losing out on any features. What you gain is the ability to form words by simply dragging your finger between the letters, with Swype instantly working out what you mean. It works amazingly – magically for words in its dictionary. There's no need for pixel-perfect precision, as is often the case when tapping at individual keys, or worrying about details like whether you should leave your finger hovering over a letter for longer in words like 'bubble'. Most of the time, Swype will work it out without a fuss. If it's not sure, it pops up a menu with the most likely contenders – 'time' for instance might also be 'tinge' – which is still no slower than having typed it. The increase in input speed is incredible, making it a breeze to write emails, shoot off a quick tweet or respond to an SMS. Best of all, this keyboard appears in absolutely every app you use, slotting in where the now officially rubbish Android default used to be. No software updates. No incompatibilities. If you're using Android, install this now. You need it. You'll never look back. It's not on the Market yet, so visit www.swypeinc.com to sign up for the beta and download it to your phone immediately. Related Links
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| Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:30 AM PDT  Ever since it came out, the iPad has been held up as the saviour of newspapers, but it's taken until now for any of the world's publishing giants to really put the money behind it to see what it can do. The Daily is Murdoch and Jobs' big push – an iPad-exclusive, multimedia-heavy newspaper, with a $30 million launch and a full team churning out content. Oddly, while OK, it's surprisingly rough around its glossy edges. Despite the money that's gone into it, reading The Daily is an uncomfortable experience, with pages that often load slowly – especially when they contain animations – and an inconsistent interface. You'll often flip a page and be treated to a pretty picture, but it's not immediately obvious whether you're expected to tap it, turn the iPad or wait for something else to load. One example of this is the internal hyperlinks – you instinctively tap a story's name to try to load it, but nothing happens. Instead, you have to tap the little circle next to it. On most pages you swipe to flip pages, but on the front cover of the issue we read, doing so only panned around the cover image. Some sections had intro pages, like 'Arts & Life'. Others jump straight into content, as with 'Gossip'. Even when you do hit stories, they're often short and unsatisfying. The Daily still does tablet publishing better than anyone else. It presents a wonderfully glossy experience, and is a great starting point. Hopefully future issues will put more thought into content and feel, and other publishers will learn from it when launching tablet-based publications. Related Links
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| Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:30 AM PDT Ever since it came out, the iPad has been held up as the saviour of newspapers, but it's taken until now for any of the world's publishing giants to really put the money behind it to see what it can do. The Daily is Murdoch and Jobs' big push – an iPad-exclusive, multimedia-heavy newspaper, with a $30 million launch and a full team churning out content. Oddly, while OK, it's surprisingly rough around its glossy edges. Despite the money that's gone into it, reading The Daily is an uncomfortable experience, with pages that often load slowly – especially when they contain animations – and an inconsistent interface. You'll often flip a page and be treated to a pretty picture, but it's not immediately obvious whether you're expected to tap it, turn the iPad or wait for something else to load. One example of this is the internal hyperlinks – you instinctively tap a story's name to try to load it, but nothing happens. Instead, you have to tap the little circle next to it. On most pages you swipe to flip pages, but on the front cover of the issue we read, doing so only panned around the cover image. Some sections had intro pages, like 'Arts & Life'. Others jump straight into content, as with 'Gossip'. Even when you do hit stories, they're often short and unsatisfying. The Daily still does tablet publishing better than anyone else. It presents a wonderfully glossy experience, and is a great starting point. Hopefully future issues will put more thought into content and feel, and other publishers will learn from it when launching tablet-based publications. Related Links
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| Review: Audio Analogue Crescendo Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT  It takes some doing, these days, to build smart audiophile products in Europe to a retail price of £600. The Audio Analogue Crescendo CD player and amplifier units are very nicely finished, with solid aluminium front panels, individual but easily usable ergonomics and a general feeling of class that one just doesn't expect at the price. There are some very intelligent features, too, on the amp. The volume knob is a push 'n' twist control, which when briefly prodded switches to the next input. There are four different characteristics available for the electronic volume control, accommodating loudspeakers of different sensitivity (that is, with small volume steps over different parts of the range) or simply 79 1dB steps. Balance is adjustable and the amp can optionally be set up as a power amplifier. Inputs are all line-level, including one mini-jack on the front panel. The CD player is rather plainer but offers all the usual features plus 'Sleep' mode, in which it switches to standby after a preset time. It only plays regular audio CDs, however. The CD player uses a TEAC IDE (computer-style) transport, apparently optimised for audio, which keeps design simple on the control front and allows AA to implement a relatively complex audio output circuit. The amp is based on integrated circuits for switching, volume control and actual amplification – including the output. Again, this keeps costs manageable and frees up some budget for a surprisingly large toroidal mains transformer.
Sound quality Although they never felt this to be the most insightful combination, our 'blind' listeners enjoyed many aspects of the Crescendos' performance. They felt it was particularly good at the casual, droll style of the Ian Dury track. The bass line, while not especially deep or powerful, was easy to follow and clearly tuned. The solo piano track, with its captivatingly complex offbeat rhythms, was clear and precise, though possibly a little over-bright at times. Opinions diverged rather more over the presentation of our full orchestral track. One listener found this very satisfying, with power, good imaging and a striking sense of acoustic space. Another was less convinced, missing some energy and conviction in the reproduction and also some bass extension. Our overall feeling is that this combo has a slightly inconsistent approach to detail, managing it better in some areas of the spectrum than others. Our limited experiments with the units suggested that the amp is something of a bargain, the CD player less obviously so, though still clearly competent. Related Links
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| Tutorial: 14 tips and tricks to speed up Vista Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT  Windows Vista got bad press due to its stability issues, but after Microsoft released a few services packs, the operating system became stable, trustworthy and not half bad. If you have a Windows Vista machine in the house and you want give it a performance boost, there are a number of simple ways to do so. Here are our tips to help speed up Vista. 1. Turn off automatic defrag Having a well defragmented disk improves performance, but background defragmenting can slow your machine down temporarily. Vista schedules disk defragmenting by default. However, you may need to use your PC while it's carrying out this task. You can do this, but there'll be a performance hit.
If this is likely to be a problem, turn off scheduling by launching Disk Defragmenter, then clearing the box marked 'Run on a schedule (recommended)'. You'll need to run Defragmenter manually, so remember to do it once a month. 2. Optimise SATA hard drives Most PCs running Windows Vista will have SATA hard drives installed. If yours does, you can improve its performance by enabling Advanced Performance on the drive. Do this by launching Device Manager (click 'Start', right-click 'Computer', select 'Properties' and then choose 'Device manager' from the left-hand pane) and expanding 'Disk drives'. Right-click your SATA drive and then choose 'Properties'. Move to the 'Policies' tab. Write caching should already be enabled on the disk, but you'll need to tick the 'Advanced Performance' box. Remember, you should only apply this change on laptops with batteries, or desktop PCs with uninterruptible power supplies, because it's possible to lose data during a write operation if there's a power failure. 3. Enable Reliability Monitor
It's always a good idea to monitor your system to see if your activities have added to its stability or, more likely, degraded it. The Reliability Monitor displays a helpful graph that shows system stability over time, so you can see how each action has affected your computer. To launch it, open Control Panel and choose 'System and maintenance | Performance rating and tools | Advanced tools | Open Reliability and Performance Monitor'. Now choose 'Reliability Monitor' in the left-hand pane. Below the graph is a system stability report that lists each of the most recent events and failures for you. 4. Check the Event Viewer
Event Viewer helps you identify any processes that may be failing and introducing delays into the system. To access it, click 'Start', then right-click 'Computer' and choose 'Manage', then opt to continue. This launches the Computer Management console. Now select 'Event Viewer', followed by 'Windows Logs'. Here, you'll find logs for Applications, Security, System, Setup and Forwarded Events. Select one of these logs to see each recorded event. These events are provided in order, with the most recent one appearing first. Any errors are flagged for your attention with an icon showing a white cross on a red background, while warnings are illustrated with a yellow icon. Right-click an event and choose 'Event Properties'. The resulting dialog presents details of the event, including a brief description of what happened, plus a link to further information if any is available. 5. Identify problems with a System Health Report In Control Panel, choose 'System and maintenance | Performance information and tools | Advanced tools'. Click 'Generate a system health report' and select the option to continue if prompted. The tool collects information from the Reliability and Performance Monitor to make the report. This lists potential problems like low disk space and suggests fixes. 6. Download Autoruns Autoruns is a zip file, which you'll need to extract before you can run it. Open it in Vista and extract all the files. Now launch 'Autoruns.exe'. Each tab displays software that runs automatically according to category. The 'Logon' tab shows those that start when you log into Windows. This includes software that's part of Windows itself, so take care when making alterations. To disable an entry, select it and clear the tick box next to it. The 'Drivers' tab shows all the device drivers installed on your system. To see if a driver is causing problems, disable it by unticking its box. To delete an entry completely, select it and choose 'Entry | Delete'. 7. Defrag the Registry Improve performance by optimising the Registrywith the free registry defragmenting tool Registry Defrag. When it's installed, launch the program and click 'Analyse Registry'. Free Registry Defrag takes a few minutes to examine your Registry. It calculates how much space can be saved by defragging and compacting it. You'll see an estimate of the saving once analysis is complete. Click 'Compact/Defrag Registry'. Once the process is complete (it may take a while), you'll be asked to reboot your computer to put the new leaner, meaner Registry into use. Click 'OK' to do so. 8. Disable printer sharing Windows Explorer can slow down while it looks for shared printers. If you don't need to share a printer, you can claw back speed by turning off printer sharing. Choose 'Start | Network | Network and Sharing Center'. Click the icon next to 'Printer sharing' to turn it off . 9. Trim Start menu search
There are several ways to improve the speed of start menu searches. First, remove Messenger chats and emails from the search. Go to Control Panel and choose 'Appearance and personalization | Customize the Start menu | Customize'. Scroll to 'Search communication' and clear its box. You can also opt to exclude favourites, history and your files here if you wish. 10. Indexing options Indexing your hard drive hits performance, but makes finding files and folders much faster. It makes sense to ensure that only the areas of your hard drive that you're likely to search are indexed. Click 'Start', and type indexing options into the search bar and press [Enter]. This shows the current locations that have been indexed. To change these, click 'Modify', followed by 'Show all locations'. Clear the boxes next to any of the locations that you don't want to index. This will make them harder to search, but will improve general performance. You can always reinstate any area that you need to search later on. 11. Use advanced indexing You can also opt to remove certain file types from the index to improve search speed and reduce the performance hit background indexing can create. Go back to Indexing Options as above and click the 'Advanced' button. This launches a dialog that enables you to change more indexing configurations. On the 'File types' tab, you can opt to add or remove certain file extensions from indexing. Consider removing executables and files that you're unlikely to search for. 12. Turn off indexing If you're convinced that you'll never want to search your hard drive, you can gain a little performance by disabling indexing. Indexing uses up system resources which could otherwise boost performance. For most users, the minor hit on performance is more than enough to compensate for being able to find the files they want quickly. However, you can turn it off if you want to squeeze out a little more performance. Click 'Start | Computer' and right-click your hard drive. Choose 'Properties'. and on the 'General' tab, clear the box marked 'Index this drive' for a faster machine in the future. 13. Deactivate User Account Control User Account Control puts in a layer of security that stops you from making system changes without confirming them. However, if you're an experienced user, it can simply serve to slow you down. To turn this feature off , open Control Panel and choose 'User Accounts and Family Safety | User Accounts | Turn User Account Control on or off .' Clear the box marked 'Use User Account Control' to protect your computer. Click 'OK' and reboot. 14. Remote differential compression This is a useful service if you move files around a network a lot, but if you don't, it uses up resources needlessly. Open 'Control Panel', followed by 'Programs'. Choose 'Turn Windows features on and off '. Clear the box next to 'Remote differential compression'. Click 'OK'. 
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| Tutorial: 14 tips and tricks to speed up Vista Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT Windows Vista got bad press due to its stability issues, but after Microsoft released a few services packs, the operating system became stable, trustworthy and not half bad. If you have a Windows Vista machine in the house and you want give it a performance boost, there are a number of simple ways to do so. Here are our tips to help speed up Vista. 1. Turn off automatic defrag Having a well defragmented disk improves performance, but background defragmenting can slow your machine down temporarily. Vista schedules disk defragmenting by default. However, you may need to use your PC while it's carrying out this task. You can do this, but there'll be a performance hit.
If this is likely to be a problem, turn off scheduling by launching Disk Defragmenter, then clearing the box marked 'Run on a schedule (recommended)'. You'll need to run Defragmenter manually, so remember to do it once a month. 2. Optimise SATA hard drives Most PCs running Windows Vista will have SATA hard drives installed. If yours does, you can improve its performance by enabling Advanced Performance on the drive. Do this by launching Device Manager (click 'Start', right-click 'Computer', select 'Properties' and then choose 'Device manager' from the left-hand pane) and expanding 'Disk drives'. Right-click your SATA drive and then choose 'Properties'. Move to the 'Policies' tab. Write caching should already be enabled on the disk, but you'll need to tick the 'Advanced Performance' box. Remember, you should only apply this change on laptops with batteries, or desktop PCs with uninterruptible power supplies, because it's possible to lose data during a write operation if there's a power failure. 3. Enable Reliability Monitor
It's always a good idea to monitor your system to see if your activities have added to its stability or, more likely, degraded it. The Reliability Monitor displays a helpful graph that shows system stability over time, so you can see how each action has affected your computer. To launch it, open Control Panel and choose 'System and maintenance | Performance rating and tools | Advanced tools | Open Reliability and Performance Monitor'. Now choose 'Reliability Monitor' in the left-hand pane. Below the graph is a system stability report that lists each of the most recent events and failures for you. 4. Check the Event Viewer
Event Viewer helps you identify any processes that may be failing and introducing delays into the system. To access it, click 'Start', then right-click 'Computer' and choose 'Manage', then opt to continue. This launches the Computer Management console. Now select 'Event Viewer', followed by 'Windows Logs'. Here, you'll find logs for Applications, Security, System, Setup and Forwarded Events. Select one of these logs to see each recorded event. These events are provided in order, with the most recent one appearing first. Any errors are flagged for your attention with an icon showing a white cross on a red background, while warnings are illustrated with a yellow icon. Right-click an event and choose 'Event Properties'. The resulting dialog presents details of the event, including a brief description of what happened, plus a link to further information if any is available. 5. Identify problems with a System Health Report In Control Panel, choose 'System and maintenance | Performance information and tools | Advanced tools'. Click 'Generate a system health report' and select the option to continue if prompted. The tool collects information from the Reliability and Performance Monitor to make the report. This lists potential problems like low disk space and suggests fixes. 6. Download Autoruns Autoruns is a zip file, which you'll need to extract before you can run it. Open it in Vista and extract all the files. Now launch 'Autoruns.exe'. Each tab displays software that runs automatically according to category. The 'Logon' tab shows those that start when you log into Windows. This includes software that's part of Windows itself, so take care when making alterations. To disable an entry, select it and clear the tick box next to it. The 'Drivers' tab shows all the device drivers installed on your system. To see if a driver is causing problems, disable it by unticking its box. To delete an entry completely, select it and choose 'Entry | Delete'. 7. Defrag the Registry Improve performance by optimising the Registrywith the free registry defragmenting tool Registry Defrag. When it's installed, launch the program and click 'Analyse Registry'. Free Registry Defrag takes a few minutes to examine your Registry. It calculates how much space can be saved by defragging and compacting it. You'll see an estimate of the saving once analysis is complete. Click 'Compact/Defrag Registry'. Once the process is complete (it may take a while), you'll be asked to reboot your computer to put the new leaner, meaner Registry into use. Click 'OK' to do so. 8. Disable printer sharing Windows Explorer can slow down while it looks for shared printers. If you don't need to share a printer, you can claw back speed by turning off printer sharing. Choose 'Start | Network | Network and Sharing Center'. Click the icon next to 'Printer sharing' to turn it off . 9. Trim Start menu search
There are several ways to improve the speed of start menu searches. First, remove Messenger chats and emails from the search. Go to Control Panel and choose 'Appearance and personalization | Customize the Start menu | Customize'. Scroll to 'Search communication' and clear its box. You can also opt to exclude favourites, history and your files here if you wish. 10. Indexing options Indexing your hard drive hits performance, but makes finding files and folders much faster. It makes sense to ensure that only the areas of your hard drive that you're likely to search are indexed. Click 'Start', and type indexing options into the search bar and press [Enter]. This shows the current locations that have been indexed. To change these, click 'Modify', followed by 'Show all locations'. Clear the boxes next to any of the locations that you don't want to index. This will make them harder to search, but will improve general performance. You can always reinstate any area that you need to search later on. 11. Use advanced indexing You can also opt to remove certain file types from the index to improve search speed and reduce the performance hit background indexing can create. Go back to Indexing Options as above and click the 'Advanced' button. This launches a dialog that enables you to change more indexing configurations. On the 'File types' tab, you can opt to add or remove certain file extensions from indexing. Consider removing executables and files that you're unlikely to search for. 12. Turn off indexing If you're convinced that you'll never want to search your hard drive, you can gain a little performance by disabling indexing. Indexing uses up system resources which could otherwise boost performance. For most users, the minor hit on performance is more than enough to compensate for being able to find the files they want quickly. However, you can turn it off if you want to squeeze out a little more performance. Click 'Start | Computer' and right-click your hard drive. Choose 'Properties'. and on the 'General' tab, clear the box marked 'Index this drive' for a faster machine in the future. 13. Deactivate User Account Control User Account Control puts in a layer of security that stops you from making system changes without confirming them. However, if you're an experienced user, it can simply serve to slow you down. To turn this feature off , open Control Panel and choose 'User Accounts and Family Safety | User Accounts | Turn User Account Control on or off .' Clear the box marked 'Use User Account Control' to protect your computer. Click 'OK' and reboot. 14. Remote differential compression This is a useful service if you move files around a network a lot, but if you don't, it uses up resources needlessly. Open 'Control Panel', followed by 'Programs'. Choose 'Turn Windows features on and off '. Clear the box next to 'Remote differential compression'. Click 'OK'.
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| Review: Audio Analogue Crescendo Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT It takes some doing, these days, to build smart audiophile products in Europe to a retail price of £600. The Audio Analogue Crescendo CD player and amplifier units are very nicely finished, with solid aluminium front panels, individual but easily usable ergonomics and a general feeling of class that one just doesn't expect at the price. There are some very intelligent features, too, on the amp. The volume knob is a push 'n' twist control, which when briefly prodded switches to the next input. There are four different characteristics available for the electronic volume control, accommodating loudspeakers of different sensitivity (that is, with small volume steps over different parts of the range) or simply 79 1dB steps. Balance is adjustable and the amp can optionally be set up as a power amplifier. Inputs are all line-level, including one mini-jack on the front panel. The CD player is rather plainer but offers all the usual features plus 'Sleep' mode, in which it switches to standby after a preset time. It only plays regular audio CDs, however. The CD player uses a TEAC IDE (computer-style) transport, apparently optimised for audio, which keeps design simple on the control front and allows AA to implement a relatively complex audio output circuit. The amp is based on integrated circuits for switching, volume control and actual amplification – including the output. Again, this keeps costs manageable and frees up some budget for a surprisingly large toroidal mains transformer.
Sound quality Although they never felt this to be the most insightful combination, our 'blind' listeners enjoyed many aspects of the Crescendos' performance. They felt it was particularly good at the casual, droll style of the Ian Dury track. The bass line, while not especially deep or powerful, was easy to follow and clearly tuned. The solo piano track, with its captivatingly complex offbeat rhythms, was clear and precise, though possibly a little over-bright at times. Opinions diverged rather more over the presentation of our full orchestral track. One listener found this very satisfying, with power, good imaging and a striking sense of acoustic space. Another was less convinced, missing some energy and conviction in the reproduction and also some bass extension. Our overall feeling is that this combo has a slightly inconsistent approach to detail, managing it better in some areas of the spectrum than others. Our limited experiments with the units suggested that the amp is something of a bargain, the CD player less obviously so, though still clearly competent. Related Links
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| Review: Isol-8 SubStation LC/HC Posted: 19 Mar 2011 02:30 AM PDT  Sooner or later, even the most sensible hi-fi enthusiast starts to wonder what sort of difference having a mains conditioner might make to the sound of their equipment. Mains electricity is the 'fuel' that powers your system. So it stands to reason; the cleaner the fuel, the better things should sound. But then doesn't the power supply in each individual hi-fi component deal with whatever impurities that might be present in the electricity supply? Well, to a degree – yes. But noise and the presence of even small amounts of DC can create all kinds of problems that prevent your equipment from delivering its full performance. Plug 'n' play Isol-8 SubStation conditioners are passive 'plug and play' devices. There are no user-adjustments to fiddle with. Some devices (like Isol-8's PowerStation, for example) allow users to alter the frequency of the AC mains from the UK's 50Hz to a higher value. But this isn't possible with the Isol-8 – it's purely a mains cleaner. The design aim is to use inductive/capacitive filtering to reduce mains noise, without compromising current delivery. For example, lots of small 3,300uf electrolytic capacitors are used (18 in the LC and 34 in the HC) rather than a single, large capacitor. This reduces ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) to less than one milli-ohm.
The input has a special choke to reduce common-mode noise and a separate choke is used in the earth line. There are many different types of noise on the mains and the Isol-8 SubStation attempts to deal with all of them to ensure than the output is pure and free from harmful high-frequency noise, DC components, and voltage spikes. You can specify the type of mains socket your SubStation comes fitted with – choosing from either a standard 13-amp UK-type, or a 15-amp Schuko. Both kinds of socket feature a hinged protective cover that prevents dust from contaminating the pins, as well as keeping out tiny fingers! The four sockets on the LC version are individually isolated – each has its own separate filtering network. Some hi-fi components produce self-noise which can get on to the mains supply, affecting the performance of other components. Having each socket individually isolated helps avoid cross-contamination.
The HC's two output sockets, on the other hand, are not individually isolated – they draw power from a common source point. The design of the LC and HC versions are broadly similar, but the latter is intended for situations where much greater current delivery is called for – up to 16 amps, compared to the LC's eight amps. To protect against excessive current draw, a press-button circuit-breaker is fitted. This is designed to trip should a certain current threshold be passed. The circuit-breaker can be used as a mains on/off switch, though being situated on the back of the unit means it's a bit awkward to access. Built to last Each Isol-8 SubStation is housed in a CNC-milled alloy box. Apparently, full-production samples will feature bitumous damping pads to reduce the risk of case-resonance. But our pre-production Isol-8s were not fitted with them – more on this later. The casework has a brushed surface and looks very smart. Internally, things are neatly laid out with plenty of space between the different groups. Expensive, high-quality components (such as Mundorf flat-wound inductors) are used and the internal wiring features silver-plated copper conductors with PTFE insulation. A high-quality mains cable is included and this connects via a twist and lock Neutrik plug. Given the build quality and high-spec components employed, Isol-8's SubStation conditioners offer very good value. But, 'value' also hinges on how big a difference adding one (or both) makes to the sound of your system. If you're lucky and the mains supply where you live is very pure, improvements might be fairly small. However, the nature of the modern electronic world we live in makes this most unlikely. For the great majority, mains quality is not clean, so having a clean-up device like the Isol-8 SubsStation should prove highly beneficial.
Plus – and here's where things get really scary – in the future, problems with mains contamination are likely to get worse rather than better. As electrical devices proliferate, our environment will become increasingly noisy and polluted. What the effect is... Obviously, the degree of improvement you're likely to hear with devices like these depends greatly on how dirty your mains supply is. Many audiophiles find the sound produced by their hi-fi varies according to the time of day. Things often sound best after midnight when people switch off TVs and computers. As a result, the amount of improvement you hear may well alter according to the time of day or night you make the comparison. The dirtier your mains supply, the greater the benefit produced by the Isol-8 SubStation. But, even with relatively 'good' mains, you can expect a cleaner sound, with wider dynamic range and sharper crisper detail. The presence of noise on the mains makes your hi-fi sound slightly muzzy and out of focus. After installing the Isol-8 SubStations, we noticed the music sounds slightly more focused and immediate, with crisper transients and greater depth. The upper treble sounds smoother and cleaner, with less 'edge' and reduced harshness. Listening without the Isol-8s, things definitely become slightly lethargic and less well-separated, with noticeably poorer delineation of detail and dynamics. As a result, we felt inclined to turn up the volume a notch to try and make the music project more. In simple terms, the sound suddenly seems less special. With the Isol-8 SubStations back in circuit, things perked up again. Individual voices and instruments sound cleaner, with greater individuality – both tonally and dynamically. Bass seems firmer and cleaner, with less smearing and overhang, while the treble is airier. There's an innate 'rightness' about the difference produced. It feels like you're hearing your system sound the way it was meant to be – a thick layer of 'grunge' having been removed. This enables you to play things quieter, with no loss of presence, while seemingly allowing greater dynamic headroom for loud peaks. The LC SubStation is very quiet, mechanically – virtually silent – but the HC version produces a 'buzz' with our Musical Fidelity kW750 power amp. Trying the smaller Cayin SP-40M tube power amp in place of the big MF, we found the buzz is greatly reduced. So, the noise level is definitely down to higher current-draw. Virtually silent Speaking to the manufacturer, it seems the cases on our early production review samples had not been fitted with bitumous damping panels and they confidently expect full production Isol-8 SubStations to be virtually silent. The noise actually comes from the wound cores of the inductors creating a sympathetic resonance with the case. Incidentally, we tried the MF power amp with the LC SubStation and to our surprise it works without tripping the circuit breaker. This means that – unless you have a really big power amp that draws huge amounts of current – the LC SubStation may be entirely adequate with most normal-sized amplifiers. Nevertheless, we feel our system sounds slightly better when the MF power amp is being used with the HC SubStation, rather than going through the LC. Both units run very cool, by the way – there are no heat issues to worry about – and the units have been designed to be left switched-on at all times. While products like the SubStation ideally need to be auditioned in the home, we feel confident that 99 per cent of users will find very worthwhile benefits with either or both of these devices. Not only should your system sound fresher and more real, you should also find the quality of sound is more consistent on a day-to-day basis. Given that it can power up to four components, including medium/large power amps, the SubStation LC version is the one to start with. If you like what you hear and already own a large power amp, the HC version (or even a PowerStation) could always be added later. But be warned; we think you'll find the Isol-8 difference addictive! Related Links
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| Review: Isol-8 SubStation LC/HC Posted: 19 Mar 2011 02:30 AM PDT Sooner or later, even the most sensible hi-fi enthusiast starts to wonder what sort of difference having a mains conditioner might make to the sound of their equipment. Mains electricity is the 'fuel' that powers your system. So it stands to reason; the cleaner the fuel, the better things should sound. But then doesn't the power supply in each individual hi-fi component deal with whatever impurities that might be present in the electricity supply? Well, to a degree – yes. But noise and the presence of even small amounts of DC can create all kinds of problems that prevent your equipment from delivering its full performance. Plug 'n' play Isol-8 SubStation conditioners are passive 'plug and play' devices. There are no user-adjustments to fiddle with. Some devices (like Isol-8's PowerStation, for example) allow users to alter the frequency of the AC mains from the UK's 50Hz to a higher value. But this isn't possible with the Isol-8 – it's purely a mains cleaner. The design aim is to use inductive/capacitive filtering to reduce mains noise, without compromising current delivery. For example, lots of small 3,300uf electrolytic capacitors are used (18 in the LC and 34 in the HC) rather than a single, large capacitor. This reduces ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) to less than one milli-ohm.
The input has a special choke to reduce common-mode noise and a separate choke is used in the earth line. There are many different types of noise on the mains and the Isol-8 SubStation attempts to deal with all of them to ensure than the output is pure and free from harmful high-frequency noise, DC components, and voltage spikes. You can specify the type of mains socket your SubStation comes fitted with – choosing from either a standard 13-amp UK-type, or a 15-amp Schuko. Both kinds of socket feature a hinged protective cover that prevents dust from contaminating the pins, as well as keeping out tiny fingers! The four sockets on the LC version are individually isolated – each has its own separate filtering network. Some hi-fi components produce self-noise which can get on to the mains supply, affecting the performance of other components. Having each socket individually isolated helps avoid cross-contamination.
The HC's two output sockets, on the other hand, are not individually isolated – they draw power from a common source point. The design of the LC and HC versions are broadly similar, but the latter is intended for situations where much greater current delivery is called for – up to 16 amps, compared to the LC's eight amps. To protect against excessive current draw, a press-button circuit-breaker is fitted. This is designed to trip should a certain current threshold be passed. The circuit-breaker can be used as a mains on/off switch, though being situated on the back of the unit means it's a bit awkward to access. Built to last Each Isol-8 SubStation is housed in a CNC-milled alloy box. Apparently, full-production samples will feature bitumous damping pads to reduce the risk of case-resonance. But our pre-production Isol-8s were not fitted with them – more on this later. The casework has a brushed surface and looks very smart. Internally, things are neatly laid out with plenty of space between the different groups. Expensive, high-quality components (such as Mundorf flat-wound inductors) are used and the internal wiring features silver-plated copper conductors with PTFE insulation. A high-quality mains cable is included and this connects via a twist and lock Neutrik plug. Given the build quality and high-spec components employed, Isol-8's SubStation conditioners offer very good value. But, 'value' also hinges on how big a difference adding one (or both) makes to the sound of your system. If you're lucky and the mains supply where you live is very pure, improvements might be fairly small. However, the nature of the modern electronic world we live in makes this most unlikely. For the great majority, mains quality is not clean, so having a clean-up device like the Isol-8 SubsStation should prove highly beneficial.
Plus – and here's where things get really scary – in the future, problems with mains contamination are likely to get worse rather than better. As electrical devices proliferate, our environment will become increasingly noisy and polluted. What the effect is... Obviously, the degree of improvement you're likely to hear with devices like these depends greatly on how dirty your mains supply is. Many audiophiles find the sound produced by their hi-fi varies according to the time of day. Things often sound best after midnight when people switch off TVs and computers. As a result, the amount of improvement you hear may well alter according to the time of day or night you make the comparison. The dirtier your mains supply, the greater the benefit produced by the Isol-8 SubStation. But, even with relatively 'good' mains, you can expect a cleaner sound, with wider dynamic range and sharper crisper detail. The presence of noise on the mains makes your hi-fi sound slightly muzzy and out of focus. After installing the Isol-8 SubStations, we noticed the music sounds slightly more focused and immediate, with crisper transients and greater depth. The upper treble sounds smoother and cleaner, with less 'edge' and reduced harshness. Listening without the Isol-8s, things definitely become slightly lethargic and less well-separated, with noticeably poorer delineation of detail and dynamics. As a result, we felt inclined to turn up the volume a notch to try and make the music project more. In simple terms, the sound suddenly seems less special. With the Isol-8 SubStations back in circuit, things perked up again. Individual voices and instruments sound cleaner, with greater individuality – both tonally and dynamically. Bass seems firmer and cleaner, with less smearing and overhang, while the treble is airier. There's an innate 'rightness' about the difference produced. It feels like you're hearing your system sound the way it was meant to be – a thick layer of 'grunge' having been removed. This enables you to play things quieter, with no loss of presence, while seemingly allowing greater dynamic headroom for loud peaks. The LC SubStation is very quiet, mechanically – virtually silent – but the HC version produces a 'buzz' with our Musical Fidelity kW750 power amp. Trying the smaller Cayin SP-40M tube power amp in place of the big MF, we found the buzz is greatly reduced. So, the noise level is definitely down to higher current-draw. Virtually silent Speaking to the manufacturer, it seems the cases on our early production review samples had not been fitted with bitumous damping panels and they confidently expect full production Isol-8 SubStations to be virtually silent. The noise actually comes from the wound cores of the inductors creating a sympathetic resonance with the case. Incidentally, we tried the MF power amp with the LC SubStation and to our surprise it works without tripping the circuit breaker. This means that – unless you have a really big power amp that draws huge amounts of current – the LC SubStation may be entirely adequate with most normal-sized amplifiers. Nevertheless, we feel our system sounds slightly better when the MF power amp is being used with the HC SubStation, rather than going through the LC. Both units run very cool, by the way – there are no heat issues to worry about – and the units have been designed to be left switched-on at all times. While products like the SubStation ideally need to be auditioned in the home, we feel confident that 99 per cent of users will find very worthwhile benefits with either or both of these devices. Not only should your system sound fresher and more real, you should also find the quality of sound is more consistent on a day-to-day basis. Given that it can power up to four components, including medium/large power amps, the SubStation LC version is the one to start with. If you like what you hear and already own a large power amp, the HC version (or even a PowerStation) could always be added later. But be warned; we think you'll find the Isol-8 difference addictive! Related Links
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| Catch up: this week's most popular posts Posted: 19 Mar 2011 01:00 AM PDT  This week, Tesco announced that Android sales have overtaken iPhone sales on its network, while in other iPhone news, supposed leaked images of iPhone 5 cases popped up. And in the viewing world, Sky launched a new multiroom HD box and Google acquired a technology that should enable it to tidy up low quality video on YouTube. Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar… Top five news stories Tesco: Android has overtaken iPhone Tesco has revealed that the sale of Android phones on its network have surpassed Apple's iPhone for the first time. Tesco, a virtual mobile operator running on O2's network, says its customers indicate that Google's operating system is poised to grow even larger in 2011. In the pre-Christmas period the iPhone was outselling Android smartphones by a factor of two to one, but January saw what Tesco is describing as a 'rapid increase' in Android sales to gain parity. And February has seen Android overtake iPhone sales, although it should be pointed out that the new iPhone 5 UK release date is likely to be in July, and could shake things up once more. Leaked images of iPhone 5 cases surface Mock-ups of a case said to be made for the iPhone 5 have hit the internet. If these are indeed cases made for the new Apple handset, the iPhone 5's design seems to vary very little from that of the iPhone 4. Tesco Mobile blocking iPhone Wi-Fi hotspots Tesco Mobile is currently blocking the portable hotspot feature in the new iOS 4.3 for the iPhone 4. The update, which was revealed at the same time as the iPad 2, lets users send their data allowance from their phone via Wi-Fi signal. However, some TechRadar readers complained the portable hotspot feature wasn't there on their Tesco Mobile-powered iPhone 4, despite updating to the new iOS. Sky launches affordable HD multiroom box Sky has launched what it is calling an 'affordable' HD box for multiroom subscribers. The satellite giant has been a leading advocate of HD in the UK, and is keen that its multiroom subscribers can have a second HD option to complement a Sky+ HD box. The box will come at no extra cost for new Sky Multiroom subscribers, although there is a £30 set-up charge for completely new customers and £60 for current subscribers extending their packages. Google to do away with fuzzy YouTube videos with latest purchase Shaky, blurry YouTube videos could be a thing of the past thanks to Google's latest company acquisition. The search giant has picked up Green Parrot Pictures, an Irish digital video technology company, whose image processing tech has been used in Lord of the Rings, X-Men and Spider-Man in recent years – but don't let that put you off. Google will use Green Parrot's technology to tidy up low-quality video content uploaded to YouTube by sharpening images, reducing visual noise and producing a steadier video. Top five in-depth articles Cloud computing brought the browser wars back: Microsoft, Google and Mozilla have been rewriting JavaScript engines, improving their support for web standards and improving their user interfaces. The result is the big three's best browsers yet: IE9, Chrome 10 and Firefox 4 RC. So which one deserves a place on your desktop? 10 best alternative operating systems It might seem audacious to claim that the next Windows is cooking in some part-time coder's house, but it's nothing new. Microsoft's OS empire started with the purchase of QDOS, which stood for 'Quick and Dirty Operating System'. Apple didn't create Mac OS X out of thin air, but took an open source kernel and some BSD code (grounded in academia) to get the foundations of its operating system working. The most successful projects often begin life in ways we'd never expect, and it can take a while for their potential to be fully realised. We look at the best alternative operating systems, with the potential to change the computing landscape over the next decade. There's only one rule - no Microsoft, Apple or Linux. 10 best touchscreen phones for 2011 Swapping a button-bashing existence for a softer sensing interface we can press, swipe, pinch and zoom, means we can now do a little bit more than simply stare into that pint-sized screen of ours. If the only QWERTY keyboard you want to see on a daily basis is the one nestled next to your office computer, here's our pick of the best touchscreen smartphones available right now in the UK Motorola Atrix vs Samsung Galaxy S2 vs LG Optimus 3D Two of the highlights of this year's Mobile World Congress were the powerful Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy S II) and the futuristic LG Optimus 3D. But how do they compare to the spec-heavy Motorola Atrix, announced at CES in January? All three are super smartphones with dual-core ARM processors as you'll see. All three handsets also impress with cutting-edge screen technology, although they couldn't be more different in their execution. So it's hard to measure whether the Atrix or Galaxy S2 is 'better' than the Optimus 3D . Or vice-versa. But you can get a good feel for which phone you fancy by comparing them side-by-side... How iPad 3 can fulfil Apple's 'post-PC device' promise A revolution is happening in the consumer technology world - the PC is slowly, but inexorably, being replaced by the tablet. It doesn't seem to be a question of if a tablet can replace a conventional computer, but rather how long it'll be before PCs are in the minority in both the home and workplace. Top five reviews The Apple iPad 2 has arrived. It's the greatest tablet we've ever seen. It's slim, sexy and amazing. But is it really that different to the first iPad? Canon's triple-digit EOS line has traditionally catered for those dipping their toes into DSLR photography, but successive models have been venturing further into enthusiast territory. IE9 is a leap forward, and Microsoft has done a fine job. Some of the features in IE9 are genuinely innovative, and as it's well placed to usher in a richer web experience. Canon has long catered well for the entry-level digital SLR market. Its EOS 300D was the first digital SLR available for under £1000 and as technology has advanced, its cameras aimed at this market have gotten cheaper and more compact, whilst still sporting a decent array of features. The Motorola Xoom is the first Android 3.0 tablet to hit the market. That makes it the first Android tablet to ship with an OS that's designed especially for big screens, and that's why it's so exciting. Also reviewed this week… Hands on: Sky News app for iPad review Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS33 review Roberts Revival iStream review Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti AMP! review Bare Bones Software TextWrangler 3.5.3 review XtraLean ImageWell 4.0.7 review Autodesk SketchBook Pro review 
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| Catch up: this week's most popular posts Posted: 19 Mar 2011 01:00 AM PDT This week, Tesco announced that Android sales have overtaken iPhone sales on its network, while in other iPhone news, supposed leaked images of iPhone 5 cases popped up. And in the viewing world, Sky launched a new multiroom HD box and Google acquired a technology that should enable it to tidy up low quality video on YouTube. Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar… Top five news stories Tesco: Android has overtaken iPhone Tesco has revealed that the sale of Android phones on its network have surpassed Apple's iPhone for the first time. Tesco, a virtual mobile operator running on O2's network, says its customers indicate that Google's operating system is poised to grow even larger in 2011. In the pre-Christmas period the iPhone was outselling Android smartphones by a factor of two to one, but January saw what Tesco is describing as a 'rapid increase' in Android sales to gain parity. And February has seen Android overtake iPhone sales, although it should be pointed out that the new iPhone 5 UK release date is likely to be in July, and could shake things up once more. Leaked images of iPhone 5 cases surface Mock-ups of a case said to be made for the iPhone 5 have hit the internet. If these are indeed cases made for the new Apple handset, the iPhone 5's design seems to vary very little from that of the iPhone 4. Tesco Mobile blocking iPhone Wi-Fi hotspots Tesco Mobile is currently blocking the portable hotspot feature in the new iOS 4.3 for the iPhone 4. The update, which was revealed at the same time as the iPad 2, lets users send their data allowance from their phone via Wi-Fi signal. However, some TechRadar readers complained the portable hotspot feature wasn't there on their Tesco Mobile-powered iPhone 4, despite updating to the new iOS. Sky launches affordable HD multiroom box Sky has launched what it is calling an 'affordable' HD box for multiroom subscribers. The satellite giant has been a leading advocate of HD in the UK, and is keen that its multiroom subscribers can have a second HD option to complement a Sky+ HD box. The box will come at no extra cost for new Sky Multiroom subscribers, although there is a £30 set-up charge for completely new customers and £60 for current subscribers extending their packages. Google to do away with fuzzy YouTube videos with latest purchase Shaky, blurry YouTube videos could be a thing of the past thanks to Google's latest company acquisition. The search giant has picked up Green Parrot Pictures, an Irish digital video technology company, whose image processing tech has been used in Lord of the Rings, X-Men and Spider-Man in recent years – but don't let that put you off. Google will use Green Parrot's technology to tidy up low-quality video content uploaded to YouTube by sharpening images, reducing visual noise and producing a steadier video. Top five in-depth articles Cloud computing brought the browser wars back: Microsoft, Google and Mozilla have been rewriting JavaScript engines, improving their support for web standards and improving their user interfaces. The result is the big three's best browsers yet: IE9, Chrome 10 and Firefox 4 RC. So which one deserves a place on your desktop? 10 best alternative operating systems It might seem audacious to claim that the next Windows is cooking in some part-time coder's house, but it's nothing new. Microsoft's OS empire started with the purchase of QDOS, which stood for 'Quick and Dirty Operating System'. Apple didn't create Mac OS X out of thin air, but took an open source kernel and some BSD code (grounded in academia) to get the foundations of its operating system working. The most successful projects often begin life in ways we'd never expect, and it can take a while for their potential to be fully realised. We look at the best alternative operating systems, with the potential to change the computing landscape over the next decade. There's only one rule - no Microsoft, Apple or Linux. 10 best touchscreen phones for 2011 Swapping a button-bashing existence for a softer sensing interface we can press, swipe, pinch and zoom, means we can now do a little bit more than simply stare into that pint-sized screen of ours. If the only QWERTY keyboard you want to see on a daily basis is the one nestled next to your office computer, here's our pick of the best touchscreen smartphones available right now in the UK Motorola Atrix vs Samsung Galaxy S2 vs LG Optimus 3D Two of the highlights of this year's Mobile World Congress were the powerful Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy S II) and the futuristic LG Optimus 3D. But how do they compare to the spec-heavy Motorola Atrix, announced at CES in January? All three are super smartphones with dual-core ARM processors as you'll see. All three handsets also impress with cutting-edge screen technology, although they couldn't be more different in their execution. So it's hard to measure whether the Atrix or Galaxy S2 is 'better' than the Optimus 3D . Or vice-versa. But you can get a good feel for which phone you fancy by comparing them side-by-side... How iPad 3 can fulfil Apple's 'post-PC device' promise A revolution is happening in the consumer technology world - the PC is slowly, but inexorably, being replaced by the tablet. It doesn't seem to be a question of if a tablet can replace a conventional computer, but rather how long it'll be before PCs are in the minority in both the home and workplace. Top five reviews The Apple iPad 2 has arrived. It's the greatest tablet we've ever seen. It's slim, sexy and amazing. But is it really that different to the first iPad? Canon's triple-digit EOS line has traditionally catered for those dipping their toes into DSLR photography, but successive models have been venturing further into enthusiast territory. IE9 is a leap forward, and Microsoft has done a fine job. Some of the features in IE9 are genuinely innovative, and as it's well placed to usher in a richer web experience. Canon has long catered well for the entry-level digital SLR market. Its EOS 300D was the first digital SLR available for under £1000 and as technology has advanced, its cameras aimed at this market have gotten cheaper and more compact, whilst still sporting a decent array of features. The Motorola Xoom is the first Android 3.0 tablet to hit the market. That makes it the first Android tablet to ship with an OS that's designed especially for big screens, and that's why it's so exciting. Also reviewed this week… Hands on: Sky News app for iPad review Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS33 review Roberts Revival iStream review Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti AMP! review Bare Bones Software TextWrangler 3.5.3 review XtraLean ImageWell 4.0.7 review Autodesk SketchBook Pro review
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