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AOC's great-value 27in monitor

By Dominik Krupinski – 5 hours ago
AOC E2752PHZ
Rating: 
9

There’s something to be said for the increasing commoditisation of PC products. It seems like only yesterday that good-quality 27in LCD screens were a rare luxury, but now practically every vendor has a big monitor going cheap. That said, with prices plummeting all over, quality can be a bit hit and miss. The AOC E2752PHZ, however, is a 1080p 27in screen selling for around $400, though you’d be hard pressed to tell it's price, with even LED backlighting, bright colours and plenty of detail evident across our test gamut of games, media and productivity.

How to program your keyboard

By Rose Vines - 6 hours ago

Have you been treating your keyboard as simply a QWERTY layout with a numeric keypad? If so, take the time to have a closer look at it. You’re likely to discover special functions assigned to the function keys across the top, plus specialty shortcut keys around the edges. If you’ve taken the wise step to invest some money in a good ‘smart’ keyboard, these handy shortcut keys are just a hint of the magic hidden within.

Six big-brand desktop PCs under $2000

By Darren Yates - February 1, 2012
Feature

Performance is a word that appears to have a different meaning depending on who you buy from. As you’d expect, it’s something many local PC makers offer in spades, while big brands often seem to have a different interpretation. However, if you need a desktop PC with the backing of a big brand and an onsite warranty, there are still plenty of alternatives to look at. The question usually comes down to how much performance and/or features you’re willing to compromise to get that extra support.

How to create an image map using a list and CSS

By Helen Bradley - January 30, 2012

Previously, we've showed you how to create an image map in Dreamweaver using the traditional 'hot spot' method. Here, we’ll show you how to code much the same thing using a more advanced technique — an unordered list and CSS. You’ll need an image and this time you’ll need to know ahead of time its width and height — ours is 600 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall.

Three sub-$2000 desktop flyers

By Darren Yates - January 29, 2012
Feature

Sometimes, you just want to bust out of having to think about value and cram as much horsepower into a computer box as you can. However, performance is a word that has a different meaning depending on who you talk to and who you buy from. As you’d expect, it’s something the local PC makers offer in spades – on any type of application – while brand-name PCs continue to struggle with PC gaming. That's a certainly not a problem with the three local desktop PCs reviewed here, though.

Add lighting effects in Photoshop

By Helen Bradley - January 27, 2012

The Lighting Effects filter in Photoshop lets you add lighting to an image that’s either not well lit or that needs some creative lighting. While the filter has been around for many versions of Photoshop, it’s easier to use in CS3 and later because you can apply it using a Smart Object. This lets you adjust the filter if the settings aren’t quite right, something that wasn’t possible in earlier versions. 

Samsung's new 27in hybrid TV/monitor

By Dominik Krupinski – January 24, 2012
Samsung SyncMaster TA950
Rating: 
8

Samsung's SyncMaster TA950 aspires to being the upmarket screen for all users and we have to admit it does pretty well. A hybrid TV/monitor, this distinctive 27in display comes with a long list of additional features, including an inbuilt digital TV tuner, media streaming from a variety of devices, 3D conversion and some additional web functionality like social networking, YouTube playback and a variety of downloadable apps.

View (and show) different file types using Google Docs

By Helen Bradley - January 23, 2012

The new Google Docs Viewer helps you view files online that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. It gives you access to a range of file types and it can lend itself as a solution to some unusual problems. For example, it’s not unusual to receive a file that you can’t access easily because you don’t have an application to open it with.

Mighty Dwarf Speaker is a fun gimmick

By Dominik Krupinski – January 22, 2012
Mighty Dwarf Speaker
Rating: 
7

There’s a fun idea behind the Mighty Dwarf Speaker — it’s a large USB-powered speaker driver that works by vibrating whatever surface it’s affixed to. It’s an interesting gimmick, with different surfaces producing varying qualities of audio, but most outputting a lot more volume than you’d expect from a device about half the size of a can of soft drink.

Need for Speed: another slick Run

By Dan Gardiner – January 21, 2012
Need for Speed: The Run
Rating: 
8

Over its 15-year history, EA’s Need for Speed series has tried, with varying success, to use stories to jazz up its racing and create a richer experience. Need for Speed: The Run promised to be one of the more interesting attempts, being built on the stunning Frostbite 2 engine (as used by Battlefield 3) and using a fairly appealing premise — to save your character, Jack Rourke, from being whacked by the mob, you’ve got to win an epic illegal street race that spans the American continent from San Francisco to New York.

From the archives

Sync your iPhone contacts

By Rose Vines - March 2, 2011

Keeping contacts synchronised between an iPhone and a single computer, PC or Mac, is a simple process. Apple’s iTunes acts as the intermediary between the two and in most cases, the process is automatic, so you can leave it up to iTunes to do all the work for you. Whenever you connect your phone, your contacts are synced, so whether you update the information on your phone or on your computer, the latest change is reflected on both devices.

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