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Panasonic Lumix LX5 vs Canon Powershot S95 – low light, size comparisons and other questions

August 28th, 2010 10:30am mike s 11 comments

Panasonic Lumix LX5 vs Canon Powershot S95 - your questions answered

Our recent article comparing the new Panasonic Lumix LX5 and Canon Powershot S95 high end cameras has resulted in us getting a fair bit of email, so we thought we’d post a follow up article answering some of the points raised.

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Toggl’s time tracking tools look a treat for your timesheet needs

July 28th, 2010 9:30am mike s 2 comments

Toggl time tracking tools look a treat for your timesheet needsBilled as a “timesheet killer,” Toggl  is great way for freelancers and team-workers to keep track of their time spent working for The Man.

The free service comes in several flavours: a downloadable desktop widget for Mac, Linux and Windows, an iPhone/Android application and an iGoogle gadget that runs on all the major browsers – Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera.

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HMV guns for iTunes with cut price 40p chart downloads

July 26th, 2010 3:58pm Pete Railton No comments

HMV guns for iTunes with cut price 40p chart downloads

Music retailers HMV are looking to rattle Apple with the announcement of their new hmvdigital download store which will offer 10 million songs with every UK Top 40 single costing just 40p each.

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Categories: Apple, reviews, web Tags: , ,

HTC Desire USB desk cradle and second battery charger: review

July 26th, 2010 12:19pm mike s No comments

HTC Desire USB desk cradle and second battery charger: reviewWith modern smartphones chewing up battery juice faster than Oliver Reed downing whisky at the bar, it’s always a good idea to pop a second battery in your bag, just in case.

Problem is, to keep the things topped up you have to keep taking the back off your phone and swapping batteries, so here’s where HamDis’s neat combo dock/charger comes up trumps for HTC Desire owners.

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Categories: Android, mobiles, portable, reviews Tags: ,

Relax and Sleep Android app: fast track to Slumberland with this free app

July 13th, 2010 9:45am mike s No comments

Relax and Sleep Android app: fast track to Slumberland with this free app

Irate insomniacs, the sleep-stifled and the nap-needy may find a quick way to the Land Of Nod courtesy of the Relax and Sleep Android app by Mizu Software Solutions.

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Categories: Android, iPhone, mobiles, reviews Tags:

Super zoom camera shoot-out: Panasonic FZ35/FZ38 and Canon SX20 IS triumph, Nikon P100 comes third

July 7th, 2010 12:01pm Tony Fletcher 2 comments

Super zoom camera shoot-out sees Panasonic FZ35/FZ38 and Canon SX20 IS triumph

Top camera tech site DPReview has rummaged into a big bag of cameras to find out which are the hot superzoomin’ cameras of the summer.

No less than nine cameras were assembled for examination, with the full line up being made up of the Canon Powershot SX20 IS, Casio EX-FH25, Fujifilm FinePix HS10, Fujifilm FinePix S2500HD, Kodak Z981, Nikon Coolpix, P100, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38, Pentax X90 ad Samsung WB5000.

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Panasonic Lumix GF-1 and 14-45mm lens: London street shots

June 22nd, 2010 2:00pm mike s 1 comment

West End photos with a Lumix GF-1

After selling a few photos recently and feeling flush, we recently shelled out for a Lumix 14mm-45mm zoom lens for our  Panasonic Lumix GF-1 camera.

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Categories: photography, reviews Tags: , , ,

The Apple iPad: not for me. Well, at least not yet

June 1st, 2010 11:45am mike s 2 comments

The Apple iPad: not for us. Well, at least not yet

So, the Apple iPad has been out in the UK for several days now, launched with the most ghastly whoopin’, high fivin’, clappin’ and cheerin’ celebration of luxury consumer item spending you’ll ever see in the UK.

I’m not fond of standing in queues being flesh-pressed by over-excited, squawking, cult-like Apple employees, so instead took time out to have a more sedate hands-on with Apple’s exciting new product over a weekend.

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V-moda Remix Remote earphones for the iPhone 3GS/iPod: review

April 23rd, 2010 3:00pm mike s No comments

V-moda Remix Remote earphones for the iPhone 3GS: review

Purveyors of fashionable and upmarket earphones, LA firm V-moda have been making waves with their stylish Remix Remote earphones, promising to tie up great looks with superb sound quality.

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Categories: audio, reviews Tags: ,

Review: Perfectly Clear – a truly essential iPhone photo app

April 16th, 2010 2:00pm mike s 1 comment

Perfectly Clear iPhone photo app: review There’s a ridiculous amount of photo apps for the iPhone, all offering to improve your photos, add special effects and filters or tinker about with colours, but most people just want better pictures.

The limitations of the iPhone’s camera are pretty well known, and although loads of these third-party apps will help you coax a decent image out, it can be a fiddly business.

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Sort out music file mayhem with the free Mp3tag tag editor: review

April 12th, 2010 9:45am mike s 3 comments

Sort out music file mayhem with the free Mp3tag tag editor: review

If, like us, you have a hard drive stuffed full of badly organised MP3 files, many with baffling files names and no embedded metadata, trying to find the tune you want in a hurry can be quite a challenge.

We’ve been using the excellent free Mp3tag v2.46a – billed as a universal Tag Editor – which is a straightforward tool for editing and adding metadata to tons of music files in a jiffy.

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Categories: Windows, audio, computing, reviews Tags:

Apple iPad gets comprehensively reviewed

April 7th, 2010 11:28am mike s No comments

Apple iPad gets comprehensively reviewed

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you’ll know that Apple’s iPad was put on sale in the US over the Easter weekend.

As is usual for these launches, tragic umbrella-toting fanboys queued outside Apple stores for days, over-excited loud people whooped horribly and stores resonated to the relentless flesh-slap of high fiving, delivered by the mandatorily enthusiastic staff doing the kind of crass celebration of consumerism that Apple always does best.

But now the back-slapping dust has settled down,  how does the iPad actually stack up? Does it justify the hype?  Is it worth shelling out in excess of £500 for?

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Categories: Apple, computing, portable, reviews Tags:

Canon EOS 550D: “the most compelling DSLR of its class”

April 2nd, 2010 11:14am mike s 2 comments

Canon EOS 550D: the most compelling DSLR of its class

Photography website DPReview has posted its review of the Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i dSLR, and as expected, it’s the most comprehensive of the lot, offering a 29 page, in-depth look at the entry level dSLR.

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Categories: photography, reviews Tags: ,

Proporta iPhone Soft Feel Silicon case – review

March 30th, 2010 3:13pm mike s No comments

Proporta iPhone Soft Feel Silicon case - review

We’re normally not fans of sticking plastic surrounds, see-through protectors and sundry rubbery things around our phones, but Proporta’s keenly-priced Silicon iPhone case looks more attractive than most.

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Categories: iPhone, mobiles, reviews Tags: , ,

Windows: clear up right click clutter with MenuMaid and praise the Lord

March 29th, 2010 11:30am mike s No comments

Windows: clear up right click clutter with MenuMaidIf you’re finding your screen filling up with endless unwanted options when you right click on a file or folder in Windows, MenuMaid is on hand to clear out some of the cack.

Normally, removing these options is a right royal faff, involving an unpleasant dive around the perilous waters of the registry, but Menu Maid makes entry removal easy-peasy.

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Categories: Windows, reviews, software Tags: ,