htxt.africa's Tech Made Easy - September 2014

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Students! Four essential online resources for exam preparation.

GROUPTEST: Desktop monitors

The ultimate PC upgrade!

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REVIEWED: Risen 3: Titan Lords

It’s the return of the spooked out pirate-em-up.

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Contents

www.htxt.co.za September 2014

ISSUE #07

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

THINGS ARE GETTING BUSY

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o the quiet lull is over and the tech year springs to life. From September through to the end of November, it’s one major event after another.

We’re about to see a slew of new phones and tablets go on sale following the IFA trade show in Germany, for example, and all eyes are on Intel for news coming out of its annual showcase, IDF, later this month.

We’re also expecting to see a new version of Windows hit beta release any day soon. And then there’s the small detail of iOS8, of course...

Here in South Africa there’s a lot of events too. If you haven’t had a look at the awesome Digital Africa Festiva in Johannesburg yet, go book tickets at www.fakugesi. co.za. Then there’s Geekfest and the Medieval Fayre to watch out for, as well as more traditionally tech events like Mobile Web Africa and the My World of Tomorrow consumer show at the Sandton Convention Centre.

That’s without even mentioning rAge, AfricaCom or many, many more. It’s going to be an excellent few months and if you want to stay on top of what’s going htxt.co.za for on, check out our parent website www.htxt.co.za Opera tor’s sub-R500 Steppa is first of all the news. its kind.

MTN launches supercheap smartphone

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obile operator MTN has launched South Africa’s first Android-powered smartphone that’s available on pre-pay for less than R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, there’s no other smartphone in this class PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@htxt.co.za available for less than $50 anywhere.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Adam Oxford – adam@htxt.co.za That makes it quite a milestone in MANAGING EDITOR: Tiana Cline - tiana@htxt.co.za putting high-tech handsets within the HARDWARE: David Greenway – david@htxt.co.za reach of everyone. Which is awesome.

GAMES: Deon du Plessis – deon@htxt.co.zaThe phone itself isn’t, of course, hugely PHOTOGRAPHIC WRITER: Charlie Fripp powe – charlie@htxt.co.za rful. It’s based on a Qualcomm WRITER: Lungelo Shezi – lungelo@htxt.co.za reference design, so it has a 1GHz single core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5in ch SENIOR DESIGNER: Quinton Hoffmann –screen quinton@htxt.co.za and a mere 2MP camera on board.

More limiting is the fact that there’s ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@hypertext.co.za only 512MB of memory and 1GB of storag Sengezo Jubane – sengezo@hypertext.co.za e on-board.

The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

Adam Oxford Editor-in-Chief htxt.africa

It’s a milestone which puts hightech handsets within the reach of everyone… of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard.

It also runs a positively ancient versio n of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbre ad.

Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugel y

important for South Africa.

Sadly, MTN has confir med that there ’s no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possib ility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware.

There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storag e.

What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access – you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semismartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the numb er of apps and services the Steppa has.

Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at

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WHAT IS THAT ‘Bit.ly’ STUFF ALL ABOUT?

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FACEBOOK BUYS WHATSAPP FOR R200BN Facebook has just dived into its war chest again to make another big purchase, this time it’s buying the popular messaging service WhatsApp. Bit.ly/1nPD8wj

Typ e into this c you ode r bro web wse r WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 1

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Contents ISSUE #07

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www.htxt.co.za September 2014

Need to know

30

The important stuff in SA tech

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UJ unveils R1m solar car Students take up Sasol solar challenge.

Gadget news New USB connector launched.

MTN invests in LTE. SA’s broadband gender divide.

New CPUs from Intel.

News round-up New tech park for Eastern Cape.

Telkom cuts broadband prices.

Vodacom expanding network in townships.

Theives target iStores.

SA tipped for solar growth.

Aid will not save Africa Thoughtworks head explains why tech is the new development plan.

Games news Resident Evil returns.

SA developed helicopter sim takes off.

10 bad movie tie-ins With a new Alien game on the way, we look at why film plots rarely translate into good games.

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The best reviews

Photos made easy Top camera news and reviews

35 37 39 44 47

What’s new this month?

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5 awesome keyboards Give your fingers a break.

Which monitor should you buy?

Comprehensive look at the best and most affordable HD screens.

ASUS TF303cl The latest Android Transformer is another storming piece of kit from ASUS. Hardware roundup Sandisk Ultra Dual Jawbone ERA

Risen 3 Pirates and ghosts and ghost pirates. Yar! Games roundup Last of Us Remastered Pure Pool This month’s best mobile games Mega Mall Story Line: Disney Tsum Tsum Minecraft Pocket Edition Godus Terraria Pocket Edition

Tarantino wants to save Kodak Pulp Fiction director prefers the permanence of film to digital.

Snappers to train sappers DIY digicams to teach engineering students.

Which budget SLR should you buy?

Three affordable cameras for taking your photos further.

Camera basics How does a lens work?

How to use manual settings Get full creative control with our guide.

How to...

Because explaining things is what we do best.

49 51 52

How to record dashcam video Safely film the road in front.

How to revise for matric Four top online tools for exam prep.

How to speed up your MacBook Looking to give old hardware a bit of a boost?

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 3

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

UJ’s 140kmph solar powered car Students from University of Johannesburg’s Solar Team unveil the all-new Ilanga II for fuel free race from Pretoria to Cape Town.

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team of engineering students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Solar Project have been hard at work to finish off their design for the vehicle that would hopefully propel them to first place in this year’s Sasol Solar Challenge 2014 race.

Part of the UJ Energy Movement (a research, education and industry participation programme tackling alternative energy issues), the university’s Solar Project particiapnts study the use of alternative energy, energy management and sustainable engineering design through the bi-yearly conceptualisation and construction of solar projects, one such project being alternative energy powered vehicles.

During a launch ceremony at the University of Johannesburg, the design of the car – called the Ilanga II – was paraded in front of media and interested parties, who all got a close look at what the final design will represent. While the actual car wasn’t there, a true-to-scale replica was available for everyone to gawk at.

This year’s Sasol Solar Challenge race takes place from 27th of September to 4th of October as various national and international teams race from Johannesburg down to Cape Town,

“We are more than ready to take on our international and local competitors with this vehicle which echoes values of aerodynamic success and high performance.” powered only by the rays of the sun.

Warren Hurter, a former student at UJ and driver of last year’s entry into the Sasol Solar Challenge, says that the original car designed by the team had a

The Ilanga II has been artificially limited to 140kmph but can go much faster.

The team spent over a year refining the design.

top speed of 60kmph. The tyres have been specifically designed taking the route into consideration and the four relay drivers will also undergo advanced driver training.

“We are more than ready to take on our international and local competitors with this vehicle which echoes values of aerodynamic success and high performance.

In short, Ilanga II is light and it is fast,” said Hurter.

This year’s car has had to be artificially limited to a maximum 140kmph – higher than the speed limit on the public roads over which the challenge takes place.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 5

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

MTN brings LTE to prepaid customers

O Double battery life promised by Intel’s new Broadwell processors

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he next generation of Intel’s PC processors, codenamed Broadwell, is set to be available inside low-powered tablets and notebooks before the year is out. While most people who use computers will be instantly familiar with the ‘Intel Inside’ logo, few will know the codename for the different generations of processors made by the processor manufacturing behemoth. Last year Intel released its fourth generation of Intel processors which were codenamed Haswell. Broadwell will, according to Intel, offer even more in the battery life stakes while still offering modest performance increases as well. The first chips that we’ll see from the Broadwell stable will be the Core M chips, the lowest in terms of processing power but also in terms of the actual battery power they use, designed for smaller tablets and potentially low powered notebooks like Google’s Chromebooks.

They replace the Intel’s Y-series chips in the Haswell product line and will offer twice the performance-per-watt as the outgoing chips. That means that manufacturers will be able to make tablets that offer twice the performance while retaining the same overall battery life or twice the battery life with the same performance or a combination of the two. Bit.ly/1qe7A6R

More stories at

ne of South Africa’s first mobile network operators, MTN, has just opened up access to its LTE network to its prepaid, or Pay As You Go, customers. It joins Vodacom in offering the ability to access the high speed data networks to everyone. To access the LTE network you will need both an LTE enabled smartphone or modem, as well as a 128k SIM card which can be bought from MTN stores and participating retail outlets for just R1.50 – existing MTN prepaid customers who want access to the LTE network can also perform a SIM swap to the 128k SIM in the new starter pack.

Both MTN and Vodacom (Vodacom opened up its LTE network to prepaid customers in March 2013) have utilised spectrum that was already allocated to them to roll out LTE by re-farming a portion of the spectrum by lowering the amount available to both 2G and 3G phones. Bit.ly/1rwKcFo

Reversible USB connector shown for the first time

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he USB Implementers Forum (the group that looks after everything relating to USB standards) has been working on a reversible form of the USB connector, which it says should be finalised by July of this year. This means that in the future, no matter how a USB connector is oriented when you attempt to plug it in, it will fit, and it will work.While news of the new connector’s existence has been around since late 2013, no-one has seen any physical cables sporting the new design. Of course, it’s going to take quite a while before every USB port you see is one of these. And until these new ports become the USB standard that’s used everywhere, people that make computer stuff will probably include both types of ports once the final standard goes live, and gradually phase out or limit the number of USB 3.0 ports as more gadgets come online sporting the new USB 3.1 hotness. Bit.ly/1qe7A6R

TECH IS THE 2ND MOST POPULAR SECTOR FOR AFRICAN WOMEN-LED STARTUPS

go to htxt.co.za

6 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

A new survey with insights into how African women are spread out across the continent’s startup scene, and what type of businesses they’re in.

Bit.ly/1t7xECP

AMANDLA.MOBI: THE POWER OF ONLINE PROTEST REDESIGNED FOR THE MASSES Putting digital tools like open data, civic reporting apps and the free flow of information into the hands of people who could actually benefit from them most.

Bit.ly/1mXFMjs

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS MAXPRO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

SA women have less access to internet than men, but use social media more

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recent study put out by market research firm Ipsos has found that South African women have slightly less access to internet than men, but use social media more than their male counterparts.

A total of 3 730 personal face-toface interviews were conducted in the homes and home languages of randomly selected adult South Africans. Of the people interviewed, 33% of women said they have access

GUESS WHO IS WINNING THE CONSOLE RACE? There are no prizes for guessing which of the next generation consoles is more popular. (Hint: it ends in Station 4.)

Bit.ly/VwCDzy

to the internet, compared to 35% men. On the other hand, 83% of the women said they accessed social media, while only 78% of the men said the same. Facebook is equally popular with both men and women, with both indicating they accessed the social network the most. WhatsApp is the second most popular social network among women, and Twitter is the second most popular for men.

Bit.ly/1su5Wxu

THESE LEGO WOMEN SCIENTISTS NOW HAVE THEIR OWN TWITTER ACCOUNT A woman who is a fan of the minifigures loves it so much that she has created a Twitter account dedicated to depicting life as a LEGO woman scientist.

Bit.ly/1o2efg8

Electricity app from Eskom to make light of power consumption

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tate-owned energy supplier Eskom recently unveiled its very first app.

The app is available for free and with it you will be able to calculate your monthly consumption, the strain on the grid and what household appliances you should be switching off the reduce consumption – after building your own power profile.

“We built the app to give electricity customers and users better and more direct access to information that applies to their own consumption profile,” said Sal Laher, Eskom CIO and divisional executive for the Group Information Technology Division, in a press statement. Available for Android and iOS devices together with a mobi site for feature phones, the ‘MyEskom’ app not only shows relevant information, but it has an option for you to talk to Eskom directly through the ‘Talk to Eskom’ button. But you don’t have to be a registered consumer to be make use of the information. Accessing the www.myeskom.co.za website it will locate in which suburb the connection has been made from, and will give grid information relevant to the suburb. You will also find an updated load shedding link and power outage information. Bit.ly/1omGvKH

TOM HANKS WANTS TO TURN YOUR IPAD INTO A TYPEWRITER Forget silent touchscreens and haptic feedback, nothing says “I am writing” like the sound of a mechanical arm thumping paper. Even when it’s not.

Bit.ly/1oGseOW

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 7

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Telkom takes big scissors to high speed broadband prices

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or those interested in the higher internet speeds offered by VDSL but put off by its pricing, Telkom is going to be cutting prices by up to 37% in the near future to stimulate adoption of superfast broadband.

VDSL stands for “very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line and is a network technology that supports internet speeds far higher than those of regular ADSL, which has a download speed limit of 24mbps. While VDSL has been available in South Africa since 2012 in some areas, it’s quite a bit more expensive than regular ADSL connectivity and people haven’t been signing up in significant numbers. To encourage people to switch, Telkom is cutting the wholesale prices of its 20mbps and 40mbps VDSL offerings, with the 40mbps product getting the biggest cut to its wholesale price: 37%. The 20mbps package now wholesales for R300 a month (excluding VAT), down from R387, and 40mbps will now cost ISPs R375 per month rather than R595.

Expect these savings to be passed to VDSL customers in the coming months, but those hoping for cuts to 2mbps, 4mbps and 10mbps ADSL packages will be disappointed to hear that those prices will remain unchanged.

More stories at

Solar growth in SA “could be explosive”

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ccording to research done by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Africa is ripe for onshore wind, small-scale and utility-scale solar and geothermal power. “The advance of renewable energy in Africa reflects a combination of growing local need for power, and awareness that the cost per MWh of clean options such as wind and photovoltaics has declined sharply over recent years. Renewables can represent a costeffective alternative, particularly compared to diesel generation but also to power stations burning coal or gas,” the research company said in a blog post on the subject. South Africa specifically will be one of the largest producers of utility-scale renewable power, as it has been forecast that the 2014-16 period will see about 3.9GW of power to be installed, with Kenya following suite with 1.4GW, consisting mainly of geothermal and wind. But the key for the Sub-Saharan region will not be in wind or geothermal, but in solar energy.

MOBILE OPERATORS MUST END “PHONEY PRICE WARS”, DELIVER FREE CALLS

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8 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

Right2Know is warning mobile phone users not to be taken in by phone companies which promote low-cost call rates that aren’t permanent.

Bit.ly/1okEFtY

INSPIRING & TEACHING SA’S RURAL KIDS THROUGH THE LENS OF A VIDEO CAMERA To paraphrase the old adage, in the age of ubiquitous video, the person who knows about more than the upload button on YouTube will be king.

Bit.ly/1qbmBGL

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Government launches new science and technology park in Eastern Cape

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he Department of Science and Technology launched a new Science and Technology Park (STP) initiative in the East London Industrial Development Zone. The STP will house innovators, entrepreneurs and university researchers who will have the space and equipment to work on their various ideas and projects, with qualified experts from universities and the public and private sector – Dimension Data has signed up as one of the first tenants at the STP. “It’s inspiring to be in the presence of innovators and technology entrepreneurs who can and must assist in

solving our socio-economic problems,” minister Naledi Pandor said, during her address at the STP launch. The DST also hopes that the STP will add value to the Eastern Cape’s economy. A few projects have already taken off at the STP, most notably Heat Raider, a project which converts energy into steam which is then turned into water and electricity. Plans are also in the pipeline to set the province’s second Regional Innovation Forum to stimulate, support and promote innovation by bringing together industry, government and academics from around the Eastern Cape.

Three iStores robbed in two weeks, R1 million taken

Vodacom targets townships for data network upgrades

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obile service provider Vodacom has already earmarked a good portion of cash for its planned network upgrades, but it has now confirmed that the number of 3G transceivers in Gauteng will be increasesd, with a focus on rural areas – to the tune of R1 billion. Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub explained that it will be adding more base stations, improve 4G connectivity and expanding fibre optic infrastructure, but areas like Soweto, Orange Farm, Alexandra, Atteridgeville and Soshanguve will now be at the forefront of the upgrades.

“I’m pleased to announce that in excess of R1 billion has been earmarked for network investment in Gauteng in the current financial year.

WHO HACKED THE PLAYSTATION NETWORK? Sony’s network under attack, but who is “Lizard Squad” and why did they want to stop gamers having fun?

Bit.ly/1rutruL

Of this amount, a large portion will be used to upgrade and increase Gauteng’s 3G coverage in the major townships.

By the end of March 2015 we will add more than 400 new 3G sites,” said Shane Hibbard, managing executive for Vodacom’s operations in Gauteng.

Vodacom is also planning to install around 600 new LTE sites in Gauteng

by April next year. If it can pull that off, it will increase Gauteng’s LTE coverage to 38%, where currently only a quarter of the area is covered. “Our approach has been to significantly ramp up investment so that we cannot only cater for the massive increase in data traffic on our network, but to actually provide even more new capacity,” concluded Hibbard.

INTEL’S NEXT NUC MINI PCS COULD DOMINATE THE LIVING ROOM Mini PC reference design given an upgrade to speed up media centre boxes everywhere.

Bit.ly/1l7Of8k

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n less than two weeks, a third iStore was robbed in Gauteng. According to early media reports, the perpetrators didn’t manage to get away with valuables and five arrests have already been made - which has since been refuted by the police.

According to police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Khensani “the following properties were taken - iPhones, laptops, and tablets worth over a million. They instructed the manager to open the safe. The suspects fled the scene in three vehicles, a white Corsa, a black Audi A4, and a silver Mazda.”

The Core Group, who is the official representative of Apple products in South Africa, issued the following comment: We confirm a robbery took place at iStore Centurion this morning. The safety of our customers and staff are our number one priority, and very extensive security measures have been put in place. The SAPS has made a number of arrests shortly after the incident. Finally, we would like to emphasise that all devices stolen from iStores will be deactivated and locked irreversibly, rendering them worthless for use and resale.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH WANTS HIS R250 MILLION BACK FROM SARB Ubuntu developer and technology entrepreneur takes treasury to High Court to recover cost of moving personal fortune out of South Africa.

Bit.ly/1tKC94B

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 9

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Technology, not aid, is the key to African continent’s development

The next big push for ‘Africa Rising’ will be led by socially minded hackers, says Thoughtworks head.

“I

heard this in a workshop we ran recently and I think it’s very true,” says Betty Enyonam Kumahor, the Ghanaborn regional head of Thoughtworks’ African operation, “Technology, not aid, is the currency for economic and social development.” To call Kumahor a technology evangelist is something of an understatement, but her passion for people in IT to be “the change agents” is probably just what most in the industry need to hear right now.

“Every time I land in Ghana,” says Kumahor, “Every couple of months, I’m amazed at the new building work going on. The next big push for ‘Africa Rising’ is to empower individuals, to go to school, to get access to healthcare.”

If there’s a core to Kumahor’s philosophy, it is that technology’s role must be used to promote individual rights and not just corporate agendas. Four years ago, while working in Ghanaian telecoms, Kumahor explains that she was part of a large conference designed to promote access to broadband and reduce the cost of access. While prices have dropped, she says, people still aren’t moving online as quickly as expected and hoped for by those who see a direct

10 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

correlation between broadband use and overall economic growth. The reason, says Kumahor, is that many online services simply aren’t relevant to ordinary Ghanaians - or indeed Africans in general.

“If there’s a core to Kumahor’s philosophy, it’s that technology’s role must be used to promote individual rights and not just corporate agendas.“ They’re built outside the continent, not optimised for small, cheap phone screen and don’t solve local problems.

“People have to be on the internet to do things that led to economic growth,”

she says, “Not just for the sake of being online.” It’s a cliche, but Kumahor says it’s true. Not even the best-minded people from outside the continent can understand the “frugal innovation and context adjustments we need to make”. Again using the example of the dumbphone as a point of interaction with online services, she cites an accounting package for small businesses that works via SMS as being a good example of an African app. The pricing model is key too.

Kumahor is surprisingly sceptical about the state of the African tech hub movement, which many cite as hotbeds of local innovation. Few, she says, have a track record of creating employment beyond one or maybe two small app development companies. Of all Kumahor’s points, forgoing profit for the sake of job creation may be the hardest to convince other businesses of.

In Nigeria, now the continent’s largest economy, she says less than 4% of government workers have official email addresses. Which means that either they’re not using online tools at all, or giving away their business to Gmail, Hotmail, et al. That’s simply got to change.

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Google in push for $300 million undersea cable Google joins five company coalition to build a trans-Pacific cable system.

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ost countries and continents rely on undersea cables for their high-speed internet connections, and Africa has a plethora of cables connecting the continent to Europe and North America. Without it, the internet in South Africa simply won’t run the way it does. Recognising the undeniable importance of these undersea cables, Google and five other companies have come together to build and operate a new Trans-Pacific cable system – to the tune of $300 million. To be called FASTER, it will connect the United States to two landing locations in Japan.

“This new cable system will be landed

at Chikura and Shima in Japan and will feature seamless connectivity to many neighboring cable systems to extend the capacity beyond Japan to other Asian locations. Connections in the United States will extend the system to major hubs on the US West Coast covering the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle areas,” the consortium of companies said in a statement. In terms of the cable’s capabilities, it will make use of a six-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technology, which will allow it carry up to 60Tb/s in capacity. The cable will address the growing demand for data between Asia and the US from

broadband, mobile, applications, content and enterprise data exchange.

“FASTER is one of a few hundred submarine telecommunications cables connecting various parts of the world.

These cables collectively form an important infrastructure that helps run global Internet and communications,” explained Woohyong Choi, the chairman of the FASTER executive committee, in a media statement.

While the cable won’t be coming anywhere near Africa, it will benefit worldwide internet connectivity (and Africa) as it frees up traffic on other cables.

Histropedia: A new way to see Wikipedia come alive The interactive tool that displays events as a combination of maps, timelines, and trends.

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riends and business partners Navino Evans and Sean McBirnie have come up with a new way to explore world history with the launch of an interactive spin-off Wikipedia called Histropedia.

Launched at the Wikimania conference in London, Histropedia (which is currently in beta version) is very much like Wikipedia in that it contains information on topics added and edited by editors from around the world.

But what makes Histropedia different is that it combines maps, photos, Twitter content, related films, TV shows, books, music and YouTube videos with data from Wikipedia, and presents it on interactive timelines that

you can easily navigate through without having to do long and in-depth searches on the site. “Everyone loves Wikipedia, it has become a corner stone of the internet and the starting point for all general knowledge,” reads the Histropedia site.

“Our aim is to help people to visualise this amazing resource by displaying it on a fully interactive timeline, giving everyone on the planet the freedom to explore history in the same way that Google maps has allowed us to explore the globe.”

Evans and McBirnie roped in the services of Geeks Ltd to help develop the site and Wikidata to create an advanced filter and

query system that will allow custom timelines to be created in seconds.

Over 1.5 million events have already been added to Histropedia, users can join the Histropedia community, create new events and add Wikipedia articles and related content to it if it’s not already in the database. Histropedia is free to use and all timelines are published under an open licence. You can even share timelines on social media or embed them on websites.

Histropedia is only available in English for now, but Evans and McBirnie say they will expand it to features all 267 languages that Wikipedia is available in.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 11

NEED TO KNOW: GAMES

SA-developed helicopter sim game ready to take off

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evin Barnett is a South African hobbyist games developer with a vision: he wants to build and launch a dedicated games portal specifically for South Africa, and populate it with the games he’s making as well as those of any other developers who show interest. It’s an itch he feels he must scratch for the sake of local gamers who, he says, are “largely ignored by the international gaming community” and challenged by spiralling game. Barnett’s plan is relatively simple at this point: create an online portal aimed at South Africans that gives gamers locallydeveloped games for a fixed monthly subscription fee, which he says “...will be about the price of a good magazine,

so anywhere from R10 to R30”. More games will be added over time, making it a worthwhile investment for cash-strapped gamers looking for a fix on a budget. But because Barnett has no games to offer quite yet, his focus is on getting at least one done before he considers working on the portal. His first game is a helicopter simulator — tentatively titled “Kev’s Helicopter Sim” — that challenges players to complete levels with an overarching goal of qualifying for their virtual pilot’s license. The game will challenge players to navigate their ‘copters to a designated landing spot in the shortest time possible, and then upload their times to a leaderboard to compare their performance with others.

For now, the helicopter sim seems pretty far along as Barnett has used several preexisting Unity assets to flesh his idea out.

He says the game will reach alpha state (a point where it’s feature-complete) by around January 2015, and likely ready for release around May 2015. Along the way he will add in VTOLs (Vertical Take Off and Landing) and ground hovercraft. Beyond his helicopter game, Barnett aims to create another three games - a first person shooter, a space sim and a multiplayer racer before the portal he has in mind launches.

When asked for a possible date, he said considering the work required to make four games before launch — as well as the fact that he has a day job — he figures the portal won’t come online before 2018.

Original Resident Evil the latest classic getting the “Remastered” treatment

T

he original Resident Evil is the latest to be given an HD remaster. The fleshed out version of the fleshless game will be based on the HD remake for the Gamecube that came out in 2002 will be available for download come early 2015. The “new” game will run at 1080p on PC, Xbox One and PS4, and 720p on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and all versions will feature 5.1 surround sound and far more detailed character models. Gamers will be able to choose between the original 4:3 aspect ratio and the more modern 16:9; playing in widescreen will provide players with a scroll function as some onscreen elements will be cut off by the widescreen

aspect ratio. Even better than news of the game’s existence is the announcement that it will feature enhanced controls — players can stick with the original control scheme that had characters moving forward relative to their onscreen positions, or change to a modern alternative that moves them in the direction the analogue stick is pushed. Everything else from story to dialogue to the environments, however, will be identical to the original game, just better-looking. That’s great news for fans who fondly remember having the daylights scared out of them back in ‘96, when the game first came out for the original PlayStation.

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NEED TO KNOW

10 Bad movie g hope Alien Isol Ten of the worst movie tie-ins in recent memory whose mistakes we hope Creative Assembly won’t repeat.

A

Alien: Isolation, a game based on Ridley Scott’s original Alien film, is right around the corner, and what we’ve seen of it so far has us hoping that it will be the one movie tie-in game that won’t suck like so many have before it. Here’s our top ten worst offenders.

it quickly became clear that was just about the only thing the game had going for it. The open world of Amity Island and its surrounding ocean doesn’t offer much to do other than eating things and missions, because you know, sharks love missions. And having to find keycards to open doors. And upgrading their abilities through the accumulation of points.

Yes, really. It’s all just so silly and poorly put together that Jaws Unleashed is best avoided altogether.

Metacritic Score: 52

#8: SUPERMAN RETURNS

#10: ENTER THE MATRIX • Released: May/June 2003 • Platforms: PC, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2 • Developer: Shiny Entertainment • Publisher: Atari

The Wachowskis really tried to use every medium available to them to make The Matrix franchise as wide-reaching as possible, and while they succeeded for the most part their lowest point was undoubtedly this ugly mess of a game starring two of the movies’ bit players – Ghost and Niobe. Its general lack of polish, aggravating controls and awful, blocky graphics mar what is otherwise a welcome explanation of some of the backstory missing from the Matrix trilogy’s more confusing moments. But only if you can sit through the game bits, that is.

Metacritic Score: 62

#9: JAWS UNLEASHED • Released: September/October 2006 • Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 • Developer: Appaloosa Interactive • Publisher: Majesco Games, THQ

31 years after the film, a Jaws game made its way to the original Xbox, the PS2 and PC, and it was just terrible.

While eating people proved initially fun,

14 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

• Released: November 2006 • Platforms: Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 • Developer: EA Tiburon • Publisher: Electronic Arts

Very little Super and too much Man sums up this poor movie-game. Awful controls, bland enemies and a final boss that’s a tornado (!) of all things just outright ruined the potential to make gamers feel like Brandon Routh’s Superman. Its story had nothing to do with the movie either, and while the flying mechanic was pretty cool (you could totally go supersonic over a vast cityscape) there was really nothing else to recommend the game.

Metacritic Score: 51

#7: TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE DARK SPARK • Released: June 2014 • Platforms: PC, Xbox 360/One, PlayStation 3/4, Wii U, 3DS • Developer: Edge of Reality • Publisher: Activision

This game kills everything that makes the idea of giant robots cool with ugly, lowbudget levels, an incoherent story, tedious shooting and, worst of all, more recycled robot models from previous Transformer

NEED TO KNOW

e games that make us olation will be different games than is respectable. Shooting things gets very repetitive, very fast, and the game drags on for altogether too many chapters (14). It’s so bad that not even seeing Grimlock, a giant robot that transforms into a giant robot dinosaur, stomping around breathing fire on everything is enough to save the game from the scrap heap of shame on which it belongs.

system that doesn’t work and dull, lifeless levels. Inexplicably, it tries to mimic late-90s games like Contra but falls flat on its face with repetitive combat, cheesy explosions and a wildly fluctuating level of difficulty but none of the charm that made those older games great. When you hear “generic movie tie-in” and “cynical cash-in”, this is the game that should come to mind.

Metacritic Score: 48

Metacritic Score: 42

#6: ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES

#4: STAR TREK

• Released: February 2013 • Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 • Developer: Gearbox Software • Publisher: Sega

• Released: April 2013 • Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 • Developer: Digital Extremes • Publisher: Namco Bandai

No other Alien game has disappointed quite as much as Colonial Marines. Thanks to a troubled development history, the final product offers only disastrously bad first person shooting and a disjointed story that contradicts events of the films. Hicks lives?

Really? Then who was in the escape pods with Ripley and Newt in Alien 3? And how is Hadley’s Hope not a pile of rubble, blown to pieces by the thermonuclear explosion at the end of Aliens since the game takes place shortly after those events? It’s made even worse with ridiculous enemy AI, overpowered weaponry that undermines any sense of tension the designers attempted to create, and sub-par, glitchy visuals on the console versions of the game.

This third-person shooter was an all-out disaster. Everything from story to graphics to animations to shooting were broken, boring or incomplete, and its buggy AI made for some of the dumbest enemies in recent memory, even when they weren’t glitching out. Not even being able to play as New Spock and New Kirk together with a friend could save it from being anything but a huge waste of time and a slap in the face for fans of the source material.

Metacritic Score: 45

#5: G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

• Released: August 2009 • Platforms: PlayStation 2/3, Xbox 360, PSP, DS • Developer: Double Helix Games • Publisher: Electronic Arts

They could have called this Action Game 3 for all the originality it boasts, which is to say “none whatsoever”. The Rise of Cobra is a mediocre third-person action shooter with some of the worst graphics seen on the Xbox 360, a stupidly aggravating checkpoint

#2: RIPD • Released: July 2013 • Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC • Developer: Old School Games • Publisher: Atlus

You might expect a game based on a movie to offer some sort of story, but the RIPD game crossover skips over it entirely and instead throws players into an arena that has them killing waves of people/things for no apparent reason. Apart from the studio’s only other game being an arena shooter called God Mode, that is. There’s only a slight whiff of the characters, locations and enemies from the movie to convince you the game is even related, and while you can play it with a friend, the dull combat, weak weapons and mindnumbingly repetitive arena shooting give you no reason whatsoever to do it. It’s a lazy tie-in from a movie studio that clearly thinks a game must accompany a movie release but not necessarily have a lot of money spent on it to make it, you know, worth playing.

Metacritic Score: 39

#1: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1

Metacritic Score: 42

#3: IRON MAN 2 • Released: April/May 2010 • Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS • Developer: Sega Studios San Francisco (Xbox, PS, DS), High Voltage Software (PSP, Wii) • Publisher: Sega

What’s only five hours long, pursues a story that has diddly-squat to do with the movie it’s based on and looks about as attractive as 4am outside any given drinking establishment? Yup, you guessed it, Iron Man 2. This is a game that offers very little challenge, a dull story and a half-hearted attempt at an upgrade system that falls flat when you discover soon after starting that one of the early weapons works really well and doesn’t need upgrading. It’s such a poor effort that only two of the movie’s cast lent their voices to its creation, and neither of them was Robert Downey Jr. You do get to play as War Machine, though, but he plays so similarly to Iron Man that it’s a little pointless.

Metacritic Score: 41

• Released: November 2010 • Platforms: Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Wii • Developer: EA Bright Light • Publisher: Electronic Arts

EA turned Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 into the equivalent of a mediocre cover-based third-person shooter, with spells taking the place of guns. The action is broken up on the 360 by some clunky stealth bits and on-rails side missions that let you use voice commands and arm movements to cast spells if you own a Kinect, but none of these components justify the asking price or spending your valuable free time playing . This is not the game to play if you’re a fan of Harry Potter, third-person shooters or videogames in general.

Metacritic Score: 38

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 15

Quirky keyboards to spruce up your desk Is your keyboard boring? Are you longing for something with a little more personality? Well then these are for you.

ORÉE WIRELESS WOODEN KEYBOARD

LOGITECH K310 WASHABLE WIRELESS KEYBOARD Years of eating in front of our computers has resulted in just about all of us dropping food or spilling liquids over our keyboards at some point. Logitech’s clever solution is to make a keyboard that you can simply wash off under a running tap. The K310 isn’t particularly special beyond that – it’s just a regular wired keyboard. But I’m sure you’ll agree waterproof-ness is a pretty neat feature to have, especially for snacking types who live behind their keyboards.

This wireless wooden keyboard made by French company Orée Design is perfect for an environmentally-conscious person looking for something different. It’s not cheap, coming in at 150 Euros (R2 150 or thereabouts, excluding delivery) but think of the personal satisfaction you’ll get from knowing just how environmentally-friendly it is compared its plastic brethren, and naturally all the jealous stares the Orée will inevitably draw. It has no wires, either, and very low-profile keys for quick, easy typing and convenience.

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CORSAIR K90 VENGEANCE MECHANICAL MMO KEYBOARD Those of you who play a lot of massively-multiplayer online games will know that they can be pretty complex, and require a great deal of button-pressing. The K90 can help with thanks to the 18 programmable macro keys you see arranged along its left edge. The K90 is also made of high-quality brushed metal and is entirely mechanical, giving more of a click than other keyboards do when keys are pressed, an acquired taste many professional writers prefer.

RAZER DEATHSTALKER ULTIMATE GAMING KEYBOARD

R1 914 Bit.ly/1mI6Dje

The Deathstalker is about as dramatic as its name suggests, with customisable keys and a touchscreen in addition to the regular QWERTY keys you’d expect.

The touchscreen replaces the number pad you’d find on other keyboards and can be used to Tweet, update Facebook and perform game-specific functions.

A backlight illuminates keys in the dark, and the whole thing is finished with a delightful soft-touch rubber finish. If it’s luxury you’re looking for, this is it.

R3 211 Bit.ly/1mI6xby

CELLUON EPIC PROJECTOR KEYBOARD No other keyboard comes close to matching the Celluon Epic’s “cool” factor. That’s because it is not a keyboard in the traditional sense, it’s a projector that throws out the outline of a keyboard and its keys using lasers. It detects where your fingers are positioned and sends that information to your PC or Mac, allowing your fingers to dance over a keyboard that isn’t actually there, using any surface you’re comfortable with.

R1 579 Bit.ly/1oIv4Ne

16 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

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Our daily news website We really hope you’re enjoying this issue of htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy, because we think it’s a unique magazine in South Africa in that it’s completely independent, 100% locally made and full of expert advice that’s both comprehensive and accessible no matter how familiar you are with the subject.

The thing is, we’re also fairly sure that you’ll be left wanting more. Which is why you should head over to htxt.africa now.

WHY htxt.africa IS SOUTH AFRICA’S BEST TECHNOLOGY WEBSITE: • The latest news

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ech Made Easy is just a small subsection of what we do on our main website. Every day we carry South Africa’s best news about technology, gadgets, games, business start-ups, geek culture and more. We have the broadest editorial remit of any similar site in the country, and we’re passionate with it. We believe that all across Africa, technology is changing lives - and that the more we write about it and the more you read about it the better the chance is that it will be for the better.

So if you want buying advice, gaming tips, web security specials, online activism and the most interesting stories about how technology is being used right here in South Africa and across the continent, join us.

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“2”and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Also, “-” is a trademark of the same company. © 2014 Bungie, Inc. All rights reserved. Destiny, the Destiny Logo, Bungie and the Bungie Logo are among the trademarks of Bungie, Inc. Published and distributed by Activision. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

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SUPERTEST

WHICH MONITOR ?

Y U B U O Y D L U O SH

It’s our super-screen supertest

Finding the perfect monitor can change the way that you use your computer for the better.

W

hether it is for your desktop gaming rig or an external monitor to make your notebook more productive, a new monitor is one of the best purchases you can make.

This month we have six monitors from a collection of the best manufacturers in the

business. We decided to keep things on a level playing field by standardising the size of the displays at between 23 inches and 24 inches in size, which offers a nice balance between both price and functionality.

The line-up includes the budget friendly 23.6 inch Mecer A2456 going up against a

pair of competitors from Dell in the form of the 23 inch, touch-enabled P2314T and the E2414H. They match up against Acer’s 24 inch K242HL which joins the 24 inch Samsung S24D590 and the feature rich Phillips 241P4QPY in the fight for display supremacy.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 21

SUPERTEST

ACER K242HL CAPABLE BUT FORGETTABLE

W

hile the Acer K242HL’s design is never going to be inspiring or leaves us with the warm fuzzy feelings of love for it, we cannot deny the fact that it is one of the best monitors on show in the test. It’s in the fact that the K242HL comes with the trio of inputs – it has an HDMI, DVI and VGA ports – for both older and newer connectors makes the Acer one of the easiest monitors to recommend for companies looking to buy them in bulk for staff using notebooks or desktop PCs. It’s the only monitor in our group test that has all three connectors and it made all the difference to us while we ran around looking for adapters to make sure that we could test out the rest of the monitors, the Acer K24HL was a breeze to setup and use.

There were two downsides with the monitor requiring quite a bit of calibration out of the box before the colours and brightness looked good to us as well as the monitor not being able to adjust height. For most however these will be small prices to pay.

DETAILS Design

6

Performance

7

Value for Money

7

Overall

7

R2 830 Versatile connection options means easy setup for most computers.

DELL P2314T

TOUCH SCREEN GYMNASTICS

T

he Dell P2314T is the only touch screen enabled monitor in our test group for the month. It also has the smallest display size at 23 inches but it’s physically larger than any of the other monitors due to the large bezels it has on either side of the display.

The bezels, which would normally be an irritant for needlessly increasing the size, are in fact one of the best parts of the Dell P2314T. It all comes down to the interesting hinge at the rear of the monitor which, when pushed down upon, lets the display swing down perpendicular to the desk for a more tablet-like experience.

It’s this gymnastic ability to change from being a regular vertical monitor to an almost giant tablet-like monitor that makes the Dell P2314T an intriguing proposition. We found ourselves swiping through articles in FlipBoard while standing and drinking a cup of coffee — something which could easily become part of our morning routine — before flipping the monitor up to get some work done on it.

22 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

SUPERTEST

DELL E2414H THE DEFINITION OF FUNCTION OVER FORM capacitive, touch sensitive buttons that can f you were to walk into any bank or financial institution infuriate even the most tech savvy.

If you’re looking for a dependable, easy and find row upon row of the Dell E2414H staring back at to use monitor that won’t look garish then the Dell E2414H should definitely be high you it would not be surprising in up on your list of consideration. the slightest. The bland, matte black plastic exterior seems perfectly suited to a stereotypical DETAILS office environment.

Design 7 But don’t let the Dell E2414H’s looks fool you, because it’s not Performance 8 a bad thing being the kind of monitor that office workers would Value for Money 8 expect to see.

From the moment you take the monitor out of its box everything is simple and efficient, from setting it up to hiding the cables at the back with a neat little R2 890 plastic cover even the front facing physical A solid choice for anyone looking for a buttons are a welcome relief in a world of no-fuss solution.

I

Overall

8

DETAILS Design

9

Performance

9

Value for Money

7

Overall

8

R3 430 The best way to experience Windows 8 is with a touch enabled display.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 23

SUPERTEST

MECER A2456 BEST VALUE FOR MONEY

M

onitors in South Africa are rather expensive when compared to the EU or the US because of import tariffs designed to stop television manufacturers from skipping out on duties owed to SARS and to try and promote local manufacturing. Mecer is one of the local manufacturers who have got that right by assembling their monitors in South Africa which allows for rather substantial price reductions.

The Mecer isn’t the most fully featured monitor in our test, nor is it the best looking from a design or even from a materials point of view.

However there is one point in its favour that is undeniably important and that’s the price.

There is no other monitor in our test that comes close to the Mecer’s

24 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

price and for those looking to add a single monitor at the best price or even looking for two monitors to add, there can be no denying the appeal of the Mecer A2456.

DETAILS Design

6

Performance

7

Value for Money

10

Overall

7

R1 975 Sometimes cost is the most important choice you’ll make.

PHILIPS 241P4QPY

SURPRISINGLY EXCEPTIONAL

N

ot only does the Phillips 241P4QPY have the most robust list of features of all of the monitors we have on test, it also comes with the largest selection of inputs and outputs.

It’s the only monitor in the test that has the ability to raise and lower its height as well as being able to rotate 90° to allow for a full landscape view. However it’s the incredible range of tilt that the Phillips 241P4QPY has that made it the most comfortable monitor to use because it could be adjusted to suit anyone’s preferences. The build in four-port USB hub makes it ideal for any notebook user looking to set up a home office where every peripheral can be plugged into the monitor and connected to the notebook with just one cable. This would all be meaningless if the Phillips had a terrible display which thankfully is not the case with fantastic picture quality being a hallmark of the our time with it.

SUPERTEST

DETAILS Design

8

Performance

10

Value for Money

9

Overall

9

R3 000 Solid all round performance that left us wishing for more time with it.

SAMSUNG S24D590PL

F

rom the first glance the Samsung S24D590PL looks the most beautiful monitor in our test group but, upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that the initial beauty is a fallacy and the specifications and features don’t come nearly close to matching our expectations for a monitor at this price. The Samsung is the only other monitor besides for the Acer that cannot be tilted to adjust its height. However at nearly twice the price of the Mecer A2456, which does allow for tilting of the display, there is no excuse for the Samsung S24D590PL to lack this basic feature. That

BEAUTY AT A PRICE

all being said the Samsung definitely offers the best picture of all of the monitors on test. Colours are bright and crisp and the viewing angles are, thanks to the PLS technology used by Samsung, by far and away the best on display – pardon the pun.

DETAILS Design

8

Performance

6

Value for Money

6

Overall

7

R3 300 A lack of features hurts what is easily the best panel in the test.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 25

SUPERTEST

WINNER W

hile all of the monitors had several positives and very few negatives to speak of it was clear from the moment that we assembled the Phillips 241P4QPY that it was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Along with Dell’s P2314T the Phillips was the most feature rich of the monitors on display and its picture quality was second only to Samsung’s incredible display installed in the S24D590PL. If it was our money and we were in the market for a display there is no question that the Phillips would be on top of our shopping list with an honourable mention to Mecer for forcing us to consider buying two A2456’s instead.

’S EDITORE CHOIC

SPECS-TACULAR

U

Samsung S24D590

Mecer A2456

Phillips 241P4QPY

Dell E2414H

Dell P2314T

Acer K242HL

HDMI

2

-

-

-

2

1

DVI

-

1

1

1

-

1

Display Port

-

-

1

-

1

-

VGA

1

1

1

1

1

1

Audio Out

1

-

1

-

1

-

Line in

-

1

-

-

-

-

USB Ports

-

-

4

-

4

-

Speakers

-

YES

YES

-

-

-

26 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

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REVIEWS

DETAILS • Model: ASUS Transformer TF303cl • OS: Android 4.4.2 • Processor: Intel Atom Z3745 (1.8GHz) • RAM: 2GB • Screen: 10.1inch IPS, 1 920x1 200 • Storage: 16GB SSD • Networking: Wireless N (2.4/5GHz), 3G/HSDPA/LTE, Supports Miracast R5 999 (expected)

ASUS Transformer TF303cl We get our hands on what could be the ultimate Android workhorse.

A

SUS was the first manufacturer to really pick up on the potential of Android as a tablet operating system and see it as more than a mere rival for iPads.

The all-plastic Transformer TF303cl is virtually identical internally to the Windows-powered Transformer Pad T100, and very similarly priced too. The dock is exactly the same, but where the T100 has a slightly too glossy plastic back to the tablet half the TF303cl has a rubberised matte finish which is very pleasant indeed.

It’s not the lightest tablet around, though. When dock and slate are connected together they weigh almost three Sony Xperia Z2s. The Xperia Z2 has the same 10.1 screen diagonal, but it weighs just 430g all in. The tablet half of the TF303cl is 595g, while the dock adds another 550g. All in all, it’s slightly heavier than an 11inch MacBook Air. In return for sacrificing cutting edge style, you get one of the best mobile keyboards around. The low profile keys retain plenty of travel to make typing easy and the dock hinge at the back is solid enough to stop the screen wobbling around when attached.

The display of the TF303cl is a full HD, 1 920x1 200 IPS affair. The standout feature is that ASUS includes its Splendid

28 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

app, which gives you the ability to alter the white balance and manually calibrate the display to your liking.

The quad core Intel Atom Z3745 is backed up by a healthy 2GB of RAM, and makes the TF303cl fly but there are some weaknesses — there’s no Flash website access and you’re limited to USB 2.0 for the expansion port, plus there’s no SD card reader.

The Transformer TF103c arrives running Android 4.4.2, with ASUS’ ZenUI skin running on top. Recent tablets have spoiled us when it comes to expectations for battery life, and that is the only aspect of the TF303cl that left us disappointed. The Atom is clearly not as efficient as its ARM-based rivals, and while the TF303cl is good for eight hours or so of light usage it does start to drop quickly if you use it like the workhorse it’s capable of being.

The problems with battery life are soon countered, however, by the fact that not only do you get a dual band WiFi adaptor inside the TF303cl, there’s an LTE modem too. As a pure tablet, the ASUS Transformer TF303c is a bit hefty, a bit pricey to really cut it. If you want something for checking email at home, light web browsing and gaming, there’s slightly more keenly priced and lighter

options out there.

Where the Transformer TF303cl excels, though, is as a lightweight laptop replacement. It’s less than a third the price of a decent Ultrabook or MacBook Air, and yet for all intents and purposes does more or less the same thing. Plus it has a built-in modem.

Should you buy it? If you’re used to using Android and want something cheap, powerful and capable that’s going to reduce the strain on your shoulder while hauling it around then yes, without doubt.

Read more on the ASUS TF303cl here:

Bit.ly/Y3pBLW

SCORES Design

8

Performance

9

Battery Life

7

Value for Money

9

Display

9

Interface

8

Overall

8

REVIEWS

More reviews at

DETAILS • Storage: 32GB • Other: USB 2 and microUSB connections R300

Sandisk Ultra Dual Double-duty drive booty.

A

ndroid tablets and smartphones have come a long way from their humble roots all of those years ago, but the Linux-based operating system still has some of the tricks that made it the choice for geeks the world over, except that now those tricks can work for you too.

Meet the Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive flash drive. On the one side it looks just like a normal flash drive would and on the inside it performs exactly the way you expect it to in your

PC. However on the opposite side you’ll find a microUSB adapter just like the one you’d use to charge your smartphone or tablet. Except that when you plug Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive into your tablet or smartphone it appears in your file explorer just like a microSD card would, allowing you to access all of the files that you keep on it. It’s perfect for keeping a collection of photos or movies for when you’re on the road and with storage capacity of up to 64GB there’s easily enough to get a

few full seasons of your favourite show for the road.

BlackBerry Z3: Brilliant or Broken?

The Z3 is part of newly appointed CEO John Chen’s plans to bring BlackBerry back into the black.

Bit.ly/1tJ93n7

SCORES Design

8

Performance

10

Value for Money

8

Overall

8

Mecer Smart Life M785 Tablet The Mecer Smart Life M785 is powered by a Quad Core Cortex-A7 1.2GHz chip and has 1GB RAM expandable up to 32GB by Micro SD. Bit.ly/1rhPRN6

DETAILS • Networking: Bluetooth 3.0 • Dimensions: 46.6mmx21.2mmx13mm • Weight: 6g • Other: NoiseAssassin 4.0 noise cancellation R999

Jawbone Era Bluetooth Headset The best looking headset we’ve ever seen as well as the most comfortable to wear.

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he Jawbone ERA Bluetooth headset is small, light weight and comes in a range of metallic colours. There is a notification light surrounding the microphone and a microUSB port at the one end for connecting to your PC and charging the headset.

The ERA comes with four silicon earbuds you can use to adjust the fit of the device to your ear.

There is just one switch on the ERA that turns it on and off and one button which controls all of its inputs with a series of long and short clicks. The noise cancelling technology built into the ERA by

Jawbone make calls sound crystal clear to those on the receiving end of your communications. The feedback voice can be customised with a range of free voices and included languages, but this has to be done through a browser on your computer with the Jawbone Updater software. At around R1 000 for the ERA, it’s a pricey headset. But considering the fact that the fine for talking on your phone while driving is a substantial part of that amount (never mind the danger it puts you and your passengers in) the investment in a Jawbone ERA seems like a no-

Is the HTC One (M8), the One to beat?

HTC have made all the management changes necessary to be a dominant force in SA’s market... but will it work? Dave tries the new smartphone.

Bit.ly/1kkyVVM

brainer. Bit.ly/1nChuMe.

SCORES Design

8

Performance

10

Battery life

8

Value for Money

8

Interface

8

Overall

8

Six budget-busting smartphones from R499 Our network operators have jumped on the low-cost bandwagon with a number of cheapie cell phones up for grabs. We help you choose the right one.

Bit.ly/1q4p0UG

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REVIEWS

DETAILS

Risen 3: Titan Lords

• Publisher: Piranha Bytes • Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 • The good: A beautiful-looking RPG that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

• The bad: A cheesy game with clunky combat.

R499 on PC and R699 on Xbox 360 and PS3

Risen 3’s rough edges should definitely not put you off playing, especially if you’re a Piranha Bytes RPG fan.

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isen 3: Titan Lords is a cheesy, clichéd RPG. In Risen 3, you are another nameless hero in a fictional piratey Caribbean-esque setting, except this time your soul is stolen in the game’s opening sequence and it’s up to you to get it back from the demon hordes who are now pouring into the world through mysterious crystal portals that link this world to the land of the dead, the Underworld. You must polish your fighting skills and join one of three factions – mages, demon hunters or voodoo-wielding natives – in order to defeat this new threat and recover your soul. Along the way you’ll make new friends, drink much grog, dig up many treasures and fight many beasts as you explore a vast and beautiful world.

There are eight islands to explore, each with their own people, histories, and of course quests. Each time you land in a new place, expect to spend hours just getting to know people, listening to cheesy yet well-acted dialogue, fighting monsters and levelling your character up by earning “Glory” (XP) through questing and combat. The levelling system is the same as in Risen 2, requiring you to put your earned Glory into eight categories of attributes and levelling them up enough

Awesome reviews at

to qualify for training in various skill categories, which you must pay for once you’ve found the appropriate trainer. It requires a balancing act of Glory and money acquisition that ensures things progress apace, and has you unlocking new abilities right up to the end of the game.

New to the game is the ability to turn into a parrot that lets you fly to hardto-reach places, which works quite well alongside the option to buy a trained monkey that lets you steal things hidden in otherwise-inaccessible areas. With three factions and eight islands to explore, there is a lot to see and do in Risen.

Instead of locations that unlock on the map once you discover them, allowing you to travel there automatically as in Risen 2, Risen 3 offers strategically-placed teleporters that must be activated with special stones to achieve the same end. It’s a clever way of executing an existing concept. On the disappointing side, some of the quests in Risen 3 are still of the “fetch X number of Y thingies” variety, but there are enough interesting characters to meet and stories to hear that make up for it. The overarching “save the world” storyline is also a little cheesy but it’s still enjoyable and the graphics are so much better than Risen 2’s

IT’S BAD BUT YOU CAN PLAY IT TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE DARK SPARK

go to htxt.co.za

30 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

We got our hands on the worst Transformers game released so far. A fine example of how poor execution can absolutely ruin even the best of settings.

Bit.ly/1nMJlOC

were (a gorgeous game in its own right). The soundtrack is appropriately epic as well.

Character models still need a bit of help, because although their bodies were modelled quite nicely, their faces weren’t. Lip-synching is particularly badly done, and faces are rather forgettable for the most part.

In the end, Risen 3 may not be revolutionary, but it offers more of what made those games what they are, both the good and the bad. That’s both a blessing and a curse as returning fans will get a kick out of it but it will likely put off new players who’ve got far more polished RPGs to play.

Bit.ly/1rwNitd.

SCORES Graphics

8

Combat

6

Story & Quests

8

Things to do

8

Soundtrack

6

Overall

7

ONE OF THE BEST RPGS IN RECENT HISTORY - DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN Awesome old-school ideas mixed with new-school execution make this one of the best RPGs yet. a PC and Mac RPG unlike anything else you’ve played.

Bit.ly/1jWdfzg

REVIEWS

DETAILS • Platforms: PS4 R550

The Last of Us Remastered All of the game’s downloadable plus extra multiplayer maps and skins.

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he Last of Us Remastered is a reworking of last year’s masterpiece. Not only is it prettier, but it’s the whole package – you get all of the game’s downloadable content, which includes the excellent Left Behind missions and all of the extra multiplayer maps and skins. Naughty Dog has also added a new feature with a patch that downloaded shortly after the disc was inserted: the ability to freeze the action any time a cutscene isn’t playing, and rotate the camera in creative ways to take pictures of whatever’s going on. It’s pretty versatile, complete with filters and the option to

frame your pics, and of course upload them to Facebook/Twitter. But what makes the game such a joy to play again is that it feels like watching a Blu-ray of a favourite movie. Since all of the game’s visual assets have been up-scaled to take advantage of the PlayStation 4′s processing power, its already-good graphics are even prettier than before. There are no jagged edges as it now runs at full 1080p, textures are sharper and the frame rate is much higher. The Last of Us Remastered looks incredible, and plays pretty much exactly the same as the original. This is, after all, a remaster and not a remake, so there’s

nothing new to see here, content-wise.

Bit.ly/1lvKWIw

SCORES Graphics

9

Story

8

Longevity

7

Value for Money

8

Overall

9

DETAIL • Developer: VooFoo Studios • Publisher: Ripstone • Platforms: PC via Steam, PlayStation 4 $12.99 (Steam), R149 (PS4)

PURE POOL HD solids and stripes — what’s not to love?

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hanks to the power of the PS4, Pure Pool looks fantastic. Even though there is only one table to play on, it looks so real that you won’t mind playing game after game on it. There are four different game types: US 8-ball, 9-ball, Killer and Accumulator. US 8-ball has you playing the game you’ve likely played with your mates in bars already by playing stripes and solids against each other and 9-ball has you potting balls in a specific order, finishing with the 9-ball. The Career Mode where you’ll probably spend most of your time mixes up these modes with others that offer a much

different challenge. In addition to winning tournaments against ranked AI players, you’ll be tasked with sinking all balls before a timer runs out (Speed Pot), potting all balls without missing (Perfect Potter), and sinking as many balls as you can before time runs out (Checkpoint), among other game types.

Actually playing Pure Pool is a real pleasure, not least of all because of its relaxed, jazzy soundtrack and classy atmosphere. It’s a blast to play whether you’re an old hand at pool or just a gamer looking for something fun.

Bit.ly/1mRoaWG

SCORES Presentation

9

Game variety

6

Realism

8

Multiplayer

7

Value for money

9

Overall

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REVIEWS

5 of the top mobile games to download right now Run out of games to play on your smartphone or tablet? Here are five that we think everyone should download right now.

MEGA MALL STORY (iOS, Android) on’t be fooled by the cutesy pixelated graphics. Kairosoft’s epic simulation games take a lot of effort to get right. Take Mega Mall Story, a SimTower-esque title that sees you designing a never-ending shopping centre over a 15-year period. It’s tricky stuff – what will bring in the bucks? Do you go the organic route or fill your real estate with fast food options. The level of detail in Mega Mall Story is simply astounding, every store can be upgraded and with a little bit of smart planning, you’ll keep the customers coming. iOS (R49.00), Android (R42.33)

D TSUM TSUM (iOS, Android) sum Tsum is a quirky match-it-up puzzler that gives Disney plushies a life of their own.

The gameplay is simple – connect matching plushies (think Mickey, Donald, Pluto) for points, experience and rubies. You have a limited amount of time to do it in and five regenerating lives (hearts) to work with.

Each Tsum has a unique power-up. Once available, a quick tap turns a whole row of plushies into Dale, etc.

The trick is that you only get one kind of Tsum to start, and have to unlock the rest.

Free

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GODUS (iOS) sing swipes and gestures you’ll guide your little followers through the trials and tribulations of their daily lives, helping them along the way or hindering them just because you can. You won’t have direct control over them, of course, but you’re free to be as cruel or as kind as you want, which ultimately determines how your people feel about you. It’s your civilization to make or break, and whether you want to inspire love or fear to do it is entirely up to you. Free, with in-app purchases

U

MINECRAFT POCKET EDITION (iOS, Android) he addictive crafting PC game has made the jump to mobile. The new touchscreen controls work well, letting players mine for minerals and build shelters, weapons and better equipment with which to defend themselves from the monster hordes that descend on them at night. The game’s signature blocky graphics are intact, and even look good on mobiles with very little slowdown or lag to ruin things. iOS (R89.99), Android (R65.23)

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TERRARIA POCKET EDITION (iOS, Android) hen you think Terraria, think “side-scrolling Minecraft” and you’ll have a good idea of what you’re holding in your hands. Terraria charges you with exploring the 2D world you’re in, harvesting resources and making things out of them to fight the creatures that come for you at night. Its deceptively cutesy 8-bit style belies the kilometres of depth you’ll find when you go looking. You’ll start by cutting down trees for wood and harvesting basic resources to make a home and tools, and as you build better equipment you’ll equip yourself to take on increasingly tougher creatures. Android (R21.08), iOS (R59.99)

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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ilm manufacturer Kodak has been teetering on the brink of collapse for some time, partly because digital filming technology has overtaken its film equivalent, and partly also because Kodak initially refused to embrace digital methods when they became more prominent. Kodak sold 12.4 billion linear feet of motionpicture film in 2006, but as directors and film producers started to move towards digital recording methods, that figure is estimated to drop dramatically to only 449.3 million by the end of the year. The only way that Kodak can stay ahead is if it gets a bit of a cash injection – and that is exactly what film director Quentin Tarantino plans on doing. Together with

fellow moviemakers Christopher Nolan, Judd Apatow, and JJ Abrams, they have been in negotiations with various studios, asking them to buy large amounts of motion-picture film for a set number of years. Fujifilm took a decision last year to stop producing motion-picture film on the back of slowing sales, and that leaves Kodak as the only company that can supply the industry. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Kodak’s new chief executive, Jeff Clarke, said the pact will allow his company to forestall the closure of its Rochester, N.Y., film manufacturing plant, a move that had been under serious consideration.”

“It’s a financial commitment, no doubt about it. But I don’t think we could look

some of our filmmakers in the eyes if we didn’t do it,” Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Weinstein Co. told WSJ, referring to the fact that they would probably have to use the film. Tarantino has been vocal advocate for using film instead of digital recording.

Films demise can be traced back as far as 2002 when Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones became the first feature film to be shot entirely on digital cameras. Six years later, Journey to the Center of the Earth became the first live-action feature film made and shown in digital 3D, while last year’s The Wolf of Wall Street was the first movie distributed entirely digitally, with no film prints available.

SOUTH AFRICA’S BEST

CAMERA NEWS, TIPS, TRICKS AND TUTORIALS PHOTOS.HTXT.CO.ZA

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CC BY 2.0/LOREN JAVIER / WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/LORENJAVIER/

Quentin Tarantino wants to save Kodak film

PHOTOGRAPHY

Teaching kids engineering through photography H ow would one teach children engineering in a fun way where the end result is a fully-functioning camera? If you are Columbia University professor Shree Nayar, you develop the Bigshot – a camera that needs to be assembled from kit parts before it can work. But while assembly might seem like a laborious task for something so small, it touches on one important aspect: education.

Nayar’s kit camera aims to tech children two fun aspects of technology: how to build things through engineering, and how a fully-functioning camera works. The project comes with all the part necessary, complete with a little

screwdriver, and according to him it can take between 30 minutes to an hour to put together. As part of the assembly, the camera comes with a polyoptic wheel, which will allow you to take regular, 3D and wide-angle pictures.

“Bigshot’s polyoptic wheel includes several optical modules that allow you to explore different creative dimensions as a photographer. The optical modules on the wheel work with the primary lens on Bigshot’s printed circuit board (PCB) to capture three types of photos,” the website explains.

Nayar managed to partly fund the project through a Google research award and an ONR Instrumentation Grant,

and he believes that a camera designed for education must have three features.

The most important part for him is that it has to be designed as a kit for assembly, secondly he feels that the kit should include many different science concepts, and lastly it has to allow builders to explore new creative dimensions.

“In a way, it’s a very modest piece of technology, but on the other hand it has a lofty mission. It could be a semester long, or it could be an afternoon. And if you just want to have fun, you don’t have to go through the lessons - you just build it,” he told New York’s Daily News.

The Bigshot holds 150 photos and costs around R900.

Fancy an action camera made by Polaroid?

G oPro has pretty much cornered the market when it comes to action cameras, but while it was busy becoming a household name, others have quietly been developing their own competing products. The case in point: Polaroid.

The company, which has been around since 1973 and making clichéd famous white-framed pictures since the days of disco, recently showed the world its tiny action-esque camera, called Cube. Dubbing it a “lifestyle” camera, it’s unsurprisingly water resistant, shockproof, mountable and “built to handle everything you can imagine.” According to Polaroid, it can record videos in 1080p HD, take still images at 6 megapixels, and features a 124° wide angle lens. Going at full tilt, the little guy’s battery can record up to 90 minutes of footage. As the name implies, it’s built in a cube form of only 35mm and supports a Micro SD card up to 32GB. How would you mount something like that? Well, it has a magnet on the bottom so you can stick it on any metallic surface – think golf clubs, car bonnets and bicycle spokes. There are a number of different mounts available as well, so no need to worry about it falling off when you go careening down a slope on a skateboard.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 37

Turning amateurs into pro’s

stockist of major photographic brands

Tel: 011 880 2885 Fax: 086 685 8132 KAMERAZ - Shop L12, Rosebank Mews 173 Oxford Road, Rosebank

Web: www.kameraz.co.za Mail: info@kameraz.co.za Find us on facebook: http://goo.gl/3XitwWW

SUPERTEST

WHICH IS THE BEST…

entry-level

SLR? Three of the best beginner SLR cameras rounded up.

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here are an incredible amount of cameras to choose from these days in all shapes, sizes and capabilities, but hopefully we will give you a better understanding of what is available and who size doesn’t always correlate to efficiency, easeof-use or a particular price point. Whether you are a professional photographer looking for something that can easily be thrown into a bag as a backup camera, or if you are looking to buy your first SLR after graduating from point-and-click school, entry-level SLRs are a great choice – for many reasons, let alone the price aspect.

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SUPERTEST

PENTAX K-50

STURDY BUILD WITH GOOD QUALITY

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entax has been flying somewhat under the radar in South Africa and doesn’t usually get the attention it deserves, as many photographer tend to flock to the better known brands with the bigger marketing budgets. It’s actually a pity, as Pentax has been around in various forms since 1957 and produce really good quality cameras. Out of interest, the name is a joining of a five-sided reflecting Pentaprism, and the Kyocera camera brand Contax. In 2005 the latter announced that they would no longer be producing the Contax cameras.

HANDLING The camera body does have some heft behind it, even with the lens removed, and you’ll have to grip it slightly tighter than other cameras to control. That isn’t a bad thing, as dropping a camera can lead to a rather costly replacement.

In terms of actual handling, everything is pretty much here it is supposed to be, and if it’s not, just have a look around to body and you’ll eventually find it. The lens detachment button is awkwardly placed on the other side of the lens, as opposed to other brands, but the manual adjustment rings, operational selections and power button is all where you would expect it to be. But not conforming to the usual positioning of buttons on a SLR body, the shutter button has been placed slightly back towards you, which some might find a bit strange. It seems like a trivial thing to point out, but if you are used to stretching out your finger to reach around the grip to get to the shutter,

40 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

having to curl it back in an almost unnatural position take some getting used to.

IMAGE QUALITY Probably one of the most important aspects of any digital camera, not only SLRs, is the imagine quality. You can have a really expensive or novel camera, but if it doesn’t deliver on the quality you will be stuck with photos that look like it was taken by a two-year old. Luckily the K-50 has a number of tricks up its sleeve in terms of a 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor. It might not seem like much, as there are smartphones that have higher megapixels than that, but we can almost guarantee that the image quality won’t be as good. The K-50 also makes use of the new SAFOX IXi+ Auto Focus module which as 11 AF points. In lowlight, the models works perfectly when pushing up the ISO a bit, and it goes all the way to 51 200, but do expect some noise around the 12 800 mark. But as another plus point, the rather generous viewfinder will show 100% of the image, so you will know exactly what the image will look like and if it has been framed to your liking.

PERFORMANCE Pentax’s K-50 does command a bit of respect when you use it. It might not be an extremely popular brand, but it’s definitely trying very hard to run with the rest of the pack. The few things that we can fault it on, is that the lens motor is much louder than one would expect.

It’s by no means a deal breaker, but you will

get a couple of looks from strangers as it spins up and down when it focuses. The other issue, which once again shouldn’t be a deal-breaker, is the fact that the LCD screen doesn’t articulate.

It would have been nice if you could adjust the view angle to get a better idea of how the shot will come out, but with some creativity you can work around that. Other than that, it’s a solid weather-resistant body with some great quality shots thanks to the 18-55mm lens that is included in the package.

KEY FEATURES • Weather resistant body • Stabilized 16 MP CMOS sensor • ISO up to 51 200 • 100% Pentaprism viewfinder R5 000

SCORES Handling

7

Image Quality

8

Performance

8

Value

8

Overall

8

SUPERTEST

CANON EOS 1200D LIGHTWEIGHT MODEL FROM A TRUSTED BRAND

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o matter where you go, Canon will always been in at least the top three positions for users looking to buy a new camera – and with good reason.

The brand has been around for a long time and over the years it has managed to build up a solid base of cameras, both high-end and entry-level, and it has a bit more in its marketing budget than other manufacturers.

As with its high-end SLR offerings, the maker’s entry-level options provide users with great photos in an easy-to-use package.

HANDLING Unlike the Pentax K-50, the shutter button is placed a bit forward in the usual position, so it makes for a more natural reach around the grip when taking pictures. In terms of the overall build, the 1200D is a mini version of the usual Canon bodies which seem to define the brand – study, yet light-weight.

Measuring 129.6 x 99.7 x 77.9 mm, it fits perfectly in the hands of the user, even if you have long fingers. Being the follow-up to the EOS 1100D, Canon made a number of changes in the design to make things a bit easier. The most prominent is the larger grip which now features a textured surface.

Those familiar with Canon cameras, and particularly the 1100D, will find all the buttons, knobs and dials in the regular places. The 3-inch screen also helps to put things in perspective, but as with the K-50 we would have like to see an articulated screen.

IMAGE QUALITY The 1200D has a very generous 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, which will be hard to beat when it comes face-to-face with other entry-level SLR cameras. Being a Canon, it naturally incorporates the proprietary DIGIC 4 processor to move things along rather swiftly. The 1200D performs rather well in low-light but there will be a significant drop in the higher ISO ranges, and it only has a maximum of 12 800, but sticking to between ISO 100 and ISO 800 will produce images with no noise. Together with colour changes and warmth settings, the cameras comes with a number of different modes, which beginner photographers should find extremely beneficial – like Auto Lighting Optimizer, Highlight Tone Priority and a plethora of options in Creative Auto mode. Under ideal circumstance, image quality will be prefect, and since the highest image size is around the 5184×3456 mark, you can be assured that blowing them up with diminish the quality.

PERFORMANCE It is extremely rare for Canon to make rubbish cameras, and the 1200D is no exception. This particular model is great as an entry-level option as it doesn’t have too many frills and fusses that might distract beginners from taking their hobby serious.

But with that said, it has just enough features to squeeze every bit of creativity out of the user. The 9-point auto focus module will make sure that whatever crosses the

viewfinder will be in focus, and if you fancy a bit of fast shooting, it can go up to three frames per second in continuous shooting (which isn’t as fast as other models, but it gets the job done). It can also record movies in full 1080p at up to 30 frames per second.

The price might seem a bit steep, but it is well worth the investment.

KEY FEATURES • 18 megapixel CMOS • Continuous shooting up to 3 frames per second • Incorporates proprietary DIGIC 4 processor • 9-point auto focus module R6 300

SCORES Handling

7

Image Quality

8

Performance

8

Value

7

Overall

7

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SUPERTEST

OLYMPUS E-M10

SMALL BUT REALLY POWERFUL

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lympus is one of those brands that can be grouped together with the Pentax – all fighting for a bigger slice of the camera pie which is mostly dominated by the like of Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm. But the little guys should by no means be written off, as they are the ones with something to prove. The E-M10 is a really good example of that, as it has most (and some more) features than the big boys, yet it is almost half the size.

HANDLING The most striking aspect of the E-M10 is its small size, but that shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking that it’s an inferior model. On the contrary, it will give other models with the same capabilities a really good run for their money. But with that said, the size does plan against it, in the sense that it doesn’t feel like an SLR. And because of it diminutive stature Olympus had to work rather creatively with the button placement, like the power switch, which almost hidden away in the bottom right-hand corner of the body. Reaching all the other buttons however, is really easy to do, so from

that aspect, the design and handling is perfect.

It also only weighs a fraction of the Pentax, so chucking it in a bag will take up almost no room, let alone weigh you down.

IMAGE QUALITY Packed in the small body hides a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, and compared to the Pentax, which has a slightly smaller sensor, it’s rather astonishing. This particular model (there are the M-5 and P-5 as well) makes use of the TruePic VII processor, where the others employ the previous version – which further refine image quality by reproducing colours naturally. For those with a bit of a shake in their step, the 3-axis image stabilization is going to do them no favours, as the other models all feature 5-axis. In low-light shooting, the M10 performs remarkable well, has a built-in flash and the shutter can buzz at up to 1/4000 of a second.

PERFORMANCE The one thing that we wanted to see in the other cameras for this group test was an

articulated screen, and thankfully the M-10 didn’t do away with this. The screen 3-inch LCD touch screen is pretty easy to work, and the viewfinder makes use of ‘Adaptive Brightness’ technology, meaning that it will automatically adjust the brightness of it as the lighting around you changes. In terms of shooting it has the usual single focus, but also allows for focus peaking, continuous auto focus and tracking auto focus. But for those who prefer to shoot with manual focus, there is the manual focus with magnification option as well as face-tracking. Overall, the performance of the Olympus E-M10 is rather astonishing for such a small body, but users looking for an entry-level SLR might walk past it towards the bigger players in the market.

KEY FEATURES • 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor • 3 Axis Image Stabilisation • Sensitivities of up to 25600 ISO • TruePic VII Advanced image processor R6 500

SCORES Handling

6

Image Quality

7

Performance

8

Value

7

Overall

7

THE WINNER

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e do say that almost every group test is very difficult to decide on a winner, but we really mean it with this one.

All the models presented some really interesting aspects, features and additions, making it tough to come to a definitive conclusion. As much as we would like to attribute the winner of this round to every camera, there can unfortunately only be one – the Pentax K-50. Size and heft isn’t always a measure of how good things are,

42 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

but the K-50 does life up to the added extra bulk. It might seem silly, but it feels like a real camera, and that is something that you want when buying an entry-level SLR. It is a very good trade off when compared to what you get for the price. And even with the slightly irritating shutter button and lens release buttons, the rest of the camera is incredibly sturdy with great image quality.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

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HOW CAMERAS WORK

How to use your camera’s manual setting Get ready to master your camera’s manual exposure mode.

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he easiest and most hassle-free way to take good quality images are to switch the camera to the Auto setting and snap away. But by using the manual setting, you will have total control over how your photographs come out.

SET UP The dial close to the shutter button will present you with a number of options when it comes to controlling how your camera reacts in different situations, but for this purpose we will be taking a look at the Manual option, represented by an ‘M’ on the dial. Turn the dial in any direction until the ‘M’ is lined up and clicked in place next to the little white marker.

CHANGING THE SETTINGS By switching the camera to manual mode, you will be able to control how much light will be passing through the on to the sensor and for how long the shutter should be open. Most cameras have two separate little rolling dials – usually one in the front by the shutter button and one on the back close to the view finder. These will be used to manually change the shutter speed and aperture (F-stop).

SHUTTER SPEED The shutter speed is changed on most cameras by rolling the dial on the front.

The number on the view finder will represent the time in seconds it that the shutter will be open for. So if the number on the screen is 1/100, it means that the shutter will be open 100th of a second.

Changing the shutter speed will allow more

or less light to enter the sensor, so changing it will lighten or darken your images. Just remember, the lower the shutter speed to brighter the images will be. Using a low shutter speed is ideal for dark or low-light areas. Tweaking the shutter speed can mean the difference between a moody image with dark tones, and a happy one with bright colours. Shutter speed also affects the way moving objects are captured.

APERTURE The aperture is manually changed by rolling the dial located near the view finder on the back. Working in conjunction with the shutter speed, changing the aperture also affects the brightness or darkness of your images. Where the shutter speed determined how long the shutter stays open for, the manual aperture determines how wide it opens – measured in F-stops. It’s a delicate dancing act between shutter speed and aperture, you can create really good images. A higher F-stop, like F16 or F22 will mean darker images, while F4 or F5 should be idea for most scenarios.

WHAT NEXT Now that you know how to change the shutter speed and aperture setting by using the manual dials, it’s time to go outside and experiment. The beauty of photography is that you can change the mood and feel of almost any scenario just by changing the light. There are no hard and fast rules, but generally a fast shutter speed and low f-stop is used for photography in sunlight, while the inverse will be used for indoor photography.

SHUTTER SPEED EXAMPLES Taken at an F-stop of 4.5

P Taken at an F-stop of 8.

Taken at an F-stop of 16.

APERTURE EXAMPLES Taken at 1/100, with an F-stop of 4.0.

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Taken at 1/250, with an F-stop of 4.0.

Taken at 1/500, with an F-stop of 4.0.

Ho

* All t

MicroSD High-Speed

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* All totals may vary according to device For more information please call Premium Brand Distributors (021) 461 2325 or email simon@nikon.co.za

BE A TELLER OF FUTURE STORIES MyWorld of Tomorrow is an opportunity for a continent to converge under a single roof, creating an African led movement of global technological innovation.

Hosted by Business Connexion, MyWorld of Tomorrow is more than an event, but rather a label to a movement and a calling card to a community of innovative thinkers and doers, where stories of technological innovation and its impact on our world of tomorrow can be experienced.

MyWorld of Tomorrow is the foremost platform for interaction and knowledge sharing in the technology and innovation space, and a hotbed from which Africa’s next global technological offering may arise.

More than this, it extends to all corners of business, public sector and society, as technology has become equally pervasive across both.

It is a convergence of minds, products and services, where technology and business intersect to challenge norms, exhibit solutions and speak of the future as if it has already happened.

www.mwotafrica.com

16 – 18 October 2014 Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

brought to you by

Untitled-1 1

2014/08/27 12:57 PM

How does a lens work?

Zooming into objects from far way is easy, but have you ever wondered how it is done?

W

e simply twist on a new lens to give us a different perspective, but there are a lot of intricate processes that go into bring the image to the sensor. The technology that goes into making lenses has changed dramatically over the last couple of years, but the principles are still the same.

THE BUILD We generally assume that the lens is the one single piece that we clip into the lens socket on the camera body,

and while that is correct, it is actually a number of lenses combined into one unit.

While a single lens inside would be able to produce an image, it will be warped and distorted to the point where it won’t be usable. These multiples smaller lenses are arranged along a common axis, and if you look closely at a lens’ curved surface, you might just notice that it is coated to reduce abrasion, flare, and surface reflectance, and to adjust the colour balance. Behind all the fancy glass lenses sit the aperture and shutter control. Most lenses also have a manual focus control, which is located near the tip of the lens.

THE ZOOM The layman’s term for image magnification in a lens is

All those pieces of glass.

Image - CC by sa Dave Dugdale - flickr.com/people/37387065@N05/Flickr

zoom, but the correct terminology would be the camera’s focal length – it is this that determines how much zoom a camera has or what type of images it can take, such as wide-angle, macro or telephoto. Focal length is measured in millimetres and is often written on the side of the lens to indicate which focal length is in use. The measurement has nothing to do with the actual length of the lens, but is all about the optical distance from the point where light rays converge, calculated to the digital sensor inside the body.

FOCAL LENGTH The longer that the focal length is, the narrower the angle of view is going to be - which will increase the magnification.

A good example of thinking about it, is a projector. When projecting something on a canvas, to make the slide projected bigger you would move the projector further away. By turning the lens to increase the focal length, the distance that the image’s light beams has to travel to get to the sensor is increased, which in turn zooms the end result.

DIFFERENT LENSES While all lenses work the same in theory, lenses do behave according to their design.

For wide-angle lenses, the focal length would be rather small (minimal zoom) but the angle of view would typically be wider than 60° - getting as much in the picture as possible. A long-focus lens on the other hand, has huge magnification capabilities as the focal length typically over 300mm, but a small viewing angle reduces the over image.

Image - CC by sa mecookie - flickr.com/photos/mecookie/Flickr

:57 PM

HOW TO: PHOTOS

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HOW TO

How to safely record video from your dashboard Dashcams – cameras mounted on car dashboards – have proven to be quite handy when it comes to capturing road shenanigans.

J

ust a few weeks ago, two road rage incidents on Gauteng roads made headlines because they were captured on camera and posted to YouTube. As a direct result, two prosecutions are now underway, neither of which would probably have likely bothered a desk sergeant without the video evidence to back it up.

ACTION CAM, BESPOKE DASHCAM OR SMARTPHONE? To set yourself up with in-car recording capabilities, you can use any of three different gadgets. The most logical choice is an actual dashcam, like Garmin’s Dash Cam 10, that has been specially-designed to capture video from your car’s dashboard.

The benefit is that its design has been streamlined to make doing exactly that as easy as possible and has features like collision detection that automatically saves footage when it detects bumps. It’s also a good choice if you plan to never remove the camera from your car.

The second option is to employ an action camera, like the GoPro Hero3. It’s small, easy to use and captures truly amazing video, and can be taken out of the car and used for other things when necessary.

Learn more at…

go to htxt.co.za

Lastly, you could always hook up your smartphone with a clever mount and use it as a dashcam. We’re already used to cradles and docks in our cars for our phones so having one in a prime position to capture whatever is happening in front of your car isn’t too much of a stretch. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get started.

Whichever one you go for, you’ll need to manage memory cards and power to get the most from it. Our advice would be to start with a smartphone, and see if your experiences with it motivate you to get something a little more specialised.

STEP 1 Decide which camera suits your needs best. Once you’ve decided on a course of action and made your purchase, be sure to also grab a cigarette-lighter-to-microUSB converter cable to ensure it always has power, and consider buying the biggestcapacity memory card for the camera so you have plenty of space to save videos.

STEP 2 Mount it to your dashboard or windscreen.

You can either make a mount out of a sponge, or you can buy a mount specifically designed for your camera.

HOW TO STREAM GAMES FROM ONE PC TO ANOTHER WITH STEAM Just because you only have one high-powered gaming PC doesn’t mean that’s the only place you can play games at their highest settings.

Bit.ly/1mxyULz

STEP 3 The one thing you absolutely must not do is hit record while driving. It’s not safe, you’ll be committing an offence for driving without due care and attention and, by the time you hit record, whatever you wanted to film will be gone. So, you’ll have to press the camera’s record button every time you set out on a car journey, and leave it running untill you reach your destination.

If you’re using a smartphone, there are apps that will automatically start recording when the phone is inserted into its cradle.

STEP 4 Edit your captured footage in a videoediting app of your choice (we recommend Lightworks) and polish it up a bit. Post proof of the idiocy of other drivers, pedestrians and law enforcement officials to YouTube and enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from creating entertaining yet informative web video. If you need to use your footage in court, consider not posting it online until the matter has been resolved to avoid jeopardising your case.

HOW TO TRACK A STOLEN IPHONE, IPAD OR MAC Apple’s ‘Find my iPhone’ service has been available to iPhone users since 2010 and has recently become available on iPads and Mac computers as well.

Bit.ly/1giE2ne

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 49

Portable bluetooth speakers, designed to move.

Minimal design. Serious sound

available at leading retail outlets

HOW TO…

Four online resources to help matrics prepare for exams Past papers, subject prep, need-to-know websites and more.

VIA AFRIKA TEST-URSELF Via Afrika Test-Urself is an Android app that lets grade four to 12 learners test their knowledge in subjects such as Maths, all eleven official South African languages, Geography, History and more. Each subject has a set of quizzes that you have to answer. To get started, download a set of quizzes, the first quiz is free and thereafter you’ll have to buy more quizzes using credits (credits start at R10 for 10 credits and quizzes cost two credits each).

HOW TO PASS MATRIC Past matric exam papers are one of the most useful resources you can include in your study routine. How To Pass Matric has a library of past papers that you can download for free and use, it also posts information on available bursaries, study tips, career advice, has a community where you can engage with other matrics and the official preliminary and final exam timetables once they are released by the Department of Basic Education.

EASYPASS EasyPass features online assessments to help you revise your subject material and identify the topics you need to focus your revision on. Multiple-choice questions developed by qualified and experienced teachers are set to test retention of what you have already learned in class and your understanding of the subject material. Subscription start at R350 for a package of 6 subjects for one year.

WCED MATRIC SUPPORT The Western Cape Government Education Department’s Matric Support portal provides all matrics with tips on how to prepare for upcoming exams, the exam timetable, answers to frequently asked questions, past matric exam paper downloads and links to Telematics subject revision videos hosted by teachers and experts on YouTube.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 51

Bloom Design / Shutterstock.com

HOW TO…

3 Simple steps to speed up Mavericks on an old MacBook How to get your Mac back up to speed without cracking open the shell.

H

ow do you get an aging MacBook to run a little bit faster if you can’t afford to buy more RAM just yet?

There are three ways to do it: Fastest – This provides good security and is quick. It writes zeroes over the unused space on the disk once.

1Are you an obsessive-compulsive

The unnamed middle option – This provides a DOE-compliant 3-pass security erase. It writes over the unused space on the disk three times.

TAKE OUT THE TRASH

(virtual) trash emptier? It turns out that unless you’re hitting the Secure Empty Trash button every time, you’re not creating as much free space as you think you are.

All those deleted files are recognisable and recoverable, kept on your hard drive as “free space”, but essentially still taking up precious memory and quite possibly slowing down your system.

Included in the Disk Utility tool is the option to erase this so-called free space.

All you need to do is select the drive in question, click the Erase tab at the top and choose which Erase Free Space option you would prefer.

Most secure – This option is the most secure but also takes the longest to complete. It writes over the unused space in the disk seven times.

Another quick tip for iPhoto fans who use Apple’s programme to organise and edit their photo libraries is to empty out the trash. It sounds silly, but iPhoto has it’s own deleted items folder which doesn’t sync to your regular Mac trash. Empty that out too – one of the biggest data takers are pics and videos.

2To find out what your system is doing START UP, CLEAN UP

behind your back, go to the Users & Groups screen (under System Preferences) and click on Login Items. Every single thing on that list is loading, whether or not you realize it. Anything checked you don’t see happening. To make sure an item doesn’t start up every time you start up, select it and press the minus button at the bottom of the window.

52 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

3Drag and drop any applications you DELETE REPEAT

no longer use into the trash. To see which ones are the biggest space-stealing culprits simply take a look at the Finder.

Next, find all your saved “user” caches. To do this, press Command+Shift+G from your desktop to bring up the Go To Folder.

Type in ~/Library/Caches/ to see a very, very long list of small files that actually accumulate to quite lot of space.

Removing app caches can help to recover disk space for apps that are no longer in use and, interestingly enough, deleting specific app caches can sometimes resolve strange behavioural issues with certain applications.

Everything in this folder can be safely deleted, but if you’d prefer to only remove specific caches, search by name or size before hitting delete.

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A lot of its appeal is due to the retro aesthetics which will take you back to the golden age of photography, calling to mind the rangefinders that revolutionised photojournalism.

Yet these snappers absolutely cutting edge when it comes to features - the X-Trans sensor at the heart of most modern

Fujifilm cameras have a unique sensor layout that captures awesome picture quality in low light conditions, and thanks to the fact they don’t have an optical low pass filter, X-Trans sensors are sharper than typical digital cameras.

What’s best about Fujifilm cameras, though, is that we’ve got two to give away. One lucky reader will win the camera that launched the X Series, the Fujifilm X100. The camera has a classic rangefinder look and has been the darling of street photographers since its launch.

A runner-up will win the super compact and highly stylish Fujifilm XF 1 worth R2 995.

Why the pros are switching to Fujifilm’s X Series Local photographer Neill Soden is part of Fujifilm’s X-Photographers. He currently focuses on street and evironmental portraiture, but also does a lot of family shoots.

Fujifilm is making waves out there, extent. This has personally improved my own photography tenfold. but their cameras have many Not only is the camera perfect for every day use, but it performs beautifully reasons to be as loved as they are. on a paid jobs, and compliments your bigger gear, depending on your The X100/s has become my go-to shooting style. camera, because it is small, light http://www.neillsoden.co.za / @neilsoden and discreet.

The size makes it easy to carry around with Neill Soden has been shooting since 2006 and you wherever you has a very strong history of photography in might go, while the the family. silent shutter allows one to shoot without drawing attention. This enables you to take photographs with ease, while still getting the superb quality you would expect only from the bigger models.

The built-in ND filter helps for shooting any time of the day, without having to carry more gear. The fixed focal length forces you to work with what you have and use the camera to its full

54 | TECH MADE EASY | SEPTEMBER 2014

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Uber reckons it can reduce the cost of travel in Joburg by up to 2/3.

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