ct_46_feb_13

February 2013

!

N I  000

W 1 0 from R t a le el! b a t I nt

Reviewed: iPad 4 Nintendoland Samsung Series 7 Skylanders Giants

Office

2013 The inside guide to Microsoft’s magnum opus

Free Issu e!

The

You c a phon n get som e e comp calls, satn thing for av n uter a nd ev , games, othing: af en an R14.95 incl. VAT educ aster ation !

Tech of the

Africa Cup PLUS! The best TVs for watching sport

Plus: Sneak preview of BlackBerry 10 The best mobile games revealed Much more...

Ultimate Portability.

Ultimate Power.

Sony recommends Windows® 7.

Sony VAIO range available at Incredible Connection

VPC-Z227 “Beyond the Ultimate” • • • • • •

VPC-SB38 “Power wherever you need it” • • • • •

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit Intel® Core™ i7-2640M Processor 2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.50 GHz 750GB HDD 4GB RAM 13.3” Led Backlit Display

Works the way you want.

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit Intel® Core™ i7-2640M Processor 2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.50 GHz 256GB SSD 8GB RAM 13.1” Full HD Led Backlit Display Includes Power Media Dock with Blu-ray, and high speed graphic support

VPC-F237 “Dive into 3D” • • • • •

VPC-EH Series “Power and Simplicity” • • • • •

Up to Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Up to Intel® Core™ i5-2450M Processor 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz 500GB HDD 4GB RAM 15.5” LCD Display

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Intel® Core™ i7-2860QM Processor 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.60 GHz 640GB HDD 8GB RAM 16” Full HD 3D Led Backlit Display

VPC-YB Series “Mobility to take you places” • • • • •

Windows 7 Home Basic 32-bit AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450 (1.6 GHz) 320GB 2GB RAM 11.6” LCD Display

www.sony.co.za/vaio

Contents

The P ow

Issue #46

Free

The price

of Free!

G

etting things for free is expensive.

There’s tons of free stuff on the internet, but to get to it you need a PC, laptop or smartphone and broadband connection. Once you have those, though, the opportunities are endless – so much so that we couldn’t even fit a quarter of a half of a percent of the amount of stuff we wanted to talk about into our massive feature all about the power of free (p18).

That’s why you’ll find lots of other hints scattered throughout the mag – from the best way to watch the Africa Cup of Nations online (p10) to the vast number of games you can play gratis these days (p54).

One thing you’re going to have to splash out on, though, is a gift for a loved one on Valentine’s day. Because while money can’t buy you love, it can make a partner very happy. Especially when spent wisely on a present that is designed to last and be useful too (p12).

The thing that is best liberated by the internet, however, is knowledge (p20).You can learn anything from how to build a 3D printer to degreelevel astrophysics. That’s surely worth the price of connection alone?

Adam Oxford Editor

You

Get Connected 4 6 8 10

PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@connectmag.co.za EDITOR: Adam Oxford – editorial@connectmag.co.za HARDWARE EDITOR: Deon du Plessis – deon@connectmag.co.za GAMING EDITOR: Tiana Cline – tiana@connectmag.co.za TECHNOLOGY EDITOR: Christo van Gemert – christo@connectmag.co.za ART DIRECTOR: Jason Palmer – jason@connectmag.co.za Junior Designer: Jessica Hurwitz – jess@connectmag.co.za CONTRIBUTOR: Tamsin Mackay – techtannie@connectmag.co.za ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@connectmag.co.za SUBSCRIPTIONS: subscriptions@connectmag.co.za

CONNECT is a joint venture between Hypertext Media and Incredible Connection.

Contact Us: Email: info@hypertext.co.za Tel: (011) 023-8001/4 Fax: 08654 83304 2 | connect | February 2013

can g for n et almos othin t g the anythin se da ys

12 15 16

Your next phone?

CONNECT visits Vegas to seek out the best mobile tech.

Profile Kresten Buch from 88mph talks to CONNECT. Tech for Two Valentine’s gifts for all.

Tech of the African Cup of Nations The best ways to watch AFCON online.

What is Smart TV? Just in case you wanted to ask.

Tech Jargon Dictionary definitions of complex words and phrases.

Stay Connected Talk to us, and we’ll talk back.

8

3

10

www.connectmag.co.za February 2013

ower of

ee!

nyth in days g …

Gaming Previews:

Reviews:

48 50

52

Unfinished Swan

54

PlanetSide 2 MechWarrior Online World of Tanks Day-Z Settlers Online Team Fortress 2 on Linux Battlefield Heroes Star Wars: The Old Republic World of Warcraft Moshi Monsters

57

Nintendo Land ZombiU

58

Epic Mickey 2 Skylanders Giants

60

Amazing Alex Rayman: Jungle Run Super Crate Box Walking Dead: The Game Wordament

Star Trek Metro: Last Light Light Watch Dogs

48

p18

50 Software 62

39 Hardware 28 30 32 35 36 39 44

BlackBerry 10 iPad 4 Samsung Series 7 The new iMac Turtle Beach Ear Force Z2 Best TVs for sports Component Corner

28

Wikipedia Metro Commander SkyDrive Skype Norton Satellite Star Chart Multimedia 8 Kindle Microsoft Minesweeper Xbox Smartglass Ultimate Windows 8 Shortcuts All Recipes

64

How To… 64 69 70

Make the most of Office 2013 Two by Five Tech Tannie www.connectmag.co.za | 3

GetConnected The technology news you need to know

Your next phone?

This will be a big year for small things. Connect just got back from Las Vegas where we’ve been sizing up all the latest mobile tech.

4 | connect | February 2013

D id

yo

uk C iPho ontract now? s n Sout e 5 are c for the h h Afr eape i are i ca than r in n the th UK! ey

W

ant to know what your next phone is going to look like? If the tech on display at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CS), held in Las Vegas in January, is anything to go by, it’s going to be bigger, better, more powerful and – hopefully – cheaper than ever before.

As far as mobile processing power goes, every manufacturer involved in making processors for smartphones has expanded the range of chips on offer to include upgraded versions of all their top end CPUs. NVIDIA, for example, took the wraps off its Tegra 4 platform. To show off the capabilities of this chip, which has 72 graphics processing cores, it demoed a prototype tablet-cum-games console called Project Shield. Capable of Xbox-like 3D gaming in its own right, Proejct Shield can also stream games from a desktop PC straight to your TV bypassing the need for a console at all.

Samsung went one better, announcing its Exynos 5 mobile chip, which boasts eight cores, and Intel unveiled its first-ever quad core Atom processor for smartphones and tablets. too Qualcomm, the chip company behind many successful smartphones from 2012 – including the Nokia Lumia 920, and the American version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII – showed off its Snapdragon 800 chip, which is powerful enough to decode 4K (also known as Ultra High Definition, or UHD) video (see page 27 for more).

What it all means is that phones released this year will have the internal workings to offer laptop-like performance at a fraction of the size and price.

The big news, however, is about big screens. As phones get more powerful, more people are able to replace every other computer they own with a handset – most of the time, any way. In 2011, Samsung’s Galaxy Note kicked off a new trend for large screen handsets, which are more comfortable for browsing the web, watching video and working on. Now, everyone is looking to start producing phones with displays that measure five inches or more.

One of our favourites came from Sony, in the form of its Xperia Z, which will be released in a month or so. It has a full HD display – which makes it a phone with as many pixels as your HDTV. The screen is, understandably, very crisp and gorgeous to look at. The hardware powering the rest of the phone isn’t too shabby, either: a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera.

Lenovo, ZTE, HTC and Oppo also showed off new phones which border on tablet size.

These ‘phablets’ – part phone, part tablet – are going to be seen everywhere this year.

The most innovative thing shown off, as far as phones go, however, was a new generation of display types that use LCD glass which can be folded without breaking.

Samsung is again leading the fray here, and plans to use it initially to warp a display around the body of a handset giving you a much larger viewing area without increasing the size.

Anyone taking bets on that first flexible phone being the much anticipated Galaxy S4? Yeah, us too…

News in Brief:

We want Wikis!

Last month we brought you the news that Google is allowing mobile internet users to access its search and social tools without troubling their bandwidth cap (see CONNECT issue 45). That’s not enough for some people, though, and students from Joe Slovo Park near Cape Town are lobbying network operators to give them access to Wikipedia for free too. It may seem greedy, but the online encyclopedia is free for all in Uganda and Kenya already, and could help learners to improve grades at the poorest schools if it was offered here too.

Ubuntu on a smartphone

Canonical, the software development company founded and backed by South Africa-born Mark Shuttleworth, has announced that it plans to launch a smartphone version of its Ubuntu operating system. The new OS is based on Android, but is designed to work with the desktop version of Ubuntu, as well as the tablet and TV interfaces. It looks great, but won’t be available on a handset for about a year.

www.connectmag.co.za | 5

get connected

Feeling ’appy?

When someone talks about exciting technology coming out of Africa, for the first time they’re more likely to be describing the hot startup scenes in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria rather than exciting stuff in South Africa. Meet Kresten Buch, a man determined to put the country back on the map.

C: What are you looking for in Cape Town?

B: We’re looking for between eight and 15 startups we can invest in. We have an entrepreneur in residence program where we bring in talented people from all over the world who want to help build startups here. We have eight people coming from Germany, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Hawaii, to work here full-time for three months.

They aren’t doing it for the money; we’re only paying them about $1 000 a month. They want to be part of this revolution here in Africa.

eed Is the sp 88mph cFly must Marty M eLorean D drive his r the time ge ig tr to car ck to e in Ba machin ture. u F the

Connect: Tell us a bit about yourself…

Buch: I worked at my first startup while I was at university. I was helping an Australian sports betting company get into the Scandinavian market.

They were based in Alice Springs, which is in the middle of nowhere. About 26 000 people live there, and we started out working from a racetrack.

Sometimes we had downtime because there were snakes in the server room.

C: Why did you move to Africa?

B: I went to Stanford University in 2009, where I met a Kenyan called David Owino (former CEO of Kenya Data Networks).

At the time I was thinking about angel investing, and he convinced me to visit Kenya and see what was happening there.

Africa is so obviously the next big thing. I thought that if I got in now, I had a good chance of positioning myself as a ‘go to guy’ for early-stage investment and building a brand and a business model from the ground up. It’s much more interesting than being another small investor in Silicon Valley.

C: What is Google’s involvement in 88mph?

B: Google helped kick-start the operational office here in Cape Town and gave us cash for basic stuff like desks and furniture.

They also give us access to their mentor networks and connections from around the world.

It’s important that the decision-making process for investing in young companies is fast, though, so I wasn’t interested in getting corporate money involved with the actual investment side of things.

Age: 40 Nationality: Danish Current job: In 2011, Kresten Buch launched the early-stage investment fund 88mph in Nairobi, Kenya. He rapidly became a prominent figure in the exploding tech scene there, helping small, independent developers get started in business. Now, with backing from Google, he’s launched a sister project in Cape Town and is looking for bright young programmers who want to create their own company with great ideas for apps.

C: Do you think entrepreneurs are attracted to Africa because they see it as ‘worthy’?

B: I think all successful entrepreneurs aren’t in it for the money. They’re driven by some kind of problem they want to solve, or they have an anarchistic streak and react badly to authority.

There are tons of problems to be solved across Africa, so there’s plenty of opportunity for people to go in and try to fix things.

At the same time, there’s a lot of ‘impact investing’ here, trying to solve problems for the poor. But often it can have a detrimental effect.

You see people trying to develop inappropriate solutions, like smartphone apps for rural farmers, because that’s where they think [NGO] money is.

It’s important for tech entrepreneurs to also target the emerging middle classes.

WHAT IS A TECH HUB?

Tech hubs common in most major cities now.

They double up as a place for startup companies to work with low-cost desk spaces, and centres for people making digital products to meet other entrepreneurs and – importantly – potential investors.

6 | connect | February 2013

HDD

Store ‘n’ Save

SuperSpeed USB 3.0

10x UP TO

FASTE R STAN THAN DA USB 2 RD .0

The Verbatim Store ‘n’ Save USB 3.0 Desktop hard drive features high performance storage using a USB 3.0 “Super Speed” interface offering up to 10 times faster data transfer rates than USB 2.0 (based on USB bus speed). It comes with Nero BackItUp and Burn Essentials software and Green Button energy saving software.

verbatim.com

HDD Store-n-Save_USB_3.0_Ad_A4_(12-09-459)_v2.indd 1

07/09/2012 15:25

get connected

Tech for two St Valentine’s Day approaches and you don’t know what to get for that special someone in your life?

Here are some gift ideas that will express how you really feel.

1

2

4 5

3 Wh e r e

F o rg o t to

to g

o? b o o k a ta b le fo r th s p e c ia l n at ig h t o u t?

Tr y Ta b le B o o k in g C o m e D in .c e.c o.z a to o.z a o r fi m in u te s p a c e s fo r n d la s ta d in n e r fo r t w o.

1

For the clever one...

2

For the visual type...

Amazon 6’’ Kindle WiFi

Nikon Coolpix S3200

Stores up to 3 000 books but fits in a small handbag. Thoughtful as well as very practical.

Available in a variety of bright and bold colours, nothing says ‘I love you’ like a blood-red snapper for capturing those precious moments.

R1 499.99

8 | connect | February 2013

R999.99

3

For the gamer...

Samsung Syncmaster S27A550H R3 999.95

Play on the big screen with a giant 27-inch monitor. Perfect pixels for a parsimonious price.

4

For the tech junkie...

iPad mini R3 399.95

The ultimate tablet computer – all the power and apps of an iPad, but in a more compact and elegant form.

5

For the music lover...

Sennheiser MM30i R699.95

Proves you don’t need big ugly cans for a beautiful, rounded sound.

get connected

Tech of the

African Cup of Nations

How will you watch Bafana Bafana this time round?

T

his year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition kicked off on Saturday 19th January with a 0-0 draw between South Africa and Cape Verde at the National Stadium in Soweto (aka the FNB Stadium). The football may have been disappointing but the tech certainly isn’t. More people will watch this year’s competition online than ever before, and they won’t just be using the TV.

10 | connect | February 2013

Star Player Orange’s Star Africa service is covering the whole event in detail and has all the links you need links to online streams.

See www.starafrica.com.

Numbers game More than R920 million has been spent getting the stadiums and infrastructure up to standard for AFCON. More than 2.3 billion viewers are expected to watch it on TV throughout the tournament.

Last year, more than four billion people watched the UEFA European Championship African Nations Championship online.

Missed a match?

Offside It’s not all good news though.

Rows over TV rights and unauthorised video streams have left broadcasters in Nigeria unable to show matches on terrestrial TV.

Going App There’s an official app, of course, to help you schedule your viewing. Search for AFCON in the App Store or on Google Play. It includes live match commentary and text streams for when you can’t miss a minute.

Grand Finalé The final will take place on 10th February, in Johannesburg.

PICTURE: Daleen Loest / Shutterstock

The official AFCON YouTube channel has highlights of all the games, and has more than 3.5 million views so far. More than 100,000 people watched the opening ceremony there too, which was streamed live. Find out more at: www.youtube.com/ myafricanfootball

www.connectmag.co.za | 11

get connected

What is a...

Smart TV Televisions with built-in brains are here.

Deon du Plessis explains why your next TV will be smart.

> The apps work in exactly the same way they do for smartphones: they expand the TV’s abilities. Some are free while others carry a modest cost. One of the most common apps for Smart TVs is Skype, popular because everyone wants to video chat to friends and family on the big screen.

The t of rne I nte i n g s evices Th umb’ d

> Smart TVs can interact with other bits of kit around your house in ways that `dumb’ ones can’t. Fancy using your Android smartphone to control your Samsung Smart TV? Done!

Simply download the right app from Google Play and your phone becomes a TV remote.

ith ly `d evious kitted out w ld r p n o o ly w e e A billi b nn ill s arts w ve bee that ha tions and sm new phrase nec na net con r. There’s eve mart stuff : a e y ion of s this explos of Things”. is h t r fo ternet “The In

> Two things to watch out for in Smart TVs of the future are voice recognition and motion controls. Only a few are currently capable of such magic, but Samsung and LG both have models that use hidden microphones and webcams to capture and respond to spoken commands and hand gestures, much like Microsoft’s Kinect sensor does for the company’s Xbox 360 gaming console.

12 | connect | February 2013

> Smart TVs have the face of a gogglebox and the innards of a personal computer. They can download and run apps or games, play back digital video files over WiFi or USB, surf the internet and – in some cases – even record live TV much like an HD PVR does. They can stream movies from anywhere: a PC in another room, or sites like YouTube via the web.

What’s the alternative?

If you have an older, non-Smart TV, don’t fret – you can modernise your set with a dedicated media player. Companies like Western Digital manufacture set-top boxes that will do everything a Smart TV can – for a lot less than a new screen would cost you.

Intelligent printing

advertorial

Kodak All-in-One Printers offer intelligent features and deliver many important features that consumers need in a home or home office printer.

S

The Kodak HERO 5.1 All-in-One Printer, retail at a recommended price of R1299, is Google Cloud Print Ready and Kodak Email Print Ready, and allows consumers to print from anywhere, for less.

outh African consumers now have access to intelligent printing systems that are easy to use, and offer high quality photos and documents with the lowest average cost-per- page.

Kodak All-in-One Printers offer something very unique in the industry – high quality printing with affordable ink – backed by more than 100 years of leading Kodak Image Science.

The Kodak ESP C310 and C110 Allin-One Printer is an entry level wifi printer retailing for a recommended price of R999.

The Kodak ESP Office 2170 All-inOne Printer for the home office, offers four great functions, print, copy, scan and fax in a compact design and retails for a recommended price of R1 499.

The Kodak ESP C110 All-in-One Printer is the entry level non-wifi printer with similar features as the C310 at a recommended retail price of R799.

All Kodak All-in-One Printers use Kodak 30 Series Inks that deliver exceptional quality and cost-per-page ink value. The system uses a one size fits all philosophy across its all-in-one range, meaning they all use the same model black and colour ink cartridgesa, available in either standard or XL sizes.

High Quality Printing with Great Ink Value!

The big obstacle for home printing in South Africa has been the high cost of ink. Kodak has solved this problem by providing consumers with affordable ink that delivers long lasting, high quality photos and documents. Kodak’s proprietary pigment-based inks provide richer, more vibrant colors, and significant fade resistance and instant dry advantage over dye-based ink systems. With Kodak, consumers get crisp, sharp text documents, brilliant graphics and Kodak Lab-Quality Photos that are smudge, and water and fade resistant and last a lifetime.

Colour: R149

Black: R99

get connected

TechJargon This month’s toughest terminology elucidated and expanded upon.

MMO Massively Multiplayer Online (p54) games involve hundreds or even thousands of players logging into a single server simultaneously. That means one game world populated almost entirely by other human players.

Typically, these are role-playing games like World of Warcraft, but faster shooters like PlanetSide 2 are also becoming popular.

Ivy Bridge Processor manufacturer Intel uses internal codenames to distinguish between different variations of its Core series CPUs. Ivy Bridge (p32, p35) is the latest and fastest design for Core i3, i5 and i7 chips, but will be replaced by Haswell architecture later this year.

Refresh Rate

The number of times a second – measured in Hz – that the entire image on an LCD screen can be redrawn (p39). The faster the refresh rate, the smoother high-speed movements appear to the naked eye.

Evernote (p22/p28)

A well-known app for taking notes and syncing them across your PC, laptop, phone, tablet and web browser. Evernote is one of the ‘must-have’ apps – it gets note-taking just right.

NFC Near Field Communications is a relatively new technology that lets phones, notebooks, tablets and other gizmos send data to each other over short ranges. That data can be anything from credit card information to tickets to coupons, potentially enabling a wide range of easy digital transactions. (p58)

HTML5 The fifth revision of the Hypertext Markup Language used to write web pages. The new specification introduces many new features and streamlines a lot of older ones to make the content available online even richer than it is currently, without over-taxing the hardware being used to view it. (p28)

Clear Motion Rate We’re not sure whether it’s genius or diabolical marketing speak, but Samsung has come up with its own measurement for LCD TV frame rates, which it calls Clear Motion Rate.

Essentially, it’s a way of saying ‘this 120Hz LCD screen is like a 600Hz plasma one for sports’. What it actually means is nothing. (p40)

MOOC Like an MMO, but with an altogether more worthy purpose. Massively Open Online Courses are the next big thing in education, as many of the world’s leading universities are giving away their best tuition for free. (p20)

www.connectmag.co.za | 15

get connected

StayConnected Speak and be heard! Write and be read...

It’s what we would call the letters page, if anyone still sent letters. Mail, tweet or just shout loudly, we’re listening.

StarLetter Codified Dear CONNECT, Your cover feature on the January issue (Try Something New, issue 45) inspired be to sign up at codeacademy.com and learn how to start programming my computer. I’m 35, and never thought of doing anything with programming before, but now I’m hooked. I’m halfway through building my first simple application, and I can’t believe how engrossed I’m becoming in it.

Thanks for pointing me at this great service!

Thalia, PE Ed sez Our pleasure. If you want to find out more about how the internet is revolutionising learning and the addresses of more sites that are offering university grade tuition absolutely free, flick to page 18 now where we’ve got the whole ‘MOOC’ scene covered in more detail. And enjoy your free copy of PaintShop Pro X5 too.

Postulating privacy Dear CONNECT, I’m fairly new to IT and technology, but I really love social media. In the last year I’ve started using MxiT, Facebook and even Twitter to stay in touch with friends and family, and it’s been great. I love chatting with people online. Recently, however, I’ve been getting concerned about privacy on social networks, as I heard that employers often check Facebook to see what people get up to in their spare time before offering them a job.

What should I do?

Ernest, Johannesburg Ed sez It’s a massive issue which we’ll be covering in some depth later this year, but the best advice we can give you right now is that whenever you post something online, assume someone you don’t want to read it will. It’s easy to assume that chatting on Twitter, for example, is like having a chat in the street. People can overhear you, but they probably won’t bother listening.

Online, though, everything you say is recorded and stored – probably forever.

So always think twice before hitting the send key. Admitting to an illegal act on Facebook, for example, could see you imprisoned. This link will take you to a video showing you how to change your privacy settings in Facebook, but whatever settings you use, be careful. http://youtu.be/bSji6Y66aKo

Linked out

WIN! The writer of our star letter of the month earns themselves a copy of top photo editing program, Corel PaintShop Pro X5, worth R799!

Dear CONNECT, RE: issue 45, Dropbox (Two by Five). Your instructions say “thankfully you can always go back (see link below)”. I think the link was omitted.

Regards John Ed sez Apologies John, you’re absolutely right.

We promised to show you how to claim an extra 250MB of Dropbox space for nothing, and we failed, sorry. The missing link should have pointed you to this page https://www.dropbox.com/ getspace From there it’s easy to keep track of the amount of free space you’ve gained on Dropbox, along with other tips on how to get another couple of free gigabytes to add to your account.

We want to hear from you – whether it’s a suggestion for making the mag better, or a story idea you think we should cover, or you just want to share something interesting with us. E-mail the CONNECT team at: editorial@connectmag.co.za Or send a Tweet to @CONNECTOnline and make sure you follow us while you’re there.

16 | connect | February 2013

www.connectmag.co.za | 16

0500

05003 FujiFilm Connect Mag XF1 Ad_FINAL_Paths_nc.indd 1

2012/10/01 3:29 PM

the free feature

The Power of

Free!

It may not be that all the best things in life are free, but we know a place where most of them are.

Join us as we dig around for cool free stuff in the world’s largest bargain bin – the internet.

F

irst the bad news. According to the latest research from analysts at Ovum, South Africa is one of the most expensive places on the swirling blue-green planet Earth to get online.

Whether it’s mobile broadband or DSL, we pay more than most – and as a relative proportion of the average salary, it’s a backbreaking effort to get online compared to most other places.

But then, you knew that already and didn’t need an international survey to tell you it. Being online and South African means knowing exacly how many megabytes you have left until

18 | connect | February 2013

you hit your cap and get stung for outrageous extra charges.

We’re a long way from universal access to the internet, even though in some circles that’s considered a human right. Today, in South Africa, it’s still a luxury the majority can’t afford.

Once you’ve arrived in internet-land, though, you can start offsetting the cost straight away. Things are cheaper online, and there’s a wealth of goods, services and fun times to be had for our favourite price of all: free. When it often seems like people want to tax the air we breathe, it’s good to know that a bargain can still be found.

The best free PC programs Got a Windows PC or laptop but can’t afford high-end apps to go with it?

Download top applications that have all the features of full-price software for nothing.

Word processing LibreOffice

www.libreoffice.org/ Looking jealously at what’s in Microsoft Office 2013 and wishing you could have some of that word- processing/ spreadsheet-making/notetaking action? LibreOffice is what you’re looking for. A sophisticated, customisable office suite that does everything you need for the grand cost of nothing.

Or try this…

Google Drive drive.google.com Simpler to use than LibreOffice, Google’s office apps run in your browser and your files can be accessed from anywhere.

Image editing

Video editing

Anti-virus

www.gimp.org A powerful alternative to the likes of Adobe’s Photoshop, the GIMP can be used for just about any photo effect or touchingup you can think of. It’s free and can even run some well known PhotoShop plugins for image professionals, but it is very complicated for first-time users.

Daunting, but great.

www.lwks.com Believe it or not, this is the software used by Hollywood studios for cutting together big-budget films like Mission: Impossible, The King’s Speech, Gangs of New York and more.

There’s not a feature you need to turn your home movies into cinematic masterpieces that it doesn’t have.

Or try this…

Pixlr

Or try this: YouTube

www.bitdefender.com/ solutions/free.html Okay, we all know we should keep our PCs protected from online viruses, but how many of us are running up-to-date anti-virus software on our machines? Not enough, if latest figures are to be believed (at least 13% of all US homes have an infected PC). Bitdefender is free. There’s no reason not to use it.

pixlr.com Taking its cue from the popular Instagram, Pixlr is a free photo-editing app available on smartphones or the web that’s great for doing simple edits and adding retro effects.

www.youtube.com Lightworks is great if you’re putting together your magnum opus. For trimming simple videos to share with friends, use YouTube’s built-in editor online

The GIMP

Lightworks

Bitdefender

Or try this: AVG Free free.avg.com One of the original and best free scanners, but has very few extra features.

Free voice calls Free Moola in Mxit Unlike Facebook and Twitter, South Africa’s biggest social network – Mxit – charges users for special features over and above simple messaging. Don’t fall for the online scams promising unlimited amounts of Mxit’s virtual currency, ‘moola’, though – they’ll just harvest your email address and probably fill your PC with viruses too. Instead, you can earn free moola – up to R15 worth – every time you top up your account if you do it with the separate Mxit Money app (www.mxitmoney.co.za).

It’s common knowledge that you can make free calls over the net using Skype or other VOIP software, but did you know that in the next version of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM7), you’ll also be able to make BlackBerry to BlackBerry calls for free?

www.connectmag.co.za | 19

the free feature

Change of Course Curious to find out more?

‘Course you are (pardon the pun). Here are the top sites for signing up for a MOOC education.

www.coursera.org A collaboration between several leading US universities, specialising in short courses with excellent materials.

Free School

Join the education revolution and learn a new skill or science for free.

In the future, we won’t need no education. Or at least, we won’t need schools, classrooms and learning by rote in quite the way kids get taught today. There’s a global revolution going on in learning, and it’s easy to be part of it.

What are we wittering on about? Free online education, that’s what. World-class high school and degree courses, given away free to anyone who has a browser.

Famous institutions like MIT, Cornell, Harvard and the UK’s Open University are pioneering a new method of teaching that’s been called the ‘Massively Open Online Course’, or MOOC. MOOCs are taught exclusively over the internet, and involve the dissemination of course materials and video lectures entirely via YouTube and file downloads to thousands of students at a time.

You can talk to lecturers or other students via forums or social media, and while there are no traditional degrees or diplomas handed out at the end, there are exams and certifications for completing coursework.

You’ll need to be self-motivated to finish a course, mind, as there’s no penalty for dropping out and they can be quite time-consuming.

20 | connect | February 2013

You’ll find free courses in everything from computer programming to international development, taught by some of the most renowned and respected academics in the world. And there’s no catch.

MOOCs in their current, sophisticated form have only been around for a year or so, but already they’re proving so successful, at least one university is launching in the US entirely based around the MOOC principle.

D id

you M y o u u a ny b ro a k no o n l y n l i m i ted d b a n d p r w d o w n ca tc h is y f re e g i g a o vi d e r s w ? ou ill by lo We b a d f r o m . h a v e t o u t e s o f d a g i v e ta T A Va l v e f r i c a , f o r h e r e ’ s s t i s e t h e i r s – t h e e l ’s Ste l r e ver s p x amp lent down a l o a d m l i b ra r y l e , c a r r i e y o f c h o i t o c full g s a m e s l o c a l l y, s o m u c h o f e : y o u r wi t h o u t y o u ca n ca p. to u ch ing

www.edx.org Another US-based collaboration, this time featuring MIT, Harvard and Berkeley courses with the widest variety of themes possible.

www.futurelearn.com A UK-based organisation built on the country’s pioneering Open University system will launch its first courses this year.

www.codecademy.com Less ambitious in scope but far easier to use, Codecademy will teach you how to program in popular languages like JavaScript, Python, Ruby and more.

Free Performance

Tired of your tediously slow desktop PC? Hold off an expensive upgrade – you can make it run faster for free!

Graphics Drivers What are they?

When a game tells your PC how to draw a picture on the screen, it does so by calling upon an intermediary piece of software called a ‘graphics driver’. We’re oversimplifying, but the point is that writing ‘drivers’ is an imperfect science, and improvements are made long after a PC is sold. The upshot? Using old drivers can seriously hamper your PC’s gaming performance, leading to stuttering, crashes and odd visual artefacts.

Background Processes What are they?

How to speed them up Old driver a bit tired? The quick fix is to download a new one. You’ll need to find out whether you have an NVIDIA, AMD or Intel graphics card, which you can do by going to Control Panel>System>Device Manager>Display adaptors.

Now, go to the manufacturers’ website (www.nvidia.com or www.amd.com) and click ‘Support’ – this will bring you to a page that walks you through the download process.

How to close them down

We think of Windows as a single piece of software, but actually it’s made up of hundreds of smaller programs, each with their own job to do. At any one time, you might have dozens of these running and not be aware of their existence – these are ‘background processes’, because they stay in the background, out of the way.

Over time, you’ll accumulate more of these, most of which are unnecessary and use up valuable processor time and slow down other programs.

Turning off background services speeds up your PC. The simple way to do this is to press ALT+CTRL+DEL to call up the Task Manager and select the ‘Processes’ tab, which lists all the running programs on your PC. From here, you can right-click on them and close them down one by one.

The trick is knowing which ones have to be running – closing the wrong ones will crash your system. Try Razer’s free Game Booster app (http://www.razerzone.com/ gamebooster), which turns this whole process into one simple click.

Boot Time

How to speed it up

What is it?

Few things in life are more tedious than waiting for a PC to start up. New PCs boot to desktop almost as quickly as you can take your finger off the power button, but they soon slow down thanks to programs you’ve installed wanting to launch as your desktop appears. The more of these there are, the slower your boot time will be.

CPU Speed What is it?

You probably know that the processor in your PC has a clockspeed, which determines the number of calculations it can perform per second (if not, you do now). Believe it or not, on many PCs, you can increase this rate manually. It’s possibly to turn a 2GHz processor – for example – into a 7GHz one!

When installing new software, make sure any option for ‘Start at boot time’ is disabled. After all, you don’t really need Skype on all the time, do you? For more advanced settings, type ‘msconfig’ into the Start menu and click the Startup tab that appears. Here, you’ll see a list of programs that launch with Windows – you can stop them doing this by unchecking the boxes next to the name. Beware, though – unchecking ones that are essential may stop your PC from booting at all.

How to overclock your processor Increasing the CPU clock is known as ‘overclocking’, and isn’t for the faint-hearted, mind. It involves going into the most fundamental settings of your PC and can burn out chips and other components before their time. If you’re confident – or merely foolhardy enough to take the risk – there’s an excellent guide here: http://bit.ly/W2i4Ih.

www.connectmag.co.za | 21

the free feature

Get free time Organise your life and relax more, thanks to your PC.

Getting around Want to know the best way from A to B? Ask your phone. As phones get smarter, there’s less and less need for an expensive dedicated GPS system for your car. All you need is a handset, an internet connection and one of these free apps.

> Google Maps maps.google.com All Android phones come with Google Maps and Navigation built in. It’s a voice-guided, turn-byturn navigation system that will warn you about speed cameras and traffic in the road ahead. Also available for iPhone as an app.

Time is our most precious resource, and the one thing you can be guaranteed to run out of.

Computers were invented to automate drudge work and allow their human overlords a bit of a break, but all too often, they’re a time sink rather than a relief.

Computers, for example, need lots of TLC. Who hasn’t lost hours trying to figure out why some key function or feature isn’t working? And how long does it take to learn how to use every new software package they give you at work?

Fortunately, some bright sparks have given a lot of thought to the essence of productivity, and have come up with several systems for ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD). Yes, that’s really what they call it and – despite the corny name – they work a treat.

And you can learn all about how to GTD yourself, and get the best tools, for free. Even better, the principles don’t just apply to work – you can use them at home, in your hobbies and anywhere else that you find yourself having to get things done.

The system The term ‘Getting Things Done’ was coined by David Allen, so a good place to start is his company’s website, www.gtdtimes. com. You’ll find lots of advice there, but not much in the way of free stuff.

Fortunately, most of Allen’s ideas have leaked out into the public domain now. The basic principle is to record all the tasks you have to do in a single inbox, which can then be prioritised and worked through in order.

The whole system is precised neatly at Wikisummaries (http://bit.ly/SfOV). You can read that for free and get a feel for how it works.

It’s pretty boring and requires a lot of discipline, but there are lots of free tools that can function as your ‘outboard brain’.

Free Tools

> Apple Maps www.apple.com Much derided but never as bad as it was made out to be, Apple’s iPhones now have turn-by-turn navigation of their own, which is almost as good as Google’s and a great budget satnav replacement.

> Navfree www.navmmii.com Based on the crowd-sourced cartography at OpenStreetMap, Navfree is a comprehensive turnby-turn guidance system which has the advantage that all the map data is downloaded to your phone in advance, so you can grab it over WiFi and not have it into your mobile cap.

22 | connect | February 2013

Evernote

Lifehacker

www.evernote.com The definitive note-taking app for just about every phone and computer you can think of, Evernote stores all your notes, neatly filed on an online server you can access anywhere. You can create notes for everything – emails, websites, voice recordings, photographs – and sort them into different notebooks and priority headings later.

www.lifehacker.com Want some tips on making your life a little more efficient? Lifehacker is the site that has advice for almost any situation. Also available as a smartphone app.

Remember the Milk www. rememberthemilk. com A brilliant online task list that syncs across all your computers and with other popular programs like Outlook and Thunderbird.

Create a task, then put it in order, and cross it off when it’s done. Simple.

Nozbe Nozbe.com We’ll leave you to work out the pronunciation, but Nozbe is one of the most popular GTD apps at the moment because it works with other applications like Evernote and Gmail, rather than seeking to replace them.

Upgrade & Save!

Trade in your old laptop and get up to R2 000 off a brand new one powered by an Intel Third Generation Core processor – only at Incredible Connection.

F

ebruary is trade-in month at Incredible Connection.

On top of the usual value provided in store, you can get up to R2 000 cash back on a purchase of a new Intel-powered notebook when you bring in your old PC or laptop as a trade-in.

If your current PC is starting to feel a bit sluggish, and programs aren’t opening as quickly as they used to, bring it in and buy a new notebook that’s bundled with Windows 7 Starter Edition and you’ll get an immediate R300 saving. That goes up to R500 when you exchange it for a notebook powered by a third generation Intel Celeron processor.

Fancy an even bigger discount? Buy a machine powered by a third generation Intel Core i3 processor, and you’ll get R1000 off the in-store price.

For the ultimate upgrade, laptops featuring the third generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors are the best for movies and games as well as photo and video editing – plus they tend to be thin and light for the ultimate in convenience too. Trade in for one of these and you’ll get up to R2 000 back sraight away.

But that’s not all. You can get up to R1 000 back on a new monitor – see your local Incredible Connection for how.

How to take advantage of this offer: It really is as simple as it sounds.

Step one: Choose from the wide variety of Intelpowered notebooks on offer in Incredible Connection stores.

(Unfortunately, Apple, Alienware, AOC and Sony products aren’t eligible for this offer).

Step two: Bring an old PC or notebook in – it doesn’t even need to be in working order!

Step three: Walk out with great savings.

WIN! Take advantage of this offer and you’ll automatically also be entered into a draw to win a Samsung ATIV Smart PC worth R10 000! *Terms & Conditions Apply.

advertorial

5 reasons to choose an Intel > More performance

Speed is important. And Intel’s third generation processors offer double the performance they did a year ago, for the same price.

> More battery life

Notebooks need batteries to be mobile. Get between four and eight hours’ battery life with a new third generation Intel processor.

> Thinnner and lighter

You don’t just want performance and battery life, though. Intel processors mean notebooks are thin and light enough to carry anywhere.

> Ready when you are

Waiting is frustrating. Intel’s third generation processors sleep deeper (saving battery life) and wake faster, meaning you can do what you want, when you want.

> Cooler (in more ways than one) Notebooks powered by Intel third generation processors look great, but also don’t heat up as much, keeping your hands (and lap) cool and comfortable.

Win a Tablet!

Exclusive competition for CONNECT readers!

Designed to take advantage of the new features brought to the fore by Windows 8, the Samsung ATIV Smart PC is everything you’ve come to expect from a notebook, but in a touch-screen tablet form factor.

It makes use of an Intel Atom processor, has an 11.6-inch touch-capable HD display and 64GB of super-fast flash storage, built-in superfast HSPA+ wireless broadband and manages this all at under 0.8 kilograms. It’s a real stunner.

How to enter: It’s easy. Scan (or take a photo) of your till slip when taking advantage of the discount offer and send it, together with your details and the name of the tablet you could win to competition@connectmag.co.za Good luck! *Terms & Conditions: This competition is open to anyone in the Republic of South Africa, except agents and employees and their families of Intel, Incredible Connection or Hypertext Media.

Prize is not redeemable for cash. You may enter once per email address. The prizewinners will be notified by email no later than 2nd April 2013. The closing date for the competition is 28th February 2013. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered in to.

Hardware News | Previews | Reviews | The Best Advice Odd-numbered years rock!

Y

ou can feel it: 2013 is going to be a brilliant year for tech. It seems we’re past the era of ‘Look at our new Ultrabook that’s the same as everyone else’s Ultrabook’, and are heading into a much more innovative time. The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January backed this up quite nicely. Products like LG’s curved and ridiculously-thin OLED TVs, 4K display technology coming to computer monitors, NVIDIA’s new handheld ‘Shield’ console that plays games streamed from your PC over your home network, and other gizmos grabbed our attention and didn’t let go until the show was over. The level of genuine innovation was unprecedented, and that can only mean good things for consumer electronics in general. Some of the products we have on review this month also reflect that, to a degree.

Samsung amazed me with a stunning little all-in-one touchsensitive PC that really showcases what Windows 8 can do for a desktop system; Apple’s new iMacs blew me away and I got to play with three Smart TVs whose functionality nicely illustrated the potential of ‘smart’ appliances to make our lives even better. So read on, and I hope you become as enthused as I am about the products in these pages, and find hope swelling in your chest that the coming months will reveal even more genuinely exciting consumer products and services.

Here’s to a brilliant, tech-infused 2013!

Deon

30 36

32

Contents 10 Preview 28 BlackBerry Can an OS update put BlackBerry back on the map?

35

iPad with Retina Display 30 Apple Meet the fourth generation über-tablet

32

Samsung Series 7 AiO Touch PC Getting hands-on with a Windows 8 touchscreen

iMac 35 Apple The world’s thinnest PC. Is it still the best?

Beach Headphones 36 Turtle Sweet sounds at an even sweeter price TVs 39 Smart Three of the best compared Test – Windows 8 42 Long-term Now we’ve had it for a few months, would we go back?

28

Corner 44 Component The best upgrades for your PC

Our hardware promise to you…

Every month we test dozens of new pieces of kit and hardware at CONNECT Towers. Here’s why our reviews are the ones you should read.

All of our reviews are:

26 | connect | February 2013

Independent of bias

Authoritative

Exhaustive

Jargon free

Our reviewers work hard, and they work alone. There’s no question of editorial interference from advertisers or other partners, so you can be sure that we’re being honest and truthful in our opinions.

When we say we like it, we do.

You can trust us, because we really do know what we’re talking about. Years of experience and a state of the art lab (well, it’s in a state at the moment) mean we can be thorough and accurate in what we say.

And yet never exhausting.

In other words, we put every piece of hardware on these pages through the most rigorous tests, and then present our findings in the most entertaining and readable prose possible.

We do the hard work of staying up to date with tech so you don’t have to – why should you need a degree to understand what we’re saying?

The best there is ‘Nuff said.

news & previews hardware

Game-maker enters hardware biz Valve Software, maker of hit game franchises HalfLife, Team Fortress and Portal, is working with PC manufacturers to develop a ‘Steam Box’ gaming platform, and the first machines to run it are being called Piston.

Prototypes were demonstrated at CES, and while their actual hardware configurations are not final, they will have to be powerful enough to run the games Valve sells very smoothly. These PCs will integrate closely with Valve’s online game-and-software storefront, Steam, giving PC gamers reason to attach one to their home entertainment system. Steam currently has over 20 million subscribers, with up to five million gamers online at any one time.

Even stronger Gorilla Glass on the way Remember Gorilla Glass? That crystal-clear and incredibly strong protective layer that’s been used in cellphone screens for a few years now? Well, its maker is working on a new version that’s even stronger than before, an amazing feat considering the second iteration (the one that’s being used in current-generation smartphones) has a thickness of anything from 0.5mm to 2mm. Corning’s focus is on strengthening the material and making it “three times more scratch-resistant than Gorilla Glass 2 – and that 40% fewer of the scratches that do occur will be invisible to the naked eye”.

Electronics that use the new Gorilla Glass are expected to be available at the end of Q2, 2013 according to David Velasquez, Corning’s director of marketing and commercial operations for Gorilla Glass.

New Tegra chips

Gigabit Wi-Fi coming soon A new wireless networking standard called IEEE 802.11ac is currently in development and will increase Wi-Fi speeds from their current maximum of 300Mbps to a whopping 1 000Mbps. To put that in context, that’s as fast as a wired Gigabit Ethernet connection.

It doesn’t just boost the speed of wireless data transfers, either – it also improves the wireless signal’s range and reduces the occurrence of ‘dead spots’, making it possible to cover every inch of even large-sized homes and offices with wireless signal.

Chip-maker NVIDIA will be releasing the latest version of its popular Tegra mobile processor this year.

Called the Tegra 4, it features six times the processing power of previous-gen Tegra 3 chips.

It supports faster 3D graphics at higher resolutions allowing for better-looking mobile games, all without dramatically draining battery power. “Tegra 4 provides enormous processing power and efficiency to power smartphones and tablets, gaming devices, auto systems and PCs,” said Phil Carmack, senior vice president of NVIDIA’s Tegra business unit. “Its new capabilities, particularly in the area of computational photography, will help improve a whole range of existing products and lead to the creation of exciting new ones.”

Samsung’s double quad core mobile chip Samsung has announced the world’s first eight-core processor designed specifically for mobile devices. It’s called the Exynos5 Octa, and is made up of two quad core ARM processors housed in a single chip. It was demonstrated

by Samsung CEO Stephen Woo at CES in Las Vegas, who emphasised that the chip is all about delivering great performance and fluid multi-tasking that doesn’t use a lot of battery power.

The new chip is rumoured to be used in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, which industry speculation suggests will launch sometime later in the year.

www.connectmag.co.za | 27

hardware sneak peek

BlackBerry Evolved What does BlackBerry 10, RIM’s newest smartphone operating system, have to offer, and is it enough to make you stick with it next time you upgrade?

BlackBerry 10 is more than just a tweaked operating system: it has been redesigned from the ground up and is RIM’s most important release to date. The focus is on speed, responsiveness and creating a smarter interface that adapts to the user’s usage patterns.

BlackBerry Remember This organiser application replaces the old ‘Tasks’ app, and lets users set tasks and goals and track them to completion from anywhere on the phone. It also integrates closely with Outlook’s calendar, and features reminders about tasks nearing their due dates. If this sounds similar to the functionality offered by Evernote, that’s because RIM has integrated many of Evernote’s features into BB10, which helps Remember make creating, monitoring and updating tasks easier than ever.

28 | connect | February 2013

ETA: FEBRUARY 2013

Fast web browsing BB10’s new, redesigned browser is fast, powerful and simple, with sharing over your favourite social networks built into its very fabric. It’ll even learn how you share most often (email, social networks, sending links and so on) and use that method as the default.

HTML5 FTW HTML5 is a web standard that makes it possible to show off complex web pages and rich multimedia content like games without taking up all of your phone’s hardware resources.

Thanks to extensive HTML5 support, BlackBerry 10 gives its users smooth, fast and responsive web browsing as well as access to games that look better than ever.

Questions & Answers Got questions about RIM’s up-coming OS? We have the answers...

Gestures In BB10, you can use finger gestures to get around your phone and access the features you need, quicker than before. Here are a few we think will be quite useful: > Swipe up to unlock the phone > Flick up on an app screen to minimise it > Flick up or down with two fingers to bring or discard the keyboard > Access app settings by swiping down from the top of the screen > Slide your finger up and to the side to see notifications

post picture corrections The cameras of all future BlackBerry 10 phones will be a lot smarter.

Imagine taking a photo of a group of friends, but their poses weren’t perfect. BB10’s Time Shift feature captures a few milliseconds before and after the shot was taken, allowing you to rewind to a time when your one friend’s eyes were open, and forward to when another friend’s smile looked less dorky, and finally combining all shots into a final composition that’s absolutely perfect.

Typing smarter The onscreen keyboard has been redesigned to make touchscreen typing easier. Built-in intelligence learns how you type and subtly adjusts if you regularly hit certain letters when you shouldn’t. It also suggests words as you type that help to complete sentences faster, and its accuracy improves over time as it learns your personal writing style.

Peek & Flow BB10 makes multi-tasking a lot simpler. Instead of switching between and closing applications manually, it has adopted a more Android-like approach by keeping apps open, adding its own flavour by allowing for seamless switching using gestures. This, in turn, lets users peek at notifications and flow into the relevant apps in a smooth motion if the notification necessitates action.

BlackBerry Balance Keeping work and personal data separate has long been a staple of BlackBerry smartphones’ feature stable, and BB10 streamlines it even further. BlackBerry Balance keeps personal info and apps separate from work data, and all work data is encrypted for maximum security. The difference in BB10 is that switching between the two is the speed at which you can switch between them: simply swipe down on the Home screen and choose which profile you need and off you go.

Q: The last BB OS was BlackBerry 7. What happened to 8 and 9?

A: RIM initially wanted to call the new operating system BBX because it represented quite a drastic change, but due to legal issues around the name (someone else already owns BBX), the company decided to change it to BlackBerry 10 instead.

X means 10 in Roman numerals so it’s still BBX in essence.

Q: Can I buy a BlackBerry phone with BB10 on it right now?

A: Quite possibly. There’s a good chance new BlackBerry phones will have been announced between the time of writing and you reading this article as RIM has repeatedly mentioned new phone announcements that would come ‘shortly after‘ the early 2013 unveil of BB10.

Q: Will current BlackBerry phones be able to upgrade to BB10?

A: No. This is something that not even online petitions or a worldwide Facebook appeal can alter due to the nature of the changes present in BB10. Sorry!

www.connectmag.co.za | 29

hardware reviews

Apple iPad with Retina display NEED TO KNOW • Also known as the iPad 4 • New Lightning adaptor • New A6X processor • Full LTE support R5 199.95 – R8 599.95 (R5 199.95 for 16GB Wi-Fi only)

As a special treat for iPad fans, Apple released not one but two updates to its wildly successful tablet in 2012. The first, the `New iPad’, launched in March. The second, confusingly called `iPad with Retina Display’, replaced it as the flagship in November, and is now available in South Africa.

Colloquially known as the iPads 3 and 4 respectively, the news of the fourth generation’s release might not be so welcome if you’ve only just bought a `new’ iPad (3). So what’s in the iPad 4, then, and is it worth an upgrade over an iPad 3? Could you even get away the trusty iPad 1 or 2, if you still have one of those?

30 | connect | February 2013

To answer that question, we need to look at what’s changed with this latest model. On the surface, the answer is not much: the iPad 4 has the same ultra-high-resolution Retina display and chassis as the iPad 3, with just a little bit of extra weight in the newer model to tell them apart – likely from a larger battery (more on that later).

The most noticeable external difference is the new Lightning dock connector, a tiny proprietary connector that replaces the old 30-pin one and serves as both the power cable and data transfer socket. This may spark some concern among owners of iPad accessories that use the old connector, but Apple has a converter (an extra purchase) that is compatible with most docks and so forth. There’ll be some grumbling if you own a lot of Apple kit already, but the truth is that the old connector – which dates back to the original iPod – needed updating. The Lightning connector is not only faster and smaller, it fits both ways up too.

If external differences are more or less cosmetic, though, internally there’s a lot more changes from the iPad 3. The iPad 4 boasts an upgraded

related

products

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5100)

processor called the A6X, which Apple claims is twice as fast as the A5X processor in the iPad 3. The biggest difference is in graphics performance: a 3D game called Infinity Blade II, for example, stutters occasionally on the iPad 3 but is silky-smooth on the iPad 4.

Other than that, however, while we know the A6X is faster, realistically there aren’t many moments where you’ll notice it right now. It allows for future apps and games to be developed that are more capable than current-gen ones, but it’s definitely not worth trading in an iPad 3 for.

If you’re upgrading from an iPad 2, of course, you will notice a snappier system with smoother scrolling for apps like maps.

The good news is that despite the A6X being more powerful than the A5X, it still manages to last ten hours on a single charge. It’s possible to get between six and seven hours of 3D gaming before the battery runs dry, and easily 10+ hours when using it as an everyday tablet.

Apple has also improved the networking performance of the iPad 4 by giving it support for dual-band Wi-Fi networks, and upgrading its 4G LTE radio so it can connect to more LTE networks. The iPad 3 could not connect to all of our local LTE networks when it launched last year as it did not support the same frequencies. The iPad 4 is marginally better: it connects just fine to MTN, Cell C and Vodacom’s LTE networks, but 8ta’s network is unfortunately not supported. 8ta does sell personal hotspot devices that connect any gadgets with Wi-Fi to its network, so, in theory, 8ta users are covered – just not directly from the iPad 4 itself.

Apple has upgraded the iPad 4’s FaceTime camera and left the rearmounted 5MP iSight camera as is. The front-mounted FaceTime camera now boasts a 1.2MP sensor that lets you broadcast your FaceTime chat at

720p quality and 30 frames per second, and, as always, the image quality of both cameras is very good outside of low-light situations.

When it comes to gripes, the iPad 4 is heavier than any iPad before it.

That makes it awkward to hold for long periods, and just about impossible to easily operate with one hand. It’s also expensive – there are certainly quite a number of cheaper tablets out there.

The question of the iPad 4’s value doesn’t have an easy answer. It’s definitely the best iPad made so far in purely technological terms, but is it a must-have? If you own an iPad 3, we don’t think so.

While the upgrades are nice, they’re not enough for us to recommend you rush out and buy one.

On the other hand, if you own the original iPad or the iPad 2 – or you don’t own a tablet at all – you should definitely consider the iPad 4 as it’s as slick and polished a tablet as Apple has ever released. It’s biggest competition right now, however, comes in a very small package. The brand new iPad mini (see Connect issue 45) costs less, is more portable and can do anything this can. Check it out before committing to buy this.

NOTEWORTHY SPECS • Operating System: iOS6 • Display: 9.7inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch IPS display @ 2 048x1 536 • Processor: Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics • Cameras: 1.2MP FaceTime HD with 720p video, 5MP rear-mounted iSight with 1 080p video • Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi on all models, 4G LTE connectivity on some, Bluetooth • Dimensions: 241.2mmx185.7mmx9.4mm • Weight: 652g (Wi-Fi), 662g (Wi-Fi & Cellular)

Pros

Cons

• The faster processor future-proofs the tablet • Ten-hour battery life • HD FaceTime calls look fantastic • Support for more LTE networks

• Heavier than other iPads • Difficult to operate with one hand • Expensive relative to other tablets • iPad mini is mighty compelling

Overall rating

Samsung is nipping at Apple’s heels with its own tablets that run the Android operating system. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is one of the Korean company’s finest efforts.

Asus Transformer Pad TF300

The Transformer Pad tablet lasts up to 15 hours on a single charge thanks to a keyboard dock that doubles as an additional battery.

perfect companions

Apple Lightning to 30-pin Adapter This essential converter makes it possible to use older accessories with the iPad 4’s new Lightning connector.

www.connectmag.co.za | 31

hardware reviews

perfect companions

Samsung Series 7 All-in-One Touch PC NEED TO KNOW Logitech Wireless Combo MK330 This affordable yet highquality wireless desktop set is just the thing to replace the Series 7’s plasticky kit.

Dedicated Windows keys make getting around the new OS incredibly simple, and multimedia keys come in handy when changing, stopping or pausing songs and videos.

Logitech Z313 Speakers These speakers will provide an affordable way to make games, music and movies louder and clearer than any built-in speakers can manage.

A small control pod provides easy access to the volume dial and the dedicated subwoofer produces deep bass that fills the room.

• Windows 8 all-in-one PC • Ten-point touchscreen • Wireless keyboard and mouse • 23.6inch Full HD screen R15 999.95

Imagine a desktop PC that looks like a stylish HD TV, and you’ll be close to what Samsung has created with the Series 7 Touch PC. It’s a beautiful all-in-one desktop PC that runs Windows 8 and takes its design cues from the company’s top end TVs. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s all about the looks, though: it has hardware powerful enough for professionals with high performance needs and discerning consumers who want the best for Windows 8’s new touch features.

The 23.6inch screen has a flat, smooth bezel that means you won’t feel a bump when swiping from the edges on the ten-point touchscreen.

The Full HD resolution makes everything Windows has to show look very sharp, and colours and brightness are excellent. The overall impression of the display is one of high quality and polish.

It’s not just the touchscreen that’s geared up for Windows 8’s new features either. The webcam and microphone are set up to recognise voice commands and hand gestures, if you fancy a completely new way to interact with your computer. You’ll feel a bit of a burk using them in the office, but in the privacy of your own home the system is surprisingly responsive, with only minimal training required for it to recognise your voice and the way you wave your hands around.

We really liked the unit’s stand. Since it’s shaped more like a triangular trestle, it provides more support than most monitors do when pressing the screen. We experienced good resistance, and didn’t get the sense the screen was bending under our finger pressure when interacting with Windows 8.

Samsung has also thrown in two HDMI ports: one that accepts input so you can connect it to any HDMI-enabled gadget (games console, media player, Blu-ray player, etc) and use the PC as a screen, and another that outputs the PC’s video and audio signals to external equipment. As a result,

32 | connect | FEBRUARY 2013

the Series 7 makes for a great all-round entertainment system, and its good looks will blend in quite nicely with even the most style-conscious home.

Samsung has given it a decent Ivy Bridge processor, plenty of storage space and more RAM than most PCs ship with. Graphics power, an area often overlooked by desktop makers these days, is likewise quite beefy – Samsung went with AMD’s Mobile Radeon HD7690M chip, which is more than adequate for games. As it’s so thin, it was a surprise to discover a built-in optical drive too. Blu-ray drive would have been nicer, but we’re nitpicking.

To maintain its stylish design, the Series 7 has a wireless keyboard and mouse and wireless network connectivity. The keyboard and mouse look fantastic, although the plastic they’re made of feels a bit cheap. Of course, this is easily rectified by providing a wireless desktop combo of your own, but it’s still a bit disappointing.

The Series 7 has attention-grabbing looks, a gorgeous and responsive touchscreen and the kind of hardware that delivers on the potential its looks hint at.

NOTEWORTHY SPECS • Operating System: Windows 8 64-bit • Processor: Intel Core i5-3470T @ 2.9GHz • RAM: 6GB DDR3-1600 • Storage: 1TB 5400RPM • Display: 23.6inch LED Full HD, ten-point touch • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 and AMD Mobile Radeon HD7690M • Connectivity: IEEE 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit LAN Pros

Cons

• Gorgeous looks and clever overall design • Touch essential for Windows 8 • HDMI input is useful

• Keyboard and mouse feel a bit plasticky • No Blu-ray drive • iMac is cheaper

Overall rating

C1200595

Experience colour like never before.

Engineered with professionally calibrated technology for superbly accurate colour detail, the new Samsung SB970 lets you experience colours the way nature intended.

Follow us on

reviews hardware

21.5 Inch Apple iMac NEED TO KNOW • Incredibly thin, right down to the bezel • Faster than previous iMacs • Anti-reflective, anti-glare edge-to-edge display From R13 699.95

This is quite possibly the prettiest piece of kit that Apple has ever released, and that’s not a statement we make lightly given the physical attraction of most things that come from the Cupertino company. It’s the first major revision to the iMac’s design for four years, and it’s well worth the wait. It’s a stunning design that tapers to just 5mm thick at its edges, yet houses a fully capable PC in its all-aluminum chassis.

Of course, the slimline looks are made possible thanks to the improvements in processor technology over the years. Behind the screen you’ll find a quad core Intel Ivy Bridge processor with 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB hard drive. Paired with that is an NVIDIA GeForce graphics processor, either a GT 640M or GT 650M, depending on the specific model – but both more than capable of lightweight gaming and running high-intensity video and media applications. Just a couple of years ago, this level of components would have required a bulky cooling system and noisy fan: now it fits in a space barely bigger than the hinge between screen and stand.

While not a Retina display, the 21.5inch iMac’s screen has undergone a few tweaks that make it superior to any found in previous models. Apple has given it anti-reflective and anti-glare coatings that keep bright rooms from ruining the view, and has also covered the screen with glass that extends from edge to edge so there’s no bezel to distract. Most importantly, it’s moved the IPS LCD panel so that it’s right against the screen’s glass, a small trick that does wonders for making images appear closer and somehow more lifelike.

For all that it’s the size of the chassis that will garner most headlines, it’s the quality of the screen that will keep you happy on a day-to-day basis.

Other all-in-one manufacturers might throw in touch-sensitive displays, but none come close to the colour accuracy Apple has achieved here. And that’s far more important than navigating with fingers.

Arranged along the bottom of the iMac’s face are down-firing speakers whose size belies their excellent performance. The quality of the speakers is a step up from previous iMacs, despite being small enough to fit into the ultra-thin housing. As a result, listening to music and movie audio on the iMac is much better than you’d expect.

At the top of the screen, you’ll find two microphones and a FaceTime HD-friendly webcam. These mean hi-res, full screen crystal-clear communications between you and your chat partner, although obviously the higher the definition the more bandwidth a call uses.

Squeezing such a vast array of powerful tech into an astonishingly tiny space has required the removal of the optical drive and FireWire port and moving the SDXC card reader to the rear of the machine. Getting the price down has also meant falling back on a slow 5 400RPM hard drive, which is the one big criticism we have of the machine. There are, however, four USB 3.0 ports, a headphone jack, two Lightning ports and a Gigabit Ethernet jack, all handily located within easy reach. Apple’s Wireless Keyboard and the Magic Mouse ship with the iMac, and they are as good as ever in terms of feel, everyday operation and performance.

We’ve seen a lot of all-in-ones that have come very close to rivalling Apple’s design since the last iMac launch in 2009, and it was getting to be a very close call to recommend one of them over other makes. The new iMac, however, puts Apple firmly back on top.

NOTEWORTHY SPECS • Processor: Quad core Intel Core i5 @ 2.7GHz • Memory: 8GB DDR3-1600 • Storage: 1TB 5 400RPM SATA3 Hard Drive • Display: 21.5inch Full HD IPS panel @ 1 920x1 080 • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 640M with 512MB GDDR5 • Operating System: Mac OS X (Mountain Lion) • Audio: Down-firing stereo speakers, dual microphones, headphone port • Connections and expansion: SDXC card slot, 4x USB 3.0 ports, 2x Thunderbolt ports, Mini DisplayPort • Networking: Gigabit ethernet and Wireless N Pros

Cons

• Slimmest desktop outside of budget all-in-ones • Strong internal hardware delivers great performance • Outstandingly elegant design

• No way to upgrade internals • No optical drive • Slow hard drive

Overall rating

related

products

27-inch Apple iMac

The 21.5-inch iMac’s bigger brother boasts even more computational power and the option to manually upgrade the system RAM through a user-accessible memory access port.

Dell XPS One 27

If you’re firmly in the Windows camp (and there’s nothing wrong with that), then Dell’s exceptional XPS One 27 is the king of the Windows 8 all-in-one hill and the chief contender for your PC budget.

www.connectmag.co.za | 35

hardware reviews

related

products

Turtle Beach Z2 Ear Force Z2 Headphones NEED TO KNOW • Designed for gamers • Folds up for easy carriage • Microphone for PC as well as Xbox controllers R899.95

House of Marley Soul Rebel Rasta

House of Marley’s not got a reputation for being cheap but its Rebel Rasta cans go for a full R300 less than the Z2s, and they sound a lot better.

There’s no microphone, mind, so not as good for gaming.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Console

By subscribing to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold service, you gain access to multiplayer gaming. For that, you’ll definitely need a headset to yell at your opponents, and the Z2 fits the bill nicely.

Xbox and PC gamers looking for a new set of headphones will find this one from Turtle Beach quite interesting. It’s a rather uncomplicated headset with in-line volume controls, a flexible microphone and a detachable cable.

It will probably find most use as a headset for PC gamers, but you can also connect it to an Xbox controller by means of an additional cable (sold separately), thereby allowing gamers using the Xbox Live service to talk to one another during games.

The headset itself is partially collapsible – the earcups twist to the side and can fold into the headband, which allows for easy storage. It also lets gamers rest the headphones comfortably around their necks when they’re not gaming, something they’re sure to appreciate.

Headphone cables can sometimes be a little on the short side, but not so here: Turtle Beach’s engineers have chosen a pretty long cable for the Z2 so gamers won’t feel tethered to their rigs by a short cord. It’s also entirely detachable: a breakaway jack can be found about 40cm from the earcup, and unplugs easily. This is convenient as gamers won’t have to leave their headphones with their PC if they decide to walk away from their rigs for a few minutes, but also a little inconvenient in that it has a tendency to detach without your direct intervention. It happened several times during testing, much to our chagrin.

A very flexible microphone on a boom arm can be found on the left side of the headphones. It’s quite long and can bend into nearly any position a gamer might need it to. The microphone also makes this useful as a headset for online voice chats using any of the many available services (we’re most fond of Skype), so even if you’re not a gamer, this headset can potentially meet your needs.

The headphones themselves don’t feel like they set you back R900. The plastic on the earcups feels weak and cheap, and their leatherette on both the cuffs and the headband isn’t the softest or nicest either. Fortunately, the

36 | connect | February 2013

Z2 makes up for that by being quite strong; it’s sufficiently hardy that it feels like it would take quite a bit of effort to break them in any meaningful way.

While Turtle Beach’s website says these headphones offer professionalgrade audio, we’re not sure that they’re talking about audio professionals.

Studio quality, these are not and our finely-tuned work laptop, whose audio sounds beautiful on another pair of headphones we own, sounds like it’s playing music through a tin cup on the Z2s. Vocals sound like they’re being sung from behind a wall, with the instruments in front, and there’s a prevailing, and rather disconcerting, tinny tone.

Movies and games fare quite a bit better, though, with explosions, gun chatter and other effects coming through quite nicely. Dialogue is also clear, so these are definitely best suited to non-musical applications.

So these are definitely worth a punt for gaming, especially on consoles where the competition isn’t so high. If you want a headset that’s more rounded, however, look elsewhere.

NOTEWORTHY SPECS • Speakers: 50mm speakers with neodymium magnets • Condenser Microphone Frequency Response: 50Hz – 15kHz • Weight: 0.27kg • Cable length: 3.048m • Switch: Microphone mute switch • Plugs: Separate 3.5mm plugs for line input and mic • Jack: Xbox Live microphone output jack • Headphone volume: Stereo

Pros

Cons

• Games and movies sound good • Xbox connectivity is a bonus • They’re quite strong and fold up nicely

• Nothing here for PS3 gamers • Breakaway jack sometimes breaks away on its own • Music can sound rather tinny

Overall rating

© 2012 Kaspersky Lab ZAO. All rights reserved. Registered trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

I don’t want to know whether people can access my personal data, i just want to know it’s locked down.That’s why I use Kaspersky Internet Security. www.kaspersky.co.za

www.kasperskyafrica.com www.phoenixsoftware.co.za Tel No: 0861 746 3649

hardware group test

Smart for

Sport

The latest TVs are the ultimate geekjock hybrids: high refresh rates for watching fast-paced sports and packed with tablet-like apps for internet and smart features.

With the Africa Cup of Nations currently underway and more sporting goodness lined up for the rest of the year, it’s a fantastic time to buy a new TV. Even if you already own an HD TV, new Smart TVs offer enough handy functionality to encourage an upgrade.

For this month’s roundup, we procured three Smart TVs of varying sizes from Samsung and compared them to one another in order to formulate opinions on which of them might be best suited for watching sport. We took into consideration size, price, the quality of the images they displayed, brightness, contrast, the works.

Of course, buying a TV these days is about more than just size and image quality; extras like Smart TV functionality, the responsiveness and button layout of remote controls and other factors are just as important.

With that in mind, we examined each TV’s ease of use, checked out their setup processes to see how easy or complicated they were, and delved deeply into their menu systems to see if getting around and finding what we needed was a pleasure or a chore.

Ultimately, though, which of these TVs would be best for you depends on your needs. Read on to find out what we thought of these three.

How to choose the right-sized screen: Choosing the right TV depends on the room it’s going to go in, the desired picture quality and, ultimately, the price.

The best way to go about it is to figure out how far away you are going to be sitting from the TV, and then use this simple formula to work out the minimum and maximum size of the required TV. Min TV dimensions = Viewing distance divided by 3 Max TV dimensions = Viewing distance divided by 1.5 For example, if there will be about 3m between your seat and the TV, a 40inch (102cm) TV is the smallest TV you should consider, while an 80inch (204cm) set is the biggest, with anything in between those figures also a good choice. The aim is to sit close enough to the TV so you see all the fantastic detail High Definition has to offer, without being so close that you start to see individual pixels. The role of the room itself also plays a part. Consider getting a TV closer to the minimum size as determined by the formula above for a bedroom, but don’t be shy about going big in the lounge.

www.connectmag.co.za | 39

hardware group test Samsung UA40EH6030 40inch 3D LED HD TV R6 499.95

Samsung UA55ES6200 55inch 3D LED HD TV R21 999.95 Overview

The UA55ES6200 is slightly less impressive in that it doesn’t have a webcam for the voice and motion controls enjoyed by its 46inch sibling. It does, however, have an extra nine inches of screen space, four HDMI inputs and the same Smart TV functionality. It’s huge in comparison while remaining just as slim, and also comes with the same touch remote as the 46incher.

Looks

Its thin bezel gives the TV a larger-than-life look, and the thin build means easy wallmounting if the X-shaped stand doesn’t fit into your lounge’s décor.

Setup

The same as with the 46inch. On-screen prompts keep the initial setup process clear, and a few updates run once setup completes. In all, very easy.

3D

It was absolutely fantastic to watch the 3D version of Avatar on this TV. Never underestimate the ability of 55 inches of screen real estate to draw you into a 3D movie – this was by far the best 3D experience of the lot, so if 3D is your thing, this TV is for you.

Operation

Just like the 46inch model, the Overall Rating

40 | connect | February 2013

Overview

3D

This TV is part of a new ‘economy’ range, as indicated by the EH in its model number.

That means it’s not as thin or as featurepacked as others that have, say, ES in their model name. It’s still an LED TV, but its panel is quite thick (we’re talking 10cm or so), and it doesn’t have as many ‘Smart TV’ options as the top-end models. That said, it has a Full HD 3D panel, so it’s capable in its own right. Most importantly, that price is quite nice.

The UA40EH6030 comes with two active 3D glasses, and the 3D experience is good. We enjoyed Bolt in 3D, although the screen size didn’t do the experience justice – bigger would have been much better.

Looks

UA55ES6200’s operation is hampered by the annoying touch remote. We did grow accustomed to it, but we much prefer remote controls with lots of buttons. The absence of motion and voice controls doesn’t hurt this TV much if what you’re after is a TV and not a showcase of nice-to-have functions that don’t really add much to the viewing experience. The Smart TV capabilities here are close to those on the 46inch, so you can play movies from various sources, surf the net, download and install apps and more.

Image Quality

Smooth motion, crisp details and vivid colours are hallmarks of the UA55ES6200’s visuals, making it a pleasure to watch regardless of the content. Sport was especially good- looking on its expansive surface, and this is the TV we recommend if you often have guests over to watch the weekend’s sporting events. Its size makes it ideal for multi-person viewing, and the image quality gives audiences a lot to appreciate.

We Say: Fantastic for watching sport and movies with friends, but will be way too pricey for most to buy.

The UA40EH6030 is as thick as an older LCD screen, which makes it the ugly cousin of this roundup. It has a relatively thin bezel and a rather big stand, so while it’s not completely captivating from the side, it looks pretty good from the front.

Setup

This TV has no Wi-Fi, so it has to be connected by network cable, which isn’t anywhere near as convenient. Setting it up is a matter of following the on-screen prompts, and then waiting for the latest updates to download and install once that is done. The whole process shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes.

Operation

Accessing menus and getting around all the options is simple thanks to the included remote’s easy-to-learn button layout.

There are only two HDMI ports, though, which limits the number of external media players that can be connected. The Smart TV functions it supports are the ability to play media stored on USB sticks and hard drives (ConnectShare) and another (AllShare) that lets you play files stored on PCs, media players and notebooks that are connected to your home network. It works well, but the menus for these functions look like a throwback to 1990s design, plus not all HD movie file types are supported.

Image quality

With its 200Hz ‘Clear Motion Rate’ and Samsung’s panel technology putting out a bright image with punchy colours and good contrast, this is a fine TV to watch and play games on.

We say: A very respectable and reasonably priced TV, but not the best looker and no Wi-Fi built in.

Overall Rating

Edi t Choor’s ice

Samsung UA46ES7500 46inch 3D LED HD TV R15 999.95

Samsung has packed a lot into this TV. It’s ultra-slim, pleasantly large and works with voice and motion controls in addition to a remote control. The remote is touchsensitive rather than button-intensive, there are three HDMI inputs and it has a lot of Smart TV functionality.

Simply follow the prompts that appear the first time you turn on the TV, download a few updates and you’re done.

Wi-Fi setup is the trickiest part, as entering the right password using the onscreen keyboard and the touch remote can take a bit of time. But it’s worth persevering with, to hook your TV up to the ‘net.

Looks

3D

This is a very pretty TV. The bezel is very thin, which makes the TV screen look even bigger than it is, and it’s less than 2.5cm thick so it’s easily wall-mounted. The stand is an X-shaped affair that adds more than a bit of style and sophistication to the overall design.

A 3D viewing of How to Train your Dragon 3D was enjoyed by all – the additional screen size made a noticeable difference to our enjoyment.

The active glasses did an admirable job of keeping the 3D convincing and judder-free.

Overview

Setup

Operation

Samsung has made it easy to set up this TV.

The biggest issue with this TV is the touch

remote that Samsung has included. It has a touch pad for directional navigation and selection, and only a handful of buttons with dedicated functions, and using it isn’t quite as simple as a normal button-heavy remote.

Voice controls work well although there aren’t as many vocal commands as there are functions, and motion control is a neat addition but didn’t always work for us.

The built-in webcam (used for motion and voice control) is quite clear and very handy for video conversations over Skype.

Image Quality

Samsung claims that this TV has a 600Hz ‘Clear Motion Rate’ (see page 17), but since that’s a measurement entirely invented

by Samsung, it’s a bit meaningless as a comparison to other sets. In reality, the

screen refresh rate is a whopping 200Hz, which means exceptionally smooth motion during fast action, and something Samsung should be proud of and not bury with made up numbers.

It’s a great TV, but the high price means it won’t appeal to all.

We say: This TV has it all: size, features, attractive looks and great image quality.

Overall Rating

The verdict...

Even though the budgetfriendliness of the 40incher in the roundup won us over, and as much as we loved the sheer size of the 55incher, ultimately it’s the 46incher we must give top honours

to. It offers the best balance between size, image quality, affordability and features, and its motion and voice controls place it in the unique position among these three screens of being as

future-proof as possible. As a result, we’re happy to endorse it as the TV we’d most like to watch the Cup of Nations on as well as all of the other awesome sporting events coming our way in 2013.

www.connectmag.co.za | 41

C1200595

hardware long term test

Windows 8 Windows 8 has been out for a few months now. Deon du Plessis recounts his experience with Microsoft’s latest OS so far.

Like many journalists, I wasn’t a huge fan of Windows 8 when I first got my hands on the Consumer Preview in the middle of 2012. It was the new Start Screen that put me off, and all the touches Microsoft added to make the operating system more usable for tablets and touchscreens.

Personally, I don’t care about touch. I’ve been using a computer for most of my life, and I like my keyboard and mouse – I do not want to sit in front of my computer raising my arms to touch things on the screen. Call me a grouch, a grognard or a troglodyte if you like, but that’s how I feel, and so, I’m sure, do many others.

I also hated that finding things like the Control Panel seemed to require extra steps. I disliked how buried things like my computer’s settings were, and I really, really hated the stupid `full screen apps’ Microsoft has been so gung-ho about that are available through the new Windows Store. I didn’t – and still don’t, really – see the point of it all.

That’s because I run Windows on my desktop. I like windows, status bars, closing applications with the red and white x, the taskbar and my system tray. Most of all, I like my Start Menu, and this new, ugly, busy `Start Screen’ has proven to be a poor replacement.

But then I discovered an app called Start8 by the company Stardock that brought back my Start Menu, just like it used to be. Sure, it cost me R45 to buy, but after it was installed, a Windows logo reappeared in the bottom left corner of my screen, and now when I boot up, my PC boots to my desktop. Along with everything I loved about the Start Menu, I now have even more control courtesy of Start8’s control panel.

As extreme a solution as it was, Start8 saved me from dismissing Windows 8 entirely. With my old Start Menu back, the mist of rage over the changes to the OS lifted, and I have been able to appreciate the other tweaks Microsoft made to Windows 8.

42 | connect | February 2013

Start me up!

If you’re not a fan of the new Start Screen either, grab a 30-day trial of Start8 and see how it changes the OS for the better. Pick it up from www.stardock.com/start8, and don’t look back.

The most important of these is that my work laptop, a modest Core i5 system with a non-SSD hard drive, seems a whole lot faster than it was under Windows 7. Nothing has changed apart from the OS – this is still the exact same computer I’ve been using for a while now, but it honestly seems like a new machine. It boots up faster, takes less than two seconds to resume from sleep, zipping around my desktop feels faster and even Internet Explorer 10 seems to respond and load quicker than IE9 ever did.

I also learned an incredibly useful new shortcut. Right-clicking the lower left corner of the screen brings up a list of links to many frequently needed Windows functions, including the Control Panel, Command Prompt, Disk Management, File Explorer, etc. It’s there whether you’ve installed Start8 or not, and it’s very handy. I’ve gone from not being impressed with Windows 8 to being very happy I upgraded. Once I got past the changes I didn’t like, I found an operating system that’s genuinely much faster than Windows 7 on the same hardware, with tons of interface tweaks to make things easier (even without using touch). In the end, I have to say that once I had things tweaked to my liking, Windows 8 proved itself to be a worthy successor to Windows 7.

C1200595

Bring colour to life with Samsung mobile printing.

Wireless mobile printing has finally arrived. Print virtually any file type with your smartphone - in just one step.

No wonder it’s the winner of BLI’s first-ever Pick award for “Outstanding Mobile Print App”.

Follow us on

hardware components

component

corner

Windows 8’s gestures are a whole new ways of doing things on the desktop – and you don’t need a touchscreen to use them. Here’s six of the best upgrades to add touch to your PC.

Microsoft Wedge Mobile Keyboard R749.95

Be honest – no matter what tablet you have, you’d rather shout an email into a megaphone than type on its on-screen keyboard. That’s why mobile keyboards are a must, and this one from Microsoft is excellent. It has all the keys you need, plus it feels fantastic beneath your fingers with just the right amount of key feedback. It’s another Bluetooth goodie and needs no extra dongle to connect. The pièce de résistance is its rubber cover that doubles as a tablet stand for those times when you’re watching a movie or doing some light work.

Features: • Small, sturdy mobile keyboard • Bluetooth connectivity • Rubber cover that doubles as a tablet stand

Dell S2340T 23-inch Touch Monitor Available on request

Forget touchpads and touch mice, what your desktop system really needs to deliver the ultimate Windows 8 experience is a touch-sensitive monitor like this one from Dell. The S2340T supports ten points of touch so you can use it with both hands, and its versatile stand can be adjusted into a number of positions – including completely flat – to ensure you remain comfortable while using it. Built-in speakers, a microphone and webcam complete the picture, giving desktop systems everything notebooks and Ultrabooks have that make them such useful communication and entertainment tools.

Features: • Touchscreen for a desktop PC • Can be arranged in various angles (including flat) • Embedded speakers, camera and microphone

44 | connect | FEBRUARY 2013

Microsoft Sculpt Touch Mouse R499.95

The Sculpt Touch Mouse is easily one of the most comfortable wireless mice to have come from Microsoft in years. It works on either one or two batteries (a feature that allows users to customise its weight) and has a smooth plastic touch zone on the top that doubles as a third mouse button and scroll wheel. Because we’re used to wheels clicking as we move them under an index finger, it vibrates to indicate it’s been touched, similar to how a traditional touch wheel clicks when moved. It’s also equipped with Bluetooth, and does not require a dongle to connect to any Bluetoothcapable notebook or PC. Features:

Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650 R899.95

• BlueTrack tech tracks on most surfaces • Four-way scroll strip vibrates when touched • Connects using Bluetooth

Mice? Where we’re going, we don’t need mice. This wireless laptop-like touchpad brings swipes and gestures to any desktop PC, and gives you all the room you need to perform every gesture-based motion Windows 8 supports. If you don’t like certain gestures, or find yourself activating them accidentally, it’s possible to customise or disable them using the useful SetPoint software that accompanies the T650.

Features: • Wireless touchpad designed for desktops • Control advanced Windows 8 shortcuts with your fingers • Customise your own shortcuts using SetPoint software

Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse R899.95

This tiny, highly portable mouse is a perfect companion for tablets. It’s small enough to fit into a pocket for easy transport, works with Bluetooth technology so there’s no need for a dongle, and is made from high-quality materials that feel really good under your fingertips. Its touch-sensitive surface lets you scroll in four directions, and it stretches battery life by entering a low-power sleep mode when it senses the computer it’s tethered to shutting down or entering hibernation mode.

Features:

Logitech Zone Touch Mouse T400

• Mobile mouse with touchpad functions • Tiny, ultraportable design • Works on Windows 8 and Android

R599.95

Logitech has fused its classic notebook mouse design with a wheel-less ‘touch zone strip’ that enables you to scroll through documents and webpages by stroking its surface. Simply flick your finger across the strip in the direction you wish to scroll, and the T400 does the rest. Small enough to take anywhere and with a built-in battery indicator, the Zone Touch is

specifically designed to work with Windows 8 gestures for calling up the Start screen and so on.

Features: • Three-button wireless mouse • Touch zone strip enables wheelfree scrolling • Uses Logitech’s Unifying Receiver

www.connectmag.co.za | 45

Gaming News | Previews | Reviews | The Best Advice

But Is it art?

N

ever ones to shy away from controversy, MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York recently exhibited a series of video games.

As the curators no doubt expected, the exhibition kicked off a certain amount of debate.

Are games art? Are they just entertainment? Is the debate even worth having in 2013? As far as the last question goes, the answer is apparently yes. The creativity, energy and smarts that go into developing a game is stilloverlooked or brushed off as kids-only entertainment by some.

Yet in a world where the average gamer is in their 30s and the form covers everything from the skop, skite en donder of Call of Duty to the breathtakingly ambitious and experimental Dear Esther, the suggestion that games aren’t worthy of MOMA’s consideration would be frankly more controversial.

Back to works of art, indie games, in particular, can be inspired products of the imagination. Which is why, in our gaming section this month, we review The Unfinished Swan (page 50), a surreal PSN journey that will both enchant and puzzle players. We also load up Epic Mickey 2 (page 56), a title that pays homage to Disney’s artistic past. And in our all-new mobile gaming section, TellTale’s episodic Walking Dead story for iPhone and iPad is a masterpiece of storytelling in interactive form. It also costs nothing.

And nor do the games in our cool roundup (page 52) of freebies like Battlefield Heroes, PlanetSide 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Art or no, we know what we like.

Tiana Cline Gaming Editor

48 Contents

57

47 NEWS The latest and greatest TREK 48 STAR Boldly going where others have gone before LAST LIGHT 50 METRO: WATCH DOGS

The post-Soviet subway shooter returns

52

UNFINISHED SWAN 52 THE Also, the half-baked hadeda GAMES SPECIAL 54 FREE Our favourite price.

LAND 57 NINTENDO ZOMBIU

Two more Wii U games considered

EPIC MICKEY 2: THE POWER OF TWO 58 DISNEY SKYLANDERS: GIANTS Kids get all the best games

60 MOBILE GAMING

On your tablet or phone? On this page

Our gaming promise to you…

Games aren’t cheap, and if you’re going to get the best value for your money, you need to be sure you’re getting the best advice there is. Our deal with you is that we will be:

46 | connect February 2013

60

Independent of bias

Authoritative

Exhaustive

Jargon free

Our reviewers work hard, and they work alone. There’s no question of interference from publishers, developers, advertisers or other business partners. We say what we think and recommend only what we like.

We’ve played a lot of games here at Connect, starting with ye olde Binatone Pong clone in 1812, right up to ZombiU 200 years later. Our knowledge of gaming is vast and comprehensive, and we know what you like.

Every game reviewed is played through to the end, and only then do we decide whether or not we like it. We’ll avoid spoilers, but we won’t leave you open to unpleasant surprises, like a bad final reel which ruins the end.

We’re knowledgeable so you don’t have to be. If there’s something technical that makes a game great, we’ll explain it simply.

The best there is ‘Nuff said.

news

Gaming

Elder Scrolls Online goes beta Fans of The Elder Scrolls series of games can help to beta-test the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online MMO by signing up on the game’s website right now. Scheduled for launch “sometime in 2013”, the game will allow thousands of players to quest together online for glory, experience points and loot in the Elder Scrolls universe. > Head over to www.elderscrollsonline.com to sign up.

Dead Space 3 to feature microtransactions The latest entry in EA’s survival horror franchise will feature microtransactions that will enable players to buy the raw materials necessary to build advanced weapons in the game. Fortunately players won’t be able to craft those weapons right from the start so it’s not a case of “pay to win”, more like “pay to avoid actually discovering things for yourself”.

Kermit was having a bad day

Social Combat Tired of cutesy Farmville players asking you to help them plough their pumpkins? Facebook, together with U4iA Games, is about to launch a free-to-play shooter called Offensive Combat. Playable as a Facebook app, players can choose from 30 game archetypes (like modern soldiers, space marines and robots) and engage in a variety of multiplayer modes across nine maps. Offensive Combat is said to be modelled after best-selling FPS titles like Call of Duty and Halo. With new content every two weeks and enticing micro-transactions, Offensive Combat may be just what hardcore Facebook fans are looking for.

Is your Pip-Boy on?

Video Game Grammy For the first time in music history, a video game soundtrack has garnered a nomination alongside movie soundtracks in the well respsected Grammy shortlist. Austin Wintory has been nominated for an award for his work on Journey. Games only became eligible for the award in 2000 and this is the first time a complete game score has actually received such recognition.

Journey, the PlayStation exclusive title, is an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person’s life passage and their intersections with others. Alongside its haunting soundtrack, Journey has striking visuals and unique online action.

Will this nomination set a new standard for video game soundtracks?

Wintory already won `Best Original Score‘ for Journey at the Spike Video Game Awards and was nominated by the International Film Music Critics Association for `Breakout Composer of the Year’.

Is Bethesda about to announce Fallout 4? Erik Todd Dellums, the voice of Galaxy News Radio DJ Three Dog, tweeted that it looked like he would be reprising his role in the near future. He later confirmed Bethesda had given him permission to release the teasing tweet. According to IGN rumours, the next Fallout game could be set in Boston (game scouts were apparently seen snooping around Cambridge) and it will run on Bethesda’s recent Elder Scrolls engine, giving us a more realistic and grimy wasteland than ever seen before.

Project Fiona Finalised It’s a tablet. It’s a PC. It’s a console. Yes, it’s all three. At CES 2012, Razer’s highly-acclaimed Project Fiona PC gaming tablet was introduced.

Renamed the Razer Edge, it’s the world’s first gaming tablet for PC gamers designed by PC gamers. As a massive crowdsourcing effort, Razer targeted millions of gamers to determine final specifications for the Edge. Razer let the PC gaming community decide the Edge’s end-game chipset, weight/ thickness, features and even price. The Edge will run Windows 8 and utilise technology from both Intel and NVIDIA. > Go to www.razerzone.com for pricing and tech specs.

www.connectmag.co.za | 47

Gaming

preview

The Mayans were right

Star Trek

More than a galactic-themed Army of Two-esque bromace with space banter

Space. The final frontier.

No wait! There seems to be a bit more...

48 | connect | February 2013

NEED TO KNOW • Go co-op as Kirk and Spock • An original story from God of War writer • Explore the Starship Enterprise and exotic planets Oddly, this all-new Star Trek game is not a tie-in to May’s Into the Darkness movie release. Developer Namco Bandai has spent a good three years making the title, basing it on the dynamics of the previous film but with an original story. Working with God of War screenwriter Marianne Krawczyk and focussing on creating an epic co-op game experience complete with 23rd century hi-tech weapons, it’s a rich storyline and action-packed combat.

Because the game is essentially a co-op shooter, it has two protagonists, each with unique abilities.

Spock is more the quiet, stealthy type – using a tricorder to mind-meld enemies and then nervepinch them from behind. Kirk, on the other hand, is a runnin’, gunnin’ cowboy brawler. Namco Bandai describes it as an “asymmetrical co-op experience”.

Mars Lander gets a surprise

Who designed this mess?

>>Trekkie time<<

Playing with a friend it’s a lot of fun, but go at it on your own and there are two very different games in one depending on the character you choose.

The enemy are the iconic Gorn, this time as re-imagined versions of the original TV villains, determined to conquer the galaxy by infecting pray with deadly venom. Ranging in size and abilities, they seed mayhem and destruction as they destroy populations and deplete planets of resources.

What we’re most looking forward to? Hijacking enemy battleships, swimming through subterranean waterways and jumping through zero G onto moving spaceships and a bit of passive-agressive cameraderie between the protagonists. In other words, the full next-gen Star Trek experience.

To help, the game features voices from the 2009 movie – including Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock respectively.

You’ll also hear Zoe Saldana in the role of Lieutenant Uhura and Simon Pegg, of course, as Scotty. Namco Bandai looks set to take Star Trek to where no thirdperson shooter has gone before.

Never mind bestselling games like Star Trek Online – Cryptic Studio’s 2010 MMO – or Prime Objective, an RPG set in the Star Fleet Universe, the Star Trek franchise is the popular subject of board games, tabletop war games and numerous card games and starship simulations.

Here is Star Trek by the numbers:

Teenage mutant ninja lizards

Beam me up... errr... Spock?

3 Arcade games 3 Pinball games 3 Card games 6 Franchise TV series 22 Console games 8 RPG games 53 PC games 20 Board games 7 Tabletop wargames 400 000: The years it would take the Enterprise to cross the galaxy.

12 Movies

www.connectmag.co.za | 49

Gaming

previews Artyom loved a good sunrise

Metro: Last Light The year is 2034 and post-apocalyptic Moscow isn’t the nicest place to visit – the tunnels below the city are filled with dangerous mutants and the station-cities of the Metro are locked in a massive power struggle. Will there be a civil war? It seems likely. This is Metro: Last Light, the much-anticipated sequel to Metro 2033, 2008’s dark first-person shooter.

With an original storyline written by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky (the first game was based on a book of his), Last Light is more than your typical FPS. It combines combat with stealth, and survival horror with adventure. The world may be in ruins but there’s a lot to discover, and Artyom – the returning protagonist – could hold the key to humanity’s survival.

Lord of the flies, the war

Watch Dogs

The private lives of hackers

50 | connect | February 2013

Not to be confused with Shooting Dogs (Square Enix’ Asian Grand Theft Auto-esque sandbox game from last year), Watch Dogs is an all-new open-world actionadventure from the makers of Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed. With nearly three years of development under its belt, the game is set in the near future and asks pertinent ‘what if’ questions about personal data, privacy and cyber-crime. What happens when everything you do online can be accessed by everyone?

Watch Dogs is set in 2013, in an alternate-reality Chicago. Everthing in the entire city is run by a computer network called CTOS, and everything technological is connected – computers, mobile phones, traffic networks, everything. Not that different to real reality then.

You’re Aiden Pierce, a hacking antihero who is forced to take justice into his own hands to bring down a media mogul wrongly acquitted of murder. Whether he’s triggering a 30-car pileup by manipulating traffic lights to trap an enemy during a downtown shootout, or tapping into the city’s omnipresent security cameras to access private data, Pearce is capable of controlling almost every element of the world around him. He’s a bit like present day ‘hacktivists’, only much moreso and with guns.

Watch Dogs is definintely a consipiracy to look in to, though, and to add to the excitement, rumour has it there’s going to be tablet integration – a mobile app will display a wireframe map of not-Chicago that will relay real-time in-game information.

Plug in your 3G dongle

Share a 3G Internet connection with friends, family, and colleagues TEW-655BR3G • Share the Internet from anywhere you have a 3G mobile connection • Compatible with USB modems from every major mobile provider • Built in rechargeable 2.5 hour lithium Ion battery under full loading • One-touch connection with Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

TEW-658BRM • Combination ADSL 2/2+ modem and high performance 300 Mbps wireless n router • Compatible with most ADSL-based Internet service provider networks

www.phoenixsoftware.co.za Like us on facebook

Gaming

reviews

These vines are for made climbing

The Unfinished Swan

NEED TO KNOW • First-person puzzle game • Dsitinctive art direction • Hidden balloons and unlockables

Bored of the usual slew of many shooters or colourful kiddy games? Try Unfinished Swan, in which you play Monroe, an orphan whose only memory of his mother is a half-done painting of the eponymous bird. One night, the swan disappears from the canvas, so Monroe takes his mother’s silver paintbrush and goes through a tiny door that magically appears in his bedroom. He finds himself in a colourless garden, armed with nothing but a limitless supply of black paint.

Sound different enough?

>>DOWNLOAD This<< Limbo A black-and-white puzzle-platforming adventure that puts you in the role of a young boy travelling through an eerie and treacherous world in an attempt to discover the fate of his sister. It’s a beautifully crafted 2D film-noire adventure. R125

52 | connect | FEBRUARY 2013

The intricacies of this game are difficult to explain. It’s a visual feast – the way the game splatters paint against the white canvas world of the king is incredible. In the first level, you’ll soon work out how it reveals the path you’re meant to be taking, but later on in the game, there are helpful golden swan footprints pointing you in the right direction.

But there is so much more to the Unfinished Swan than a monochrome world. In later chapters, there are haunting pitch-black levels, times where you’ll stumble upon storybook pages and rare moments where you get a glimpse of the enigmatic swan. Some stages even have the player throwing water blotches to grow a climbable and neverending vine. The Unfinished Swan is not a difficult game – with no ammo or violence and easy-enough riddles, it’s a first-person puzzler that both hard-core and casual gamers will enjoy. You can even use the PlayStation Move to play it.

The Unfinished Swan is less arthouse, and more like reading your favourite children’s fairy tale. The only downside is that it ends too quickly. With its eye-catching style and focus on simplicity, it’s worth downloading just to experience it. R125

>>Get this<< Braid A puzzle-platformer where you can never die and never lose, Braid is drawn in a painterly style where you get to manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. Journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. R95

>>Consider This<< Journey You wake alone, surrounded by miles of sprawling desert, and soon discover the looming mountaintop that is your goal. The goal is to get to the top, but the reward is discovering who you are, what this place is, and what your purpose is. R125

Gaming

reviews

! e e Fr ’s tor E di oice Ch

Modern PC games require huge teams and big salaries that translate into high shelf prices, right? Wrong. Here are ten top titles you can play for the price of bandwidth alone.

Gaming Now imagine fighting hundreds of him a once

PlanetSide 2 www.planetside2.com This is an online game based around sprawling battles between thousands of human players. You play as a trooper in the Terran, New Conglomerate or Vanu armies, with an array of high-tech weaponry and vehicles at your disposal. The winner of multiple awards,it has a steep learning curve, but even though you’re playing on European servers, the lag is more than acceptable.

World of Tanks worldoftanks.com

MechWarrior Online www.mwomercs.com One of the oldest PC game franchises, MechWarrior has been revived with this excellent online game that puts you in the cockpit of a four-storey-high mech, armed to the teeth with fearsome weaponry and a step that can squish a tank. When you start off, the controls can be intimidating, and like PlanetSide it’s better if you can play as a team, but for a free-to-play game, it’s amazingly well-polished.

54 | connect | February 2013

The name, we’ll grant you, is somewhat unusual. But World of Tanks is an MMO with a difference. As it suggests, you don’t run around questing or shooting people in a high-speed melee; rather, you command a WWII-era battle tank, fighting alongside comrades in a surprisingly thoughtful game that’s as much about teamwork and strategy as it is about racking up the kills. Once described as “Counter-Stike for dads”.

Browser gaming has come a long way since 1942

Battlefield Heroes www.battlefieldheroes.com EA’s answer to Team Fortress 2 is a similarly over-the-top game based in a comic book-like World War II. It’s not quite as polished as TF2, but is one of the most popular games on the planet thanks to a few simple facts – like you can play it in your web browser.

Team Fortress 2 (Linux) www.teamfortress.com Valve’s stylish squad-based shooter wins out over all its rivals thanks to one vital ingredient that’s missing from many others: a sense of humour. From the cartoon graphics to the comedy voice and legendary trailers, it’s hard to fault any part of it. And as the début game for Steam for Linux, it’s now playable on all desktop operating systems.

World of Warcraft www.worldofwarcraft.com This is the definitive online game that, at its peak, boasted more than 13 million players. Now anyone can download World of Warcraft and try it out to see what all the fuss is about. It’s a dense and well-honed world of fantasy fighting, and you can gain up to 20 levels before you have to splash out on a subscription.

Moshi Monsters www.moshimonsters.com Lest you think all free-to-play games are full of violence and horror, Moshi Monsters is a colourful and safe online world designed just for kids. Full of clever interactions and packed with humour, it’s the Muppets for the 21st century, with added X-Factor puns. Basic membership is free, and CONNECT knows at least one six-year-old who learned to read just so she could play some more.

Day-Z dayz.mod

Settlers Online www.thesettlersonline.com Way back in a time before there was PC gaming and the first consoles were but a glint in Nolan Bushnell’s eye, the Settlers of Catan was a wildly successful board game about colonising an island nation and building towns and cities over time. It’s been similarly compelling on every computer platform ever made, and now the internet version is not only multiplayer, but free and browser based too. Perfect if you want a more laid back, long term type of challenge.

It would have come higher in the list, but this challenging survival game requires a copy of ArmA II to play, so it isn’t entirely free. A surprise hit of 2012, you start the game stranded on an island with no food, water or weaponry and must loot nearby towns without being killed by zombies. The game is entirely online, so you can group up with other human survivors or hunt them for their supplies – it’s up to you.

The economics of free Games developers are an altruistic lot, but they need to eat.

The likes of Sony, Electronic Arts and Valve Software – all featured on these pages – wouldn’t release free games if it meant taking a financial hit. Rather, they earn a living through in-game transactions – players can buy a better Mech in MechWarrior Online for $5 or more, or unlock new weapons in PlanetSide 2 for similar amounts. For the true skinflint, most of the paid for items can usually be earned with in-game points.

You’re not a Jedi yet... oh, wait a minute

Wha an M t’s MO? S ee

Star Wars: The Old Republic www.swtor.com

Tec o n p h J a rg o n age 1 7.

It may be the most expensive game ever produced, with more dialogue than Shakespeare, but the Star Wars-themed MMO failed to get much of an audience when it launched last year.

Now it’s completely free to play, with extra benefits if you choose to subscribe, and is the best alternative to World of Warcraft there is.

Warning: Internet costs ahead!

Yes, free games are fun, but remember there is a cost to download them. At six or seven gigabytes a throw, games like PlanetSide 2 can take you way over your monthly bandwidth cap.

www.connectmag.co.za | 55

reviews

Gaming

ZombiU

NEED TO KNOW

• Spooky survival horror • Use the Wii U GamePad • Two-player gaming

But the princess is in another castle

Nintendo Land

NEED TO KNOW • 12 unique park attractions • Play with four friends • Your favourite Nintendo franchises

Packed with fun content, Nintendo Land is the gaming giant’s answer to Wii Sports on the first console back in 2006. It shows off wonderfully what tablet gaming (tied in with a home console) can be like. Playing alone or with friends, as your Mii character you’ll get to explore a Nintendo-themed amusement park where each of the 12 attractions (mini-games) is centered on a well-known gaming franchise. From Mario to Zelda, Animal Crossing and Donkey Kong, it’s all there and more, with crisp HD graphics and bubbly music.

Most of the multiplayer mode relies on one person using the GamePad tablet while others look at the TV and use Wii remotes.

So in the Luigi’s Ghost Mansion mini-game, for example, the person using the GamePad will control a ghost the other players can’t see, while the non-GamePad ghost-busting Miis have to work together to beat the sneaky spectre. Nintendo Land is also easy to pick up (thanks to responsive controls) and a wonderful celebration of all things Ninty. Nintendo Land is so much more than a collection of mini-games – its activities, creativity and depth are incredibly varied, making it a must-have party game for the Wii U console. R499.95

>>COMING SOON<< Scribblenauts Unlimited Love puzzles? In Scribblenauts Unlimited, you’ll get to explore an open universe consisting of 41 levels. That’s a good 20+ hours of gameplay, and unlimited hours using every level as a playground for your own imagination.

The undead have overrun London and you’re one of the few survivors out there.

Who needs a narrative when survival is the point of the game? In ZombiU, if your character gets killed, that’s it. You wake up in the subway station as a new person, picking up the mission that the last character died trying to finish. (For more hardcore gamers, there’s a survival mode where you only have one life.)

The graphics aren’t too bad and the soundtrack is basically comprised of enemy grunts and your own character’s screams.

Your primary defence is an unbreakable cricket bat, and killing enemies always takes a few smacks. There are other weapons to be found (crossbows, pistols, etc.) but ammo is limited. The use of the Wii U’s GamePad is nicely integrated into the game – both looting and searching filing cabinets means looking at this second screen. There’s also a two-player mode where the second person acts as the zombie master, strategically placing decomposing hordes as the first player tries to level up and capture flags.

ZombiU is great in concept but flawed when it comes to actually playing the game. Trying to survive in a zombie-infested London is not nearly as fun as it sounds. R499.95

>>COMING SOON<< Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate Said to be the biggest, boldest Monster Hunter title yet, you can form Wii U hunting parties of up to four players online, or enjoy the hunt with Nintendo 3DS gamers via a local wireless connection.

www.connectmag.co.za | 57

Gaming

reviews Walk towards the light Mickey.

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

NEED TO KNOW • Good ol’ fashioned Disney charm • Designed by the legendary Warren Spector • Play co-op with Oswald the lucky rabbit

Epic Mickey 2 can be described as many things – a co-op game, a musical, a platformer with elements of choice and consequence, a lovingly crafted ode to the Disney theme parks and its history… but is it a good game? In Epic Mickey 2, players return to the wasteland, a world of lost and forgotten cartoons. Mickey, once again armed with his paintbrush, is on a quest, accompanied by his permanent sidekick, Oswald the lucky rabbit. As you traverse all-toofamiliar broken-down Disney landscapes, you’ll be treated to a bit of Broadway and voiced characters (a first for the series).

All of this aside, Epic Mickey 2 is a 3D platformer dotted with some retro 2D levels and simplistic objectives. There are two new types of ink with which to play around – invisible and indelible. Unfortunately, the game is plagued with an unmovable camera (adding unnecessary difficultly to boss fights) and a questionable moral system that sometimes leaves you curious as to what you’re actually being punished for. AI sidekick Oswald is a bit of a pain on his own, but getting a friend in for some epic split-screen adventuring can easily solve this problem. Full of nostalgia and Disney charm, Epic Mickey 2 will both enchant and frustrate you. R499.95

>>Coming soon<< LEGO Legends of Chima An all-new fantasy adventure that tells the classic tale of good and evil, friendship and family, set in a land inhabited by different magical animal tribes.

>>CONSIDER This<< Sorcery An exclusive PlayStation game that brings the world of wizardry to life – use the PS Move controller as your wand and cast extraordinary magic spells, brew enchanted elixirs, solve puzzles and defeat the forces of darkness.

Skylanders Giants

NEED TO KNOW • The best-selling kids’ title is back for more • Watch your toys come to life • 16 new characters, 8 giants 58 | connect | FEBRUARY 2013

The sequel to the worldwide success that was Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures adds some larger-than-before characters to the game. Bigger and better, the Giants are twice the size of regular Skylander characters and also feature new powers.

If you haven’t played the game before, this is how it works: you select a character, place it on the Portal of Power, which is connected to your console of choice, and it’s immediately brought to life in the game. Everything you do in the game (progress, experience, money, etc.) is saved onto your toy, so if you take it to a friend’s house, you’ll start exactly where you left off no matter the console platform. Looking at the game itself, Skylanders is best described as a kiddies’ hack-andslash with elements of Pokemon and the ever-popular Lego franchise thrown in. What’s new is that you can now buy upgrades, keys for tougher levels and more hats in the in-

game store. Compared to the first game, Giants is a bit more difficult – the battles are bigger – and it’s seven chapters shorter than Spyro’s Adventures. Overall, Skylander Giants is a lot of fun and will certainly delight younger gamers with its exciting world of battle arenas and player-versus-player combat. Available on request

DID YOU KNOW You can also buy new LightCore Skylanders that glow when on or near the Portal of Power, no batteries required!

Gaming

mobile reviews

Killer children of the corn

The Walking Dead: The Game Episode 1: A New Day (iOS) A New Day starts at the beginning of the end of the world. You’re Lee Everett, a man on his way to a Georgia prison who is given a second chance.

His task? Survive or be eaten. The game plays out like an interactive comic book with beautiful celshaded graphics and superb voice acting. You’ll be presented with choices, and soon get attached to the well-written characters.

You see, The Walking Dead is not just another apocalyptic shooter game. Dialogue is everything in this game so be sure to pick your answers carefully and quickly as there is a limited time to choose what you want to respond. The same goes for the combat – it’s a new system that can feel unnatural on a touchscreen but as the two-hour story progresses, you’ll get the hang of it. There

aren’t many puzzles in Episode One but that said, they don’t add too much to the enjoyment of the game – it’s really more of an interactive story and it’s the narrative that will keep you waiting eagerly for the next episode to be released.

Episode One is free, but the next four episodes will only be available as in-app purchases.

TellTale have delivered an iOS game truly worthy of The Walking Dead franchise that both fans of the TV series and Robert Kirkman comic books will enjoy. Video game adaptions of popular movie and TV shows are often second-rate but A New Day will keep you intrigued with what’s to come. Free

Super Crate Box (iOS) Super Crate Box pays homage to the retro games of yesteryear. It’s pixelated arcade fun with a single goal – collect as many crates as you can and don’t die. Despite the simple look and hordes of enemies coming your way, this game sure is a lot of fun. Inbetween all the crate-gathering, your main weapon will be randomly switched.

There’s quite a bit of variety (think pistols, mines and laser rifles) and each operates in a unique way.

60 | connect | February 2013

Clementine’s got a gun

The controls are very responsive and depending on how skilled you are, each round will last as long as you do. So the more crates you collect, the more levels, characters and unlockables you’ll get.

Super Crate Box is both challenging and addictive – the perfect mindless waiting room actiondestruction on-the-go game. $1.99

Wordament (Windows Phone, iOS) It may look and play like a simple Boggle clone but Microsoft’s Wordament is a big step up in mobile gaming for two reasons. Interestingly, it’s the first Windows game available to Apple users with Xbox Achievement points. It’s also a real-time multiplayer puzzle game, which means the round you’re playing is the same as everyone else’s on a global level. So no matter your chosen language (Russian, Arabic and Polish are just three of the 12 options), you’ll get to see how well you scored against the rest of the world. How fast are your word-finding skills? Download Wordament to find out.

Price: Free

Amazing Alex (Android, iOS)

Where is that doll going?

Do you remember the Incredible Machine? This 1992 MS-DOS game demonstrated the power of creative thinking and physics. Rovio, the team behind Angry Birds, has done the same with a mobile game called Amazing Alex. The non-existent backstory is that Alex needs to clean up his room and, like all little boys, it isn’t going to happen in an ordinary way. There are four worlds (bedroom, treehouse, backyard) and each contains different items that, when combined, will help you work out the puzzle at hand. From skateboards to balls, dolls to remote-controlled trucks and darts, where and how you place items will determine the outcome of a challenge… and there are over 100 to finish. And if that’s not enough, you can create your own crazy levels for others to play.

R8.54 (Android) $0.99 (iOS)

Rayman: Jungle Run (Android, iOS) As far as the platformer genre goes, Ubisoft’s Rayman series is one of the best. Two elements that make the limbless protagonist shine are clever level design and the game’s light-hearted ambience. From its beautifully detailed environments to the accompanying musical sound effects, it’s all there and more in this bite-sized mobile title. Rayman: Jungle Run is as challenging as it is rewarding – there are over 40 lum-collecting levels to jump, fly, wall-run and punch through and the fast-paced action is controlled with a singlefinger swipe. If you’re looking for an easy-to-pick-up arcade adventure, Jungle Run is it. R30.22 (Android) $2.99 (iOS)

A beautiful day in the deep, dark woods

www.connectmag.co.za | 61

apps & software //by deon du plessis

Windows 8 App Special

Windows 8 now has its own store, but with so many options, which apps should you be downloading? To start you off, here’s the best dozen in the Windows Store.

Metro Commander Price: Free

Wikipedia Price: Free

SkyDrive

Price: Free

The SkyDrive app lets you browse all the files you’ve chosen to save to Microsoft’s cloud storage service using the new Windows interface. Everything is arranged in an attractive, easy-to-access manner that makes browsing through your backedup files so much easier than it is through Windows Explorer.

Skype

Price: Free

Making the most of the $8.5bn spent acquiring Skype, Microsoft has redesigned the popular communications program for use as a full-screen Windows 8 app. All the features you love so much about regular Skype are present and accounted for, but the interface is much cleaner and call quality is as good as always (maybe a bit better, even).

62 | connect | February 2013

Most online folks use Wikipedia on a semi-regular basis, purely because it’s such a complete reference source, with information on just about everything. Its presentation, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Enter the Windows 8 Wikipedia app that presents all information in a polished, attractive manner that’s perfect for touch-based navigation.

Despite the dramatic interface overhaul, browsing the files and folders on your PC still requires the use of Windows Explorer.

Not so with Metro Commander, an app that uses a similar interface to the new Start Screen and gives you Windows Explorer-like control over your hard drive contents, but in a more touch-friendly manner.

Xbox Smartglass Price: Free

This clever app lets your computer, smartphone or tablet act as a remote control for your Xbox 360. If sporting a touchscreen, it can be swiped to move through the Xbox’s menu system, and some games even support extra functions that can only be performed by the Smartglass app. It’s available for Windows, Android and iOS phones and tablets.

AllRecipes Price: Free

Cookbooks are so 20th-century. An app with hundreds of recipes is a far better alternative, making owning a touchscreen PC that lives on the kitchen countertop a lot more practical than it sounds. AllRecipes offers a summary of each meal, complete with nutritional information and user feedback on how successful and delicious each recipe is or isn’t.

Free Books Price: $1.99

The paradoxically priced Free Books will cost you $1.99 (that’s less than R20), but once installed you get access to over 23 000 classic books for not a penny more.

Read everything from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to the collected works of Shakespeare, to all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books and much more. Books are available in PDF format as well as for Kindle ereaders. Speaking of which, most of the titles are free for Kindle anyway, so you might want to try there first.

Multimedia 8

Star Chart

This innovative app uses Windows 8’s new look and feel to present your multimedia files using live tiles. The app lets you browse and play files, connect to media servers on your network and view a list of recently played files. Its only downside is that it doesn’t support all file formats, like the very popular .MKV HD movie format, but that may change in future updates.

Stargazers will enjoy this one. It’s an app that has mapped out the visible universe, complete with overlaid illustrations of the constellations that make up the various astrological star signs (Pisces, Sagittarius, etc). Users can navigate through the stars from the comfort of their homes and view interesting information about each with the click of their mouse buttons.

Price: Free

Microsoft Minesweeper Price: Free

Windows 8 doesn’t ship with any games, as other versions did. Now you get them through the Games Store, and there’s a nice selection on offer. We were particularly fond of Minesweeper back in the day, and highly recommend downloading this updated version – it will rekindle old memories and fire you up to attain and maintain high scores again, this time with better visuals.

Price: $5.99

Ultimate Windows 8 Shortcuts Price: Free

Getting around Windows using shortcut keys is a great way to save on both time and effort.

Knowing all the shortcut key combinations, however, is a challenge.

This app displays a list of all shortcut keys that will help you on your road to mastering them all.

Norton Satellite Price: Free

It’s no full-blown security suite, but Norton Satellite can still help keep your PC safe by scanning your Facebook wall and Dropbox files for malware and malicious links. There’s even a manual file-scanning option that lets you point Satellite at suspicious files and folders, adding an extra layer of security to your Windows 8 machine.

www.connectmag.co.za | 63

how to Office 2013 //by deon du plessis

Ten ways to...

work smarter with

Office 2013 The latest version of Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office is slowly making its way into shops. Got it already or planning an upgrade? Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what you need to know to get started.

64 | connect | February 2013

1

Access excellent templates

Microsoft has incorporated its new obsession with ‘Start Screens’ into Office 2013. When you open Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access or Publisher, you’ll be presented with a number of templates from which to choose, including blank documents and clever brochure-like docs containing brief tours of each program’s newest features. Outlook is the exception, as it only walks you through connecting to your email account when opened for the first time.

2

Easy formatting

Do you love inserting images into your documents but don’t enjoy digging through menus to find the formatting options? Word 2013 solves that problem with a tiny icon called Layout Options that appears when you insert an image or clipart file.

Left-click on it, and several options for arranging text around your newly inserted image appear. Word 2013 also makes text automatically reformat itself around your images in real time as you resize and rotate them.

Finetune image positions

3

To move an image you’ve inserted into just the right spot, left-click on it, then hold down the Control key while using the arrow keys to adjust its position by tiny increments. If you’d like to do this with a group of images, simply left-click on the first, then hold down the Control key and left-click on the others. When they are all highlighted, right-click on any of them, go to the Group command and left-click on Group. Now they can all be adjusted by holding down the Control button and using the arrow keys to guide them into the ideal position.

4

Save to the cloud

While it was possible to save Office documents to SkyDrive in Office 2010, the functionality wasn’t integrated directly into the software. In Office 2013, that’s no longer the case as SkyDrive appears in the Save As window.

What is SkyDrive?

For those who don’t know, SkyDrive is an online storage service offered by Microsoft. If you sign up for a Microsoft account, you get a free SkyDrive account that has 7GB of free storage. If more storage is needed, Microsoft offers paid-for options as well.

Head on over to SkyDrive.com and sign up if you haven’t already. www.connectmag.co.za | 65

how to Office 2013 //by deon du plessis

5

Share presentations with people who don’t have PowerPoint themselves

With Office 2013 (and 2010), it’s possible to share your presentation with an audience that doesn’t own PowerPoint.

By selecting the Present Online option in the SLIDE SHOW tab, PowerPoint 2013 automatically uploads the presentation to the internet and generates a link you can send to your audience by email or IM. All they need to do is click on it and they can watch your presentation as you present it.

6

Use Outlook with multiple mail accounts

Outlook lets you manage multiple email accounts, which is great news for people with regularly-used Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and Webmail addresses. You don’t need to be technical to do it, either, as Office 2013 has an Autodiscover feature that uses the username and password you enter to determine how to set itself up.

Once you’ve created your primary account (done when Outlook runs for the first time), here are the steps needed to add additional email accounts: > Open the Windows Control Panel > Type Mail and select Mail (Microsoft Outlook 15) 32-bit > Click E-mail Accounts > Add new accounts individually by clicking New and entering the username and password of each.

66 | connect | February 2013

Save Money Microsoft is offering a unique version of Office 2013 called Office 365 Home Premium.

The biggest difference is that the software is tied to ‘The Cloud’, which means a lot of the data used by its programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) will be streamed directly from the internet, requiring an always-on and rather fast (1Mbps+) connection.

You get the full Office experience for a great price and Microsoft gets tighter control over Office’s security, a measure that is aimed at preventing piracy.

What is ‘a great price’, you ask? An Office 365 Home Premium subscription that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher costs only $99 per year (that’s around R850) and lets you install the suite on up to five separate computers.

Considering the regular version costs around R2 500 per PC and gets replaced every three years, Microsoft is hoping Office 365 Home Premium will tempt cost-conscious home, student and small business users into making the purchase.

Let’s look at the savings: Five standalone copies of Office 2013: R2 500 x 5 = R12 500 (obsolete in three years.)

Five copies of Office 365: R850 per year = total cost of R2 550 for three years.

7

Multiple spreadsheets on multiple monitors

For the first time, Excel 2013 opens separate windows for each workbook you’re working on (hallelujah!). That means you can have as many spreadsheets open on as many monitors as are connected to your system, and even have two spreadsheets open side-by-side on each screen.

To do it:

> Set up multiple monitors on your PC/notebook. > Drag your spreadsheets to the monitors you want to view them on. > If you’d like to view two spreadsheets per monitor, use the Windows Key and the arrow keys on your keyboard to snap each spreadsheet to the left or right side of each monitor as required.

Top Tip With the right graphics hardware and a desktop PC, it’s possible to set yourself up with a maximum of six screens. This requires a high-end graphics card like any from NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 600 series or AMD’s Radeon HD6000 series. Notebooks are restricted to a maximum of three screens (two is more common) and then only if they have both HDMI and VGA ports.

9

8

Make prettier PowerPoint slides

PowerPoint 2013 uses a widescreen format for slides by default, which immediately makes them look better when shown on widescreen displays. New tools include an ‘Eyedropper’ that lets you match colours in your presentation. For example, if you’ve used a picture of a beach in your slide and you’d like to create a shape or some text using the exact colour of that gorgeous ocean, it’s the Eyedropper tool that makes it possible.

Here’s how to do it:

> Load up the slide and create your shape or text. > Ensure the desired element is selected and click on FORMAT in the Ribbon. > Click on Shape Fill to colour-match a shape, or Text Fill for text. > Click Eyedropper. As you move the mouse over the slide, watch the colour in the preview window beside the Eyedropper cursor as it changes. > Click when you see the desired colour in the preview window. This applies it to the shape or text you created.

More accessible chart options

Formatting charts in Excel was quite complicated in previous versions of Office thanks to options buried in complex menus.

No longer – Excel 2013 provides easy access to chart-formatting options with a handy menu that appears when you right-click on the chart element you want to edit. The options that appear are contextsensitive, showing only the options that are relevant to the selected element.

10

More is more

There are many more new and enhanced features in Office 2013 that we simply don’t have space to cover in this short feature. Suffice it to say, Microsoft has tweaked and improved many of the under-the-hood features of its latest productivity suite, and should you ever get stuck, Office 2013 has an extensive Help database to consult. > At the time of writing, Office 2013 nor Office 365 Home Premium were only available on limited release. By the time you read this, the full, final, commercial package should be – but it might not. If it isn’t here yet, just wait longer. Whenever it lands, everything you’ve read in this article will still apply. www.connectmag.co.za | 67

2X

top tips //By Christo van Gemert

Get more from your tech with exclusive guides from our sister site DailyFive.tv.

Fresh content every 24 hours directly to your phone or PC.

Five top tips for Apple iCloud Got an Apple device? Get your life in sync with these top iCloud tips.

5

certain iOS apps also save data to the online service.

It’s a nifty way to back up documents online – since iCloud does give you 5GB for free – and makes your data accessible from other Macs where you can just sign in using your iCloud account. All we need now are more apps that are on both OS X and iOS, making it possible to access your saved files online from either a Mac or iOS device.

3

1

If you have a Mac and an iOS-powered iPod, pad or phone, iCloud will sync your open browser tabs for access on all devices simultaneously. That way you can read a web page on your desktop, and when you leave home, you can access the same open page using iCloud tabs on your iPhone or iPad. iCloud tabs are saved under your bookmarks.

If you save pages to your reading list, they’re also saved for offline reading, so even if you have no wireless access on your iPod touch, you can read the content that was saved in your reading list.

2

Document downloads

Some of the built-in apps in Mac OS X will let you save documents to iCloud, in the same way that

Minecraft (www.minecraft.com) is a hugely popular gwame in which players create structures out of individual blocks made of nothing but pixels. Here are our five favourite virtual creations.

Each is the result of hundreds of hours of work.

1

2

3

4

Online access

If you find yourself with a flat battery on your phone, or at a foreign internet café, you can still access your iCloud mail, calendar, notes, and contacts by logging into iCloud.com. It looks like there’s room for more web apps to be added to the interface – an iPhoto app would be great – but it’s convenient for those who find themselves in a bind and unable to access their device regularly.

4

Keeping tabs

Five best Minecraft videos

Extra email

Here’s a great security trick. iCloud lets you create up to two aliases for your main iCloud email account. Now you can sign up to sites with an alternative email address, and there’s no way for wrongdoers to log into your mail account with that account, since it’s just an alias. It’s also a great way to filter newsletters or retain a level of anonymity without running multiple mailboxes.

5

Data dump

The iCloud control panel lets you see how your 5GB of online storage is being used. If you have it configured, your iOS device can back itself up online, rather than to your computer, and many apps are already set up to save their settings online.

That way you can restore your game progress when moving to a new iPhone. The control panel also lets you delete files that are taking up too much space – after all, do you need one-year-old iPhone backups?

5

1. The Titanic http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zrJJdf0OhFw 2. USS Enterprise NCC-1701 http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=58oP0WJn3BM 3. A working computer http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=LGkkyKZVzug 4. The Wall from Game of Thrones http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=51UeJz15fPc 5. A highway http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=asImTDkPWKA

www.connectmag.co.za | 69

tech tannie

Tablet troubles niggling like a mosquito sucking you dry of every last drop of blood?

TECH TANNIE will chase them away with her unique computing citronella

issue of the month: Q:

I recently set up Face Unlock on my Android tablet but it never works.

Why? Android in Amanzimtoti

A:

If you have questions, gripes or just seek some solace, e-mail Tamsin, our friendly tech tannie at techtannie@connectmag.co.za 70 | connect | FEBRUARY 2013

Face Unlock is cool, there’s no denying it. Tapping the snoozing screen of your Android smart thing and having it leap to life after a mere glimpse of your gorgeous visage is deeply satisfying on many levels, but it can be quite flaky.

Unfortunately, the Face Unlock feature doesn’t take into consideration the fact that you’ve just woken up and your hair looks like it’s been used as a weevil nest, or that a hangover has caused your eyes to practically disappear into your face. After setting up Face Unlock on your Android gizmo, I advise you then go to the Improve Face Matching tab to capture your face in different variations, such as in poor lighting, with/without glasses, and with/without facial hair. It just makes it more accurate when identifying you in future. And the more variations you can add, the better.

Just remember that it isn’t as secure as a PIN or the Android pattern lock/unlock because your doppelgänger or even a good photograph can unlock your device, making private information vulnerable.

Q:

I accidentally deleted a bunch of books off my Kindle and I have no clue how to get them back! Do I need to pay for them again? What can I do? Panicked in Paulshof

A:

Q:

How can I print wirelessly from an iPad? I’ve heard this is possible and I’m really keen to try it.

Printed in Pretoria

The Amazon Kindle is actually pretty good in this regard, and it’s rare for a book to be deleted or disappear. I’m going to assume your fiveyear-old got hold of your Kindle and smashed away at it until all the books disappeared. That way, it makes it easier for me to help you…

The first thing you need to do is go to the Amazon website on your PC or similar device. Don’t bother trying to find or re-download the books via your Kindle as that is, sadly, an exercise in pain and frustration.

Once you’re on Amazon.com, scurry on over to Manage my Kindle (after you’ve signed in), which is situated in the right-hand column of the Your Account

screen. There you’ll find a complete list of all the Kindle books you’ve ever bought. On the right of each title is a button called Actions, which, when clicked, reveals a list of options. These are: Deliver to my…, Download & transfer via USB, Clear furthest page read, and Delete from Library.

To get a book returned to your Kindle, all you need to do is click on Deliver to my… and select the device you want. This is also very handy if you would like to get the book sent to your iPad, iPhone, or any other device with the Kindle app installed, and with which you’ve registered, including Android devices. Very helpful indeed.

A:

This is a very open question, but fortunately I’ve been playing around with some of the apps available to the iPad that allow you to print wirelessly to almost any compatible printer. Now the word to note here is ‘almost’.

There’s no guarantee your iPad will work with your printer and you didn’t give me a heck of a lot to go on. In fact, you didn’t give me any idea as to what printer you own and when it was manufactured. If you bought it in nineteenfootsak, then this won’t work. Sorry for you.

So the first thing you need to do before you use up valuable bandwidth on downloading apps and whatnot, is to visit the Apple Support Page (http://support.apple.com/ kb/ht4356) for AirPrint information and advice. Here they’ve helpfully listed iOS system requirements and the printers with which this will work. All the big names are there – Brother, Canon, EPSON, HP and Lexmark.

Some printers may need drivers to get them AirPrintready. If your printer is on the list, then getting your iPad to print should be as easy as setting up both the iPad and the printer on the same network, tapping the item/image you wish to print, selecting Print and following the onscreen prompts. Now your printer should happily pop out pages without breaking a sweat. The real challenge comes if your printer isn’t on the list and you are determined to get that whole AirPrint thing in the bag. Now you are going to need an app that’s called Fingerprint.

This comes highly recommended by other wireless printing experts as it basically confuses the iOS device into believing it’s talking to an AirPrint-compatible device. It also works on both Windows and Mac-powered machines so it’s an equal opportunity enabler. This app is easy to set up and install, and will cost you around $19.95, although you can play around with the free trial for a while. You can also set it up to recognise more than one printer, and it works with other popular programmes like Evernote and Dropbox. Give that a try if you’re not able to print directly with AirPrint and you should soon be wirelessly killing trees, I mean, printing pages without so much as shifting yourself off the sofa.

www.connectmag.co.za | 71

reconnect

Number South Africa’s tech scene in stats and sayings...

Crunch

Snapdisk is offering

1.5TB online storage for

R85 a month

www.snapdisk.com

74% Emfihlweni school in KZN has seen pass rates rise from 54% to

thanks to free electricity from a nearby phone mast. Vodacom installed solar panels on the mast in 2011, and releases the surplus energy to the community free of charge. The base station also powers a borehole.

750 000 000 Number of daily messages sent via MxiT 800 Cell C customers in

60 areas will get

100GB a month to try out

LTE

LinkedIn,

the social network for business people, now has

2 000 000

members in South Africa

0.8%

The proportion of Steam gamers who are using the new Linux version of the client

30 million PlayStation 3 consoles sold worldwide.

The PlayStation 2, meanwhile, has been discontinued after 12 years of service and

150 million consoles sold worldwide.

Number of Tweets sent via Twitter per day:

500 000 000

Issue 47 of Connect magazine will be on sale from 4 March 2013.

Reserve your copy now, or check out www.connectmag.co.za

Featuring...

Crysis 3, Gigabit WiFi, Best South African Twitter feeds, BlackBerry 10 full review, Android Key Lime Pie latest & How to make money on the net!

Incredible Finance Available!

Up to 36 months to pay Interest from 8.5% No deposit required Fixed monthly installments PLUS! Cash in your Pocket!

!

N I W

Apply for finance at Incredible Connection between 1 and 28 February 2013 and stand a chance to win the Xtreme Mac speaker.

The winner will be announced in March 2013. For Terms and Conditions, please visit www.incredible.co.za

Just SMS your FIRSTNAME* LASTNAME* ID NUMBER to 47062 to see if you qualify for Incredible Finance today! *Terms And CondITIons: This personal loan is subject to credit approval and an affordability assessment as required by the National Credit Act: and a debit order where relevant. LOAN AMOUNT, INTEREST RATE, AND INSTALLMENTS MAY VARY BY CREDIT PROFILE. Minimum application requirements: ID Book, latest payslip, 3 months bank statements, monthly expense details and a copy of your Credit life Insurance policy (if you have your own policy) is required when taking up a personal loan. If you do not have your own Credit Life insurance, you will be required to take out a policy with us before the loan amount can be approved.

Maravedi Financial Solutions (Pty) Ltd is an authorised Financial Services provider (FSP 3247) and registered Credit Provider (NCRCP 74) t/a Hi Finance.

Experience More

Specifications are subject to change without notice. 2 year warranty period is offered on all models. MicroSD not included.

Voice call and group video chat with Google+

Samsung Readers, Game and Video Hubs

Androidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest Ice Cream Sandwich OS for all-round usability

External speakers

microSD up to 32GB provides extra storage

Samsung GALAXY Tab2 7.0 packs multimedia, communication and top Internet functionality in one highly portable personal tablet device. Features include Samsungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multimedia-oriented hubs, applications and voice call or video group chat with Google+. Powered by the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System for seamless performance and all-round usability. www.samsung.com

0860 726 7864

Now available at Vodacom INCR136170_MAG BANNER.indd 1

2011/03/02 3:01 PM