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32 The tech to watch in 2011
Forward
8 ARM CEO: PC market not our target 10 Is the Microsoft-Intel marriage finally over?
Consumer Watch
12 Lock down your Android devices 13 Rogue sites can track your Web history 4 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
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16 Intel Sandy Bridge 17 Testing Sandy Bridge
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20 Software security roundup
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The Changing PC At the Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas in January all the latest computers were on display from most major manufacturers so what conclusions can we draw from the show? Clearly the show was completely over run by tablets but let’s for now stick to computers as we’re bound to hear enough about tablets as it is. With regards to computers, two major announcements dominated CES: Intel’s launch of Sandy Bridge and Microsoft’s news that it will develop a version of Windows for ARM processors. First, Intel’s official launch of the second generation Core processors, codename “Sandy Bridge” captured a lot of the attention and computer manufactures unveiled, even before CES started, their new Sandy Bridgebased offerings. Obviously the new Core processors offer better performance but perhaps even more important, they offer new functionality as well. The new Core processors promise better processing power, especially in the areas of multimedia. Quick Sync is an Intel technology supported by these new processors that speeds up transcoding of video, something you need when you want to take an HD video from your computer with you on your smartphone, for example. Something else that is set to hit us as users is Intel Insider, Intel’s technology for protecting video content from distributors, like the big Hollywood studios, to consumers like you. Previously, Warner Brothers said at CES, they did not want to distribute its HD video content to PC users because of the high risk of piracy, illegal copying. Second, that Microsoft announced that it will make a version of Windows that will run on ARM processors, garnered a lot of attention at CES. ARM processors are common today in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, areas where Intel is seen as falling behind. That Microsoft now is branching out and developing a version of the market-dominating operating system for personal computer to another processor-platform is significant. For one thing, “Wintel” as a moniker is not going to be as useful anymore and for another, users will have more of a choice of what hardware to get to run Windows on. These developments and more means that for Intel as well as Microsoft things are changing. From talking to Intel employees at CES I get a sense that the company is not as tied to the traditional PC model anymore, even though Paul Otellini, Intel CEO, said at the Sandy Bridge press conference that the new processors would account for one third of the company’s revenue and around $125 billion for the PC industry as a whole in 2011. Their booth at CES used a lot of space to display what Intel is doing in TV, gaming, and other areas. These are not new areas for Intel but I venture a guess that they will increase in importance for the chip giant. All in all it was an interesting CES, more so than last year, I think. By all accounts both visitor and exhibitor numbers are up over 2010 and I for one look forward to visiting Las Vegas again in a year’s time. You can find all our CES coverage on the site at www.pcworldme.net/tag/ces.
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February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 7
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Forward
ARM CEO: PC Market Not Our Target ARM CEO Warren East says the company will turn the dial in the server market by 2014. By Agam Shah
8 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
Chip design firm ARM grabbed the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week when Microsoft announced that its new Windows OS would work on the ARM architecture. ARM processors go into most of the world’s smartphones and tablets, and with Windows support, the company can now focus on the wider market for PCs, where it has virtually no presence. Nvidia also announced that it was building its first ARM-based chip, code-named Denver, for PCs and servers. Despite the progress, ARM, which licenses its designs to chip makers, is keeping its focus on smartphones and tablets. The company’s CEO, Warren East, sat down with the IDG News Service to discuss Windows, the PC market and future architecture developments.
Q: With Windows, is ARM now targeting the PC market? A: We never set out to target PCs. It’s Intel turf and the Microsoft OS didn’t run on ARM. It would be hugely expensive for frankly not much gain. If you look at ARM from a financial point of view, when somebody goes and buys a PC ... we are earning royalty on [components]. The only thing that’s missing is the CPU ... probably selling for $40 to $50. While it’s high value for us, the volumes of PCs total about 300 million units. What sort of share could ARM possibly get? It doesn’t make a lot of financial sense for us.
Q: What led Microsoft to port Windows to ARM? A: Microsoft wanted to play in a much larger space than just PCs, in the world of Internet-connected devices, and they can see that ARM is the processor that it is powering those ... devices. They see a necessity to port their operating system. It’s good that they have eventually come to that conclusion. Microsoft has made a bold move.
Q: What is the level of complexity involved in porting Windows to ARM? A: I have been quite sympathetic that it’s a very difficult problem for them to do and it’s very costly. With 25 years of history behind Windows operating system and the PC, it isn’t just a matter of porting a kernel and away you go. There’s all applications, devices drivers, it’s a lot of work. From Microsoft’s point of view, you can understand why they wouldn’t necessarily have done that before now.
Q: When will Windows on ARM reach devices? A: You’ll have to talk to [Microsoft], because it is their program.
Forward
Q: Several Windows PCs and devices that ship today come with features such as 64-bit addressing, hardware-based multithreading, which ARM doesn’t have yet. What kind of a strain does Windows put on ARM’s chip design efforts? A: Yes, we are a long way away from that today. The PC you refer to, [there’s] 25 years of growing up where the hardware and software have been inextricably linked. There’s no reason you can’t have the same functionality without the hardware multithreading or without the 64-bit. It’s just that because Intel [has] produced processors like that, Microsoft [has] used those features. Q: Are you looking at 64-bit in chip designs going ahead? A: I think it is inevitable that will happen. We are a business and we have finite resources and we have to match the resources against the opportunities. Hitherto, we’ve decided it’s not been sensible to have 64-bit programs. Extended memory addressing at 40 bits is in the latest Cortex-A15 ... but we haven’t had the need for a 64-bit [arithmetic logic unit]. Q: Chips now merge the elements of the central processing unit with graphics processing unit in a single piece of silicon. Are ARM’s chip design efforts headed in that direction? A: Well, yes. it’s just a logical next thing to do. We spent six years licensing the Imagination [graphics] core ... we now have a different flavor, it’s Mali. Because the ARM core and the Mali core are designed in the same camp, we can actually [share elements], which is keeping still separate processors, but it is allowing much closer communication. Is that becoming more urgent? Not necessarily, it’s just a logical next thing to do.
The A4 system-on-a-chip in Apple’s iPad includes an ARM Cortex-A9-based CPU accompanied by a GPU. Q: What progress have you made in the server market? A: It’s coming. For the last two years we’ve been talking about it with the market because what’s been going on is experimental work where people have been building servers based around chips that have been developed for smartphones. There’s another stage to go, which is microprocessor cores that have been developed a little bit more with high-performance computing in mind. What I’ve been telling people is that the project’s on track, but please don’t expect ARM servers to move the dial before 2014. There’s a whole software ecosystem that exists around servers, it’s not in place for ARM yet and that has to be developed as well.
Q: Nvidia talked about creating high-performance ARM cores for PCs and servers, which demand more power than mobile devices. What will matter to you more in chip design going forward? A: Power, power, power. If you can solve the power problem, you can always run the thing faster. If you’ve got the power problem, you can’t integrate multiple things on the same chip because it just gets too hot. Servers -the huge element of the cost is powering things and also cooling. If you can save half that power consumption ... you’ve quartered the cost of running. That’s why we would always say power is more important than performance.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 9
Forward
Is The Microsoft-Intel Marriage Finally Over? Cringely here, reporting from CES in Vegas, where rude beasts walk the earth (at least, the ones that don’t crawl or slither), impeded in their forward progress only by hip-deep mounds of tablet PCs. Everyone appears to be tapping, swiping, and gesturing on some kind of sleek black touchsensitive device, when they’re not squinting at blurry 3D screens waiting for their turn with the polarised glasses. By Robert X. Cringely
10 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
I slipped into town incognito to catch the goings-on at our industry’s annual feeding frenzy, but the biggest conclusion I’ve come away with was something unexpected: Intel and Microsoft, the PC generation’s answer to Brad and Angelina, are on the outs. If it’s not exactly the end of an era, it’s something awfully close. And all I can say is it’s about friggin’ time. At the Sandy Bridge press conference, the words “Microsoft” and “Windows” were scarcely heard. Intel representatives were eager to show off products running Sandy Bridge (now known as the secondgeneration Intel core), like Google Smart TVs, set-top boxes from Boxee and Logitech, and a raft of tablets running Android and Meego, a Linux-based OS developed jointly by Intel and Nokia. How about Windows 7 tablets? I asked a demo dude in Intel’s booth.
Forward
Of course, there will be Windows 7 tablets too, he answered. Next question. I can’t remember the last time anyone from Intel had to be prompted to endorse its partner in Wintel crimes. Microsoft, of course, chose CES as the venue to introduce the first version of Windows to run on a processor based not on the Intel architecture but rather on ARM-based system-on-a-chips manufactured by TI, Qualcomm, and Nvidia. Yes, Intel was also mentioned, but it clearly got second billing. That’s also new. It’s as if they both decided to stay together for the sake of the kids while quietly seeing other people. This semi-split has been brewing for some time. I recall a meeting back in the last century arranged by two Intel engineers with no media relations person in tow. That in itself was exceedingly odd, but it got stranger. Their apparent purpose: to demonstrate the lengths to which algorithms built into Intel’s Pentium chips had compensated for the completely cockeyed way Windows loaded itself each time at startup. The implicit message: See what we have to put up with? Microsoft, meanwhile, found itself on the wrong end of a class-action suit a few years ago, thanks in part to a truckload of embarrassing emails detailing how it had tweaked its “Vista capable” sticker program to include machines sporting an inferior Intel graphics chipset because Intel couldn’t produce the actual “Vista capable” chipset in time. That had to stick in Ballmer’s craw. Like parents trying not to worry the kids, though, an Intel spokesperson denied there was anything amiss: “The Intel and Microsoft relationship remains strong. As more devices and machines go online, it makes sense for Microsoft to expand its offerings, just as Intel has with MeeGo, our Atom chips and work with Google on Chrome optimisation and other areas.” The once mighty Wintel cartel has been good in many ways for the PC industry. Like industrious worker bees on amphetamines, Intel’s engineers pushed Moore’s law to the max, cranking out generation after generation of processors,
At CES in January Microsoft announced that it is developing a version of Windows for ARM processors. each smaller and more powerful than the last. Microsoft obliged by churning out new operating systems, each more bloated and resource intensive than the last. We were all forced into a three-year refresh cycle just to keep our productivity from turning to sludge. Though frustrating for users, that kept hardware demand high and the industry humming. But it’s a brave new mobile world out there now, and both Microsoft and Intel have had a hard time adjusting to it. Nobody wants a resource-hogging, app-pathetic operating system on their sleek touchy new devices. That’s why -- if rumors hold true -- HP will introduce a Palm OS-based tablet later this month, a little more than a year after Ballmer demonstrated a Windows-powered HP slate at, yes, CES. (Oh, snap!) They also want small, intensely powerful chips that don’t suck down huge amounts of battery life. I have no doubt Intel will get there, eventually, but so far
it’s allowed itself to be lapped by more nimble competitors. The Wintel era appears to be history, even if neither party will openly admit it. Frankly, it will be better for Microsoft and Intel, who are both in desperate need of serious competition. But it’s especially good news for the rest of us.
Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/intel
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 11
Consumer Watch
Lock Down Your Android Devices Two years ago, almost nobody had heard of Android. Now nearly all smartphone users know about it, and it’s on track to become the most popular mobile operating system. Along with the renown, though, have come concerns about security. Here’s how to keep your An droid phones and tablets safe from malware and hackers. By Tony Bradley Some concerns—such as the nefarious wallpaper apps issue (where such apps allegedly collected personal information and sent it to a Website) and the compromise of sensitive data via apps— are more hype than reality, but there are still plenty of legitimate issues that you should be aware of. Android smartphones typically have either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, and many have SD Card slots that extend their data capacity. You could be walking around with 32GB or more of important personal data stored on a handheld device that is vulnerable to loss or theft. Researchers have found, too, that the connect-the-dots pattern screen for unlocking an Android phone is vulnerable to cracking: A thief could trace over the fingerprint smudges on the display. Google has added PIN and alphanumericpassword options to Android 2.2 (Froyo). Unfortunately, only about a third of Android devices are currently running version 2.2.
12 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
Taking Android to Work
Some Android security shortcomings make it less than ideal for use in a workplace. Android’s ability to encrypt data on removable storage depends largely on third-party software, which is inferior to hardware encryption. And the OS’s lack of remote-tracking capability, plus its inability to impose standard sets of apps or other IT and security policies remotely, may not endear you and your phone to your company’s IT staff. To sync contacts from Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook to an Android phone, you must first sync the data with
Google’s cloud. But incidents such as a hacked Google Apps account resulting in a security breach at Twitter, not to mention general concerns about cloud security, give IT admins good reasons to be apprehensive. The requirement that sensitive data be stored on the Web with Google could be reason enough for some IT departments to ban Android devices altogether.
Tools to Manage Android
Android does have some useful security controls and remotemanagement capabilities built in, though,
malware and spyware, backs up data, locates or wipes lost or stolen devices, and provides tools to manage the phone from a PC. Keeper Password & Data Vault , which is available for assorted mobile platforms, including Android, offers military-grade encryption to shield your data. Keeper also performs data import and export, backup and recovery, and desktop sync. Most important, it can self-destruct to erase sensitive information if an unauthorised user attempts to access it. The free version of Keeper provides a limited set of features; to get all of the protection Keeper has to offer, you’ll have to cough up $30 a year to subscribe. Check out the 30-day trial to decide whether it’s worth the money. The above are just a few of the many apps available from the Android Market that can protect your Android phone from unauthorised access. The list is growing with each passing day.
Android Invasion Marches On
The diverse array of Android phones, combined with the impending explosion of Android-based tablets, virtually guarantees that the OS will remain a significant presence. But the prominence of Android devices might also make them attractive and easy targets—putting the data they contain at risk. Let’s hope that as Android matures, the tools to manage, maintain, and secure devices will evolve, too. Whether Android itself will expand to include more security controls, or whether third-party developers will step up to fill the void, the long-term success of Android as a platform depends on it.
Consumer Watch
and you can overcome most concerns with a bit of planning and a few good downloads. One of the benefits of a thriving app store is that developers will almost certainly take advantage of identified needs—including security—and create apps to fill them. You can find a variety of apps focused on locking Android smartphones, protecting data, and preventing malware attacks. Some apps, such as Android Protector , are free. Android Protector guards access to information on a smartphone; it is in beta, however, and it may not work properly with proprietary interfaces such as HTC’s Sense overlay. The $2 App Protector provides similar features to Android Protector. But for your money, you get a more polished interface and a finished app, backed by vendor support. For more-comprehensive protection, consider Lookout Mobile Security. This free suite of utilities patrols against
Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/android
Rogue Sites Can Track Your Web History By Ian Paul Be careful the next time you visit some of the Web’s biggest news and torrent sites: They could be peeking at your browser history. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have found that 485 of the world’s 50,000 most popular sites now have a way to read a browser’s Web history. Called history sniffing, the tactic uses a combination of Web technologies. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), a commonly used Web development language, controls many elements of a page’s layout. One CSS item, the “a:visited” property, displays visited Web links in a different color (typically purple) from links you haven’t visited (usually blue). A browser stores this property so that it can display the right colour for every link you see. In order to find out where you’ve been, history hijackers plant on their Web pages some invisible links to third-party sites such as Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. Then the spies use a snippet of JavaScript code to learn from your browser what colour the hidden links should have. After that, it’s pretty simple to generate a list of sites your browser has visited and a list of sites it hasn’t.
Although the researchers discovered 485 sites that exploit the historysniffing flaw, only 46 of the sites actively download browser histories. The researchers also found that another 17 sites (for a total of 63) transfer users’ browsing histories to their network; however, the group couldn’t confirm whether the sites were using the information collected. The majority of sites, the researchers say, are simply inspecting the style properties. About 18 of the 46 offending sites are known to be using the exploit to analyze users’ past visits to more than 220 sites. History sniffing isn’t new, but this study shows how prevalent it has
become. The researchers say that some analytics companies, such as Beencounter and Tealium, offer historysniffing services to clients. Despite fears that parties could build a profile about you based on your browsing history and other information, history sniffing has more-benign uses that can make browsing better, some Web developers argue. Blogger and developer Niall Kennedy notes that history sniffing can see which social networks you visit and then prompt a site to show you “share” or “like” buttons only for them. Other uses include displaying your favorite blog aggregator instead of showing every RSS-reader link. Or when you click a ‘show map’ link, the site could display just the map services you tend to use. If you don’t want your history sniffed, you can take several steps. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari can defend against the tactic. Internet Explorer may stop it if you use private browsing. You could also use the Firefox add-on NoScript, which prevents sites from running JavaScript in the browser. And Firefox users can disable CSS visited links by modifying that browser’s about:config file.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 13
Consumer Watch
MacBook Air Tops Consumer Reports Ratings By Jason Snell
Consumer Reports may not like the iPhone 4 much, but it loves loves loves the MacBook Air. The magazine and web site published its new computer ratings, and wouldn’t you know it? Apple’s new tiny laptops lead the laptop pack and earn CR’s “Recommended” designation. With a score of 67, the 11-inch MacBook Air received a 67 rating (out of 100), putting it in the Very Good range and making it hit the top of the list (which, honestly, was only two laptops long) of
11-inch laptops. CR rated it “very good” in its Ergonomics and Display categories, “fair” in Versatility and Speakers, and “good” in Performance. With a score of 78, the 13-inch MacBook Air received a 78 rating (out of 100), and placed first in a much large list of MacBook models. The 13-inch Air scored “very good” in Performance, Ergonomics, and Display, “good” in Speakers, and “fair” in Versatility. Two 13-inch MacBook Pro models placed third and fourth in the category,
with scores of 73 and 72, and the latter $1200 model also received a “recommended” check mark. the 15-inch MacBook Pros top Consumer Reports’ 15- to 16-inch model chart as well, and the 17-inch MacBook Pro tops the 17- to 18-inch list. The only dark news for Apple? No Mac laptop appears anywhere on CR’s 14-inch model chart. But that’s only because Apple fails to make a laptop that size.
Tablet Wars Heat Up, Prices to Fall in 2011 By Martyn Williams January’s Consumer Electronics Show was indisputably dominated by tablets. Almost a year since Apple redefined portable computing with its iPad, competitors launched attempts to cut the Cupertino company’s lead. Taken together, the announcements at CES provide a much clearer picture of the likely evolution of the tablet market in 2011 and provide consumers a few tips on what to look for and when to buy. Some of the biggest buzz at the show was for Honeycomb, version 3 of Google’s Android operating system and the first developed for tablet PCs rather than smartphones. The operating system and a tablet that will use it, Motorola’s Xoom, were unveiled at CES and are due to be launched in the next few months. “Until now these tablets have basically been big smartphones and for the first
14 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
time this spring we’ll start to see tablets like the Motorola Xoom that run on a version of Android that is really much better suited for that screen size,” said Sarah Rotmann Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research. At least two other vendors, Toshiba and Asus, also promised Honeycomb tablets and more are on the way, strengthening Honeycomb’s position against Apple, but it won’t be the only technology to take on the market leader. Research In Motion, which makes the popular BlackBerry smartphone, will launch PlayBook that runs on a proprietary platform and connects with the BlackBerry. Hewlett-Packard has also promised a tablet based on the WebOS platform that it purchased from Palm. While CES represented the start of the tablet race, things won’t really heat
up until the first iPad competitors begin hitting shelves in the next few months. Many expect Apple will have announced an update for the iPad by then. “By the end of March we will see probably the iPad 2, as well as the Motorola tablet based on Honeycomb, the Xoom,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president at IDC. “We will also see the release of PlayBook, so at that point in time I think it is a good time to buy.” “Later in the year I think we’re going to see lower prices, so if you want, wait and let these guys battle it out and keep undercutting each other on price,” said O’Donnell. “By holiday 2011 they’ll be some amazingly good prices. Unfortunately it will probably be on products that are being discontinued but nevertheless they’ll be some really low prices.”
Business Centre
Intel Sandy Bridge Second Generation Intel Core Processors Intel introduced the second generation of its Core processors, previously known as “Sandy Bridge” at CES in January. “You’re going to see a lot from Intel at CES this year,” Intel CEO Paul Ottellini said when he took to the stage at the Venetian Hotel. Intel is building a “new ecosystem,” he said, involving many more devices than PCs, such as TVs, digital signs, etc. Sandy Bridge, or Intel Core as it’s really known, is the company’s second generation Core processor family. It’s a 32nm microarchitecture consisting of new Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in addition to new Intel Centrino wireless technology. Sandy Bridge clearly represents a large development for Intel and therefore for the PC industry as a whole. Intel said that Sandy Bridge will this year account for one third of the company’s revenue and
16 | www.pcworldme.net | February 2011
around $125 billion for the PC industry as a whole. “This is the deepest integration yet, with Windows 7 and 8 coming in a couple of years,” said Ottellini. At a roundtable discussion later at CES, an Intel representatives did not want to comment on any possible use by Apple of Sandy Bridge in Mac computers. For the rest of Intel’s presentation at CES, Mooly Eden, Vice President and
by Magnus Nystedt General Manager for the PC Client Group, commanded the stage. Eden, although he performed several demos intended to display the improved performance in Sandy Bridge processors, said that ultimately the new technology is in place to enhance user experience. Sandy Bridge does this, Eden said, not just by improving the performance and enhancing graphics but also by adding features.
Testing Sandy Bridge by Khalid Alhuraiz It’s 2011 now, and Intel celebrates it by bringing you the anticipated Sandy Bridge, the second generation of its Core processors. Basically its the Intel processors we know and love, with a few improvements, like GPU built into the processor (on the same die, in fact). This combination of the CPU and the GPU supposedly reduces power consumption and heat, and allow computers to be thinner and lighter, while at the same time achieving greater performance. I had two models in my hands for testing: the Core i5 2500K on a MicroATX motherboard (smaller than average) called DH67BL, and the Core i7 2600K on an ATX motherboard (the typical motherboard size) called DP67BG . I
all familiar with. Because of this, booting was much faster. Turn on computer, get a 5 second Intel splash screen, and then your OS of choice starts booting. Compare that to BIOS where you’d get numerous tests, checks, and initialization before it even boots the OS. You might have noticed the “K” in both processor names. The K signifies it’s an unlocked processor, meaning it’s intentionally left wide open for overclockers to play with, just like AMD’s Black Edition line of CPUs. There are also S and T labels, which are more energy efficient than their normal counterparts. Processors without a letter in the end means it’s a regular processor. Just something to keep in mind if you decide to
can already tell which one is for which target market. The i5 will be targeting the mainstream computer user who probably does not need all the high end computer magic, whereas the i7 one are for those who want every bit of performance out of his computer. Starting up the tests, I noticed that whenever I turned on the computer, it would turn off on its own and turn back on after three seconds. This might have been because these are evaluation hardware, but if this ends up on the final hardware, we can expect to see some unhappy people. Other than that, both motherboards seem to be using the newer UEFI instead of BIOS which we’re
go hunt for a computer powered by Sandy Bridge later on. The two processors I tried out carry the HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor. All other Sandy Bridge processors have the weaker HD Graphics 2000, which I, unfortunately, didn’t have available for testing. Without further ado, let’s get into the graphical processing power of these two processors. Seeing the “HD” name in the graphics processor, I’ve decided to try out 1080p videos on it. I think by now, any recent graphics processor worth its salt should at least be able to handle 1080p videos.
Business Centre
The headline feature of Sandy Bridge is that the graphics is now integrated with the processor even further than before. “Integrated graphics” is something we’ve heard about for many years now and usually it’s meant sub-par graphics quality but with improved battery life and lower cost. Now, with the graphics processor placed on the same die (chip) as the processing cores, the two units can work even closer together to achieve better performance and improved power management, according to Intel. Intel seems keen on wanting to move away from the “integrated graphics” label and use the term “processor-based graphics” when it refers to Sandy Bridge. Eden also covered the other features in Sandy Bridge, including Intel Insider, Quick Sync and WiDi. Intel Insider is hardware-based content protection, which enables content producers, such as movie studios and distributors, to ensure end-to-end encryption. Warner Home Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara said that it had not considered putting their “most valuable content out there,” meaning HD movies, until Intel Insider technology became available, but that now, Warner HD movies, including the 2010 blockbuster “Inception,” will be available to customers using Sandy Bridge-based products. Quick Sync is simply Intel’s name for transcoding video files. If you have an HD movie on your computer and want to play it on a mobile device, such as iPhone, the file usually needs to be converted into a different format. This process, converting from one format to another, is referred to as transcoding. Finally, WiDi, or Wireless Display, is Intel’s technology for wirelessly streaming HD content from a computer to a TV. With Sandy Bridge, WiDi has been updated to support 1080p and the Intel Insider content protection.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 17
Business Centre
Intel: Sandy Bridge will this year account for one third of the company’s revenue and around $125 billion for the PC industry as a whole.
Unsurprisingly, it single-handedly managed 1080p videos and 1080p streams from Youtube. Let’s move on to something more power demanding. I can imagine a scenario where someone owning a similar set up deciding to play some games, maybe older ones since they should run well without looking too ugly or slow. This is where Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind comes in. The game was released back in 2003, but most computers today with integrated graphics processors (IGPs) have problems running the game without some mods and graphics reduction. Starting the game, it ran at around 15 to 80 frames per second, but mostly remaining at around 30 to 40 frames per second. I noticed that it shares a similar problem with all other IGPs where a game would run mostly nice and smooth until the amount of onscreen objects reach a certain amount and then performance takes a major hit. Now let’s try something newer. Halflife 2: The Lost Coast. This is just a tiny part of the game. It has a “stress test” option,
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and I’ll be doing just that. I’ve set the game’s graphical settings to maximum, except the antialiasing and the resolution which is at 1366x768. The game’s frames per second remained mostly around the early 40s, with some parts reaching 60. And now finally, Borderlands, a 2009 game. I’ve set everything to maximum, except the shadows and sun shafts, and the same resolution. Performance was pretty good, which ended up being mostly around 30 to 40 frames per second, and dropped to 20 when things get too hectic. How does it compare to Intel’s previous graphics processors? I have to say the HD Graphics 3000 is a gigantic leap forward, which I believe now puts Intel at a level where they could start rivaling AMD’s and Nvidia’s weaker offerings. I can see the HD Graphics 3000 working out for the lightweight PC gamer who really doesn’t mind some visual quality loss to enjoy his games. Though you should really forget it if you’re planning to max out the graphical settings of newer games.. And now on to comparing both processors’ processing power. For the
first test, I converted the largest 100 songs in my library to FLAC with level 8 compression using Foobar2000’s built in converter. The converter does a great job of taking advantage of all the available CPU threads. For the i5, it took 6 minutes, 30 seconds to finish this task. For the i7, it took 6 minutes, 45 seconds. This is quite embarrassing. For some reason, the i5 is faster than the i7 in this test. I did notice something though. Whenever the cores’ temperature in both CPU reach above 55 Celsius, the CPUs start to throttle down to cool down. This might explain something. Though this only happened in this test, and not others. Now for our second test: 7zip compression of 1.75 GB worth of songs using “Ultra” compression and LZMA2. The reason why I chose LZMA2 is because it supports compressing files using many threads. The winner should be obvious by now. The i5 took 5 minutes, 36 seconds to do the job, whereas the i7 took 3 minutes, 15 seconds. This is much better than the previous test, and the CPUs were constantly doing work rather than slow down and start slacking off. And for the last test, video conversion. We used the 1080p version of Big Buck Bunny and used Windows Live Movie Maker to convert it using the “Windows Phone (Large)” preset. The i5 took 3 minutes, 34 seconds, and the i7 took 2 minutes, 24 seconds. Overall, other than the embarrassing results of the first test, the i7 is the clear winner here. To conclude, the HD Graphics 3000 raises the bar for IGPs, and hopefully we’ll start seeing AMD and Nvidia make better IGPs as well, and I believe these two processors are a glimpse of what developments we’ll start seeing in the CPU market in 2011 and beyond. Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/intel
Security Alert
Security Software Roundup
It’s no longer enough for antivirus software to scan files on your PC. You need someone looking over your shoulder and telling you whether it’s safe to click that link; whether the popup for that software update is legitimate; and whether that download from your favorite social network is actually a tool created by organised criminals for stealing your personal information. You need an allin-one Internet security suite capable of identifying, blocking, and cleaning up after a wide array of malware. We examined 12 security suites for this story. To handle our expanded Internet security testing, PCWorld contracted for the services of AV-Test.org, a respected security testing company. We looked at traditional signature-based detection (which indicates how well products can block known malware) and at how well the suites cleaned infections and blocked brand-new, live malware attacks. In many respects, the suites we looked at produced closely bunched results, but they did vary in the efficacy of their protection and in the extra features they
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offered. Ultimately, we picked Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2011–the most balanced of the suites–as our overall winner.
How we tested
Malware has migrated to social networks, so this year’s Internet security suites put more emphasis on stopping Web-based attacks. Norton Internet Security 2011, for example, has Norton Safe Web, a feature that hooks into your Facebook stream (with your permission) to scan your Facebook links and
proactively block malicious ones. Other suites this year look for techniques that cyber-criminals use in attempts to poison SEO (search engine optimisation), loading up on popular search keywords to make malware-compromised sites appear higher in search results. A suite may flag any such sites in search results as unsafe or questionable. Another threat is the resurgence of banking-related malware. Though some suites protect against certain types of banking-specific malware–Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 offers a virtual, on-screen keyboard that lets you bypass traditional keyloggers, and in our tests, Panda, followed by G-Data, offered the best detection rates for known bankingspecific malware– no suite targets the relatively new “man-in-the-browser” attacks, in which the malware doesn’t activate until you have successfully logged into your bank account. Practically all suites offer some method to prevent malware from downloading through your browser without your consent. For example, a Web site might
The Suites These are the suites we tested. You can find the complete reviews online at
Security Alert
pop up a fraudulent warning that your PC is infected and that you must buy a particular (but fake) antivirus program to remove it. Or it might trick you into downloading Trojan horses disguised as the latest version of Adobe Reader or Flash. Most security suites now monitor browser downloads and filter out this bogus software. Comodo Internet Security 2011 Complete and the Kaspersky and Norton suites offered the best detection in our “real world” malicious downloads tests, which gauge how well the various suites block brand-new, as-yet unknown malware. And Norton Download Insight, which filters bad apps, now supports the Chrome, Opera, and Safari browsers (and AOL) as well as Internet Explorer and Firefox. Download managers from other companies typically work only with IE and Firefox. Improved from last year is Norton Insight, which measures the relative trustworthiness of the files loaded on your desktop. The idea is that crowdsourcing safe files (letting consumers around the world rate a file’s safety) is better than white-listing them (depending on a static list of acceptable files). Crowd-sourcing is also behind socalled cloud-based detection of new malware. Security software reports suspect new files from a PC to the cloud and creates antimalware signatures as needed. In 2011, BitDefender, Comodo, and others join cloud pioneers McAfee, Norton, Panda, and Trend Micro. For detection and removal of “zoo malware” (a collection of known worms, bots, backdoors, and downloaders) using traditional methods built into the program, Panda had near-perfect scores in our tests, followed by Avira and G-Data. All of the security suites we reviewed offer at least antivirus, antispyware, and anti spam components, plus a firewall. Some, such as Eset Smart Security 4 and PC Tools Internet Security 2011, had little more. The others provide additional capabilities–parental controls, gaming features (such as a “silent mode” that won’t interrupt a game with alerts), and online backup (useful if malware ever nukes your PC). A few products also boasted
bit.ly/security-roundup Avira AntiVir Premium Security Suite BitDefender Internet Security 2011 Comodo Internet Security Complete 2011 Eset Smart Security 4.2 F-Secure Internet Security 2011 Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 McAfee Internet Security 2011 Panda Internet Security 2011 PC Tools Internet Security 2011 Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011 Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2011 Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 “sandbox” features that run a new app within a protected environment so that if it turns out to be malicious, it can’t infect your operating system. In 2011, Avast, Comodo, and Kaspersky all offer this feature.
Performance issues
Many users worry that a security suite will slow their PC. This year, AV-Test ran a battery of tests to address that concern, looking at a number of key aspects of a suite’s impact on PC performance– including boot time, application launch time, file copy operations, application installation time, and file compression, among others. AV-Test also looked at how quickly each suite scanned a PC for viruses and other malware. Overall McAfee Internet Security 2011 had the least impact on system performance, with faster-than-average scores in all tests, and very good scan speeds. On the opposite end, PCTools added the most latency in nearly all the tests despite having the fastest
on-access scanning speeds. While topranking Norton Internet Security wasn’t as light in impact on system performance as McAfee, it had better than average scores overall, though performance dragged a little more than average in a couple of tests. For on-demand scanning speed, Eset had the fastest score.
Ultimately, we picked Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2011–the most balanced of the suites–as our overall winner. February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 21
Reviews & Rankings
LINKSYS E3000 If you’re planning on using Wi-Fi for whole-house networking, think again. While 802.11n sounds great it isn’t ideal if you want to do lots of media streaming and moving big files around. We take a look at Cisco E3000 and see what it has to offer home users.
Wireless: yay or nay
Wi-Fi may not be solution for all home networking needs but if you simply want to connect a small number of PCs, Wi-Fi may be the right way to go for you. Wi-Fi is a quick and easy way to connect several business laptops, Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones, and light-duty devices such as an Apple iPad or a netbook. If Wi-Fi is your only alternative, definitely go with 802.11n. The prices of 802.11n routers and access points have dropped substantially, so there’s no point in using older 802.11g gear unless your networking needs are minimal. Before you start shopping for Wi-Fi equipment, make sure you know what kind of equipment you’re looking for-you’ll see both “wireless routers” and “wireless access points” out there. Routers take incoming traffic from the Internet and route the traffic to the
correct system inside the network. They handle the task through a built-in NAT (network address translation) capability. Routers also act as firewalls between the internal network and the outside Internet, but that’s an additional function. Traditionally, access points simply existed to connect Wi-Fi-equipped PCs, and didn’t handle routing functions. Early access points needed to be connected to a router. These days that definition has become a little fuzzy, and most homeoriented access points have built-in routers but lack wired-ethernet switches. Home routers include wired-ethernet switches. Note that you can still find routers that connect only via wired links and don’t have built in access points.
Linksys E3000
The Linksys E3000 is a reasonably priced Wi-Fi router with excellent features. For the price, you get a 802.11n dual-band wireless access point that can run in both 2.4GHz or 5GHz mode, as well as a four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. The best part is that it’s very reliable and fast. The Linksys E3000 looks the same as the older Linksys WAG and WRT models; it doesn’t have external antennas, it can be wall-mounted, it has bright LED status lights and its capabilities can be gleaned by the colour of its wing. The Web interface hasn’t changed, but the special
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setup software that Linksys ships with its wireless routers has been simplified in a bid to make it as easy as possible for novice users to install it. In our tests, the E3000 proved to be solid as a rock. When transferring video files from our server (which was connected to the router over Ethernet) to our dual-band capable notebook, the E3000 never faltered. In the 5GHz frequency tests, the router registered 65.4Mbps on a close-range throughput test. On our long-range test, the E3000 scored 45.3Mbps. On our 2.4GHz frequency tests, the router scores, as expected, weren’t as high as those of
Reviews & Rankings
Linksys E3000 Price: Dhs 899
4
5
Info: bit.ly/linksyse3000 Pros: Easy setup with Connect software; Reliable; 2.4 and 5GHz; USB port for connecting hard drive; Gigabit ports.
Cons: USB port only for hard drive, not for printer sharing; Web interface could do with a facelift; Slow hard/USB drive sharing.
the 5GHz frequency. It scored 51.8Mbps on the close-range throughput test and 36.8Mbps on the long-range test. The Linksys E3000 offers very good range, up to 35m in the 2.4GHz band and slightly less with its 5GHz band. Linksys has done a lot over the years to try and take the pain out of setting up wireless routers. With the E3000, the supplied CD-ROM autoruns the Cisco Connect software, which goes through all the steps you need to undertake in order to first connect your new wireless router, and then asks you type in your ISP username and password. That’s all there
is to it. Beyond the Connect software you’re depending on the same Linksys Web interface we’ve seen for far too many years now. Cisco, it’s time to update it. Cisco Connect will also check for updates to the router’s firmware and automatically install them. We had to update the firmware the first time we used the program and it took less than five minutes all up, although we did get a message at first telling us that we may have to restart the router in order for it to be recognised — we didn’t have to. The E3000 also allows users to connect to it as guests (the Cisco
Connect software shows you the password for this), which is convenient if you have visitors and want to give them Internet access but don’t want them accessing the computers on your local area network. Cisco Connect also allows you to set up parental controls for specific computers. You’ll only be able to apply filters to computers that are already connected to the router, and you’ll need to apply each filter to each computer (if you want to restrict more than one). This is a little cumbersome if you want to lock down the majority of your network. To block content, you’ll have to enter specific URLs as the software does not support keyword filtering. If an attempt is made to access a flagged site, the router will block it. The block can be bypassed if the user knows the password. Interestingly, the parental filters are not available in the router’s Web interface, only in the Cisco Connect software. We think it would be more beneficial if it also included keyword filtering. The Linksys E3000 has all the features you’d expect of a modern wireless router. It performed very well in our tests and it was rock-solid-reliable.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 23
Reviews & Rankings For more information please visit: Me.kaspersky.com
THIS YEAR’S UPDATE of Acronis True Image Home continues the software’s gradual transformation from a beast into a reasonably intuitive imaging program. When you boot True Image Home 2011 ($50), you may select any of three options: Backup My Critical Data, Use the Backup Assistant, or Go to the Main Screen (to select full, incremental, differential, or filebased backup, or encryption). The program supports scheduled backups, nonstop backup at 5-minute intervals, and Netbased backup to Acronis’s own Online Backup service.
True Image Home 2011 | Acronis New version is great at backups but still has a daunting interface. $50
3.5
5
Reviews & Rankings
Latest True Image Home Is Easier to Use
TRUE IMAGE HOME 2011 permits scheduled or nonstop backup. The best new feature may be nonstop backup of files and folders—not just entire partitions. Better integration with Windows 7 lets you replace the operating system’s Windows Backup functions with True Image Home 2011’s, and access TI via the control panel. The timeline view shows Windows backup and installation events. And the scheduler lets you wake up the system from sleep or hibernation, and adds Log Off and Shutdown options for Windows 7.
True Image Home 2011 version is rocksolid, but its new features aren’t as compelling as the ones added last year—so True Image Home 2010 owners can safely skip this upgrade. Still, for new users, the program remains at the top of the heap, and it’s the first backup program I’ve seen whose recovery disc supports USB 3.0.
Panasonic’s Powerful Fixed-Lens Camera IF YOU ARE at ease using manual controls for photos and video, you’ll love Panasonic’s 10-megapixel Lumix DMC-LX5 ($500). Equipped with a large (1/1.63-inch) CCD sensor and an F2.0 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens (3.8X optical zoom, 24mm to 95mm), this point-and-shoot camera is a versatile performer once you dive into its advanced controls. The LX5 offers manual controls for both stills and video, RAW shooting, a macro mode that lets you practically touch the lens to your subject, fast and fine-tunable focus controls, and a button layout with easy access to in-camera settings. On the back is a 3-inch LCD screen for framing your shots, but no optical viewfinder. A proprietary hot-shoe connection lets you connect an eye-level electronic viewfinder that’s compatible with Panasonic’s G-series interchangeable-lens cameras.
THE LUMIX DMC-LX5 can fit easily into a purse or a jacket pocket.
For pure manual operation, it’s hard to find a fixed-lens camera that tops the Lumix LX5. Its fine-tunable settings, macro mode, focus features, video options, lowlight performance, and classic aesthetics are sure to make photography geeks freak (in a very good way). This is a great step-up camera for anyone who feels shackled by automated settings as well as a great onthe-go camera for anyone accustomed to a DSLR.
Lumix DMC-LX5 | Panasonic A fine, versatile fixed-lens camera for experienced photographers. $500
4
5
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Reviews & Rankings
TOSHIBA PORTÉGÉ R700
SPEED, HEAT AND LOW WEIGHT
TOSHIBA PORTÉGÉ R700 Price: Dhs 6,100
4
5
Info: bit.ly/toshiba-r700 Pros: Great style for any user; Superb performance in an ultraportable package
Cons: Too hot, too noisy; Sandy Bridge just around the corner, promising better performance and longer battery life
Toshiba’s new Portégé R700 surprised me with its mature styling, serious muscle, and ridiculously light heft. Despite being a true ultraportable, this machine is quite powerful–Toshiba somehow even fit an optical drive on it! But a few unpleasant surprises make the whopping Dhs6,100 price tag less appealing. The 13.3-inch laptop accommodates three USB plugs (one a USB/eSATA combo), headphone/microphone jacks, an HDMI plug, a VGA plug, an ethernet port, a memory stick port, an optical drive, a 500GB hard drive, a Core i7 620M running at 2.67GHz, and 4GB of RAM–all tucked into a 16.8 mm frame (at its thinnest) weighing 1.6 kg. That’s power to spare for most on-the-go users, as reflected in an excellent WorldBench 6 score of 128. The screen is a good LED-backlit matte LCD, filling out a resolution of 1,366x768 easily enough. Colours were good, but the R700 struggles to fill large black areas in video. The Intel HD integrated graphics solution is more than adequate for playing modest video; it even playing through the HDMI port without difficulty. Horizontal viewing angles are excellent, but vertical
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Reviews & Rankings
Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/reviews
viewing angles most certainly aren’t. The audio can’t fill a room, the speakers get a bit shrill at high volume, and there’s no bass to speak of–so rely on the headphone jack instead. The laptop’s black plastic interior complements its black metal lid. The “Toshiba” emblazoned on the lid itself, and the two hinges provide silver accents. Almost everything feels very sturdy, and the keys have remarkably little flex. The display lid, however, is a bit too thin and flexible. The R700′s gigantic touchpad invites occasional accidental contact, but none of the touchpad responses I triggered slowed my work on the machine significantly. If it does become an annoyance, you can tap a handy little button between the keyboard and the touchpad to deactivate the touchpad altogether (or to toggle it back on). In terms of the keyboard, I found the chiclet-style keys are pleasant to type on. However, I would urge Toshiba to place the row of keys to the right of the Enter key somewhere else as I’ve had the habit of accidentally hit Page Up or Page Down. Unfortunately, this laptop has two major drawbacks. First, the powerful technology packed in the small space generated quite a bit of heat along the left edge and bottom of the machine. And second, the fan used to dissipate the heat was noisy. For me, these shortcomings made using the R700 less comfortable, but they weren’t deal breakers. The R700 is a fantastic machine for a specific niche: laptop users who want to combine lots of power with extremely light weight.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 27
Reviews & Rankings
HTC DESIRE Z
by Magnus Nystedt
Price: Dhs 2,699 Info: bit.ly/htcdesirez
3
5
Pros: Good physical keyboard; fast; bright and clear screen
Cons: Short battery life; a bit on the chunky side
There’s nothing really spectacular about the HTC Desire Z apart from the physical QWERTY keyboard. That’s not to say it’s a bad Android smartphone in any way, but it’s just not very exciting. Let’s face it; there aren’t that many choices for customers who want Android and a good keyboard. Personally I wish that there would be a bit more distinct click when you press the keys on the Z but overall I’m very happy with the typing experience. Looking at the Z you only see the 3.7-inch touchscreen display (480x800), just like most other Android phones. Turn it over and gently press with your thumbs and the top slides out of the way revealing the keyboard. This is possible because of an ingenious mechanism that gives the smartphone its “Z” moniker. It’s also one thing that worries me about the device, how well the seemingly delicate mechanism will stand up to everyday use. Although the Z is slightly smaller than it’s 4.3-inch display sibling Desire HD, it feels chunkier and heavier, probably because of its depth, caused by the keyboard mechanism. Unfortunately, HTC perhaps didn’t have enough room for a battery with enough capacity as mine ran flat in about 4-5 hours of frequent online use over 3G.
Inside there’s an 800MHz processor, which delivers more than enough power so everything runs smoothly. That’s also in part due to the 512MB RAM and 1.5GB ROM. Storage space can be expanded using Micro SD card. There’s a 5-megapixel camera that also supports 720p HD video recording. Arguably it’s not with the hardware that HTC is making news with the Desire Z, it’s with its tie in with the online HTCSense. com service. It has also added to the Sense software on the phone, which, it says enables a “holistic experience that is filled with moments of delight.” Sense is the interface that HTC puts on top of Android on their devices, and its meant to give an enhanced and more consistent user experience. The updated version on Z has pre-loaded maps for faster navigation, support for DLNA streaming multimedia, as well as simple video editing. Welcome is also the e-book reader functionality with support for the Kobo online bookstore. Good news for UAE users is that Kobo will accept a UAE credit card for purchases. It’s not the greatest e-book reader around but it supports highlighting words and passages, annotations, and searching. HTC has again produced a solid albeit not very exciting smartphone running the latest Android operating system. If you’re after a new device with a good, physical keyboard, the Desire Z is a good choice, if you can live with the short battery life. For lovers of good keyboards and Android, it’s currently top of the line.
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Reviews & Rankings
LENOVO IDEAPAD Y560D
by Magnus Nystedt
Price: from Dhs 3,799 Info: bit.ly/lenovo-y560d Pros:
3.5
5
Very good hardware configuration; Better-than-average discrete graphics; Very good gaming and overall performance; Onboard JBL speakers give nice sound; Lots of features, useful proprietary software; Gesture-enabled touchpad, fantastic keyboard; 3D.
Cons: Ordinary build quality; Glossy plastic attracts dirt; Reflections in glossy display; Usability; 3D is very limited.; Sandy Bridge around the corner.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 15-inch laptop is a home entertainment laptop, part of Lenovo’s IdeaPad series of premium laptops. The laptop has JBL speakers and dual-graphics mode, and comes packed to the gills with latest hardware and laptop features, and offers very good performance for its asking price. The “d” denotes that Lenovo has thrown in 3D technology into the already excellent-performing Y560. With polarised Tridef 3D technology you have to wear a pair of glasses to experience the 3D effects. Glasses don’t require batteries but on the other hand the 3D is not as clear and sophisticated and compatible 3D content has to be launched within Tridef’s software. Look at 3D as a funny gimmick and not as a requirement and you’ll be okay with it. The IdeaPad Y560 comes with a tattoo-like graphic on the display and an orange strip around its screen and a glossy surface layering the laptop’s display screen, bezel, palmrest and touchpad. Needless to say, this glossy area of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 attracts fingerprints and smudges unabashedly.
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The 15.6-inch glossy LED-backlit screen with a max resolution of 1,366×768 pixels is nice and evenly lit and offers good brightness and contrast levels. In terms of keyboard and touchpad, the IdeaPad Y560 continues to uphold Lenovo’s very high input device standards. The IdeaPad Y560 laptop’s keyboard sports slightly raised, tightly packed keys which are a treat to type on. Typing for long hours isn’t a problem at all. Its touchpad has a finely textured finish which aids in getting optimum tactile feedback and it supports multiple-gestures — pinch to zoom, two-finger scroll, etc. Moving inside, where this notebook really shines, we find an Intel Core i7-720QM (Quad Core) 1.66-GHz processor, with Turbo Boost and Hyper Threading support. You also get 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an impressive ATI Radeon HD 5730 discrete graphics with 1GB of RAM and onboard Intel GMA HD as well.
Reviews & Rankings
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 also has an abundance of connectivity options. It comes with four USB ports, HDMI and eSATA ports, VGA-out and Gigabit ethernet, apart from headphone and microphone jack. Wireless connectivity is well taken care of with the inclusion of Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 support. There’s also an 8x DVD writer, card reader and ExpressCard slots and it comes with 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. With the evidence on hand, in terms of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560’s impressive internal hardware, it is no surprise the laptop does so well in our testing. You will face absolutely no problem multitasking with processor-intensive or memory-intensive tasks on the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560, and working with day-today apps (Web browsing, listening to music, etc.) is going to be a breeze.
Watching HD videos is a fun experience, mainly because of the better-than-average audio from the IdeaPad Y560’s JBL speakers. Couple that with an ATI Radeon HD 5730 discrete GPU, and gaming with latest games on the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 is a reality. At the laptop’s native resolution, we played FarCry 2 at 1366×768, Very High settings, and 4xAA, at 43.1 fps. There was no frame dropping and the gaming experience on the IdeaPad Y560 was very good. What’s the main downside then, you ask? Expect just over two hours of browsing the Web over Wi-Fi on a conservative setting. But battery life isn’t a major concern on the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560, given its intended home use.
Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/lenovo
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 31
Feature
The
TECH
to Watch
in 2011
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Feature
Hybrid laptops! Smarter smartphones! Everything in 3D! From CES to next holiday season, 2011 promises some phenomenal new gear.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 33
Feature
Android 2.3 Gingerbread (and Beyond) Google’s mobile OS is coming of age The most recent release of Google’s Android mobile operating system—code-named Gingerbread—may be looking to replace your credit card. Android 2.3 is the first iteration of the OS to support near-field communication (NFC) chips, meaning that you could use a smartphone running Gingerbread as a “swipable” payment device. Among Gingerbread’s other intriguing new features are native support for Voice-over-IP calling, manual control over frontfacing and back-facing cameras, simpler cut-and-paste controls, and improved power management. The Samsung Nexus S is the first cell phone to offer Gingerbread out of the box, but it most assuredly won’t be the last. Prepare for a wave of Android 2.3–loaded smartphones to reach stores by the middle of 2011 and perhaps earlier. Also on the way is a tablet-specific version of the Android operating system—Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”). Will devices powered by Honeycomb make up ground on Apple’s runaway iPad market share? That outcome certainly seems possible, as long as the devices themselves are up to snuff.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 Time for 3D and Micro Four-Thirds The Micro Four-Thirds system of interchangeable-lens compact cameras continues to evolve, and the Panasonic Lumix GF2 represents an impressive combination of the camera line’s best features: It’s small, it boasts lightningfast autofocus, it has both touchscreen and hardware controls for focusing and menu navigation, and it shoots 3D still images when paired with Panasonic’s separately sold H-FT012 3D lens. Throw in a pop-up flash and the ability to record 1920-by-1080 AVCHD video at 60 interlaced frames per second, and this portable powerhouse qualifies as a worthy rival to the similarly slim Sony Alpha NEX-5.
Intel Sandy Bridge Next-gen processors focus on video Intel’s next generation of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, codenamed Sandy Bridge, represents a significant step forward (see article earlier in this issue for more information). A new CPU core brings revised vector instructions and emphasizes energy efficiency, too. The new integrated GPU, built into the silicon along with the CPU, may be Sandy Bridge’s most important advance. The processor is dramatically faster and more capable than anything Intel has shipped before.
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PC ACCESSORIES Mini Wireless Optical Mouse
Slim External DVD Recorder
PC Headsets
2.0 Channel Multi-media Speakers
1.3 Mega Pixel Webcam
Multi-media Keyboard
Multi-media Wireless Keyboard
Multi-media Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Combo
Multi-media Keyboard & Mouse Combo
Feature
Google Chrome OS Google’s other OS yet to appear Designed for portability, speed, and security, Google Chrome OS will rely almost entirely on Web apps and cloud-based storage. For an app preview, check out the Chrome Web Store. Chrome OS won’t officially hit the market until mid-2011, but Google is running a pilot program where you can apply to get a CR-48, the first Chrome OS laptop. This 12.1-inch, 3G-equipped notebook comes with a Webcam, a solid-state drive, and a battery life of 8 hours; it’s likely to serve as a model for future Chrome OS–based machines.
Eye-Fi Direct Mode Finally, photography goes wireless Eye-Fi’s next-generation wireless SD Card might help dedicated digital cameras recapture market share from camera-equipped cell phones—with a little smartphone help. The Eye-Fi’s new Direct Mode creates a link between a camera and a cell phone, transferring photos in real time from the camera to the handset. And though the peer-to-peer connection is based on Wi-Fi, you don’t need a hotspot to make the camera-to-phone transfer.
Dell Inspiron Duo Hybrid approach to netbook/tablet Dell’s new netbook/tablet hybrid pulls double duty with its nifty flip-around capacitive touchscreen. It runs Windows 7 Home Premium and boasts a dual-core 1.5GHz Intel Atom processor with 2GB of RAM. But its marquee feature is a swiveling 10.1-inch screen that instantly converts the device from a clamshell-style netbook into a touchscreen tablet. There’s even a docking audio station for transforming it into a digital jukebox or picture frame.
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Will give Intel serious
Feature
AMD Brazos competition The latest ultraportable platform from AMD, code-named Brazos, features two new chips (code-named Ontario and Zacate). They integrate single- and dual-core CPUs that should outperform Intel’s competing Atom, as well as an impressive DirectX 11–capable GPU, all on the same piece of silicon. Brazos should be a popular option for a flood of more-capable netbooks and inexpensive ultraportable laptops.
Motorola Atrix The future is a dock If we were to pick anything that Motorola showed off at CES for this article you may have thought we’d pick the Xoom tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. No doubt, we consider the Xoom the tablet that stands the best bet to challenge iPad but the Atrix coupled with the Laptop Dock tickled our imagination like nothing else at the Las Vegas show. Let’s recap the specifications of the Atrix: 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 4-inch qHD display with 24-bit color, 960×540 pixels, front- and rear-facing cameras, HD video recording, biometric fingerprint reader, 16GB internal storage, MicroSD card slot for an additional 32GB, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and 1930 mAh battery. In terms of docking stations, there’s a regular dock for charging, a Multimedia dock with three USB ports and HDMI port (you can connect keyboard and mouse), but it’s the Laptop dock that is most interesting. Looking like a slim netbook, it doesn’t run unless the Atrix is attached, it doesn’t even have a power-on button. The Laptop Dock has it’s own Tegra 2 processor and 16GB of storage but all files and apps run off of the Atrix. Now that’s what we call forward-thinking.
Read More Online: www.pcworldme.net/tag/ces
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 37
Feature
Acer Iconia All-touch shows the way With its clamshell design and dual touchscreens, Acer’s Iconia makes a clear design statement: Touch is in. When closed, the Iconia looks like an ordinary laptop. But when open, it resembles no other notebook or slate. At the heart of the Iconia’s navigation is the Ring interface. You activate the Ring by putting five fingers on the bottom display, which Acer refers to as the “hand screen” or the “navigation screen.” Up pops up a wheel that you can scroll through to access apps optimized for finger navigation.
Nintendo 3DS 3D in a tiny package The Nintendo 3DS handheld won’t be as fast as a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360, and it won’t let you play older DS and DSi games in 3D. But it will do lots of cool stuff. The 3DS looks stunning, with a spectacular 800-by-240, 3D-capable widescreen and a second, 320-by-240 touchscreen, all housed in an 8.1-ounce package. It will let you take 3D pictures with dual cameras, play “augmented reality” games, and see new games and native software in 3D without special glasses. The handheld’s widescreen will allow you to manually adjust the depth of its 3D effect—and even knock the action down to regular 2D if you don’t need the extra dimension.
Cloud-integrated Storage Integrating online and offline Sure, we’re getting tired of hearing about the cloud-this and cloudthat but we have relief for you. We think we’ll not talk so much about cloud in coming years because it’s becoming such an integral part of what we do and the technology we use. We also see that cloud-solutions are now integrated with traditional off-line storage. Buffalo’s CloudStore, is one such example. With models with 1 and 2TB there should be enough local storage space and with PogoPlug integration all those files can also be made available on the Web. Your files aren’t stored in the cloud though, they all still reside on your local drives, but they are accessible just as if they were up in the cloud.
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Feature
Incredibly Shrinking PCs Razer and Xi3 lead the way The PC is not dead, that much Intel told us at CES, and judging by what was available at the show that’s true, but the PC as we know it is changing. For one thing, it seems to be getting smaller, at least according to Razer and Xi3. The Razer Switchblade is a 7-inch capacitative multitouch computer of sorts that is a littler smaller than a netbook but a lot more powerful. It features a programmable keyboard. It also features an as-yet unreleased Intel Atom processor, and runs Windows 7 with a custom Razer user interface overlay. It also comes with a 128GB SSD, Wi-Fi, 3G, and more. The Switchblade is still a prototype but Razer hinted that it may be priced in the netbook range.
Don’t let Xi3’s Modular Computer’s diminutive stature fool you. This tyke is equipped with a (most of) proper AMD motherboard, divided into three sections, to fit into the cube-chassis. The base model is equipped with an AMD Athlon X2 3400e, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, an 8GB Flash drive, and Suse Linux — and it’ll set you back $850. The unit does offers a few nifty features. The older AMD hardware is capable of driving dual 1080p displays, and the machine runs on less than 20W of power. An optional thin client — dubbed the “Z3RO Module” — can connect to the Modular computer by USB, and creates an independent workstation for another user to work on.
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook The tablet goes corporate Due out later this year (“Q2”, RIM has said), the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has a 7-inch screen to rival the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s. It packs a dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, front- and rear-facing cameras, 1080p video recording, a micro-USB port, and a micro-HDMI output into a 0.38-inch-thick package. It will link directly to BlackBerry Enterprise Server and support multitasking for users seeking a productivity tool. But an app ecosystem, multiple ports, Flash 10.1 support, and hardwareaccelerated video indicate a new, non-CrackBerry target audience.
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 39
Here’s how
How to Select NetworkAttached Storage
By Jon L. Jacobi
Network-attached storage can make your office, whether it’s at home or at work, run more efficiently in multiple ways. Let’s look at some scenarios for NAS use in various environments.
Small or Single-Person Office A small-office/home-office setup consisting of a few PCs, a multifunction printer or two, and perhaps a wireless, peer-to-peer network is far from optimal for sharing and accessing files. Data is scattered, and accessing it from outside the local network requires a VPN or remote control. A NAS box puts important data in one accessible, easy-to-back-up location. You can back up anything you’re working on off-site by logging in and uploading the files to the NAS box. Most NAS boxes have on-board backup utilities and USB ports for attaching drives. If sharing and access matter more than storage, consider a hybrid device such as the PogoPlug Biz that uses local USB storage you may already own and provides an online portal. Wide-Area Workgroup If you collaborate with coworkers far away, a NAS box’s easy wide-area connectivity can consolidate and centralise your eff orts. Like any other
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administered network-storage resource, your NAS will allow users to access only the contents you approve. You may create private and shared folders, and (in most cases) allocate space to users and folders as you wish. To handle collaborative work arrangements, simply create folders for each project, give each person access to folders as needed, and give yourself access to all of the folders. No static IP or domain? Use a service such as DynDNS.org to create a proxy domain, and then point it to your NAS box. Using your main server to store shared databases is overkill, with high initial and ongoing costs. A NAS box can manage the database serving so the main server can focus on handling DHCP, maintaining the domain and users, serving applications, and dealing with other small-business network tasks. A NAS box is self-sufficient, redundant, and task-specific. But some programs insist that their database reside on a local PC, and others require you to install a traffic-cop program for multiple users. For
The Large Office In a large office, NAS performs well as a workgroup storage and backup device. NAS is also ideal for sharing printers via USB ports. Some boxes integrate additional peripherals sharable over the Internet via the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), an IP-based protocol for data transfer. Serving programs from a NAS box is no walk in the park. To run a Windows app, you’ll need a Windows Home Server box. For a Linux app, use a Linux-based box that allows low-level access. Buying Tips When buying NAS hardware, focus on redundancy, capacity, and speed. Don’t buy a single-drive NAS box: You’ll need at least a two-drive box for mirroring one drive on the other (RAID 1) so you won’t lose access when one drive fails. NAS capacity is the number of drives on board (normally between two and five)
Here’s how
these programs, you need a NAS box that uses Windows Home Server, such as the HP MediaSmart EX495.
Qnap TS-259 Pro Turbo NAS This $600 Intel Atom-powered, two-bay networkattached storage box packs tons of business-oriented features (iSCSI, MPIO), and mediafriendly software.
times the size of the drives, divided by the RAID mode in use. Single-drive capacity tops out at 2TB, so a high-end SOHO unit offers up to 10TB of storage. Speed depends on the drives, the CPU speed, and the ethernet connection (usually speedy gigabit ethernet today). Better boxes have multiple ethernet connections. In some cases, this is
for failover—the option for a backup connection to carry on if the primary one fails—via Multiple Path I/O, or MPIO. More-advanced boxes increase their speed via Multiple Connections per Session, which uses both connections for data transfer. The speed and traffic on your local network may be limiting factors, so don’t overbuy hardware.
Feburary 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 41
Here’s how
Five Printer Nightmares and How to Fix Them By Jon L. Jacobi
Everybody loves to hate printers. When you need one most, it’ll display a stupefying error message or create a mess of paper and spilled ink. But with patience and attention, you can probably overcome a printer problem, and avoid having the nightmare recur. Here’s how to address five of the most common printer complaints.
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Paper Jams Jams occur when the paper feeding through the printer goes awry. The printer may extrude a crumpled mess; or it may stop in midjob, and the mess, or part of it, remains trapped inside. When a jam occurs, some printers flash lights, screaming for help. Others sense where the jam is and provide guidance. If yours does, follow its advice. Also, check its documentation. Here are the basic steps to follow. Turn off the printer: If you’re going to poke inside, you don’t want trouble with electricity or moving parts. And if you’re dealing with a laser printer, you don’t want the fuser to generate additional heat. If the paper is jammed in or near the fuser unit, wait for the fuser to cool off. Open all doors leading to the paper path: If you can’t tell which door leads to the jam, remove or open the input tray and follow the paper path to the output tray, opening every door or panel that you can find. Carefully pull out paper sheets and scraps: Check for pages that are stuck or askew, plus scraps. Pull paper out of
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the path firmly, but carefully and slowly. When possible, pull in the direction the paper is supposed to go—not backward. Remove all the paper; any scraps could cause further jamming. If you break a mechanical piece in the printer, stop and call for service. Close all doors and turn on the printer: Once switched on, the printer should reset itself. If the printer says it’s still jammed, double-check for scraps. If it continues to complain, try turning it off and then back on. If that doesn’t fix it, call for service. How to avoid this next time: Use only one kind of paper at a time in your input tray. Whether your printer has one input tray or several, tell it what kind of paper the tray holds: Most printer controls include a section or drop-down list where you can pick a paper by name, type, thickness, or other quality. If you aren’t sure whether your printer takes a certain kind of paper, check its documentation. When you reload the input tray, pay attention to how the paper should be loaded, and check whether the length or width guides need adjusting.
Here’s how
Stuck in the Queue Regardless of how sophisticated it is, a printer prints only one job at a time. A job may get held up and block all others behind it. If the printer hasn’t stalled for a mechanical reason, check the print queue to see if a specific job in front of yours might be the culprit. If your printer is not networked: If your computer has a dedicated printer, you can get to the print queue directly. On Windows, access is through the Control Panel’s Printers program item; on a Mac, it’s through Utilities’ Print & Fax program item. Any stuck jobs will be listed there, and you can easily cancel them. If your printer is on a network: On a networked queue, you have control only over the jobs that you send from your own PC. If another person’s job is the problem, you must either contact them for help or ask your IS department to intervene. How to avoid this next time: If the print queue clogs up regularly, your IT staff needs to figure out why it’s happening. Common problems include trying to print a job whose file size is so large that it chokes the network or your printer’s memory; attempting to print to a special kind of paper (such as letterhead) without loading the paper or specifying the right tray; and requesting a print job that requires you (or some other user) to feed the paper manually, but failing to perform this step.
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Power Loss in the Middle of a Print Job Treat this situation as if it were a kind of paper jam. Turn off the printer: You don’t want its parts to start churning unexpectedly during your work on recovery. Clear the paper path: Remove sheets stuck in midprint. Turn on the printer (if power has been restored): As the printer initialises, check for error messages or odd noises that might indicate a malfunction or damage. If
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When a jam occurs, some printers flash lights, screaming for help. Others sense where the jam is and provide guidance. If yours does, follow its advice.
you have a laser or LED printer, check the documentation for a maintenance routine to clean untransferred toner from the drum. An inkjet cartridge that stopped in midsquirt may need cleaning. Run a test page and check it for stains and streaks. How to avoid this next time: The odds that a printer will turn off on its own are low. If outages are relatively frequent in your area, plug the printer into a UPS device so that it can finish printing and power down normally the next time the electricity fails. Using the Wrong Side of Photo Paper You wait eagerly for your photo to come out, but what you get is big splotches of ink sitting—and not drying—on the wrong side of the photo paper. Cancel the print job if you can: This is especially important with multiple sheets of photos; each wrong-way sheet will just add to the mess. Remove the paper carefully and make sure the ink doesn’t run: Avoid getting it on your hands—wear gloves or use a napkin or paper towel. Throw the paper away: Yes, you’ll have to say good-bye. How to avoid this next time: Check the documentation and tray markings to make certain you’re inserting the photo paper correctly.
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February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 43
Here’s how
Spilled Toner or Ink Toner can spill inside the printer during regular use, or it can spill onto surfaces, clothing, skin, or carpets when you’re replacing a cartridge. Here’s what to do. Take basic precautions: •Keep spilled toner dry and contained. •Do not use hot water, cold water, or heat to wipe it up; use any general cleaning solution with care and caution. •Do not use a conventional household vacuum cleaner, as it might blow the toner out the back. •Avoid inhaling the toner. Try one of these three basic ways to remove spilled toner: •For spills on hard, smooth surfaces, use cardboard or a paper towel to sweep the toner carefully into a plastic bag or other sealable receptacle for disposal. •Special toner-cleaning cloths use static to attract the toner for easy wiping. Regular paper towels or cotton towels will also work. •A special toner vacuum is the only kind of vacuum you should consider using. It has attachments designed to reach into small spaces and pull toner from the interior of a printer or an unlucky area of carpet, along with a receptacle designed to trap very small particles. How to avoid this next time: Always handle toner cartridges carefully, especially during insertion and removal. Before working with toner cartridges, protect surrounding areas from spills by covering them with newsprint or paper towels. Don’t cry over spilled ink: It’s unusual for ink to spill from a cartridge unless the cartridge has been punctured, squeezed, cracked, or crushed. Also, a refilled cartridge may be more susceptible to leaking or spilling, so handle it carefully. Online advice on cleaning up printer ink spills recommends using substances from rubbing alcohol to WD-40 to hair spray to bleach—but effectiveness depends on where the ink landed, and on its chemical content. A commonsense approach would be to handle spills quickly yet cautiously,
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starting with basic cleaning procedures and escalating as necessity dictates. Before applying any cleaning substance over a large area, test it to ensure that it doesn’t cause damage of its own. First step in all cases: Blot spilled ink with an absorbent cloth or paper towel. Ink on skin: Use soap and water to clean further. If ink remains, try scrubbing. Use any additional cleaning solutions cautiously. Ink on fabric or carpet: With soap and water, brush the stain using an upwardinward motion—upward so as not to push the ink deeper into the fabric, and inward so as not to spread the stain. Use additional cleaning solutions with caution. Ink on hard surfaces: If a stain remains after blotting, try another method or
cleaner suited to the surface. Ink in the printer: Cleanup here will be a messy job, and the outcome will be uncertain. •Turn off the printer if you can. If it off ers cartridge access only when it is on, keep it on for now, and check the cartridges. You may have to decide whether the spill will be worse if you remove the cartridge or leave it where it is. Try to minimise further spillage as you clean. •Turn off the printer now if you haven’t yet done so, access its interior, and find and remove as much spillage as you can through blotting. Then use rubbing alcohol and lint-free cloths to clean further; take care not to let anything get stuck inside. •Run a test page and check for evidence of leftover ink, such as splotches or continuous streaks. Make sure the printer acts normally. •If you’re lucky, everything will be fine after you run pages through the printer to let spilled ink print itself out. If you’re unlucky, ink you couldn’t remove will lead to further damage. How to avoid this next time: Handle ink cartridges carefully, especially if they’re refills, and during insertion and removal. If you’re spill-prone, protect the area with newspaper or paper towels.
by Rick Broida and PCWorld Middle East Staff
Default e-mail Client, Eliminate duplicate files, Transfer photos Set Your Default E-Mail Client to AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo Mail If you use a Web-based e-mail client such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail, you’ve likely encountered this hassle before: You click a ‘mailto’ link on a Web page, and then watch while Windows tries to open Outlook, Windows Live Mail, or some other desktop program you don’t use and haven’t configured. Error messages (and possibly cursing) ensue. You could jump through various hoops to configure Windows, your browser, or both to direct such e-mail links to the proper destination (to Gmail, say), but why bother? I’ve found a small, simple utility—GmailDefaultMaker—that will do the hoop-jumping on your behalf. Just run the free program and choose the default e-mail service you want: AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo. (Yes, the program needs a name change.) Then go about your business. It’s that easy. Now, whenever you click a ‘mailto’ link, you’ll land in the proper Web client, not in an unwanted desktop program. Eliminate Duplicate Files With a Free Utility Reader Pam is looking for a way to “clean out duplicate files, documents, pictures,
etc.,” but doesn’t want to spend money on the project. In other words, she wants a freeware assistant. I have just the thing: Fast Duplicate File Finder. True to its name, the utility scans selected folders on your hard drive, finds duplicate files, and gives you the option of tossing the copies into the trash. Also true to its name: It’s fast. I tried it myself on my large and unruly MP3 collection, and it discovered some duplicates I didn’t even know were there. Plus, I liked the assorted after-scan options the program affords, such as automatically selecting the older versions of duplicate files and moving or deleting checked files. In other words, FDFF is a smart, useful utility that works as advertised—and you can’t beat the price. Sound good, Pam? Wirelessly Transfer Snapshots From Your iPhone to Your Computer Like most iPhone owners, I snap a lot of photos with the handset. Unfortunately, the only way to copy those images to my PC is with a sync cable and all the usual Windows Explorer drudgery. That’s why WiFiPhoto is one of my all-time favorite apps. It creates a link between my iPhone and my computer, but it does so without wires. Instead, as you might expect, it uses a Wi-Fi network. After loading the app (it works with all iOS devices, not just the iPhone), tap the photo(s) you want to copy, and then
Here’s how
READER Q&A
tap Done. You’ll see a message that says ‘Connect your browser to IP address’ (see the screen at right). Now fire up your Web browser, type in that IP address, and then press <Enter>. Presto! You’ll see a thumbnail for each photo that you selected.
To save them all in one fell swoop, click Download Zip. Otherwise, you can click an individual thumbnail to open it in your system’s default image viewer; the viewing utility I like for this purpose is IrfanView. I use WiFiPhoto almost daily, and I find it absolutely indispensable. If you’re tired of doing the sync-cable shuffle every time you want to offload some images, you’ll find it a necessity, too. And WiFiPhoto costs all of 99 cents.
CONTACT
If you’ve got a hassle that needs solving, send it our way. We can’t promise a response, but we’ll definitely read every e-mail we get — and do our best to address at least some of them in future issues: troubleshoot@pcworldme.net
February 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 45
THE BACK PAGE
PC EXPERT
KHALID ALHURAIZ WWW.LOCHALARCHADE.COM
WILL X86 DIE? Khalid Alhuraiz rambles every month about all things PC. This month he tackles issues of whether we’re seeing the end of the X86-era. Ever since Microsoft showed off the “next version of Windows” running off an ARM CPU, people are already calling x86 dead. “ARM will reign king in the near future, and this is yet another nail in the coffin for the desktop,” (that’s certainly a lot of nails for the coffin) people say. This sounds just as ridiculous as it is. It’s like saying a popular rapper would be soon out of job because this other rock band is getting more popular. Two different genres for two different target markets. First of all, what is ARM and x86? They are basically two different CPU architectures made for two different markets. To explain my point about each made for different markets, let’s see where each is used in. ARM is commonly found in devices where battery life, heat generation, and device size matters, whereas x86 is used in bigger devices that need the processing power. The difference between low-end x86 CPUs and high-end ARM CPUs is starting to close though thanks to advances in processor technology. Before anything, let’s take two steps backwards and see where each side stands now: ARM powers almost every handheld device, and a huge chunk of the tablet market, thanks to the iPad and the myriad of Android devices popping everywhere. On the other hand, x86 powers virtually every server, desktop, and laptop we see, and a very tiny part of the tablet market. At CES 2011, other than Microsoft’s announcement, Nvidia announced Project Denver as their answer to the high-end computing
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market by combining an ARM CPU with their GPU muscle. Meanwhile, both AMD and Intel showed both big and powerful CPUs for big computers, and tiny and efficient CPUs for the smaller devices. What can we expect in the future? The most obvious is a fierce competition between the two architectures’ manufacturers on every level of the computing market. We’ll see both architectures invading the other’s comfort zone and start some interesting waves. I think it’s great to see Microsoft leading the way to computing on an ARM machine. If it not for Microsoft, I don’t think we’ll ever see any manufacturer willing to make an ARM-based in massive quantities. If you’re thinking “but Linux ran on ARM for ages!”, you’re right, but I highly doubt any computer maker would have high hopes for the sales of an ARM computer. So why should any of this matter to any of us? Many things. How does a Windows-powered laptop that lives on for many hours on one charge sound to you? Or a home theatre PC that’s slightly larger than your average smartphone? This is all thanks to ARM architecture’s initial focus on providing a battery-sipping CPU for portable devices. Of course, it shouldn’t matter to you if all you do is serious gaming or some advanced work on your computer, unless you’re in the market for a second computer. Though there’s just one giant problem staring at all of us. As all of you know,
you could have the best hardware ever, but fail miserably because of no software. This problem, if not addressed by Microsoft, would leave x86 live on without a challenge. You cannot run software built for a CPU architecture on another. One solution is through emulation, but that alone is a set of problems by itself. Can we tell who’s going to win? Not really. Amusingly, Nvidia is already claiming that Denver will free us all from the inefficiency of the x86 platform like it’s some sort of oppressive rule through using the parallel GPU computing power present in Denver. Meanwhile at AMD, they also have a similar-sounding CPU for netbooks to mainstream desktops with parallel GPU computing, which they also claim to bypass the limitation of x86, and is set to be released some time this year, with a high-end CPU version for desktops coming in 2012. To wrap things up, will x86 die? No. This is the same when people said laptops will kill desktops. To quote PCWorld’s last issue’s feature, page 34: “... but saying that the desktop is on its deathbed is like saying that, since all most people need is a Tata Nano, the SUV is obsolete.” The same logic applies here. The ARM boom will just add more value to computers in general, just like how any small computer adds value to a bigger computer. Khalid Alhuraiz is a long-time PC user with an almost fanatical interest in hardware, software and everything in between. You can find him hanging out at www.lochalarchade.com and catch up with him on Twitter as @khalidakh.
January 2011 | www.pcworldme.net | 47
Copyright©2010SymantecCorporation.Allrightsreserved.Symantec,theSymantecLogo,NortonandNorton360aretrademarksorregisteredtrademarksofSymantecCorporationoritsaffiliatesintheU.S.andothercountries.Othernamesmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners. 1) The product key for a NFR copy of Norton 360™ Version 4.0 is a full version of the product. It is an exclusive Norton Partner Portal benefit and entitles for only one download per reseller (Primary Contact) during the term of the Norton Partner Portal Program. 2) Based on Symantec internal data comparing features of competitors all in one security solutions.
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