If USB-powered dogs shagging your laptop are just not abusing your USB slots enough then you may want to check out this video one of the best DIY USB gadgets I have seen yet.
The DIY Popcorn Maker, ensuring that your 24-hour online gaming quest for the Fiery Hook Blade of Snotworth doesn’t need to be disturbed by salt/food cravings. I’m not sure that wiring looks exactly safe but it does seem to do the job.
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Gigabytes are so yesterday says Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, as we enter what it terms the ‘Tera Era’.
To prove its point it has a survey, showing that the average gadget wielding UK consumer can be storing up to £600-worth of photos, films, music and games across their many devices. That equates to an average of 502 songs, 466 photos, 14 films and 8 games on their digital audio players, PCs and camera phones.
Around 1-in-5 British consumers are “high capacity” users, with more than 200GB of storage. A third claim they need double the storage they currently have while 1-in-5 reckon they need an infinite amount. That would be me then.
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We want to put our existing iPod libraries on to the new PC.
Jane McNicol
JS: Apple’s website provides instructions for moving your music library either via a CD or DVD or using an iPod (support.apple.com/kb/HT1329). However, this requires the use of iTunes 7 on both machines. One alternative is to use iGadget software ($15), which has replaced iPod Agent by the same developer, but there are many others. The main problem is transferring any protected files bought from the iTunes store. According to Apple, you must authorise the new PC by selecting Authorize Computer on the Store menu in iTunes. You can then attach the iPod, go to the File menu, and select Transfer Purchases from iPod (support.apple.com/kb/HT1727). Of course, you can always copy your files onto CD or other storage medium and add them to iTunes on the new PC. However, this will lose the metadata you had in the old library.
What’s the best way to follow up your many TinyURL references?
Tom Garrud
My system - Firefox 3, Zone Alarm Security Suite, Windows XP - will not let me access any TinyURLs.
David Gompertz
JS: TinyURL references work as published if you type them directly into the address bar of your browser or, at worst, stick http:// on the front, eg http://tinyurl.com/owd8n etc. But it’s probably easier to follow the links from the Ask Jack blog, where I use the full address of each link instead of the TinyURL. Some websites and security programs may block TinyURL addresses as they can be used to take people to malware sites. The Zone Alarm Suite now does this via its Spy Site Blocking tab, but this is not part of the free firewall program.
I can remember having to wait for radio valves to warm up. Why do I have to wait even longer after switching on my Windows XP PC?
Hugh Roberts
JS: When correctly set up by the manufacturer, Windows XP boots in about 30 seconds, resumes from Hibernate in 20 seconds, and resumes from Standby in five seconds. The boot time for a well-used PC is generally more like 60 to 90 seconds, depending on how many applications are being loaded in the background. These will usually include a firewall and antivirus software, but most other preloads are unnecessary. Search for [windows startup manager] and you will find lots of programs that allow you to control which things are loaded. I use AnVir Task Manager Free for this purpose, though Windows Vista has a utility built in. Otherwise, you can go to the Control Panel, click Power Options, and set your PC so that it will hibernate after a specified time. This uses very little power but it will start up quicker.
Data destruction
I’ve bought a replacement for my broken down PC, and would like to dispose of it, but it still has my data on the hard drive.
Barbara Evans
JS: Simply remove the hard drive before disposing of the base unit. If the drive is big enough to be worth the effort, you could mount it in an external drive case and use it as a USB drive with your new machine. If it’s a small drive and you don’t need to rescue any data, you can do enough physical damage to render it inoperable - eg, wrap it in a tea towel and whack it with a hammer. The tea towel is to stop bits flying around, but you should also wear appropriate protective equipment such as goggles.
I have installed the BBC iPlayer, but every time I activate it, a program called Kontiki pops up.
Denis
JS: When you download TV programmes using iPlayer - as distinct from watching streamed versions online - they are downloaded using Kontiki (kontiki.com). This is a peer-to-peer file sharing program, which is also used by similar services such as Sky by Broadband and Channel 4’s 4oD. Kontiki seems to load and use your bandwidth, even if you are not using iPlayer: use the Windows Task Manager to see if Kservice is running. The BBC has a page that explains how to stop it running on startup and when you are not using iPlayer (tinyurl.com/4h2t26). You can remove it altogether using the kclean.exe program from tinyurl.com/5msknq. However, if you do, any Kontiki-based programs such as iPlayer may not work.
Backchat
Vista user JH Prentice wanted a photo retouching program to replace Microsoft’s Picture It! I suggested the Picnik website and Paint.net. Two readers suggested Picasa (picasa.google.com), which is mainly a photo organiser, while Marcus Fallon proposed XnView (xnview.com), which is mainly a viewer. I’d go for XnView too, if its retouching facilities meet your needs. A great pro solution is Adobe’s Lightroom, if you have £200 to spare.
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If you haven’t taken the PS3 plunge yet then maybe you’d like a chance at winning one and saving your cash for those overpriced Blu-ray versions of the movies you already own on VHS and DVD.
We are running a short survey to find out a little bit more about you, our lovely readers, and the types of gadgets and tech you’re passionate about. I realise it’s not as much fun as getting together for a giant, free piss-up but the budget is stretching to a PS3, not shares in Guinness and a rave at the Millennium Dome.
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Here’s an interesting little gadget from Swann - its FlashlightDVR is a run of the mill torch with a digital video camera built in.
The heavy duty design certainly isn’t pocket sized but is particularly hard wearing and aimed at everyone from security guards to happy campers who want to document late night exploits/grab video footage of the Blair Witch.
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While many people are looking for ways to save money when purchasing an iPhone by weighing up contracts versus PAYG, we do not recommend putting your faith, or cash, into the above iPhone. It may look like the real deal but it’s a damn fine fake from China.
The Chinese are masters at faking it, taking just about any technology gadget and fabricating excellent looking doubles. It will probably short circuit or burst into flames after a few days but at least it looked good and cost peanuts.
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Control systems for portable devices like MP3 players and mobile phones can start to get a bit silly sometimes, and though the trend was arguably started by Apple’s scroll wheel, this is also one of the few that can genuinely be labelled a success.
LG is pretty culpable in this area and seems to have a clear penchant for building a touchscreen into everything, and iRiver mixed things up a bit with its Clix and Twist players.
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There seems to have been a bit of a mini-boom in waterproof gadgets this summer, and while we can understand why you wouldn’t want to risk getting a set of speakers wet, we’re not quite sure who’d want to take their tech into the sea with them.
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USB products represent some of the most amusing, boring and, also some of the dumbest, in the gadget sector.
Today’s USB oddity is the USB Fish Tank 4-Port Hub + Magnetic Clip Holder. As you can see from the photo above this baby looks like a mess because it is a mess. It’s like they ran out of ideas in the Hub Making Dept. and this is the result.
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Apparently Chrysler is looking to turn your car into a rolling WiFi hotspot, allowing you to connect to the internet both for the sake of accessing information, but also for providing it (such as traffic info). Of course, automakers have talked about internet access in cars before, but it hasn’t gone very far — so unless you brought your own EVDO card, you weren’t doing much. But is there really a strong demand for such things? As some analysts note, it seems like the automakers may be “leapfrogging the market,” when they should be focused on making cars work better with the gadgets we already have. This is a problem that has come up before. Automakers love to build new technology into their cars in order to control the experience, but that’s not what consumers want. Having an MP3 player is nice, but it’s easier if you can just use your iPod. Having a built in GPS system is cool, but the new Garmin has a lot more features. Working with consumer electronics devices that people buy seems like it may be a lot more sensible than trying to recreate the wheel. And, then, of course putting WiFi connectivity in cars may eventually lead to xkcd-style scenarios:
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