Getting Started With Arduino: Book Review (70%)

Getting Started With Arduino: Book ReviewIf you’re like me, you won’t have heard of Arduino. Outside this sphere of ignorance there’s a whole lot of artists who not only love Arduino, but are passionate about it too.

If you’re in the “What the hell is Arduino?”, this book gives you a good guide to what it it and what can be done with it.

Arduino comes from an educational background and is a combination of open source hardware running open source software, enabling the control of ‘things.’ These ”things’ can be assembled allowing quite complex circuits to be constructed.

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Christmas Guide: Seeking The Perfect High-End Digital Compact Camera (Part Two)

Christmas Guide: Seeking The Perfect High-End Digital Compact Camera (Part Two)In Part One of our search for the hottest high end digital cameras, we finished by looking for something to beat one of our favourites, the Olympus XA.

That camera was the Ricoh GR, which, like the XA, offered a fixed, wide angle lens in a compact package.

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Christmas Guide: Seeking The Perfect High-End Digital Compact Camera (Part One)

If you’re looking for an overview of the best High-End digital compact camera, you’ve come to the right place. Over the next few days, we’ll fill you in on what’s hot – Ed

Seeking The Perfect High-End Digital Compact Camera (Part One)Way back in the pre-digital age, our favourite carry-everywhere camera was the Olympus XA, a wonderful lightweight (225g) and compact 35mm camera, measuring just 102 W x 64.5 H x 40 D mm and providing a superbly portable alternative to our Olympus OM2 SLR system.

This pocket-sized wonder packed aperture-priority exposure controls, rangefinder focusing, an optional flash accessory and a fast 35mm lens with 10 sec-1/500 sec shutter speeds.

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Searching For The Supremo Smartphone (Part Three)

Searching For The Supremo Smartphone (Part Three)In Part One and Part Two we worked our way through some of the best smartphones on the market.

LG KF750 Secret
Looking way slick with its carbon fibre battery cover and tempered glass display, the Secret is a neat sliderphone packed with a ton of multimedia gizmos wedged into its slimline frame.

There’s a 5MP autofocus camera with AF-assist light onboard, backed by VGA video recording at 30 fps, plus SloMo and Fast video recording options.

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Searching For The Supremo Smartphone (Part One)

Searching For The Supremo SmartphoneLook, we’ll come right out with it. We’re gadget freaks.

We like to strut around with the latest gizmos throbbing in our pockets, and tote the latest technology. When it comes to smartphones, we want the best, but what is the supreme smartphone right now?

We take a comprehensive look at what’s on offer in the top end of the market and chew over bagfuls of specs in our quest to find the perfect smartphone.

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Blackberry Storm Review: Quick Hands-On (83%)

Blackberry Storm: Quick Hands On ReviewOver the weekend we had chance to play with Blackberry’s first touchscreen model, the much-hyped Blackberry Storm.

The first impressions were very positive: the handset is a great size and feels very solid indeed. The back panel looked like it would survive a drop or two, and the battery door had none of that soon-break flimsiness seen on many phones.

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BlackBerry Curve Review: Long Term (88%)

BlackBerry Curve Review: Long Term (88%)We know that this isn’t the _latest_ gadget, but it shouldn’t always be about the new should it? This is one device that become a consistent must-carry item for us – which is pretty rare in the world of constant development. We thought we’d detail why.

I’ve been using a Blackberry Curve (8310) for the last twelve months. It’s been my phone of choice — my must carry — over and above all of the other handsets that we’ve had in to review – and that’s plenty.

That point alone should be sufficient to recommend it as a really strong handset – but there’s more.

It’s size and form mean that it’s never out of place. It’s light enough to have in your pocket without it being a burden – always to hand and that’s a major bonus.

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Current Cost: Review: Electricity Usage Monitor: Installation (95%) (Video)

Current Cost: Review: Electricity Usage Monitor: Installation (95%)It’s Energy Saving Week, so it’s highly applicable that we bring you a device that will help you monitor your energy usage – and through being aware of how much power you’re using, lower the amount you use.

CurrentCost is one such device.

The video below shows what happened when we received the Current Cost and quite how easy it is to setup. The summary – amazingly easy.

Within about five minutes you’ll be watching your pounds drain away on electricity!

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