Table of contents for August 2017 in PC & Tech Authority

I_n pleasingly stark contrast to last month’s wasted time with Eugene Kaspersky, I had quite the enjoyable breakfast meeting today with Bogdan and Andrei from Bitdefender. These chaps come out once a year or so from their home base in Romania (top tip when meeting Romanians, don’t complain about the cold 15 degree Sydney morning. You don’t know cold. They know cold). As is the way with all security/ AV companies, the world press and partners tour starts about now, leading up to the new 2018 product launch over the next couple of months. So for Bitdefender, the most interesting aspect at this early stage is the continued shift towards storing the application’s ‘engine’ in the cloud. We’ll have more on that when we do our big annual security group…

The arrival of Amazon’s Echo and Google Home have brought always-on listening devices into the mainstream, with an array of microphones constantly activated. Google and Amazon insist they only capture recordings made after “prompt” words are used, but it still means vast amounts of audio data is kept on company servers. And even those short snippets could contain background conversations or other incriminating audio. Law enforcement officials regard such data as potential evidence. Prosecutors in one Arkansas murder trial earlier this year, for example, asked Amazon to hand over recordings that might include evidence of what happened. The company refused to hand over the data despite officials producing a search warrant, although the data was later released at the request of defence lawyers, who believed the recording would further their…

Extreme, master MwaveIEM Esports Gaming PC 3 $2,599 • http://tinyurl.com/yavulmkp With an offcial Intel Extreme Masters sticker plastered on the stylish tempered glass of this system, you know this system can help you frag with the best in the world. A zero-rpm capable PSU and GPU, and an AIO CPU liquid cooler mean this system should be very quiet indeed once all the killing dies down. RGB is of course present with the cooler, case and GPU all o. ering to shine, pulsate and glow any colour you desire through the classy glass panelling. A solid CPU and GPU pairing matched with decent memory and storage capacities make for a well-rounded PC ready to take on any gaming title for years to come. KEY SPECS CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K…

X299 GAMING M7 ACK • 3D Printing Support: Modify and customize your system with the use of special 3D screws.• Killer DoubleShot Pro: Delivers industry-leading speed using Killer’s Lag and Latency Reduction Technology via both Killer Ethernet and Wi-Fi.• DDR4 Boost with Steel Armor: Fully isolated, shielded and optimized DDR4 PCB design to give your DDR4 memory a performance boost. X299 GAMING PRO CARBON AC • Mystic Light: 16.8 million colors and 17 effects controlled in one click with Mystic Light app on Windows or smartphone.• VR Reasy & VR Boost: Best virtual reality game experience without latency, reduces motion sickness. Supports Nahimic VR & TriDef VR.• Audio Boost 4 with NAHIMIC 2+: Reward your ears with studio grade sound quality for the most immersive gaming experience. X299 TOMAHAWK •…

2D TESTS Desktop PCs and laptops are tested using our own custom bench testing suite, which has been carefully designed to test all aspects of a system and rate them in a way that’s useful to you. Our benchtesting cover three main tests: a typical video editing test, a demanding 4K video editing test and a multitasking test that stresses all aspects of the system. We look at the time it takes for each test to run, which is then compared to our reference PC to produce a normalised result. This score is shown on a graph, and to help you understand just where the PC we’re reviewing sits in the grand scheme of things, we will often include other system’s scores. PC&TA LABS BENCHTEST PC Intel Core i7-7700 CPU;…

I_nside the Bolt3’s “all-aluminium, heat-dissipating enclosure” that has an “innovative interior cooling with a thermoregulated blower and heat sink” are two M.2 PCIe SSDs in a RAID-0 for a total storage capacity of 2TB. It attaches to its weighted base via “powerful neodymium magnets” so it doesn’t fall over when used upright. There’s a little hinge on the back to hide the DC power cable and Thunderbolt 3 cable (both included). Connect the Bolt3 up to a Thunderbolt 3 port and you’ve got an external drive that’s as fast as the fastest internal storage - because that’s what Thunderbolt basically is, an extension of the PCIe bus, but outside the computer. There’s two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the rear of the Bolt3 allowing you to daisy chain other devices such…

T_he Cintiq Pro 16 is a replacement for the Cintiq 13HD tablet. Functionally, it’s a second monitor that acts like a tablet that you can draw on using the Pro Pen2. The Cintiq Pro’s 16inch UHD display (3840 x 2160) via USB type C is the biggest feature. That’s close enough to 300 DPI resolution, which is akin to working on a physical printed page. At 94% Adobe RGB colour gamut, it’s also incredibly accurate. Wacom has reduced the depth of the glass on the screen so the parallax e. ect (when it feels like the pen’s not actually touching the ‘paper’) has been reduced. If you don’t have USBC you’re stuck with 2560 x 1440 via an adaptor for Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt on Mac) and USB 3. This is…

2TB $159; 4TB $228 • www.wdc.com T_his latest version of WD’s long-standing My Passport range introduces a bit of nice looking design. Our art directors here at Nextmedia declared it Lego-like, and they liked it. It feels good and is small and slim, so easy to move around. You can have one in black, red, white, blue, orange or the yellow we tested. The expected features are included, so that means password protection with 256-bit encryption. A nice touch is the “return if found” message you can add in case someone with a kind heart finds it. Automatic backup is another app-feature included, and hanging one of these, or similar, o. the back of your PC is about as simple as it gets for backing up. A decent three year…

$239.95 • www.razerzone.com/au-en/ T_he Lancehead uses a new technology Razer calls AFT (Adaptive Frequency Technology) that, to grossly simplify, monitors the 2.4GHz band and only swaps frequencies when necessary, moving to the least cluttered band available. What this means on paper is that there should be no change in mouse performance if other wireless technologies or other disruptive technologies are present. What it means in practise is that we’ve had zero connection problems with the mouse. Not being tournament gamers we can’t attest to the full veracity of Razer’s claims, but we’ve found the mouse fast and accurate throughout testing. Wireless performance aside, the Lancehead is an excellent mouse all round. The only real problem facing the Lancehead is the other Lancehead on the market. The Lancehead: Tournament Edition (an…

W_elcome to the future. A future with no dropped packets, no dead patches, no moving your laptop a few inches to get a better connection. It’s not just that wireless technology has moved on: it’s now moving in a distinctly different direction. The emergence of mesh networking as a viable and effective alternative to the single, super-powerful router means you have a real and palpable decision to make. Do you stick with the tried and tested, but not always effective? Or do you invest in a new way to do Wi-Fi? Over the next few pages we attempt to answer that question for you, comparing the best routers and mesh network systems on the market to see which is the most effective. Read on for the full lowdown – you…

W_e all think we know what Office 365 is: a compendium of familiar Office apps. That might have been what the Office suite looked like a decade ago, but it’s much more than that today. What started o? as an awkward merger of back-Office capabilities with desktopsoftware has grown into something farbigger. And, in true Microsoft style, there are almost innumerable permutations of what you can spend your moneyon. If you’re still in the “Office = Word, Outlook, Excel and so on” mindset, you’re most certainly not getting the most from your subscription, particularly if you’re on a business-grade deal. So here are my top tips for eking maximum value from your monthly fee. 1 KNOW WHAT YOU’RE PAYING FOR To get the best value from an Office 365 package,…

T he elevator pitch for early access game Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds must have been pretty simple – a 100 person deathmatch where there can be only one winner. But left at that, it might also sound a little boring, when the fact is it is one of the most pulse-pounding shooters I’ve ever played. PUBG – that’s going to save a lot of page space! – builds on the success of games like DayZ and the ArmA series, but boils down the tense, tactical shooter to its bare elements, and then ramps up the tension to 110 per cent. There is only one map, but it is vast, and I’m still discovering new corners. And you don’t so much spawn into the map – you leap out of a C-130 aircraft…

FEATURES + ESET INTERNET SECURITY + ANTIBROWSERSPY + BACKUP4ALL + PDF CONVERSA + WINOPTIMIZER 14 DRIVERS + ATI CATALYST + NVIDIA FORCEWARE HELP + DISCLAIMER + DAMAGED OR FAULTY DVDS + USING THIS DVD + INSTALLING SOFTWARE EDITORIA + BURNING AN ISO IMAGE + PC&TA EDITORIALS TROUBLESHOOTING + SERIAL CODES + BLANK REGISTRATION WEBSITE + CAN’T FIND A FILE? + INSTALLATION ERROR WINDOWS + 7ZIP + CCLEANER + CLASSIC SHELL + CUTEPDF + DEEPBURNER + DEFRAGGLER + FLUX + FOXIT READER + GREENSHOT + APPLE ITUNES + LIBRE OFFICE + OPEN OFFICE + MALWAREBYTES’ A/M + SANDBOXIE + VLC MEDIA PLAYER MAC + ALFRED + BETTERTOUCHTOOLS + APPLE ITUNES + DROPBOX + FLUX + GOOGLE CHROME + MOZILLA FIREFOX + PLEX + SKYPE + TEAMVIEWER + VLC INTERNET + VUZE…

Dear Prime Minister May – I apologise for not saying “Dear Mrs May”, but I’m writing before the elect ion as a concerned Englishman, in light of recent events, anything might happen – I would like to comment on your seemingly endless ignorance of the internet. Some might think that unfair. But I have yet to see evidence that any incumbent of No 10, past, present or potential future, has anything remotely resembling a clue. A few weeks ago, many organisations, including the NHS, were hit with a nasty virus outbreak, which took advantage of a hole in the security of Windows. Microsoft had issued a patch for it, but the nature of these things is that many hadn’t gotten around to applying the patch. Vast swathes of that huge…

PCTA READABILITY Dear Sir Would it be possible to reduce the black ink on coloured paper and provide more black ink on white paper? My eyes are 78 years old and it often is di? cult to read those dreaded coloured pages, especially on glossy paper under fluorescent lighting. The June edition would be one of your good ones, for the less technical anyway. Regards, Joe Smith Ben Mansill replies: Thanks Joe, fair point, and well taken. I do see comments like this from time to time, and it’s absolutely valid. We’ve cut down, but will now look to doing coloured backgrounds as little as possible. They do look good on opening feature spreads, but if we do that we’ll be extra careful to choose colours that don’t impact readability. NBN…

I’ve got the upgrade urges. Badly. However, I need to hold on for just a little while longer. You see I’ve got an old Dell 30-inch U3011 monitor which as the model number kindly indicates, harks back from 2011, and I love it (as do I, and I do too. Ed.). However, it’s beginning to show its age. With an ever so slight backlight discolouration creeping in down the right side of the panel and a refresh rate of just 60Hz it’s beginning to get annoying to look at. Ever since adaptive sync tech came along I’ve been holding o¥ in the vein hope that G-Sync from Nvidia or the VESA standards adaptive-sync (AKA FreeSync by AMD) will emerge the victor and finally get rid of this AMD/ Nvidia vendor…

T_he X299 chipset is the evolution of the X99 chipset, supporting up to 44 PCIe 3.0 lanes (depending on the CPU), quad channel DDR4-2666 memory, 10x USB 3.1 ports, support for Intel’s trailblazing Optane memory, DMI 3.0 and updated Turbo Max Boost 3.0 technology. MSI has a history of innovation and industry firsts. MSI introduced the world’s first RGB motherboards, broke the 5GHz DDR4 memory barrier, was first to introduce on-board thermal solution for M.2 SSDs, and was first manufacturer to include Killer xTrend and ASMedia 3142 USB 3.1 Gen2 support chips. MSI’s Z270 range of motherboards received over 250 awards in the first half of 2017 alone. Continuing the tradition of excellence, MSI is harnessing the power the new Intel X299 chipset to offer a full range of motherboards…

We were genuinely fortunate that this year’s Computex had a strong narrative. Thanks to AMD shaking things up with Ryzen, and, Intel’s subsequent paper launches of competition products, the conversations were a lot more interesting and the products that related to AMD and Intel a lot more relevant. Yes, Computex is always the annual motherboard and everything else show, if only for sheer volume of product at least. That said, there is a pleasing reversal of the recent trend to release thirty or forty new motherboards – at least from some companies. Asus, for one, is consciously cutting back on SKUs. So instead of having five different but almost-identical boards in a particular range, there is but one or two, with the knock on effect being that they’re generally more…

Y ou might think the Samsung Galaxy S8+ doesn’t really deserve its own review. It’s much the same as the Samsung Galaxy S8, with the same internals, camera, storage options and screen resolution. What makes it different is the sheer size of the thing. The screen measures 6.2in across the diagonal, which would make a regular phone practically unusable – but then the Samsung Galaxy S8+ is no regular phone. That’s mainly because the 18.5:9 aspect ratio allows Samsung to add extra screen space without expanding the width of the phone too much. Surprisingly, it’s comfortable to hold and use in one hand. A look at the numbers reveals why. The Samsung Galaxy S8+ is a mere 73.4mm wide, which works out at only 0.8mm broader than last year’s S7…

T_he Lumix GX850 follows on from Panasonic’s GF8 and GM5 cameras, o. ering an interchangeable lens format in a very compact body. The small size is a delight, while the large screen on the back consumes a very generous amount of available space so there was no feeling of compromise. This is the camera I took to do Computex, and a week of it around my neck led only to people asking more about this little beauty. I used the small 1232mm lens (HFS12032), the amount of zoom is minimal but for close ups to panoramas it was so very versatile. The GX850 allows a small amount of postshot focusing, it’s a software e. ect so can’t bring heavy depth of field background areas to the fore, but is still…

$139 • www.corsair.com O_nce you get past the bizarre puzzle box packaging, the Corsair Glaive is a mouse that is very easy to like. The feel of the mouse can be customised with three removable thumb rests – one smooth, one textured and one with a wide thumb rest. Once you’ve got your hand comfortably situated, the finesse of the mouse comes to the fore. The 16000 DPI optical sensor is fast and accurate, with five DPI settings available out of the box. These can be further customised through the drivers. The left and right buttons, as well as the two thumb buttons have a satisfying click and the scroll wheel has a pleasant textured surface and a tactile scroll that feels good to use. The only thing standing against…

$14 • www.gearbest.com F_rom time to time we poke around Gearbest’s site hunting interesting product for review. This Chinese megastore has a range that’s enormous, prices are low and many neat little discoveries can be found. We decided to review the most outrageously over the top looking mouse they had. Unfortunately they were out of stock of the one with the huge illuminated plastic energy sphere, so they sent this, instead. At the end of its shiny metallic cord sits a bamboozle of crazy shapes. There must be dozens of parts in this thing, it’s glorious in its dramatic overkill. What looks like an F1 suspension component lies within, illuminated, under the weight adjustment compartment which shows weight measured in kilograms. Metal bits poke out everywhere and the enormous metal…

$129 • www.ttesports.com T_here are many keyboards available around the $129 price point, but few o? er the value and functionality of the Meka Pro. The keyboard uses Cherry MX Blue, Red or Brown switches (the review unit featured Red switches) and on the surface appears to be a very straightforward entry level mechanical keyboard. To keep the price down, Tt Esports has eschewed RGB lighting in favour of a red backlight. The keyboard requires no drivers yet still features some of the best on the fly macro recording we’ve seen. Users click the red MK button above the numpad, choose a macro slot with the function key, program the macro and hit function again. It works extremely well. The only other extravagance of the keyboard is some replacement red…

G_oogle Wifihas been a long time in the making. First conceived in 2013, it has taken Google’s networking experts four years to bring the system to market and its appearance in 2017 is significant. Back when the Google’s engineers first dreamed it up, the market was dominated by single routers; today mesh networking is the vogue. The basic kit includes two compact cylindrical router devices, each with a coloured status LED wrapped around its middle and a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports built into a cavity in the base. In terms of specifications, Google Wifidoesn’t look as impressive as its key rivals. Google’s boxes are dual-band 2x2 stream units, capable of connecting at up to 1,200Mbits/sec over 5GHz. There’s no DSL modem built in, but connection to routers is simple.…

Linksys Velop is easy to set up and spreading a strong signal across your home is as easy as plugging extra nodes in where you need coverage. Once you’ve done that, you shouldn’t need to touch it. As you move around the house, your devices connect to the node with the strongest Wi-Fisignal and requests are passed around the mesh until they reach the base unit, which is attached to your main router or modem. Setup is super simple. Each Velop node has built-in Bluetooth, so there’s no need to fa€ around entering usernames and passwords first, and once you’ve chosen the type of router or modem you’re connecting to, the system sets itself up, checking as you add extra nodes to ensure you’ve put them in the best place…

You probably think of the Windows Command Prompt as a historical hangover from the MS-DOS days. To be fair, that’s pretty much what it is. But it’s still a powerful and e. cient way of getting things done, some of which would be complicated or impossible with the mouse. Here’s our pick of commands worth knowing – all of which still work in Windows 10. 1: attrib VIEW AND CHANGE FILE PROPERTIES Example: attrib-h-rc:\example.dat Every file in Windows has a set of basic attributes: some are “system” files, and Windows will complain if you try to delete or move them. Others might be hidden, so by default they won’t be shown in Explorer. The “attrib” command lets you view or change these attributes. The example above removes the “hidden” and…

JON HONEYBALL Jon is the MD of an IT consultancy that specialises in testing and deploying hardware @jonhoneyball The news that an antivirus package has managed to go rogue, and decide that key Windows system files were malware, caused quite a flurry of tut-tutting. But it isn’t the first time this has happened. Every year or so, it seems that one of the major AV packages gets an updated set of definitions, only to cause huge disruption. It grabs core Windows system files and moves them into quarantine, or deletes them, or performs some other, quite unhelpful action. If you’re unlucky, you won’t notice this until the machine is rebooted, and the subsequent reboot attempt fails with the end result a thoroughly scrambled OS. If you’re really unlucky, then the…

CPU INTEL HEDT X SERIES ABOUT TO DROP Intel’s replacement to the X99 HEDT platform, X299, is almost upon us and information is pouring out about it. Specifically, the X series CPU’s that will power it. Initially launching will be five CPU SKU’s: • SKU - Cores/Threads @ base clock, Turbo 2.0 clock, Turbo 3.0 clock, TDP, DDR4 channel config, price (USD)• i9-7900X - 10/20 @ 3.3GHz, 4.3GHz, 4.5GHz, 140W, Quad 2666MHz, US$999• i7-7820X - 8/16 @ 3.6GHz, 4.3GHz, 4.5GHz, 140W, Quad 2666MHz, US$599• i7-7800X - 6/12 @ 3.5GHz, 4.0GHz, N/A, 140W, Quad 2400MHz, US$389• i7-7740X - 4/8 @ 4.3GHz, 4.5GHz, N/A, 112W, Dual 2666MHz, US$339• i5-7640X - 4/4 @ 4.0GHz, 4.2GHz, N/A, 112W, Dual 2666MHz, US$242 The six cored 7820X seems to be the runt of the litter with…

James, Mwave: “Once again Computex does not disappoint in showcasing the latest in technology. In Win introduced a show stopping concept case with the WINBOT, a spherical case with an aluminium structure and plexiglass dome. The case also features an integrated stereo camera to recognize users and hand gestures as well as voice control. Tempered glass panels have been heavily featured in a lot of PC cases recently, which is a very welcomed changed to acrylic windows. This year In Win displayed a unique design ideology by utilising laminated wood to add some aesthetic flare to their cases. Noblechairs showcased their new ICON series chair which deviates from the traditional “race” inspired appearance in favour of an elegant design. As with the Epic series, the new Icon chairs will be…

T_he ACS recently released the 2017 edition of Australia’s Digital Pulse, a detailed look at the ICT landscape in Australia and how we are tracking as a digitally savvy nation. There’s lots of juicy figures to dig into, with some positive insights, but also revealing where there is more work to be done. On the upside, and this won’t come as a surprise for many of you, ICT is a continued driving force for our economy. So much so, in fact, that it drove a 6.6% increase in GDP in the decade to 2014, spurring a growth in ICT related jobs to create a workforce of 640k in ICT today. Some 40k of these jobs were created just in the last two years. And the growth is set to increase,…

DDR4 BOOST Optimised traces and a fully isolated memory circuitry ensures perfect stability and increased performance, so you never have to worry about your system crashing during games. Overclock your RAM to the moon! USB 3.1 GEN2 LIGHTNING The ASmedia 3142 USB 3.1 Gen2 XBOOST controller insane USB speeds when connecting multiple USB devices at the same time. Most USB 3.1 Gen2 controllers will offer a max of 8Gb/s, but MSI’s Lightning USB can provide up to 16Gb/s total bandwidth. SYSTEM SAVER External buttons for clearing the CMOS and restoring a backup BIOS make life easy for overclockers. MSI’s System Saver feature makes sure that no matter how hard you overclock your beast rig, it’ll always boot up.…

Testing times for the gear ahead We’re a little light on reviews this issue, thanks to the editorial team spending six very full days at the Computex show. Besides being a bit of an endurance event (visit stand at appointed time, smile’n’greet, hand shakes, business cards, tour with note taking and photos, questions and chat, repeat 30 minutes later, attend several parties each night, keep it up for . ve days). Computex then demands days of sorting what we’ve found, turning it into a nice feature story for you, and getting on with the rest of the magazine. But, reviews we certainly do have! Amid all this excitement came the new Surface machines from Microsoft. They are absolutely lovely. Microsoft make incredible hardware and the quality is a delight to…

T_he Aten US7220 2-Port Thunderbolt 2 Sharing Switch is a curious device. It’s a KVM, but it’s also a Thunderbolt 2 dock with additional ports. This $769 device lets you hook up two computers with Thunderbolt 2 ports and with the push of a button, swap which computer has access to the stu. connected to the switch. What stu. can you connect? The Aten US7220 has plenty of ports: 1x eSATA, 3x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 2x USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI (max resolution of 3840 x 2160 @ 30Hz), 3.5mm analog & Mini TOSLINK audio inputs and outputs, and of course, a Thunderbolt 2 port. There’s a 90W power adaptor too, so any Thunderbolt 2 devices you connect can get their full dose of power. To switch between computers,…

C_omputex is the world’s largest computer hardware tradeshow and Asus were front and centre at 2017’s event in Taipei, announcing dozens of new products. If you couldn’t visit Computex yourself, here’s a whirlwind tour of all the innovative and breakthrough products and achievements Asus unleashed at Computex 2017. NEW MOTHERBOARDS It’s new motherboard season, with Asus releasing seven motherboards for Intel’s new HEDT X299 ‘Basin Falls’ platform: Prime: X299-Deluxe & X299-A TUF: X299 Mark 1 & X299 Mark 2 ROG: Strix X299-E, Rampage VI Extreme, & Rampage VI Apex. AMD’s not left out of the action, with Asus unveiling the ROG Zenith Extreme, a top of the line flagship motherboard for AMD’s upcoming Threadripper CPU. OVERCLOCKING KINGS During the “Performance Matters - Helium Night” at Computex Taipei, the overclocker Der8auer…

T_he Oppo A57 is a no-nonsense smartphone that trades in some higher-tier processing power for price, while still delivering a solid functional experience, a pretty good pair of cameras and a stylish design. Out of the box the device is quite light, and looks familiar but smart. It touts a full metal unibody that feels sturdy, and the display, at 5.2 inches, delivers a vibrant and pleasant viewing experience. Though not the cheapest of the a. ordable smartphone incursion right now, for $328 you’ll get 3GB RAM, an octa-core processor and 32GB of internal storage that will keep it pretty reliable in frequent-use scenarios. Its stock loadout of apps doesn’t overdo it, with the Google mobile suite and the phone’s core tool set neatly packed away into a couple of…

$119 • www.plantronics.com/au P_lantronics generally make excellent products, and this new o. ering from the BB (Backbeat) range is no exception. You get a lot of value for your $119. They do away with things like noise cancelling and auto shut o. when removed to give you an attractive set of Bluetooth (or wired) headphones with superior sound, at a remarkable. That price again is $119. I was pleasantly surprised at this price point that I could take a call with the built in microphone. They could not be simpler to connect and set up, they are lightweight and have just the right amount of tightness – they don’t squeeze your head but they won’t fall o. when moshing on the train (just me then?). There is significant leakage which…

$99 • au.ttesports.com/ A_s a straight up gaming mouse, the Tt Esports Black FP is decidedly decent. The Avago 9500 laser sensor o? ers up to 5700 DPI and the Omron switches have a nice click even though the buttons themselves have a little too much give for our liking. But just looking at the specs misses the key feature – an Ironveil fingerprint scanner. Given the importance of the scanner in the mouse, it seems a little odd that it is being marketed under a gaming brand as that to undermine the level of access and security that the Black FP can provide. The Security Center software suite allows for fingerprint logins for websites and apps as well as encryption for files and folders. As such, it’s an excellent…

$189 • tesorotec.com T_he Gram is built around both a new, Tesoro designed switch named the “Agile” as well as a proprietary keycap. The Agile switch is a short throw switch along the same lines as the Cherry Speed, but has more of a clicky, tactile feel that feels really good for typing. The keycaps on the Gram are low profile – about half the height of normal keycaps, and this makes the keyboard feel even more tactile. It’s an excellent combination and makes for a great experience both when typing and in games. The Gram Spectrum, as the name suggests, features RGB backlighting, but this is the one area in which the keyboard really falls a little flat. It’s not that the lighting is bad, it’s just the fact…

All the routers in this group were tested in domestic conditions, in a small Victorian terrace connected with an NBN broadband FTTC connection to the internet. We tested throughput in two locations. First, in the same room to establish best-case performance; and, second, in the kitchen extension, a notorious Wi-Fiblack spot downstairs, around 10m away and with a wooden floor, staircase and an external brick wall with an open doorway in between our test laptop and router. For the mesh wireless systems, we carried out extra tests to establish both real-world and potential performance. First, we tested with just one node installed at close- and long-range, to gauge the strength of each node’s wireless performance. Then we tested throughput in the kitchen location with a second node placed halfway along…

T_he Netgear Nighthawk X10 is among the most expensive router we’ve ever tested. At $669, it costs more than a games console, many a TV and – perhaps a little more relevantly – almost as much as the most expensive awardwinning mesh WiFisystems on test this month. But perhaps this is a sign of the times. In 2017, it seems, spending $400 to $700 to sort your WiFiappears is the going rate. So what do you get for your money? The first thing to note is that the X10 doesn’t come with an ADSL/VDSL modem built in, which is disappointing for the price, but you can attach it to your existing modem or router using the WAN port to extend your network (or use it in access point mode for…

E_lon musk wants to make a wizard hat for the brain. That’s how one site — Wait But Why, which had an exclusive interview with the Iron Man wannabe — described the latest project from the founder of SpaceX and Tesla. The billionaire has launched another company, making him the CEO of three futuristic startups. The latest is Neuralink, which aims to develop tech called “neural lace” that implants electrodes in your brain to let it interface with machines as well as boost memory and fight neurological diseases. Musk aims to have a version ready in just four years. WHAT IS NEURAL LACE? It isn’t a specific technology, but a term to describe intertwining computing with our brains using connected electrodes. Tiny implants embedded in the brain read neural activity,…

B12 Co-founder Nitesh Banta believes AI and humans should work together, with the B12 platform helping to pair machine efforts with people. The initial work is building websites. A software algorithm will build a first draft of a new site, freeing up human designers and writers to fill in the details. The human workers are offered the work via an automated system, which pings a message about the project to potential contractors, from designers to copywriters or photographers. If they agree at a set rate, they get to work via a Slack channel to communicate with other remote staff. MOONLIGHTING The trouble with contracting via the gig economy is finding work and getting paid. Moonlighting is an app that aims to manage both aspects, helping SMBs advertise for roles, freelancers…

PAUL OCKENDEN Paul owns an agency that helps businesses exploit the web, from sales to marketing and everything in between @PaulOckenden L_ast month I looked at the new Raspberry Pi Zero W, and how you can set it up in a headless configuration. This month, I’m going to turn it into a IoT “thing”. Small-scale IoT devices tend to be either some kind of sensor (temperature, movement, doors opening) or an output – perhaps a display or a buzzer. I’ve gone for the latter, and decided to make a coat-bot! I’ll make the Pi Zero W grab the day’s weather forecast and then guide me on whether I’ll need a waterproof, a warm coat or just a thin jacket when I leave the house. First, we’ll need a weather forecast,and…

MARK EVANS is head of IT at Rider Levett Bucknall, the largest global quantity surveying practice. I_’d worked as global infrastructure director for a shipping company prior to joining my current employer (bigger head count, much bigger budget, more salesmen to deal with) and I’d always found capacity planning to be a mess. Investing hope,faith and money with someone who’s tasked with selling you terabytes of storage is never going to end well – and the tools, at the time, were no more than brilliantly packaged toys. I consider early millennium capacity planning to beadire mix of fear and astrology. “The moon is in the house of Aquarius and he wants to save all of his digital photographs on the NAS box of Pisces – I’d give it fifty gig.”…

DAVEY WINDER Davey is an award-winning journalist and consultant specialising in privacy and security issues @happygeek W_ould you like to put the most secure portable hard drive ever made to the test? That was the question asked of me, along with a promise that I’d be the first journalist on the planet to get properly hands-on with the diskAshur Pro2. I could hardly say no, could I? So at the time of writing, I’ve been using the device in a very real-world setting for a few weeks now. In my other job as managing analyst at IT Security Thing, I get to play with all sorts of interesting security-related devices. I also get to challenge an awful lot of outrageous claims. In this case, the whole “most secure hard drive…

STEVE CASSIDY Steve is a consultant who specialises in networks, cloud, HR and upsetting the corporate apple cart @stardotpro B_eing a network person, I thrive on the numbers. Folk like me continue to worry about performance, because we’re unlikely to see a slow network that someone is entirely happy with; it’s far more likely that we see a huge volume of tra? c being squeezed into a tiny network lead, or over a slow circuit. So when I was invited to attend an award ceremony at software giant SAP’s global headquarters, I jumped at the chance. What’s that got to do with esoteric numbers? Quite a bit, actually. For one thing, the awards were being given to entire teams of people in SAP’s worldspanning customer base.Getting a person through a…