Archive for the ‘Product Reviews’ Category

Single Player

From the very first mission to the fast-paced final minutes, Call of Duty 4 is an incredibly fun experience that immerses you completely in the game and places you right on the frontlines of war. It starts off with a training mission that is mostly taking out targets, walking, and finally completing a short, timed combat scenario. However, as soon as that is complete you are thrust straight into the action when you are dropped onto a ship in the middle of the turbulent waves of the ocean. The mission is fast and intense, and a brilliant way to begin the game, as it really gets you pumped. As soon as you leap to safety after an adrenaline-fueled race against the clock and the ocean itself, you finally have time to breathe and yet, like every level after; leaves you wanting more. When the title appears it has a movie-like quality; it begins with a fast-paced opening action sequence, followed by a momentary pause for the title, and then a scene that sets the story and tone for much of the game.

However; unlike with movies, you are in complete control so the beginning is much more effective at getting your adrenaline flowing than many well done action sequences at the start of movies. You are entirely responsible for getting out alive and in time, and instead of merely spectating as the action unfolds you are right in the middle of everything.

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I would like to review and recommend a Home Networkers Dream purchase.

The Netgear Mainstream Powerline Adapters XE103, XE104 & XETB1001 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Adapters are the fast solution for extending your home network by using standard electrical outlets. they deliver everything you need to set up an Internet connection in any room without running new wires.

Problem:
I have a 3 storey house, Ground floor Hallway – Wireless Router, Ground floor Pool Room – XBOX 360, First floor – XBOX 360, Second floor Bedroom – Media Center PC with Vista Ultimate, Second floor Office – Vista PC with Divx Movie storage.

Now without hardwiring and without wireless connections how do you manage to stream the Internet to all floors and the TV/Media from the second floor to the XBOX consoles plus over the net using Webguide 4.0…

Well after attempting many configurations including multiple routers and crossover networks (wireless/wired) I finally struck upon these little marvels.

Solution:
I have a XE103 at my Router, a pair of XETB1001′s (repackaged XE103′s) for the XBOX consoles, and two XE104′s on the top floor for the Media PC and the office PC including an Ethernet printer.

The network is built seemlessly and securely with a plug and play action. If I was to hardwire I might expect speeds of close to 100Mbps so you should expect some degradation however these are the speeds achieved… (click to enlarge image)

So as you can see it’s a remarkably fast network with no problem operating the internet from the Office PC, and streaming media/tv from the media PC to both XBOX consoles simultaneously! All thanks to Netgear and their Powerline Adapters.

I know there are other makes and models available however these are sleek stylish and work extremely well with an effortless setup.

For information I have tried the 200Mbps to attempt High Definition streaming and I didn’t get any higher speeds than the above configuration – in fact this is capable of streaming HD directly although there is no support for Vista Media Center!

I rate this Product… 5 Penguins!

My new OLYMPUS camera is fantastic!

I would really recommend getting one, I have had many cameras in the past and they have all broken because of the kind of job I do…

This one is so different though! It is rugged and the pictures it takes are sharp. The reaction time for loading and starting the device is extremely fast and the camera is a joy to use.

Features of this camera are detailed as:

• Shooting in toughest situations – shockproof to 2m, waterproof to 10m, crushproof to 100kg and freezeproof to -10°C
• High-precision 3.6x wide optical zoom (28-102mm*) to capture great scenes through to stunning close-ups even in extreme conditions
• Avoids camera shake and blurry images thanks to Dual Image Stabilisation (combines mechanical and digital image stabilisation)
• TAP Control Menu for great convenience also when wearing gloves
• 12 Megapixels to make poster-size prints if you want to
• 6.9cm/2.7″ HyperCrystal III LCD for best ever preview even in brilliant sunlight and at extreme angles (230,000 dots)
• Advanced Face Detection of up to 16 persons for perfectly focused and exposed faces. In combination with Shadow Adjustment Technology other main parts of the picture are also correctly exposed
• The easy way to perfect images – Intelligent Auto Mode detects the five most commonly used scenes and adjusts settings, focus and exposure automatically
• Easy checking of air and water pressure thanks to on-screen manometer
• LED illuminator to lighten up underwater or macro sceneries
• Liven up your memories with movie recording with sound (up to VGA resolution at 30fps)
• xD-Picture Card and microSD Card compatible

One other valuable feature to me is the macro mode – I love taking close-up photographs. To pic out detail that you can’t even see with your eye often is a very good plus point here, oh and did I mention it is totally waterproof! I mean submersibly so, I took the photos of my aquarium from INSIDE the tank Lol… Get in!

In Summary – If you are looking for a reliable tough camera with a good price and fantastic features, you can’t go wrong – 3 of my friends have already purchased on my recommendation and are very satisfied – Do you have one? Comment here!

I rate this Camera… 4 Penguins!

I have discovered a new application of which I would like to share with everyone. I am a user of Facebook, most of us are now in some shape or form and to varied extents. There has always been one gripe I have had about Facebook though… And thats the Chat bar at the bottom of every page.

Now due to the fact that there are a lot of friends on my profile I manage to keep up to date with everyone a lot easier using this chatbar

feature rather than a scattering of private messages and emails. The problem I have with it though is that it often hangs and disrupts normal Facebook processes.

The new application I have found is called Digsby, this is a chat application that sits on your desktop like Yahoo messenger or Live messenger and keeps you logged in to several services at once. Now the only ones I use are MSN and Facebook. The neat thing about Digsby is that it logs you into all chat portals including those two and creates one contact list.

The software is completely skinable and I love the way it monitors email accounts and Social Networking sites for activity. It even monitors your own POP3 accounts to save you checking them or having 3rd party software running.

I have found Digsby to be ridiculously low on resource intensivity despite logging into many portals simultaneously.

Please feel free to download it from Digsby.com, I have not included it here on the Download pages as it is a bit big and I cannot find a Mirror. There are a number of customisable skins @ Digsbies.org, please try it – you won’t go back especially if you use Facebook with the unreliable chatbar…

I rate this Application… 3 Penguins!