Photostory 2013 Deluxe Review

Edifier M1380 Speakers Review

In this video I give a quick rundown of the Edifier's M1380 2.1 speaker system along with some examples (all video taken with camera so speakers may sound slightly different in real life)

New website for stuff

Hey there everyone. Its been a while since I have actually put a written article although I am still trying to post all my tech video reviews here as I do them. I have couple of items on route as it goes so keep an eye out.

I have also been working on a new blog type webpage, well 2 actually (there are more that 2). One is Techno-Info and the other BusinessThinkTank although the later of those I am making more of a long term page with less updates.

I do have one or two more projects not mentioned. However, for both the above; if you want to come and write some articles for us please do.

Thats it really, short update. Pop along to those other sites and if want to produce some articles please let us know.

Camtasia Studio 8 Review

Here is a new video review of the Camtasia Studio 8 software suite

Bitdefender total security 2013 review

Screenflow 4 Review

How to design a logo - a beginners course

I've had the opportunity to review a course this week on how to design a logo, Now, this isn't a course where you just get showed how to create one in Illustrator, its a course where you get taught the tools to use to how to think up, sketch and then create the logo.

There is also a link there where the first 50 people get the course for 50% off.. Go check out the video attached for details.

Genesis Framework Extender Plugin Review

Magix Music Maker 2013 - a review

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013 Plus

Magix Web Designer MX Version 8 Review

Catalyst Framework and Theme for Wordpress Review

There are many wordpress themes and some wordpress frameworks out there. Many give you a very static option set. Catalyst breaks this idea by allowing you to customize to your specifics. For more please check out the review video.

Genesis Framework for Wordpress review

Genesis Framework is a great framework for Wordpress. Hmm, I do explain it a little better in the video :)  Basically this video talks about Genesis showing you what can be done with the framework and a theme (this website being the example).

Please do check it out and comment.

Reviewing the Wordpress Genesis Framework and Eleven40 theme

For those that don't know, Genesis is a Framework by Studiopress with a default theme you plug into Wordpress. Its not free, you have to buy it, but unlike free themes and many premium; because its a framework you have lots of options.

With click of a button you can change your screen to have header and content, just content, header, 1 sidebar and content, header and 2 sidebars and content, etc... You get the idea, you can change your layout to a number of configuration. But it doesn't stop there. Genesis also contains an SEO element; it allows a number of places to place widgets and all this from the GUI; no code required.

Add a little CSS to place items more precise and you soon have a very professional looking webpage. In my testing; in 1 hours I went from a drap site to a quite semi-pro looking site; check out http://www.techno-info.co.uk for an example.

Also; keep your eyes peeled for up and coming review if interested.

Old git's guide on technology - technology growing up

Lets investigate this title a little, am I an old git? Well git; many friends would call me at times (by the way; git is a British slang word meaning stuff like idiot, fool, bugger and to maybe use a stronger word as bast@#d - you get the meaning). Anyhoo back to being a git; at times yes.. Old? Well not so sure on this as depends on perspective. As in my early 40's some would classify this as now being old but.. others not.

So; having spent sometime shooting down the first 2 words in my title let me detail why this is being written. It really more about me and technology as I have grown to give insight. Kind of came about as I was watching a few weeks back a video about how the Commodore 64 became 30 and thinking about how my technology life has changed.

So, this story start back sometime in the late 1970's to 1981. We weren't a rich family, in fact money was certainly tight so purchasing technology back then was really a no no. To give you an idea I believe we didn't even have a colour TV until I was mid-teens (around '84ish) and so watch everything in black and white. This would certainly be an alien concept to kids today including my own (do they still even make B&W TV's now?).

Anyhow, so technology wasn't cutting edge in my house and often watched TV at a friends in colour. Anyhow, moving forward my first really introduction to technology in a computing sense was when we got our TV game for Christmas; this I believe was late 70's but could have been 1980. Anyhow, basically back in them days a TV game consisted of a box that plugged into your TV and two sets of paddles with buttons. Most games on there were varients on pong (you had say football which has 2 paddles on screen and box round area with two goals). The system I had also had some motorbike games which you used paddle for speed to try and jump a number of cars.

Here is a link to information on a similar if not the same TV game system I had back then http://www.old-computers.com and just in case in future years to come; if page gone here is a picture of said system 

Lovely ah. But this was cutting edge tech and me and my brother played many a hour on this TV console until it broke after years of service. This certainly drove my technology want and next to come was our Atari 2600. We had the classic woodgrain one and not the second gen (for want of a better description) which had a matt dark grey base. Again for those that have never seen this then here is a link to the Atari 2600 Console and a image of the one I had

Now this was a game machine. You plugged in cartridges to get your different games and had classics such as Pacman, Space Invaders, etc. Now; compared with today's standard of games many would look at this and think "O my god, crap graphics!". But back then this console was like the PS3 or xBox 360 - it was cutting edge in gaming. We used to play games for hours on end and pacman (where you got a life for every maze you finished) we used to have like 200 lives to play with.. But this was the console to have and even now some still going on eBay.

Atari were cutting the technology back then and my first introduction to touching a computer was in a electronics shop where they had an Atari 400 computer and Atari 800 computer (images below)

 These were real computers that could also take cartridges. Although for a number of weeks when we visited story (every other week we went and used to pursuade my mom to go into the shop) I used to just type my name until one day some kid showed me :

10 Print ("Your Name")

20 goto 10

That little program kind of hooked me onto computers. So, we have to move quite quick here now as I have lots to cover... Next in line of my technology advancement came my ZX81 with 16k expansion I bought of a friend. the ZX81 Computer (image below) was the predecessor to the ZX80 which I would have loved as it came in kit form. This was a great calculator; I mean computer to start with (I do have a much more powerful calculator at home) and I did many a small program and even altered my basic flight sim game (written in basic) to have fun.

I bought the ZX81 with pocket money from my paper round but then next computer my parents bought me was my Commodore 64; again image below.

The Commodore 64 Computer was the computer of the day to have. Don't get me wrong, there were a few classic computers of that day like Oric 1, Dragon 32 and even the Mattel Electronics Aquarius (this is lesser known but a friend of mine had one and the D&D game on it was classic). Of course, not to forget the real competitor to the Commodore 64 which was the Sinclair ZX Spectrum which was the next one on from my old ZX81 of course.

Anyhow, the C64 was the computer of the day for gaming and is also what made me write this blog. I had mine for about 3-4 years although friends had them for much longer. This had dedicated sound with Sid, great graphics and 64k of memory. You were required to buy the separate specialized tape deck for the C64 from which you read your games and wrote your programs. By the way, for many of the impatient gamers today that have to wait 30-60 seconds for a game to load; imagine having to wait 15-20 minutes hehe.

The C64 was the computer that drove me to playing computer games and writing computer programs. Again gaming on them had the state of the art games and sound and programming in the in built basic was fun and interesting.

I did fall off the computer wagon for a while as after the C64 I went back to a console which was the Sega Master System.

On this we played many a fun game and was again merely plugging in a cartridge. This was also the start of the Sega and Nintendo battle of the consoles (I never owned a Nintendo until the Wii).. This was a short fall as had this for around 6-12 months before going to my next computer which was a Atari again.

This one was an Atari 520STFM which I got around 1988/9

At the time the Amiga was going string but part of me didn't want to go with the classic in crowd and also I was able to get one of these easier than the Amiga at that time. Graphically this was close to what the Amiga could produce with only the odd game being slightly better. But I loved my Atari STFM. This was also my first introduction to owning a computer with a floppy drive.

Again this pushed my learning to program skills as we (myself and another friend who bought this) got hold of HiSoft Power Basic and started to write a database. We never actually finished it but did have a majority of the system written.

Later 1990 I decided to go with my friends (especially seeing my other friend with a 520 had moved) and move over to the Commodore Amiga 500.

After purchasing my 500 I went out on extras. First came the 512k expansion giving me my 1Mb (1024k) which we really needed for games, demos, etc and my external second drive. Next game my Philips CM8822 Mk1 monitor; and finally my Action Replay Mk3. This was the first system I had actually spent money on upgrades and extras and ran with it for around around 2 years till around early 1992. I swapped the setup for a 386SX20 laptop which was state of art then.

However, having that for just a few weeks I sold on as missed my Amiga so decided to go for a Amiga A600; which I then sold after a few months to buy the Amiga A1200 on the weekend after its release. I still have a A1200 today although slightly upgraded as I changed the Roms to be 3.1 and have a 68030 upgrade board with about 8Mb of memory. I also have a CD Rom drive so if had had all this back in 1992 when I bought it I would have been loving it.

As it was though I was only destined to own my Amiga A1200 for about a year. In 1993 I decided to go back into education and because I was doing computing I sold my loved A1200 and bought a PC. It was a generic build 386SX16 and came with a 512k graphics card, 640k of ram and a green screen monitor. It did also come with the full Wolf3D game so had some fun playing and found many a public domain game buying the disks from sites.

Yes; for those that have never lived without the Internet; back then you had public domain software and bought the disk with it on from suppliers. Same a big patches for games (I remember getting my Ultima 7 upgrade from them). Not long after that I got a grant funding my college work and was able to upgrade my system to a 486SX33 with 1Mb ram and also got a 1Mb trident graphics card. O they were the days.

1994 I went to University (as a mature student of 24). There I was introduced to the Internet which is probably my longest used technology along with Sun Microsystems and Linux (again I still use Linux today). The internet (and linux) was a bit different back then with text based webpages. Not long after I started using it then you could put a picture on your page - those were the cutting edge days. I also remember in 1995 some of the computer science final years doing work in Java which was an influence on my as I did my final year project in Java.

As I say, this was my biggest time of technology growth although computer wise I only went from a 486SX33 to a 486DX4-100 in the summer of '95. However I had been influenced greatly by computer programming back then (well that was what I was doing as a course really) and the internet.

Summer of 1996 I did another upgrade to a P133 (or rather an equivalent chipset) but still staying with the PC. Back then I was coding lots and remember having a 2400Baud modem and logging into one of the free trial internet providers. But for most part used my university internet along with a zip drive (100Mb a disk) to get files - along with 96 or so floppies for my linux distro - installing was a LONG process).

We're moving quicker now as this is getting to be a essay. Summer 1997 and graduated; started working for a small development company but then left and went to work from a LARGER tech company where I got to play with loads of tech like Risc system based computers etc. Summer '98 got a P200MMX processor. 

Moving even quicker 1999 moved, got P2-400. Over next few years it was P3-666 then into AMD processors in early 2000's (around 2003). I didn't go back to Intel until the C2D came out as prior to this I was using AMD 3800 X2 processor. Anyhow, since then I have gone C2d, Quad core then onto i7  (had 2 generations).

But also over the past 3 or so years I have also gone with some Apple Mac systems owning first a Mac Mini (intel first dual core) then a C2D Macbook Pro, C2D iMac, G5 Power Mac, Xeon quad core 3Ghz Mac pro and now finally have a i5 Mac Mini which suites my Mac needs perfect running After Effects and editing suite. Some may say why not bigger but you be surprised how well my i5 2.5Ghz Mac mini with 8Gb ram runs it and such a small box.

I haven't mentioned the xBox and xBox 360 along the way as well as the Wii but I do have all these still plugged into my TV. However, computers still are the top tech that I own and work with.

When I was starting in computers is was a Nerd thing and nobody that was cool so to speak would have anything to do with the geeks. However, these days computers are the thing and the better you have the higher your standing. The Internet and social media has brought computers even to those that were too cool back in the day..

This is a brief history of my tech and you can see it has progressed well over the past 30 year or just over. What about you, have you got a similar tech history? I would love to hear how your technology has progressed. 

Magix Photo & Graphics Designer 2013 Review

New camera light..

Bought myself a new camera light and thought would share with  you guys. Nice and cheap too, even if blinding me.

How good is the Adobe Cloud - My Review of my usage of the cloud

For some time I wanted to have the latest Adobe After Effects (I had CS3) and wanted to use Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc. But like many non-students I couldn't afford the 2500 pound notes they they were asking so I looked and thought of the possibilities..

Then came the Adobe Cloud. For those that may not know what it is (is there anyone); Adobe decided to put most/all of their software offering onto a cloud system and charge a monthly amount to access all of this software. So for one monthly charge you can get Premiere, AE, Photoshop and all the rest of the great software.

I found this VERY appealing.. Especially seeing I could get a special 12 months rate as I have AE CS3. So for 27GBP  (this computer has no pound sign) a month for 12 months I can access software, and if calculate up its like 324GBP (here or there as couple bits of change in fee too) which is less that the Master collection. And you get a couple of extras in the Cloud not on the DVD's. Ok for standard subscription its about 20 pound more a month but.. as you can see on my blog for August Adobe are doing the special rate deal which works out to about the same as I pay.. Bargain..

So, after that long build up.. what do I think. Well, I sold my copy of Vegas Pro and Final Cut Studio 3 as I seem to only use Premiere Pro now. You can even have an install on your PC and again on your Mac... You get 2 license installs of each software I believe. AE and Premiere plug nicely together too; integrating your video creation.. Dreamweaver is fantastic; doing some online development for a project I am working on. Photoshop; well; lets say I removed some stuff from my holiday photos..

All in all the software is fantastic. Installation from the Cloud is by a software manager that also notifies you as soon as updates are available. Its just one click and it downloads and installs. The best bit though is that more software is coming to cloud and you can access right away. Lightroom recently came onto the cloud; I now have that.. All in all there are like 16 or 17 applications.. 

You do need to have internet access to run software though as it does check you have a valid cloud subscription when running each software. I had my internet go down once and could not run the software - this certainly is a bad thing if wanting to edit a video or webpage while on the train; unlike if bought DVD version; but its a price to pay to get access.

All in all I think you can pay for around 4-5 years of cloud access for the cost of the Master Collection? OK, so you never own anything at the end of it unlike if buy the DVD. But unlike the DVD the cloud offers updates to newer versions too in the cost from what I am led to believe. So when CS7 comes out you get access without paying a upgrade cost like the DVD versions.

All in all I am loving it for my current monthly subscription. Will I continue it when it goes up in price? I don't know.. But for 12 months at this bargain rate, if you want to get access to After Effects or Premier Pro then you could take up the August only offer and give it a try.. If after August; still go check them out as it still maybe worth it for you...

Using the right tools for the job

No this may sound blatantly obvious but what you have to ask yourself first is "Do I know what the right tools for the job are?".

I have found in the past that this second question has never been asked or answered and so people have ploughed ahead with tools, adding plug-in's and trying to make the tool to be the right tool. Certainly some of the tools I work with at the moment in my day job are in this category having plug-in on plug-in. That's not to say that this final resulting tool doesn't do the job, though in most cases it is missing one or two things it can't do; and a little research before probably would have pulled up a better solution (I know this for one as I have used other tools in other roles that did what they wanted - but I was too late to this role to alter).

But another example of this is when creating an online product. So, you want to create a tool that is a cloud based product. What do you use to code it? At this point you have the Java guys saying Java, ASP guys saying ASP.net, PHP people.... and so on. But which is right? I once went for a job interview where a product was written in ASP (old VB) and it worked well but the founder said to me "if I were to write it now I would do it in Java".

So, moral.. Before you undertake any work independent on what it is; identify all the tools and choose the best one for the job and not just choose your favorite.

Personally I am in this scenario now - just learning myself some PHP code and maybe Ruby to see what best fits. As a side note, anyone that wants to get involved in some joint business thinking please let me know. We could start a hangout :-)

If anyone wants to share their experiences of right or wrong tools then please leave a comment ..

Magix PhotoStory MX Review

We had Magix PhotoStory MX in for review over this past week and included is my video review of this product.

How popular do you need to be to get Google to reverse decisions? Lets try an experiment

This is something I have wondered about for some time... Little history; about 2 years ago I started a website and had adsense on it. Idea was for on website and to use on my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/netroman28 to get a little cash together for buying review items, give aways and all that stuff. Anyhow, someone decided to click bomb and that was the end of that; 2 months it was up.. O well.

So that the history; and tale is that Google around 99% of time won't reinstate from what I have heard (and my attempt to get reinstated). If fact it seems like that have a automated system that says nope..

So, this brings me to my thought. I wander how big your youtube or blogger channel would have to be to get them to reinstate your adsense. I mean, currently I have around 642 subscribers on youtube although not all seem active. I have some good videos and some not so good etc. But at 642 they won't listen. Would you need to have 6000 followers (I have seen mention of people loosing adsense at this level). What about 10000+? 60000? 100000? How many subscribers or blog followers would you need?

I know this won't happen but I would love to try an experiment. I would love to be in a position to test out how many subscribers or followers it would take? At which point would google listen?

So, if you want to help me carry out this experiment (and potentially get me in a position to do some more give aways to everyone in community) the go and sub and retweet, reblog, re-video blog, or whatever. Lets us see how many people it requires.. This could be your opportunity to be heard by google - saying; hey.. listen to us you big company you...

Of course I know this probably won't happen.. :-(  but I can live in hope of you few that will take this cause, feel like being part of this experiment and maybe get word out. It only takes a few to start...

PowerDVD 12 Review

You know what I love about Thursday's...

Not a lot really. Their kind of like a tease for Friday I always thin. A day when you wake up and think last day of work week and the realize its not... That said, if doing my own thing then that may not be the case - but it is at the moment.

Its not for not trying on doing own thing; there are so many things out there. But that is the problem, like with blogs and blogging - working for yourself you have to get seen.. And until then its rely on you good old 9-5.. Anyhow, enough of these negative thoughts, you can tell its been one of those days but only 2 more hours to go then its home time.. Away from the issues and problems of work and out to the home iss..  :) 
Now, home life is not an issue that was a joke. Although give me 12 more weeks till our 2nd child born (got girl and moment and this one is a boy) and I may change that through for a while. We were just lucky that my daughter potty trained herself more or less (we kind of put down and she used for a while and then went to toilet) and although only 3.5 years old she has done away with pull ups (even at night). So cost of nappies only multiplied by one..

Actually; seeing this is one of my more rare blogs talking about myself; our daughter shocked and surprised myself and my wife yesterday. She loves writing on her chalk board with her current favorite being to write her name and mum and dad. and she has no problem counting up to around 15 although on a dot to do knows 20's, 30's and 40's. And she has no problem with simple additions like 2+3, 1+2, etc.. So you will understand why this shocked us.

She wrote 100 on the board and said daddy thats one hundred. She then proceeded to write 200, 300 ... 900 and say them all.. We were saying well done, where did you learn that from as we never taught you, etc.. Then she wrote 1000 and that's one thousand.. erm, ok.. 2000, 3000.. etc..
To think about 2 weeks ago I was only explaining to here that 2 and 0 together made 20 (twenty) and same with 30, 40, etc..  didn't reach hundreds and thousands.. So, daughter of mine.. when your a millionaire don't forget daddy :)

So; tomorrow is Friday and we have nothing lined up this week (last week we were down on coast as it was my 42'nd birthday). But that's good as it may give me time to finish off my new website venture of http://www.technologist-hosting.co.uk . I am using TheHostingTool but have an error in the client section I can't figure - although has no problem setting up the accounts. O and I need to go find somewhere to place add for our http://www.tekheads-computing.co.uk and http://www.bracknellcomputerrepairs.co.uk which is another venture... Websites, repairs, hostings, etc.. surely something has got to pay off   ;-) 
Anyhow, enough random for today.. Probably be 6 months to the next random blog.. but who knows.

ACTA rejected by the EU

So, hands up how many of you are happy that Acta has be rejected by a vote in the European Parliament. This must now be that last nail in the coffin for this controversial anti-piracy agreement? For those of you that have never heard of it; I won't go into the details... but lets say that if it had passed it would have been a very bad thing - not just to those doing the piracy but for all of us that use the internet.

So tight would it have been that there was a worry that it would stifle freedom of expression on the internet.Many likened this to the other controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa).. As an example it has been mentioned in the past that if these acts did pass things like doing a gaming video (which can be argued as your own rights) would have to stop and be removed from sites such as YouTube.. How many of you have made one of those?

That's not to say that we shouldn't try to stop piracy.. Or at least maybe have cheap licensed sites where we can download and watch movies, tv shows, etc.. Maybe if film companies put money into this then they would limit piracy? Just my thought of the day???

One for the sm.. Well big guy

So, its been reported that HTC have won a case against Apple over the swipe to unlock feature. Now personally I think this is a good thing as if Apple had won then Android phones would have to rethink along with lots of other OS.

No I like Apple products, don't get me wrong; but I hate the way that they are so tied in to Apple only and they hold a hammer fist approach to most things which drives up the costs. That's one reason why I do have more software, hardware, etc in my PC - although I do love my little Mac Mini (ya). But more and more Apple seem to be trying to hold down everyone (like Samsung) which is quite funny as these little guys provide some of the vital parts for things like iPad screens - but there you go..?? Anyhow, ya to HTC.

That said, I then saw a story in the news about Android phones being used as botnet some researchers have found? Evidence has been uncovered, it reckons, that spam has / is being sent to Yahoo mail servers by Android devices. Now this is scary from my perspective as imagine the phone bill of all that potential data usage :)  that is unless these botnet softwares only do it when plugged into wifi.. Would that be a user friendly botnet? I would presume that people writing these botnet softwares wouldn't care about your bill??? So; if had an Android phone (like me) take note on what apps you download.

PowerDirector 10 Ultra Review

Is that a fist I see down there??

Just one of those random thoughts of the day. I was standing eating my lunch and looked out of the office widnows (we're 6 floors up). I looked down at the sign of the estate we're on and thought .. that looks like a first?  Am I bonkers?? Well you tell me as here is picture of said sign :

OK could also be a thumbs up (is that a point for a G+ share)? Or a robotic hand clenched as one big finger? Anyhow, that is my random thought of the day; as you can tell my day is such an exciting one today...

O well, one quite break from my daily stand-up presentation I am writing - how I can improve my scrum team as their stand-ups lack conviction..

Think I will have to start taking more photo's for this blog and other sites as so much fun stuff around these days - it seems that people are having fun with their signs. Do you have a fun one to mention? Leave a comment about any funny sign you have seen...

Magix Rescue Your Vinyl & Tapes! 4 Review

ProDAD HeroGlyph Review

How to blog for money - eye opener

Before I begin, don't get me wrong I do have advertising links and Amazon affiliate stuff on my blog(s) as its would be nice to earn a little for content. Though I have to say I don't :-)  so I don't think earning from blogging is a bad thing but things can be an eye opener.

Out of an interest I decided to go to google.com and search for "how to blog for money"; surprisingly it returned 3,750,000,000 results... So 3.75 billion results from that simple search.. I mean, the sheer number of blogs and sites that have this is immense. With such a number of people in the entire world of the Internet trying to earn money you either have to be outstanding OR lucky, or expect little cash...

Needless to say we are not condoling clicking on links just for sake of clicking as this doesn't do anyone any good - advertising is only to be clicked on to find out more about item advertised. This blog post is more about opening peoples eyes that if trying to earn money for a blog then you may not get as much; if any; as you expect...

See the other 3,749,999,999 of you around :-)

How do you create an online store to make money

Well, in today's online world we all want to try and grab a bit of that pie. We all like to buy and sell online and making cash online has been a limited privileged or secret art form costing money to have you page created. That is until recent times. Now you don't even have to have stock to make money from sales online.

What am I talking about? Well companies such as Amazon now allow you to create a virtual store linking into them from which you earn a percentage for each and every sale that is done through your store. This offering from Amazon is called an aStore and is very easy to do. You go onto their page, join their affiliate program and create you aStore choosing what items you want (or categories of items) to sell. Once you've done that it gives you the code you put on your page (or a link if you choose) and that's it. Add that to your page and you have an online store.

More affiliate and associate schemes are becoming available now for every day users although you still have to spend time to drive sales through them. That is the bottom line in that you don't need products, you don't need to code, you just need to get people to go and buy.

If you want an example of what one of these stores can look like goto http://www.bracknellcomputerrepairs.co.uk and select the Store option. There you will see a aStore I setup. O, and if looking to buy please feel free - after all your buying from Amazon and helping me out too

I can see planes going to exotic places

Took a nice images out of my workplace today though didn't managed to capture any planes going in it. From my work window we can see Heathrow about 2 miles away or so and we can see planes coming and going. You can just make out around the middle of this picture.

Well if you can make it out with that refection from the windows behind.

I thought i'd take a photo though as this is one of those days its not actually raining which is probably rare for the UK  though I am sure many know that.

One thing I did managed to do is find out some old retro games and took at stab at one... well you can see my attempt at following YouTube link  My attempts at Hack

On Tech side (as many of you maybe coming here for the tech) on a personal note I recently upgraded my PC. I didn't go all out and get latest processors but did go from a 1st Gen i7 (920) to a 2nd Gen i7 (3820). After much research I fell onto the 3820 because it was cheap and liked the idea of quad channel memory. I could have probably got a Ivy Bridge setup for close on same money and dual channel memory is not that much slower but on some of the benchmarks I saw some of the graphics and audio stuff was quicker on 3820 so went with that.

Also I am not much of an overclocker so no need at the stock 3.6Ghz maybe quick enough although my motherboard I got (a Gigabyte X79 - UD3 is it???) does offer easy overclock settings - but all in all its very quick when rendering my videos on Premier Pro CS6 Ya..

Also went liquid again with the Corsair H60 - smaller block than my H50 had and quieter fan although pump slightly loader.My thought is for 50 GBP it was worth it as low profile so no issues with memory in the way as oppose to the larger metal heatsink fan combinations.

Mentioning Premier - I'm still playing with Cloud software having been using for 3 or so weeks. Almost my first month gone but all good so far. Taking me a while to get to know it, like finding out how to add title to latest video with link above. but would still recommend if want a budget way to get hold of Adobe full products.O and support is good as required a little the other day..

But there you have it; thought on Cloud, games been playing and upgrade done. Random blog now over; time to research actual subject for next one :-)

A week away and Adobe Cloud it active

Well, I certainly picked the wrong Friday to go on holiday :-)   but little did I know back in Jan/Feb that I would have, first, subscribed to Adobe Cloud and second that it would be activated the day I went away for a week.

Anyhow, I saw that email about it being live while surfing on the free wifi in the hotel I was staying at in Majorca and although envious of those playing with CS6; I was still enjoying the sun.

Fast forward till last Saturday (19th) and I was back in the UK ya. Up to my PC (I can install and run software on both my Mac and PC - but chose PC for initial install as more Harddrive space) and I was off - downloading 16 items.

So far I have cut one quick vlog video using Premier CS6  (nice); played a little with the tracking in AE CS6 and looked at Photoshop CS6. O; and I have looked at Muse and Dreamweaver which maybe fun going forward.

Moving forward I will certainly be giving my thoughts on the CS6 products - or rather those I use. At the moment, for example, I'm finding it hard to see use of Muse. Its a nice interface for building site but when I went to edit page the in editor seemed quite weak. That said, after playing more I may find a better use???

In the mean time; anyone else had opportunity to play with the CS6 tools.

Review : iClone5 Physics Toolbox Plugin

Cheapest way to upgrade a system???

Is there a cheap way at the moment? I was checking out upgrading my PC from the i7 920 to a i7 2600 now that the new processors coming out and was still surprised to see costs high. As an example, I was watching a bundle of cpu, motherboard and memory go on ebay for over 320GBP.

I then saw some Advent (Curry's own brand I believe) complete systems going for around 450GBP which were i7 2600, 8GB memory, 2GB WD hard drive, ATI 6770 and all the other general stuff. So for just over 100 more you get an actual PC. Buck for buck the entire PC works out cheaper. OK, the motherboard is one of cheaper ones; but with i7 2600 still costing 224GBP in shops...

One idea you may want to follow (and something I am testing having got one of these PC's) and my idea (that is if I don't like the configuration of the system; i.e. the case look) is to strip out the processor, motherboard and memory and replace with parts I want to upgrade from; in my case the i7 920. Then resell the system with a smaller loss. So my aim for example is to make 320-340 back meaning I will have upgraded for around 110GBP.

Now; at a later date I may want to upgrade the motherboard - but this still will mean I paid 110 for processor and memory.. Make sense? Certainly considering that with motherboard it would still be below 200 and not over 320. Could even swap out 2Gb hard drive for a 500Gb got spare - even more financial sense.

Now; I may get back later and think "I like the design of this system" and so swap out the 6770 and put in my 6950 and sell on other system. But; either way to me this seems like the cheapest way to upgrade.

I'll let you guys know in a few weeks if this plan works out..   Anyone want to buy a i7 920 gaming system with 12Gb of ram and 6770   ;-)

Review Uniblue SpeedUpMyPC

Review: Flux 4 Web creation software

How green is your computing; does green mean low power

So, this has been something I have thought about for a long time; and especially more so now with rising energy costs.

A few years ago or so I remember watching an episode of The Dragons Den  ( I won't explain program to those that know, best to go and look up but consists of people trying to get money) on which a guy/company came to the den trying to get funding for his brand of green PC computers.

These days doing a search for green pc will bring you back many pages in your search and there are indeed many solutions out there - many seeming to run things like Intel Atom processors.

Now, the second reason I was thinking green was because of my purchase of the Mac Mini as on the Apple website it has the following; and I quote;


"Mac mini is the world’s most energy-efficient desktop computer. It’s also highly recyclable and has a tiny package for efficient shipping. All in all, that’s no small thing."

This seems like a bit of a statement from what my investigation has seen but could be true? But what I can say is this; that the Mac Mini is certainly far superior in computing power compared to the other green computers I have seen.

If this statement is trye it means that green computing doesn't have to mean lower computing power as I have first hand experience in the speed and power of the new Mac Mini (I'm very impressed with me 2.5Ghz i5 Mac Mini) but have to say that I have no experience of one of these others.

Infact, I am still waiting on my chance to be able to buy a Raspberry Pi. This I believe would certainly be very low in power consumption; although this I would need to validate when I had one. But again I don't believe this would have the same level of computing power.

So; moral is. If looking for green computing then check out Apple Mini's. If looking for sheer power; well green would not be a thought...

Anyone have any experience in a green PC? Leave a comment.

If you build it, they will come... Or not? How do you get more traffic in google

I read a great whitepaper yesterday on Google Panda and getting your page noticed. The title (that can be associated with a 90's or there about movie - well half of the title) reflects a number of peoples thoughts on if they build a webpage then people will come and view it; but which tends not to be the usual case without a lot of post built work.

So, when I first went on the internet back in 1994 there were not so many webpages out there and a lot of those I visited were from word of mouth.I remember creating my first webpage as part of my degree course back in early 95 - it was to do with user interfaces. Quite funny as was basically like 3 or 4 pages; top page had my picture and bit of text and then hyper links to other pages. O the complex pages back then hehe.

Anyhow, progression from those days has happens and probably billions of more pages have now appeared. I still probably go word of mouth on a lot of pages I visit but I do; like others; use those wonderful search engines out there like Google, Yahoo, etc.

So... Phew... this brings me to the point of the post and title. Creating a great webpage is good but you need to get it index on search engines to get any visitors at all. Now it used to be that SEO was about getting the right combination of keywords and text on page plus backlinks; however with Panda this has now changed. Now; to raise you page ranking they take into consideration thinks like bounce percentage and time on site, etc.

So now it seems that its more important to get both your keywords perfect for the content of your site and to have good content on your first page to draw people in. I'd still say its important to get backlinks in because they are the advertising for you site - people could come across them while browsing another but the emphasis has to be on content of webpage and correct keywords if to rank high in Google.

So there be the break down of this white paper - 26 pages into 2 paragraphs. Obviously there is more to it than this but; and I'm going to repeat myself here; as long as you have good quality keywords (and making them as precise as possible) an a good quality page then once submitted and page been crawled you should in time get people visiting...

Thanks for reading this far and if you like and would see more please click that +1   and share ;-)

So I've just bought a new Mac Mini - The Video :-)

As I was saying in my blog yesterday, I bought a new Mac Mini and decided to share this with you all :-)

Maybe I should make it into a music video hehe.

Mac Mini up and running, but doesn't like the virtual driver for window 7

So now for something a bit more techie based - Ya you all say. (Just to note; I will be cutting a video using iMovie - reason why later - an posting on YouTube and blog later, so be warned :-) )

So, not sure if I said but I sold my old Mac Pro I had as it took up a bit of space I needed and I found that software I was running such as Final Cut Pro 7 was only multi-core aware so wasn't using to capability. I opted  to use the cash to buy a new Mac Mini - went for the new 2011 model i5 2.5Ghz one with the ATI graphics. Specs are standard so go check out on Apple site if curious. Though as a side note I will be getting 8Gb of crucial memory and changing next month - vastly cheaper than getting with machine.

Anyhow, so.. A single i5 at 2.5Ghz should be faster than a Xeon 3Ghz from 2006 in my believe (and I presume in facts too) so I will be looking to get quicker renders in FCP7... That is, when I get it installed. Which brings me to the title of this blog update.

So, following the instructions from Apple I downloaded the share utility and ran on my Windows7 PC.. Ok, removed the ask permission button to make easier. So I go back to my Mac and see drive in the virtual drive list - perfect so far.

Next step, I put in my FCP7 (first DVD of FCS3) and can see update on disk list with name. Double click icon to open it, wait..wait..wait.. and then I get error basically saying can't read. Typical. Anyhow; prompted  me to go onto ebay and buy a USB External drive (not an Apple one) and I managed to get a USB combo bluray and dvd writer for like 30GBP which was excellent. So just waiting for that now.

Anyhow, this doesn't excuse the issue that I have had with this virtual drive. I haven't checked my other software like MS Office and AE CS3 but has anyone experienced the last of being able to use their PC as a virtual drive?

Anyhow, look out for video that will be done in iMovie hehe..

As a P.S. note - I have to say that I am impressed so far with this little powerhorse of a machine. OK, most of last night was spent with update but its quite and seemed to be performing well in the things I was doing. One of which is in the P.S.S next..

P.S.S. Not going to keep secret here. So those of you that have seen my video reviews saw that some time ago I did a review on Flux3. Flux4 has now come out and I have now as a first item install on my Mac Mini a review copy of this. so look out for this coming in the next few weeks.

Review : Honestech nScreen Deluxe

When starting out you need multiple business opportunities

Many years ago now I said "I want my own business". Infact; when I was about 21 I applied to the Princes Trust here in the UK and went along for an interview. What came out of that meeting was that I needed to put together a business model, plan, etc and that they helped with that - giving the info an knowledge.

As it was the idea I had, although was good at the time, would have not worked long term - especially with the Internet; but was my first delve into this idea.

What did come out of that through thinking about the idea was my realization that you need to have more than one business. Why so you may ask... Well, not all but many businesses are seasonal - lets take holiday lets for example.. During the winter there would be a considerable reduction in the bookings (although many hotels in UK fine). This can be seen in places such as Ayia Napa in Cyprus where most of the town shuts down (certainly the hotels I tried to book) from around November to February.

So, getting back to at hand.. Many businesses are seasonal. So if we take this as a fact we know that at certain times of the year we would not be making any money... bad bad bad. However, if we had, say, a second seasonal business THAT had its peak season during the slump in the other business season then we have money flow.

Now this could be expanded to do 4 or 5 (I always imagined 5 businesses myself) businesses depending on the seasonality of your ideas but you can get the idea.

Now; when your business is large and having a great cashflow then having multiple businesses is not manageable so we're talking starting out or small businesses in this mail. However, if you have a large business that is self contained and being managed by say .. a manager   then you as an individual may want that challenge of starting a second.

I am following my own advice to this end. Having recently started up TechnologistPR I have now also started up Technologist-Consultancy (although website is currently pending as only just registered - so currently going there won't display anything).

So, as currently waiting for backlinks I have put in for TechnologistPR to become active I get to work on my second idea (and something I can honestly say I have a great experience in). Is this the end? Nope, there are more I have in my head but 2 at a time...

So, I refer you back to the title. If you want to start a business then do so; but at the same time think if there is any seasonality to it and if so start two.

Review Magix MP3 DeluxeMX Review

First Raspberry Pi's to be delivered

UK, 13th April 2012
The first batch of the Raspberry Pi's computers are to be issued to buyers. The cheap bare bones tiny computer is finally; after production issues; to be sent out to early buyers of the system.

Those eager fans that were first to order; it has been reported that they should receive their Raspberry Pi by 20th April. This first production batch has been delayed twice now; firstly due to a wrong component being soldered to the circuits and second time over confusion about electromagnetic testing.

With these first batch of Raspberry Pi's about to go out; hopefully they will be able to start selling to the public again soon.

QR Codes, am I late to the party or still in with the flow

So, above you can see a QR code (or Quick Response code) which basically is our new website encoded into the image.So, not sure if I need to explain in detail about QR codes but to be honest if have any questions its better to go to the wiki here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code as that has the details.

So we can see they have been around for a while and are now being more widely used; pepsi have had them on their cans for a while for example. But do we really need one? I mean, people are still going to see you text, webpage, etc without but to be honest they look kewl AND the inquisitive like myself will scan everyone they come across which may get more of your content viewed -although doesn't mean that your going to sell any service(s) or goods.

But to my title a little; am I late (are you late). Simple answer is no; this is I believe in the early flow as more and more people take up QR Codes. However,  do you need one? Well yes is a short answer as it doesn't hurt generating one (and on the web takes just a few seconds). However, your lively hood is not going to take a hit without one..

If wanting to generate just go type QR Code generate in that google search bar...  Enjoy

Those illusive quality high PageRanked sites for backlinks, where are they

So my hunt continues to improve the search ranking of our new site http://www.technologistpr.com in that finding some good quality backlinks.

So I've had a good chuckle to myself over the last 12-24 hours after seeing some quality (being sarcastic) backlink sales stuff on ebay. Now I do see some people selling backlinks on PR7 etc sites and not sure if this is just that they post on a PR7 site forum with your link (which constitutes to spam) or if legit and their site. But on the other side of the spectrum I saw a few selling 40000 backlinks for a fiver.. Maybe ten pound for another.

OK, so lets put this into perspective. 40000 backlinks.. So, it sounds to me that this is firstly a bot that will be putting those links up and its going to be 40000 PR0 or similar backlinks. Just to quantify this a little, I have another site http://www.plasmation.co.uk that I have had up for around a year now (just going through a change).. On the original site I put a open forum. Now; I have left this open and i don't admin it as its been a point of interest and reference for me. This now gets around 600 posts a day from similar link bots - probably from people (and companies) selling a promise of 40000 links.

So, I wanted to shout out, say no.. 40000 PR0 backlinks are quantity but not quality. Give me 10 PR7 backlinks any day over 40000 spam to forums.

So, I'm now on the lookout for some PR4 and above sites for backlink. Putting together a links page at TechnologistPR website because I believe if I can get a good ranking myself then its time to share. And if you have any suggested sites please do let me know.

The right SEO can make or break your site, and its a tricky fine line

Really the title says it all but I will spend a little time waffling on in here to expand on this comment.. So, this comment comes from two recent things I have worked on. First one is our new trading website http://www.technologistpr.com which I have mentioned before. We are offering quite a wide variety of services which we have between us and so have quite a wide keyword catchment.

Second reference is a recent (in the last few days) review I have done on Link-Assistant SEO PowerSuite software package. This package is a collection of four SEO applications to help you with your SEO (although no magic buttons). SEO is made easier with the tools; well if you use the tools right; but your end production is only as good as your beginning.

So, keywords, backlinks, these are words you will need to become familiar with if you are to get good SEO. But what is a good keyword? Answer is one with a good KEI (keyword efficiency index) which basically is a calculation using number you give in relation to your site content, number of searches for keyword per month and number of competitors. Well actually is number of searches*number of searches/competitors. But by adding your own weight to it allows you to define keywords important to your site.

Backlinks are a little more simple to define but more difficult to do. Basically a backlink is a link to your website from another website. So for example; if you have setup a forum user name for X forum and you put in your web address. If a search engine like say google comes across that link while crawling this X forum then that is a backlink for you. The more backlinks, the higher page rating, the higher you appear in the search engine results. Simple see, though this requires lots of work putting in backlinks on all these other pages. Also takes time and energy finding sites for backlinks.

So, that's my waffle to expand on my title. Maybe I'll do a bigger explanation on this in future. This in its self is the most simplex example I could do as for SEO there is more involved than just this. However, these small tips will help increase that all important page ranking.

Review : Link-Assistant SEO PowerSuite Review

Free software, come and get your free software...

Hands up how many of you use Open Source  (I've got my hand up high just for visual reference). OK, how many of you who don't use it... hands up if you don't use it because you think its buggy or not fully featured? Now; I'm betting that 50% of those of you who don't use open source have your hands up.

Now; the thing is that yes there will be bugs in open source software; but I can bet percentage wise is only as many as in commercial software and maybe possibly less. Reason I say that is I have worked as a Software Engineer for some BIG companies and know the number of bugs caught by customers - and these are million pound systems.

So, what I mean to say is that in actual fact you will probably only find as many bugs in a open source software item as in a commercial released.

It is true though that some open source software may not be as feature rich as commercial because they don't have a full time dedicated team working on them.That said though, in most cases those extra's may not be worth the price you pay for them. I mean; take for consideration something like KDENLive as a prime example. This is an excellent open source video editor program that has many more and better features than some of the lower, cheaper end commercial editors. Only the Pro editors really have much better features.

There are also many open source programs out there that do things there are now commercial equivalents for. You want office, you can get it, you want password crackers...

Games.. office suites, video editors.. there is an endless list, far many to keep going on about. Go check a few out - go do a search on sourceforge.net and save yourself some money in this expensive time we live in..

Review - Reallusion iClone5 Review

Youtube mobile view bot hack fixed, but do we think this will be the end of it?

So, it seems, in the last few days YouTube; after a few weeks or working on the issue; have released a fix into the system to stop the rampant mobile views bot hack that has put lots of videos to the most viewed status.

Of late we have seen many videos suddenly appear on the most viewed list with millions of views in just one day an all from a mobile device. This hack/bot has removed videos that should have been there through hard work and instead we've been seeing boring, crap, and otherwise none entertaining videos instead.

I make videos.. check out Netroman28 channel which is my YouTube channel. I mainly do software (and sometimes hardware) reviews but do have other things also. Now I don't get lots of views, though do have enough, but all mine are hard work. Yes it would be great to get more.. It would also be great to get my Adsense turned back on after some invalid clicks a year and half ago (not my doing). But I don't abandon, I push forward :)

But my message is really that this is a good thing. However, do I think this will stop botting on YouTube? No! I am sure there will be more bots, more invalid views although maybe not up to the extent of the mobile views hack. But who knows. What does everyone else thing?

By the way, more Linux stuff coming soon.

Review : mediAvatar Media Toolkit

With the current economy; is the way forward Open Source and Linux?

Just to give some background on my experience first. I first used linux back in 1994 and for many years got the slackware distribution. I remember the first distribution I got (not sure if was slackware also) I downloaded onto about 95 HD floppy disks.. Good thing was that I was at Uni at the time so wasn't a dial up :-)

I then got the first CD distribution Yggdrasil Linux again back in late 95 or so. I still have the CD box somewhere around in my cupboard draws.

Now... Back in those days installation of linux was difficult. You could sit for hours choosing the components you wanted to install then a few more hours recompiling kernals, etc. I was truly only for the tech community. I know I loved it but at the same time trying to get my ethernet network running bugged me for a while. And I had a script (from Pipex) to connect to my dial up with an awk script to kill once finished. That all said; it run so lovely compared to windows and there were some open source stuff to play with.

Fast forward to today and current misconceptions some have. I think first misconception is that Linux is still very difficult to install. This is no longer true, in fact in my thoughts its easier to install.. So, for anyone that has not tried. First thing you do is download the iso file and burn to a disk. Second thing is boot from disk (like you would if doing a windows install). Choose partition, etc (again exactly same stuff as if doing windows install) then click go. In some cases you may need to choose an install profile like gamer, developer, etc but this is just so as it pre-installs extra software.

So, what is that easier? Well; on install it basically installs your drivers etc. OK windows does that to.. but I have found on some older systems that windows will not install some drivers (specifically in one case the wifi drivers) and linux did. Install of linux just worked.

So, install is free. Install is easy and setup is a breeze. Infact using something like grub it will even setup your dual boot. There are even newer linux installs (like Ubuntu) that will install in windows as an application.

So, open source software. What is it? Well; to keep it simple its free software.Free?? Yes, there is no cost to pay - you simply download and install. Infact for a lot of it its made simple in that most distros of linux include an installer you run, search for software, click install and it downloads and installs.

"Ah, but does open source mean buggy software" you ask. In most cases no because there are more developers in most cases working on open source software than commercial (this is coming from my experience as a commercial developer).

"but what can I get" is your next question. Virtually anything. You want video edit software, kdenlive as an example. Games? Yes tons of them. Office products. yes. Yes, yes yes for your next lot. You would be surprised if never looked at what open source as to offer.

So, free OS. Free software. Why would you look at Windows? Well only if intended to play games. But then again check out Crossover for Linux by Codeweavers. Or even Wine for linux if want something to run windows applications for free.

The debate continues.. but spending less may mean better support for Linux and Open Source...

Affiliate and associate programs - do they pay give working income

So, I have wandered this for a while - especially seeing my adsense was stopped? Not sure why, had no clicks on it at all??? Maybe bad association with something? Anyhow, to that end I decided to try out a few affiliate and associate programs so to speak. You can see a couple of these on my blog page  "Really Simple Systems" (who I chose as I went for job at around a year ago, got to last 2 but didn't make it - so know software and director) and "Amazon" as everyone needs a bit of Amazon.

Now, I don't have hundreds (or even a hundred; lucky on 20-30) views each day so not sure if this experiment will work - but I hope to have enough interest to at least leave posts on how these progress and if can provided any sustained income - or least enough to give money in for food in this ever cost increasing world we live in.

If you would like to take part; certainly if interested in just being interested in my choice, then you can check out the widget below.. click, play, etc. But as a request... (underline and bold just to highlight hehe) I ask this. To increase the potential of this experiment can you each who read this +1 it on google, share this post on G+ and just try to drive traffic this way.

Also leave a comment letting me know any other programs you have used, if they worked, etc and so we can build up a great information base on these programs..

So till next time... Blogged out.

Review : Magix Web Designer 7 Premium

Looking to a simple, easy to use, website creation software from a company known to do great software?

Well, maybe Magix Web Designer is for you? Check out the review and see it in action.

First attempt at business is a launch

So, I decided to bite the bullet and take a handful of virtual dirt along with a friend and attempt to start a first business.Now; the thing is I love technology, I love reviewing technology; and so we thought "Why not try and work with that".

So, we came up with Technologist PR .. This is a work in progress, a launch of today as we have a starting foundation. And we have some ideas. For example, I know that lots of App developers like myself (as I am a developer even though I don't get to do it much) don't have money for PR, advertising, etc. So we can offer deals of say no cash up front and percentage of takings..

Now, this isn't a rash punch in the dark. I have been working on reviewing products for companies (some big companies too) for over a year working with their PR. And I have been working with a few PR companies again reviewing, advertising their products. So I have gained insight into what is required.

Basically we are offering a service that is free to try. And could potentially raise the sales of a customers product. I know how much time and effort it takes in creating a product and so believe same amount of time and effort should be paid in advertising.  But would you as a developer want to do that or prefer to pay for that to be done.

Anyhow guys, go check us out. Its my first attempt at working for myself (well to transition over time) and I will certainly keep you informed :)

Review : 3DS Max Design

All goes bit mental on Apples announcement day

Do you find it all goes a bit mental on the date Apple does this announcement. You have blog sites, magazines, youYube, etc channels all trying to rush in, get their blog/video/etc up first. All the speculation, joy and sorry (when someone isn't announced or not up to par). Just a bit bonkers...

I'm like the next person and enjoys a bit of tech. But certainly not like a giddy school boy just because a company such as Apple is about to make their yearly announcement hehe. But am I alone on that one. Tonight (for us) will come and go and this announcement will not effect my life one little bit. I certainly won't be rushing out to pre-order anything - will you?

Next it will be release day for new iPad or whatever and there will be giant queues from midnight all to get their hands on it. Just wait a month or two.. it will be still in the shops... that's what we did with iPad2 anyhow and had loads.

Certainly can't see anything gong to make me upgrade my Quad core Mac Pro anyhow.. What about everyone else, do you get giddy"?

WinJournal works, even if I did post to wrong blogger account

Yes, you can use WinJournal and write you blog on your PC and upload to blogger, unforgettably I uploaded to my wrong blogger account thinking it was this one - this is link  My other blogger account that don't use so often

So, maybe later I can go and enter the write blogger account, this one..., and then do some blogs using WinJournal from my home PC ya..  Its actually quite good, although didn't maintain the podcast/vocal submission I attached.. Though probably blogger can't handle that. O, and the smilys that were in blog didn't come up either?? So don't use those.

Still, if looking for tool you can upload one blog entry to multiple blogs then this is kewl.Not too bad prices at Downloadbuyer.com also  (not plugging site as think on amazon too).

If wander what like, check out my mariner review. WinJournal is roughly last 5-6 mins of video..

Review : Mariner Contour, WinJournal, Paperless and Desktop Poet products

Only a few days left now

With only a few days left now till the Apple announcement who is waiting with anticipation to see if the iPad3 will be announced. Is it a for gone conclusion? Do we ever know what is going to be released? To be honest, if Apple follows their standard release cycle then we can expect an iPad3 but there is always that small margin.

What you would want announced. Personally I would like a cheaper edition of there Macbook Pro as been a while since I owned one, although I love my Mac Pro - even if getting on for about 6 years old. Although I didn't buy it from now, was with an advertising company, but I have managed to upgrade the Graphics card to a 4870 and have now 12GB of ram. For those interested.

But for me there is nothing I will buy that will be announced to be honest - unless someone hands over a big wodge of cash (volunteers).

So people, what are you looking forward to being announced? What will you be buying this year that is Apple?

On a different note; please check out TechnologistPR - bit of a latest venture. There is a blogspot and a wordpress.com  (domain to come soon)

Lack of screens for the iPad3

I was reading a news shot earlier on the fact that if they announce the iPad3 on 7th as anticipated... they may not have enough of the new higher resolution screen for release.Samsung don't have enough apparently; although it was also said that LG and Sharp were also looking to be suppliers.

But hey, if there aren't enough iPad3's coming out of the factory they you can go on a waiting list was the conclusion. Now this happened with the iPad and iPad2 though you could also just wait a while and get one later. That's what I did for the iPad2. My wife wanted one and everywhere was sold out - waited 1 month and then could get easy.

So, are you looking to get an iPad3? Leave a comment if you are - or if not :-)

Do you want a Raspberry Pi

So, its the official release and so many people are after their $35 computer that the sites for suppliers have gone down. I've been there and now they are static sites just allowing you to register interest.

I've registered mine as I want to get hold of one of these small systems. OK only running 700Mhz and like 256Mb ram with linux. So what can they be used for? Well, personally I am going to set mine up (when actually get one) as a media system for my TV upstairs. Currently we can't get signal on internal aerials so this will allow me to view media across the net via my wireless network (well with my usb dongle fitted).

So, what about you guys? Anyone else looking to get one and if so leave a comment of what you will be using it for.. One other thought, maybe use inside a cabinet with mame running and lots of roms on a usb stick???

Review : Magix Digital DJ2

Its February 29th 2012 and its a blog day..

Yes, its a blog day, soon to be a video day I think :-)  just got one in the edit; and I think its a great fun little program to play with - my opinions of course. This is a little different as I am mostly blogging from work but today was so busy (ish) that have resorted to blogging from home; well least I get to do it from my new kewl keyboard unlike the crappy one I have to deal with at work.

So, how has/is everyones day going/been today? Mine was busy with some kewl bits in it. And some less good bits although a meeting I wanted to have today was postponed. On a plus point I have a new venture launched - just hope it goes somewhere ...

So to give you a heads up. For a number of blogs now I have talked about working from home and all that. I was alluding to the fact that I wanted to work from home and have been trying to discover the best solution for that. I came up with one business idea that may or may not work.. I won't go into the details of it but will say TechnologistPR. Simple as that hehe. Now this isn't a full time role for me at the moment; its an attempt at building up something to move into a full time role and to get paid for something I do at the moment... i.e. product reviews.

It is something I enjoy and think I am good at (and co-starter too).But as part of my journey I will take you along for the ride - for those thinking of starting up something. I will say one thing and that is this is not the only WFH I plan to start. Once one if off the ground and running there is a second one I also want to pursue. Both of these are passions of mine and so will be enjoyable - but to make success I believe you need to have more than one business running.

On another note. I have something special in for review at the moment. Its from Autodesk (go look up what they do if don't know already) and is quite expensive to buy. I have a 3 year license review copy and once figured out I will be creating and editing a nice video. It may work out to a series of vids just like want to do with Reason and Studio One. So just watch this space.

O, let me load a quick first attempt animation done with it for you to view - its of my second channel and blog in name :

Well, I think that maybe it for today - well unless I get that video cut..

Review : Laplink PC Mover Ultimate

Review : Avira Internet Security Suite

Qpad MK80 Keyboard Unboxing

All about the PR.. so it seems

The title really says it all. Its all about the PR. PR is such a big aspect in our lives and we don't half the time realize it. For a blog or a YouTube channel like mine (Netroman28 , TheGeekFiles) then advertising is the difference between being noticed or not. Companies use PR all the time to get their products noticed, and the ones that don't - well, we hardly hear about those ones.

But I did say PR is such a big aspect of our lives. We are surrounded by it every day; billboards, news papers, TV, food packaging. All these items are informing us, tempting us and guiding us into our next purchase. It could be to try a new loaf of bread, or buy that new console or even a new car; but good PR will tempt us and usually succeeds.

Bad PR, well is there such a thing. I mean, its not the PR that is bad; more the product or company. But PR can change a bad situation or product into a good one. Infact if your product or company has a bad rep then its of the most importance to get on with PR.

With todays society PR is everywhere. Who here remembers the million dollar webpage.. Advertising on a per-pixel level (though normally had to buy a 100 pixel slot). I even had my own version of that site though at that time there were so many that never went anywhere hehe.

For those of you that were reading this looking for how to do PR then I am afraid I don't have that answer other than PR for everything is different.  Maybe you could go and point your facebook friends at video or product or something? But I will tell you this much; get it right and it works.

We can prove it. Share this post with all your friends and say read and follow the share post also. Then we can see how many views this one post can get... This could be idea of PR in action. And also go check out channels for lots more...

Just as an added quick note, go check out Technologist PR as our attempt at a easy solution to PR.

Presonus Studio One Review

Uniblue Powersuite 2012 review

just some stuff going on and links.. check out and go follow to facebook  :-)

Some of you may have noticed that...

I on occasion put video in this blog   :-)   Most of these come from my techie youtube channel(s) (have two now as trying to move tech to 1 channel leaving other for fun). However, last post was from a new channel setup with a friend of mine.

We both enjoy making videos (probably me more for being in front of camera and playing with effects and him more with the editing process) and decided we wanted to try and do more shorts with effects, action, etc. October last year we did one for a Halloween competition and although didn't win we enjoyed it so much that thought we could do more.

So a month or two ago we filmed some video, twas a cold and frosty day hehe. Then we spent spare time (and not a lot of that) tweaking, adding some visual effects, colorization, and finally music and intro and we produced what was in our previous blog. As we went through this process we have learnt some stuff which means our next video will be filmed in a way to allow us to do these new effects.

Now, as it something we do in spare time this maybe filmed soon or later but something will be added over time. Unlike some of the bigger youtubers we have to work :-(  though would love to be in a position of making short videos and doing that as work.

But we can all dream.. Bottom line is that in this blog I will quite often try to be informative, that's what I try to do on my video channels. However, on occasion as this is a blog I will just blog or post something I find interesting.. Only saying that because over past week have had some anonymous spam posters who to scared to actually use their names... But for the rest of you that enjoy my odd and random posts I thanks you all for taking the time to read my blog. I hope it gives you some amusement; least as much as it gives me writing.

ConfusedDuckVideos Presents a short film

New business ideas...??? Lets start a business together..

This mail is going to be more like questions than answers, maybe it questions you ask yourself? I don't know. But I expect many of us wander about working from home or making extra money; infact I did a blog a week or two ago about it; about the current ways.

But I feel that there are things we can do that we have not though of. As an example... I was watching videos from a YouTuber I view who says he runs businesses (plural). Now, he drives a 6 series BMW and saw some pics of house he is moving into (nice). So; i thought; what does he do to make that much cash.

I investigated a little and found a link to one of the businesses he does which was to hire out models for advertising gigs. Now I understand the way he meets these models (I also know that if advertise you get some come down) and its probably a great business model as only pay models when they work.And if you know plenty of nice looking men or women this may work well. I can think of a few other things could apply this business model too also.

Hiring services also good way; as in skills and not looks. Companies like Geek Squad and etc seems to have done well in this market. Personally I reckon I could fit computer memory far cheaper than all these companies.. But again its just getting established - locally not so hard if get lots of business cards done and then leave them around.

I do also have one other concept/business model I am working on in my head. Not something I will bring into blog as not finished and I tend to only talk about solid ideas as things can change.

Now, we can all buy items to sell; infact I have tried that with http://www.techebooks.co.uk/ which is probably still a little work in progress and research (still bits of page not figured out how to edit). This was something I bought as a turnkey package. Of course I brought down prices, i can't see benefit of selling ebooks at 10GBP like original price, 1.50GBP or there is fine as low costs. Please do check out if get time, may find something interesting. And if do please share out link.

So, as say, there are the sell items. Turnkey businesses we can buy off ebay, etc. There are guru dvd's etc. But at the end of the day its that thing; you know, that thing that nobody has through off but where there is a clear market..

By the way, if anyone wants to banter off some ideas at me or would like to get involved (50/50) in any business ideas - ideas that can start for free.. then please do leave me message and we can chat.

Review : Auslogics Degrag Pro Defragger

Propellerhead's Reason 6 - A review by me

Its one of those vlog type things - where I vlog, and music