Android Collectible: Don Pablo Calaveroid – Day of the Dead Android

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="225" mce_src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1667/androidcalaveroid3.jpg" src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1667/androidcalaveroid3.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="android-calaveroid-3" width="300" />Who wants more Android collectibles from the highly popular Dead Zebra group? Now that Halloween is fast approaching the guys from DYZPlastic have teamed up with the Beast Brothers to bring a little Mexican flair to our favorite Android collectibles. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is what we got in return with a Don Pablo special edition Android.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> If you are wondering just what Dead Zebra and their collectibles are all about you can click here for all our coverage. The first round of collectibles were back in February of 2010 then a series 2 the following year. The last round of collectibles was back in August but we are expecting more soon especially with this latest tease shown above.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For those looking to celebrate Halloween or Dia de los Muertos now you can do it with a bit of Android flair and from the amount of details on the android I think they’ve even hit that 15 pieces of flair minimum, although Office Space has nothing to do with Halloween. To get your very own special edition Calaveriod be sure to check by the Dead Zebra Shop on the Day of the Dead. That is November 1st, and they’ll be available starting at 11 AM EST and again at 11 PM EST. They go fast and are limited to 1 per person so you better hurry as they are usually a big hit.</div> </div> </div>

Android Collectible: Don Pablo Calaveroid – Day of the Dead Android

Who wants more Android collectibles from the highly popular Dead Zebra group? Now that Halloween is fast approaching the guys from DYZPl...

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In Depth: Is it worth upgrading your old PC for gaming?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.opener-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.opener-200-200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Old PCs can be found everywhere. There are millions of them out there, languishing under beds and at the back of cupboards slowly collecting dust. The poor things, it seems such a shame.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> One of the big advantages of the PC is that you can upgrade easily - or so it's sold by the industry at large. Surely you can take an old machine and, by adding extra kit here and there, turn it back into something worthwhile? What should you upgrade first? Can you just throw a half-decent graphics card into an old rig and make something of it? Can cast-off PCs be made back into useful members of the gaming community?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Now, enter our base system on which we'll be experimenting. From the dusty recesses of the office, we unearthed a rather neglected desktop. Inside, we had a 2.11GHz AMD Sempron chip coupled to a 512MB Sapphire HD 5550 graphics card and 1GB of RAM, all plugged into a Biostar MCP6P-M2 board and running Windows XP from a 160GB IDE drive.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Even in its day it wouldn't have turned heads, but now it's almost repugnant. Basically, it's a two-year-old budget system. It's still OK if you just want to run some boring old productivity stuff, but it struggles to render recent games at… well… any settings, really.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Given the pick of the office's not inconsiderable pile of hardware, we tested various upgrades to see what made a difference and what didn't. Where are the bottlenecks in the performance, and how easy are they to fix? It turned out to be a bit more difficult than we imagined…</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The latest 3D games naturally lean heavily on the graphics subsystem. Very heavily. So all you need to do to turn a mediocre has-been into a gaming powerhouse is add a decent card, right? Bish-bosh, job done. Our base system's Sapphire HD 5550 card is decent enough in its own way, and would be perfectly happy if you stuck to playing around on the desktop, but once you start getting all three-dimensional it begins to fall flat on its pixelated face.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Our suite of games benchmarks revealed a very sluggish system by anyone's standards - and it's no fun playing games that you know can look a whole lot better.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Graphics card upgrade</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> First, we tried a Radeon HD 5850. Not quite the cutting edge of graphical goodness, but it's a capable card nevertheless.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="GPU" class="aligncenter" height="315" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.asus5850_alpha-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.asus5850_alpha-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We tracked down a 1GB Sapphire 5850 Xtreme, retailing for around £100, at which price you can't complain. It required a 6-pin power connector, which our PSU had, and it's not too big physically, either. Fitting the card was easy, drivers installed, benchmarks away and…</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The results were most disappointing. The 3DMark06 benchmark showed an improvement of less than 6 per cent, and the game benchmarks didn't fare much better.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">World in Conflict</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>did manage a decent boost, getting on for double the frames. However, both<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Far Cry 2</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Lost Planet 2</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>merely added a frame or two, which isn't quite what you might hope for, what with your wallet being £100 lighter.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Heaven's complete reliance on graphics hardware did at least show us where that money had gone, because the score we garnered from it nearly doubled. Hurrah! Being impressed by artificial benchmarks is all well and good, but what we didn't get in this instance is any decent increase in actual game speeds. Boo.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Time, then, to get a bigger gun. Doubling the budget, we dropped AMD's Radeon HD 6950 in place, which is quite a hefty piece of hardware - literally and metaphorically. At 270mm long, it proved a tight squeeze, but our erstwhile case could take it thanks to the lack of drive bays at the bottom of the machine. It's something to check before you drop cash on a similar upgrade, though, as many older cases weren't designed to handle such beasts.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Power up</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> After fitting the extra firepower, we fired up the benchmarks and, once again, were completely unimpressed. This time we'd spent twice as much money, only to be more disappointed.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> 3DMark06 and Heaven 2.5 actually went backwards a bit and the games themselves weren't much happier. All in all, our new £200 upgrade was rubbish. To be fair to the HD 6950, it does scale much better than the 5850 did, something we saw by cranking up the resolutions. And, of course, we have a card designed for a 64-bit OS and drivers, running on a 32-bit system - which didn't help either way.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> What we've proved here is that a powerful, and expensive, graphics card isn't the magic bullet you might think. There's a hefty bottleneck at play here, and that bottleneck is the processor. Our 2.11GHz Sempron simply can't feed the graphics card fast enough.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Heaven shows that the cards are doing their thing, but the rest of the system isn't up to it. Spending £100 on a mid-range job is hardly recommended, and spending more is bordering on lunacy. The only advantage in a proper high-power card is that you can easily move it to another system later, so it's not money completely wasted.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> A quick look through the motherboard specification also revealed that our base system is running PCIe version 1.1, while everybody and his pixel-pushing dog is sporting version 2.0. This is another reason for our upgrades failing to impress.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It's not quite as bad as you might think, though, because the accepted wisdom is that the PCIe bus is so wide that bottlenecks elsewhere are more important.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Just to prove the point, here are the numbers that matter: PCIe 1.0 and 1.1 shift 250MB/s per lane, in theory. Actually, it fluctuates a bit and (what with overheads and so forth) you really get somewhere between 150 and 190MB/s, which is a maximum of a tad over 3,000MB/s on a 16-lane card - still healthy stuff.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> PCIe 2.0 doubles that, exactly, by doubling the base clock. Running on the older PCIe spec will have cost a few frames per second on our benchmarks, which we can ill afford to drop at these low rates. No matter what is says in the adverts or on the back of the box, a sexy graphics card on its own can't perform miracles. Time to change tactics.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> All these benchmarks are running under DX9, because we're still chugging along under Windows XP. Since we've changed only the graphics card, we've just quoted benchmarks that will show an improvement.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> What we've proved is that just throwing money at the graphics card isn't the answer. The HD 6950 even manages to go backwards (which we put down to the 32-bit drivers). You've been warned: putting a decent graphics card in something too old is a profitless exercise.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="GPU bench 1" class="aligncenter" height="276" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/gpu-bench-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/gpu-bench-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="GPU bench 2" class="aligncenter" height="273" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/gpu-bench-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/gpu-bench-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="RAM" class="aligncenter" height="199" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.gskill_ram-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.gskill_ram-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Throwing decent graphics cards at our test case has proved itself to be a bit of a failure, so it's time to look again at what else we can improve. One easy, and hopefully obvious, solution is to throw some more memory at the rig.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There are two DIMM slots on the motherboard, but only one of the slots is populated, giving us 1GB system memory; paltry stuff. An extra 1GB stick will set us back only about £12, too. It may not make a huge difference to benchmarks - in fact, we're a little surprised it made any.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Where the extra RAM does show is during more general use, fiddling around on the desktop, loading files and whatnot. Windows is a greedy fellow and giving it twice as much space to roam means less swap file action and fewer annoying pauses. For the price of a pint and some fish and chips, you can't complain.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Next, we come to the processor. This is what was holding back the graphics card, so we decided to upgrade to the fastest chip the board could handle. It proved a frustrating business.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As we dipped into the secret drawer of processors and tried fitting a few, we found that the best the motherboard would take was an ancient Athlon 64 3800+. An improvement over the Sempron, sure, but hardly a huge leap forward. It has only one core, for a start.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Still, the Athlon is lovely and cheap, and if you can find one new on sale, it'll set you back only about £19 (we checked online and www.novatech.co.uk had some available).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The benchmarks showed that we did indeed have more mathematical power. Cinebench and X264, both straight tests of number-mangling prowess, proved it. Though not that much more, it must be said.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">World in Conflict</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was particularly pleased with the new processor, as we anticipated from the more processor-orientated game.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Far Cry 2</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Lost Planet 2</span>, meanwhile, were much less impressed, and the Heaven benchmark didn't budge, which shows how good it is at singling out the graphics card for testing. For under 20 quid, you can't really gripe - our machine is better.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We've hardly created a gaming powerhouse, though, just a machine that's slightly less rubbish than the one we started out with.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The next step in the process is clear: we return to our graphics cards and see if the extra oomph helps get the balance back. We fitted our £100 HD 5850 with the new processor and, well, we got pretty much what we expected. A moderate improvement, but hardly worth the money.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Our new graphics card still didn't have a match in the processor. The Heaven 2.5 benchmark showed that we had all that graphics power on board, but it wasn't translating into good gaming. Although we were closer to our goal, at a total cost of £131 it didn't look like good value at all.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Getting the balance right between graphics and processor is key to upgrading old rigs. However, before we start to get serious and upgrade the motherboard, which desperately needs doing, we take a different tack again.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Adding an extra GB of memory does little to our tests, but Windows did enjoy it. Changing over to an Athlon 64 3800+ processor helped for CPU-intensive operations, and showed that graphics and processor work in tandem.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, we still needed to upgrade the graphics card to see decent improvements. The HD 5850 now squeezed out a few more frames per second with its new partner than it managed on its own, but it was still being held back.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="CPU bench 1" class="aligncenter" height="263" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/cpu-bench-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/cpu-bench-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="CPU bench 2" class="aligncenter" height="263" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/cpu-bench-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/cpu-bench-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Windows" class="aligncenter" height="158" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.win_7-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.win_7-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Our faithful old machine was running Windows XP, which is now positively archaic. Is running a 32-bit system holding us back? You may well be upgrading older machines with Windows 7 anyway, but what will it do for your game power?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> While we were at it, we decided to upgrade the storage as well. The 160GB IDE drive was a little small and we had nice SATA connectors on the motherboard doing nothing. What could an SSD do? Blazing speed, obviously - or so we thought.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Although the BIOS appeared happy, Windows was not. It simply wouldn't boot from an SSD. After initially suspecting the drives, we realised that it was the motherboard again and its lack of AHCI support. There was nothing we could do about that, so it was back to regular HDDs.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We added a SATA-based 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda, and put a fresh copy of Windows 7 on it. Lastly, we threw two 2GB memory sticks on the board. Well, why not?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Upgrading Windows cost about £75, the hard drive was £65 and the memory another £30 or so, bringing the cost of this exercise to £170, a not inconsiderable sum. And possibly more than the base rig was worth even new…</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Direct results</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Upgrading Windows for gaming purposes has its ups and downs. Yes, you get DX10 and DX11, which means you have all the latest shiny effects and 64-bit code. Plus you get access to a lot more system RAM. If you've got 64-bit versions of software, then you can now run them - witness Cinebench, and the little bit of extra speed it finds.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It's just as well, because the 32-bit version we used on XP actually runs slower on Windows 7. We could now run our tests under DX10 and DX11. Unfortunately, if the quest is all about speed then this is no good thing. It's far more demanding and the scores subsequently went down.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, it turned out that switching back to the DX9 versions of the benchmarks didn't help, either. Sometimes you just can't win.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We had one last test to consider - to see what moving to a factory-fresh SATA drive and 64-bit drivers had done for our hard drive: wonders, as it transpired. We doubled the average read and write data rate, according to ATTO (though this doesn't show in the games benchmarks, of course).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Did this mean Windows would boot faster? No. In fact, it was about 15 seconds slower - now a full minute. Sometimes you could just slap Windows… Our upgraded machine at least looked modern, and it gained access to all the latest software.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> In general use, the hard drive and extra memory helped to make it more responsive, but we've still not really addressed the main problem of poor gaming performance. Windows isn't a bottleneck here, then. No matter how attached you are to XP, or to DX9's slight speed edge, you can't hold back the march of time. You've got to upgrade Windows eventually, and while it'll give little improvements here and there, it'll do nothing for gaming other than frustrate you when you try to run DX10 and DX11 stuff.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Looking for the performance upgrade, then, we don't think it's money well spent here, either.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Upgrading Windows isn't cheap, which might explain why Microsoft has so much money. Our upgrade from XP means that 64-bit software and DX10 and DX11 are ours. What it doesn't do is make our system any faster, although the desktop looks nice and modern.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As ever, Windows gets more demanding. This is no performance upgrade, and if anything it only highlights the inadequacies of our box. It isn't always very good at running 32-bit software, so you might find that things actually go backwards. Still, our hard drive upgrade is a nice one; £65 brings an almost 10-fold increase in storage, as well as a doubling of the data rate.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Win bench 1" class="aligncenter" height="276" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/win-bench-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/win-bench-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Win bench 2" class="aligncenter" height="254" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/win-bench-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/win-bench-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Motherboard" class="aligncenter" height="158" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.drmos-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/PCF254.feature3.drmos-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Now then, time to get serious. All we've learned from our mucking about upgrading this and that is that what we really need is to fit a decent processor - and our motherboard is too old for that. So it's time to change the board.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Since this is a biggish job, there's no sense in aiming too low. We went straight for a six-core Phenom II 1090T. At about £150 a pop, they're not cheap, but we'd finally have oodles of six-core power. Our new board was an Asus M4A89GTD Pro, about £90 worth and capable of interesting overclocking experiments. On top of this, we'd need new memory: a pair of 2GB DDR3 sticks added £32-ish. All this brings the bill to about £250 - about half the cost of a modest new PC.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Remember, we're still running everything under XP with a pedestrian 512MB graphics card. Heaven 2.5 once more refuses to budge. It doesn't matter how much processing power you throw onto the board, it's all about the graphics card here.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> 3DMark06, which is much more skewed to CPU power, at last gets a decent hit, nearly doubling. The two CPU benchmarks, as you might have guessed, go ballistic. It all goes to show just how fast processor development is; a decent modern chip will absolutely slaughter the old guard. The machine also feels completely different at the desktop, nice and responsive.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Right, we've spent £250 and started to get interesting scores, but now our system is unbalanced again. Where once it needed processing power to match the card, now it desperately needs graphical power. So it's back to our HD 5850 and 6950 cards and more furious benchmarking to see whether we can at last get some decent chuffin' results. Which we can.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The HD 5850 finally has a chance to run and we have, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, decent playable speeds. The 3DMark06 benchmark nearly doubles again and Heaven more than doubles.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The game benchmarks start responding, too. At last, our upgrade candidate is a games machine, which is just as well as we've now spent £350 and it's still running an obsolete OS on an IDE hard drive.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Smart money</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Spending another ton to move to an HD 6950 doesn't repeat the trick, though. Since we're sticking to our original resolutions of 1,280x1,024, it doesn't have a chance to flex its GPU muscles. At these more sedate dimensions, and with no 64-bit drivers, it's not much better than its older cousin.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Again, spending the extra here would be something of a waste, which did surprise us a little - we expected more for our money now it was on a decent board.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The law of diminishing returns is in full effect in the world of graphics cards, and those last few frames get costly. We were really tempted to combine the Windows and drive upgrades with the processor and motherboard and graphics card upgrades to see what the result would be. At least, we were until we started adding up the figures and realised that way madness lay.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> At this point, all that would have been left of our original box would be the case, power supply and optical drive, and our upgrade would have set us back about £500. This isn't really an upgrade, it's building a whole new rig. Time to calm down and think again.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Upgrading is one of the PC's great advantages, but it's a fast-moving field and machines are quickly left behind. To be realistic, after more than a couple of modest upgrades of an ageing computer, it's time to stop and think carefully about what you want the machine to do. It's possible to waste quite a lot of money on something that's never really going to perform well enough to justify the subsequent lightness of your wallet.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This is the big upgrade. It's also the most expensive, but it doesn't half make a difference. Suddenly, our tired old rig has a spring in its step. Although it needs a new graphics card to carry the extra power right through to the game frame rates, we're at last in decent, playable territory.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> We jolly well should be, as it's cost £350 to change the board, chip and memory, and add an HD 5850. Notice that stretching another £100 to the 6950 again proves to be a waste, at these resolutions anyway (1,280x1,024).</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mobo bench 1" class="aligncenter" height="289" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/mobo-bench-1-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/mobo-bench-1-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Mobo bench 2" class="aligncenter" height="359" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/mobo-bench-2-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20254/mobo-bench-2-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Conclusion</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> So we've answered our original question. Yes, you can turn an old dog into a gaming machine - of course you can. You just can't do it without spending rather a lot of money and replacing nearly everything, making your old PC a bit of a Trigger's Broom (or Ship of Theseus, if you're more classically minded).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Once upon a time, you could beat the system by building rigs out of bits and it would be cheaper. Even if you had only a couple of major components, it was worth buying the rest separately. Those days are long gone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Today, margins are tight, competition fierce and progress rapid. You'll rarely put together a decent system out of separates and save money. The same goes for any major upgrading. The balance between processor and graphics card is all-important: too much either way is wasted effort.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> And watch those resolutions, too. If you don't run a big monitor then many high-power cards aren't as attractive as they think they are. For instance, witness our 5850 and 6950 scores with the Phenom 1090T at 1,280x1,024 - is that really worth £100 to you?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The PC is made of parts, but works as a whole, and you need to upgrade it with this in mind. The cost of fitting fast, modern kit is dissipated unless all of the sub-systems can cope. This effectively means that any serious upgrade means a new board, chip, graphics and RAM. And at this point you need to consider costs carefully.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Looking again at our original test system, all we can really recommend is adding another GB of RAM and hunting down an Athlon 64 chip. This would cost a reasonable £31 and gives a little boost all round - nothing spectacular, but the desktop feels much more lively and you get a few frames a second more here and there.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Maybe scouring other piles of old hardware or eBay for a better graphics card would be worth it, but getting serious about upgrading it proved to be an expensive and frustrating experiment.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Drive time</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The only upgrade that really worked was the hard drive. Switching to a modern SATA drive had an immediate effect and, although not speeding up games as such, made everything feel more lively. You can never have too much storage, either, and drives are easy to transfer between systems.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You can get a lovely, all-shiny, all-new, all-sorted-out proper games rig for £750 (take a look at Chillblast's Fusion Rocket). You'll get a nice new version of Windows, too, plus big, fast drives, a new keyboard that isn't full of crumbs, and a new mouse and all the rest.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It pains us to say it, but it's worth saving up and getting a new box if you're more than a couple of years behind the curve. It's tempting to think that you can upgrade some faithful old PC you found hidden away somewhere into a games box, but once you've passed a certain point it's time to take the old fellow out for a long walk, with a spade in one hand and a shotgun in the other.</div> </div> </span></div>

In Depth: Is it worth upgrading your old PC for gaming?

Old PCs can be found everywhere. There are millions of them out there, languishing under beds and at the back of cupboards slowly colle...

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Econz Wireless unveils new Timecard GPS app for businesses

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="163" mce_src="http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6388/timecardgpssg.jpg" src="http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6388/timecardgpssg.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="300" />It’s hard for people that work in fields where workers are not in an office to control when the worker actually starts and stops works. Some employees take advantage of that system and steal time from their employers by starting late and leaving early. A company called Econz Wireless has a new app for Android phones that will stop time theft and help employers cut down on expenses called Timecard GPS.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The app installs on any Android OS device from 1.0 up and tracks time, attendance, and GPS location for mobile workers. The app allows the creation of jobs, tasks, sub-tasks, and cost codes. The app will also track the workers location and the breaks they take. The app will prepare over 20 custom reports and uses Google Maps.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The clock in and out feature allows the worker to punch a clock even when they aren’t in the office. The app requires the company to have Timecard organization configured before installing the app to the phones. The app costs $12.99 monthly for each device with the clock in and out function.</div> </div> </span></div>

Econz Wireless unveils new Timecard GPS app for businesses

It’s hard for people that work in fields where workers are not in an office to control when the worker actually starts and stops works. S...

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The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting'

<div><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="239" src="http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7096/hammacherdesk062911.jpg" style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" width="279" /></div><br/>Quite frankly, you've got it just a bit <em>too</em> easy. You rise 98 seconds before you're scheduled to clock in, you mash a power button, and suddenly, you're at work. PJs still caked to your legs, mouth still steaming from a lack of brushing. You're a telecommuter, and you're the envy of the working world. In fact, it'd be just stellar if you'd do us all a solid and add a sliver of complexity to your workday -- you know, like swapping out your OfficeMax special for an elliptical machine. And maybe, just maybe, you can convert your laptop into one that's pedal-powered, forcing you to keep churning for fear of dropping from the virtual office. And no, you can't ask for donations to cover the $8,000 price tag -- your fuel savings from last week alone should just about cover it. Harrumph.

The Elliptical Machine Office Desk: putting the 'commute' back in 'telecommuting'

Quite frankly, you've got it just a bit too easy. You rise 98 seconds before you're scheduled to clock in, you mash a power button,...

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Adaption of Office Information Technology in the Modern World

<P> </P><br /><P>The area of office information technology is so vast it is difficult to boil it down to one simple paper. It is now found and utilized by every major university as well as states, the Federal Government and private businesses. It is a way to maximize delivery of necessary information in a fast and efficient manner.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>The old days of typing things many times over and distributing them to various places as well as having row after row of file cabinets has now reached the same state as the covered wagon. With the event of the computer and the burst of additional methods of transporting information, it has now been put under the term 'office information technology'. This has been found to be a very fast and efficient way of handling various kinds of data.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>It is now regarded as a growth and development instrument that many wonder how business was previously carried on without it. It is used in every type of planning strategy to deliver information and maximize its effectiveness while, at the same time, using it in a cost-effective manner.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>States have been especially anxious to have an efficient way for improving service delivery which is required in their day to day operations. Office information technology has proved very effective in such things as unemployment benefits which is so prevalent in today's economic situation. Federal grants and other such things, that must be minutely accounted for, work very well under this system with its attention to details.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>Having a secure exchange of such things as health care and education records has improved greatly over the way it was done previous to this new technology. These records can quickly be pulled up and sent to the inquiring party within a matter of minutes where it previously took days. Yet, at the same time, it is possible to release the information, to the right party or parties, without worrying about privacy.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>Modernizing all systems of government and insuring timely and accurate data by the use of office information technology will, when the process is completed, allow information to be obtained when needed and not some time in the future. It will also make the agencies accountable as all date will be available for all to see.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>In the private sector, computers and other technology equipment and software has turned the office into a highly productive machine. At the present time one is able to obtain and retain information and other data at the click of the mouse. This has jumped the office efficiency forward by leaps and bounds.</P><br /><P> </P><br /><P>Being able to use the computer to bring up, and print, information sheets regarding invoices, delinquent payments, inventory and all other things related has made it an easy job to run a very efficient office. It allows a daily observance of the cash flow and everything else that pertains to running a business in this modern and fast changing world. The owner or CEO can, with a simple click, see anything needed to change a course of action, make a purchase or one of the many other things involved with office and business management. This makes very good business sense.</P>

Adaption of Office Information Technology in the Modern World

  The area of office information technology is so vast it is difficult to boil it down to one simple paper. It is now found and utilized by ...

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Office 2011 Service Pack 1 due next week, improves Outlook compatibility

<!--CONTENT START--><br/><br/><img align="right" alt="officemacblackfriday_2.jpg" border="0" height="217" hspace="8" src="http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5712/officemacblackfriday2.jpg" vspace="8" width="284" />The upgrade from Microsoft Office 2008 to 2011 has not been without its drawbacks; for users of Entourage who moved to the all-new Outlook for Mac, in particular, there have been a few holes in the feature lineup. None of them are necessarily showstoppers, but the collection of odd omissions has given the flagship mail/calendar/contact management platform an air of unfinished business over the past few months.<br/><br/>Good news, though: Microsoft's Office for Mac blog reports that we will be seeing Service Pack 1 for Office 2011 next week. The big-ticket returning feature for Outlook is calendar support in Sync Services, meaning that Outlook calendars may once again synchronize locally with iCal, BusyCal or tethered iPhones, iPod touch or iPad units through iTunes.<br/><br/>Outlook's punch list also includes editing support for Exchange's server-side rules (which last appeared on the Mac in Outlook 2001 for Mac OS 9!), the return of the Redirect and Resend options in addition to simple message forwarding, and editing of messages in the Inbox. Excel is also getting better Solver integration, and there are sure to be hundreds of other bug fixes and minor improvements.<br/><br/>While the Sync Services calendar support is welcome, it's slightly ironic that it's coming back to Microsoft's PIM at the same time that Apple's MobileMe calendars are transitioning to CalDAV--which in turn is breaking Sync Services support for those hosted calendars via iCal and BusyCal. That means there still won't be a supported way to get MobileMe calendars to synchronize with Outlook for Mac (or Entourage 2008, for that matter), at least in the short term.<br/><br/>There are some Outlook users who will be able to synchronize to MobileMe's CalDAV servers... but they aren't using Mac OS X. 32-bit versions of Outlook 2007 or 2010 on Windows can indeed sync up to MobileMe, with the help of Apple's MobileMe control panel on Windows XP, Vista or 7.<br/><br/>The Office 2011 SP1 download will be available sometime the week of April 11th; we'll let you know when it drops.

Office 2011 Service Pack 1 due next week, improves Outlook compatibility

The upgrade from Microsoft Office 2008 to 2011 has not been without its drawbacks; for users of Entourage who moved to the all-new Outlook f...

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Why Can't I Log Into Office Live?

Microsoft Office Live lets you access, share and edits documents from anywhere.Microsoft Office Live -- a set of Internet-based services that include email, file sharing, website hosting, domain registration and instant messaging -- caters to consumers and <a href="">small businesses</A> interested in creating a website or storing and sharing documents online.<br /><P></P><br /><P>Office Live tools help users with different aspects of their <a href="">business</A>, including tracking customer information, promotions and marketing, and online sales of products or services. Microsoft Office Live's user forum serves as the primary method for troubleshooting and getting questions answered. Other methods include email-only support and a status page that notifies customers of system maintenance issues. Problems logging in could indicate an internal website issue; check the status page (See Resources) for updates or to report a problem. Also, you can reset your password from the site's log-in page. Microsoft Office Live Workspace has a January 21, 2011, discontinuation date. The change automatically upgrades all Workspace accounts and allows users to store, share and edit documents from virtually any location. It doesn't affect other Office Live programs, however, and has no associated costs.</P><br /><P><a href="http://www.ehow.com/facts_7724574_cant-log-office-live.html">Source.</A></P>

Why Can't I Log Into Office Live?

Microsoft Office Live lets you access, share and edits documents from anywhere.Microsoft Office Live -- a set of Internet-based services tha...

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You Too Can Design the Home Office You Have Only Dreamed About

<P>Setting up a home office is one of the most important tasks you will face when you make the decision to work from your own home. Your home office can be a corner of your kitchen or living room or, if space permits, a former spare bedroom.</P><br /><P>Size is less important that functionality. When deciding on where to set up the nerve center of your business, there are some factors you need to consider.</P><br /><P><B>Is There Enough Lighting Available?</B></P><br /><P>Proper lighting is extremely important. Spending hours at a time in a dimly lit workspace can create eyestrain that, after long periods of time, this could lead to serious problems with your vision.</P><br /><P><B>Electrical Outlets Should Be Considered</B></P><br /><P>You want to take into consideration electrical outlets available for the equipment that you will be using day-to-day. At the very least, today's modern home office has a light, computer, telephone, answering machine, monitor, scanner, printer and speakers (optional but still nice to have). You may also add a radio/CD/MP3 player that will need to be powered. Make sure you have enough electrical outlets to power your home office adequately so that you do not have play plug switch on equipment.</P><br /><P><B>Is the area well ventilated and dust free?</B></P><br /><P>All of that computer equipment needs to "breath" to remain cool and functioning properly. If you have ever, "fried" a computer you know how important it is to keep the fan clean and dust free.</P><br /><P><B>Telephone Access Is another Consideration</B></P><br /><P>In addition to having a telephone handy for business purposes, you will also require telephone access for your modem. You may also consider a separate telephone line for your business. It is much easier to track your telephone business expenses for tax purposes if you have a separate phone line.</P><br /><P>As well, if you are on dialup Internet access, you will need two phone lines so that your clients have access to you during business hours and can leave messages while you are away. If you have teenagers in the house, it is a definite that you will need a separate telephone line that is only in your home office or they may never get through. For a few extra dollars, you will have peace of mind in this area.</P><br /><P><B></P><br /><P>Have You Considered Internet Access?</B></P><br /><P>Most modern home offices will have a decent Internet connection - DSL or Broadband. Gone are the days when dialup access was sufficient, and while it can still be done, most home office business have a fast Internet connection. You may be already DSL-ready and only need to call your telephone company to get it started.</P><br /><P>If you already have a broadband connection, make sure you have access to the cable connection where you are located. If you choose to go with a wireless connection to your broadband access, be sure and secure and encrypt it with WPA encryption and not WEP. WEP encryption was hacked about 10 years ago, and if you are doing secure transactions online, spring for a wireless modem/router with the latest encryption available. Better still, you might want to stick with straight cabling for faster speed and safety.</P><br /><P>If you take advantage of a nearby WiFi hotspot where you can go wireless, be sure and avoid making purchases or conducting unencrypted transactions while wireless on a public wireless connection. If you go wireless at home, make sure you have encrypted your connection and you should be just fine. With all of these decisions made, you will have the basics for starting the setup of your home office organization.</P><br /><P>Get <a href="">articles of latest new technology</A> for your <a href="">home office</A> from people who know. Top writers covering the world of web business, education, technology and more for your busy life today and tomorrow.</P><br /><P>If your <a href="">home office</A> is not with the times, then you need to get articles on the latest new technology at the site dedicated to the modern business and tech world SwitchSystems.</P><br /><P>KC Kudra is Webmaster for eWritingPad, a published author, an SEO expert in the field of directories and parent of four boys. The writing bug first hit as a teenager writing short stories and poetry. You can often find him giving design ideas and writing content for various websites. The Internet gives an outlet to so many writers to get their writing out to an audience of like-minded people and really expands your world.</P><br /><P>KC helps his wife with technical aspects of website design and SEO for her website business and is a contributor of articles, and content writing. KC is a modern day Renaissance man with an overwhelming desire to excel at whatever he dose and to do it with passion. His real love is cooking and recipe making for her recipe websites and he loves making new dishes for their four young sons.</P>

You Too Can Design the Home Office You Have Only Dreamed About

Setting up a home office is one of the most important tasks you will face when you make the decision to work from your own home. Your home o...

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Lack of 3D Harry Potter hits IMAX box office

<P>The new <EM>Harry Potter </EM>movie may well be wowing critics with its dark and adult content and themes, but the lack of a 3D version of the movie is hitting IMAX cinemas where it hurts – right in the box-office takings.</P><br /><P><EM>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I</EM> is currently playing on 108 IMAX screens globally, more IMAXes than any other release to date, including 3D hits such as <EM>Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon </EM>and <EM>Alice in Wonderland</EM>.</P><br /><P><img alt="Harry potter failing in imax due to lack of 3d" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/harry-potter2d-420-90.jpg" title="Harry potter failing in imax due to lack of 3d" width="420"></IMG></P><br /><P><EM>However, the new </EM>Harry Potter IMAX takings are "soft" according to Richard Morrison, manager of Melbourne's IMAX Theatre.</P><br /><P>Morrison's IMAX theatre sold over 4500 tickets in advance for the 2D version of the film, but soon stopped selling out after the first weekend. In comparison <EM>Avatar </EM>sold out 152 consecutive IMAX screenings in its first six weeks</P><br /><P>While the movie is still proving popular in IMAX theatres, Morrison claims that the seventh Potter movie would have made more money had it been produced in 3D. </P><br /><P>"It's certainly been a successful film in its own right," the IMAX manager told Inside Film. "But it's suffered because it wasn't in 3D… the takings definitely would have been higher if it were in 3D."</P><br /><P>"I fully expect part two will surpass all previous films' takings for us," Morrison added, referring to the forthcoming final chapter in the Potter series. "Partly because it's the bookend of the series, but also because it's in 3D."</P><br /><P><EM>Deathly Hallows: Part I </EM>was originally planned to me made in 3D, but Warner was not able to complete the 3D conversion in time for the movie's November release, with the studio announcing prior to the movie's launch that they thought it "the best course to take." </P><br /><P>Strangely, the previous two films <EM>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix </EM>and <EM>Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince </EM>did run in IMAX 3D–although the two movies only contain around 35 minutes worth of 3D scenes between them.</P><br /><P>Potter fans are already looking forward to the final chapter in the series, as well as the first fully-3D Potter movie – with <EM>Deathly Hallows: Part II </EM>out on July 15, 2011</P>

Lack of 3D Harry Potter hits IMAX box office

The new Harry Potter movie may well be wowing critics with its dark and adult content and themes, but the lack of a 3D version of the movie ...

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The Best Way to Hide Exposed Wires in a Home Office

<P>Ensure that all devices are turned off and cables are unplugged before you start work.</P><P>Tape down all the wires that are not visible. This might include wires from your <a class="StrongLink" href="http://www.ehow.com/computers/">computer</A> monitor, phone or printer. If these devices are on a desk, taping them to the back of the desk with any type of adhesive tape stops them from getting tangled up or getting in the way.</P><P>Use cable clips to secure wires to walls and door frames. If your wires run across or around the room, hammer them into the baseboard or skirting board with some cable clips. It is much safer and the wires will be much less visible. Run the wires around the sides and tops of door frames if necessary. Cable clips can be hammered into the frame without damaging the paintwork, as adhesive tape would do.</P><P>Use wire looms or cable tidy kits. Buy these at most hardware stores. Gather and secure your wires together and run them through the supplied loom or piping. Only the piping will be visible and it prevents your wires from getting damaged, tangled or dirty. Use a cable tidy kit or wire loom especially if you have several wires together that need hiding.</P><P>Create a wireless network. The best way to hide wires is to avoid having any in the first place. Connect your computer, printer, modem and hard drive to a wireless network to reduce the number of wires you have and make your home office more flexible; with a wireless network you can put your devices wherever you want, so long as they have access to a power outlet. Use a wireless mouse, keyboard and phone to reduce the number of wires at your workstation. These wires would be much harder to hide, so get rid of them altogether!</P>

The Best Way to Hide Exposed Wires in a Home Office

Ensure that all devices are turned off and cables are unplugged before you start work. Tape down all the wires that are not visible. This m...

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Types of Business Upgrades for Microsoft Office 2007

<P> <a a="" business="" for="" microsoft="" of="" offers="" office="" software="" title="#jsArticleStepImageCredit1 rel=thinbox><IMG title=" variety=""></A></P><br /><P>Fotolia.com</A>">Microsoft Office offers a variety of office software for business applications.Microsoft Office 2007 Standard comes with four programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. If your <a class="StrongLink"" href="http://www.ehow.com/business/">business</A> needs require more functionality you can upgrade in a variety of ways: purchase an upgrade suite, purchase individual programs for your needs, purchase add-ins to increase features of your existing programs or download add-ins from Microsoft.Microsoft Office SuitesYou can purchase an upgrade to different versions of Office. Office Professional includes: Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Outlook 2007 with a business contact manager, Publisher 2007, Accounting Express 2008 and Microsoft Access. Office Professional Plus 2007 includes the above software plus InfoPath and Communicator. Office 2007 Enterprise includes all of the above programs plus Groove and OneNote.Individual ProgramsThe majority of Microsoft Office programs can be bought individually. There is also additional software you can buy to add onto Office that is not included in any of the Office Suite options. Examples of such software include Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project.Third-Party Add-InsAdd-ins can help you customize the programs you already have to better suit your business needs. Examples include the SoftShadow by pptXtreme, an add-in for PowerPoint which enhances drop shadows. According to Microsoft, ASAP Utilities by A Must in Every Office BV offers more than 300 utilities and shortcuts for Microsoft Excel.Microsoft Add-InsMicrosoft offers a limited number of add-ins for download. These include a Visio viewer, which is an add-in for Visio and a calendar printing assistant, which is an add-in for Outlook. References <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/business/smb/en-cb/office/small-business-2007.mspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft: Microsoft Office Small Business 2007</A> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/business/smb/en-ie/office/professional-2007.mspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft: Microsoft Office Professional 2007</A> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/business/smb/en-nz/office/professional-plus-2007.mspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft: Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007</A> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/business/smb/en-cb/office/enterprise-2007.mspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft: Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007</A> <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/microsoft-office-visio-2007-top-10-benefits-HA010165031.aspx?CTT=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Top 10 Benefits</A> <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/manage-project-change-with-microsoft-office-project-2007-HA010173082.aspx?CTT=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft Office: Manage Project Change with Microsoft Office Project 2007</A><ABBR title=""></P></ABBR>

Types of Business Upgrades for Microsoft Office 2007

  Fotolia.com ">Microsoft Office offers a variety of office software for business applications.Microsoft Office 2007 Standard comes ...

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Fix Computer Problems - How to Stop Computer Problems in Your Office Before They Start

<br /> <p>Okay sooner or later your office PC (personal computer) will have something go wrong with it. Like any other office machine, computers are subject to glitches, bugs and crashes caused by failing hardware or software. And in the long run your small business PC will be no different.</p><p>Just like in many home-based businesses, large modern offices have the exact same computer problems as a much smaller shops because they had the same "computer user" issues. All the computer users are mired in the "busy-ness" of the job at hand.</p><p>"Busy-ness" is what happens when working folks, like you and me, get caught up in using our business PCs day-in and day-out without taking the time to perform proper computer maintenance on them.</p><p>We lug around our laptops from home to car to office and back again without stopping. We download everything from music to maps without thinking about where these programs come from or what harm they can do to our business systems.</p><p>"Busy-ness" is the secret serial killer of technology and the biggest source of on-going computer problems. We slowly kill our technology with software that has not been updated in years, by downloading all types of viruses and spyware that is "attached" to more innocent applications and emails or by ignoring the signs of obviously failing hardware.</p><p>After all we are too involved in our "busy-ness" to take time to fix these "minor" computer problems...until it's too late.</p><p>Unchecked computer troubles and poor computer maintenance will eventually lead to damaged or destroyed data files, lost work productivity due to hours of downtime. Not to mention costing you a fortune in computer repair fees.</p><p>So what can you do to fix computer problems before they get out of hand?</p><p>Fix Your Computer Problems Tip# 1 - Be Sensitive to What You Have. First, understand that your personal technology, your PC and the data and applications on it, are the lifeblood of your business. Take an inventory of what data files you have and what software you have installed. There are several free programs that can make this computer maintenance problem an easy fix.</p><p>Fix Your Computer Problems Tip# 2 - Be Aware of What You Download. The biggest problem, I have ever had both professionally and personally (hey I did it do, you know) was PCs with viruses or malware (malicious software) that were downloaded from "freebie" sites.</p><p>Free music, free software, etc. are great if you get them from a safe and trusted source, but no matter what you kind of anti-virus program you may have, like a vampire, malware loves it best when you "invite" them into your home.</p><p>Fix Your Computer Problems Tip# 3 - Be Certain You Update Often. Another problem that has always caused problems is failing to update your operating system or hardware drivers on a regular basis. Hackers never sleep. Somewhere in the world some greedy, little nerd is hard at work learning how to break into your PC.</p><p>Whether they hack your computer for fame (bragging rights) or fortune (to sell your stolen identity or credit card numbers), you need to learn to protect both your PC and more importantly your personal data. And one of the best ways to do this is update your operating system (OS) at least once a week.</p><p>Microsoft has a Windows update system that automatically downloads and installs updates and upgrades on your PC. Granted every once in while the Microsoft engineers mess up and release an update or upgrade that has some negative consequences, in the long run, their updates are one of the better way to safeguard your PC from outside attackers.</p><p>Fix Your Computer Problems Tip# 4 - Be Sure to Backup Your Business Files Frequently. I can honestly say, this is one biggest mistakes made in almost all small offices and businesses. We get knee deep in the "busy-ness" of making a living and then forget all about the data and files that make that business possible.</p><p>Think you can live without your hard drive? What if every single file, every picture, document or software program you have bought and paid or downloaded and installed, were to go, POOF overnight? It happens....</p><p>Now that you are aware of some of the problems of being too busy, you can set aside time every week to perform some simple computer maintenance tasks, so you will not have to fix more serious computer problems later on.</p> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <p>Sick of computer maintenance headaches? Tired of wasting money on computer repair fees?<br> I invite you to discover more FREE ways to <a href="http://fixcomputerproblemsguide.com" target="_new">fix computer problems</a> fast and learn troubleshooting computer problem tips at <a href="http://www.fixcomputerproblemsguide.com" target="_new">http://www.fixcomputerproblemsguide.com</a><br> From Chancer Reese, your Small Office Tech Diva.</p> <br />

Fix Computer Problems - How to Stop Computer Problems in Your Office Before They Start

Okay sooner or later your office PC (personal computer) will have something go wrong with it. Like any other office machine, computers ar...

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Facebook messaging also brings Office integration

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/Microsoft/facebook_office-200-200.jpg"><br /><P>Microsoft has announced that the <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/facebook-announces-modern-messaging-service--908393">arrival of Facebook's messaging platform</A> also brings in another significant addition – with Office documents now accessible from your Facebook page. </P><br /><P>Facebook's new messaging platform – which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described as the "future of modern messaging"– not only brings together instant messaging, texts, mail and Facebook messages, but also can incorporate Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents via Office Web Apps. </P><br /><P>Microsoft's corporate VP of Office, Takeshi Numoto, <a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/office-exec/archive/2010/11/15/office-facebook-easily-share-your-ideas-and-documents-with-friends.aspx">blogged</A>: "Facebook's new messaging platform integrates the Office Web Apps to enable Facebook users to view Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents with just one click. </P><br /><P><STRONG>Share ideas</STRONG></P><br /><P>"As you know, Office helps you create stunning documents that bring your ideas to life. Now you can easily share those ideas with your friends and family on Facebook," he added</P><br /><P>"I'm really excited about being able to make it even easier for people to use Office to access and share information across different devices, networks and platforms. </P><br /><P>"With the Office Web Apps on Facebook, you have even more ways to express yourself with Office and easily share your thoughts with people that are important to you."</P><br /><P><STRONG>View on Office.com</STRONG></P><br /><P>Essentially, when you receive a Facebook message with an Office doc attachment – you have the option to 'View on Office.com' or 'Download' allowing you to access the data. </P><br /><P>"So go ahead! Create a personalized invitation to your dinner party next Saturday with Word or share that killer PowerPoint presentation you delivered for your school project," added Numoto.</P><br /><P>"Let your ideas run free and inspire you to create something unique and share it on Facebook using Office. "</P>

Facebook messaging also brings Office integration

Microsoft has announced that the arrival of Facebook's messaging platform also brings in another significant addition – with Office doc...

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How to Open Office in Mac OS 9

<P>Check the quick launch icons along the bottom-left of the display to see if the Office application you want is there. If it is, click it to open Office.</P><P>Double-click the "Mac OS 9" icon on your desktop. This launches your hard drive folder.</P><P>Double-click "Programs."</P><P>Double-click the "Office" application you want to open.</P>

How to Open Office in Mac OS 9

Check the quick launch icons along the bottom-left of the display to see if the Office application you want is there. If it is, click it to...

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How to Install Office Via Data Cable

<P>Copy the ISO copy of Microsoft Office to an external hard drive.</P><P>Connect the external hard drive to the <a class="StrongLink" href="http://www.ehow.com/computers/">computer</A> you wish to install Office on via the supplied data cable.</P><P>Download and install an ISO burning/mounting software program (see Resources). Many freeware and shareware options exist. But, for the purposes of this task, they all function exactly the same and work equally well.</P><P>Right-click on the ISO file located on the external hard drive and select "Mount to" from the available options in the contextual menu under the heading of your installed ISO burning/mounting software. Select one of the listed virtual drives.</P><P>Click on "Computer" in the "Start" menu and right-click on the virtual drive you chose in the previous step. Select "Install or run program" from the contextual menu. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Microsoft Office to the target computer from the external hard drive connected via data cable.</P>

How to Install Office Via Data Cable

Copy the ISO copy of Microsoft Office to an external hard drive. Connect the external hard drive to the computer you wish to install Offic...

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Picsel brings Microsoft Office to Android

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/Mobile%20Phones/picselsmartoffice-carousel-200-200.jpg"/><p>A new app has hit the mobile phone market, which offers up a whole load of functionality from Microsoft's Office suite through your handset.</p><p>Available for Android, Bada and iOS phones, the application brings the likes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to your phone, allowing you to view and edit your office documents on your mobile.</p><p>At the moment, Picsel Smart Office can boast to being the only document editor to be available on the Apple App Store and the makers of the app have tried to make it as easy as possible to view and edit docs.</p><p>For viewing Word and the like, the app automatically resizes content into an easy scrollable format and there is also a carousel style viewer for multiple documents.</p><p><strong>Ch-ch-changes</strong></p><p>For those that want to tinker with docs on their mobile, Picsel Smart Office offers a full editing suite. So you can bold up words, underline, change fonts, change size, and save in original format.</p><p>For added gimmick Picsel Smart Office also has 3D functionality, which means you can view the content in 3D if you have a stereoscopic screen or in anaglyph on a standard screen.</p><p>Not sure if we would want to see an Excel document in 3D, but it would work pretty well for PowerPoint.</p><p>While <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/10-best-free-windows-phone-7-apps-903131">Windows Phone 7</a> is, understandably, offering up very good Office functionality on Windows handsets, Picsel Smart Office sounds like it is scratching those hard to reach places QuickOffice can't quite reach.</p><p>Picsel Smart Office is available for download on the Apple App Store, Android Market and Samsung Apps for £5.99 now. </p><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f5fc6e6/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'><p>

Picsel brings Microsoft Office to Android

A new app has hit the mobile phone market, which offers up a whole load of functionality from Microsoft's Office suite through your han...

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