In Depth: 10 handy tips for Google Chrome beginners
Google's Chrome browser is marketed as a streamlined browser that removes all unnecessary bloat in order to maximise its speed on the web.
But its lack of bells and whistles shouldn't be misinterpreted as a lack of functionality. There are still plenty of ways that you can tweak Chrome to suit your own surfing habits..
1. Useful Chrome shortcuts
As with other browsers, you can use keyboard shortcuts to save time. Use [Ctrl]+[B] to toggle the Bookmarks bar, [Shift]+[Esc] to open Chrome's Task Manager and [Ctrl]+[J] to bring up the Downloads window. Move the cursor without moving your mouse by using [Ctrl]+[L] to switch to the address bar and [Ctrl]+[K] to move the cursor to the search box.
There are also plenty of tab-related shortcuts: [Ctrl]+[T] opens a new tab, [Ctrl]+[N] opens a new window, [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[T] reopens the last-closed tab, [Ctrl]+[Tab] cycles through open tabs and [Ctrl]+[W] closes the current tab. Perfect for speeding up your surfing.
2. Faster searching
Google is, of course, best known for its search engine, and Chrome aims to make search as easy as possible. You can search the web by simply typing a term into the address box, or you can search a particular site by entering the domain and then pressing [Tab]. You can use keyword shortcuts to search using a particular search engine; right-click in the address bar and select 'Edit Search Engines' to add or remove search engines and assign keywords to them.
3. Customised home tab
Like Opera, Chrome has a nifty feature that displays a grid of your most frequently visited sites when you open a new tab. This grid is not fixed, and you can make it how you'd like by dragging and dropping the thumbnails to rearrange them, pinning thumbnails to specific locations by using the Pin button or changing the grid to a simpler list view with the View button.
4. Multiple homepages
Got a set of sites you visit every day? Well, why not customise Chrome to open your favourite sites in their own tabs when you start the browser? Go to the Options menu and under the Basics tab, tick the radio button for 'Open the Following pages' and then add whichever sites you want to open on startup. You can also make the browser open up the pages you were viewing before you finished your last browsing session instead.
5. Easy downloading
All browsers save files where they think is best, which may not be where you want them saved. To change the default download location, go into Options, click on the Minor Tweaks tab and set a new custom download location. A rather handy alternative to this is the ability to drag and drop downloads out of the status bar straight onto your desktop or an Explorer window.
6. Add some colour
Chrome's interface is pretty minimal, so if you're one for customisation then you'll be pleased to hear that you can easily change the look and feel of the browser using themes. Click on the Spanner tool, choose 'Personal options' and then click 'Get themes'. Once you've found a theme you like, click the 'Apply theme' button to instantly transform your browser.
7. Protect your privacy
Everyone knows about the potential tracking problems of cookies and adverts, but did you know that each Chrome install has a unique ID, making it a very simple matter to track what you are doing? If this is something that worries you then fear not, because there is a solution: Chrome Privacy Guard. Once installed, the tool scans inside your Chrome install and removes the unique client ID; just run the 'ChromePrivacy Guard.exe' file instead of the normal Chrome executable.
8. Create shortcuts
You can use Chrome to create desktop shortcuts to your favourite web applications such as Google Mail, Flickr, Twitter and so on. Once launched, the app will appear in its own separate window without any of Chrome's usual toolbars, tabs and bookmarks, but any links you click on will open a new tab instance in Chrome. To create a shortcut, go to the site you want to make the shortcut to, go to the Page menu and choose 'Create application shortcuts'. You will have the option of saving the shortcut to the desktop, Quick Launch bar or Start menu.
9. Get Chrome extensions
Like Firefox, Chrome supports plug-ins, although this is still in an early stage. Type about:plugins in the address bar to see what plug-ins, if any, are currently installed. You can get Google Chrome extensions from the official repository. If you want to build your own extension, have a look at www.chromeextensionsdocs.appspot.com.
10. Explore the program
Want to know what's going on deep inside Chrome? For general information on the browser, type about:' into the address bar. You should see some basic information about the browser's build, the V8 JavaScript engine and so on. This command can be used to retrieve information about specific elements of the app, as we saw above. For example, to see how well the browser's DNS pre-fetching system is currently working, enter about:dns.
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In Depth: 20 Snow Leopard annoyances solved
All new operating systems have their little bugbears.
Snow Leopard has had its problems, but it's the tiny everyday annoyances that can really grate.
So here are 20 of the most common issues, together with ways to get around them.
1. "Exposأ© leaves windows in the background"
The Application Window mode of Exposأ© is designed to let you switch between multiple document windows open in just the current application, rather than between every single open window.
In 10.5, selecting a document would bring this one to the foreground, but it would also bring all the other open windows for that application to the front as well (right behind the one you selected).
This was changed in Snow Leopard so that only the document you choose moves forward and the others stay where they are. If you want to bring the whole application to the foreground, the simplest way to do it is to use Option+Tab to switch to that application, rather than going anywhere near Exposأ©.
2. "Can I stop the screensaver from closing?"
If your screensaver cuts out as soon as it begins, check to see if you're running Caffeine. This menu bar utility will let you temporarily prevent your Mac from going to sleep or starting up the screensaver. But a small incompatibility with 10.6 was preventing the screensaver from running, even when Caffeine was clicked off. Download the latest version of Caffeine to fix this.
3. "I can't log in as root user when using Terminal"
The root account is now disabled by default. It is possible to enable it using the Directory Utility application (which now lives in System/Library/CoreServices) but there's good reason not to.
The fact is that there's virtually nothing you can do when logged in as root, that you cannot do more safely using the sudo command in Terminal.
4. "My Time Machine backups are broken"
If you're using Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) shares to back up to a network disk, you may find that Time Machine can't find the network volume. This is because Snow Leopard checks that the volume is writing journaling data all the way to the disk, to preserve data integrity.
You can fool it into accepting your volume by using a script here but network outages could corrupt your backup volume.
A safer solution is to use AFP-compatible network disks, or attach a backup drive directly to your Mac.
5. "Files don't open in the right application"
Snow Leopard changes the way that OS X decides which app to run when you double-click a file. In 10.5 and earlier, files opened in the app used to create them, via a code stored in the file's metadata – unless you overrode this using the Open With menu. Snow Leopard now uses the information in Get Info.
This means that TXT files will open in TextEdit, even if they were created in a different text editor. To change this, edit the Get Info window for that file.
6. "How can I change the Stacks display?"
As well as the Grid and List views for Stacks in the Dock, there's a hidden third view that's a mix between the two. To enable it, open Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.dock use-new
list- stack -bool yes
killall Dock
7. "How do I get a Stack's items to be highlighted on mouseover?"
In Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, there was a hidden preference key that caused Stack items to automatically highlight as you moused over them. This is also possible in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, but the preference key has changed name (possibly because the original key contained a typo).
It also works in Stacks' Fan view, which the previous version did not. To enable this feature, open Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilite-stack -boolean yes
killall Dock
8. "Can keyboard shortcuts open applications?"
Some third-party utilities let you launch applications with keyboard shortcuts. But Snow Leopard now lets you do this directly, using the revamped Automator.
Use the Service template and you'll find that Launch Application is now an action. Set Service receives to no input and save it. Set a shortcut to this workflow using the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard System Preferences panel.
9. "Address Book and Mail crash at the same time!"
Many of you have reported Address Book showing no Contacts in its list and then immediately freezing, requiring a Force Quit. Subsequently, Mail may appear to start correctly but then crash as soon as it needs to access the Address Book.
The problem lies with Smart Groups in Address Book. If you have a Smart Group that includes a negative condition (such as 'Card is not a member of any group'), the Address Book database can become corrupted during the upgrade to 10.6.
If you have a full backup taken from before the move to Snow Leopard, you could restore it, delete the Smart Group and reinstall. But there's a quicker solution that doesn't require you to remove Snow Leopard.
Delete Library/Application Support/Address Book/AddressBook-V22.abcddb and then search through the MetaData subfolder for filenames containing the word 'smart'. Delete any that relate to groups with negative conditions and restart Address Book.
10. "Exposأ© doesn't work on the Dock when I'm using Spaces"
New to Snow Leopard is the ability to activate Application Window mode in Exposأ© by holding the mouse down on an application's icon in the Dock. However, some people have found that this doesn't work terribly well when combined with Spaces.
If you click on a window that's on a different space, it doesn't always move you across to that space. This seems to be related to a corrupted Dock preference file.
So drag Library\Preferences\com.apple.dock.plist to the Trash and then restart the Dock by typing killall Dock in Terminal.
Alternatively, it may just be that you have a box unchecked in your System Preferences, called When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application.
11. "Where have some of the preferences gone?"
Snow Leopard rearranged a lot of the System Preferences panes and in particular the Archives, Disk Images and Processors panels were removed. The Disk Images pane isn't needed at all, but the other two are in Developer/Extras/PreferencePanes/Processor.prefPane and System/Library/CoreServices/Archive Utility.app/Contents/Resources/Archives.prefPane.
If you double-click these files to reinstall them, Snow Leopard will insist they are already there, so delete everything from Library/PreferencePanes first.
12. "How can I find and open a single hidden file?"
Previous versions of OS X would hide any hidden files on your system unless you changed the preference key in Terminal to display them. However, doing this makes all hidden files visible in all folders until you change the preference key back again. If all you want to do is open a single hidden file, that's a bit excessive.
Alternatively, you can make them temporarily visible from within the Open dialog itself. Press Command+Shift+. to toggle hidden files on and off. This only works in the Open and Save dialogs, not in ordinary Finder windows.
13. "How do I get rid of the blue glow in Exposأ©?"
There's no preference pane option to control this aspect of Exposأ©, but you can hack it. Navigate to System\ Library\Core services and right-click Dock. Choose Show Package Contents from the context menu and navigate through to Contents\Resources.
The two files you're interested in are expose-window-selection-big.png and expose-window-selection-small.png. The second one is just for windows minimised to the Dock.
Use an image editor such as Seashore to change the colour of these image files without altering the transparency, then save the result. Be warned, however: doing this will mean the Dock's digital signature no longer matches the reference value used by Apple, meaning it will be denied access to the keychain.
If ever it needs access, you may need to reinstall the Dock or restore from backup.
14. "The icons from the menu bar have vanished"
If you use any utilities that modify the menu bar, such as iStat Menus, occasionally other menu icons may randomly appear and disappear. This is caused by incompatibilities in those menu extensions; you should upgrade or uninstall the utilities concerned to correct the problem.
15. "Snow Leopard won't install on the hard disk"
If you've experimented with Boot Camp in the past and subsequently removed Windows, the installer may refuse to put Snow Leopard on your internal hard disk. This is because the partition map for your hard disk doesn't always get properly updated when Boot Camp is removed.
You can fix this in Disk Utility, accessed from the Utilities menu of the installer. Select the hard disk, click the Partition tab and move the partition line away and then back again. Click Apply to rewrite the partition map.
Alternatively, provided there's nothing important on it, you could delete and recreate the partition.
16. "Can line breaks be added in Text Substitution?"
The Language & Text System Preferences pane has a list of auto-replace sequences, so that (c) gets replaced with آ© and so on.
You can also add your own. If you include \n in the replacement text, this will be expanded to a line break when the substitution is made. This is useful for adding your address to the top of a letter, for example.
You can also enter the text in TextEdit and then paste it into the Language & Text pane as the replacement text.
17. "I can't change application icons"
The old technique of copying and pasting icons from one file to another in the Get Info panel doesn't work anymore in Snow Leopard for all the Apple applications. This is because the file permissions for these files are set to read-only for all users except root.
There are two ways around this: you can just set the Permissions to read-write for that file (you'll obviously need to supply the administrator password for this); or you can quit Finder and relaunch it as root from Terminal. Type sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/ Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder.
18. "QuickTime X won't auto-play"
Snow Leopard has removed the preferences pane for the new QuickTime player but the preference keys still exist – use Terminal to set QuickTime to automatically play a movie when it opens, without you having to click the play button first.
Type the following: defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGPlayMovieOnOpen 1.
19. "I can't run Windows apps via Parallels"
If you're still using an old version of Parallels Desktop (2.5 or earlier), Snow Leopard's installer moves it to an Incompatible Software folder on your hard drive. The latest version of Parallels (4.0) is fully compatible with Snow Leopard, however it costs آ£25 to upgrade.
You can find a list of other incompatible software here.
20. "QuickTime videos simply refuse to play"
The new QuickTime X may report for certain video files that 'The document cannot be opened'. This appears to be a problem with the reading of AC3 soundtracks.
Just switching to the stereo version of the track doesn't help, but you can open the file in QuickTime 7 and remove the AC3 soundtrack completely. Of course, you could just play the file in QuickTime 7 instead.
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Review: INQ Chat 3G
Although designed by a relatively nascent company, the INQ Chat 3G has a good hardware line up and a decent sub-آ£100 price tag, making it a really intriguing prospect.
The fact it's got a full QWERTY keypad, native Twitter support for the homepage, the now regulation INQ Facebook/Skype/MSN Chat integration on top of an app store bodes well - but can all that technology be crammed into a budget handset sensibly?
When picking up the INQ Chat 3G, the first thing that strikes you is how light it is - the phone is basically all plastic and rubber, but the width of it in the hand means it doesn't feel too cheap, although it certainly doesn't have the build quality of the BlackBerry range.
The front of the phone is dominated by the QWERTY keyboard with the large circular D-Pad encasing the enter button, with the menu, clear and softkeys alongside.
The back of the phone houses the cool interchangeable covers, which hark back to more fun days when everyone had the Nokia 3310 and had their own cover in their own style. Admittedly it was 90 per cent England flags... but hey, we're all about choice here.
The side of the phone also packs the carousel key - this brings the basic functions of the phone up, like Skype, Facebook and so on - we found ourselves hitting this accidentally far too often, meaning we needed to shift the phone in the hand to use it effectively.
The phones uses a miniUSB cable, like the rest of the INQ/Skypephone range, which means that it won't be frontwards compatible when the inevitable change to microUSB happens in a few years time - but we doubt many people buying this will care too much about that.
The phone basically sits nicely in the hand, although the QWERTY keyboard does react better to two-handed action compared to being able to flick through it one-handed as you might on a slimmer candybar device.
The 2.4-inch screen is good enough for the task as well, coming in at QVGA resolution. It's not going to be amazing for video or anything like that, but it's wide enough to see all your tweets and the like on with ease.
Those of you familiar with the company's range will be used to the layout on the INQ Chat 3G - basically it's the same thing with the option for Twitter on the front page.
For the uninitiated, you get two cool elements to play with - the carousel and the home screen widgets.
The carousel gives access to a number of the key applications from the phone, such as the RSS widgets, web browser and INQ Hub. You can either access this from the home screen or through the aforementioned carousel button, which you can press repeatedly to move through the list, enabling one-handed use.
The home screen widgets are pretty basic, but very effective too. The main ones you'll likely use on a social networking device like this one are the inbuilt Facebook and Twitter clients, and the RSS widgets (or weather if you're feeling a bit fancy).
Twitter and Facebook are roughly the same, as they both basically show status updates of your friends' daily happenings. You can scroll through these by highlighting them on the home screen, then pushing left or right - however, it's not always obvious they're highlighted, meaning we constantly accidentally opened the Twitter client by pressing the middle button when all we wanted to do was see the INQ Chat 3G's contact list.
You can also add in elements like a bookmark into the carousel, which is pretty handy for navigation, but you can't remove the inbuilt options, meaning you're stuck with the 3 gateway and suchlike.
The overall operation of the INQ 3G is pretty poor though - on startup we'd estimate you'll be waiting for a good 10 minutes or so before the phone is fully operational.
This is because when you open up the device, the Chat 3G needs to have a scroll through Facebook, Twitter, MSN and so on to have a look at what's been updated - with such limited processing power, this slows things down far, far too much.
Admittedly it does get better after that, but when the Chat 3G updates itself it happens again and it's so frustrating it's a real deal breaker for us. However, we know there are some out there who want all this functionality for less than آ£100 and they might be able to put up with it.
The INQ Chat 3G's strengths lie here, and for good reason - the company has looked at the social networking phenomenon and decided it wants a piece of it by making a budget phone that can use all the goodies on offer.
The contact list is the same as that used by the others in the INQ range - basically a list of all your friends, with photos from their relevant social-networking sites used as the contact image.
On start up you'll import contacts from Facebook, MSN Chat and Skype, and then add them into your SIM numbers. However this process isn't intuitive - you'll need to manually synchronise them together, meaning you'll probably have to perform the same operation around 200 times - irritating is a real understatement here.
But if you put the time in, over the lifetime of the phone it's worth it, as you get to see your friends' status updates and pictures right from their profile, as well as being able to message them with ease on all the synchronised mediums.
There isn't the option to synchronise Twitter into the list though - INQ told TechRadar this was because it doesn't think people have that many 'contact book friends' on Twitter, so it would add a lot of unnecessary contacts into the list (which is pretty logical and would extend the start-up time even more).
The messaging aspect is similarly cool on the phone though - email, Twitter, Facebook and MSN Chat are all offered as 'new message' options from the start.
The QWERTY keyboard on the INQ Chat 3G is pretty darn good, if a little cramped - the raised and rubberised buttons are easy enough to hit, with the backspace key placed intuitively in the top right-hand corner of the keyboard.
The travel on the keys could do with being a little bit softer, as if you want to type fluidly you're forced to slow down a little to make sure all the letters are hit, but this isn't too bad once you get into the swing of it.
Messaging suffers from the same problems as the rest of the phone's Brew-based OS, meaning if you've got an email and a couple of Facebook messages you'll need to wait a fair few seconds to access them as the phone catches up.
'Email on 3' (the phone's email client) is also a little bit basic - but we're very much prepared to forgive the INQ Chat 3G for having basic functionality at this price point. You do get to see all your messages in pretty much real time - the interface is just a little bit too slow and could do with being a little more 'jazzed up', something INQ is usually pretty good at doing.
Another thing the INQ Chat 3G does well, as you can see by the title, is data - connection is very fast and the phone can handle some pretty large websites where a number of other more powerful handsets have faltered.
However, the problem we've mentioned before is probably at its worst here on the internet browser - the slowdown can be terrible. Even when opening a web page like the basic BBC Mobile the phone struggles, leaving us waiting a huge amount of time to scroll to the part of the page we want.
Once the Chat 3G has had a chance to think about things, the phone does begin to work a lot better, with elements like bookmarks on the home screen working pretty well and loading fast enough - but waiting became an all too common theme on this phone.
There's also a large amount of social networking integration on the phone through the internet; if you want to share what you're looking at with the wider world you're able to do so easily by posting it in a Tweet, email or on your Facebook wall simply by hitting the relevant option in the menu - it's not something we do usually, but we quickly got to grips with it when using the INQ Chat 3G.
The phone's internet browser won't be able to cope with heavier websites though, and obviously it can't do things like Flash video or anything like that. The zoom function is a little basic and error-filled too - it takes a long time and the text re-sizing isn't as accurate as it needs to be.
But if you're looking to basically scroll through the mobile internet (as the only network provider, 3, is keen to have you browse anyway) then it's pretty good for that - providing you let it warm up first.
It is disappointing that the INQ Chat 3G, which we anticipated would be the best of the INQ range, doesn't have a better browser than the likes of the INQ Mini 3G and the INQ1 - but it doesn't and we can only label it 'functional' where on other phones it's a really attractive feature.
The INQ Chat 3G does have one of the best cameras on it from the INQ range, with a 3.2MP effort more than good enough for taking pictures. There are a fair few options to play with on the phone - basic, but if you're the sort of normal person who basically takes the odd snap on your phone now and again, it's more than enough.
The Chat 3G has a decent autofocus option, with a fairly quick centre point finder - however, the shutter lag is such that if you move the camera much when the picture is being taken you'll end up with a big blurry mess.
We couldn't find the brightness balance option seen on other INQ phones, although the likes of Sepia and Negative photography modes are always a fun addition to proceedings.
The video camera, as you can imagine, is a basic affair indeed - it's basically a stereotypical choppy, low frame-rate option that will only be good for taking a movie of your 'mate' being 'hilarious' when he jumps into a bin from on top of a bus shelter - and afterwards you showing your other mates and saying 'no, that's the bus shelter window - that's him, that white blob thing, there'.
One thing we did like about the camera is the ability to share the pictures quickly and effectively - we managed to start up the camera, take a picture and have it off in a multimedia message in a matter of seconds, which is again impressive for a phone of this price.
More importantly there's an option to push the photo further than just another friend's phone - you can post to the likes of Facebook or even send through an email if you don't want to lose picture quality.
The media options on the INQ Chat 3G are as basic as they are on the rest of the INQ range, with there being no 3.5mm headphone port to plug your own cans into. You can use the bundled headphone adaptor, but we're not sure many will really want to do that on a regular basis when so many other phones have the option inbuilt these days.
If you're a little bit tech-savvy, we recommend getting some Bluetooth headphones - the INQ Chat 3G works very well with something like a set of Jabra Halos or the Altec Lansing BackBeat 906s, and it makes the phone seem a lot cooler instantly.
The music player on the Chat 3G is very basic indeed - you're mostly limited to play, pause and navigational buttons via the D-Pad when the phone is unlocked, and given that it's circular it's very difficult to use it in the pocket.
As you can imagine, video is pretty poor quality on here, and if you've not got doubleTwist software installed (although it comes with the phone) you're going to find a lot of video incompatibility here. Again, you don't buy a phone like this for the media player - if you're that bothered, save up for the Samsung i8910HD - it might cost a couple of hundred more, but that's the level you should be looking at.
Battery life was typically good on a phone like this - don't expect it to regularly last more than a day, but given the sheer amount of applications sucking information down from the invisible interwebs we were impressed with the INQ Chat 3G's ability to hang on.
The phone is packing a 1500mAh battery, which is pretty industry-leading and decent for a phone coming in at under آ£100.
Connectivity suffered a little bit on this phone, much like we've seen on the INQ1 and the INQ Mini, as there was no Wi-Fi, no GPS and only miniUSB connectivity on board.
However, as you can imagine by the name of the device, 3G works very well and almost completely - it's among the best for devices on 3's network, as far as well can tell. It did struggle a couple of times to reconnect, and on firing up the internet it stuttered quite considerably at times, but overall it gave a very decent experience for a phone of this price.
PC connectivity is very well stocked indeed. Users don't need software in the box, instead just connecting the phone via miniUSB bringing up a plethora of options.
Users can choose to install the phone as a mobile modem, connect using the PC Suite, install doubleTwist media centre or just transfer files via USB, or simply charge it by pressing cancel.
The PC Suite is as basic as they come, with files from the phone available on one side and the folder directory of the host PC on the other. The modem software worked well and simply - connecting was via a big green button, and that was all you needed to get going. Once connected it allows you to surf the web at a reasonable speed on a stable connection, and data use is tracked too.
The doubleTwist software is a cool addition as well, aping the iTunes design (a little too much) and allowing users to send files directly to the phone in a compatible format. It does all the hard work for you, like downloading videos from YouTube, and displays them in an easy to see grid for simple drag and drop playback.
The INQ Chat 3G has a lot of interesting ideas - from the QWERTY keyboard to the Twitter integration, we certainly appreciated the effort.
A range of covers and colours is cool, and we'll be interested to see what's next from INQ if this is the direction it's taking.
We liked
The INQ Chat 3G is a well specified phone, especially when you consider the price. For under آ£100 it's competing in a growing market, and it performs well. Yes, it's not a touchscreen, but not everyone wants that - and the QWERTY keyboard was a pretty good rendition.
The sheer range of social networking options makes this a winner in our eyes - we love being able to message someone on Facebook directly from the phone.
We also like the battery life and the inbuilt software - it's pretty snazzy, especially doubleTwist enabling us to convert, download and do all sorts of manipulation to media.
We disliked
However, we found far too many problems with the Chat 3G, and they blocked a lot of the things we liked so much. For instance, starting up contacts took so long we pretty much had time to go out, get another job and save up for an HTC Hero in the time it took.
This was due to the phone having a look through Facebook every so often to check for updates to your many friends (although we may just be far too popular) as well as having a look through Skype and MSN and so on.
The internet was also too slow at times - while the connection was good, it froze terribly on occasion, which means that having a cheap phone is good, but if it doesn't work it's ultimately pointless.
Verdict
Overall the INQ Chat 3G is a real Jekyll and Hyde phone. On the one hand, the sheer amount of things it can do is astounding - Facebook, Twitter, Skype et al, and all for under آ£100. And it functions as a modem to boot - something we really like.
However, it's just so slow and pokey sometimes that we struggled to use it - there's just too much going on and we kept worrying the processor would burst into flames under the pressure.
We hope this is a direction INQ is keen to keep pushing, as it really works - just not in the Chat 3G.
Related Links- TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee
- More mobile phone reviews
- Search for the best INQ Chat 3G deals at Omio
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O2 and Orange bulk up on iPad-friendly SIM cards
O2 and Orange have started to place bulk orders for micro SIM cards which are compatible with the Apple iPad.
Until this week, most of the tech world was not au fait with what a micro SIM card was, but it appears to be a new standard of cards which will eventually take over from the SIM cards of old.
SIM city
There's a reason not many know what a micro SIM is and that is because Apple is one of the first manufacturers to use the format.
It's highly likely though that now such a giant of the tech world has announced its love for the format that many other companies will follow.
The news that O2 and Orange are buying these cards in bulk does point to the two telcos readying themselves for when the 3G version of the device hits the UK June/July time. Although, neither has officially announced it will be stocking the iPad.
Of course, if you are not bothered about 3G, then you will be able to pick up a Wi-Fi version in March.
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Adobe slams Apple for lack of Flash on iPad
Adobe has spoken out about the Apple iPad, lambasting it for not putting Flash video compatibility on board.
There have been a few criticisms of Apple's device since launch, and although lack of Flash video was among them, the lack of support for it on the iPhone meant it wasn't a huge surprise.
Restrictive
However Adobe doesn't seem to have the same feeling, with group manager for Flash Adrian Ludwig putting his thoughts up on his blog:
"It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers.
"And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.
"If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab - not to mention the millions of other sites on the web - I'll be out of luck."
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