In Depth: How to make sure every browser loves your site
Building a great website is tough, but finishing the code and layout is only half the story. Too many sites have problems after going live because they weren't tested properly first.
Lots of things can and do go wrong, from poorly formatted code that some browsers choke on, to pages that break when opened on other platforms. If you developed your site on a Mac, what guarantee do you have that it'll look the same on a PC, for example?
Even now, when HTML structures are likely to be served as part of a CMS template system, it's important that all the basics are in place. You need a soak test: a checklist of crucial areas that you can test are working before the site goes live.
That's exactly what we've put together here. Follow our tips and your site will be as problem-free as possible.
Clean up your code
Clean, glitch-free code with no stray tags or unclosed comments looks better, is easier to edit and is less likely to spring surprises on you when your site goes live.
WYSIWYG web authoring tools already include features for tidying up your code. Let's face it – some of us really need them. Dreamweaver will even format and indent your HTML following your configuration guidelines.
Go to 'Commands | Clean Up HTML' or 'Clean Up XHTML'. We prefer to run static code through HTML Tidy, which is available as a stand-alone program from here, or as a plug-in for manual code-editing tool NoteTab Light. The software deletes stray tags, adds any missing tag elements and completes open tags for you.
Meet HTML standards
Compliance with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards makes your sites more accessible and usable, and also helps them to perform well on multiple platforms.
You can see whether your site is compliant with XHTML and CSS standards by using W3C's online validation tools. You'll find the main testing page here. This gives you a full breakdown of all the syntax and code errors in any page submitted. You can then update your code in accordance with the guidelines.
Don't be disheartened if your site fails. Some of the web's biggest sites have XHTML errors according to the validator, including Google and Microsoft's homepages.
To use the W3C's validation tool, follow the link above and enter the URL of the web page you wish to test. You can also upload code from a local machine or paste HTML mark-up into the Direct Input box. The validator can only check one page at a time.
Meet CSS standards
There's a second service available to help you check and correct CSS scripts. It can be found here. Again, you can point the validator to a version of the file you wish to check online, upload the code or paste it directly into a box.
The errors returned come with detailed explanations of how you can fix them. The validator will identify even the smallest of problems, including missing line terminators and brackets.
Enable resizing
Remember the early days of the web, when sites came with front-page disclaimers such as 'Optimised for Internet Explorer at a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels'? How we groaned. Don't forget that people are viewing your site on different platforms, with different display settings and monitor resolutions.
Enabling your page to resize to any browser means that it will work better on multiple platforms, from desktop machines to handheld devices. The key is to use percentage sizes when creating
First, check that your site looks good on the largest monitor size your setup can muster, then work backwards – down to 800 x 600 pixels.
Right-click your Windows desktop and choose 'Properties'. Click 'Settings' and you'll be able to change your default desktop resolution using a slider. If you use Vista, choose 'Personalise' from the contextual menu instead.
It's even easier in Windows 7 – there should be a right-click menu item labelled 'Screen Resolution'. Some video card control panels let you do this without venturing into Windows' display settings.
Test on all browsers
It's important to make sure that pages look the same in the big five browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. Fire up your site in each of these and make a careful comparison.
Here's a quick tip: if you have two browsers open showing the same page, right-click on an empty part of the Windows taskbar and choose 'Tile windows horizontally' (or 'Show windows side by side' on Windows 7). This makes it easier to spot differences.
Five browsers on one system may seem like overload, but there are ways to cut that down. If you're a Firefox user, you can install IE Tab, a plug-in that enables you to view pages using Internet Explorer's rendering engine. There's also Chrome View, which renders pages in Firefox using Google Chrome. In short, get Firefox.
Test on Macs and PCs
Your pages should look the same on Macs as they do on PCs running Windows, whether you have access to one or not. The best method is to borrow a Mac to test your site.
If you're developing for a professional audience, you can employ the services of Browsercam instead.
Litmus uses a bank of testing machines running multiple browsers on all the main OSes. For a subscription fee of $49 (£30) a month, it lets you test an unlimited number of web pages. You enter your site's URL and receive screenshots as it appears on Macs and Windows systems running any of 24 web browsers.
Most of the important ones are included, with different iterations of Firefox, IE and Chrome on Windows, and Safari and Camino on the Mac. The only current important omission we can spot is the Mac version of Chrome. $39 (£24) buys you a 14-day 'project pass', which is a good choice if you only have a single site to test.
Testing for free
These are trying financial times for most of us, so here are a couple of free solutions. The runaway leader is Adobe Lab's Flash-and Flex-based BrowserLab. It's similar to Litmus in that it gives you a side-by-side view of a given URL in a set of chosen browsers.
The tool is currently in limited beta and you'll need an Adobe user account to use the service. Once in, you enter a URL, pick a browser and platform (or choose from the default browser set), then pick your view. As well as side-by-side comparisons, there's an 'Onion Skin' mode that helpfully enables you to see the output of one browser laid over that of another.
BrowserLab renders pages using the main browsers on Mac and Windows. If you're unable to access BrowserLab, BrowserShots was once a favourite of ours and is still good for checking multiple versions of Internet Explorer on Windows.
Support for Macs has waned, but there are Linux-and Windows based WebKit browsers included. WebKit is the rendering engine used in Apple Safari, and Google Chrome uses a tweaked version.
Check your gamma
A perennial brain-ache for designers working on Macs and PCs is that, until recently, Mac displays had different default gamma settings to PC monitors. These settings determine the relative brightness of the screen. PCs have a gamma setting of 2.2, whereas Macs had a gamma setting of 1.8.
We say 'had', because that changed with the release of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which sets display gamma to 2.2 – the same as PCs and TVs. Even so, many people still use older Macs, and there's a disproportionate number of Mac-based designers.
The result? Images produced on pre-Snow Leopard Macs can look muddy on PCs, while PC-created pics can seem washed out on older Macs. The solution is to check images at both gamma settings to make sure they look OK either way.
Adobe Photoshop has a built-in Mac (or PC) gamma preview feature. Select '2 Up' in the Save for Web dialog, then set an image to render using the setting 'Macintosh (no colour management)'. It's arguably more important that Mac-based designers get it right than PC users – and if you're a Mac owner, you can switch your display to PC gamma in the Display section of the System Preferences panel.
Click 'Colour', choose the current profile and click 'Calibrate'. Work your way through the Display Calibration Assistant and choose '2.2 Television Gamma'.
Buy a Mac
If you have a lot of sites to test, it might be worth investing in one of Apple's diminutive Mac Minis. They start at £510 (or even less on the second-hand market), are small, stylish and make excellent media centre PCs.
Load yours up with Google Chrome, Camino and Firefox and you'll be ready to test as many sites as you need to. You don't even need to leave your PC to do so – you can use free remote desktop software TeamViewer to access and control any application on a TeamViewer-equipped Mac from a PC, or vice versa. The machines don't even have to be on the same LAN, because connectivity is routed over the internet.
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Review: Updated: iPad
And so, the Apple iPad arrived. Probably the most hyped gadget since the iPhone, the iPad went on sale in the United States on 3 March and we've bagged one for a test.
Apple doesn't manufacture category-creating products. Rather, it looks at an existing consumer electronics category, studies what the competitors have fouled up, and then releases a piece of gear that makes everyone think it's created an entirely new product category.
The iPod did this with portable audio players. Half of East Asia was selling MP3 players before Apple ever got in the game, but now the word iPod is a synonym for any little gadget that spits out music and, er, podcasts (another Apple-fied term for something that already existed).
And of course the iPhone has improved upon the basic mobile phone concept so dramatically, we can't even fathom buying a phone without serious app support, be it of the Apple or Android persuasion.
Yesterday, Apple's latest god-gadget hit American shores to erase all memories of Microsoft OS-laden tablet PCs - devices that addressed a legitimate consumer need (casual, lazy, couch-bound computing) but left most people frustrated with a stylus-driven handwriting recognition system.
Oh, make no mistake: The iPad works. It works beautifully. It's not a perfect tablet computer, but the very implementation of the iPhone OS and its clever data-entry scheme - virtual keyboard, multitouch gestures and all - turns the iPad into an immeasurably more usable device than any Windows-based tablet PC.
The iPad is also sleek and portable, sports a palpably speedy processor, and dines on battery power with the appetite of a strung-out celebrity ingénue in emotional distress.
That's the iPad's hardware story - but hardware isn't even half the story. Indeed, what really makes the Apple tablet kick ass are the apps that have been optimized for the platform.
We'll explain in detail shortly, but for now we'll just state that the extra screen real estate afforded by the jump from iPhone to iPad opens up a bold new world of user-interface opportunities.
While UK pricing for iPad apps has already hit the App Store, there's still no definitive word on exactly when the hardware itself will arrive. We have, however, secured a 32GB, Wi-Fi-only American unit. We've run it through a gauntlet of intense activity, and can now draw conclusions on where it triumphs and where it leaves us wanting.
OK, let's get the spec discussion out of the way. The iPad sports a 1024x768, 9.7-inch diagonal screen. This is roughly the size of a PC netbook screen, but dwarves the wee iPhone screen, which is 480x320 and 3.5 diagonal inches.
In fact, because the iPad and iPhone share essentially the same interface, jumping back onto the iPhone after an iPad session is a bit disorienting. Now we know how giants feel when using human tools.
All storage is solid-state flash - no mechanical hard drives in this device, folks. Capacities are 16GB, 32GB and 64GB depending on how much money you're prepared to throw down. All iPad versions use the same 1GHz Apple A4 processor, a relatively zippy "system on a chip" CPU that's based on ARM technology, and includes integrated 3D graphics, audio, power management, storage and I/O interfaces.
Battery life
By tightly integrating all these functions into a single chip, the iPad becomes an extremely power-efficient device, allowing its built-in (and non-user-replaceable) Lithium-polymer battery to run much longer than the average mobile computer.
For Wi-Fi-only iPads, Apple trumpets 10 hours of total use time for web surfing, watching videos and listening to music. Soon-to-be-released units with 3G data network support are rated for one hour less, thanks to the 3G chip's increased power demands.
Given all the pain and hardship we've been suffering with fleeting iPhone battery cycles, we have to applaud the iPad's battery life. Also, compared to Apple's entry-level MacBook, which is rated for seven hours of use, the iPad really looks attractive as one's sole electronic device for international plane rides, business trips, and day-long excursions off the grid.
And at just 1.5lbs, you really would have to be a serious baby to complain about its mass in a bookbag or backpack. Maybe even more relevant, the device is just one-half inch (13.4 mm) thick. Combined with a height and width that measure about 9.5 and 7.5 inches respectively (242.8mm by 189.7 mm), the iPad just plain feels smaller than the typical netbook.
Accelerometer? Check. The iPad also features a Home button, an ambient light sensor, an on/off switch, a 30-pin dock connector, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, a volume control rocker switch, and - in a flash of much-appreciated brilliance - a screen-rotation lock switch. The iPhone could use that switch.
The missing features
Missing, however, are two key features we've really come to appreciate in the iPhone family. First, there's no built-in GPS. To use location services, the WiFi-only iPad has to pinpoint your coordinates via accumulated data on Wi-Fi hotspots. The 3G-enabled model, meanwhile, is purported to be adding cellular tower triangulation in the form of "Assisted GPS."
We'll cross that bridge later, but for now we'll just say that location services in our Wi-Fi-only iPad tested on par with those of our hardware GPS-enabled iPhone 3GS: both the iPad and iPhone correctly identified two different locations in San Francisco, the city where our tests are taking place.
Besides the lack of hardware GPS, another early criticism of the iPad was directed at its wide black bezel
The iPad's black bezel
The 12mm of functionless screen real estate that frames the actual viewing area. Well, you know what? It looks a lot worse in photos than it does in real life. We didn't suffer from a lack of screen space, and we're not sure we'd want a larger screen if it translated into extra bulkiness and reduced portability.
What's more, the black bezel provides a useful gripping area for actually holding the iPad, helping to keep fingerprints off the active display.
But then there's the lack of a built-in camera, be it fixed to the back (a la the iPhone) or placed on the front.
Its current hardware configuration notwithstanding, the iPad presents a form factor that begs to be commissioned for videoconferencing duties.
However, no integrated camera mean no Skype sessions. Dad just won't be able to say goodnight to his kids - live, face-to-face, in real-time - during his business trips. Can we blame Apple? Maybe not. Because surely it has to hold something back in order to create a stir around iPad 2.0.
One final note on the iPad as a physical beast: The built-in speaker, while not really that much louder than the iPhone's, almost seems to create a tactile, THXey, "feel-it-in-your-seats" effect when you're holding the device during action games and video content.
Sound waves reverberate through the metal chassis, sending a bit of sensory information to your hands and fingers. Fortunately, the speaker doesn't distort much, nor does the reverberating chassis create sound of its own. All in all, "iPad force feedback" might be a feature some put in the pluses column!
Homescreen in landscape mode
If you're an iPhone owner, you should immediately notice the performance benefits afforded by the iPad's A4 processor. Finger-swiping through menu screens is a faster, more responsive experience. Screen-switching performance never really felt "slow" on the iPhone, but now it does feel slightly kludgey compared to what the iPad offers.
iPad App speed benchmarks
App loading is also measurably faster on the iPad. Games can be some of the worst offenders in this area, so we used Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Peggle for test drills. On the iPad, Tiger took 5.5 seconds to load; on the iPhone he needed 8.4 seconds.
On the iPad, Peggle was ready to play within 5.8 seconds; on the iPhone it loaded after 8.4 seconds. It's important to note that we were using the iPhone version of each game app (as the iPad-optimized versions aren't yet available).
We saw even more dramatic performance deltas when it came to website load times on mobile Safari. On the iPad, boingboing.net loaded in a quick 6.2 seconds; on the iPhone, the venerable tech-culture website required 19.3 seconds.
On the iPad, GamesRadar.com (a TechRadar sister site) loaded in 10.5 seconds; on the iPhone it coughed and wheezed past the finish line in 21.3 seconds.
Of course, we expected the fastest performance numbers from Formula1.com, and we got them. On the iPad, the F1 site took pole with a load time of 5.4 seconds. The pace wasn't so impressive on the iPhone, however, as here we saw a time of 9.9 seconds. And don't blame our connection interface for any of these performance disparities: Both the iPhone and iPad were using a full-strength Wi-Fi connection.
So you get the idea: The iPad is fast. But screen redraw speed aside, what's the interface experience really like? How does it resonate on a deep, personal, tactile level?
Looking deeper in the iPad
First off, the iPad's (now-famous) omission of app multitasking and Adobe Flash support is more annoying than it was before. Indeed, as the iPhone OS is ported to the larger screen real estate of the iPad, the hands-on experience becomes much more computer-like, and we begin to really feel the loss of bouncing between multiple apps without quitting any single one of them.
Homescreen in portrait mode
Likewise, with the mobile Safari now the size of Internet Explorer on any Windows netbook, we really begin to notice the fact that this lame excuse for a browser can't deliver what, for better or worse, has become the baseline web experience.
Lack of Flash, multitasking
Make no mistake, kicking back on the couch and browsing the Internet with one's feet on the furniture is exactly what makes the iPad so fan-frickin'-useful. Peeling through Lostpedia.com right in the middle of watching Lost is why so many of us geeky gearheads will love the Apple tablet.
Nonetheless, we'd be remiss if we didn't call out this pitiful lack-of-Flash situation that's gone on far too long. Let's hope HTML5 provides the answer that content developers are looking for.
Another user-experience quibble: There are unnecessarily wide gutters between the icons on the home screen. We appreciate that the app icons are larger, but we don't see why the UI designers didn't add one more column and row to the grid. Even better, they should have given us user-adjustable icon sizes and grid arrangements.
Once you're inside any particular app, all the familiar multitouch features are available. We won't repeat them here, as there are only a few-thousand-million videos online that demonstrate the pinching, swiping and tapping that's involved in navigating the iPhone - and now iPad - interface. However, if you haven't experienced mutitouch-driven screen navigation and data entry, we can assure you that it's the answer to tablet computing.
Seriously: web surfing, flipping through photo albums, and pretty much any kind of casual computing activity is a simple, idiot-proof affair on the iPad. And thanks to the device's screen-dominating virtual keyboard, typing in web addresses and composing emails are easier tasks than what we've come to appreciate on the iPhone.
The iPad's keyboard
Now, that said, we still have to share a caveat. The iPad's onscreen keyboard, while large and responsive (if a virtual keyboard can even be considered "responsive") still suffers unnecessary interface problems.
It's a basic retread of the iPhone keyboard, so it doesn't have a row of numbers at the top as would a traditional QWERTY keyboard. So if you need to type a number, you have to hit the number ".?123" key to switch modes. This makes no sense given the large swath of screen real estate the GUI developers had at their disposal.
How about this, Apple: let us make the decision. Give us Settings menu options that allow us to choose among different keyboard layouts.
That small complaint aside, we're quite happy with the iPad's data entry, and wonder what an alternative-history timeline might look like had Microsoft made better decisions circa 2002. If it had just abandoned the stylus and come up with multitouch on its own, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition might have invoked such good vibes, and we all might have forgiven Windows Vista just a few years later.
Instead, Microsoft gave us specious handwriting recognition, and a dainty-small virtual keyboard that required pecking with a stylus. Lord only knows how many tablet users were scarred for life.
As we foreshadowed at the beginning of our excursion into this bold new world of touchy-feely computing, the essential iPad experience isn't really about hardware - it's about the software, and how it leverages the platform's unique features.
Let's start with the basic Mail app. On the iPhone, you checked your email, and maybe dashed out a few guttural, monosyllabic replies if you had the patience. On the iPad, however, you can actually "do" your email. It's the full email experience, similar to what you've come to expect on your PC or Mac.
When in landscape mode, message headers appear on the left in an easy-to-read column that takes up one-third of the screen. Message bodies are on the right where you can read huge chunks of words at a fairly large type size - more than 400 words of text.
Portrait mode hides the header column (though a finger tap brings it back as an overlay) and message bodies take over the entire screen, allowing more than 500 words of text.
Video on the iPad
So that's Mail. When you're ready for entertainment, you can enjoy a seriously rewarding video experience care of various apps. For starters, HD content downloaded from iTunes looks spectacular. We struggled hard to find visual artifacts in an episode of Lost, and when the iPad is resting on your chest or stomach (think 8-hour airplane ride) the screen size makes for an immersive video experience.
We also downloaded the free ABC Player app to watching streaming video of what appears to be that network's entire primetime library (Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, it's all there).
The downloads were immediate (if you don't count the preroll commercials), and frame rate was pristine. No fits and starts; it was just like watching cable TV.
We know the iPad's "media disruption story" is focusing on how the device will destroy magazines and newspapers, opening up bold new digital worlds for those who once advertised in print. But we think that once folks see how easy it is to download HD shows directly from the internet, it will be the television content producers - and those who sell commercial time on network television - who might need to worry the most.
To this point, check out the HD content that streams via the iPad's preinstalled YouTube app. Its clear and fast, and a telling illustration of why YouTube wants to charge for premium content.
Magazines and newspapers
The iPad opens up interesting new vistas for traditional magazine and newspaper publishers as well, but we think the app-based content is a unique experience in and of itself - not a replacement for print, and certainly not a simple reinterpretation of print.
The Conde Naste magazine publishing company has squawked the loudest about how much it loves the iPad, so we decided to give its GQ app a spin, assuming it may be one of the more advanced expressions of a print-to-iPad conversion (albeit on just Day One of the iPad's life story).
Load this free app, and you can browse the GQ store. We found the last five issues for sale, each at $1.99. We downloaded the April Shia LaBeouf cover, and prepared ourselves for the future of media consumption.
In landscape mode, the GQ experience is essentially unspectacular. You peruse the magazine spread by spread, viewing two pages at a time, as you would a real-world magazine. Grab a sliding bar at the bottom of the screen to quickly navigate your way to other two-page spreads - they're all in order, one after the other.
When you touch the bar, you also get thumbnail previews of the spreads as you glide your way from the beginning of the magazine to the end. Want to see content up close? Double-tap the current page to zoom in and out. Just be aware that there is only one degree of zoom, so you can't pinch in and out like you can with, say, photos and PDFs.
OK, now turn the GQ app into portrait mode. This is where suggestions of a new media experience begin to appear. A Content button appears, providing a list of stories similar to a traditional magazine contents page.
Portrait mode
Peruse the list, and tap on a feature story. Instead of receiving a traditional magazine layout - artfully composed with typography, graphical elements, illustration and photography - you receive a single big, bold, arresting image, the lead art that anchored the print version's original visual presentation.
It's an impressive effect, but it's not magazine design. If anything, it's an incredibly snazzy version of web design - a version that costs $1.99 instead of the low, low price of "free."
But, yes, there is more to this. Hit that big, arresting image. Up comes the story text, and it's quite easy to read. In fact, as simple black text on a plain white background, it might be even easier to read than many magazine designs.
This view also reveals a slideshow of accompany art, and this is where the GQ app really gets interesting. Thanks to the slideshow feature, you can view images that would have otherwise run the size of a postage stamp in bombastic, high-resolution, full-screen glory.
The issue of GQ we downloaded also included video of one of the art department's photo shoots. But because the video focused on a scrawny boxer instead of the sexy-looking Mila Kunis (she was in the issue too) we're wondering if Conde Naste really gets the point.
Regardless, we thought the GQ app was intriguing, but not a game-changing experience. The interface was clunky, and surprisingly counter-intuitive for a media experience that, at its heart, has relatively few moving parts.
With time being short, we only had the chance to download and play a few games. Mirror's Edge, a fast-paced action game, has received a lot of early hype as being the perfect game for the iPad's touch controls, so we gave it a go for the sticker-shock-inducing price of $12.99.
Its HD graphics look spectacular, and because game play focuses on parkour stunts - jumping over and scaling obstacles - gesture-based controls are perfect for it.
So let's add parkour to the game genres that work very well in a touch-only environment. Puzzle games, card games, pinball and golf also work well, and we can't wait until we see if Command & Conquer makes a graceful segue to the iPad, as the real-time strategy genre seems perfect for the platform.
It's important to note that most apps will in fact work on the iPad, and this includes games. When you load up a non-iPad-optimized game, you can run it at its original size in a 480x320 window, or hit a 2x button to see the game stretched across a larger resolution.
The results of upscaling aren't pretty. Graphics get horribly jaggy as wonky interpolation does it's best to stretch a single programmed pixel across two virtual pixels.
However - and this is a big however - if you're a fan of Gameprom's fine pinball sims, hitting the 2x button is well worth the wonky graphics, as you can play the entire table in full screen mode, avoiding the panning camera mode, which is the worse of two evils.
We can't wait until Gameprom releases iPad versions of its tables. Ditto with EA's Tiger Woods franchise. We say take the real Tiger Woods game - the PC version - and port the whole damn thing to the iPad. The platform's hardware can certainly support the full experience, and if done properly, the gaming should be spectacular.
Before we finished testing, we tried one last iPad-specific app just because we knew it would be killer: Epicurious, a recipe-database app that culls recipes from various Conde Naste magazines.
On the iPhone, Epicurious is useful, but on the iPad, the app comes alive. It all comes down to copious amounts of screen size, and very competent interface design. Just position the iPad in landscape modem and you get all the components of a recipe in a perfect arrangement.
The ingredients list appears in a single column on the left. Text is huge. Swipe to scroll up and down. Your recipe directions are on the right. Text is large, which is what you need when in the throes of Kitchen Stadium competition. Tabbed menu items let you quickly read user review, peruse nutritional info, and gape wide-eyed at photos.
Sure, you can get recipes on websites. And you can get them on smartphones. But on the iPad, the app packages and arranges every thing just perfectly right. That's what the iPad does for user interface development.
If you love your iPhone, you'll love the iPad, because its generous screen real estate brings many apps to life. Our review mentions a few, but we only touched the surface.
Indeed, think about how an iPad app might handle music tablature. Or what about organization charts, thumbnail sketches and storyboards? And comic books. When viewing your favorite comics on the Marvel app, you can tap any single panel to view it in penetrating detail. Your iPhone can't do that. Nor can your printed comic.
If you've never used the iPhone - or any tablet device for that matter - then you really need to try an iPad in person. Cradle it in your hands, and ask yourself how you might use it while stuck on an airplane, taking notes in a meeting, surfing the web while watching TV, or watching TV while drinking a beer on the porch.
We liked:
The iPad takes all the clever, canny user-interface features that make the iPhone so useful, and implements them in an ideal-sized device for couch-bound computing.
The screen is ample enough to display email, web pages and video with aplomb, yet isn't so large as to make the iPad an unwieldy anchor in one's book bag.
We love the speedy ARM processor. You can feel its power when loading apps and web pages, and its very architecture affords the iPad hours and hours of battery life. And battery life is especially relevant, given the worlds of opportunity that iPad apps open up.
Tap-typing large amounts of text is easier than ever before. Watching HD video somehow seems "natural" on the iPad, where it doesn't on netbooks and notebooks.
And gone are thoughts of, "If only my iPhone were just a little bit larger, navigating this website wouldn't be such a royal pain in the ass." Indeed, the iPad is a spectacular internet device - does that make it a netbook? - through and through.
We disliked:
The home screen interface is ungainly, and we wish it could be adjusted with user controls. The virtual keyboard - albeit the real killer app, as it solves the problem of text entry - also needs user-controlled options.
GPS is missing, and while we didn't immediately feel its absence, we hardware geeks still want it. Just because. But the lack of a front-mounted camera for videoconferencing, well, that's just plain wrong. You're going to unveil that it in iPad 2.0, aren't you, Apple?
And Flash support. That's coming some day, right? Same with multi-tasking support. It's coming, right? We don't care if the iPad is running the iPhone OS. This gadget essentially performs like a fully functioning personal computer, and cooperative multitasking has been in Mac operating systems since 1987.
The lack of Flash support, therefore, is a big stumbling point.
Final verdict:
Portable computing - truly portable computing; effortlessly portable computing - is a simple concept, but don't underestimate what it has to offer. The iPad just plain kicks ass for some very specific activities that have become key to our digital lifestyles.
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Review: Samsung R530
Not only is the Samsung R530 a great looking laptop, it also boasts great usability, performance and portability - and all at a very competitive price.
We very rarely see laptops that have exciting designs at this price point, but the Samsung took us by surprise with its moody red and black lid and mock brushed-aluminium palmrest – this is the sort of styling we would expect to see on a laptop costing significantly more.
It might not appeal to everyone, but it certainly helps the laptop stand out in the crowd and we like it a lot.
Build quality is also decent and, although the chassis doesn't feel as substantial as the Acer Aspire 5732Z-443G32Mn, it's quite a bit lighter, making it a better travel companion.
Its battery life is also decent - at 244 minutes - and will keep you productive on the road for quite a while.
The keyboard is excellent, with the typing action proving surprisingly firm and the travel smooth. The touchpad is fast and responsive, and also features Samsung's now trademark lighting effects round the edge, which make it easy to use in low light conditions, such as the cabin on a plane.
The 15.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel resolution screen is good, with brightness, detail and colour reproduction all excellent, making this laptop a great choice for watching films and viewing photos.
Using an Intel Pentium processor, performance is fairly standard, but you'll have no problem running office applications, such as email clients and word processing documents, as well as working with more resource-intensive programs for advanced uses.
Decent graphics
The integrated Intel GPU is exactly the same as many others, but has the least available video memory. While this means the Samsung should provide the worst graphics performance, it in fact produces a very solid result with a 3DMark 2003 score of 1771. Photo editing and basic video editing is possible, as will playing older internet games.
802.11n Wi-Fi and 10/100 Ethernet are on board, as are three USB ports for connecting up peripherals such as your smartphone or MP3 player. An HDMI out is also included for hooking the laptop up to a digital external display such, as your high-definition (HD) TV or projector.
The more we used the Samsung R530, the more we liked it. Performance is above average and the design and usability of the machine really endeared it to us.
If that wasn't enough, there's also decent portability chucked in for good measure, making this machine a good choice indeed.
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Review: HP Compaq Presario CQ61-402SA
The HP Compaq Presario CQ61-402SA is an entry level machine for those after basic performance and portability.
Usability is good, however, and while it can't compete with the Acer Aspire 5732Z-443G32Mn and Samsung R530 on many levels, it is certainly worth a look.
The laptop compares closely with the Toshiba Satellite Pro L450-13R in terms of performance. Both laptops feature the same processor, the same amount of memory and the same graphics card and yet this machine performs better across the board.
As a result, it is able to run programs faster than the Toshiba and offers more power for carrying out complex tasks such as photo and video editing.
Having said that, you'll still be limited to basic multimedia work and if this is a priority for you, it's worth checking out the Acer instead.
Nevertheless, HP has bundled some video and photo-editing software for you to play around with, including CyberLink MediaShow for editing and cataloguing photos and videos, and CyberLink PowerDVD for playing back movie DVDs.
Standard storage
The 250GB hard drive is standard for the price and provides plenty of room for storing your files, folders and various media libraries. Should you also want to back up your data to CD or DVD, you can do so using the integrated optical drive.
Much like the Toshiba Satellite Pro L450-13R, the screen isn't as bright as the Samsung R530, but colour reproduction and vibrancy are good enough. One thing we did notice, however, was that the screen doesn't fold back much past 45 degrees from vertical, and this makes it hard to find a comfortable viewing angle in cramped conditions – on a train, for example.
As with the Acer and Toshiba Satellite Pro L450-13R, the chassis is built from tough plastics, but the glossy lid quickly attracts fingerprints. The keyboard is second only to the Samsung R530 and is very intuitive to use, as is the dedicated numeric keypad.
Portability isn't as impressive as we would have hoped, however, and at 2.8kg it's not a machine many would want to carry.
Its 188-minute battery life is just about acceptable, but still falls far short of the standards set by the Acer and Samsung. As a result, if portability is of maximum importance to you, you're better off opting for one of the other machines instead.
Connectivity is standard for this group, although this machine doesn't boast the high-speed Gigabit Ethernet that the Acer features. Nevertheless, it does have an HDMI port – a nice touch at this low price.
Overall, the HP Compaq Presario CQ61-402SA slightly underwhelmed us. It has good usability and a serviceable screen, but performance could be better, as could portability.
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In Depth: Expert guide to preventing PC disasters
We've all experienced it. One minute you're surfing along quite happily, an MP3 playing in the background, and then suddenly – bang! Disaster strikes.
Maybe your hard disk has failed; perhaps a virus has found its way round your defences and brought Windows to its knees; or it could be that your PSU has given up the ghost.
Whatever the reason, the net result is the same – suddenly you're staring straight at the long and painful process of reinstalling Windows and attempting to rescue some of your precious data.
But there's no need to live in fear any longer. As we reveal, many common PC problems can be predicted and headed off at the pass before disaster strikes.
Back up or die
Having a complete backup of all your precious files and data is the only silver bullet security solution. It's an absolute defence against computing's most devastating gremlins.
But, like a silver bullet, a complete and up-to-date backup is a rare thing. Let's be honest – few of us bother with backups, and those who do probably learned the hard way following a disastrous loss of data. So, before we go any further and explore clever PC preservation techniques, let's get one thing straight – you must back up to safeguard your files.
The secrets of success
At the basic end of the spectrum, dragging key documents onto a USB stick is good enough. At the time of writing, www.play.com was offering a 16GB USB key for £16. That's a steal, and you can store a huge number of Word and Excel documents, along with some precious photographs, in that amount of space.
You might argue that writable DVDs and CDs are cheaper, but we think you should forget about them. Copying data to an optical disc can be a pain, and depending on your hardware and the media you're using, it can be slow, too.
Optical discs are easily scratched, so we recommend you use external hard drives, solid-state storage solutions or an online data dump.
Web-based data storage is great because it creates an off-site backup. The idea is that you select your most treasured files and upload them to a trusted remote server. If you use such a system and your house burns down, your data and backup won't be incinerated.
Services such as iDrive offer 2GB of storage for free, with prices rising to $5 a month for 150GB of space. Good alternatives are Elephant Drive and Box. Your ISP may even bundle some remote backup space as part of your broadband deal.
Given the UK's slow upstream broadband speeds, though, we say that it's a good idea to limit online backups to super-critical files.
Finally, don't let RAID 1 lull you into a false sense of security. Automatically mirroring data onto another drive might appear to be the perfect solution, and it's certainly useful if your primary data is damaged. The problem is that if you delete a file on your primary drive, it'll be deleted on the mirror too – making this method no good for restoring accidentally deleted files.
Automatic for the people
When you've selected your storage system, you need to decide what to use for your automated back-up procedure. Windows 7 has a built-in back-up system that's surprisingly capable. The fastest way to find the system is to type Backup into the Search box.
When you're there, click 'Back up files' and follow the wizard, which will help you select backup targets, a destination (which can be a network location) and the time of automated backups. If you're looking for an alternative, try SyncBack. This is a no-frills back-up system that allows you to store backups on an FTP server, among other things.
Drive imaging is often seen as the ideal way to make a backup. This stores an exact replica of your hard disk on an external device. Give it a go with definitive drive-imaging app, Norton Ghost. Don't be too seduced by the idea, though, as a whole drive image can take hours to create.
You'll also find that many new PCs have a Restore partition containing a factory fresh OS image. Assuming your hard disk hasn't died, this is a very quick way of restoring Windows. Check to see if your system has one before imaging your drive.
There's nothing that strikes fear into the heart of a PC user more than the prospect of hard disk failure. One moment you're pottering along and the next you're in a world of pain. If you haven't yet backed up, you could be looking at the complete loss of your data, the hassle of reinstalling an OS and the tedious work of recreating precious files. Thankfully, hard disk failures aren't entirely random, and so they can sometimes be predicted.
Hard disks are mechanical devices with moving parts. Over time these parts begin to wear out and, as they do, there will be subtle changes in how the drive performs. If your drive's motor is coming to the end of its life then the drive may take longer to spin up or files may need fractionally more time to load. These changes and drop-offs in performance aren't likely to be perceptible to even the most experienced PC user.
Instead, you'll need special monitor and analysis tools to pick up on them. This is where Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) comes in. It's a monitoring system for hard disks that's designed to detect and report on various indicators of reliability in the hope of anticipating failures.
All modern hard disks have SMART built in, but sadly Windows makes little or no use of it. To start delving into SMART, you'll need a third-party app – we found CrystalDiskInfo to be the best. It's a freeware app that you can download from here.
It's highly technical and isn't big on user friendliness. Indeed, its download page is difficult to understand – select the Installer Edition (EXE) version if you're stumped.
When the application is installed and running, you may need to manually select English as the language (our download defaulted to Chinese characters). Make this change by selecting 'Language' in the top right of the program's interface, then 'A-N' and finally 'English'.
When the app's up and running, you should see a breakdown of key drive statistics. Firstly, there's Health Status – if it moves away from Good, replace your drive. Temperature, Power On Count and Power On Hours are also useful.
Manufacturers publish the operational tolerances of their drives, and also Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) figures. If your drive is approaching its MTBF, consider replacing it. If it's running close to its maximum operating temperature, think about making changes to the airflow inside your PC.
CrystalDiskInfo offers a huge amount of esoteric SMART telemetry. With a little web research you should be able to make sense of it. These figures are amalgamated into the app's basic Health Status reading, so stick with that if you're in a rush.
Many hard disk manufacturers also offer disk analysis tools tailored to their own drives. Fujitsu offers a quick testing tool that can assess a disk in three minutes, as well as a more advanced utility that can take over 100 minutes to analyse a disk. 05v 350ma
Hitachi has an excellent selection, including disk fitness testers and a SMART analysis tool. Samsung's HUTIL diagnosis and analysis tools can be found here and Seagate's SeaTools testers are here. Finally, if you're a Western Digital user, head to here. From there, you'll need to select your drive and then click 'Data Lifeguard'.
The key to these tools is using them regularly. If you're intimately acquainted with the health of your hard disk, you'll spot any problems much faster, allowing you to act pre-emptively and decamp data to a new disk if disaster is looming.
Take action: Cool your hard disk
Beyond shock, extremes of heat are a hard disk's worst enemy – so if you want your disk to have a long and healthy life, you need to keep it cool.
First, research your drive's thermal thresholds. Assuming you find your disk is running too hot, you need to take the case off your machine and begin improving the airflow around it. Start by cleaning your case's intake and exhaust fans. Next, tidy up the cables – a bird's nest of wires can strangle the airflow inside your case.
When you're happy that everything is cleaner and tidier, replace your case and give your PC a heat soak test by running a strenuous task such as a full drive defrag or a deep virus scan. Once that's finished, use your chosen drive analysis tool to check the disk's temperature.
Hopefully your efforts will have paid off, but if your drive is still running too hot, think about investing in a hard disk cooler. The Xilence Icebox Passive Hard Disk Cooler uses heatsinks and heatpipes to move heat away from your hard disk. Check it out at www.quietpc.com.
If the worst has already happened, check out our feature How to restore deleted files and recover data from damaged disks.
You might be tempted to buy the cheapest power supply with the highest wattage rating you can find in order to save money. After all, a PSU won't make your games run faster or your movies look better, so why bother forking out more than you have to? Well, take it from us: a higher-priced PSU can be worth every penny of its extra cost.
The hotter it gets inside a PSU, the less power it's able to produce. Some manufacturers take advantage of this by rating their PSUs at a much lower temperature than what they'll ever see inside a case.
For example, a unit rated for 600W at a chilly 25C might only be capable of 450W at a more realistic 40C to 50C. On top of that, you have to knock off another 100W or so if the label represents a peak power rating instead of continuous.
There are even more ways of double-dealing. Some manufacturers will skimp on their PSUs' internal components – a practice that's often associated with lower-weight units. While this helps the manufacturer to cut costs, you'll pay dearly for it through voltage fluctuations that can damage your components, cause intermittent reboots and lead to premature hard drive failure. Suddenly that bargain-basement PSU looks like a PC disaster in the making.
All this helps explain why one of the biggest pushes by power supply manufacturers of late has been to increase the efficiency of their PSUs. On the downside, this means that power supplies are more expensive than they used to be – but happily they also consume less electricity. If you're counting the pennies, think of the extra outlay an investment that will yield lower power bills.
So, how do you spot a good PSU? The key is to look for the 80 PLUS logo. This scheme is backed by a grading system that awards PSUs that are 80 per cent efficient at 20 per cent, 50 per cent and 100 per cent loads. There are Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum grades for more efficient PSUs as well, which are given to those devices that achieve 81, 85, 88 and 91 per cent efficiency respectively at 100 per cent loads.
The higher-efficiency models tend to be focused towards always-on servers, although hopefully we should see the same technology filter down to the mainstream market in the near future.
Knowledge is power
Probably the hardest thing about buying a PSU is knowing how much power you actually need. You could slavishly research every component inside your computer to find out their power requirements, or you could be smart.
If you fancy the latter route then you need the Extreme Power Supply Calculator. Simply enter some details about your machine and then press the 'Calculate' button. The resulting figure may strike you as a little low, so, to be safe, buy a supply that has some headroom.
The key point in your PSU research is to remember that you don't want your power supply running at a load of 100 per cent. Rather, you should be aiming for a peak load of 80 per cent. This will leave a safety margin and allow a modest upgrade in the future.
While we're on the subject of power, it's worth mentioning the uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A UPS is an emergency battery pack designed to provide your machine with power if there's an electrical blackout, thus cutting the risk of data loss or corruption. Your machine's power demands dictates the rating of the supply you should buy. See APC's UPS selector for assistance.
You may find it difficult to put your finger on exactly what's wrong, but sometimes you just know your machine isn't performing as well as it once did. It might be a bit more sluggish booting, or maybe that redraw seems slower than you remember. We're talking about those little, almost unnoticeable things that hint that your machine isn't running quite as it should and that disaster could be brewing.
So what should you do? Firstly, check to ensure that Windows isn't updating itself, as the arrival of a big upgrade can leave your PC feeling sluggish for days. If you've established that it's not updating, the next thing to do is take a look behind the scenes.
Windows offers many tools to help you do just that. For example, the Event Viewer lets you see exactly what has crashed recently and why. You can open the Event Viewer from the Administrators Tools interface, which is accessed from the Control Panel. The most interesting section of this utility is the System category – it's where you'll find hardware-related errors – although the Application and Security sections can help you to solve other problems too. Browse through to see if anything stands out.
Those running Windows Vista and Windows 7 also have access to a far more easy-to-understand rendering of the same information, which comes in the form of the System Stability Chart. This combines a view of what's crashed with when it crashed and what's recently been installed, all in one graph, complete with an index of how stable Windows thinks that it is.
If your machine is described using a downhill slope, then you know that something is wrong and getting worse, and that either a hardware fault or a driver or application error is to blame.
Another tool worth running to spot potential problems with your machine is HWMonitor, which is used to monitor the temperatures of various components in your computer. You should get a number of readouts for your motherboard – provided that HWMonitor can spot the sensors, of course – and the program will also give you the temperatures for your graphics cards, processors and hard drives.
If one component is running particularly hot then you need to address that problem by cleaning your PC and possibly installing a cooling system.
Keep an eye on things
Benchmarking your PC could shed valuable light on what's happening under the hood. We recommend benchmarking your computer as soon as it arrives or immediately after you've reinstalled Windows. You should also test your machine at regular intervals, storing the figures after each one. This way, you'll have a bank of numbers against which to accurately compare your computer's current performance.
The latest versions of Windows have their own Windows Experience Index to give you an idea of how your machine performs, although it isn't quite as useful for sorting out problems as the likes of SiSoftware Sandra.
Take action: Benchmark your PC
Benchmarks are indispensable when you're trying to find out how new hardware performs, but they're also a great way to work out if there's something wrong with your machine.
There are a tremendous number of benchmarks available for specific tasks, from gaming (Futuremark's 3DMark06) to HD video encoding (TechArp's X264) and 3D rendering (Maxon Cinebench R10). Each of these has a use outside its core competency because they all test a range of subsystems, and can thus be used to create a score for a working machine that future results can be measured against.
If you're looking to test particular components, you'll need a different benchmark. SiSoftware Sandra has numerous tools designed to interrogate individual components, from your network connection to your RAM latency and your CPU's number-crunching prowess. It's a great suite that covers all the major bases and produces industry-standard results that make sense – memory throughput, for instance, is given as a real measurement and not an arbitrary index.
There's a problem with SiSoftware Sandra, though, which is that successive versions don't produce compatible scores. Stick with one version and you shouldn't have any trouble.
Why anti-virus is not enough
You've got antivirus software installed, so you think you don't need to worry about security? Wrong.
Consider this analogy – you've got airbags in your car, so can you drive like Stirling Moss and always get away with it? No. Antivirus software should be thought of as your last line of defence. In an ideal world, it should never be called on to save your skin.
What really keeps you safe is your actions, not elaborate security systems. Your first line of defence should be information. The malware landscape is a fast-moving and fluid place, with new threats bubbling up on a daily, if not hourly, basis – so you need to keep abreast of what's going on.
The easiest way to do this is to read – visit sites such as www.viruslist.com to be treated to a rundown of new threats as they're detected. Better still, add a slew of malware tech sites to your RSS feed list to keep on top of all the news.
We're fans of www.f-secure.com/weblog, www.darknet.org.uk and www.avertlabs.com/research/blog. If you're on Twitter, follow the likes of F-Secure's CRO @mikkohypponen, Symantec's @ThreatFeed and Sophos' Senior Technology Consultant @gcluley to read about events as they happen.
The key is to arm yourself with details about new threats as they appear.
Social engineering
A canny PC user should also keep an eye on the news. There's nothing the bad guys like more than wrapping up malware in a site or download that's seemingly inspired by a big news event.
When Tiger Woods crashed his car, for example, Symantec discovered that criminals were very quick to post links, video and downloads promising more information on the story. In reality, they were all malware. So be distrustful of unknown sites that offer scoops and videos relating to huge breaking stories, particularly those about very famous celebrities.
And don't worry about missing out. Such is the fast-paced nature of internet-based news, it's unlikely an exclusive will remain the sovereign property of its finder for more than a moment or two. Be sceptical, be patient and you'll be safe. And finally, it should go without saying: delete any unsolicited emails that promise explicit videos of fallen stars on the day they've fallen!
On your guard
You will at some point need to download files from a site you've never visited before – we all do. To be safe here, add a site rating system to your armour (see the 'Get a site advisor' box). When the download has completed, it still pays to be wary.
Even if the file's been rated as safe by your antivirus software, get a second opinion. We recommend VirusTotal, a site that uses up to 40 scanning engines to assess a file. If you're worried, upload your file and check it out.
Take action: Get a Site Advisor
When it comes to security, prevention is better than cure. So wouldn't it be great if you could know in advance whether a site you're about to visit is a hive of malware, rather than finding out the hard way? The good news is that you can.
Many security vendors offer site-rating browser plug-ins that give pages a security grading. These plug-ins work in different ways: some employ white lists and black lists, while others analyse sites on the fly as they appear in your search results. Others still use social ratings to create an impression of how safe a site is before you visit it.
If you're not currently using such a system, we recommend you start now. One of the best on offer is McAfee's SiteAdvisor. When installed, the software uses a traffic-light system to rate sites thrown up by a search as Safe (very low or no risk issues), Caution (minor risk issues) or Warning (serious risk issues).
We're also fans of Norton's Site Safety system. In our testing, we searched for 'free video codec', and of 10 sites recommended by Google, eight were unsafe. The other two contained a total of 28 known threats. Guess which we went to?
Virtualisation offers a potential solution to many PC disasters, particularly those stemming from malware. If you're running a correctly configured virtual machine, you can click around in the internet's darker corners safe in the knowledge that little damage will be done to your PC. You can also install apps with dubious provenance in relative safety.
Why? Because when you're done, you can kill the virtual PC you've just abused and start a new one afresh. Any malware you've contracted will be flushed away into the digital void. It's a compelling idea, but it's not without its pitfalls.
Firstly, you'll need a beefy PC with lots of memory – Windows needs 2GB of memory to run as a minimum and you'll need to give your VM the same. So, for a slick VM, your host PC needs at least 4GB of memory.
Virtual machines exist as a space on the host's hard disk, so it will need a lot of space. A VM can consume tens of gigabytes of space, so be prepared for your disk to fill up quickly if you don't delete unused machines.
Finally, some virtualisation systems demand processors that support virtualisation at the hardware level. If you're an AMD fan you'll need AMD-V, while Intel users should look for Intel VT support. Windows 7's virtual XP system (XP Mode) demands CPU-level virtualisation support.
Next, remember to remove any drives shared between your virtual machine and the host PC before accessing the internet. This will cut off a line of contagion between the VM and the host. Indeed, it's generally considered safest to have the host and the VM running different OSes.
If you host a Windows VM on a Linux platform, some (but not all) types of Windows contagions will be better contained. Run a Windows VM on a Windows PC and malware could execute in the virtual environment, penetrate the host and continue spreading around your network.
Antivirus protection
You must also have solid malware protection on the virtual machine and the host. Malware will still function on a VM – and if you're entering your bank log-on details, a keylogger can still report them back to its makers from within a virtual environment.
We recommend going for a free antivirus program such as AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials for your virtual machine. Run a full paid-for suite and you may encounter difficulties with activation when you've restarted your VM a few times.
Don't just consider a virtual machine a super-safe surfing system, though. A VM with all your favourite apps is also a super-safe working environment. You may not enjoy using Linux for your leisure time but prefer its inherent stability and security for work. Build a Linux VM and you'll get the best of both worlds.
Most virtualisation systems let you create a new virtual machine at the touch of a button. As you develop your VM's look, feel and function, you can save its state, which means that over time you'll be able to create your ideal extra-secure – and hopefully disaster-proof – virtual machine.
Take action: Create a Virtual PC
If you're using Windows 7, setting up a safehouse virtual machine with which you can explore the deepest reaches of the internet is easy. Start by grabbing Microsoft's freely available Virtual PC 2007. Download the version appropriate to your OS (you'll find both 32-bit and 64-bit versions available).
Next, run the set-up executable, click through the installer (you should find the product key added for you; VPC was once a commercial app, but Microsoft has now released it for free) and then run the installed app.
The first thing that will happen is that a wizard will pop up. Here you can configure the settings of your new VM. To get started, choose 'Create a Virtual Machine', give it a name, choose your desired OS (use 'Other' if you're going to install Linux) and allow it to use the recommended level of RAM (as long as you have it available, of course!).
Choose to use a new virtual disk when asked – this is a sandbox file in which your new OS will live. Now put the install disc of your chosen operating system into your optical drive, doubleclick your virtual machine in the list and choose the appropriate drive in the CD menu to begin installing the VM's operating system.
Survival items every PC owner needs
Below you'll find the items that every careful PC owner should have in their disaster survival kit, from preventative tools to ward off common problems to the items you'll need if the worst happens and something does go wrong. Keep these things handy and you'll be ready for (almost) anything.
1. Compressed air
Dust can slow down fans – and if air isn't drawn away well enough, the component can overheat and eventually fail. A blast of compressed air will shift most build ups.
2. Thermal paste
This provides a thermally conductive substrate between components and their coolers. It can degrade, so remove the older paste from time to time and apply a new layer.
3. Screws and washers
Vibrations inside your PC can lead to fan failure. Secure components properly with washers and ensure you attach the right number of screws to motherboards and drives.
4. Cable ties
Secure your cables with cable ties to improve airflow through your case and aff ord easier access to your motherboard and other core components.
5. Windows boot disc
The recovery interface for Windows may be a brick wall of DOS commands, but it can still sort out problems with the Master Boot Record and your Windows installation.
6. Thumb drive
If your machine refuses to boot but you can access the drive via a boot disc, recovering your fi les may be your main concern. A small USB drive can help you to get those files off the machine prior to a reinstall.
7. A Philips screwdriver
This is realistically the only tool you ever need for removing components that you suspect may have failed.
8. Netbook
The internet is a mine of knowledge for sorting out PC problems. A second machine enables you to continue searching for solutions should your main PC go down.
9. CMOS battery
If your CMOS settings aren't being retained, your CMOS battery will need replacing. These large disc batteries are increasingly becoming available from supermarkets.
10. A boot disc
If you're having no luck with the Windows boot disc, turn to a third party for help. We recommend one from the impressive collection over at www.bootdisk.com.
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In Depth: 8 amazing tech advances on the horizon
Some of the best things in tech aren't necessarily the most straightforward.
Indeed, some of the best tech innovations are some of the most off-the-wall.
Here we look at eight new but weird and wonderful technologies that we could see in popular use in the near future.
1. Messaging service automatically prioritises email
MessageMind is a powerful business tool for determining whether email messages in a company are actually meeting business objectives. And we could soon see it elsewhere, too. So, you can see all messages related to a project in a bubble diagram that shows who is communicating effectively and who is slowing down the project. You can easily prioritise emails using a real-time analytics engine. The platform works with Outlook and other collaboration systems such as Microsoft SharePoint using algorithms that extract keywords from communication -- based on which users are accessing messages and their prioritisation.
2. New bendable television technology half a millimetre thick
Imagine a television that wraps around in a cone or that you can stretch across a wall. That's the idea with FLEx Lighting, a new technology that uses LEDs arranged on a roll that can be used for a display in any size or shape. The sheet is less than a half millimeter thick, bends like a thin piece of plastic, and yet has all the qualities for current LED technology: low power, low cost, and long-lasting.
3. Detect diseases and outbreaks using videos and photographs
Every image has a signature - or pattern - that can be detected. Guardian Technologies, using their new PinPoint software, can be used to find the signature of an explosive agent at airport security checkpoints, or to find traces of a cancerous cell in a mammogram. The technology scans image sin real-time and looks for patterns, then alerts the operator to a potential threat or danger. The engine works on both still images and video, and is being deployed in South Africa to detect traces of TB.
4. Write a song based on the hit trends in current music
Every great song reminds you of another great song, or so goes the theory. With Uplaya.com, you can add some statistical analysis to your grunge-metal songwriting process. The site lets you analyse a song to see if it will be a hit, based on metrics that show a connection between current hits songs, such as a certain bass line or an upbeat tempo. The concept was actually discussed on a current episode of the show Numb3rs -- and it works. Uplaya can even show if a song will stay a hit longer.
5. New electromechanical material used for body armour
Nanotubes are incredibly strong, but manufacturing them into a usable material is difficult -- normally, they lose their strength. Nanocomp has developed a way to build a nanotube material that can stop a 9mm bullet, yet is feather-light and only a few millimetres thick. As an added bonus, the material also forms an electromagnetic shield to obfuscate an cell phone or other radio device.
6. Audio targeted directly at your ears
A new audio technology uses two high frequency wavelengths at low power to pinpoint an audio signal at a precise location. When the two sound waves meet, they produce the sound. The technology could be used for projecting music to a specific spot in a room. When you walk within range of the signal, the audio sounds like a whisper and when you walk out of range you can't hear the music stream at all.
7. New glass traps energy in a new way
Home insulation could become a quant relic of the current age. Heat Mirror technology, developed by Southwall Technologies, puts the insulation in a pane of glass. It is essentially an insulated coating on glass that uses three see-through panes. The glass is suspended in between the outer glass and works just as effectively as R-20 household insulation. The result is that the Heat Mirror material could be used for office buildings and homes to block UV rays and provide better insulation.
8. New cloud OS runs fast, looks like a real OS
Cloud operating systems are not new - iCloud and Jolicloud have been available for some time. The iSpaces OS is brand new - the service launches in June and is in a limited alpha stage - and looks like a real web OS, a service where you run web apps that are not tied to your current PC. The OS also runs in JavaScript and is remarkably fast, has a built-in browser, and supports multiple user sessions.
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Updated: Apple iPad goes on sale in US
Updated: read our complete iPad review.
The Apple iPad has gone on sale in the US, with thousands flocking to get their hands on one of this 2010's most eagerly anticipated gadgets.
People who pre-ordered the tablet computer were able to pick up their gadgets at Apple stores across the country, scenes that will be repeated in the UK in less than a month's time.
With positive early reviews, which nevertheless stopped short of calling the device the revolution that it hopes to be, the buzz around Apple's latest product is not likely to die down any time soon.
iBook
An iBook store means that the device is not only an internet slate, or a repository for the kind of apps that have propelled the iPhone to the top of the phone charts for so long, but also an e-book reader.
The word being best describing the buzz around the iPad is 'potential', with games developers excited about the potential for a new platform, authors keen to see if the Apple device can take e-books into the mainstream and publishers of newspapers and magazine poised to see if this is the next generation for media.
The likes of the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and confirmed Apple fanboy Stephen Fry have already paid testament to the iPad – and now the rest of the world will watch and wait as US consumers get their turn to try it out.
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