Acronis True Image Home 11.0.8101
September 13, 2008
Chris Wiles, vnunet.com, Saturday 13 September 2008 at 00:00:00
Get 80% off retail price and get Disk Director 10 for free!
This is the software publisher’s description. You’ve accumulated a lifetime of work, important memories and key data on your home PC in addition to important personal documents, such as your…
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Review: Ability Office Business office suite
August 21, 2008
Tim Smith, Personal Computer World, Thursday 21 August 2008 at 10:00:00
Is this value office suite good enough value to ward off Open Office?
Competition is fierce in the office suite market. Few suites can match Microsoft Office for collaboration and sheer presence, and Open Office can’t be beaten on price….
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EA Showcase 08: Hands-on with NERF N-Strike for the Wii
August 15, 2008
NERF N-Strike is easily going to have the best peripheral ever made for a game. You will actually get a real working NERF gun that also doubles as the gun cradle for the Wiimote. There will be a removable one-shot NERF launcher where the Wiimote fits, and the NERF gun is even designed to accept the MotionPlus and allows for the Nunchuk to plug in for easy access.
There will be a story for the single-player mode, designed in a Saturday morning cartoon fashion, where the main character joins an elite NERF group and fights with NERF guns against robots. This is a kids’ game after all, so there won’t be any humans that are yelling out horrible one-liners to shoot at.
The game will support up to four players with around 24 events to play. I played a game with Emily from Ripten where we had to shoot as many balls as we could. Each time we hit a ball, a machine hanging above the stage would paint the ball your team’s colors until all the balls were destroyed. 
Players will have access to 25 guns, 12 of which are real NERF guns and 13 of which are brand new NERF guns designed for N-Strike. I played with a handgun, an automatic rifle and a sniper rifle during my playtime.
The game basically feels like Time Crisis, but with NERF guns. The main downside to all of this is that the gun and game package will cost .99, and the gun by itself will go for .99. That’s a great price point for the gun, but no arcade-style on-rails shooter is worth more than . Both the gun and game will be out in your local videogame section and toy section this November 4 for the Wii.
Gateway P-7811FX
August 15, 2008
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Finally we have the pleasure to tell you about a new notebook from Gateway, while there has been a long time since we haven’t heard news from this company regarding new portable computer additions. The latest laptop is optimized for video gaming and entertainment on the go as well, included in the P-Series FX Edition line of Gateway laptop computers, and being powered by the Intel Centrino 2 processing technology.
Besides the strong high-end capabilities, Gateway P-7811FX is also an affordable model and the company’s first powered by the newest Intel technology with faster multi-tasking support at lower power consumption.
“The Gateway P-7811FX is a great choice for customers such as students and professionals who want a notebook that can handle all of their computing needs - from creating videos and playing games to tackling work, school and home projects,” said Todd Titera, senior manager, notebook product management. “And while the new notebook is ideal for demanding gamers and enthusiasts who want the latest technology, its affordable price also makes it perfect for digital media hobbyists and casual PC game players.”
Coming at a retail price of 1,399.99, Gateway P-7811FX has other cool components such as the NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS video card with 512MB DDR3 dedicated graphics memory for real-time 3D imaging, 2.26GHz processing speeds, 4GB memory, 200GB HDD storage capacity, second drive bay, all working to display the best results on a 17-inch large wide screen with a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels.
Additional elements include HDMI connectivity, cool illuminated multimedia keys for direct access to audio and video controls, built-in 1.3MP web camera for char conferences, VoIP support, wireless 802.11 Draft-N support, a 5-in-1 media card reader, 3 USB ports, Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW w/DVD-RAM with LabelFlash, and the Microsoft Windows Home Premium 64-bit Edition operating system pre-installed.
Google Android phone coming to UK via HTC in October?
August 15, 2008
You’ve heard a lot about it, you’ve been expecting it, you know it’s coming, and it could well be coming to the United Kingdom as early as October. So what is it? It is the first Android mobile phone.
The concept of an Android platform was first unveiled by Google late last year along with the other members of the Open Handset Alliance, namely HTC, T-Mobile, Motorola and Qualcomm.
And now it is expected that Open Handset Alliance member HTC will be the first mobile manufacturer to bring out a mobile phone featuring the Android software. The speculation by most is the HTC Android device will incorporate a large haptic touch-screen along with a full QWERTY keyboard.
A HTC spokesperson confirmed that HTC is excited about being able to launch the first Android based mobile phone in Q4.
American website are posting that the HTC Dream will be with T-Mobile by September carrying a price tag of 9.00
Image via here
Source – mobiletoday
Mars robots begin test campaign
August 15, 2008
By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News
Engineers have unveiled the latest prototypes for a European rover that is due to land on Mars in 2015.
BBC News has had exclusive access to the test vehicles which are being put through their paces by space company UK Astrium at its HQ in Stevenage.
The British team on this European Space Agency (Esa) project has nicknamed the prototypes Bruno and Bradley.
The six-wheeled robots are claimed to be the most robust and manoeuvrable planetary rovers to be built.
According to Chris Draper, Astrium’s ExoMars rover vehicle industrial manager, they can go literally where no rover has gone before.
“Obviously, the American MER rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) that were put up by Nasa enjoyed an extreme amount of success. They were able to travel large distances, well beyond their planned lifetimes. But we’re hoping that with our baby, we’ll be able to go places that are actually much further.”
EXOMARS MISSION CONCEPT- Set to leave Earth in 2013; primary aim is to search for life
- Will launch on a heavy-lift rocket, such as the Ariane 5
- Vented landing bags allow for a larger payload
- Rover will carry a 16.5kg ‘Pasteur’ instrument suite
- 30kg geophysics/environment static station also possible
- This would study the weather and listen for ‘Marsquakes’
- Concept to cost Esa states more than first estimates
Each prototype has six-wheel steering, which means that they can turn all six wheels and crab sideways.
They also have what engineers describe as “wheel walking capability”. This means that when the vehicles come across a particularly steep or slippery slope, they can anchor themselves with five of the wheels and inch each wheel forward one at a time, to crawl over an obstacle.
The prototypes have a unique intelligent navigation system which enables them to plot their own course.
Such is the distance between the planets, it can take 20 minutes for an instruction sent from Earth to arrive at Mars. The delay means instant commands to change direction are not possible and so a rover must have autonomy to make decision if, for example, it is approaching a dangerous precipice.
And because the rover will make its own decisions, it can also cover more ground.
ExoMars’ primary mission is to search for signs of past or present life.
To do that, it will make its way to locations thought most likely to support life and drill up to two metres into the ground. Sub-surface soil samples will be analysed by an onboard laboratory.
The rover will have the largest array of scientific instruments to be taken to Mars. So if it gets strong indications that organisms might be present, it will be able to subject samples to a wide range of tests to confirm initial readings.
But the executives at Astrium are concerned that after having done the groundwork in developing the vehicle systems (the chassis, locomotion and navigation systems), the company might actually lose the opportunity to build the final flight vehicle.
"It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars"Dr Ralph Cordey, UK Astrium
The concern stems from the recent funding difficulties faced by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), the agency which supports astronomy and space science in the UK.
The company won its role on the mission as leader of vehicle development partly because of the funding the STFC put through Esa. But Astrium’s science business development manager, Dr Ralph Cordey, said that given the recent squeeze on British astronomy and space resources, he was now unsure if that same level of funding would continue.
“It’s quite a tense period for us in Astrium and for the other companies involved in building ExoMars; and for all the many, many scientists who will depend on this mission,” he told BBC News.
“On the one hand, we are moving ahead with a great momentum, as you’ve seen. This is not a paper project - there is real engineering going on and we are on the verge of building the real hardware that will go on to the planet Mars. 
“But on the other hand, we do have a real problem. In order to complete the project, further funding needs to be made available and it won’t be until November that we are sure that that is in place.”
The cost of ExoMars has risen dramatically since European space ministers first approved the venture in 2005. Revised estimates to be agreed next month with industrial partners mean the price for ExoMars will nearly double from its original 650m-euro price tag.
If the UK wants to maintain its position on mission, it will have to boost its financial commitment to ExoMars or come to some other compensatory arrangement with Esa.
If the UK plays the wrong hand at the next space ministers’ meeting in November, UK Astrium warns, the contract to build the flight vehicle could go to a space company sited in another Esa member state.
The STFC said: “The UK will be working with its international partners to try to bring about a mission that has high impact and is affordable, in a process of negotiation that will culminate in decisions at the ministerial in November 2008.
“Meanwhile, it remains a high strategic priority for the UK as emphasised previously.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
Zepto Orion A15
August 15, 2008
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Yet another laptop from Zepto named after a Greek mythology character. Orion A15 was named after the skilled hunter occupying a place in the stars after his death, and this idea is represented by the black laptop model with a stylish finish sporting an illuminated Ze[to logo on the back.
This 15.4-inch model is powered by the Intel Centrino 2 technology with minimum 3MB Smart Cache and 1066Mhz Front SideBus, which work together to deliver high operating speeds at a lower power consumption.
It integrates the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics chipset with 384MB shared memory, DirectX 10 support, OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 4, for great views during gaming and while playing with the Windows Vista Aero feature on the 1280 x 800-pixel display.
Like the latest models introduced by Zepto, Orion A15 has the Night LED mode that allows you to turn off all the other indicators, leaving only the hard drive light On, for a simpler way of knowing when the portable computer is functioning.
Specifications include 8Gb maximum system memory, 2.8GHz Dual Core CPU speeds, TV Tuner, Turbo Memory Crad, Wireless LAN, 3.8 hours of battery life, built-in web camera, microphone, HDMI connectivity, SPDIF audio out, http://www.ubuntu.com/ Linux Ubuntu support, and other cool elements, encased in durable yet elegant aluminum reinforced chassis.
For a price of £517.10 Zepto offers the lower cost configuration with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor clocked at 2GHz, 80GB S-ATA hard drive storage capacity, DVD burner, Bluetooth 2.0+EDT, and built-in microphone. At £752.41 the notebook has 4GB memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD burner, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, microphone and Windows Vista Home Basic operating system pre-installed. This one is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 providing speeds of up to o 2GHz.
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