Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i APC

Australia’s consumer watchdog, the ACCC, took Apple to court in April last year for its uncompromising repair and warranty policy, specifically regarding the Error 53 bug that plagued iOS users in 2016. The ACCC alleged that the tech giant made “false, misleading, or deceptive representations on consumer guarantees” that are protected under Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC has won the case, with a federal court slapping Apple with a $9 million fine. The legal action was the result of an investigation conducted by the ACCC after numerous iPhones and iPads generated the error after being updating to iOS 9, which had a feature that could detect if a device had undergone third-party repairs. Apple refused to help the affected customers on the premise that they hadn’t utilised the company’s own…

PARROT ANAFI Polly want a foldable 4K drone? US$699 | WWW.PARROT.COM Parrot’s new foldable 4K drone is constructed from a carbon fibre and glass microbead frame that allows it to be lighter and smaller than the company’s previous Bebop 2... even though the Anafi contains a lot of newer, updated tech. Top of that update list is a three-axis gimbal-stabilised 21MP camera that allows up to 2.8x optical zoom and 180º of physical vertical roll, plus the ability to capture 4K HDR videos to a microSD card. The Anafi is a fraction slower than its predecessor in terms of maximum km/h, but maintains the same 25-minute battery life. The new device also hooks up with Parrot’s existing Freeflight 6 app for advanced shooting modes, like ‘follow me’. JB…

If you’ve ever ordered something from Europe, or signed up for an account with a European website, chances are you received (or have been bombarded by) emails concerning the new General Data Protection Regulation. This is a sweeping set of reforms to how companies and organisations deal with the personal data of its users. In other words, it “regulates the processing by an individual, a company or an organisation of personal data relating to individuals in the EU.” Whether you regularly shop with an EU-based outlet, or whether you bought a sole packet of fancy doilees from a German outlet in 2009, you probably got an email. Naturally, the introduction of the GDPR doesn’t have everyone satisfied that privacy measures will be undertaken seriously, especially by the likes of Facebook,…

LAPTOP $1,199 | WWW.ACER.COM.AU It’s debatable whether AMD has ever made a truly competitive laptop chip. Yes, AMD’s mobile processors based on the Bobcat core were OK for budget devices, but Intel’s domination has been even stronger in laptops than it already was on the desktop. But then Ryzen came along and proved how complacent Intel has become. But that’s just desktop, right? No. At last, Ryzen has made that transition to laptops, and we can finally tell you whether it’s as big a game-changer in the portable market as it has already proven to be on the desktop. On paper, the Acer Swift 3 is the ideal system for weighing up the relative pros and cons of the latest mobile CPUs. That’s because it’s one of the…

PCIE SSD $740 | WWW.KINGSTON.COM Four years after the first SSD with support for the hot new NVMe control protocol was launched, Kingston has finally turned up to the party. Did the KC1000 swagger in fashionably late? Or has Kingston missed out on all the fun? One of the KC1000’s major selling points involves endurance rather than speed, which may be a bit surprising, given that performance is the most obvious benefit of moving from an old-school SATA drive, based on the ancient AHCI control protocol, to an M.2 drive connected via PCIe, and leveraging the solid-state optimised NVMe protocol. But the KC1000 not only offers a full five-year warranty, it also backs that up with a two million hours mean time between failures (MTBF) rating. What’s more,…

WIRELESS SECURITY CAMERA KIT TWO-PACK, $699 | WWW.NETGEAR.COM.AU Although it’s currently owned by US tech giant Netgear — a company best known for its routers — it’s recently been reported that Arlo is about to be spun off as a separate company due to its success. Certainly Arlo has gained a reputation for producing a range of solidly built internet-connected cameras, although how it will fare going it alone against offerings from companies such as Amazon and Google remains to be seen. The Netgear Arlo Pro 2 is one of the company’s high-end security systems. Although billed as a wireless solution, the pack of two comes with its own base station — about the size of a small router — which needs to be connected to your broadband…

RASPBERRY PI DIY KIT $80 | PIMORONI.COM The Raspberry Pi Zero W has been with us for over a year, and in that time, it has earned its reputation as a user-friendly and cost-effective platform. This has led to many companies assembling their own packs and bundles that create projects for learners to follow. Pimoroni’s OctoCam is a helpful cephalopod that features a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a small fivemegapixel camera with a custom cable for the Zero W, and a laser-cut plastic frame. Also present are a USB lead for power, GPIO pins to solder and adapters to use the Zero W with an HDMI monitor and standard USB devices. All of the components are contained in a robust plastic case that will, of course, be reused…

ASUS RoG Rapture GT-AC5300 The king of gaming routers. $598 | WWW.ASUS.COM.AU Delving into the incredibly detailed interface of this router shows just how far ASUS has pushed the boundaries when it comes to gaming routers. It’s the most expensive router in the roundup, but also features so much more than the competition There’s a cornucopia of different menus dedicated solely to gaming that are totally absent compared to other routers, and we’re not just referring to QoS. If you’re willing to pay a small monthly subscription, you can use the dedicated Gamer’s Private Network, which will optimise your network hops between you and your chosen server. The QoS technology is based on TrendMicro algorithms, and delivered some of the best test results when it came to gaming…

MICROSOFT STORE Gives you the ability to search for and install extensions for Microsoft Edge. Find an extension, then click Get to install. REVIEWS There are so many browser extensions that it’s a good idea to check reviews before you decide to install them. EXTENSION ICON Many extensions will place an icon in the menu bar so you can easily turn them on or off, or change their settings. TURN THEM ON AND OFF Here, you can see the extensions you’ve installed. Clicking this toggle will turn them on or off. SUGGESTED Edge also suggests extensions to you. This makes it quick and easy to install them, simply click Get to install. Extension Extensions, also known as add-ons, are small bits of software that add features to an already-installed app,…

“Suites do more than they ever have before, and include conveniences like built in password managers, parental controls, software version checkers, VPNs and backup systems – so their utility extends well beyond protecting you from hackers and malware.” Having a security suite installed is more important than ever. The protections built in to your operating system — be it Windows, Mac or Android — just aren’t enough to comprehensively protect you and your family from the many and varied internet threats. Although this might seem like a tax on owning a computer (and a hassle to boot), there is some good news. First, suites do more than they ever have before, and include conveniences like built-in password managers, parental controls, software version checkers, VPNs and backup systems — so their…

$85 FOR 1 YEAR | AU.NORTON.COM Although we find ourselves a little unhappy at Symantec of late for the cancellation of the free version of Norton Family, the fact remains that, when it comes to family and beginner-friendly features, Norton is still on the top of the heap. What puts Norton over the top is its elegant, simple interface, its rich feature set that includes online backup, and what is among the industry’s best parental control solutions, easily rivalling and perhaps besting dedicated solutions like Qustodio and Net Nanny. On that last point, the subscription for Security Premium includes a full sub to Norton Family Premier, a cloud-based parental control system with absolutely outstanding tools for managing and monitoring kids’ online activities. It generates reports, shows snippets of…

Given that it houses your notes, photos, reminders and much more, iCloud is unsurprisingly pretty secure. Between your Apple ID, iCloud Keychain and Apple’s encryption methods, your files are kept safe and sound in the cloud. One simple way to keep your iCloud account extra secure is to set up two-factor authentication (2FA). This adds an extra layer of security to ensure that someone can’t gain access to your account if they have your password — they also need a code sent to your trusted devices. Bear in mind that you should set up 2FA for every Apple ID you have. If you signed in to iTunes on an old Windows PC years ago, then bought a Mac and set up a new Apple ID at a later date, you’ll…

APPLICATIONS BUILDING A PORTABLEAPPS TOOLKIT I’d like to install PortableApps and build my own toolkit. Do you have any tips or pointers for which apps I should include? Frank Plunkett First, download and install the PortableApps plaform (available from portableapps.com) on a different drive or partition to Windows if you can; however, if you have a non-partitioned SSD on which Windows is installed, install the app in a folder inside your user folder, making sure that the folder is synced to the cloud using OneDrive or a similar service so it can be easily restored following a crash or reinstall (plus shared on any other PCs you have). Once installed, go through the extensive list of apps provided and add those you want. Other portable apps can also be incorporated…

The dream of every audiophile is the ability to listen to music on demand in any room in your home without having to cart CDs, speakers or headphones with you. Manufacturers like Bose and Sonos deliver this dream, but at a price that’s prohibitive to many. Our mission, therefore, was to deliver a Sonos-like experience for a fraction of the cost, and thanks to the Raspberry Pi and generosity of Logitech, it’s mission accomplished. Over the next two issues, we’re going to reveal how to build your own multi-room audio system around a centralised Pi music server. It’ll house your digital music collection and give you access to a range of streaming services such as local, national and international radio, as well as the likes of Spotify. You’ll be able…

PS4 | $79 | WWW.QUANTICDREAM.COM The advent of the android has given the failing city of Detroit the kiss of life. Now a hub of robotic manufacturing, the city is reliving its glory years. You’ll be pleased that there’s nothing jerky or pixelated about this game’s visual presentation. The actors’ visages are well-realised digitally and, for the most part, their performances shine through their polygonal forms. Jesse Williams and Bryan Dechart play equally compelling sides of the same android rebellion coin, playing the leader of the deviant androids and a robot detective who wants to eliminate deviants, respectively. While there is a level of uncanniness to each of the three leads’ performances, it is subtle and, as you’d expect, the characters’ humanity is pulled to the fore in…

ISSUE 457, AUGUST 2018 Please note that these exclusive APC & TechLife magazine downloads will only be available for a limited time, from 23/07/2018 to 09/09/2018 AN ELEGANT MUSIC MANAGER MANAGE, ENCODE AND LISTEN WITH ASHAMPOO MUSIC STUDIO 2018. FULL VERSION WORTH $30 Ashampoo Music Studio 2018 is a tried and versatile application to edit and burn audio files. Audio disc ripping happens quickly and missing track information is filled in automatically based on an extensive online database. Files can be burned or converted into different audio formats. The integrated audio editor enables users to modify or remove individual passages and allows them to split up tracks into individual parts. Organising music collections is another strength of the program. Metadata can be modified, volumes altered and files renamed based on…

GAMIG LAPTOP FX504GE, $1,799; FX504GD, $1,499 | WWW.ASUS.COM/AU ASUS’s new 15.6-inch gaming laptop is a device the Taiwanese company reckons has been designed to withstand the test of time... or, at the very least, to outlive its contemporaries. While it features a combination of an Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 16GB RAM and entry-level Nvidia gaming graphics card, ASUS reckons the TUF will be sturdier, more reliable and have a longer lifespan than a “standard laptop” thanks to a few new integrated technologies. In Australia, ASUS has made the FX504 available in two variants. The cheaper of the two is the $1,499 FX504GD, which offers an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card, 128GB solid state drive, 1TB hard disk and a 1080p TN-panel. Then there’s the FX504GE that we…

NVME SSD $410 | WWW.SAMSUNG.COM/AU SSD makers across the globe: Prepare for a world of pain. The 970 Pro is part of Samsung’s third generation of high-end NVMe SSDs. Its previous efforts have been about as good as consumer SSDs got. So if third time truly is lucky, and the 970 Pro is even better, well... Samsung just got scary. It’s over 18 months since the Samsung 960 Pro debuted. That’s an aeon in the ironically fast-moving world of solid-state storage. Inevitably, there’s a new controller chipset here, the Samsung Phoenix. We saw it before in the 970 Evo, the 970 Pro’s cheaper sibling. Not much is known about Phoenix. Just like Samsung’s previous NVMe controllers, Phoenix uses a PCIe 3.0 quad-lane interface with eight channels. It also…

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE $115 | WWW.TOSHIBA.COM.AU The Toshiba Canvio Advance is an external hard drive that comes in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities. It offers a lot of storage for not that much money and is a middle-ranking model in the Toshiba line-up. It uses two platters and is a 2.5-inch drive, letting it slim down to 14mm thickness. Upgrade to the Canvio Premium and you shave off an extra 0.5mm and get an extra USB-C cable in the box. As with a lot of portable drives, the Canvio’s cable isn’t that long, at around 45cm. And as it uses an old-style micro USB 3.0 port on the drive itself, it’s unlikely many will have a suitable spare lying around. The cable ends in a standard USB port…

PC CASE $169 | WWW.CORSAIR.COM The Crystal 280X is a much-needed update of the first and still impressive Carbide Air 240. Originally, the 240 was a shrunken variant of the Air 540 series, a compartmentalised cube, designed to allow for better temperature control and easier build access. From the outset, the 280X takes the best of Corsair’s Crystal series, and bakes it into a new variant of the fabled micro cube design. With added tempered glass now adorning the front panel, roof and side, there’s no denying how classy it looks. Done badly, tempered glass can seriously restrict airflow, but Corsair has seemingly dodged this issue. The front panel is a solid single piece of glass and plastic; there’s around 20mm of clearance between it and the front…

Wi-Fi might be one of Australia’s proudest technological creations (thanks, CSIRO!), but we all know how flaky it can be even under the best circumstances. Unfortunately, not everybody can lay Ethernet cable through their home or use Ethernet-overpowerline kits, so Wi-Fi is often the only available option. Thankfully, the technology has improved massively over the last few years, but there are still some huge caveats and misunderstandings about the technology. The biggest marketing mistruth is the speed that today’s Wi-Fi routers are capable of, with many claiming combined speeds of over 5,000Mbps. This is usually designated on the box as a speed beginning with the term “AC [insert speed here]”. For example, the ASUS RoG Rapture GT-AC5300 claims to have a top speed of 5,300Mbps, but closer examination reveals that…

SAFER WEB SURFING Add these essential add-ons to Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox to give you the ultimate protection when online. PROTECT YOUR ANDROID We reveal everything you need to know about defending your Android phone or tablet. SUPER-SECURE PASSWORDS MADE EASY Human laziness, complacency, general failings and unending ingenuity to subvert systems have undermined passwords forever. It’s time to next-gen your security, and save all your passwords. SECURE YOUR APPLE DEVICES Make your Mac, iPhone or iPad as safe as they can possibly be. PROTECT YOURSELF FROM RANSOMWARE How to avoid ransomware or rescue your PC if it’s already infected. SECURELY DELETE DATA WITH ERASER Worried about your old data? We offer a permanent solution with this free utility. WHICH WINDOWS SECURITY SUITE? Having a security suite installed is…

So it’s down to you which you feel works the best. The first is 1Password; prices start at US$2.99 per month for a single user, and US$4.99 for a family account for four people. DashLane is a major player and offers a number of plans that will suit a wide range of consumer and business uses. The basic plan is free for all, but is limited to working on a single device. The paid home plan is US$3.33 a month, and supports unlimited devices, password sharing, and Yubikey TFA support. A business plan starts at US$4 per user, and includes remote management, group sharing of passwords, and enhanced TFA options, among other things. Our final option is Keeper Security. It has a similar structure to DashLane, but opts to have…

$70 FOR 5 DEVICES FOR 1 YEAR | WWW.BITDEFENDER.COM.AU Although its overall rating took a modest hit in the most recent AV-Test benchmarks due to some overzealous filtering of new applications, Bitdefender Total Security remains our favourite suite overall, both for its extremely capable detection and removal system, as well as the sheer volume of features it supports. The set of features available in Bitdefender is equalled by no other suite. Of course, it has your basics: firewall, anti-malware and anti-spam. But it protects against so much more. There’s a secure browser for online shopping and banking, anti-theft tools for laptops and mobiles, a file shedder, a security auditor, system cleanup, version checking, webcam access monitoring, password manager, social network protection and much more. We’ve been particularly impressed…

One of the advantages of macOS is the system’s built-in security features. Ideally, you should get Mac apps from the Mac App Store. However, sometimes you may want an app from a third-party. Apple can give developers a unique ID for their apps — Gatekeeper uses this to recognise legitimate apps, and can block those that don’t have a valid ID. Another useful feature is FileVault. This lets macOS encrypt your Mac’s startup disk, preventing unauthorised access to key areas of your computer. You should always protect your Mac with a strong password, too. Use the password generator in Keychain Access, in ‘File > New Password Item’ and click the button that shows a key. Finally, create two user accounts. Make a standard account for everyday use, and a more…

Modern PCs can use a lot of electricity. The power supply in a desktop can potentially draw over a kilowatt, especially if the PC was built with gaming or 4K video editing in mind. You don’t need that if you’re surfing the web or preparing a few word processing documents, however, and that’s where Windows’ power management options come in. Laptops use less power than desktops, but when on the move, you need to conserve your battery life, and power saving can help. Not only can you specify when your PC will go to sleep, or hibernate, but you can also dig deep into the settings to restrict your processor’s maximum frequency or when your hard drives stop spinning to save power. If that sounds a bit technical, Windows already…

1 RGB WORKING SPACE Don’t pick your display’s profile here. Use sRGB or Adobe RGB for print, or DCI P3 for video. 2 CMYK WORKING SPACE Pick a press profile as preferred by your printer, such as US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 or Coated FOGRA27 (or 39). 3 RENDERING INTENT This governs how colours are converted. The Relative Colorimetric setting is best for most purposes. 4 CONVERT OPENED FILES Tick this if you often receive files with odd profiles or different from your intended output.…

Presentation software is hardly the stuff of legends. Unless by legends, you mean legendary dull afternoons spent in a meeting room watching uninspired slide after slide slip into the virtual dustbin of oblivion. It doesn’t have to be this way. Done correctly, slideshows can be a powerful way to share information, draw attention to important messages and ensure people working together have the same understanding so projects can get completed faster. It can also be done in a way that doesn’t bore everyone silly! Now, this is the part where we’d normally say, “And this is where LibreOffice Impress comes in,” but the choice of technology in this case is only one part of the equation. The success of a presentation is all about the delivery and how it’s received…

In last month’s Android Masterclass, we looked at how you can take your Android audio to the next level, and as a result of renewed focus by almost every vendor from Google down, the beats you listen to are steadily improving. Yet, while Bluetooth audio is receiving plenty of new love, thanks to Qualcomm and Sony, you might still find it easier to stream your audio via Wi-Fi and devices like Google’s Chromecast Audio dongle. However, if you have an old Android phone holding up a shelf, here’s a chance to dust it off and make your own Chromecast Audio clone. And no, you won’t need root-access, either. BUDGET BUYS I have a thing for budget prepaid Android phones, but to limit myself, the rule is I only buy one…

There’s something of an arms race between Nvidia and AMD to provide smooth frame rates to your living room, with FreeSync soon to become available on a bunch of Samsung QLED TVs following the announcement of an AMD-Samsung partnership. Earlier this year, Nvidia made its G-Sync available to some of its hardware partners, so it’s only natural that AMD would seek to play the catch-up game. “With Samsung’s FreeSync technology QLED TVs, extra smooth gameplay visuals have never been so accessible, and never in such a large and appealing format,” announced the Vice President and General Manager of AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group, Scott Herkelman. At Computex this year, ASUS announced two new gaming monitors — one for PC gaming, and one destined for the living room (the 4K 31.5-inch CG32UQ),…

PC, PS4, XO, SWITCH | FROM $69.95 | WWW.BATTLECHASERS.COM With a terrible name that’s reminiscent of the hundreds of free mobile roleplaying games that choke up the iOS and Android app stores, it’d be easy to overlook Battle Chasers: Nightwar — but fans of fantasy RPGs really shouldn’t skip this one, as it’s a well-executed and entertaining title using elements that are uncommon these days. Nightwar serves as a continuation of the Battle Chasers comic series, which was both born and fizzled out in the late 1990s after just nine issues — creator Joe Madureira seemingly struggled to keep up with the demands of both writing and pencilling every issue. Over 15 years later, he’s managed to return to the fantasy universe he created — now with experience…

PC, PS4, XO | $89.95 | WWW.VAMPYR-GAME.COM RPGs are very much the mainstream in 2018: so it’s weird that there’s very little experimentation among blockbuster devs in terms of setting: we’re normally delivered fantasy RPGs (The Witcher 3), sci-fi RPGs (Mass Effect) or post-apocalyptic RPGs (Fallout). Those archetypes seem to have a stranglehold on the genre. Which makes Vampyr interesting right out of the gate: set in interwar London, the player is cast as Jonathan Reid, a renown doctor who specialises in blood transfusions. The problem is, Reid is a vampire: he thirsts for blood, and his means of acquiring it forms the central novelty of this RPG. Throughout the semi-open-world regions of London, he’ll travel, NPCs both significant and otherwise will be available to murder for their…

GDPR law is the perfect cure for insomnia Counting sheep is so yesterday... As an unwilling member of the insomniac crowd, we’re always on the lookout for a tried-and-true method to help us get to sleep and to stay there for the right amount of time. Well, Calm, an online blog dedicated to the promotion of better mental health activities and breathing exercises, has developed a unique solution: turning EU legislation into an audio sleeping aid. The EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a 209-page document that, according to the blog, is a perfect “bedtime story for grown-ups” (read: it’s boring as bat shit). Calm’s series Sleep Stories now features ‘Once Upon a GDPR’, a lengthy reading of the legislation by renowned radio announcer Peter Jefferson of BBC’s…

Wi-Fi devices have been using the decrepit WPA2 security protocol since it first started rolling out in 2004, and the Wi-Fi Alliance — the organisation that looks after Wi-Fi standards — has now finally begun certifying its successor, WPA3, some14 long years later. WPA3 debuts Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), a security protocol that provides better defences against potential password guessing attempts, as well as Protected Management Frames (PMF) to defend against malicious parties eavesdropping on data transmissions. Homes using WPA3-supported routers can expect a tougher system of password-based authentication, even when they choose a weak password, while WPA3-Enterprise protocol for businesses could have ramped-up 192-bit encryption to protect their data. WPA3 also features Easy Connect, a new system which makes it easy to hook up IoT devices by just…

While you may consider the drone to be little more than a fun remote-controlled device you might fire up every now and then to take a few cool nature shots or annoy the neighbour’s dog, it has uses far beyond the boundaries of your back garden or local park. Whether that’s helping scientists with field tests or saving lives (animal and human), they’ve got more to offer than delivering your Amazon wishlist! Here are some examples of amazing beneficial endeavours being carried out with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles. Distributing sterile mosquitos to combat Zika Each year, millions of people die from mosquito-carried diseases, and while the media hasn’t recently been as focused on Zika as it had been back in 2017, the illness is still around and still…

Huawei is angling for the high-end segment with its three-eyed raven P20 Pro. It has packed a ton of tech in here, what with three cameras, plus a 24MP selfie cam — all topped off by a notched display. Hate it or love it, we’re tearing it down. MAJOR TECH SPECS ■ 6.1-inch OLED touchscreen with 2,240 x 1,080 (408ppi) ■ Octa-core Kirin 970 with Mali-G72 MP12 GPU and a dedicated NPU ■ Triple-camera 40MP + 8MP + 20MP, f/1.6 and f/2.4 main camera unit by Leica ■ 24 megapixel (no, that’s not a typo) f/2.0 selfie camera ■ 128GB storage and 6GB RAM ■ Android 8.1 Oreo KEY FINDINGS ■ Huawei has opted to notch the display of the P20 around its camera and earpiece speaker. Compared to its…

TABLET $1,999 | WWW.HP.COM/AU The power gap between Intel’s efficient mobile processors and the most grunty ARM-based tablet CPUs has been slowly narrowing over the last few years, and it’s a rift that’s finally met in the form of this HP Envy x2. Qualcomm is the first major phone-chip maker to cross over, using a 10-nm Snapdragon 835 processor as the foundation for this first ARM-based device capable of running a full-fat version of the Windows OS. The 835 is an eight-core ARM based CPU that, according to Qualcomm, is a third smaller and 25% more efficient than its previous chips. ARM processors are built in such a way that they’re more efficient in terms of power vs performance, and HP is hoping to use this feature set…

32:9 ULTRAWIDE MONITOR $1,999 | WWW.SAMSUNG.COM/AU Stop that. It’s silly. This, we wager, is roughly what goes through your mind as you regard Samsung’s latest ubertron, the C49J89. It isn’t just physically huge in objective terms, measuring 49 inches across its outrageously ample diagonal. It’s also visually vast, thanks to its extreme 32:9 aspect ratio. Surely, this isn’t sensible? But hold on. When the first superwide 21:9 aspect monitors appeared, opinion was divided. Now they’re relatively mainstream and extremely popular. Could familiarity normalise the C49J89’s even wider proportions in a similar manner? Hold that thought as we run through the key speeds and feeds. Panel-wise, we’re talking 49 inches of VA shizzle with an 1800R curvature. It’s good for a static contrast ratio of 3,000:1, which is nice,…

NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE $470 | WWW.NETGEAR.COM.AU Here’s a classic example of a modern NAS box. It’s designed to be purchased for a specific job, but can be repurposed repeatedly over its working life. Can this new series of ReadyNAS hardware take on Synology in that slice of the market where it is strongest? The RN422 is over-engineered to the point that it feels heavy even before drives are mounted. The look that Netgear is pitching with the new ReadyNAS series is a minimalist one with a twist of functionality. The fascia is hinged on the left and opens to reveal the two internal drive bays that enable either 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives to be quickly mounted. The larger drives don’t require any tools to install, but you will need…

Ping testing was performed using CS:GO, with both PCs connected to router via Ethernet; laptop was downloading a 5GB file via Dropbox, while gaming client ran CS:GO and played a 4K YouTube demo video. Wi-Fi speed testing was performed using LAN Speed Test app, using a 1GB test file. Close range was approx 1.5 metres, long range was approx 10 metres, with two half-concrete walls in between router and client. Each Wi-Fi file transfer test was repeated three times and then averaged. All routers had the most current firmware available installed at time of testing.…

The web can be a dangerous place, full of ransomware, adware, viruses and other nasties — and that means your browsing habits, and your privacy, can be put at risk. While having an antivirus program helps — say, Windows 10’s own built-in Windows Defender tool, or a third-party piece of software such as Norton Antivirus — there are also a number of add-ons (also called extensions) that can be added to your web browser to give you extra protection. These add-ons are lightweight tools that run from within your browser, which means they don’t need to be installed separately. This helps saves drive space, and ensures that your PC won’t get slowed down either. The three most popular web browsers are Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox and, of course, Microsoft Edge,…

But for security software, its publicly scrutinisable code tends to provide peace of mind, while largely ensuring a project can continue even if the original organisation or developer packs up their bags, as the source code stays open to be picked up by someone else. We’re going to highlight two strong open-source candidates. The first is the well-known KeePass.info. Don’t confuse this with the largely defunct KeePassX.org that hasn’t been updated for two years. There is a fork called KeePassXC.org, which is up to date, but we’ll stick with KeePass as it has many unofficial respins for Android and other devices that make it easier to use. KeePass isn’t as straightforward as the commercial alternatives; the main hoop you need to jump through is for multi-device synchronisation, where a third-party…

FREE | WWW.AVIRA.COM Once upon a time, if you wanted a free security solution, you had to cobble it together from various free apps. You don’t need to do that anymore. Avira, Qihoo, Comodo, Outpost and Panda among other offers full suites — completely free. Of course, you can still roll your own if you really want to, but why would you when a single solution is so much easier? When it comes to free suites, none offers more than Avira. It provides anti-malware, system tune-up, a cloud-based password manager, secure browser, a volume-limited VPN (with 1GB/month), a web and search filter, and a software update checker. You can manage multiple devices from a single desktop, as well. It’s a pretty comprehensive package for something that costs nothing.…

Apple is known for the security of its devices, but as the proliferation of digital technology has accelerated, Apple devices have become more appetising targets for the ne’er-dowells of the world. That means it’s more important than ever to understand how to make your devices as secure as they can possibly be. Despite its reputation for watertight security, Apple has suffered embarrassing security slips in the recent past — from text messages crashing iPhones because of dodgy glyphs, to the discovery that the all-powerful root user on the Mac could be accessed without a password. And then there’s Meltdown and Spectre — vulnerabilities which affect a huge range of modern processors, including those found on the Mac, iPhone and iPad. These stories illustrate the need to keep your Apple devices…

Pihole, for example, really needs to take control of port 80, because your HTTP traffic is routed through it — but what if another container also needs to use port 80? It’s possible, as we’ve seen, to remap those ports in your docker-compose.yml, piping port 80 from the container to any other free port on the host, but that’s much more awkward than it needs to be when you’re connecting to your server from elsewhere. Combining a little DNS management with a reverse proxy (we’re partial to nginx-proxy) means all requests to your server are collected and rerouted to the appropriate container based on the hostname used; plex.apc.local, for example, might take you to your Plex server without the need to remember which port it’s living on. Nginx can also…

1 USE POWER & SLEEP SETTINGS In Windows 10, pop up the Start menu and type “power”, and look for ‘Power & sleep’ in System Settings. Click on this, and a window will appear enabling you to alter the settings. Choose how long you’d like to leave your PC idle before it goes to sleep or turns off its screen. If you have a laptop, you can have different settings for battery power or when plugged in. 2 ADDITIONAL POWER SETTINGS Click the ‘Additional power settings’ link to be taken to the Power Options window. Here, you can choose between Windows’ preset power plans: Balanced, High performance and Power saver. If you’re playing games or editing video, you’ll want High performance. If you’re trying to eke out every last bit…

Clips isn’t your everyday video-editing app. Apple designed it with social media in mind — which is obvious from the way it works with square video clips, and images that look best on mobile screens and in web browsers. Although it can be used on the go — snap a clip, make some adjustments and share it on social media — there are lots of clever and powerful tools hidden away behind the scenes to help you deliver striking video clips complete with a veritable smorgasbord of filters and effects. You can also import clips from your iPad’s library — or if you’re looking for a way to spruce up an old video sitting on your Mac’s hard drive, the quickest way to send it across is via AirDrop. MASTER…

Digital audio recording has always been one of the top two most popular topics we’ve covered in our Arduino masterclass (the other being robots). The problem with most micro-controller unit (MCU) boards, though, is that they’re not designed for digital audio. Previously, we’ve cajoled older 8-bit Arduino boards such as the Nano, Uno and Mega2560 into recording audio, but this month, we’re taking on our first ARM Cortex-M3 MCU version using the popular mini STM32F103 board selling on eBay for under $5. CORTEX-A VS CORTEX-M The tiny Nano-style board we’re using for this project features ST Microelectronics’ STM32F103C8T6 MCU based on ARM’s popular 32-bit Cortex-M3 processor core. Android phones use Cortex-A series CPUs designed to run a full-blown operating system, but the Cortex-M series are for ‘embedded’ applications where there’s…

“It felt like an inevitability. Theexcuses were running out and the support was there.” The presence of a kick-arse female soldier in the Battlefield 5 reveal (plus box art) in May this year sparked controversy, unsurprisingly. While many (male) gamers have voiced their anger based on “historical inaccuracy” — women weren’t allowed to go to war unless they were nurses or secretaries, so a game purporting realism shouldn’t contain any women wielding guns (or cricket bats wrapped in barbed wire) — developer DICE’s general manager Oskar Gabrielson came out strongly in defence of their decision to include the character. On Twitter, Gabrielson declared that “female playable characters are here to stay” and that the team wants to “give players choice to choose ... the characters they play with”. While also…

PC, PS4, XO | $50 | WWW.THE-PILLARS-OF-THE-EARTH-GAME.COM Adventure games tend to hinge on a specific theme or gimmick, and that’s what makes this game so refreshing. It’s about ordinary people, with a rich setting based on a fascinating and rarely explored period of history. It’s not as immediately thrilling as some, but it has one of the deepest, most mature stories we’ve ever encountered. Based on the novel by Ken Follett, the game is set in 12th century England, telling the story of the village of Kingsbridge over a number of years. War, poverty and corruption are rife in this period, and we see three very different lives unexpectedly intertwined by the turmoil of the era. Split into three episodes, the story hops between these different points of…