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Articles and tutorials
Athlon overclocking adventure! - How to use funky hardware to make a fast CPU faster...
Athlon water cooling adventure! - ...and faster still! Air-cooled overclockers are weenies!
Bandwidth, and how to use it up - How fat a pipe do you need for different Internet activities?
Building the glow-box - The ingredients of a show-off PC...
Canterwood, Springdale and 800MHz P4s, oh my - The new frontier for overclocking!
Computers in space - What're we shooting up there, and why?
How to add a fan to the Diamond Viper V550 - cool off this hot card the easy way!
How to bake your CPU! - How and why a PC water cooling system failed, and what I did about it...
How to build a PC - Illustrated, step by step guide to building a Pentium II PC!
How to build an all-purpose PC - Decent performance at a reasonable price - it can be done!
How to build a basic PC - Simple motherboards like Intel's CA810 series make it easy to build a computer
How to make an LED caselight - Better than neon, and quite easy to build!
How to make a Luxeon Star LED caselight - Bigger, brighter, and less to solder!
Cooling your PC the SERIOUS way - how to add a BIG fan to your PC case and fix your heat problems forever!
CPU coolers - How to hook 'em on without breaking anything...
Dan's Long-Awaited Photo Tutorial-ish Thing - It might not teach you anything, but at least it's huge.
Digital camera batteries - How to get MORE POWER for your digital camera!
Digital camera data - The lowdown on CCDs, and photographic terms explained
Digital video decoded - Analogue and digital video compared
Do it yourself! Or don't... - It started as more RAID fiddling. It ended as the usual big pile of problems.
Fan maintenance - Oiling bearings for fun and profit!
Gibbering clones the future of Usenet? - Sporge was a new phenomenon when I first wrote this in 1999. Can you believe that people are still doing it?
Graphics formats explained - What to use and why
Hacking the Asus A7A266 - How to add multiplier adjustment to this dual-fuel Socket A board!
HDTV on the cheap - Using the DGTEC DH-2000A Digital Set Top Box and a PC monitor to get High Definition TV at a budget price!
Hot chips - Can aftermarket computer upgrade chips make your car faster?
IDE RAID on the KA7-100 - Four drives are better than one - and cheaper than SCSI!
Inside your power supply - What do all of those things inside your PSU do, anyway?
Mini-PCs - Small versus smaller; how little can a PC be and still take standard components?
Minnows 1, whales 0 - Why the big New Media companies just can't cut it against sites like, oh, this one.
Networking Explained - The basics and the details of PC Ethernet networking, in English!
Apparently, I'm upgrading. - Some choose a new PC, some have a new PC thrust upon them...
Peltiers in practice - How to tell how well they work...
Picking a Peltier - Want to supercool your CPU? Here's what you need to know.
Plugs, sockets and you - Common PC power connectors can actually be rather hard to find...
Speakers versus headphones - They're not necessarily different in the ways you think.
Techno-Tools - PC hacking tools you never knew you needed until now!
The DIY UPS - How to build your own Uninterruptible Power Supply!
Thrilling tales of NTFS compression - For many people, disk compression is just a bad memory. But the built-in Windows version can, sometimes, be surprisingly useful.
To SLI or not to SLI - In which I go searching for the truth about new-style SLI, and find a lovely CPU by accident.
Upgrade your UPS! (with some car batteries) - What could possibly go wrong?
What to upgrade, what to upgrade... - Can it be that a 15 month old PC needs nothing but a new video card to get right back in the game?
Which video card? - Good question. Good, complex, scary question.
Windows vs Linux vs SnapGear LITE+ - Which to choose for connecting your LAN to the Internet?
Reviews
Books
Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 13th Edition - Is this huge book as good as it is heavy?
Shooting Digital - At last, a photo book that doesn't waste pages on silver halide!
Cameras
Agfa ePhoto CL30 Clik! - At last, a digital camera with good, cheap storage! But what about the rest of the package?
Aiptek Palm Cam Trio and Pen Cam Trio - Cheap, fun webcams that can work without wires!
Aiptek Pocket DV II - The new king of the baby-cameras?
Aiptek VGA PenCam Trio - 640 by 480 resolution, dirt cheap!
AVerMedia AVerFotoplay - Memory card to TV in one step!
Canon EOS 20D digital camera - What can I say that hasn't already been said? Quite a lot, actually.
Canon EOS D60 digital camera - A rather expensive photographic devices, reviewed at great length
Cheap digital camera comparison - Aiptek PenCam VR 2 and Ultra versus Hercules DualPix!
Cyber Snipa Spotter webcam - Wow! "7x to 18x zoom"! That's actually a lie, but this is still a decent little camera.
Digital camera shootout - Olympus C-2500L versus Sony DSC-F505!
Digitrex DSC 2100 - A suspiciously cheap digicam that's actually pretty good!
ETime Home Endoscope ("Digital Pen Camera") - It's a USB video camera that you can stick up your nose! What more could you possibly want?
Ezonics PC cameras compared - Three webcams, one dual mode, all cheap; any good?
GrandVision CoolDV 350 - A great little camera, with at least two names...
GTW Electronics keyring digital camera - Cameras really can't get much smaller than this...
Hitachi DZ-MV100A DVD Cam - A camcorder that records to 77mm DVD-RAM discs. Seriously.
Kodak digital camera comparison - How does the DC220 stack up against the DC120?
Lensbaby 2.0 - The lens that bends.
Logitech QuickCam Home USB - Simple, fun, easy to use; the cheap PC camera perfected?
Mission3-D Photo3-D 303 kit - 3D photography made easy!
Mustek DV3000 digital camera - Well, the OEM version of it, anyway.
Olympus C-2100 Ultra Zoom - A brilliant digital camera, if you can afford it...
Sony DCR-IP7 Network Handycam IP - Very small, tons of features, much show-off potential. But is it any good?
Sony DCR-TRV820E - A digital Handycam with practically every feature you could want.
Sony DSC-P1 - One very small digital camera, up against one very good one...
Sony MVC-CD1000 digital camera - 10X zoom, image stabiliser, CD writer... is this the ultimate toy?!
Sunrich Technology eDVR digital camera - Small, light, cheap... and quirky.
Swann Wireless Guardian and SpyCam - A one-box wireless surveillance system, and a video camera small enough to use as a navel decoration!
The ten-minute ring light - How to make yourself an important piece of macrophotography hardware quickly and cheaply.
UMAX AstraCam - Basic digital photography without the hidden extras - and with pretty good image quality, too!
Vcam CU-68R and CU-99A - Low cost webcams with decent image quality!
Webcam shootout - Logitech QuickCam Express versus D-Link DSB-C300!
Webcam shootout 2 - QuickCam Express vs QuickCam Pro 3000 vs Lifeview Robocam!
Category defying
Aerobie AeroPress - Can an amazing kitchen gadget actually be useful?
Asus VR-100 3D glasses - Super-cheap shutter-glasses for real 3D
AverMedia TVPhone98 w/VCR - TV on your PC, with direct-to-disk video recording!
Barix Exstreamer - Ethernet in, audio out.
Batterylife Activator - Can a sticker rejuvenate your batteries?
Benchcrafted Mag-Blok - It's a piece of magnetic wood. It's surprisingly useful.
BookGem book holder - Hands-free reading!
Centos CI-6900 and CI-6950 - FireWire controller cards with a bonus - USB ports on one, ATA-100 RAID on the other.
Cyber Snipa Dog Tags - ID tags that conceal a toolkit!
DigitalPersona U.are.U Personal - Fingerprint authentication to save you from remembering passwords. What's the catch?
Digitalk Communicator - Cheap, featureful UHF CB transceiver!
Edirol UM-1EX MIDI interface - USB in, MIDI out. And in. And optionally thru.
Edmund Scientific Astroscan - Can something this cute actually be a good telescope?
EasyClone PC Duplicator - Turn one computer into two!
Firepower folderol - About a zillion places to download something which the rip-off artists at Firepower would apparently prefer you didn't see.
Flexiglow Multi Tool Flash Drive - It's a pocketknife! It's a thumb drive! It's not stupidly expensive, and it doesn't suck!
Geil iBall MP3 Video Player - It tries to do everything, but it does some things rather well.
Gigastorage Cursor MP3 player - A mini-CD MP3 player with some unfortunate personality defects...
Hacking and heritage - The history of the hack is much longer than the history of the electronic computer. Even genuinely new hacks can trace their lineage further than you might think.
Hecsan Rollup Piano - The four-octave piano that fits in a skinny briefcase!
Inka Pen - The Future Of Writing! (Or possibly the past.)
Jaycar electricity consumption meter - Cheap wattmeters have finally come to Australia!
Korg Karma synthesiser - The best musical instrument ever for the computer geek.
Lifeview Encoder 4 - VGA to video the cheap and easy way!
Lifeview Finger ID - Fingerprint-scanning computer log-on and file encryption. Who needs flying cars?
Lifeview LifeTV - A spiffy looking USB TV tuner for PC and Mac - but is it any good?
Mini MP3 player comparison - Creative's MuVo meets The Player With No Name...
Mini MP3 player comparison addendum - Another anonymous but excellent player from TGE!
Mini MP3 player comparison addendum 2 - This one's got a name. Well, a brand name. A really funny brand name.
Mini MP3 players - the saga continues! - One little one, one very little one...
Miyabi 613 hunting knife - Big. Shiny. Dangerous.
Cheap. And surprisingly good!
Mobiblu DAH-220 MP3 player - Cassette-shaped players will never die!
Netgear MP101 Digital Music Player - When it was new, it sucked. A year later, it's surprisingly good.
Noontec V9-T HD media player and dual-tuner PVR - A quite cheap dual-tuner network-connected PVR box for Australian digital TV. But is it any good?
Peculiar pens - Rainbow pens, double-ended pens, magnetic pens...
PocketMail - Mobile e-mail from anywhere, and two gadgets that let you access it...
Seitec PR3011 MP3 player - Small, cheap, full of features, and weird.
The Wine Clip - Can magnets make wine better?
USB gadget roundup - Lights, networking, a cigarette lighter adapter and a very silly mouse.
Victorinox SwissFlame - It's a knife. It's a lighter. It's a gadget. You want one.
Voice Over IP for $60, or $200, or $0 - It only took ten years for VoIP to take off.
WeWa WMP-3000+ Butterfly MP3 player - Size of a cigarette lighter. One million features.
WizCom Technologies QuickLink Pen - Super-portable OCR that actually works!
Wireless PC Lock - Can PC security be a no-brainer?
ZOT 717 print server - a print server the size of a pack of cigarettes!
Cases and accessories
3R System R201 - Biggest Power Light Ever!
AOpen H600A PC case - A midi-tower with a lot of fancy features, for a reasonable price.
AOpen HX 45 midi-tower case - A high quality small ATX case. I use one!
AOpen MT 85 microATX case - Proof that tiny cases don't have to be horrible
AOpen MX3W and Asus CUWE-RM microATX motherboards - Tiny but unusually featureful mainboards
Atlas SF-201-1, SF-201S, SF-201B, SF-860G and SF-880B PC cases - Three fancy show-off cases, and a couple of cheapies with a great party trick!
Atlas twin window SF-201 PC case - Two windows, one light and one thermal fan controller, all standard equipment!
Case roundup - AOpen H500W and A340, Chyang Fun CF-2029B, and FastWin FW-168A, all on one page!
CaseAce Products GearGrip Pro - Carry your computer in style!
CaseETC PC blacklight and UV fluorescent dye - Glow-in-the-dark computing!
Chieftec Scorpio TX-10WD computer case - Aluminium construction, keylocks, lots of fan mount points, and more!
Codegen ATX-6061 and ATX-6063 - Windows, lights, aluminium, low prices... what's the catch?
Codegen ATX-9001 server case - A decent little server case that's actually cheap
Cooler Master ATC-201B-BXT computer case - Black. Mirror finish. Aluminium. With a window.
Cooler Master ATC-600 computer case - A super-slick case for your stylin' lounge room PC!
Cooler Master ATC-620 computer cases - Newer and better!
Everglide LAN gaming accessories - Gadgets to make PC carrying, lighting and hooking up easier...
FastWin FW-810S - A super-solid aluminium case with some unusual features...
Gamerz Stuff Badge Lite - Light up your case badge! Why? Because you can!
GTR 7106 case - Now that's a funky front panel! Fortunately, there's something decent behind it.
GTR B-01 HTPC case - Can a home theatre PC case be cheap, yet not crap?
GTR iCute 0301 PC case - A show-off case with twelve, count 'em, twelve fans!
GTR MIO and QH01 cases - The huge fans have landed. Catch 'em before they take off again.
GTR Simple 103 microATX case - Small, and cheap, yet good.
iCute 0408 SL case - For fans of fans.
iCute 0508 case - The Huge Silly Turbine Case Saga Continues.
In Win Q500 tower case - Build your PC big!
Intelligent Design Mobile Rack - How fancy can a hard disk rack get?
Laser cut fan grilles - Nobody needs these things. But you may well want one.
Lian Li C-01 and F-01 drive bezels - Hide your drives in style!
Lian Li MF-20 and MF-30 - Add two or three more 3.5 inch drive bays to your case, the easy way!
Lian Li PC-30, PC-61, PC-65 and PC-69 computer cases - Filling the gaps in the Lian Li range...
Lian Li PC-31 - Small. Black. Stylish. Expensive. Worth owning?
Lian Li PC-39 case, and RH-321 and RH-322 drive racks - One little case with two integrated drive racks, plus the stand-alone versions of the racks
Lian Li PC-42 and PC-65B - One neat little microATX case, one show-off black case with a window!
Lian Li PC-5 and PC-6 - Cheap Lian Lis. Well, by their standards, anyway.
Lian Li PC-50, PC-601, PC-6100 and PC-7B computer cases - Four more Lian Lis hit the streets!
Lian Li PC-60 computer case - Aluminium. Shiny. Lots of drive bays. But can it stand to have all of them filled?
Lian Li PC-602 computer case - Want a PC-60USB but can't quite afford it? Try this!
Lian Li PC-6010 computer case - A Lian Li with disco fever!
Lian Li PC-6070 computer case - Big door, low noise.
Lian Li PC-6087, PC-6089 and PC-6099 cases - Windows! Doors! Lights! Drive bays!
Lian Li PC-60USB computer case, with options - Window! Front ports! Red lights! Expensive!
Lian Li PC-6277B computer case - Very special, limited edition, die cut, foil stamped...
Lian Li PC-70 computer case - Lian Li's great big tower case, with a ton of drive bays.
Lian Li PC-71 and PC-75 computer cases - A black PC-70, and a PC-70 with a window!
Lian Li PC-76 server case - What makes the PC-70 look little? This monster does!
Lian Li PC-9300 microATX case - Tiny, but with more features than you might expect!
Lian Li PC-S80 PC case - Heavy, quiet, and surprisingly complicated.
Lian Li PC-V1000 computer case - A star is born!
Lian Li T-3 and T-3B LCD Thermometers - The best illegible thermometers I've ever seen.
Lian Li T-4 LCD Thermometer - Two displays, good looks, easy installation; but is it worth the money?
Lian Li self-adhesive aluminium drive bezels - Make your beige drives match your silver case!
NoiseControl NoVibes III - Nifty rubber-suspended hard drive mount to help silence your PC
NZXT Guardian PC case - Looks ludicrous, works well!
Silverstone LC11 HTPC case - A slimline enclosure with room for a real PC!
SilverStone TJ06 PC case - A cross between ATX and BTX, with hybrid vigour.
Skyhawk Eagle AL-ATX4378+C-SL computer case - Aluminium, sexy, lots of features. But is it as good as a Lian Li?
Skymaster 5.25 inch IEEE-1394 drive case - The little case's big brother. Decent price, but is it any good?
Skymaster DEN-0251 Dual Face and New Motion 2.5" Combo Enclosure - External USB/FireWire boxes for 2.5 inch hard drives
Skymaster IEEE-1394 external drive case - Decently fast, highly portable, reasonable price. So what's wrong with it?
Spire Soundpad and Akasa Paxmate - Silence your PC with stick-on foam?
Topower TP-1400 server case - A serious 14 bay server case, for a serious price
Topower TP-1945 rack mount PC case - A full-featured 19 inch rack mount case
Vipower VP-8058 USB MobileRack - A removable IDE drive rack with a clip-on USB interface!
Xbags PC and monitor carriers - Super-tough transport solutions for PCs and CRTs
CD/DVD
Acer CRW 2010A CD writer - 20X CD writing, baby! But can it possibly be as good as it looks?
AOpen CRS-644U CD rewriter - An ultra-slim external CD writer for people on the go.
AOpen RW5120A DVD+RW drive - Fast, well-priced, and can copy DVDs. But there's more to it than that...
Delta OME-W141 CD burner - CD-R, CD-RW and fast reading, too, at a bargain price!
Jaton Magic DVD upgrade kit - A cheap, simple, high quality DVD upgrade kit for your PC!
MP3 CD player comparison! - Pine's SM-200C and Compro's MPCD-455 head to head! Portable MP3 CD players are so cool.
Oddball CD-R comparison - Coloured ones, black ones, little ones, rectangular ones...
TEAC CD-C68E six disc CD-ROM drive - Six discs in one drive, the same size as a regular CD-ROM. Cool!
Cooling
2COOLPC ducted cooling fans - A simple but effective way to make your case airflow go where it's needed.
Aguatec integrated water cooler - Another attempt at one-box liquid cooling.
Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer - Quieten your Radeon!
Arctic Silver Ceramique and Thermaltake Volcano 11+ - A killer CPU cooling combination?
Badong CPU Cooling Wizard - Weird name, strange packaging, good product!
BayCooler 2 - A classy hard disk cooling rack
Connectland CEK-07-610B CPU cooler - Three fans. Count 'em. Three.
Cooler Master Musketeer - Best looking fan controller ever!
CPU coolers compared - A whole load of coolers, tested and specced! Updated regularly!
Chip cooler round-up! - Alpha PAL15, Kanie Hedgehog 238M, Just Cooler P-925, and Thermaltake Chrome Orb and Blue Orb, compared and contrasted.
GTR Multi-Function Panels and fan speed controller - Something to do with your spare drive bays!
Infinipro AquaCool water cooling gear - All-in-one stealth extreme cooling for pretty much any CPU!
Just Cooler Computer Remote Control - Press your power and reset buttons from 20 metres away - through a wall!
Just Cooler FC-100 Fan Alarm - This could be a quite handy gadget. If it worked.
Just Cooler case coolers - Five different PC cooling fans compared and contrasted!
Just Cooler coolers part 2 - Monitor, laptop and printer port slot coolers reviewed...
Kool Solutions Chill Vent 1 - More air for your CPU cooler at a discount price!
Macpower DigitalDoc5 - Eight fans. Eight temperature probes. Pretty display. Any use?
OCZ Performance Series SDRAM and Thermaltake Memory Cooling Kit - Just how fast can SDR RAM go, anyway?
Power Devices thermal compound - Better than heat sink grease in almost every way...
Scythe Kamakaze CPU cooler - A heck of a name, for a heck of a cooler...
Spire SP441B0-F CoolWave CPU cooler - Quality P4 cooling in a compact package.
Spire SP420B2 CopperStream CPU cooler - Dead quiet, and dead sexy.
Spire SP420B2 CopperStream CPU cooler - Shinier, better, but no more expensive!
TherMagic CPU Cooling System and Thermal Interface Material - Fancy cooler, fancy grease. Any good?
Thermalright SLK-800U and SLK-900U - Bespoke copper CPU coolers for the gentry.
Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12 - Big name, big cooler.
Thermal transfer compound comparison - Arctic Silver, Arctic Alumina, Cooler Master and Nanotherm - and toothpaste, and Vegemite...
Thermally controlled fans compared - Thermaltake's A1214 and Cooler Master's DAF-B82 80mm thermal-sensor fans duke it out!
Three Socket A coolers - Glow, heat pipe, silence; take your pick!
TS Heatronics NCU-1000 CPU cooler - Big, passive, and heat-piped. And it works!
USB LED Fan - Cheap and cheerful - but how long will it last?
Y.S. Tech Tip-Magnetic Driving fan - The fan with the motor on the rim, and a CPU cooler that uses it!
CPUs and accessories
AMD "Thunderbird" Slot A Athlon CPU - New model. Goes faster. Costs the same!
AMD 1.2GHz Athlon with DDR memory - The thinking man's Pentium 4?
Duron in depth - AMD's baby Athlon delivers some serious bang for not many bucks - what do you need to know to get one running?
Intel "Celeron 2" 600 - The new Celeron's P-III based, and a right little screamer when overclocked...
Intel Pentium 4 CPU - Here we go again, folks. Faster, hotter and more expensive. MUCH more expensive.
Intel Pentium III CPU - It's the latest processor, but is it the greatest?
PPGA to Slot 1 Celeron adapter board - run a PPGA Celeron on a plain P-II motherboard!
Via C3 CPU - 800MHz, but slower than a 500MHz P-III. There's a reason why you might want one, though...
Via EPIA M10000 - One whole gigahertz of C3 power - but how much power is that?
Displays
Acer 7763P video projector - An ultra-portable DLP projector for little more than the price of an LCD!
Acer FP350 - A cheap(er) LCD screen. So what's the catch?
Benq VP150X LCD video projector - Small. Bright. Expensive.
ColorVision SpyderPRO with OptiCAL - Profile your monitor on the cheap!
Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC LCD monitor - If your monitor isn't bigger than your TV, what kind of nerd are you?
Flat screen comparison - Sony, Samsung and IBM LCD monitor shootout!
Hercules Prophetview 720 - An OK 15 inch LCD monitor that's cheap. Wonders never cease.
LCD monitor comparison - Acer FP581 versus Samsung SyncMaster 151MP and 560V
Pertelian X2040 auxiliary display - It's surprising how useful only 80 more characters can be.
Samsung SyncMaster 152B - A quality 15 inch LCD... but do you need it?
Samsung SyncMaster 172T - A high-class LCD put through its paces!
Samsung SyncMaster 753DF - Super image quality, and excellent value for money, too!
Samsung SyncMaster 900P and 900SL - 19 inch screens; high quality, low price.
Samsung SyncMaster 955DF - Dead flat, good size, nice price and a cherry on top.
Sony CPD-G400 - A very flat 19 inch screen with dual video inputs, but a pretty serious price too...
Sony VPLCS1 video projector - 800 by 600 projector power in a very small package
Sony VPLPX1 and VPLVW10HT video projectors - Spectacular specifications, and a pretty painful price...
VRJoy 3D glasses - Another attempt at real 3D on your PC...
Games
Black & White - Is it really the Best Game Ever?
Fable: The Lost Chapters - Forget the hype - enjoy the violence.
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms - The best Real Time Strategy game ever?
Why I'm playing WarCraft 3 - Not just because it beats working, OK?
Graphics cards
AOpen Artist PA50V video card - Low cost TV out, but dire 3D performance...
AOpen PA256Pro GeForce2 GTS video card - Serious speed, with TV out, on the cheap!
ATI Radeon DDR - Another contender in the top-end graphics card fight...
Abit Siluro GF2 MX - GeForce2 MX power in a graphics card from the motherboard kings!
Asus AGP-V3200 Voodoo Banshee graphics card - Decent performance, great price!
Asus AGP-V3800 Ultra graphics card - TNT2 Ultra power with all the trimmings!
Asus AGP-V7100/2VID graphics card - GeForce2 MX dual monitor motoring!
Asus AGP-V7100/T graphics card - The GeForce2 MX; serious speed at a budget price!
Asus AGP-V7700 Deluxe graphics card - As above, but with lots of knobs on...
Asus AGP-V7700 graphics card - GeForce2 power with hardware monitoring!
Asus AGP-V8200 Deluxe graphics card - GeForce3 with all possible options...
Butterfly TNT2 Model 64 video card - Is NVIDIA's "budget low end" video chipset up to snuff?
Diamond Monster 3D II - Diamond's Voodoo 2 3D gaming solution
Diamond Monster Fusion Z100 graphics card - the fastest Voodoo Banshee board you can buy
Diamond Viper II - S3 Savage 2000 power makes this hot 3D card an unpredictable performer...
Diamond Viper V550 - TNT power for video!
Gainward CARDEXPERT GeFORCE DDR - Cut-price, full-quality DDR GeForce graphics power!
Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 video card - Kyro II power makes this cheap-ish card a serious performer
Hercules 3D Prophet III video card - GeForce3 power with lots of blue aluminium - but does the metalwork matter?
Hercules budget video card comparison - Kyro versus GeForce 2 MX 400 versus GeForce DDR - who wins?
Jaton 3D Game Card II - When it comes to Voodoo 2, how slow is slow?
Jaton Video-107AGP 3D - Jaton's newer, faster, mid-range video card.
Jaton Video-78AGP 3D - A budget-priced video card with great performance for the money!
Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 GTS - Another 900 pound gorilla hits the graphics market!
Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 MX - Lots of power, nice low price. A graphics card for sensible people.
NVIDIA GeForce 256 graphics card comparison - Asus AGP-V6600 versus Asus AGP-V6600 Deluxe versus Leadtek WinFast GeForce 256 versus Leadtek WinFast GeForce 256 DDR!
PowerColor Evil Queen video card - Full-spec Voodoo Banshee performance on a budget!
Prolink PixelView XX-Player GeForce3 graphics card - The king is dead. Long live the king.
TNT2 Model 64 graphics card comparison - Asus' V3800 Magic and Leadtek's S325 compared
TNT2 graphics card comparison! - Asus' V3800TVR, Diamond's V770 and Leadtek's S320 II, head to head!
Triplex Millennium Silver Ti4200 graphics card - Less flashy than the Ti4600, but better value!
Triplex Millennium Silver Ti4600 graphics card - It's silver. It comes in a little briefcase. Fortunately, it's also an OK video card.
Triplex Millennium Silver XabrePRO graphics card - Fast, pretty, cheap. But quirky.
Input devices and accessories
A4 Tech KBS-835RP wireless mouse and keyboard, and RFW-33 wireless mouse - Cordless, rechargeable, RSI-reducing, super-low-power... well, that's what the brochure says
A4 Tech RFKB-5 cordless mouse and keyboard set - Cheap. Long range. Long battery life. Pick any three.
ACE CAD Acecat Flair graphics tablet - Super cheap, and pretty darn good!
Acer Future Keyboard - weird-looking but quite comfortable split keyboard with TouchPad built in
Belkin Nostromo n30 Game Mouse and n50 SpeedPad - Funky-looking accessories for the power gamer
Clicky keyboards again! - Can the best split keyboard be more than ten years old?
Cooler Master EAK-US1 keyboard - Brushed aluminium, black keys... but is it nice to type on?
Cordless mouse comparison - Logitech Cordless Wheel Mouse versus A4 Tech Cable-Free 4D Mouse
CS Hyde C4 NGen mouse mats - Woven-substrate PTFE-coated shiny-metallic mouse mats. And they're not even expensive. But how well do they last?
Cyber Snipa microfibre mouse mats - They're big. They're slick. Are they any good?
Cyber Snipa PC Gamepad 2 - Instant FPS nirvana, or just a really difficult way to write e-mails?
Deck keyboard - At last, a show-off keyboard that actually works!
Dexxa Optical Wheel Mouse - No-ball red-glow mousing just like Microsoft's IntelliEye products, but cheaper!
Everglide Giganta versus Ratpad - What's better than an Everglide? A really big Everglide! Or perhaps a Ratpad...
Everglide Wrist Rest Plus - Strange squishy foam to save your mouse hand from pain
Everglide mouse pads - Is this the King of the Mousemats?
Flexiglow Light Speed Keyboard - Pretty lights and a proper keypad; what's not to like?
Flite Tech strap-on mouse pad - Simple, elegant, useful. But rather nerdy.
fUnc Industries sUrface1030 mouse pad - The best mousemat in the world? With a box this pretentious, you'd want it to be.
Globlink wireless keyboards and Wireless Presenter - Two button-encrusted cordless keyboards, one funny-lookin' trackball.
Globlink Glassing Mouse and Cyber Snipa Intelliscope Laser Gaming Mouse - One optical mouse with a ball (!), one multi-coloured show-off.
Gravis Stinger game pad - Serial pad with a peculiar joystick...
IBM 42H1292 keyboard - Probably the best plain PC keyboard ever made.
IBM Keyboards - The Odyssey Continues - These things ain't never gonna die.
KeyGhost Security Keyboard - A high-capacity keystroke logger, built into an apparently normal keyboard...
KeyGhost II Professional - The same again, only now with more capacity, encryption, and universal stealth installation...
Keyboard comparison: Zippy Technology WK-888 and Ortek MCK-280 - Two silver and black 'boards, one cheap, one narrow...
Logitech Cordless Desktop - The cable-free keyboard and mouse!
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical and Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer - Cordless input devices with, perhaps, too much character...
Logitech Cordless MouseMan Optical - Optical sensor. No cable. Decent battery life. Pick any three.
Logitech MX series mouses - MX 300, 500 and 700, inside and out!
Logitech TrackMan Wheel trackball and WingMan Action Gamepad - An optical trackball with serious style, and a game pad with about a billion buttons!
Logitech iFeel mouses - Mouses with force feedback!
Master View CD-102U USB KVM Switch - The boring old keyboard-video-mouse switcher comes up to date!
MC Saite MC-086 mouse - Is it possible to buy a good
mouse for less than eight dollars?
MicroTracker Mouse Pad - Microfibre suede makes for a fuzzy mousing experience!
Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical - The third IntelliEye optical mouse - how's it stack up?
Microsoft IntelliMouse and IntelliMouse Explorer - Optical mouses that work on any surface!
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro - Hi-ho, it's another Swiss Army Keyboard...
Mini mouse comparison - A4 Tech Mini Size Mouse vs New Motion Tech Super Mini Mouse
Mouse Bungee - A must-have toy for the Gamer Who Has Everything.
Mouse comparison - Wheel Mouse Optical versus IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 versus MouseMan Dual Optical!
Mouse Skatez - Bet you never knew you could upgrade your mouse feet, did you?
Mouse Wax - Not, actually, as goofy as it sounds.
Mousemats compared - Lian Li aluminium mats versus special "Optical" Everglides...
Mousemats compared, again - RatpadzGS versus Speed-Pad versus Steelpad!
Natural Point trackIR cursor control system - No mouse, no stick, no pad... no hands needed!
Ortek Eagle Touch keyboards - PS/2 and USB, plain and "multimedia enhanced"; are any of them any good?
Palm Portable Keyboard - Possibly the funkiest input device ever made.
PCsensor FS1_P USB foot switch - A surprisingly
flexible alternative input device, that costs pretty close to nothing.
RantoPad P1B and P2B mousepads - Func-y, but with more stuff for less money.
RantoPad SC4, SC3, SC2, C1B and C1H mousepads - Big, bigger, biggest, bigger than biggest...
Razer Boomslang 2000 - The fastest, smoothest, hardest to use mouse in the world.
Razer Diamondback - Years later, and Razer's still making ultra-slick mouses that most people will hate. Such consistency!
Scythe Ergo Diver keyboard - The closer you look, the weirder it gets.
Shiny input devices! - A4 Tech GreatEYE Optical 4D Mouse, Ortek MCK-800 keyboard and Zippy Technology IR-710 wireless keyboard compared and contrasted...
Skyhawk novelty keyboards - One black and silver, one rubber and floppy...
Slicksteel mouse pad - Is stainless steel tough enough for you?
The Claw - An essential accessory for the FPS ninja?
Thrustmaster USB game controllers - Top Gun Fox 2 Pro, Fox 2 Shock and Afterburner II joysticks; FireStorm Dual Power and FireStorm Wireless gamepads!
Tidy Mouse mouse cleaning kit - De-cruft your mouse without ripping up the rollers!
Virtual Ink Mimio - Turn any whiteboard into a digital one in two minutes!
Wacom Graphire graphics tablet - Wireless, batteryless pen and mouse, at a great price!
WireWeights - Unnecessarily spiffy Mouse Cable Gadgets.
XTrac Pro and Zoom mouse pads - Wow! A cloth pad that doesn't suck!
Laptops
Asus L8400 laptop - Serious specifications, unusually low price!
Dell Inspiron 9200 - A laptop the size of a sofa-bed.
Griffin Technology Elevator laptop stand - Not as pretty as the last model, but it works better.
Lighting
Altus Lumen Tri-L LED flashlight - A brilliant little gadget, with a fatal flaw.
Arc Flashlight Arc-AAA Limited Edition and CMG Infinity Ultra - Long names for little lights!
Blue lights compared - Two electroluminescent widgets, two cold cathode fluorescents; what should you dress your case up with?
Bonfire Blaze versus Squid Light - One unusual little lamp, and one downright weird one!
CMG Reactor and Elektro Lumens Blaster III - Two quite different flashlights using the same lamp...
Dorcy 41-4262 LED flashlight - An unfortunate name for a great little light.
Eclipse Computer Light - It's eyestrain reduction with a power switch.
Elektro Lumens Blaster 3P and Junior LED flashlights - Better. Brighter. Cheaper.
Elektro Lumens FT-3C LED flashlight - WARNING: Do not look into beam with remaining eye.
Elektro Lumens Little Friend - They call it that for a reason.
Elektro Lumens Tesla-6 LED flashlight - Useful for illuminating large crowds, mountain ranges, other planets...
Elektro Lumens XM-2 LED flashlight - Replete with tacticality.
EternaLight EliteMax and Derringer - The most complex EternaLight, and the simplest...
EternaLight Rave'n - A four colour LED flashlight that's not as silly as it looks!
FlexiGlow Lazer Beam LED kits - Cheap and simple little LED spotlights
Fliklite and Arc-LS LED flashlights - Two pricey lights that cost a lot for a reason!
FrontaLED Trekker headlamp and Finewell Enterprise keyring flashlight - More LED lights for your delectation!
Glo-Toob FX - Small, bright, clever, and incredibly tough!
Glowsticks compared - Krill lamps versus Psycho-Sticks!
Glowy things! - A whole bunch of frivolous stuff for PC case decoration...
Krill electronic glow sticks - Now they come in three convenient sizes!
LED Lights Meet The Wolfman! - Opalec NewBeam, Out-Tec Flashlight Tuner, Streamlight Trident, Avexa Free Light, Antec LED Fans, and Litecubes!
LED flashlight comparison - LEDCorp versus Technology Associates in the space age torch war!
LED flashlight comparison number 2 - Tektite versus Streamlight versus old-fashioned Maglites!
LED flashlights, the saga continues - Tektite headlamp, Starlite 213Rs, Photon Micro-Lights...
LED lights - even more! - Luxeon Star flashlights, EternaLight EliteXRay, Zzz...Lites and the Bil-Lite!
LED lights - will it never end? - Eleven more assorted LED lights reviewed!
LED lights - no, it won't ever end - Another six lights, including two headlamps!
LED lights - and more, and more... - Some really weird ones this time!
LED light roundup ELEVEN! - Two big lights, two really little ones...
LongBow Micra LED flashlight - Very small, very bright.
LumaRay FL6 LED flashlight - Can a light that looks this freaky possibly work?
LumaRay FL6-2006 LED flashlight - Just as weird, but rather better.
LumaRay FL12 LED flashlight - It looks as if it's just an FL6 with more LEDs. It isn't, quite.
Mr Bulk LionCub LED flashlight - Expensive. Exclusive. And bloody bright.
PcMods neon light kit - Want to make your PC look silly? Do I have a product for you!
Peak LED Solutions flashlights - Small, bright, affordable, and amazingly variegated.
Peak LED Solutions flashlights: The Saga Continues - Three more lights. Lots more photons.
Photon II and Freedom Micro - New and improved versions of the best keyring lights out there
Princeton Tec Eclipse 2 - A genuinely different tiny-light with a sensible price tag!
Starlites versus Arc-AAA - LED flashlights that are actually cheap, versus the best light ever to run from one AAA cell!
Swiss Army Micro-Light Pocket Tool Chest - A pocketknife with a flashlight!
TerraLux DA-5W LED lamp - Five watts of modernisation, for Maglites of two sizes.
TerraLux MaxStar2N LED flashlight bulb - Another LED retrofit, but this one looks weird.
Ultrafire WF-501B and Xnova LED flashlights - Prices are down and efficiency's up, but can flashlights this cheap really be any good?
Weiguo Solutions Spotlight LED flashlight - A tiny little light for your car, that works surprisingly well.
X-Light key-ring flashlights - Budget lights from the makers of the Photon Micro-Light!
Yen Industries 12 LED Mini "Police" Torch - Long name, little light.
Memory
Asus CUV266 versus ECS P6IPA - DDR versus SDR memory; which Socket 370 motherboard wins?
Geil 1Gb PC-4200 Dual DDR kit - Two modules, lots of shiny metal, impressive specs... does it work?
OCZ PC3200 Revision 2 DDR RAM - It's fast. It's flashy. It's also, fortunately, actually good for something.
Modems
Directcom 56k modem - A decent modem for a good price
Dynalink VoiceDesk56 Pro modem - Supports both V.90 and K56flex out of the box!
Lightfax 5600 USB modem - Very small, quite cheap, and remarkably green.
Paradise Wavecom 56K modems - A modem that works as a standalone answering machine...
Motherboards
AOpen AX34 Pro II motherboard - Another black and shiny overclockers' board from AOpen...
AOpen AX6BC Pro II Millennium Edition - A show-off motherboard that delivers the goods
Abit BW7 and Asus P4B - Well made, feature filled Pentium 4 motherboards, which are both let down by their chipset...
Abit KA7-100 motherboard - An Athlon board with more features than you ever thought possible!
Asus A7A266 motherboard - Socket A board with both SDR and DDR RAM slots makes upgrading easy...
Asus A7V motherboard - A full-featured overclockers' board! Well, it will be soon, anyway...
Asus A7V motherboard version 1.01 - ...and here's the proper version!
Asus A7VL-VM motherboard - A microATX Socket A all-in-one with a dark secret...
Asus P2-99 motherboard - a low cost board with surprising overclocking potential!
Asus P3V133 and P3V4X motherboards - VIA chipset power plus a big fat Alpha PEP66U CPU cooler. Who needs i820?
Asus and Eagle slotket comparison - Two FC-PGA compatible Slot 1 adaptor boards slug it out...
Diamond Micronics C400 motherboard - A straightforward, fast, full-featured heart for your new PC
Iwill KK266Plus-R versus MSI K7T Turbo-R Limited Edition - How many features can you stuff into a KT133A motherboard, anyway?
Socket A shootout - Transcend TS-AKT4 versus Abit KT7 and KT7-RAID!
Networking
AcerRouter 101 IP sharer - An Internet sharing gizmo with more, for not a lot more money!
Broadband router comparison - Nexland Pro100 versus SnapGear PRO+!
D-Link DFE-910 Network In A Box - Good hardware, good docs, good performance - but can you do better for less?
Gigabit Network Combo - Get into gigabit Ethernet for an affordable price!
Lightspeed IP Sharer - The elegant way to share one Internet account between networked computers
Mototech Dual E-Switch 8 - A great little 8 port switch for the price of a hub!
Optus@Home cable Internet access - Broadband power at a great price
Wireless networking roundup - Bluetooth versus IEEE 802.11b versus cheap Ricochet modems. What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Wireless networking roundup 2 - Bluetooth comes of age, and the 802.11 alphabet soup decoded...
Overclocking
Overclocking adventure - Whaddaya get when you mix an Abit BF6, an Intel P-III 500E and an Alpha PAL6035MUC? 700MHz for the price of 500, that's what!
Silverprop overclocking accessories - Cold plates, sealant, connectors...
Power supplies
Antec Phantom 500 PSU - "Silent" power supplies often aren't. This one's better.
Connectland ATX Power Supply Tester - Can its little lights tell you whether a PSU's alive or not?
Enermax EG651P-VE - A PC power supply with big hairy buckets of grunt. And gold trimmings.
GTR 600W Easyplugpro and 750W Modular PSUs - One with PFC, one without. The difference may surprise you.
GTR-350ATX low noise PSU - Big fan, little noise!
GTR 450W-LI PSU - LED fans and a see-through box!
GTR AP-480GX power supply - A good old-fashioned PSU, with knobs on.
GTR AP-500X power supply - Cheap, quiet, functional; pick any three.
Just Cooler SP-300 Silent Power Supply - Can a PSU really make no noise at all?
Seasonic Super Tornado SS-400FB - A PSU that's more interesting on the inside than on the outside.
Super Flower 550 watt power supply - Flashy trim, three fans, a huge rating - do they outweigh the silly name?
Tagan TG530-U15 and TG530-U22 - Wow! A new PSU feature!
Topower 420, 470 and 520 watt power supplies - Lots of watts of genuine grunt, in a gold-trimmed box.
Topower 686P6 power supply - A high-spec PSU with special little knobs.
Printers
Epson Stylus Photo 1270 - The king of the consumer inkjets. It makes photos, up to A3 size.
Samsung ML-5200A laser printer - Decent price, excellent specifications.
Sony UP-DP10 photo printer - Good looking photo prints in two minutes flat - but how's it compare with the ink jet opposition?
Scanners
Acer Scanner 1240UT - High resolution, transparency adaptor, USB... and a low price!
Agfa SnapScan e40 - Great scanner hardware meets crummy scanner software, and loses...
Avision 100C scanner - A simple sheetfed scanner with decent photo performance
Avision 260C Plus scanner - 30 bit colour at a bargain price
Avision 620C scanner - 36 bit colour and 1200dpi, dirt cheap!
Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 4100C USB flatbed scanner - a high quality scanner for the masses
Small computers and accessories
3Com Palm IIIx and GoType keyboard - Groovy pocket computer, with a cool optional keyboard!
Chyang Fun e-Cube CF-EG65A - An SFF box for the show-off.
PC Chips Book PC - A teeny-tiny computer with surprisingly standard hardware
PC Chips deluxe Book PC - As above, only black, and better!
Palladine LCDpc - It's small, it's light, it's all in one box, it's a real PC with standard components. It's even cute. Until you open it up.
i-Vox voice recorder for Palm - A clip-on memory aid for your handheld
Shuttle SB62G2 and SB65G2 barebones XPCs - Little black boxes with a lot of grunt!
Shuttle SS56L Limited Edition - Another teeny PC, with a distinctly different look.
Shuttle ST62K XPC Zen - Little. White. Different.
Tyan Transport GS12 and GX21 1U rackmount servers - At last, rackmount servers at a sensible price.
Software
Autostitch - Top-quality panorama stitching for free!
AVS Video Remaker - Can this program really automatically cut commercials out of video files?
Google Pack - What parts of this free software pack are worth having, what parts aren't, and what you should get instead.
IDrive online backup service - Take all of your most valuable data, and send it to some company thousands of miles away for safe keeping. What could possibly go wrong?
MailWasher - Dan versus spam, the saga continues...
PORNsweeper - Software that's meant to block naughty images attached to e-mail messages. But does it work?
Propel Accelerator - Can a software package really make a dial-up connection faster?
Soldering irons
Portasol Pro Piezo - Cordless soldering with style!
Vulkan P100K and P200K gas soldering iron kits - Cordless irons with lots of features and a low price tag!
Sound cards
AOpen AW744S sound card - Full-function four-speaker 3D sound, and optical digital output, for a bargain price!
Aureal SQ2500 sound card - Vortex 2 3D sound power from the people that invented it!
Diamond Monster Sound MX200 - Four speaker surround sound for your PC!
Diamond Monster Sound MX300 - The best surround sound card yet?
Diamond Monster Sound MX400 - Diamond take a new tack with the latest of their super sound cards
Hercules Game Theater XP - Easily the fanciest sound card yet.
RumbleFX 3D Sound Amplifier vs. Bit88 Universal Sound Enhancer - Sound enhancing gadgets duke it out!
Turtle Beach Montego and Montego II sound cards - The OEM versions of these audio powerhouses offer great value for money
Speakers and headphones
AKG K 271 Studio headphones - At last, sealed headphones that do everything right!
Altec Lansing Select 641 multimedia speaker system - Bulk bass, groovy styling, decent price!
Altec Lansing XA3021 speaker system - Good price, OK performance, and hilarious styling!
Beyerdynamic DT 250-80 headphones - Reasonably priced, reasonably comfortable, good sounding... what's the catch?
Beyerdynamic DT 860 and DT 660 headphones - Not just poor cousins of the 880s...
Beyerdynamic DT 880 headphones - Possibly the world's best headphones.
Boostaroo headphone booster - Three high-volume outputs from any headphone jack!
Cheap speaker comparison - Two bargain basement three piece systems
Chu Moy headphone amplifier - Audio hardware doesn't come much geekier than this.
Evergreen Technologies RumbleFX Force Feedback Headphones - Give your ears a buzz!
HeadRoom BitHead headphone amplifier - Analogue plus USB, at a decent price!
HeadRoom Micro Amp and Micro DAC - Oh. So this is how my headphones are meant to sound.
HeadRoom Total BitHead and Etymotic ER-4S - Mobile sound as you've never heard it before.
Hercules XPS 210 and 510 speakers, and Gamesurround Muse XL and Fortissimo II sound cards - Cheap and cheerful!
Juster SP-691 speakers - Small, cheap, and... hey, what's that USB cable for?
Koss UR20 headphones - Can twenty dollar headphones be any good?
Multimedia speaker comparison - Creative Inspire 5700 and FPS1600, Altec Lansing 4100 and Logitech Z-560, head to head!
Sennheiser HD 212 Pro and HD 270 headphones - Expensive headphones that're no good at all, and cheap ones that're much better. What's the world coming to?
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones - Adding ten to the model number makes all the difference!
Sennheiser HD 555 headphones - Not too expensive, and brilliant value for money.
Sennheiser PC 135 USB headset - Analogue and USB, headphones and boom mike - and they even sound good!
Sennheiser PC 140 and PC 150 headsets - Can decent audio be found in things that make you look like a receptionist?
Sennheiser PX 100, PX 200 and PXC 250 portable headphones - Little folding 'phones with style.
Sennheiser RS 65 wireless headphones - Cordless convenience, decent sound!
Speaker comparison - Four cheap Juster three-piece systems versus Sony's more expensive baby speakers
TDK Tremor S150 speaker system - Two super-slim satellites and a nifty tubular subwoofer
The Loud Speaker Kit F5 speakers - Little drivers, big bass.
The Loud Speaker Kit M4 Mini Monitors - Great little speakers, surprisingly cheap!
The Loud Speaker Kit F6 tower speakers - Build-'em-yourself loudspeakers for the more refined metalhead.
The Loud Speaker Kit M6 large bookshelf speakers - You can pay a lot less for a much more impressive pair of speakers. That you don't even need to assemble yourself. But should you?
The Loud Speaker Kit S250 Subwoofer - Bass by the ton, folks.
Thor SP-100 speaker system - Amplified speakers that fit in a 5.25 inch drive bay!
Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5Pro and Shure E4c canalphones - If you can accept some ear invasion, the rewards are huge.
Ultrasone HFI-550 headphones - Fine sealed headphones for the money - just don't believe the hype.
Ultrasone HFI-650 headphones - They look the same, they feel the same, they cost more... are they worth it?
Unique Hardware NF01 and NF02 USB speakers - Amazingly tiny speakers that sound surprisingly good!
Storage solutions and accessories
4.1-way SSD Shootout - Four SATA Solid State Drives mix it up with a low-priced ring-in.
A-TEC Cobra 2000 USB memory card readers - CompactFlash or SmartMedia with plug-and-go convenience
Corsair Voyager GT flash drive - When can a thumb drive be faster than a hard drive?
Dacal DC-101 CD Library - 150 discs in a carousel, with a database to find the one you want!
Dacal DC-300 CD Library II - Same again, only better!
DiscSavers CD cases - Super-tough cases to replace those awful jewel case things...
Famous Technology Twin-TV - A digital wallet crossed with a DVD player!
Fancy IDE leads: The Terrible Truth - What can be wrong with a simple rounded IDE lead? Plenty.
Flash memory storage devices compared - Datafab KECF-USB versus JMTek USBDrive versus Triple Reader!
HighPoint Technologies RocketMate 1100 and Rocket 1511 - Is "e.SATA" any good?
HighPoint Technologies RocketRAID 404 and Rocket 133S IDE adapters - Consumer RAID grows up, and a no-frills ATA133 option!
Magic Drawer CD/DVD Cases and E-Z Disc CD/DVD dispenser - A cheerful-coloured storage solution, and pushbutton delivery of unblemished blank discs.
Memory card reader roundup - CompactFlash and SSFDC, IDE and IEEE-1394 - what are the options?
NickLock hard drive switcher - Choose which drive the system sees, with a keylock!
Noontec GigaLink N5 - A full-featured gigabit-Ethernet
NAS enclosure, for $25! (Yes, there is a catch. But it's not much of a one.)
Onstream DI30 and SC30 tape drives - Good price, great speed, large capacity, excellent software. Any questions?
R-Driver II USB to IDE Cable - A double-headed drive adapter!
Samsung 1Tb EcoGreen hard drive - A 1Tb drive that makes slowness into a virtue.
Serial ATA and the HighPoint RocketRAID 1520 - Why buy a SATA controller if you can't buy SATA drives?
Skymaster DRV-0262 Mini CF Card Reader - Another good, cheap CompactFlash reader. What about the media, though?
SNT ST-2316C and SNT-2316SATA external hard drive boxes - USB, FireWire, SATA; take your pick!
Thecus N299 network storage device - A little two-drive box with a feature list as long as your arm, and a rather small price tag. What's the catch?
USB 2.0 to IDE Cable - Bulk USB storage on the cheap.
VME Systems CF-IDE - Turn your CompactFlash card into an IDE Solid State Drive!
VarioPac CD cases - Tough, good looking and fun to use!
Vosonic XS-Drive II - A place to dump your memory card files - and a multi-slot card reader, too!
USB 3 drive box and controller card kit - An inexpensive
way to upgrade to USB 3. But is it worth it?
USB Geek USB 2.0 to SATA Cable - Simple interface adapter doodads are, of course, not simple.
WiebeTech ComboDock - ATA to USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 in five seconds!
WeibeTech FireWire DriveDock and Super DriveDock - IDE to FireWire in ten seconds!
USB and FireWire
Accton USB Serial Converter - Add another serial port to a USB-enabled PC in one minute!
Aten UC-2000L USB Docking Station - A pile of ports in a little box, to save laptop users a lot of money...
Dynalink USB hub - Turn one USB port into four!
EagleTec ET-FPTM USB External 3 in 1 Flash Drive - CompactFlash, SmartMedia and MultiMediaCard compatibility in one USB reader!
Skymaster PCI USB card - Add USB ports to older computers!
Skymaster USB hub - It's blue. It's see-through. it's cheap. Get one!
Skymaster USB speaker converter - PC sound with no sound card, without buying special speakers!
Surecom EP-1004 USB hub - A hub small enough to lose down the side of the couch.
Thermaltake HardCano III and USB/FireWire internal hub - Two more ways to fill a drive bay usefully!
USB mobile phone chargers - Computer interfaces can be forced into unnatural acts.
Xitel INport - A high-grade USB line-in adapter.
Xitel MD-Port AN1 and DG2 - USB to analogue or digital audio, plug and go!
Columns
Fixing Windows Plug And Play problems
The Networking Step By Step column has been rolled into my comprehensive PC networking guide, here.
How to search the Net like the pros
How to share your Internet connection on a LAN
How to upgrade your hard drive
Tweaking your Internet connection settings
"Great product! Doesn't work!"
Lies, damned lies, and marketing
OptusNet Cable and their peculiar pricing
Dan's Quick Guide to Memory Effect, You Idiots
What's the point of robot pets?
Why it doesn't matter whether censorware works
The CPU Cooler Snap Judgement Guide
PCs and power (the ranting continues)
Do you have a license for that Athlon?
Power factor correction decoded
V-Pr0n - Where, I ask for no particular reason, are the 3D interactive virtual porn games?
File sharing - Amazingly enough, I'm in favour of it.
The programmable matter revolution - Click: it's a chicken. Click: it's a computer. Well, kinda.
Sounding better - It needn't cost a fortune to improve your computer audio.
Reality Plus™! - Augmented Reality. Like hallucinations, but useful.
I want my Tidy-Bot! - Robotic vacuum cleaners are great. As a first step.
Less go, more show - What's better than speed?
In search of stupidity - Studying stupidity isn't as dumb as it sounds.
It's SnitchCam time! - Video surveillance will be so much more fun when everybody can do it.
Power struggle - If you buy a $100 powerboard with a $25,000 Connected Equipment Warranty, what can possibly go wrong?
Getting paid to play - Every man has an MMORPG structuring scheme that will not work. Here's mine.
Hurdles on the upgrade path - Hey! LGA775's suddenly worth buying! How'd that happen?
Hatin' on lithium ion - Everybody uses 'em, but they're waiting to give you a nasty surprise.
Wanted: Cheap giant bit barrel - Monstrous Network Attached Storage is now quite affordable - but that doesn't make it easy.
The screen you'll be using tomorrow - Wow. Something may be about to happen in PC monitor technology.
Cool gadget. Ten bucks. - Gadgets don't improve with age, but if they're still good, and dirt cheap...
Open Sesame! - Smart fasteners may be smarter than you think.
Absolutely accurate predictions - Cool new stuff. So new it doesn't quite exist yet, actually.
The truth about everything - You can't make a computer that knows everything about everything. Or can you?
Burr walnut computing - Where's my Sandbenders keyboard?
Nothing new behind the lens - Your fancy new camcorder has a history.
The safe eBay scam! - It worked on me.
Letters
Digital couch potatoes, arise!
I/O letters column #26 - CRT resolution, disposing of PCB etchant, CPU-socket extension, negligent hard-drive homicide, a Windows Installer Service error, flavours of Athlon, mystery wallpaper, and case volume versus computer temperature.
Dan's Data letters #67 - CD durability, golden connectors, fast clocks, free speakers, car PCs, wireless power, electric blinds...
Dan's Data letters #68 - Dual sound cards, automotive illumination, expensive diagnostics, tiny tanks, lightning...
Dan's Data letters #69 - BIOS resuscitation, surround headphones, a nifty little tool, old school optical video, Micro-Scope, magic video compression...
Dan's Data letters #70 - SFF power, wireless video, backup bargains, digital TV glitches, magic compression, career advice...
Dan's Data letters #71 - USB, DirectSound, magnets, electrocution, more automotive snake oil...
Dan's Data letters #72 - Fake floppies, digital photo displaying, safety switches, swirly bottles, magnets...
Dan's Data letters #73 - Laptops, monitors, DSLRs, CPU coolers, magnets, power switches, partridges, pear trees...
Dan's Data letters #74 - LCD repair, Christmas lights, monitor connectors, modems, chargers, binocular-cams...
I/O letters column #27 - Over-cooling, losing data, dissolving silicone, NTLDR, de-dotting a Duron...
Dan's Data letters #75 - Diamonds, PC remotes, other remotes, power contamination, auto earthing, teeny tanks...
Dan's Data letters #76 - CDs that aren't, DVD-VCDs, power filtering, electrocution, X-ray vision, swirling water...
Dan's Data letters #77 - Phone boosting, quiet cooling, car computing, human conductivity, CD copying, expensive shipping, and vines!
Dan's Data letters #78 - Laptop power, outdoor LEDs, TV output, inverter cooling, ear lamps, Raidmax hunting, zoom lenses, cat vision, and hair care.
Dan's Data letters #79 - Battery aging, tilde files, lightning protection, video on audio tape, router power, LED efficiency, current direction, ultra-flashlight power, acid on planes, plug adapters, expensive power cables and silly shirts.
Dan's Data letters #80 - FSB confusion, laptop mic in, battery resuscitation, HD noises, pop-up messages, ecospheres, mystery crashes, cheap toys, film versus digital, and ItchZapping.
I/O letters column #28 - Video recording, CD speed, power connectors, hyperthreading, modem compression, hard drive speed, loop errors, and FSBs.
Dan's Data letters #81 - Yammering PCs, indoor antennas, sensor sensitivity, faster SATA, headphone power, no-name batteries, bent Gigantas, full moon timing, and acronyms.
Dan's Data letters #82 - Hot CDs, slow 3D cards, iPod toasting, power conditioning, anodes and cathodes, exploding tools, dodgy products, AA lithiums, and Ugg boots.
Dan's Data letters #83 - Laptop data recovery, domain names, cheap projectors, ground level photography, Aussie PVRing, mystery files, drowned cameras, USB weirdness, and LED quackery.
Dan's Data letters #84 - Visible bits, wiring a shed, Internet anonymity, big LEDs down under, powering a drive farm, dodgy contacts, smoking your PC, and damp toy tanks.
Dan's Data letters #85 - PSUs for A64s, EXIF editing, laptop power, headlamps, FireWire drives, tiny mouse rechargeables, Australian road rules, shuriken shooters, and my own gross moral turpitude.
Dan's Data letters #86 - Memory card speed, 44 pin IDE, hanging cameras, UV dye, car amps in the home, scanner zapping, battery charging, finding ferrofluid, mysterious magnetism, LED bulbs, more on my badness, and tank manuals.
Dan's Data letters #87 - P4 throttling, WinME problems, magnetic doom, drive dismemberment, RC cars, free power, frozen alcohol, and more!
Dan's Data letters #88 - CRT resolution, moire, oily cooling, monitor matching, covert cameras, endless glow, AWG in metric, damp bodies, and e-panhandling.
Dan's Data letters #89 - RAM speed problems, video on an audio track, Radeon power, questionable batteries, drive wiping, funny reflections, battery warnings, exposure limits, real medical magnets, and household robots.
Dan's Data letters #90 - CPU leaderboards, brain transplanting, more on rechargeable CR-V3s, hot chips for cars, and rainbow sneezes.
Dan's Data letters #91 - Fancy PCs, sparks and cases, hyperthreading, camera choosing, yet another novel piston engine, and more on car chips.
I/O letters column #30 - Ni-Cads Of Doom, wire gauges, surround headphones, upgrade issues, and pop rivet refitting.
Dan's Data letters #92 - Dangerous subs, Nixie clocks, wire hunting, eMac USB, photo storage, DVD audio, munged monitors, speaker/headphone swapping, and a dirty game.
Dan's Data letters #93 - DVI-HDTV, baby-cam video, LCD specs, Canadian copyright continued, tall pills, and more on V-pr0n.
Dan's Data letters #94 - A Drive Of Doom, a red hot juicer, mysterious cable modem widgets, a whole-house UPS, battery capacity conundrums, and rip-off radar jammers.
Dan's Data letters #95 - Peltiers, hologram units, fried chip ID, video lighting, weirdo keyboards, a cry for help, radar frying and beer.
Dan squints at the future, again - What tech of today is going to look very quaint, very soon?
I/O letters column #31 - Pesky resets, ultra drives, exploding CDs, negative rails, camcorder backup, motherboard CPR, and Radeon power cables.
Dan's Data letters #96 - Free heat, case hunting, speedy chargers, lens cleaning, laptop RAM, sports photography, cat toys and potato cannons.
Dan's Data letters #97 - Hammer RAM, ultra-tweeters, power hygiene, CMoy kits, scan rate hazards, oil depletion, and yet more perpetual motion.
Dan's Data letters #98 - Ultracapacitors, fake floppies, film versus digital, and copyright religious wars.
Dan's Data letters #99 - Projectors, volume knobs, alkaline versus lithium ion, widescreen LCDs, phone fields, and invisible number plates.
Dan's Data letters #100 - Video card envy, phone interference, magnetic peril, gibibytes again, rotated heat pipes, black computers, Glide drivers, incompatible DVDs, Iraqi computing, mower batteries, camera choosing, glitchy headphones, bike lights, magnetic toys, hot batteries, little connectors, another odd automotive widget, and toxoplasmosis.
I/O letters column #32 - Endothermic cooling, random numbers, micropixel screens, earth wires, and motherboard mauling.
Dan's Data letters #101 - Mail-Lock, USB and h4XX0r1nG, whole-house UPSes, NiCd charging, toy tanks, fancy fuel, and little tiny automobiles.
Dan's Data letters #102 - Dead drives, touchpads, laptops in the bath, octane again, plastic purchasing, 15 minute charging, fan quieting, robotic litter trays, another gas saving gadget, PC PowerScan, and mail order cheesecakes.
Dan's Data letters #103 - Slide scanning, monitor cables, slow CPU cooling, circuit potting, NiMH nonsense, non-universal remotes, wireless plus trains, car stereo at home, CE Marked cases, 3G panic, unchargeable batteries, a spyware pusher, and a little lost Reiki master.
I/O letters column #29 - CCFL noise, bent AGP slots, impossible overclocks, avoiding "legacy" connectors, Y-adapting audio, PSU rail cross-connection, hearing your PC thinking, and pixel dandruff.
Dan's Data letters #104 - Waste toner, laptop battery packs, and the continuing joy of CE Marking.
I/O letters column #33 - Asymmetrical multiprocessing, PATA plus SATA, 1394-to-USB2, cheap storage with RAID 0, and fan quietening.
Dan's Data letters #105 - The meaning of PHY, spyware economics, a PC scanner that might be worth using, electric superchargers, CFLs for fun and profit, audiophile insanity, and a giant phallic military object.
Dan's Data letters #106 - USB game sound, P4 IDing, CFL brightness, e-books, CD servers, plugpack volts, odd Energizers, audiophilia, and another hopeful Nigerian.
Dan's Data letters #107 - Lightweight UPSes, satellite dish repurposing, DVI on CRTs, headphone impedance, tactical-switch AA LED flashlights, LiI re-celling, dental LEDs, and immortal light bulbs.
Dan's Data letters #108 - Monitor burn, clicky ergo keyboards, cooler scores, X-raying hard drives, polarisers, camera cables, inexpensive imports, sound switching, and yet more snake oil cables.
Dan's Data letters #109 - Big cheap CRTs that don't work, more CD/DVD jukebox ideas, alternative power switches, DSLR sensor cleaning, MMO charges, bike lights, and pre-burned-in speaker cables.
Dan's Data letters #110 - Compaq mobo transplantation, self-charging batteries, five volt LEDs, cheap laser printers, fan fixing, tank gears, faster flash charging, and yet more stupidly expensive audio cables.
Dan's Data letters #111 - Xbox CPUs, CRT interference, cooler choosing, another disc silo, portable power, PSU testers, overcharging SLAs, sparkly Shuttles, and very fast electric cars.
I/O letters column #34 - Long range USB, cooked goop, copper oxide, rehabilitating an old laptop, and super-soft sound.
Dan's Data letters #112 - Lithium ion aging, Peltier air conditioning, headphone happiness, small PC woes, speaker-to-headphone adapters, and the terrible truth about me.
Dan's Data letters #113 - Wireless headphones, laptop extension, AA NiMH capacity, a piece of photographic artillery, learning perfect pitch, special power for digital devices, and my annoying banner ads.
Dan's Data letters #114 - Cheap thermal compound, headphone selection, CompactFlash speed, more RAM coolers, flying cars, pre-built toy tanks, and another miracle automotive product.
Dan's Data letters #115 - Athlon 64 with PCIe, Moore's Law, a Click Of possible Death, wireless Internet access in Sydney, car speaker polarity ID, hooking up Old Iron to a PC, and paint that sounds good.
Dan's Data letters #116 - MP3 player power, a mystery PSU, very cheap headphones, "unlimited" ISPs, yet another magnetic motor, and someone who's mistaken me for someone else.
Dan's Data letters #117 - The All-Electrical Issue! Odd AC adapters, LED headlamps, after-market earthing kits, battery freezing, wiggy wall warts, deodorising light bulbs, and yet more cable insanity.
Dan's Data letters #118 - The Special Headphones And Audiophile Scams Edition!
I/O letters column #35 - High thrust cooling, gigabit at home, RAM matching, temperamental optical drives, impossible P4 upgrades, CD recovery, and suspiciously cheap used monitors.
Dan's Data letters #119 - Brain-shaking headphones, purity problems, the joy of C3s, peeking inside a $10,000 cable, and gun smuggling.
Dan's Data letters #120 - Hot drive boxes, computer-killing modems, LCD power, finger scanner feedback, moribund Roombas, scams, and more scams.
Dan's Data letters #121 - Doom 3 sound, US lamps with Aussie bulbs, rip-off upgrades, the orphan AU8830, Torx and socket drivers, and miraculous devices.
Dan's Data letters #122 - Bizarre Usenet errors, jammed motors, headphone bending, quiet computing, phono preamps, camera shopping, isopropanol, wedding photography, and a magnetic contraption.
I/O letters column #36 - On-device drivers, mirrored displays, overclocking, free wireless Internet access, laptop PSUs, elegant renaming, wireless speed, and crunchy TV.
Dan's Data letters #123 - CompactFlash SSDs, PCs as entertainment centres, starting a car with a PSU, finding live wires, silencing a SparcStation, fake Sony batteries, and ESD protection that ain't.
Dan's Data letters #124 - Brightening CRTs, long-lived batteries, power cable speaker cables, close-up telescopy, steel odour eaters, tiny helicopters, spud gun lighters, and pr0n.
Dan's Data letters #125 - Bit-flipping USB storage, PC life expectancy, non-comparable batteries, that invulnerable bed-fortress, DIY smokescreens, Black Hole Cables, and a 24 cylinder pull-start motorcycle.
I/O letters column #37 - Analogue computers, something you can't do with RAM, new and old writable DVDs, a mysterious secret directory, and the endless fascination of ambient temperature compensation.
Dan's Data letters #126 - Big TVs, cheap canalphones, dueling remotes, LED feeding, the late unlamented Adams Platform, and free energy fun.
Dan's Data letters #127 - Stepper motors, maybe-HD TVs, quick-change drives, long CCFL cables, vinyl digitising, headphone amps, camera batteries, Internet sharing, and a very butch fridge magnet.
Dan's Data letters #128 - A power programmer's PC, a haunted touch lamp, more magstripe execution, Arc flashlight alternatives, the solution to all of everyone's problems, and a message from beyond.
I/O letters column #38 - CPU ratings and multipliers, LCD panel interfaces, DVD-dash versus DVD-plus, mouse modding, BNCing your CRT, and 28.8K at nine kilobytes per second.
Dan's Data letters #129 - The new-PC quandary, demolishing drives, SSDs you can't afford, auto air-con, the chunky cable craze comes to PCs, and perpetual motion again, and again, and again...
Dan's Data letters #130 - HID headlamps, LiI lifespan, 21 inch CRTs, old school card readers, suspiciously cheap projectors, homeopathy, optimal case colouration, and HL2 ratings.
Dan's Data letters #131 - Bi-wiring balderdash, whitegoods in the Great White North, 720 kilojoule bicycling, educational tanks, and perpetual promotion.
I/O letters column #39 - The curse of ACPI, case metal choices, focus theft prevention, leech-only LANning, electrostatic filth, PCI via USB, and hacking pieces off motherboards.
Dan's Data letters #132 - Photo lighting, LED-lit apartments, twin-armature hard drives, scary magnets, headphone selection, USB juice extraction, vapour-screens, perpetual preposterousness, a scam store, and a beautiful human being.
Dan's Data letters #133 - DVI to CRTs, MPEG rotation, smoke reduction, PC PhoneHome, LED lamps, and magnetic miracle cures.
Dan's Data letters #134 - Bad-ass laptops in Oz, Christmas tree power, laser lines, speaker sticky, more gun smuggling, free car schemes, and toy guns you may never have heard of.
Dan's Data letters #135 - Video card decisions, an ancient laptop drive, shooting in the dark, CR123 hunting, monstrous behaviour, a laser pointer that's worth $US1000, and a homeopathy harangue.
I/O letters column #40 - Copper cases, garage sale speakers, doubling your DSL, computer chess complexity, and traitorous status lights.
Dan's Data letters #136 - More upgrade quandaries, driving speakers on the cheap, silly words for big numbers, two scams, and audiophile knobs.
Dan's Data letters #137 - Hosts files, toy-cam purchasing wisdom, LED-lit shuttlecraft, tungsten hunting, angry quacks, and three more chunks of audiophile-nut fun.
Dan's Data letters #138 - Fast LCDs, floppy mousemats, USB audio adventures, lawsuits, and scams, scams, scams.
Dan's Data letters #139 - Magnet shopping, Zen gaming, mini-Dictaphone options, Soldering Gizmo #2637, a quote that ain't mine, and those wacky Nigerians.
I/O letters column #41 - Vanishing KVM cable pins, noise cancelling headphones, fixing file types, USB charging, and a triple-headed PC.
Dan's Data letters #140 - More on the Cold Heat, WiFi through trees, DVD to RF, BitHead power, flashy electrocution risks, the AAAs that possibly ate a camera, Troy H's magic ray gun, and gibberish.
Dan's Data letters #141 - E-Vectra PSUs, gold plated photons, long thin proto-board, key remapping, brass monkey photography, UV LEDs, silly graphs, and more fools and scams.
I/O letters column #42 - Upgrading for Doom, Peltiers redux, thermal goop versus carpet, and the beauty of black heat sinks.
Dan's Data letters #142 - Laptop noise suppression, tacho wire repurposing, external drive options, centralised DC power, and the Book of the Dead (Groovy!).
I/O letters column #43 - One switch for everything, shiny shiny heat sinks, the continuing mystery of slack, booting from a postage stamp, and unsuccessful attempts to inebriate hi-fi equipment.
Dan's Data letters #143 - 60-second charging, terabytes via USB, slow channel zapping, big old cellphones, coin magic, heaters, and shooting at God.
Dan's Data letters #144 - Laptop gaming, pacemaker batteries, LEDs up your nose, lightweight bike lighting, ATA CompactFlash, levitating frogs, RSS bloat, more magnetic coins, and damp computers.
I/O letters column #44 - Voltage conversion, toasty Radeons, general purpose GPUs, photo recovery, de-scratching discs, and measuring PC power.
Dan's Data letters #145 - Vintage DSLR drives, networking in the frozen north, fan hunting, a Batterylife Activator fan, and alt-med boosting at its finest.
I/O letters column #45 - PS2 to VGA, multi-monitor in the cheap seats, undeletable files, command line uptime, and AA selection.
Dan's Data letters #146 - PC remotes, surround headphones, USB laptop charging, cheap LED lights, yet another fuel saver, low voltage electrocution, another little MPV player, Jesus on music sharing, and a flame-throwing hearse.
I/O letters column #46 - Game server disk config, vibratory mouse charging, what to do when you're out of drive letters, double sided CD-Rs, and editing Brobdingnagian text files.
Dan's Data letters #147 - Dell backlights, buzzy fans, headset options, anti-PHB telephone technology, metallic printing, zinc-air batteries, ergonomic clicky keyboards, how to royally screw a Windows filesystem, parser problems, electrifying yourself for Halloween, the House That Kills Computers, making magnets, hydrogen cars that don't work, hydrogen cars that DO work, mysterious powers, more magnets for the gullible, I-C3 in detail, more magic battery stickers, and entertainment from the spam brigade.
I/O letters column #47 - Metal mousemat misery, giant capacitors, clustering in the privacy of your home, and the question of identity, as it pertains to earth wires.
Dan's Data letters #148 - Scams, scams and more scams. Oh, look - lawyers! What I meant to say was questionable claims, questionable claims, questionable claims. Yeah, that's the ticket.
I/O letters column #48 - Games on plasma, computing on TVs, hairy heat sinks, low cost SAN, and Amiga data transfer.
Dan's Data letters #149 - Magnets for this, magnets for that, big LED resistors, sluggish fans, suspiciously cheap Russian watches, the Case of the Throttling Water, and ultrasonic cleaners.
I/O letters column #49 - Jet-cooled computers, screen-garbage, deleting the swap file, and charred hardware.
Dan's Data letters #150 - Inductive charging, groovy keyboards, big jets, cellphone dangers, more hydrogen miracles, and some jerk.
Dan's Data letters #151 - Acetone in your gasoline, mobile phone car unlocking, alleged antigravity, and a cavalcade of scumbags.
Dan's Data letters #152 - The approximately $0 audiophile amp, solar power, more LED downlights, video card gooping, kilowatt PSUs, IR cameras, bi-whatevering, regenerative bicycling, sodding Jamster, projector bulbs, laundry balls, wound glue, and more fun with in-line ad companies.
Dan's Data letters #153 - White LED nirvana, transparent aluminum, magic groovy warm things, and how not to protect your car against rust.
Dan's Data letters #154 - Air-con versus fans, self-destructing batteries, oil with added snake, the hydrinos that won't die, life-saving key-chains, dumb ads, and more crazy audiophiles.
Do it yourself. Almost. - How long will it be before you can print a new car?
I/O letters column #51 - Canned cold, anonymous P2P, the Case of the Toasty Xeon, and doubling up your PSUs.
Dan's Data letters #155 - Weird movie lenses, earplugs for music, brain-frying phones, cutting edge retro timepieces, carbon cables, hydrogen injection, the Amazing Static Man, prizes for dumb ideas, and a word from the woolly-brained.
Dan's Data letters #156 - 360s in India, caffeine for children, more magnets, and the ins and outs of PowerSquids.
The quest for physicality - When you're swimming in bits all day, atoms can start looking pretty good.
I/O letters column #52 - Reversing MD5, silencing a Shuttle, audio mixing, and power factor correctors large and small.
Dan's Data letters #157 - Chargers of distinction, ray guns, more giant magnets, zillion-LED video lights, the Pringles macro lens, and great moments in research into the paranormal.
Dan's Data letters #158 - Battery storage, quieting noisy toys, perspective photography, and Fancy Cables: The Endless Topic.
Tool time - Cheap pocketknives! Get yer cheap pocketknives!
I/O letters column #53 - The last of the -5V PSUs, game cheat catching, superconductive cases, the mysteries of DVI, audio over Cat5, laser video projectors, and vanishing URLs.
Dan's Data letters #159 - LED grow lights, the world's cheapest smoke machine, portable amps, and some poor fool presses my Talk Button about mercury in fish.
Dan's Data letters #160 - More mercury, even more mercury, and quacks.
Pretty PCs: The quest continues - You still can't buy 'em. Why?
I/O letters column #54 - Horizontal heat pipes, the mystic 65536, what PC means when it doesn't mean PC, invisible bits, USB audio, speaker zombification, and large sparks.
Dan's Data letters #161 - Data storage, junk mail, mercury down the sink, a quack, marvellous contrivances, and getting really really drunk.
The USB drive time bomb - Don't get too attached to that USB hard drive of yours. The box it's in is probably slowly killing it.
Dan's Data letters #162 - Cut-price plasmas, the magic audio lead, a very slow computer, and wrinkle-destroying LEDs.
I/O letters column #55 - Low PSU voltage, ripping pins out of DVI plugs, a fridge light for your PC, blinding yourself with IR, and the endless mysteries of thermal grease.
Dan's Data letters #163 - More advice that'll one day bar me from high public office, lithium for flashes, DIY ultrasound, mercury hunting, suspiciously efficient motors, and solidified smoke.
Dan's Data letters #164 - Huge cheap monitors (with a catch), fraudulent memory cards, another storage hopeful, the Ad of Doom, and plutonium cymbals.
Closer to quietness - It's becoming easier to make a PC with no moving parts.
I/O letters column #56 - Benchmark hardware, CRC errors, genset-to-laptop, burned LCDs, and PSU dangers.
Dan's Data letters #165 - Implausible antigravity, two kinds of pseudoscientific water, magical compression, a retail inquiry, another wine gizmo, car talismans, and someone very cross with me.
I/O letters column #57 - Fast drives for the desktop, start-skipping in Winamp, lens dismantling, reading from Flash, and 3V in your car.
Stuff You Should Want - Automatic pliers, pointy things, fire-makers, unidentifiable rubber objects...
The modular car - Electric cars can be worth owning, if you cheat.
Dan's Data letters #166 - BIOS saviours, super cordless phones, Ipaq batteries, that old international mains power magic, and fun with DVD copy control.
Dan's Data letters #167 - One famous loony, and one new contender.
Dumb smart houses - Home automation still hasn't taken off. For some very good reasons.
I/O letters column #58 - Optical iRams, mercury coolant, vacuum cleaner vs MP3 player, OPC errors, and RAID expansion.
Dan's Data letters #168 - Cleaning up battery goop, seeing IR on the cheap, outboard camera batteries redux, gasoline pills, and the strongest booze that is physically possible.
Dan's Data letters #169 - Fancy RAM that nobody seems to need, speaker loudness, TV licenses, making pretty pictures, cheap(er) photo batteries, and CD burning in the olden days.
Dan's Data letters #170 - The Special Gullible Dads Issue! One got reamed at the electronics store, the other's about to make quacks rich(er).
I/O letters column #59 - I-RAM imaging, ancient monitors, RAID disasters, Y-adapting fans, inefficient file transfers, fiddling with Windows' clock, more UPS batteries, and The Joy of Baluns.
Enough already with the megapixels - Pay extra for more digital camera resolution, and you may be buying less than nothing.
Dan's Data letters #171 - An electric supercar that doesn't add up, vaporous air cars, fuel cells that aren't, washing with silver, drill charger replacement, a dodgy power saver, and another of those marketing dudes I love so much.
Dan's Data letters #172 - Camera batteries, fake flashlights, glowing bicycles, The Little Camera That Actually Couldn't, Sony-hate, cool looking stuff that doesn't do anything, and a levitating screw.
Inching toward the NAS of our dreams - Just because one company's solved a problem with home data storage widgets doesn't mean another company won't be happy to un-solve it again.
I/O letters column #60 - The monster RAID you probably don't need, nine-headed computing, partitioning 101, a DIY cable that doesn't work, and the joy of incorrect time zones.
Dan's Data letters #173 - Electric supercars, three business propositions, fuel additives, rip-off flashlights, and someone who hates me.
Older than dirt - There's a common PC connector that turns fifty-four in 2006. Guess which one.
I/O letters column #61 - Consoles vs PCs, remote PC control, UPS batteries and a Keyboard of Mystery.
Dan's Data letters #174 - CPU simulators, UPSes for fish, teeny tanks, travel advice, and more high-powered hooch.
Dan's Data letters #175 - Anti-rust gizmos, vintage digicams, electric candles, dodgy headset mics, new drivers for an old card, bike light fiddling, pee-wee planes, and a strange lady.
The Synthetics are coming - The days of flesh and blood movie actors are numbered.
I/O letters column #62 - Twisting cable, oil cooled computing, heat pipe fluid, the Virtual Drive of Annoyance, mobile gaming and RJ naming.
Dan's Data letters #176 - Depth of field, and a phalanx of UPS batteries.
Dan's Data letters #177 - Sixaxis batteries, tiny tank batteries, huge batteries, disturbing camera requirements, case-side LEDs, electric car efficiency, print resolution, and nitrogen in your tyres.
Dan's Data letters #178 - Pointless upgrades, heat photography, camera buttons, dicing with death, large print monitors, magic motors, two failed advertising inquiries, and we're all going to die.
Pr0nBack! - Sometimes, silly ideas aren't as dumb as they sound.
I/O letters column #63 - Pixel speed, mysterious RAM settings, making Eudora start up slowly, and ASIO audio on the cheap.
Dan's Data letters #179 - Staticky screens, another dodgy car gadget, audiophile insanity, ground loops, and a dude who thinks I suck.
Game Over is nigh - The end of the world is coming, and it's all (going to be) the fault of video games.
I/O letters column #64 - Steam engines in PCs, copy protection, DVD cleaning, giant UPS batteries, and the swindle that is minimum system requirements.
Dan's Data letters #180 - Wind-up hybrids, power supply testing, STOP error hunting, detergent scams, and sex toys. Yeah, you heard me.
I/O letters column #65 - IRQL Not Less Or WTF, drives that won't start, light-to-gamepad interference, piracy accusations, and Yet Another Mystifying Computer Death.
The Embarrassingly Easy Case Mod - Modern RGB cycling LEDs are cheap, pretty and very easy to use. They make an excellent - trivial, but neat - first electronic project.
Dan's Data letters #181 - Fire-lighting flashlights, computing comfort, The Car They Won't Make, drive destruction, mains clock mysteries, and women's troubles.
Dan's Data letters #182 - Making a Wii sensor bar, lighting your living room very brightly indeed, playing with mercury, and lighting fires.
Dumb then, smart now - Has the time come for swap files on Flash memory?
I/O letters column #66 - Hard drives on the high seas, turning off external drives, recharging alkalines, and the Curse of the Creeping PIO Mode.
Fuel cells - are we there yet? - I've lost count of how many consumer fuel cell products have been launched, but the number you can actually buy stands at zero.
Dan's Data letters #183 - Water into petrol, oil additives, perpetual motion machines and quantum audiophilia.
A PC full of magnets - It's not as crazy as it sounds. And you can use 'em to build battery packs, too!
I/O letters column #67 - Mouse laser danger, "please free -2046Mb" installer errors, power line broadband, and XP's resource limits.
Knowledge is weakness - Knowing how to fix technical problems makes you notice more of them. Dammit.
I/O letters column #68 - The Cursed CD-ROM Drive, PnP service mysteries, optimal burning speed, and the quest for a new Dell inverter.
Dan's Data letters #184 - Upgrading for Supreme Commander, monster resolution monitors, the sweet smell of lithium, triangular screwdrivers, IR illumination, another miracle engine, and a weird dude I used to know.
I/O letters column #69 - Drop-down command lines, computers that don't turn off, tracking drive heads, old Radeon drivers, TMD fans, the vanishing -5V rail, and drives that spin up too often.
Dan's Data letters #185 - Stealing electricity, bogus water softeners, wi-fi delusions, water powered cars, daytime running lamps, the expensive Quantum Xrroid, yet another fuel "catalyst", and recharging batteries the crazy way.
One Laptop Per Me - Little "PC companion" computers are a great idea, and a flurry of them are heading our way.
I/O letters column #70 - Access point upgrades, high-powered LCDs, toasted Peltiers, missing capacitors, and plug-adapter Christmas trees.
The Land of Wind, Ghosts and Minimised Windows - Miscellaneous weirdness from the ugly guts of Windows.
Dan's Data letters #186 - Tiny terminals, near-ultrasonic hi-fi, more flammable water, and skydiving ants.
Things that change, things that don't - Exactly one component of a 15-year-old ludicrous fantasy computer still has not been equalled by real hardware.
I/O letters column #71 - Crackly sound cards, monitor eyestrain, telemarketing avoidance, the human body as a TV antenna, and TOSLINK-ifying analogue audio.
Dan's Data letters #187 - Memory map mysteries, very expensive flashlights, running DSLRs on AAs, voltage conversion, headphone attenuation, and some more constructive criticism.
Water power - The water-cooled power supply: Not as stupid as it sounds, but also probably not worth buying.
I/O letters column #72 - Ethernet power interference, swap-free WinXP, Xbox cooling options, and the Case of the Three-Legged Capacitor.
Dan's Data letters #188 - Magic radiation blockers, ultrasonic rat scarers, sweat plus PC equals death, more fake memory cards, and power cord electricity leakage.
Dan's Data letters #189 - More confusion about the "3Gb barrier", RAM for Photoshop, the b-or-B deBate, NiMH cells that don't go flat, USB 2 devices that aren't, a levitating helicopter, outdoor LED lighting, mangled FireWire ports, mysterious voltages, and more electroquackery!
Great interface disasters - It's easy to make a bad user interface. It takes a lot more work to make a truly terrible one.
I/O letters column #73 - 8800 GTX versus PC-S80, heat-related crashes, keyboard surgery, and the sad plight of the Socket 478 underclass.
Dan's Data letters #190 - Wireless USB, toaster earthing, communications speakers, Mac memory holes, a funny-looking subwoofer, audiophile balderdash, bug repellers that don't, and vaporising crowbars.
Doughnut-shaped universes - Computer games can help you understand some of the big questions of cosmology.
I/O letters column #74 - Shooting at satellites, XP within Vista, the Amazing Electric Man, and drying out a DS.
Dan's Data letters #191 - Flashlights small and large, fitting stuff in a little Lian Li, building speakers, a bassless car stereo, cleaning up bug poo, radioactive batteries, and a Magic Water Stick.
Dan's Data letters #192 - Radiation protection, car battery woes, plug adapters and lithium voltage, terrifying welders and eBay jerkwads.
Grease and hard drive change - How old is too old for a hard disk?
I/O letters column #75 - The Special Hard Disk Edition! Controller board swapping, interface bandwidth, boot delays, data density, and partition shuffling.
Dan's Data letters #193 - Underweight D batteries, a poor projector purchase, product-shot cameras and electrocution on the open road.
Save me! - Why, you might innocently wonder, do so many computer games have lousy save/load features? I explore a few of the less optimal saving strategies.
I/O letters column #76 - Hard drive power consumption, the endlessness of pi, the weight of a bit, and solid diamond CPU coolers.
Dan's Data letters #194 - Foraging for free NiCds, HAL's dimensions, Prius battery longevity, plug-in hybrid battery selection, dodgy Dells, add-on noise cancelling, immortal vacuum pumps, and fake instructional videos.
Impossible antenna, only $50! - An awful lot of add-on WiFi antennas are, technically, objects that cannot exist. If you know why that is, you can avoid some significant frustration.
I/O letters column #77 - PC-drowning oil, solar air conditioning, big and little PCIe slots, defragging by copying, and putting magnets in your fingers.
Dan's Data letters #195 - Automatic litter trays, cat-bathing, sterilising pet water, and kitten selection.
I/O letters column #78 - Liquid helium for PC cooling, the Amazing Boiling-Point Pentium 4, magnetic screwdrivers versus your data, and putting a smoke machine in a computer.
I'm ready for my upgrade - How much would you pay for a pill that'd give you a champion bodybuilder's physique, without any exercise at all?
Dan's Data letters #196 - Killer Tasers, ticking hard drives, phono cable extension, network splitters, photo hosting, magic spark plugs, and the mysteries of fuel consumption.
The Great Apathetic Revolution - It's hard to herd cattle when they all decide to wander off at once.
I/O letters column #79 - CompactFlash versus SD, subwoofer-repair electrocution, humungous electrical conductors, and a motherboard you probably shouldn't buy.
I/O letters column #80 - PC power consumption, partial archives, driverless laptops, and fancy names for Realtek chips.
Dan's Data letters #197 - Deadly kitchen renovations, headphone impedance, clock voltage conversion, USB-rechargeable batteries, and musical sparks.
Protect the Wi-Fi wilderness! - Unsecured access points are a critically endangered species. We must all do what we can to help.
Dan's Data letters #198 - Batteries inside other batteries, amplifier power output, bogus water injection systems, magnetic traffic-light talismans, nonexistent solar cubes, and another couple of free-energy claims.
Wi-Fi pirate radio - Pretty soon, mesh-network repeaters will be cheap enough to give away. Or throw onto people's roofs.
I/O letters column #81 - HDR eyestrain, PCIe 1 vs 2, dual-DVI plus TV-out, i-RAM filesystems, Flash-card SSDs, and the Secret Of Ofallevil.com.
The benign botnet - Why not use the zombie army's powers for good?
I/O letters column #82 - Clashing drive controllers, replacing thermal goop, gilded heat sinks, and kinking cables.
Dan's Data letters #199 - Electricity from exhaust heat, AA-cell enlargers, the Power Conditioner of Mystery, unorthodox Spotlight charging, powering an emergency services office, hurting yourself with magnets, and hurting magnets back.
Meet the new DRM, same as the old DRM - The idea of a one-play-only movie format isn't as old as the hills, but it's definitely older than VHS.
I/O letters column #83 - The purpose of the page file, two very hot computers, and running engines from your CPU heat.
Dan's Data letters #200 - Yet another plug-in "power saver", magic spark plugs, the anatomy of a "data entry" scam, and hydrogen-power claims examined.
Your laptop is lying to you - So is your mobile phone. And the phone's probably lying twice.
I/O letters column #84 - Memory access patterns, de-gooping a CPU, measuring the thickness of one's pipe, and mysterious LCD resolutions.
Welcome to super-surveillance - Governments and corporations want to know everything about you. And technology is getting closer to making it possible.
I/O letters column #85 - How small can transistors get, how likely is your PC is to burn your house down, and how many hard drives can you fit into an ammo box?
Dan's Data letters #201 - Legal threats, LED flashlight upgrades, an optically improbable solar collector, and two more magic mileage enhancers.
Dan's Data letters #202 - Room at the bottom, algae supplements, the world-ending LHC, and a solar-power system that does not add up.
Lemon-fresh power supplies - Why is it almost impossible to buy a genuine razor cartridge, real SanDisk memory card or honestly-specified power supply on eBay? Because of The Market For Lemons, that's why.
I/O letters column #86 - CPU thermal resistance, power supplies in parallel and series, converting component to HDMI, and nude CCFLs.
A>B>C>A! - Nontransitive relationships are another Basic Fact about the Structure of the Universe that you can learn about in computer games.
I/O letters column #87 - Audio switching on the cheap, cores versus sockets, big batteries for old UPSes, and Killer NICs.
Dan's Data letters #203 - Internet filtering, obstinate bulbs, wiping magstripes, very old keyboards, regenerative BMWs, and fuel from CO2 and water.
Internet washing machines, and magic rip-off boxes - Suddenly saving electricity is cool again. And... here come the scam artists.
I/O letters column #88 - Old Xbox hard drives, cleaning LCDs, audible solid-state devices, another victim of MMIO memory holes, and questionable claims about PSU cable resistance.
Dan's Data letters #204 - A dying external drive, a busted Time Machine, soldering and old monitors, air-conditioning snake oil, and yet another scammy fuel saver.
Dan's Data letters #205 - Moonlight photography, electron-stimulated luminescence, microwaves versus nutrients, and the dodginess or otherwise of Swoopo.com.
Dan's Data letters #206 - Shopping for rare-earth magnets, magnetic meteorite collection, step-down voltage adapters, non-scam surge filters, and lasering radiometers.
GPGPU and the Law of New Features - Graphics cards can run all sorts of software these days - but there's not a lot on offer for the end user.
I/O letters column #89 - Half-height graphics cards, phone plugs in network sockets, intermittent digital TV, and getting around HDCP.
Are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes? - In computing, as in everything else, your finely-tuned senses and remarkable brainpower stand ready to completely betray you.
I/O letters column #90 - Cluster-size twiddling, an alleged Vista RAM hack, making fake batteries, and a nonexistent Windows key that presses itself.
We're all prisoners of game theory - On the Prisoner's Dilemma, eBay rip-offs and crooked game reviewers.
I/O letters column #91 - How to replace fuses and how not to, and searching for a sound card made by anyone but Creative.
I/O letters column #92 - Knots versus lightning, NTFS on Linux, DOS games on Vista 64, inconvenient resolutions, and mysteriously duplicated power wires.
I think I'm turning cyborg-ese, I really think so - A practical guide to living forever.
I/O letters column #93 - Repairing arc-scorched circuit boards, moving a car subwoofer indoors, the endless bus-speed puzzle, and a man who'd like a large knob.
Half an ounce of electrons - Which kind of sci-fi super-battery should you ask the aliens for?
I/O letters column #94 - Fake flash drives, excessively-nested directories, four-wire fans, shotgun debugging, and grommets.
Next stop, clay tablets - It's possible to back up computer data onto ordinary paper. And it's less silly than it sounds!
I/O letters column #95 - Armorsuit vs server case, ionic computer fans, de-blinging an LED fan, and the truth about laptop power supplies.
A bold new computer metaphor - Computers, if you ask me, are currently about as easy to use as the written word was in the sixth century AD.
Won't someone PLEASE think of the hard drives?! - A couple of aspects of modern computing, and modern transport, that'll seem completely bizarre to people in the future.
I/O letters column #96 - Huge CPU coolers, EPS12V adapters, the evergreen RAM disk, and clicky keyboards on modern PCs.
I/O letters column #97 - Data destruction, vacuuming your PC, reviving laptop batteries, and Stupid UPS Tricks.
Alternate history - Of railways, roadways, 3D cards and PC clones.
From aerial torpedoes to RoboCars - Autonomous machines have been sneaking up on us for rather a while. Fortunately, not all of them want to kill us.
I/O letters column #98 - Upgrading the right thing, the Case of the Vanishing Power Management, boot-sector brain surgery, and funny-shaped batteries.
I/O letters column #99 - PSU hybridisation, Bluetooth plus KVM equals irritation, clicky keyboard options, and the persistence of outboard power bricks.
I/O letters column #100 - Reviving a smoked drive, mouse crud, a mysterious video connector, hex bits, and write-protecting flash drives.
I/O letters column #101 - Deadly PC components, blackout hunting, and data destruction the pyromaniac way!
How fast is a hard drive? How long is a piece of string? - Measuring the performance of storage devices is easy. Measuring their performance properly isn't.
"In tonight's episode of Fallout 4..." - You know what's wrong with episodic games? They're not episodic enough.
I/O letters column #102 - Optical computers, a new twist on the Stupid Out-Of-Memory Error, and adding galvanometers to your PC!
I/O letters column #103 - System specs for playing HD video, quietening a rack server, and how to imitate an American.
How hot is too hot? - Everybody knows why you should keep your hard drives cool. Almost everybody is wrong.
Nerd Skill Number One - Command-line interfaces may be older than monitors, but they're not going to go away for quite a while yet.
What'll be free next? - Today, it seems ludicrous that movies could ever be legally given away for free, by people who just make them for the love of it. In 1980, though, you could have said the same thing about music.
Out: Hot rods. In: Robots - On the hobby-microcontroller revolution.
I/O letters column #104 - Plugpack selection for oddball devices, USB Cables that Should Not Be, Wi-Fi for desktops, and upgrading an XPS.
I/O letters column #105 - Mains-voltage computer cooling, excessively bright monitors, and what to do with a pile of drives.
500 gig per second, if we don't get a flat - The bandwidth of a station wagon full of memory cards is quite impressive. And it's not as silly as you might think.
I/O letters column #106 - Short-lived batteries, cable origami, and what the heck registry cleaners actually do.
No spaceship? No sale. - There's a particular kind of ad that you only see in computer magazines. I hope it never dies.
I/O letters column #107 - Upgrading netbook speakers, oiling up your PC, and measuring computer-component current.
The shifting goalposts of AI - We are surrounded by artificial intelligence, every day of our lives. Or there is no AI at all, and there never will be.
I/O letters column #108 - Illegal electrics, defragging disks, and long-term backups.
I/O letters column #109 - PC power demands, cracked LCDs, and the mysteries of DMG files.
Steal This Education - I think copyright infringement may save millions of lives. Allow me to explain.
I/O letters column #110 - Filtering DC power-wire noise, suspiciously inexpensive surge suppressors, fans and resistors, and Windows file associations vanishing up their own fundament.
Next stop: Hardware piracy - Digital fabricators are developing so fast that it's rather difficult to keep up with all of the news.
I/O letters column #111 - Mystifying color-scheme pop-ups, another hopeful drive-board swapper, and lining your computer with rubber and lead!
I/O letters column #112 - Hunting audio crackles, diagnosing suspicious thumb drives, HDMI hookups, and translating RAIDs.
I/O letters column #113 - Turning off the swap file, crimping versus soldering, and grafting PSUs together.
I/O letters column #114 - A terrifying error with an easy solution, network adapters of very little brain, and do-it-yourself thermal goop.
A hundred years of EULAs - DRM can actually work. But licensing nonsense that doesn't work goes back a long, long way.
The triumph of niceness - The ongoing transition from content-company nonsense to actual civilised behaviour.
The daily grind - Grinding, in games, is evil. But its power can be used for good.
Speed kings - The extraordinary, and extraordinarily difficult, activity of game speedrunning.
Alt-tCRASH - Why is it, you might wonder, that something so often goes horribly wrong when you try to alt-tab out of a game?
Game crazy - PC gamers put up with a lot. But we can also claim a peculiar reward.
I/O letters column #115 - CrossFire versus PCIe x4, upgrading to Windows 7, and why some burned CDs still won't play in the car.
Five trillion bits flying in loose formation - I have a confession to make: I have never had a PC that worked properly.
I/O letters column #116 - HDTV display lag, system-monitor programs that disagree, and the wonders of LSD NiCds.
I/O letters column #117 - The fake-Flash rip-off, diamonds as heat sinks, endless troubleshooting frustration, and deafening beeps.
I/O letters column #118 - Soldering battery cells, keeping dust out of a large sucking hole, cordless ESD straps, concatenating plugpacks, and laser video projectors.
Cannibalise the corpses! - "I'm afraid you've got a bad game, Mr Jones." "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"
One-note NPCs - Why do so many game characters have so little to say?
Dan's Data letters #207 - Educational LED frying, mystic battery rejuvenation, modifying headphones, running a US TV in Australia, fixing filthy power, novel dancing-pole installation, fooling your electricity meter, and inhaling deadly gases.
Dan's Data letters #208 - Sparklers and thermite, alkaline chargers, more Windows fun, clicky keyboards, car-battery UPSes, Bernoulli disks, homeopathic suicide, Frankenstein switches, and a finger-to-mains adapter.
Big Brother is watching you play - More and more games snoop on how you play. This could be a good thing, a bad thing, or an entirely unimportant thing.
I/O letters column #119 - Cleaning printer nozzles with something other than ink, the mysteries of processor affinity settings, and installing a PC motherboard in a giant old non-PC case.
I/O letters column #120 - The perils of RAID 0 and the economics of CrossFire, and... memorable... PC practical jokes.
Have you wasted enough time today? - I cannot speak too highly of mucking around.
The newt hits! You die... - If you call yourself a gamer, but you've never played NetHack, I really must insist that you do.
I/O letters column #121 - Curing the Windows "Not-Responding Problem", and the mysteries of laptop-drive connectors.
Stuck in the foothills - The problem with being trapped on a local maximum is that you often don't even know that it's happened.
I/O letters column #122 - Lego computer cases, hard-drive reliability by brand, impossible data compression, and high-powered USB.
I/O letters column #123 - SSD reliability, fun with the hosts file, and a super-fast alternative to Windows Search.
A modest censorship proposal - Perhaps the energies of governmental busybodies can be less harmfully applied...
I/O letters column #124 - Hard-drive board transplants, catproofing your keyboard, and the unending confusion of hard-drive capacity numbers.
In Praise of the Fisheye - Wide-view "distortion" in games actually isn't distortion at all, but an actually distorted view can work better.
I/O letters column #125 - Letting the smoke out of a wire, crackly cats versus computers, a series of mysteriously dying hard drives, and oiling up a video card.
Filenames.WTF - File extensions are, in this day and age, ridiculous. But we're stuck with them.
I/O letters column #126 - Mister Handy versus your frame-rate, volume-control sliders that don't work properly, education versus Facebook, and hooking up ancient monitors to modern devices.
I/O letters column #127 - Un-drowning a hard drive, killing mystery windows and blackscreened games, "better algorithms" for playing MP3s, and hard-disk shelf-life.
Dan's Data letters #209 - A bandwidth mystery, charging SLA batteries, large amounts of electricity, wireless interference, testing a free Laserdisc player, and my office full of pocketknives.
I/O letters column #128 - Graphics memory versus graphics speed, clipboard managers, sneaking macros into the workplace, and an infelicitous collision of old and new entertainment technologies.
The death of the manual - Video game documentation has never been better, because the video game companies aren't making it any more.
Of magic lanterns, and MMORPGs - Why did people ever pay the price of a good laptop for a music box?
When you have eliminated the impossible... - An educational tale about some of my most inept troubleshooting.
I/O letters column #129 - A successful hard-drive board swap, the choosing of thermal goop, and the Mystery of the Self-Tangling Cables.
Welcome to dreamland - What does playing video games do to your mind?
I/O letters column #130 - Fixing graphics cards in the oven, when speakers say they're a keyboard, and a modest proposal for trans-planetary networking.
Welcome to my museum - You know what I need? A hell of a lot more ancient computers cluttering up the place, that's what.
I/O letters column #131 - Fear of drive refurbishment, mysteriously defective memory, unexpected key-map changes, and a computer that's dropped to 300 baud.
I/O letters column #132 - De-Activating a drive partition, a confusing multitude of hard drives, plugpack consolidation, and looping a network.
Stomp, don't sprint! - In which I do my level best to ruin giant robots for everyone.
I/O letters column #133 - Killing hardware with a CRT, killing yourself with an LCD, and foot-switches for games.
Dan's Data letters #210 - Tethering phones, USB foot pedals, possibly terrible international-mains-wiring advice, and yet more perpetual-motion machines.
Grinding myself down - On the terrible affliction of, and imperfect cures for, grinding in games.
Pathfinding to everywhere - Pathfinding: It's not just for getting Mammoth tanks over bridges.
I/O letters column #134 - Graphics glitches, decrapifying your PC, avoiding touchpad accidents, a narcoleptic laptop, and navigating Win7's control panels.
A deadly mouse trap - In which I am pleased to present another of those Things That Don't Bother You If You Don't Know About Them.
If it looks random, it probably isn't - On conditional probability, and debugging your brain.
I/O letters column #135 - Bizarre symptoms from bad video-card contacts, tracing cables, a SYN flood that wasn't, and mouse-wheel surgery.
I/O letters column #136 - Strangely tiny space games, the distinctive sound of the circular buffer, and a USB hub that tries to power a PC.
I/O letters column #137 - The difficulties involved in using all of the pipe, a Picasa annoyance, suspiciously-named attached files, a laptop that refuses to reinstall, and how many Windows updates does one computer need, anyway?
Identical voices and phantom swords - Why do so many very expensive games still have parts that look so cheap?
Boing! - So why does a Skyrim giant smash you a mile into the sky, anyway?
I/O letters column #138 - Magnetic hard-drive murder, mysterious MacBook dust, strange SATA sockets, a zombie Windows-install folder, permission to delete, and a PC problem that made me feel like an idiot.
Socialised entertainment - It's becoming a lot easier to make your own fun.
I/O letters column #139 - Out-of-spec laptop power supplies, Mysterious Inaccessible Network Problem #32725, a CPU-hogging invisible process, extending antique Wi-Fi, and a sneaky browser hijacker.
I/O letters column #140 - Apparent spam-sending, suspicious update reboots, a mysteriously inaccessible network, making a drive that anybody can read, and moving the invisible.
Warfare. Aliens. Car crashes. ENTERTAINMENT! - We need more games on TV.
On the h4xx0ring of p4sswordZ - Greetings, fellow criminals!
I/O letters column #141 - Another strange Wi-Fi problem, surgery on speakers destroyed by a child, hiding illicit activities in the workplace, and the mysteries of the relationships between devices and their chargers.
I/O letters column #142 - Evading Google's snooping, PeerBlock paranoia, de-Redditing your workday, an Interruptible Power Supply, and mysterious ticking.
I/O letters column #143 - Online video that won't let you seek, mysterious laptop-battery behaviour, ANTS EVERYWHERE, and puzzling pointer-twitching.
Seeing past the normal - Your world is weird. Realising that is good mental exercise.
Science versus SoftRAM - Why did hundreds of thousands of people pay good money for software that did nothing at all?
I/O letters column #144 - Mysterious elderly-computer problems, a creeping malware plague, grievous harm to CPU pins, and the very good idea of keeping your computer cool by spraying water on it.
Righteous bits - Neil Young's "Pono" audio system, and why I don't buy it.
Random... ish... numbers - Numbers that are random in one way, but not in another, and what you can use them for.
I get letters - In which some rather hilarious hate mail about the Pono column presses my Talk Button.
I/O letters column #145 - A terrifying boot error, a ticking laptop, mysterious gaming black screens, and yet another use for paper clips.
I/O letters column #146 - Caseless computers, multiple power supplies, and fixing circuit boards.
Money for nothing - On the peculiar phenomenon of worthless apps and printed Wikipedia articles that cost a lot of money.
I/O letters column #147 - Computing like Terry Gilliam, awkward cable sockets, USB plugs versus Ethernet sockets, and plug-adapter improvisation with kitchen supplies.
I/O letters column #148 - Unusual PC power switches, strangely slow card-reader recognisation, cracking encrypted Zip files, diagnosing slightly wrong keys, hunting bandwidth vampires, and plastic storage tubs as computer cases.
I/O letters column #149 - Giant cheap UPSes, drive-adapter improvisation, bootable CDs, and boosting your phone signal without breaking the law.
I/O letters column #150 - A phone-crashing oven, phishy-smelling e-mail, slightly accelerated music, and big drives on cheap USB adapters.
I/O letters column #151 - The false promise of HDMI-to-VGA cables, LANning with your neighbour, jammed fan motors, and cruelty to CPUs.
Of course you'd download a car. Or a gun! - Have we all been killed by 3D-printed guns yet? I haven't been paying attention.
A comforting lie - An auditory skeuomorph you've heard many times, without even knowing it.
I/O letters column #152 - Charging things dangerously, undesired enhancement, misaligned ports, easy Internet drive-mapping, and a cavalcade of foistware!
I/O letters column #153 - Mysterious disk usage, an Ethernet oddity, when computers can't tell you what they're upset about, and whacking CPUs with hammers.
I/O letters column #154 - Reviving a dead external drive, perverse activities with SSDs, an undesirably musical image viewer, Chrome CPU problems, mysteriously inaccessible Web sites, changing drive letters, and Unknown Contacts.
I/O letters column #155 - Zapping programs by name, how to move program data from an old registry to your current one, and diabolically clever encryption.
I/O letters column #156 - A laptop versus half a cup of tea, browser extensions versus your CPU, and beeping modifier keys versus your sanity.
I/O letters column #157 - A lifeless and beepless PC, soldering a thumb-drive back together, silent permissions failures, alarming network wiring, and e-mail from nowhere.
I/O letters column #158 - Fun with a floating ground, turning drives into folders, crimping versus soldering, another mysterious user account, and plugging speakers straight into sound cards.
I/O letters column #159 - USB-boot oddities, exploding components that do no obvious harm, a ludicrous list of startup processes, plugging holes in PCs, and the "annoying" way in which "bluescreen" errors are "formatted".
I/O letters column #160
- Round blue electrical things, a PC full of extinguisher powder, a stripey screen,
scammy computer "tune-ups", and why password resets work in the way that they do.
I/O letters column #161
- Overdoing DHCP, clamping a monitor, yet another use for paper clips, and cat puke
on a keyboard.
I/O
letters column #162 - Crank USB chargers, not knowing how you fixed something,
killing slide-ins, and mysterious pinkness.
I/O letters column #163
- The death of the window-trail, difficulty switching browsers, EVENING out the
VOLUME of your RANDOM-PLAY music, video-card power plugs, and the joys of
parenthood.
I/O letters column #164
- USB solar panels, file-date fixing, mysterious Skyrim crashes-to-desktop, and how
and why mobile phones cause radio interference.
Ask Dan
Minimum video card for 1680 by 1050?
Which way up for motherboard heat pipes?
What motherboard for a Core 2 Duo E4300?
Parallel ports for PIC programmers
Video card prices. What's up with that?
Why do Australian UPSes have IEC sockets on them?
What's with the 3Gb memory barrier?
I want to talk to you about ducts.
Low voltage? Dual core? Decisions, decisions...
Why's it so hard to get a PC with a laptop CPU?
Which chipset for quad-core overclocking?
Video cards of all shapes and sizes
SATA controllers and trayless bays
The deadly temptation of Skulltrail
The wonderful world of Windows
Fun stuff
Airzooka - It shoots nothing, and it shoots it hard.
Amazing Magnets Superball kit - A magnetic sculpture that has to be seen to be believed.
Android Catapult Watch - A wristwatch that shoots BBs. Seriously.
Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Games - A 2600 and ten carts, built into a joystick!
Bensu Mini GTR - A really, really tiny radio controlled car!
Black computers are faster - new research confirms what we've always known
Breaking the law on the Internet - the top ten ways
Buy lots of silly things - You heard me.
Commando Challenge remote controlled tanks - They fight! They smoke! A little dude flies into the air!
Firewheel - Possibly the world's finest rubber band gun.
Gakken Mechamo Centipede - It's utterly useless, but to see it is to want one.
Konami Combat DigiQ tanks - A ton of tank combat fun in a tiny, TINY package!
Kyosho Mini-Z Racers - Real R/C racing cars that fit in your pocket!
Kyosho Pocket Armour Panther A - Possibly the smallest radio controlled tanks in the world.
Kyosho QRC Wild Dodge Ram - the radio controlled, fuel powered car that can go backwards!
GyroTwister and Powerball - It's a gyroscope! It's a wrist exerciser! It's apparently impossible!
How to spot a psychopath - it's easy when you know how!
Inside the EMPower Modulator! - At last, I dismantle one of these bizarre devices!
Intel announces revolutionary "Sextium" processor!
Kittenwar: The Book - It's pretty much exactly what you'd think it'd be.
Office Toys! - Toy guns, flying things, bouncing putty...
Office Toys 2! - A spud gun, a bug flinger, a flying tube...
PEBKAC People - The least reliable component of any computer system
Rare earth magnets for fun and profit - One Tesla in the palm of your hand!
Rare earth magnets two - Funny shapes, and giant scary ones!
Shot-Blade - My First Anti-Triffid Gun.
Tabletop Trebuchet kit - Build your own siege engine!
Tamiya 1/16th scale radio controlled Pershing tank - Full option scale tank motoring!
Tamiya 1/16th scale radio controlled Sherman tank - It's even cooler than it sounds.
Tamiya Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge 1/10th scale radio controlled racing car - Red. Low. Fast. Cool.
The name game: The outcome - What became of all those eDumbNameTreefrog companies from 1999, anyway?
Time Machine rolling ball clock - The weirdest way to tell the time that actually works.
Tokyo Marui 1/24th scale radio controlled Type 90 tank - It shoots! What more do you need to know?!
Tribes 2 Annoying Bastard Guide - How to make every single person on the other team wish your underpants would catch fire.
United States Marine Corps announces new "Geek Corps"!
Wicked Lasers Nexus green laser - Don't call it a pointer. It's more of a hurter.
Zero Blaster smoke ring gun - I'll be darned. This thing actually works.