FetchTV2 No Ordinary IPTV

More than a PVR and Less than Foxtel IQ

FetchTV is iiNets entry into the pay tv market. Going up against heavy weights like Foxtel and Telstra may not seem like a sensible plan but iiNet may be onto something here. It makes use of the spare capacity in the network and provides iiNet with a whole new revenue stream. At it’s most basic FetchTV is a PVR – Personal Video Recorder – with the addition of internet delivered content. What iiNet have achieved is to provide the basics for a good price , in a more strategic sense they have  aimed at a gap in the market, fill that gap iiNet. At the moment this is most evident in the collection of European soccer channels and world wide news channels. Don’t replicate Foxtel, go for the parts of the market they have ignored. Read the full article »»»»

My Birthday is Coming Up, Hint Hint

The new FinePix X100 12.3 Mega-pixel digital camera has a definite Leica M9 look … but Fujifilm says that “the combination of a hybrid viewfinder, large APS-C sensor and a precisely matched prime lens, make this camera unique to anything else in the market, and is presented within a rangefinder design that makes it an instant modern classic.” We have to admit – we love this camera – the well wrapped technology is exactly what we believe point and shoot is all about. Don’t get deceived by the super neat retro casing, this shooter has some serious new technology under the hood.

The chassis is made from die-cast magnesium alloy, the dials and rings are milled from metal and the chassis has been finished in leather-like accents. The upper dials allow the user to program camera settings without powering on the camera, and the large 12.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor has been internally optimized and exclusively developed for the X100. Its ISO sensitivity runs from 200 to 6400, but this can be expanded to ISO100 to ISO12800, giving the camera “approximately 10 times the sensitivity of a conventional compact.” The distinct lack of interchangeable lenses is a disappointment, Fuji has refused to rule out lens options in the future, but for now the camera is stuck with a pretty spectacular 23mm f2.o lens. Read the full article »»»»

SSD Should Be Your Next Upgrade!

Solid State Investment

Upgrading your hard drive to an SSD – Solid State Drive referring to the Flash memory as Solid not moving - is the best bang for buck upgrade there is. Upgrading other parts can be costly and involve many parts – upgrading cpu will often require new motherboard and ram , even then it may only give you a small percentage improvement. Changing to a fast video card can gain a lot of improvement in games but top end video cards are an expensive habit – over $1000 for top of the line. SSD upgrades can be quite cheap, and will bag you a considerable speed improvement. The speed you get with an SSD only improves certain aspects of your computer but it is all the good bits. Boot up time, applications loading and switching  will al become a lot snappier. Read the full article »»»»

XBMC: Home Media Center Software

XBMC 10 Feet Tall and Twice as Wide

So you’ve decided to build that media centre PC, spent the big dollars on the hardware, finished the marathon build, installed windows, now what. Very quickly you will find out that the normal windows interface isn’t so great when viewed on a TV, even a big TV. That’s where the 10 foot interface – meaning visible from 10 feet away – of XBMC comes in. XBMC’s interface combined with the ability to bring together all of your hardware in the one place gives you the perfect way to work with you multi-media PC. Add in a remote control and you have the perfect multi media PC. Read the full article »»»»

TechVault: Commodore 64

The computer that changed the world

The Commodore 64 sold in excess of 17 million units in its lifetime,  still the largest selling single model of computer in history. Introduced in 1982 this computer more than any other made computers available to the average joe on the street.

The attraction for us nerds was purely based around its graphics and sound capabilities, it was technically the best machine at the time. This alone doesn’t explain it’s success though. Read the full article »»»»