PC Magazine August 2010

The upcoming Google TV hardware and service is by no means the first to try to combine TV and the Web. WebTV (bought by Microsoft and now called MSN TV) predates it by 15 years, and Apple TV has been trying half-heartedly to deliver the Internet to your television for the past three. Yet, with its industry-leading partners, a proven platform, and successful demonstration of phase one, Google TV does have the scent of a game changer. I think it’s fair to assume many of you will be considering a Google TV purchase in the fall (in an anecdotal survey, over 60 percent of you told me you would). With that in mind, here are some common questions to consider before you make that investment. Do I still need an IR…

Is your Web browsing as fast as it could be? Believe it or not, the number-one factor in page-load speed (or any kind of download) isn’t your browser. It’s your Internet service provider (ISP). After all, a Web page can’t finish loading until all the bits arrive. And while cable and phone companies compete to provide fast connections, 80 percent of Americans have no idea how fast their connection is supposed to be, according to a recent FCC study. The reality is that consumers do not experience speeds anywhere near what their ISPs claim to offer, at least not when it comes to Web surfing. An ISP’s claimed throughput rates are for sustained downloads of an individual file, when Web pages are typically made up of several files: the HTML code,…

GEARLOG Cells for the Oldsters Watch out Jitterbug, there’s a new big-button cell phone in town. Just5 phones ($119.99 list) are designed for ease of use, reliability, and access to emergency services. The company offers one basic model (in five colors) that includes a “speaking keypad” that confirms which buttons are pressed, an amplified speaker, an FM radio that works without a headset, a flashlight, and a keyboard locking switch. —Troy Dreier AT WORK WildPackets Introduces TimeLine WildPackets has announced a new networking tool that can be used for forensic analysis. Imagine having to pinpoint the date and time a financial transaction took place, or having to prove what kind of data was compromised as a result of a security breach. These types of scenarios are what WildPacket’s TimeLine Network Recorder solution can help with.…

Music piracy has come to cell phones—specifically the Android platform, which has begun harboring several apps designed to download songs directly to a phone. Third-party apps like Music Junk, Music Wizard, Tunee Music, MP3 Music, and Music Zilla all share a common purpose: to bypass music stores like iTunes or Amazon’s music store in favor of free downloads. The apps work either by using Wi-Fi or the carrier network directly, where they would count against a user’s allocation of bandwidth. The apps differ somewhat from traditional peer-to-peer apps like Limewire, Kazaa, or even BitTorrent files, in that only individual songs can be downloaded instead of whole albums. And none of the Android apps allow users to share songs; instead, a song is downloaded from either an anonymous location or an identifiable third-party…

A trusty e-book reader is not just a boon for public-transportation commuters. It can also be a valuable travel companion, offering lots of options to pass the time during a long layover or a terrible in-flight movie. E-book readers can also keep your carryon bag light and prevent you from impulse-buying paperback thrillers at the airport store. Sure, you already know about the Kindle, but now there are lots of competitors with advanced features like touch screens, 3G, a second display, preloaded titles, and Google’s Android operating system. Here are some of the new models to hit PC Labs. The biggest competitor to the Kindle is the Barnes & Noble nook. The latest version, the [1] Barnes & Noble Nook 3G + Wi-Fi ($199 direct, 4.0/5.0), has a small second screen…

Apple Mac mini (HDMI) $699 list 4.5/5.0 PROS Incredible, compacted design. Aluminum unibody construction. SD slot supports new SDXC cards. Included HDMI-to-DVI adapter and HDMI port. Extremely low power usage. Green Tech Approved. Internal power supply. Accessible memory slots. More 3D power than anything in its class. CONS Still no Blu-ray. Hard drive is still buried. No eSATA port. The Mac mini is back, this time with a new unibody aluminum chassis to match the rest of the Mac line. Other improvements include better 3D graphics, a new SD card slot, more energy efficiency, and an HDMI port. The Mac mini is finally the mainstream, compact PC you’ve been searching for. Fortunately, Apple has finally updated the Mac mini for the new decade, with this new model measuring 1.4 by 7.7 by 7.7 inches (HWD). The…