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Rescuing captured fairies and defeating a pirate named BlackLore is the name of the game with a title developed by BC Soft Games.
As its title indicates, The Magician’s Handbook II is a follow-up to the original offering that set you the task of exploring and rescuing a valley that was seeped in evil. This time you need to embark on a quest to release fairies that have been captured and held prisoner by the evil magician pirate BlackLore which explains why this game is subtitled BlackLore.
Another of the items received in part last autumn after a briefing, however they were not reviewed as the star item a potato/vegetable peeler despite requests never arrived, spring cleaning has taken place and so now the belated reviews.
First a 19cm green bowl designed by morph. It has two handles ideal for salad etc as the handles extend from the side it is easy to clean. For me the highlight is the black rubber .5cm ring around the bottom that lifts it just that smidgeon from whatever surface you place it upon. While I do not use a dishwasher there is nothing to say it cannot be cleaned in one. It does however warn not to use it in the microwave, for me anyway it’s for cold/cool use.
Combining your existing electronic cabling set-up and WiFi is the approach of the latest HomePlug product from devolo.
In the past I have looked at a couple of products from the dLAN HomePlug series that has been developed by devolo. Now it is the turn of the dLAN 200 AV Wireless HomePlug AV Starter Kit. This latest devolo product combines Powerline technology, whereby you make use of the already existing electric power cables running through your establishment to provide networking linking, and WLAN capability.
The first is somewhat unusual in that it is battery operated and stated to give up to 20 hours between charges. The second a far more conventional unit being a pair of speakers requiring mains power, both can have a useful place.
It is 12x6x2cm and weights 218grams. It comes with a mini USB to USB lead to charge its internal battery and this can take several hours. Once charged you can take it anywhere with any device that connects via a 3.5mm lead. So it can be an iPod MP3 player or other device you could even connect it to a notebook should you wish to improve sound. The only connections are on one end being the mini USB socket and the 3.5mm jack.
The first is a set of red and white lights to attach to yourself ideal for cyclists to be seen at night. The second who has tried using the modern touch screen in gloves? This normally will not work, however with these gloves it will.
Let’s first of all think cycling and then think whatever else they might be useful for. When I was growing up – long time ago – you did not leave your cycle pump on your bike - now it seems the whole bike will be pinched. So while dark mornings or evening require lights it seems the police are quite happy if a white and red light static or flashing are displayed somewhere. One such way is on the front and back of a helmet.
It is time for another dip into the bag of hidden object games as you investigate a large house with an air of mystery.
Adding to the list of young female investigators of popular fiction is Becky Brogan. A resident of Old Haven and a pupil at the High School, Becky loves solving puzzles and has ambitions to become a detective when she is older. As part of her latest homework project, Becky needs to discover more about the history of the mysterious Meane Manor. This is the opening premise of a Mumbo-Jumbo game developed by the unusually named Let It Rain So I can play games all day.
For many people the single function inkjet printer is giving way to the multi-function machine that, as well as printing, copies and scans. The Canon MG 5250 is the latest such device and is targeted at those who want a SoHo (small office/home office) machine that is easy to use and gives good all round results.
The MG5250 would not be out of place in either the home or office. Its case is in a trendy shiny black plastic, is box-shaped and, being 455 x 368 x 160mm with rounded corners does not take up an unreasonable amount of real estate. Both USB and 802.11b/g/n wireless connectivity are supported and the machine has a built-in power supply so that there is no power “brick” to cause added clutter.
I certainly remember a radio that had this retro look many years ago; of course it was not DAB. In fact the View Quest Retro DAB radio has most modern controls, easily implemented and of course it has an iPod/iPhone dock but it just has the retro look.
The maximum dimensions for the View Quest Retro DAB radio are 29x17x9cm this assumes you have the unit powered by mains as this adds 3cm to the depth. My unit was red with a leather like fabric covering all but the front and the back with the carry handle in the same finish. All the controls and connections are on the back and front. The back has the battery bay, the 66cm seven piece rod aerial, on/off slider, Auxiliary in and DC in sockets. The front has a two line 6.1.
A visit to a press event introduced me to a Hitachi product that attempted to combine style and an innovative approach to hardware and software.
I am not sure how to classify this next product. Is it a docking station? Or perhaps it could be referred to as a portable hard drive. Then again there is a 4GB USB key device that actually acts as a standard flash drive. Combining everything together is the media management software which deserves a mention as does the back-up capability of this product. So how best to define this LifeStudio Mobile Plus product from Hitachi.
With this next title you get two games that involve mechanical puppets, hidden object sessions and puzzle solving.
As part of the Hidden Mystery series, Focus Multimedia has bundled together two PuppetShow titles from Big Fish Games. These Hidden Object Adventure games are entitled PuppetShow Mystery of Joyville and the sequel PuppetShow 2 Souls of the Innocent. Separate installation routines are required for each title from an initial opening menu. You can run either game from the Big Fish Game Manager or directly from its own desktop icon.
This is an All In One (no fax) but I doubt if very many people still use that facility. This can scan, print and copy and while it is USB you only have to then convince the lounge police that black is the 2011 colour of choice.
The Canon Pixma MG5150 measures 45x35x15cm when closed, the front paper exit tray opens automatically when something is being printed and this adds 10cm to the 35cm depth. The USB lead exits back right while power goes in back left neither add to the size. This is a five ink offering with a small black for photos and a larger one for text printing as well as the standard three colour inks.
It can prove extremely useful if you can switch the orientation of certain Apple devices when they are attached to a speaker enhancing product.
According to a popular expression, “Love makes the world go around.” Now it might appear that music, or perhaps entertainment, would be a more appropriate suggestion, for attempting to take over this planet-revolving task with the arrival of a circular device from iLuv. This device, designed specifically for providing docking and speaker enhancement features for various members of the iPod family, has a circular shape.
I am told there is an earlier model that did not have the DAB radio. This has it all and just for good measure an external speaker and bed shaker for those who never seem to hear the alarm go off, this you will not be able to ignore.
The iLuv iMM178 main unit is oval measuring 25x10x9cm, the bed shaker unit is also oval at 11x6.5x2.5cm. The lead that connects the shaker to the main unit is 2metres long and this I found was adequate. The mains lead ending in the power adapter plug is 1.7metres and this to me is a tab short unless the electric socket is the same side of the bed as the table/stand. The extra 30cm that the shaker unit has just gives that extra amount to allow easy placement.
An interesting mix an executive toy and something that never existed in my childhood pens designed especially for use for left or right handed children, they even do different models according to the age of the child.
Match-3 titles have been around for quite a while using different methods of creating matches and various types of layouts. This next game allows you to pick and choose from these different features.
Developed by Seppia Interactive and now available as part of Avanquest’s GSP Click & Play series, The Lost Inca Prophecy brings together Match-3 game play with a sprinkling of Hidden Object interludes. In this game you take on the role of Acua, a young Spanish librarian and a dreamer, who lived around the time of Spain’s attempt to colonise the New World.
This is one of a long range of cameras with the PowerShot name produced by Canon. It is also a contender for one of the best; it allows both the novice and those more advanced to get the best from it as well as from themselves.
The Canon PowerShot SX30is measures 12x11.5x8cm however with the lens fully zoomed the 11.5cm can increase by another 6cm. It weights 635grams. This camera does not need a case – apart from keeping it dry – as the TFT rotates on itself as is the fashion with camcorders. It can be totally operated without the using the TFT so people who come from 35mm film can still use the viewfinder to capture and here even for quick review.
With so much of our favourite music being stored digitally, it makes sense to include a speaker system as part of your computer set-up.
Continuing with its preference for including a cylindrical shape within its design concepts, Edifier has developed its MP300 Plus product as part of its IT Lifestyle catalogue. This is a multimedia speaker system that is also known as the Aurora. I’m guessing that the reason for it being called Aurora is due in part to the rainbow effect as the product is available in a range of colours.
Time travellers need to be extra careful otherwise their actions could cause ripples that spread throughout time and produce inconsistencies that increase the ripple effect.
With the family name of Clumsy you know that there will be plenty of mishaps occurring due to the intervention of certain individuals. Grandpa Clumsy surely falls into this category especially when he embarks on his time travelling escapades. These trips can have global consequences which will affect the flow of known history and, as a result, change modern day into an environment we would not recognise.
Calling this an alarm clock is a vast understatement both in abilities and indeed in size. It has sat by my bed for several days and roused me in the morning even before the buzzer/sounds/radio has sounded simply by its built in light.
As more and more people take their tentative first steps into using video editing, developers, such as MAGIX, are producing software to help them in this task.
Last year MAGIX released a video editing product that was designed to appeal to the novice user. This product was appropriately entitled Video Easy. Now MAGIX has released a new version of the software and has added the letters “HD” to the title to indicate that there is support for high definition content.
Most people have the idea that A3 machines are big, this one is not, this is not just a printer but a multi function unit as it scans, copies, faxes and prints, also it can also print photos direct from a card or a memory stick.
It is 52x48x31cm when you have A4 paper in both trays, the top tray can also accommodate A3 paper and it expands to accept this making the depth 58cm, another 10cm only. Please note this machine prints up to A3 and A3+. Everything can be installed from optical media, two discs are supplied one with the manuals and the other with PaperPort 12 and other software but it still downloads other items from the web. Total install time was 12 minutes including a reboot and it took 1.
While most seem happy to say YES when completing a 1000 piece puzzle me included I started my quest before Christmas on two larger offerings a 3000 piece one eventually completed, meant time to start a 5000 piece offering.
Of course even these are tiny in comparison to the 32,000 plus pieces in the world’s largest jigsaw that they produce. See last paragraph. For me anyhow a 2000 piece jigsaw is at the very least ‘a challenge’, it also has an awful lot of various shades of blue.
With smartphones, mobile music devices and other electronic gadgets it can sometimes be difficult to find all the power points necessary for recharging purposes. One solution could be to use a universal desktop charger.
Several months ago I was introduced to a product from Inoitulos, a Spanish technology consultancy. This product was the . The “i3” part of the product’s title indicates that it was capable of charging up to three different devices simultaneously. Now the company has come up with an enhanced version of the product. This new version provides the means for powering four devices at the same time.
This is much more than just a phone, like all decent recent phones its cordless and DECT however it can connect to any Wireless network and using its Touchscreen you have a unit capable of Internet browsing or playing Internet radio.
The phone is 15x5x2cm it has a cradle that is circular at 14cm and 3cm tall it has a small stand to allow leads etc to emerge and this raises the height by another 2cm at the rear of the unit, both the phone and the cradle are shiny black. The viewable screen on the phone is 4.3x5.8cm. Below the screen are the green answer button and the red end call button above these a back button and another between these is the ubiquitous five position joystick control.
With a pile of paper, various images and electronic documents all ready and waiting, it is time to test a new multifunction device. This time the manufacturer is Canon.
Arriving as the replacement for its MP490 model, Canon is now offering users the PIXMA MP495. Like its predecessor, the MP495 brings together print, scan and copy facilities within a single inkjet unit. In addition the MP495 features wireless connectivity as standard but this does come at a cost with regards to other types of functionality. Canon has taken the decision to remove any support for memory cards and PictBridge.
Ever fancied a job as a shelf stacker at your local supermarket? Maybe this next game will give you an indication as to your suitability for this particular task.
This is exactly what a modern notebook should be, well specified and easy to use. The latter is handled by it having a full suite of touch modules built it so things that used to need the mouse can now be completed using your fingers.
The Acer Aspire 5745PG touch screen laptop measures 37x25x3cm and weights 2.65kilos. It is black with the area in front of the keyboard being grey. Unfortunately the black is that horrible shiny black that shows fingermarks and the screen is rather reflective. There is a 106 key keyboard with the alpha and numeric keys being full size, there is of course a separate numeric keypad.
A recent delivery at the Fereday household saw the arrival of three new headphone sets from Panasonic which might be of interest.
Available in a choice of black or white, the Panasonic RP-HX45 is described as being Hi-Fi monitor headphones. This product has been designed for use with MP3 players and the various members of the iPod family. The lightweight headset consists of a padded, expandable headband with ear-pads that can be swivelled through approximately 100 degrees to suit different head shapes and sizes. By swivelling the ear-pads you can also store this product flat when not being used.
Netgears N300 RangeMax wireless gigabit ADSL2+ modem router DGN3500 has been designed to provide the higher speeds that users increasingly demand. In addition to its wide range of LAN and WAN features it can also support an external USB storage device.
The DGN3500 is in a slim case 223 x 153 x 31mm which is accompanied by a mains plug type power adapter. Although the unit can be laid flat on its side, Netgear recommends that it is stood vertically using the supplied clip-on stand in order to get the best wireless coverage from the three internal antennas. Installation procedure is quite simple; just follow the step-by-step illustrated instructions on the provided CD.
Panasonic do two ranges of cameras the ones that could even be called professional and can be seen being used by keen amateurs, they also do a Lumix range that look like point and shoot but have far more functionality.
The Panasonic Lumix TZ10 measures 10x6x3cm, the last figure can increase to 6cm when fully zoomed. My test unit was black with silvered fittings, it weighed 215grams. It has up to 12x zoom and captures images up to 12MP in size, this model can even use GPS to tell you where your images were taken. So this is by no means anything like an entry level ‘point and shoot type’ offering. The right side has two connectors behind a flip open door for HDMI and AV out.
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