In the past I have looked at, and used, different DECT phones either as a single unit or in various combinations.  All these handsets, from manufacturers such as BT, Panasonic and Doro, adopted an upright position when mounted on the accompanying docking station.  This next DECT phone, however, prefers a more restful inclination as it lays flat in a sideways position on its docking station.

Queen of Spaces casts you in the role of a police Inspector who has drawn the short straw by being next in line when the previous officer goes missing in mysterious circumstances when conducting an investigation.  You are ordered to investigate a haunted mansion owned by a strange countess who is rumoured to possess a mysterious deck of powerful playing cards that are believed to give their owner everlasting life.

When faced with a new software product, your first experience of the software will be with its installation routine.  While many software packages make this introduction to a title as user-friendly as possible by keeping the user intervention to a minimum, this is not always the case.  Sometimes an installation will go out of its way to make things more difficult than they need to be.

Heroes of Hellas 3 is not just the third game in this particular series but also a game that belongs to the match-3 category.  Unlike some of the other titles that fall into this genre, you are not expected to make your own groups of 3 or more similarly embellished tiles by moving adjacent piece but, instead, locate already existing groups within an assortment of playing areas.

The Samsung GT-S5260 model, otherwise known as the Star II, is a candy-bar style smartphone.  Predominately lacquered black (in the case of the review unit), apart from the combination of matte and reflective silver bands running around the sides, the Star II has dimensions of 107.5 x 54 x 12.4mm (H x W x D) and weighs 94g.  At this weight and size, the handset should fit comfortably in the hand and give easy access to the various controls.

With dimensions of 192 x 112 x 12mm and weighing 325g, the HomeSurf 705 should easily fit into a pocket or bag without causing an unsightly bulge.  Dominating the front of the unit is a 7-inch digital LCD TFT resistive touch screen that has a screen aspect of 16:9 and delivers a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.  This screen does give you plenty of practice at polishing as you regularly need to remove the finger smears that quickly builds up on its surface.

Golden Records, a product developed by NCH Software, offers to convert vinyl records and tape cassettes to CD or MP3 files when working in conjunction with your computer, whether Mac or Windows base, and your Hi-Fi equipment.  Opening the box reveals the software on a CD along with various items of documentation (the greater part being a catalogue of other NCH Software products, and a RCA to 3.

Some may remember, as I do, a television series of many years ago that paired the living with the dead.  No I am not referring to one of those Zombie based stories.  This British television series was entitled Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).  It dealt with the adventures of a private detective (Randall) who was helped by his deceased partner (Hopkirk) with the ultimate aim of finding Hopkirk’s killer so that his spirit could be laid to rest.

The first such offering to find its way into my hands this year is Bitdefender Total Security 2012.  As you can probably surmise from the title, this is Bitdefender’s all encompassing protection offering product that includes antivirus, antispyware, backup, firewall, parental control and home network management in its feature set.  My review is based on the one year, one PC licence product – a three-user version is also available.

We have become use to new devices appearing on a regular, some would say daily basis.  Yet how often to we stop and consider the various development stages that must have been completed in order for these devices to have reached the position where they are considered suitable for human consumption and arrive as a finished product for the benefit of users such as you and I.

In the past I have looked at a number of products in the IDAPT range.  These products have featured the company’s exchangeable tips that allow a number of devices to be charged simultaneously from a base platform.  While the latest IDAPT product, namely the i1 Eco Universal Charger, also uses the company’s exchangeable tip feature and lets you charge a pair of devices simultaneously, it does away with the platform aspect.

Described as a Hidden Object Adventure game,Coronation Street: The Mystery of the Missing Hotpot Recipe is available from Avanquest.  Actually the missing recipe, used by Betty to create her mouth-watering, popular hotpot, had been torn into pieces prior to destroying it before it could fall into the wrong hands.  However, before the destruction can take place, a gust of wind scatters the pieces all over the place.

Adding to its range of mobile handsets, Doro has released its PhoneEasy 615 model.  Following the company’s normal practice, this 3G clamshell handset is designed for the older user who will appreciate its large buttons and easy to read text and display.  Unlike the other models in Doro’s PhoneEasy range that I have looked at, the 615 has a built-in camera and flash for the easy capture of treasured memories.

Making up this Pure product are the actual Move 2500 unit plus a ChargePAK M1 1000mAh battery pack, noise isolating headphones with a choice of small, medium and large ear-buds, a power adapter plus the small A6 size Owner’s Manual.  In appearance the Move 2500 unit looks like a smaller version of my iPod Classic.

First we were introduced to the beer swilling, curry devouring and rudeness personified Hector with his way of working and interacting with others in an episode entitled We Negotiate with Terrorists. Next came the rather more lengthy offering of Senseless Acts of Justice that had an option to switch characters as you take on the mantle of Lambert who is the antithesis of everything Hector believes in apart from upholding the rule of law.

While many will regard the Yeti as being kin to Big Foot and the Abominable Snowman as a member of the legendary ape-like family, the people at Blue Microphones are of a different opinion.  They know that the Yeti is the brand name given to a microphone developed by the company.

While some companies identify their hardware products with a combination of letters and numbers (for example the PX-2611U reviewed recently), others bestow a name upon the product.  Sometimes the name is appropriate and gives you a clear idea as to the use to which the item can be put but this is not always the case.  Take for example the Touro Mobile Pro from Hitachi which gives little away regarding the product other than it is portable.

For those who have not come across a speaker system from Edifier before, the company has a habit of designing speaker systems whose appearance has an eye-catching effect.  In the past I have taken a look at Edifier systems of different colours and those featuring cylindrical, spherical and decapitated pyramid units.  Now it is the turn of the Prime USB model which belongs to the Edifier IT Lifestyle range of products.

As part of its Hidden Mystery Collections, Focus Multimedia has brought together a couple of titles from the Mystery Age series.  These two titles are The Imperial Staff and The Dark Priests.  Both offerings fall into the Hidden Object Adventure genre and were originally released by Big Fish Games.  Each title needs to be installed separately and it will place an appropriate icon on your desktop for easy access.

The L1i Twin is part of Binatone’s iDECT range of phones for those who prefer a landline connection with a degree of mobility.  As the “Twin” part of its title indicates, this product consists of a pair of handsets allowing you to set up a handset in two different rooms.  There is a choice of colour schemes available as you select from black, silver or black & silver.  The review model was of the latter colour scheme.

Whatever the season, you can guarantee that the weather will be changeable as it does its best to thwart your best laid plans for any outdoor activities.

Echoes of the Past 2: The Castle of Shadows is a Hidden Object Adventure game that is currently available from Focus Multimedia in Collector’s Edition format.  Along with the main game, you get an integrated strategy guide, concept art, wallpapers and a bonus adventure game.  Apart from the strategy guide, you will need to complete the main game before you gain access to the other extra items.

At 9.3kg, the DCP-J925DW was around 2kg heavier than some of the other multifunction inkjet devices from Brother.  Now one reason for this extra weight could be an additional feature that was not present in the other models.  The DCP-J925DW allows you to print directly onto appropriate optical media (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW and Blu-ray).  This process is achieved using a supplied Disk Tray which resides in the scanner lid when not in use.

Making up this Christmas wish list are nine products plucked from the company’s range of DAB radios.  All the various models in this roundup provide the dual functionality of DAB and FM reception with many offering additional features to tempt different types of user.  In a couple of cases, with the EVOKE Mio and EVOKE-1S, there are two different versions of the model available.

Powerline technology makes use of your current electrical cabling as the conduit for a home network system.  Rather than run a new set of cables between rooms, Powerline allows you to send data along the wiring that already exists by making the necessary connections through available wall sockets. Belkin has a number of Powerline products and the one I have been looking at is entitled Share Powerline AV 3 Port.

As with Episode One, entitled We Negotiate with Terrorists, this second outing of Senseless Acts of Justice combines cartoon-style graphics with wise-cracking humour that is often at a crude and rude level with enough puzzles to ensure you become involved in several head-scratching sessions and midnight oil-burning playing.

I could clearly remember the first Hidden Object game that I played several years ago.  The game was entitled The Lost Tomb and it was the first offering in PopCap’s Amazing Adventures series.  Coincidentally (as if you would believe that) the next title under review is also from the Amazing Adventure series and is entitled The Forgotten Dynasty.

With the popularity of the Apple iPod / iPad family of products, it is not surprising that kits supporting these devices are well represented. The Altec Lansing Octiv™ 450 lets you dock, charge and play music from your iPad / iPAD 2 / iPhone / iPod unit. The Octiv 450 product uses Altec Lansing's Audio Alignment technology to deliver superior sound quality for playing HD video and music.