A Fresh Approach to Technology Reviews

By
April 6, 2012
Other

It is my pleasure to announce that we’ve joined efforts with Creative Resolution Networks – so we can offer our existing as well as new readers – a fresh take on technology and must-have gadget reviews.

Based in Sheffield, Creative Resolution Networks offers a complete array of IT services – from Maintenance and Support to Application Design.

As part of our expansion plan, we’ll bring unique and exciting products to the attention of our readers through multiple types of content, focusing on production value and content quality. Our new approach means that manufacturers and app developers have a chance to get their product known through multiple avenues: a video review, on our bimonthly audio podcast as well as a thorough review posted right here on tuxgeek.

Myself and Sam C. – as electrical/electronic engineering students – can offer unrivalled depth and perspective, catering to the most demanding of fans while maintaining an easy to understand tone for the less tech-savvy.

Contact
Stefan N. at stefan@crnetworks.co.uk

Thoughts About The iPad 2 Announcement

By
March 3, 2011
Op-Ed

I watched the TWiT Live coverage of the Apple event last night (local time) and I think that the iPad 2 is a step in the right direction.

The original iPad was an interesting device, and was great for consuming media. Tech pundits pointed this out numerous times and pondered whether Apple was intentionally trying to stifle ‘creation’ by popularising such a device. I can see now the rationale behind the functionality of the first generation iPad. They wanted to create, for starters, a media consumption device, which they nailed. Once that was done, they could focus on adding other functionality, instead of doing both of those at the same time and failing.

It’s an incremental update, much like the updates to the iPod touch and iPhone line. What started as a phone with web browsing and music ended up being the mainstream platform for mobile computing. I’m writing this on my iPod touch and publishing it without the need of a computer, which is pretty awesome for what was 2 years ago an mp3 player. In a way posting from my iPod touch is better than posting from my computer; Safari managed to crash on me while I was writing in WordPress more than once. PlainText has an auto-save feature that automatically syncs what I’m writing to my Dropbox folder.

Once again Apple has successfully pushed computing in the right direction, towards innovation. For all it’s failures in App Store revenue policy, I still think Apple is doing technology and us a big favour.

Banshee for Mac: Not Ready To Replace iTunes Yet

By
March 2, 2011
Software

Banshee for Mac is not ready for primetime, and unfortunately can’t replace iTunes as your primary media player because, as it stands, the beta does not have support for iPod syncing, does not import playlists correctly, doesn’t read audio CDs and crashes frequently.

Banshee for Mac Beta 1.8.0

However, there are good things to say about Banshee. It will import your iTunes library, even correct and add metadata such as BPM and cover art automatically in the background. It supports plugins such as Last.fm, eMusic and Amazon which are killer features from my point of view. Using the Last.fm plugin you can view related artists and tracks as well as listen to your personalised radio stations.

The interface is clearly something they need to overhaul. It wouldn’t hurt to use default OSX UI elements instead of the default Gnome resources. Its simplicity however is commendable. If you’re so inclined, download it and help the developers kill some bugs. If you want to have a good alternative to iTunes, one that’s free and open-source, this is what has to be done.

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