Laptops Vs Desktops

Laptops have always seemed a very desirable item to have. Not only do you look pretty good but you have the ability to take your computing anywhere. Up until recently thought I would have always advised against these.

Why would I do this? Well there were several factors – some are still applicable today. Laptops used to be very expensive. You would get much more power and reliability for spending half the money on a desktop PC than you would paying double the money for a laptop. What’s more, the laptops would often slow down dramatically when they heated up, not good considering that Laptops, with their minimal air circulation, heat up extremely quickly.

Another thing to consider is what happens if these laptops go wrong? On a desktop PC if your RAM fails you go and buy RAM from any manufacturer at the going rate and hey presto – you are back. Same applies to the motherboard and many other parts. All parts in a desktop PC can be chopped and changed, relatively easily and at a reasonable price.

Now if your RAM or motherboard fails in your laptop what happens here? Well basically the manufacturers have you by the short and curlies. You can generally only buy the parts from the manufacturer directly, they can charge what they like as there is minimal if not zero competition. Not only can they charge what they like, you can often wait weeks to get the necessary part.

People also have this idea with laptops that they can take their computers anywhere and play their games or surf the Internet with total freedom – This is partly true of a new laptop with a new battery. After what I think is quite a short time your battery will no longer hold its charge for the 2 hours it did when it was new. It will now only last half an hour – and of course, if you are doing something demanding, like game play or similar, you can expect this time to reduce by at least half again.

So your portable computer now has to be plugged into the mains – therefore not so portable after all!

So far I have put the laptop down, it’s expensive if it work, it’s very expensive if it breaks. It’s not as potable as you think and it’s performance is not going to be as good as you hoped.

This is all changing now as laptops have plummeted in cost. Whereas you used to have to pay a minimum of £600 ($1200 approx.) for a low spec machine, you can now pick up a decent make, decent specced machine for about half that price. Now if you weigh up the fact that a desktop PC is going to cost you around £200 for anything half usable, then you need a monitor – the laptop is already winning on cost. Also the technology regarding heat dissipation has improved dramatically so you can expect your laptop to stay cool for longer and perform better in the heat.

Yes the battery life has somewhat improved but still a lot of work to be done here to make them ultimately portable. However the new light compact machines can easily be transported from home, to the office, to your mates etc etc with ease and all your data comes with it.

You of course still have the issue if something goes wrong but there are now thousands of these machines being sold – this means, if you pick a decent brand, there are loads of spare parts around on Ebay or similar.

I now do all my work on a laptop. I plug in an external keyboard, as typing on a laptop keyboard is not comfortable. If I did want to play any games then I think I would still side with the desktop – but for day to day use the laptop is the winner. Easy to put away, minimal wires, minimal mess and ultimately a portable office.

By:Olly Fallon

Apple's Iphone - Summary

The iPhone is a device created by Apple Inc. that integrates the features of a cellular phone, an MP3 player (iPod) and what Apple Inc. has named an instant messenger. The device was presented on January 9 2007 at the Macworld convention in San Francisco by Steve Jobs. After the iPhone's premiere shares of Apple rose sharply. Due to the work on iPhone, the premiere of the Mac OS X v10.5 operating system was postponed from June 11 to October 26.


An innovative solution was replacing the keyboard with a multi-touch screen. It doesn't need stylus but is designed for use with a finger or multiple fingers. Other innovations include automatic shutting of the screen when the iPhone is brought near the ear (a proximity sensor) and a 3.5 in. screen with a 320?80 pixels resolution, which changes the screen according to the orientation of the phone (vertically-horizontally). The device supports MP3 audio format and MPEG video format. It also features a 2.0 megapixel digital camera. Songs and video files are added via iTunes, just like in the iPod. The iPhone allows cordless access to the Internet via Wi-Fi and the Safari web browser.


Main Menu

The main screen displays a series of icons leading to individual options. At the bottom there are four icons that allow quick access to the following functions: phone, email account, the Safari web browser and the iPod player.

Calendar

The device features a calendar with many useful options. The Calendar can be viewed in daily, weekly or monthly mode. All you need to add a task is to click one button and select the date.


Almost everyone has seen the iPhone's wonderful graphic interface on movies circulating round the Internet. But the hands-on experience makes an even greater impression. It can't be described. You just have to see it and touch it yourself. Sliding horizontally and vertically is great fun, all of this without hanging up. The browser also offers setting the viewed photograph as wallpaper, attaching it to an email or assigning it to a contact.

You Tube

Similarly to Photos, this application changes our iPhone into a multimedia centre. This is a version of the popular You Tube service customized for the iPhone. As it is known, You Tube films are in Flash format, but Google converts them to H264 format.

This codec offers much better viewing quality and needs less space than the flv. format. The You Tube Application offers many additional functions. Users can organize their favourite movies, comment on them, contact the authors, and search by categories and keywords.

The visual quality is satisfactory. Downloading time through Wi-Fi isn't very long. The clip starts playing almost immediately after its selection.

Stock Exchange quotations

Our staff spent the least time on this application. There was nothing to test, as it doesn't offer current quotations. You can say this is a washout.

Maps
Another application featured by iPhone. Maps are the mobile version of Google Maps with NavTeq maps. This application allows us to find the place we are looking for. The map download speed through the built-in Wi-Fi is satisfactory, as in the case of the You Tube service films.

Weather
This application offers checking the current weather or a weather forecast for almost any place and from any place. The application connects with the Yahoo! service. Users can select cities, the data for which will be automatically updated.

Clock
This application shows us the time. Users can set several time zones at the same time. This allows you to see what the time is in Japan at a friend's place or in the USA at your aunt's.

Calculator
This simple calculator may be helpful in the supermarket to count the sum of shopping in the basket and avoid the surprise at the cash desk.

Notes
Not all users may find this application useful. It is based on a simple page on which we can write some fast notes. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow drawing like Pocket PC devices or even the UIQ series smartphones. This is just a simple noting application.

Settings
This is where we can find all the configuration options of our iPhone and there are plenty of them. There is one thing we need to add before further description. We can switch off Wi-Fi in the settings, but our staff couldn't find the option of switching off EDGE, which is set for the USA market. And the problem is that the iPhone needs permanent Internet connection to function properly. Most applications, e.g. Weather, Stocks need Internet connection to function. Without it the iPhone loses much of its functionality and some functions become useless. Of course there is no problem when we are in range of the Wi-Fi network. Coming back to the settings, there is much we can personalize. For example, you can assign different ring tones to individual groups to hear a different ring tone, depending on who is calling, change the menu background or configure the Safari browser. A transfer of contacts from the SIM card to the iPhone's memory or vice versa is impossible.

Phone
In the main menu there is a bar with four icons, which in fact, are the most useful in the whole menu. Among those, there is the "Phone" application, which obviously allows for managing your phone. After its start, a full screen alphanumeric keyboard appears. This application allows dialling phone numbers and making phone calls.

There are many ways to make a phone call. One of them is the possibility of selecting a number from the "Contacts" phonebook. On making a phone call additional options appear on the screen.

The "mute" mode for example switches off our microphone. The "Keypad" option shows the keyboard on the screen. The "Speaker" activates the speakerphone mode.

Can we use other applications when talking on the iPhone? Yes, there's a possibility of synchronizing that with the iTunes or browsing the Internet.

When there is an incoming call while we play with our toy, a small menu with two options, "reject" and "answer", appears. When we answer a call for instance, we can activate the speakerphone mode and simultaneously talk and browse the Internet.

Safari
This is arguably the best application featured by the iPhone. I must admit that this browser made quite an impression on me. I can claim that this is the best browser with which I've had a chance to surf the web, when it comes to mobile devices. Except for the fact that it isn't compatible with Java (only JavaScript) or Flash, the iPhone can replace a laptop, since most of the pages are displayed correctly.

The Buttons
A tidbit for the end. The iPhone has got 3 hardware buttons. The first one serves for switching the device on and off, the second one is the "Home" button and the third sets the sound volume or switches the speakerphone mode during a phone call on and off.

Summary
The iPhone is a very specific device. When we get used to its graphical interface, it will be hard to switch back to a standard mobile phone.

Looking at the operational system in the device, which is based on the open UNIX system, in the iPhone it is closed and all improvements or additions can only be done by Apple. A patch that would fix some bugs was announced, but we don't yet know its release date.

Who's the iPhone's target customer? The group begins with the experts on Apple devices and finishes with the generation of our parents who can't even send a text message.

There is no knowledge required to use the iPhone ' it's so trivially simple.

The device will be popular with the gadget lovers, who like boasting about a new toy. Those who haven't had contact with PDA devices will find the touchscreen immensely impressive. It is contrary for insiders - they are not impressed and there is only little interest in the device. Sometimes it even makes them smile.

The iPhone makes a great pocket multimedia centre. Listening to music or browsing photographs is very convenient. So is surfing the Internet. It won't do very well as a personal organizer or a notepad. There are many devices on the market that are better in this particular field, e.g. palmtops with the Windows Mobile system. The iPhone is more of a cool phone than a PDA device.

To sum up, in my opinion, the iPhone is a toy of a sort with not so many functions, which has been overrated. The graphical interface and the Internet browser are the two best functions of this phone. I call it "the phone" since it is no true PDA device and is certainly no threat to the Windows Mobile.

By:Adam Nowak

How To Develop A Successful World Of Warcraft Guild

Many World of Warcraft players eventually come to a point in their game play where they feel as if they are ready to create a guild. Creating a guild is not for everyone - it takes a lot of work, structure, organization, and patience in order to establish a productive guild. Here, you will discover some great strategies on how to develop a successful World of Warcraft guild. It is important for you to know and understand that this may take a little bit of time to accomplish. In addition to this, you may not always succeed when you try the first time. If this is the case, do not lose your motivation ; there is always a way to turn things around in your favor.

Establishing your own guild is not a difficult task - the creation is the simple part. However, the process behind guild crafting may prove to be a bit challenging. First, you need to ensure that you have a bit of in-game cash that you can dedicate to the task. Once you have a good bit of funding to back you, you will simply want to find a Guild Master in the game. The cities that have these Guild Masters are as follows:

- Thunderbluff
- Darnassus
- Orgrimmar
- Undercity
- Ironforge
- Stormwind

If you are having a difficult time locating these individuals, you will find that there are various guards that are sprinkled throughout the city. Simply click on one of these and then select Guild Master. The guard will then inform you of where this individual is, and if you look at your map in the upper right hand corner of your game screen, you will see an arrow. This arrow will point you in the right direction. Simply follow this until you reach your destination.

Once you reach the Guild Master, you will want to click on the option that allows you to learn about creating your own guild. All you have to do at this point is select a name that reflects what you want your guild to be called. It is important to create a powerful name if you want a successful guild. Great names like The Devotees, The Distinguished Dynasty, and Heroic Nights are bound to pull in some interested parties. However, names like The Chics, Fighters, and Demon Hunters may not pull in a lot of traffic.

Once the name has been chosen, you will be issued a Guild Charter. This is a list that requires you to obtain at least ten names prior to the official establishment of your guild. While it may be tempting to just run around and invite anyone you see, it is important that you are a bit selective in this process. You will want to ensure that you review a character's level, their skills, their knack for team work, and more. When inviting powerful players to sign your guild charter, you may want to offer a token of appreciation in return - like 50 silver pieces, or a gold piece.

Once you have acquired the necessary ten signatures, you will want to return to the Guild Master to officially register. Once this has been accomplished, the Guild is established on the server that you have selected. You will then want to create a Guild Tabard that your members can wear to display their devotion to the guild, as well as a bank tab that will allow players to deposit and withdraw in-game cash and items. In order to ensure that you are a successful guild, you will want to take few measures like:

- Encouraging members to become active in the guild by helping members complete quests, share items from skills, and place uncommon and rare items in the bank tab

- You will want to ensure that you create a website for your guild at the World of Warcraft website and make participation a stipulation for remaining a guild member

- You will want to encourage promotions in the guild by setting tasks that guild members must accomplish in order to advance in their standing

- You will want to ensure that you take the time to personally offer your assistance to all of the members and offer them incentives for being productive within the guild

If you take these steps, your World of Warcraft guild is sure to be one of the most successful ones on the server that you play on!

By : Tom Kranz

How To Build A Flash Game – Flash Beginners Guide 101

Gaming is popular world wide and most people play games without knowing how a game is actually made. It takes inspiration, verve, technology, and more to create a game that captures the mind and heart of players all over the world.

The first step to making a game is to have a story. The story or plot is thought about and developed by game designers or players. Once the game is conceptualized, writers and artists work together on the storyboard and create sketches of the sequence with instructions for the technology team. The sketches are then scanned on to a computer and the next step is to breathe life into the story and characters.

Among the many ways to create a game a popular solution is Macromedia Flash MX. This allows the creation of rich, graphic and multimedia driven gaming. Flash has a player, authoring tool, and a file format. Flash allows game developers to use:

• Rich graphics.

• Create files that are user friendly and can be downloaded over the internet.

• Allows the import of graphic formats. This means designers can use Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, or Fireworks to develop the game as long as the graphics are vector.

• Flash lends itself to the creation of quality graphics that can be broadcast over the internet.
Flash can be used to create action, adventure, educational, first-person shooter, puzzle, sports, or role playing games. The actual process of creating a game is complex but involves:

• Creating the characters. Sketches are fine tuned until they are perfect. These are then transformed into 3D characters. The figures are scanned into a computer and a digital skeleton is created. This is what defines the size, shape, and movements of any figure in a game.

• Next the programmers use Flash to bring movement and emotions into the figures of the game.

• Movement and characterization of the figures is followed by special effects and creation of the environment. Skies, clouds, wind, reflections, shadows, and more add mystery and atmosphere to the game. Flash allows developers to produce realistic and complex environments. It is the environment that gives life and motion to a game. The 3D effects are created using polygons along with texture mapping.

• This is followed by coding. Codes are instructions written by developers that lends intelligence to the game and drives a game forward. The more complex a code the more thrilling a game. Codes establish logic to a game and generate the excitement and uniqueness.

• Once the coding is done the testing begins. The testing helps the developer fine tune the game before it is marketed. This is when the game is rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. The rating indicates the appropriateness of the game for different age groups.

Flash is user friendly and therefore popular software with game developers. The World Wide Web offers Flash Tutorials for those interested in developing games. There are articles and tips and guidelines as well.

by: Timothy Rudon

Microsoft Server 2008 Certification: Routing's Not Just For Cisco Exams Anymore!

Knowing routing theory and routing protocols has always been a big part of earning your CCNA and CCNP certifications. According to Microsoft's exam blueprints for the Server 2008 certification exams, that knowledge will also serve you well on your Microsoft exams.

The topic outline for the Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure exam (70-642) specifically mentions routing and routing protocols as exam topics. Specifically mentioned are RIP, OSPF, and static routing - three topics every CCNA and CCNP candidate will be well prepared to handle!

IPSec isn't part of the CCNA exam, but you'll see it on at least one CCNP exam, and it's also listed as a 70-642 exam topic. IPv6 and IPv4 addressing are both covered on the 70-642 as well.

Microsoft's website lists the following major skills you should expect to see on this exam:

Configuring IP addresses and Services (routing with RIP and OSPF, static routing, persistent routing, addressing, DHCP and DHCP options including relay agents, IPSec policies, Authentication Header and Encapsulating Security Payload, subnetting, supernetting)

Configuring Name Resolution (DNS configuration, zones, records, replication, and integration with Active Directory, and client computer name resolution techniques)

Configuring Network Access (includes NAT, VPNs, RADIUS, 802.1x authentication, MS-CHAP, firewalls, and remote authentication)

Configuring File And Print Services (self-explanatory)

Monitoring And Managing A Network Infrastructure (includes SNMP and Windows Server Update Services)

Your CCNA and CCNP preparation will not quite be enough to get you past this exam, but as you can see, it'll give you a great head start!

by: Chris Bryant

World of Warcraft Simplified Leveling Guide

Imagine what you would do if you knew secrets and tips, that would help you to earn more gold in World of Warcraft or even level up your character faster. Would you share your secrets with other players? I think not, but I will. This article will tell you about some basic World of Warcraft secrets and tips, that will help you to reach level 70 faster and simpler. As we all know, World of Warcraft is based on quests and farming. You can use on of these ways to level up your character. But as for me, the best way is to combine both of these methods. This will provide you with additional XP, items and gold. So my first advise is: Combine Questing And Farming.



I recommend you follow the tips I am going to give you and then figure out whether you still need a WOW Leveling Guide. Joana's Horde Leveling Guide is the most complete Horde Leveling Guide available to date. All you need to do is find a good Wow horde-leveling guide and you are away.
If you prefer questing, it is ok, but I recommend you to start from green quests. These quests are very simple: sometimes you will need only 2 minutes to complete this quest. At the beginning green quests will provide you with everything you need: armor, weapon and gold. So my second advice is: 2 Green Quests are better than one Red.

As any good WOW Leveling Guide will tell you, you should concentrate on quests and not grinding. So what did I think of Joana's Horde Leveling Guide. This WoW power-leveling guide shows you what quests to accept and exactly where to go, every single step of the way.


All you have to do is find the World of Warcraft Alliance leveling guide that speaks to you and makes it all come together. Using a leveling guide is essential to getting World of Warcraft riches. I have both Horde and Alliance characters, so a leveling guide for both was a must, and a guide for World of Warcraft gold making, leveling, and general tips was also a plus.


The first thing you should do in this quick WOW Leveling Guide is go to Brill this is the place you should take quests to start off with and they are all quite easy here with most of them being just simply delivering a message or going to talk to someone. Bottom line, please save yourself the stress and hours wasted and the horrible burnout and just buy yourself a World of Warcraft leveling guide. Having the videos alone would justify picking up Joana's Horde Leveling Guide, but I kept finding more and more good stuff inside.

And finally, I would like you to know one small secret. When you are running away from the mob, strafe left and right as fast as possible. The mob follows your exact path and this will give you a chance to run away. Follow my advices, and you will be well on your way to level 70 your character in World of Warcraft. Of course this is just a few tips from hundreds that I know.

By : http://articles.directorygold.com

Online Games - Entertainment for All Ages

When it comes to online games there are so many categories available that it may be really hard to choose which one to play, after all you're only limited by your own free time, today we will show you a contrast in game genres so that you know what is available and what isn't, online games have been designed according to the players age, in other words younger players shouldn't be playing war games instead, educational games such as memory and puzzles are recommended instead.

There are several kinds of online games available for audiences of different ages, some use the characteristics of games such as chess, others mix card games with strategy games and others take shooting games to a whole new level. A great online game, which is mostly based on shooting is called madness death wish, this particular game should only be played by adults or older teenagers or not affected by violence, having said that older audiences are able to do with the game to the fullest because it is similar to games found in sites such as cartoon network that are known for taking online games to a whole new level.

Madness death wish is not really much of a game, but more of a simulation of what would happen if the player were to take on five different enemies at the same time using different weapons. The simulation is quite funny, because of the way the player is programmed to move for instance, if you get the gun with spears. You get to shoot your enemies from the front from the back and without even seeing them, it is a pretty stylish killing game however, the main player always dies at the end at the hands of an enemy, which is behind the wall, if you play this game you would have to agree that the best situation is one of the main player gets the powers of the blood God, he literally rips his opponents apart.

Puzzle bubble it's a cute game much like Tetris but without the intricate shape combination and complications. Unlike Tetris, you are not required to align objects which are common at you at a certain speed, instead you're expected to line up bubbles or balls of the same color, when this happens you're able to eliminate a row, or a group of balls of the same color which clears up the path to the top, however, this game is similar to Tetris in the sense of speed, if you're not able to eliminate as many bubbles as possible within the least amount of time the roof which holds the bubbles will come down crushing you it will make you lose this may sound like a very simple game at first glance, however it isn't so. If you like Pacman and Tetris then this game is for you.

By: Ivan Cuxeva