The ZyXEL “Starter Kit” is an ideal way to get started with this technology. Inside the small box are two Powerline adapters, 2 ethernet cables, a quick start guide and CD (on which is the manual and some configuration softw2re that you may not even need).

In my case I simply plugged the adapters in and they worked. There’s also an encryption button on the side, but due to the positioning of the adapter in my 8-way surge socket I couldn’t access it (it would be nice to have the button somewhere where it can’t be obscured, such as the front or bottom) – when pressed on all adapters, this will encrypt the data sent.

As mentioned before, data is sent via your mains supply, so bad wiring or the use of (ahem) adapters and extensions can affect them.

As a “real world” test, one went into the surge protector by my PC, and the other into an extension cable in the next room and connected to my Netbook. I then copied a folder across my LAN – it was around 98MB in size, consisting of 21 files (the equivalent of a music album, which I think is a fair test of the kind of use it will be put to). The ZyXEL performed the copy in 50 seconds. However, my wireless connection did it 4 seconds quicker.

Moving my Netbook upstairs, I tried the same copy again. The wireless, although now a weaker signal, did it in the same time, but the Powerline took a whole minute. All of this is probably down to the wiring in my house.

But just bear in mind that if your main use for any home network is internet connection, rather than sharing files across PCs, then these speeds will not affect your browsing pleasure (the slowest wi-fi is far quicker than internet connections).  Even if you do share files, would you really spot the difference in these speeds? And, certainly, if you have problems with wi-fi, or simply don’t want to use it, then this solution is ideal.

What I was most impressed by, though, was just how easy they were to use. I didn’t have to consult the manual on the CD at all.

The cheapest price, as time of the review, appeared to be a smidge over £69 from Scan.co.uk.

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Thankfully, I no longer live anywhere remotely rural so their blight no longer gives me problems. Indeed, I haven’t seen one for years.

Until today.

Crawling between the layers of my monitor.

Just that one, no more, and in my damn monitor. What are the chances?

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First of all, I thought I’d check whether I could, so I’d contact Microsoft – their EULA didn’t appear specific enough. Their contact page shows an 0844 number for contacting them (0844 800 2400). However, this appears, through a near-endless selection of options, seems to direct you to websites or to pay them to answer a technical query.

The option for activating licenses simple gives you a freephone number (0800 0188354), but this is an automated system for activation.

In the end, I emailed them using the address on the aforementioned contact page. They got back to me and, after much discussion on how I got the software and what the packaging looked like, I was told it was specific to that PC. You see,  when I bought the Mesh I plumped for the option for them to install it and send me the licence key. This would be easier than buying it separately, although it was about the same price.

I then sent off, for a small additional cost, to receive the DVD with the software on. So I now have a very official looking Microsoft DVD box, containing DVD and key. But Microsoft won’t transfer the licence.

So much for saving money.

Thankfully, my daughter has been saving for a laptop and wanted Microsoft Office – a retail 3 user licence is only £5 more than a 1 user licence. So I now have it on my home PC and on my Netbook (and my daughter will have it on her new laptop when she gets it). And, because it’s the retail edition I can transfer the licence keys.

But, I still have a perfectly good copy of Office 2007 which I can’t use or even sell. And Microsoft wonder why people don’t seem to like them? Grrrr.

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Android App Share uses the excellent AppBrain service (website and app) to display lists of your Android Apps on your blog.

You can use both a function call and a widget to display your results.

Bloat free and simple, it’s perfect for showing off your Android apps

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Simple Content Reveal allows you to easily hide and reveal WordPress content, whether it be in the sidebar or in a post or page.

To see it in action, cast your eyes to the sidebar on the right where various sections are hidden by default. Click on their heading to reveal them!

And, at the bottom of each post, comments are shown by default (but can be clicked on to hide them), whereas pingbacks and trackbacks are hidden.

I’m particularly proud of this plugin because of how well it works without relying on complex JavaScript.

As always, if you have any queries add a comment to my blog and I’ll do my best to answer it.

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At just £14.99 it really is reasonably priced.

The box (which is very neatly made with a large black box inside the main one containing the cables) contains the dock itself, a USB cable, power connector and driver disk (for older versions of Windows).

Simple connect to the power and a USB port on your computer and drop your SATA hard drive (2.5″ or 3.5″) into the top and you have instant access. There’s two blue lights on the front – one for power and one to show drive access (it would be better if they were different colours to each other, though!), a large power button and, on the top, a lever to eject any disks.

I wouldn’t suggest this is the best way to set up an external hard drive for constant use as the drive is exposed – this is more for quick and occasional access of a drive.

I had problems accessing one of the folders on the drive with my new PC, but this turned out to be because of User Account Control in Windows 7 – this was switched off and I had immediate access again.

Anyway, it works and it’s well priced.

For a few pounds more they do an eSata version (although not the same brand and it’s unrated, so it’s a bit more of an “unknown quantity”) which would give you extra speed.

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However, I’ve been after a third controller and Nunchuk for a while and an offer at Zavvi last week had a Venom branded set for just £18¹. Compare this to the £30+ for an official version. So I bought them.

And, I have to say, they’re not too bad. As you can see from the image to the right (click for a larger version), they look a little different with the black trim (other colours are available!) and have a different design of lights and speaker grill. They come with a strap for the remote, but nothing else.

Pros I’ve noted…

• There is a rubber grip on the bottom of the Nunchuk.
• The sound from the speaker on the remote is a LOT louder than on the standard controller (you might consider this a “con”!).
• The sync button, residing in the battery compartment as per the official controllers, also has an extension built onto the battery cover, so that it can be used without having to actually open the cover.
• From comments I’ve read from other owners, it appears that they’re compatible with existing accessories, including recharging docks and their replacement battery/compartments.

Cons…

• The minus, plus and home buttons are a lot stiffer than on the official controller – not too bad, and as they’re not used for “main” game buttons it’s not too much of an issue.
• The analogue stick on the Nunchuk is a little stiffer than “normal” and has a slightly rough feel to it as it’s moved about. Again, not too much of an issue.
• The “B” button (the trigger on the underside of the controller) is not very responsive – this COULD be an issue and I’m hoping that after some use it will loosen up.

So, some nice improvements over the official stick but the stiffer controls highlight the quality differences. However, this is going to be a little-used third controller so it’s well worth the money. For your main controllers, I’d still stick to the official versions.

1. this offer has now ended, but you can get them for £21.49 from Amazon

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He blames most Mac crashes on Flash and, I have to say, since Firefox starting sandboxing plugins I’ve seen regular reported Flash crashes.

However, a lot – a lot – of high profile websites use Flash, mainly to render video. Steve’s answer to this is HTML 5 – a new version of HTML that is being supported more and more by the browsers. And HTML includes video capability. Great – no more Flash.

Except his argument is flawed.

1. HTML 5 is still a draft standard and is liable, probably for a good few years yet, to change.
2. Flash does more than just play video and HTML 5 doesn’t support a lot of what it can do.
3. Although HTML 5 allows video, it doesn’t force you to use a particular format. And, as usually happens, a “war” is going on between competing formats – with 3 formats being particularly strong. Where most browsers are plumping for the 2 royalty free options (after all browsers are given away free), Apple has only added the commercial version to Safari and, so far, that appears to be the less popular. Each site will have to re-encode their videos for a different format other than Flash – are they really going to do it for 3 other formats?
4. HTML 5 video can’t do everything that Flash video can – it is unable to display video fullscreen and there are content protection issues.

Many have speculated that Job’s dislike of Flash mainly comes down to the fact that, unlike pretty much every other aspect of the iPhone, Apple can’t control it. Even apps, written by others, have to be checked and authorised by Apple, after being written on Apple development tools.

Which makes their choice of video format look odd, as it’s a third party commercial product. But then, they would have even less control over the two open formats.  iTunes and Quicktime already use this format and besides, one of the other formats is being championed by Google.

By insisting that Apple products do not use Flash but instead force their particular video format on the masses that buy them they are, in effect, almost guaranteeing themselves success longer term. Or are they? Can the other browsers support a commercial video format which they will have to pay for.

And, at the same time, sites are going to be reluctant to recode all their video until a format is clearly successful.

But, it’s good to see Steve is taking it on the chin as he always does. After a blogger contacted him about supporting the alternative, open formats, Steves reply was “a patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other open source codecs now”.

Nice.

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If you’ve not received your “pre-upgrade” update already, you’ll need to do this – it makes various small changes in readiness for the Eclair update.

To get this, wind your clock on by a month and switch off wi-fi (it needs the data connection for the upgrade to be detected). It only takes a couple of minutes and doesn’t cause any data loss.

Once you have that, you can either wait for Eclair to be pushed out to your phone or go and get it manually. To do the latter, go into Menu -> Settings -> About Phone and you should now have an option to check for software updates. Go into this and follow all prompts.

Now, the Android update can cause data lose, although I found it to be minimal. I’d recommend backing up all your data – I used MyBackup Pro to backup all data and applications to my SD card, which I then copied into my Netbook.

The update takes a few minutes and, even when it appears to have rebooted, you might find that behind your lock screen is an HTC update running. Once this is done I found my date and time was incorrect and that my home screens had been reset – if you saved your layout as a “Theme” (which I hadn’t done) then I’m guessing you can easily restore it.

And that’s it.

From what I can tell the visible changes are minimal (even more so – animations are turned off by default, so you’ll need to switch them on for the full impact) – the main change is the improvement in speed. And, boy, is it noticeable.

Other than that, the biggest change to users will be the apps in the Marketplace that will now be available – Google Earth, IMDB, Google Goggles, Talk To Me, amongst many others.

Smaller changes include an improved Gmail App, a new pinch feature for viewing all the home screens and a Desk Clock app.

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But there are two methods of getting rid of it (these apply to Windows XP)…

1. Use Tweak UI – under the “Desktop” you can untick the “My Bluetooth Places” icon.
2. Use the “Clean Desktop” option…

• Right click on your desktop and select “Properties”.
• Select the “Desktop” tab and click on the “Customise Desktop” button.
• Click the “Clean Desktop” button at the bottom, click “Next” and select “My Bluetooth Places” in the list that appears.
• Click “Next” again and then “Finish”.
• The icon will be moved to it’s own “unused icons” folder on the desktop which can now be deleted.

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