ZDNet UK - Dialogue Box

Dialogue Box 7.5: Showtime for storage

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:14:01 +0000

Computers of all kinds, from client to cloud, need access to stored data. Rupert and Charles head to Olympia to find out what's hot at Storage Expo

Dialogue Box 7.4: The expanding digital universe

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:44:02 +0100

How much data will be created and stored in 50 years' time? Rupert and Charles make some extrapolations and come to a startling conclusion

Dialogue Box 7.3: Data, data, everywhere

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:04:01 +0100

How big is the 'digital universe', and where does all that data come from? Rupert and Charles talk petabytes, exabytes and zettabytes

Dialogue Box 7.2: From Ramac to SSD

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:38:02 +0100

Charles and Rupert outline the development of hard disk and solid-state storage from the 1950s to the present day

Dialogue Box 7.1: How information changed the world

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:14:01 +0100

Charles and Rupert look at the three data explosions that shaped history, and set the scene for todays IT revolution

Dialogue Box 6.8: Top tech trumps

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:20:02 +0100

What are likely to be the most important tech stories over the next few months? Rupert and Charles discuss the contenders over a game of (special) cards

Dialogue Box 6.7: Testing solid-state disks

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:18:02 +0100

SSDs are now available with capacities of up to 256GB, but prices remain high enough to make them uneconomic in the datacentre for the foreseeable future. Rupert and Charles outline the solid state of play

Dialogue Box 6.6: A first look at Moblin

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:05:02 +0100

Those seeking to run Linux on their netbook have a new option: Moblin. Rupert and Charles take the beta for a spin and compare it to Ubuntu's netbook remix

Dialogue Box 6.5: Linux vs Windows boot-off

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:04:01 +0100

Microsoft promised quicker boot times with Windows 7, while Linux has always been pretty nippy out of the traps. So which is fastest? Dialogue Box puts Ubuntu 9.04 up against Redmond's latest and wields the stopwatch

Dialogue Box 6.4: Away day at Microsoft Research

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:13:02 +0100

Ever wondered what goes on inside Microsoft's Cambridge research lab? Dialogue Box went along to a recent open day, to discover what 'Enabling Innovation Through Research' means in practice

Dialogue Box 6.3: Whatever happened to UWB?

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:04:02 +0100

It should have provided high-speed, low-power wireless connectivity for homes and offices everywhere. But instead of more products you can shake a stick at, all UltraWideBand has to show for itself to date is a French USB stick you can shake. Dialogue Box explains why

Dialogue Box 6.2: The interplanetary internet

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:08:12 +0100

Technologies designed to communicate with spacecraft should help to build a more robust internet back on earth. Rupert and Charles explain, with the help of a kebab

Dialogue Box 6.1: Satellites, the sun and IT

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:00:02 +0100

There's a lot of hardware orbiting our planet, generating ever-increasing space debris. Further afield, the sun is currently in a quiet phase, but is unlikely to stay that way. Rupert and Charles ponder the implications

Dialogue Box 5.8: Return of the Axis of Awesome

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:58:01 +0000

What do a netbook, an ultraportable, a smartphone, a pico projector and a weird videophone have in common? All have been examined by Dialogue Box and consigned to their places on the Axis Of Awesome

Dialogue Box 5.7: A projector in the hand

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:07:02 +0000

Take a DLP chip and combine it with a low-power LED lamp and you have a projection engine that can run off battery power and fit in a smartphone-sized case. Dialogue Box takes a peek at the new world of pico projectors

Dialogue Box 5.6: When power goes bad

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:35:00 +0000

What happens when a power surge delivers more volts and amps than your electrical equipment can handle? Dialogue Box pushes a capacitor to the limit and beyond to find out

Dialogue Box 5.5: The Mac at 25

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:12:01 +0000

There's a world of difference between a 1984 Macintosh and a 2009 iMac. Dialogue Box compares the specs and summarises its findings in the currency it knows best: the price of a pint of beer

Dialogue Box 5.4: Touchscreens feel our pain

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Apple's competitors are trying to sprinkle some iPhone magic on their smartphones, with frankly mixed results. Rupert and Charles examine four contenders using the 'SwearMark' test

Dialogue Box 5.3: Solid-state disk torture test

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Last year Dialogue Box showed that radiation could affect data-transfer rates on solid-state disks. How does the latest generation of products stand up to a similar zapping? Rupert and Charles don the lead-lined lab coats...

Dialogue Box 5.2: Building a Nehalem testbed

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Watch a state-of-the-art desktop PC appear before your very eyes as Rupert and Charles assemble a Core i7 system from a kit of Intel parts

Dialogue Box 5.1: 'I can't believe it's not Vista'

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Rupert and Charles poke and prod the 'pre-beta' of Windows 7 and find it looks and feels like Vista Service Pack 2

Dialogue Box 4.10: Windows Mobile vs the 3G iPhone

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:45:02 +0100

In the last of the current series, Rupert and Charles look at two of the latest Windows Mobile smartphones, to see how they match up to the standard set by Apple's iPhone 3G

Dialogue Box 4.9: Browsers, benchmarks and betas

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:58:02 +0100

Like everyone else, Dialogue Box has been poring over Google's Chrome browser. See how fast it runs JavaScript on an Asus Eee compared to Internet Explorer 7, and more

Dialogue Box 4.8: Powerline networking

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:29:02 +0100

Connecting your office or home via the mains wiring is quick and easy, but what are the drawbacks? Dialogue Box uses a vacuum cleaner, a desk lamp and a fluorescent tube to demonstrate some of them

Dialogue Box 4.7: Transcontinental laptop challenge

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:18:02 +0100

Rupert lands in San Francisco with a non-booting laptop, which Charles tries to fix remotely from London. Then a colleague from down under calls in with a 'crook' notebook. Can Charles banish the blue screen of death?

Dialogue Box 4.6: The reality behind virtualisation

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:31:02 +0100

Virtualisation promises something for virtually nothing. Dialogue Box finds that isn't necessarily so

Dialogue Box 4.5: The Axis of Consumerisation

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:53:02 +0100

Remember the Axis of Awesome? Dialogue Box reckons that, if a product is both cool and useful, and satisfies four simple criteria, you're likely to find it appearing at work, by stealth

Dialogue Box 4.4: Dual-band 802.11n shoot-out

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:35:02 +0100

Which 802.11n frequency band goes fastest and furthest 5GHz or 2.4GHz? Dialogue Box fires up its new router and takes a laptop on a wireless walkabout

Dialogue Box 4.3: Does the iPhone 3G mean business?

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:47:02 +0100

Dialogue Box hooks up its shiny new iPhone 3G to Exchange Server, and has an 'email-off' with a keyboard-equipped Windows Mobile smartphone. Rupert also finds a characteristic way to demonstrate the iPhone's motion sensor

Dialogue Box 4.2: Atom power hits the desktop

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:58:01 +0100

Intel's Atom is out on the streets, promising a new era in low-power computing. But is it more spin than win?

Dialogue Box 4.1: A unique peek at a bright LED future

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:30:02 +0100

Last year, we wanted it. This year, we've got it. In the first of a brand new series of Dialogue Box, Charles and Rupert throw light on a revolutionary new LED technology that gives you more than just a glow

Dialogue Box 3.10: Memory lane

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:33:02 +0100

There are a number of runners and riders in the next-generation memory stakes; Dialogue Box has the inside track, plus highlights from series 3

Dialogue Box 3.9: JCB phone torture test

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:48:02 +0100

Dialogue Box deconstructs Sonim's JCB-branded phone, first in the studio and then by running it over with a truck

Dialogue Box 3.8: Fake finger fools fingerprint reader

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:27:01 +0100

Moulding plastic, jelly, milk and tea are all the ingredients Dialogue Box needed to get past one biometric security device

Dialogue Box 3.7: Place your bets on IBM's Racetrack

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:55:01 +0100

Can IBM's Racetrack memory unseat the current flash and hard disk favourites? Dialogue Box marks your card, with help from the 'could-o-meter'

Dialogue Box 3.6: IDF debrief

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:49:02 +0100

What do the Atom processor, MIDs, a bio-sensing chip, fuel cells, Shanghai's traffic and a revolution in photography have in common? Answer: Intel's recent Development Forum

Dialogue Box 3.5: Return of the Axis of Awesome

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:59:02 +0100

Rupert and Charles debate the coolness and usefulness of a range of mobile technology, including a military-grade mini-notebook and a pocket Etch-A-Sketch

Dialogue Box 3.4: Are black websites really greener?

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:50:02 +0100

If you want to be green, you should give your website a black background. True or false? Dialogue Box investigates

Dialogue Box 3.3: Barbados or bust

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:50:01 +0000

Dialogue Box's Rupert Goodwins is on his own in the studio this week, as Charles McLellan jets off to the West Indies or does he?

Dialogue Box 3.2: Why the wait for solid state?

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:22:02 +0000

Dialogue Box finds out what's driving hard-disk replacements

Dialogue Box 3.1: Another fine Mesh...

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:36:03 +0000

To kick off series 3, Dialogue Box examines three low-power laptops and takes the OLPC XO into the field on a secret mission

Dialogue Box 2.10: A Christmas news roundup

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:54:02 +0000

Dialogue Box takes a whistlestop tour of the top tech news stories of 2007, and looks ahead to what the major headlines might be in 2008

Dialogue Box 2.9: Here is the wireless weather forecast

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:50:02 +0000

Dialogue Box gets the lowdown on 802.11n Wi-Fi in a London hotel, and brings you the nationwide outlook for 3G coverage

Dialogue Box 2.8: Asus Eee the sequel

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:25:01 +0000

Dialogue Box brings you the latest on one of the products of the year. And then takes it to pieces

Dialogue Box 2.7: Making an omelette with Penryn

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:05:01 +0000

Dialogue Box cooks up a culinary analogy to explain what actually goes on inside a processor

Dialogue Box 2.6: Celebrating 60 years of transistors

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:46:01 +0000

Dialogue Box marks the launch of Intel's Penryn processors by examining the history of the transistor, with the help of a kiwi fruit

Dialogue Box 2.5: Who's king of the OS jungle?

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:38:02 +0000

Dialogue Box hacks its way through the IT jungle, pitting Ubuntu's Gutsy Gibbon, Apple's Leopard and Microsoft's Vista against each other in a bid to reveal the alpha OS

Dialogue Box 2.4: How the Asus Eee stole our hearts

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:16:02 +0000

Dialogue Box peers into the future and the present's pretty good too, with Asus's new £200 laptop

Dialogue Box 2.3: Smartphones and cool laptops under scrutiny

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:51:02 +0100

Dialogue Box goes on the prowl at the Symbian Smartphone Show, and finds the only full-spec laptop light enough to use as a yo-yo

Dialogue Box 2.2: Wireless networking hits the buffers

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:25:02 +0100

Dialogue Box's resident buffers check how much of 802.11n's hype is reality - and how much just irradiated hot air

Dialogue Box: Lifting technology's skirt

mailroomuk@zdnet.com — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:30:01 +0100

ZDNet.co.uk's weekly video magazine programme looks at new developments in tech from every perspective but the conventional ones

Dialogue Box 2.1: Inside a blade server

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:18:02 +0100

Dialogue Box returns for a new series, and steps inside a blade server - with a little help from the magic screwdriver of shrinkage

Dialogue Box 10: The best of Series One

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:59:01 +0100

Dialogue Box introduces an unsuspecting online world to the Axis of Awesome, radiation, a potato, lightbulbs, sore thumbs, supercomputers, speech recognition, thin clients and UMPCs

Dialogue Box 9: Putting the 'Um...' in UMPC

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:04:01 +0100

The first ultra-mobile PCs got roundly ridiculed for, well, everything. Now the second generation is out on the street and in the Dialogue Box studio

Dialogue Box 8: Thin client, fat chance

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:16:01 +0100

You're here but your data is there. Dialogue Box takes a look at PC remote control and its cousin, the thin client, upon which the Axis of Awesome passes judgement

Dialogue Box 7: Giving Vista a fair hearing

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:38:01 +0100

If computers are so smart, how come they don't understand a word we say? That's perhaps unfair but, as Dialogue Box found out, even the state-of-the-art speech recognition in Windows Vista has its problems

Dialogue Box 6: Attack of the 20ft blade server

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:52:02 +0100

If small computers are powerful, how mighty are the big ones? Dialogue Box looks at the ups and downs of cramming supercomputer power into a desk-sized box

Dialogue Box 5: The ultramobile laptop face-off

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:19:02 +0100

Dialogue Box gives Sony's ultramobile Vaio VGN-UX1XN the Axis of Awesome treatment, and a usability test results in sore thumbs

Dialogue Box 4: Projecting projector costs

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:54:01 +0100

Inside a modern projector, you can find the latest million-mirror nanotechnology and a light bulb. Guess which costs more

Dialogue Box 3: Wi-Fi and hot potatoes

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:51:01 +0100

Dialogue Box goes wireless this week, with the Axis of Awesome testing the Wi-Fi-enabled touch-driven smartphone from HTC and a demonstration of the real perils wireless can bring to the office

Dialogue Box 2: Solid as a hard disk

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:22:02 +0100

This week's Axis of Awesome looks at one of the most desirable yet unashamedly technical add-ons you can get: a 32GB solid state hard disk

Dialogue Box 1: The 'Axis of Awesome'

mailroomuk@zdnet.com (Charles McLellan and Rupert Goodwins) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:21:02 +0100

ZDNet.co.uk's regular video magazine show chews over the latest happenings in tech, and rates all the newest enterprise IT products and development on the 'Axis of Awesome'