MSI Slider S20 Ultrabook convertible coming your way

The evolution of consumer electronics devices are definitely worth following, especially when you consider how the humble mobile phone moved from monochrome displays to color displays, and from MIDI ringtones to MP3 tunes. Well, the world of notebooks are not too different, coming with ever faster processors and better hardware specifications, while losing more in the weight department, too. The natural evolution of Intel-powered notebooks has seen the category of Ultrabooks rise (while the netbook market has more or less will experience its demise this year) to the top of the pile for folks who want adequate processing power on the go while looking uber cool. MSI’s latest offering, the MSI Slider S20 Ultrabook convertible, is here to tempt you to part with your hard-earned cash.

Super WiFi Antenna helps extend your WiFi reach

When you add the prefix “Super” to anything, and rest assured, expectations on the performance of that particular noun would be sent to sky high proportions. So when we came across the $119.95 Super WiFi Antenna, there was this naughty bit in me that wanted to tear into all that the Super WiFi Antenna promised but could not deliver, but just to give the benefit of the doubt to First Street Online, let us see what this device touts.

Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook

The traditional chalk and blackboard is still a staple in most of the classrooms around the world, although those living in emerging countries and more backwater areas might not even have a classroom with four walls to call their own, but will instead have to settle for a shack or even in an open air environment. Some of the private schools in tropical countries, on the other hand, have superb facilities and include air-conditioning all year round, now how about that?

Not Your Standard Keyboard

How great would it be to mouse or type into thin air and see everything in front of you? Sort of like Minority Report. Rather than having a specific device to control actions or input (i.e. mouse or keyboard) it would rock to just have it all there – all the functions you need at your fingertips. That certainly may be realistic down the road. But peripherals will be necessary for the immediate future.

One creative designer decided that although a peripheral may be needed – why not make it suit more possible needs out there, while also looking like something from the future. The Luminae devices from TransluSense could potentially change how we navigate our computers. The glass Keyboard+ and Touchpad+ enable you to customize the controls you want via different overlays. Create a qwerty keyboard with 10-key pad. Or maybe you need 10-key and mouse pad. Maybe you want to use the device to both type and mouse (“Type and Swipe”). Or maybe your work requires a non-standard keyboard. You can literally have different overlays for different needs. Also choose your glowing LED color too. Built inside the Luminae units are cameras which judge when your hands break the light pattern of both visible and infrared LEDs. Based on the overlay you have on the keyboard will react. Sounds odd not to have a tactile keyboard. But it sure would be functional – and cool looking. At $500 this may not be the keyboard for everyone, but for those that are you may feel one step closer to the future.

Don’t let your site be a sitting duck for hackers

Be hack smart on the World Wide Web

Let me start by saying that I love, love, love WordPress. However, since it is an open source content management system, you must be careful what you download and you must be vigilant with the management of your site at all times. My blog is just a very tiny guppy in the big ocean that is the World Wide Web. So, how shocked was I to learn that my site was hacked? Honestly, I didn’t think it would happen.

It took me 4 weeks to completely clean my site. I am not a computer programmer. I don’t know code, it all looks gibberish to me. I don’t have deep pockets to pay someone to help, but I got through it and here’s what I learned in the process.

Update, update, update

Update WordPress, themes and plugins in a timely manner. I believe (though I’ll never know for certain) that the hacker got through a vulnerability in my theme as it was not updated. This was a conscious decision I made as each time I updated the theme, it would reset my settings back to default. It was a royal pain but not close to the pain I felt having to fix the mess the hacker created.

Go with a paid theme

I should have known better, but at the time I started my blog, I was excited that there were so many free themes to choose from. I didn’t need all the bells and whistles that came with paid themes, so off I went to download different themes to see how they would look. What I didn’t realize was that free themes have more vulnerabilities than paid ones that makes them less secure. After some research, I switched to a paid theme by StudioPress and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Install a plugin that scans your files

Plugins such as Exploit Scanner or Wordfence may not prevent a hack, but can help you find the source should you be hacked. The plugins scan files for anything suspicious, files that have been modified or files that have been added. To an untrained eye, looking for an obscure line of code that’s been added to your site is like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s where these plugins come in handy.

Verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools

If you haven’t verified your site with Google, you really should. Not only will Google send you a message that it has detected an issue on your site, but it also allows you access to a number of tools that can help better optimize your site. Once I received the dreaded message, it didn’t take Google long before it tagged my site with the infamous “This site may harm your computer” as a warning to others. Obviously this is not what any Webmaster wants but you can’t fix something if you’re not aware it’s broken. Once you deem your site clean, submit a request to Google to review your site.

Get help

Within 72 hours, I made over a dozen calls to my hosting company to see if they can help me find the source of the malware. I was not so lucky in my first few attempts. Most reps were not able to help, not because they didn’t want to, but I believe they did not have the experience to do it. I hit the jackpot one night as the rep found the source in under 2 minutes (this was before I realized there was a backdoor).

I purchased a package from my hosting company that essentially works similarly to the plugin I installed. This all happened around the same time so I got to see what worked. I was surprised to learn that the free plugin detected anomalies that my hosting company did not. However, because I paid for the service, I was able to speak directly with the security team which was a big help.

There are also numerous forums that you can reach out to for help. People are generally very supportive and willing to help. The one I reached out to was theGoogle product forum for Webmasters.

Change your password

If you still have the default “admin” username, change it immediately. All hackers know this and will try to gain access to your site with it. Partner that with a strong password. If you’ve been hacked, change your password just to be safe.

If malware persists, look for a backdoor

Within a week of my first malware notice from Google, I thought I nipped it. However, I soon received another  warning. I went back to those same files and sure enough the unwanted code was back. I deleted it and hours later it came back. It was then that I figured there was a backdoor to my site. The key is not only to find and delete the malicious code within the files, but to also find the file that was creating the backdoor. Until you do, the code will keep coming back.

In the end, I learned many hard knocked lessons, including the fact that I can be hacked. I’ve changed my way of thinking. Question is, have you?

Hands-on: Microsoft Surface Pro lives up to hype

(Credit: Microsoft)

LAS VEGAS--While it first might have seemed like laptops and PCs took the year off at CES 2013, there have been a number of notable products that caught our eye. One of them wasn't even on the show floor, or at CES at all.

The Microsoft Surface Pro, alongside last year's Windows RT Microsoft Surface, are Microsoft's self-made Windows 8 tablets, designed to attempt to reinvent computing and provide hero products for Windows 8. The Surface Pro was supposed to launch within 90 days of the Surface, which came out on October 26. We're approaching the end of that window now, and I got my first chance to see the Surface Pro for myself this week. Despite my skepticism, you can color me impressed.

Microsoft Surface Pro shrinks the full PC (pictures)

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Whereas the Surface cost $500, the Surface Pro costs $899. But even though they look alike, they're very different beasts: the Surface runs off an ARM processor and uses Windows RT, while Surface Pro has an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and runs full Windows 8, just like any laptop.M

The original Surface tablet received mixed reviews, largely because of its Windows RToperating system. The Surface Pro is the more significant product, because it makes no computing compromises: it's the dream of a tablet as your PC, while the original Surface felt more like an iPad competitor.

Not only can you use the tile-based Windows 8 interface on the Surface Pro, but you can visit a regular desktop and open older applications, run Steam, and do anything you'd do otherwise. The Surface Pro connects to monitors and outputs at resolutions beyond 1080p, and you can add Bluetooth and USB 3 peripherals like mice, keyboards, and external hard drives.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Of course, Windows tablets aren't new. Their limiting factors have been many: inferior touch screens and touch software on older Windows 7 devices, poor battery life, and limited peripheral connectivity have relegated many Windows tablets to being afterthoughts. Even recent full Windows 8 tablets from Lenovo and others have opted for Atom-based CPUs which theoretically add battery life, but limit processing power.

However, in my time with the Surface, it all worked exactly as advertised, and with a extremely elegant, bordering on beautiful, sense of design. The industrial magnesium chassis of the Surface Pro feels solid but not too heavy to hold in one hand. One notable difference between it and the slightly thinner RT version of the Surface is a hairline wraparound vent on the rear that works with internal fans to keep the more powerful CPU running smoothly. The Surface Pro felt slightly warm as I used it, but no more so than a third-gen iPad.

The 1080p IPS 10.6-inch display is one of the best I've ever seen on a small Windows computer. Even better, capacitive multitouch felt buttery-smooth. That's the magic that made the iPhone and iPad so fun to use, and the Surface Pro, in painting programs and a few other apps I tried, felt comfortable to navigate.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The Surface Pro supports pressure-sensitive styli, and Microsoft has its own Surface Pen Pro that magnetically attaches to the power connector to hold it in place on the go. Writing and sketching felt natural, and palm-rejection technology activates the moment the Surface Pro senses the stylus approaching the screen.

For a spec comparison between the Surface and Surface Pro, see below.

	Surface with Windows 8 Pro	Surface with Windows RT
Starting price	$899	$499
Screen size and resolution	10.6 inches, 1,920x1,080	10.6 inches, 1,366x768
Dimensions (HWD)	10.81 x 6.81 x 0.53 inches	10.81 x 6.77 x 0.37 inches
Weight	2 pounds	1.5 pounds
CPU	Intel Core i5	Nvidia Tegra 3
Memory	4GB	2GB
Storage capacity	64GB (128GB option)	32GB (64GB option)
Ports	USB 3.0, microSDXC, headphone, DisplayPort video out	USB 2.0, microSDXC, headphone, HD video out

The Surface Pro starts at $899 for 64GB of storage, or $999 for a 128GB configuration. That's expensive for a tablet, but just a small premium over many Windows 8 touch-enabled ultrabooks this small.

Whether the Surface Pro is the best product in its price range will be determined. We've already seen a number of hybrid and convertible laptop/tablet designs from Microsoft's usual hardware partners, including the Lenovo Yoga 11S, the HP Elitebook Revolve, and the ThinkPad Helix, not to mention more experimental gaming-centric devices like the Razer Edge. And, with Intel's newer processors coming out on the horizon, you'd have to wonder whether the Surface Pro could be refreshed to benefit from even more tablet-ready CPUs.

The Surface Pro will compete with those devices and others. But, based on how good that Type Cover is and how good the Surface Pro's screen feels -- not to mention its small size -- the Surface Pro seems well-positioned to rise to the top of the pack. From the moment the Surface was announced, the real killer feature was the Type Cover. To me, the success or failure of the Surface hinges on the ability of that cover to be comfortable and productive. And I think it is. It also draws power from the tablet, never needs recharging, and has a grip strong enough to hold the whole Surface tablet from the cover alone.

Can a tablet comfortably be your full PC? So far, when it comes to my limited time with Surface Pro, the answer seems to be yes. And that could, in the long run, be the most impactful development in PCs in years.

We'll find out definitively once we have a chance to test the Surface Pro when it ships -- hopefully, soon.

The PC Specialist Optimus IV is a good all-round entertainment laptop that can also handle more than a spot of casual gaming action at price that’s hard to beat.

It might not be the most powerful gaming rig on the marker, but for just £799 the Optimus IV from PC Specialist is a versatile and affordable all-round laptop that provides enough 3D horsepower for the casual gamer.

In fact, that £800 price tag really is the stand-out feature, as it includes a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor running at 2.4GHz, along with 8GB of memory, an nVidia GeForce GTX 660M with 2GB video memory. Storage is covered by a 1TB hard disk andy an additional 120GB solid-state drive as well. Throw in an attractive 17.3in display and Blu-ray drive and the Optimus IV really does look like excellent value for money.

That combination allowed a solid 4572 points in the PCMark 7 test suite, confirming its abilities as a strong all-round performer. However, its gaming perfomance isn’t in quite the same league as its more hardcore rivals – the GeForce GTX 660M proved to be one of the more modest graphics cards in this group.

It could cope with Stalker at full 1920 x 1080 resolution and High graphics settings without too much trouble, but Batman: Arkham City and Hard Reset really needed to drop down to 1280 x 720 in order to run well.

There are a number of build-to-order options available for the Optimus, but if you want more flat-out gaming power you’ll need to look at PC Specialist’s separate Vortex range, which comes in at closer to £1200.

Even so, that’s still pretty good going for a laptop in this price range, and the Optimus IV scores well in other areas too. Its 17.3in screen has 1920 x 1280 resolution, and an anti-glare finish that helps to produce an attractive image, free of annoying glare and reflection. It’ll be great for watching films and video, with the help of the built-in Blu-ray player.

Battery life is poor but above average for this group, lasting for just under 3 hours when using the GeForce GPU. It ran cool and quiet during all our tests, and is also the lightest of the 17in models reviewed here, straining the scales at 3.3kg. It’s about as portable as a games station of this size is likely to get.

We do have a few minor complaints, though. The speakers sound distinctly thin and wiry, and while the keyboard is large and comfortable the trackpad is unnecessarily small given the size of the machine. The buttons on the trackpad aren’t responsive either, and right-clicking in particular required a firm prod in order to prompt a response.