Computers

All things related to computer hardware and components

Freemake Video Downloader

By Cat Ellis Freemake Video Downloader is much more than a simple YouTube downloader. It supports more than 500 audio and video formats, which helps explain why it has so many users: 93 million and counting. The formats are organised in profiles for specific devices, so for example you can tell the app that you’re…

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Surface Arc Mouse aims to be the perfect peripheral for Surface Laptop

By Darren Allan Alongside all the big announcements Microsoft had to make at its education-related press event yesterday – including the Surface Laptop – the company also launched a (quite literally) lower-profile piece of hardware which is nonetheless an interesting addition to its peripheral line-up: a new Surface Arc Mouse. This is essentially a Surface-branded…

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VLC Media Player

By Cat Ellis,Gary Marshall VLC is a hugely popular free media player, and for good reason – it supports almost all file formats without the need to download additional codecs, can optimize video and audio playback for your chosen device, supports streaming, and can be extended almost infinitely with downloadable plugins. These not only add…

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BlockNews

By Nicholas Fearn Choosing the right Usenet service can be a tricky matter, considering the amount of providers out there. You’ll want to go for a platform that offers lots of retention, high-speed performance and a decent user interface while hopefully remaining affordable at the same time. All these aspects are key considerations for a…

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Shotcut

By Cat Ellis Shotcut proves that a top-notch video editor doesn’t have to cost a fortune. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and is totally free with no ads, bundled adware, or features hidden behind a paywall. If you’re looking for a free video editor that can replace Windows Movie Maker, Shotcut is a…

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Intel just patched a critical flaw in its CPUs

By Darren Allan Intel has just patched a critical vulnerability in its vPro processors, and worryingly this flaw has existed for no less than seven years. To be precise, the problem is an escalation of privilege vulnerability in Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT), Intel Standard Manageability (ISM), and Intel Small Business Technology firmware – a…

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Microsoft Surface Laptop

By Joe Osborne The one Surface product that fans have been clamoring over for years, a straight up Surface Laptop, is finally here. But, in taking design cues from both the Surface Pro and Surface Book lines, Microsoft has set lofty expectations for its first dedicated laptop device. Priced at $999 (about £770, AU$1,330), the…

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Paint.NET

By Cat Ellis Paint.NET is a powerful, easy-to-use image editor that offers features similar to those that you’ll find in Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. Paint.NET features layers, enabling you to edit specific areas of your image, or build up an image from a number of different sections. You can also use Paint.NET to adjust an…

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Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset

By Jamie Carter Virtual reality sounds terrible. The bevy of 360-degree video cameras are visually immersive, but what they lack is convincing ‘lifelike’ audio. Cue the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset, which we first saw at CES 2017 in January. It has an omni-directional microphone on each ear that record the sound surrounding the videographer, from…

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Kobo Aura H2O (2017)

By James Peckham Kobo’s Aura One was an exemplary example of the ereader managing to do something different to Amazon’s Kindle range, and the new Aura H2O takes those features and puts them in a smaller, cheaper package. With a large display, useful screen dimming technology and a waterproof design, this may suit you well…

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Audacity

By Cat Ellis Audacity is an incredible free, open source audio editor that’s just as good as many premium paid-for applications. You can use it to make your own recordings, remove noise, cut and combine clips, apply special effects and much more, and achieve truly professional results. If all that isn’t enough, you can expand…

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Speedify

By Mike Williams Making use of a VPN almost always cuts your internet speeds, which is no real surprise given the overheads of all that encryption. Speedify aims to fight against this issue by spreading your internet traffic across any available internet connections: Ethernet, a tethered mobile, Wi-Fi and more. If one connection type is…

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Gigabyte Aero 15

By Jacob Grana Laptop on the inside, envelope on the outside, the Gigabyte wants to mail the Aero 15 into gamer caves and boardrooms alike. With its programmable keyboard, Kaby Lake Core i7, Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, and an enduring battery, the Aero 15 is the next do-it-all device attempting to show up the suddenly…

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eM Client

By Cat Ellis eM Client is much more than just a way to keep your emails in order. As well as managing your messages, it can track your schedule and organize your to-do list. There’s also an integrated chat features that supports three major messaging services (Google, Facebook and Jabber), and a facility for making…

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LG’s massive 43-inch 4K monitor is like having four HD screens in one

By Darren Allan Do you like the idea of a multi-monitor setup, but perhaps not the clutter of having, er, multiple monitors on your desk? Then LG’s freshly-revealed 4K display could be the ideal solution, as it’s essentially four monitors in one. The LG 43UD79-B monitor is a 42.5-inch panel with a resolution of 3840…

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