NZ Tekonverse

Back in October last year I wrote a post about Intel Atom NM10 chipset Mini-ITX boards. Since then I have built three computers very cheaply by taking old computers and putting these board inside as a replacement for the old board. This has worked well, but there have been issues. The first is that perhaps…

The truth is most independent hardware vendors can beat Intel in customer service. Intel still takes the lead in sheer technological achievement and development, but the flip side of that is the arrogance that comes from being the dominant player in the computer industry. I switched to using Gigabyte motherboards a couple of years ago…

Still thinking about that DSLR and planning on maybe a EOS 600D with just one lens. Although to make it harder Canon has just brought out the compact EOS 100D, about $200 dearer though. Currently an EOS 600D with the kit 18-55 lens is $890, body only is $798. You can have the twin lens…

Am I just a whinger or is this sort of thing becoming more prevalent these days? Here are two examples with different types of cameras I looked at recently. First example is the Canon EOS-M, a cute little Micro Four Thirds type mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC). Based on the EOS 600D it is much…

Not bragging but with the numbers on the SX260 my averages are way up on the last few years. I have renamed/reorganised the Picasa albums for Earthquake for this year all as general Christchurch albums instead. This is an important reflection on the fact that on discovering the many architectural gems hidden away within certain…

The HTC Windows Phone 8S is one of two offerings from HTC in the new Windows 8 ecosystem. The 8X is the higher spec version. Vodafone and Telecom will have the 8S filling out the low end of their Windows 8 product range in NZ. Both have released this in the last few weeks at…

Since I wrote about this a couple of weeks back, Noel Leemings and several other retailers put a bundle deal (the camera plus a case plus two batteries and a charger plus a card) out at $179-199. This sort of clinched my decision and I jumped in and picked one up at Leemings. Apart from…

This seems to get harder and harder to do with each edition of Windows. I might be missing something, but at least in XP, you could right click the Start button and get “Open” or “Open All Users” to browse the Start menu in Explorer. In Windows 7 these options have disappeared. In Windows 8,…

You might remember from Windows 7 that it can install updates on the fly and then tell you it wants to restart automatically within a certain timeframe. Usually it gives an option to postpone the restart. Under Windows 8 the system will not let you postpone these restarts indefinitely and will force your system to…

Somewhere back then I have most probably had a whinge about Canon and proprietary battery cameras. This year I bought two at once and both of them have been an issue as the battery tends to go flat at the most inconvenient time and with a new battery at around $70-80 I haven’t been in…