SheHwa MagicScreen Filter | Stop Prying Eyes looking at your Monitor

Written by Admin on June 26, 2008

Today’s product is quite an interesting one, and one that caught my eye as soon as I saw it. If your spend a lot of your time on your notebook out of the office, you’ll know the annoyance of trying to possession yourself so other people cannot see your screen. Or the paranoia that everyone on the train can read that personal email you have received.

The SheHwa MagicScreen Filter is an interesting concept that is designed to combat this worry. You attach the filter via either double sided tape or hanging tape, which is apparently easy to remove and reattach. Once the filter is fitted you can see the screen clearly when looking at it directly but when viewed from an angle of 30 degrees or more the screen goes invisible. This is great for anyone who wants privacy from any screen in a public place, whether it be a notebook or mobile phone.

There are a few other features that make it quite an attractive product as well, for example because you cant see further than 30 degrees the light cannot shine on the screen from further than that angle as well. This almost eliminates screen glare meaning that you can sit in places where you wouldn’t other wise be able to sit. The hard coating on the filter also helps protect the screen from knocks and scratches that would otherwise be expensive to repair.

This is a great and inexpensive product that protects your screen from prying eyes, knocks and scratches and stops sun glare, with all that and with the price in mind the SheHwa MagicScreen is worth a try.

More Info on the SheHwa MagicScreen Filter

• Find the SheHwa MagicScreen on Amazon

Do you care that FireFox calls home?

Written by Admin on June 26, 2008

Once a day, every day without your knowlege Fire Fox sends information about you via SSL back to the Mozzila servers even if you have disabled the automatic updates feature. Although I highly doubt Mozzila have any malisous intensions with this information, I think users should be told upfront that information is being sent home about them.

But what information is sent anyway?

Don’t worry none of the information they are sending is scary, yes you could be potentially be identified by your ip address but its nothing more to worry about than someone looking through a phone book and finding you phone number.

The information Firefox is sending home is:

• IP address
• What time you were using the product
• What exact version number you were using
• If you are using any of the plugins or addons sent in the disabled list
• Total number of active users of their software

So should I care?

No not really, most of this information is already available to every website owner when you visit a website. I think the thing everyone is annoyed at is the fact that Mozzila never told us about it while installing the software. None of this information can really hurt you and its just so Mozzila can collect information about the number of users it has giving a better scope of its market share.

There are a lot more programs that are out there that send much more information about us back to home than Firefox ever will. Ffor example if you play online games you’ll be likey to have Punkbuster installed on your computer, which is an anticheat program, this sends back information about your system such as your hard drive serial number. Microsoft products phone home all the time and there is no way for us to know what it sends back, and it is unlikey that we ever will find out.

More Info

• Discussion Thread on Reddit
• Download Firefox now

New Theme Ready for PC Prowl

Written by Admin on June 26, 2008

After a couple of weeks of on and off work I have finally got the new theme for PcProwl ready for public release. It is a modified version of wpthemedesigners theme Blue Block, the basic changes I have made is the width of the theme which was way to narrow for my liking and I have also changed the category links aswell as the origonal release didn’t have good support for children categories.

Its not just the theme that has changed, but you might have noticed our new logo, I really like it and think it combines the idea of Prowling the web for computer equipment very well.

In addition to the new looks of the site I am also going to be making a few more changes, the site is very review orientated I know some of you like that but an equal amount dont. So I have decided that I will start posting more news items and information that might be of interest to people to keep the site more fresh and interactive. On the note of being more interactive I am going to be installing some plug ins to reward you for commenting on the site as a lot of my readers are very quiet and I would like more people to be intereacting with the site.

Stay tuned and watch this space

PNY Verto Geforce 8500GT | 512MB Casual Gamers Graphics Card

Written by Admin on June 25, 2008

I’ve been known to focus on the high end hardware to much and haven’t really looked at the older hardware for those casual computer users and gamers who are working on a tight budget. That’s why were taking a look at a relatively old graphics card, the PNY Geforce 8500GT. Although only just over a year old the graphics card industry moves fast and you soon forget about those once high spec cards that become a bargain for the regular computer user or casual gamer.

As its DirectX 10 compatible, if your playing on Vista you’ll be able to utilize the graphics performance increase that vista provides. But even on xp you’ll notice a nice increase in performance if you’ve upgraded from older cards such as the Geforce 6600.

In terms of what games you’ll be able to play on this card, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You’ll be able to play the popular Call of Duty 4 on Medium to High settings, and in the ultimate test of computing power Crysis you’ll be able to play on Low/Medium settings depending on your CPU.

The Geforce 8500GT is a great casual card, as it lets you play the latest gamest games, admittedly not at the best frames per second but on the other hand at its price it doesn’t break the bank.

More info on the PNY Verto Geforce 8500GT Video Card

• See the PNY Verto GeForce 8500GT on Amazon
• Find the PNY Verto 8500GT on thenerds.net
• Find the Geforce 8500GT Cheap on Ebay

Razer Barracuda AC-1 | Gaming 7.1 Surround Sound Card

Written by Admin on June 24, 2008

After the fiasco with the SoundBlaster drivers back in March I decided that I wouldn’t be reviewing any Creative products in a while, that’s why I’ve been staying clear of Sound Cards for a while to fight the temptation. But today I’m back looking at the Razer Barracuda AC-1.

This 7.1 surround sound card is very well optimized for gaming, and has the features to show for it, virtual surround sound and extended audio range to name a few.

The extendible audio range is a great feature that extends the range and which you can hear in a 3D environment, so if you’re in game you will be able to hear your enemy’s footsteps before he’ll hear yours. This as any gamer will know is a massive help in FPS games as you know where your enemies are.

The Virtual surround sound makes it sound like you have a set of surround sound speakers from just two, meaning you can wear your headset and talk to your team mates without compromising the quality of your sound and the ability to pin point the enemy.

Although Creative virtually own the entire soundcard market, if your looking for an alternative or just avoiding Creative then I think this is a great substitute and even offers some advantage to gamers in terms of some of the features it offers, and with the advantage of actually working with vista the Barracuda comes above a lot of the Creative products.

Edit: Thanks to those who pointed out that this isn’t infact a Graphics Card like the title suggested, I’ve fixed it but still feel really stupid

More info on the Razer Barracuda AC-1

• Read reviews of the Razer Barracuda on Amazon
• See the RAZER Barracuda AC-1 Sound Card on Newegg
• Find the Razer Barracuda AC-1 cheap on Ebay

Kingston DataTraveler | Robust and Reliable 8GB USB Flash Memory Drive

Written by Admin on June 22, 2008

USB Flash drives are becoming so inexpensive that almost everyone has them, for transfering files between home and work or school and make transfering files between computers quick and easy.

One of the biggest draws to this drive, for me at least, is the retractable head meaning your not going to have to worry about loosing a cap or the port ever becoming dirty or damaged. USB drives are becoming ever more robust and this one is no different and can stand up to a lot of abuse which coupled with the fact it has a retractable head means your data is secure from knocks and bruses.

With USB drives becoming ever more wacky and trying to stand out, Kingston has left it plain and suprisingly stylish for its relaxed look, although slightly larger than it needed to be it’s a nice size and fits in your hand wonderfully.

Although I have heard a lot of compiants about the lack of lanyard or keychain there is a small bar allowing you to attack your own. Meaning you can decided if you want one or not, which I think is a nice design feature from Kingston.

Overall I think this is great drive for its price and its going to be hard to find a better value USB flash drive for the money, especially for the the 8GB model

More Info on the Kingston DataTraveler 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Memory Drive

• Find the 8GB Model on Amazon
• See the other sizes on Amazon
• Read more on the Kingston Datatraveler on Newegg
• Find it Cheap on Ebay

Samsung 2253BW | 22″ Inch Black LCD Gaming Monitor 2ms Response Time

Written by Admin on June 16, 2008

The last monitor we reviewed the SyncMaster 305T was out of the price range out of quite a lot of visitors so today we’ll be looking at a monitor that is significantly cheaper, and within a lot more peoples budgets and is great value for money.

I’m going to start off by saying that this has an amazing response time of 2ms, perfect for gamers who want ultra sharp images while playing fast paced games or for watching movies. Also with a contrast of 1000:1 you’ll be getting brilliant colour quality showing subtle tones in pictures that you wouldn’t see in other monitors.

The monitor is also Energy Star qualified, which means that it uses less electricity than ordinary monitors reducing the energy use by up to 30%, and saving between $10-$30 per year. If you want to find out more about the Energy Star program, take a look at the program on Amazon.

I would suggested that if your graphics card only supports the VGA connection type to upgrade it before buying this monitor. As will all LCD monitors you will find that using an analogue connection will reduce the quality of the picture, but people have been saying that the monitor blurs more than usual when not at its native resolution when using the VGA connection.

If you’re a gamer and if your looking for a great monitor at a strapped budget I would highly recommend this monitor as it has no blur and ghosting due to its increadibly low response time.

More Info on the Samsung 2253BW

• See the Samsung 2253BW on Newegg
• See the Samsung 2253BW on Amazon
• Find the Samsung 2253BW Cheap on Ebay

Samsung SyncMaster 305T | Massive 30″ LCD Monitor Excellent Image Quality

Written by Admin on June 9, 2008

If your looking for an LCD monitor this size then you’re stuck with choosing from a just a few manufactures at the moment: Apple, Dell, HP, Gateway and Samsung. Which does mean the price is comparatively high compared to other lower end monitors in terms of Price to Inch ratio, but are defiantly worth it if you are looking for a lot of screen real estate.

The Samsung SyncMaster 305T is one of the few really large monitors out there and one of the more popular thanks to its relatively low price tag, compared to other 30” monitors and its great features.

The monitor supports a native resolution of 2,560×1,600 pixels, but can only be viewed at this resolution if you have a high end graphics card connected with a dual link DVI cable. If your graphics card doesn’t support it then you’ll be stuck displaying at 1,920×1,440 which isn’t bad, but I know you would rather get what you pay for.

One of the main complements everyone gives this monitor is the color quality, which is incredibly sharp and rich. The reason for this is the contrast ratio, which is a massive 1,000:1 allowing the monitor to display subtle differences in different color shades. Non of the usual menus can be found on this monitor as Samsung obviously feel their monitor is perfect for color ratios as the only buttons on the monitor adjust the brightness.

The number of ports on the monitor is a bit disappointing though, as the SyncMaster 305T only has one DVI port, no other connections limiting the number of devices you can attach it to. Although it does have 4 downstream USB connectors for desktop peripherals which is always a nice feature to have on monitors, saving you going under the desk to plug devices in.

The Samsung SyncMaster 305T does have a reality small amount of features than other monitors, but it more than makes up for it with its size and picture quality. This monitor would be great for video editors and graphics artists or anyone who needs a large amount of screen real estate. Although the monitor has an 8ms response time and most gamers look for a lower value than this, I don’t think your going to be complaining when your shooting people at 30 inches.

More info on the Samsung SyncMaster 305T

• Find the Samsung SyncMaster 305T on Amazon
• Find the Samsung SyncMaster 305T on Newegg
• Find the Samsung SyncMaster 305T Cheap on Ebay