Review: Invisible Browsing VPN (ibVPN)
Posted Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 9:46 am by Jason Cartwright
Here in Australia we’re constantly faced with the 20 million problem. The relatively small population here leaves us distant in the minds of large tech companies, despite being well known for being early adopters of technology. This means that services (and products) often launch first and sometimes only in the US.
Content deals for movies and TV shows are almost always negotiated on a country-by-country basis, despite the international marketplace they sell to. The good news is, there is actually something frustrated users can do to work around these problems.
VPN is a technology that sends your internet traffic through a remote server, using that IP to access international services. While the legalities of doing this may seem a little grey, what you should know is that there are services out there to help you achieve this.
ibVPN is a paid VPN service that can connect you with locations in the US, UK, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, France and many others. The US and UK are of particular interest as they are leading the way in the proliferation of IPTV. Services like Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and many more like it are still unavailable in Australia, years after their release overseas.
Performance
There are actually plenty of free VPN solutions available, however the quality of these vary wildly. Often connections are made to low-end servers, or servers with low-bandwidth, which means you’ll often experience buffering while streaming video. While there may be some scenario’s where a VPN would be used that doesn’t need a constant flow of bits, IPTV certainly does. Without good performance a VPN used for IPTV is useless.
By charging for the service, ibVPN is able to provide a reliable connection solid enough to stream movies and TV shows from the services mentioned above. It works well when you allow the service to set the video quality automatically, but I found if I set it to the highest quality, buffering did occur. Setting Hulu to the highest quality was more of a test than a real-life need, even set to auto, the video looked amazing on a 13” MBA.
Using Speedtest.net I was able to achieve 6.60Mb/s down, with a ping of 188ms, not bad for connecting to the other side of the planet.
Support
Setting up ibVPN is actually really easy. You can create a new connection to a VPN and use the credentials you receive when signing up. You can connect PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets individually or configure your router to use the VPN and have all internet traffic use it. This opens up new possibilities for gaming consoles and set-top-boxes with geo-restricted applications now becoming available to you.
Naturally some of these international services still need you to have a US or UK address and often a credit card in that country, so just be aware, access is one thing, signing up and payment is an entirely different problem.
IBVPN also provides desktop applications for you to use if you’d prefer to avoid the networking configuration. Simply launch the app, put in the IP of the server you wish to connect to (locations and IPs provided by ibVPN), your username and password, then click connect. Clicking disconnect drops you back to your standard connection, this makes it easy for anything in your family to operate.
Cost
Starting at just US$7.95 per month, it’s hard to argue that this is anything other than good value for money. Considering the wide array of content you’ll get access to, ibVPN is really a bargain.
Overall
Sometimes reviewing products can be like visiting the dentist, and other times it can be a delight. With a service that actually works and provides real benefits, it was an enjoyable experience. While the copyright holders argue about how to nickel and dime you, the content is what we all want. ibVPN provides a way to get access to that IPTV content, so for that I have to recommend it.
More information @ ibVPN.com
Review: Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard
Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 6:28 pm by Bryce Wilson
Nothing beats laying back in bed or relaxing on the couch, putting a movie on, and getting warm under the blankets… until you realise you put the wrong movie on or need to adjust the audio. Thus begins the awkward clamour out into the cold lounge or bedroom, fiddling with some knobs, hitting some menus, and once again relaxing.
Well Logitech aims to alleviate the aforementioned problem with the introduction and release of the K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard, a fully wireless keyboard that manages to condense a high quality keyboard and touchpad into one tiny form fitting unit.
Aimed at lounge room and HTPC users, the K400 is a compact and stylish unit, capable of not only controlling all your general media needs, but also navigating your PC at ease thanks to the multi-touch supported 3.5" touchpad and traditional laptop-esque left and right mouse keys. In accoutrement to the wonderful touchpad is a set of well positioned multimedia keys giving you quick and easy access to volume and internet home controls.
Connection and setup is a literal breeze thanks to the included Bluetooth USB receiver which literally plugs in, installs its own Windows drivers, and is then ready to be used. The wireless connection reaches up to ten meters away, more than enough for pretty much every lounge area and bedroom you could have a computer in. Included within the packaging is a set of batteries for the keyboard and the pair of them last up to twelve months, and that’s with extensive use.
The wireless signal is heavily protected thanks to the Swiss-based manufacturers inclusion of critically acclaimed 128-bit AES encryption method.
I found it quite difficult to type on the device at first, primarily due to the fact I am accustomed to using a full sized gaming keyboard for day to day application. However once I got the hang of typing on the K400, I came to find that the keys were quite responsive and operated flawlessly. While some may not like the small amount of force you need to use to suppress the keys, I like it and the reassurance it offers, as using a keyboard like this on your lap can at times cause problems as it slides around on your lap.
My only gripe and suggestion would be that a thin rubberised surface should be applied to the bottom of the K400, which would then alleviate any minor sliding issues, and allow the keys to have their pressure sensitivity raised slightly.
Thanks to the lightweight unit, well condensed keyboard boasting a full set of pliable keys, and an impressive multi-touch supported touchpad, the Logitech K400 is an easy and high quality recommendation for anyone looking to get a long distance grip on their HTPC from the comfort of their bed, couch, or floor.
MiniReview: Halo: Anniversary
Posted Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 4:00 pm by Jason Cartwright
Halo: Anniversary starts the Halo universe all over again, but this time, using today’s graphics engine. While the Halo franchise became a massive success with 2nd and 3rd editions, only the most hardcore Halo fans were there from the beginning with the original Xbox.
Halo Anniversary is the Halo we all know and love, but delivered in high definition with a current generation lighting and graphics engine. What a massive difference 10 years makes in video games. One of the best things to enjoy in the game is to switch between the original and current game engines.
That’s right, Halo Anniversary includes both game engines, to switch between the two just take a press of the Back button and a second to refresh. The difference is dramatic. Textures quality, polygon count, lighting effects, shadows, reflections, animations – everything is dramatically better.
Of course jumping 10 years is a massive leap, but what about the difference between Halo Anniversary and Halo: Reach? The answer, not a lot. At least not visually.
Original engine.
New engine
Single Player Campaign
The story begins from the very beginning, the start of Halo, where you begin with a calibration of the Spartan suit. This also doubles as a ‘how to’ tutorial and configures settings like look inversion. No matter where your Halo experience began, Halo Anniversary allows you to see the story unfold from the beginning.
Multiplayer
The best of the best multiplayer levels have been included in this release, along with a few new ones just for Anniversary. All of your favourite maps from across the Halo series are on offer. While everyone has their favourites, there are maps that rise to the top, working better in multiplayer matches and naturally become hits amongst the Halo community.
Kinect Support
Voice commands for games seems like the new flavour of the day, so get used to it now. Halo Anniversary actually uses voice in a pretty compelling way. There’s a plethora of commands available, everything from “change weapon”, to “reload”. Good news for Aussie’s, there is Australian voice support to cater for our accent (no bogan slang).
Windows Phone 7.5 integration
Those WP7 owners running Mango will be able to get an updated Halo Waypoint app on their phone. This can be used to intergrate with the Halo Anniversary game, get to know map layouts, weapon locations and even watch your team locations live on the device.
Overall
If you’ve never played Halo before, then this is definitely the game for you. If you already own every copy of Halo, then it’s hard to say this is a must-have for you, other than to complete your collection. There’s always new achievements to go after, so if that stat demon inside of you just begs for more, then you should also get the game.
Availability and Price
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary release date is November 15th, 2011 and will cost A$69.95 RRP.
Review: Battlefield 3
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 12:29 pm by Bryce Wilson
The one thing I felt throughout all my experiences of playing Battlefield 3 was that it wasn’t quite sure what game it wanted to be. Rugged multiplayer, huge team battles, and one of the most impressive visual and audio engines in recent time were let down by a generic and half baked single-player campaign dotted with clichés and rehashed storytelling
The story within Battlefield 3 takes a more serious and gritty feel. The narrative of Sergeant James Blackburn is filled with storytelling devices we saw in Call of Duty: Black Ops, almost to the point where it ruins the immersion. WMDs? Yeah. Questionable Russian ally? Yeah. Dimly lit interrogation room? Umm, yes. While there’s definitely a palpable sense of tension throughout the whole single-player element, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.
Admittedly the campaign does have some memorable scenes, namely the whole “Comrades” mission, it should not be seen as anything more than an interactive tutorial into the real Battlefield experience; which is arguably one of the best multiplayer experiences of all time.
From the tracer rounds arcing into the sky in Tehran City to the bullet riddled and echo filled subways of Operation Metro, Battlefield 3’s multiplayer does not run out of jaw dropping moments or fail to show you new tricks. Depending on the game type you play, each map has a select amount of area it will encompass, and this frontline changes throughout the course of your mission. A traditionally huge Conquest map like Caspian Border might only be a quarter of the size during Rush, and vice versa.
The sense of scale in these large and wide open sandbox maps promotes not only exploration, but also variety. Approach the hillside on Caspian Border from the creek, stealthily skulking in the shadows, or this time will you rush up the road in a jeep while your buddy lays suppression fire? You might play each map 100 times but I assure you that each play through will never be the same.
The biggest part of this constant refreshing feel is Battlefield 3’s in-depth progression system. Yes, we’ve seen ranking up to new guns and attachments countless times now, but Battlefield 3 really nails the rate at which you gain access to new weapons.
Soldiers, tanks, helicopters, jets, and even boats have their own unique unlock tier that you’ll always be trying to unlock “one more” piece on. It’s enjoyable, simple, and above all else easy thanks to the ever present team orientated nature of the Battlefield games. Reviving a fallen comrade nets you points, resupplying that Support gunner laying down suppressive fire will net you points, defending flags will net you points. Battlefield caters to how you want to play, and rewards you for doing what you enjoy most.
All of this is made even more amazing by Battlefield 3’s much marketed and anticipated Frostbite 2.0 engine. The lighting effects afforded by this are simply beautiful, and you will never see something else like this somewhere else. While it looks amazing on Ultra PC settings, DICE has also done an impressive job of scaling performance down for console hardware.
From the marvellous vistas to the sparks flying off your vehicle’s hull as bullets impact it, you’ll be visually impressed at every corner. Night-time environments also make an appearance and offer a barren contrast to the more vibrant and animated daytime missions as you fight under dim fluorescent light.
Although I’ve heaped praise amongst Battlefield 3, it’s not without its impurities or glitches, most of which arise with the new engine. Legs clipping through walls, characters rising off the ground and floating, soldiers running across water, and even bouncing hundreds of meters into the air upon death. While these are hilarious to look at, it’s far from the sense of realism and authenticity I’m looking for.
They cause frustration, blame, and most importantly ruin the sense of immersion developers often strive so hard to achieve.
Battlefield 3 is the ultimate first-person shooter and gift of love to Battlefield fans. When you put aside the easily forgettable watered down narrative and occasional glitches, Battlefield 3 offers a top-level multiplayer experience that will not only excite shooter fans, but also keep them happy for years to come.
Review: Living with iOS5 on the iPhone 4S
Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 9:29 pm by Jason Cartwright
The past two weeks have seen major changes to the dedicated Apple fan. An upgrade of the software to iOS5, swiftly followed by new hardware, the iPhone 4S. So after spending some time with both, it’s now time to digest on how the changes have impacted the experience.
Notifications
A source of constant frustration, notifications were long overdue for a revision. There’s no hiding it, Apple ripped off the new iOS5 notification system from Android. Turns out, it works incredibly well. No more interruptions mid-game, or mid-movie, instead the top slide-down notifications let you continue the task in progress, while letting you know there’s something waiting. When you have a chance, pull down the notification drawer and deal with the notifications.
With a quick swipe from the top the notifications draw slides down. The applications that are displayed here, along with their order and amount can be customised in Settings > Notifications. This helps to refine the notifications so they perform to suit individual needs.
One neat feature is the long-awaited addition of notifications to the lock screen. This gives a quick overview of what’s happened on your phone since you last had it out of your pocket – 30 seconds ago. Something you may not know, is that each of the notification types can be swiped to the right to not only unlock the phone, but automatically jump you into the associated app.
Camera
One of the biggest selling points of the iPhone 4S, is its upgrade in camera megapixel count, optics and video stability. Combine that update with the built-in basic editing function for photos and the camera upgrade should be a compelling change.. but is it ?
The short answer is yes. Like any camera, in the right hands, the results can be absolutely stunning. The optics in the iPhone 4S provide clarity that lacked in previous versions. Combined with new auto-exposure and 5-step HDR on the software side, photos can look amazing. You can also still manage to take blurry shots, so be careful to be as still as possible.
Remember that in iOS5 you can use the volume up button to take a photo. This comes in handy when taking self portraits, which you’ll need given the front-facing camera is still rubbish. The camera launches a lot faster so you don’t miss that time-sensitive shot, as long as you don’t have to enter your pin to unlock, then find the camera app buried in a folder.
Apple clearly thought through this problem, or looked at WP7’s pocket to picture feature and decided to ‘borrow it’. To fire the camera quickly from the lock screen, simply double-press the home button and a camera button will appear. Regardless of how this feature got there, it does make a massive difference to the camera’s usability.
Here’s a tip for those running iOS5, when in the camera app, try swiping to the right and you’ll have quick access to past photos. Yep, this feature is stolen from Windows Phone 7, detecting a trend yet ? You won’t find this feature listed or promoted on Apple’s website, but also makes a lot of sense and is a good inclusion.
Siri
The reality of using Siri in Australia is that it’s significantly limited. Businesses and therefore maps, cannot be interacted with using Siri if you are outside of the US and using a voice language other than US English. Very disappointing. Given Siri is currently in beta, there were bound to be things that weren’t complete.. this is one of them. Let’s hope Apple iterate quickly and add local support.
While scheduling calendar appointments and meetings, or creating reminders and alarms is typically a tedious thing, Siri handles this incredibly well. It’s actually much more time efficient to use Siri to set these, rather than launching the app and configuring a myriad of minor details.
The good news about Siri is that voice narration is actually pretty accurate. Unfortunately the same can not be said about the dictation feature accessed by pressing the new Microphone button on the virtual keyboard. I found this voice translation to be terribly inaccurate, to the point where it feels like an entirely separate voice engine is being used.
Performance
The new A5 dual-core processor in the iPhone 4S, is noticeable when performing intensive tasks like rendering video. For day-to-day actions, it’s slightly faster to launch applications, but not as big of a difference as expected. What’s more noticeable is the speed of apps accessing data, not due to the processor, but using a network provider with decent speeds – Telstra.
Gallery
Overall
With the combined upgrades to hardware, software and network I’ve experienced over the past couple of weeks, the end result is a significant improvement to my mobile experience. I can’t help buy think if I’d had only 2 of these 3 that I’d be feeling a little underwhelmed by it all right now. As an iPhone 4 owner, you shouldn’t feel a burning desire to upgrade, but 3GS or other feature phone owners should seriously consider Apple’s latest offering.
Review: RevoDrive 240GB PCI-e SSD vs OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD
Posted Friday, October 14, 2011 at 6:02 pm by Bryce Wilson
Back in September techAU ran a three way SSD shakedown of some of the fastest products in the Solid State Drive market, and now we’re back for round two and a whole new memory bout. OCZ has been kind enough to provide two review samples, and we have more coming in the next few weeks.
Testing Rig:
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO USB3
CPU: AMD Phenom x4 955 Black Edition @ 3.8Ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz G-Skill Ripjaws X (9-9-9-24)
GPU: GTX 580 (1.5GB)
Note: All drives were benchmarked as is, out of the box.
Testing Programs:
AS SSD – 1.6.4237.30508
ATTO Disk Benchmark – 2.47
HD Tune Pro – 4.61
CrystalDiskMark – 3.0.1
Competing alongside each other today we have the heavy hitting RevoDrive x2; OCZ’s high-end PCI-e SSD, and the Agility 3; a competitively priced and equally high performing traditional SSD.
All three drives were wiped before having Windows 7 64 bit install on them. We then took the drives through a series of tests and benchmarks using common tools, the data and results of which have been provided below for review.
Alongside the fresh data of the two aforementioned drives, we also have comparison data from our previous three-way review. Not only does this show the performance of the latest products, but also gives you more insight as a consumer. It’s important to remember that while the 240GB RevoDrive x2 produces huge results, it is not a traditional SATA SSD.
The two drives provided for review have been kept in the same spots in graphs, thus making the data easier for you to read.
Test One: AS SSD
A common tool used to benchmark traditional Solid State Drives as well as having the ability to benchmark other drives and devices, AS SSD is a great piece of software. We ran all three drives through AS SSD’s extensive tests and compiled the raw data into easy to read graphs.
The sequential read and write test of AS SSD provides valuable information into the writing and reading mechanics of any drive. How fast the drive can write large amounts of data reflects how suitable the drive may be for tasks such as video rendering that reward faster dumps.
The RevoDrive bested all our drives on record, and ran miles ahead of the Agility 3. The impressive read speed exhibited by the RevoDrive not only lived up to the results we expected to see, but also surprised us a little too. The Agility 3 fell slightly behind some of our other reviewed products, but definitely made up ground later in the review.
The 4K-64 Thrd read and write tests give us an insight into the SSD’s ability to load programs, and fast. So if you had a program that needs to load 80MB into RAM, and your 4k-64 result is 80MB/s, it would take two seconds to load said program.
Once again the RevoDrive and its impressive swathe of hardware took an impressive lead over everything we have on record. The Agility 3 posted results in line with the rest of our drives, reinforcing its heavy footing as an aggressively priced and hard hitting performer thanks to its 142.62 and 196.92 MB/s speeds, respectively.
The titular access time test does exactly that, test how quickly AS SSD can access the read and write functions of your drive.
I was quite surprised that the RevoDrive didn’t post a stronger result in the write speed category, however I was more than happy with its read speed, seeing it best the Crucial m4 from our last review.
The Agility 3 also held its own, posting faster results than the biggest majority of our traditional Solid State Drives. While the speeds weren’t miles ahead of anything else we have shown above, it’s definitely a set of impressive figures.
The German flag colouring returns once again and with it the AS SSD Overall Score. This final AS SSD test provides a final representative score that depicts the total performance of each drive.
The RevoDrive expectedly shot out ahead, it’s 1,191 score skewing the data severely thanks to its impressive scores of 529 and 400.
The Agility 3 posted a nice and high result, and while it didn’t beat the other traditional devices, it definitely cemented a high score and mark, not only in AS SSD but also in the upcoming tests.
Test Two: ATTO Disk Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark (ATTO from here on out) is one of the most reliable disk storage benchmarking tools available. The freeware tool is widely accepted across the internet for providing accurate figures and results.
OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD
The Agility 3 provided impressive results, reaching the full promised potential and showing just how powerful the drive was.
With max reads of 534MB/s at the 8k mark, not only was I blown away by the performance but also the consistently high results in the later stages of the ATTO testing. ATTO isn’t an indication of overall performance, but it definitely showed the drive can blast the tests.
Write spreads were marginally behind their read brethren, but still impressive none the less. We saw almost maximum speed results consistently from nearly halfway through the benchmarking.
OCZ RevoDrive x2 240GB PCI-e SSD
If there was a test I was excited to see the results of, it was definitely this one. 240GB of RAID enabled flash storage not only sounds good, but performs amazingly.
A max read of 739MB/s was mind-blowing, and found at the 2k test, so it’s definitely a legitimate result. Reads were in the high 700MB/s range after the 64 test, and definitely never disappointed me.
Write speeds were also high and impressive, a max write of 710MB/s shown at the 128 test. We also saw an impressive read of 711MB/s at the 2k test, further exhibiting the impressive power and performance of this cutting edge piece of technology.
Test Three: HD Tune Pro
We used HD Tune Pro in our testing to determine a number of factors in the read only division. Firstly, the program shows the IOPS performance of the drive on both the 512 bytes level, the 1 MB level and when used in a random fashion. We were then able to find out the average speed of the drive across all three size levels, as well as the access time.
OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD
The Vertex 3 put out impressive results that were at times in line with those we saw in the ATTO leg of our testing. We saw results higher than nearly all of our drives on record, which proves that the Agility 3 can rise to the challenge across a number of fronts. The IOPS performance was impressive, besting even OCZ’s tailor made Max IOPS drive.
OCZ RevoDrive x2 240GB PCI-e SSD
The came out in force for the HD Tune Pro benchmark testing, blasting all other competitors out of the water across every facet of the program. Consistent results were backed up by an insanely high IOPS count in the 512 bytes test and beautiful access times.
Test Four: CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark is the final program used for our review, and provides a swathe of results similar to that seen in AS SSD. Testing the drives across a number of fronts, CrystalDiskMark (CDM from here) is another comprehensive and widely recognised testing platform.
The Agility 3 lagged behind in our Sequential test, falling short of not only the RevoDrive x2 but also the other traditional SSD scores we already have on file. The RevoDrive posted our highest result to score, although it’s surely attributed to its PCI interface and RAID storage.
The 512k test of CDM shows each drives performance at writing data in 512k blocks, which not only offers real world insights, but also shows us valuable data you can use when purchasing an SSD.
The Agility 3 posted some impressive results however failed to keep up with the Crucial m4, it’s almost direct competitor. The RevoDrive once again sailed ahead, but only beat the Crucial m4 by 20MB/s in the write test, something that definitely surprised me.
The 4k test, as with the 512k test, shows writing and reading performance to the drives but with the tiniest of file sizes.
The Agility 3 shot ahead of the Crucial m4 and almost defeated the Vertex 3, too, if it had not had fallen behind by less than 3MB/s in the read category. The RevoDrive showed it’s greatest application; small files being written at high speeds. The impressive 73MB/s write result definitely excelled over everything we had seen.
Conclusion
RevoDrive x2 - The RevoDrive is unfortunately out of reach to many consumers, and even high-end enthusiasts, thanks to its high end price tag. The price definitely isn’t inexplicable though, as the impressive and consistent results make it the pinnacle and literal future of SSD technology.
Agility 3 - If I was going to buy or recommend any SSD it would honestly be the Agility 3. Great performance, high storage capacity, and impressive speeds make it the SSD to own. Not only is it priced aggressively, but it backs that up with great speeds and ultimate performance.
