Digital Audio Players
A digital audio player, sometimes referred to as an MP3 player, is a consumer
electronic device that has the primary function of storing, organizing and playing audio files. Some DAPs are also referred to as portable media players as they have image-viewing and/or video-playing support.
Splinter Cell Conviction release date revealed
Experience original gameplay based on improvisation in which your environment is your top weapon. Always on your toes, you need to react on the fly to any changing situations and use the environment and the crowds around you to create diversions and deter your enemies.
As a fugitive, quick thinking and adaptation are essential to turn the situation to your advantage. A gameplay experience delivering 100% adrenaline includes close combat and shooting sequences. To survive, build an underground network of allies who will help you obtain high-tech gadgets and stay one step ahead of your pursuers as you struggle to unmask the forces that frame you.
You’ve never played Splinter Cell like this before.
E3 2009 Awards and Nominations
IGN:
PC Best Action Game (WINNER)
Best ACtion Game
Special Achievement for Technological Excellence
Special Achievement for Innovation
360 Best Action Game
360 Special Achievement for Technological Excellence
360 Special Achievement for Innovation
PC Best Action Game
Gamespot:
Best Action -Adventure Game
Best Xbox 360 Game (WINNER)
Kotaku:
Best Console/PC Game
Gamespy: Xbox 360 Game of Show (WINNER)
Kotaku: Best Console/PC Game (WINNER)
1up:
Best 360 Game (WINNER)
Best Action Game
Joystiq:
Best of E3 2009
Crispy Gamer:
Top Ten of E3
Best Xbox 360 Game (WINNER)
Most Improved Game
G4TV:
Best of Show
Best X360 Game
Biggest surprise
Gamefocus: Best of Show
Gamespy: Action Game of show
Gameblog (FR):
Best E3 Game
Best Action Game
Best Graphics
See Trailer:
£6 broadband tax
what this means for you…
The controversial landline tax, designed to fund next generation broadband services, is to be made law before the general election.
The 50p a month landline tax is to be included in this year’s finance bill with the aim to raise up to £175million a year for superfast broadband networks over the next seven years.
However, the tax has been widely criticised as it will not generate enough revenue to upgrade the UK to superfast broadband, as intended. It is also considered a blanket tax that could potentially disadvantage people on fixed incomes, for example pensioners, who rely on home phone.
Click here for the full news story at the http://www.homephonechoices.co.uk/ web site
Top tips to beat the broadband tax
1. Switch to a cheaper home phone line provider – Primus Saver offers the cheapest UK line rental deal at just £9.49 per month. This compares to line rental of £11 per month with Virgin Media, or £11.25 per month with BT and TalkTalk.
2. Pay by direct debit – Nearly all providers discourage payment by any means other than direct debit and impose punitive charges of anything up to £5 a month for dealing with cheques. If you still want to avoid direct debit the Post Office offers home phone and broadband and accepts payments by various means with no additional charges.
3. Go for paperless billing – Most providers offer useful savings if you receive your statements online, rather than by post.
How To boot from CD
How to Set BIOS to Boot from CDROM:
Use this tutorial if your computer starts Windows when rebooting with the WipeDrive CD (or Floppy) already in the computer.
WipeDrive and WipeDrive PRO are wipe programs that run before your operating system starts (Windows, Linux, etc.) When your computer first boots up it needs to know where to start (i.e. Hard Drive, CD-ROM, Floppy), this is called the boot order.
The boot order must be set to start from either the CD-ROM drive or the Floppy depending on whether you have a WipeDrive CD or Floppy. The boot order is a setting found in the computer’s BIOS. The BIOS is a small hidden program run by all computers when first powered on.
tep 1. Different computers have different ways to enter the BIOS (setup).
Turn on your computer and then look on the screen for some text that says something similar to “Press ‘X’ to Enter Startup”, where X is generally the F2 key or the DEL key. (Some of the more common keys are listed in Figure 1.)
Press this key repeatedly as soon as the computer has been turned on. If you see the Windows Logo appear, then you are too late; restart the computer and try again.
If you are using a USB Keyboard and cannot get into the BIOS, you will need to use a standard PS2 Keyboard.
tep 1. Different computers have different ways to enter the BIOS (setup).
Turn on your computer and then look on the screen for some text that says something similar to “Press ‘X’ to Enter Startup”, where X is generally the F2 key or the DEL key. (Some of the more common keys are listed in Figure 1.)
Press this key repeatedly as soon as the computer has been turned on. If you see the Windows Logo appear, then you are too late; restart the computer and try again.
If you are using a USB Keyboard and cannot get into the BIOS, you will need to use a standard PS2 Keyboard.
figure 2 
Step 3. Look for a setting that says Boot Order, Boot Sequence, First Boot Device, Boot Management, or something similar and select it. In the BIOS example Figure 3, the option for ‘Boot’ can be found at the top right of the screen. figure 3
Step 4. The screen will show a list of devices that your computer can boot from. You need to change the order of these devices so WipeDrive will run. Change this setting to have either the CD-ROM or Floppy drive as first in the list, depending on whether you are using a WipeDrive CD or Floppy.
figure 4
Note: Some computers have a feature that can enable and disable the boot devices in this boot order list. Be careful not to disable either the hard drive (C: Drive), the CD-ROM (or Floppy) drive that you intend to use to run WipeDrive or WipeDrive PRO.
Step 5. Once the Boot Order has been changed, save and exit the BIOS screen. Most computers you will use either the F10 key or the ESC key. When asked to save the changes and exit select ‘Yes’ as shown in Figure 5.
figure 5
Step 6. Once you have saved and exited out of the BIOS, insert your WipeDrive or WipeDrive PRO CD or Floppy Diskette into the computer, and reboot. The program will start immediately and show an options menu; follow the on-screen instructions to wipe your computer clean.
How To Install Windows XP
This article describes how to install Windows XP.
You may find it easier to follow the steps if you print this article first.
Before you start, you must have your Windows XP installation CD and the product key available. http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/
Insert the cd in your PC and reboot. You might need to set it to boot from CD, if not already done.
1 – Wait for the following message : Press any key to boot from CD…
Press any key, for example the SPACE hey, or a letter key.
2 – The system will boot from cd:
3 – Wait untill the following screen appears and press Enter
4 – Press PageDown to read the terms and conditions and after that press F8 when the screen appears:
5 – Press C to create a partition:
6 – Enter the desired partition size in Megabytes. (1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes) and press Enter:
7 – Select the partition where you wold like the Operating System to be installed (I have only one here) and press Enter:
8 – Select the format type (you should choose NTFS) and press Enter to continue:
9 – Please wait while the Setup formats the partition:
10 – Formatting…
11 – Please wait while setup copies files:
12 – Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds after finishing copying files. You can also press Enter when the screen allows you to:
13 – DO NOT press any key when the computer reboots and asks for it. Just IGNORE it:
14 – You will see the first bootscreen of Windows:
15 – Setup screen will appear, continuing the setup process:
16 – The following setup step will ask you to customize your regional and language options. After selecting the apropriate one press Next:
17 – Here you have to enter your Name and Organisation(you can leave it blank) and press Next:
18 – The next screen will ask you for the Product Key found on the back of the case of the Windows XP CD:
19 – Insert the 15 character Product Key in the boxes (5 for each one) and press Next (I have edited the image in order to keep my unique key private – do not share yours with anyone, or you will break the law!):
20 – Insert your Computer name and the Administrator password (MEMORIZE IT!), and press Next:
21 – Set the Time and the Time Zone and click Next:
22 – Be patient and do not take in consideration the countdown in the left, it’s usually wrong
23 – Choose the typical settings and press Next:
24 - Select the second option only if your computer is part of a Domain, otherwise leave it as it is and press Next:
25 – Be really patient from now on:
26 – Only one minute left
27 – Don’t worry this is not THE Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) it’s just a blue screen, look you can even see the mouse pointer!
28 – The bootscreen again…
29 – Just click OK:
30 – If you see the following screen press ok in the next 30 seconds, otherwise wait for 30 seconds (the system will decrease the resolution and refresh rate):
31 – First screen from your new-installed OS:
32 – Just press Next:
33 – Select whether you want automatic updates on or off and press Next:
34 – Just click Skip if you are not plugged to a Broadband connection already, you can always set up later
35 – Select whether you want to register or not and press Next
36 – Enter the usernames of the people who will use the computer (I suggest you add only one username, you can add others later) and press Next:
37 – Just press Finish:
38 – Your first welcome screen!
39 – And finally your desktop!
Congratulations, you have just installed Windows XP!
Don’t forget to get an Anti-Virus prior to start to do anything on-line.
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