Asus PA238Q Monitor Review

When Asus’ PR company dumped the PA238Q in our office a week or so back, one of the first questions that popped in my mind was, why? The monitor did not look anything out of the ordinary, and neither did the feature list on the simple purple box of its. We usually don’t get monitors unless they are special in some way or are from a higher-end spectrum of the product line-up.

But as the popular saying goes, looks can be deceiving and it was exactly what was true for the PA238Q. From the moment of its unpacking to the moment it was first lit up, the PA238Q exuded a certain kind of sophistication and command that immediately got our attention. With a price tag of AED 2200, and a monitor coming from the designer-aimed line-up of Asus’ ProArt series, we checked our expectations and put the monitor through its paces.

Design
I believe the correct word to describe the looks of PA238Q is “industrial”, however I am just going to call it serious and studiously nerdy. It features none of the jazz, gloss and style that many of its competitors have in abandon. But what it lacks in flair, it more than makes up for in bravura and all round sturdiness.

For that, it’s not even one of the slimmer models, and it doesn’t have to be, but Asus has shown considerable restraint in containing the size and form so as not to be the elephant in the room, and yet provide the acrobatics that the monitor can provide.

And this baby can twist, alright, and it’s one of its most impressive abilities. The monitor offers full height and swivel adjustments that helps to place it just how one would want it. The height slider is tall enough to work comfortably will standing, if you have the means; and the entire screen can be rotated on at least 180 degree axis without having to shift the whole unit and have everything on the desk top loose its peaceful existence. The monitor can also lean backward and forward to a great extent, giving ample comfort to place the screen however you have seated yourself around it.

The PA238Q is also a Swiss knife in terms of ports and supports everything from HDMI, DVI-D, VGA, DisplayPort, headphone jack, and even USB ports (2 rear, 2 on the side). We wish Asus had swapped the VGA for an extra HDMI slot as more and more manufacturers are moving in to support the format. It’s a safe play from Asus, it is after all geared mainly towards designers and web professionals, but a little fun on the side never hurts (and by that we mean hooking up a PS3 or an Xbox 360, of course).

The monitor also takes its office duties seriously, and has a nifty little feature called “Quick Fit” that displays various grids such as A4, letter, centimeter, inches, etc., overlaid on top of the image. We are not sure how many would be comfortable using it, but we can see it being quite useful once one gets the hang of it.

Another thing that the PA238Q does right is the OSD controls. For one, they are in the front, clearly marked and non-touch, making them easy to decipher and use than those that has them stash away in the back, and relies purely on memory to get one across. It only helps that the menus are efficiently stacked and are responsive for quick changes.

NZXT Tempest 210 Case Review

NZXT has recently released its latest budget mid-tower case, the Tempest 210. Costing only USD 55, let’s see if it is a good option for the budget-minded user.

Here is a snippet:
“NZXT is a brand known for providing cost-effective products, and, at USD 55, the new Tempest 210 mid-tower case is the perfect expression of the company’s vision. Let’s see if it is a good option or if you should pass.”

Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/NZXT-Tempest-210-Case-Review/1390

Fractal Design Define Mini

Link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Fractal_Design/Define_Mini/

Brief:
The Fractal Design Define Mini is not only a successful shrink of the award winning Define R3 or Define XL cases, but also adds USB 3.0 to the mix. We take the chassis for a spin to see if the small case really carries the same genes as its bigger brothers.

Kingston Wi-Drive Portable Wireless Storage 16GB Review

The latest Kingston Wi-Drive Portable Wireless Storage device is the ideal companion for frequent travelers since not only does it help you save space on your Apple iOS enabled products but it also allows you to stream media files and content directly onto them via Wi-Fi connectivity.

Article Link : http://www.rwlabs.com/article.php?id=519

Kingston Wi-Drive Portable Wireless Storage 16GB Review

The latest Kingston Wi-Drive Portable Wireless Storage device is the ideal companion for frequent travelers since not only does it help you save space on your Apple iOS enabled products but it also allows you to stream media files and content directly onto them via Wi-Fi connectivity.

Article Link : http://www.rwlabs.com/article.php?id=519

Disney gives children’s favorite pass time an iPad twist

We have all played with tiny models of Mercedeses, Porches and Ferraris, converting our homes into futuristic race tracks where there is no bump too steep and all the cars sound exactly the same. Heck, we still do it. Only now that we do it privately. Ahem.

It must have been an epiphany then for Disney to come with a solution that adds that touch interactivity to every kid’s roaring imagination. Introducing AppMATes, an iPad application that requires an actual toy, sold by Disney of course, to play through. The app currently uses race tracks and maps from the popular ‘Cars’ movie series. The app will be available free, although the toys will be available for $20 (two car pack).

Here’s a video:

Facebook cookies still track you after your logout

An Australian hacker Nik Cubrilovic has uncovered a security flaw with cookies generated by Facebook logins that causes them to continue tracking users even after they have logged out.

It was found that Facebook does not delete all cookies after a log-out, instead creates three new ones and gives two more an extended expiry date. The cookies then continues to track users, and sends Facebook information on every site that features the Facebook Like or Share button.

Cubrilovic believes that Facebook uses the information to suggest friends, however it could be potentially dangerous “If you login on a public terminal and then hit ‘logout’, you are still leaving behind fingerprints of having been logged in. As far as I can tell, these fingerprints remain (in the form of cookies) until somebody explicitly deletes all the Facebook cookies for that browser.”

Users are suggested to delete all cookies pertaining to Facebook after they are done with their business. Chrome users can simply use Facebook Disconnect extension to perform the task; Firefox users has Ghostery for it.

Apple confirms 4th October iPhone event

Apple finally sent out official invitations for the press event that was rumoured to be scheduled for the 4th of October. The date indeed turned out to be correct. Here is what the invitation looks like.

So you have four icons- Date, Time, Map and and Phone along with the tag line “Lets talk iPhone.” At least Apple is being more direct about what they will be talking about but it is anybody’s guess as to what kind of iPhone will it be. Will they announce an iPhone 5 or an iPhone 4GS. Will there be any new iPod’s announced? And will that also be the day when iOS 5 is released to the public? All will be revealed in exactly one week from now.

WP7 market place now accessible from web

Previously Windows Phone market place was only browse-able via the Marketplace app on WP7, but that changes today when a worldwide accessible website has launched for the app. Ovi store, iTunes and Android Market have all enjoyed a strong web presence so that people can easily browse new apps or share links easily while sitting on a desktop PC and get their apps installed on their phone using on-air installation. And finally the WP7 market place has put their apps collection on a functional website too.

The interface for the Market Place is clean and simple. You will find the expected content there: reviews, screenshots, ratings, but the stats for number of downloads is missing for now.  You can link your Live account to the market place to make the purchases or get free apps and games from this site easily. Although the market place has been localized to include many countries and provide local currency rates of apps, but right now I found no local Middle East country / currency is supported at the time of posting this news.

Browse the WP7 market place @ http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/marketplace

ECS A55F-A Review

The recently released A55 chipsets from AMD are designed to bring their FM1 platform to the masses with budget motherboards. Now I’m not one to advocate for budget boards much, but it makes sense in the case of the new APUs because of AMD’s vision to bring graphical prowess with CPU performance on one small, cool, and very affordable chip.

So what the ECS A55F-A doesn’t feature is USB 3.0 and SATA III (6gbps) ports, but these cuts were designed to save on costs. You still get one PCIe x16 slot, with another running at x4 speeds, plus 4x DIMM slots that support up to 2600MHz DDR3 memory. Oh, and there are 6x USB 2.0 ports on the back, should you need them.

The key thing here is that you have one PCIe x16 slot to add an AMD Radeon HD 5670 or HD 6670 and pair it up with an A8 APU to enable crossfire. The second important factor here is that there are four DIMM slots, all capable of very high RAM speeds. These are the two most important things one should consider if they’re planning to build a Llano based gaming system; the ECS A55F-A certainly supports that. The SATA III and USB 3.0 is just extra fluff that you can live without if you’re under serious budgetary constraints.

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