Derby,UK, 9th November 2009: cables-leads.co.uk a Midlands based internet supplier of high quality media cables & leads, today announce that they are now offering a full 5 year warranty on all off their Cables & Leads branded cables. The products are symbolised on their website with the 5 year warranty logo.

Their decision to implement this stems from the fact that they believe that people expect and deserve more. They pride themselves on putting the customer first. Offering great value, fantastic customer service, and now back this up with an unprecedented sector leading warranty.

Robert Deans Sales and Marketing Manager said today that “We have every bit of confidence in our own branded cables. By offering this 5 year warranty, we are giving our customers the confidence that they are buying a high quality product, and giving them piece of mind that, should something to go wrong, they are covered.”

This move sets a precedent in the UK media cables market place and helps to strengthen cables-leads.co.uk as the premier UK supplier and stockist of media cables to suit everyone’s needs, abilities and equipment. With such a massive range of cables and leads that is expanding all the time, to suit all media equipment both past and present. cables-leads.co.uk has spent considerable resources to help you to find the right solution for your media device connection problems.

About Cables & Leads Cables & Leads are the UK’s Premier supplier of Media Cables. They stock the leading brand cables along with their own brand. Cables start from just £0.42 and are available with next day delivery. For more information please contact:

Robert Deans – Sales & Marketing Manager
Tel – 0845 009 9134
Web – www.cables-leads.co.uk
Email – robert.deans@cables-leads.co.uk

Source http://www.cables-leads.co.uk/blog/cables-leads-announce-5-year-warranty/

Black Wii

LIMITED EDITION BLACK Wii BUNDLE ANNOUNCED FOR EUROPE, INCLUDING Wii SPORTS RESORT AND Wii MOTION PLUS
Black Classic Controller Pro to launch in Europe

20 October 2009 – The Wii console is about to get an exciting new look as it launches across Europe in sleek black.

The black Wii will be available to buy in UK and Republic of Ireland from 6 November and mainland Europe on 20 November, and will come as a “Limited Edition” bundled with a Wii Remote, Wii MotionPlus and Nunchuk – all in black – as well as the exhilarating new Wii Sports Resort game and the original Wii Sports. The Wii Sports Resort black bundle will offer a total of 15 different sports to enjoy.

Also launching in Europe as part of the black range of accessories will be the new black Classic Controller Pro – an enhanced version of the Classic Controller.  Additional black Wii Remote controllers, Wii MotionPlus accessories and Nunchuk controllers will also be available to purchase separately across Europe from November 20th onwards.

Wii Sports Resort, which is bundled with the new black Wii, has already sold well over one million copies across Europe, and brings an entire island, along with 12 exciting sports, to your living room for all your friends and family to enjoy.  Each of the sports featured in Wii Sports Resort is modelled with incredible accuracy thanks to the Wii MotionPlus accessory, included with this new package.

If black is your colour then prepare to get your hands on this popular console & accessories in their new look, launching across UK and Republic of Ireland from 6 November and mainland Europe on 20 November.

About Nintendo
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DSi™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.1 billion video games and more than 526 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in Europe.

Millions of households in the UK and worldwide have adopted home networking to communicate fast, securely and efficiently between multiple computers inside the home. This is extremely convenient, as family members can share files and folders directly through to another computer without the need for a USB, CD or even leaving the room. Best of all, once the network is set up, you won’t need to set it up again to use it. All that is required once the network is set up is that you keep your computer connected, and if you do disconnect the computer, simply plug it back in again and the network will become available.

That being said, how do you set up a home network?

1. All home networks must have a foundation piece, usually in the form of a router that will connect all the computers of an individual network together. These routers can usually be obtained easily or provided through your ISP (Internet Service Provider). It is best to make sure that the router is functional before moving on to configuring the connecting PC’s.
2. Connect each individual computer that you want to have as part of the network to your router. This can be directly plugging a cable into the router or connecting each computer to the wireless network.
3. Run the ‘set up a home or small network’ wizard or similar on MAC OSX

That’s it for the basics! From here on, once you have successfully linked the computers to your router and created a network, then all the connected computers will be able to interact with each other, and be used to share printers, online files, and even the Internet. It’s extremely convenient.

The next phase of creating a home network is ensuring that it is secure. For this, home network operators should consider encryption. This is important because a normal home network is usually unencrypted and thus vulnerable to any outsiders who are determined to access your network. By encrypting your network, the information is scrambled thus it makes it much more difficult to intercept and for unauthorized users to gain control. Wireless systems usually have encryption using WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and routers can be configured to allow only certain computers to connect. It is important that if you share multiple files or Internet access through a home network that the necessary precautions are taken in order to secure it.
That’s all there is to creating a basic home network. More advanced users have much more flexibility in managing their home system, but for the basic home network it’s more a matter of plugging everything in, configuring and checking for basic security.

If you have read our article Xbox Joins Forces with SKY you will be aware that XBOX Live will see the Sky Player integration this autumn to face off against SONY in the battle for the console market. Based off highly developed TV Tuner technology, Sky TV provides XBOX Live users the opportunity to watch Blockbuster hits, Premier League football, the best in music videos and a range of premium channels which can be watched via subscription or on a pay-per-view basis. 

Existing Sky subscribers will be delighted with this new development – not only will they now be able to play games with the XBOX console, it is now possible to watch live content anywhere with the assistance of the XBOX Live network and TV tuner technology.

As two of the three major competing console markets in the United States, Canada and the UK, Sony will be placed under a certain degree of pressure to bring something new to the table in hopes of holding on to the console market share. Regardless, Microsoft has played its cards well in introducing live TV subscription service to the Xbox console.

Sky TV is a live-television service that is already widely known with PC and Mac OS users. However, by bringing the service to the Xbox Live, it opens up the market for an entirely new set of subscribers. Those who would have had no interest in computer TV Tuners or live subscription services may now want to explore the possibilities offered to them through their Xbox console. This move from Microsoft will undoubtedly spark interest amongst the gaming community as to whether or not the premium TV service is worth the money.

Sony will need to step up if they are to hold on to the popularity of the current PS3 model. However, the PS3 console has already faced a multitude of problems with its competitors, the XBOX 360 and the Nintendo Wii. One of the most off-putting aspects of Sony’s console is the price. A high end PS3 console may cost up to 600 USD, while the Wii or Xbox offer the same broad range of games but with a cheaper console.

For the console shopper with no prior experience to any of the dominant consoles in the market, it is the smaller but more exciting features that give one product the advantage over the others. With Xbox offering live TV subscription service, Sony will need to adjust its plans and step into the TV Tuner market or leave dominance to Microsoft which may eventually take control over the sector with Sky TV.

Convenience is just as important as reliability when it comes to a gaming console – the more features that it provides, the more attractive the product becomes. Xbox Live already has a solid base of subscriptions for their gaming service, and with the new Sky TV service Microsoft has widened its reach to gain favour amongst TV enthusiasts. How the market reacts to this new development will certainly be interesting to observe – especially with the current economic conditions of the global market, Sony may find that the PS3 will rapidly begin to lose hold against its direct competitor, the Xbox 360.

Projectors are used primarily for the sake of communicating information and therefore it becomes necessary to take into account the intended audience and the typical conditions in which it will be used. For example, a projector which is used to display slideshows at business meetings will not operate as efficiently for a large room with windows and light. Therefore, choosing the right projector is both important and a necessity in order to produce results.

 When choosing a projector, there are four main functions of the machine should be taken into account and adjusted according to needs. They include brightness, contrast ratio, resolution, and weight.

The brightness is usually measured in lumens, a unit which helps identify the maximum level of brightness that the projector can display. The higher the lumens, the brighter the projected display. The majority of projectors operate from around 1000 to 1200 lumens. It is important that the brightness be taken into account due to it being the primary function which determines how well an audience can see the projected display. Take note that the projector is set to operate in areas where there is light coming in, or the room is simply not dark enough, a more powerful machine with an increased lumen count will counteract this by projecting a brighter display. If it is brightness which takes priority, finding a projector with over 2000 lumens is a good idea.

The contrast ratio is also used in effectively determining the projection in contrast to the light of a particular area of display. The higher the contrast ratio, the easier it becomes to display the information. For example, a projector with a contrast ratio average of 400:1 will have a stronger contrast than a projector with a ratio of 300:1. Depending on the level of presentation, the projector may need to display a higher level of brightness in order to effectively communicate what is required. This applies especially for quality presentations and those of a professional manner.

After a certain brightness level has been determined, check out the resolution. The resolution of a projector operates much like the resolutions we have on a computer screen, the larger the size, the more information becomes available to display. The resolutions are classified under SVGA, XGA and SXGA types with SVGA being the most common and SXGA offering the highest levels of detail.

Finally, the weight comes into play as an important factor of any projector. Most portable projectors should not be too heavy, possibly somewhere between 2-3 kg. Larger projectors are recommended if it is intended to be stationary, as they usually have more projecting power, brightness, and contrast ratio at the cost of weight. However, projectors are very versatile and can be adopted in many different ways including utilizing them as a hanging, overheard projector or a mobile cart which can be pushed around.

Choosing the right projector for your presentation is just as important as the content of the presentation itself. There is nothing worse than a good presentation where no one can see anything because the room is not dark enough, or the projector simply isn’t up to standard. Take the time to choose the right projector, and you can be sure that you won’t regret it later on.

Other MediaAtlantic buyer’s guides include Desktop Buyers Guide, Computer Monitor Buyers Guide & Laptop Buyers Guide.

TV tuners have evolved to become something extraordinary over the past 20 years. From being used in the very first sets of televisions to becoming a laptop TV tuner that you can take with you wherever you want, they can now be obtained almost anywhere in the world. As the world of computers and theatre entertainment merge, TV tuners become more and more important – especially external TV tuners for laptops.

Most countries have already adopted the technological laptop TV tuners and therefore there is no shortage of products available, with different sizes, brands and uses of these tuners being sold all over the world.

Where next with laptop tuners? There is always a possibility that we will be seeing built-in laptop TV cards, without the need to purchase an external TV tuner. These built in laptop cards will save time setting up or looking for a USB tuner, allowing someone to easily watch TV on the computer at any time.

If that wasn’t good enough, then what of the advanced satellite USB tuners that can download international programs from around the world? TV tuners have really played a part in globalizing the use of technology. The truth is that nobody knows how far our communications technology will advance. New ideas are being brought up every day and what may seem unlikely today may be tomorrow’s new trend. That’s why it is important that we open our minds to new concepts and keep ourselves informed for the latest releases. We may have seen a lot so far, but it doesn’t take long for a new release offering better service.

And what if a user is not comfortable in handling hardware, but still wants to be able to watch television on the computer without having to go through the process of buying external TV tuners? There is already the solution of a software-based TV tuner that will subscribe you to thousands of channels over wired and wireless internet connections. TV tuners are not only limited to hardware. As time progresses, we may be seeing more powerfully developed software communication systems that will allow us to stream television channels from all over the world while using less bandwidth and at faster rates.

Of course, the TV tuner technology should not only be limited to PC’s and laptops. In the near future, we may be seeing external TV tuners for other smaller, handier devices such as mobile phones, PDA’s, and more. The tuner’s may even be built into the devices and offered as a subscription service, allowing for faster and more professional access to the television network. As the demand for TV tuners increase, more advanced technology will rise to meet the standards.

There should be a lot to expect in the future from TV tuners. Whilst currently there may currently have many options to choose from in the range of laptops and computers, TV tuners may soon spread to be a common integration in other smaller handheld devices.

The future of mobile technology is indeed a bright one. 10 years ago, not many would have imagined that a device like a mobile phone would become essential in everyday life. Mobile phones have become increasingly more sophisticated and contain handy features that make it much more than just a communication device. The standard mobile phone comes with camera, wireless capabilities, basic phone functions and best of all – the ability to play MP4 music and video formats just like a media box player on the computer. The digital MP4 player has become the centre of focus for many different mobile phone varieties, most noticeable the iPhone. The concept of integrating a touch screen into a mobile phone / media player has encouraged markets to explore with different technological combinations on mobile phones.

What have we seen so far?

 There has been a great change of personal digital technology from the old walkmans and CD player’s and basic computer MP4 media players to a sophisticated and portable solution – including the use of mobile phones as a media device player.  This has led to technological innovations such as:

-       The Sony Ericsson W595 which allows a new music track to be changed with a flick of the wrist and acts as a digital MP4 player

-       A connection of 3G wireless networks that allow access to the Internet and download capabilities including new MP4 video and audio files.

-       An operating system for the phone such as the HTC Touch Pro which allows users to run an operating system capable of taking notes, watching video files, playing music files and a full QWERTY keyboard

What will we see in the future?

Mobile phone technology advances with each passing day. According to Andy Rubin, Engineering Director of Googleblog, new innovation and experimentation will continue to effect the  3.2 billion mobile subscribers in the world. Some of the features we can expect are:

-       Smart technology – a phone may become your digital assistant when alerting you to something that needs your attention. An example of this already happening is when eBay will text you when you have been outbid. These functions will become more sophisticated in the future, and will monitor your personal settings and allow more advanced reports such as stock market, financial, and even where to park for at your favourite restaurant.

-       Help you out – Your phone may, through the use of sensors, calculate what you are looking at and what you may be trying to determine before you even need to refer to it for help. This includes the use of GPS. Or how about accessing an online database to compare what you are currently looking at to prices around the world and online?

-       Become your moving enterprise – Publish to the world as you continue your everyday journey. Blog, take pictures, record videos as you walk and publish it to your website through the use of your phone.

-       Increased level of development – Just like Internet has opened up the world to countless possibilities, so will the development of mobile phone technology lead to different technological advancements allowing us to do things not thought possible before – just imagine the possibilities with so many developers hard at work trying to find the breakthrough.

There is a lot to look forward to in mobile phone technology, and the next breakthrough may be closer than we think.

We have a Media Box Touch 16Gb Digital MP4 Player worth £98.00 to give away.  All you need to do is follow these 3 easy steps.

1. Write a blog post relevant to technology and include the anchor text MP4 Players with a link to http://www.mediaatlantic.com/mediabox
2. Post the blog entry on a blog.
3. post a comment at the bottom of  this article saying your in. Include a link back to your post in the comment author URL box.

Closing Date 30th June 2009

The winning post will be chosen at random on the 1st of July, we will then contact the winner. Results will be posted on this post for all to see.

Good luck.

What exactly is a TV tuner?

 It has evolved from being a core function of a standard television set to something as small and compact as a USB device that can be plugged in and used with any desktop and laptop. If you have never quite understood the concept of using a TV tuner to capture TV broadcasts on a computer, then this article will provide you with the basic rundown.

 TV Tuners were originally designed to change channels in the older TV sets – they operate by receiving signals from a communications network which broadcasts over a particular area and translates it into a signal that the TV can understand. Sound image and video would then be displayed correctly on the screen, since the television had a working ‘converter’ that was acting as a median for a variety of different signals, allowing for streams of different channels.

TV Tuner cards operate just exactly the way that a standard TV tuner would work, except that they have been specially designed for laptops and home computers. These devices can receive broadcasts just the same way that a television would. They can be as small and portable as a USB device – just think of a mobile broadband system that runs off a USB. Laptop TV tuners work in exactly the same way, except they feed off broadcasted TV signals. Since many countries offer to broadcast a certain number of TV channels for free, you can watch it all on a laptop whilst on the move.

This is one of the advantages of using a TV tuner. With the evolution of the TV tuner card to something small and portable, it is now possible to watch TV from anywhere, as long as the broadcasting strength is strong enough for the card to receive. This means that watching TV is no longer limited to just home or a place where the TV collects dust every day, but right alongside you with the aid of a TV tuner card.

If watching television on a computer becomes a routine, there are also express cards which act as a hardware device which also detect television signals and display them on the computer. They run through a standard PCI/PCIe slot, which can be found on any home computer. This saves time configuring other types of TV tuner devices.

The TV tuners have changed from being used simply in televisions to being able to adapt to computers and desktops. As technology advances, so do the possibilities of TV tuners. As popularity for the product increases, there will be many new designs of portable TV tuners possibly even for devices aside from computers, taking their usage to a whole new level.

An array of TV tuners can be found MediaAtlantic. For more information visit www.mediaatlantic.com.

The lack of consumer confidence due to the economic recession has had a great impact on the digital industry. Fewer people are willing to spend money on what they deem as unnecessary devices or software, possibly because there is a substitute good which is cheaper or they simply cannot afford it. This certainly doesn’t help the economy, and companies that supply digital devices will most likely see sales recede.

For the consumer who only wishes to find something affordable, Digital MP4 Players are one of the most cost effective solutions.

Most MP4 Player’s come laden with features, such as cameras, audio players and even eBook readers. This means that instead of individually purchasing multiple devices, choosing an MP4 device will eliminate the need for any further purchases. This will not only save money but also allow for greater convenience by compacting video, audio, camera, and often even touch screen capabilities into one solution. These devices can even act as media box players when needed, functioning as a MP4 video player for movies, catch radio signals and have built in microphones that let you record for more usually more than 15 hours.

The reason why MP4 players are becoming more popular is because they offer more features than the standard MP3 player, the main difference being able to watch video formats on a screen instead of being limited to just listening to music. Digital MP4 players usually come with protective covering, a USB charger, installation disc featuring all the necessary hardware and other goodies ensuring that any purchase is a complete one.

Compared to popular music players such as the iPod, an MP4 player would certainly be a good substitute, offering the same functions and for a relatively lower price. For under £90, it is possible to purchase a 2.8” Colour LCD Touch Display MP4 player that comes with stylus, and all standard functions including video and audio player. Not only are they handy, but many digital MP4 players have been designed to stylishly resemble mobile phones, PDA’s and other electronic devices.

Overall, the MP4 is a device that will not only save money but provides an all-in-one solution for those looking for those looking for an electronic gadget. They are as easy to use as an MP3 Player / mobile phone, have the capability to store video and music files, and can be used as a camera. The amount of features that a digital MP4 player contains is well worth its price, and it is a recommended choice for all those looking for a new device to purchase.