1TB USB Hard Drive For £115

External hard drives offer an excellent method of backing up essential data, and storing everyday data. Size restrictions are pretty much non existent and even the price of 1TB external drives are more than reasonable if you shop around. The Trekstor Datastation duo is the perfect example offering 1TB of secure storage for £115.

1TB offers you more than ample room to store pretty much everything you currently have without needing to upgrade any time soon. SUB 2.0 connectivity ensures good performance with 24.5MB/s and 16.0MB/s download and upload speed as well as a 16MB buffer size.

Power consumption is low, while it’s a happily quiet beast to run. For anybody that appreciates the importance of backing up data, making a copy of your hard drive, or simply needs more storage capabilities, this offering from Trekstor looks to be the perfect solution.

More and more mass storage external hard drives are becoming available, and the prices are happily affordable but this looks to be one of the best deals available – pixmania is the site currently responsible for this offer, although it can be purchased via Amazon as well (still from pixmania) if you’d prefer.

9X Media Wins Multiple Monitor Peeing Contest

I didn’t really know one existed either but apparently so. The Masterplex started it all with a six screen multiple monitor rig. More entries subsequently joined the race, but all have been competely eclipsed by the 9X Media system. While it would work with as few as two monitors, it’s the bigger end of the boast that we’re particularly interested in.

The X-Top enables users to combine up to 64 screens in a multi tiled display spanning 1 to 3 rows. The screens on offer range in size from 19” to 40” and are high spec LCD monitors. 9X will completely customise your rig for you, and it’s a hardly surprise when you consider how much you would probably have to pay for this kind of set up.

I say “probably have to pay” because try as I might I can’t find any indication of a price, even for the “smaller” set ups. Again, though, if you have to ask… you know the rest. Incredible though it looks, I do tend to question the actual deployment of a 64 screen multi-tiled display using 40” monitors. I think you’d struggle to play GTA IV on a video wall that size. And another point, presuming you use 3 rows of monitors, that would require two rows of 21 monitors and a single row of 22 monitors. That’s just not symetrical.

3 Lowers Mobile Broadband Modem Price To £49.99

Mobile broadband dongles offer an excellent method of connecting to the Internet and bring truly wireless networks to reality. 3 has made the prospect even more appealing by reducing the price of their Pay As You Go dongle from the original £99.99 to £49.99 – an impressive price reduction no matter how you cut it.

Pay As You Go customers buy add-ons that range from £10 to £25 and provide the user with a one month download allowance. £10 buys 1GB, £15 buys 3GB, and £25 buys 7GB. Considering the technology is still relatively new, the prices don’t look that unattractive to those that have a real need to be able to connect to the Internet while on the move.

Alternatively, Pay Monthly deals are available, which include the dongle free of charge. The standard Pay Monthly tariff costs £15 per month and offers a 3GB allowance. The monthly costs are actually identical to the Pay As You Go costs but you do get the dongle for free.

And I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to hear that even though the USB Modems aren’t the ugliest thing introduced, you can also buy skins to customise them – skins are currently offered at two for the price of one.

A Wireless Router Without A Single Green LED - Belkin N1 Vision

OK, first things first – I’m a complete nerd and an unashamed geek when it comes to home networking. It’s truly one of my big loves in life, although such is the way with home networking equipment that it can also pretty quickly become on of my biggest waking nightmares.

The fact is that you can pay a fortune for pretty much any gadget and then struggle endlessly to actually understand just what it’s supposed to do.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum, are the absolutely essential items that make your home network tick but are far less glamorous. Typically, this lack of glamour means we pay much less heed to their features and trimmings.

The wireless router is one such glaring example. A bad one will limit your download speed and make connecting any device more than 3 feet away a near impossibility.

And, as for the blinking lights, just what are they trying to communicate to us? They serve, in most cases, to do little more than cast an eerie glow around the back of the television.

The Belkin N1 Wireless Router is different. In fact, it’s almost worth getting excited about because it does a damn good job at letting you wirelessly hook up your 802.11n home network. It also does away with the front room illuminations, and replaces them with a genuinely useful display.

The display shows you your current broadband speed (please don’t start me on how irritated I get over advertised and actual broadband speeds), your bandwidth usage, and the status of any and all connected devices. What’s more, it does it without the inclusion of a single green LED.

Microsoft Openness Argument Wages On

Microsoft and their policies on openness are always a hot topic. A recent announcement declared that the software behemoth would be releasing a web platform known as Live Mesh.

Live Mesh aims to connect a user’s online and offline activities enabling them to work on any project regardless of where they are or what PC they are at.

Live Mesh is a genuinely bold bid that not only aims to bring together all of our computing activities, but also integrate every web enabled device in the same manner. Currently, many consumers complain that buying and using a new web enabled device as part of their daily lives makes things more difficult, at least in the short term.

As is often the case with any new product announcement, many are questioning the openness of the new Mesh system. While Microsoft has stated that it will run on open standards, some remain skeptical – based on a lifetime of Microsoft attempting to tie users down to using Microsoft products for virtually everything they do.

One thing that the new release does show is that Microsoft is taking the Internet much more seriously and intends to develop more products for what they now see as being their most important avenue of development.

How Can You Make Free Calls To Any US Phone? It’s Magic, Jack.

If you’re like me, then you don’t sleep at night. And you might find yourself mindlessly watching hours of infomercials while wondering who buys this crap? I have a hard time believing any claim made on an infomercial. Especially when the word FREE is repeated ad nauseum. As a rule of thumb, the more times I hear “FREE” the more the item actually costs—the same goes for the happiness of the people in the commercial and my satisfaction with the product. But every once in a while, you see something that has potential, and you might just find use in it.

Enter: The magicJack.

In theory it appears to be the cheapest way to make phone calls to land-lines in the US, and on-par with Skype’s free internet-to-internet phone calls. The units are cheaper than Skype’s phones, $59.99 gets you the unit and a 1 year use contract. The jack itself plugs into any USB port and then you plug any normal land-phone into the jack. Then you start making phone calls. Two Magic Jack users can call eachother for free across the world as well.

As a raging skeptic, I tried to find proof that this is a scam. So far I have found none. And I’m kicking myself for not grabbing that great headset on the last Woot Off.

Logitech VX Nano - Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks Review

Logitech VX Nano - Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks

Web Exclusive Price - £32.99

In-store Price - £44.99

The VX Nano is always ready for use, thanks to the ultra small USB receiver. Plug it into your notebook’s USB port just once, then forget about it. No more broken or lost receivers. No more hassles.

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LOGITECH 967561-0120 - Cordless Desktop EX 110

LOGITECH 967561-0120 - Cordless Desktop EX 110

Web Exclusive Price - £14.99

In-store Price - £19.99 - you save £5

The Logitech Cordless Desktop EX 110 is a wireless keyboard and mouse package that is ideal for either home or office use. It has a sleek, modern design and set-up is very easy.

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