My beloved Samsung S4 mini hasn't aged well over the years. Buttons are loose, the Android version feels ancient and the battery is on its last legs. What to do? Certainly not spend $600 on a high-end cellphone, my contract didn't warrant any subsidized replacement so I ventured into the legendary realm of China cellphones! The risk: These phones are not made for Western markets and there are no official distribution channels. Read on to learn about the entailing disadvantages and why I've begun to feel slightly paranoid.
It's a bizarre situation: Microsoft offers a free upgrade to the latest operating system to its users - and they just say no! Or more precisely: They do upgrade but not in droves as Microsoft had planned. Windows 10 was supposed to run on more than one billion computers soon, that was the goal. At the beginning of 2016, roughly 200 million have installed it. And then Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's current CEO who used to be a reliable ally, made the situation worse by openly criticizing the many issues especially users of older machines were facing with Windows 10. But Windows 10 still has a lot to offer and runs, to sum up the many tests, quite smoothly. Read on to learn about what you can expect from Windows 10, who really needs the new operating system and what risks are involved!
A friend of mine who works as a computer teacher refers to the "BIOS threshold" when asked to judge the competence of his students. Those who know about BIOS („basic input/output system“) have already had deeper experience in dealing with PCs. Since a BIOS is an integral part of most computers yet unknown to many users, here's a short introduction for you.
Is your PC too slow? Back in the days, you'd go for a coffee while the PC was booting up but this is 2015! With most computers, it's no longer the processor that's the performance bottleneck but the hard disk. Since conventional hard disks have their limits SSDs may prove a worthy alternative. Read on to learn about their strengths and weaknesses.
I'll let you in on a genuine Ashampoo secret: Whenever a new Photo Commander release is on the horizon, testers and technical writers sigh in unison. Because what's in store for them will be - daunting. You may feel tempted to gently stroke them on their foreheads and offer words of courage while they're hunting down bugs or come up with extensive explanations for the myriad of features in this mighty beast. Here's another confession: Aside from Nikolaus, the creator and lead developer, no-one really knows all of its features because there are just so many of them. This is why there's an awkward silence whenever someone praises a feature found in a competing product and somebody else replies: "Photo Commander had this since version 7."
