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APC MAGAZINE 3
 WELCOME | FREE DOWNLOADS

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4 APC MAGAZINE
 CONTENTS This month in APC

39

34
33
48 30 greatest moments in technology history ...
We pick out the 30 most momentous events from 1994 to 2024
– and throw in a dirty dozen of “fails” for good measure.

62 Best free apps for your videos,

music & photos
Ditch the default camera and microphone
apps on your phone or tablet for superior free alternatives.
70 Keep your private
messages private
WhatsApp, iMessage, RCS, Signal…
what’s the safest way to communicate? APC shows you
how to protect your online chat.

6 APC MAGAZINE
 36

“Now ask yourself: what

happens if Twitter becomes
so toxic that the Australian
government feels it has no
choice but to take action?
It can’t block it.”

Jon Honeyball - One More Thing

page 17

INSIDE The Lab How to

33 Microsoft Surface Pro 88 Q&A
Technotes 34 Asus ZenBook S16 90 Expert tips for Windows
08 News 35 AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU 91 Make Office better
What’s been going on in the world 36 AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU 92 Browser tips
of techology in the news that 39 Asus ROG Swift OLED 94 Digitise your old media
affects you PG32UCD 96 Try a tiny text editor
38 Samsung ViewFinity S80UD 32 98 Do more with your
11 Tech brief 43 Ultimate Ears Everboom smartphone
Apple Intelligence Speaker 100 Smart Pi Wi-fi
12 End user 43 Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3
Artistic vision is missing in the live 42 Netgear Orbi 970 Downtime
service sausage factory 40 WD Gold 24TB 102 Gaming reviews
41 SanDisk Pro-Blade High-performance playtime
14 Tech talk
106 Game changer
AMD details Zen 5 architecture Software Hellblade
for Ryzen 44 Glow 24.09, Video Shaper 5.8,
15 Two bits Handy Viewer 2.5, 110 Retro
We pay too much for electronics Bitwarden Premium Taking computers to the NeXT
in Australia 46 Lake level
47 Ultramarine Linux 4.0
16 Trade chat 114 Know How
Extract text from screenshots
Is this Intel’s last stand? Features
17 One more thing 48 Greatest moments in
If governments can’t stand technology ever
up to Twitter, then it’s down 62 Best free apps for your videos,
to us. music and photos
70 Keep your messages private
20 Futures 74 Ditch your old passwords now
Deciphering dog barks with AI
24 A-list PC Builder
The best products on the market as 82 System news
rated by the APC team Mark Williams watches intently
as Intel and AMD both struggle
27 The List for positive press on their
The best NVMe SSDs processors
28 Head to head 83 Market watch
OneDrive vs Google Drive A sampling of PC systems
currently available SUBSCRIBE NOW &
30 Gadgets
Shiny new things you don’t really 84 Blueprints SAVE OVER 40%
need but will surely want Value- and performance-driven Turn to page
hypothetical builds 18 now to find
out how

APC MAGAZINE 7
 TECHNOTES
Everything you need to know from the month in tech

New Windows update delivers

major AMD Zen 5 boost
Double-digit gains for free.

Back when AMD previewed the Zen 5

architecture, it promised an IPC gain
averaging 16% over equivalent Zen 4 “Reviews of the Ryzen 5
parts. While the new chips handily
beat out the older ones in heavily 9600X, Ryzen 7 9700X,
threaded benchmarks, the gains were
smaller in games. That led to some
Ryzen 9 9900X and
criticisms, with many gamers Ryzen 9 9950X highlight
believing the new chips didn’t offer
enough to tempt them to upgrade.
their power efficiency,
AMD acknowledged these concerns in cooler running and solid
a blog post, saying its internal testing
was “run in admin mode, which all-round performance.”
produced results that reflect branch
prediction code optimisations not
present in the version of Windows
reviewers used to test Ryzen 9000 and power efficiency. But improved they would have looked better versus the
Series”. The blog goes on to say the branch prediction means little without Intel competition.
Windows 11 24H2 update will improve the appropriate software awareness, and Even without the 24H2 optimisations,
Zen 5 gaming performance when it’s the OS plays a key role. It begs the it’s not like Zen 5 is a slouch. Reviews of
released later this year. question, why didn’t these the Ryzen 5 9600X, Ryzen 7 9700X,
According to testing by Hardware optimizations come sooner? Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X
Unboxed, Windows 11 24H2 update can Hardware Unboxed noted that Zen 4 highlight their power efficiency, cooler
deliver double digit performance chips also achieved gains under 24H2, running and solid all-round
improvements across many titles. which makes us wonder why AMD and performance. It just seems as though
Branch prediction is one of the Microsoft weren’t able to deliver these they could have been that bit better.
significantly improved areas of the Zen 5 optimisations months – if not years in It goes without saying that when
architecture. Better branch prediction advance. With these optimisations, Zen Windows 11 24H2 is released to the public
leads to fewer wasted clock cycles, 5’s percentage gains over Zen 4 might later this year, you should install it in
which in turn means better performance not have changed all that much, but order to get the best out of your chip.

Microsoft patches TPM 2.0 bypass

GOOD TIMES FOR SLIGHTLY OLDER CPUS ARE COMING TO AN END.

Many users with officially unsupported PCs prompting the need for the TPM (Trusted
could successfully install Windows 11 using Platform Module) 2.0 protocol.
a ‘trick’ that circumvents its hardware The current Windows 11 24H2 works fine
requirement verification process with a ‘/ with the bypass, though that may not be
product server’ command line. It gave the case for long.
many older PC owners a new lease of life as Alas, the joy of using Windows 11 on
they could migrate towards the latest officially unsupported PCs may end as
operating system. However, Bob Pony Microsoft rolled out a patch in its Windows
AMD, Microsoft

quickly found that Microsoft had patched 11 Insider Build 27686 (Dilithium) that
this trick in the latest Canary Build, effectively blocks this trick.

8 APC MAGAZINE
 TECHNOTES | NEWS

Intel sells stake in Arm

COMPANY LOST $2.3 BILLION IN ITS SECOND QUARTER.

Intel has sold its entire stake in Arm reductions. In August the company posted a
Holdings during the second quarter, the dismal earnings report, which led to a nearly
company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and 33% drop in its stock value. Intel’s struggles
Exchange Commission revealed. The are compounded by the loss of unit and
company also sold its stake in ZeroFox, a revenue market share to competitors, such
cybersecurity company, and reduced stake as AMD, which uses the x86 instruction
in Astera Labs, a developer of connectivity set architecture, and Apple, which uses the Hydrogel ‘brain’ demonstrated
platforms for enterprise. Intel generated Arm ISA. playing Pong
some $216 million selling its stake in Arm In response, Intel has announced plans IT LEARNED AND IMPROVED OVER TIME.
Holdings, a relatively small sum for a to eliminate 15,000 jobs and cut other
company that posted a $2.3 billion loss for expenses to stabilise its financial position. Researchers from the University of
its second quarter. This move is part of Additionally, the company has suspended Reading in the United Kingdom have
Intel’s ongoing effort to cut costs, which its dividend as part of these austerity successfully demonstrated limited
includes significant job cuts and expense measures. “learning” behaviours from a simple
electro-active polymer (EAP) hydrogel
when interfaced with an electrode array.
Per a research paper originally published
in Cell Reports Physical, this was
demonstrated by having the EAP gel
control system play an adapted version of
the all-time classic video game Pong.
Moreover, the EAP gel control system or
“brain” seemed to peak in its Pong-playing
abilities after about twenty minutes.
While an EAP gel control system certainly
doesn’t resemble conscious life in any way, it
still demonstrates an emergent ability that
the material wasn’t designed for. In the
future, examples like this could lead to some
huge advancements in fields like prosthetics,
soft robotics, and adaptive materials, in
Linux market share at G-Sync gaming monitors general.
all-time high will be more affordable for
LINUX IS AN INCREASINGLY everyone
POPULAR ALTERNATIVE TO MEDIATEK TO INCORPORATE Senior Intel CPU architects
WINDOWS AND MACOS. NVIDIA G-SYNC TECH INTO ITS splinter to develop RISC-V
SCALER CHIPS. processors
Global analytics company EXTENSIVE BRAIN DRAIN WON’T HELP
StatCounter showed that the Linux Nvidia is finally addressing a INTEL BOUNCE BACK.
market share of desktop operating perceived deficiency in
systems has hit an all-time high of implementing G-Sync in the best While Intel is busy laying off thousands of
4.44%, up from 3.12% a year ago, gaming monitors. The company employees some of its most experienced
and it was just 2.76% in July 2022. announced a partnership with CPU architects, with a combined 80+
While this might look like a small MediaTek that will bring G-Sync to years at the firm, have left to form a
amount, this is a massive jump in MediaTek’s upcoming scaler chips, RISC-V startup. AheadComputing was
terms of real numbers, especially thus eliminating the need for a co-founded by Debbie Marr, Mark
as most Linux distributions are separate (and costly) Nvidia-spec Dechene, Jonathan Pearce, and Srikanth
essentially free and have no G-Sync Ultimate module. Srinivasan, with the goal of “creating
marketing teams behind them. Nvidia G-Sync, like AMD compelling open specification core IP.”
The Linux operating system first FreeSync, allows a monitor’s refresh This proactive move by the quartet of
breached the 4% mark in February rate to sync with the rate at which a architects and engineers must be
2024, thanks in part to the graphics card can render each congratulated, as they founded
Pexels & StatCounter, Yoshikatsu Hayashi, Nvidia

Linux-based Steam Deck’s individual frame in a game. AheadComputing and went public on July
success, but slumped back down Depending on the game, the frame 18 – just a couple of weeks before Intel’s
to less than 3.9% in April and May. rate can vary wildly (particularly harsh workforce reduction plans were
It recovered to 4.05% in June during viewing intense, complex announced.
before hitting its record high of scenes), so technologies like Intel has instigated the most severe
4.44% this July. The operating FreeSync and G-Sync ensure that layoff plans in its 56-year history, and severe
system is on track to hit a 5% the monitor and graphics card are brain drain, as evidenced by this new
market share by February 2025, if in lockstep to eliminate tearing RISC-V startup, could slow any chances of
the trend continues. artifacts that can occur. revival.

APC MAGAZINE 9
 TECHNOTES | TECH BRIEF

Apple Intelligence
Smart thinking from Cupertino.
Your Mac, iPhone and iPad look Siri, which now shimmers around Contacts, or perform relevant
set to change in fundamental the edge of your iPhone’s screen actions when you say something like
ways later this year – and it’s all when you invoke it. Apple says Siri “send photos of last week’s dinner
thanks to Apple take’s on can glean facts about you, the things party to Jenny”. And that’s just the
artificial intelligence (AI), which you like to do and your key start.
the company’s renamed Apple relationships and combine them in Pretty much every aspect of the
Intelligence. useful ways. In its keynote way you interact with your Mac,
Making its debut in iOS 18, iPadOS Worldwide Developer Conference iPhone or iPad can be enhanced and
18, and macOS Sequoia this spring, address in June, Apple gave one improved by Apple Intelligence,
Apple Intelligence will give you example, of someone needing to pick from prioritising your most
whole new ways to do things easier up their mum from the airport – Siri important notifications
Image Playground and faster, all the while understood who the person was, (and displaying appropriate written
can be used in apps
safeguarding your privacy. Or that’s which airport and which flight they summaries) to organising your
across your devices
and will also be the promise. were arriving on, and what the inbox in Mail. You’ll also be able to
available as a On iPhone, the most obvious quickest route, using Maps, was to use Apple Intelligence to help write
stand-alone app. change will be a revamped version of pick them up. or rewrite emails and text in
The AI-powered Siri can also be documents, and get it to adjust tone
used to answer some of the hundreds – to write something more business-
of different questions you may have like, for example, or create a fun
about doing something on your message in the style of a poem. You’ll
device – like finding where Wi-Fi even be able to get the AI to
settings are or quickly switching proofread content for you, enabling
from Dark Mode to light appearance. you to avoid errors before a message
You don’t even need to know what is sent.
the precise terminology is, Siri will
just know and understand what it is New experiences
you want to do. Going hand in hand with these
It’s a similar story in apps, where capabilities are a range of new apps
you’ll be able to do things like get Siri and experiences. Image Playground,
to automatically add an address for example, can automatically
© NASA

shared to you in Messages to your generate images based on your

10 APC MAGAZINE
 TECHNOTES | TECH BRIEF

ChatGPT
integration
While Apple Intelligence will be able
to do much of the heavy lifting, there
will be times when you need a little
more – and for those moments, Apple
has partnered with OpenAI and its
ChatGPT service. Apple says this will

Smarter Photos features

enable you to use ChatGPT’s Larger
Language Model (LLM) to do things
like create original stories (handy for
One of the biggest benefits of Apple as ‘Family holiday in Italy’ and Photos will when it’s your child’s bedtime),
Intelligence will be in the way it handles serve up just the right images and videos, suggest recipes, and more, and you’ll
photos and videos in your Photos library. picking your best shots of your family, be able to use it across macOS, iOS
Searches for people, pets, events and friends and locations, then arranging and iPadOS without a subscription.
places promise to be easier and much them in such a way that they tell a story. Invoke ChatGPT, and you’ll always be
faster, while image editing – such as You’ll even get suitable Apple Music asked for permission to do so.
removing unwanted objects or even suggestions to go along with your
entire backgrounds – will become much creation and, of course, your privacy
simpler with the Clean Up tool. is assured – any processing carried out
It’ll also be much simpler to create using Apple Intelligence will remain
Memories in Photos. Enter a prompt such strictly on your device.

inputs. Available in Messages as well as a

standalone app, you can use Image
Playground to create a bespoke image – say
or type ‘turn me into an astronaut’ and the
app you’re using will do just that. It can also
create Genmoji – customised emoji of
almost anything you can think of; you’ll no

Even more fun

longer be limited to what you’ve created in
Memoji or from the gallery of stock emoji

with Messages!
icons. Smarter still, Image Playground can
be used in other apps – like replacing a
so-so image in a Keynote presentation with
something much more polished. Genmoji is Apple’s latest fun addition
Throughout the Apple Intelligence to Messages, giving you a new way to
section in its WWDC Keynote, Apple interact with family and friends. Type
stressed the importance of protecting your or say a phrase using Genmoji and
privacy when it comes to all this. Most Messages will create a suggested
actions will be performed on-device, image for you and you’ll be able to
thanks to the machine learning capabilities post it inline, use it as a sticker, or as a
of Apple silicon. And when more exacting reaction in Tapback. Genmoji will be
queries demand that Apple Intelligence available on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and in
connect to remote servers, they’ll do so only Messages on macOS Sequoia. There’s
to secure Private Cloud Compute ones no word yet on whether Genmoji will
powered by Apple silicon and Ask Siri for meal ideas based on available come to Apple Watch with watchOS
cryptographically signed. ingredients and it’ll come up with recipes for you, 11, but we can hope!
aided by ChatGPT.

APC MAGAZINE 11
 OPINION | END USER

Artistic vision is missing in the

live service sausage factory
Sony’s Concord is perfectly “fine”, but it’s also obvious why it
launched so dismally.

Concord, a squad-based hero shooter published by A problem that both Sony and of its own, it might move up a rung
Sony in August and developed by Firewalk Studios, Firewalk are certainly oppressively to “great”.
was deemed a failure within hours of its launch on aware of is that even if Concord’s But as it stands this universe,
PS5 and Steam. Social media was quick to point out launch “failure” is completely which the studio promises to
that this eight years-in-development live service overblown by social media substantiate via weekly cut scenes,
outing only managed to attract 600-odd concurrent engagement pigs, the spread of this doesn’t offer a single compelling
Steam players upon launch (this doesn’t include sentiment will ultimately fulfil point of difference in a sea of zany,
however many people were playing on console). itself. Because no one’s spending $60 starry-eyed cross-media fictions that
Whichever way you cut it, those numbers are on a multiplayer game that few other are – rather belatedly – starting to
exceedingly low for a big blockbuster release from people are playing. That’s a problem fall out of fashion. Development
Sony, especially one that relies on a returning online smaller developers and publishers pipelines are simply too long to
player base. have been contending capitalise on passing fads with any
What went wrong? Well, first it’s with for most of the success, unless you’ve just released a
important to acknowledge that maybe past decade. For all but struggling tower defence shooter
Concord hasn’t gone wrong: perhaps it’ll the most resource rich that can easily have a battle royale
blossom late in the same way Rainbow Six of studios, your online retro-fitted to it (looking at you,
Siege did. It’s not like Sony and Firewalk game is either a big Fortnite).
will dump the game because it had a poor success or it’s an Concord’s terminal problem is that
first-week showing. While the social media unutterable failure. it doesn’t have an artistic vision of its
pile-on was performed with typical morbid The risks are own. That’s not to say it wasn’t
glee, most critics and players – ie, people extremely high and developed with the best of
who have actually tried the game – agree getting higher. intentions. It’s just that, for
that it’s fundamentally fine verging good. In early 2022 Sony something to cut through in 2024’s
In that sense, it’s getting off on a better footing than Final made it known that it wanted to extremely crowded market, it needs
Fantasy 14, which Square Enix had to un-release due to its launch ten live service games by the to have its own flair, its own
terrible initial reception. beginning of 2026. Concord has been personality… In other words, it
While I’m sure it was a complete coincidence, it also in development for eight years, needs to have a vision of its own.
probably didn’t help that Valve soft-announced its MOBA according to Firewalk designer Jon Concord is sadly the quintessential
third-person shooter Deadlock during Concord’s opening Weisnewski. That is simply too long also-ran.
week. That game, by contrast, has been racking up for a project that is undeniably
five-figure concurrents despite only being available via chasing a design and aesthetic
invite, and being a bug-riddled alpha. You couldn’t zeitgeist. Concord is a stylistic Shaun Prescott is an Australian
exactly point to its free-to-play nature either, because mash-up of Marvel and Overwatch editor for PC Gamer, GamesRadar
Concord’s $60 price tag is the same as Helldivers 2’s, which and both of those ships have sailed. and PLAY, and writes for APC,
will go down as the biggest multiplayer success story of Concord is “good” or “fine” because it TechRadar and more.
Sony

2024. plays well; if it had any artistic vision

12 APC MAGAZINE
 OPINION | TECH TALK

AMD details Zen 5

architecture for Ryzen 9000
Performance up, power down – looking good!

AMD has released two variants widening the execution engine percent (9700X) to 22 percent
of its Zen 5 architecture into the with a move to an 8-wide design. (9950X) faster than the 7000
wild, the desktop ‘Granite Zen 4, and all prior Zen series CPUs.
Ridge’ chips with up to 16 cores architectures have used a 6-wide Strix Point laptop CPUs take a
and the mobile ‘Strix Point’ execution engine. In general, they different approach, eschewing
processors with up to 12 cores. could fetch, decode, dispatch, chiplets and sticking with a
Granite Ridge desktop CPUs execute, and retire up to six monolithic die. While they have
will take over from the Ryzen instructions per cycle on each Zen up to 12 CPU cores, only four are
7000 series, and work in the same 4 core. Zen 5 has a dual 4-wide the full Zen 5 design; the
socket AM5 motherboards. AMD fetch/decode path with an 8-wide remaining eight are Zen 5c –
plans to launch four different dispatch/retire engine. There are density-optimized cores with
CPUs: Ryzen 9 9950X with 16/32 more integer ALUs (Arithmetic lower clocks and higher
cores and threads; Ryzen 9 9900X Logic Units), six instead of four. efficiency. They also have
as a 12/24 core part; Ryzen 7 There are also four AGUs (Address significant extras via a second
9700X will be an 8-core design Generation Units), plus six more generation XDNA 2 NPU and
with a single CCD (Core Compute ports for vector instructions. Zen RDNA 3.5 GPU. The graphics will
Die), and the Ryzen 5 9600X 5 also features an improved come with up to 16 compute units
comes with six cores. These follow branch prediction unit with better – 33 percent more than the
the existing Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 support for AVX-512 instructions. previous Phoenix Point and Hawk
names – AMD opted to use Ryzen AMD’s benchmarks show Zen 5 Point processors. AMD showed up
8000 branding for the Zen 4 delivering a 16 percent IPC to a 32 percent gain in graphics
G-series parts that come with (Instructions Per Cycle) performance from the GPU. 1080p
higher-performance integrated improvement over Zen 4, which medium gaming should be viable.
graphics. will boost performance. The NPU has the potential for
Most of the basic specifications AMD has also improved even bigger changes, and AMD
look nearly identical when thermal monitoring and TDP, and will use Ryzen AI branding on the
comparing the Zen 4 and Zen 5 while the 9950X will have the Strix Point chips. These will be
variants. The top 9950X, for same 170W TDP as its predecessor, the first x86 Copilot+ certified
example, has a 4.3GHz base clock the other chips show substantial PCs, with up to 50 TOPS (teraOPS)
and 5.7GHz boost clock, 170W decreases. The 9900X drops the of INT8 compute – triple the NPU
TDP, and 80MB of total L2+L3 TDP to 120W from the 7900X’s performance of the previous
cache (16MB L2 and 64MB L3). The 170W, and the 9700X and 9600X generation.
7950X has a 4.5GHz base clock, both come with a 65W TDP
while the other specs are the compared to 105W on the previous
same. But there’s a lot more going iteration. Those TDP changes
on than those numbers might don’t reduce performance, and Jarrod has been described as an
suggest. AMD says its new 9000 series AI by people he meets at parties.
The biggest changes involve parts will be anywhere from 11

14 APC MAGAZINE
 OPINION | TWO BITS

We pay too much for

electronics in Australia
The ‘Australia tax’ isn’t the only reason we pay too much for our goods.

Consumers in Australia are all products and of course, the aggregate demand is slowing? I
too familiar with cost-of-living almighty GST and other taxes. believe most of it is coming from
pressures. Inflation remains It all adds up. the supply side. Companies can
stubbornly high, and wage Australian resellers for the most raise prices because they can get
growth has not kept pace. Put part don’t have the purchasing away with it.
simply, a dollar today is worth power to buy direct from I believe we’ll be in for a shock
less than a dollar yesterday. As manufacturers in the same way when next-gen motherboards
someone who has spent a lot of US giants like Newegg or Amazon arrive on shelves in the coming
time abroad, I’m sure that can. The middleman taking their weeks and months. A couple of
Australians pay more for cut means higher prices. So, prices years ago, a $500 motherboard
electronics and PC hardware are always likely to be higher than was considered ludicrous. I think
than anywhere else, though of those paid for by consumers in we’ll see that becoming a new
course there are exceptions. larger markets overseas, but I mid-range level, with high end
Before I get to why I am annoyed don’t believe those are the only boards costing well over $1,000.
– to put it mildly – about the prices factors at play. I am certain that There are examples of boards well
of electronics in Australia, there ‘greedflation’ is playing an over that level already, but I’m
are some legitimate explanations. increasing role in the prices sure the exception will become
The largest influence is the Australians pay. the norm.
exchange rate. Over the past year, The supermarket duopoly, big Things like high end phones
the AUD to USD rate has hovered banks and big tech are examples cost more than ever, there are no
in the 63c to 68c range. During the of businesses raking in record sub $1,000 Copilot+ laptops, and
first half of 2021, it was above 75c. profits. They’ll all say that the Nvidia GPUs cost an arm and a leg
So, the buying power of the business environment is tough, despite Nvidia being a three
Australian dollar is less than it while company profits are soaring trillion USD company. These are
was three years ago. Hence, prices and CEOs take home record pay just a few examples of price
go up. packets after hitting certain KPIs. gouging. We’re asked to pay more
Australia is a relatively isolated Capitalism! Yay. because of inflation, but the
market. Manufacturers can send I believe in our inflationary companies making the stuff are
container loads of products to environment, it’s all too easy for a making a killing. Well, maybe not
Europe or the USA, but the ability company, distributor or even a you Intel…
to do the same here is limited by retailer to jack up prices and
demand from our smaller blame inflation.
population. Add to that the Everyone in my family or circle
geographical isolation of our of friends talks about how the cost Chris Szewczyk has been elbow deep
major cities, and freight costs go of living is leading them to cut in PCs since before the turn of the
up. Then there are things like back on discretionary purchases millennium, and he wouldn’t have it
stricter warranty regulation and like electronics. So why is any other way.
protection, tariffs on certain inflation not coming down if

APC MAGAZINE 15
 OPINION | TRADE CHAT

Is this Intel’s last stand?

The company is facing its toughest challenge in its long history.

I’ve been following Intel for 20 month, it’s threatening to be a Gelsinger’s return. Even if the
years, and things have never major crisis. As I write, it’s not CEO had a hand in developing
looked this bad. Intel’s 13th and clear what the problem is. Reports CPUs, which obviously isn’t the
14th Gen desktop CPUs have a of instability across a wide suite case, Raptor Lake was too far gone
serious instability problem, and of applications have been for Gelsinger to have much
it’s the last thing the company reported. Data mined from game impact.
needs as it struggles to turn its developers suggests that all 13th Unfortunately, that isn’t going
chip-manufacturing fabs and 14th Gen Raptor Lake desktop to help much if it turns out Intel
around and keep up with AMD, CPUs could be prone to these has to recall every Raptor Lake
Nvidia, and Qualcomm. What’s crashes. chip or compensate every
going on, and can Intel survive What’s more, Intel has said that customer. Anyway, while I think
this latest catastrophe? mobile chips are not impacted. it would be a bit catastrophist to
When Pat Gelsinger returned to That is interesting, but mainly claim that these crashing Raptor
Intel as CEO in 2021, I don’t think I because it’s pretty much the only Lake chips are going to take the
was alone in feeling optimistic. At thing Intel has said. It hasn’t company down with them, if Intel
last, there was an engineer in provided an explanation, leaving fails at some point over the next
control. Sure, Intel was a void that’s being filled with decade or so, something I do think
experiencing something of a lost speculation. is a possibility, I suspect this
decade due to complacency over A cynical interpretation would latest episode will be seen as a
its CPU roadmap and failure at its be that Intel has been hoping to major event in that process in
fabs, but the future looked bright. keep the problem under wraps hindsight.
As the years tick by, Gelsinger’s until the chips were so old that The reality is that Intel has yet
appointment looks less like a case few people cared, and thus avoid a to prove that its chip fabs are back
study in how leadership can save a mass recall or compensation on form, to the extent that more
faltering giant, and more like scheme. But the situation is now and more of its CPUs are being
proof that there’s only so much escalating to the point where it’s manufactured by a third party.
one man can do. It really is hard to see how Intel can avoid It’s losing market share to AMD in
difficult to see the positives at addressing it directly, and soon. servers, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon
Intel right now. If you look at the timeline for X chips make Arm technology a
The latest disaster involves Raptor Lake, it’s essentially a real threat in Intel’s largest
Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen Raptor pre-Gelsinger product. 13th Gen consumer market, laptops, and
Lake CPUs. For a while, there have Core was launched in October now its last two generations of
been murmurings about 2022, meaning it was conceived desktop CPUs may be broken.
instability issues. In the last and largely developed before Intel has had plenty of ups and
downs, but this feels bad.

“A cynical interpretation would be that Intel has been Really bad.

hoping to keep the problem under wraps until the

chips were so old that few people cared, and thus Jeremy has a black leather jacket

avoid a mass recall or compensation scheme.” just like Jensen’s.

16 APC MAGAZINE
 OPINION | ONE MORE THING

The town square is burning

If governments can’t stand up to Twitter, says Jon Honeyball, then it’s
down to us.

There’s a standoff happening printed press is relatively continues to slide into an ever-
between the American tech straightforward. Twitter, worsening death spiral of fake
giants and governments around however headquartered in news, bot accounts and scattergun
the world. Google is under America and claims to operate advertising. The controls that
significant pressure in the US, according to the principle of free governments have over such
with calls for it to be split up. speech as it’s understood there. platforms are almost non-existent,
Apple faces legal challenges Twitter acknowledges it must unless they can apply fines to a
from EU regulators, having abide by all local laws, which is local entity. And if, as in the case
recently been forced to support lovely until we stop to consider of Twitter, there’s nothing more
other app stores within the EU. what is meant by “local laws”. The than a skeletal crew in any one
Then there’s the EU’s new reality is that this a service country, this isn’t a threat that
digital antitrust law, which has delivered by an American carries weight.
Meta, Google and Apple in its company, as illustrated by a row The reality is that we have
sights. going on between the user @ arrived at an inevitable impasse.
But there is also another battle alexandre, who is “Ministro do This was the endpoint all along.
brewing over who controls the Supremo Tribunal Federal e do Governments have tolerated social
operation of a global social media TSE” in Brazil, and Elon Musk. media platforms, and the web in
company within a country. Following the spat it then general, because it was thought
Despite predictions to the announced it was closing its that the sum of benefits
contrary, Twitter (I refuse to call Twitter office in Brazil. Musk outweighed the negatives.
it X) is still going. And it’s more tweeted that the decision “was Now ask yourself: what happens
problematic than ever. Musk’s difficult, but, if we had agreed to if Twitter becomes so toxic that the
insistence that Twitter is the one @alexandre ’s (illegal) secret Australian government feels it has
true place where speech is censorship and private no choice but to take action? It
unfettered is causing huge information handover demands, can’t block it. Unlike Google and
problems for governments, who there was no way we could Amazon, it can’t mandate user
are scrambling to control the explain our actions without policies for it to operate here. Its
narrative. Handling the being ashamed”. options are zero, and the power
mainstream TV, radio and Yet Twitter is still available in will fall into the hands of the
Brazil. Closing the local office is a people; like all social media sites,
“Now ask yourself: what minor inconvenience for Twitter Twitter relies on us to keep it alive.
but not a significant win for @ And recent events suggest that not
happens if Twitter becomes alexandre. Maybe Brazil can enough of us are prepared to
so toxic that the Australian block locals from signing up to a
paid-for account, but I doubt this
demand better.

government feels it has no is going to be a big financial hit.

While no-one would claim that
choice but to take action? Twitter was a lovely garden full of Jon Honeyball believes the truth is

It can’t block it.” flowers and bees before Musk

took over, from what I can see it
out there.

APC MAGAZINE 17
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APC MAGAZINE 19
 FUTURES
We explore the trends and technologies that are set to shape the future

Hey AI: what do my

dog’s barks mean?
Researchers believe AI-powered language tools could be turned from human
to chat to deciphering dog barks. Animal lover Nicole Kobie reveals all.

Woof, woof. You stare at your dog’s A project called Zoolingua is developing web and app-based tool that uses natural
fluffy face and wonder two things: an app to translate dog body language as language processing and machine
what does she want, and how do I make well as building a wider data set. The learning to translate recordings of a dog’s
her stop? AI researchers are working Georgia Institute of Technology has been barks into human language.” While that
on a way to answer that first question tracking chicken sounds in different marketing copy sounds exactly like the
so you can then figure out the second, situations – such as hot or cold – to claims made by a good chunk of pet
following a grand tradition of understand which conditions the birds translation apps available on the mobile
attempting to unpick what our pets are prefer. Largely successfully, it would marketplaces, this particular example
trying to say to us. seem. The Project Cetacean Translation was an April Fool’s prank.
In 2002, Japanese company Takeda Initiative is using AI to unpick what It may not have seemed funny to
launched the BowLingual dog translator sperm whales are saying, while the researchers at the University of Michigan
(tinyurl.com/APC537bow), followed by charity Wild Dolphin Project has used and Mexico’s National Institute of
the Meowlingual version for feline machine learning to try to understand Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
friends. By listening to the sounds your dolphin speech – both of which require us (INAOE) Institute, who applied models
pets were making, this $75 device would to be able to think like a dolphin or sperm trained on human speech to animal
supposedly reveal its mood via an whale, as the New Yorker noted (tinyurl. communication – and they think they’ve
onscreen display and a short phrase com/APC537dolphin). made progress.
(think “I’m hungry”). It was awarded that So people are taking this seriously – but
year’s satirical Ig Nobel prize, but animal others aren’t. A Berlin-based PR agency Decoding dogs
translation using AI has attracted real unveiled a new product last year called, of One of the project researchers, Artem
academic attention. course, BarkGPT: “a never-before-seen Abzaliev, told APC the project came about

20 APC MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2024

 TECHNOTES | FUTURES

because he and his advisor wanted poodles and 11 Schnauzers. The ABOVE the closest classification task to
to apply a known type of language dogs were filmed reacting to Researchers are understanding what a pet is trying
system to an unknown one, just to various stimuli, such as their exploring ways to to communicate. Here, the
interpret chicken,
see if it would work. “My owner returning home, playing and Wav2Vec2 system pretrained on
dolphin and dog
background is in visual language being introduced to a stranger, sounds. dog sounds scored 62% accuracy.
processing, or I guess people call it resulting in the development of 14 The work raises a question: how
AI nowadays, but basically text different categories of vocalisation, do you even know if a dog bark
understanding,” he said, such as including a “positive squeal” and a translator is accurate? It’s not as
reading a film review and “negative grunt”. though the dog can correct the
understanding that the writer That data was then used to tweak system the way we can with human
enjoyed the film. a speech representation model speech models. “We don’t,”
Why dogs? We don’t know what known as Wav2Vec2, which was admitted Abzaliev. “And it’s not
they’re saying, so the idea was to originally trained on 960 hours of exactly accurate.”
take a system that we know works human speech, looking at tone,
on humans and see if it could be pitch and accent in particular. Why it works – when it does
applied to something else that has The results may not sound too
speech but isn’t yet deciphered. Did it work? impressive, but it’s a leap above
Plus, Abzaliev likes dogs. Modifying that existing model other models trained only on dog
Beyond that, this work also seems to have worked to an extent, barks, suggesting the idea of
addresses a core challenge with with accuracy up to 70% on one of applying existing language models
applying AI to pet communication: four classification tasks. To be clear, to animals might be sound.
a lack of training data. For wild the aim wasn’t to determine what “This is the first time that
animals, such sounds need to be the dog was trying to “say”. Instead, techniques optimised for human
collected in the wild. Pets are easier researchers were trying to identify speech have been built upon to help
to find, but permission is needed specific dogs, their breed and with the decoding of
from owners and it’s time gender, whilst exploring the impact animal communication,” said Rada
consuming. of context (a concept called Mihalcea, the Janice M Jenkins
Because of this lack of training grounding). collegiate professor of computer
material, analysing dog For dog recognition – trying to science and engineering, and
vocalisations using AI has long pick out which individual dog was director of UM’s AI Laboratory, in a
proved difficult, despite the many “talking” – the Wav2Vec2 system statement. “Our results show that
apps and efforts listed above. The scored 24% when used without the sounds and patterns derived
researchers wanted to see if further training, and 50% after from human speech can serve as a
existing human language models pretraining with the dog data. foundation for analysing and
could be applied to dog barks, after Picking out breeds was trickier: the understanding the acoustic
being tweaked to work with pre-trained system had a 75% patterns of other sounds, such as
animals, of course. After all, plenty accuracy rate with Chihuahuas, but animal vocalisations.”
of work has been put in to that fell to 36% for poodles and 15% It may seem surprising that dog
understand all aspects of our for schnauzers, for an overall rate vocalisations are similar enough to
speech, as that’s what allows voice of 62%. “That’s not too bad,” human speech for this to work –
assistants to work. Abzaliev said. and Abzaliev admits the
The work required a fresh dataset But for gender, the system didn’t researchers weren’t themselves
of dog vocalisations, which a team work. “We basically do as good as convinced that a language model
at INAOE collected from 74 random,” explained Abzaliev. developed for understanding
different dogs across a range of ages “Gender prediction turned out to be human speech would work on
– there were puppies as young as very hard. It’s hard to do even in animals. “Our expectation was that
ABOVE Even in the
five months – and a selection of humans, but for dogs, even harder.” it shouldn’t work,” he said. “Dog
early 2000s, tech
breeds popular in Mexico, where The last task, grounding, looks at companies were barks are very dissimilar to human
the recordings were made. That the connection between a dog bark launching products language. It shouldn’t have
included 42 Chihuahuas, 21 French and its surroundings, perhaps to interpret pets. worked...

APC MAGAZINE 21
 TECHNOTES | FUTURES

whines? Beyond better

understanding the nature of AI
language models and how they
apply across languages, the UM
researchers’ aim was improving
animal welfare: if we can read more
nuance into a dog’s bark, perhaps
we can better understand its needs.
This could perhaps prevent
negative behaviour or health
issues.
“There is so much we don’t yet
know about the animals that
share this world with us. Advances
in AI can be used to revolutionise
It didn’t help completely, but it’s How can dog owners help? If you ABOVE Capuchin our understanding of animal
interesting that it helped.” upload dog videos or sounds online, monkeys have a communication, and our findings
Indeed, the team isn’t even sure write a good caption so researchers larger vocabulary suggest that we may not have to
than dogs.
why applying a human speech can make use of the data. “My dog start from scratch,” said Mihalcea.
model to dog barks helped at all, if is barking because it’s happy, my Abzaliev believes this work could
even in a limited way. “We’ve had a cat is meowing because it’s upset,” help dogs themselves live happier
lot of hypotheses trying to is one example suggested by lives. “I hope it can understand
understand,” Abzaliev said, adding Abzaliev. “If you truly know that’s when your dog has anxiety,” he
that the improvement in accuracy what’s happening, this would really said. “I believe that not everyone
in their research over previous help everyone.” understands their dogs very well.
efforts that didn’t use a pretrained They have problems understanding
model could be down to the fact What’s next? ‘why my dog is barking’ or ‘why my
that their own system learns how to There is, of course, more work to be dog is crying’ or ‘why my dog
hear or listen better. done – this research simply showed behaves in a specific way’. So
He adds that it’s not unheard of that one language model could be hopefully this can help – we are
in other areas of AI. “Similar things applied to a different topic. The pretty far away from this, but I hope
happened in computer vision as paper notes that other neural that it has at least potential.”
well,” Abzaliev said. “For instance, network architectures beyond To be clear, none of this means
pre-training on... one completely or Wav2Vec2 might be worth trialling. you’ll be able to talk to your dog via
relatively unrelated domain helps.” According to the paper, further an app any time soon, if ever. That
Knowing something is better work is being considered around would require a way to decode
than nothing, it would seem. Even marine mammals and birds – human speech into barks, and
when it comes to artificial which both have larger data sets that’s much more challenging than
intelligence. available – and Abzaliev says the translating French to German.
project is potentially working with Instead, this early research is more
How accurate? capuchin monkeys. “They have a about exploring how AI models can
While the results were successful larger vocabulary size than dogs,” be applied to new tasks – and it
in proving that repurposing he explained, adding that issues seems that existing human
existing language models has around working with animals language models can be applied to
merit, how could the accuracy be remain: “But there is also a animal communication, though
further improved? More training relatively small data set.” additional training using data
data. This is AI after all, and AI Abzaliev is also working on ways specific to the animal in question
always wants more data. “This is to convert the audio files improves accuracy. And that
the biggest problem in animal themselves, so specific sounds can understanding should help those
communications,” Abzaliev told us. be more easily recognised in hoping to better understand
“Generally, there’s very little data.” word-like ways. “Let’s take ‘I love chickens, dolphins and sperm
Large language models such as dogs’ – there are three different whales.
OpenAI’s GPT have plenty of words,” he said. “But we don’t even So existing AI models can help
written text to examine – the entire know where the words are in the speed along animal research, but a
internet and more – and they still bark or vocalisation.” dog-to-person translator remains
need more data to improve He added: “So I’m currently elusive. In the meantime, you’ll
accuracy. But we don’t have a large exploring models that do need to put the time in to figure
dataset of dog speech; this project tokenisation for human language your dog out yourself – give your
had samples from a mere 74 dogs. from audio for animal language. dog a treat, a scratch behind the
“It will need to be manually We’ll see if it works.” ears and take it for a walk. One
collected and manually annotated,” thing for sure, we don’t need AI to
said Abzaliev. “It’s a laborious and What’s the point? ABOVE A happy show us that will very likely make
time-consuming process. Data is a Why do we need to know what a dog is usually easy both the owner and the pooch
big, big deal.” dog means when it barks or to spot. happy.

22 APC MAGAZINE
THE FUTURE OF
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An up-sizing for the MACBOOK AIR LAPTOP 7 This 1.1kg laptop offers S 16 T14S GEN 6)
iconic XPS. The XPS 16 The MacBook Air M3 A shining example of just terrific battery life and, if The Asus Zenbook This Copilot+ PC with a
9640 is quite expensive, replaces the M2 model how good a Windows you choose the better S 16 offers premium Qualcomm Snapdragon
and despite a few previously listed here. laptop can be. Despite a non-touchscreen (look performance in the Arm processor is a
niggles, it offers great It’s a powerful and quiet few minor drawbacks, for 400 nits of ultraportable category superb choice. It’s light,
performance and battery ultraportable with an the Surface Laptop is a brightness in the specs). and competes well with it’s fast and its all-day
life in a minimalistic unbeatable battery life fantastic package that $2,475 alternatives such as the battery life is genuinely
package. and screen. offers performance and lenovo.com/au Surface Laptop 7 or 24 hours.
$4,498, dell.com From $2,099 battery life. Macbook Pro. $1,899, lenovo.com /au
apple.com/au $1,899, microsoft.com $3,499, asus.com.au

Gaming laptops Everyday laptops

Alienware m16 R2 Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED
A PREMIUM AND AFFORDABLE ASUS AND INTEL TEAMED UP TO
GAMING & WORK MACHINE. BUILD A MACBOOK AIR KILLER.
There are cheaper gaming A compact and budget friendly
laptops, and faster ones too, but Ultrabook that’s the best
we love the balance offered by available device for many
the m16 R2. Who doesn’t want a on-the-go professionals.
big 16in gaming laptop, Compared to the MacBook Air
featuring a Ultra 9 CPU, a RTX 13, it has an additional HDMI
4070 GPU and 32GB of RAM? and USB-A port, an SSD that’s
And for a decent price, roughly twice as fast, and the
considering it’s from Alienware. screen is brighter and offers rich OLED contrast.
$3,300, dell.com $2,099, asus.com

THE ALTERNATIVES THE ALTERNATIVES

LENOVO LEGION 5I ACER NITRO 5 ASUS ROG STRIX MICROSOFT SURFACE APPLE MACBOOK HP PAVILION 16
Best in class The budget gaming SCAR 18 LAPTOP GO 2 AIR 15 The overall package is
performance from the laptop king returns with It’s expensive, but if you Runs cool and quiet, and An awesome plus-size excellent and the
powerful RTX 4070 GPU another explosive want an 18in laptop has up to 30 percent MacBook Air with great powerful yet efficient
and stand out features device for those on a that delivers all-out better battery life than battery life and graphical Ryzen 7 CPU helps the
such as 140W PD shoe-string. A well power this is the its predeccessor, all in a performance. GPU Pavilion 16 stand out
charging. rounded budget laptop no-compromise 3.1kg beautifully designed performance and battery against the competition.
$3,499 at an unbeatable price. beast to buy – it packs form. From $1,199 life are the standout $1,799, store.hp.com
lenovo.com/au $1,199 quality everywhere. microsoft.com perks here. From $2,199
store.acer.com From $4,599 apple.com/au
asus.com/au

24 APC MAGAZINE
 TECHNOTES | THE A-LIST

Chromebooks
Acer Chromebook Spin Lenovo Flex 3i Chromebook Lenovo IdeaPad Duet
Core 5 This isn’t the most powerful The Chromebook answer to Microsoft’s
Simply the best Chromebook around. Chromebook, but students need Surface tablets, this is a seriously
Others may beat the 12th gen Intel Core reliability more than power – especially versatile device – albeit not the
i5 we tested for performance, but for if they’re only really using it for speediest (although we never found it to
features, design and bang for buck you homework, note-taking, and perhaps be painfully slow while carrying out
won’t find any laptop that can match the occasional bit of Netflix. everyday tasks). For this price, and with
this convertible. $997, acer.com $367, lenovo.com/au a 16hrs 14mins battery life, the Duet is
a great choice.
$297, lenovo.com/au

Tablets
Apple iPad Air (M2) Apple iPad Pro (M4) Samsung Galaxy
We love the new iPad Pro, but for most The best tablet in the world becomes Tab S9 Ultra
people the M2 iPad Air is not only far even better thanks to Apple’s stunning This 14.5in tablet offers a size and
better value but also all the tablet M4 chip, a gorgeous OLED screen and versatility that even the iPad Pro
they’ll need. It supports the Magic the must-have accessory: the all-new can’t match, with its high price more
Keyboard and Pencil Pro, plus it’s now Pencil Pro. But it comes with an than justified by the quality
available in both 11in and 13in sizes. obvious downside of cost, with the of Samsung’s AMOLED panel, speakers
From $1,299, apple.com/au cheapest 13in incarnation costing and productivity software.
$2,199. $1,999, samsung.com
From $2,199, apple.com.au

Everyday monitors
Asus ROG Swift OLED BenQ BL2790QT MSI MEG 342C
PG32UCDP A 27in, 1440p monitor that’s packed QD-OLED
We’ve seen several ultimate gaming with quality, from its brilliant OSD to Quantum Dot technology combines
monitors in recent months but, from several clever features designed to with an OLED self-emitting panel to
the specs alone, Asus might just have fight eye fatigue. Text and images look offer brighter, more efficient and more
made the most ultimatest: 480Hz sharp and punchy, its USB-C docking colourful visuals than your average
refresh rate, matte-screen HDR OLED, capability is always welcome, and the OLED screen.
32-inch 4K. speakers are surprisingly decent. $1,799, msi.com
$2,399, asus.com.au $459, benq.com

Professional monitors
Eizo FlexScan EV3240X Eizo ColorEdge CG2700X BenQ PD2706U
With images that whack you between A brilliant choice for professional If you can’t stretch to Eizo budget
the eyes as soon as you lift it, fully designers, whether working solo or in levels then this 4K 27in screen is
assembled, from its box, this 32in 4K teams, thanks to its dedication to
definitely worth investigating. It has
monitor is our top choice pick for providing accurate colours across
anyone willing to make such a hefty potentially years of life. It’s also bang several features aimed at
long-term investment. up to date for connectivity, with USB-C professionals, including a Hotkey
$2,696, eizoglobal.com and RJ45 making it easy to manage. Puck to switch between profiles, plus
$5,500, eizoglobal.com great coverage of the sRGB
and DCI-P3 gamuts. $739, benq.com

Home office printers

Epson EcoTank ET-2810 HP OfficeJet Pro 9012e Brother MFC-J4540DW
Don’t expect flashy features, but do So long as your print volumes aren’t Home workers will love this inkjet
expect fast print speeds, high-quality huge – the running costs mount up all-in-one. It combines an incredible
prints, scans and copies, plus – this is a superb all-in-one for range of features with all the
phenomenally low running costs – home office usage. It’s fast, robust, connectivity you need and extreme
even after you’ve exhausted the 6,000 prints double-sided and produces ease of use. Output quality is fine, it
pages’ worth of bottled ink that comes strong all-round results.
offers the best cloud support around
with it. $228, canon.com and the high-capacity ink pack could
$399, epson.com.au keep you going for years.
$329, brother.com

APC MAGAZINE 25
 TECHNOTES | THE A-LIST
Find the best deals
on new gear at
getprice.com/au

Wireless routers
Synology WRX560 Asus ROG Rapture GT- Netgear Nighthawk
Its quad-band Wi-Fi smashed-through AX16000 RS700S
our performance tests managing The most splendid, overpowered Make no mistake – you won’t get
791.5Mbps up close, 375Mbps two router on the market. But, it’s silly stunning speeds out of this Wi-Fi 7
rooms away and an amazing money and aspirational to most users. router today. But if you must buy a
216.7Mbps down the garden. Ultimately, though, it’s currently the router now and want future-proofing,
$419, synology.com/au highest-spec consumer router this is a solid choice. But honestly,
available. we would recommend that you wait.
$999, asus.com/au $1,499, netgear.com

Mesh Wi-fi
TP-Link Deco XE200 TP-Link Deco X20 Asus ZenWiFi AX
There are cheaper Wi-Fi 6E meshes, The Deco X20 makes it possible to The interface and design certainly
but the XE200 wins for its superb upgrade your home network to Wi-Fi 6 aren’t the prettiest (the charcoal
download speeds, excellent coverage for the price of some standalone version is straight out of the 1980s),
and the fact that older clients reap routers. The HomeCare functions are but if you’re after strong performance,
benefits of 6E, not just new ones. And also a great bonus for households great features and plenty of expansion
a two-pack should be enough for most where lots of devices are fighting over potential, the ZenWiFi AX is a
premises. the bandwidth. $227 (2-pack), compelling prospect.
$1,299 (2-pack), tp-ink.com tp-link.com $939 (2-pack), asus.com/au

NAS servers
Asustor Nimbustor QNAP TS-264 QNAP TS-253E
4 Gen2 AS5404T The TS-264 combines strong The TS-253E is a sensible business
A particularly strong choice as a media specifications and performance NAS that’s ideal for rolling out to
server, the updated Nimbustor 4 is for a reasonable price. We wouldn’t multiple small offices. If you’re buying
both flexible and quick. Asustor’s choose this NAS as a starting point for for business, and particularly if you’ve
Nimbustor 4 AS5404T is a four-drive a small business, but it is a good got an eye on minimising support
NAS enclosure aimed at demanding choice as a home NAS if you’ll be using headaches across a group of premises,
home users or small offices. it for both work and entertainment. this is an excellent choice.
$889, asustor.com $649, qnap.com $858, qnap.com

Security software
Avast Ultimate NordVPN Bitwarden
Buy from retail and this NordVPN provides Bitwarden has a huge
is a bargain, with a solid consistent and fast advantage: it’s free.
VPN, anti-tracking speeds, serious security, It isn’t as slick as some
software and handy great support for paid-for rivals, but it can
detection fees on top of video-streaming services sync passwords across
excellent protection.
and some cost-effective all devices for no extra
~$65, 1 device, subscription rates. charge. Free,
avast.com/en-au $59 per year, bitwarden.com
nordvpn.com

THE ALTERNATIVES THE ALTERNATIVES THE ALTERNATIVES

G DATA TOTAL AVAST ONE PROTONVPN SURFSHARK DASHLANE 1PASSWORD
PROTECTION ESSENTIAL ProtonVPN provided A strong rival to A manager that’s ideal 1Password is targeted at
Despite its quirks, G Essential has the same one of the best free NordVPN, especially if for beginners, and it even users who are looking for
Data provides malware-detection offerings of all the VPNs you’re willing to commit builds in an unlimited (if the last word in security.
straightforward, engine as our top in our group test, to its two-year contract. basic) VPN service. Note It even offers a Travel
effective and choice, but for free. including unlimited It’s fast, cheap and a you may prefer to buy Mode that may ease
inexpensive protection It even includes 5GB of data, but upgrade to fine choice for people the Family plan ($60 per your mind if surrendering
against malware and VPN services per month benefit from even faster who like to switch to US year) as this extends the your phone to customs
other threats to your and a few system speeds and many more streaming services. service to six people. officials. $54.99 per
system. 1 device, optimisation tools. options. $79.61 for one year, $55.99 per year year (individual),
US$50, avast.com Free, avast.com Free, protonvpn.com surfshark.com (Premium), dashlane.com 1password.com

26 APC MAGAZINE
 THE LIST
The best NVMe SSDs in 2024

SSDs have come a long way in the last 12 months, and

they’re now one of the most diverse product categories out
there. Not only do you have the cutting-edge PCIe 5.0 drives
pushing sequential performance to the max, but companies
are increasingly advancing the PCIe 4.0 platform as well,
5 which touts impeccable price-to-performance ratios and far
higher capacities. No matter what your performance,
generation, or form factor needs, though, these are the
drives to keep an eye out for.

5 WESTERN DIGITAL SN770M 1TB

It’s undoubtedly the year of the handheld gaming PC, so it wouldn’t
be a just list without us including the best M.2-2230 drive we’ve
tested to date. WD has paired a Sandisk A1 controller with 112-layer
TLC NAND from Kioxia for this one, and although on paper the stats
aren’t phenomenal (topping out at 5.2 GB/s sequential read, and
4 267 MB/s random 4K write), for the overall size and form factor, the
engineering prowess required to pull this off is nothing short of awe
inspiring. It’s pricey, though, and really only suited for use in Steam
Decks and other handhelds. $239 www.westerndigital.com

4 KINGSTON FURY RENEGADE

Arguably picked due to the pure innovation at its heart, the
Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe 4.0 SSD is an outstanding
combination of impeccably unique hardware. Kingston has paired
176-layer TLC NAND from Micron, with a Phison E18 controller, and
a full-fat DDR4 DRAM cache, giving it some serious clout in the
performance metrics. It’s got the highest random 4K write
3 performance we’ve recorded, and solid sequential numbers, too.
However, that does come at a significant cost increase because of
it. $249 (2TB) www.kingston.com

3 LEXAR NM790 2TB

Easily one of the most affordable PCIe 4.0 drives out there– we’ve
seen the 2TB model fall to $110 at its lowest. For that, the NM790
delivers 7GB/s sequentials and random 4K writes topping out at 263
MB/s. It’s slower than the T500, and is backed up by a Chinese
Maxio MAP1602 controller, and 232-layer YMTC TLC NAND flash,
but Lexar’s given this a hefty warranty, and the pricing is honestly
just too difficult to resist. $179 www.lexar.com
2

2 CRUCIAL T705 2TB

This cutting-edge drive takes the hardware now adorning pretty
much every PCIe 5.0 SSD, and ramps up the controller to 11. It
really does let this drive rip, and sequentials topping out at near
14GB/s are easily achievable. Random 4K performance is solid, too,
and the heatsink helps keep it cool under heavy file transfer load.
It’s not cheap, though, and will set you back twice the cost of a
similar capacity T500. $549 www.crucial.com

1 CRUCIAL T500 2TB

© Crucial, Lexar, kingston, Western Digital

Consistently our favorite SSD for pretty much every system,

1
Crucial’s T500 mixes 232-layer TLC NAND with a 4.0 controller. It
keeps cost low and delivers staggering performance for the price.
2TB has fallen as low as $240, and maxes out the sequential
bandwidth at 7.1 GB/s read and 6.3 GB/s writes. Random 4K, on the
other hand, flips the script, even beating some PCIe 5.0 drives. No
matter your system, you can’t go wrong. $259 www.crucial.com

APC MAGAZINE 27
 TECHNOTES | HEAD TO HEAD

OneDrive is well
integrated into
Windows. No third-party
programs are required.

ONEDRIVE Free Tier, www.microsoft.com GOOGLE DRIVE Free Tier, drive.google.com

OneDrive vs Google Drive

The tech titans clash in the field of cloud storage. Nate Drake investigates.

Tech giants Microsoft and Google vast range of ‘Workspace’ apps, just 5GB of free cloud storage. This is
each offer their own respective cloud meaning it’s ideal for businesses who mitigated by an additional 15GB of
storage services and web apps. need to sync and share large amounts of mailbox storage.
OneDrive is built into Windows, so data quickly. One of the main advantages of using
requires minimal setup. Windows 11 On the other hand, OneDrive uses OneDrive on Windows 11 is that it
actually requires you to sign in via a block level copying. This means that works out of the box. Modern versions
Microsoft account during setup. This when a file is first synced to the cloud, of Windows require you to sign in with
means, in theory, that every Windows every bit of data is uploaded. However, a valid Microsoft account during setup,
user has at least a free OneDrive folder, when changes are made, only the which is all you need to take advantage
so can automatically start backing up altered data blocks are sent. This makes of the cloud storage features.
and syncing content. This plays well for much faster and more efficient file Upon opening the OneDrive folder,
with Microsoft 365 users, as the free web synchronisation. there’s even a user manual discussing
versions of apps like Word and Excel can Both Microsoft and Google also its perks. For instance, the shortcuts in
save files to your OneDrive folder. encrypt data packets during transit, but File Explorer default to the OneDrive
There may therefore seem little neither use ‘zero knowledge’ versions of Desktop, Documents,
reason to use Google Drive. After all, it encryption. In other words, if a cloud Pictures, and Videos. In other words,
entails setting up a separate account server is breached or seized, your data anything placed there is automatically
and app. The 15GB of free cloud storage could be at risk unless you’ve encrypted synced to the cloud.
is more generous, but both Microsoft it yourself. The manual also explains that users
and OneDrive offer similar pricing can enable backups for the Music and
plans for extra space, starting from OneDrive Videos folder by configuring OneDrive
around $3 per month for 100GB. Both Microsoft’s self-described ‘cloud service’ settings. This can be accessed via the
services also offer comparable security, began its life in August 2007 as dedicated taskbar icon at the bottom
file versioning, and online editing of SkyDrive. In 2013, after a very public right of the screen. From here, you can
documents via their respective app lawsuit with TV broadcaster Sky UK, the also automatically sync pictures and
suites. service was renamed. This hasn’t been videos from connected devices to
Still, when you look under the hood, the only change, as over the years, the OneDrive.
there are some subtle differences. amount of storage offered has gone from Syncing works a little differently to
Google Drive, for instance, is part of a unlimited (for Office 365 subscribers) to configurations for other cloud storage

28 APC MAGAZINE
 TECHNOTES | HEAD TO HEAD

Install the Google

Drive client to sync
and edit files
locally.

services like Dropbox, as files stored in Google Drive Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
OneDrive will only appear as a shortcut Just as OneDrive requires a Microsoft Unlike with OneDrive, there are
in the relevant folder. Double click to Account, Google’s offering requires you advantages to installing the desktop
download and open. to sign in via a Google Account. There’s client: you can open Google Drive files
Given that OneDrive’s a Microsoft a free plan offering 15GB of storage, using applications on your computer. You
product, it’s hardly surprising that it though unlike OneDrive, it doesn’t can also specify folders to sync from your
integrates well with the web version of delineate between mailbox space and computer to Drive. This gives Google
Microsoft Office (Microsoft 365). You can cloud storage space. Premium plans Drive an edge over OneDrive, as you can
access this by visiting the relevant site, start from $3.99 per month for 100GB of specify any location. You can also specify
then signing with your Microsoft storage. folders with pictures and videos to sync
Account. Users can point their browser to to either Drive or Google Photos.
On sign in, you’ll be prompted to https://drive.google.com to view and Once setup is complete, you can access
upgrade to enjoy 1TB of OneDrive storage, upload content. Drive is just one of a your files and folders via a virtual drive
as well as ‘Premium’ versions of Office number of Google Workspace apps. (designated G:\ on our test machine). By
apps. Any files you create can be saved to From here, you can create and edit files default, these aren’t stored on your
the cloud, though when we tried to save a in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. computer, but you can right-click and
file to ‘Documents’, it actually went to the Google Drive shines here, as while it’s open the context menu to ‘Make
root OneDrive folder instead. not embedded into Windows, it’s easy to Available Offline’. Here, you can generate
Windows also makes it very simple to use with other apps. For instance, you shareable links for files, open a file/folder
share OneDrive content. Simply right- can use ‘Share’ to add other Google via the online version of Drive, and view
click on the relevant file, then choose Account users as editors to a file or previous file versions. If you double click
‘Share’ to either enter an email address or folder. Drive can also generate shareable to open a file it will download and open
copy a link. Shared folders can also be links with editing/commenting rights. in the default Windows application.
copied to another user’s OneDrive folder, File versioning is also supported,
which is handy. though Google only retains different
VERDICT
Given how well OneDrive is embedded versions of files for up to 30 days or 100
into Windows, it’s surprising that there’s edits – whichever happens first. Special
also a dedicated desktop app you can mention should also go to Drive’s search
OneDrive A well-integrated Windows cloud
download via the Microsoft Store. This bar, which lets you search files by name.
service, block level copying. Minimal free
turned out to be academic, however, as in There are also search ‘chips’ that let you
storage though, and limited flexibility with
our tests on a VM running a clean install filter by file type, the people it’s shared
other web apps.
of Windows 11, the app failed to sign in. with, and when it was modified.
We had more joy with the OneDrive During our tests, the Google Drive
web portal, which showcased the Recycle desktop client wasn’t available on the
Bin for deleted files. After making some Microsoft Store, but we were able to Google Drive A generous free tier and wide
small edits to a Word document, we also download it from the main site. During range of integrated apps. Requires additional
found that the platform supports file installation, you can add shortcuts to setup and desktop app to benefit from all
versioning. Drive to the desktop, along with links to features.

APC MAGAZINE 29
 GADGETS Nice things to have

BlueAnt Soundblade
This under-monitor soundbar from Australia’s subwoofer. All of which makes it perfect for This slick and stylish
BlueAnt would look great under any PC or Mac, watching movies, playing games and listening to soundbar is one for
the audiophiles too.
but particularly the latest iMacs and AIOs, your favourite tunes while sitting at your desk.
thanks to its slick design and the fact that it’s Getting everything connected is easy too with
available in any one of five matching colours: Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C and Aux inputs on board.
Pink, Blue, Green, Charcoal and White (Yellow, $249, soundblade.com
Orange and Purple iMac owners miss out for
now).
Already the winner of a Red Dot design award, the
Soundblade offers up to 120W of peak power output,
delivered by a 2.1-channel speaker arrangement that
comprises 2x full-range dual voice coil, dual
neodymium magnet drivers and an 80mm

30 APC MAGAZINE
 TECHNOTES | GADGETS

Nanoleaf x
Fantaqi Smart
Display Case
Tired of the display cabinet options offered by
the likes of IKEA? You may want to consider
this stackable and modular solution that’s
powered by Nanoleaf. Designed in
collaboration with the technology brand
Fantaqi, these app-controlled Smart LED cases
make use of automatic LayoutDetect
technology to deliver flowing RGBW colour
animations across all of your connected cases.
You can even program them to react to your
music – perfect for epic sneaker displays or
showing off your collection of Hatsune Miku
statues. Still, at around $127.50 per case, you
may want to limit yourself to displaying only
your most prized possessions.
$510 (starter kit), nanoleaf.me

Nanoleaf Outdoor Insta360 Flow Pro Belkin BoostCharge

String Lights Combine this smart image stabiliser Pro Power Bank
with your selfie stick and you’ll instantly Even the longest-lasting phones need a
Available in lengths of 15 or 30 metres, become one of the coolest influencers little power boost sometimes, and that’s
with 20 or 40 bulbs respectively, these around. That’s because the Flow Pro where this MagSafe/Qi2 power bank
multicolour outdoor dangly lights will set harnesses the power of Apple’s comes in. Available in both 5K and 10K
whatever outdoor entertaining vibe you’re DockKit with Insta360’s own Deep flavours and in six colours (Cyber Lime,
after (when a spotty with the power of Track 3.0 artificial intelligence (AI) Blue, Sand, Black, Pink and Gold), it
three suns just won’t do). Choose from any know-how to track your movements as simply attaches magnetically to the back
colour imaginable, or really get the party you record your latest photo or video of the iPhone 12 or later. Or you can
started and choose all of them at once missive. The Standard Bundle includes charge your device using the built-in
with sound-reactive dynamic flow. They’re the Flow Pro, a phone clamp, clamp USB-C port. The integrated kickstand is a
ready to go out of the box via attached cover, a cable and a protective pouch, nice touch too – pop it out and you’ll be
controller or app or add them to your while the All-Purpose Tripod Bundle able to watch your favourite YouTube
existing Smart Home Ecosystem. adds, ahem, an all-purpose tripod too. videos hands-free. Available exclusively at
15m kit $199.99, 30m kit $329.99, From $199, insta360.com the Apple Store. $99, belkin.com
nanoleaf.me

APC MAGAZINE 31
 REVIEWS
Expert reviews and recommendations to help you buy with confidence

33 Microsoft Surface Pro 34 Asus ZenBook S16 35 AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU 36 AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU
38 Samsung ViewFinity S80UD 32 39 Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCD 40 WD Gold 24TB 41 SanDisk Pro-Blade
42 Netgear Orbi 970 43 Ultimate Ears Everboom Speaker 43 Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3

APC is Australia’s oldest consumer Independent reviews invite a vendor to clarify how a particular
technology magazine – having been Championing technology doesn’t mean feature works. If an APC reviewer has any
consistently in print for over forty years, we’re unrelenting yes-men and -women, potential conflicts of interest involving a
since our first issue way back in May 1980 however, and APC aims to be as objective brand, the review will always be assigned
– and we take that heritage and as possible in all our coverage. That means to another writer.
responsibility very seriously. While our identifying the best products from
focus is obviously on the personal multiple perspectives – the best Labs testing
computer the very definition of the PC has performance, best value and best features APC strives to conduct the most rigorous,
changed and shifted markedly since the and, ideally, the products that offer the best objective scientific tests and benchmarks
early 1980s. As such, we touch on many mix of these three attributes. we can so as to make our reviews as
other areas of tech, too, from smartphones As a matter of policy, reviews published unbiased as possible. We use a variety of
and apps to peripherals, accessories, and in APC are not shared with product-makers tools and programs for this, including
beyond. We have two goals: to find the best prior to print. We will contact vendors many freely available benchmark suites for
modern tech and to help you make the under certain conditions; for example, if assessing media encoding, general system
most of it. we have a problem testing a product that performance including storage read and
seems to indicate it may be faulty, or to write speeds, gaming and battery life.

APC TESTBED THE CURRENT APC TESTBED APC EDITOR’S CHOICE

USED IN THE LABS FOR BENCHMARKING ALL When a product scores 4.5 out of 5, it carries the
COMPONENTS. THIS TESTBED IS UPDATED AS NEW Editor’s Choice Award. These are products that exceed
AND RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY COMES ON STREAM. expectations and deliver a quality experience up there
with the very best.
CPU Intel Core i9 12900K Motherboard Asus Maximus Z690 Apex
Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition RAM 2x16GB
APC HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
You will see this award if a reviewed product has scored
G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 Power Supply Corsair AX1000 Storage Seagate four out of five stars. It means most people can expect
Firecuda 530 2TB Case Thermaltake Core P8 Cooling Cooler Master Flux satisfying performance from the product, and that we
PL360 AIO Operating system Windows 11 Pro 22H2 would use it ourselves.

32 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 11 OLED

PRICE From $2,699 +keyboard WEB microsoft.com

Microsoft Surface
Pro 11 OLED
Windows and Arm together shows how good
life can be without Intel.

We are now up to the 11th edition of the

Surface Pro, and the latest model is
powered by the new Arm-based
Qualcomm 12-core Snapdragon X Elite
CPU with Adreno GPU and Hexagon
NPU. The now iconic detachable 2-in-1
from Microsoft features a 13in, 2880 x
1920 (3:2) OLED touchscreen with a
120Hz refresh rate, 600 nits SPECS W11 Home; 13in, 2880 x 1920 pixel resolution, 600 nits, 115% DCI-P3; Snapdragon Elite X CPU; 16GB
brightness and 115% DCI-P3 colour LPDDR5 RAM; 512GB SSD; 52Wh battery (15h 45min video playback); 28.7 x 20.9 x 0.93 cm; 0.895 kg.
accuracy. The display is a joy to use day
to day – the only caveat being that Surface Pro, but does bring new features, Performance from the X Elite CPU is
while text is sharp at normal viewing such as wireless connectivity so it can be excellent (though slightly behind the
distances, up close the touchscreen detached and used anywhere. The Flex Surface Laptop) and it easily bests most
array is faintly visible as a fine grid. keyboard also includes the latest slim pen Intel competitors, and keeps up with the
The X Elite equipped Surface Pro starts (with a built-in wireless charging and Apple M3 and new AMD Ryzen 9 CPUs.
from $2,699 for the 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage recess) and has a large glass While most software works fine on Arm
model we have for testing, but costs haptic trackpad. Being able to detach the (natively or emulated), full compatibility
$3,599 if you want 32GB of RAM and a 1TB keyboard makes the Surface Pro even with is still a work in progress. As are
SSD. There’s also a slightly lower spec more flexible, though typing on it can be a many of the Copilot+ AI features, which
10-Core Snapdragon X Plus configuration little bouncy. The new Slim Pen is also we’ll save for a future review once they
that has a 2880 x 1920 LCD rather than the much improved, with a flatter style that is are fully available for testing. The Surface
OLED display, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB or easier to hold and haptic feedback. If Pro is fan cooled but very quiet in all but
512GB SSD and starts from $1,899. The wireless is not for you, $499.95 buys a heavy or prolonged workloads. Despite
pricing seems very competitive until you standard keyboard with smaller trackpad the small 52Wh battery, the Pro lasts over
realise the Surface keyboard is an – though it still comes with the slim pen 10 hours in typical office workloads, and
optional extra. The Flex keyboard (as – while $309.95 gets the same keyboard can give up to 15h, 45m of video playback.
tested) adds $769.95 to the price of the with no pen. The Pro can be charged at 65W via
either of the Type-C USB4 ports, or using
the Microsoft magnetic connector. These
BENCHMARK RESULTS Microsoft Surface Pro HP OmniBook X are the only ports, and all three can do
CPU Snapdragon X Elite Snapdragon X Elite video output or connect to a dock. The
X1E-80-100 X1E-78-100 Surface Pro also has Wi-Fi 7, front and
GPU Qualcomm Adreno Qualcomm Adreno rear cameras (the former supporting
(3.8 TFLOPS) (3.8TFLOPS) facial recognition) and 2W speakers that
Battery Capacity 52Wh 59Wh are pretty decent considering the
RRP $3,469 $2,599 tablet-like form factor. All this fits into a
Cinebench R23 - CPU (multi-threaded) 9,881 8,465 very portable 895 gram chassis that
Cinebench R24 - CPU (multi-threaded) 845 814 measures 28.7 x 20.9 x 0.93 cm – plus
Cinebench R24 - CPU (single-threaded) 123 101 another 0.3cm and 0.36 grams for the
Geekbench 6 - Multi-core (score) 14,306 13,006 keyboard.
Geekbench 6 - Single-core (score) 2,688 2,363
Geekbench 6 - GPU (score) 20,154 20,249
CrossMark 1,560 1,239 VERDICT
3DMark Time Spy 1,876 1,815
3DMark Steel Nomad Light 1,991 1,933
3DMark Night Raid 25,057 24,981 While pricey, the Pro 11 is our favourite Surface
Battery life - 1080p video playback (h:min) 15:45 26:19 release yet thanks to the great performance,
CrystalDiskMark Read (MB/s) 3,615 3,381 excellent battery life and new features.
CrystalDiskMark Write (MB/s) 2,532 2,963 Lindsay Handmer

APC MAGAZINE 33
 LABS | ASUS ZENBOOK S 16

future Microsoft update to fully enable

the AI features. In the meantime, AMD
has released AI software such as Amuse
2.0 image generation, while Asus has a
number of handy apps and tools that
include an option to screen share between
the laptop and your other devices.
On the left the S 16 has dual USB4
Type-C ports that support
DisplayPortvideo and 65W PD charging
– though we wish there was one on the
right as well. The laptop has a single high
speed (10Gbps) USB-A port, HDMI, a
3.5mm combo jack and a high speed, full
size SD 4.0 card reader. You also get the
latest Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, a facial
recognition supporting webcam and
Haman/kardon speakers that sound
PRICE $3,499 WEB asus.com/au pretty good.

Asus Zenbook S 16
The spacious backlit keyboard is much
nicer to type on than the 1.1mm of travel
might suggest, and while the trackpad is
not haptic, it’s oversized and very
responsive. The touchscreen and stylus
work well, but the display can’t fold flat,
A premium ultraportable 16in laptop that offers making prolonged use tiring. While the
1.5kg weight is accurate, Asus lists the S
great performance yet long battery life. 16 as 1.19 to 1.29 cm thick, whereas we
measured a still sleek 1.29 to 1.39cm,
plus another 0.46cm for the rubber foot
The Asus ZenBook S16 stands out as better than most – as you’d expect at the rear.
one of the first laptops to feature the considering the AU$3,499 RRP. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU uses a 28W
new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, The Zenbook is well equipped, with a TDP in the S 16 and easily keeps up with or
which boasts efficient performance 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED touchscreen, outperforms competing CPUs (such as the
and a 50 TOPs NPU. The laptop has a 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The display Snapdragon X Elite, Intel Ultra 7 or Apple
big 16in form factor, but uses a high is vibrant and bright (400 nits), very M3 Pro) in a similar thin and light form
strength ceramic aluminum smooth (120Hz refresh rate), has great factor. The integrated Radeon 890M is
construction to be both robust yet colour accuracy (100% DCI-P3) and quite powerful, and easily bests the
lightweight. The S 16 looks fantastic comes with an Asus drawing stylus. The Adreno graphics in the Snapdragon CPUs,
on a desk, and the build quality is S 16 is CoPilot+ ready but waiting for a and keeps up with all but the highest end
Intel and Apple integrated graphics. The S
16 can handle casual gaming and playable
BENCHMARK RESULTS Asus ZenBook S 16 Microsoft Surface Laptop
frame rates are possible on lower detail
CPU AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Snapdragon X Elite
settings. The AMD NPU isn’t yet
GPU Radeon 890M Qualcomm Adreno
supported widely enough to make a
Battery Capacity 78Wh 66Wh
meaningful performance comparison
RRP $3,499 $3,699
against its competitors. Under heavy load
Cinebench R24 - CPU (multi-threaded) 944 972
Cinebench R24 - CPU (single-threaded) 115 124 (in performance mode) the S 16 is mildly
Geekbench 5 - Multi-core (score) (x86) 12,425 13,737 noisy, but cool and virtually silent in
Geekbench 5 - Single-core (score) (x86) 2,107 1,731 normal use. The HX 370 is an efficient CPU
Geekbench 6 - Multi-core (score) 13,818 14,698 and gives the Asus Zenbook S 16 an
Geekbench 6 - Single-core (score) 2,840 2,835 impressive battery life – we managed over
Geekbench 6 - GPU (score) 34,924 20,136 14 hours of work unplugged, and up to 20
3DMark Time Spy (score) 3,192 1,877 hours of video playback from the 78Wh
3DMark Night Raid (score) 27,163 25,057 battery.
Sid Meier's: Civilization VI fps (1080p, Ultra) 63.2 12.9
Battery life - 1080p video playback (h:min) 20:09 25:51 VERDICT
CrystalDiskMark Read (MB/s) 5,019 3,674
CrystalDiskMark Write (MB/s) 3,384 3,059
The Asus Zenbook S 16 offers premium
performance in the ultraportable category and
SPECS W11 Home; 16in, 2880 x 1800 pixel resolution, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3; AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 competes well with alternatives such as the
Processor; 32GB LPDDR5X RAM; 1TB SSD; 78Wh battery (20h 9min video playback); 35.36 x 24.3 x 1.29 Surface Laptop 7 or Macbook Pro.
~ 1.39 cm; 1.5kg. Lindsay Handmer

34 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | AMD RYZEN AI 9 HX 370 CPU

PRICE N/A WEB amd.com

AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU

The latest processor from AMD gives higher end x86 performance without
sacrificing efficiency.
of our benchmarks are not yet fully
supported. The key benefit of the NPU is
reduced power use – it can handle AI
workloads around 35x more efficiently
than a CPU. This in turn means less heat
generated (and more performance overall
with cooler, quieter operation) and longer
battery life for many workloads. For now
NPUs are not well utilised, but as a key
part of the Windows with CopIlot+
rollout, we expect to see a lot more useful
functionality in the future.
We ran the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
through our full gamut of tests, and
Hot off the fab, the new AMD Ryzen TOPs NPU, while the Ryzen AI 9 HX 365 overall it performs extremely well. It
AI 9 HX 370 (codename: Strix Point) has 10 slightly slower clocked cores (4x happily bests its nearest competitors,
uses the latest 4nm AMD Zen 5 Zen 5 up to 5GHz, 6x Zen 5c up to 3.3GHz), such as the Intel Ultra 7 155H and Zen 4
architecture and incorporates a 12 CU Radeon 880M iGPU, a 50 TOPs based AMD Ryzen 7 8840U, and does so
improved CPU performance, an NPU and the same 15W to 54W TDP. while using less power. The HX 370 is
upgraded iGPU and an XDNA-2 based While the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 neck and neck with the Snapdragon Elite
NPU. The HX 370 is the middle child debuted at Computex back in June, it’s X in most CPU workloads, and pulls
of the Ryzen AI 300 series and only just available in actual laptops – we ahead for anything GPU focused. In
features 12 cores (4x Zen 5 up 5.1GHz, tested it in the Asus Zenbook S 16. While ultraportable machines with limited
8x Zen 5c up to 3.3GHz), a 16CU the CPU can boost higher for short TDPs, the HX 370 even beats the Intel
Radeon 890M iGPU and a 50 TOPs periods, the S 16 uses the standard 28W Ultra 9 in many tasks, though the 890M
NPU. The CPU can be configured with TDP. In this setup the CPU, GPU and NPU iGPU is slightly slower than the fastest
a TDP from 15W all the way up to 54W combo can work together to provide 80 Intel Arc graphics.
in machines with enough cooling. TOPs on AI workloads. For now testing The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 handles
The very slightly more powerful Ryzen and comparing performance of the 50 medium level workloads very well, and
AI 9 HX 375 has the same spec, but a 55 TOPs NPU by itself is quite hard and most when used in the Zenbook S 16, the
efficient nature of the CPU makes it easy
CPU AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Intel Ultra 7 155H to get through a full day of work
GPU Radeon 890M Intel Arc A370M unplugged. Running at the full TDP is not
TDP 28W 28W as efficient, but offers excellent peak
PCMark 10 7,577 7,023 performance (and more heat and noise)
Cinebench R23 - CPU (multi-threaded) 17,409 17,356 when needed. Low load power use is also
Cinebench R23 - CPU (single-threaded) 1,962 1,728 very impressive – not quite as good as the
Cinebench R24 - CPU (multi-threaded) 944 881 Snapdragon X Elite CPUs or the Apple M3,
Cinebench R24 - CPU (single-threaded) 115 101 but much better than any comparable
Geekbench 5 - Multi-core (score) 12,462 12,189 Intel CPUs. The HX 370 sips power during
Geekbench 5 - Single-core (score) 2,141 1,737 video playback, and the Asus Zenbook S
Geekbench 6 - Multi-core (score) 13,818 12,189 16 (78Wh battery, 16in, 3K OLED screen at
Geekbench 6 - Single-core (score) 2,840 2,379 200 nits, Wi-Fi on) lasted 20h, 9m playing
Geekbench 6 - GPU (score) 34,924 33,922 a 1080p movie on repeat.
Geekbench ML (AI) 3,397 2,901
CrossMark 1,804 1,711
3DMark Time Spy (score) 3,192 3,158 VERDICT
3DMark Night Raid 27,163 27,004
Sid Meier's: Civilization VI fps (1080p, Ultra) 63.2 42.1
The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU is a fantastic new
addition to the increasingly impressive AMD
SPECS Cores: 12; Threads: 24; Base clock: 2 GHz; Boost clock: 5.1 GHz; L3 Cache: 24 MB; L2 Cache: 12 lineup, and is well worth considering over
MB; Unlocked: No; Max PCIe lanes: 20; Graphics: Radeon 890M Graphics; Memory support (up to): Qualcomm or Intel CPUs.
DDR5-5600 (LPDDR5x-7500); Processor Base Power (W): 15; Maximum Package Power (W): 54. Lindsay Handmer

APC MAGAZINE 35
 LABS | AMD RYZEN 7 9700X

PRICE $609 (9700X), $479 (9600X) WEB amd.com

AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

The second entry in the desktop Ryzen 9000 series throws eight Zen 5 cores
up against its six-core 9600X stablemate.

Zen 5 is finally here for desktop processing cores and cache, and one course, with more L1 cache, more
PCs. The first releases are the six IOD (Input/Output Die) that’s home internal bandwidth, superior floating
core Ryzen 5 9600X, and with two to a tiny integrated GPU, PCIe and point support, a fancier branch
more cores, four more threads, and USB hubs, and the RAM controllers. prediction unit, and so on. The changes
a tiny bit more clock, the Ryzen 7 Where the CCD in the 9600X has are pretty comprehensive and AMD
9700X. two cores disabled, the 9700X comes claims that Zen 5 has an average IPC
AMD has stuck to the same with a fully enabled eight-core (instruction per clock) uplift of 16%
fundamental floorplan for the 9700X chiplet and a marginally higher over Zen 4.
as it has with the last generation boost clock (5.5 vs 5.4GHz). I won’t reiterate all the motherboard
7700X and the Zen 3-powered 5700X. swapping and BIOS shenanigans I
Underneath the heatspreader, you’ve Zen 5 highlights experienced testing the 9600X in this
got two chiplets: one CCD (Core That 8.3 billion transistor CCD sports review, but it’s worth noting they
Complex Die), which houses all the the latest AMD Zen 5 architecture, of impacted the Ryzen 7 9700X just as
much. Basically, the AM5 motherboard
I used (a ROG Crosshair X670E Hero)
“I won’t reiterate all the motherboard swapping was supplying the chip with a little bit
and BIOS shenanigans I experienced testing the too much power when idle, resulting in
slightly elevated temperature – this
9600X in this review, but it’s worth noting they isn’t something exclusive to Asus

impacted the Ryzen 7 9700X just as much.” boards but not every configuration will
experience the issue.

SPECS Cores: 8; Threads: 16; Base clock: 3.8GHz; Boost clock: 5.5GHz; L3 Cache: 32 MB; L2 Cache: 8 MB; Unlocked: Yes; Max PCIe lanes: 24; Graphics: Radeon
Future

Graphics; Memory support (up to): DDR5-5800; Processor Base Power (W): 65; Maximum Package Power (W): 88.

36 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | AMD RYZEN 7 9700X

BENCHMARK RESULTS Ryzen 7 9700X Ryzen 7 9600X Ryzen 7 5700 X3D Core i5 14600K

RRP $609 $479 $359 $439

Cyberpunk 2077 (FPS 1080p, RT Ultra) 110 106 113 116

Factorio (time to process 5,000 updates) 20.5 20.7 16.1 23.6

3DMark Time Spy (CPU score) 14,255 10,575 10,980 17,919

Cinebench 2024.1.0 (single core) 135 133 86 119

Blender 4.2.0 92 71 62 93

Photo editing (UL Procyon) 10,031 9,007 6,965 8,468

That said, the 9700X did idle a little “The biggest eye-opener was the photo
cooler than the 9600X I tested, resting
around the 45 °C mark, although it editing benchmark. If this is the kind of task
does have a marginally lower base you’re going to be throwing regularly at your
clock (3.7 vs 3.8 GHz).
The power niggles also meant that CPU, it’s self-evident which one you’d choose
the chip wasn’t able to quite hit its full
stride when running heavily
and it’s the Ryzen 7 9700X”
multithreaded applications, such as
Cinebench and Blender. I have no 3 – close enough to not really matter not only easier to keep cool, but it’s also
doubt that these will be fixed in time, – and it’s on par or ahead in the others. cheaper to run and won’t deluge your
and quite possibly very soon, but if The fractionally higher boost clock office space with copious amounts of
you were looking to be a Zen 5 chip for means it’s only slightly faster at heat. Compared to the Intel chips, it’s an
demanding content creation work, processing updates in Factorio than its absolute win.
you might want to hold off until the six-core sibling but the 3D V-cache in
issues are all resolved. the Ryzen 7 5700X3D means it will Conclusion
Something else that the Ryzen 7 always come second place to that kind Zen 5 has lots of potential and it’s
9700X has in common with the of chip. In the productivity and content perhaps too early to tell just how good it
six-core sibling is a 65 W TDP (88 W creation benchmarks, it’s by far the can be, but what’s there already is
maximum power limit). That’s much fastest 16-thread chip we’ve tested. certainly worth paying attention to.
better than the 105 W TDP of the Zen 4 The biggest eye-opener was the photo If you’ve been holding off upgrading
7700X – it’s also half that of Intel’s editing benchmark. If this is the kind your PC, waiting to see what Zen 5 is
Core i5 14600K and Core i7 14700K – of task you’re going to be throwing like, then I’d say it’s worth considering
and just as with the 9600X, I couldn’t regularly at your CPU, it’s self-evident the Ryzen 7 9700X and a solid B650
get it to go over 75 °C no matter what which one you’d choose and it’s the motherboard (I also tested it in an Asus
task I threw at the processor. With an Ryzen 7 9700X. And just like the ROG Strix B650-A Gaming and it
Asus ROG Strix LC III 360 AIO liquid 9600X, it does all this with a maximum performed just as well as in the X670E).
cooler, it happily ran at 65 °C in game power budget of 88 W. That means it’s Pair them with a decent DDR5-6000
testing in a hot office. dual-channel RAM kit and you’ll have
Not that you need such a huge an excellent, multi-purpose PC.
cooler. I tried a cheap twin 120 mm air When it comes to PC gaming, all
system and the 9700X ran at enthusiasts now care about are the X3D
around 72 °C, with little in the way models and for good reason, so if you
of heat being pushed out of the test want a new Zen 5 chip just for gaming,
bench. For anyone used to a then you’re better off skipping the
modern Intel gaming PC, it’s a 9700X and waiting for the inevitable
very pleasant surprise, I can 9800X3D. But if you want a really solid,
assure you. all-round processor, then the Ryzen 7
9700X will fit the bill – once all the
Performance power issues have been sorted out.
Since most games don’t make full
use of eight or more cores, when it VERDICT
comes to the CPU workload in an
engine, it’s not surprising to see
the Ryzen 7 9700X only being a Zen 5 can be really fast at times with good
little faster than the 9600X in all-round performance, and it sips away at
some of our gaming tests. It runs power, though you’ll probably want the X3D
very close to the Core i5 14600K in model for gaming.
AMD

Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate Nick Evanson

APC MAGAZINE 37
 LABS | SAMSUNG VIEWFINITY S80UD

PRICE $799 WEB https://www.samsung.com/au

Samsung ViewFinity S80UD

Can a big, Samsung office monitor impress in a crowded market?

After being deluged with expensive,

bleeding-edge gaming monitors, it was
almost refreshing to have Samsung’s
ViewFinity S80UD arrive at our door.
It’s a 32-inch, UHD monitor whose
features focus on OH&S more than
gaming. Sounds exciting? Let’s find
out.
The S80UD’s 32-inch, IPS panel has a
non-reflective coating and a high, 3,840 x
2,160 resolution. It’s bright (350-nit),
uniformly lit and displays a very sharp,
crisp and clear Windows Desktop with
vibrant colours.
We turned on HDR which dropped the
brightness a little but kept the Windows
usable. When watching multimedia we
found that contrast was generally very
good with many details being revealed in
bright and dark areas. However, it could “But, the target market isn’t gamers. It’s people
struggle to reveal details in particularly
dark areas when bright lights were also who want the productivity afforded by a large,
involved (the contrast ratio is only 3,000:1)
and true blacks were somewhat washed
high-resolution screen and features that will allow
out – but only movie buffs would gripe. you to quickly sit down in front of it and work all
Both colourful and monochromatic
transitions were smooth.
day without going blind.”
The main stumbling block came, as
expected, from the 60Hz refresh rate The stand has generous amounts of display content from a laptop and work as
which combined with a relatively slow, adjustment in every direction and is a KVM switch with a separate PC. There’s
5ms response time to render fast-moving simple to put together thanks to its clip-on even an Ethernet port to provide wired
objects a little blurry. It’s not ‘claw your stem and twist-on base. The latter has a networking to a connected laptop – so
own eyes out’ levels of smear, but you small footprint and does a good job at there’s practically a built-in docking
won’t like playing fast and keeping the screen stable. It’s station.
frantic games on it. not going to win any catwalk The OSD settings are operated by a
But, the target market isn’t competitions, but the black slightly hard-to-reach joystick button at
gamers. It’s people who want base, bezel and stand have the base of the screen. This provides access
the productivity afforded by a sharp lines that project a to the usual pre-set picture modes and
large, high-resolution screen sense of quality. numerous manual image adjustments.
and features that will allow The S80UD is particularly Ultimately, the ViewFinity S80UD is
you to quickly sit down in front office friendly. In addition to well-built, solid, office-friendly monitor
of it and work all day without the usual HDMI (2.0) and which enhances productivity with its
going blind. To this end, it’s DisplayPort (1.2), connectors large, high-res display and KVM. It’s not
factory-calibrated for colour there’s a three-port USB 3.0 the cheapest at $799 but large offices will
accuracy, has a TUV hub where the USB-A ports get cheaper pricing. Arguably its primary
certification for eye care, low are all easily accessed at the rival is its S70 predecessor which has
blue light settings and top right. These work in slightly lower specs and no USB-C port but
Samsung’s bespoke anti-flicker conjunction with a USB-C can be found at half the price. But, the
technology. port that can charge and S80UD is best for a modern office.

VERDICT

SPECS 32-inch, matte, 3,840 x 2,160, HDR10, 60Hz, IPS. 5ms GTG response time. 350-nit brightness.
3,000:1 contrast. 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB-C, 3x USB-A 3.0, 1x USB-B 3.0 upstream, An impressive office-focused monitor that can
headphone jack, Ethernet. Tilt +25° -2°, Swivel +30° -30°, Pivot 92°, Height +120mm. 714 x 585 x boost productivity but isn’t cheap.
220mm, 6.9KG. Nick Ross

38 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | ASUS ROG SWIFT OLED PG32UCDP

PRICE $2,399 WEB rog.asus.com

Asus ROG Swift OLED

PG32UCDP
Has Asus made the ultimate monitor?

We’ve seen several ultimate gaming quite as vibrant as other QD-OLED and colour gamut (great for designers) while
monitors in recent months but, from the WOLED screens. This is because Asus has G-Sync and Freesync Premium Pro banish
specs alone, Asus might just have made (finally) achieved the alchemy of a matte image tearing. There’s also Asus’ OLED
the most ultimate: 480Hz refresh rate, OLED finish that’s (practically) completely anti-flicker tech to further-maintain image
matte-screen HDR OLED, 32-inch 4K. banished the blight of reflections. It’s done integrity and esports players can quickly
It’s like a spoiled child got greedy and this without the QD-OLED-like washing drop the screen-size to a competition-ready
Asus obliged its demands. out of true blacks too. 24.5 or 27-inches.
There is a caveat: 480Hz is only There’s also excellent HDR performance The monitor has design flourishes to
achievable at a Full HD resolution (it’s whereby details are revealed in bright and match the top-tier panel: the helicopter-
240Hz at UHD), but for the FPS gamers who dark areas, bright lights make you squint blade-like tripod stand is robust (albeit
want such speed, that’ll suit them down to (the screen has a high, 450-nit rating) and very wide) and has RGB-logo projected
the ground. We didn’t think we could tell both colourful and monochromatic downlighting. There’s a huge RGB ROG
the difference between 360Hz and 480Hz transitions are silky smooth. A low-blue- logo on the back and a nice little ROG logo
but (along with the rapid 0.03ms pixel light filter suits all-day work and play. on the front – all of which can be managed
response time) there’s essentially no The OSD is full of intuitive preset and by Asus Aura Sync software or the OSD.
motion blur at all. Running the fine-tuning image adjustments plus OLED Also worth mentioning is that it comes
TestUFO benchmark delivered pin-sharp care tools and Ai-based gaming with a three-year warranty that includes
alien eyes that we’ve only glimpsed on enhancements. It’s lag-free and easily image burn-in.
BenQ’s skunkworks Tn-based panels controllable via a joystick button plus two The trouble when you try to be all things
– and those are extremely limited in their hot keys. There are also useful tools like to everybody is that compromise can creep
resolution, colours, contrast and onscreen crosshairs (AI-based dynamic in, but it’s no exaggeration to say that the
viewing angles. colour and zoomed-in-night-vision sniper PG32UCDP sits at the top of every list of
The PG32UCDP, on the other hand, is an view) and a MOBA map monitor (which every user group – whether you’re a worker,
WOLED panel – old-school in a world of 3rd- flashes if a group battle appears on the designer, multimedia enthusiast or
gen QD-OLED. That means that blacks are minimap) plus common features like gamer. At $2,399 it’s very expensive but
black, contrast is measured in the millions Shadow Boost contrast flattening. It what do you expect from the best monitor
and colours are super vibrant... just not supports 99 per cent of the tricky DCI-P3 ever made?

VERDICT
SPECS 32-inch, matte, 3,840 x 2,160, HDR10, 480Hz, WOLED. 0.03ms GTG response time. 450-nit
brightness. 1,500,000:1 contrast. 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x
USB-B 3.0 upstream, headphone jack, SPDIF out. Tilt +25° -2°, Swivel +30° -30°, Pivot 92°, Height The best monitor ever made.
+120mm. 714 x 579 x 274mm, 7.3KG. Nick Ross

APC MAGAZINE 39
 LABS | WD GOLD 24TB

“Who would want

ArmorCache?
Someone who needs
data protection without
losing performance.”

PRICE $1,262 WEB www.westerndigital.com

WD Gold 24TB
No surprises, providing satisfactory performance for mechanical storage.

The WD Gold 24TB comes as the WD’s OptiNAND technology is WD’s 24TB retail model. These all have similar
largest capacity hard drive currently way of keeping up in the capacity chase. specifications and should perform
available – other 24TB drives exist, but Certain data can be written to flash similarly as well. If you’re looking to
nothing larger can be purchased. It memory instead of the HDD platters, and maximise your storage capacity,
competes with the best hard drives as this is metadata, performance is also particularly for desktop use, you can’t
primarily by offering more storage, but improved due to the flash’s superior really go wrong with any of these. The
at a higher cost per GB. While WD’s random access performance. The flash is SkyHawk AI targets visual applications,
Gold line does share the flash-based also non-volatile and allows the drive to be including surveillance, and the IronWolf
OptiNAND technology with its Red Pro run with or without a write cache, while Pro provides a three-year
NAS line of hard disk drives, it has a having power loss protection even with data recovery service. The Red Pro is great
unique feature to help it stand out: the volatile cache enabled, as data can be for NAS, and the Exos X24 is a good
ArmorCache. flushed in time. This capability is known all-round choice.
Who would want ArmorCache? as ArmorCache and only applies to the The WD Gold costs more than any of the
Someone who needs data protection 22TB and 24TB Gold. It’s the primary others, and as such it should only be
without losing performance. In an selling point in comparison to competing chosen if you specifically need the
environment that can use write caching, drives, though with journaling ArmorCache feature. If you don’t need the
the Gold can safely write data out on power filesystems, the actual benefit is absolute highest density possible, the 22TB
loss. In a stricter environment where write questionable. Gold has a lower price per GB, but at that
caching is denied, the Gold can maintain In our real-world DiskBench test, the point you’re probably better off picking up
performance by leveraging the benefits of 24TB Gold comes into its own. It has very the Seagate Exos X20 20TB – that’s
its flash and justifying that price tag. fast read and write rates, and, on the currently the lowest price per GB for a
Differences from the 22TB model are whole, a good copy transfer rate. As the 20TB or larger hard drive.
minor. The 24TB model goes from 291MB/s platters have a higher areal density and
to 298MB/s for the maximum sustained hold more data than the 22TB version, it
transfer rate. It’s still using a 10-platter outpaces that drive as well. It takes the top
solution, with the side benefit that it’s also spot in the 50GB write test, and comes in VERDICT
more power-efficient, operating at 6.8W just a hair behind the Toshiba N300 18TB
instead of 7.1W. Otherwise, the warranty is in the 6.5GB read test, while it falls a bit
the same, comparable to its direct peers at further behind in the 50GB copy test and It’s pricey but includes unique features
five years in length, with a 550TB/year places fifth. thanks to the OptiNAND and ArmorCache
workload limit and a 2.5 million hours Currently the Gold, Red Pro, IronWolf technologies.
MTBF. Pro, Exos and SkyHawk AI lines all offer a Shane Downing

40 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | SANDISK PRO-BLADE

PRICE $245 (1TB); $392 (2TB); $613 (4TB) WEB www.westerndigital.com

SanDisk Pro-Blade
Rugged and portable storage for professionals.

Western Digital unveiled the mouth-

filling SanDisk Professional Pro-Blade
modular SSD ecosystem in mid-2022
to serve the needs of the professional
market. The Pro-Blade family
comprises of three product lines:
compact and sturdy NVMe drives
(Pro-Blade SSD Mags), a USB 3.2 Gen
2x2 (20Gb/s) enclosure for the mags
(Pro-Blade Transport), and a four-bay
Thunderbolt enclosure (Pro-Blade
Station) directly compatible with the
mags. The mags are essentially M.2
2280 NVMe SSDs with a proprietary
connector that directly exposes the
internal PCIe Gen3 x4 interface, albeit
with support for a higher number
of mating cycles compared to the
native M.2 2280 internal SSD one.
We’re taking a detailed look at the
internals of the Pro-Blade SSD Mag and “The mags have a gumstick form factor. They are
the Pro-Blade Transport enclosure,
followed by a discussion of the results of
essentially a thermal cladding for an M.2 2280
putting the 2TB and 4TB combinations NVMe SSD with a customised PCIe Gen3 x4
through a rigorous direct-attached
storage performance evaluation routine. connector and provide a snug fit.”
The Pro-Blade SSD Mags are available
in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities. The mags storage devices, where workloads are peaks at 8.26W. Fortunately, there is an
have a gumstick form factor. They are largely sequential in nature. idling mode for both, where the power
essentially a thermal cladding for an M.2 The 4TB version can write around 60GB consumption drops to 0.34W. Bridge-
2280 NVMe SSD with a customised PCIe at 1.8GB/s-plus before moving to a based solutions incorporating SSDs
Gen3 x4 connector and provide a snug fit. direct-to-TLC write speed of 1.6GB/s. On with DRAM are expected to be power
The enclosure has a stylish and solid the other hand, the 2TB version can write hungry, and the Pro-Blade Transport
feel to it, with the ridges on the side around 28GB at 1.8GB/s-plus before configurations are no exception.
giving users additional traction. Western settling down to 1.5GB/s for the rest of the Fortunately, the devices provide
Digital utilises an ASMedia ASM2364 workload. Temperatures end up at 56°C excellent performance consistency
bridge chip under the thermal pad in and 52°C for the two variants. The to go along with this power profile.
the Transport enclosure’s board. The SSD performance profile of the 4TB variant Based on the evaluation of different
Mag incorporates the Western Digital matches that of the SanDisk Extreme Pro portable SSDs and the current pricing,
WD_Black SN750E M.2 2280 Gen3 x4 v2 of the same capacity. The Crucial X10 the performance of the Pro-Blade SSD
NVMe SSD with plenty of thermal paste Pro 4TB is able to maintain 1.6GB/s Mag/Transport is very compelling. The
ensuring good contact with the metal throughout, but it doesn’t have the initial thermal design is top notch, and the
sides. This SSD uses an in-house SanDisk 1.8GB/s-plus burst. Other portable SSDs value proposition is excellent for
controller along with 3D TLC NAND (BiCS (PSSDs) suffer from significant professional users. Casual users and
4 96L 3D TLC) and DRAM for the flash performance loss in the duration of the even prosumers may probably be better
translation layer. test. Overall, this performance profile is served by cheaper PSSDs that are more
Flash-based storage devices tend to ideal for the sustained heavy write power efficient.
slow down in unpredictable ways when workloads seen in the content capture
subjected to a large number of small-sized industry.
random writes, though such workloads The 4TB version has a peak power VERDICT
are uncommon for direct-attached consumption of 9.58W, while the 2TB one

Fitting standard M.2 drives into non-standard

housing seems counterproductive, but
SPECS 4TB (1TB, 2TB options); Port: USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C, PCIe 3.0 x4; Bridge: ASMedia ASM 2364; Power: performance and build are excellent.
Bus; Cable: 50cm Type-C; Size: 109.8x28 x7.5mm 45g (Mag), 130.4x71.5x16mm 165g (Transport). Ganesh TS

APC MAGAZINE 41
 LABS | NETGEAR ORBI 970 SERIES QUAD-BAND WIFI 7 MESH 3-PACK

PRICE $4,299 WEB www.netgear.com/au

Netgear Orbi 970 Series

Quad-band WiFi 7 Mesh 3-Pack
Netgear has literally made a mesh for clueless, middle-aged rich men. Want one?

We’ve been very impressed with Wi-Fi

7, as its performance and coverage has
opened the door to applications like
UHD video editing across wireless
networks. Now, here’s a new Netgear
mesh system that costs... wait for it...
are you ready? Actually, have a guess
first... we’ll wait... for context,
TP-Link’s fully-featured, high-
performing, best-in class Deco BE85
rival looks similar and costs a
whopping $2,649.
Got a number in mind? OK here we go...
[takes deep breath]... $4,299. That’s not a
typo.
We asked Netgear who it was aimed at
and were told, “High-income-earning
($250K+) males aged 35-54 who want to
future-proof their home, improve their
Wi-Fi, get whole home coverage and who
want the latest tech and gigabit internet
speeds. Their interests include smart
homes, streaming, luxury vehicles, real
estate, renovation, luxury lifestyle, home
security, tech, news, investing, sports,
travel, gaming.” I’m sure we can all
picture someone like that and have a pet
name for them. If you’re female, 34 or 55, the target market will gripe. access them in the ‘Advanced Advanced’
you can’t have it, apparently. Set-up is simple via the app though it’s Settings in a desktop browser tab. There’s
Can a router be a status symbol? It’s a bit underfeatured for our liking. The no USB port and subsequently no
certainly one of the smartest-looking main screen offers device management USB-based features.
mesh kits. But it’s still plastic and neither and some techie analytics in addition to Netgear hasn’t made a habit of
encrusted with diamonds nor celebrity- the Trend Micro-backed Netgear Armor delivering overpriced products for those
designed. Our experience involves security. The latter scans everything on who don’t know any better, so we hope
renting a Sydney weatherboard cottage, your network, offers tips and advice and this is a one-off aberration. The Orbi 970
so you’ll need to decide if it’s the sort of provides protective apps for each device. could be a decent product if it cost
device that will impress visitors to your A year’s subscription is included but after much-less-than half what it does, but its
mega-mansion. that it’s $100 per year. price and is abhorrent as is its
Speaking of which, we ran our usual There’s also the ability to turn on the justification for being so. It’s also
performance tests and it matched guest network and, if you dig a bit deeper, under-featured and offers the type of
expectations: it downloaded large video you can specify a 2.4GHz IoT network too. performance that’s been available on the
files at well over a gigabit per second, Parental controls are limited unless you market for many months already –
both up close and two rooms away. 15m spend even more ($70 per year) on courtesy of the superior TP-Link Deco
away, in the garden, we saw it drop to Netgear’s My Time app. If you want the BE85.
190Mbps which is more of a dip than we’d standard features, like Static Routing
like, but it’s a challenging test and few in and Port Forwarding, you’ll need to
VERDICT

SPECS Speed: Wi-Fi7 27,000Mbps | Connectivity: 1 x (1 x 10Gbps WAN, 1 x 10Gbps LAN, 4 x 2.5Gbps Cynical targeting, under-featured and
LAN); 2x (1 x 10Gbps LAN, 2x 2.5Gbps LAN) | Features: quad-Core CPU, separate IoT network, appalling value for money.
Netgear Armour security protection. Nick Ross

42 APC MAGAZINE
 LABS | ULTIMATE EARS EVERBOOM | TURTLE BEACH STEALTH 600 GEN 3

SPECS Dimensions: 110 SPECS 50mm speaker drivers; Uni-directional microphone; 80-hour battery
mm (L) x 85 mm (W) x life; Two-metre charging cable; 218x198x95mm; 301g.
205 mm (H), weight 960
g (speaker only);
Maximum sound level: 90
dBC (normal) and 91dBC
(outdoor) on the ground
plane; Drivers: Two
56.6x56.2 mm active full
range transducers and
two 49.4x87 mm passive
radiators.

PRICE $179 WEB au.turtlebeach.com

PRICE $349.95 WEB www.ultimateears.com/en-au

Turtle Beach Stealth
Ultimate Ears Everboom 600 Gen 3
Party tunes everywhere all at once. Talking heads.
Boasting 360 degree sound direction around the unit. US company Turtle Beach settings that adjust bass and
in robust package, the It’s IP67 rated, waterproof, has made a decent set of treble. We were particularly
Everboom , from Logitech dustproof, and floats. There’s wireless headphones with impressed by the AI-assisted
subsidiary Ultimate Ears, also a handy carabiner on the a microphone, which you noise cancellation and by the
is squarely aimed at backside for easy attachment can use for listening to quality of the microphone’s
outdoor and party people. so you don’t drop it, but it’ll music, chatting to your audio.
Connecting is fuss free via handle a tumble from up to 1m family and gaming – all for Certain features, such as the
Bluetooth or NFC for Android in case you do. an affordable price. smart mic noise cancellation
capable devices and using the You can link multiple The list of features is and options to adjust how it
speaker is just as simple. Up Everbooms – or any other impressive, including its huge captures your voice are
top are there’re the usual speakers from the Ultimate 80-hour battery life. We didn’t welcome additions you’d
buttons for power, Bluetooth Ears range – together for need to charge these normally see on more
and play/pause, plus an synced-up, multi-room, headphones once while testing expensive models. If you only
“outdoor” decibel boost entertainment. them, which is impressive. want to listen to music the mic
button. Volume is handled by You can expect up to 20 Like most headphones, you can be pushed back into the
the plus and minus on the hours of playback (at sub-42% can fiddle around with the main unit when not in use,
front on the unit. They’re volume), so realistically you’re settings using PC software or which also automatically
unmissable, and easy to hit going to get less than that an app (depending on what mutes it.
once it gets to the Johnny Cash depending on how you’re connected to), but The tuning of its 50mm
singalong time of the party. enthusiastic you are with the they’re also well served by speaker drivers is intended to
Speaking of, Megaphone is a decibel levels. Regardless, physical controls on the unit create a powerful bass sound,
new feature, which let’s you be there’s still plenty of itself. These let you change the which makes it great for
the MC and broadcast your headroom there for a day volume, adjust the audio and watching action movies or
voice through the Everboom alfresco before making it back swap between its two playing games.
via the Boom app on your to a charge point to kick on. connection options – 2.4GHz
phone. It’s as Wi-Fi (using a supplied USB VERDICT
obnoxious as it sounds. VERDICT dongle) or Bluetooth 5.2.
The Everboom sounds Turtle Beach’s Swarm app,
fanstastic. Tucked inside the available for Windows, phones Versatile headphones with a
chassis are dual 56mm active Great sounding, robust and easy and tablets, gives you a wide tuck-away microphone that
full range transducers plus to use Bluetooth speaker for array of tweaking options, are great for meetings, movies
two passive radiators, cleverly everywhere you go. from the level of noise and gaming.
angled to push tunes in every Troy Coleman cancellation to equaliser Ben Mansill

APC MAGAZINE 43
 SOFTWARE | WINDOWS

NEEDS Windows 10 or 11 WEB github.com/roines45/glow

Glow 24.09
System analysis tool

A few months ago it looked like These new options are in the Tools spot them – press Esc to exit the test. You
Glow had reached its final version, menu in Glow’s top-right corner. Select can also run the Dynamic Color Range
but the popularity of the program ‘CPU Benchmark Tool’ to benchmark Test to ensure your monitor is accurately
has persuaded its developer to keep your processor, then specify the length displaying colours.
it going. That’s good news for us of the test, from 30 seconds to one hour, Glow has additionally applied lots of
because the free system- and a ‘mode’ – from ‘Basic’ to ‘Lethal’. bug fixes, cleaned up its code and
information tool now receives Click ‘Start Test’ and Glow will provide improved its detection of devices
frequent updates and continues to scores for single-core and multi-core connected to your PC, including network
evolve and improve, and we do hope performance. Make a note of these for cards, graphics cards and RAM modules.
that continues. future reference. The Disk Benchmark It will now notify you when a new version
Since we last wrote about Glow, it’s Tool works in a similar manner – see is available, or you can check manually
been updated six times and has added screenshot below. by clicking the new Check Update option
a host of handy features for analysing Another useful addition to the Tools in the Settings menu.
your PC. The most notable are two menu is the Monitor Test Tool. This lets Note that Glow still triggers a
benchmarking tools, which test the you check your monitor for ‘dead pixels’ Microsoft Defender SmartScreen
performance of your processor and by cycling through a series of full- warning, but it’s completely safe to use,
hard drive to ensure they’re working screen, solid-colour images. If there are so just click ‘More info’ then ‘Run
properly. any dead pixels, you’ll easily be able to anyway’.

1 To use Glow’s new Disk 2 Glow’s Memory Information 3 Glow has also updated its 4 As well as standard light and

Benchmark Tool, choose the tab tells you the total amount Network tab to provide more dark themes, Glow lets you
drive you want to test and the of RAM available on your PC, real-time information. It now apply a Nord theme to its
size of the sample. Click ‘Start how much is currently in use tells you the name of the interface. This gives it a tasteful
Test’ and Glow will tell you how and how much is free. This network adapter you’re blue look (pictured) that’s easy
long it takes to write data to and has been updated to currently using, the amount of on your eyes. Click the Settings
read data from the selected additionally show the brand bandwidth available and your menu and choose Nord in the
drive (it won’t overwrite any of memory module in each download and upload speeds. Themes sub-menu.
files). RAM slot.

44 APC MAGAZINE
 SOFTWARE | WINDOWS

Should I pay for?

Choose the right version of software

VIDEO CONVERTER
Video Shaper 5.8
WEB tinyurl.com/APC537shape NEEDS Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11

This lightweight video converter packs lots of useful tools

into a simple interface, and has a quirky psychedelic-
campervan logo. It lets you convert videos between popular
formats like MOV, MKV and AVI, extract the audio in MP3, Bitwarden Premium
WAV or FLAC format, and adjust the resolution, frame rate WEB bitwarden.com/pricing/ PRICE US$10 per year FREE TRIAL N/A
and aspect ratio. What’s more, you can use Video Shaper to NEEDS Windows 10 or 11, macOS or Linux
burn your video files to CD, DVD and Blu-ray, and even
erase rewritable discs. Version 5.8 introduces the ability to As we explained in our ‘Ditch your old passwords now’ feature starting
rotate videos – click the Edit menu, choose Effects then on page 74, Bitwarden’s free plan offers “everything you’re likely to
Rotate, and select how many degrees (see screenshot). need” from a password manager. So why bother paying for a
Unlike some video converters, Video Shaper doesn’t subscription? There are actually several good reasons.
restrict features to a paid-for version, or limit the length of Bitwarden Premium has the same simple interface as the free
clips you can convert. Just make sure you untick the option version, but fits in lots of useful extra features. As well as sending
to install WinX DVD Ripper Platinum. encrypted messages, it lets you send encrypted files of up to 500MB in
size, which can be set to delete after a set number of hours or days (see
screenshot below), and gives you 1GB of secure storage for those files.
In addition to storing passwords and passkeys, the paid-for plan has
an integrated authenticator you can use to verify your identity on sites
and apps that use two-factor authentication (2FA) by generating and
storing one-time passcodes. While the free version of Bitwarden lets
you manually check if your usernames and email addresses have been
involved in data breaches, Premium goes further by warning you about
leaked and weak passwords, websites that don’t use HTTPS and
accounts for which you’re not using available 2FA. You can also grant
trusted people temporary access to your password vault in an
emergency.
All these extras cost a mere $10 a year – less than $1 a month –
which is much cheaper than the paid-for versions of rival tools such as
1Password, LastPass and Proton Pass.

IMAGE EDITOR OUR VERDICT: PAY FOR IT

Handy Viewer 2.5 Although Bitwarden’s free plan is very generous, the low cost of a
WEB www.handyviewer.com NEEDS Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 subscription means you won’t regret upgrading. It gives you even more
ways to protect your accounts and data, plus you’ll be supporting an
Handy Viewer is one of our favourite new programs of 2024, and excellent company.
this update brings it closer in line with image editors that have
been around for years. Like Paint.NET, it now supports layers,
which means you can make adjustments to pictures without
“The paid-for plan has an integrated
affecting the originals. To use this new feature, click the Paint authenticator you can use to verify
menu and select Show Paint Tools. This opens a sidebar on the
right-hand side that shows all the layers for the current image (see your identity on sites and apps that
screenshot). New layers are created automatically when you use
the painting tools, and manually when you right-click and choose
use two-factor authentication (2FA)
New Layer. Handy Viewer has also added the option to start from by generating and storing one-time
a blank canvas, by clicking the File menu and selecting New, and
now lets you view EXIF data for photos by pressing Ctrl+I. passcodes.”
APC MAGAZINE 45
 SOFTWARE | MAC

PRICE Free; Pro subscription $3.99/week; $11.99/month; $59.99/year NEEDS iPadOS 14 later WEB lakecolouring.com A subscription unlocks

Lake
a variety of different
colouring designs.

Contemplate on your day with this mindful colouring journal.

The Apple Pencil is one of the iPad’s once you start using you’ll wonder how you will need to opt for the premium
best features, giving you a highly you ever lived without it. subscription. The free version is good
realistic drawing experience directly When you create your first colouring enough but the lack of design options
on your Apple tablet. This is especially book, the app enables you to detail your may make you less likely to opt in and
the case if you’re treating yourself daily mood and feelings before choosing log your emotions for that day. We’d
to the very latest iPad Pro and new one of two free daily designs to colour really like to have seen a one-off
Apple Pencil Pro! Mostly used by in. The app will provide you with a purchase option or more designs in the
creatives to create wonderful art, colour palette based on your mood that free tier but considering the quality of
those of us who may be a little less allows you to reflect on your day. It’s a the app, we can see why someone would
artistic often struggle to find a very clever concept that allows you to opt to pay the monthly or annual
real-use case for the Pencil. While the see your emotions in colour. Had a bad subscription.
Apple Pencil excels for note taking, day? You’ll see more purples in And don’t worry if you’re not artistic
you can also use it for colouring apps your palette. Happy? Lots of bright in the slightest, you’ll almost definitely
to get that creative spark even if you colours. Angry? Yep, your drawing for find that you still love using Lake. The
don’t know how to draw. Lake, touted the day is mostly red. It’s a really app quickly becomes part of an evening
as ‘the world’s first colouring journal,’ intuitive way to feel more connected routine, maybe taking 10 to 15 minutes
may be the best mindfulness app you with your emotions and feels like a to colour a picture in before you go to
try on your iPad. really accessible first step into the world bed. While you can use whatever palette
There are so many colouring apps on of mindfulness. you want and colour any picture you
the App Store but Lake stands out from The free version of Lake gives you a have access to on the artistic side of
the crowd with its gorgeous app design new daily drawing from a small things, Lake’s real selling point is its
and welcoming introduction. It’s a selection of options. If you want to mindfulness journal and that’s well
beautiful app that feels like a warm hug access the large library of designs from worth the download all on its own.
as soon as you launch it and one that some incredibly talented artists then

VERDICT
“There are so many colouring apps on the App
Store but Lake stands out from the crowd with its A beautiful colouring app that doubles

gorgeous app design and welcoming introduction.” as a fantastic mindfulness app.

John-Anthony Disotto

46 APC MAGAZINE
 SOFTWARE | LINUX

DEVELOPER Fyra Labs WEB https://ultramarine-linux.org LICENCE Mainly GPL

Ultramarine Linux 40
Nate Drake finds out what puts the ‘Ultra’ in this user-friendly Fedora remix
from our friends in the Land of Smiles.

Ultramarine is based on Fedora and, like

its parent, follows a stable release cycle.
The latest version is based on Fedora 40
and existing Fedora users can switch by
way of a migration script, as opposed to
installing Ultramarine from scratch.
The site’s comprehensive wiki explains
that the OS was created out of “frustration
with the legal limits of Fedora”. Being
based in Thailand, the developers aren’t
restricted by US software patents, so can
offer more packages.
The result is a more user-friendly distro
than plain old Fedora. For instance,
Ultramarine allows users to install
packages via its own Terra repository, RPM
Fusion and Flathub.
We focused on the Flagship Edition,
which bundles the Budgie desktop The Flagship Edition of Ultramarine uses Budgie but there are also versions that come
environment, but alternative spins are with the Gnome, Xfce and Plasma desktop environments.
available with Gnome, Xfce and Plasma.
(The latter spin uses the new Plasma 6 were surprised to see the browser The desktop apps also opened zippily,
desktop environment.) contained bookmarks to the Fedora Project which we used to good effect to download
After firing up the 2.8GB Flagship ISO, and Red Hat websites – but not a 1GB ZIP file via the Firefox browser.
our VM encountered a kernel panic but Ultramarine’s support pages. System resources barely moved as we did
this was resolved as soon as we adjusted to The distro also bundles LibreOffice so, with RAM usage only spiking by a few
match the machine specs. Calc, Impress and Writer, as well as the megabytes as we opened the Zsh
On booting into the live environment, Parole and Rhythmbox players. You can interactive shell to extract the archive.
we were impressed by the clean interface, use the integrated Gnome Software app Ultramarine did struggle slightly when
contrasting a colourful desktop to install more. we fired up a deathmatch in Xonotic, with
background with the default dark theme. As we browsed available apps, we noted RAM usage creeping to 81% (around
In the Flagship Edition, you can access where you are offered a choice to install via 3.3GB). Given that the recommended
Budgie desktop settings to see a range of the various available sources. For instance, minimum is 8GB, we aren’t knocking off
alternative themes. Gnome Reversi is available both from points for this.
Ultramarine uses the same Anaconda Flathub and via Ultramarine’s own repos. The overall philosophy of Ultramarine is
installer as Fedora. This enables you to The recommended system requirements stated to be an OS that “just works for new
complete setup in any order, provided you for Ultramarine are quite weighty; it and advanced users”. In this much the
choose a suitable drive and user account. clearly isn’t designed to breathe life into old developers have succeeded, given how
Full disk encryption is also supported. hardware along the lines of Puppy Linux. easy Ultramarine is to set up and install.
The install took under 10 minutes, which Still, after firing up the pre-installed The inclusion of extra packages, including
compares favourably to Fedora and other system monitor, we found that at rest the proprietary drivers and Flatpaks, also
RHEL-based distros. Flagship Edition consumed just 2GB of gives users more flexibility over plain
Given the large ISO size, there isn’t a RAM in our VM. Post-install, the virtual Fedora.
huge number of bundled apps. Browsing is hard disk took up only around 6GB, barely
handled by the latest Firefox (126.0). We a quarter of the recommended size.

VERDICT
“The latest version is based on Fedora 40 and
existing Fedora users can switch by way of a While we’d have liked a welcome screen
migration script, as opposed to installing pointing to the excellent Ultramarine wiki, this

Ultramarine from scratch.” OS is a breeze to set up.

Nate Drake

APC MAGAZINE 47
WE PICK OUT THE 30 MOST MOMENTOUS EVENTS FROM 1994
TO 2024 – AND THROW IN A DIRTY DOZEN OF “FAILS” FOR
GOOD MEASURE
CONTRIBUTORS: Stuart Andrews, Barry Collins, Tim Danton, Jon Honeyball,
Nicole Kobie, Dick Pountain, Nik Rawlinson, Davey Winder
 They say a week is a long time in politics, but it is
as nothing compared to three decades of
technology. As we painstakingly compiled this
list – whittling it down from a long list of over 150
notable events and product launches – it quickly
became clear that everything has changed.
Back in 1994, computers were boring blocks of
beige; Apple was more of a laughing stock than an
investment stock; and going online involved a stern
warning to your family that they couldn’t make any
calls for the next hour. And phones, believe it or not,
were indeed entirely used to make calls.
Now, we appreciate that none of this will be news
to you. But what we hope you find as fascinating as
we did was to go through the years, enjoying the hits implement TCP/IP into its network. Thus, Arpanet
along with the misses. And yes, we’re well aware that was born. This eventually evolved into the model
you probably won’t agree with our picks. that’s become the web we use today – but it was a
Here’s to the next 30 years of great moments! simple idea then, and pales into comparison
compared with the intricately connected systems
that govern every aspect of our lives.

1994 1995
MAN BUYS A BOOK
On 3 April 1995, John Wainwright bought a book: the
gripping Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies:
Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of
Thought by Douglas Hofstadter. A software engineer,
Wainwright was friends with Shel Kaphan –
Amazon’s first employee, aside from the owner of the
company – who encouraged him to set up an account.
Every river needs a source, and from these humble
CERN

beginnings Amazon would become the roaring

ABOVE This is what the first world wide web page looked like. torrent that it is today.
Like all the great American technology startups,
THE WORLD WIDE WEB COMES Amazon started life in a garage. This one was in
the city of Bellevue, near Seattle, and belonged to
TO LIFE a guy called Jeff Bezos – who quit his lucrative
The internet has vastly changed since its inception, Wall Street job to found the company in 1994. By 1998
with big data, AI and faster connections transforming it was serving a global customer base and was selling
how people use it. It’s unclear whether Sir Tim computer games and CDs, rapidly expanding into all
Berners-Lee knew the magnitude of his authoring of areas of consumer electronics and toys by 2000.
the 1989 paper titled “Information Management: A Bezos is now worth a cool $200 billion, roughly
Proposal”. But it was undoubtedly a transformative seven billion times the price of Wainwright’s first
moment for humanity and has impacted society and purchase. TD
business in profound ways.
It was in 1994 though, when the internet came to be
for the masses. In May of that year the first SONY MAKES GAMING COOL
International World Wide Web Conference took Sega and Nintendo popularised console gaming in
place at CERN, an event that has been called Australia, but it was the launch of Sony’s PlayStation
“Woodstock of the Web.” Then in October 1994 Tim in 1995 that changed not just how video games
Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web looked and played, but who played them. Launching
Consortium, and the first World Wide Web website in between the underpowered Sega Saturn and
went live, published by Berners-Lee. In that same Nintendo’s cartridge-based Nintendo 64, the
year Microsoft launched its first web site, and Yahoo PlayStation combined advanced 3D graphics with the
was founded. capacity of CD-ROM to deliver games that were more
Decades on from a mere proposal, we now have ambitious, more spectacular and often more adult in
interconnected systems all around the world that are their appeal.
powering large-scale big data analytics workloads, Early games such as Tekken, WipEout and Resident
cloud-enabled quantum computing and artificial
intelligence (AI) agents that are integrated into BELOW The Sony
software components – like Microsoft’s Copilot PlayStation made gaming
module. There may yet be further room for growth, cool.
with the metaverse and holographic projection
possibly next in line as data transmission capabilities
increase over the coming years.
Although the web was first proposed with
Berners-Lee’s paper, the building blocks were in
place for a few years beforehand by the US
Department of Defense, when it decided to
APC MAGAZINE 49
Evil went beyond the traditional
teenage audience to pull in a new crowd
of hip young twentysomethings,
making gaming something it had never
been before: cool. And as Sony’s
platform matured, it pushed games in a
more cinematic direction, with titles
such as Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear
Solid that stood up as epic blockbusters
with engaging stories and Hollywood
production values. While PC gaming in
the same period was just as
revolutionary, the PlayStation helped
make console gaming the mass
entertainment form it is today. SA

WINDOWS GOES
BLOCKBUSTER
The hype was palpable. The product
launch was huge. It was staged like a
Hollywood blockbuster first night, and
the crowds filled up to gawp. The
launch was so successful that an elderly ABOVE Garry Kasparov, RAM. But this capability was to come to shading and anti-aliasing workloads
relative bought a copy, despite not beaten by Deep Blue in the 95 family some years later. that overwhelmed the CPU. Available in
having a computer at the time. 1997. Windows 95 injected a big boost into reasonably affordable $350 cards from
And it was a big deal, the arrival of the PC market, and without doubt OEM partners Orchid and Diamond,
the first 32-bit Windows operating pushed personal computing forwards. Voodoo Graphics brought smooth,
system aimed at the mainstream. But I can’t let the moment pass without high-resolution 3D graphics to PC,
NT was working away in the mentioning the utterly cringeworthy along with custom APIs that enabled
workstation market, but this onstage dancing of Bill Gates at the developers to use the latest 3D features
was modern computing for American launch. JH in their own games. In doing so, it
the common man. It created a market for the high-

1996
iterated quickly with performance graphics processors that
service packs, and the odd would evolve into the powerhouse
add-on or two, and then GPUs of today. SA
Windows 98 became the
VOODOO BRINGS 3D
1997
update. Let’s ignore the somewhat BELOW 3dfx’s Voodoo
sad Millennium Edition, and remember
POWER TO PC
Graphics chip brought
how the strong NT core was used to added realism to PC
transition the Windows 95/98 world In 1996, PC gaming had a problem.
KASPAROV GETS DEEP
gaming.
onto a single platform. Sure, the PC was the leading
Back then, the beta platform for cutting-edge 3D
testing for 95 was done in a games, with showcase titles like BLUE BLUES
small CompuServe forum, and Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Strike It’s too simplistic to trace the birth of
everyone was there, including the Commander that used advanced 3D modern-day AI back to 1997 when an
leading lights of the project such texturing techniques to create IBM supercomputer beat the dominant
as Brad Silverberg, who took a more believable 3D worlds. Yet world champion – some believe the
direct and personal interest in everything was rendered in greatest player ever – over six games of
how “Chicago” – Windows 95’s software on the CPU, ensuring that chess. But it certainly told the world
codename – was progressing. I only those with the money for that computers could match human
still have some Chicago beta Intel’s top 486 and Pentium chips intellect in novel areas, with Deep Blue
CD-ROM discs somewhere in my saw these games looking good, and shocking Garry Kasparov (and the
filing system. even then only at low resolutions. world) with a knight sacrifice on move
Us more extreme power users 3dfx, a company founded by eight of the sixth and decisive game.
were motoring ahead with ex-Silicon Graphics employees, Some believe that IBM’s victory
multi-CPU monsters running saw the potential of dedicated 3D injected fresh energy into AI, which had
Windows NT – I will never forget hardware, and its initial Voodoo stalled after early successes in the
my Asus motherboard with two Graphics chip was built specifically 1970s, but we need some perspective
Pentium Pro CPUs and a ton of to take over the texture-mapping, here. It took IBM a further 14 years

1994 1996 1997 1999 1999

DECEMBER MARCH DECEMBER JANUARY JUNE
Netscape Navigator launches, Palm Pilot brings computing Psion Series 5 adds real keys! First BlackBerry device (the Sony AIBO makes robots cute
leaving Mosaic in its wake into the handheld era The 5mx follows in 1999 850) shakes up workers’ lives with one wag of its tail

50 APC MAGAZINE
 1998
before Watson would famously
defeat two all-time champions at the
American TV quiz show Jeopardy!
in February 2011, and the UK’s
DeepMind – which would go on NEW OLD JOB FOR OLD NEW JOBS
to create AlphaGo in 2015, having been “Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
bought by Google three years earlier – So said Michael Dell in 1997. It’s hard to believe not only that he
only came into being in 2010. was talking about Apple, but that many would have agreed with
Still, I’m willing to concede that him. The company had just announced its biggest ever losses,
Deep Blue’s victory was a telling one for and its hardware, software and sales channels needed a serious
AI. And, some would argue, a chilling shake-up. Who might take on such a job? Steve Jobs.
one for humanity. TD Jobs had co-founded the firm, resigned, founded
NeXT, then come back as an advisor. Within 12

YAHOO WHO?
months of his return, he was interim CEO, had
ditched 70% of the company’s products, ended
Chances are that you remember the its agreements with third-party Mac
truly awful days of searching the early manufacturers, and launched the online Apple
World Wide Web. At first we relied on Store. Within a year, the company turned a profit
human-curated portals and web of $300 million.
directories – which is what Yahoo What looked like a series of gambles
started as in 1994 – and many will followed, each of which paid off: translucent
gratefully remember the appearance of iMacs and iBooks, standardising on USB,
building computers without floppy drives.
Investors were rapt, and they hoovered up Apple
stock. In 2006, it overtook Dell, and Jobs
emailed his staff. “Team,” he wrote, “it turned
out that Michael Dell wasn’t perfect at predicting
the future.” NR

1999
ABOVE Steve Jobs and wireless access points, and it
proudly shows off the worked well. We might scoff at the low
game-changing fruity speeds today, but at the time such a
connection was revelatory. The first
A FAREWELL TO CORDS
iMac.
AltaVista as an alternative in the mainstream device to ship with 802.11b
mid-1990s. But even as AltaVista was Standards are wonderful things – was the Apple iBook, and the success of
gaining in popularity, Larry Page and without them, no device would talk the platform led to the arrival of the
Sergie Brin were working on a research to another. It might be hard from a 2024 Wi-Fi Alliance, which now owns the
project at Stanford University called perspective to think of the world trademark for Wi-Fi and manages it.
“BackRub”. The key idea: to rank pages without wireless communication, In the same year of 1999, 802.11a was
based on which pages linked to which but it happened just before the turn also launched, offering Wi-Fi in the
other pages. of the century. 5GHz public band. Although this would
This would develop into the famous The ITU – or International give higher speed, the increased radio
PageRank algorithm, with the pair Telecommunications Union to its frequency led to
registering Google.com in 1997. And by friends – had a first stab at defining lower range, as physics
the end of 1998, with 60 million sites a public Wi-Fi protocol in 1997, inevitably took its toll.
crawled and indexed, it was said to work called 802.11-1997. 802.11 is the From these early
better than any of its rivals. Including committee name responsible for this BELOW Cables away: starts, the standard
Excite.com, which reportedly turned area of technical definition, and you the first Wi-Fi standard moved forward to G, N
down the chance to buy Google for less can guess the meaning of -1997. arrived in 1997. and then AX, with this AX
than $1 million. However, as standards go, it era bringing in the 6GHz
That’s arguably the worst business was much too woolly and never range, too. And now
decision in the history of the internet, took off. we’re in the early days of
with Alphabet – Google’s parent So the ITU went back BE, also known as Wi-Fi
company – now worth $2,250 billion to work and defined 7. Let’s not forget about
and Page and Brin sitting atop roughly 802.11b, which the upwards
$150 billion of shares each. Although came out in 1999. compatibility of the
notably I discovered that using Copilot, This was the first Wi-Fi standard – a BE
rather than Google. TD proper attempt at device should talk
a Wi-Fi standard happily to an N device,
both for devices because they negotiate the best

2000 2001 2002 2002 2002

MAY NOVEMBER NOVEMBER FEBRUARY SEPTEMBER
US military unscrambles GPS Apple iPod gives us our entire Fossil introduces the Wrist Intel debuts Hyper-Threading iRobot launches Roomba, the first
and revolutionises travel music library in our pockets PDA to work with Palm Pilots concept in Xeon server chips “affordable robot vacuum cleaner”

APC MAGAZINE 51
 drive it into bankruptcy by 2002, even and cooperation that the Y2K bug turned
threatening to sue its users too. DP out to be a minor nuisance. The bug –
created by parsimonious programmers
saving precious memory by storing year
POST OFFICE dates as two rather than four digits – at one
time threatened to bring down banking
SCANDAL BEGINS systems, air traffic control and all manner
We didn’t appreciate its significance at of other critical infrastructure.
the time, but in 1999 Fujitsu rolled out a As it turned out, billions of dollars’
new IT system called Horizon to UK Post worth of remedial work in the run-up to
Office branch offices. And unlike every the year 2000 meant that a Norwegian
other IT system in history, apparently nursery offering a place to a 105-year-old
this one was perfect, so when woman makes the list of worst
postmasters and postmistresses hit Millennium Bug consequences on
problems when balancing their books Wikipedia. As Bill Clinton put it, the Y2K
that can be done by each end, ABOVE Napster: the cloud of suspicion fell on them bug was “the first challenge of the 21st
arriving at a common workable scourge of the record rather than buggy code. century successfully met”. BC
standard. industry. Despite two BBC
Also let us not forget documentaries, a book, Computer
that, for many people, Weekly’s continued BROADBAND BREAK’S
“Wi-Fi” is “the internet”. investigations, Private Eye
Despite this sloppy and exposés and an excellent NAN’S ENGAGEMENT
imprecise definition, Wi-Fi podcast, it took an ITV drama in The arrival of broadband at the turn of the
connectivity has become 2024 to bring this scandal into millennium is often remembered for its
utterly ubiquitous. JH the public consciousness and in speed: a jump from the 56Kbits/sec (if you
turn put so much pressure on were lucky) dribble of dial-up to
politicians that we got an apology from 256Kbits/sec or even 512Kbits/sec for the
NAPSTER RIPS UP
ABOVE A bug that was
fixed before it broke then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. But Honeyballs in the house. But the advent of
the saga continues. Many victims and broadband brought two far more
MUSIC INDUSTRY
everything…
their families still await the promised significant changes than the bandwidth
I started collecting American R&B compensation, no-one from the Post boost.
records in the early 1960s when Office has yet been prosecuted, and the It was the first time that data and voice
finding rare 45rpm discs was public inquiry rumbles on. TD could be split on a single telephone line,
difficult; many hours were spent meaning nan was no longer frustrated by

2000
rifling through bins in second-hand engaged tones every time she tried to call
shops. I stumbled into computers in in the evening. More importantly, you
the early 1980s and onto the internet weren’t paying by the minute for access,
early too, and began to wonder: meaning you could relax online without
where is my worldwide online library PLANES DON’T FALL fear of running up a bill that would make
of recorded music? Warren Buffett wince. BC
Napster seemed at first like it OUT OF THE SKY
2003
might be it. Started by Shawn It might seem odd to herald the
Fanning and Sean Parker, it was a BELOW Not over the Millennium Bug as one of tech’s
peer-to-peer sharing system that let Horizon: still fighting for greatest moments, but it genuinely was
you access other people’s collections a triumph of international planning
APPLE
justice 25 years on.
of MP3 music (ripped from
CDs) and let them access
yours. You could even have UNWITTINGLY
found my rare copies of
Ritchie Barrett’s “Some Other KICK-STARTS THE
Guy” and Billy Boy Arnold’s “I
Wish You Would”. REPAIR MOVEMENT
Problem was, well before Follow the Right to Repair (R2R)
broadband this took 15 to 30 movement to its roots and you’ll end up in
minutes to download a single a college room observing Kyle Wiens
track over a 56Kbits/sec failing to fix his broken Apple iBook G3.
dial-up connection (with His frustration at being unable to find any
fingers crossed it would repair documentation led to Wiens
stay up). Even so, the record founding iFixit in 2003, now the planet’s
companies hated Napster so premier voice for fixing and repair.
much they spent millions to By 2019, the site had over 50,000

2003 2003 2003 2003 2004

FEBRUARY MAY JUNE AUGUST MARCH
PB Fixit launches, later to Eve Online is released and a Second Life goes official and MySpace launches. In 2005, First DARPA Grand Challenge
become iFixit new era begins Barry Collins goes undercover News Corp buys it for $580m for autonomous vehicles

52 APC MAGAZINE
guides covering 13,500 devices. Its
teardowns exposed poor design
choices, hidden screws, glued
components, non-replaceable batteries
2004
and software locks. As iFixit gained THE GREAT TIME
traction, the legal clashes
between repair advocates and WASTING BEGINS
manufacturers increased, with tech Twenty years ago, Facebook began
giants finding that Weins wasn’t scared life as “facemash”, a website cobbled
of calling out their anti-repair b******t. together by Mark Zuckerberg and some former friends to let students decide which
iFixit became political, highlighting of their peers was the most physically attractive. By 2006, it had evolved into a
unsustainable anti-repair practices in social network that opened its virtual doors for everyone to connect – and waste as
courts around the world, inspiring much time as possible when they should be working.
other repair specialists to speak with From such humble beginnings, Facebook has come far: its lack of care around
authority about their experiences. data privacy sparked record fines on both sides of the Atlantic; its surveillance
Slowly, they disarmed the well-funded powers and algorithmic content promotion are credited with destroying democracy
lobbyists and lawyers, convincing and sparking the rise of global populism; and its business model and lack of
lawmakers that the reintroduction moderation has provoked accusations of contributing to the deaths of bullied
of repair is vital to combating the global children as well as a whole genocide in Myanmar.
e-waste crisis. With Oculus Rift, Instagram and WhatsApp acquired into the fold, parent
There’s an irony that Apple company Meta is unquestionably a tech powerhouse. Though Facebook may feel
inadvertently began the global R2R like a has-been compared to TikTok, it paved the way for algorithmic feeds and the
movement. It has been forced (along ensuing brand, celebrity and influencer invasion of social networks. But despite
with others) to alter elements of its newer challengers, the constant controversy and the digital surveillance – not to
devices that deliberately hindered mention the daily posts by your conspiracy-theorist weird cousin – most of us just
repair. As the R2R fight goes on, iFixit can’t log off: three billion people use Facebook at least monthly. Given 5.4 billion
continues to lead from the front. LG people have internet access globally, that’s remarkable – and terrifying. NR

2005 was meant to prevent illegal copying of

the disc. It also meant that antivirus
conjunction with Toshiba, and the
second and third with Flextronics.
software couldn’t see these files, and The target was obviously the
THE ROOTKIT OF hackers soon realised they could immensely successful iPod range from
rename malware code to start with “sys” Apple. It wasn’t just hardware; there
ALL EVIL and be just as invisible. It’s estimated was a software service called Zune Plus
One of the big BELOW Zune: the iPod that more than 20 million CDs and a Marketplace for music, TV and
dangers of using killer that failed to land a distributed by Sony BMG contained the movies. And let’s not forget the
pirated software punch. rootkit malware, with thousands streaming services for the Xbox 360,
was, and still is, compromising your of government and military networks and software for Windows PCs, and
computer with malware. But what among the infected systems. sync capabilities with Windows Phone.
if your genuine audio CD purchase It proved a good lesson in how The first unit came with hard disks
deliberately infected your not to handle digital rights from 30GB to 120GB, with some flash
computer with malware? That’s management or how to respond models too. But it never made the
what Mark Russinovich, a security when caught out. Sony BMG’s breakthrough, lagging behind not only
researcher with Winternals at the president at the time, Thomas Apple but other vendors too. It really
time and now the Microsoft Azure Hesse, said “most people, I think, was a case of too little, too late.
CTO, told the world on 31 October don’t even know what a rootkit is, One historical amusement: the
2005. He wasn’t the first to so why should they care about it?” original Zune 30 models stopped
discover the problem, but DW working on 31 December 2008, because
Russinovich blew the whistle on they couldn’t handle the leap year

2006
Sony after others were given legal properly. The solution? It fixed itself
advice that any reporting would just fine 24 hours later. And did I
breach a 1998 US law prohibiting mention that the case was brown? JH
the removal of copyright
protection. MICROSOFT ZUNE
The Sony rootkit Sometimes history can be cruel. DEVELOPERS,
stealthily installed itself on Zune is known as a singular thing,
any Windows PC when the although it went through three DEVELOPERS…
CD was inserted. It had the generations, from 2006 through There comes a time, approximately
effect of making the system blind to 2011. Microsoft tried quite hard 90 minutes into an Apple WWDC
to any files starting with “sys” and here, developing the first model in keynote that has higher production

2005 2005 2005 2006 2006

MAY JUNE DECEMBER JANUARY JULY
IBM sells PC division Apple parts ways with Xbox 360 lands, a major Intel Core processors launch, AMD buys ATI for a cool
to Lenovo Motorola to partner with Intel landmark for online gaming marking new era of CPUs $5.4 billion

APC MAGAZINE 53
values than The Matrix, that a small
part of you yearns for the day a SERVING DOCS
sweat-drenched, middle-aged man Google Docs serves as an excellent
started bouncing around a stage like reminder that we shouldn’t judge a
a demented labrador, yelling product by its first iteration, especially
“developers, developers, developers”. if it’s backed by a behemoth such as
That day was in 2006, at a Windows Google. Docs started as a Writely, an
2000 developer conference, and it was online word processor developed by
just one of Steve Ballmer’s Upstartle. I remember the first version
appearances as the world’s of Docs as being both basic and flaky,
best-paid cheerleader. certainly no true rival to the feature-
Seriously, though, packed Word.
it was hard not to be But over time I’ve come to use Docs
impressed by his as my main word processor, in part
overspilling due to that very simplicity – and its
enthusiasm for shareability, a feature added after
Microsoft and its Google’s acquisition of DocVerse in
staff, and though his 2010. Now, Docs is the main word
record as CEO was patchy, processor the APC team uses to
his love for the company was produce this magazine, with
infectious. Sometimes, almost Microsoft Word rarely used. project in 1996 to true Microsoft rival in
literally. BC Meanwhile, Google has continued ABOVE The Faster the space of 16 years. TD
its habit of buying software Payments System

2008
developers with great ideas and
SOFTWARE GETS
helped facilitate the
integrating them into its suite, with cybercrimewave.
Spreadsheets based on XL2Web
SAASSY (another 2006 buy) and Quickoffice
It’s not that cloud computing was a (2012) expanding the offering to FASTER WAYS TO LOSE
new concept in 2006, the year Amazon mobile definitions.
Web Services (AWS) and AWS Elastic 2012 was also the year Google ALL YOUR CASH
Compute Cloud (EC2) arguably took it launched Drive, marking a If you or someone close to you has been
mainstream. Indeed, AWS was itself remarkably quick rise from PhD conned into giving bank details to a
born out of the need for Amazon to scammer then that cash could be among
flexibly meet the demands of its users the $870 million lost to Authorised
and its infrastructure, and that idea
can be traced back all the way to the
1960s and time-sharing compute
2007 Push Payment (APP) fraud the UK saw
in 2023. The tool that drives APP crime
is a legitimate financial mechanism
resources if you squint.
But every breakthrough THE NOKIA E62 IS BESTED launched in 2008 called the Faster
Payments System (FPS). It allows
technology has an inflexion point, There’s a curious moment just before Steve Jobs unveils the near-instant money transfers for bank
and from this point on we saw an iPhone, in which he shows a graph showing which leading accounts and was responsible for 98%
increasing interest – from IT “smartphones” the iPhone is about to best: the Moto Q, the of APP scam payments in 2023.
professionals and end users – to shift Palm Treo and the Nokia E62. FPS was designed
services from local resources to those You’re probably struggling to with major flaws. Its
on the internet. The downside is that remember any of them, but you’ll real-time nature
we’re all now hooked on monthly likely never forget the iPhone, the means
subscription fees for software we device that set the template we’re that transactions
used to own outright. No wonder still using today. can’t be cancelled
Amazon’s logo is a smile. TD That launch video is a reminder once they’ve been
of things we now take for granted: a sent. FPS is also an
finger swipe up a list of music irrevocable system,
albums gets a round of applause, where neither
as does a map showing the local mis-directed
branches of Starbucks, and fraudulent
rotating the phone to landscape to transactions nor
view photos. The original iPhone mis-keyed legitimate
had its flaws: no 3G, no App Store. payments can be
But it’s hard to argue with Jobs’ retrieved.
assertion that it “changed It took 12 years
everything”. BC and a legal “super-
complaint” from

2007 2007 2008 2008 2008

JANUARY NOVEMBER FEBRUARY MAY JUNE
Steve Jobs unveils the first Amazon Kindle sends shivers First Tesla Roadster Asus launches the Eee PC and the Apple releases the iPhone 3G,
iPhone down the spine of publishers delivered to... Elon Musk world falls in love with netbooks and with it the App Store

54 APC MAGAZINE
 seemed back then to be that
worldwide online library of recorded
music I’d been looking for since
Napster folded: fast search, high-
enough audio quality streaming, and
all the music content I was interested
in. Certainly it lacked much major pop
music back then – the trauma of
Napster kept major acts such as Dylan,
the Beatles and the Stones off it for
years, and artists have griped about
the size of royalties for ever. But for
classical, jazz and other non-chart
music it’s always been excellent.
Over those years, major record
companies have overcome their
resistance, and Spotify streams are
now a major means of distributing
current popular music. It now has
over 600 million users, almost half of
Which? for the financial industry to them paying, and holds 100+ million
GOOGLE MAKES ITS
ABOVE Air born: Steve
introduce Confirmation of Payee, a Jobs shows off the tunes and 350 million audio books.
basic safeguard so payers can verify And it’s even had a cultural impact: I
BEST BUY
thinnest laptop ever
account names before transferring seen. recently attended a workshop at the
money. This was followed by the It’s often misstated that Google LSE where a group of social scientists
Contingent Reimbursement Model developed Android itself. In fact, it discussed Spotify playlists as major
(CRM), a voluntary code bought the operating system from sources of cultural identity. Although
where signatory banks commit Andy Rubin’s company in 2005, after I was the oldest person present by
to reimbursing fraud victims. Rubin had failed to tempt both around 50 years. DP
The security holes in FPS enable Samsung and HTC. Version 1 wasn’t

2009
billions to be siphoned from bank actually released until three years later,
accounts, while CRM raises loan and but it didn’t take long to make up the
mortgage prices as banks recoup lost ground on iOS. It went from a 2.8%
fraud costs. The harsh reality is that market share in mid-2009 (according to
consumers continue to bear the RIGHT Spotify: great for Canalys), to more than half of FIRST CRYPTOBRO
financial burden of the FPS fail. LG smartphone sales by the end of 2011
IS BORN
music fans, not so great
for musicians. (according to Gartner).
Android’s not just a smartphone OS, We’ll let you into a little secret: all the
MAN PULLS LAPTOP of course. It now powers an powerful desktops sent into the APC
extraordinary range of devices, Labs didn’t just sit idle after testing. A
OUT OF ENVELOPE from games consoles and routers, to couple of the more forward-thinking
Laptops were expected to be chunky and BELOW Android: from smart signage and electronic bikes. writers used to deploy them for
heavy back in the day, so when Steve nowhere fast. Yes, Google bought extremely well. BC Bitcoin mining until they were
Jobs pulled the MacBook Air out of collected. We don’t know what
an envelope in 2008, the gasps from became of those writers, we haven’t
the audience were telling. SPOTIFY REDEFINES heard from them for a while...
This was a laptop that was Sometimes we wish we’d never
thinner than anything we’d ever MUSIC heard of Bitcoin either, but
seen before, and by some Lunching outdoors there’s no denying the
margin. At its thickest in Italy back in cryptocurrency has had a
point, it was thinner than 2009, an considerable impact on
the nearest rival’s thin end argument financial markets, the
of the wedge. As with the started over tech sector (by way of
iPhone, its impact on the some lyric in the blockchain) and law
rest of the industry was a song by and order. We still don’t
dramatic. Soon we had Billie Holiday. I really know who deserves
Ultrabooks and all manner hauled out my the credit for this invention,
of Windows copycats, but even Sony VAIO laptop, although a court ruled this year
16 years on, it’s still the ultraportable played the track on Spotify and settled that it’s not Craig Wright. The hunt
laptop that the rest of the industry is the argument to everyone’s for the world’s first cryptobro goes on.
trying to match. BC astonishment and disgust. Spotify BC

2008 2008 2009 2009 2010

OCTOBER NOVEMBER MAY JULY JANUARY
A gentleman called Satoshi Intel releases its first ever A curious, blocky game called Google releases Gmail and says Apple announces iPad based
Nakamoto proposes Bitcoin Core i7 desktop processors Minecraft launches it’s working on ChromeOS on its own A4 processor

APC MAGAZINE 55
 2010
Windows CE kernel with a
Windows NT-derived
platform. However, the two
versions were incompatible,
SIRI MAKES although previous apps
worked.
HER DEBUT Nokia was one of the
Three years before the major platform
much-loved film Her hit the providers, replacing its
theatres, Apple made its first Symbian OS for this new
foray into personal assistants generation of Windows
with Siri. She first appeared as phone. In 2013, Microsoft took
an app in February 2010, the the next step and bought ABOVE Raspberry ripple: the Pi has been a
creation of Norwegian startup Nokia’s phone division phenomenal success story.
Siri Inc, and within two months outright. However, it didn’t
Apple had fallen for her so work out and Microsoft 60 million (or so) easily doubling the
badly that it spent $200 million stopped development in 2017, sales of the Commodore 64. Not bad for
to keep Siri exclusively on iOS conceding that the iPhone and a credit-card-sized device produced at
(the initial plan was to roll out the Android platform had low cost in Pencoed, Wales. Spiritual
the app to BlackBerry and pushed it to the sidelines. successor to the BBC Micro, the first
Android phones, too). Windows Phone, in its Raspberry Pi was built for schools by a
Ever since 2011, with the various guises, had a lot of team at the University of Cambridge,
introduction of the iPhone 4s interesting ideas, especially who spotted a skills gap in students
(which now looks tiny with its around the tiled front end. applying to study computer science.
3.5in display), Siri has been baked Some maintain that no platform has The boards proved sufficiently flexible
into iOS – and recently Apple has since matched it for its information rich and – crucially – cheap enough to
promised it will be enhanced with ABOVE Windows and easy to use interface. But you quickly outgrow that market and, five
Apple Intelligence to bring Siri even Phone: some interesting can’t push a confusing platform to major releases later, they’re a go-to
closer to Samantha, the operating ideas bathed in either customers and developers, and platform for hobbyist makers
system so memorably voiced by confusion. the resultant train crash was almost worldwide.
Scarlett Johansson. TD inevitable. JH Since then, they’ve spawned a
healthy and growing ecosystem of

2012
compatible operating systems and
WINDOWS PHONE FAIL peripherals, running the gamut from
If anything summed up Microsoft’s cameras to touchscreen displays. This
inability to have a clear strategy, it was is no doubt helped by the consistent use
Windows Phone. Originally launched A NEW FLAVOUR OF PI of easy-to-access GPIO (General-
in 2010 based on Windows Phone 7, the The Raspberry Pi is the world’s Purpose Input/Output) pins alongside
later Phone 8 of 2012 replaced the best-selling computer, with its current standard ports such as USB and HDMI.

2011
GOOGLE BRINGS A LAPTOP TO SCHOOL
By 2010, Google had already expanded from the search engine to the browser, the mobile
OS and the cloud-based office app – surely the desktop OS would be next? Yet when it did
arrive, Google’s move wasn’t quite what anyone expected. ChromeOS wasn’t just a system
you could install on existing laptops, but the software powering a new class of affordable
laptops, focused squarely on the education market.
The first Chromebooks were enticing because they offered so much for so little; you
could pick up a thin-and-light laptop with an 11 to 14in screen for well under $1,000. And
while the software was a tough sell to start with – literally a Chrome browser with no
support for offline apps – it steadily matured into a fully functional OS with a
familiar desktop interface and the ability to run Android and Linux apps.
Even the schools angle paid off, making Chromebooks a familiar sight
in classrooms around the world and getting students used to cloud
computing. Google went on to redefine the Chromebook through its Pixel,
Pixelbook and Chromebook Plus initiatives, but that first run of Chromebooks was
quietly revolutionary. SA

2010 2011 2011 2011 2013

MAY FEBRUARY JUNE JUNE JUNE
Laszlo Hanyecz buys two IBM Watson makes history by Office 365 released; Adobe First Google Chromebooks Edward Snowden leaks
pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins winning TV show Jeapordy! Creative Cloud follows in October go on sale classified NSA information

56 APC MAGAZINE
 2013
WHAT A GOOGLE GLASSHOLE
I’ll never forget the few times I wore the Google Glass out on
the street. The looks people gave me, a low-rent wannabe
cyborg, as I walked around muttering commands and gazing
into the mid-distance, trying to read the faint, blocky text on
the tiny LED display.
There were some strengths. Ignoring the privacy issues of a
ABOVE Was Tim the only actual Microsoft Surface built-in camera, it was a great way to create a virtual tour of my
RT user? sister’s new house. I even gave the Zombies, Run! game a
good test, giving me a welcome break from my normal running
The company has invested in its routines.
own IP over recent years, developing But let’s face it, there’s a reason people were called
its first in-house microcontroller chip Glassholes when they wore them, and while we’ve seen some
for the 2021 launch of Raspberry Pi clever (and more discreet) smart glasses for consumers in the
Pico and, two years later, unveiling past year, Google Glass-style mixed reality headsets have only
Raspberry Pi 5 with a home-grown I/O proved popular in industrial environments where the reward of
controller. It floated on the London having a video overlay matches the social pain of wearing the
Stock Exchange in 2024, and, at the glasses – and their rubbish battery life. TD
time of writing, its market cap stands
at $1.4 billion. That’s roughly 26.5

2014
million times the price of the first
board – the Raspberry Pi 1B – which LISTENERS SAY
kicked it all off in February 2012. NR
NO BONO
HELLO, HELLO, “Are we ready to be swept off our
RT FAILS TO SURFACE feet?” asks one of the lyrics on the
Okay, hands up: I bought a Surface RT. ECHO, ECHO U2 song, “Every Breaking Wave”.
And yes, I know that Windows RT How many Echos do you Well, the answer was emphatically
basically failed. But you know what: own? If you’re anything at all “no” when Apple bundled the
the Surface RT was a genuinely nice like us, the answer is song’s album into every Apple
tablet, and unlike trying to force those edging close to double user’s music collection, whether
tiles onto every Windows 8 computer figures if it’s not there they asked for it or not.
(I won’t defend that Microsoft already. The fun all Truth be told, Songs of Innocence isn’t
decision!) they made a lot of sense on a started in November 2014 one of U2’s better albums. Still, Apple
touchscreen device. with the limited US ABOVE Oi, U2 – get out failed to anticipate quite how
Sadly, one device does not make an release of Amazon’s first smart of my iTunes library! vociferously many customers would
ecosystem. And without an ecosystem speaker, but this was an early tease: object to having it pollute their iTunes
of other tablets, with international models followed in collection. The company was forced to
sales figures into the mid-2015, and before long we were hastily add a page to its website,
tens of millions, submerged in Echo Dots, Shows and providing instructions on how to
there’s no good Spots. Barry Collins even fitted a Dot remove the album.
reason for Adobe or into his car. “I take full responsibility,” Bono
even Facebook to As always with Amazon, the later wrote in his memoir. “I’d thought
create an app for the range has not been without if we could just put our music within
device. Though my controversy. Amazon had to pay $25 reach of people, they might choose to
tablet continued to million to the US Federal Trade reach out toward it. Not quite.” BC
give great service for Commission for illegally keeping

2015
years, Windows RT’s children’s voice and location data,
allure quickly faded, and with the microphones always
and I remain to this on by default there are obvious
day the only person I security concerns. But overall, Echo
know who ever has been a triumph for Amazon, far WINDOWS 10:
bought one. TD more so than the Apple and Google
alternatives. TD LEFT Listening in: PARADISE LOST
Amazon’s Echo devices Windows 10 was a revelation. When it
were a hit. launched, I compared it to Elvis Presley

2014 2015 2015 2015 2016

FEBRUARY APRIL APRIL DECEMBER MARCH
Satya Nadella steps into Steve WikiLeaks publishes hacked Apple Watch goes on sale OpenAI non-profit starts AlphaGo defeats world champ
Ballmer’s large shoes Sony emails and documents after being teased in 2014 work, with Musk a co-founder Lee Sedol; 200m people watch

APC MAGAZINE 57
 2016
during his ’68 comeback special. It was a
lithe, hip-thrusting, audience-swooning
reminder that Windows could still rock.
The development team admitted
to the mistakes of Windows 8 and made
a seismic offering to millions of users. PALMER LUCKEY
The path to Windows 10 would be free,
the rationale being that Microsoft could
RESURRECTS VR
improve the customer experience by After multiple disasters, the whole concept of VR looked
supporting a single OS. They worked the moribund when, in 2011, the 18-year-old Palmer Luckey built
10 Insiders hard, but they listened and his own PC VR headset in his dad’s garage from off-the-shelf
reacted with duplex transparency and parts. Within months, Luckey had dropped out of college and
passion. Together, thousands of us started Oculus VR, announcing the world’s first mass-
slapped 10 into a decent launch product. produced VR headset, Oculus Rift. The early Rift DK1
When it launched, technical miracles development kit was championed by iD Software’s tech
happened around the world. We should guru, John Carmack, who helped port the Doom 3 BFG
all remember that Microsoft threw out edition to the headset. By 2013 the DK1 was available for
an upgrade engine that didn’t destroy developers and enthusiasts to buy. Three years and two
most of the machines that shut down on updates later, the Oculus Rift CV1 had its first consumer
one OS and awoke on another. There release, with dual displays each with a 1,080 x 1,200 resolution,
were problems, but the success rate was custom lenses, 360° positional tracking and integrated audio. PC
phenomenal. gamers could enjoy the likes of Alien: Isolation, Elite: Dangerous and
Like Elvis, 10’s performances at the Dirt Rally in VR for the first time. What’s more, the Rift inspired a new
end of its career lacked the nimbleness wave of professional simulation and visualisation applications,
of youth. SSDs were the bejewelled covering everything from troop training to architecture, education
jumpsuits masking the sweating and and product design. Who knows if VR will ever become truly
gasping OS that struggled through each mainstream, but without Luckey’s work you wouldn’t have
performance. the Apple Vision or the Rift’s descendent, the
Despite this, Windows 10 retains a Meta Quest 3. SA
phenomenally loyal user base and, for a
time, Microsoft succeeded in its plan to
unite the Windows users onto one RIGHT The worm that and thread counts at competitive prices,
platform. LG turned: WannaCry hit making them ideal for gaming and
the NHS badly in 2017. content creation. Ryzen introduced

2017
PCI-E Gen 4 and native USB 3.1 Gen 2
support before Intel and could boast
attractive features such as Precision
Boost for overclocking support and
TEAM RED GIVES INTEL higher default memory speeds out of the
box. Ryzen APUs with Radeon
THE BLUES BELOW Core blimey: Vega graphics delivered
AMD’s Ryzen has earned its place in this Ryzen chips fabulous performance for
list. It turned AMD from the “cheap and reinvigorated AMD. entry-level gaming – perfect
cheerful” CPU option into a genuine for budget builders who
Intel rival and frequent market leader couldn’t afford a dedicated
in the sector. graphics card.
Zen’s magic flowed from the Behind Ryzen’s success IT MADE US WANNACRY
firm foundation of the AM4 was Dr Lisa Su, who became The events of Friday 12 May 2017
socket, which AMD CEO of AMD in 2014. Her changed cybersecurity for good, in both
developed in 2016 for its skill and determination senses of the phrase. You’d be forgiven
Excavator architecture steamrollered Ryzen into for thinking that at the time, though, as
and maintained over the the market, squashing the WannaCry ransomware worm
first four generations of years of Intel’s ripped through the NHS, racking up
Zen. Buyers adored the dominance. $180 million in recovery costs for 80
CPU upgrade path In my mind, the hospital trusts and 595 GP practices.
without requiring new Ryzen’s chiplet Impacting at least 300,000
motherboards for each architecture was without computers across 150 countries, the first
new generation. At the time, doubt one of the most 200,000 in less than 24 hours, the rapid
Intel was offering an important technological spread of WannaCry was only halted by
incompatible mess. achievements of the past the actions of a lone hacker, Marcus
Ryzen CPUs offered higher core decade. LG Hutchins, who found a “kill switch” URL

2016 2016 2016 2016 2017

MARCH MARCH JULY DECEMBER NOVEMBER
Microsoft Tay lands and is soon Microsoft enters the mixed Pokémon Go phenomenon Apple AirPods appear, and Twitter users could use 280
swearing like a trooper reality world with HoloLens takes over the world now they’re everywhere characters not 140

58 APC MAGAZINE
in the exploit code with an unregistered it was, Skype remained the byword for
domain. WannaCry would only encrypt videoconferencing software, despite
files if no connection to that URL could the rise of Google Meet, Microsoft
be made, and by Hutchins registering Teams, Cisco WebEx and the rest.
the domain, WannaCry killed itself. Then the pandemic hit, and
WannaCry was a worm that exploited suddenly Zoom was the infrastructure
an already fixed vulnerability in for work and play. It became a digital
Microsoft’s Windows Server Message meeting room, sure, but also a
Block (SMB) protocol implementation. post-work bar, a yoga studio, a concert
Some two months after the fix, enough hall, a classroom and where we saw
servers had yet to patch to enable the our family. People held funerals over
ransomware code to spread like wildfire. Zoom, a sad necessity of such terrible
WannaCry was also big news as it times.
emerged it used an exploit developed by Each day in April 2020, Zoom
the US National Security Agency (NSA). meetings topped 300 million
The exploit was stolen by the Shadow participants, 30 times more than
Brokers hacking group and eventually the previous quarter. Why did we
found its way into the hands of the North choose Zoom? It’s difficult to know
Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group. for sure, but keeping short calls free
The good news is that it woke and allowing up to 100 attendees
organisations up to the need to improve surely helped, plus it was easy: you
patch management, attack surface could send a link to a non-tech savvy
auditing and incident response person and all they had to do was
planning. The bad news is that it woke click it to chat.
cybercriminals up to the scale of The post-pandemic shift to hybrid
profitability that better-coded and home working should have seen a
ransomware could attain. DW continuation of the boom times for ABOVE Meta guru:

2021
Zoom, but the company has had to cut Zuckerberg’s vision is

2020
costs with layoffs amid slowing yet to pass.
revenue growth. Now, Zoom is trying
to expand beyond video calls into a full
suite of AI-powered collaboration THE METAVERSE
ZOOM HAS A COVID tools. Whether or not that works in the It’s not as if Mark Zuckerberg was the
long run, Zoom ended Skype’s long first person to back the idea of the
MOMENT reign as the proprietary eponym of metaverse – Second Life gave it a
Before Covid-19 locked us down in choice for videoconferencing. We no spectacular go in the early 2000s,
our homes, who had even heard longer Skype, we Zoom. NK Neal Stephenson coined the term in his
of Zoom? Flawed and out of date though 1992 novel Show Crash, but Zuckerberg
was the first person to try to shape his
LEFT Zoom helped us company around it. And then, slowly,
all through the back away. Turns out people quite like
pandemic. the real world.
Where did it all go wrong
for Mark Zuckerberg and Meta? For the
man who once said, “metaverse isn’t a
thing a company builds... it’s the
next chapter of the internet overall”?
Some would point to the lack of legs
in avatars. Some would point out that
just because we can live in virtual
worlds doesn’t mean we want to. But
mostly, just take a look at the VR and
AR headsets currently on sale and
realise how very far away we are
from a seamless “metaverse”
experience.
But who knows: maybe in 2054’s
follow-up feature, 60 greatest
moments in technology, the metaverse
will have moved from fail to hit. TD

2017 2018 2018 2019 2020

DECEMBER MAY OCTOBER FEBRUARY MAY
TikTok starts its invasion of GDPR comes into force – are Google makes foray into large OpenAI launches GPT-2... and OpenAI launches GPT-3... and
the West with lip-syncing tech you happy with cookies? language models with BERT nobody notices still nobody notices

APC MAGAZINE 59
 2025
WHAT’S THAT HUGE PILE
OF E-WASTE, SATYA?
Why did Microsoft launch Windows 11? Think of a
single 11-only feature which has changed your life.
Even 11-only perks such as DirectStorage and Android
integration were leached into 10. Why? Because 11’s
market share is around half that of its predecessor.
Microsoft culled the free upgrade (critical to
Windows 10’s adoption) by erecting restrictive
hardware barriers and, while it may protest the
technical argument, it’s been a disaster for uptake
numbers and will be calamitous for the environment.
Current estimates suggest that around 250 million
machines aren’t compatible, causing working
hardware to be added to e-waste mountains around
the world. Microsoft is on the verge of committing
ecological vandalism on a global scale, and I’ll be
fascinated to see the justification in its 2026 ESG.
Will this set a precedent? Will Microsoft pull
the same stunt with Windows 12 by outlawing
non-NPU devices? Other tech firms are addressing
sustainability and circularity, but Microsoft feigns
deafness. If you work for Microsoft PR, then take a
sickie on 14 October 2025 (the day Windows 10
support ends) because, unless Satya lifts some
barriers, it’s going to be an awful day in the office. LG

Altman, the controversial figurehead face it, he’s not about to start shopping

2022 for OpenAI, admits that even he

doesn’t know what the next version of
down at Aldi any time soon. BC

2024
ChatGPT will be capable of. It’s
terrifying, but I can’t wait to see what
WRITERS REPLACED comes next. BC

BY MACHINES COPILOT+ PCS

The only reason you can tell this SPACE KAREN’S ANTI- The jury is still out on Copilot+ PCs, but
entire feature was written by I’m going to nail my colours to the mast
over-worked bags of atoms instead of SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR and say they’ll come to dominate the PC
ChatGPT is that AI lacks the It’s easy to forget that Elon Musk landscape for the rest of this decade. If
imagination to insult us in that didn’t actually want to buy Twitter; he nothing else, they mark the first time
fashion. However, given the rate of had to be sued into completing the that Arm-based chips are not only a
progress with ChatGPT and its ilk over ABOVE X-rated: Musk purchase. Many will wish he’d won that match for x86 chips but in many ways
the past couple of years, drumming up has made a pig’s ear of case. An influx of porn bots, the superior – not least their AI abilities.
colourful insults might be all we’re Twitter. readmittance of banned hate-speech Questions remain. Will local AI be
eventually good for. spreaders, a fatwa on third-party clients, embraced by software developers to
Critics smugly claiming that AI is patchy performance, the handing of such a degree that consumers and
little more than an over-promoted “verified” accounts to those shallow businesses start demanding Copilot+
autocorrect don’t know what they’re enough to pay for them, the mass firing PCs by name? Can Copilot+ PCs drop
talking about. This is transformative of the people responsible for the sufficiently in price? (I think they need
technology, and we’re not even close to network’s safety, the outright refusal to to be $1,000 or less to really enter
understanding how much it’s going to be held accountable by the press or, common use.) Will Microsoft keep on
tear up human jobs, the creative well, anyone. The only small backing it or slowly edge away, as we’ve
industries and what’s left of trust in the RIGHT Copilot+ PCs consolation is that Musk’s vanity project seen it do before? Answers on a
legitimacy of internet content. We don’t could be the next big appears to have cost him a serious postcard in five years, please, assuming
understand it because even Sam thing. chunk of his personal fortune. But let’s those still exist. TD

2020 2021 2022 2023 2023

NOVEMBER JANUARY APRIL JUNE JULY
Apple rewrites the CPU rules OpenAI launches DALL-E, a Midjourney starts its flurry of Apple Vision Pro goes on sale ChatGPT consumes the
with the M1 launch harbinger of what’s to come staggering releases in the USA to mixed reviews world’s attention

60 APC MAGAZINE
Onsale Now
www.t3.com/au
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

BEST FREE
APPS FOR
YOUR

Ditch the default camera and microphone apps on your phone

or tablet for superior free alternatives. Robert Irvine explains
how to capture, edit and enhance content like the experts do.

WHAT YOU CAN DO Over the past 20 years, smartphones and However, for every good app, there are
• Turn your phone’s camera tablets have gradually replaced standalone thousands of awful ones that are more
into a professional cameras and audio recorders. After all, interested in showing you ads, collecting your
camcorder why carry around three gadgets when one data and nagging you to pay for subscriptions
• Edit and enhance videos does everything you need and fits snugly than they are in offering useful options. In
using one-tap AI features into your pocket? this feature, we save you wasting your time
• Apply vintage video effects As the quality of phone cameras and installing this junk by recommending the
to your home movies microphones has increased, so has the best free apps for your movies, music and
• Boost the volume and number of apps designed to help you make the photos.
quality of your audio most of your mobile device’s capabilities. This Rather than pick services that let you access
recordings is particularly true of photo, music and video other people’s content, such as YouTube and
• Improve your photos using tools, which are now among the most popular Spotify, we’ve chosen apps that let you
advanced settings and in the Google Play and Apple App stores. capture, edit and enhance your own video,
tools Last October, consumer-insights company audio and image files. Whether you choose to
• Remove unwanted people Statista reported that four in 10 of us regularly share the results, or keep them for personal
and objects from shots use photo-editing apps (tinyurl.com/ use, you’ll discover fantastic new tools you’ll
APC537statista) – way ahead of news, fitness never stop using.
and dating apps.

62 APC MAGAZINE
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

BEST APPS FOR RECORDING & EDITING VIDEOS

Record professional quality videos
While the camera on your phone or
tablet will be fine for shooting short
clips, and may even offer a few
advanced options, if you want to
capture professional-looking videos,
you’re best off with a dedicated app. The
problem lies in finding one that won’t Blackmagic Camera provides tools to tweak videos Open Camera offers an impressive range of
make you pay to unlock its best features you record, including histograms. video-recording options for free.
or to save your recordings without a
watermark. free, and lets you adjust shutter speed, voiceovers to their videos – as well as
The best completely free video- ISO and white balance; tweak video emojis, GIFs and stickers – then upload
camera app is also one of the newest: frame rate and resolution; and use its them directly to YouTube.
Blackmagic Camera, which launched ‘focus pull’ and stabilisation features to Its slick, simple interface makes it
for iPhones last September (tinyurl. keep your subjects sharp while they’re ideal for performing quick
com/APC537black), and Android moving. enhancements to clips, even if you don’t
phones in June (tinyurl.com/ plan to share them online. An iOS
APC537blacka) – though only for Edit and enhance your videos version is coming soon, but iPhone and
Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S23 Editing videos on the small touchscreen iPad users already have access to Apple’s
and S24 handsets. From the developer of your phone or tablet is inevitably more free iMovie video editor (tinyurl.com/
of the powerful free video-editing fiddly than using a PC and mouse, but APC537imovie). This has a clever
software DaVinci Resolve, this app thankfully there are lots of excellent Storyboards feature for creating
transforms your phone into a high-end apps that make the task easier. CapCut different types of video, such as
film camera, with sophisticated for Android (tinyurl.com/ Celebration, Trip and ‘Day in the Life’.
controls for capturing stunning footage APC537capcut) and iOS (tinyurl.com/ Another good option is LightCut for
every time. APC537capcutio) is the most popular Android (tinyurl.com/APC537light)
These include lens selection, frame for good reason, with a huge range of and iOS (tinyurl.com/APC537lightio).
rate, shutter angle, ISO, white balance, options – most of them free – for This fantastic free video editor has a
tint, histogram (for checking exposure perfecting the clips you capture. One-Tap Edit function that uses AI to
– see screenshot above right) and audio These combine practical tools – such transform individual or multiple clips
levels. However, the beauty of as those that let you trim videos, into different styles at the touch of a
Blackmagic Camera is how enhance picture quality, insert button. Its templates span categories
straightforward it is to use. Settings transitions, adjust speed and improve such as Urban, Nature and Portrait, and
can be adjusted simply by tapping and sound – with fun features for applying videos can be enhanced with music, text
swiping them on screen, without filters, effects and stickers. It can and filters.
having to navigate complex menus, generate captions and transcripts for If you’d prefer a more traditional video
before pressing the Record button. You your clips, and lets you export them at editor that works with both landscape
can save videos to your phone or upload the frame rate and resolution of your and vertical clips, and has fewer
them to the Blackmagic Cloud online- choice. social-media features,
storage service to access and edit on CapCut is geared try VN Video Editor for
other devices. towards ‘content Android (tinyurl.com/
If you don’t own a high-end Android creators’ who post their APC537vn) and iOS
phone, or need Blackmagic Camera’s clips on social media – (tinyurl.com/
more advanced tools, Open Camera it’s the official video APC537vnio). This app
(tinyurl.com/APC537open) is a simple editor for TikTok, and uses a timeline view,
free alternative, with no in-app only supports content in with separate tracks for
purchases or ads (despite what its Play portrait mode – but it’s video content, music and
Store page says). Although primarily a still worth exploring its subtitles, above buttons
still-photo camera, its video options let many functions. We for applying an array of
you record footage of unlimited length particularly like the edits and effects. You can
and size at Full HD resolution (4K on one-tap option for tap the book icon in the
compatible devices). You can easily removing the top-left corner to open
adjust the exposure, white balance (see background from videos the Help manual, and
screenshot top right) and recording to isolate the subject (see export your completed
speed; zoom in and out by swiping a screenshot right). videos in your preferred
slider; and even apply video Similarly, Google’s aspect ratio.
stabilisation to reduce camera shake. new YouTube Create app The free version of VN
Another way to improve your for Android (tinyurl. Video Editor has some
iPhone’s video-recording capabilities is com/APC537create) limitations and displays
to install Apple’s new Final Cut Camera allows creators to edit, CapCut is packed with useful adverts, but unlike
app (tinyurl.com/APC537final). Like annotate, and add music, video-editing tools, including better-known freemium
Blackmagic Camera, this is entirely sound effects and background removal. rivals such as Kinemaster

APC MAGAZINE 63
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

(kinemaster.com/en) and CyberLink

PowerDirector (tinyurl.com/
APC537cyber), it doesn’t add a
watermark to your exported videos.

Apply vintage film effects to your

videos
Whereas most video editors are designed
to improve the quality and apperance of
content you capture, Super 16 for Android
(tinyurl.com/APC537super) and iOS
(tinyurl.com/APC537superio) takes the
opposite approach. This fantastic app
makes your videos look like they were
shot on an old 16mm camcorder in the
1970s.
It lets you experiment with different
colour grading, temperature and
saturation; increase the level of grain
(see screenshot below) and distortion;
apply authentic-looking scratches and
defects; and slow the frame rate until you
get the retro look you desire. You can
either configure these settings before you
capture a new video, or choose a clip from
your library to reprocess it accordingly. ‘Video Converter & Compressor’ lets you play any AZ Recorder makes it easy to capture videos of your
Certain options – including the Super 8 video file on your device. phone or tablet screen.
effect – are limited to the paid-for version
of Super 16, which costs $28.99 for six Convert and compress video files that you can’t download (without paying)
months, but the free app has enough From AVI to WMV, there are dozens of or a short tutorial demonstrating how to
tools to take you back in time and make different video formats currently in use, perform a specific task.
your videos look convincingly old. and not all of them may be supported by Many screen-recording apps have
the apps you use on your phone or tablet. annoying restrictions, such as imposing a
Video Converter & Compressor for time limit on the length of videos you can
Android (tinyurl.com/APC537vcc) and capture, or imposing their own
iOS (tinyurl.com/APC537vccio) solves watermark. AZ Recorder is one of the
this problem by letting you easily most flexible free options for Android
convert videos from one format to (tinyurl.com/APC537azr), letting you
another. record videos – with audio – of up to an
Tap ‘Convert or Compress’, select a file hour, at 1080p resolution and 60 frames
and choose the format to convert to (you per second – and without a watermark.
may need to watch an ad to unlock some It’s very easy to use (once you grant the
options). Before you press Convert (see required permissions) and it has a floating
screenshot above), you can change other control ‘bubble’ (see screenshot above) you
settings, including the resolution, frame can tap to start recording any app you’re
rate and codec, and specify whether to viewing – following a three-second
compress the video and by what countdown.
percentage – the app will estimate the AZ Recorder also has built-in video
new size. Once the file has been editing-tools and a Wi-Fi-transfer
converted, the original can be deleted. function that lets you download
‘Video Converter & Compressor’ also recordings on your PC. If its ads and
lets you extract the audio from videos, feedback prompts annoy you, try the more
and trim and merge clips, without losing basic but ad-free RecGo Screen Recorder
quality. Pay $41.99 per month for (tinyurl.com/APC537recgo) instead.
additional formats and options, and to Apple doesn’t allow many screen
remove the (admittedly annoying) recorders in its App Store, preferring you
adverts. to use the Screen Recording feature in the
Control Centre of your iPhone or iPad. The
Record videos of your phone screen best of a small bunch is Record it!
As well as shooting videos with your (tinyurl.com/APC537record), though its
phone’s camera, it’s sometimes useful to free version limits you to capturing
capture what’s on your screen. For 30-minute videos and sharing three-
Make new videos look convincingly old by applying example, you may want to record a video minute clips. Pay $9.99 to remove these
retro effects with Super 16. call for future reference, an online video restrictions.

64 APC MAGAZINE
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

BEST APPS FOR RECORDING & EDITING MUSIC

LEFT Lexis Audio
Record high-quality music and audio Editor is packed with
The stock audio-recording app on your useful tools but you
phone or tablet – called Recorder on need to pay to save
Android, Voice Recorder on Samsung MP3s.
Galaxy devices and Voice Memos on iOS
– may be useful for recording voice notes,
conversations and other nearby speech,
but it’s designed for convenience rather
than audio quality and enhancement.
For superior
1
recordings, it’s
hard to beat Dolby
On for Android
RIGHT AIMP Audio
(tinyurl.com/ Edit your music and audio files Cutter lets you create
APC537dolby) As with video-editing apps, many ‘free’ your own ringtones
and iOS (tinyurl. music editors for Android and iOS have from cropped MP3s.
com/ annoying restrictions unless you pay –
APC537dolbyio), for example, limiting the length of files rather boring
2 which unlike rival you can edit or the formats you can save ringtones, which
free apps has in. One of the better options is doesn’t give you
neither ads nor WaveEditor for Android (tinyurl.com/ much scope to
in-app purchases. APC537wave), which looks and works personalise your
As soon as you a bit like the brilliant free audio editor incoming calls.
Dolby On automatically press Stop to end a Audacity (sadly that doesn’t have a Although there
reduces background noise
recording, Dolby mobile app). are lots of apps
and improves sound
quality. works its audio Either browse to an audio file on your that let you
magic by reducing device or record one through the app to create your own
background noise and distortion, open its waveform. You can then ringtones from
maximising the volume, and applying perform edits such as deleting favourite songs,
effects such as dynamic equalisation and unwanted sections (see screenshot these tend to be stuffed with adverts,
stereo widening. Essentially, this means below left), inserting silences, fading trackers and in-app purchases – and are
you get the best-quality sound possible, the track in and out, and even playing as annoying as Noughties nuisance the
without needing to tweak anything – parts backwards, before exporting the Crazy Frog.
whether you’re capturing music, speech file in your preferred format and The best way to trim MP3 files and
or ambient noise. You can hear the before quality. turn them into ringtones, without
and after difference by using the off/on The app also lets you convert tracks being bombarded with pop-ups, is to
slider in the top-right corner ( 1 in our from one audio format to another. use AIMP Audio Cutter for Android
screenshot above). Upgrade to the Pro version for $6.49 to (tinyurl.com/APC537aimp) – sadly,
The app’s extra tools 2 let you use WaveEditor’s many effects and it’s not available for iOS. This free app,
experiment with different audio styles, remove ads. from the developer of open-source
adjust the treble and bass, and trim Alternatively, Lexis Audio Editor for music player AIMP, has no ads, trackers
unwanted segments. Go into Dolby On’s Android (tinyurl.com/APC537lexis) or in-app purchases, and only requires a
Settings to insert a three-second and iOS (tinyurl.com/APC537lexisio) few permissions – such as access to
countdown before recordings begin and gives you lots of effects for free. These your audio and music files to function
to capture sound in lossless quality. include options to change the pitch, properly.
tempo and speed of music tracks; apply Long-press a track on the My Music
WaveEditor lets you
echo, reverb and a robotic vocoder tab, select Crop and highlight the
convert and make
simple edits to your effect; and improve the sound quality section you want to use as your
audio files. using its equaliser and noise reduction ringtone. Tap the Save button top right
(see screenshot above). The app also lets (see screenshot above) to crop the file
you mix two audio files, and record and save it to your Ringtones folder –
music using a metronome to help you you may need to allow access.
keep time. Which all sounds great, The cropped MP3 will now be listed
until you try to save the track as an MP3 in AIMP Audio Cutter’s My Ringtones
and find you need to pay $12.99 – other tab, where you can long-press it and
formats, including AAC, FLAC and choose ‘Set as ringtone’. Once you grant
WAV, are available for free. the app permission to modify system
settings (which sounds worrying but is
Trim music files to turn them into completely safe, and essential for it to
ringtones work), you’ll be able to use the trimmed
Many Android phones now come with song as your ringtone, notification
only a small selection of shrill and sound or alarm.

APC MAGAZINE 65
THE GLOBAL
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 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

BEST APPS FOR CAPTURING PHOTOS

OldRoll turns your
Replace your phone’s default camera phone into a vintage
app camera – like the Leica
The built-in Camera apps on M6 – and takes photos
smartphones have improved in line with with a retro look.
the number and quality of camera lenses,
and now offer a variety of shooting
modes and manual settings – especially
on high-end handsets. However, there
are still advantages to trying a different
camera app, even if you don’t make it the
default on your phone.
Open Camera for Android (tinyurl. using a vintage film or disposable by automatically stripping the EXIF data
com/APC537oc, see page 63) makes it camera. It displays your viewfinder from photos you take, so nobody can see
easier to adjust the white balance, within mock-ups of old camera models, when, where or on what device they were
exposure and resolution of shots before including authentic flash and brightness taken (see screenshot below left). It works
you press the Shutter button, and offers a controls, and applies suitable effects to just like a standard camera app – indeed,
wide selection of scene modes, including give your pictures a retro look. You don’t its name is shown as ‘Camera’ – with a
Action, Sunset and Theatre (not that you need to edit or retouch the result, though selfie mode, timer and flash, and it can
should be taking photos in a theatre). It settings and filters are provided should also scan QR codes and capture videos.
also provides simpler control of the flash, you want to. On an iPhone or iPad, you can prevent
torch and zoom on your phone, and – The free version of OldRoll includes a the built-in Camera app from saving
unlike most free camera apps – it doesn’t selection of classic cameras, such as a location and other data for photos.
collect your data or restrict options to a Classic M (pictured above, inspired by the Alternatively, use Exif Metadata
paid-for version. Leica M6), Polaroid Instant and Argus C3 (tinyurl.com/APC537exif) to strip
At the other end of the scale are apps – switch between them by tapping the details from existing snaps.
that replicate the features of professional camera icon (see screenshot above). You
DSLR cameras, such as ReLens Camera need to pay to unlock additional models, Digitise old photos with your phone’s
for Android (tinyurl.com/ either individually, by subscribing to camera
APC537relens) and iOS (tinyurl.com/ OldRoll for $6.49 a month, $19.99 a year If you don’t have access to a scanner or
APC537relensio). or by purchasing the app for $29.99 – a all-in-one printer, you can digitise old
It offers a choice of lenses (see free trial is available when you open the photos for free using your smartphone’s
screenshot below), a wide aperture- app. camera and Google PhotoScan for
adjustment range and dozens of filters, Android (tinyurl.com/APC537gps) and
effects and manual settings. The catch is Remove sensitive data from your iOS (tinyurl.com/APC537gpsio). This
that it adds watermarks to your photos – photos free app makes scanning photos
pay $1.69 to remove these, or buy the VIP The photos you take with the camera on incredibly easy, removes glare from
version for $6.49 a month, $24.99 a year your phone or tablet include EXIF data, glossy prints and automatically detects
or $33.99 outright. This includes even which provides details of when and and crops the edges of pictures.
more options, including a DSLR Bokeh where the shot was taken and the device To use PhotoScan, hold your phone
effect for blurring the background of you used. Although this metadata is over a photo until it fits in the frame,
photos while keeping the subject in useful for organising images by date and then press the shutter button. When four
focus. location, it also poses a privacy risk when white circles appear on your screen,
A less sophisticated but more fun you share pictures online, because the move your phone so the selection ring
alternative to your camera app is OldRoll GPS coordinates may reveal where you (pictured below) surrounds each one in
for Android (tinyurl.com/APC537old) live and where you’ve been. turn. The app will then scan the photo
and iOS (tinyurl.com/APC537oldio). Secure Camera for Android (tinyurl. and save it to Google Photos, where you
This lets you take photos as if you were com/APC537secam) fixes this problem can edit and enhance the result.

ReLens Camera Secure Google PhotoScan

provides a wide choice Camera takes makes it easy to
of lenses, but its free photos without digitise your old
version has a catch. revealing the photos.
location or
time.

APC MAGAZINE 67
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

BEST APPS FOR EDITING & ENHANCING PHOTOS

Snapseed offers Snapseed’s many
Edit your photos without plenty of styles you tools include the
restrictions can apply to photos option to cheer up
There are thousands of free photo- with a single tap. gloomy subjects.
editing apps in the app stores, but
nearly all are blighted by adverts,
watermarks, premium-only options,
dubious privacy policies and other
annoyances. One of the few exceptions
is Snapseed for Android (tinyurl.com/
APC537seed) and iOS (tinyurl.com/
APC537seedio). This provides dozens
of useful tools for free without any
catches, and though it’s owned by
Google, it has no ads or trackers.
Open a photo from your library and
Snapseed will display a range of simple
styles you can apply, such as
Lightroom Photo
Accentuate (see screenshot right), Snapseed makes it easy to undo edits
Editor lets you
Faded Glow and Silhouette. Switch to and revert to the original image by fine-tune every
the Tools tab to explore the app’s full tapping the back–arrow button in its aspect of your
set of options, which include fine- top-right corner, and you can go into its pictures.
tuning the colour, contrast and Settings to change the default size and
brightness levels; using subtle effects quality at which you export edited
to enhance the subject or background; photos. We’re also big fans of Image
adding frames and text; and even Toolbox for Android (tinyurl.com/
changing the perspective of the shot. APC537toolbox), which is similarly
We particularly like the Healing tool, free of distractions and restrictions. It
which lets you erase unwanted offers loads of handy editing tools,
elements from pictures by swiping filters and effects, and makes it easy to
them with your finger; the Double convert images from one format to
Exposure option, which blends two another.
images together; and the (slightly
creepy) ‘Head pose’ feature, which Edit your photos using
adjusts eyes and smiles to make bored professional tools
faces appear happier (see screenshot For greater control over your photo
top right). edits, the best option is Adobe’s Lightroom Photo Editor for Android
(tinyurl.com/APC537room) and iOS
(tinyurl.com/APC537roomio). You
can use this app’s presets to apply
STOP FREE APPS COLLECTING YOUR DATA one-tap enhancements to your shots,
such as different skin tones, photo styles
The popularity of video, them being personalised and levels of sharpness, then use its
music and photo apps based on your interests. expert tools to refine every aspect of
makes them especially You can block trackers your shots, from the colour and
lucrative for advertising in apps using the App exposure to the texture and ‘optics’.
and marketing Tracking Protection Lightroom is easier to use than
companies – through feature in the Adobe’s desktop software, letting you
hidden trackers. Many DuckDuckGo Private make most adjustments by swiping
apps we tested for this Browser for Android sliders (see screenshot above), though
feature showed the (tinyurl.com/ some of its features – including new AI
same privacy pop-up, APC537duck). Switch tools – require a subscription. This costs
asking for consent to share our data with this on in the browser’s settings, allow $6.99 a month or $81.99 a year, following
nearly 200 ‘vendors’ and ad partners. DuckDuckGo to set up a VPN and it will a seven-day free trial.
Although some had a ‘Do not monitor and block all tracking attempts Adobe also has a photo-editing app
consent’ button, others didn’t, hoping (see screenshot). that’s a bit more fun – Photoshop
we’d tap Consent just to close the Your iPhone or iPad has its own Express (Android tinyurl.com/
pop-up and access the app. Instead, setting for blocking app tracking. APC537express; iOS tinyurl.com/
you should always choose ‘Manage Select ‘Privacy & Security’ in the APC537expressio). Although its filters,
options’ and switch off every setting Settings app, tap Tracking and switch stickers and selfie tools seem targeted
that shares your data with third parties. off the option ‘Allow Apps to Request to more at younger users and
This won’t prevent ads, but it will stop Track’. Instagrammers, it includes lots of useful
options for perfecting your pics,

68 APC MAGAZINE
 FEATURE | BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR VIDEOS, MUSIC & PHOTOS

FIVE VIDEO, MUSIC AND PHOTO APPS TO AVOID

Video Editor & Video Maker worst. It’s slow, full of trackers and has
This app is not only stuffed with ads and a hard-to-read interface.
in-app purchases, but may also steal
your data. Its Chinese developer, Magic Photo Collage & Photo Editor
Coocent, was last year accused of Many free collage-making apps are
exploiting device permissions to spy on supported by ads, but this one shows
its users (see tinyurl.com/ them even when you’re not using it.
APC537vided). With more than 21 embedded trackers
and 74 permissions, it’s invasive,
Video Lite for Android irritating and not even good at creating
The iOS version of this app (tinyurl. collages.
com/APC537vidlite) lets you watch
YouTube videos without ads, but – VSCO: Photo & Video Editor
because Google doesn’t allow YouTube There are many worse photo-editing
ad blockers in the Play Store – the apps than VSCO, but it used to be so
Android version doesn’t, even if you pay much better. A large proportion of its
for a subscription. tools now require a subscription, you
can’t use it without an account, and it
Audio Editor – Ringtone Maker keeps nagging you to use its social-
Ringtone makers are among the most media features.
junk-filled apps and this is one of the

there. Magic Eraser only works on circle (as shown in our screenshot), and
devices with at least 3GB of RAM, and move and tilt the words until you’re
The Magic Eraser AI tool in Google Photos deletes limits you to saving 10 edited photos a happy with your design. Add more text if
background intruders. month. required, before previewing the result
Some image-editing apps use AI to and saving the annotated photo as a JPEG
including the removal of blemishes, remove the entire background from or PNG file.
red-eye and unwanted objects. shots, though this is a subscription-only Phonto is completely free to use, and
You need a subscription to unlock all option in many. Remove.bg for Android though it includes ads, these are of the
its features, but it’s less restrictive than (tinyurl.com/APC537remove) lets banner variety rather than full-screen
the similar Picsart (Android tinyurl. you cut out subjects for free (with no ads horrors - pay $4.19 to remove them.
com/APC537picsart; iOS tinyurl. or in-app purchases) and place them on
com/APC537picsartio), which a wide variety of solid-colour, photo and
frequently interrupts you with ads abstract backgrounds. You can save the
unless you upgrade to its pricey result for free, but to download an HD
paid-for version. version you need to sign up for a free
account.
Remove people and backgrounds On an iPhone, you can use the built-in
from photos using AI Photos app to cut out the subject of
Google recently added several AI- photos by long-pressing them until an
powered features to its Photos app outline appears.
(Android tinyurl.com/
APC537photos; iOS tinyurl.com/ Add text to your photos
APC537photosio) that were Although many image editors let you
previously only available with a Google add text to your photos, their options
One subscription or Pixel phone. By far are usually pretty basic. Phonto
the most interesting is Magic Eraser, (Android tinyurl.com/
which removes unwanted people from APC537phonto; iOS tinyurl.com/
photos using AI. APC537phontoio) is designed solely
Unlike the Healing tool in Snapseed for this purpose, and makes overlaying
(see opposite), Magic Eraser and customising text on pictures
automatically detects and highlights incredibly straightforward.
background interlopers. Tap a Select an image, tap the pencil icon
highlighted person to erase them, or (see screenshot above right) and enter
press ‘Erase all’ (see screenshot above) the words you want to include. You can
to delete all unwanted people in one then choose a font from Phonto’s
go. The tool will conceal the removal collection of more than 200,
by blending in surrounding elements, experiment with different colours and Phonto lets you add text to photos in hundreds of
so you’d never know the intruders were styles, including curving the text into a different fonts and styles.

APC MAGAZINE 69
WhatsApp, iMessage, RCS, Signal… what’s the safest way to
communicate? Nik Rawlinson compares the major apps, and explores
each one’s key strengths and vital privacy settings.
T
he truth is that many of our communications appear in green
communications are bubbles.
transmitted and stored If you choose to use iMessage,
insecurely. A malicious actor therefore, keep an eye on the colour of
could intercept your messages in the bubbles appearing in Messages
transit, or access them while they’re – and if they’re not all blue, consider
sitting on a provider’s servers – and switching to another messaging
then leak your personal information, service, such as Signal or WhatsApp,
forge messages using your identity or which allows users on all platforms
even blackmail you. to communicate securely.
You can reduce the risk by using a
secure messaging platform. The RCS
problem is that there are several RCS – short for Rich
options to choose from. To an extent Communication Services
your choice may be guided by what – isn’t an app, but a standard
your colleagues are using, but it’s that any messaging service
well worth understanding the can implement. Originally released in
strengths and weaknesses of each 2008 as an intended replacement for
one, and how you can use them to keep SMS and MMS, it supports smart
your correspondence private. features such as typing indicators, read
receipts and file sharing, much like
iMessage WhatsApp. Android has supported
iMessage is the official RCS for more than a decade, and while
Apple instant messaging RCS isn’t natively encrypted, Google
service. It’s available in the added its own E2EE layer (based on the
Messages app for iOS, Signal Protocol) in 2020. Encrypted
iPadOS and macOS, and at its launch in RCS is now the default for all
2011 it was the first messaging service communications through the Google
to use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by Messages app, so if you’re exchanging
default – meaning that your messages messages with an Android-using
are encrypted on your device before colleague, you should see a little
being sent, and can only be decrypted padlock icon indicating that you’re
by the recipient. Even though your which is designed to protect against the ABOVE Apple’s protected.
communications are relayed through possibility of hackers using quantum Messages app Unfortunately, as with iMessage,
Apple’s servers, Apple can’t decode computing methods to crack the combines secure RCS isn’t universally supported. Apple
their content – and nor can any spies or encryption. PQ3 is available now in iOS communications has long resisted building it into its
hackers who might hypothetically and iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4 and with regular SMS. Messages app, preferring to stick to its
intercept your messages. watchOS 10.4; if you’re an iMessage proprietary messaging platform. And
To provide further security, if user it’s recommended that you although the company recently
several devices are signed in to the upgrade immediately, because while announced it would be adding RCS
same iMessage account – say, a Mac it’s not currently possible to decode support to the next full-point release of
using an iCloud address, an iPad using iMessage encryption, there’s a iOS and iPadOS, it doesn’t plan to
a Gmail address and an iPhone using a possibility that hackers could gain support Google’s encryption system.
phone number – then each one receives access to archives of currently That means RCS messages between
a uniquely encrypted message. The encrypted messages and decrypt them Android and iOS users will still be
data received by any one of them would in the future, once the quantum insecure, and will appear in green
be a scrambled string if opened by one technology is available. bubbles like SMS and MMS messages.
of the others. While iMessage has a lot going for it,
In the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, it also comes with one major limitation:
watchOS and macOS, as well as it only works on Apple devices. If
end-to-end encryption, iMessage you’re exchanging messages with an
includes a way to provide reassurance Android user, the Messages app will do
that the person you’re messaging really so using the old unencrypted SMS and
is who they say they are – as long as it’s MMS protocols. To give a visual RIGHT Encrypted
someone who’s already saved in your indication of which platform you’re RCS is the default
contacts. The feature is called Contact using, iMessages are shown in blue communications
Key Verification, and it works by bubbles within the Messages app, while standard on
generating a unique code that you can regular unsecured SMS Android.
share with others to confirm your
identity. To access it, tap Settings on
your iPhone, followed by your name,
then Contact Key Verification. From
Even though your
here you can create a code that contacts
can check to confirm they really are communications are
communicating with you (and you can
do the same in return).
For most of its lifetime iMessage has
relayed through Apple’s
used encryption built on the AES
standard, but Apple has recently begun servers, Apple can’t
decode their content
rolling out a new “post-quantum
cryptographic protocol” called PQ3,

APC MAGAZINE 71
Signal
Signal is one of the most With all these
protections in place,
popular secure messaging
platforms, for several
reasons. For one, it’s not
restricted to any platform – you can get
the official app for Android, iOS,
Signal is an excellent
defence against
iPadOS, Windows, macOS and
various flavours of Linux.
It also has all the features you’d
expect of a modern messaging
platform, including text, video and
eavesdroppers
voice communication, voice note
support and the ability to exchange Signal servers can deliver secure RIGHT You can buy
files with your interlocutors. messages to their recipients without an anonymous
Everything uses E2EE by default, and ever even knowing who they’re from phone number to
the Signal Protocol is so well respected – and it’s automatically enabled if your use with.
that it’s used by Google for encrypting message recipient has you in their
RCS messages and by WhatsApp. contacts list.
The Signal app also adds some With all these protections in place,
powerful features. You can verify the Signal is an excellent defence against
identity of the person you’re hackers and eavesdroppers. And since
communicating with by scanning a QR the operator stores almost no
code on their phone, or comparing a identifiable information about its
60-digit string of numbers with the users, even if it were ever required to
same string displayed on your handset hand over user data to law-
(the same technique used to confirm enforcement agencies, it’s very
contacts in WhatsApp). To verify a unlikely it would be able to provide
contact in Signal, tap their icon, then anything that could identify or
tap View Safety Number and use your incriminate any individual.
phone to scan the QR code that appears.
Signal messages can also be set to Telegram launched for iOS and Android, it now
disappear after a set period, at which The development of has native clients for Windows, macOS
point they’re deleted from both the Telegram was inspired by a and Linux, and can also be accessed
sender’s and recipient’s handsets (a real-life incident. In 2011, its through a browser at web.telegram.
feature also offered by Telegram). founder Pavel Durov (who org. It supports text-based messaging
Another neat feature is the ability to also set up Russian social networking between individuals and groups,
automatically blur faces in photos site VK) rejected government demands transmission of images and other
before they’re sent; this makes it easy to shut down the pages of anti-Kremlin media, and live voice and video calls.
to share images of protests and other election candidates; shortly Perhaps surprisingly, while voice
sensitive events without potentially afterwards, he received a visit at home and video connections on Telegram are
exposing or incriminating anyone. from a Russian SWAT team. The fully encrypted by default, chats aren’t:
Although you need a phone number experience made him acutely aware of regular messages are encrypted when
to initially register your account, it the value of private, secure they leave the user’s handset, but are
doesn’t have to be the phone number of communications, and he began work decrypted on Telegram’s servers. To
the device on which you’re installing on Telegram. gain full security, users need to initiate
Signal; it could even be a landline or Today, the company that operates a “Secret Chat”, which does use
VoIP number if you prefer. And once Telegram is officially headquartered in end-to-end encryption. The messages
you’re on the platform, you can create Dubai, but it works from undisclosed in a secret chat can also be set to expire
and share a public username while locations and has a complex after a defined period, at which point
keeping your number private. organisational structure consisting of the content is wiped from all
Another feature we’d recommend several shell companies, designed to BELOW Signal can participants’ handsets, with no
Signal users look into is Registration make it difficult to pin down legally. be used on almost recovery possible.
Lock, which lets you assign a PIN to In use, Telegram is similar to any platform you There are a few limitations with
your user account, which must then be WhatsApp and Signal. Originally can think of. Telegram’s secret chats. For maximum
entered each time you log into a security the messages in a secret
different device. This makes it very conversation can’t be forwarded to
hard for anyone to impersonate you on other users, and they’re locked to a
the platform, while making it easy for device rather than a user account, so
you to hop onto a new device as needed they won’t synchronise to multiple
– a particularly useful ability for devices if you’re logged in to several at
anyone who frequently uses burner once.
numbers or short-term VoIP accounts. It’s also worth noting that regular
Turn it on by tapping Settings in the chats can’t be converted to Secret Chats
Signal phone app, followed by Privacy, in retrospect, so you’ll need to initiate
then Signal PIN. Then tap Registration the feature at the beginning of your
Lock. conversation if you want to use it. To do
Signal even lets you send messages so, open Telegram, then find the
semi-anonymously with its “sealed contact with whom you want to
sender” feature. This technology communicate securely. Tap their
encrypts your own identity so that the avatar or icon at the top of the screen,

72 APC MAGAZINE
 LEFT Telegram your messages in accordance with
includes a host of their own privacy and data-protection
secure messaging policies, and data relating to your
features. interaction may be shared back to
Telegram. Meta.
This isn’t necessarily as sinister as it
may sound. It just means that, for
example, a business might use the
content of your message to determine
whether you should be shown an ad on
Facebook, or it could ask Meta to
generate a response using AI. Meta
sometimes uses the chats it processes
to improve its own AI quality; look out
for the tag “uses AI from Meta” below
the company name, if you’d prefer that
your data isn’t used in this way.
There aren’t many security settings
then tap the “...More” button on the bar had a great reputation for protecting to play with on WhatsApp – it’s a highly
running across the middle of the users’ privacy and personal data. secure platform by default. It doesn’t
screen; this reveals several options, one However, WhatsApp has been fully store messages once they’ve been
of which is Start Secret Chat. end-to-end encrypted since 2016; all delivered, and doesn’t even keep logs of
You can sign up to Telegram with messages and other data – such as delivered messages (undelivered
your mobile phone number, but if photos, videos and voice notes – are messages may remain on its servers for
you don’t want to associate any scrambled at the point of creation, 30 days, after which they’re deleted).
personal information with the service using the same encryption method as Another benefit of the Signal Protocol
it’s also possible to obtain a non- Signal, and only decrypted when they is that the encryption keys change
geographic number with the 888 arrive at the recipient’s device. This regularly, so even if someone managed
country code through the Fragment means that nobody who intercepts your to extract them from your device, the
platform (fragment.com/numbers), messages in transit should be able to compromised keys couldn’t be used to
and sign up using that. view their contents – including Mark decrypt previously transmitted
Zuckerberg. messages.
WhatsApp However, it’s important to If you have any doubts about who
WhatsApp is the world’s remember that once encrypted you’re talking to, there is a way for you
most popular non-native messages reach their destination, they and your correspondents to view and
messaging platform, can be read, stored and shared just like compare your encryption keys. To do
claiming two billion active any other data. This is particularly so, open a chat on your phone, then tap
users as of April 2024; for comparison, pertinent in the case of WhatsApp, as your contact’s name to open the
Telegram has “only” 900 million. many businesses use it for customer contact information screen. Now tap
Notoriously, WhatsApp is owned by service; companies that you interact Encryption to reveal a QR code and a
Meta, a company that hasn’t always with on the platform can still process 60-digit key. If you’re in the same place
as your colleague you can each scan the
code on each other’s phone to verify
that it’s valid; otherwise you can share
copies of your 60-digit keys to confirm
that they match.

Picking a platform
While each of the mainstream
messaging platforms offers some
sort of encryption, it’s clear that not all
platforms are equally secure by
default, or don’t necessarily offer
protection for all communications. It’s
also vital to remember that E2EE is only
as secure as the person you’re sending
your messages to. We’ve all seen
screenshots of politicians’ WhatsApp
groups, which have been leaked to the
press and shared with the public.
As well as choosing an appropriate
platform and implementing its
security options as appropriate,
therefore, remain mindful of the
low-tech ways your words can come
back to haunt you. No matter how
much you may trust the platform, it’s
LEFT WhatsApp is safest to avoid saying anything in a
the most popular private chat that you wouldn’t want to
messaging platform be made public.
in the world.

APC MAGAZINE 73
 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

With password theft rocketing,

it’s never been more important
to get rid of your old, unsafe
logins and start using new and
unhackable replacements –
including passkeys. Nik
Rawlinson explains what you
must do.

WHAT YOU CAN DO Attempts to steal passwords have shot up own similarly ingenious methods.
• Discover the deadliest in the past few years. In 2015, Microsoft’s We also explain how to prepare for
password hacks of recent times security team detected 115 every second. passkeys, which are rapidly replacing
• Check whether your passwords That has now risen to over 4,000 – a rise of passwords. You can now use these in
have been leaked online more than 3,370 per cent. Hackers password managers to sign into your
• Get email alerts telling you as continue to target passwords because – Microsoft, Google and Apple accounts, and
soon as your password is deep down – humans are predictable. Too into many websites. We know some of you are
leaked many of us use the same passwords over unsure about the security and convenience of
• Create complex and unique and over again, despite all the security passkeys, but the tech industry is adopting
passwords that hackers won’t advice telling us it’s a terrible idea. this technology so quickly that we have no
be able to crack In this feature we’ll give you a complete choice but to learn how to use them.
• Start using passkeys on your password audit, so you can see which ones Our advice should help protect you from
phone, tablet and PC, and have been stolen and what you must do to the worst consequences of password theft,
across all sites that support make your new ones unhackable. We reveal a even if your accounts appear in data leaks.
them password-creation technique that’s served us Talking of which, we start with the nine
• Set up passkeys in your well over the years, and it’s more deadliest hacks of recent months. If you
password manager sophisticated than replacing the letter 0 with suspect you’ve been affected, take action
zeroes, and S with 5. We’re sure you have your straight away.

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

RECENT HACKS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

Dell customer database
April 2024
Customers affected 49m
A hacker called Menelik claims to have
stolen 49 million customer records (2017-
2024) from Dell, and put them up for sale
on the dark web. The data comprises
names, addresses and purchase details,
but not payment details, emails accounts
or phone numbers. Dell emailed affected Dell emailed customers that their personal data had Type your email address into Have I Been Pwned to
customers (pictured below), saying been stolen. see if it’s been leaked online.
there’s no “significant risk”.
Optus breach. The Australian Passport services, making the data a valuable
Facebook Marketplace accounts Office (APO) has advised that impacted hoard for hackers to get their teeth into.
February 2024 individuals do not need to replace their The quickest way to see whether you’ve
Customers affected 200,000 Australian passport, and it is still safe to been affected – by this or any other hack
Account details of 200,000 Facebook use for travel. – is to type your address into the search
Marketplace users were stolen in This is because Optus has provided the box at Have I Been Pwned (www.
February, including names, mobile stolen passport numbers to the haveibeenpwned.com, see screenshot
numbers, email addresses and IDs. The Documentation Verification Service below).
hackers claim it was stolen not from (DVS), meaning they can no longer be
Facebook itself, but from the system of a used to verify your identity online. The 23andMe customer data
contractor working for Meta (which DVS is used by banks and government October 2023
owns Facebook, WhatsApp and departments such as Centrelink to check Profiles affected 6.9m
Instagram). Because the data includes your identity, so by blocking stolen Genetic testing company 23andMe
mobile numbers, hackers might be able passport numbers in the DVS, affected announced that the data of 14,000
to intercept two-factor authentication Aussies are at a lower risk of identity customers had been illegally accessed by
codes sent to phones. Meta hasn’t fraud. hackers. This is just 0.1 per cent of its
commented on the leak, so it’s difficult Medicare numbers of Optus customers users, though they appear to have been
to tell who’s been affected. have also been exposed by the data connected to almost seven million others
breach. On October 7, the telco announced thanks to 23andMe’s ability to match
Roku customer details that more Medicare ID numbers had been patterns in users’ DNA to identify
March/April 2024 exposed than originally thought. previously unknown relatives. 23andMe
Customers affected around 570,000 Optus’ revised numbers identified has notified affected customers but, for
Roku was hacked in both March and 17,000 valid Medicare ID numbers that the latest updates, check the article at
April. Hackers took known passwords have not expired were stolen in the hack www.snipca.com/50464.
and email addresses for other services – that’s an additional 2,100 more than
and fed them into Roku’s login forms, first reported. A further 26,000 expired Medibank ransomware attack
unlocking Roku accounts where the Medicare card numbers were also taken, October 2022
same details had been used. This let which is 4,000 more than first thought. Records affected Around 9.7m
them purchase Roku devices and Only Optus customers who used their The ransomware attack that took place in
streaming services. Medicare card to verify their identity late October 2022, and allowed the threat
It’s important to note that Roku was a have had this data exposed, and the telco actors to access personal details of around
victim here, rather than the source of the says it’s communicated with all 5.1 million Medibank, 2.8 million ahm,
leak. It’s a reminder to not use the same contactable customers who were and 1.8 million international current and
password for multiple sites or services. impacted. former customers, and health claims data
Roku has reset the passwords of affected If you’re worried your data was leaked, for around 160,000 Medibank, 300,000
accounts and is refunding any visit www.optus.com.au/support/ ahm, and 20,000 international
unauthorised purchases. cyberresponse. customers.
The criminal did not access credit card
Optus data breach Naz.API data breach and banking details or health claims data
September 2022 January 2024 for extras service.
Customers affected around 10m Records compromised Over 1bn To tackle the problem of ransomware,
The Optus data breach exposed the At the start of the year hackers rolled Medibank says it is expanding its Cyber
records of 9.8 million current and together several lists of stolen data to Response Support Program to now
former customers, and Optus has build a massive stash of logins, include a cybercrime health & wellbeing
confirmed that 2.1 million customers comprising more than a billion records line, proactive support for vulnerable
had critical identity documents stolen in and 71m email addresses. This was customers, tailored preventative health
the hack, including the ID numbers of significant because a third of those advice and resources specific to
passports, driver’s licences and Medicare addresses had never been leaked before. cybercrime and personal duress alarms
cards. Optus has stated that 150,000 Worse still, many of them were paired for vulnerable customers.
passport numbers were exposed in the with passwords and tied to specific online

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

HAS YOUR PASSWORD BEEN LEAKED ONLINE?

You might be surprised by how many MOZILLA HIBP
times your passwords and usernames
have been leaked. We certainly were
(over 300 according to Apple)! Get into
the habit of regularly checking whether
they’ve appeared online using the
following tools.

Check on the web

As mentioned on the previous page, Have 2
I Been Pwned (HIBP, www.snipca.
com/50489 ) is one of the best sites for 1
checking whether your details have been
stolen. Run by Australian security expert
Troy Hunt, it’s updated whenever news of Mozilla Monitor provides links for changing leaked passwords, while HIBP gives more information on breaches.
a breach breaks. It told us that one of our
addresses had been breached an changing your passwords at the hacked Apple keychain. As we’ve set up six
alarming 18 times. It also lets you search sites. accounts in Apple Mail and been using the
for leaked passwords (www.snipca. Look at the screenshot above right. On keychain for decades, it’s showing 322
com/50586) – ‘12345678’ appears nearly the left Mozilla tells us our password for vulnerabilities (see screenshot below left).
seven million in breaches! photography network 500px was exposed, Tapping the box reveals what they are,
If you don’t want to keep checking HIBP and provides a link to change it ( 1 in our along with a link to the website associated
every week or so, sign up to its ‘Notify me’ screenshot above). It also gives us the date with each one.
service instead. Visit www.snipca. it was leaked. On the right HIBP gives us
com/50477, type your email ( 1 in our more information about the breach itself Android
screenshot below), then tick the Captcha 2 , but no direct help on changing our You can use Google’s Password
and click ‘notify me of pwnage’ 2 . It’ll password. Checkup on your Android phone or
send you an email that you’ll need to Also, unlike HIBP, Mozilla Monitor told tablet, as well as via a browser
verify. Once you’ve done that, it will email us when our IP address and phone number (www.snipca.com/50582). Open
you whenever that email address appears had been leaked and, because these can’t Settings, then search for ‘password
in a newly leaked stash of data. be changed, suggested steps we could take manager’ at the top. Tap the ‘Password
Mozilla Monitor (https://monitor. to keep ourselves safe in the future. Manager Google Play services’ result, then
mozilla.org), which is made by the You should also try Google’s Password the Checkup button bar at the bottom (this
developers of the Firefox web browser, Checkup, which is available at www. might be ‘Check passwords’ in blue higher
revealed 30 instances of our email address snipca.com/50479 – having previously up the screen, depending on your version
and password appearing online. It’s been available only as a browser of Android).
compatible with all browsers and now extension. Read on for more on this tool. It will now check the passwords you’ve
works with Firefox’s password manager to saved to your Google account. You’ll see
alert you when your details have been Check on your phone or tablet leaked passwords ( 1 in our screenshot
compromised. To use it you’ll need to iPhone & iPad below), as well as any that have been
create a Mozilla account at www.snipca. On your Apple device, open reused (all ours are unique 2 ), and those
com/50488 – click Sign Up top right. Settings, then tap Passwords. At that are weak enough to be cracked by a
Mozilla Monitor uses the same database the top of the next screen, you’ll brute-force attack 3 . Tap ‘Change
of breaches as HIBP, so you might wonder see a Security Recommendations box password’ for any results you want to
whether it’s worth trying it if you’ve containing the number of compromised remedy and you’ll be taken to the relevant
already visited the latter. We think it is logins associated with the accounts you’ve site or instructed to open the matching
because it provides handy links for set up on your device or saved to your app if you have it installed.

Apple warned Password

us that details Checkup reveals
for more than breached, reused
300 of our and weak
accounts had 1 passwords.
been leaked.
1
2

Type your email address then click ‘notify me

of pwnage’.

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

HOW WE CREATED THE ULTIMATE UNHACKABLE PASSWORD

A good password is long, but not =
necessarily complex. Don’t believe us? OUR PHONETICALLY
The stats bear it out. Pivot Point Security
explains (www.snipca.com/50486)
INSPIRED PASSWORDS
that with the 94 characters on a regular 228spoonCatflap!alphamike
keyboard you could create six quadrillion $RANSOMwhelk
unique eight-character passwords. 228spoonCatflap!bravobravo
Finding the exact one you chose would Bitwarden estimates it would take ‘centuries’ to $RANSOMwhelk
take a computer eight hours. crack ‘spoonCatflapRANSOMwhelk’. 228spoonCatflap!foxtrotalpha
But, if you chose a 10-character $RANSOMwhelk
password, the same machine would take Make it confusing
eight days to crack it – and, if you How can we combat this? We have two
extended it to 12 characters, it would still options: either make up a random still easy to remember, but even more
be working on it in the year 2085. With string of letters, digits and special complex than before.
that in mind, we set out to create the characters like #, @ and $, or combine
ultimate password – one that’s multiple dictionary words like Make it unique
uncrackable but easy to remember. spoonCatflapRANSOMwhelk. We could Our login still fails in one very
even put spaces in there, too. important respect: it’s a single
Make it unfamiliar In doing so, we’ve created a password, rather than a system. We
Computers don’t understand words, so combination of words that’s fairly easy could learn it by heart and use it for
while ‘password’ makes a lot more sense to remember, including lower-case and Amazon, Facebook and countless other
to us humans than ‘yrhd65tf’, a computer capital letters, which is long enough to sites and, for a while, feel smug and
sees them both as a combination of eight take ‘centuries’ to crack, according to secure. The first time it’s hacked or is
random characters. Bitwarden’s password-strength testing leaked, though, all of the accounts that
That’s why complexity isn’t necessarily tool (www.snipca.com/50487, see use it will have been compromised.
more effective than length. screenshot above). That’s why it’s so important to use a
All things being equal, it would take a Of course, that password wouldn’t different password for every login.
computer roughly the same amount of satisfy every site on which we wanted It’s unrealistic to expect anyone to
time to cycle through all possible to use it because it lacks numbers or come up with four different words for
combinations until it arrived at special characters, but now that we every site, plus numbers and
‘password’ as it would for ‘yrhd65tf’, have our base phrase, those elements punctuation, without forgetting them
‘zzzzzzzz’ or ‘12345678’. will be easy to add and remember. or writing them down. So, we’ll use the
However, there’s one respect in which same pattern as our starting point and
choosing ‘password’ over ‘yrhd65tf’ is Make it complex build from there by adding something
less safe: the fact that it appears in the We’ve extended our password by that ties it specifically to the site we’ll
dictionary. The first thing a hacker is adding 228 to the beginning, those be logging into.
likely to do is subject our login to a digits being the last three of our phone Let’s imagine we’re creating a
dictionary attack, in which they try every number, and added an exclamation password for Amazon. We’ll take the
word in the book – quite literally – to see mark and dollar symbol to the middle. first two letters of its name – AM – and
if we’ve been sloppy. So, we’ll steer clear Our password is now add the phonetic alphabet words for
of single real words. 228spoonCatflap!$RANSOMwhelk. It’s each of them between our two special
characters (alphamike). We’ll then do
the same for the BBC (BB, bravobravo),
USE A PASSWORD GENERATOR Facebook (FA, foxtrotalpha), and so on.
Our passwords would all then be
If you’re struggling to come up with your www.strongpassword generator.org unique as well as uncrackable – as
own password method, try a password which allows thousands of characters. shown in the box above.
generator. The best ones, usually from We also like LastPass’s tool (www. You’ll find the phonetic alphabet at
password managers, let you create snipca.com/50497), particularly the www.snipca.com/50493, but if we
passphrases (for example, four or five option to make passwords “easy to were feeling really clever, we could
random words) as well as passwords, read” (see screenshot). This avoids even come up with our own alternative
and choose whether to include “ambiguous characters” like 1, I, 0 to the phonetic alphabet, using things
numbers, upper-case letters and special and O. in our home – as long as we remained
characters. Of course, password managers create consistent. If either of those passwords
Bitwarden’s tool passwords to should leak, it will only compromise the
(www.snipca. encourage you to use site to which it applied, and not any
com/50496) does all them in their tools, but other, unless it also began with the
these, letting you create you don’t have to. Just same first two characters. Again,
passwords that are 128 click the option to copy Bitwarden tells us all three would take
characters long – it and you can use it centuries to crack. Good luck with that,
though this is beaten by anywhere. hackers.

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

SET UP PASSKEYS FOR MICROSOFT, GOOGLE & APPLE

We’ve been using passwords to secure access. Apart from the fact that passkeys
computers since the 1960s. That’s given are simpler to use than passwords
hackers plenty of time to find ways because you don’t need to remember
around them. Two-factor authentication anything, we reckon the clearest
(2FA) has had some success in redressing advantage is that you can’t be fooled into
the balance, making your password logging into a fake website. Why?
effectively useless unless the hacker also Because a spoof site won’t have access to
has access to your phone or another the other half of your key, like a genuine
physical device tied to your identity. The site does.
next logical step is the passkey, which To demonstrate how passkeys work,
relies completely on that secondary we’ll set up a key for our Amazon account
device and does away with passwords on iOS, Android and Windows, before
altogether. showing you how to secure your
The process for setting up a new Microsoft and Google accounts the same
passkey differs slightly between devices, way. The process will work similarly on
but typically you’ll scan a barcode with other sites that accept passkeys.
your phone, then use the biometric
information stored on that device, like Use passkeys on iPhone and iPad
your fingerprint or a scan of your face, to Passkeys are supported in iOS 16 We logged into our iPhone with our face to save
confirm who you are. and iPadOS 16 (released 2022) or our Amazon passkey.
Once you’ve done that, the phone uses later on devices with two-factor
the half of the passkey to which it has authentication and that have iCloud before going any further.
access to partially unlock the site you’ve Keychain activated. These have been Open Settings and tap your name at
visited. The remote computer hosting the supported for many years, so there’s a the top of the screen. Tap ‘Sign In &
site does the same thing with the half of good chance they’re already enabled on Security’, and check that it says ‘On’ next
the passkey it retains, and you’re granted your device, but it’s worth checking to Two-Factor Authentication half way
 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

down the screen. If it doesn’t, tap ‘Turn screen and click Your Account in the
On Two-Factor Authentication’ followed menu that appears. Click ‘Login &
by Continue. Enter a phone number that Security’, then log in again to access the
you control and tap Next, and Apple will settings you require. Tap ‘Set up’ beside
send a code to it. Type this code into Passkey, and on the following screen
your phone or tablet to complete the click ‘Add a passkey’.
process of setting up Two-Factor A Windows Security window will
Authentication. appear (pictured below left) asking you to
To check whether iCloud Keychain is log in using the same credentials as you
enabled, return to the Settings home use to log into Windows. As soon as you
screen and once again tap your name at do so, a passkey will be created and saved
the top of the screen. Tap Apple ID to Windows, which you can now use to
followed by ‘Passwords & Keychain’. If log into Amazon.
the keychain isn’t enabled, turn it on
and follow the on-screen instructions to Set up passkeys for Microsoft and
complete the process. 1
Google accounts
Now, visit www.amazon.com.au in Now that you’ve set up passkeys for your
your phone or tablet browser. Log into Amazon account, you should do the same
your account in the usual way, then tap for other accounts on sites that support
your name at the top of the screen. Tap the process. We recommend starting
the See All button beside Your Account with your Microsoft and Google
in the sidebar menu that appears, accounts.
followed by ‘Login & security’ in the 2
Account Settings section. Microsoft account
Scroll down to the Passkey section After adding passkeys to
and tap ‘Set up’, followed by the yellow You’ll see the Amazon account you’re creating a Windows 11 last year, Microsoft
‘Set up’ button on the next screen. You’ll passkey for and the Google account it will be now lets you sign into all its
now see the regular unlock box asking saved in. ‘consumer’ accounts. It means you can
you to use the biometric method you’ve log into Office, OneDrive, Outlook, Skype,
set up on your device to create the asked to touch the fingerprint sensor on Windows and Xbox using your face or
passkey. On our iPhone we log in using the back of our Pixel 5 phone. Once we’d fingerprint.
Face ID, so at this point it asks us done this, the process completed and the Visit www.snipca.com/50520 and
whether we’d like to use Face ID to sign passkey was added to our Amazon log in using your existing Microsoft
in. We do, so we tap Continue and it account. username and password. At the bottom
scans our face. Having recognised us, it click the blue link ‘Add a new way to sign
creates the passkey (see screenshot Use passkeys in Windows PCs in or verify’. A Windows Security
above left). You can also use Windows to window will appear.
store your passkeys, as long as Click ‘Face, fingerprint, PIN, or security
Use passkeys on Android devices you’re running at least Windows key’ in this new window (see screenshot
Passkeys are supported on 11 with the Moment 4 update. When below), and the site will ask where you’d
devices running Android 9 you’ve saved a passkey to the operating like to save your passkey. The default
(released in 2018) and later. Visit system, it can be unlocked using option is ‘iPhone, iPad, or Android
www.amazon.com.au on your Android whatever process you use to log into device’. Assuming you want to use your
device, then log in. Tap your name at the Windows (PIN, facial recognition, and mobile device, leave this selected and
top of the screen, followed by the See All so on). click Next. The options will be replaced
button beside Your Account, then ‘Login To secure an Amazon account, log in at by a QR code. Leave this on screen, and
& security’. Scroll down to Passkey and www.amazon.com.au using your open the camera app on your phone or
tap ‘Set up’, followed by ‘Set up’ (or ‘Add regular browser, then hover over tablet. Point the camera at the QR code
a passkey’ if you’ve already created a ‘Account & Lists’ on the bar at the top of and an option to ‘Save a passkey’ will
passkey using a different device).
Android will show you the Amazon
login for which you’re setting up a
passkey ( 1 in our screenshot above
right) and the Google account 2 that
will be used to store the passkey and
synchronise it between your devices. If
you want to change the associated
Google account, tap it and select an
alternative from the menu.
Once set up, your passkey will be
unlocked using whatever process you
use to unlock your phone. Tap ‘Use
screen lock’ and you’ll be asked to Windows will ask you to log in using the same Click ‘Face, fingerprint, PIN, or security key’ then
unlock your device. In our case, we were credentials as you use to log into Windows. select where to save your passkey.

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

Log into the

appear on your phone screen. Tap this.
Google account
A ‘Sign In’ window will appear on your for which you
device, asking you to use your biometric want to set up a
login to confirm who you are. Tap passkey, then
‘Continue’, then use Face ID or fingerprint click ‘Create a
to unlock your device. Once you’ve been passkey’.
recognised, you’ll see the Windows
Security window on your PC change to
confirm that ‘You can now use your
device to sign in to “login.microsoft.
com”’.
Click Next, then give your passkey a
name. Because we’ve set up our passkey
on an iPhone, which saved it to iCloud
Keychain from where it can be US$30 from Google’s store. then visit www.google.com and click
synchronised between devices, the Visit www.snipca.com/50521 and log Sign In.
process suggests Apple iCloud Keychain. into the Google account for which you Now, type the email address associated
We’ll stick with this by clicking Next. want to set up a passkey. Now click with the account that you just created a
‘Create a passkey’ (see screenshot above passkey for, and click Next. When
Google account right) – at which point a Windows prompted to ‘Enter your password’, click
Google is promoting passkeys in a Security window will ask you to log in. ‘Try another way’ followed by ‘Use your
big way, and is working with Choose your preferred method. passkey’. The Windows Security window
firms including Adobe, eBay, As soon as you’ve logged in, Windows will reappear, asking you to use your
Nintendo, PayPal and Uber to make sure will save the passkey, just as it did for the regular Windows login option (the PIN in
they are adopted. It has also launched its Amazon account previously. To check our case) to unlock your Google account.
first Titan Security Key capable of storing you’re able to use it to log in, open a new Do whatever it asks through the process
passkeys. It can hold 250, and comes in private browser window (press and once finished click Next to complete
USB-A and USB-C versions, each priced Ctrl+Shift+N in a Chrome-based browser), the process.

USE PASSKEYS IN YOUR PASSWORD MANAGER

When you use a password manager, Click ‘Save’ to store
your login
you no longer need to remember any
credentials in your
passwords. It can generate a unique Bitwarden vault.
login for every site and save this to an
online vault, letting you use it across
all your devices.
Our favourite password manager is
Bitwarden, available as an app for iOS
(www.snipca.com/50546) and
Android (www.snipca.com/50547),
as well a Windows program and
browser extension (www.snipca. automatically enter them when you support, so it can be used like iCloud
com/50559). visit a site. Keychain, Google’s Password Manager,
We recommend installing the One of the reasons we particularly or Windows, to store and synchronise
extension for your browser at the very like Bitwarden, aside from the fact the your passkeys.
least, even if you don’t download the free plan offers everything you’re likely This is good news if you work with
software, as you can use this to save to need, is that it’s frequently being multiple devices because you’ll be able
passwords to your Bitwarden vault and updated. Last year, it added passkey to set up a single passkey that will be
shared across each of them, rather
than having a different passkey for
each operating system.
WHICH WEBSITES SUPPORT PASSKEYS?
Set up Bitwarden
Passkeys are growing fast – Google Nvidia, PayPal and WhatsApp. The most Go to www.bitwarden.com, click ‘Get
alone said that they now secure over comprehensive list we’ve seen online is started’ at the top, then type your
400 million accounts. The reason is that at the FIDO Alliance site www.snipca. email address and name, as well as a
many websites now let you sign in with com/50576, which currently lists 131 master password. This is the only
them. These include Amazon (as we’ve services. It’s updated regularly, so keep password you’ll need to remember
explained), as well as Dropbox, eBay, checking it. from this point – it’s vital not to forget
it (follow our advice on page 77 for
creating an uncrackable but easily

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 FEATURE | DITCH YOUR OLD PASSWORDS NOW!

remembered login). The setup process

also asks you for a password hint.
Again, make this a bit cryptic, so you
can remember it but not give the game
away.
Now install the extension for your
browser, then click the jigsaw icon (or
cube in Opera) followed by the pin next
to Bitwarden’s name. This will pin 1
Bitwarden’s shield icon to your browser
bar. When you next log into a site,
Bitwarden should spot that you’ve
typed a username and password and
3
offer to save it for you (see screenshot
above). Click Save to store your details.
Next time you need to log into the
same site, rather than typing your
details manually, right-click in the
username or password field and hover
your cursor over Bitwarden ( 1 in our
screenshot right). Next, hover over
‘Auto-fill login’ 2 and click ‘Log in to 1
your vault’ 3 . Enter your master
password in the window that appears
and Bitwarden will fill in your
username and password.
Click ‘Log in to your vault’ and Bitwarden will sign you into websites you’ve saved your details for.
Save passkeys in Bitwarden
To save a passkey to your Bitwarden passkey’ button 2 . When you do, the system, not the FIDO technology that’s
vault, follow the same procedure as Bitwarden window will reappear and, been built by Apple, Google and
you would when saving one to having detected the site you’re trying Microsoft and is likely to become the
Windows. For Amazon, for example, to access, will suggest the most universal standard – see www.snipca.
navigate to your account settings as we appropriate passkey from your vault. com/50569. KeePassXC meanwhile
did on page 78, click ‘Login & Security’, Click Confirm and it will sign you in 3 . added passkeys in March, though you’ll
then click the Edit button beside need to install its browser extension to
Passkey. Other password managers with use them – find the relevant links at
On the following screen, click ‘Add a passkeys www.snipca.com/50571. You’ll also
passkey’ and this time, rather than a Bitwarden is far from the only need to select Enable Passkeys in the
Windows Security window appearing, password manager to have added extension’s settings. See www.snipca.
the Bitwarden pop-up will open. Type support for passkeys. 1Password com/50585 for more instructions.
your Bitwarden password to unlock introduced them last September for There’s no sign yet of LastPass
your account, then click ‘Save passkey iOS and Windows, and extended this supporting passkeys, despite saying a
as new login’ (see screenshot 1 below) to Android (version 14) in March – see year ago that it was coming soon (www.
to store it in your vault. The next time www.snipca.com/50568. snipca.com/50573). But with the
you want to log into your Amazon Dashlane implemented a version of company suffering two severe breaches
account, when asked for your passkeys in December, though it’s in 2022, affecting 30 million users, we’d
password, click the ‘Sign in with a using its own “passwordless” security advise you steer clear anyway.

1 2 3

Click ‘Save passkey as new login’ to make Bitwarden Next, click ‘Sign in with a passkey’ when you want to Bitwarden will then choose the relevant passkey from
save your passkey in its vault… sign into a website… your vault, which you need to confirm.

APC MAGAZINE 81
 PC BUILDER
From the front lines of the Australian PC market

System news
Mark Williams watches intently as Intel and AMD both struggle for positive
press on their processors.

SHOP TALK Intel’s woes with its failing prior, so many were expecting removed native support
Has there been a 13th and 14th generation CPU solid consistent gains from altogether is nothing short of
significant increase products continued over the these new parts. impressive from AMD.
in 13th and last month, with many Unfortunately, many Alexander Yee, the programmer
14th-generation worrying about the longevity independent reviewers only behind the popular Pi calculation
Intel CPU RMA
of their now life reduced but saw 5% - 7% at best with some and benchmarking tool
requests this year?
still functional parts. Intel has benchmarks showing it slower y-cruncher revealed some telling
“There was a taken action to ease these fears than Zen 4 in others. Whilst IPC benchmarks he handcrafted
definite uptick in by extending its warranty for other benchmarkers were to put Zen 5 through it paces.
CPU-related issues them by another two whole seeing upwards of 25% in Scaler Integer improved over Zen
for 13th and years. A good sign of faith that certain scenarios. 4 by a large 20-35%, x87 FPU by
14th-gen Intel, even it will do right by its So, what gives? Well, it’s of 10-13%, 128-bit SSE saw a -1%
before recent
journalism brought customers. course complicated and regression, 256-bit AVX a 5-8%
attention to the For anyone with a 13th or 14th multifaceted. uplift and AVX512 saw a crazy
issue. Now that gen CPU in a system, the BIOS Zen 5 for AMD represents 96-98% improvement.
more and more patch to fix the voltage issue that’s something of a clean slate, Zen 4 Most consumer workloads –
people are aware, been causing the early demise of was as far as AMD could take the including games – utilise far more
we’re receiving a lot these processors is out. Everyone original Zen architecture and 128-bit SSE code than anything
more pre-emptive
should update their motherboard needed a new ground up base to else, so the fact that many
customer contact
expressing BIOS’s immediately, specifically, start iterating on again. In an reviewers were only seeing single
concerns without look for mention of “0x129 interview with Mike Clark, lead digit improvements or even
the fault being microcode” in the patch notes and architect of Zen, he said that it’ll regressions starts to make some
presented yet. So make sure you apply it correctly. take a few years for software to sense and fleshes out why AMD’s
far, we haven’t had This won’t fix what damage has catch up with the new hardware official IPC claims are far higher.
any issues with
already been done to your implemented in Zen 5, and that While Zen 5 may seem like a
RMA and support
from Intel though.” processor, but it should prevent it’d most likely have happened by sidestep in performance for some,
Anthony, the CPU from degrading itself any the time Zen 6 launches. it’s a beast for others and sets the
Aftershock PC further. With wider ALUs and new to foundation for many CPU
the consumer space dual branch generations to come.
Ryzen 9000 is confusing predictors along with full
For Zen 5 powered Ryzen 9000 implementation of Intel’s own
desktop parts AMD was AVX512 specification (that Intel
officially claiming an average itself has failed to implement well Mark Williams is an IT professional
IPC uplift over Zen 4 of 16%, a in the past without severe heat with a strong interest in voiding
claim AMD has made and downclocking issues), and in warranties.
essentially each Zen generation recent generations simply

82 APC MAGAZINE
 PC BUILDER | MARKET WATCH

Market Watch
A sampling of PC systems available this month

MWAVE KATANA TI COMPUTERS THERMALTAKE BPCTECH KRAKEN

SUPER TI WINNING CITADEL PRO V2 MINI BOX
$1,899, tinyurl.com/APC537mw $1,749, tinyurl.com/APC537ti $2,799, tinyurl.com/APC537tt $2,899, tinyurl.com/APC537bpc

This system looks quite Coming in $150 less than the Going head-to-head with the Clashing horns with the
interesting. Coming in near Mwave system, this appears BPCTech system for a small Thermaltake system, this
the entry level of gaming rigs, to sacrifice a lot to get there. tower system, specs wise one goes all in on the size
not only does it give you With half the SSD and RAM they’re strikingly similar. factor. Smaller in every
32GB of RAM, but it also capacity and a regular non-Ti The Intel 12700F in this rig dimension for a truly tiny
offers a capacious 2TB of RTX 4060, this system gives has the iGPU missing so you desktop footprint. This
SSD storage and even gives up a lot for the price can’t take advantage of necessitates the move to
you a Ti variant of the RTX advantage. QuickSync enabled more expensive SFF parts
4060, meaning 20% more The saving grace is the applications. But with the RTX like an SFX power supply and
gaming grunt to play with. CPU in the Intel 14400F 4070 onboard that can usually ITX motherboard. So, the
The catch is that it’s based offering 10-cores and pick up that slack and even do fact this only costs $100
on the long in the tooth AM4 14-threads from the current it faster so it’s something we more and the only major
platform and only has a generation so will be better in can ignore. drawback is the smaller 1TB
6-core Ryzen 5600 included. CPU bound tasks. Ironically One advantage this system SSD is quite understandable.
No slouch but is starting to while the CPU here is better has though is the doubling of Though you do get a
show it age. suited to pushing higher SSD capacity at 2TB, all while high-end Z690 based
With only 8GB of VRAM frame rates at lower being $100 cheaper though it motherboard and a regular
and the aging CPU this is resolutions, the non-Ti GPU does have slightly slower non-F i7 12700 CPU for a
best suited to less included will negate any RAM, but Intel CPUs aren’t smidge more functionality, or
demanding gaming titles like gains this can offer in games. that sensitive to RAM speeds at the very least more display
eSport style games at 1080p. On top of this it’s matched as AMD’s are. output options. If space is at
with a DDR4 motherboard, Lots of give and take in this a premium for you, the tiny
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600; COOLER further constricting build so mostly it’ll come footprint of this system and
DeepCool AG400 ARGB; performance potential. Best down to price and if you like solid specs is hard to ignore.
MOTHERBOARD Asus TUF Gaming avoid this one if possible. the chassis better.
B550M-Plus WIFI II; GRAPHICS Asus CPU Intel Core i7 12700 COOLER
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Dual Evo OC CPU Intel Core i5-14400F; COOLER CPU Intel Core i7 12700F; COOLER Asus ROG Strix LC II 240 ARGB
8GB; MEMORY 32GB Corsair DeepCool Super air cooler; Thermaltake TH240 V2 Ultra AIO; AIO; MOTHERBOARD Asus ROG Strix
Vengeance RGB PRO SL DDR4 MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte B760M MOTHERBOARD Asus Intel B760 Z690-I Gaming WIFI; GRAPHICS MSI
3600MHz; STORAGE 2TB Lexar DS3H; GRAPHICS Geforce RTX4060 chipset based with WIFI; GRAPHICS GeForce RTX 4070 Gaming X Slim
NM790 M.2 PCIe4.0 NVMe SSD; 8GB; MEMORY 16GB Kingston DDR4 Asus GeForce RTX 4070 12GB; White 12GB; MEMORY 32GB Corsair
POWER SUPPLY MSI MAG A650BN 3200MHz; STORAGE 1TB NVMe M.2 MEMORY 32GB Thermaltake Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz
650W CASE Antec CX200M Elite. SSD; POWER SUPPLY Thermaltake ToughRam RGB DDR5 5600MT/s C36; STORAGE 1TB Kingston NV2
700W; CASE Matrexx 55. C36; STORAGE 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD; POWER SUPPLY
4.0 SSD; POWER SUPPLY Thermaltake Lian Li SP750 750W SFX; CASE
Toughpower GF A3 750W; CASE Corsair 2000D Airflow.
Thermaltake Tower 200.

APC MAGAZINE 83
 PC BUILDER | BLUEPRINTS

Blueprints
Value- and performance-driven hypothetical builds

Budget. A perfect balance between price and performance.

You may have heard that Intel’s fickle thing, and right now, AMD’s but otherwise, we’re all good here.
last two generations of chips 9000 gen chips are launching. That You still get PCIe 5.0 on that as well,
haven’t been great on the stability means the pricing on the 7000 chips so there’s plenty of upgradability on
front, with reports of multiple below may radically change in the it later down the line.
errors and system issues. We’re coming weeks. No doubt the 9th gen For our Intel rig, 12th gen also fits
seeing reports that this is more chips will be in these pages in the in the latest chipset boards, so
than just a micro-code issue. In next couple of issues. there’s not much to change here.
fact, it’s related to the Our budget builds haven’t changed We’ve opted for the 12600KF, as it’s a
manufacturing process itself, and that dramatically. The biggest shift is fairly reasonable $249. It still packs
possible oxidation occurring as a on the pricing front. The 4000D has in six performance cores and four
result. Once Intel comes out with a had its price fall by $10, bringing it efficient cores, all clocked at
statement or some form of fix we down to just $125. This is in line 4.9GHz, although you will need a
can trust (rumour has it that it may with Nzxt’s H7 Flow 2022, also falling cooler. We’ve factored that into the
reduce the multiplier on the 14th to $165. price below, and recommend Be
and 13th gen to just x53, and drop Otherwise, pricing has remained Quiet!’s Pure Rock Slim for just $40.
memory support to 4,800MHz), relatively stable. We did have to shift Amazingly, with all that, we’ve still
we simply can’t in good faith fully out an AMD board for the Asus Prime managed to shave off $106 from
recommend the Raptor Lake chips. B650 Plus (sadly, the Gigabyte Eagle last month.
On top of that, deadlines are a AX from last issue had a price hike), Overall a decent result.

AMD BUILD Approximate Price $1,520 Intel BUILD Approximate Price $1,279

Case Corsair 4000D Airflow $125 Case Corsair 4000D Airflow $125

600W Thermaltake 600W Thermaltake

PSU $99 PSU $99
Toughpower GX1 80+ Gold Toughpower GX1 80+ Gold

Asrock B760M-HDV/M.2
Mobo Asus Prime B650-Plus ATX $299 Mobo $182
Micro-ATX

Intel Core i5-12600KF

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 7600 $289 CPU $289
+ Cooler

XFX Speedster SWFT 210

GPU Intel Arc A750 8GB $349 GPU $279
Core RX 7600 8GB

Team T-Force Vulcan Alpha 32GB (2x16GB) Silicon

RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz $149 RAM Power Value Gaming @ $95
CL38 DDR5 6000 C30

512GB Adata Legend 840 512GB Adata Legend 840

SSD $65 SSD $65
PCIe 4.0 M.2 PCIe 4.0 M.2

1TB Kingston NV2 1TB Kingston NV2

SSD $85 SSD $85
PCIe 4.0 M.2 PCIe 4.0 M.2

Windows 10 Home 64-bit Windows 10 Home 64-bit

OS OEM (Windows 11 $60 OS OEM (Windows 11 $60
Compatible) Compatible)

84 APC MAGAZINE
 PC BUILDER | BLUEPRINTS

AMD BUILD Approximate Price $2,510 Intel BUILD Approximate Price $2,646

Case Nzxt H7 Flow $165 Case Nzxt H7 Flow $165

850W Thermaltake 850W Thermaltake

PSU $135 PSU $135
Toughpower GF A3 80+ Gold Toughpower GF A3 80+ Gold

Mobo Asus Prime X670-P WiFi $339 Mobo MSI Z790-S Wifi ATX $329

CPU AMD Ryzen 7 7700X $489 CPU Intel Core i7-12700K $449

Noctua NH-D12L Cooler Master MasterLiquid

Cooler $199 Cooler $135
Chromax.Black ML360L ARGB V2 360mm AIO

Asus Dual OC Radeon RX MSI Ventus 2X OC RTX

GPU $619 GPU $869
7700 XT 12GB 4070 12GB

32GB (2x16GB) Silicon 32GB (2x16GB) Silicon

RAM Power Xpower Zenith Gaming $190 RAM Power Xpower Zenith Gaming $190
@ 6000 C30 @ 6000 C30

1TB Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink 1TB Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink

SSD $119 SSD $119
M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD

2TB Silicon Power UD90 2TB Silicon Power UD90

SSD $195 SSD $195
M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD

Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM

OS $60 OS $60
(Windows 11 Compatible) (Windows 11 Compatible)

Mid-range. A game-ready machine that can also handle demanding work.

Our mid-range buildS are also reputation shift. AMD moving its which should provide comparable
seeing some pricing shifts, with ‘gaming’ CPUs into that price point performance.
that H7 Flow falling by $4. We could be a sound tactical decision, As for our Intel system, aside
suspect this is down to a number albeit frustrating for us. We’ve from the major CPU change yet
of cases now entering the opted to drop it in favour of the again, the only other thing we’ve
market, providing top-tier Ryzen 7 7700X. It’s more akin to swapped is the cooler: Cooler
feature sets at a lower price, and the 7800X3D on core count, but Master’s MasterLiquid ML360L.
forcing manufacturers to still provides solid mid-range Yes, it does look like the same name
shuffles prices down to compete performance. It also brings our as last issue, and our other pick has
as a result. CPU price down by $210 compared had its price increased.
For our AMD build, we’ve had to to last month. As for the chip, we’ve gone with
shift to another motherboard, Also on the annoying side of Intel’s Core i7 12700K. That slides
moving to the Asus Prime X670-P things is the GPU for our AMD in at just $449, and packs in eight
WiFi. Unfortunately, our other system, as it’s now difficult to find performance cores and four
board had been bounced up. in the marketl. On top of that, you efficient cores at 5GHz, giving us 20
Similarly, the 7900X3D increased can’t get a 7700 XT for anything threads. You’ve still got DDR5 and
slightly. That’s challenging to less than $600, bumping us up PCIe 5.0 support, and some potent
justify, and again may be in part again. We’ve gone for Asus’s Dual single-core performance. You even
due to Intel’s struggles and OC Radeon chip in the meantime, get two extra performance cores.

APC MAGAZINE 85
 PC BUILDER | BLUEPRINTS

High-end. The ultimate do-anything-with-ease PC.

It’s finally happened – well, it Intel’s build has again seen some absolutely hammered versus last
does happen, but very rarely. Our change. This time, we’ve swapped month, falling by an outstanding
AMD build has received zero the 14900K for the 12900KS. That’s $373. In fact, we might have to get
changes. Yes, incredibly there’s not quite as dramatic a loss in all these chips in to see just how
just nothing that really warrants power as you might think, either. well they compare by modern
a swap. Our CPU of choice, the Although the 14900K does standards. Just how much
7950X, received a $10 price technically have more cores, performance are you losing by
increase. That’s minor an d they’re mostly efficient cores. The dropping from the 14900K to the
would not warrant us swapping two are on par for Performance 12700KS?
out a major component for units. Clock speeds are slightly Hopefully, within the next
something cheaper, particularly disadvantaged, however, as the month or so, both of these
since we want to keep that CPU, 12900KS does only pack in 5.5GHz, situations will get resolved. We
as it’s the best AMD has to offer but given that we might be seeing a should see AMD with its latest
right now, at least for 5.3GHz max on that 14900K soon, 9000 chips run riot in the
productivity. But weirdly, other who knows. benchmarks, and possibly on the
items got a price drop. Case – We’ve also swapped out the pricing front, too. Similarly, if Intel
$10. Cooler and SSDs? Stable. memory using the same kit across can get a fix out for its 14th series,
It’s kind of crazy, and a rarity, so both systems. The TeamGroup kit then we might just be alright. For
we left it as it was. The spec is was a no-brainer, really. For that the time being, though, it’s
solid, and thanks to those price price, you just can’t say no. probably best to hold on to those
drops,the 7950X’s price bump Ultimately, that has led to this savings for the summer break, at
has been effectively mitigated. system having its total cost least.

AMD BUILD Approximate Price $4,626 Intel BUILD Approximate Price $4,407

Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2

Case $289 Case $289
Tempered Glass Tempered Glass

Phanteks Revolt 1000W Super Flower Leadex

PSU Platinum Fully Modular Power $329 PSU Platinum SE 1000W - 80+ $329
Supply Black Platinum White

Asus Prime X670E Pro Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite

Mobo $499 Mobo $439
WiFi - AM5 AX-W ATX

CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7950X $839 CPU Intel Core i9-12900KS $499

Corsair iCUE H150i RGB

Cooler Nzxt Kraken 360 - 360mm AIO $279 Cooler $230
Elite - 360mm AIO

Asrock Phantom Gaming OC PNY GeForce RTX 4080

GPU $1,369 GPU $1,599
Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB Super Verto Triple Fan 16GB

64GB (2x32GB) Teamgroup 64GB (2x32GB) TeamGroup

RAM $319 RAM $319
T-Create Expert @ 6000 C34 T-Create Expert @ 6000 C34

2TB MSI Spatium M570 HS 2TB MSI Spatium M570 HS

SSD $464 SSD $464
PCIe 5.0 M.2 PCIe 5.0 M.2

2TB Lexar NM790 PCIe 2TB Lexar NM790 PCIe

SSD $179 SSD $179
4.0 M.2 4.0 M.2

Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM
OS $60 OS OEM (Windows 11 $60
(Windows 11 Compatible)
Compatible)

86 APC MAGAZINE
SAVE THE DATE

Show SYDNEY 2025

4-6 APRIL 2025
AT THE SYDNEY CENTRAL HOTEL
MANAGED BY ASCOTT

BROUGHT TO YOU BY
 HELP STATION | THE PROBLEM SOLVERS

The problem solvers

The APC team field problems across the spectrum of devices and software.
Learn a new trick or fix you can use.

Malwarebytes & VPNs

Is there any reason why Malwarebytes
Anti-Malware Premium flags up – and
blocks – IP addresses that appear to be
linked to my VPN (Private Internet
Access)? Is this some cynical attempt
to get me to switch to its own VPN
product instead?
Nicole J Villegas

APC Responds: There is a long-

standing issue between IP addresses
used by Private Internet Access and
Malwarebytes’ real-time protection
component. There’s little help to be had
from Malwarebytes – PIA is flagged as
being one of several third-party apps
(many of them rival security products)
that can cause problems with MBAM’s
Web Protection, one of its four real-time
protection components. Malwarebytes’ Use Play mode to suppress unnecessary notifications.
solution is to disable Web Protection,
which results in a frequent nag that it’s While you can’t prevent MBAM from APC Responds: While Microsoft
not enabled. You can turn this off via blocking these IP addresses, you can plans to provide Extended Security
Settings > Notifications (uncheck ‘When suppress the pop-up notifications Updates to Windows 10 users for up to
real-time protection is turned off’), but without compromising your security three years after October 2025, it won’t
that would mean you wouldn’t be through a workaround involving its Play be free. While educational institutions
notified if other components were mode. Ostensibly for gaming, you can use will be asked to pay $7 per machine for
disabled, something that can happen at it to suspend notifications and updates three years, commercial organizations
boot time. when PIA is running. To do this, return will be charged $61 in year one, $122 in
It’s tempting to think that this is to Settings > Notifications, scroll down, year two, and $244 for the final year of
cynical behavior on Malwarebytes’ part, and click the Configure link under Play updates – again, per machine. Expect to
but the issue is with many of the IP mode. Click ‘Add Item’, browse to C:\ pay somewhere in between to keep
addresses that PIA uses. Make a note of Program Files\Private Internet Access, Windows 10 updated.
any blocked IP addresses, which can be and choose pia-service.exe. Once added, The good news is that there is an
reviewed directly from MBAM itself: you’ll no longer see the pop-up alternative that will cost significantly
click Detection History and switch to the notifications. Don’t worry, though – the less in the form of 0patch
History tab, and you’ll see a list of IP IP addresses will continue to be blocked (https://0patch.com). It has a long
addresses labeled as ‘compromised’. and logged, so you can review them history of supporting older versions of
Paste these into the AbuseIPDB website under Detection History, should you wish Windows with security patches after
(www.abuseipdb.com), and you’ll see to do so. Microsoft abandoned them, and recently
that many have been reported for abuse, announced it will ‘security-adopt’
some more than others. You may find Stay of execution Windows 10 when official support ends
these IP addresses are blocked elsewhere I’m currently running Windows 10, for around $27 per year for each
on your system – check your router’s logs. having dabbled with – and rejected – Windows 10 PC you own.
This isn’t an indication that PIA is Windows 11. Microsoft is spamming 0patch promises a minimum of five
unsafe or has been compromised – these me almost daily with prompts to further years of support for Windows 10.
are servers that your encrypted VPN upgrade to Windows 11 and reminding Its main offerings are so-called
traffic passes through en route to its me that support will end in October ‘micropatches’ that will patch any
destination, designed to mask your 2025. I recently switched my four- vulnerabilities discovered after October
location so your data isn’t compromised. year-old mobile phone from Android 2025. Most are so small they’ll be
PIA can still function by trying different to e/OS to avoid being left high and installed silently in the background with
IP addresses until it finds one that hasn’t dry when support ends. Is there no reboot required, but that’s not all –
been blocked by MBAM, but it’s still something similar for Windows? 0patch comes with zero-day patches for
annoying. Harold C Torrez known vulnerabilities not yet officially

88 APC MAGAZINE
 HELP STATION | THE PROBLEM SOLVERS

“I’m currently running Windows 10, having dabbled with –

and rejected – Windows 11. Microsoft is spamming me
almost daily with prompts to upgrade to Windows 11 and
reminding me that support will end in October 2025.”

patched, ‘wontfix’ patches for command is applied, refresh the page, (www.av-test.org) – particularly its
vulnerabilities the vendor won’t patch, and you should find that your Protection score – and AV-
and occasional non-Microsoft security Nextcloud instance has completed its Comparatives (www.av-
patches for popular software, like Java update. comparatives.org/consumer).
runtime, Adobe Reader, and 7-Zip. Visit the Administration settings of Sadly, APC’s not aware of any way to
You can set up a free account at your install through the web interface. migrate rules from one product to
https://central.0patch.com and If you see a warning message about another – he recommends going
download the free version of 0patch missing indices, return to the Terminal through your preferences,
Agent, which offers zero-day patches and issue the following command documenting custom settings and
for free. Request a trial of the Pro (again, change user 1000 if necessary to rules with descriptive notes you can
version to verify it meets your needs match the user running the Nextcloud consult when setting up your new
before purchasing a license to continue pod): security package.
protecting your Windows 10 PC even podman exec --user 1000 nextcloud php
after Microsoft abandons it. occ db:add-missing-indices Remote backup alternative
I remember a program called Buddy
Nextcloud update failure Kaspersky switch question Backup, which allowed you to trade
I recently set up a Nextcloud pod in The US government’s banning of spare backup capacity on your
Podman. I received a notification to Kaspersky has left me in a quandary: computer with a remote friend for
update, which I did, but it appeared I have four PCs protected by secure backups. I recently tried to
that Nextcloud was stuck in Kaspersky that will be affected by find the program, only to find it’s
maintenance mode, so I went into this. I will have to migrate to another been discontinued. Can you
the config.php file and switched security product by September 29, recommend any alternative?
‘maintenance’ from true to false but which should I choose? And what James S Smith
before refreshing the page. However, steps can I perform to migrate across
instead of the latest version , I see the my settings from Kaspersky to APC Responds: Sadly, we’ve not
message: ‘Please use the command another product? come across anything as elegant as
line updater because updating via Joseph S Ford Buddy Backup that’s both free and
browser is disabled in your config. allows you to configure your backup
php.’ Have I borked my install? APC Responds: APC uses and connect to your friend via a single
Robert G Ramsey Bitdefender Total Security to protect program. Other options, such as
household devices, but Norton 360 and Duplicati or Kopia (https://kopia.io)
APC Responds: Thankfully, no. You Avast One are also recommended by require both you and your friend to
can run commands on your containers our sister site, TechRadar (www. configure an SFTP or SSH server
via the podman command itself – and techradar.com). There’s an argument independently.
in the case of updating Nextcloud in that the security provided by Windows’ There is a workaround, however. We
this way, simply enter the following Defender is sufficient, but things are recommend using Syncthing with
command at the Terminal: more complicated than that—most other backup tools. This is the simplest
podman exec --user 1000 nextcloud php paid-for products offer additional levels option, because Syncthing’s peer-to-
occ upgrade of security, from more configurable peer network requires zero
You may need to adapt the --user firewalls that monitor outbound traffic configuration. We recommend
1000 flag based on what user account in addition to traffic coming from the backing up using your existing tool,
the Nextcloud pod is running under. In internet, to more proactive protections choosing any options to compress and
Debian and Ubuntu installations, 1000 against ransomware. encrypt the backup for performance
is typically your own user account (you Security software is your last line of and security reasons, then add a new
can also get this ID via the cockpit web defense, and in many cases it’s your folder in Syncthing, following the
interface under the Accounts tab). If, behavior online that will determine instructions in the backup feature to
for any reason, you ran Nextcloud how much at risk you are, and what sync the backup directory to your
under a different user account, change level of protection you need. APC friend’s storage. They should do the
1000 to match that user. If you’re not suggests you garner opinion about same with their own backup directory.
sure, check the command you used to security software from a range of Alternatively, if you and your friend
create the original pod, in particular sources and focus on your needs. Also, both have the same brand of NAS,
the following line: keep an eye on each product’s explore native options that support
--userns keep-id:uid=1000,gid=1000 \ performance at recognised testing labs remote NAS-to-NAS backups, like
The UID here is the number you need that provide quarterly updates. Two to Hybrid Backup Sync 3 for QNAP or
to apply to the --user flag. Once the focus on are AV-Labs Hyper Backup for Synology.

APC MAGAZINE 89
 HELP STATION | WINDOWS

Make Windows better

Expert tips for a better experience.

3 Windows 10 & 11
Record 15-second instruction GIFs
4 As well as editing video clips, you can use the next screen, click ‘Record & create’ at
Microsoft’s Clipchamp to record short the top left, then the purple Screen button.
videos under 15 seconds as GIFs. These Allow Clipchamp to access your camera
1
are commonly shared online for and microphone, then click the red record
amusement, but you can also use them to button at the bottom.
2 share short instructions with others. Next, choose a window on your screen
They’re quicker to upload and download to record ( 1 in our screenshot), then click
because the file size is much smaller than Share 2 . Carry out the instructions you
WINDOWS 11 MP4 or other video file formats. want to illustrate, remembering to keep it
Stop BitLocker encrypting First, open a window on your PC showing under 15 seconds. Click ‘Stop sharing’
your hard drive what you want to record. Now search for when done, then ‘Save and edit’. Your
Computers that come with Windows 11 Pro Clipchamp on your PC, then open it. If you video will appear in Clipchamp’s editing
include Microsoft’s BitLocker, which can’t find it on your PC, install it from the interface. Click the top-right Export
automatically encrypts your hard drive. Microsoft Store: tinyurl.com/APC537clip. dropdown menu, then select GIF and
If you don’t want this, you can stop it from Open it, then click ‘Create a new video’. On name and save the file.
happening when setting up a new computer
or reinstalling Windows.
On the screen that prompts you to choose
your country, tap Shift+F10 to open
Command Prompt. Now type regedit and
press Enter to open the registry editor.
Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder,
1
then SYSTEM, followed by CurrentControlSet,
then Control and finally BitLocker.
Alternatively, type this into the address bar at
the top: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Control\BitLocker ( 1 in
our screenshot below).
Right-click BitLocker 2 and select ‘Dword 2
(32-bit) Value’, which will create an
entry in the main panel. Rename this
PreventDeviceEncryption 3 . Double-click
this to open a box and change the number
under ‘Value data:’ to 1 4 . Click OK. Close the built-in replacement for third-party system- WINDOWS 11 INSIDER
Registry Editor and Command Prompt, then cleaning programs like CCleaner. Duplicate a tab in File Explorer
continue with the installation. Click the Storage icon on the left ( 1 in our File Explorer has received a number of
screenshot right) and you’ll see options to improvements in the last few months,
Windows 10 & 11 manage downloaded, large and duplicate including the ability to create different tabs
Clean your downloaded, large and files 2 . Clicking one scans your computer, while searching through your files and folders
duplicate files then lists what it’s found. Select a file rather than making new windows. Now,
Microsoft has added a ‘Files Cleanup’ setting category at the top to only show that type of Windows Insiders on the Beta channel (using
to its PC Manager tool, which aims to be a file – for example, document, picture, video build 22635.3570) can duplicate a tab so they
or audio 3 . can browse much faster. First, right-click any
This option tab in File Explorer, then click ‘Duplicate tab’ ( 1
1 significantly improves in our screenshot below). In our example, we
PC Manager after its duplicated the Sample folder, which appeared
shaky start. You can to the right of the first one as a new tab 2 .
install it from the
Microsoft Store at
2
tinyurl.com/
APC537store.
2
3
1

90 APC MAGAZINE
 HELP STATION | OFFICE

Make Office better

Expert tips for a better experience.

LIBREOFFICE Microsoft Word

Check the strength of your
passwords Zoom into documents without using your mouse
Version 24.2 of LibreOffice, released in
January, added a password-strength Instead of using your mouse, you can zoom in
meter that indicates whether and out of Word documents using only your
passwords you’ve added to documents, keyboard. First press Alt+W to switch to the
spreadsheets and presentations are View tab and make letters appear next to
strong enough. buttons in the menu. Tapping a letter will
First, click File at the top, then ‘Save perform the task it’s next to. So, for example,
As…’. In the box, navigate to the folder Q appears below the ‘Zoom’ magnifying- glass
where you’d like to save your document icon. Press Q to open the Zoom box, then
and tick ‘Save with password’ below press the tab button on your keyboard (two
‘Save as type:’. Now click Save and the arrows, pointing left and right) until the
Set Password box will appear. number in the ‘Percent:’ box is highlighted.
As you type your password into Now enter your zoom- magnifaction level (see
‘Enter password to open’, a bar will screenshot) and press Enter. You’ll now zoom
appear beneath it to indicate the in or out depending on the level you chose.
strength of your proposed password
(see screenshot below). Red means
weak, yellow medium, blue strong and
green very strong. In our example, “Microsoft has been revamping the desktop
LibreOffice deems the password
‘LibreOffice2024!@$’ as ‘strong’ (blue).
version of Outlook to match the features
Click OK when you’ve retyped your available in its online equivalent.”
password and your document will now
be protected. ONLYOFFICE MICROSOFT OUTLOOK
Add a date-picking calendar to forms Add a theme to the desktop
In recent issues we’ve covered several PDF version of Outlook
tools that OnlyOffice added with its Recently, Microsoft has been
January update to version 8.0. Another revamping the desktop version of
handy new option is the Date Picker tool, Outlook to match the features
1
which adds a calendar view to any Date available in its online equivalent. One
field you create in PDF forms and of these is the option to change the
documents. theme colours through the Settings
2
First, place your cursor where you’d like menu. This also adds an image to fill
the field to appear. Click the Forms tab at the empty space when no message is
the top, then click ‘Date & Time’ ( 1 in our selected.
screenshot below left). The Date Picker First, click the gear icon at the top ( 1
tool 2 will appear. Clicking the field in our screenshot below) to open
3
opens a small calendar window 3 that Settings. Next, click General 2 ,
lets people pick a date rather than type it. Appearance 3 , then choose from six
colours, six ‘Modern
3 themes’ or 53 ‘Classic
themes’. In our example, we
1 chose the Modern theme
Magnetic Mood 4 before we
clicked Save for the change
to take effect.
If you don’t have the new
Outlook, turn on the ‘New
2
4 Outlook’ slider at the top
right of your Outlook screen
or download it from the
Microsoft Store at tinyurl.
com/APC537outlook.

APC MAGAZINE 91
 HELP STATION | BROWSER TIPS

Browser tips 1

Secret settings and best extensions

CHROME Chrome with a Gemini

Chat with AI tool Gemini from the shortcut. This lets you start
address bar a conversation with the
Google has now added several AI chatbot directly from the 2

features to Chrome and launched an browser’s address bar,

Android app for its AI chatbot Gemini without opening the Gemini
(previously called Bard), but – at the website first.
time of writing – these aren’t yet Type @ into the address bar and click translation feature to Firefox, long after
available in Australia. ‘Chat with Gemini’ in the set of options the option was offered by rival browsers.
However, you can interact with that opens below (see screenshot below Although the addition was better late
Gemini by visiting its website (https:// left). The address bar will now change to than never, some users were disappointed
gemini.google.com/) and entering a a Gemini text-prompt box, where you that it only lets you translate entire web
text prompt, uploading an image or can enter your query for the chatbot. pages in foreign languages, not just
speaking a command. When you press Enter, you’ll be sections of text.
While we wait for the new AI tools to redirected to the Gemini site to get your Firefox 126, released in May, addresses
roll out here, Google has updated response – you must be signed into your this limitation by introducing the ability
Google account. You can to translate selected text. To do so,
then continue your simply highlight a section of foreign text,
conversation until you or just a specific word or phrase, then
have all the information right-click and choose Translate
you need. Selection. When the Translation box
See tinyurl.com/ opens, Firefox should automatically
APC537chromeai for delete the language to translate from – if
more information about not, select it in the From dropdown menu
what to expect from ( 1 in our screenshot above). Choose
Chrome’s new AI features. ‘English’ in the To menu to perform the
translation – click Copy 2 to copy and
FIREFOX paste the result elsewhere. You can also
Translate selected text use the new option to translate English
on web pages content into another language, including
It’s nearly a year since French, German, Italian, Portuguese and
Mozilla finally added a Spanish.

Workshop Monitor and control Edge’s memory usage

Edge’s new ‘Resource controls’ feature stops the browser hogging system resources and slowing your PC, by limiting
how much memory it can use. The option is being rolled out gradually, so you might not see it yet, but here’s how to
activate it when available.
1
1

2
2

1 3

Click the three-dot menu button in Edge’s By default, the new feature only limits To monitor the browser’s memory usage,
top-right corner and click Settings, then Edge’s memory usage when you’re playing click the ‘Browser essentials’ button on the
‘System and performance’ 1 . Scroll down games on your PC. Select ‘Always’ 1 to top-right toolbar 1 . Here you’ll see details
to the ‘Manage your performance’ section control its RAM usage at all times. Use the of Edge’s RAM usage 2 and the amount of
and switch on the ‘Resource controls’ slider 2 to reduce the maximum amount memory it’s saving by putting idle tabs to
option 2 to manage Edge’s RAM usage. of memory you want to make available to sleep with its ‘Sleeping tabs’ feature 3 .
the browser.

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 HELP STATION | BROWSER TIPS

Best extension for… Editing web pages for printing

PRINT EDIT WE Alternatively, to print only selected design elements. It also lets you convert
Chromium tinyurl.com/APC537print elements, click Delete Except or Hide them into clutter-free PDFs.
Firefox tinyurl.com/APC537printff Except.
Most web browsers now optimise web Other useful options let you add your
pages when you print them, to reduce the own text to pages before printing, edit
amount of paper and ink you’ll need. This existing text and adjust the fonts, spacing
extension produces even better results by and margins of the page layout. Click
letting you edit pages before you print them ‘Preview’ to see how your edited page
to remove specific text, images, adverts will look before you print it.
and other unwanted elements.
Click its toolbar button and Print If you don’t like that, try…
Edit WE will display a set of options along PRINTFRIENDLY
the top of the current page. Choose Chromium tinyurl.com/APC537pf
‘Select’, click the element you want to Firefox tinyurl.com/APC537pfff
exclude from printing and click either This extension makes web pages ‘print
Delete (see screenshot) or Hide. friendly’ by removing ads and unnecessary

If you don’t see the Translate Selection has been implemented rather strangely. integrated. See our Workshop opposite
option when you right-click, try To access the tool, click the Tools to learn how it works.
enabling it manually. Type about:config button in the sidebar ( 1 in our
into the browser’s address bar, press screenshot below) to open Edge’s Tools VIVALDI
Enter and click ‘Accept the Risk and panel. You should see the new ‘Internet Export your passwords and
Continue’. Search for the preference speed test’ tool at the top of the panel – RSS feeds
browser.translations.select.enable and click the Start button 2 to begin your Vivaldi 6.7 introduced so many useful
double-click it to change its value to test. new features that we didn’t have space
‘true’. Bizarrely, instead of running the test to cover them all in Issue 535 (page 92).
As with Firefox’s full-page inside the sidebar, Edge opens a new One of these is the ability to export the
translations, the feature works privately tab containing a Bing search-results passwords you’ve stored in the browser,
offline rather than sharing and storing page – even if Bing isn’t your default so you can import them into a dedicated
your data – like Chrome and Edge do. search engine. password manager – or another browser.
This includes an ‘Internet speed test’ Click the ‘V’ menu button in Vivaldi’s
EDGE widget at the top of the page, where top-left corner, and select File, then
Test the speed of your internet you’ll see your download and upload Export, followed by Export Passwords
connection speeds, and your connection’s latency, (see screenshot below). Enter your
Microsoft has updated Edge with a as detected by ‘Speedtest by Ookla’. Windows password or PIN when
speed-test tool, which you can access Click ‘Rerun’ 3 to perform the test prompted, and Vivaldi will open a Save
from the browser’s right-hand sidebar. again. As box. Choose the drive and/or folder
This lets you check your internet Another big new feature in Edge lets you want to save your passwords to, and
connection’s current download and you monitor and manage the browser’s click Save to export them as a CSV file –
upload speeds, which sounds useful but memory usage, and is thankfully better you can change the default file name
from ‘Vivaldi Passwords.csv’. Import
this file into another password
manager, to copy your login details to
there.
1 The browser also now lets you export
RSS feeds from its built-in feed reader.
Select ‘Export Feeds’ in the Export menu
to save your feed subscriptions as an
2 OPML file.
3

APC MAGAZINE 93
 HELP STATION | MAC

Digitise your old media

Bring old prints, negatives and slides back to life! George Cairns explains.

IT WILL TAKE Thanks to our ever-present iPhones, we probably still stacked in their original
15 mins are spoiled when it comes to shooting, envelopes and hidden in a dark corner of a
YOU WILL LEARN editing and sharing thousands of photographs. cupboard, attic or basement. In part one of this
How to digitise However, in pre-digital days we were limited to two-part tutorial, we’ll show you how to rescue
prints, negatives, shooting up to 36 photos on a roll of analogue these irreplaceable moments in time and
and slides film. Some of our prints might have been give them a new lease of life, to the delight of
YOU’LL NEED placed in photo albums or given pride of place friends and family.
Photomyne in a picture frame, but the majority are The process of turning analogue prints, slides
(Free, IAPs), and negatives into digital copies is called
iOS 15 or later digitising. This doesn’t need to be an expensive
process (though check out ‘Try a dedicated
scanner’ opposite if you have a large collection of
slides and negatives). In the second instalment
next month, we’ll demonstrate ways to counteract
distortion caused by the digitising process and
remove signs of wear and tear so that photos
look as good as new.

Digitising negatives Digitise a print

can reveal lost Let’s start by using your iPhone to digitise an old
prints that you’ve
4x6in photograph. Simply pop the print on a flat
not seen for
decades, like this surface near a bright but soft light source (such as
late 80s analogue a window on an overcast day) as this will
selfie! minimise shadows being cast on the print. Open

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 HELP STATION | MAC

Try a dedicated scanner

Scan slides and negatives with ease
The Photomyne app provides a cheap through the device’s feeding tray, view
way to scan slides and negatives, though the negatives on the 5in LCD, and save
its digitised images have a low resolution a scanned version to an SD card (not
of between 1MP and 4MP. Kodak’s Slide provided).
N Scan ($289.99) digitises slides at a You can also edit shots to spruce
resolution of 22MP (5416x4062), up colours and tones as you go,
revealing more detail in a digitised slide making this an effective way to
or negative. Simply slide a film strip scan a large collection.

the Camera app and position the iPhone over a scanned negative that reveals correct colours
the print. and tones. Negatives and slides also need to be
As you move the iPhone to make the print fill backlit before you can digitise them. You could
the frame, the flower-shaped Macro mode icon purchase a scanner with a mount designed to
will appear. This indicates that the Camera app is backlight negatives and slides (such as the Kodak
using the Ultra Wide lens to get the sharpest focus Slide N Scan, see above). However, if you browse
at close proximity. Tap to take a snap. This to photomyne.com/backlight, you can backlight
captures a 12MP digital version of the original a slide or negative by laying it on your iPad’s
analogue print (measuring 10x13in at a resolution illuminated screen and then scan it using the
of 300dpi). This digital version will be larger Photomyne app’s camera from your iPhone.
than the original print (enabling you to reprint Photomyne can also auto-crop a group
a bigger version once you’ve restored the digitised of scanned prints to create separate digital
picture). You can then process the scanned print photos, making it easier and quicker to batch-
in iOS Photos to counteract distortion, as we’ll digitise your old prints than it is using the iOS
explain next month. Camera app. You can use Photomyne for free if
you can cope with in-app adverts. If you’re
Slides and negatives organised, you can prepare photos, slides and
Negatives can’t be easily digitised using the iOS negatives in advance, then digitise them using the
Camera app. A negative’s highlights are black and advert-free, three-day trial version of the app
its shadows are white, so you need a digitising app (though don’t forget to cancel the subscription or
such as Photomyne to create a positive version of you’ll be charged $14.99!).

“As you move the iPhone to make the print fill the frame,
the flower-shaped Macro mode icon will appear. This indicates
that the Camera app is using the Ultra Wide lens to get the
sharpes focus at close proximity.”

GENIUS TIP!
Don’t be tempted to
save cash by buying a
cardboard scanner
such as the Kodak
Mobile Film Scanner.
The iPhone needs to
use the Ultra Wide
camera to get the
negatives in focus
but the Kodak app
only lets you use the
Main camera,
resulting in an
The Kodak Slide N Scan scanner avoids the need to convert a negative’s inverted colours to positive ones in an app. out-of-focus scan.

APC MAGAZINE 95
 HELP STATION | LINUX

Try a tiny text editor

Shashank Sharma lives by the try-it-before-you-dismiss-it code. That’s how
he finds new tools. It’s also how he discovered a fondness for kimchi.

Shannon Noll, M Night

Shyamalan, cargo pants and
your favourite text editor all have
one thing in common: they all failed
to achieve universal appeal, which as
a concept is unattainable. You’ll
sooner be able to settle the debate
about whether Han Solo fired first or
Greedo than unite the universe into
liking the same thing. While the ’90s
and ’00s were spent raging about
Emacs and Vim, our troubled Linux
distros have even more text editors
vying for attention now.
One such text editor is Micro. If
you’ve used Nano, you can guess from
the name that Micro aims to follow in
the same footsteps. Designed to be
lightweight, Micro boasts of extensive A simple, easily extendible and configurable text editor that you can’t ignore out of hand.
mouse-support and useful default
keybindings. It also features persistent Micro supports tab completion, so you For a list of all the defined keyboard
undo, the ability to split the interface don’t have to type in the complete path. shortcuts, press Ctrl+g or hit F1 to access
vertically and horizontally, replace One of the biggest pet peeves some the help. Note, however, that the
words, highlight search results and users have with CLI utilities is how they function key shortcuts don’t work on all
more. Even better, you can get are expected to learn new keybindings terminal emulators. Press Ctrl+q to drop
additional features through plugins, for each one. However, most graphical back to the document if you’re in the
which can easily be deployed with the utilities favour shortcuts such as Ctrl+s to help screen.
built-in plugin manager. save files, Ctrl+q to quit, Ctrl+o to open When you exit Micro, you’re asked to
files and so on, and these and many more confirm if you wish to save or discard
Hello, world! are the default on Micro, making it stand changes. You might have to resize your
The MIT licensed project is distributed out from other command-line text terminal emulator horizontally if you
as a batteries-included static binary editors. can’t read the complete message in the
with no dependencies. While some status bar.
distros offer Micro in the software Keybinding Function Not all features are configured with a
repositories, you can install it with the shortcut. For instance, there’s no
Ctrl+g | F1 Open help
official script that installs Micro in your shortcut to Save As, or to search and
current working directory. You then Ctrl+s | F2 Save file replace words. These and various other
have to move the executable into a Ctrl+f | F3 Find operations can only be performed from
directory in your $PATH. If you’re Ctrl+n Find next matching instance the command bar.
uncomfortable running scripts, you can Micro has robust mouse support, so
download the official tarballs, extract Ctrl+p Find previous matching you can also use a mouse click to
the files, then move the executable to a instance position the cursor, double-click to
suitable directory: Ctrl+q | F4 Quit Micro select a word, and triple-click to select
$ curl https://getmic.ro | bash Ctrl+c Copy selected text an entire line.
<output snipped>
Micro has been downloaded to the Ctrl+v Paste selected text The command bar
current directory. Ctrl+x Cut selected text Should you ever need to work with
You can run it with: Ctrl+z Undo multiple files at the same time, you don’t
./micro have to launch several instances of
$ sudo mv micro /usr/local/bin Ctrl+y Redo Micro. Instead, you can split the screen
You can now launch Micro with Ctrl+a Select all either horizontally or vertically. From
micro . To open an existing document, Ctrl+e Open command bar the command bar, run the hsplit
press Ctrl+o. The status bar at the <filename> or vsplit <filename> to split
Alt+g List common keybindings
bottom changes so that you can type in the screen horizontally or vertically
the path to the file you wish to open. respectively.

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 HELP STATION | LINUX

You can also choose to run these

commands without specifying a MICRO CONFIGURATION
filename if you wish to open a blank You can tweak just about all parameters of Micro from within the tool itself,
document. You then have to press Ctrl+w using the command bar. The setlocal command can be used to temporarily
to cycle through the different splits, or change a setting but you must use the set command to make permanent
use the left mouse click to select the changes to the settings.json file.
split you wish to work on. One of the settings you’ll want to enable is autosave. Run the set autosave X
To access the command bar, press command to ensure that Micro automatically saves your file every X seconds.
Ctrl+e. You’ll notice that the status bar The default is 0, which disables the setting.
at the bottom of Micro’s interface now You can also save backups of the buffer. This ensures that if the terminal
features a ‘>’ prompt. emulator window is closed without first saving the file in Micro or if Micro
For a list of all defined keyboard crashes, your changes aren’t lost. If enabled, Micro stores backups of all open
shortcuts, you can run the help buffers in the ~/.config/micro/backups directory every eight seconds. The
defaultkeys command from the backups are purged as soon as you save the open buffer. To enable backups, run
command bar. This opens a pane in the set backup true .
bottom half of Micro’s interface that For a list of all configurable parameters, press Ctrl+e and then run the help
lists all the defined shortcuts split into options command. You can also view the current defined value for an option
different sections such as Navigation, with the show option command. For instance, the show autosave command
Find Operations, Text Operations and displays 0 by default, or the number you specified if you used to the set
others. autosave X command.
To save the current document with a Similarly, the show colorscheme command displays the colour scheme
different name, you have to first access currently in use. You can run the help colors command to learn how to switch
the command bar by pressing Ctrl+e and the colour scheme.
then run the save <path-filename>
command. Specify the complete path
and filename, and Micro saves the file to
the specified name.
“Designed to be lightweight, Micro boasts
The replace ‘text’ ‘replacement’ of extensive mouse-support and useful default
command replaces the first matching
instance. To replace all instances, you keybindings. It also features persistent undo, the
need to run the replace -a ‘text’
‘replacement’ command instead.
ability to split the interface vertically and
Run the help commands command horizontally, replace words, highlight search
for a complete list of commands on offer.
Alternatively, once at the command bar,
results and more.”
you can press Tab for an alphabetical list
of available commands. Press Tab to specified letter. For instance, if you type plugins to improve Micro’s functionality.
cycle through the list of available h and then press Tab, Micro lists help From the command bar, run the plugin
commands until you find the command hsplit because only those two install plugin-name command to install
you’re interested in. You can also type a commands start with the letter h. the plugin. Micro opens a separate output
letter and then press Tab, to view all Micro features a built-in plugin pane and informs you when the plugin is
available commands starting with the manager that can be used to install installed.
For instance, the command plugin
install monokai-dark installs the
monokai-dark colour scheme. You
can then use the set colorscheme
monokai-dark command to switch from
the default colour scheme.
You can similarly install the word count
plugin with the plugin install wc
command and then use the count
command, which displays the number of
lines, words and characters in the open
document in the status bar.
Refer to Micro’s website for more details
about the available plugins, such as the
command used to invoke them once
installed. Each plugin has its own GitHub
page with information about
dependencies, if any.
If you’ve worked with Nano or other
minimalist text editors in the past, you’ll
To launch an instance of the terminal within Micro, first split the be pleased with the performance and
screen and then run the term command. features of Micro.

APC MAGAZINE 97
 HELP STATION | MOBILE DEVICES

Phone & tablet tips

Brilliant things to do on your device.

ANDROID the available options. The default theme

Customise your chats in Google is blue, but you can also make your
Messages bubbles and background purple, green,
Google has updated its Messages app for pink and more. Select your preferred
Android phones (tinyurl.com/ theme and press Confirm to apply it (see
APC537mess) with more ways to screenshot 1 below left).
customise your conversations, bringing it Messages also now lets you use custom
closer in line with WhatsApp. The new emojis to respond to other people’s
options are only available in RCS chats, messages. Previously, when you long-
not standard SMS ones. To enable RCS, tap pressed a message to add an emoji
your profile picture, choose ‘Messages response, you could either choose one of
settings’ and switch on ‘RCS chats’. the six suggested designs or tap the emoji by pretending to be from government
The most notable new feature is icon with a plus-sign symbol to browse bodies.
Custom Bubbles, which lets you change the full selection. These options are now The new Government badges are
the colour of the message bubbles and the augmented by a Create button that lets displayed either in the information bar
background of your Messages you turn your own photos into emojis. below an official app’s name, or the ‘About
conversations. Tap the three-dot menu To do so, tap the Create button, select this app’ section. Tap the label (see
button in the top-right corner of an RCS the picture you want to use and Messages screenshot above) and you’ll see a
chat and choose ‘Change colours’ to view will automatically identify and cut out its message saying: ‘Play has verified that
subject, to create a ‘photomoji’. Tap the this app is affiliated with a government
1 2
Send button (see screenshot 2 ) to insert entity’. The new badges also appear in
and share the emoji response. The search results and charts in the Play Store
photomoji will be added to your emoji app (though curiously not on its website).
library for future use. At the time of writing, some official
apps still lacked a Government label – but
ANDROID over 2,000 now have one, spanning
Identify official government apps in countries such as the US, UK, France,
the Play Store India and Japan, as well as Australia.
Google has introduced new labels in the
Play Store to indicate official apps from iOS
government departments in Control your device more easily using
14 countries – including Australia. These Assistive Access
are intended to help Android users avoid Although iPhones and iPads are famously
installing dodgy apps that steal your data simple to use, some people with cognitive

Best new apps What you should install this month

OPERA CLAUDE BY VIVALDI
Free ANTHROPIC Free
Android tinyurl.com/ Free* Android tinyurl.com/
APC537opera iOS tinyurl.com/ APC537viv
Opera’s updated APC537claude iOS tinyurl.com/
Android browser lets This new ChatGPT rival APC537vivio
you summarise web combines a Vivaldi has made some
pages using its built-in sophisticated interface changes to its Android
AI assistant Aria. Tap with the ability to browser, improving its
the three-dot menu perform all manner bookmark manager,
button in the top-right of useful AI tasks. It’s tracker blocker and
corner, select particularly effective translation tool. More
*Contains in-app purchases

Summarise and Aria will at analysing images and documents to significant is the update
give you the gist of the page’s content. You summarise their content and answer to its iPad version, which now lets you view
can also now customise the browser’s follow-up questions. Claude can also generate multiple Vivaldi windows side by side, so you
bottom toolbar to include only the options emails, blog posts, stories, poems and more, can browse two or three sites at the same time,
you need. based on your text prompts. and resize them as required.

98 APC MAGAZINE
 HELP STATION | MOBILE DEVICES

Best apps for... Avoiding scams

NORTON GENIE SOPHOS INTERCEPT X HIYA – CALLER ID & BLOCK

Free Free Free*
Android tinyurl.com/APC537genie Android tinyurl.com/APC537int Android tinyurl.com/APC537hiya
iOS tinyurl.com/APC537genieio iOS tinyurl.com/APC537intio iOS tinyurl.com/APC537hiyaio
Norton Genie uses AI to identify and protect There are lots of dodgy apps on the Play Although Android and iOS detect some
you against online scams. Take a Store that aren’t detected by Google’s Play automated calls, Hiya offers stronger
screenshot of a suspicious message, email, Protect tool. Sophos Intercept X scans your protection, drawing on a huge database of
social-media post or website, or copy and Android device for scam apps that contain spam numbers to warn you about dubious
paste a snippet of text or a URL, and the security and privacy threats. This option calls before you answer. You need to pay
app will scan its content for ‘scam tactics’ isn’t available in the iOS version, but other $3.09 a month to block these calls
and tell you whether it’s trustworthy. features are – including a password safe, automatically, but the free plan lets you
Best For: Using AI to detect scams network scanner and web filtering. block them manually, along with calls from
Best For: Identifying scam apps hidden numbers.
Best For: Avoiding scam phone calls

impairments have trouble coping with ANDROID & iOS all the people you want to share your
the large number and small size of apps Control who sees your WhatsApp status updates with. Press the green-tick
on their devices. To make things easier, status updates icon to confirm.
Apple offers a handy feature called WhatsApp has introduced another When you create a status update,
Assistive Access, which enlarges and layer of privacy for its Status feature, WhatsApp will remind you of your
simplifies on-screen options to suit which lets you post photos and videos preference before you tap the ‘Share
different needs. that show people what you’re currently status’ button 2 , and let you change it if
Switch it on by opening Settings on an up to. This content disappears required.
iPhone or iPad and tapping Accessibility, automatically after 24 hours, but by
then Assistive Access. Select ‘Set Up default your status updates can be seen 1
Assistive Access’ and confirm the by all your contacts.
relevant Apple ID – whether that’s yours Previously, you could exclude certain
or the person you’re helping. On the contacts from seeing your status
Appearance screen, choose whether to updates, or set them to only be visible
display on-screen items in rows (which to specific people. WhatsApp’s new
enlarges the text) or a grid (which makes ‘Status privacy’ options give you the
app icons more prominent – see choice between ‘All contacts’ or
screenshot above), then choose the apps ‘Specific contacts’( 1 in our screenshot
you want to include on the Assistive right), which makes it easier to decide
Access screen – such as Calls, Messages who can see your updates.
and Camera. Additionally, before you post the status
Confirm the security method for update, you’ll now be reminded of your
unlocking the device, such as a Face ID or privacy settings, so you don’t
Touch ID, and enter a four-digit PIN for inadvertently share personal photos
enabling and disabling Assistive Access. and videos with everyone.
Finally, tap Start Using Assistive Access To adjust these settings, press the
*Contains in-app purchases

to switch to its simplified layout and Updates tab in WhatsApp’s bottom

clearer options. To return to standard toolbar, then press the three-dot icon
mode, triple-press the side or Home next to Status and choose ‘Status 2
button, select Exit Assistive Access and privacy’. Select ‘Specific contacts’, then
enter the PIN. ‘1 selected’ and tap the circles next to

APC MAGAZINE 99
 HELP STATION | RASPBERRY PI

Smart Pi Wi-Fi
Press-ganging a Raspberry Pi into access point duty helps Tam Hanna use a
wide variety of functions, from virtual relocation to ad blocking.

While everything we discus here can be

done on the client, putting it into an
access point is beneficial. Deploying stuff can
be done without administrator rights on the
GENIUS TIP! target; the device’s owner connects to the
If your access point is wireless network established by the Raspberry
for the benefit of the Pi and automatically benefits.
technically challenged, The features found in RaspAP are mostly part of
a robust 3D-printed the underlying operating system. RaspAP’s added
housing increases value is a convenient way to a guaranteed working
longevity. Visit www. configuration; furthermore, the access point
thingiverse.com or exposes a web interface for administration.
https://models. RaspAP works best with Raspberry Pi OS, but the This configuration system leads to a working access point.
makewithtech.com list at https://raspap.com/#distros includes a few
to find 3D-printable other options. In the interests of commonality, the (above):
templates. following steps take place on a Raspberry Pi. $ curl -sL https://install.raspap.com | bash
We use the image 2024-03-15-raspios-bookworm- The first step asks about paths for various
arm64.img.xz. Evidence points to the desktop-less software components. The defaults can be accepted
version of Raspberry Pi OS Lite working equally by repeatedly pushing hitting Y (as is tradition) and
well, but we are using the full version. Return. During the script’s execution, an additional
Use a high-quality power supply – creating a Wi-Fi apt-get update is performed – this is normal, as the
network while powering the power-hungry script has to add package sources to the system.
Ethernet port is a sure-fire way to experience power Locale-related warnings that pop up during the
problems. installation of PHP constitute a non-issue.
Getting started with Raspberry Pi requires a After the installation of PHP has been completed,
completely updated operating system. Run the the system asks about some configuration settings.
following two commands and perform a reboot: In particular, options such as Enable Http Only For
$ sudo apt-get update Session Cookies (Recommended)? can be accepted
$ sudo apt-get full-upgrade at the default value.
Due to reasons of localisation, the Wi-Fi People intending to activate ad-blocking are
transmitter on the Pi is unlocked by geographic advised to push Y at the Install Ad Blocking And
information. This issue can be remedied by Enable List Management? prompt. While the
launching the configuration utility via sudo settings can later be added, making sure the
raspi-config , and selecting Localisation Options and configuration is created by the installation script
WLAN Country. Then select the Wi-Fi country. reduces grief later on during the product life cycle.
Afterwards, close the configuration tool and reboot In the interest of simplicity, further options such
the Raspberry Pi to finalise. as OpenVPN are not enabled for now. Instead,
Actual installation is accomplished via a Bash permit the script to perform a reboot of the access
script, which can be downloaded from the RaspAP point. The Raspberry Pi’s graphical user interface is
Decent speed can
repository. Enter the following command in the disabled – from now on, RaspAP only boots up to the
be expected on a
Raspberry Pi 4. installation wizard, which works in a semi-graphic text-based log-in interface.
way, similar to the one shown in the screenshot
Access to the point
When the Raspberry Pi has rebooted, your Wi-Fi is
visible. By default, the router has the settings
shown in the following table:
IP address: 10.3.141.1
Username: admin
Password: secret
DHCP range: 10.3.141.50 — 10.3.141.254
SSID: raspi-webgui
Password: ChangeMe
As a first test, Ookla Speedtest is a good measure.
These experiments were performed against a
gigabit internet connection provided by Magyar

100 APC MAGAZINE

 HELP STATION | RASPBERRY PI

Telekom – the results (see screenshot,

facing page, bottom) show the speed is
good enough for most lightweight
scenarios.
The most interesting aspect of the
configuration is the IP address of the
event access point. Enter it into a
machine connected to the Raspberry Pi
Wi-Fi to bring up the configuration
interface.
The URL http://10.3.141.1 can be
opened in a browser. Using the web
interface is recommended – it permits
you to configure various security-related
options. Changing both the name and the
password of the Wi-Fi is recommended to
keep miscreants out – the defaults are
known to even the newest of noobs, and
script kiddies have attacked RaspAP in
the past.
Interestingly, the ad-blocking feature is
not very successful when dealing with This option allows configuration of the VPN capabilities.
YouTube – in our tests, a reduction of
about 50% of ads was discernible. On Given that the installation script is and then use the option Manual Setup >
most other sites, more radical results directly passed into Bash, the Get Service Credentials Or An Access
were possible. parameters are set by the sequence Token.
bash -s -- --yes . Passing in yes is helpful As well as credentials, the OVPN file
Adding VPN support and instructs the installation script to identifying the server to be used has to be
When working from home, being able to assume valid defaults. downloaded from https://nordvpn.
fake your location can be helpful – After running the installer, a reboot is com/ovpn/. After that, the access point
nobody needs to know whether an email recommended – the script does not push can be parameterised using the settings
was composed in Germany or on for a reboot. Simply attempting to window.
a Caribbean island. While using a VPN is continue using the access point’s web To activate the settings, click on Save
not difficult, its installation requires interface leads to a situation where the Settings. The interface then refreshes,
administrator rights. newly downloaded features are not after which a click on the green Start
Advanced-level system-monitoring available. When rebooted, the interface OpenVPN button is recommended.
solutions (especially on Windows) can provides the new set of options (see After clicking the button, the web
detect the presence of a VPN and alert the screenshot, above). interface appears and a VPN checker
employer. Using a Raspberry Pi works The section for uploading OVPN files is confirms that the VPN is active.
around the problem – as the traffic gets of particular interest. OVPN files are a While a homemade access point based
tunnelled at the access point level, standardised way for VPN providers to on a Raspberry Pi might not be quite as
detecting the use of a VPN is more express settings needed for protection. fast as a purchased one, using RaspAP
difficult (albeit not impossible). The exact method for generating these provides a great variety of configuration
A second pass is required because we files is dependent on the provider of options. This short tutorial acts as a first
did not select the option when running choice – in the case of NordVPN, for introduction, so feel free to explore
the quick install. In practice, selecting all example, you need to log into the back-end deeper!
options can be a better approach –
disabling unwanted ones in the web
interface is straightforward. Rerunning RASPAP INSIDERS
the command above forces you to rework Even though RaspAP is under the GPL provided, you can unlock a variety of
all of the existing settings. licence, additional features are available features that significantly enhance your
In theory, missing components can be to paying customers via the Insiders experience.
deployed by following the instructions program. It uses the GitHub sponsoring One interesting design decision is that
at https://docs.raspap.com/manual. feature – visit https://github.com/ features become available as funding
More comfortably, the script can be rerun sponsors/RaspAP and log into your goals are met. A breakdown of the goals
using parameters outlined at https:// GitHub account to set up a sponsorship and the amount of money still to be
docs.raspap.com/quick. In the at a minimum of $10 per month. raised can be found at https://docs.
following steps, we install VPN support: Once you’ve set up your sponsorship, raspap.com/insiders/#500-1st-
$ curl -sL https://install.raspap.com | bash your account is granted access to a insiders-edition.
-s -- --yes --provider 0 dedicated repository. It houses the However, giving money to an
Provider-specific configurations tend advanced components of RaspAP, important project is always a good
to work poorly. Thus, parameter provider which are not available in the standard idea, especially if you derive long-term
0 is passed on to enable VPN support version. By using the special installer value from using this system.
without selecting a provider.

APC MAGAZINE 101

 DOWNTIME The games we play

You leave a lot of

chaos in your wake.

PRICE $36.99 PLATFORM PC, Mac, Linux WEB tinyurl.com/APC537anger

Anger Foot
Exactly the flow state first-person Hotline Miami I wanted it to be.

I don’t mean to pigeonhole Anger Foot by reducing it different shoes: off-brand unique footstep sounds, with the
to first-person Hotline Miami, but that’s pretty much Birkenstocks for an extra life, Timbs standouts being the whimsical
the elevator pitch for the game. Enemies go down in for big head mode, and bullet-time honks of the clown shoes and the
one hit, but so do you (with a few exceptions) and sneakers are just a few examples. disquietingly wet slapping of your
levels are tight little labyrinths where each room Each mission has two challenges bare feet.
demands you clear it with maximum aggression and to complete in addition to just My biggest issues were technical:
efficiency. The other top-line gameplay feature is clearing the level. There are a bunch there are ‘fun’ bugs like the charge
your titular angry foot – not to be confused with the of different flavours of speedrun, attack or situationally high-recoil
game’s protagonist, Anger Foot. playstyle and loadout restrictions, weapons launching you outside the
You’re a single button-press away from one of the creative multikills, and even a few level.
better melee attacks I’ve ever seen in a game, an gag/secret objectives. I started off None of that was a dealbreaker for
instant-kill boot in the face that comes out fast with a trying to nail every one, but the me, though, and this feels like the
generous hitbox. Every fight begins with you blasting a challenge quickly ramps up, and sort of thing developer Free Lives
door open with your clodhopper, often sending it flying some even require power ups you can improve with patches. We’ve got
right into an enemy. can only unlock later in the a glut of indie shooters right now,
I really dig how much Anger Foot leans into the kick campaign. but Anger Foot really sets itself apart
thematically and mechanically. Anger Foot is a Anger Foot feels generous and from the pack: it’s an easy
sneakerhead, with the game’s plot kicked off by his prize substantial, and it’s about the recommendation whether you
collection getting stolen, and all of your power ups are perfect length for an arcadey decide to tear through it once
shooter – I rolled credits at about or really take the time to master
nine hours with maybe 40% of the its optional challenges.
optional objectives left to go. Anger
Foot also keeps a lot in reserve for
the back half, with most of my VERDICT
favourite weapons, levels and
enemies showing up in the third
and fourth zones. Nails intense puzzle-like room
Anger Foot also has confoundingly clearing, while its sense of humour
good audio, and not just its lands on the charming side of Adult
pounding nightclub soundtrack. Swim-style shows.
You don’t have to kick these guys into goo if you don’t want. Most of the different shoes have Ted Litchfield

102 APC MAGAZINE

 DOWNTIME | GAMES

Sadly ZZZ looks PRICE Free PLATFORM PC

better than it plays. WEB bit.ly/NightmareKart

NIGHTMARE KART
PRICE Free/in game purchases PLATFORM PC, PS5, IOS, Android WEB zenless.hoyoverse.com A FAN-MADE BLOODBORNE
KARTING GAME.

Zenless Zone Zero Like Bloodborne PSX, Nightmare

Kart is kind of a joke game. But
what an exquisite and
A charming cast can’t hide this game’s true intentions. painstakingly delivered gag. The
name may have clued you in that
Zenless Zone Zero adopts a zesty Hi-Fi Rush as or what I was up against, fights always The Lawyers have pecked off the
style of neon-accented sci-fi urbanism, a ended up as an endless routine of left Bloodborne affiliation, but even
meaningless pushback on glossy businesses clicking as rote combos went through the with the serial numbers removed
with political power. Zenless Zone Zero is a motions, with a quick prod of something it’s still clearly devoted to From
reskinned revenue stream designed to target else whenever I was told to. Software’s classic.
a similar-but-different audience to MiHoYo’s Of course I don’t have to buy anything. But There’s a hunt on in the gothic
other unstoppable gacha-style games there’s no doubt everything would be much metropolis of Miralodia, only this
Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. It’s been easier, if I made a few purchases. Just one. time it’s conducted with rad
created to capture a gap in the market. More than anything, it makes me sad. The go-karts, and motorbikes, and
I’m not surprised. Gacha games like this more I play it, the more obvious it is that not angelic hamster wheels, and a boar
are by design wallet-opening merch only is this not a good action RPG, but it also I guess?
machines in disguise. The aim is to get me has no real interest in being one either. While the story largely follows its
coming back every day to do a few things What Zenless Zone Zero actually wants is to inspiration, the action takes the
that make me feel good enough to consider be my new forever game. It will encourage form of races and arena battles, as
using the shop. me to have just one more go, all so it can the hunters zip round tracks
It’s all bright and colourful and very extract as much money out of me as possible inspired by Bloodborne. Racing
carefully designed to not look like it’s trying and then smile politely as it asks for more. round the Hunter’s Dream while an
to do anything other than be a fun new upbeat chiptune plays over the top
game. And I did have fun for the first few is an act of beautiful blasphemy
VERDICT
hours. There’s an endless parade of missions that can only come from a place of
to tackle, usually beginning with some deep love.
roguelike-ish exploration. Nightmare Kart is also just a
But it soon became clear that there was no Unfortunately Zenless Zone Zero from MiHoYo damn good karting game. The
rhythm or timing to it, and before long I got is a shallow, polished front for a relentless karts feel varied and enjoyable to
tired of the sound of my own mindless online store. control, with a drift function that is
mouse clicking. No matter who I was playing Kerry Brunskill easy to execute and that here
grants potions that can be chugged
1 2
to boost.

VERDICT

An above-and-beyond realisation of a
silly idea, and a fun karting game, if
you’re onboard with the PS1 aesthetic.
1 Some characters are… a little odd. 2 Everything in the shop is smothered in stylish packaging. Tom Sykes

APC MAGAZINE 103

 DOWNTIME | GAMES

Do a kickflip!

1 So I should quit 1 2

my job?
2 Clean forest air
gives you stat boosts
in real life, too.

PRICE Free PLATFORM PC, browser

WEB bit.ly/PillowFightGame

PILLOW FIGHT
TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO SCHEME. PRICE $45.99 PLATFORM PC, XBS/X WEB dungeonsofhinterberg.com
The whole deckbuilding roguelike
thing can be traced back to Dream
Quest, and now it’s come full circle
with the unrelated but similarly
Dungeons of Hinterberg
nap-tastic Pillow Fight, which plays A vacation that’s worth the trip.
out as you’re trying to get to sleep.
Pillow Fight makes big changes to Luisa is a young lawyer from Vienna, and less challenging than a generic dungeon
the formula that was set down in she’s burned out. Dungeons of Hinterberg mob.
pencil with Dream Quest, and in leans into millennial malaise and twists it: The second half of every day is reserved
stone with Slay the Spire. Rather she’s going to take a little break to find for social activities. Though this Persona-
than your hand being dealt randomly herself in a picturesque Austrian mountain like setup is simple – choose a character to
every turn, you get a persistent set town that’s recently been rocked by the spend your evening with and receive stat
of cards that have cooldowns before arrival of magic. Instead of ski slopes, buffs/new abilities/extra scenes – it feels
they can be used again. Hinterberg has dungeons. Surely slaying remarkably close to the actual social
You’re mainly playing with a set of monsters will help Luisa solve the fear of experience of being a tourist.
white and black sheep tokens, which being in your 20s and not knowing what to The strict time division of the days allows
will earn you – or your opponent – do with your life? for a comfortable balance between
points as each turn comes to an end, The bulk of Luisa’s days are spent in socialising and exploration, and combat’s
when the remaining tokens are dungeons in four different regions, each of occasional monotony is easy to ignore with
weighed on a scale. which grants Luisa two different magic so many fun puzzles. Even when Luisa is
Deckbuilding games are all about powers she can use in combat or to solve hoverboarding down a mountainside it feels
synergy, and that’s true here as well, puzzles. Combat is simple, which works in rooted in an experience we’ve all had – she’s
if on a smaller scale. After every its favour: there are enough mobs that they out there because she felt lost and needed to
battle you get a new card, which can could have become aggravating if I were not find herself. Like all good art, it comes from
then be used whenever you want. If confident in Luisa’s ability to slice them to a place that’s real – and tosses a bit of magic
you want to minimise the random pieces. Enemies are strange little gooey in.
element, focus on abilities and cards blob-creatures with masks modelled after
that will reveal hidden tokens. Alpine mythology.
VERDICT
I found myself not just solving puzzles but
VERDICT
enjoying them. They’re enhanced by
excellent level design and art direction.
Puzzles are interrupted by occasional boss Dungeons of Hinterberg is a beautiful
Half an hour of riveting tactical fights that are lacking by comparison. Once puzzler – and a satisfying riff on the
boardgaming. you figure out how to chip away their health Austrian tourist economy.
Tom Sykes that’s all you do, in overly-generous patterns Maddi Chilton

104 APC MAGAZINE

 DOWNTIME | GAMES

Familiar landmarks in the

distance help keep me
grounded.

PRICE Free PLATFORM PC

WEB bit.ly/MourningTide

PRICE $50.95 PLATFORM PC, Mac, Meta Quest 2 & 3 WEB cyan.com/games/riven MOURNING TIDE
NORMAL FISHING IN A

Riven NORMAL SEA.

Mourning Tide offers a lovely bit of
fishing, no monsters allowed.
This remake brings a new dimension to an old classic. Hmm, that’s a funny way of
spelling ‘morning’. And that’s an
Atrus. Linking books. Ages. Weird, weird, yet it immediately makes for a better alarming-looking fish. Oh no.
puzzles. Riven, like its prequel Myst, is one of adventure. Lovecraft has got his tentacles in
those old games that feels a little familiar – a The Riven remake preserves that unique this one too.
little revered, even – to just about everyone sense of estrangement even though I’ve been To be fair: no actual tentacles.
of a (my) certain age. Going back to the to this world before. Not only have more Just several increasingly
original in the cold light of 2024 is hard: it’s than a few puzzles have been altered, unsettling fish. But despite the
a 640x480 flipbook of a game, much of its making it impossible to blunder through the descent into horror, the fishing in
original multi-disk awe and wonder lost to entire game with an old FAQ open in a tab, Mourning Tide remains a delight.
time. This remake brings all of the ancient this remake also makes absolutely no Unusually, it doesn’t follow the
magic back in an instant. concessions to modern tastes. I’m expected usual mechanics in fishing
At the risk of stating the obvious: this is to do this all by myself, without any sort games, which have you
Riven, but in 3D. And I don’t just mean the of helpful hint system to nudge me along or hammering a button and pulling
old environments, polished domes, and even the option to highlight interactive back an analogue stick
worn machinery are all still there. This is objects. To simulate the rod. Instead,
the most successful, spiritually accurate Riven’s as captivating in 2024 as it’s ever after throwing the line into the
real-time recreation of that unmistakable been. It’s an inventive puzzle game that ocean, you just have to move the
pre-rendered ’90s CG style I’ve ever seen. demands an intense yet unhurried sort of mouse to keep it within a plain
The outdoor sun is always just a bit too commitment, and then rewards those who black circle. Keep the struggling
bright, and interior lights have an attractive give it. fishing inside the circle and, when
yet artificial pre-baked quality to their the meter fills, you will have
illumination. Foliage is too detailed yet caught your (dog’s) dinner.
VERDICT
naively simplistic all at once, giant single I didn’t notice when the sea
blades of green erupting from the dirt. became blood red or when the
It’s beautiful. Stylish. Timeless. Being able waves started pulsing
to casually walk around environments that Cyan Worlds Inc’s remake of Riven is as threateningly, but the horror feels
once took professional workstations hours impressive, immersive, and unmissable as more real for the lack of jump
to render from a single angle at much lower it’s ever been. scares or jump cuts – and so,
detail almost feels disrespectful to history, Kerry Brunskill oddly enough, do the cosy vibes,
although admittedly they’re
1 Gorgeous 1 2
diminished by the very end.
scenery is as
common as
tricky puzzles. VERDICT
2 3D models
replace the old
bluescreen FMV
actors. Some of the very best horror
is in short form.
Tom Sykes

APC MAGAZINE 105

106 APC MAGAZINE
GAME CHANGER Old games, new perspectives
Chirophobia is the fear of
hands and if you didn’t
have it before, you will
now.

RELEASE August, 2017 DEVELOPER Ninja Theory PUBLISHER Ninja Theory LINK ninjatheory.com

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Ninja Theory blurred the lines between indie and triple-A. By Matt Poskitt.

Senua is unlike any other character “She’s afraid. Wouldn’t you be?” The decision to revisit the 2017 action-
I’ve come across in videogames. This constant chattering is a form of psychosis adventure became a no-brainer.
remains to this day, seven years after which Senua suffers from and, rightly,
Ninja Theory introduced the world to was heralded for its accurate depiction. Permadeath
Hellblade. It’s a story of grief, trauma, Known as Furies, these voices fuel the Upon release, I went into Hellblade:
love, revenge, anger and acceptance darkness in her mind and are further Senua’s Sacrifice relatively blind, being
all wrapped up in a solid six-to-eight- illustrated via puzzles, melee combat and intrigued by its ‘independent triple-A’
hour experience that offers more hallucinations. For instance, the more marketing as well as the furore
substance than many do in hundreds. enemies encountered at one time surrounding its ‘permadeath’ mechanic.
And all this from a team of represent Senua being mentally Within the first 30 minutes, a message
approximately 20 people. overwhelmed. There are lots of clever states, “The dark rot will grow each time
Set in the 8th century, we begin with the design elements like this that are easily you fail. If the rot reaches Senua’s head,
titular Pict warrior making her way to the overlooked on a first playthrough. So with her quest is over. And all progress will be
secret entrance of Hellheim in hopes of its sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, now lost.” This generated quite an uproar as
saving the soul of her dead lover, Dillion. available on PC and Xbox Series X/S, the the game community debated the
It’s atmospheric, creepy and undeniably
cinematic. It’s hard not to think of an
indie arthouse movie as Senua rows “I went into Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice relatively
through the murky waters and the
opening credits descend from the
blind, being intrigued by its ‘independent triple-A’
engulfing fog. The voices then begin to marketing as well as the furore surrounding its
seep in.
“Go back. It’s not safe.” “Turn around.” ‘permadeath’ mechanic. ”
APC MAGAZINE 107
 DOWNTIME | GAME CHANGER

“I thought it did some really powerful things in surroundings and often the camera
will zoom in and complete the
representing the clinical realities that I’d experienced mystery without much input from
from years of talking to people with psychosis. my side. This has been a problem
with modern Sony titles as of late –
More important than that, the feedback that I’ve got think God of War Ragnarok and
Horizon Forbidden West. If you set
from people with psychosis is that it is an accurate me a puzzle, please just leave me in
representation.” peace to solve it. If I need help, I’ll
look to the web. That’s why guide
writers were invented.
decision to wipe a player’s saves Looking back now, Fletcher Combat is another aspect;
once a certain number of deaths believes the game succeeded in its straightforward yet a struggle both
had been reached. Quickly though, efforts: “I thought it did some really mentally and physically for Senua.
it was discovered to be a bluff. And powerful things in representing The basis of it is attacking, dodging
a magnificent one at that. I wish the clinical realities that I’d or moving and parrying. There’s
more studios took big swings like experienced from years of talking little else aside from a mirror
the threat of permadeath. Sure, to people with psychosis. More charge that will slow down
some people felt misled, but I felt important than that, the feedback enemies, allowing a flurry of fast
the intention of creating the same that I’ve got from people with moves that can take out multiple
sort of dread that its protagonist psychosis is that it is an accurate enemies at will. I like how the
suffers was masterfully representation.” It’s hard not to voices will warn when an attack
implemented this way. It certainly agree considering the number of from behind is incoming, though.
impacted my first time, even if my awards that Hellblade picked up: None of this is especially bad but
most recent playthrough lost a bit winner of Games For Impact, Best there’s definitely room for
of its edge. When I believed Audio and Game Beyond improvement with the emotion of
permadeath was real, I could only Entertainment, to name a few. its lead elevating its weaker
muster up a couple of hours of Psychosis feeds into how all of aspects.
playthrough before needing a the puzzles are handled. The
break. Now knowing it doesn’t majority of them revolve around Motion capture
exist, I felt more confident in glyph symbols with the aim being Melina Juergens, who did the
battles, able to blast through them to match three symbols in the motion capture and voice work for
without concern for my progress. nearby environment. During all Senua, manages to blend into the
That, nevertheless, doesn’t take this, the voices will both help and work so seamlessly. It’s no wonder
away from the relentless nature of hinder. “You’re so close,” one says. she took home the top acting nod
the voices. Using binaural audio, “Just give up,” says another. That from BAFTA. What’s more
Hellblade is most effective with push-and-pull dynamic does play miraculous is that she had no
earphones, recreating the idea of on your thought process for professional training in the field
someone speaking into your ears figuring these things out. At one before being cast. Originally
up close or from afar. Upon a recent point a voice congratulates me on starting as a video editor at the
visit to Ninja Theory in the run-up solving the puzzle, only to take it company, Juergens cut trailers for
to Hellblade II, I was able to see this back seconds later. It’s frustrating DmC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade
impressive technology in person, but damn, I love it. – at the time, she stood in for Senua
watching as the actors who vocalise What I don’t love is how hand- during early tech experiments.
the Furies speak into a head-shaped holding spotting the symbols can Seeing the potential, she was
microphone to create the effect. It be. A quick scan of your offered the role.
was just as chilling then as it is
now, being fundamental to how
psychosis is executed in-game. HELLS’S BELLS
To ensure these symptoms were Hellblade’s unexpected success caught the eye of Microsoft
represented as close to real life as
possible, the studio employed a
mental health advisor, Cambridge
University professor of
neuroscience Paul Fletcher. “The
element of psychosis is a part of her,
but it’s not just a checklist of
symptoms that we sprinkle on to HELLBLADE: MICROSOFT SENUA’S SAGA:
make her and the story more SENUA’S SACRIFICE 2018 HELLBLADE II
interesting, it’s actually a deep 2017 Following the success 2024
The breakout hit first of Senua’s Sacrifice, Expanding the team to 100,
experience of constructed reality
made its way to PC and Microsoft picks up Ninja the sequel becomes a PC
and how that shapes what she does PS4, shifting one million Theory for $117 million. and Xbox exclusive.
in her quest and so forth,” he copies.
explains.

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A few rough edges now

show, despite the game’s
prevailing beauty.

1 2
Going from behind the camera to
in front is a big ask, but everything
about the performance is striking,
conveying the necessary emotions
to let us into the character’s mind
like few others do. There’s a
genuine vulnerability with Melina
admitting that she had to push out
of her comfort zone to play the part,
facing her fears just like Senua.
Whether it’s fighting the god of fire, 3
Surtr, or deciphering the tricks of
Valravn, the god of illusion, the
character is constantly caught
between being unsure of her
actions and yet determined to see
them through to save her love. I’m
not sure if that realism can be
captured by a trained professional
as opposed to someone thrown into
the space for the first time. A sink
or swim situation.
One scene late on sees the skull of
Dillion lost, and it appears as if all
walls are closing in on Senua. She’s
failed her mission. The darkness is
enclosing. Hunched over in a fetal
position, Senua addresses the
camera directly. Reflecting on her
childhood, we get a fantastic
monologue (one of many) that is 1 The new McSpicy
delivered in one single long take. really has a kick.
2 Vertigo, another
It’s then for the first time that the
Furies are blocked out momentarily common fear, to check
off your bingo sheet.
and the words uttered, “I’m not 3 While simple, the
going to give up”. This is just one
combat system
small scene but honestly, any can is satisfying.
be broken out and pointed to as to
why Melina cleaned up at every
awards show.

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 RETRO
Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past

Taking
computers
to the
NeXT level
When Steve Jobs left Apple he hoped to make a big impact with computers
for education. But NeXT ended up teaching the computer industry a thing
or two instead, as David Crookes explains

In summer 1985, Apple co-founder him. “These are very low-level people that ABOVE The battle between Netscape Navigator and
Steve Jobs rebuffed three offers to you won’t miss, and they will be leaving Internet Explorer was fierce.
become a professor. “I told all of the anyway,” Jobs explained. But he wasn’t
universities that I thought I would be entirely telling the truth. powerful workstation for use in a
an awful professor,” he later revealed Jobs had little love for those running university lab. It was a dual-boot machine
in an interview with Newsweek. Yet he Apple at the time. “I think John [Scully, allowing for the UNIX operating system as
still wanted to make a big impact in Apple’s then-CEO] felt that after the well as Mac OS but ended up being
the education sector. reorganisation, it was important for me to cancelled.
Jobs was 30 years old and ready for a not be at Apple for him to accomplish The five also included Bud Tribble, who
new challenge. He’d resigned from Apple what he wanted to accomplish,” Jobs headed Apple’s software development
following a reorganisation, but not told Newsweek. “He issued a public team and helped to design the classic Mac
before telling the board what statement that there was no role OS and its user interface; engineer George
he wanted to do next. for me there then or in the Crow, who designed the Macintosh 128K’s
Having previously visited future, or in the foreseeable analogue board containing the power
Brown University, he’d future. And that was about as supply and video circuitry; and Susan
been told academics sorely black and white as you need Barnes, controller of the Macintosh
wanted a powerful, to make things.” division. Then there was Dan’l Lewin, a
personal workstation To that end, he didn’t care sales executive in the Mac team who
capable of helping them with that the five people he chose for created the Apple University Consortium
their research. His aim, he told his new venture were hugely and bulk sold Macs to two dozen
the Apple board, was to create a important to Apple. Among them institutions, including all Ivy League
computer for the higher education was Rich Page, one of the first four Apple universities. All were disillusioned with
market that best suited them. fellows who had prototyped the company’s life at Apple.
When he made his announcement, jaws first portable, colour and 68020-based In that respect, Jobs was being honest.
dropped, primarily because he said he was Macs. At the time, Page had been working His chosen few likely would have left
going to take five Apple employees with on a machine referred to as the Big Mac, a regardless of his intention to create afresh.
Jobs didn’t waste much time, either. “Steve
called me and I went for a long walk with
© 1990 CERN, Patrice Loïez

““These are very low-level people that you won’t him,” Lewin told APC. “He told me he was
going to start a company and it was going
miss, and they will be leaving anyway,” Jobs to focus on the things that I cared about –

explained. But he wasn’t entirely telling the truth.” the things I’d pioneered at Apple from
scratch.

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replenished annually. You have

researchers doing the most far out,
extensive research on the planet.
And you have these incredibly
bright grad students who are
pushing the edge of the envelope –
they were doing fascinating,
fantastic things with computers
and foundation resources were
funding their work. Major research
institutions in the US are billion-
dollar operations complete with
this unique set of characteristics.”
As such, NeXT was confident that
it could corner the market simply
because the team knew what it
would take. “We’d looked at what
was going on in higher education
and in primary research
institutions and noted that they
were using VAX machines,
occasionally an Apollo workstation
and, more and more over time, Sun
Microsystems’ workstation.
“But any researcher worth their
salt had a budget of a quarter to
“NeXT was confident that it could corner ABOVE Apple paid
$427 million for the
half-a-million dollars to gain access
to a VAX, so we were looking at
the market simply because the team NeXTSTEP OS. what they were doing with those
knew what it would take.” machines. It led us to thinking
about the architecture of the
computer we wanted to build.”
“My thought process was that if I that Jobs had hired Lewin because
didn’t go and the company was of the strong relationships he’d built Seeking perfection
successful, I’d kick myself, and if I with universities. Apple threatened It took a long time for the NeXT
didn’t go and it failed, I’d be curious to sue Jobs, who told the press he computer to be developed. Even in
as to whether or not my found the situation strange. “It’s late 1986, as noted in Walter
participation would have made a hard to think that a $2 billion Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs,
difference. At that time, I was company with 4,300 employees the company only really had a
running the entire education side of couldn’t compete with six people in $100,000 logo created by the
Apple, which was two-thirds of the blue jeans,” he said. American artist and graphic
company’s revenue – I’d built both a Yet with Lewin and the others on designer Paul Rand and some
distribution strategy and a market board, it didn’t really matter that snazzy offices to show for their
framework for the higher education the new company – set to be called endeavours. “It had no revenue or
and research community. But I was NeXT – was short on numbers. The products,” Isaacson wrote.
a little frustrated by what was going team’s expertise would be enough But that’s not to say it didn’t have
on inside of Apple.” to make an impact. “We have an anything of note. NeXT had secured
Lewin was upset that Apple’s immense amount of confidence in a deal with Oxford University Press
direct sales to universities had been each others’ abilities and genuinely to bundle a digital edition of
affected by a reorganisation and the like each other,” Jobs told Shakespeare’s works with the
fact that product groups had Newsweek. “And all have a desire to machine, alongside the Oxford
stopped sharing information, have a small company where we can Dictionary of Quotations, a
which made his work more influence its destiny and have a dictionary and a thesaurus –
difficult. “One of the products really fun place to work.” thereby inventing the idea of
which mattered to me was Big Mac,” It helped that the groundwork searchable ebooks. NeXT had also
Futuretg.com/Wikimedia Commons. Newsweek

he added. “I didn’t feel like I could was already laid. Lewin’s network nailed a deal with Lotus to develop a
trust getting the things done that ran deep and he had a great spreadsheet app for the NeXT’s
needed to be done at Apple.” understanding of the computing operating system and enlisted other
Jobs’ new company offered a way needs of higher education. “It had a PC software companies to help.
forward and Lewin climbed aboard. reputation of being a niche market,” NeXT had also hired Hartmut
he explained, “but I turned that Esslinger. He was a master
The next step inside out and said, actually, it’s a industrial designer who was being
Apple was furious. Bill Campbell, superset of the real world. paid $2 million a year to create a
then VP of marketing, was incensed “You have consumers who are design strategy for Apple. Jobs

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 DOWNTIME | RETRO

violate their terms of agreement.”

The NeXT Computer would need
300W of power. “We could help
create large labs,” Lewin said. On
paper, it seemed like a perfect
machine which, aligned with
NeXTSTEP, should have been a
winner.

Groundbreaking OS
NeXTSTEP was an object-oriented,
multitasking Unix operating
system based on the Mach kernel.
“The distinguishing characteristic,
at least in my mind, was the choice
of Objective C and dynamic runtime
binding,” Lewin said. “You could
imagine professors building
software and wanting to introduce
an object into a simulation of some
sort, looking at the reaction and
checking what changed, and that’s
what happened.”
persuaded Esslinger to wind down optical storage medium. “That was ABOVE Netscape But the graphical mouse-based
his contract with Apple and set him a lot of storage at the time,” Lewin Navigator 3 running operating system was hugely
to work on the creation of a cube told us. “It was also erasable, GeoCities, via the innovative in other ways. It
emulator site
case with perfect 90-degree angles removable and non-magnetic.” oldweb.today. introduced the idea of the Dock
and foot-long sides, even though it seen in modern Macs. It had a
caused production problems later Powering up 3D-style interface, high-resolution
down the line. One thing was clear: the team icons, real-time scrolling and
Again, as Isaacson wrote, it’s wanted to approach the higher window dragging, fluid graphics
difficult to get precise cubes out of education market in a different rendering and built-in networking
tight moulds. The solution was way. “We wanted to look at the support. “Networking is pretty
moulds with separately created personal computer sales and fundamental to Unix and also
sides, but it added $650,000 to the distribution model and the where the world was heading,”
manufacturing costs. Jobs’ workstation application market Lewin explained.
penchant for perfection also opportunities,” Lewin said. “At the A few years later, NeXTSTEP also
prompted the purchase of a new time, when you bought a PC the ended up giving the world what
sanding machine. The screws operating system came with it and could be described as the first
inside the NeXT were plated as well, you’d only pay for upgrades. You digital App Store courtesy of the
further inflating the costs. But at didn’t pay any monthly fees. Electronic App Wrapper, a
least the NeXT was moving “But in the workstation business, commercial electronic software
forward. Sun Microsystems being the distribution catalogue that allowed
“One of the design points was dominant player, you’d pay a users to purchase, decrypt and
putting a digital signal monthly fee to keep the install apps automatically. It’s just a
Computer History Museum, computerhistory.org, Futuretg.com/Wikimedia Commons. Newsweek

processor in every operating system alive. shame it took so long for it to see the
machine, which So we wanted the light of day.
no-one had ever power of a LEFT Dan’l Lewin Jobs had wanted the NeXT
done,” said Lewin, workstation machine brought deep Computer to be released with the
discussing the more with a PC business knowledge of the operating system within 18 months.
education sector
important matter of model, bundling That was never going to happen, but
from Apple to
what was going to go Unix at the core. We NeXT. you couldn’t fault the ambition and
inside that cube. He was wanted to dismantle attempt to push development along.
talking about the the distribution side of the While work continued, there was
Motorola 56001 DSP, which workstation market.” investment – notably from Ross
allowed for fast processing of large Lewin knew that universities Perot, the founder and CEO of
matrix calculations, enabling the didn’t relish having to build power Electronic Data Systems and Perot
generation of CD-quality sound, plants to run workstations. “That Systems. Yet there were also
speech, tone detection and music. happened at Berkeley when they pushbacks, primarily from
The NeXT computer would also got 1,000 Sun 1 workstations,” he Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who
include a Motorola 68030 processor said. “Universities also had to pay went as far as to call the machine
running at 25MHz, built-in system engineers to move “crap”, stating “the optical disc has
Ethernet, a high-resolution display computers down the hall because if too low latency”.
and, crucially, a 256MB magneto- they physically moved them, they’d But there was beef between Jobs

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LEFT The NeXT web browser created

by Tim Berners-Lee.

computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee

created the world’s first web server
and web browser on a NeXT
computer at CERN, hosting the first
web page in December 1990. The
video games Doom and Quake were
also created on the platform –
developer John Carmack said
id Software bought its first NeXT out
of personal interest and ended up
spending $100,000 on the machines.
“It is funny to look back; I can
remember honestly wondering what
the advantages of a real multi-
process development environment
would be over the DOS and older
Apple environments that we were
using,” Carmack wrote on Quora in
2016. “Actually, using the NeXT was
an eye-opener, and it was quickly
clear to me that it had a lot of
tangible advantages for us, so we
“At the time, when you bought a PC the operating moved everything but pixel art
(which was still done in Deluxe Paint
system came with it and you’d only pay for on DOS) over.”
NeXT’s biggest legacy, however,
upgrades. You didn’t pay any monthly fees.” involved Apple. In December 1996,
Apple acquired NeXT for $427
and Gates. Jobs wanted Microsoft to If buyers wanted a printer, that million in cash, shares, stock options
create software for the NeXT would cost an extra $2,000. They’d and debt. Apple wanted NeXTSTEP
Computer but Gates didn’t want to also need to wait for version 1.0 of to become the foundation for a new
go in that direction. There was an NeXTSTEP, which wasn’t released Mac operating system to replace
attempt to license NeXTSTEP to until 1989. But the fact that the classic Mac OS. The move also
IBM instead and create a de facto company didn’t give up was heralded Jobs’ return to the
rival to Windows, but that potential admirable, and Jobs had a response company.
deal collapsed. to those who reckoned the It meant Jobs went full circle,
In the end, Jobs unveiled the computer was late. He told them it proving he was still able to influence
machine before 3,000 people in San was actually five years ahead of its Apple’s direction even when not
Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall time. working at the company. “If you look
on 12 October 1988, some three at the Mac today, you can trace the
years after leaving Apple. It came The legacy operating system right back to
with the NeXTSTEP operating Even so, Lewin soon became NeXTSTEP,” Lewin said. There’s the
BELOW The
system as a machine exclusive, and concerned. Although the NeXTcube second-gen $4,995 Dock, many base APIs, the Objective C
Jobs, who had invested $12 million and NeXTstation were released in “pizzabox” runtime, the manner in which third-
in the company, was in a confident 1990, the company wasn’t in good NeXTstation. party apps work, and so much more.
mood as he showed off the financial health. “We had So while NeXT didn’t prove to be
machine’s ability. $120 million in the bank and hugely successful as an entity
It could quickly retrieve a line I could see that being burned in and of itself, it had an
from Shakespeare, he within 12 months, and that’s immense impact on
demonstrated, and capably play a exactly what happened,” he computing as a whole. And
duet with a real violinist. Newsweek said, resigning in 1991. “But far from having an adverse
said the black cube “may be the in the end the asset was impact on Apple, it played a
most exciting computer in years”, always software.” Other large role in being its
Rama & Musée Bolo, Wikimedia Commons

and the presentation earned a variations followed, until saviour. In that sense it was
standing ovation. Yet the computer NeXT decided to a successful failure, one that
was a pricey little thing. Jobs concentrate on NeXTSTEP ultimately ended up making
wanted the computer to cost no in 1993. Jobs a household name.
more than $3,000 when it was The company would go “It was,” Lewin said, with a
under development. It ended up on to leave a strong level of understatement,
selling for $6,500, and that was with legacy. “an interesting moment
a university discount. British in time.”

APC MAGAZINE 113

 KNOW HOW Bored with Chrome and Edge, Robert Irvine
test-drives a much-hyped new browser and tries to...

Make web browsing fun again

I spend a lot of time testing browsers
and finding interesting things to say
about them. This was much easier 1
before Chrome, Edge and Firefox
switched to incremental releases,
back when each new version
introduced exciting tools, rather
than ‘bug fixes’ and under-the-
bonnet tweaks.
It’s no wonder several new browsers
have sprung up in the last year, while
the big names obsess about AI. These
include DuckDuckGo’s private browser
(https://duckduckgo.com/windows),
the Japanese-made Floorp (https://
floorp.app) and the climate- conscious
2
Ecosia Browser (www.ecosia.org/
browser). However, the most hyped
browser of 2024 is Arc from The Browser
Company (www.arc.net). Arc has several useful features including split-screen view and tab-archiving.
Arc’s website claims the browser
“shapes itself” and “doesn’t just meet was blank, the interface was minimalist button, which launched a search-cum-
your needs – it anticipates them”, which and grey, and the tab bar was in a address box in the middle of the page –
implies it’s some form of personal- left-hand sidebar, instead of across the much more convenient than a bar across
hygiene product. But spurred on by a top. At the top of this sidebar was a the top.
review that said Arc “makes browsing Spaces section, which helpfully I typed the names of a few websites to
the web fun again”, I decided to take the included an Arc Basics collection of open them in tabs, and was pleasantly
new browser for a spin. explanatory articles, so I perused this surprised by the lack of ads. This is
I downloaded and installed Arc on my before proceeding further. because the brilliant content blocker
Windows 11 laptop (it isn’t yet available Spaces is the pivotal feature in Arc uBlock Origin is built into Arc. The
for Windows 10), clicked past the and lets you create ‘distinct browsing browser is based on Chromium code,
welcome screen, which boasted ‘Meet areas’ that contain different tabs and so you can install more extensions
the internet, again’, and was prompted files, and have their own themes. For from the Chrome Web Store. Cleverly,
to create an account. This was example, you can have a Work and when you click New Tab, Arc lists the
annoying, because you usually only Personal space, and switch between tabs you already have open – including
need an account to sync data between the two by clicking their dots at the in other spaces – so you can jump
devices, but I reluctantly obliged and bottom of the sidebar. It’s similar to straight to them.
signed in. the profiles you create in other Other nice touches are the option
After skipping the options to import browsers, and even closer to the to view two tabs side by side in Split
tabs, passwords and bookmarks from Workspaces feature in Edge, but Arc’s View ( 1 in our screenshot); and an
another browser, and an invitation to presentation is slicker. Archive Tab feature 2 that closes and
set Arc as my default, I was presented To set up my first ‘space’, I clicked the stores tabs so you can reopen them
with an ‘Arc Card’, which labelled me plus in the sidebar and chose Spaces, later. However, aside from the clean
an ‘Imaginary Technician’. I couldn’t then New Space. I named my space ‘APC design, there wasn’t much else that
understand the point of this, so ignored editorial’, gave it a reddish theme and impressed me or made the web fun.
it and clicked Get Started. clicked Create Space. When my new Arc is certainly different to Chrome,
The Arc browser now launched, to space opened, I clicked the New Tab but then so is Vivaldi (www.vivaldi.
my initial bemusement. The homepage com), which also has a Spaces-style
feature, left-hand sidebar, built-in
“It’s no wonder several new browsers have sprung ad-blocker, split-screen view and lots
more besides. It’s early days, so perhaps
up in the last year, while the big names obsess the browser will eventually justify the

about AI.” hype, but for now Arc doesn’t really

float my boat.

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