Author: Benny Taylor

  • Why Nintendo must “up their game”

    I’m a huge Nintendo fan, and have been since the 1980s. Nintendo gaming has given me an abundance of wonderful memories: from my first race on Super Mario Kart on the SNES, via Mario’s groundbreaking first 3D outing on the Nintendo 64, to the wow-factor of swinging a virtual tennis racket using the Wii Remote.…

  • The new Apple TV: compact, stylish, and riddled with issues

    I really want to love my tiny, stylish new Apple TV box, but I’m finding it rather difficult. For those that don’t know, the Apple TV is a streaming media device. It connects to your TV via an HDMI cable and allows you to buy and play content from Apples iTunes store and a few…

  • My first month with the Nintendo Wii U

    The launch day for the new Nintendo Wii U saw my wife and I rush out to buy one like excited children. As committed Nintendo fans we had waited eagerly for our chance, and we were lucky enough to find one in the first shop we visited. With time off work booked in advance, specifically…

  • iPad Mini shortages – An “own goal” for Apple?

    When a new product hits the market, there’s often a shortage. It happened with the Nintendo Wii, the original iPod and with numerous different iPhones. I’m not here to have a detailed debate as to whether manufacturers should, by now, have brought their supply chains up to speed. I will also limit my speculation as…

  • What Nintendo must do to make the upcoming Wii U game console a success

    Winter 2012 will see the global release of Nintendo’s brand new games console, the Wii U, just in time for the holiday season. As the first TV adverts have been careful to point out, the Wii U is a completely new console, and not just an upgrade to the Wii. The Wii U comes with…

  • Why I think businesses will ignore Windows 8

    Let’s get one thing straight from the beginning; I’m no Microsoft hater. I’ve designed networks around Windows for many years and happily supported them. I have many client companies going about their business with no Apple products or Linux boxes in sight. But, I’m going to stick my neck out on one thing: I think…

  • iOS 6: The Good and the Bad

    iOS 6, the most recent incarnation of Apple’s mobile operating system, was met with mixed reviews on release. Some people lamented the fact that it seemed like a rather insignificant change, hoping for a major design overhaul to something that has looked and felt very unchanged for quite some time. Others criticized specific features, with…

  • Apple OS X Mountain Lion – First Impressions

    You don’t have to look very hard on the Internet to find reviews of Mountain Lion, Apple’s new revision of the OS X operating system. This review is slightly different. As a cynical, old school techie, I’m never particularly wowed by or interested in sparkly new features. All that really concerns me is exactly how…

  • Why Microsoft is wrong to discontinue Small Business Server

    As an IT consultant who delivers services to small and medium businesses, I have spent a vast amount of time with Microsoft’s Small Business Server product range. Early versions of SBS (the original “Back Office” incarnation and SBS 2000) had various quirks and problems. Since SBS 2003, however, Small Business Server has been a refined, solid…

  • TunnelBear easily allows access to location-restricted websites

    As someone who lives and works between two countries, I am the typical target market for the many companies offering locational VPN services. These VPN services allow those browsing the web in one country to appear as if they’re in a different country. There are various reasons why someone might do this, but one of the…