One of the great mysteries that confronts modern man is his inability to program a VCR, so you would have thought that it was incumbent on manufacturers to make programming a DVD recorder simpler. Unfortunately nobody told the author of the Philips DVDR890 instruction manual. It omits a vital step from the general instructions for programming the device to record a show in advance - it took three attempts to get the feature to work, and only after stumbling across the missing instructions in the section for using G-codes (though I wasn't planning to use G-codes).

According to analysts at IDC (International Data Group),DVD is now the fastestgrowing consumer electronic technology ever.

How will you be computing in the next 12 months? PC Authority brings you 2005's big technology stories - before they happen.

One day Microsoft might realise that forcing its customers to have a Bill Gates issued 'passport' to use services on the internet sticks in people's gullets like a jagged fishbone. In the case of Microsoft Money you need a passport if you want to take advantage of its online banking services, but once you do sign up you find that it is the one area of an otherwise excellent program that does not work properly.

Once you have bought your digital camera it is easy to spend several hundred more dollars on photo editing software, but unless you are going to use a lot of time creating digital master pieces there are better ways of spending your money.

The lead up to the introduction of the GST was a boon for anybody with a localised accounting package...

The booming interest in genealogy created by the Internet has provided a lucrative market for programs that help the home user research and create their family tree...

Simplicity is the single most important factor for any newcomer attempting to create their first Web site.

The annual battle of the small business accounting programs has flared again as both MYOB and Quicken roll-out their 2004 editions. While both have made several tweaks and additions to last year’s models, the main difference this time around is in MYOB’s new product activation model. While many users will consider it overkill, there is little doubt that MYOB and others have suffered as a result of software piracy over the years and this time MYOB is determined to stop it.

Ever since the mid-1990s, a variety of manufacturers have been attempting to find a reliable way to turn your PC into a television – without a huge amount of success.

Accounting software is a tough market to get into and is littered with the carcasses of many who had tried and failed to take on the established giants in Quicken and MYOB. Business Breeze is a locally designed product specifically aimed at the small business market.

Microsoft has been producing its Encarta Encyclopedia and World Atlas since the early 1990s, but despite several attempts it has never produced anything that could rightfully claim to be an Australian edition...

Once upon a time not too long ago, your average inkjet printer had a single tricolour ink cartridge. Of course, the print quality was fairly ordinary, but it did the job. Today, with digital cameras the norm and home users wanting to print their own photographs, your photo printer may have as many as eight different ink cartridges.

Telstra says it now has more than 300,000 ADSL subscribers and is on target to reach a million by 2005. The problem with home ADSL is that unlike cable, Telstra doesn’t make it easy to network even though it requires an Ethernet connection. Interestingly, the Ethernet requirement for broadband Internet connectivity is also helping to drive the rising popularity of home networks.

The idea of using your PC as the central control point for your home theatre has been bandied about for some time.

The market for specialised compact photo printers remains relatively small, but as prices come down for printers and digital cameras, they are becoming more popular. As digital camera prices come down and more cameras have direct printer connectivity, a small photo printer becomes a viable accessory.

Panasonic claims this to be the world's smallest palm-type DV camera, and who am I to argue?

If you had asked me a few weeks ago what the advantages of eight megapixels (MP) were over five, I would have said very few. However, that was before I discovered the fun factor in being able to play with an image that is up to 115cm by just over 86cm (72dpi).

Streaming is the process of taking large files, breaking them into smaller pieces and sending them to their destination where they are recompiled as they arrive, providing an audio, video or animated broadcast over the net.