The virtual world

In this day and age, more and more of our day to day activities occur in a virtual world rather than the real one. From playing online games, socialising and organising your finances with your bank, the bridge between the virtual and the real world is a short one. So, if you’re after a bit of escapism or just want an easier life, have a look at how you can increase your online presence.

 

Social networking

One of the most common activities carried out online is social networking. This can be done in a few ways but the most popular methods for interacting with friends are through social websites & instant chat applications.

 

Websites such as Facebook & Bebo allow you to create an online profile that you can make visible for everyone to see. These profiles allow you to write about yourself, your interests, and whereabouts you're living at the moment, very handy if you’re looking for old friends that may live on the other side of the planet. As well as looking for people that you’ve not seen in a while, you can also keep friends updated on what you’re up to and also see what they’re doing too. One thing to remember when using social networking sites is that if you want your privacy respected, then make sure you set your profile to private.

 

Instant chat applications like Microsoft Live Messenger and Skype make it possible to chat and see which of your friends are online instantly. This is extremely handy if you’re arranging to meet up later that day or just want to chat without having to incur phone costs. However, the Skype application allows you to make free phone calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world, using your existing Internet connection using a technique called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). It’s quick, simple to do and it won’t cost you a single penny!

 

Online gaming

Whether you own a games console or PC, online gaming is immensely popular attracting people of all ages into an alternate reality. Quite a lot of today’s games offer players an online experience to practice what they’ve learnt whilst playing the offline version. Going online is extremely entertaining, allowing you to create online game sessions for your friends or take on someone you’ve never played against before. This really does add a whole new dimension to game play.

 

Some games like World of Warcraft & EverQuest are completely devoted to online play and are commonly called MMORPGs - massively multiplayer online role-playing games. These virtual worlds allow you to interact with your surroundings, other players and allow you to take your in-game character as far possible by increasing their skills & abilities with the desire of reaching the maximum achievable ranking. Once you’ve taken your character to the highest level, you can revel in the glory and complete any new quests & game content, or turn your hand to something new like, err, gardening!

 

If you’ve never played an online game before, then look out for Battlefield Heroes and Mythos, which are due to be released later this year. These are completely free online games and will give you a chance to see what all the fuss is about.

 

Practical Online activities

Not only can we have fun on the Internet but we can also conduct our daily tasks without ever having to leave the house.

 

For example, online grocery shopping has really taken off. It’s so easy to browse a website, add items to your basket, make your payment and book your delivery slot. This is a very convenient way to shop as you get time to do other things and you save money by not buying any items that ‘just happen’ to catch your eye as you wonder around the store.

 

Some retailers also allow you to buy products online such as PCs, TVs and household domestic appliances. Buying online can also get you a better price in some instances, as they can offer web only prices at a better rate than you can find in store. Although this is fine for some people, we prefer to walk around playing with all the TVs until we find the one we like the look of, and then spend the next hour ‘umming and arring‘ over the one next to it!

 

Just in case you're wondering, here are some other things you could do online.

• Order your car’s tax disc prior to its expiry.
• Conduct online banking, allowing you to pay bills, transfer funds and create standing orders.
• Book your next holiday. Some websites will give you more information about the resort as well as pictures & videos.
• Buy items on auction sites like ebay and sell your junk! They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
• In the future, you will be able to book all your hospital, dental and doctors appointments online.
  

 

Well, if after reading all this you’re thinking about paying your kids’ pocket money via pay pal, then you’re well and truly taking that step into the virtual world!

 

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Sennheiser PC 350 Headset

Do you ever wonder how anyone can understand the muffled noise that comes out of the speakers at shopping centres? It’s like someone is talking with a sock in their mouth and it’s amazing that any action is done off the back of that incoherent request. Communication is vital in almost any undertaking and whilst gaming isn’t the most serious of tasks, being able to clearly hear what's going on and relaying important information to your team can make all the difference.

 

Sennheiser have an impeccable record as far as sound and recording equipment goes, so you would expect a quality product from them, and that is exactly what you get. The Sennheiser PC 350 is one of the best headsets currently available at the moment. They have made no mistakes with the sound quality and the range of frequencies it reproduces is enough to make you feel like you are actually in the game.

 

The headset has all the regular features that most headsets have, inline volume control, mic mute, 3m cable, but one of the things that places this product ahead of the competition is comfort. The way the headband sits on your head and the ear pads mould to your ear, well, it’s like a little cuddle for your cranium. You shouldn’t have sore ears after wearing these for hours on end.

 

Unless you have the luxury of being able to have sound coming through your stereo late at night then you’ll need a set of headphones or a headset, and you can’t go far wrong with the excellent offering from Sennheiser.

 

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HP w2408h TFT Monitor

Right, you’ve decided to shun the outside world and live your life online. Ok, maybe not to that extent, but just so your friends and family know that you do venture outside once in a while, you should post real Christmas cards this year and not those e-card things you “sent” last time. We have established you’ll be in front of your computer for a while and for most of that time you’ll be looking at the monitor, so it pays to have a really good one. What makes a good monitor? Read on…

….Let’s start with size. As a rule, the bigger the better but unless you want a massive television on your computer desk, the 24” HP w2408h monitor will do just nicely. As it's in a 16:9 (widescreen) format, you can watch movies without them being squashed to fit. And, virtually all games released in the last couple of years support a widescreen monitor, so you shouldn’t have any trouble on that front either.

 

The maximum resolution it supports is 1920 x 1200 which will suit anyone’s taste. It also has a 5ms response time, which is fast enough for you not to notice any delays in colour changes. The brightness and contrast specifications are pretty standard but it gets a massive boost from the built-in BrightView technology. This makes the blacks appear more black and the whites brighter.

 

If you have ever used a laptop, you’ll know that you have to be nearly square on to see the picture on the screen. Not so with this monitor. It has 160 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles which means that you will never have to struggle to see the display no matter where you are sitting.

 

If you really want to impress your friends, or you just fancy playing Space Invaders on a long screen, you can rotate the w2408h monitor 90 degrees to give you that portrait feeling. Why not view some pictures on it while it is rotated? No need to turn the computer on, just plug in your camera or memory stick via one of the USB ports on the side and see your pictures on this magnificent screen.

 

Click here to buy it from PC World.

 

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Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF

As online communication becomes increasingly prevalent in our everyday lives, the demand for quality products to help facilitate it also increases. Gone are the days when your webcam delivered not much more than a barely moving, grainy picture. Modern webcams can be quite small and still pack some amazing specifications that will satisfy a majority of home users. But if you are looking for something that stands out from the crowd, then read on.

The Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF is a top of the range webcam that is absolutely packed with useful features for the avid online user. It has an ultra-high resolution 2 megapixel camera, that delivers a lucid and colour-rich picture to the people on the receiving end. You can enable auto-focussing and face tracking so no matter how much you move around, the camera will still show you clearly.

 

If you record moving images with it, the Carl Zeiss optics can capture video up to 1600 x 1200, which is phenomenal for a camera of this type. The frame rate of 30 frames per second is industry standard and suitable for virtually anything you’d use it for at home. The bundled software is very useful and includes features such as white-balance, colour balance, contrast and loads of other stuff that you can use to enhance the image.

 

So, get rid of that old microphone you have sitting on the desk and use the built-in one instead. The Sphere AF connects via USB so you can free up the microphone port on your soundcard. Obviously, it is easy to override the integrated mic and use a headset if you prefer.

 

For the person who likes to socialise online, you can’t go wrong with the Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF. The combination of quality and features make this webcam about the best around.

 

Click here to buy it from PC World.

 

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Belkin n52te Speedpad

The Belkin Speedpad is designed for people who enjoy gaming to the maximum. If you like to have the upper hand in games and like to show off your new gadgets, then this Speedpad is a must.

 

Immediately, you can see and feel the ergonomics of the Speedpad. The armrest can be adjusted into different positions to accommodate different hand positions and all of the programmable buttons and the direction pad are in intuitive positions. There is also a shift feature on there so you can effectively have over 50 different programmable operations, and it’s easy to set up too.

 

The non-slip pad on the bottom ensures that no matter how hard you play, the Speedpad will remain solid. It has a cool blue backlight so you can spot all the keys in the dark and the technology inside is made by Razer, who are renowned for making quality mice.

 

There are also 2 ways in which you can use the Speedpad. The most basic is just plug and play. Connect it up via the USB cable and use it with the default keyboard/mouse functionality. But to really benefit from using it, you’ll want to program the keys using the supplied software. You can create different profiles for different games and program it to load the correct profile automatically when the game starts. Brilliant!

 

Any serious gamers out there should invest in one of these. People who play FPS (First Person Shooter) and RTS (Real Time Strategy) games will benefit the most out of using one of these, as it offers a better layout than using a standard keyboard. The enhanced enjoyment you’ll get from using the speedpad is immense and once you've tried it, there's no turning back.