• Tips to help you work less and relax more in 2009
• Getting a new PC? Protect and purge files now
• Secure your laptop while travelling this holiday season
• Manage your family’s hectic holiday schedule with Windows Calendar
• Mobile blogging made easy
• Personalize your PC: It’s all about you
• Reduce stress and stay organized while running errands
• Plan your financial future
• Claim victory over your e-mail
• Save time with a tablet PC

• Microsoft security updates for July 2009
• Microsoft security updates for June 2009
• Microsoft security updates for May 2009
• What is a botnet?
• What is spam?
• What are Internet filters?
• What is identity theft?
• Microsoft security updates for April 2009
• Protect yourself from the Conficker computer worm
• How to prevent a computer worm

TechRadar: latest computing news

• Buying Guide: Best computer: how to choose the right one
  

  How to choose best PC for you

  When buying a new computer, it's easy to become confused by the sheer volume of technical decisions that you'll have to make.

  How to choose the best desktop PC for you? Well, you might wonder how much RAM you'll need, for instance, which processor to choose or which graphics card to pick, what display to look for, which hard drive will be best for you - there are so many issues that it's difficult to know where to begin.

  There is a simple way to at least begin cutting down the choices on offer, though, and ensure you get the best PC for your needs.

  And that's to forget about the low-level technical specifications, and fine details like the brand of graphics card just for the moment and instead concentrate on something much more fundamental and important: what you will be expecting your system to do.

  So read on to find out how to buy the best computer for you, then check out our 10 best desktop PCs on page 2.

  Best computer: using your new PC

  Take a moment to think about the sort of applications you'll want to run on your new PC, as these will help to decide which features your system will need.

  If you only intend to run basic tasks - browsing the web, sending emails, running office-type software like Microsoft Word - then the good news is that most computers, even at the budget end of the market, will be able to cope with your requirements.

  An entertainment PC can handle those basic jobs, too, but might also be used to watch TV and movies, listen to music, play some games, perhaps share music and video files across a home network. Systems like this need a little more in the way of hardware power, like a larger hard drive to store all your music and movies, as well as a big screen, a good sound card and speakers, but they still don't have to be too expensive. Many entertainment PCs are all-in-one PCs these days.

  

  If you want to play the latest games with the best possible performance, then you'll need a gaming PC. This can be much more expensive, as not only will you need a quality screen, a good sound card and speakers, but you'll also require a powerful graphics card, fast hard drive and a decent processor.

  And if you're not a gamer, but need to run some heavy-duty software - editing HD videos, say - then you'll need a high-end performance PC. This should include a powerful CPU, plenty of memory, and a large, fast hard drive, so expect a sizeable bill. But you may not need the large screen or powerful graphics card of the entertainment or gaming systems, which will help to keep prices down a little.

  Best computer: netbook, laptop or desktop?

  With the basic applications of your new computer resolved, it's time to think about the type of system that might be appropriate: a netbook, laptop or desktop?

  Netbooks are compact notebooks with small screens (typically 10 to 12 inches), and components that are more about saving battery life than delivering raw power. So expect a slow CPU, only a little RAM (1 to 2GB, usually), no DVD drive, not too much hard drive space, and so on.

  This is all that you need for basic web browsing, emailing and similar tasks, though. Their small size makes netbooks extremely portable (most are only around 1-1.5kg), battery life is usually very good at 4 to 10 hours, and you can buy some great systems from as little as £249. Our articles on the best laptop and the top netbooks in the world today will tell you more.

  

  Laptops can seem bulky by comparison to their tiny netbook cousins: they might be more than twice the weight, with larger screens, and more powerful CPUs, which means battery life may struggle to reach 3 hours in some cases.

  Of course they can also handle much more powerful applications, though. If you'll be spending hours typing on the system then you'll appreciate the larger keyboard. The built-in DVD drive makes it easier to install software and create backups, and high-end laptops can even deliver very acceptable gaming performance.

  Again, we've a guide to suit everyone: The best cheap laptop under £350 focuses on budget systems, while our article on the best student laptops and the best 13" laptops cover a wider range of systems.

  The best gaming laptops guide reveals that you buy mobile gaming performance for as little as £599, while the more general Which laptop should I buy? article walks you through the buying process and explains how to make sure you get the right system for you.

  If you don't need a computer you can carry around, though, a desktop will be your best option. These are larger, but deliver more power for your money, and are generally much easier to upgrade or reconfigure. So if you decide you need better gaming performance, say, you can just buy another graphics card at a later date, something that won't be possible at all with most netbooks or laptops.

  But if you've already got a list of preferred PC manufacturers then it might be more interesting to think about the hardware that your new computer should include - and there's plenty to consider.

  

  Best computer: technical specs

  In the past, one of the first questions to ask about your new PC has been how much memory you'll need. These days, though, even many budget PCs come with 4GB of RAM, the maximum a 32-bit Windows system can use.

  If you're short of cash and only want to run very basic programs, perhaps to browse the web or send emails, then you might just about get away with 2GB. Maybe. But opting for 4GB will help to improve your system's performance, even here, so avoid skimping on memory if you possibly can.

  If you're buying a more high-end system, though, you might also want to consider the type of memory it should include to deliver the best results. Our article on How to buy RAM will tell you more.

  

  It's a similar situation with hard drives. If you're buying a budget PC (around £400, say) then look for the highest capacity you can afford; we'd recommend at least 500GB, although even many budget PCs now include 1TB drives.

  If you've more cash to spend, though, it's worth paying more attention to the technical details. Read How to buy the best new hard drive for a grounding in the basics. And if you've a big budget, then solid-state drives (SSDs) deliver the best performance around, though their capacities are low. Our guide to the best SSDs, or solid state drives, will tell you more.

  To help you choose between a hard disk drive and a solid-state drive, take a look at our guide SSD vs HDD: which is best?

  Then of course there's the issue of your computer's processor: which one is the best CPU? The good news here is that even the cheapest PCs now include CPUs with two cores, essentially separate processors that allow you to run multiple tasks at the same time. But even if money is tight, look for something with more cores, if you can: something like Intel's Core i3-530 or AMD's Athlon II X4 640 offer decent performance at a budget price.

  

  While we've hopefully covered most of your concerns here, there may be one or two other issues you want to consider.

  If you aim to play the latest games on your computer, for instance, the choice of graphics card will be critical. Let us help you out with our guide to the 15 best graphics cards in the world today.

  And whatever you're doing on your system, a quality LCD monitor will be crucial - so be sure to read our guide to the technical details you really need to know before you buy a monitor.

  It's a lot to consider, then, but doing your homework now will really pay off later. And that's because understanding the features you need (and the ones you really don't) will both save you money and help you choose the best PC that will serve you well for years to come.

  Which, of course, is the best news of all, because your systems' extended life means you won't have to go computer shopping again for a long, long time.

  10 best PCs to choose from

  So what's the best desktop PC for you? Although they've been overshadowed by just about everything recently, the fact that they're comfortable to use and can be upgraded easily means that they're still our weapon of choice when it comes to both gaming and general computing.

  We've poked through the TechRadar archives to bring you 10 of the best desktop PCs, including the best all-in-one PCs. If you're after a top desktop, look no further.

  1. Acer Aspire Z5763

  

  The Acer Aspire Z5763 knows the deal: all-in-one (AIO) PCs aren't supposed to be masters of all things, they're slimline entertainment boxes. We all know that they are usually weak in the processor and more importantly the graphics department, but that doesn't mean they need to hide from the limelight. This all-in-one proudly struts its credentials, this is a 23-inch entertainment system that boasts a 1080p resolution and a Nvidia 3D-ready screen with Blu-ray 3D support.

  Read our Acer Aspire Z5763 review

  2. CyberPower Liquid Xtreme GT

  

  From the unassuming chassis, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Liquid Xtreme GT was just another mid-range machine from CyberPower. Maybe packing a Core i5 2500K, or a new GTX 560 Ti 448 Core. Or maybe, just maybe, it's a combination of a £500 processor and a £400 graphics card. It's the latter. CyberPower has dropped the lower-end Sandy Bridge E chip, the Core i7 3930K, into this machine and paired it up with the best single-GPU card currently available, the Nvidia GTX 580. That's around £900 worth of processor and graphics cores, easily covering half the price of this full machine.

  Read our CyberPower Liquid Xtreme GT review

  3. Dell Inspiron One 2320

  

  We're certainly warming to all-in-one computers, and if they continue to be as good the Dell Inspiron One 2320 we can happily see them taking over all of our desks. The £799 price means a lot, and there's a lower-end Pentium model also available, at an MSI Wind Top AE2210-beating £599. As with the other PC all-in-ones we've mentioned, the main "new" headline feature - despite the option of the Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor - that the marketing boys are dying to tell us about is the touchscreen. Decades of careful mouse-based interface design down the tube, as it's far more fun stabbing your podgy fingers at a desktop screen.

  Read our Dell Inspiron One 2320 review

  4. MSI Wind Top AE2210

  

  We're keen to see if the well-priced MSI Wind Top AE2210 can manage to balance a £700 price tag with good performance. Wire-free is also something the MSI Wind Top AE2210 almost achieves - the only lead you actually need connected is the main power supply. MSI has opted for an external power supply unit, which is something to lose and an additional thing to have to lug around. We'd argue that this could help with cooling, but the unit has an obvious cooling fan. While it mostly ticks over at a low level, it's a little disappointing that it's audible at all.

  Read our MSI Wind Top AE2210 review

  5. Acer Revo RL100
  

  

  A triumph of form over function, Acer's ultra-tiny media center PC includes a slide-out backlit touchpad keyboard. It also packs a Blu-Ray/DVD-RW combo drive, with an Nvidia Ion 2 processor to power those high-definition films and a touch of light gaming. An integrated digital TV tuner means that it will compliment a plush home cinema set up quite nicely, and it runs very quietly. It's not the cheapest media center option, but it does perform perfectly adequately.

  Read our Acer Revo RL100 review

  6. Shuttle SX58H7
  

  

  A great place to start your media centre PC. Stick a Core i7 CPU, some DDR3 RAM and a DX11 graphics card in this barebones PC and you'll have a fully-fledged unit that's actually capable of running the latest games. It's got a compactl form factor, and it'll certainly look the part next to a TV of epic proportions. It is a tad pricey for what it is, but in recent years Shuttle has got tiny PCs like these down to a fine art.

  Read our Shuttle SX58H7 review

  7. Apple iMac 27-inch 2011
  

  

  The mighty Apple's first venture into the world of Intel's Sandy Bridge processors comes in a 21.5-inch form factor (below), and this whopping 27-inch model. It's the most powerful iMac we've ever seen, and it totes a 2TB HDD in partnership with a 256GB SSD so it doesn't get too bogged down. Graphics are catered for with an AMD Radeon HD 6970M, and as gaming on Macs becomes more popular you'll need every megabyte of its 1GB of DDR5 memory. It looks pretty darn nice, too.

  Read our Apple iMac 27-inch 2011 review

  8. Apple iMac 21.5-inch 2011
  

  

  Apple's smaller all-in-one addition is a powerful upgrade from 2010 models, and not hugely pared down from its bigger 27-inch brother. Its 21.5-inch screen doesn't need quite as much power, and the price reflects this. The graphics chip - a HD 6750M in this case - can handle games and video editing, and there's even a built-in 720p camera to take advantage of Apple's FaceTime. Just about everything impressed us here, and it's a great first step if you want to move away from Windows.

  Read our Apple iMac 21.5-inch 2011 review

  9. PC Specialist Vortex M59 OC

  

  So PC Specialist, what have we here with the Vortex M59 OC? An overclocked Core i5 2500K? Why, a system with a CPU specification like that puts you in some pretty illustrious company: there's Chillblast's Fusion Rocket for starters. Chillblast's overclocked 2500K runs at 4.5 GHz, which is 300MHz slower than this rig, but then it's also £150 cheaper. There's also our new favourite Core i5 system, the AT-FX Polaris. Inside that rig lies a 2500K overclocked to 4.8 GHz, matching PC Specialist's rig. It costs nearly £300 more, but there are several luxurious higher specified components inside to justify that.

  Read our PC Specialist Vortex M59 OC review

  10. Sony Vaio L Series

  

  The Sony Vaio L Series is the Japanese firm's latest stab at this expanding market and it comes in two powerful derivatives – the VPC-L21S1E and VPC-L21M1E – the latter of which we're focusing on here. The S1E costs just under £1,500, while the M1E is a touch more down-to-earth at £1,200. The discernible differences between the pair are a Core i7 processor rather than a Core i5 in the VPC-L21M1E, an extra 4GB of RAM (making for 8GB in total) and a Blu-ray writer instead of just a Blu-ray player. Whichever of these machines you opt for, it's a considerable investment for the privilege of owning one.

  Read our Sony Vaio L Series review

  
  
  
  
  
• In Depth: The 10 most talented people in tech
  

  10 most talented people in tech

  Hot industries tend to attract the world's best and brightest, and these days there are few industries hotter than tech.

  From silicon valley to silicon roundabout, some of the world's smartest, most talented people are building the future - and if we had the cash, we'd hire the very best of them and take over the entire universe.

  So which tech titans would make the most amazing tech firm of all time?

  These are our nominations for the tech industry's smartest operators and biggest brains: let us know yours in the comments.

  1. Tim Cook, Apple

  

  As Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook turned what Fortune called "the atrocious state of Apple's manufacturing, distribution and supply apparatus" into the extraordinary and extraordinarily profitable machine it is today. He may not have Steve Jobs' vision thing, but that's okay, because our next two nominations have that in spades.

  2. Jeff Bezos, Amazon

  

  [Image credit: James Duncan Davidson, CC Attribution 2.0 Generic]

  Many pundits see the Amazon founder and CEO as the spiritual heir to the late Steve Jobs, and while he may lack Jobs' showmanship he has a Jobs-esque ability to see into the future - and he uses that ability to dominate markets before most people even know they exist. Amazon dominated bookselling, then online retail; the Kindle did for ebooks what the iPod did to music; the Kindle Fire is outselling Android tablets by an enormous margin, and Amazon Prime is almost a religion in the US.

  3. Jonathan Ive, Apple

  

  One of the most influential and imitated designers the world has ever seen - his original iMac even influenced toasters and sex toys - Jonathan Ive is responsible for an incredible range of stunning hardware. To have just one of his creations on a CV would be pretty impressive, but Ive's been in charge of the design for every Apple product since the late 1990s: the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air... The Daily Mail called him a "design genius", and like everything else in the Daily Mail, that is absolutely true.

  4. Marissa Mayer, Google

  

  Google's 20th employee is one of the sharpest executives in Silicon Valley, the youngest member of Google's executive operating committee and the youngest woman ever featured in Fortune magazine's annual Most Powerful Women list. Mayer is famed for her ability to spot, implement and improve bright ideas, and after years in charge of management and design for Google's many products she's now Google's vice-president in charge of local, mobile and contextual services.

  5. Joichi Ito, MIT

  

  Joichi "Joi" Ito's many hats include chairman of Creative Commons, director of the MIT Media Lab, Mozilla board member, venture capitalist, human rights activist, World of Warcraft guild master and being one of Foreign Policy magazine's top 100 global thinkers. Ito's many interests and fierce intelligence means he's particularly good at the big picture stuff: not just technology, but technology's place in the wider world.

  6. Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo

  

  [Image credit: Sklathill, CC Attribution-ShareAlike]

  Has anybody in the technology industry spread more joy than Shigeru Miyamoto? The gaming legend's CV includes Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pikmin and Nintendogs, and he's variously been called the guru of gaming, the father of modern videogames and the god of the videogames industry.

  7. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

  

  [Credit: Drew Altizer/Financial Times, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic]

  Forget Mark Zuckerberg: Sandberg is the brains behind Facebook, where she "oversees the company's business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications." In other words, she runs the place. Mark Zuckerberg may have built the site, but Sheryl Sandberg made it into a billion dollar business that's well on its way to having a billion members.

  8. Gabe Newell, Valve

  
  

  [Image credit: Jontintinjordan, CC Attribution]

  The plain-speaking former Microsoft man co-founded Valve, the publisher responsible for triple-A games including the Half-Life series, Team Fortress and Portal. Its incredibly profitable Steam service means that Valve is tremendously rich, but Valve's really impressive achievement is to make all that money while being almost universally adored among gamers.

  9. Sundar Pichai, Google

  

  [Image credit: Sundar Pichai]

  According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, Google paid Sundar Pichai "tens of millions of dollars" to stay with Google instead of jumping ship to Twitter. That was probably a bargain: under his watch, Chrome has gone from zero to hero, overtaking Firefox in market share in late 2011. That's a tremendous achievement, and it took just three years.

  10. Marc Benioff, Salesforce

  

  [Image credit: Robert Scoble CC Attribution]

  The multi-award winning chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com calls himself "a student of Steve Jobs", but he's come a long way from his days writing assembly language for Apple: quick to spot the potential of cloud computing, Benioff declared war on traditional software and built a $16 billion business. His eye's on social media now, with tools to help firms communicate internally, spot potential customers and mollify angry existing ones, and he also pioneered a model of philanthropy called the 1/1/1 rule: employees contribute 1% of profits, 1% of equity and 1% of working hours to the local community. Other firms, such as Google, have followed Benioff's example.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  
  
  
  
• Apple iTV specs outed by Best Buy?
  

  So excited is Best Buy by the money-making possibilities of the currently-imaginary Apple TV set that it is including it in a customer survey, complete with some specs that may or may not be legit.

  What Best Buy reckons Apple has up its sleeve is a 42-inch LED set with 1080p (Full HD) resolution, calling it Apple HDTV (although we're sure Apple has a catchier i-prefixed product name in mind).

  The retailer supposes that the iTV will run iOS, bringing iCloud compatibility for streaming films and music from that magical realm, the cloud, as well as App Store apps into the mix.

  "Can you imagine playing Angry Birds on a big screen in your living room?" it asks. Yes, that's why we'll all be shelling out thousands of pounds on an Apple television. Angry Birds.

  iSkype

  Best Buy also surmises that the television will include an iSight webcam and microphone "for Skype" which just goes to show that whoever wrote it knows nothing about Apple since Facetime is the video-calling application of choice for iOS.

  The retailer even goes so far as to suggest a price tag for the hypothetical goggle box - $1,499 (£950) – that's a lot more than the current raft of 42-inch TVs around, but then this is an Apple TV we're talking about.

  Sadly for AV fans, the survey doesn't make any mention of technical specs like whether the panel is 3D-ready, whether the TV uses edge-lit LEDs or if there's local dimming involved and it has nothing on the set's sound options.

  Is this for real? Sounds like Best Buy spitting into the wind to us but we suppose there's a chance that Apple's readying an Angry Birds-toting Skype TV.

  

  
  
  
  
  
• Apple backtracks over iBooks Author book ownership row
  

  Authors' books are their own again, as Apple has changed its iBooks Author end user licensing agreement (EULA), now allowing users to sell their books elsewhere.

  The clarified terms now state that although you can't distribute the .ibooks file anywhere but through iBooks, you can still tout your actual words around elsewhere.

  "You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format generated by iBooks Author," the terms now say, accepting at last that we don't all exist solely to make Apple money.

  Cheque book

  Previously, the EULA demanded that any books being sold for money be sold only via Apple, saying, "If your work is provided for a fee… you may only distribute the work through Apple."

  Writers understandably took affront to such over-zealous terms – after all, who wants to slave away for years on their opus only to hand the rights to it (and 30 per cent of the income from it) over to a Californian tech company?

  Now you can slave away for years on your opus and hawk it via iBooks as well as through Kindle, Kobo, self-publishing and by selling snippets on your internet weblog. Good luck.

  
  
  
  
  
• Tutorial: How to create perfect iTunes playlists
  

  Create an iTunes playlist: make the perfect mix

  There are several ways that you can browse your music library in iTunes. Its grid and Cover Flow views are really great for picking out an album by its artwork, and you can play an individual track within seconds of it springing to mind, just by typing in the search bar.

  But sometimes you'll want to kick back with a tailored selection of songs, or create a playlist for a party. iTunes caters for this with several kinds of playlist.

  Each type is differently suited to the effort you want to invest and how finickety you happen to be feeling.

  The most basic type of playlist is nothing more than a place to gather songs from your whole library and play them in whatever order you choose.

  With Smart Playlists, instead of hand-picking every single song, you can specify criteria that inspects information attached to your songs, such as the artist and year of publication. iTunes also records dynamic information, such as the number of times you've played a song and how many times you've skipped it.

  iTunes does the hard graft of working out what matches your criteria, which it does in next to no time even if your library contains thousands of songs.

  Several Smart Playlists are automatically provided to serve common purposes. One shows your highest-rated songs, while another shows recent additions to your library. You might want to create a list just to show dance music from the 1990s only, or songs by particular artists that you haven't listened to in the last six months.

  

  For a Genius Playlist, you only need to pick one track from your library to generate a selection of up to 100 songs. This requires the Genius feature to be on (Store > Turn On Genius), so that iTunes can periodically provide Apple with information about your songs and listening habits.

  Apple analyses information from many people around the world and cross-references with your library to pick out songs that it thinks are complementary to the single song you've chosen.

  How to create perfect iTunes playlists

  1. Build a playlist

  

  Choose File > New Playlist or click the + at the bottom-left of iTunes' window to create a playlist. Name it and press Return. Click Music in the left pane and drag songs from your library onto the playlist's name. Hold Command to select multiple tracks to add in one drag.

  2. Change the order

  

  Click your playlist. Tracks play in the order they were added. Drag them up and down the list to change that. Click the second icon at the bottom-left to turn on shuffle. The third repeats the playlist or song indefinitely. Playlists individually retain these settings.

  3. Get smart

  

  Smart Playlists have a cog to the left of their name in the left pane. Hold Ctrl and click one of the pre-defined ones that comes with iTunes and choose Edit Smart Playlist. From the same menu, use Duplicate to adapt an existing Smart Playlist.

  4. Make the rules

  

  Choose File > New Smart Playlist to start from scratch. Click the + button to add rules to be additionally matched. Hold Option and the + will change to '…', which adds a group of conditions. You can set it to match any of the rules within.

  5. Tidy up

  

  File > New Playlist Folder organises playlists. Drag a playlist onto a folder to put it inside. Folders can contain other folders. To move a playlist to the top level, drag it over a playlist at that level, then left of its icon. Let go when the blue highlight disappears.

  6. Speedy creation

  

  Make sure Genius is on and up to date (Store > Update Genius). Next, hold down Ctrl and click a song in your library. Choose Start Genius to create a Genius Playlist. At the top-right, you can choose how many tracks it contains.

  7. Saving genius

  

  Press Save Playlist at the top-right so you can revisit this playlist later. A Genius Playlist remains the same until you select one and press Refresh at the top-right. To avoid losing content, press Command+A to select and choose File > New Playlist from Selection.

  8. Listen on the go

  

  Playlists can help transfer music to an iPod or iOS device if it can't hold everything. Connect your device, select it on the left, then click Music at the top of the right pane. Under Playlists, put a tick next to any playlists you want to take with you.

  
  
  
  
  
• Buying Guide: Best NAS drive: 8 on test
  

  Best NAS drive: Overview

  NAS (network attached storage) devices certainly aren't the most glamorous gadgets you can have in your home. A network-connected hard drive might seem like a remnant from a home office – a backup necessity for over-paranoid users and not much more.

  Early NAS devices – and even some new no-frills budget ones – do little more than allow any computer that's connected to a network to access an external hard drive as if it was physically installed in the computer. However, a lot of new NAS devices have some great features built in, which can completely transform what your home network is capable of.

  Not only can they act as media servers throughout your house – letting your devices access and stream music and videos to any device on the network – they can also be used be used to stream your media across the internet, letting you access the files from anywhere in the world, and effectively allowing you to create your own version of Spotify or Netflix.

  As for cloud backup and synchronisation services, while you could pay Dropbox the equivalent of $9.99 a month for 50GB of space, with a NAS device you could have your own service with huge amounts of storage (some NAS devices accept hard drives of up to 3TB) without monthly fees or the need to trust your private data to a third party. We've gathered the best NAS devices on the market to find out just what they are capable of.

  Buffalo Cloudstation Duo - £240
  www.buffalotech.com

  Western Digital My Book Live - £147
  www.wdc.com

  Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 - £423
  www.netgear.co.uk

  Buffalo Linkstation Pro LS-VL - £129
  www.buffalotech.com

  D-Link ShareCenter - £60
  www.dlink.com

  Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 - £274
  www.iomega.com

  Netgear Stora MS2110 - £130
  www.netgear.co.uk

  Synology DS411 - £485
  www.synology.com

  Best network storage: 1-6

  1. Buffalo Cloudstation Duo

  

  There remains a lingering feeling that setting up a network attached storage device can be complicated, time consuming and fiddly. Buffalo aims to dispel these preconceptions with the Cloudstation Duo, a NAS kit designed to be as user friendly as possible without losing any features or functionality.

  The device itself is compact, though quite heavy. Flicking open the front gives quick access to the two 1TB hard drives that come installed. Removing the drives is a bit fiddly at first, but the process is certainly a lot easier than with many other NAS drives.

  The fact that the Buffalo Cloudstation Duo is supplied with two large hard drives already installed and set up in a RAID 1 configuration is great, and eliminates a more fiddly and complicated part of the setup procedure.

  Read the full Buffalo Cloudstation Duo review

  2. Western Digital My Book Live

  

  When it comes to hard drives, Western Digital knows its stuff. While the Buffalo Cloudstation Duo is promoted for its ease of use, the Western Digital My Book Live goes even further in its pursuit of simplicity.

  For a start, the small case is completely enclosed, so there is no easy way to open the My Book Live up and replace or upgrade the hard drive as you can with the Buffalo Cloudstation Duo. This means that it's not really suitable as a comprehensive backup device – the lack of hot swappable hard drives means you'd have to physically remove the entire thing if you wanted to store your data safely off site.

  The 'My' in the title is evidence that this is a NAS device that focuses on creating your own personal cloud, sharing your own media and files across the internet with as little fuss as possible.

  Read the full Digital My Book Live review

  3. Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4

  

  NAS devices are a speedy, convenient means of backing up data, and units like the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 featured here are also capable of streaming any multimedia files to any device that can accept them.

  Each of the ReadyNAS Ultra 4's bays can accommodate a 2TB drive, resulting in a possible 8TB of storage – that's an awful lot of video, photos and music.

  The Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 supports various implementations of RAID technology, which trades off available capacity against protection for your data. If one of the drives fails, you should be able to recover your files.

  Features like RAIDar and X-RAID 2 help you make the most of this handy feature. Powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, it's speedy and responsive. The onboard DLNA 1.5 media server worked well with a variety of networked players. Even multiple full HD video streams were glitch-free.

  Read the full Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 review

  4. Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-VL

  

  Devices like these are becoming the tool of choice for storing a wide range of digital media, including downloaded movies and TV, music, images and CD/DVD/Blu-ray rips. Speed, capacity and reliability are all essential features, and the Linkstation Pro LS-VL has all three.

  This 'Multimedia Shared Network Storage BitTorrent Download Box', ships with a power supply, LAN cable and installation discs, and is available with built-in SATA hard drives in 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB sizes. Windows and Mac OS X compatible, the unit is simply plugged into any network Ethernet port or into the back of your wireless router, and is instantly accessible from any networked device.

  The device features transfer speeds up to 76MB/s courtesy of a 1.6GHz CPU, which is a big increase from Buffalo's more home user-orientated Cloudstation Duo.

  Read the full Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-VL review

  5. D-Link ShareCenter

  

  D-Link has designed its NAS device to be at the centre of your home network, sharing your files and media throughout your home and over the internet – an admirable aim. The installation process is fairly straightforward, though there are a few options that you need to set yourself, and these can be confusing if you're not used to setting up network attached storage devices.

  For example, at one point you're asked if you want to enable NTP server, without any explanation of what this is. There's also a step that asks you to enter your email address, along with port number and SMTP server – a pain if you don't have that information readily to hand.

  The network drive wasn't mapped during installation – instead we had to run the D-Link Easy Search Utility, which found the D-Link ShareCenter on our network and then let us map it.

  As with other aspects of the ShareCenter, the execution was rather cumbersome and inelegant, but it worked.

  Read the full D-Link ShareCenter review

  6. Iomega's StorCenter ix2-200

  

  This 2TB NAS drive is billed as cloud storage, which means you can access the drive from anywhere with an internet connection. It's nothing hugely new, but Iomega has provided a good web interface for accessing your stored data online.

  Unlike some of the other drives in our test, we had to install software to make it appear on our network. Fortunately, the software is well designed and your hand is held firmly through the process, making it ideal for people who have never used a NAS drive before.

  From here, every feature of the drive is clearly explained with colourful bold icons, and essential tasks – such as setting up backups – are highlighted.

  There's a range of useful tools too, from email updates to let you know if anything's changed on the drive itself, to the rather useful ability to download torrent files. You can also view hardware statistics, such as how full the drive is, and its current temperature. It's ideally suited to a RAID setup, too, and this can be implemented quickly and easily.

  Read the full Iomega's StorCenter ix2-200 review

  Best network storage: 7,8 and verdict

  7. Netgear's Stora MS2110

  

  We had high hopes for Netgear's NAS drive – after all, Netgear's home networking solutions have often trumped the competition in tests like these. However, we found ourselves sorely let down.

  As soon as we connected the drive, all other computers on the network lost the ability to connect. It turned out that the drive had been completely locked down to the previous user, forcing us to do a complete hardware reset. That's not hugely unusual, but we're not sure why Netgear insists on you entering a software-style product key for something that's unlikely to ever leave your home or office.

  Although the drive is hefty, the build quality is below par. The front panel – which clicks off to access the hard drives – sprang off in our hands. In fact, merely placing it on the floor caused the panel to flop open. Fortunately, the drives inside feel nicely secure, with a latch at the back to eject them.

  Read the full Netgear's Stora MS2110 review

  8. Synology DS411

  

  The DiskStation feels like it's stuck between being a consumer-friendly NAS drive and a rack-mounted server. It's supplied without any hard drives, and looks like a small PC, complete with thumbscrews at the back and an array of lights at the front.

  Synology recommends certain drives for the product, which are formatted on insertion. This isn't an easy process, especially compared to the more user-friendly drives we've looked at.

  Hard drives must be mounted and formatted with Synology's software, and then the NAS drive itself has to be configured via a small patch located on the CD. Then any folders you want on the drive need to be added manually. These all seem like features that would be automated on other NAS drives.

  Read the full Synology DS411 review

  Verdict

  This group test proved to be a perfect microcosm of the current state of the NAS market. On one hand you have devices that stick to the old ways of doing things – heaps of functionality, but with little thought of user-friendliness. The main culprits here are the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4, the D-Link ShareCenter and the Synology DS411.

  On the other side of the divide are the devices whose manufacturers have acknowledged that there is a growing market for centralised storage in the home, and have tailored their devices to offer easy to use interfaces for creating our very own personal clouds without a single network administrator in sight.

  We believe that these devices that will excel in the future, when more homes are equipped with internet enabled devices like smart TVs, leaving the backwards-looking NAS devices in their wake.

  Best NAS: Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 - £274

  The StorCenter ix2-200 encapsulates everything we were looking for in a NAS device. Its advanced features are wrapped up in a user friendly package that's easy to set up and maintain. It isn't as fast as a professional NAS, but for the internet connected home, this is a great choice.

  

  Best value NAS: Western Digital My Book Live - £147

  It's not quite the cheapest NAS device on test here, but the Western Digital My Book Live wins the best value award because it has some great features, is reliable and is easy to use. If you want a relatively cheap NAS device that you can quickly set up and then just leave it to do its job without you having to check on it and tinker every now and then, go for this.

  

  
  
  
  
  
• In Depth: iCloud: the essential guide
  

  Essential iCloud guide: Introduction

  Poor old MobileMe. It tried hard, but never quite delivered. Expensive, sometimes slow and saddled with a clumsy name, it has long had the air of an unloved child.

  Its development cycle was long and drawn out. And by the time Steve Jobs announced the end of its short and undistinguished life, just two years after its rebirth from the ashes of .Mac, few were inclined to shed any tears.

  Yet it wasn't all bad. The email service was stable and largely dependable. It synced our contacts, so we didn't need to tap them all in on an iPhone keyboard, and the calendar tool always made sure we turned up on time, wherever we happened to be.

  Apple knew this as well as anyone, which is why it chose to preserve those parts, jettisoning the web publishing, photo gallery and iDisk, as it set about building iCloud.

  Housed in a vast data centre in North Carolina, iCloud is Apple's next-generation online service. It syncs your iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod touch. It can track a lost device, copy your iPhone snaps over the web so they're safely backed up on your Mac, and synchronise your iWork files so that whatever device you're using, downtime is never wasted time.

  Over the next few pages, we'll show you how to set up your Mac and iOS devices to use iCloud, how to sync your apps and data, and how easy it is to back up your documents to the web. You'll soon see that MobileMe's demise really was the iCloud with a silver lining.

  

  Whether you're moving an existing MobileMe account to iCloud or setting it up for the first time, Apple has applied its trademark logic to the process to make it as simple as possible.

  The most important step you need to take is to make sure all of your devices are up to date and running the most recent versions of each headline app. Here we'll walk you through the process, step by step.

  Update your Mac

  To take advantage of all of iCloud's features you need to be running OS X Lion. This is now well bedded in and although some older machines appear to run a little slower than they did under Snow Leopard, it's generally proved to be fault free and enjoys good compatibility with existing third-party hardware and software.

  iCloud requires Lion version 10.7.2 or later, which is the version currently being shipped through the App Store (£21). If you upgraded to Lion when it shipped back in July and haven't touched it since then, run Software Update now to downloaded the latest revision before going any further.

  Lion only works on Macs running on an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, i5 or i7, or Xeon processor. That precludes the earliest Intel Macs and anything running a PowerPC processor.

  It requires a minimum of 2GB of RAM, 7GB of hard drive space and Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. This was the first version of the OS released via the Mac App Store, through which the 4GB installer must be downloaded.

  If you're on a capped broadband deal or you don't have broadband, then all is not lost. Head for a bricks-and-mortar Apple Store if you have one within reasonable driving distance and download it there using the free Wi-Fi.

  Alternatively, order the £55 OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive from http://store.apple.com/uk/product/ MD256Z/A. It's over twice the price of the downloaded edition, but it does come on one of the best-looking thumb drives we've ever seen.

  Update iPhoto/Aperture

  

  One of the most exciting features of iCloud is Photo Stream, which automatically copies the 1,000 photos you've most recently taken over the last 30 days between your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as backing them up to any Mac running iPhoto or Aperture.

  Again, you'll need to ensure that you're running the very latest edition of either of these applications. In the case of iPhoto, that's iPhoto 11 version 9.2 or later, while Aperture users should be running version 3.2 or later.

  Both of these are available through the Mac App Store (iPhoto 11 costs £10.49; Aperture 3 costs £55).

  Update iTunes

  iCloud has taken over from MobileMe as the main synchronisation conduit for all of your data on Apple's integrated ecosystem. That includes not only your contact, email accounts, calendars and so on, but also your purchases through the iTunes Store, iBook Store and Mac App Store.

  That means that any purchase you make on any of your devices, or through iTunes on your Mac, will automatically be synchronised on each of your other devices. This works on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch as soon as you upgrade to iOS 5 and activate iCloud.

  But to get the Mac side of things working you need to upgrade to iTunes 5 or later, again through Software Update.

  Update iOS devices

  

  iCloud is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S, iPad and iPad 2, and the third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. Each must be running iOS 5 to gain access to options for enabling the integrated iCloud features that sit at the heart of the OS.

  The original iPhone and iPod touch only support as far as iPhone OS 3.1.3, and the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch, iOS 4.2.1. If you're updating several identical devices at one time, download the iOS 5 setup files manually so that you don't tie up your internet connection as iTunes retrieves them for each device individually. See here for the direct download links and instructions on how to apply each patch.

  Be aware that if you follow this route, the bundles differ according to which device you want to update. So while the OS underpinning your iPad 2, iPhone 4 and iPod touch might all be called iOS 5, they differ sufficiently for you to require a different setup file for each one.

  The simplest route to updating your device, therefore, is to connect it to your Mac using USB and launch iTunes. iTunes will check Apple's servers for the iOS 5 update and patch your device. Click Download and Update to proceed, having already performed a manual synchronisation to ensure there's an up-to-date backup of your data in place should anything go wrong.

  Once you've updated to iOS 5, all future software updates can be performed directly through the phone without plugging it in to your Mac. Tap Settings > General > Software Update to check for new releases.

  You'll also need to update your Apple TV to take advantage of Photo Stream and access your previous iTunes purchases. Do this by using your remote to select Settings > General > Software Update. When Apple TV has located the installer, click Download and Install (or Download Now on a first-generation Apple TV). When the download completes on Apple TV 2, the update will have been applied. On Apple TV 1, click Update Now. Note that only Apple TV 2 is compatible with iCloud Photo Stream.

  With all of your devices and applications up to date, it's time to take the plunge and set up your iCloud account properly. For existing MobileMe members, this is a simple matter of transferring your existing account. Everyone else, however, is starting from scratch. Turn the page to get started.

  Setting up iCloud

  iCloud for new users

  

  Signing in to iCloud requires an Apple ID. If you've ever bought anything from one of Apple's online stores – music, apps, books, videos and so on – you already have an Apple ID.

  If you can't remember what it is, point your browser at https://iforgot.apple.com, click Forgot Apple ID and enter your name, address and email address (or, if you can remember your Apple ID but you've forgotten your password, simply enter your ID in the box and click Next).

  If you don't already have an Apple ID you can sign up for one for free without making any purchases at https://appleid.apple.com. Your selected Apple ID will take the form of an email address, but note that you can't use an existing MobileMe address here.

  If you have one, it counts as an existing Apple ID, so you can use that to set up your Mac and iOS devices. So with your Apple ID registered, point your browser at http://icloud.com and sign in.

  MobileMe users

  As you already have an account set up, you need to convert it to iCloud. Open a browser window and visit www.me.com/move. You'll need to enter your MobileMe password to authorise the transfer.

  There's no such thing as an iCloud family account, so master account holders of MobileMe Family Packs will have to transfer each user individually.

  Data synchronisation

  

  Like MobileMe before it, iCloud synchronises all of your day-to-day data, including appointments and contacts, between each of your devices. Again, setting this up is a two-step process conducted first on your Mac and then on your iOS device.

  Open System Preferences > iCloud on your Mac and log in using the Apple ID and password tied to your iCloud account. Now check the boxes beside the data you want to synchronise, including Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks and Mail & Notes.

  As with MobileMe, this latter option doesn't synchronise your email messages – just your account settings. However, it does synchronise jottings created using the Notes application on your iPad or iPhone, filing them neatly inside the OS X Mail application.

  Now turn to your iOS device and add your iCloud account: tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account… and enter your Apple ID credentials, choosing iCloud as the account type. With this in place, step back to the overall Settings screen and tap iCloud, followed by the sliders beside the data types you want to synchronise. That way they match the ones you activated on your Mac.

  Bear in mind that the more you synchronise, the more you'll eat into your storage allocation, with even Mail and any attachments in your inbox, outbox, drafts and folders counting against your limit. Photo Stream is the only synchronisation feature that Apple excludes from its calculations when working out how much you've used. And for good reason: it would be impossible for you to accurately judge in advance the exact size of each picture you take and how much space it will occupy on Apple's servers.

  You should therefore avoid synchronising more data types than you need if you want to avoid having to upgrade to a paid account at some point in the future.

  iTunes Store syncing

  iTunes' status has been demoted slightly since the arrival of iOS 5 in that you don't need to use it to set up a new iPhone, or necessarily plug in your phone using USB to sync it. However, it remains a hub for your incoming data and an essential backup location for downloaded apps, books and music, so that should you lose your iOS device you won't also lose all your purchases.

  Launch iTunes and click iTunes > Preferences > Store, then click the check boxes beside Music, Apps and Books to automatically download all purchases made on your iOS devices simultaneously to your iTunes library. This saves you syncing your device manually the next time you want to create a backup.

  Setting up iTunes is only one half of the process, as you need to enable the same options on your iOS devices. Here, click Settings > Store and tap the sliders beside Music, Apps and Books to activate synchronisation.

  On the iPhone and on 3G-enabled iPads you'll find a further option here to download your purchases over the cellphone network. Tap the slider beside Use Mobile Data to do this, but only if you're sure you're happy for your mobile 3G data allowance to be used in this way. If you are intending to take your device overseas, be sure to disable this particular feature. The excess fees you'll be charged for data roaming will make even a free app painfully expensive.

  How to free up space on your iCloud account

  1. Consider an upgrade

  

  Every iCloud account comes with 5GB of free storage, which you can optionally upgrade by 20GB or 50GB for £28 and £70 a year respectively. You might consider doing this when things start to get tight. But before you do, how about clearing out some unused files?

  2. Manage current storage

  

  You can manage your iCloud storage from either your Mac or an iOS device. If you're at your Mac, simply open System Preferences > iCloud and click the Manage… button. On iOS, tap Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage.

  3. Clear unused files (OS X)

  

  On OS X, click through the various apps that are authorised to save data to your iCloud space to see which apps are hogging more than their due. Select the files you don't need any more and press Command+Delete to remove them, or click Delete All to clear out all files of that type.

  4. Clear unused files (iOS)

  

  On your iOS device, tap the name of each application in turn, followed by Edit, and then the red circles beside the names of the files you want to remove. This calls up a series of red Delete buttons. Simply tap these to confirm the removal.

  5. Buy more storage

  

  If you still need more storage, step back to Manage Storage on iOS, or click Buy More Storage… in OS X and select the amount of extra space you want to buy. Bear in mind that the specified quantities are in addition to your free 5GB account.

  6. Downgrade options

  

  Avoid paying for additional storage that you may no longer need when your account comes up for renewal by setting it to a more appropriate level. Click Downgrade Options… and select your new account quota. Note the billing details at the top of the pane.

  Essential iCloud guide: Photo Stream

  

  Photo Stream is like Time Machine for your iPhone snaps. Take a photo on any device running iOS 5 or later and it'll be synchronised to all of your other devices, and your Mac, without any input from yourself.

  It's quite magical the first time you see it in operation, but how does it work, and how can you put it to use?

  Set up Photo Stream

  

  Enable Photo Stream on your iOS device by tapping Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream and tapping the action slider so that it reads 'ON'. You can now step out of settings and get on with using your device as usual.

  On your Mac, Photo Stream helpfully synchronises with iPhoto 11 or Aperture 3.2. You can enable it through System Preferences by clicking in the Photo Stream check box on the iCloud pane. You now need to decide which application should act as the archive for your remotely shot images. (Apple doesn't allow you to send them simultaneously to iPhoto and Aperture.)

  Open either application's Preferences and click the toolbar's Photo Stream icon, then tick the box to Enable Photo Stream, followed by either or both of the options to automatically import and automatically upload new photos. We would recommend at the very least enabling automatic import so that you maintain a complete archive of your iOS photos on your Mac.

  Unlike the photos in the Photo Streams on your iOS devices, these will never be removed from your account, even after the 30-day limit.

  Do you really need to enable automatic uploads? That depends on what your plans are. Are you going to be importing several hundred holiday shots when you return from your travels? It's better to decide now whether you want them to also be sent to your iOS device. If not, uncheck that option.

  Photo Stream only works over Wi-Fi, so it won't hammer your 3G bandwidth and risk taking you close to your mobile contract's monthly cap. One less thing to worry about when you're on holiday!

  Every time you take a photo on any iOS 5 device linked to your iCloud account, it's uploaded to Apple's servers when you quit the Camera app. From there it's sent back down to your other iOS devices and your Mac.

  The next time you fire up iPhoto or Aperture (depending on which you have linked to your iCloud account) you'll find a Photo Stream entry in the sidebar containing a copy of each of your iOS photos. Your pictures will also appear on the second-generation Apple TV running software update 4.4 or later.

  Photo Stream on iOS

  

  Things work slightly differently on an iOS device to the way they do in Aperture or iPhoto. Images shot on any device are saved locally, as usual, to the Camera Roll in the Photos app.

  Step back one level from here on the iPhone or iPod touch, or use the buttons at the top of the screen on the iPad, and you'll see a new library called Photo Stream. This is where you'll find your synchronised images, whether they were snapped on an alternative iOS device or synchronised through iPhoto or Aperture.

  Any photo taken on an iOS device will remain on that device until you actively choose to delete it. However, items that appear only in the Photo Stream album will be removed from the device after 30 days. They will also be removed from the Photo Stream album on an iOS device one at a time if you add more than 1,000 during that 30-day period, with the oldest one in each instance being killed off to make way for each new addition.

  It's therefore vitally important that you take an active interest in saving (and backing up!) your synchronised pictures. Fire up iPhoto or Aperture at least once a month to make sure you have a copy of your images on your Mac. And if you want to keep synchronised photos on any iOS devices other than the ones originally used to take them, copy them to your Camera Roll by following the instructions in the walk-through below.

  Images downloaded to your Mac are saved at their native resolution, so for anything taken using the rear camera on an iPhone 4S that means the full 8 megapixels. This matches some compact cameras on sale just a couple of years ago.

  However, images sent to Photo Stream on an iOS device are first reduced in size to optimise them for display on that particular device's screen. The exact resolution will depend on the dimensions of the original, but Apple currently uses 2048x1535 pixels (3 megapixels) as its benchmark.

  Photo Stream is compatible with JPEG, TIF, PNG and RAW images imported from your iPhoto or Aperture library. These formats are in turn converted as part of the transfer process.

  How to archive synchronised photos on an iOS device

  1. Select Photo Stream

  

  To save synchronised images from being expired and disappearing from the Photo Stream on your iOS device, you should copy any you want to keep to your Camera Roll. Open the Photos app and step back to the albums page, then select Photo Stream.

  2. Tick images

  

  Tap the shortcut button on the toolbar (it looks like a box with an arrow curling out of it) and select the images you want to copy by tapping on each one in turn. As you do, they'll be given a small red tick to show which have been selected.

  3. Tap to keep

  

  Tap the save button at the foot of the screen to store them in your Camera Roll. The images will be left in place on your Photo Stream and removed when their time is up, but the versions you saved will be kept on your device until you remove them manually.

  How to delete your Photo Stream

  1. Log in to iCloud

  

  Although your Photo Stream contents don't count against your iCloud storage limit, there may be times when you want to delete the contents of the stream entirely. Log in to your iCloud account at icloud.com and click the iCloud icon in the top-left corner.

  02. Delete remote photos

  

  Click your name at the top of the screen to open your account preferences. Click the Advanced button and then, click Reset Photo Stream. This clears out the images on Apple's servers but leaves them where they are on your Mac and iOS devices.

  3. Delete local photos

  

  To remove the images from your iOS device, open Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream and tap the activity button so that it reads 'OFF'. You'll be asked for confirmation, after which all of the synchronised photos will be removed, leaving in place only original and saved snaps.

  Essential iCloud guide: Backups and storage

  

  As we've already discussed, iCloud takes care of backing up all of your iOS purchases on your Mac, and simultaneously installs any apps you buy on your Mac to each of your iOS devices. However, you can now go one step further and save your device backups directly to the cloud.

  Previously, every time you synchronised your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iTunes on your Mac it would create a local backup. That way, should the worst happen, you could easily recover your documents, contacts, appointments and apps. That's still an option, but in iOS 5 and iTunes 5 Apple has improved on this feature in two ways.

  First, you can now enable wireless backups to iTunes so that whenever your device is plugged into a power source and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your iTunes library, it will automatically synchronise the two. You can opt instead to save that backup to iCloud, so that should your Mac be damaged or lost your backup won't be lost with it.

  To enable this, connect your iOS device to your Mac, select its entry in the iTunes sidebar, and click the Back up to iCloud radio button on the Summary page. Now your device will be backed up once a day whenever it's plugged in.

  The final piece of the iCloud puzzle (at least until iTunes Match arrives in the UK) is Documents in the Cloud, which maintains a backed-up copy of all of your remotely edited Pages, Numbers and Keynote documents.

  Synchronisation with iCloud requires the latest versions of the iOS iWork apps. These updates are free for all existing users, but if you don't already have them, the apps are sold individually at £6.99 apiece through the App Store. They're all Universal apps, so work on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

  You need to opt in to use iCloud with each application individually. If you're firing up any one of them for the first time you'll be given the option to do this on the startup screens. But if you've already been using them in the past, you can activate them through the iOS Settings application where they appear among the third-party apps at the bottom of the menu.

  Working with documents

  

  Open the iWork app of your choice and create a new document by tapping the '+' in the upper left corner of the screen. We'd recommend ignoring the option to use iDisk as this will disappear over time, so it makes sense to get out of the habit as soon as you can.

  Tap Create Document and choose a document type in the usual way, then start working. When you've finished, and you return to the document menu, you'll notice that its thumbnail has a small arrow on a turned-over corner. This is a warning that the document hasn't yet been backed up to iCloud.

  Your documents will automatically sync to the same apps on any other iOS device the next time you start them up, and are also saved to your online iCloud account. Point your browser at www.icloud.com/iwork, and you'll see that there are individual tabs for Keynote, Pages and Numbers, with the relevant documents organised inside each one. Here, things don't work quite as smoothly as you might hope…

  Apple has made great claims about iCloud's ability to synchronise your documents across all devices. It says you can shut down your Mac on your way out the door and finish working on your document, spreadsheet or presentation on your iPad on the way home.

  Technically that's true, but only if when using OS X you manually copy your data to and from iCloud. To access the document created on your iOS device, click it in the web interface and select the format in which you'd like to download it. Choose from the native iWork formats, their Microsoft Office equivalents and PDF.

  To send documents from your Mac to your iOS device, select the relevant application by clicking its name on the tabs at the top of the web interface; then drag the file into the document management area that fills the rest of the screen. A progress gauge monitors its passage onto iCloud.

  We can expect to see more apps exploit Documents in the Cloud, as Apple has opened up the underlying hooks that will enable third-party coders to integrate the service into their own apps. But we would also hope to see iCloud integrated directly into the OS X iWork apps so that we no longer need to open a browser window to access our iOS documents.

  How to manage iCloud files in your browser

  1. Rename files

  

  Click once on the document's filename and type a new name, pressing return as you would in the Finder to confirm the change. Filenames can be up to 255 characters in length and contain anything you like – so long as they don't start with a colon, dot or slash.

  2. Copy a document

  

  Click once on the document's thumbnail icon, followed by the cog icon, and then select Duplicate Document from the drop-down menu. The next time you check your iOS devices you will see that the file has been duplicated and is ready to work on.

  3. Keyboard navigation

  

  Now press Ctrl+Esc to activate the keyboard, then use the cursor keys to move around your files in the browser view. Pressing Shift+Esc has the same effect as clicking the iCloud icon – you will be taken back to the applications menu.

  
  
  
  
  
• Apple overturns German online sales ban on iPhone, iPad
  

  Germany seems to be a hotbed for patent war activity at the moment with Apple now overturning an online sales ban on many of its 3G gadgets.

  Just this morning we reported on an injunction won by Motorola preventing Apple selling the iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on it's official online shop due to its alleged infringement on a 3G patent.

  However, the wheels of justice move quickly in these matters and Apple has been able to strike down the injunction with haste.

  Moto being unreasonable?

  The Cupertino-based company says that the legal see-saw was able to occur due to Motorola Mobility's refusal (no doubt backed by its new friends at Google) to "reasonably" license the patent to Apple.

  An Apple spokeswoman told AllThingsD: "All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple's online store in Germany shortly.

  "Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago."

  Apple is now in the process of repopulating its store, but Motorola which initially filed for the injunction in December, will continue the fight for a reinstatement of the ban.

  Via: AllThingsD

  
  
  
  
  
• WebOS will have 'huge advantages' over iOS and Android
  

  Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman says the company's soon-to-be open source WebOS software will eventually be better than both the Android and iOS platforms.

  HP will launch the first version of the reimagined operating system in September this year after deciding to commit the storied software to the open source community.

  Whitman said the result will prove to be superior to the 'closed' Apple iOS ecosystem and the undeniably 'fragmented' Android platform.

  She also confirmed that the company will re-enter the tablet market, following the HP TouchPad debacle of 2011.

  An open and closed case

  In an interview with CRN, she said: "There is a clear vision of what we're trying to accomplish.

  "There will be some people who will not love that vision, and then there are people who are very excited about this vision, and what it can mean for an alternative, open-source operating system that has some real strengths to it.

  "We're going to build another operating system that has huge advantages, in my view, over iOS, which is a closed system, [and] Android, which is incredibly fragmented and may ultimately be more closed with [Google's] acquisition of Motorola Mobility."

  Windows 8 tablet

  Whitman, who took the reigns at the world's largest PC manufacturer in September last year, also stated that HP will be in amongst it when the first Windows 8 tablets come to market later this year.

  She said: "We have to have a tablet offering," Whitman said. "We will be back in that business. We're coming back into the market with a Windows 8 tablet, first on an x86 chip and then maybe on an ARM chip."

  Via: CRN, BGR

  
  
  
  
  
• In Depth: The 10 most hated programs of all time
  

  10 worst programs of all time

  Programs can be our friends: they can help us express ourselves, can solve our problems and can do their very best to make our days happier.

  Sometimes, though, they do the Devil's work, making simple tasks so complex and frustrating that you'd happily make everybody involved face a firing squad.

  So which programs made everyone angry? Let's discover the software Hall of Shame.

  1. Final Cut Pro X

  Apple's movie editing software isn't a bad program, but this release turned even the most mild-mannered editor into an incandescent ball of sheer fury. It was sold as an upgrade, but it was really a brand new, version 1.0 product - and that means it didn't have all the features or compatibility that existing users expected, wanted or relied upon.

  

  2. Adobe Reader

  Everybody needs to open a PDF from time to time, but Adobe Reader is a sledgehammer sold as a nutcracker: it's enormous - on the Mac, the current version is 69.1MB - it keeps putting a shortcut on your desktop for no good reason, and once you've installed it seems to spend most of its time moaning that you haven't paid it enough attention or installed yet another enormous update. No wonder Windows 8 plans to whack it with a shovel.

  

  GOING: OS X has its own PDF reader, and Windows 8 will do the same with the new Open Reader

  3. Ask Toolbar

  We're not fans of browser toolbars at the best of times, but the Ask Toolbar is a particularly poor one: it's been variously accused of installing itself without asking permission, making changes to users' browser settings and promoting itself to children. Many problems occurred because over-zealous software writers bundled the toolbar with their own applications but didn't ask whether or not you wanted it.

  

  WHAT'S THAT JEEVES?: We don't like third party toolbars at the best of times, but the Ask one proved particularly unpopular

  4. Lotus Notes

  IT departments loved this popular messaging and collaboration system, but users were considerably less keen: in the mid-2000s the product was widely criticised for appearing to have been put together by somebody who really, really hated the entire human race and wanted to make it suffer. According to The Guardian, its popularity in business was partly because "the people who choose [business software] tend not to be the ones who use it."

  

  NOT OF NOTE: Lotus Notes still exists, but these days it's very different from its much-hated mid-2000s incarnation [Image credit: Koman90, Wikimedia Commons]

  5. Norton Antivirus

  Symantec's desktop antivirus software generated enormous ill will through its unfortunate habit of slowing your PC down to a crawl. Part of the problem was that the software tried to do too much: scanning every conceivable thing you do on PC requires significant resources at a time when PCs weren't the flying machines they are today. Thankfully, Norton has addressed such issues these days.

  

  PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS: Happy Norton Man won't be smiling when his system slows down and he can't uninstall the program

  6. Microsoft Word

  Some people say "I hate Microsoft Word because it's far too complicated!" Some say "I hate Microsoft Word because it introduced Clippy the bloody Office Assistant!" A few say "I hate Microsoft Word because it's often used by idiots to make really horrible-looking things!" Others say, "I hate Microsoft Word because its HTML output made web designers' lives miserable for years!" Still others say "I hate Microsoft Word because I keep sending .docx files that only three people on Earth can actually read!" We say, people! Come together! Let's hate Microsoft Word for all of those reasons!

  

  OFFICE PEST: Aaagh! Aaagh! Aaagh! Aaagh!

  7. Adobe Flash

  Despite its many benefits - in web design circles it's a powerful and useful creative tool - Flash can be enormously annoying. In many cases the problem was with its users, not the technology - you can't blame Adobe for irritating splash screens, badly designed ads or appalling user interfaces - but for many internet users, a Flash blocker is the first thing they install in a new browser.

  

  NOT JUST JOBS: Flash remains a powerful design tool, but in the wrong hands it can be a powerful force for evil

  8. iTunes for Windows

  Steve Jobs called iTunes for Windows "like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell". The reality distortion field was strong that day, because rather than show Windows users the joys of Apple software, iTunes on Windows seems merely designed to depress them. As we've said previously, "the Windows version is a sluggish, resource-hungry mess. Apple has Windows users worldwide loving its iOS devices and despising iTunes, and this needs to change."

  

  SLOOOOOOW: iTunes is proof that Apple doesn't always get it right. On Windows it's a donkey

  9. Windows Me and Windows Vista

  Yes, we know these are operating systems. This one's a joint nomination: Windows Me because it was a largely pointless update of Windows 98, and Windows Vista because it didn't work properly. Vista in particular should have been a great OS, but show-stopping bugs - copying a file could easily take four million years - and a lack of initial driver support turned a potential racehorse into a donkey.

  

  WOW NOW: The wow starts... now! No... now! Now! NOW! Oh okay, let's just wait for Windows 7 then

  10. Internet Explorer 6

  Imagine a pristine swimming pool with crystal clear water. That's the internet. Now imagine an enormous poo floating past. That's IE6.

  You know something's bad when even its creator dances on its grave. The problem wasn't the browser as such, which was fairly modern when it was released in 2001; it was Microsoft's refusal to update it significantly for years and years, breaking websites and leaving internet users vulnerable to all kinds of online unpleasantness. IE6 was Microsoft at its worst.

  

  TERRIBLE: "Imagine an enormous poo... that's IE6". IE6 is officially pronounced "Aieeeeeee"

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