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A welcome message from Mike Maloney

On behalf of BT Ireland, I am delighted to welcome you all to the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2007.

Thar ceann BT Ireland, cuireann se rimead orm failte is fiche a cur romhaibh go leir chuigh Teaspeantas Eolai Og agus Teicneolaiocht na bliana 2007.

Is mor an on6ir duinne urraiocht a dheanamh aris i mbliana at an taispeantas

We are very proud to once again host this outstanding event, which is recognised as a national institution and has grown to become one of the largest of its kind in the world.

iontach seo ata aitheanta, ni amhain anseo in Eirinn ach at fud na cruinne, mar ceann de na com6rtais is and agus is fearr da leitheid.

Is buaiteoiri iad uile na mic leinn a bheidh ag leiriu a gcuid tograi san RDS an

The students who are showcasing their projects this week in

tseachtain seo. B'eigin do na breithimh gearr liosta de 500 a roghn6 6 na

the R.D.S. are already winners. The 500 projects on display were short-listed

1,278 tograi a chuireadh isteach at an gcomortas, an lion ba mho riamh.

by the judges from the record 1,278 projects submitted this year. It is

Is abhar m6rtais agus suntais duinn gut mheidigh lion an n-iomath6iri

gratifying to note that, under BT's stewardship, the volume of projects entered

beagnach faoi dhd i rith na se bhliana o thosaigh BT i mbun urraiochta. Ta se

into the Young Scientist competition has almost doubled over the past six

seo nios suntasai f6s nuair a chuirtear san aireamh go bhfuil laghdu tagtha at

years. This is even more remarkable if we consider that the number of students taking science subjects at second level has declined during the same period.

lion na ndaltai ag an data leibheal a bhionn ag gabhail le h-abhair eolaiochta sa treimhse ceanna.

Is iomai agus is eagsiil iad na cuiseanna go n-eirionn go maith leis an

The success of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is due to a multitude of different reasons. However there are a few groups of people I

Taipeantas Eolai Og agus Teicneolaiocht. Ach ba mhaith liom buiochas at

would like to acknowledge for without their input there would be no

leith a ghabhail le roinnt daoine a thugann a dtacaiocht, agus gan iad, ni

Young Scientist.

bheadh aon Eolai Og ann in aon chur.

Firstly, I would like to thank the teachers for their positive support which provides the necessary motivation to stimulate young minds. Next, my thanks to the students themselves for their enthusiasm, drive and questioning of the world around them and also to their parents and guardians for giving that all important encouragement.

At an gcead dul sios, ba mhaith liom buiochas a ghabhail leis na m6inte6iri a thugann tacaiocht agus spreagadh dearfa do na mic leinn chun dul i mbun gnimh. Ansin, gabhaim buiochas leis na mic leinn fein as ucht a ndiograis agus an caoi ina gceistionn siad an domhain in a dtimpeall. Buiochas freisin do na tuismitheoiri a thugann a dtacaiocht agus a spreagadh, rud ata that a

Lastly, we should not forget our judges, as it is largely due to their efforts that the competition has survived and flourished for 43 years. The judging panel acts completely independently and is drawn from academia and industry across Ireland. I thank them all most sincerely for their dedication and for giving their time so generously.

bheith tabhactach.

Ar dheireadh, na deanaimis dearmad at na breithimh, mar is de bharr a ndiogras go bhfuil an comortas ar bharr a shlainte fos tar eis 43 bhliain at an saol. Ta na breithimh neamhspleach go h-iomlan, agus iad ag teacht chugainn on saol acaduil agus on saol tionsclaioch.

I would also like to thank Minister Mary Hanafin and her colleagues at the Department of Education and Science, plus all of our co-sponsors and

Ba maith liom buiochas a ghabhail freisin leis an Aire Mary Hanafin agus a

exhibitors for their support.

foireann go leir sa Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaiochta, agus gan dearmad a dheanamh ar ar gcomh-urrathoiri agus taispe6nt6iri.

The objective of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition is to create an event of size, scale and spectacle that reflects the importance to our community of developing scientists, engineers and technologists for the future.

'Se priomh aidhm an Taispeantais Eolai Og agus Teicneolaiocht na 1eiri6 a thabhairt at ce chomh tabhachtach is ata se eolaithe, innealtoiri agus teicneolaithe a chothu sa chomhluadar tri ardan a thabhairt do na mic leinn oga chun a scileanna a leiri6 at scala ollmhdr agus at bhonn taitneamhach.

My congratulations go to exhibiting students for making it through to the finals here in the R.D.S. I wish you every success for this week and in the future.

Mo chomhghairdeachas do na mic leinn go leiras uchtteacht chomh fada leis an gcraobh-chom6rtas anseo san RDS. Guim Bach rath oraibh an tseachtain seo agus sa todhcai.

A lot of effort has gone into making the 2007 Exhibition one of the best yet. I sincerely hope that you enjoy your Young Scientist Experience!

Ta eacht deanta ag cach chun sar-thaispeantas a chur ar si6il. Bainigi uile taitneamh agus tairbhe as an eachtra seo, Eolai Og na Bliana!

Mike Maloney Chief Operations Officer BT Ireland Priomhfheidhmeannach BT Ireland

01

Must see attractions for 2007!

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2007 looks set to be the most exciting yet.

A record 1 , 278 projects were entered in October and 500 of these qualified to compete here in the R.D.S. Dublin for the coveted title and the â‚Ź5,000 prize.

Wander through the students ' project stands and make sure you talk to the students as you go . You'll be surprised by their depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for their projects as well as their sense of humour!

There are so many things to see and do at this year ' s Exhibition! stand, where you can win some fabulous prizes if you In the World of Science & Technology don't miss Laser Alley on the Analog Devices Intel Computer avoid the lasers; see how a television broadcast comes to life with RTE Weather presenting live bulletins; join the Clubhouse members as they demonstrate how to make movies, animations and video graphics; test the speed of your kick or throw using presented by Discover Science & Engineering and discover the radar on the Institute of Physics stand and remember to visit NanoWorld exciting world of nanotechnology.

presented by W5 and the In the Ecotheatre there are a number of really interesting shows including Talking Rubbish fascinating Science Behind Climate Change hosted by an animated sheep wearing rubber boots!

c0i),

The BT Arena features The Physics of Break Dancing which highlights the physics of movement and how it influences this modern dance form, plus the Plight of the Mountain Gorilla discusses what can be done to save this endangered species. the show features the Creature Feature Gorillas! Also in the BT Arena and back again for the second year, bigger and better, is Dale Treadwell's Naturally Wild Bush Tucker Trials.

In the World of Robots in the Big Top there are heavyweight Robots, featherweight robots and boxing mechanoid robots all there to entertain plus for the first time Rubot II the incredible Rubik Cube solving robot.

And finally, a must see experience, Screen 3 -D, sponsored by BT Ireland , featuring for the first time in Ireland Bogglevision , a 3-D Interactive presentation

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There is something for everyone at the BT Young Scientist `Technology Exhibition 2007.

Key to Exhibition Halls 0 Information Desk

'^`^ BT YOUNG SCIENTIST 1 & Technology Exhibition

® Orga users Office

erri, © Coffee Dock Snack Bar O BT Arena Opening Ceremony

21.

- Awards Ceremony The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla - The Physics of Break Dancing Naturally Wild Bush Tucker Trials © The World of Robots in the Big Top h

0 Primary Science Fair

123

O The World of Science & Technology 0 Ring Bistro Restaurant

SCIENCE BUS

0 Meeting Points 1 & 2. School coach parties exit via this doorway 1' Science Bus The Eco Zone Eco Theatre -'Talking Rubbish'- W5 - Science Behind Climate Change Lunch / Rest area (for use by teachers and students with packed lunches).

Exhibition Restaurant Entrance to BT SCREEN 3D 'What Happens To An E-Maily' ie Students Club from 7.00 p.m. (exclusively for students participating in the competition).

ENTRANCE TO EXHIBITION FROM MERRION ROAD

O W

I`, BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & Technology Exhibition 2007

^

BTU

Supported by

DEPARTMENT OF

ANRO1NN

EDUCATION

OIDEACHAIS

A N D S C I E N C E

AGUS EOLA(OCHTA

In association with

Q2n .tell)

s +eover W Science En ginee ri n g Sc ie nce + Engineering

ANALOG DEVICES

sfi Marine Institute

j^ Irish Blood Transfusion Service

RTE HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY

0 SELF HELP Irish Aid Department of Foreign Affairs An Rninn Cnhrhai Farhtrarha

National Safety Council

epa

Seirhhis FuilaistriuchSin Eireann

The Road Safety Authority

IQON

Order of Malta

Tipperary Institute

Johnston & Johnston

Institute of Physics in Ireland

Down Syndrome Ireland

ENFO

Marie Keating Foundation

The Irish Centre for Talented Youth

The Rose Project

Ash Ireland

Irish Universities Promoting Science

SEI

Comhar Sustainable Development Council

RSC

Dublin Zoo

Eli Lily

The True Physics Roadshow

W5

Foras na Gaelige

Calmast

Central Fisheries Board

Met Eireann

PharmaChemical Ireland

Mensa

safefood

ISTA

EIL

The Health Research Board

Rolls Royce

Science Spin

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

The European Commission

Astronomy Ireland

The Awards for 2007 Main Awards

ear 20

BT Young Scientist ( s) of the Year 2007 If the title BT Young Scientist of the Year is awarded to an Individual, a Best Group Award will also be made.

If the title BT Young Scientist of the Year is awarded to a Group, a Best Individual Award will be made.

Individual or Group • BT Young Scientist of the Year Trophy (perpetual) • Cheque for €5,000 (£3,500) • The chance to represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Valencia, Spain in September 2007

Best Individual or Best Group • BT Trophy (perpetual) • Cheque for €2,400

Runner - up Individual and Runners - up Group • BT Trophy (perpetual) • Cheque for €1,200

Category Awards There are 36 prizes for Individuals and 36 prizes for Group projects. The prizes take the form of 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in Junior, Intermediate and Senior sections of each of the four categories: 1. Biological and Ecological Sciences

BT Young Scientist of the Year 2006, Aisling Judge (pictured 2nd left), from Kinsale Community School, Cork, was the youngest ever winner, with her project: The development and evaluation of a biological food spoilage indicator.'

Special Awards Science Foundation Ireland The Marine Institute safefood EPA ASH Ireland The Patents Office Health Research Board Eli Lily

2. Chemical , Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Institute of Physics in Ireland

3. Social and Behavioural Sciences

Met Eireann Comhar Sustainable Development Council

4. Technology

Health & Safety Authority

The prizes are as follows: • 1st prize of €300 for both Individual and Group projects

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Marie Keating Foundation Irish Blood Transfusion Service Foras na Gaelige

• 2nd prize of €225 for both Individual and Group projects

• 3rd prize of €150 for both Individual and Group projects In the event of a tie in any category, the prize money will be split equally.

A number of Highly Commended and Display awards will be awarded in each category by the panel of judges.

The Road Safety Authority Self Help in collaboration with Irish Aid

Travel Awards • Intel Student Award • Analog Devices Student Award • Intel and Analog Devices Educator of Excellence Awards (see page 6 for further details)

05

Travel Aw ard s ANALOG DEVICES Analog Devices is proud to be associated with the BT Young Scientist &

Winners of the Intel Student Award at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition receive an all expenses paid trip to the USA to

Technology Exhibition. Our stand in the Industries Hall aims to demonstrate the fun and exciting possibilities of technology and science.

represent Ireland at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

We also endeavour to encourage the future scientists and engineers to

with other young people from all over the world. Gohar Abbasi won the

realise their technological potential through the sponsorship of the

Intel Student Award in 2006 and can be seen here with his teacher Jim

Analog Devices Student Award.

Cooke, representing Ireland at the Intel ISEF in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This award is presented to an Individual or Group for outstanding work

This is what Gohar had to say about

exhibited in the Technology category. The prize consists of a trophy plus

his trip to Intel ISEF: "my experience

an all expenses paid trip to America, visiting the Analog Devices

in ISEF was phenomenal. It was an

Headquarters in Boston and our plant in San Francisco as the guest(s) of

extremely memorable and enjoyable

Analog Devices. During this trip, students have the opportunity to visit third level institutes at the cutting edge of technological research and sample the diversity of American culture. Finally, Analog Devices will donate â‚Ź2,500 to the winning student(s) school, towards its science laboratory equipment fund.

Stephen Church from Confey College,

(ISEF). This is a fabulous opportunity to network and create friendships

experience. The atmosphere there is great. It is a great eyeopener and gives a brilliant insight into young talent and innovation. I was really amazed

by some of the things I saw there.

Each project was already a winner so it was like the cream of projects from all over the world.

Leixlip, Co. Kildare, was our winner in 2006. Stephen is pictured below with

My favourite part of ISEF is the social aspect. Even though everyone there

Bill Hunt of Analog Devices in the R.D.S.

is very serious and has great desire to win, there is still a very friendly

last January. In his project 'ScanMan'

atmosphere throughout the competition. I think that the activities that

he developed a new idea to help visually

are arranged by the organisers are very enjoyable. For example; the

impaired people do their shopping.

student mixer, outdoor trips and the pin exchange ceremony. The pin

The project demonstrated how RFID

i

tags on shop items could be scanned for product information which would be relayed through an earpiece to the individual customer.

Analog Devices also recognises the dedication and hard work of the educator through its sponsorship of the Analog Devices Educator of Excellence Award. This award is presented to the teacher whose commitment and encouragement has consistently enabled their students to participate successfully in the technology section at the exhibition. The winner will receive the

ceremony, especially, is a very enjoyable affair because its a great chance to meet people from all different backgrounds and cultures. It really is a once in a life time opportunity and I am very honoured to have participated in such an event. "

The Intel Educator of Excellence Award was won by Ms. Catherine Tattersal from Sutton Park School. This prize is an all expenses paid trip to the USA to attend the Intel Educator of Excellence Academy which also took place in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Catherine can be seen here receiving her award from Mr Joe McDonnell, Factory Manager, Intel Ireland.

The winners of the 2007 Intel awards will represent Ireland the Intel ISEF and the Intel Educator Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Analog Devices Trophy plus an all expenses paid trip to America. Mr. Gerry Savage from the Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School in Newry took the award in 2006. He is pictured below with Ann 0 Sullivan of Analog Devices.

52

ISEF has been sponsored by Intel since 1997. It is the world's largest celebration of science showcasing the world's most promising young scientists and inventors. Through education programs such as the Intel ISEF, Intel works to inspire and educate children in communities around the world in the areas of science, mathematics and engineering.

Young Scientist Judges 2007 BT Chairperson: Catrina Sheridan

Biol Ec

-,_iences

Dr. Lucy Byrnes Dr. Joe Caffrey Dr. Brid Crombie-Quilty Prof. Gerry Doyle Dr. Billy Fitzgerald Dr. Patricia Fitzpatrick Prof. Mary Garrett Dr. Mary Kelly-Quinn Dr. Ursula MacEvilly Dr. Declan Murray Dr. Padraig O'Kiely Prof. John O'Halloran Dr. Lesley Powell Dr. Dagmar Stengel Prof. Michael Hennerty Dr. Kathy O'Boyle Mr. Hubert Fuller Dr. Catherine Dalton Dr. Dermot Walls

Dr. Michael Byrne Mr. John Dunnion Mr. Owen Mackessy Mr. Tom O'Dwyer Dr. Larry Taylor Mr. Bill Hunt Mr. Barry Kennedy Ms. Ann O'Sullivan Mr. Martin Wickham Mr. Leonard Hobbs

Chemical , Physical & Mathematical Sciences Prof. Tom Brazil Dr. Anne Breslin Dr. Stephen Connon Dr. Padraig Dunne Prof. Pat Guiry

Prof. Frank Imbusch Prof. Tom Laffey Dr. Eoin O'Neill Dr, Rachel Quinlan Prof. Sean Corish Dr. Tony Scott Dr. Michael McGrath

Social & Behavioural Sciences Dr. Barry Brunt Ms. Annette Cahalane Ms. Edel Conway Prof. Ray Fuller Prof. Des Gillmor Dr. Kevin Hourihan Mr. Des Hourihane Mr. Frank Kavanagh Mr. Des McCluskey Mr. Ciaran McCullagh Mr. Paid McGee

Dr. Des McQuaid Ms. Lynda McSweeney Prof. Aidan Moran Mr. John O'Leary Dr. Michael O'Leary Dr. David Silke Dr. Paul Andrews Dr. Joe Brady Mr. Jim Hourihane Dr. Maeve Martin Dr. Eibhlin Connolly Dr. Angela Leahy Mr. Seamus McLoone Mr. Paddy O'Dwyer Dr. Thomas Quigley Dr. Joe Barry Mr. Sidney Blain Ms. Ruby Morrow Mr. Des McCafferty Ms. Bride Rosney Dr. Paul McKeown

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Students Biological & Ecological Science Junior Individual Stand No.1001 Student(s): Sam Boles Title: To Assess the prevalence of joint hypermobility syndrome locally School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School,

Stand No.1011 Student(s): Declan Burke

Title: Environmental factors affecting the regeneration of flatworms School: Templeogue College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Philippa Moran

Co. Leitrim

Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim Stand No.1002 Student(s): Patrick O'Connell Title: How juicy are your apples

School: St Flannan's College, Co. Clare Teacher: Micheal Horgan Stand No.1003 Student(s): Yvanne Kennedy Title: Can plant testing replace animal testing in the development of SPF products?

School: Alexandra College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Niamh Mc Shane

Stand No.1050 Student(s): Joseph Eiffe, Greg Copley Title: The effects strong magnetfelds on plants School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Aisling Quirke Stand No.1051 Student(s): Sinead Ni Mhaolmhuaidh, Katie De Faoite Title: Staideir Eiceolaiochta agus Bitheolaiochta ar Abhainn an tSuili

School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal

Stand No.1058 Student(s): Gemma Kenefick, Grace O'Callaghan Title: Do leaves grow better on the top or the bottom of trees?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Faherty Stand No.1059 Student(s): Aisling Moore, Aoife Griffin Title: Effect of air fresheners on seed growth

Stand No.1052 Student(s): Sarah Merriman, Jessica Boyle-English Title: Stop apples browning

School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare

School: St Dominic's High School,

Teacher: John Sims

Co. Dublin Teacher: Audrey Carty

Stand Nb.1005 Student(s): Fiachra Maguire

Title: The Dodder project School: St Marys College, Co. Dublin Teacher: John Nisbet

Stand No.1006 Student(s): Colin Lock-Tunissen

Stand No.1053 Student(s): Sean Grennan, Jason Thomas Title: Can a fluorescent dye increase the photosynthetic growth rate of a plant?

School: Old Bawn Community School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Alex Bennett

Title: An investigation of the antiseptic

effects of some natural extracts School: Sandford Park School Ltd, Co. Dublin Teacher: Alison Graham

Stand No.1054 Student(s): Matthew Egan,

Stand No.1007 Student(s): Christopher Mason Title: Is guide dog suitability inherited?

School: Mayfield Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Liam Begley

soil types

Stand No.1008 Student(s): Louise Flanagan

Title: Golf courses and their environmental footprints School: Notre Dame Des Missions, Co. Dublin Teacher: Donal Rochford Stand No.1009 Student(s): Sarah McCarville Title: Colours of autumn leaves School: Our Ladys College, Co. Louth Teacher: Frances O'Regan

Kevin Theasby

Title: Relationship between Japanese Knotweed (fallopiajaponica) and School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare Teacher: John Sims Stand No.1055 Student(s): Danielle Curtin, Emma Purcell Title: The different effects that pollutants have on plants School: Hazelwood College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Michelle Herbert Stand No.1056 Student(s): Ciara Fitzgibbon, Anita Lucey Title: An investigation into the pollution of water in our area

School: Hazelwood College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Michelle Herbert Stand No.1057 Student(s): Anita McGurgan,

Stand No.1010 Student(s): Sean Bergin Title: The effect of temperature on the level of bacteria found in different lunchboxes used by children School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey

m

Brian Watters Title: Is your mp3 player potentially damaging your hearing by too many

decibels or cross infection?

School: St Patrick's High School, Co. Armagh

Teacher: Michelle Earley

Declan Barrett, Cathal Mac Giollabhain Title: Screadadh den scannan leath tre-scoilte uibheacha School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Una Ni Chumhaill

Stand No.1068 Student(s): William MacAmhlai, Gemma Nig Fheargail, Christopher Mac Amhalai Title: An gcuireann caitheamh tabac

Teacher: Karina Lyne

isteadh ar chumas boladh School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Shane 0 Breacain

Stand No.1060 Student(s): Sarah Bourke,

Stand No.1069

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork

Joanne O'Mahoney Title: An investigation into the

effectiveness of different handwashes to lower bacteria School: Christ King Girls Secondary School , Co. Cork Teacher: Deirdre Brosnan

Teacher: Shane 0 Breacain

Stand No.1004 Student(s): Diarmaid O'Donoghue Title: The efficiency of seed dispersal in certain species of tree School: Mary Immaculate Secondary

Stand No.1067 Student(s): Tiarnan McCaughan,

Stand No.1061 Student(s): Joseph O'Connor, Sean Tynan Title: The eradication of fruit flies School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Faherty

Student(s): Jack Hutchinson,

James Dillon, Alan Fitzpatrick Title: Dog diets: a variety of dietary strategies for your pet School: Gonzaga College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Joe 0 Briain Stand No.1070 Student(s): Stephen Withero, Derek Withero, Ross Greany Title: Investigating the decay

of tree leaves School: St. Alibe's School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Kieran O'Dwyer

Stand No.1062 Student(s): Aoife Duffy, Sarah Hoolahan Title: An investigation into the possibility

of training a cats memory School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Helen Hennessy Stand No.1063 Student(s): David O'Reilly,

David MacAogain, Shane Gubbins Title: Is your saliva the same as the person beside you?

School: St Peter's College, Co. Wexford Teacher: Judith Thomas Stand No.1064 Student(s): Kieran McGrath, Jack O'Donnell, Daniel Hempson Title: Natural fertilizer

School: Elphin Community College, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Brid Fallon Stand No.1065 Student(s): Katherine Hoare, Sonia Debarrosrodrigues, Elina Osoianu Title: The effects of different drinks on teeth

School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jacinta Keogh

Stand No.1066 Student(s): Jamie Whitehouse, Stephen Lehane, Marcus O'Byrne Title: To find out the percentage of

Stand No.1071 Student(s): Ferghal Donnelly, Shane Byrne, Shane Donnelly

Title: An investigation into the metal content of the water supply in the

Castletown area Dundalk School: De La Salle Secondary School, Co. Louth Teacher: Cara Mc Adam Stand No.1072 Student(s): Arnie Barrett, Sinead McNamara, Megan Byrne

Title: Dispersal patterns of Patella vulgata on north Clare shores School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare Teacher: John Sims

Stand No.1073 Student(s): Emma Dillon, Leah Foyle, Katie Kirwan Title: Does your height for your age affect your speed?

School: The Teresian School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Rebecca James

Stand No.1074 Student(s): Sarah McEvoy, Kelly O'Connor, Deirdre Doolin Title: Hand hygiene - pass it on

School: Tullamore College, Co. Offaly Teacher: Noreen Flynn

supertasters in our local area and see

Stand No.1075

if there is a relationship between tasting ability and weight School: Clonkeen College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Maire Duffy

Student(s): Ruth Healy, Daisy Delaney Title: Wildlife preservation case study

School: St. Leo's College, Co. Carlow Teacher: John Glynn

Stand No.1076 Student(s): Emma Courtney, Ashle y Doole y, Genevieve Courtne y Title : A stud y on chlorine use in water treatment School: Colaiste Lorcain , Co . Kildare Teacher: S y l Mc Evo y

Stand No.1077 Student(s): Conor MacCarvill , Barr y Fl y nn , David Swift Title: Investi g ation of forced cosmetic chan g es to p lants School: St Mar y s College , Co . Dublin Teacher: John Nisbet

Stand No . 1078 Student(s): Emma McShane , Laura Redden , Nicola Blake Title: Best soils for g rowing plants School: The Teresian School , Co .

Dublin Teacher: Claire Shine

Intermediate Individual

Intermediate Group

Stand No.1100

Student(s): Shane Harran

Stand No.1150 Student(s): Aisling Galligan,

Title: Using ' Blast ' to investigate

Laura Muldowney

flu viruses School: St Kevin ' s CBS, Co. Wicklow

Title: To investigate if the probiotics

Teacher: Michelle White

the growth of dental plaque School: St Joseph Of Cluny , Co. Dublin

Stand No.1101

Teacher: Robert Browne

Student(s): Jessica Hayden Title: How nutrients are lost in the packaging of salad School: St Aloysius College, Co. Cork

Stand No.1102

School: St Caimin ' s Community School,

Student(s): Eoghan Ryan Title: Seaweeds and Golf courses

Co. Clare Teacher: Maria Sheehan

- will the grass be greener

School: St Caimin ' s Community School, Co. Clare Teacher: Maria Sheehan

Stand No . 1081 Student(s): John Roberts Byrne, Miceal Sammon , Alan Do y le Title: Heartburn remedies how effective are they?

School: Catholic Universit y School , Co . Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey Stand No.1082 Student(s): Melvin Isobel , Holl y Collins , Kim O'Sullivan Title: An investi g ation into the method of thawing that minimizes bacteria the most School: The Teresian School, Co . Dublin Teacher: Rebecca James Stand No . 1083 Student(s): Eoin Mulville, Peter Campbell , Daniel O'Brien ride: To prove goldfish have a memory of more than 3 seconds School: Catholic Universit y School , Co. Dublin Teacher. Ruth Hickey Stand No . 1084 Student(s): Lauren Webb , Abi g ail Nuzum , Kate Rogers ride: The three second rule! Analysis of the transfer of bacteria from floor surfaces to food School: East Glendalou g h School , Co . Wicklow Teacher: Clare Minogue Shrd No.1085 Student(s): Kelsey West , Linen O 'Mahone y, Sinead Duggan

Title: The effect of straightners on hair Sdmof: Christ King Girls Secondary School , Co. Cork Teadrcr. Deirdre Brosnan

Stand No.1152 Student(s): Susie Nee, Caroline Heneghan

Title: How heart rate changes

School: Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare

School: The Teresian School , Co . Dublin Teacher: Claire Shine

Student(s): David Lynch, Mark Liddy Title: A waste management system

for schools- can wormaries provide a viable solution

p ro p erties School: Loreto Colle g e , St Ste p hens

Stand No . 1080 Student(s): Natalie Co y le , So p hie B y rne , Hannah Schofield Title: Deter g ents versus their natural substitutes which do plants prefer?

Stand No.1151

Teacher: William Niall Sweetnam

Stand No . 1079 Student(s): Amy Lynch, Etan Keogh, Isibeal Fer g us Title: To investigate whether or not seaweed p ossesses antibacterial

Green , Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

in specialised dairy products affect

Stand No.1103

with exercise

Student(s): Henry Glass

Title: A survey of the impact of

School: Our Ladys Grove, Co. Dublin Teacher: Siobhan Kelly

Sargassum muticum (Yendo) on users of the waters of Strangford Lough

Stand No.1153

Teacher: Kevin Maurine

Stand No . 1104 Student(s): Sinead Bailey

Student(s): Freya Foster, Karen O ' Hare

Title: Artificial or organic fertiliser: which is the best?

School: Loreto College , Co. Cavan Teacher: Michelle Rogan

Title: Lawn Turf of the future

Stand No.1154

School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michelle Dunne

Student(s): Kevin Maher, Martin Murray

Title: Are you really as tall as Stand No.1105 Student(s): Noreen Lynch Title: The effect of different coloured

yourarmspan?

lighting on seedling growth

Teacher: Paul Garrahy

School: C.B.S. Roscommon, Co. Roscommon

School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School , Lisdoonvarna , Co . Clare Teacher: John Sims

Stand No.1155 Student(s): Emma Fox, Allis Moran Title: Measuring your taste threshold

Stand No.1106 Student(s): Eimear Gormley

School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Title: Fingernails-A Haven for Bacteria School: Loreto Convent , Co. Donegal Teacher: Susan B . Kenny Stand No.1107

Student(s): Joanne Carrig Title: How/why do different wavelengths affect the growth and development of plants?

School: Collinstown Park Community

College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Noel Kelly Stand No.1108

Student(s): Caitlin Steel Title: Biodiversit y in drinking troughs!

School: Bandon Grammar School , Co . Cork

Teacher: Carena Mullins

Stand No.1156 Student(s): Sinead O'Neill , Amy Martin Title: How well do disinfectants work?

School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Aisling Quirke Stand No.1157 Student(s): Rhiannon Coyne, Holly Maguire

Title: Chromatic Adaptation School: Loreto College , St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.1158 Student(s): Danielle O'Neill, Martin Hawley Title: Study of effects of protein

Stand No . 1109 Student(s): David Burns Title: Biodegradable nappies: is sphagnum moss the way to go?

on the performance of horses School: Community School , Co. Kilkenny

Teacher: Bernard 0 ' Gorman

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan

Stand No . 1159 Student(s): David Hanevy,

Stand No . 1110

Student(s): Richard Fleming Title: The reintroduction of the red squirrel to Dublin parkland habitats.

can we do it?

School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey

David O'Neill Title: The distribution of lichens in Athlone

School: Athlone Community College, Co. Westmeath

Teacher: James Mc Grath

Stand No.1160 Student(s): Edel Ni Bhraonain, Dawn Lynch Title: Wart elimination : the organic

method School: Colaiste na Sceilge, Co. Kerry Teacher: Marie O'Sullivan Stand No.1161

Student(s): Donie O'Sullivan, Jerry Moran Title: A genetic study of inheritable features & traits School: Colaiste na Sceilge, Co. Kerry Teacher: Marie O'Sullivan Stand No.1162 Student(s): Larisa Collins, Mark Belford, Nadya Gargan

Title: A Study of elephant grass as a potential Biofuel for Ireland School: Sutton Park School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Catherine Tattersall Stand No.1163 Student(s): Clara Ni Allurain, Emma De Barra

Title: Iniuchadh ar mi-cothromatochtai fiseol aiocha i gceoilteoiri

School: Gaelcholaiste Mhuire, Co. Cork Teacher: Ruairi 0 Ceilleachair

Stand No.1164 Student(s): Vivienne Hogan, Niamh Gallagher Title: Lacticin 3147-a natural additive

for baby formula and other milk products

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan

Stand No.1165 Student(s): Hugo Kieran,

Annsley Doran Title: The effect of different coloured light on the growth of plants School: Sandford Park School Ltd, Co. Dublin Teacher: Alison Graham Stand No.1166

Student(s): Clara Reid, Angela Greene Title: Noise affects animals too School: Scoil Dara, Co. Kildare Teacher: Darragh Mc Moreland Stand No.1167 Student(s): Paul Noonan, Niall Glennon, Daragh Kelly Title: Frozen peas School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney Stand No.1168 Student(s): Cheryl Scally, Laura-Anne Regan

Title: Comparative study of fauna/flora visitors to riverside/inland gardens in all seasons School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

Stand No.1169 Student(s): Aidan Murphy, Daniel O ' Sullivan, Ayman Hafez

Title: Microwaving is it a compromise on a nutritional value and food quality?

School: Douglas Community School, Co. Cork

Teacher: Catriona Barrett

09

Stand No . 1170 S tu d en t(s): Shauna R y an , N aom i O'Donovan , Claire Perry Titl e: I nv esti g atin g the memory of a Goldfish

S c hool: Our Lad y s Grove , Co. Dublin Teac h er: Si o bh a n Kell y Stand No.1171

Student(s): Georgina Fagan, Alanna Keena , Theresa Gleeson Titl e: What about free water?

S c hool: Our Lad y 's Bower , Co . Westmeath Te acher: Patrick Horan

Stand No.1172 Student(s): Patricia Harkins, Elaine Burke, Lisa Boland Title: How deadl y is your phone?

S c h oo l : O ur Lad y 's Bower, Co . Westmeath Teac her: Patrick Horan St an d No . 1173

Stand No.1180 Student(s): Cathy McAndrew, Lorna Danaher, Meabh Henry-Bezy Title: You think your house is clean...

but is it?????

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Title: To investigate the effects of wind turbines on native Bird flight paths in Ballingarry Co. Tipperary School: Borrisokane Community College, Co. Tipperary

Teacher: Mary O'Callaghan

Rachel O'Brien Title: Is there a lack of chromium in our diet?

School: Loreto College , St Stephens Green, Dublin

Stand No.1191 Student(s): Thomas Breen , Gary Delaney, Aidan Moran

Title: Muscle cramp and fatigue School: Community School, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Bernard 0' Gorman

Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.1182 Student(s): Florence Meagher, Caoimhe Kavanagh, Eileen Murphy Title: The Inter-relationship between

slope vegetation and soil at the sand

produced composts us i ng a var i e t y

of plants School: Bishopstown Commun i ty S c h oo l , Co. Cork Teacher: Finola Fitzgerald

Stand No.1181 Student(s): Iseult Browne, Noelle Healy,

Stand No.1200 Student(s): Conor Ke ll y, Robert O ' Mahony, Danie l K eo h ane Title: Comparing the e ff ect i veness of commercially avai l ab l e an d h ome

Stand No.1192 Student(s): Robbie McPartlan, John Cahill, Eddie O'Shaughnessy Title: Investigation of patellar

restabilisation operation and rehabilitation

Stand No.1201 Student(s): Aoife Mc K eon, A o if e D oy l e, Bronagh McCue Title: Monitoring acry l am id e l eve l s i n

canteen cookies, chips and sausage rolls School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michelle Dunne Stand No.1202 Student(s): Patricia Aherne, Ch r i st i na Kiely, Anne Hayes Title: An investigation into the shelf life

School: St Kieran's College, Co. Kilkenny

School: Loreto College, St Stephens

Teacher: Eileen Hanrick

of milk School: Hazelwood College, Co. Li mer i c k Teacher: Michelle Herbert

Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.1193 Student(s): Darren O'Gorman,

Stand No.1203

C o. Louth Te acher: John White

Stand No.1183 Student(s): Fiona Cusack, Jane Flanagan,

Christina Commane, Karen Cusack Title: Feeding preferences among Littorina littorea

S tan d N o. 1174 Student(s): Saidhbhe Bannon , Siobhan Jordan, Jennifer McCourt Titl e: Are TY g irls fit?- use of Datalogging to measur e heart recovery rates a ft er ex ercise S c hool: St Vincent's Secondary School , C o. L ou th Teacher: John White

Title: A water pollution project School: Loreto College, St Stephens

School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare

Student(s): Liam O ' Du bh t h a i g h , Ciaran Clarke, Michea l G a ll ag h er Title: Laghdu Ar Stec N a m B rea d a i n in Eirinn School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donega l

Green, Dublin

Teacher: John Sims

Teacher: Susan Kenny

Stand No.1194 Student(s): Naomi McDonagh, Megan Boland, Catherine Corr Title: Does concentrated fruit juice contain the same amount of vitamin C as hand squeezed juice?

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare

Stand No.1204 Student(s): Luke Hogg, Ta dh g K enne d y,

Stand No . 1175 St u d e nt(s): Kerri Goodison ,

Green, Dublin

Laura Tracey

Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.1184 Student( s): Jillian Houston, Emily McDonagh, Catherine Lowe

Title: Aspartame- is it a health hazard??

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Roisin Grogan, Orla Corby

Titl e: The effect of sound on plant growth School: Loreto College , Co . Cavan Teac h er: Mi c h e ll e R og an

Stand No.1185 Student(s): Triona Byrne, Rebecca Higgins, Ciara Gorman Title: Hearing and Earrings : what is

S tu d en t( s ) : Aislinn Mur p h y, Ni co l e O'Reill y, Rosl y n Coughlan

the connection?

School: St Wolstan's Community School, Co. Kildare

Title: The effects of dyeing and stra i g ht en in g on the structure and strength of human hair School: Christ King Girls

Stand No.1186 Student(s): Chris Moriarty, Jason Murphy,

Stand No . 1176

S econ d ary School , Co . Cork Teac her: Cian 0' Mahony

S tan d N o. 1177 Student(s): Hannah Fenlon, D o i rean n Ni Cheallai g h , Beth McDonnell Titl e: Homemade or commercial toothpaste-which is better?

S c h oo l : L ore to Colle g e , St Stephens G reen, D u blin Teacher: Sheila Porter St an d N o. 1178 S tu d en t(s): Niall Hard y, Ben Doyle , Eddie Downes

Teacher: Louise Ward

your wa t er bottle?

S c hool: East Glendalough School , C o. Wi c klow Teac h er: D e clan Cathcart

St an d N o. 1179

Teacher: Rachel Linney

Keith Webster Title: Broken Dreams - A re mo d ern football boots to blame for an i ncrease in metatarsa l i njur i es ?

School: St Munchin ' s College, Co. Limeric k Teacher: Bairbre Ni F hl at h arta

Stand No.1195

Stand No.1205

Student(s): Stephanie Nolan,

Holly Meakin, Sinead Leavy Title: Investigating the effect of pectinase on the extraction of juice from apples

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Teacher: Sean Finn

Sean Gibson

Stand No.1206 Student(s): Ciaran Tuohy, Andrew Salter,

David Broughal

Stand No.1196 Student( s): Shauna Ni Laighleis,

Catherine Caulfield, Rebecca Doyle Title: Can horse management (grass v's stables) affect performance

Title: Taking hepatitis C d etect i on in a new direction School: St. Aidan's C.B.S., Co. Dublin Teacher: Catherine Peoples

Co. Cork

Teacher: Cian 0' Mahony

in competition?

School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin

Stand No.1207

Teacher: Lorraine Mc Cool

Stand No.1187 Student(s): David Zhao, Elizabeth Cox, Aoife Cassidy

Student (s): Hazel Wa ll ace, Darina Callaghan, Sophie Van Dijk

Stand No.1197 Student(s): Dearbhail Murphy,

Title: To determine if the appearance of small organisms protects t h em

Carmel Kennedy, Elaine Bourke

against predation

Title: Electrically manipulating

Photosynthesis School: Wesley College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Seosamh 0 Braonain

Title: An ecological study of a reed bed habitat School: Presentation Secondary School,

Stand No.1188 Student(s): Glen Mac A Bhaird,

Teacher: Trish 0 ' Callaghan

School: Dundalk Grammar School, Co. Louth Teacher: Stephanie Le d w i t h

Co. Tipperary

Daragh O'Ceilleachair, Daithi O'Murchu

Title: An Chaoi a Theann cinealacha eagsdla soilse i bhfeidhm ar Ms siolta raibe

Stand No.1198 Student( s): David McHugh , Brian Carroll, Darren O'Neill Title: Calorie Loss : Track vs. treadmill

School: Gealcholaiste Reachrann, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jacinta Ni Dhubhain

School: Athlone Community College, Co. Co Westmeath Teacher: James Mc Grath

(Carausious Morosus)

Stand No.1189

School: Douglas Community School, Co . Cork Teacher: Cian 0' Mahony

Student(s): Sinead McKeon, Aisling O'Farrell, Ciara Pardy Title: Why do Onions make us cry?

Stand No.1199 Student(s): Louise Keogh,

S tu d en t( s ) : Ronan Do y le , Garrett Kidney , Cilli an Bracken Title: A study of the pysiology and

Student(s): Cian O'Ri an, Philip MacSuibhne, Ceiteach O ' Conc hui r Title: Scrudri a dheanamh ar mheid vitimin C ata in oraist i e as ull School: Colaiste Daibheid, C o. C or k

Title: A study of the variety of the seeds found on the sea shore at Garrettstown Co.Cork School: Douglas Community School,

Title: How many bacteria are in

behaviour of the Indian stick insects

10

Student(s): Lisa Kelly, Niamh Hogan, Claire Doughan

dunes in Brittas Bay

S tu d en t( s ) : G em ma Friar y, Jennifer Devine, Linda Galligan Title: Measuring yeast respiration ra t es us in g Datalo gg ing S c h o ol: St Vincent's Secondary School ,

I

Stand No.1190

School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Geraldine Lyons

Niamh Kearney, Ciara Lennon

Title: Asthma - Be active be pro-active!

School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michael Moriarty

St a nd No . 1208 Student(s): John Prendergast, Brian Bennett, Ronan W a l s h Title: A comparative ana l ys i s o f sports drinks versus pre ference

and sports performance School: Blackwater Commun i ty S c h oo l , Co. Waterford Teacher: David King

Stand No.1209

Stand No.1306

Stand No.1354

Stand No.1360

Student(s): Owen O'Connell, David Cahill, Declan O'Brien Title: The biological and chemical impact of raw sewage on the river Geoish

Student( s): Derwin Brennan Title: The Air- ly signs of pollution School: Elphin Community College, Co. Roscommon

Student(s): Finbarr Murphy, Paul O'Driscoll, David O'Connell Title: An Investigation into the possible use of Bifidobacteria for cancer treatment

Student(s): Bill Corbett, David Thornton, Conor McMahon Title: Flavour taste acuity & diet School: Skerries Community College, Co. Dublin

School: Douglas Community School, Co. Cork

Teacher: Katie O'Sullivan- Corbett

Teacher: Cian 0' Mahony

Stand No.1361 Student(s): Jennifer Coote, Lorna Dunne, Claire Dunne Title: A comparative study of the anti-bacterial properties of canine and human saliva

School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford

Teacher: Brid Fallon

Title: The impact of organic pollution on freshwater fish

Stand No.1307 Student(s): Patrick Maye Title: An observational study of the feeding growing and shedding patterns of snakes in captivity School: St Patrick's Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Emma Daniel

School: Colaiste Choilm , Co. Cork Teacher: Fiona O ' Sullivan

Stand No.1308

Teacher: David King

Stand No.1210 Student(s): Timothy Coveney, Paul Ryan , Cian O ' Callaghan

Stand No.1211 Student(s): Maria Bracken, Amy Graham, Therese Bracken Title: An ecological study of Derryhogan bog School: Presentation Secondary School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Olivia O'Brien Stand No.1212 Student(s): Sile Reilly, Aoife Fox, Roisin Somerville Title: How different treatments affect your hair

School: Loreto College, Co. Cavan Teacher: Michelle Rogan

Senior Individual Stand No.1300 Student( s): Kate Magner Title: Hydrophobic properties of the Nelumbo Nucifera

School: Desmond College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Donal Enright

Stand No.1301 Student ( s): Ruth Fitzpatrick Title: The Artificiality of natural Habitats- Hybrid Eco- systems in a Man - made World

School: Muckross Park College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Anne Marie Mee Stand No.1302 Student( s): Tara - Leigh White Title: The effects of fruit j uices on your teeth

School : Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher : Aisling Quirke Stand No.1303 Student(s): Amy Bartley

Title: The effects of exercise on carbon dioxide levels School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Aisling Quirke

Stand No.1304 Student(s): Leanne Caulfield Title: An investigation into the safest method of defrosting and cooking meat School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Aisling Quirke Stand No.1305 Student( s): Gene Cashman

Title: Does sample management affect test results?

School: St Aloysius College , Co. Cork Teacher: William Niall Sweetnam

Student(s): Colin McDonnell Title: To find out if a sports drink improves the athletic performance more than water

School: Mayfield Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Liam Begley Stand No.1309 Student(s): Ciaran Doyle Title: An investigation into the calcification dynamics of reef aquaria and evaluation of calcification ion School: Blackrock College, Co. Dublin Teacher: John Daly Stand No.1310 Student(s): Ciara Murphy Title: Hearing loss in teenagers School: Beara Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Kathleen Dwyer Stand No.1311 Student(s): Katie Hughes Title: To investigate the effect of different waters on the growth of pansies, radishes and parsley School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jim Darcy

Senior Group Stand No.1350 Student(s): Paul MacEoin, Ross Driver Title: Bioengineering a Biological Airway - A possible treatment for respiratory airway diseases School: Salesian College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Sinead Greene

Stand No.1351 Student (s): Eamonn Flynn, Daniel Mullins Title: An Investigation into Bacterial growth on our money and how it can affect us School: Mednscoil Na mBraithre , Co. Clare Teacher : Kieran Meehan

Stand No.1352 Student(s): Claire Hooban, Catherine Holohan Title: Field margins- a correlation between soil nutrient levels and plant diversity

School: Heywood Community School, Co. Laois Teacher: Peter Malone Stand No.1353 Student(s): Brian McAree Murphy, Paul McGlynn, Sean O'Brien

Title: A further examination of the development of eco-friendly household waste disposal School: Patrician High School, Co. Monaghan Teacher: John O'Rourke

Stand No.1355 Student(s): Gerard Finnegan, Shane McQuillan, Tom O'Reilly Title: A water quality survey of our local water scheme School: Patrician High School, Co. Monaghan

School: Presentation Secondary School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Emma Kavanagh

Teacher: John O'Rourke Stand No.1362 Stand No.1356 Student(s): Emma Roche, Shona O'Brien, Grainne Quinn Title: Investigation into the Antimicrobial effects of Manuka Honey in comparison with Irish Honey School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michelle Dunne

Stand No.1357 Student(s): Rachael Howard, Aoife Madigan, Sarah O'Connor Title: Comparing the variabilty of natural vs. synthetic enzymes used in the meat tenderizing process School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michelle Dunne

Stand No.1358 Student(s): Casey Ryan, Gillian Leahy Title: Challenging REPS- an ecological investigation School: Presentation Secondary School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Niall Murphy

Stand No.1359 Student(s): Jennifer Fox, Mary Morgan, Olga Crehan Title: The uptake of phosphorus by various plants School: St Louis Secondary School, Co. Louth Teacher: Siobhan Greer

Student(s): Aisling McWeeney, Jenni Holian , Alice Farry

Title: How soil changes with increasing depth School: St Peter's College, Co. Meath Teacher: Caroline Toole Stand No.1363 Student(s): Aoife Quinn, Abigail Cornwell, Joanna Cornwell Title: Expansion of the suburbs - a threat or potential lifeline for bumblebees School: The Teresian School , Co. Dublin Teacher: Rebecca James

Stand No.1364 Student(s): Shauna Fitzsimons, Kelly-Marie Mulpeter,

Emily Martinsson Title: A study of the distribution of gammatus dueberi and gammarus pulex in the streams of Milltown Lake catchment with special emphasis on the possible competitive exclusion of the native G. duebeni by the invasive species G.pulex School: St Louis Secondary School, Co. Louth Teacher: Siobhan Greer

uaents L r w I A M

Stand No . 2011 Student(s): Maire Fitzgerald

Stand No.2001 Student(s): Daniel McInerney Title: How much energy are you wasting?

School: Meanscoil Na mBraithre,

Co. Clare Teacher: Kieran Meehan Stand No.2002 Student(s): Killian O'Dwyer Title: The investigation of renewable energy using a hydraulic system School: Meanscoil Na mBraithre, Co. Clare

Teacher: Kieran Meehan Stand No.2003 Student(s): Wayne Cuddihy Title: Off your trolley School: St Kieran's College, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Eileen Hamrick

Stand No.2004 Student(s): Fintan Hughes Title: Rain alert

School: Gonzaga College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Joe O'Briain Stand No.2005 Student(s): Ben Healy-Mahalingam Title: The 21st Century Web-based stu d ent stu d y p l ann er School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: John Corcoran Stan d N o. 2006 Stu d ent ( s ) : C onor S p encer Title: Th e s h oe th a t rechar g es batteries

School: Colaiste Chraobh Abhann, C o. Wi c kl ow Teacher: Martin Healy Stan d N o. 2007 St u d en t(s): Ben McRedmond Title: C opy W r it e: S o ftware to Defeat Plagiarism

Sc h oo l : C onzaga Colle g e , Co . Dublin Teacher: Joe 0 Briain Stan d N o. 2008 Student ( s ) : P au di e Walsh Tit l e: A n i nves ti ga tion into A pp aratus desi g ned to record maximum speed at the point of a vehicle collision Schoo l : H aze l woo d Colle g e , Co . Limerick Teac h er: Mi c h e ll e Herbert Stand N o. 2009 Student(s): Ciaran Dempsey Title: Plant moisture indicator School: Ardscoil Rath lomghain,

Co. Kild are Teacher: Fiona Searing Stan d N o. 2010 Student ( s ) : P a t r i c k Burns Title: Automatic hazard system School: Christian Brothers (Abbey) Grammar School , Co. Down Teacher: Gerald Savage

Title: The diving buddy School: Colaiste Choilm , Co. Cork Teacher: David Tobin

Stand No . 2012 Student(s): Christopher Hobbs Title: The light pick-up

School: Maynooth Post Primary School, Co . Kildare Teacher: Helena Ryder Stand No . 2013 Student(s): Niamh O'Connor Title: White-o-meter School: Vocational School, Co. Limerick Teacher: Ryan Kennelly

Stand No.2050 Student(s): Emma Hayes, Alicia Magner Title: Economy class syndrome

- a solution School: Desmond College, Co. Limerick

Stand No.2057 Student(s): Gary Byrne, Sean Brooks, Shaun Fisher Title: Air propelled electromagnetic hover toy School: Blessington Community College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Edel Duane Stand No.2058 Student(s): Donnchadh O'Sullivan, Micheal O'Cathasaigh, Sean McNamara Title: Shower protection device School: Ennis Community College, Co. Clare Teacher: Ramona Mc Carthy

Stand No.2059 Student(s): Emily Skerritt, Sorcha Loughnane, Aoife O'Dotherty Title: Hands on Safety School: Ennis Community College, Co. Clare

Teacher: Liam Fitzgerald Stand No.2060 Student(s): Luciano Van Rheenan.

Stand No.2051 Student(s): Niamh McGreer, Rebecca Cull

Sean Boyd, Ryan Moore Title: How hard is it to make a cup of tea?

- kettles made easy for the deaf, blind and the visually impaired School: Oatlands College, Co. Dublin

Title: A design for a lightweight

Teacher: Emma O'Shea

Teacher: Donal Enright

emergency escape hood School: Sutton Park School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Catherine Tattersall Stand No.2052 Student(s): Sarah Powell, Emma Garry Title: The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.2053 Student(s): Adam Magill, Matthew McCartney Title: Moto xtra safe. A technological safety device for all terrain vehicles. (quad) School: Christian Brothers (Abbey) Grammar School, Co. Down Teacher: Gerald Savage

Stand No.2054 Student(s): Kevin Balfe, Michael Heneghan

Title: Homemade van de grauff g enerator and what can it power?

School: Castleknock College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Kieran Gallagher Stand No.2055 Student(s): Stiofan O'Luain, Cillian Beilliu, Daithi O'Haolain

Title: Bruimh reatha School: Gealcholaiste Reachrann, Co. Dublin

Student(s): Emma Ni Fhearraigh

Title: Solas na greine-uisce na beatha (using solar energy to pasteurise water) School: Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal Teacher: Nigel O ' Fearraigh Stand No-2107 Student(s): Donna Noonan Title: The dehydration detection circuit School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Karina Lyme Stand No.2108 Student(s): Simon MacGiolla Easbuic Title: An electro magnetic field detector as a safety mechanism on high bodied construction vehicles School: Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal Teacher: Siobhan Ui Shearcaig

Stand No.2100 Student(s): David McCarthy Title: Token Wireless network School: Christian Brothers Secondary

Co. Waterford Teacher: Colette Ni N uan ai n

School, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Hurley Stand No.2101

Student(s): Michael O'R6is Title: lompar le leicreomaighneadachais School: Gealcholaiste Reachrann, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jacinta Ni Dhubhain

Stand No.2102 Student(s): Peter Benilov

Title: Mobile Dictionary School: Castletroy College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Lisa kiely Stand No.2103 Student(s): Eoin O'Leary Title: Development of an Ether Detection System for use in a caravan or holiday apartment School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Mairead Dullea

Stand No.2104 Student(s): Christopher Harte Title: Anti-attack-box School: Christian Brothers (Abbey)

Stand No.2056 Student(s): John Gannon, James

Grammar School, Co. Down Teacher: Tony Mooney

O'Doherty, Laurence Quinn

Stand No.2106

Stand No.2150 Student(s): Fiac h na M ac M urc hu , Shane Breathnach Title: To Design a Gas Turbine Engine and Investigate the Use of Biofuels as an Alternative Energy Source School: Meansco il S an Ni oc la s,

Teacher: Eibhlin Ni Mhuircheartaigh

Title: It's Eco Time! - the green game School: St Michaels College , Co. Dublin Teacher: Jason Kelly

Stand No.2105 Student(s): Siobhan O ' Connell Title: Sea recovery manikin School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Faherty

Stand No.21 51 Student(s): Adrian Walsh, Fintan O ' Hea Title: Cost effective solar water heater School: Kinsa l e C ommun it y School , Co. C or k

Teacher: John Corcoran Stand No.215 2 Student(s): Michael O'Connor, Patrick Collins Title: Safe spi k e School: Rossa Co ll ege, C o. C o rk Teacher: Tom Fo l ey Stand No.2153 Student(s): Jack K e ll y, S tep h en Shaw Title: An investigat i on i n to the cause of house fires due to the build up of static electricity i n l aun d ry School: The High School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Anthony Kelly Stand No.2154 Student(s): Niall McCartan, Niall Cunningham Title: Sensory st i mu l a ti on ce ntre School: Christian B rot h ers (Abbe y ) Grammar School, Co. Down Teacher: Mark Rodgers

Stand No.2155 Student(s): Colm Foley, Barry Corkery Title: Smsgps and a heart rate monitor.

The way forward for mountain rescue?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan

V2

Stand No.2156 Student(s): Sean Hynes, Eamonn Walsh, Conor Phillips Title: Ajet engine powered by hydrogen as an alternative fuel source

suitable for commercial airline use

Stand No.2166 Student(s): Daniel Schustow, Killian Doyle, Clive Helen

Stand No.2203 Student(s): Yann Sweeney Title: A computer application which

Title: To investigate the steering

generates an infinite amount of unique mathematical problems School: St Columba's Comprehensive School, Co. Donegal Teacher: Kathleen Molloy

difficulties in hovercrafts School: Bandon Grammar School,

School: St Joseph's Secondary School,

Co. Cork

Co. Mayo Teacher: Declan Cafferkey

Teacher: Edward Gash

Stand No.2157 Student(s): Clodagh Mangan, Andrea Crammond, Lavinia Jackson Title: Do Probiotics contain enough bacteria?

School: East Glendalough School,

Stand No.2158 Student(s): Orlaith Delargy, Amy McNamara

Title: Chiropractical School: Mount Anville Secondary School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Maire O'Donohoe Stand No.2159 Student(s): Ben Noctor, Daniel Monahan, David Buggy

Title: H2O compressed powered car School: Salesian College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Sinead Greene

Eoin McGowan Title: The realistic artificial arm

School: St Michaels College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jason Kelly Stand No.2257 Student(s): Colm Glennon,

Stand No.2167 Student(s): Stephen O'Brien, Conor Geary, David Cahillane Title: Sea saver School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford Teacher: David King

Co. Wicklow

Teacher: Declan Cathcart

Stand No.2256 Student(s): James Clifford, Daniel Ferrick,

Stand No.2204 Student(s): Elaine McCarthy Title: The relationship between the type

of boot worn by a sports person and corresponding ligament damage School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford Teacher: David King

Stand No.2168 Student(s): Tansy Greenlee, Olivia Raycroft, Kate Murphy

Stand No.2205 Student(s): Karl O'Dwyer

Title: Investigation of uses for magnetohydrodynamics

Title: Managed electronic transfer protocol: a proposed solution to network

School: Bandon Grammar School, Co. Cork Teacher: Edward Gash

bandwidth limitations School: St Patrick's Community College,

Co. Kildare Teacher: Emma Daniel

Michael Gilligan, Geardid Kelly Title: How safe are you on the internet?

School: Summerhill College, Co. Sligo Teacher: Damian Keenan

Stand No.2258 Student(s): Arran McCabe, Jeff Greene, David Kerr

Title: Progressions in toasting technology School: Salesian College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Sinead Greene Stand No.2259 Student(s): Robin Flake, Michael Sell, Fionn Croke Title: Electromagnetic glove School: Gort Community School,

Co. Galway

Stand No.2169 Student(s): Rebecca O'Keeffe,

Stand No.2206

Emma Baxter, Tara O'Connell

Student(s): Stephen Church

Title: Too hot to handle School: Ballincollig Community School,

Title: DriveAlive - A unique vehicle data logger School: Confey Community College,

Stand No.2260 Student(s): Timothy Seebus, Justin Cullinane, Ben Finnegan

Co. Kildare

Title: How to launch a radio station

Co. Cork

Teacher: John O'Connell

Teacher: Philip Devereux

Teacher: Marian Lowry

using web technology

Stand No.2160 Student(s): Katie Boyle,

Stand No.2170 Student(s): Ciara McCarthy, Holly

School: Maynooth Post Primary School, Co. Kildare

Kellie Nwaokorie, Lesley Humpreys

Coomey, Rebecca Nugent Title: Rapeseed oil a fuel of the future?

Teacher: Edel Holden

Title: Raynaud's Covered: using chemicals and technology School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michelle Dunne Stand No.2161 Student(s): Sean Farrell, Alan Brennan, Eanna Lalor Title: Designing an ergonomic schoolbag combined with weight dispersing

straps found on golf bags School: St Mary's Academy CBS,

School: Coldiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney

Stand No . 2171 Student(s): Daniel Blanchfield, Craig O'Hare, Aaron Hayes Title: Using plasmonie enhancement to increase hepatitis c sensor sensitivity

School: St. Aidan's C.B.S., Co. Dublin Teacher: Alice Mc Cormack

Stand No.2162

Stand No.2172 Student(s): Michaela Ni Labhrai, Helen Nic Gon g ail , Cathal Mac Giolla Easbuig

Student(s): Tiarndn O'Doinn,

Title: An modh fuaru ag usaid

Caitriona Ni Mhordha, Shane Mac Mathdna Title: Siol Rdibe v ola o ghlasrai mar bhreosla don charr School: Gealcholdiste Reachrann, Co. Dublin

achmanni nadurtha School: Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal Teacher: Susan Ni Shearlaigh

Co. Carlow

Teacher: Aileen Tenant

Title: Bara Rotha: Ag Forbairt agus ag Meastoireacht a mar Lumhdin don

Chead Rannog School: Coldiste Raithin, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Terry Mulcahy

Stand No . 2251 Student(s): Claire Murphy , Sarah McGinley Title: Comparision of bacterial contamination of cosmetics in the home and in retail outlets School: Mount Anville Secondary School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Mary Kavanagh Stand No.2252 Student(s): Tadhg Maher,

Lorcdn MacNeela

Teacher: Jacinta Ni Dhubhain

Stand No.2163 Student(s): Saoirse Ni Bhaoill,

Stand No . 2250 Student(s): Tadhg Walsh-Peelo , Jack McHugh

Title: Fiosrd a dheanamh ar an fhidntacht

a bhaineann In teirmeachairn a risdid 6 thaobh athchursdil fuimmim Stand No.2200

School: Gealcholdiste Reachrann,

Title: Can echolocation help the blind?

School: Dominican College , Co . Dublin

Student(s): Anthony O'Brien Title: Ethanol use in every day motoring School: Scod Mhuire Gan Smal, Co. Cork

Co. Dublin Teacher: Jacinta Ni Dhubhain

Teacher: Michael Moriarty

Teacher: Sean Foley

Stand No.2164

Stand No.2201 Student(s): Stephen Dolan

Stand No.2253 Student(s): Angel Hannigan, Christina Byrne Title: Seemore the supercane

Title: Streams: flow-based programming in Python

School: Vocational School, Co. Donegal Teacher: Sharon Stevenson

Denise McCarthy, Aisling Maclntyre

Student(s): George McCallion,

Christopher Nash, Conor Quinn Title: Solar Desalination: Conditions

Which Maximise Operational Efficiency School : St Joseph's Secondary School, Co. Londonderry Teacher : James Campbell Stand No.2165 Student (s): Kenneth Fuller,

Neil Coughlan , Mbowtosz Lewdndowski Tide: Self adjusting headlamps for naeased safety while driving at night Sdwol : Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford TNdrer: David King

School: Choldise Cholmcille, Co. Donegal Teacher: Margaret Bonner Stand No.2202 Student(s): Robert Cast

Stand No.2254 Student(s): Con Quigley, Matthew Long Title: Neodymium magnets - their use and benefit in sports footwear

Title: The card for Life

School: Coldiste Chriost Ri, Co. Cork

School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Tina Reynolds Reynolds

Teacher: Susan O'Connell Stand No.2255 Student(s): Aran Hennessy,

Graeme Stapleton Title: SMS - see message straight School: Coldiste Mhuire, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Valerie Bergin

Stand No.2261 Student(s): Ryan O'Rourke, Declan Carville Title: Holistic carseat safety School: Christian Brothers (Abbey) Grammar School, Co. Down Teacher: Mark Rodgers

Stand No.2262 Student(s): Catherine Upton, Barbara McMahon, Dermot Considine Title: A wireless vehicle signal operating system

School: Desmond College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Donal Enright

Students Chemical , Physical & Mathematical Junior Individual Stand No.3001 Student(s): Niamh McGowan Title: Lactose Breakdown School: St Mary's College, Co. Londonderry Teacher: Ann Blanking

Stand No . 3002 Student(s): Sarah Jane Scully Title: The Colour Purple

School: St Mary's College, Co. Londonderry Teacher: Ann Blanking

Stand No.3003 Student(s): Oengus Harding Smith

Title: Analysis of the strength and shelf life of pycrete and its use as a reuseable cool-box School: Clonakilty Community College, Co. Cork

Teacher: Patrick O'Keeffe Stand No.3004 Student(s): Siofra Dempsey Title: If water is clear why is snow white?

School: St Joseph of Cluny, Co. Dublin Teacher: Una Quirke Stand No.3005 Student(s): Killian Farrell Title: An analysis of past lottery results and system(s) for maximising your chances

School: Tpmpleogue College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Una Keenan

Stand No.3006 Student(s): Henrik Bruesecke

Stand No . 3011 Student(s): Eileen O'Donovan Title: Magnetic fields and counter

ma g netic fields School: Ardscoil Phobal Bheanntrai, Co . Cork Teacher: Cornelia Kelleher

Junior Group Stand No.3050 Student(s): Shona Mulligan, Niamh McDonnell

Title: How the factors affect the bounce height of a ball School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney Stand No.3051 Student(s): Connor White, Mark Dunne

Title: The viscosity of oil School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Audrey Byrne Stand No.3052 Student(s): Hugh Barlow, Thomas Carr Title: Biodiesel-fuel of the future today

School: Coldiste An Spioraid Naoimh, Co. Cork Teacher: Gerry Hyde Stand No.3053 Student(s): Martha Fitzgerald, Sinead McDonagh Title: Thermal insulation School: Loreto College, St Stephens

Title: An analysis of weather patterns

Green, Dublin

in maritime and continental regions School: St Columba's Comprehensive School , Co . Donegal Teacher: Kathleen Molloy

Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.3054 Student(s): Stephen Joyce, Cormac Duffy Title: Water rocketry

Stand No . 3007 Student(s): Craig English

Title: Natures glue a safer alternative School: Balbriggan Community College, Co . Dublin Teacher: Theresa Gannon

School: Ennis Community College, Co. Clare Teacher: Liam Fitzgerald

Stand No.3060 Student(s): Craig Flynn , Corey O'Neill, Craig Barnes Title: Lucky goals - use of aspects of math's to give an advantage in sport

School: St Laurence College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Tony Mc Gennis Stand No.3061 Student(s): Sarah Madden, Orfhlaith Brennan Title: A bright idea

School: Loreto Secondary School, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Brendan Williams

Stand No.3062 Student(s): Laura Gaffney, Kayla Flynn,

Nicola O'Donoghue Title: The maths of Pine Cones School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin

Intermediate Individual Stand No.3100 Student(s): Antonia Virovska

Title: Bio-Fuels? Could ingredients from your kitchen save you money at

Teacher: Maria Sheehan

School: St Caimin ' s Community School, Co. Clare

Stand No.3101 Student(s): Simon Yeates Title: An investigation on the

School: Our Ladys College, Co. Louth Teacher: Frances O'Regan

Stand No.3056 Student(s): Orlagh Keenan, Lorna Cudmore, Emilie McCarthy

Stand No.3102 Student(s): John Tabirca

Stand No . 3009 Student(s): Muireann Nic Charthaigh Title: A comparative study of Irish

Title: Water withching - how does water

Title: Forgotten Irish geometry

School: Coldiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Mairtin O'Riordain

Stand No . 3010 Student(s): Cormac Manning Title: To infinity and beyond!

School: Ballincollig Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Carmel Arslan

Stand No.3057 Student(s): Clooagh Cremen, Sarah Malone Title: Become hair care aware School: St Dominic's High School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Paul Nugent Stand No.3058 Student(s): Michael Coleman, Colin Lyons, Michael McCormick Title: Meirgid agus leachtanna eagsGla

School: Coldiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Una Ni Chumhaill

Stand No.3106 Student(s): Mary Ahern Title: Hanging by a thread School: St Mac Dara's Community

College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Una Clarke Stand No.3107 Student(s): Martin Larkin Title: What makes a good paper aeroplane design?

School: Scoil Dara, Co. Kildare Teacher: Darragh Mc Moreland Stand No.3108 Student(s): Abdusalam Abubakar Title: An Extension of Wiener's Attack

on RSA School: Synge Street CBS, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jim Cooke

Stand No.3109

School: Synge Street CBS, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jim Cooke

properties and effects of Acid Rain School: Sutton Park School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Catherine Tattersall

and Scottish traditional music using advanced computer analysis

application to a series of Games School: Ursuline Secondary School, Co. Cork Teacher: Bernard Carr

Stand No.3063 Student(s): Harriet Walsh, Cathy Maher Title: Braces can save your life School: Alexandra College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Niamh Mc Shane

Stand No.3055 Student(s): Daniel Byrne, Ruairi Kelly Title: Natural fibre insulation vs. synthetic

divining really work?

School: Newbridge College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Dermot Walsh

Title: Fibonacci type sequences and their

Student(s): Ardit Kroni Title: Infinite product expansions

the petrol pump?

School: Catholic University School,

Stand No.3105 Student(s): Maeve Devine

Teacher: Sheila Porter

Co. Dublin Teacher:. Ruth Hickey

tolkien and rowling

14

Title: Weight distribution school bags

School: Moyle Park College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Keith Quinn

insulation

Stand No . 3008 Student(s): Casey Katie Title: Mathematical patterns in

Stand No.3059 Student(s): Joshua O'Loughlin, Meadhbh Heagney, Caoimhe Gowran

- some new contributions on an old salmon theorem School: St Peter ' s Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: John Beechinor

Stand No.3103 Student(s): Nicola O'Carroll Title: Which nappy is most absorbent?

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.3104 Student(s): Doireann Roantree Title: Can you predict the weather through cloud formations School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.3110

Student(s): Richard O'Shea Title: A study of testa coils and their effects on their surroundings School: Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Co. Cork Teacher: Sean Foley

Stand No.3111 Student(s): Katie Moore

Title: An investigation into the efficiency of water filters on the market School: Ashbourne Community School, Co. Meath Teacher: Ailish Mullen Stand No.3112 Student(s): Robin Grindrod Title: The effect of solar activity on wireless communication

School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Co. Clare Teacher: Sean Murphy

Stand No.3113 Student(s): Ryan Nicholls Title: Teflon transfer in cooking School: Mayfield Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Liam Begley Stand No.3114 Student(s): David Naughton Title: The potential application of

electrocoagulation as a waste water treatment method School: John The Baptist Community School, Co. Limerick Teacher: Mary Sheehan Teacher: Ann Blanking

Intermediate Group Stand No.3150 Student(s): Sharmin Rahman, Rachel Kelly Title: The lo down on salt School: St Mary's College, Co . Londonderry Teacher: Ann Blanking Stand No.3151 Student(s): Jade Healy, Rachel Doherty Title: Grass 4 Gas

School: St Mary's College, Co. Londonderry

Teacher: Ann Blanking Stand No.3152 Student(s): All Logue, Catherine Gaffney Title: Chocolate by design School: Loreto Convent, Co. Donegal Teacher : Susan Kenny

Stand No.3153 Student (s): Aoife O'Donnell, Roisin Friel Title: Alteration of evaporation process School: Loreto Convent, Co. Donegal

Teacher : Susan B. Kenny Stand No.3154 Student(s): Justin Polley, Brendan Desmond Title: Finding the sweet spot School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork

Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan Stand No.3155 Student(s): Joyce Bartley, Catherine Wolfe

Title: The ebbs and flows of tidal patterns School : Colaiste Choilm , Co . Cork Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan Stand No.3156 Student( s): Laila Beshir, Oyinlola Dada

Title: The physics and mathematics of tumblin g toast School: Our Ladys College , Co . Louth Teacher: Frances O'Regan

Stand No.3162 Student(s): Ellie Townsend,

Lisa O'Sullivan , Sinead McLoughlin Title: How easy is it for a human to make up a random number?

School: Colaiste Choilm , Co. Cork Teacher: Fiona O'Sullivan

Stand No.3173 Student(s): Dara Clifford, Michael

Stand No.3203

McGrath, Mathew McDermott

Title: Automating & therefore simplifying the difficult decision in life

Title: Waiting for the lights to go out School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey

Paula McDonald Title: Radiation: Is ignorance bliss?

School: Loreto Secondary School, Co. Kilkenny

Teacher: Brendan Williams

Stand No.3174

Student(s): Patrick Kerr

Student(s): Aine Nic Fhloinn, Catherine Nic Fhloinn, Elaine Ni Fhioruisce Title: Simpsons ruse vs. pick theorem -

Title: To investigate Acoustic band gaps and phononic crystals School: Our Lady's Secondary School,

which method is best for determining the area of an irregular shape School: Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal

Co. Monaghan Teacher: James Brophy

Teacher: Susan Niloinsigh

Bernadette Fox Title: From plain paper to paper plane:

Stand No.3175 Student(s): Louise Moore, Claudia Martin, Holly O'Grady

School: Newbridge College, Co. Kildare

Title: An investigation into the use of

Stand No.3206 Student(s): John O'Callaghan

how to build the perfect paper Jet School: St Mary's High School, Co. Down Teacher: John Mc Auley

Stand No.3165 Student(s): Anna Hunter , Sarah O' Brien ,

zeolite to absorb gas emissions from combustion of fuels School: Sutton Park School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Catherine Tattersall

Title: Could carbon nanotubes be a potential material for use in medical science School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Lorraine Mc Cool

Stand No.3176

Stand No.3166

Teacher: Jennifer Simmons

Student(s): Kevin Dardis , Alex McGuirk , Conor Delaney Title: The Physics of the Trebuchet

Stand No.3177 Student(s): Aoife Crawley, Avril Colfer,

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney Stand No.3167 Student(sl: Jonathon Taaffe , Chris Collins , Sean O' Riordan Title: Testin g different fruits and fruit

juices for vitamin C content School: Ardscoil Ui Urmoltaigh , Co. Cork

Stand No.3207

Student(s): Alex Fitzgerald Title: Are advertisements on radio broadcast at a louder volume than

Title: On the Tips of your Fingers

School: Mount Sackville Secondary School , Co. Dublin

Eimear Dalton

Title: The solubility of painkillers and the speed at their effectiveness

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No . 3178 Student(s): Roisin Sheridan,

Teacher: John O'Sullivan

Michelle Ohare, Stacey Donohoe Title: Effect of heat on paint

Stand No . 3168

Teacher: Michelle Rogan

School: Loreto College, Co. Cavan

Teacher: John O'Sullivan

Title: Investigating rocket

Co . Kildare Teacher : Rachel Linney

Stand No.3169

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Sodent (s): Nicole Lynch ,

Aofe White , Terri McLaughlin Tde•. The age factor School: St Mary's College , Co. Londonderry Teacher: Ann Blanking good No3161 Soudent(s): Craig Donovan, Sseplrcn Landers , Eoin Redmond Tde: brvestigation into the prevention of

â– eatherig effects of acid rain Sdwoh: Salesian College , Co. Kildare Tardier Sinead Greene

School: Davis College, Co. Cork

Rachel Manning, Orla Fox

Mark Dawson

Shard No . 3160

Title: Runoff v rainfall at lackandarra - a two year study

Student(s): Katie O'Neill,

School: Ardscoil Ui Urmoltaigh, Co. Cork

OSullleabhain , Elaine Ni Raghallaigh Tide: The math's of origami School: Colaiste Choilm , Co. Cork Teacher. Karina Lyne

Teacher: Anne Marie Davis

Teacher: Aodhan Bohane

Laura Anne Kelly

Stand No.3179 Student(s): Karl McManus, Ken Byrne,

Student (s): Laoise Ni Bhriain

Stand No.3205 Student(s): Eimhin Loftus Title: Cracking katydid sequences

Stand No.3164 Student(s): Lyn Hickey , Nicole McGovern ,

Title: Sliotar Aerodynamics

Stand No . 3159

School: St Josephs College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Martina Farrell

Stand No.3204 Stand No.3163 Student(s): Ciara Carroll, Chloe Hitchcock,

Stand No.3157 Student(s): Graham Murray, Joe Ajayi, Eoghan Dunne Title: How is your kicking power determined School : Confey Community College,

Stand No.3158 Student(s): Graham Toomey, Donal O'Sullivan Tide : Diet Coke & Mentos School : Salesian College , Co. Kildare Teacher: Sinead Greene

Student( s): Alena Blizhnikova

normal programmes?

School: Summerhill College, Co. Sligo Teacher: John Mc Getrick

Senior Group Stand No.3250 Student( s): Mark Brennan , Mark Grennan Title: Nitrates in our water , School: Scoil Chonglais, Co. Wicklow

Teacher: Eileen Gallagher Stand No.3251 Student(s): Fiona McCaffrey, Christina Fox Title: Extraction of oil from broccoli School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Ede[ Mc Phelim

Student( s): Darren Hickey, Sean

McCarthy, Michael Minihane

propulsion systems Student(s): Jonathon Flood, Aaron Keogh , David Acres Title: A study of noise emitted from

Wind Farms School: Abbey Community College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Mairead Lennon Stand No.3170 Student(s): Andrea Doherty, Julie McDwyer, Aisling Mills

Title: Don't be a drip !!! What's in a drop????

School: Loreto Convent, Co. Donegal Teacher: Susan Kenny Stand No.3171 Student(s): J J Lennon, David Mullally, Niall Dunphy Title: Biodiesel driving us into the future!!!

School: Grennan College , Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Caitriona Grace

Stand No.3172 Student( s): Ian O 'Connell,

Stephen Rynne, Robert Conway Title: The flight of the fris-bee School: Terenure College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Tom Hughes

Senior Individual Stand No.3200 Student(s): Aoife McGovern Title: A scientific comparison of two flutes School: Holy Family Secondary School, Co. Kildare Teacher: John Cullen

Stand No.3252 Student(s): Padraig 0 Conbhui, Peadar 0 Lachtnain Title: Na hEifeachtai Gireasc6pacha Agus Aeridinimici6la I mBrimaranganna School: Colaiste Eoin, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Stiofan 0 Breacain Stand No.3253 Student(s): Keith Geoghegan, David McArdle, Robert Conlon

Title: The extraction of caffeine from beverages School: De La Salle Secondary School,

Co. Louth Teacher: Cara Mc Adam Stand No.3254 Student(s): Katie Bell, Lynn McGregor,

Stand No.3201 Student(s): Stefan Triffo

Jayne Mannion Title: Observation of sunspots

Title: Latin cubes and magic cubes

School: Confey Community College,

School: Synge Street CBS, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jim Cooke

Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Stand No.3202 Student(s): Laura Sims Title: Mobile phone signal strengths

Stand No.3255

and topography

School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare Teacher: John Sims

Student(s): Jack Long, David Harrold, Emma Cronin Title: A Further study into the use

of Chicken litter as a renewable energy source School : Hazelwood College, Co. Limerick

Teacher: Michelle Herbert

Stand No.3256 Student(s): Niamh Watters, Niamh Kenneally, Aisling Parke Title: Using Mobile technology to test safety of Microwave Ovens School: Ursuline College, Co. Sligo Teacher: Anthony Carolan

Stand No.3257 Student(s): Blathnaid Watters, Shana Grogan, Clara Farrell Title: A pressure sensing approach to the investigation of Peroxide decomposition on bovine liver

School: St. Alibe's School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Kieran O'Dwyer

Stand No.3258 Student(s): Lucy Doyle, Catherine Kelly, Ryan Claire

Title: The effect of alcohols on the electrodeposition of copper at carbon electrodes School: St. Alibe's School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Kieran O'Dwyer Stand No.3259 Student(s): Niamh McDonough, Aisling O'Grady, Aisling Walsh Title: Using lasers to measure small distances

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Stand No.3260 Student(s): Sharon Hickey, Katie Maher, Joanna Butcher Title: Pardon?... The level of sound emitted from the ear phones of MP 3 players & potential hearing damage School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Audrey Byrne Stand No.3261 Student(s): Paul Myler, Ciaran O'Sullivan, Neill Rafter Title: The killing actuarial algorithm of death on Irish roads

School: Castleknock College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Colin Townsend

Students Social & Behavioural Science Junior Individual

Junior Group

Stand No.4001 Student(s): Nathan Feeney Title: The impact of the school tuck shop School: Community School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Marie O'Conghaile

Stand No.4050 Student(s): Eilis Maguire, Gersha Enright Title: Effect of various activities on human reaction times School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Carol O'Donovan

Stand No.4002 Student(s): Katy Mullins Title: A Statistical study of the effects of hairstyles on perceptions of personal character School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Crowley Stand No.4003 Student(s): Ruaidhri Samuel-Maher Title: Morning lark vs. night owl School: Ardscoil Rath lomghain, Co. Kildare Teacher: Fiona Searing Stand No.4004 Student(s): Sophie Dalton Title: Refreshingly honest School: Villiers Secondary School, Co. Limerick Teacher: Dermot O'Hanlon Stand No.4005 Student(s): Fatimah Alaya Kenny Title: Integration

School: The Teresian School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Rebecca James Stand No.4006 Student(s): Ross Dowd Title: The best way to study School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Ruth Hickey Stand No.4007 Student(s): Gorana Jelovina Title: Role of grandparents School: Hartstown Community School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Sean Fitzmaurice

Stand No.4051 Student(s): Sam McGlynn, Patrick Costello Title: Safer routes to school?

School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Ruth Hickey Stand No.4052 Student(s): Andrew Dullea, Aaron O'Donovan Title: MP3 nation: a study of the effects of mp3 players on the users

interaction with the environment School: Clonakilty Community College, Co. Cork Teacher: Patrick O'Keeffe Stand No.4053 Student(s): Roisin Kelly, Aoife Molloy Title: Are poems with lots of rhythm rhyme and different sound devices easier to learn than those written

School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim Stand No.4054 Student(s): Maria Murphy, Jenny Kavanagh Title: Does your appearance affect people's perspective of you?

School: St Joseph Of Cluny, Co. Dublin Teacher: Deirdre Smith Stand No.4055 Student(s): Isabel Ghose, India McGlynn Title: Red For Go School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.4056 Student(s): Robert Carr, Evan Burke Title: Optical Illusions does it trick one side of the brain more than the other?

School: Clonkeen College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Maire Duffy

W

Stand No.4057 Student(s): Ruth O'Brien, Rachael McDermott,

Stand No.4064 Student(s): Charisse McShera, Josephine Morrissey

Stand No.4058

Title: Assess the availability and variety of after school activities for pupils (12-18 years) in specific School: Coldiste Pobail Mhichil, Co. Limerick Teacher: Deirdre O'Brien

Student(s): Cormac Singleton, Harry Walker

Stand No.4065

Title: The likeable frequency...

School: Dominican College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: John O'Brien

Title: Multicultural project School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey

Student(s): Caroline Greene, Sarah Rodgers Title: How well do we know our European neighbours?

Stand No.4059

Teacher: Anne Moy

Student(s): Sarah Rose Buckley, Mairead Jones

Title: Redheads - penetrating the Myth School: Scoil Mhuire Can Smal, Co. Cork Teacher: Anne M. Meade Stand No.4060 Student(s): Olivia Fitzgerald, Emma Fitzgerald Title: A statistical investigation into the characteristics that lead to popularity or bullying

School: Kinsale Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: John Corcoran Stand No.4061 Student(s): Rachel Malone, Keith Brady Title: Battle of the sexes ...... fish style School: Old Bawn Community School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ursula Mc Cabe

Stand No.4062 Student(s): Brian Crowley, Sean O'Rahilly Title: A Statistical study of the influence of accents on employment prospects School: Kinsale Community School,

Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Crowley Stand No.4063 Student(s): Aileen Wall-Adderly, Kathie Van Bronkhorst Title: Light Heat and Actionll School: Dominican College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: John O'Brien

School: Rosses Community School, Co. Donegal

Stand No.4066 Student(s): Philippa Cahill, Maja Todorovic Title: Assimilation of non-nationals School: Hartstown Community School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Sean Fitzmaurice Stand No.4067 Student(s): Isobel O'Reilly, Kate Hoare Title: Growing older in Ireland: Over the hill or on top of the world?

School: Christ King Girls Sec. School, Co. Cork

Teacher: Laura Walsh Stand No.4068

Student(s): Georgia Memon, Sadhbh Heneghan Title: To investigate if there is a definite link between your music taste and fashion sense School: St Dominic's High School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Aine Woods Stand No.4069 Student(s): Fiona Creed, Heather Morgan Title: The effects of skipping breakfast School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Peter Fahy Stand No.4070 Student(s): Joyce O'Reilly, Louise Murphy, Siubhan O'Malley

Title: Do subliminal messages really work?

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.4071 Student (s): Shane O ' Reilly, Luke Gleeson, Stephen Dwyer Title: Mobile Phone dependency and social consequences School: St Peter's College, Co. Wexford Teacher: Margaret Brennan

Stand No.4081 Student(s): Sarah Nolan, Ruth McMyler, Orla Quinlan Title: Teenage health kicks

Stand No.4092 Student(s): Jean Kiely, Aine Foott, Aoife Brady

School: Presentation Secondary School, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Joan Cashin

Title: A study of the transition from primary level to secondary level education School: Carrigaline Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Maura Carroll

Stand No.4072 Student(s): Jane Fallon Griffin, Sinead O'Brien, Cliodhna Bolger Title: To test the effects of isotonic drinks on athletes School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green, Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No.4082 Student(s): Ryan Force, Keith Hayes, Chris Melody Title: Toxic Teens School: Arklow Community College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Helen Corbett

Stand No.4093 Student( s): Paul Donovan, Justin Martin , Colm Gallagher Title: Ballincollig green route-transport system

Stand No.4073

Student(s): Aifric McCarthy, Alanna Eden, Kate O'Brien Title: An investigation into teenagers & parents satisfaction in single

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Michael Noales

Stand No.4083 Student (s): Rachel Bridgette, Carol Gallagher, Deirdre Swaine Title: Does colour affect the perception of taste School : Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin

gender and co-ed schools School: The Teresian School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Claire Shine

Teacher: Aisling Quirke Stand No.4084 Stand No.4074 Student(s): Jade Ni Gallach6ir, Aisling Nic Fhionnghaile, Freda Nic Oscair Trtle : Am le dul a chodladh

School : Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Una Ni Chumhaill

Student( s): Lauran Kilmartin, Clara Dolan , Sophie O'Sullivan Title: Out with the old in with the new School: The Teresian School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Claire Shine

Stand No.4085 Stand No.4075 Student(s): Shane Killeen, Karl Kendrick , Robert Kinsella Title: Texting tendonitis

School : Arklow Community College, Co. Wicklow Teacher : Helen Corbett Stand No.4076 Student(s): Rachael Ni Neighill, Danielle Ni Chnamshi , Natasha Ni Cheallaigh Tide: An bhfuil freagairt ar spreagadh mos gaiste ag cailini no buachailli School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Shane 0 Breacain Stand No.4077 Student(s): Niamh Ni Ghailin, Sorctra Ni Bhuaidhe, Dara Ni Dhugain Tar An fearr Jinn Aileacht no Fhsneamh In -athnuaite School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher. Shane 0 Breacain Star+d No.4078 Student(s): Clara Forristal, Emma Boylan, Aeig Freaney TTW. How accurate is eyewitness TAY?

Schw k Loreto College, St Stephens :teen. Dublin r.&-'rer: Sheila Porter Shad No.4079 Student (s): Leila Smith, Laura Kenny, Siheteen Perera Tyr Social networking sites: waft vs. benefit Sdrot Loreto College, Foxrock, Co. Dublin lmm*m. Carol O'Neill 1INNW No.4080 St Ome(s): Aisling Martin, Shannen O 9mm Rachel O'Connell 1fr Studying techniques: arcdi is the most effective when am" for an exam

Sdrd St Mary's Secondary School, Ca0up Harr & Nolan

Student(s): Claire O'Sullivan, Louise O'Gallagher, Annie Corrigan

Title: A comparison of amenities available to teenagers in their local area School: The Teresian School, Co.Dublin Teacher: Rebecca James Stand No.4086 Student(s): Laura Reville,

Emer Kennefick, Deirbhle Ni Chiardha Title: Changes in the birth rate School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Peter Fahy Stand No.4087 Student(s): Sara O'Sullivan, Ashline Courtney, Alina Schmidt Title: Immigrant students how they adapt School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney

Stand No.4088 Student( s): Dalian De Roiste, Andrew O ' Duill, Ciara Ni Giollabhain Title: 01 no gan ol?

School: Colaiste Choilm. Co. Cork Teacher : Donal O'Laoire Stand No.4089 Student(s): Sean Myers, Christopher McSweeney, Shannon O'Flaherty Title: A survey of mobile phones use and abuse by teenagers in my area School: Mayfield Community School, Co. Cork

Teacher: Liam Begley Stand No.4090 Student(s): Tara Doyle, Nicole Collins, Fiona Martin

Title: Bebo exposed!!!

School: Christ King Girls Sec. School, Co. Cork Teacher: Deirdre Brosnan Stand No.4091 Student(s): David Moore, Jordan Donnelly, Loin Kiely Title: Does personality type affect IQ School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Ruth Hickey

Intermediate Individual Stand No.4100 Student(s): Aishling Clancy Title: Does Ennis really need a bypass?

School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare Teacher: John Sims

Stand No.4101 Student(s): Caroline Conway Title: Experiences of Irelands teenagers: drugs, alcohol & tobacco use School: Marino College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Patricia Dalton

Stand No.4102 Student(s): Georgiana Fee Title: Public Awareness to additives in non organic and organic foods School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No.4103 Student (s): Carla Rogers

Title: Teaching theorems CD package School: St . Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim Stand No.4104 Student(s): Annette Ferguson Title: Investigate into the effectiveness of our schools healthy eating

policy one year after implementation School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Ede] Mc Phelim

Stand No.4105 Student(s): Katie-Ann McDonough Title: Primary movement and cognitive development a study of their relationship

School: Mount Sackville Secondary School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jennifer Simmons

Stand No.4106 Student(s); Sarah Clancy Title: Effects of particular foods on sleep and dream patterns School: Old Bawn Community School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ursula Mc Cabe Stand No.4107 Student(s): Lorraine Spotten Title:.doc School: Royal School Cavan, Co. Cavan Teacher: Padraic Corley Stand No.4108 Student(s): Ciaran Healy

Title: Should Bebo stay or should it go?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Joan Faherty

Stand No.4109 Student(s): Daphne Scott Title: Is a dog a mans best friend?

School: Royal School Cavan, Co. Cavan Teacher: Padraic Corley Stand No.4110 Student(s): Gear6id Conneely Title: Attitudes to Green School: Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare Teacher: John Sims Stand No.4111 Student(s): Emma Goodwin Title: The effect of toys on child development

School: Ballincollig Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: John O ' Connell Stand No.4112 Student(s): Amoolya Blisirikala Title: The influence of gender roles on group problem solving

School: Our Lady Of Mercy Secondary School, Co. Waterford Teacher: Michael Heffernan Stand No.4113 Student(s): Rebecca McMahon Title: A study of the driving behaviour of Irish motorists School: Davis College, Co. Cork Teacher: Maria White Stand No.4114 Student(s): Cathal O'Neill Title: Is bullying a factor in causing criminality School: St Kevin's CBS, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Michelle White

Stand No.4115 Student(s): Ruairi O'Conchuir Title: Investigating our biological metronome School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney Stand No.4116 Student(s): Enda Hession Title: Manners please!?

School: Catholic University School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Hickey Stand No.4117 Student(s): John Lann Title: Teenage alcohol consumption - cool or deadly?

School: Lucan Community College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Garret Campbell

Intermediate Group Stand No.4150 Student(s): Laura Tattan, Sinead Murphy, Title: Kinesics- the language of the body School: St Aloysius College, Co. Cork Teacher: William Niall Sweetnam Stand No.4151 Student( s): Margaret Perry, Katie Hickey

Title: Bebo ( an internet social network site) as a cultural phenomenon in Irish teenagers ; a qualitative and quantative study School: Mount Mercy College, Co. Cork Teacher: Margaret Teegan

1

17

Stand No.4152 Student( s ) : H aze l Quinn , Paula Sheary Title: What does your handwriting say about you?

School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green , Dublin

St an d No . 4162 Student(s): Eithne Walsh, Mairead Coleman Titl e: Out with the old in with the new

Teacher: Sheila Porter

is the new science syllabus a success School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford

Stand No . 4153 Student(s): Stephanie Deane,

Stand No.4163

Sinead Andrews Title: How the weather affects our daily f oo d intake our mood and our social interaction with those around as School: St Aloysius College, Co. Cork

Aoife Hale Title: The Bebo phenomenon School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford

Teacher: William Niall Sweetnam

Stand No.4154 St u dent(s): Jennifer Hegarty , Claire Do y le Titl e : Which wa y do we want our water?

School: Mount Sackville Secondary School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Jennifer Simmons Stand No . 4155 Student(s): Roisin Lynam,

Catherine O'Connor Title: Irelands next top teacher School: Our Lady's Bower, Co . Westmeath Teacher: Patrick Horan

Stand No . 4156 Student(s): Claire Donnelly , Ciara O'Donoghue Title: The effects of background music on concentration and memory School: Loreto College, St Stephens Green , Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No . 4157 Student(s): Ann-Marie Ryan, Ellen Conroy

Title: Memory - colour vs. black and white School: Loreto College, St Stephens G re en , Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter

Stand No . 4158 Student(s): Brian Treanor, Ste p hen Farrelly Title: The effect of music on a g rey hounds performance School: De La Salle Secondary School,

Co. Louth Teacher: Cara Mc Adam Stand No.4159 Student(s): Grainne Ni Sheasnain, Sile Ni Loingsigh

Title: Investigation of difficulties in acquiring a second language in an

Irish multi-racial environment School: Ennis Community College, Co . Clare Teacher: Elaine Daly

Teacher: David King

Student(s): Nancy O ' Hanrahan,

Stand No.4175 Student(s): Caoimhe McDonnell, Aoife Carroll Title: Does cheese give you nig h tmares ?

School: Loreto Abbey Secondary Sc h oo l ,

Teacher: David King

Stan d N o. 4164 Student(s): Cathy Gilmartin, Dearbhla Cantwell Title: The changing faces of Loreto College Cavan School: Loreto College, Co. Cavan

Stand No.4176 St u dent(s): Roisin O'Neill , Lisa O'Shea Title: Do people whose faces conform to the golden achieve more in life?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney

Teacher: Carmel Gaffney

Stand No.4165 Student(s): Michael Judge, Issac Bennett Title: Investigating the cheapest

alternate to oil or gas to heat our homes School: Cistercian College, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Michael O'Connor Stand No.4166 Student(s): Naomi De Lasa, Freya Nic Sheoin

Title: An bhfuil aimsir na hEireann chomh dona is a cheapann muid?

School: Colaiste losagain , Co. Dublin Teacher: Orla de Bhailis Stand No.4167 Student(s): Clara O'Reilly, Louise Spellacy Title: Junior night - a media frenzy School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michael Moriarty

Stand No.4168 Student(s): Ciara Glover, Laura Cooley

Title: The effects of healthy eating and a fitness regime on transition year students School: Dominican College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Lorraine Mc Cool

Stand No.4169 Student(s): Peter Roche, Ben Shaffery Title: Patterns in Poker

School: St Marys College, Co. Dublin Teacher: John Nisbet Stand No.4170 Student (s): Megan Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, Billy Lingwood

Title: Staidear of an bru a chuireann drongai ar deagoiri School: Colaiste Daibheid, Co. Cork Teacher: Sean Finn

Stand No.4171 Student(s): Coln O'Leary, Stephen Collins Title: A sport to encourage overweight or

unfit people to become fit and lose weight. The eternal game School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney

Title: Fine tune your concentration School: Loreto Convent , Co. Donegal Teacher: Susan B . Kenny

Stand No.4172 Student(s): Lorna Buttimer, Leah Kearney

18

Co. Dublin

Title: The cost of being a teenager School: Bandon Grammar School, Co. Cork

Teacher: Carena Mullins Stand No.4173 Student(s): Elizabeth Harrington, Sarah Quinlan Title: Is political correctness political cowardice?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney

Stand No.4185 Student(s): Rachel Fallon, Niamh Nestor, Aimee M c C onn Title: Why diet? Just sleep!

School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

Teacher: Sean Fitzmaurice

Dalkey, Co. Dublin Teacher: Naomi Lowe

Stand No . 4160 Student(s): Orlaith Tunney , Rachel Mulpeter

Stand No . 4161 Student(s): Clara Johnson, Adrian Clarke Title: Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), a growing problem in teenagers?

School: Colaiste Mhuire, Co. Sligo Teacher: Maura Cullinan

Stand No.4174 Student(s): Eibhlin Malone, Katie Moran O'Neill Title: Self esteem and friendship qu alit y in adolescents School: Hartstown Community School,

Stand No-4177 Student( s): Ronan Clancy, Shane Walsh Title: Experimental!!

School: St Colman ' s Community Co ll ege, Co. Cork Teacher: Siobhan O ' Connor Stand No - 4178 Student(s): Daniel White, Michelle Savage, Katie Boyle Title: Measuring your taste threshold School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney Stand No . 4179 Student(s): Kevin Mooney, David Heraty, Maeve Henry Title: What genre is best for music School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney Stand No.4180 Student(s): Siobhan Tully, Amanada McLoone Title: Are us girls making all the effort ?

School: ScoilMuire gan Sma l ,

Co . Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No.4181 Student(s): Roisin McManus,

Nainsi Corcoran, Martha Hoare Title: Peer pressure - is it gender related?

School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No.4182 Student(s): Lorraine Carty, Ell en McDermott, Caitriona R egan Title: The effects our society has on

the environment School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No.4183 Student(s): Karen Fetherstone, Melissa Carroll Title: The perception of mental disabilities: Girl ' s vs. Boy ' s School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No.4184 Student(s): Orla Galvin, Brid Kelly, Elaine Neilan

Title: Brain Food School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

Stand No.4186 Student(s): Siobhan Ormsby, Anna McCormack, Aisling Lannon Title: Teenage spending

trends-continued School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow Stand No. 4187 Student(s): Liam Murphy, Tim Logan, Jack Hurley Title: Subliminal messaging : what is it?, how does it affect us?

School: St Conleths College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Liam Murphty Stand No.4188 Student(s): David Lane, Stephen Neville, Brian Nolan

Title: A study of Sudoku School: Douglas Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Cian O ' Mahony Stand No.4189

Student(s): Andrew Murtagh, Darren Johnston, Jack Casey Title: Are teenagers reliable eyewitnesses?

School: Douglas Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Clan O ' Mahony Stand No.4190 Student(s): Lisa Johnson, Emma Kirk, Sinead Kavanagh Title: How bad is traffic congestion on the Goatstown Road?

School: Our Ladys Grove, Co. Dublin Teacher: Siobhan Kelly Stand No.4191 Student(s): Naomi Algeo, Sian Breathnach, Kelly Barrett

Title: Issues raised with the Bebo craze School: Our Lady's Bower, Co. Co Westmeath Teacher: Patrick Horan Stand No.4192 Student(s): Eugene McArdle, Aaron O'Connor, Conor Myers Title: To Corn flake or not to Corn flake School: De La Salle Secondary School, Co. Louth Teacher: Cara Mc Adam Stand No.4193 Student(s): Christopher McArdle, Daragh Connolly, Leonardo Gallagher Title: Did part-time work affect leaving certificate results 2006 in Dundalk

School: De La Salle Secondary School, Co. Louth

Teacher: Cara Mc Adam Stand No.4194 Student( s): Seanagh Glynnmartin, Sinead Fox, Amy Harte Title: To investigate if people's handwriting can tell their personality School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim

Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim

Stand No.4195 Student(s): Cliodhna Ni Ghuidhir, Claire Ni Choigligh, Imogen Ni Riain Title: Memes; stronger than instinct?

School: Colaiste losag6in, Co. Dublin Teacher: Orla de Bhailis Stand No.4196 Student(s): Catherine Murnane, Odharnait Lambe, Clare Dunne Title: Remember This.......

School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.4197 Student(s): Christiane O'Farrell, Fiona O'Sullivan, Tomoyo Kosikizawa Title: How fashion impacts the behaviour of people around us School: Our Ladys Grove, Co. Dublin Teacher: Siobhan Kelly Stand No.4198 Student(s): Doireann Eves, Laura Adams, Laura Brady Title: Is your phone frying your brain School: St Wolstan's Community School, Co. Kildare Teacher: Margaret Bonner Stand No.4199 Student(s): Roisin Foran, Clementine Curtin, Kate Gallagher Title: The changes in life expectancy in Ireland overthe last century School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.4200 Student(s): Aisling Kelly, Stephanie Broderick, Emer O'Herlihy Title: How effective interactive whiteboards are in the Education of the deaf/hearing impaired students School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Sheila Porter Stand No.4201 Student(s): Joseph Harkin, Phillip Clucas, Niall Gaffney Title: The effects of rural renewal schemes on the community of Dromahair in North Leitrim School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim Stand No.4202 Student(s): Darina Storey, Michelle O'Dea Title: I can hear it in your voice School: St Wolstan's Community School, Co. Kildare Teacher: Louise Ward Stand No.4203 Student(s): Hannah Boles, Shauna Crowely, Mairead Vesey Title: Does the moon really affect peoples ' behaviour?

School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School, Co. Leitrim Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim

Stand No.4206 Student(s): Ferdia Dwane, Kieran Gleeson, Aaron Noonan Title: A study into the prevalence of depersonalisation/ derealisation as a symptom of depression in teenagers School: Douglas Community School, Co. Cork Teacher: Cian O'Mahony Stand No.4207 Student(s): Laura Samuels, Staci Wykes, Michelle Quinn Title: Life through a colour blind eye School: Loreto College, Co. Westmeath Teacher: James Mc Grath Stand No.4208 Student(s): Aisling Patton, Jennifer Dunne, Lorraine Hume Title: Testing the accuracy of eyewitness accounts School: Our Ladys Grove, Co. Dublin Teacher: Siobhan Kelly Stand No.4209 Student(s): Tracey McKeon, William Jones, Michelle Linnane Title: The primary school project-socially aware?

School: Moyne Community School, Co. Longford Teacher: Louise Killian Stand No.4210 Student(s): Tanya Smith, Charlene Finnegan, Aisling Moore Title: AIDS education: does it dispel the myths and misconceptions?

School: St Aidans Comprehensive School, Co. Cavan Teacher: Joanne Corbett Stand No.4211 Student(s): Catherine O'Keeffe, Michael Mitchell, Jack Rawlings Title: How the government will save your life School: Presentation College, Co. Galway Teacher: Karol Mortimer Stand No.4212 Student(s): Kevin Maguire, James Daly, Redmond Arigho Title: Human Attractions School: Moate Community School, Co. Westmeath Teacher: Alannah O'Shea Stand No.4213 Student(s): Aindri6 0 Huiginn, Michael Gallen, Eoin McElroy Title: Ag Caitheamh Tobac agus Emphysema School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Micheal 0 giob6in Stand No.4214 Student(s): Creidhe Ni Dhubhshlaine Aoibheann Ni Chathail, Eilis Gelera Title: Cath na Gneas School: Colaiste Chilliain, Co. Dublin Teacher: Ruth Ni Mhuiri

Stand No.4204 Student (s): Philip Rooney, Robert Murray, Paul Quinn Tide: The health effects of living dose to a landfill site School: Patrician College, Co. Dublin Teacher. Denise O'Farrell

Stand No.4215 Student(s): Christine O'Gorman, Suzanne Large, Aisling Maher Title: Cancer - facts made easy School: Presentation Secondary School, Co. Tipperary Teacher: Trish 0' Callaghan

Stand No.4205 Student(s): Zara Coughlan, Jordan Edmonds -Moore, Sarah Cahill Td Study of the effect of religious brief on the adolescent Scrod: Colaiste Chiarain , Co. Limerick Teadrer Rosina Dillon

Stand No.4216 Student(s): Lauren Quinn, Lisa Nolan, Zara Bolger Title: What shampoo to use School: Mount Sackville Secondary School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Grainne Boland

Stand No.4217 Student(s): Julie Dorgan, Aisliing Howard, Hannah Tarrant Title: Eye witness accounts; reliable or not?

School: Loreto Abbey Secondary School, Dalkey, Co. Dublin Teacher: Karen Clarke Stand No.4218 Student(s): Niall Ahearne, Donal Barry, Thomas O'Donoghue Title: The scientific study of the Mozart effect School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford Teacher: David King Stand No.4219 Student(s): David Hansberry, Aisling Finn, Ailbhe Costello Title: It's not all about Blades School: Calasanctius College, Co. Galway Teacher: Kathleen tally Stand No.4220 Student(s): Fergal Keaney, Kevin Kilcoyne, Alan Jacobsen Title: Its all in the sports bottle School: Calasanctius College, Co. Galway Teacher: Helen Van Eesbeck Stand No.4221 Student(s): Maeve O'Mahony, Aoife Rath Cullimore, Jodi Walsh Title: A comparative study of teenagers knowledge of s.t.i.s in Ireland, Germany, England & U.S.A. School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford Teacher: David King Stand No.4222 Student(s): Conor McDermott, Ronan Martin, Ian Carolan Title: To investigate the impact of violent video games on teenagers School: Patrician High School, Co. Monaghan Teacher: John O'Rourke Stand No.4223 Student(s): Amy Couch, Kate Kearney, Mary O'Callaghan Title: To investigate the different similar strengths between males and females in sport School: North Presentation, Co. Cork Teacher: Eileen Riordan Stand No.4224 Student(s): Aiveen Finn, Harriet Ryan, Caitrin O'Leary Title: Driver theory test - does it really work?

School: Alexandra College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Niamh Mc Shane Stand No.4225 Student(s): Matthew Neely, Jesse Coyle, Darragh McGowan Title: Malleable Memory School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Micheal 0 giob6in Stand No.4226 Student(s): Claire Nic lolbhain, Seana Ni Mhaolmhuaidh, Nadine Ni Mhoaldomhnaigh Title: Dearcadh chuig marthanoiri ailse School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Micheal 0 giob6in Stand No.4227 Student(s): Colleen Norris, Janice Sheridan, Alison Kenny Title: The secret of happiness School: Moyne Community School, Co. Longford Teacher: Louise Killian

Stand No.4228 Student(s): Gemma Shine, Eleni Henry, Lena Schultz Title: Why wash your hands??

School: St Killian's Deutsche Schule, Co. Dublin Teacher: Fiona Martin Stand No.4229 Student(s): Maeve Ni Chearnilain, Olive Nic Eachmarcaigh, Cliona Ni Mhaoltuile Title: An Eifeacht Stroop School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Micheal 0 giobuin

Stand No.4230 Student(s): Christina Hyland-Creamer, Jomi Krobb, Michael Walsh Title: Do sports drinks make you go 33% longer School: St Killian's Deutsche Schule, Co. Dublin Teacher: Fiona Martin Stand No.4231 Student(s): Louise McMahon, Aoife Kavanagh, Michelle O'Connor Title: Rural versus urban!.

How eco-friendly are we?

School: Laurel Hill Secondary School FCJ, Co. Limerick Teacher: Miriam Hamilton Stand No.4232 Student(s): Adam Moursy, Dermot Robinson, Adrian Doyle Title: Organic - factor fiction School: Bandon Grammar School, Co. Cork Teacher: Carena Mullins Stand No.4233 Student(s): Jason Broderick, Shane Taylor, Daniel Hogan Title: Playstation players desenstitised to real life violence School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney Stand No.4234 Student(s): Niamh Ni Loinsigh, Aoife Nic Hoillte, Roisin Ni Chonghaile Title: Mental chess-an aid to memory storage and retrieval School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney Stand No.4235 Student(s): Aoife Conway, Sive Charles, Hannah Callaghan Title: To investigate whether stimulating left or right hemisphere helps improve exam performance School: Loreto College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Helen Hennessy Stand No.4236 Student(s): Padraig Heavin, Ann Marie Carroll, Catherine Donohoe Title: Lil high/lil low (to investigate diabetes) School: Moate Community School, Co. Westmeath Teacher: Angela Keenan

Senior Individual

Stand No.4300 Student(s): Marc Atkinson Title: Creativity in the classroom: using drama as a learning tool School: Castletroy College, Co. Limerick Teacher: Lisa Kiely

9

Stand No.4301 Student(s): Michelle Coyle Title: A further statistical analysis of the sleeping patterns of an average teenager

School: St. Clare's Comprehensive School.

Co. Leitrim Teacher: Edel Mc Phelim Stand No.4302 Student(s): Grainne Walsh Title: A study of gender equality in second level schools and the resulting impact on classroom interaction School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford Teacher: David King Stand No.4303 Student(s): Lauren O'Connell Title: A statistical analysis of the

Senior Group Stand No.4350 Student(s): Maea Lenei Buhre, Sorina Fagadar

Title: The sleeping habits of Dublin teenagers School: St Louis High School, Co. Dublin Teacher: Lorraine Galvin Stand No.4351 Student(s): Michael Kelleher, Jack O'Connor

Title: Does brain training increase your brain power!

School: St Kieran's College, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Eileen Hanrick Stand No.4352 Student(s): Gavin Ryan, Brian Cannon

opinions of adolescents to Religion Death the Afterlife the Divine and the Supernatural School: St Columba's College, Co. Dublin

Title: That 70's project

Teacher: Humphrey Jones

Stand No.4353

Stand No.4304 Student(s): Peter Hunt Title: the physical sciences crisis in schools School: St Anne's Community College, Co. Clare Teacher: Angela Halley Stand No.4305 Student(s): Conor Purcell Title: Burning issue! Examining incineration as part of an integrated solution to our waste management problem

School: St Eunan's College, Co. Donegal Teacher: Marie Kelly Stand No.4306 Student(s): Simileoluwa Oladeinde Title: The effect of diet on concentration

School: St Peter's College, Co. Meath

Co. Louth

Teacher: Siobhan Greer Stand No.4307 Student(s): Ciaran Halpin Title: Should mobile phone masts locate in a residential area - St Patricks Close- a case study School: Balbriggan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Theresa Gannon

Stand No.4308 Student(s): Aaron Creighton

Title: Has Ballincollig embraced

special needs?

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Belinda Hutchinson Stand No.4354 Student(s): Clara Ni Laoi, Meabh Ni Ghriofa Title: Na hEifeachtai ata ag pacaistiu ar Raimhreacht

School: Colaiste Chroi Mhuire An Spideal, Co. Galway Teacher: Yulando Ni Riada Stand No.4355 Student( s): Niall Farrell , Richard Craven Title: The effects of music on study: revisited School: Templeogue College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Philippa Moran Stand No.4356 Student(s): JamieTwohig, Kyle McNally Title: To prove the efficiency of the bizarre in the human memory; storage and retrieval School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Ian Mulcahy

Co. Louth

Teacher: Cara Mc Adam

Stand No.4359 Student( s): Colin Breen , Daryl Fitzsimons, Philip Brady

Title: Does listening to music affect your reaction speed School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Title: Teacher perspective on new

20

Student(s): Regina Kelly,

Claire Holohan, Claire Menton Title: Colour by numbers - an investigation into the prevalence of Synesthesia amongst young people

School: Community School, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Mary Manning

Stand No.4364 Student(s): David Griffin, Bernard

Teacher: John O'Brien

School: St Kieran's College, Co. Kilkenny

Teacher: Eileen Hanrick Stand No.4365 Student(s): Gary O'Brien , Michael Joyce, Garrett Doyle Title: The geography of life expectancy School: 0 Fiaich College, Co. Louth Teacher: Kenneth Rea Stand No.4366 Student(s): Robbie Brennan, Clare Kennedy, Claire Kennealy Title: How fit Is your brain?

School: Scoil Aireagail, Co. Kilkenny Teacher: Catherine Phelan

Stand No.4367 Student(s): Shannon-Anne Lim, Karen O'Dowd, Noelle Keilty Title: The relevance of gender in the subjects we choose School: Community School, Co. Leitrim

Teacher: Marie O'Conghaile

Student(s): Paul Kelly, Danielle Kenny, Sinead White Title: Altruism: is it gender based?

Stand No.4374 Student(s): Ruth Jacob, Clara Doyle, Amie Byrne

Title: Six sense or not six sense...

School: Dominican College, Co. Wicklow

Stand No.4375 Student(s): Stephen Donegan, Mark Birney, Shane Watson Title: Changing times in Synge Street?

School: Synge Street CBS, Co. Dublin Teacher: Michael Minnock Stand No.4376 Student(s): Stephen O'Donoghue, Jeremy Jennings, Chris Nash Title: Laws of attraction

- what women want School: Bandon Grammar School, Co. Cork Teacher: Carena Mullins Stand No.4377 Student(s): Mary Petrie, Adrienne Wheatley, Jean O'Oriscoll Title: Science finger natural runners School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Karina Lyne

Stand No.4378 Student(s): Larua Barrett, Karen Sisk, Triona Barrett Title: Smlpie sepllnig equals esay ranedig

School: Colaiste Choilm, Co. Cork Teacher: Pat Meaney Stand No.4379 Student(s): Clodagh Ni Ghallchoir, Deirdre Ni Dhubhthaigh, Roisin Ni Shearcaigh

School: Confey Community College, Co. Kildare Teacher: Rachel Linney

Title: The connection between the point

Stand No.4369

School: Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal

Student(s): Fiachra Galvin,

Niall McManus, Damien Hunt Title: The social divide between

teenagers influenced by music School: C.B.S. Roscommon, Co . Roscommon Teacher: Paul Garrahy Stand No.4370 Student(s): Simon McLean, Andrew Dickenson , Gedvis Venckus Title: To Hear or not to Hear that is the question School: Abbey Community College, Co. Wicklow Teacher: Mairead Lennon

Stand No.4360 Student(s): Grace Morris, Rioghnach O'Donnell, Lisa Forde Title: Irish-Is there a difference?

School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

Stand No.4373

Stand No.4363 Student(s): Jamie Feehily, Darren Griffin Title: Phobias-what are you afraid of?

School: Nagle Community College, Co . Cork Teacher: Sandra O'Shaughnessy

Stand No.4368 Stand No.4357 Student(s): Rory Martin , Chris Rocks, Sean Mackin Title: Teenage stress in Dundalk School: De La Salle Secondary School,

Teacher: David King

Co. Dublin

School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

McDonald, Paul Barrett

Stand No.4309 Student(s): Tony Carr Title: Is driver safety awareness compromised on Irish roads School: Balbriggan Community College, Co. Dublin

Teacher: Sean Fitzmaurice

Laura Butler, Gemma Dev i ne Title: A study on the influence bebo has on today's youth

Title: The effects of music on spatial intelligence

Stand No.4358 Student( s): Ross Hannon , P J Beer Title: What's in a name?

School: Blackwater Community School, Co. Waterford

junior cent science syllabus School: Hartstown Community School,

Teacher: Micheal 0 giobiin

Rachael Ni Scoloige

drugs are over used by under eighteens School: Balbriggan Community College, Co. Dublin Teacher: Theresa Gannon

Stand No.4310 Student(s): Lisa Gray

Stand No.4362 Student(s): Kelly Mulhern,

Student(s): Sarah Ni Mhuircheartaigh,

Title: Over the counter non-prescription

Teacher: Theresa Gannon

Stand No.4372 Student(s): Michaela Muldowney, Oisin Gill, Frank Mac Murchadha Title: An tionchar ata ag solas na greine versus solas shorga ar chumas triallacha de daoine um maidin agus trathnona School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal

Teacher: Caroline Toole

& coordination in young people

School: St Louis Secondary School,

Stand No . 4361 Student(s): Aisling Farrell , Emer Nugent Title: Reactions to humour generated by humans vs. robotic sources School: ScoilMuire gan Smal, Co. Roscommon Teacher: Padraig Harlow

Stand No.4371 Student(s): Clan O'Donnell, Seosamh 0 Baoil, Pdl 0 Gallch6ir Title: Is spatial- temporal ability affected by classical music?

School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Shane 0 Breacain

system and what's the points - early third level drop-out rate

Teacher: Susan Niloinsigh

Stand No.4380 Student(s): Aine Keating, Annie Ni Chomhaill

Title: Anduileacht Codeine in Eireann School: Colaiste Ailigh, Co. Donegal Teacher: Shane 0 Breacain

A special giant screen, some powerful projectors and not forgetting the polaroid glasses, all combine to give some amazing effects!

How does an email get to where it wants to be ? s fast enough to go around the Did you know that an email travels at well over 100 , 000 miles per second! ...that ' world 240 times in one minute ... THAT'S FAST! ... so an average email could get to its destination before you can say 'Mum where are my socks?'

We all send emails but how does your computer get your email to exactly the right address within such amazingly short times....where do they go and exactly what is going on. Its all a bit mind boggling so why not visit the BogglevisionÂŽ 3D show and get the explanation for yourself.

The show takes you on an exciting, high speed 3D journey... sending you hurtling off into the Ethernet direct from the Science Show to a mystery address somewhere on the planet earth...come on you know you want to! ...you can find your socks some other time!

Wye th Leading the Way to a Healthier Ireland Since 1974 , Wyeth has created over 3,000 jobs and has invested over â‚Ź 3 billion in Ireland

Wyeth One of the world's largest

Plants.

Employs 1,100 people.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Animal Health Employs 100 people.

Consumer Healthcare and SMA Nutrition Sales, Marketing and Full Medical Support for a wide portfoli of Wyeth Pharmaceutical and SMA Infant Nutritional Product:

Wyeth Nutritionals Ireland One of the world 's largest

Wyeth Medica Ireland

Nutritional Plants.

Manufactures SMA Baby Milk.

One of Europe 's largest Tablet Manufacturing and Finishing Plants.

Employs 550 people.

Employs 1,400 people.

Primary Science Fair

oung Scientist

I

I

The Primary Science Fair is again an important feature of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Featuring up to 40 projects per day from Primary School pupils from across Ireland, the Primary Science Fair provides the ideal platform for these children to showcase their emerging talents. And who knows, we could have a future BT Young Scientist of the Year!

Best Group Award presented by Mike Maloney, Chief Operations Officer BT and Mary Hanafin T.D. Minister for Education and Science to Keith Florea, Adrian Chisa and Sandeeo Sihag from Synge Street CBS for their project: 'Estimation of simulation error in the Kelper problem using Hodographs.'

Given the importance of science, not only for the economic well-being of the country but also for the personal development of the individual citizen, participation rates in science at second level have been a cause of concern for some time. The Primary Science Fair offers children a way to participate in a major national science event and stimulates an early interest in science.

Runner up Group Award presented by Mike Maloney, Chief Operations Officer BT and Mary Hanafin T.D. Minister for Education and Science to Vanessa McGrath, Tara McGrath and Nicola Woodgate from Presentation Secondary School, Kilkenny, for their project: 'Inventing machine Fun Triz For Kids.'

1.

7hc Uni.miry or Duhho I Tfnlry C Ii g' oil-il A,h, Uiah I Coldixre n. Trionnide

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Runner Up Individual Award presented by Mike Maloney, Chief Operations Officer BT and Mary Hanafin T.D. Minister for Education and Science, to Gohar Abbasi, Synge Street, Dublin, for his project: 'Efficient parameterisation of the binomial option pricing model.'

ARENA

The Physics of Break Dancing Break dancing is one of the most difficult, disciplined and stunning art forms. It teachs self discipline, correct body placement, strength and gracefulness. Who would guess that break dancers are actually physicists in disguise? Not too many people, but in a way they are, because they are showing us many fundamentals of physics which allow them to produce breathtaking dance masterpieces. They are performing physics at its best as they dance, leap and turn across the stage. The Physics

The cutting edge of Irish science

fo Break Dancing is supported by Discover Science & Engineering.

Introducing Physical Jerks The Physical Jerks are an established breakdance crew founded, and based in the Bristol area of England.

Drawing on over 40 years collective experience Physical Jerks are now one of Britain's top breakdance crews with an extensive history of professional experience around Europe. Renowned for style-based bboying, Physical Jerks have brought an original and dynamic touch to events including fashion shows, club nights, festivals, TV productions, charity events, school workshop + shows and teaching.

Timetable of BT Arena Shows Thursday 11th January 11.00 a . m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

12 noon

The Physics of Break Dancing

1.30 p . m.

Naturally Wild Bush Tucker Trials

2.30 p . m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

3.30 p . m.

The Physics of Break Dancing

Friday 12th January 11.00 a.m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

12 noon

The Physics of Break Dancing

1.30 p . m.

Naturally Wild Bush Tucker Trials

2.30 p .m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

3.30 p . m.

The Physics of Break Dancing

Saturday 13th January 11.00 a . m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

12 noon

The Physics of Break Dancing

1.30 p . m.

Naturally Wild Bush Tucker Trials

2.30 p . m.

The Plight of the Mountain Gorilla

3.30 p . m.

The Physics of Break Dancing

4.30 p . m.

Finals - Bush Tucker Trials

The Mi the primates . Found only in Rwanda , Uganda and the Co are only 700 in existence. This presentation, assi

gorillas. 'Dian Fuzzy' the intrepid explorer imparts valu information concerning the gorillas' habitat, habits and

e

Dale Treadwell is again hosting Naturally Wild's Bush

,^Usb Tack'1'09r T-rldN

Tucker Trials . These trials will pitch school against school, guys against girls , to find out who is Ireland 's ultimate invertebrate daredevil . Challenges will involve giant insects, gourmet grubs and more!

Over the last eight years since his move from Australia Dale has become one of the most identifiable faces in Irish Schools combining his own humourous outlook on life with a passion for interpreting Natural Science in the most hands on method . Recently Dale has become a guest presenter on Dustin's Daily News tormenting Ireland's most famous Turkey.

THE WORLD OF

SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY

IOP Institute of Physics In Ireland Have you the fastest kick? Have you been 'Radar' tested by the IOP'? Police forces around the world use a radar gun to measure car speeds. The same principle can be used to measure the speed of a struck object. Find out about the basic physics of radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging) and test the speed of your kick or throw at the IOP stand.

I rish Uni e'rr's HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY

Do you want to access a wide range of information about Science on just one website? The Science Faculties of the seven Irish Universities have developed

The Health and Safety Authority is responsible for securing health and safety at work. Young people are 50% more likely to be injured at work than older people in Ireland and approximately 60% of 15-18 year olds already work through part-time and summerjobs. Visit the HSA stand and check out what programmes and materials are available to teachers and students on safety in the workplace.

www.universityscience.ie which will save you hours researching Irish Universities; science programmes available, career and research opportunities along with other information on Science.

I Advancing the RSChemical Sciences The RSC is the largest organisation in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences.

V,

Supported by a worldwide network of members and an international publishing

1IPPERMRY

business, our activities span education, conferences, science policy and the Tipperary Institute is a dynamic third level Institute with campuses located in

promotion of chemistry to the public. We support the teaching of chemistry within

Clonmel and Thurles. TI offers HETAC accredited Honours Degree courses in

the primary, secondary and post-16 phases. Our resources and materials are sent

Business Studies, Business Studies in Information Management, Multimedia &

free to schools and colleges in the UK and Ireland.

Communications, Software Development, IT Support and Rural Development.

We encourage initiatives to attract students to the chemical sciences from all parts of Visit the Tipperary Institute stand during the Young Scientist exhibition and meet

society and raise awareness of potential careers. An advisory service and a variety of

our Student Ambassadors who will be giving computer games demos, showing

careers publications for students, parents and teachers are available. Visit us at stand

how to design and even build your own computer games, podcasting... not to

22 or contact www.rsc.org.

mention our daily competitions with great giveaways! See you at Stand No. 2 in

4

the Industries Hall, for a highly entertaining and interactive experience.

CALMAST, the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology from Waterford Institute of Technology is joined by leading healthcare The role of the Patents Office is to provide an efficient and effective system of

and pharmaceutical companies: Bausch and Lomb, Genzyme and IVAX to encourage

industrial property protection that will encourage technological progress and

the scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists of the future. This

promote enterprise through the implementation by the Office of the relevant

highly interactive stand covers most areas of science, engineering and technology.

legislation. This is to be achieved through the protection of industrial property rights in the fields of patents, trade marks and designs, and the dissemination of

To help the environment, we will be giving away thousands of broadleaf trees,

relevant information in conjunction with each of these activities.

sponsored by Coillte. www.calmast.ie

Irish Blood Transfusion Service Seirbhis FuilaistriuchAin Eireann

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service is constantly looking to recruit new blood donors . With one in four of us needing a transfusion at some point in our lives

RT The vision of RTE, Ireland's Public Service Broadcaster, is to grow the trust of the people of Ireland as it informs, inspires, reflects and enriches their lives. Ireland's Young Scientists

now is the ideal opportunity to visit our information stand and find out how you

are a very key part of our community and we hope a visit to our stand will inform you

too can become a blood donor.

about different aspects of our business.

Down Syndrome Ireland

Come along and see how a television broadcast comes to life with RTE Weather presenting live bulletins, how Met Eireann collects information for weather forecasts and the breadth of information and facilities available via our website www.rte.ie. We will also broadcast

Teachers, check out our stand in the Industries Hall and get your free teacher pack!

some of our very popular radio programmes live from the R.D.S. and RTE's News2Day will

Students, come and enter our competition for a fantastic prize! Down Syndrome

have a special feature so those at home can be inspired by what you are doing! Join us in

Ireland (DSI) tries to ensure that all individuals with Down syndrome receive the

broadcasting from the R.D.S.

support that will give them a future where their talents, skills and abilities are developed to the fullest. DSI encourages the development of inclusion in main stream education. Every year an increasing number of young students with Down syndrome are progressing to 2nd level education. Attendance at this

The Marie Keating Foundation has been established primarily to provide Breast

wonderful event is an opportunity for DSI to raise awareness and promote a

Cancer Information and Awareness free of charge to the general public throughout

positive attitude towards Down syndrome. www.downsyndrome.ie

the Republic of Ireland through three Mobile Cancer Information Units based in the

National Helpline Number: 1890 374 374

Eastern, Western and Southern regions of Ireland.

nsrc , rS9b Jt^OOSh

Companies There are currently 6 manufacturing sites operating as part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in Ireland (ALZA, Centocor, Cordis, DePuy, Janssen

26

The Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) runs Saturday, Wednesday and Summer

and Vistakon). Located in Cashel, Cork and Limerick these facilities are involved in

programmes, correspondence courses and special events for high ability students

many aspects of science as part of their processes for manufacturing bulk

aged between 6-16 years old in Dublin City University and other centres nationwide.

pharmaceuticals, contact lenses, patch drug delivery systems and knee and hip

To find out more about these courses please email: ctyi@dcu.ie or Tel: 017005634.

joints. This stand will provide you with a hands on opportunity to experience the

www.dcu.ie/ctyi

technology involved in their operations.

DfsCo\e-r The Intel stand showcases the application of Intel technology in a variety of areas. A selection Welcome to the NanoWorldl The

of programmable robots can be seen and kids can try some simple programming for

Discover Science & Engineering

themselves. Gaming is a big part of the stand this year with multi-user networked games

stand hosts a number of interactive activities related to the exciting world of

running on Intel's latest Quad Core technology. Skoool.ie, Intel's award winning education

nanotechnology. Why not visit the NanoQuest Game Lounge, make a Buckyball, experience the Three Drops nano exhibit, or make a nano tube in the K'NEX Workshop?

portal will be on-line providing access to a variety of free educational resources. Nanoscience

Discover Science & Engineering brings together many science, engineering, technology and

The stand also hosts members from the Intel Computer Clubhouse where they demonstrate

- the exciting new science of building and synthesizing at the atomic scale will be explained.

innovation awareness activities that were previously managed by different bodies, public and

how to make movies, animations and video graphics. The stand promises to be a fun

private. DSE aims to build and expand on these activities and to deliver a more focused,

interactive learning experience that will capture the imagination of the whole family.

strategic and quantifiable awareness campaign. For more information visitwww.science.ie.

ANALOG

DEVICES

The STEPS to engineering stand illustrates the exciting world of engineering with lots of interactive challenges . STEPS to engineering aims to encourage primary and

At the Analog Devices stand we aim to open your mind to the fun, interesting and downright

post-primary students to explore the world of science and engineering and to increase

weird applications of science and technology in everyday life. Play the piano with your feet,

awareness about engineering as a career choice . STEPS to engineering is an Engineers Ireland programme supported by Discover Science & Engineering , the Department of

drive a tank using a camera or pedal your way to a prize on the Bike Challenge. Things get

Education & Science , FAS and industry.

Or take a trip down Laser Alley avoiding the lasers to win some fabulous prizes.

interesting in Luminous Lane, where darkness and light combine in spectacular fashion.

PharmaChemical Ireland PharmaChemical Ireland is the trade association for the Pharmaceutical and Chemical manufacturing industry within Ireland. PharmaChemical Ireland employs a full-time education executive to promote science across the education sector, encouraging liaison Explosions, slime and more - the Science Bus is back on the road. Students in 4th, 5th

between our member companies and their local schools. Visit our stand to avail of a

or 6th class (primary school) or 1st year Secondary school, get the chance to do hands

variety of free science based resources for students and teachers.

on science experiments in a lab environment while wearing lab coats and goggles.

Some experiments are related to the curriculum, while other activities will give the children the opportunity to do pracitals they would not normally have the chance to

ista

Irish Science Teachers' Ass ociation

do in school.

The Irish Science Teachers' Association is the largest subject association in the country.

To book a slot on the bus at the BT young Scientist exhibition please visit the ge

'Discover Science and Engineering' stand.

It was founded in 1961 and has 1200 members from all sectors of education. The ISTA functions as a body dedicated to the professional development of its members and the advancement of science teaching. The ISTA maintains links with other bodies involved in science education in Ireland and associations for science education in other countries.

Rolls-Royce The True Physics Roadshow visits primary and secondary schools nationwide providing

e

hands on science shows & workshops. Visit our stand to see amazing yet simple physics

We are looking for the most innovative and inspiring teachers of science to submit any

demonstrations and find out how we can visit your school. For secondary schools we

project idea that addresses a particular need in your school or college by 28th February

offer a physics show and rocket workshop. For primary schools we provide a science show

2007. Each year we give away a total of ÂŁ120,000 prize money for you to invest in

and basic rocket workshop. www.physics.ie.

science education. Register now on www.rolls-royce.com/scienceprize and visit us at

fists

stand (29C) to find out more

D

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATEGENERAL

E

Joint Research Centre

ling

The Road Safety Authority(RSA) is tasked with improving safety on our roads in order to

dth

reduce death and injury resulting from road collisions. The RSA is a new organisation that

Visit the stand of the European Commission - Joint Research Centre and try out our interactive

it

was formed on the 1st September 2006. We would love you to come along to our stand

tool VGAS to discover how your daily life affects the environment, or take our quiz on how

will

where you can take a challenge to "Test your knowledge" and be in with a chance to win

much rubbish we produce. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre provides

in

fantastic prizes. Seatbelt Sheriff will be making an appearance to see that you are all

independent scientific and technical support to EU policies. It plays an active role in creating a

"buckling up" so come along and say hello! Fill out a competition entry form so you don't

safer, cleaner, healthier and more competitive Europe. Its activities range from the assessment

miss out on the chance to win an XBOX. Find out about the NCT and the Driving Test. Our

of safety standards for children's toys to new technologies for recycling water.

friendly staff is waiting to answer any question that you have on road safety so don't delay make your way over to Stand 26. The Garda Road Safety Unit is available to Schools, Colleges, Community groups, Industry etc to promote Road Safety. We offer a 1.5 hour cut the

Power point presentation on Road Safety entitled "It won't happen to me" and it deals with such issues as Speeding, Drink Driving, Seatbelts, Y.M.D. (Young Male Drivers), Driver Fatigue

i

sfI Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is investing in academic researchers and research teams who are

etc. It also contains Road Safety videos and Garda camera car footage and is uniquely

most likely to generate new knowledge, leading edge technologies, and competitive enterprises.

presented in a shock/ humorous manner. We also attend events such as the BT Young

SFI's awards programme includes the Secondary Teachers Assistant Researchers Programme

Scientist, Various Motor and Motorcycle shows to offer Road Safety advice and information.

(STARs) and the SFI/Dell Young Women in Engineering Scholarship. SFI strongly encourages researchers to undertake outreach activities through the SFI Speakers for Schools facility.

BT* in The IQON Internet Cafe powered by BT Broadband gives students the opportunity to check their emails and keep in touch.

THE WORLD cr

The 2007 international Robots of Destruction championships will take place in Arena of Destruction located in the Big Top. This year' s feast of mayhem will include defending champion, Behemoth fighting it out against old rivals ( such as Bigger Brother and King B ) and new blood ( such as Pressure and Ripper).

Behemoth 2006 Champion

New for 2007, joining these heavyweights in what promises to be the most destructive robotic battles ever seen on Irish soil, will be a slew of featherweight battle robots. These robots have all of the power and weaponry of the heavyweights but are only half the size and twice as fast!

There will be boxing robots battling it out , mechanoids, Daleks trying to zap you and a host of robotic machinery up to all kinds of high jinks.

Be on your guard though , as you never can tell what can come alive in the World of Robots!

Bigger Brother

Chompalot 2005 Champion

Daily Times of the Robot Shows in the Big Top

i

Erin Redmond, pictured with Rubot II, the rubik cube solving robot that can solve the puzzle in an average time of only 32 seconds. Erin is the daughter of Rubot II inventor Peter Redmond, the man behind the Robots of Destruction Arena and former star of Robot Wars, Diotoir.

10.30 a.m.

2.00 p.m.

11.30 a.m.

3.00 p.m.

12.30 p.m.

y

4.00 p.m.

D

eco zone

U B L I N

Dublin Zoo is about education, conservation and study. The Zoo has a year round education calendar, which offers a range of curriculum based programmes for all levels (pre-school, primary and second level). Our education programmes are adapted to meet the needs of the student and we cater for all age categories. As a Discover Science centre the education programmes offered at the Zoo aim to encourage students to appreciate their surroundings

X

Marine Institute li-31-

Ale Marine Institute is the national agency responsible for Marine Research, Technology Covelopment and Innovation. We aim to fulfil the economic potential of Ireland's 220 million am marine resource; promote the sustainable development of marine industry, and guard our marine environment through research and environmental monitoring. Visit the

and develop a greater respect for the global environment. Our Learning & Discovery centre offers 'hands-on' teaching sessions to further enhance the educational experience and offers a unique dimension to the school curriculum. The animals in our collection are the Zoo's greatest resource and set apart this 'Living Classroom' from the normal school classroom.

Further information is available from the Education Department, Dublin Zoo.

Phone (01) 4748932 or email: education@dublinzoo.ie

Rta packed Marine Institute stand and investigate Ireland's seashore creatures and watch the Implorers - a deeper understanding" DVD.

.N ^taioUy W U OhTreadwell and pal Andy'The Mouse' Fleming will be manning the Naturally Wild exhibit alb quirky presentations. There'll be yarns about Harry the Hedgehog and his search for a ad and they 'll tell you about the bugs and beasties you could find by turning over a few rocks oiour own garden. There are quick demos on making your own mini wildflower meadow

(%SELF HELP

Irish Aid Department of Foreign Affairs An Roth,, (,ohthoi Farhtracha

Self Help Development is an Irish Development agency, working in five countries in eastern Africa, which was founded in 1984 in response to the Ethiopian famine of that year.

Self Help works by helping people to help themselves. Innovative and appropriate technologies and techniques are employed by Self Help's African staff, who work in partnership with communities and government agencies to create a real and lasting change

a W bid feeders and games such as Bat Moth, and the Incredible Journey Water Cycle Game.

Aru will also be a Life in the Undergrowth Display with Geckos, Tarantulas, Tree Frogs, Can African Millipede, Terrapins and Stick Insects.

qna is the "one stop shop" environmental information service of the Department of the (rtrro in ent, Heritage and Local Government. It aims to provide easy public access to

Irish Aid is the Irish Government's programme of overseas assistance to developing countries.

In 2007 Irish Aid will spend over €800 million helping some of the world's poorest people in the poorest countries in the world. Visit the Irish Aid stand where you can learn more about the work of the Irish Aid programme and discover the valuable role science can play in development.

Visit the W5 stand, and sample some of the excitement of Ireland's only interactive discovery

4dosmation on all aspects of the environment and sustainable development. ENFO is for alNodyseeking information on the environment. Its drop-in /library/exhibition is located at

centre. From in the Odyssey complex at Belfast, W5's Team offers an insight into its 160 exciting

:7k Andrew Street, Dublin 2.

experiments, and get an insight into the fascinating scientific processes on which they are based.

exhibits and innovative education programme, with a hands-on opportunity to try some fun

Central Fisheries Board A,, I'riomh-lihord [-.,ixh

0

Visit the Central Fisheries Board stand and learn about the importance of protecting and

^Irae no words that can convey to you the level of suffering in Africa. A catastrophic 20 man people died as a result of the virus in Africa. One of these was a young Kenyan woman rand Rose Atieno who lived with her husband and two children in the Rift Valley. For Rose

developing Ireland's angling resources. Learn about Ireland's fish stocks, and how they are enhanced and protected through careful fisheries management, so ensuring this resource is made available to future generations.

Ow am no doctor , no medication and no pain relief whatsoever. Rose was cared for by Curtis, • It pw aid son. Rose died in a rat-infested hut on November 1st 2003, approx. 16 millionth aalar.to6eofthe disease in Africa. Her life and death inspire the Project which now bears her aanrrt Ae Rose Project is an Irish based charity established by Mary Donohoe to fund the 801 ofquality medical, nursing and psycho-social care to people living with HIV/AIDS and a.r tilaies in Africa . To find out more visit www.roseproject.org.

Mensa The High IQ Society

Irish Mensa will, as usual, have puzzle pages for the contestants who are exhibiting. They will also have tests that can be taken at home to check your IQ and, possibly, find out if you might qualify for Mensa membership. There are approximately 1,200 members in Irish Mensa and IM will be happy to welcome some more.

SCIENCE 90aadvraxtt a movie at our stand - just make sure you have enough energy to power the d By using pedal power to watch the movie you won't be increasing worldwide

^ dreh are leading to climate change. How to win some great prizes - find out ~avsstondary schools photo competition. See some of last year's winning photos.

Science Spin is Ireland's science, wildlife and discovery magazine. But it's not just for scientists; it's for anyone with a fascination for finding out how and why. Covering everything from astronomy to zoology, Science Spin is dedicated to the science behind the news.

Astronomy Ireland is the National Astronomy Society whose primary role is the promotion and encouragement of interest in Astronomy and Space Sciences. It pursues this goal

^!#aaawertal Protection Agency protects the environment for everyone in the country.

ItiwtMtOM and police activities that might otherwise cause pollution. We ensure there is 41111111111111

, on environmental trends so that necessary actions are taken. Our priorities environment and ensuring that development is sustainable. Come and tole

- iron a ,'e exhibition and find out more about water quality in Ireland.

through education and outreach programs, nationwide public watches and events, lectures, exhibitions, website www.astronomy.ie and its monthly magazine Astronomy & Space. It has thousands of members all over Ireland both North and South of the border. The stand will have information on Astronomy Ireland and the events it organises as well as information on where to study astronomy in Ireland. It will also demonstate the latest in Telescope technology with GoTo systems - push a button and the telescope will robotically find your requested star.

Owe ♦Ital Leming is the Cork based Irish National Office of the worldwide .tyyflpritd in the USA in 1932 as The Experiment in International Living. It is the

There will also be an interactive "Astronomy Quiz Box" where you can test

your knowledge of the Universe around us.

Vitrogel

IIarIRtOmm0eK ^ ange organisation in the world. EIL is a not for profit, non religious

srlNMdidaaociation . EIL was first introduced to Ireland in 1960. In 2006 a total of AiAlalalrll ndt Partin EIL Programmes in and out of Ireland.

Order of Malta

29

?CO th eatrc

Please check notice boards at the Ecotheatre for the times of the shows

DISCOVer The audience will learn about the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, by looking at each in turn. First - what does recycling mean? The example of glass (the easiest material to recycle) is chosen, and the process from bottle bank back to supermarket shelf is explored. The types of rubbish that are thrown away in

The science behind climate change Brought to you by Discover Science & Engineering and the Exploration Station

bins every day are then highlighted, to see how the waste can be cut down by reducing, reusing or recycling. For example,

What are YOU doing about today's hottest science issue?

kitchen and garden waste can be cut by composting, new

Climate change is a science issue that is driving a

products can be made from recycled paper; plastic bags can be

technological and social revolution.

reduced by reusable 'bags for life', and even plastic bottles can be made into fleeces. Volunteers from the audience get to model reusable shopping bags, sort tin cans with magnets and catch a glimpse of the W5 pet composting worms!

The Climate Change Show outlines the serious and contemporary challenge of climate chance in a fun and humourous way. The show is hosted by an animated sheer wearing rubber boots. The sheep discusses the earth's formation millions of years ago and how global gases were distributed to allow life to form.

Fast forwarding to the present, the sheep talks to the audience

about current lifestyles and impacts on the entire planet.

Tt

r %# r A

11+k

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nn

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Special Lunchtime Lecture

The focus is not just on negative practices, but reinforces the positive steps that minimise impact on the planet.

The topic is timely and the experience is fun!

Our Carbon

Footprint' Duncan Stewart tells how we all can do our bit to help control climate change.

'What we do to reduce carbon emissions is important.

The solution to climate change is to manage our carbon footprint by monitoring the C02 emissions per person per year.'

30

Change your life to change lives Presented by Self Help and Irish Aid This will be the launch of a fun and interactive presentation which will challenge attitudes and awareness to Development issues. Three to four interactive activities will be presented and the show

HOW TO ... Search for and read books online 62 Watch Sky Movies over the Net 71 • Inc lrl l stg £2.00

TECHNOLOGY FOR ALL How do we get everyone online in Ireland?

24

Your Life. Your Technology.

movies, mu sic a nd TV shows I W HERTOTI STAY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THEIAW 48 Music on the go Super Software Downloads & Demos

rwwe, shareware, games, demos, browsers and MORE

Iw■I^I wl_iri _ X 1 ''P deal tai for both \ r pane users and Web designers • ` who want to create cmi nnhlieh hinh

qualityVwebsites with a professional ook and feel.

iPod Copier 1 Copies all your music from your iPod to your PC.

Windows Movie Maker 2 ' •

% Compile and edit a movie from clips with drag-and-drop.

Add special effects, music, and narration with ease. XP-only.

PLUS: Latest Browser updates , handy utilities

LATEST PLAYERS REVIEWED 18

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THE MAIN MENU 18 Play away We roadtest the newest portable music players for under €260 24 Uphill to the information highway STEPHEN CAWLEY asks how we can get everybody using technology in Ireland?

Compile and edit a movie horn ohps wim drag

sperna^ enoeia. rnaeie. a d wit, ease. XP-en^Y.

nand oo

PLUS: Lalest Browser updates, handy utilities and more

26 Feed your appetite RSS is an easy way to get updates from your favourite websites 30 An eye on the future NIALL KITSON turns soothsayer and sees the stars of cutting edge consumer electronics for 2007

Qeeamedia Website X 1 11111111C6'e X1 is a completely a0doll software : it does not votive any HTML

in association with 38 Storage gets a lot smarter NAS and other forms of storage for home use

pefprarrming skills and it is the ^ fool for both home users r V%b Designers who want 0 Aare and publish high qu/Ir websites with a .silonal look and feel.

42 Wired for sound You've heard of high def TV, now get ready for high def audio

46 The web police

glows Movie Maker 2 oft* cools to create , edit, and vitro home movies.

Behind the scenes with the top security companies

48 File sharing How to get great media and still stay within the law

0411w Best Firefox bamsions

52 Power trip

WSW am favourite extensions M rvdox 2.

Our great guide to greener technology usage 56 Will your PC run Vista?

Part 1 - Vista on a desktop PC

REGULARS 2

Editor 's view Bridging the digital divide in Ireland

4

News & reviews Latest tech trends & products

44 Audiophile KARL TSIGDINOS says the gig format is tried and trusted 111111111111001 ;ras Fieeware note taking

72 Level One Special Get a handle on games with our cheats and tips

won. Create To Do Lists 4W aw yar desktop.

Building the broadband network M■da Ytnaw

We look at the processes of enabling exchanges and local

voLwo Database Management err oegarise your recipes 0 0 srryse the nutritional 40rrts,,t Vow meals. Large

face in rolling out broadband

■r of ingredients and am wsew values . Ideal for we swum concerned about - . diet and Nutrition. arra cooftr 1 .*am 40 your music from d w i4C >D a new folder +idlltt a9C l6busic.

loop unbundling and investigate the challenges the providers

Widescreen notebooks High definition notebooks with big screens are turning these portable PCs into compact entertainment centres. We elaborate.

The A to Z to wireless technology part 1: Superfast Wi-fi

- -.war Atdtcx is a program %a Alma VW to copy music 1000 awshOte on a network

60 Run programs with an Apple Mac style launcher :: Use Google's book search service Make use of worksheet tabs in Excel :: Store and print addresses :: Calibrate your TV :: Design and send HTML newsletters :: Watch movies with SkyByBroadband

802.11 n products are ready, and we investigate the benefits of faster wireless in the digital home.

The ultimate home photo lab We look at the latest developments in camera, printer and

000talows me"

HOW-TO

paper technology to help you get the greatest photo results. :: NEW SERIES - INVENTIONS

We go behind the scenes to see how some of the world's most innovative consumer electronics were conceptualised, created and brought to market.

SPECIALS 15 Blacknight tip Michele Neylon's internet musings

22 ICS F1 for Schools Wind tunnel technology in F1 racing january 2007 •

Editor ' s comment

SWITCHBOARD 01 294 777 Contacting PC Live!

• Contact the team by individual e-r11r or direct-dial numbers listed here • Send press releases to newsroom @ m e d i a to a m. i e

Bridgi ng the digital divide

PUBLISHER Frank Q_ i frank.quinn@mediate, 01291-".

STEPHEN CAWLEY says more must be done to include those outside the information society ime Magazine in its flagship Time Person of the Year' feature took a radical step this year and named you, the online reader, as its choice.

Following in the footsteps of Hitler and Ayatollah Khomeni, Bill Gates and Bono, online participants everywhere have been congratulated by Time for their role in `democratising media' by uploading home videos, sharing photos and broadcasting podcasts.

Demanding digital

stephen.cawley@mediate_ 01 29, -

support and an affordable means of payment with a low APR are also necessary.

Government and industry also need to be imaginative with the marketing campaigns and solutions they bring to market under the home computing initiative. The bases of security, online access and ease of use must be supported. There must also be variety in the packages on offer so if for example, a customer loves movies, then the appropriate software and website selections must be pre-installed, and the same applies to photography and to music, or whatever popular interests are specified.

"Government, through the Department of the Taoiseach and ICT Ireland, in partnership with Intel, is working hard

democracy This is a very exciting time for technology users, but isn't democracy supposed to be inclusive and shouldn't all citizens in the community be able to get affordable access to a PC and a broadband connection in their home? Sadly, this is still not the case in Ireland.

Surveys conducted by Comreg, ECTA and the OECD all tell a tale of woe - Ireland is still near the bottom of the PC and broadband ownership league tables (See page 24). And if you enter one of our primary or postprimary schools around the country you are very unlikely to find one PC per pupil.

What we clearly need now is action from government, industry and the media to help that large minority to get connected and realise the benefits that computing and internet usage will bring to their lives.

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHE Stephen Ca;.

Broadband deficit

Broadband adoption is growing rapidly, this cannot be denied but unfortunately, we started well behind the pack, and we are still left with the tragic fact that over 250,000 people in Ireland are still using dialup internet connections and haven't made the move to broadband either through lack of perceived need or lack of interest.

The challenge here is for a combination of provider, government and media to educate this group on the benefits of upgrading to broadband. For on dialup, this group is alienated from the wonders of the multimedia web-peer to peer, video conferencing, podcasting and music and video on demand.

Let's democratise Irish information society and give the technically disestablished a chance to play a role in the glorious rebirth of the Internet.

to bring a home computing initiative to the public"

Power to move Government, through the Department of the Taoiseach and ICT Ireland, in partnership with Intel, is working hard to bring a home computing initiative to the public. But it needs strong support from the computer industry - the PC manufacturers, the software suppliers, the broadband providers and crucially, the technology retailers who are closest to the general public. Appropriate training, technical '--,

r~ • -

•

^ '^ 4 / 1

Give us your feedback!

Log on to our Reader Survey at www.pclive . ie/readersurvey , and you can have your say on what is happening with the state of technology provision in Ireland. We heartily welcome your input and there's a great Epson projector up for grabs as a prize.

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTO Paul By" paul.byrne@mediate01 294 -

BUSINESS MANAGE: Eimear Nea eimeacnealon@mediate 01 294 `

ACCOUNT MANAGE Mark Websi ma rk.webster@mediatea01 294 -BUSINESS SUPPORT MANAGE Teresa Lenef teresa.lenehan@mediatea01 294 7 ART DIRECTC Miriam Cas miriam.casey@med iatea012947

PRODUCTIC Liz O'Rour l i z. o ro u rke @ m e d i at ea n 01 294 7 ,

Rory Gann rory.ga n non@mediatean 01 294 7

CIRCULATION MANAGI Niall Kits n is ll. kitson@mediatean 01 2947

ONLINE EDIT( Barry Gild barry.gildea@mediatean 01 2947

COMPANY ACCOUNTAI Victoria Sm victoria.smith@mediatear 01 2947

mediatearr

JOINT MANAGING DIRECT Frank Quinn • John McDo Published by Mediatean South County Business I Leopardstown, Dublir Tel: 01 294 7777 • Fax: 01 294

www.techcentr Printed in Northern Ireland by W & G I

Stephen Cawley - Editor

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The PC Live! CD ROM is Ireland 's only regular magazine disc. Packed with great software, it's the easy way to keep up to date with what's 1'r^ fDffI

new"'yourK. / a

Always ask the bill payer for permission to call. Calls cost €2.40c per min and should last no longer than one minute Text messages cost €2.50c. Total cost of CD (you will receive two SMS @ €1.25c each message).

Service provided by: (Touch, ClWest Digital Park, Co Dublin. (01) 4112021.

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© Mediateam Ltd 2 All rights rese No part of this publication be reproduced withoc prior written consent( publisher. The views expn herein are not necessarily I of the public ISSN No. 1393-(

emos

PC Live! is published in cooperation will Business Publications Ltd. Select ed items that were originally published ii publications are the copyright of VNU Bu Publications Ltd. Copyright © 2001 Business Publications Ltd. All Rights Res

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news & reviews

Video on demand arrives up North BT has launched real internet TV and much more.

Unfortunately it's only in Northern

Ireland for the time being

WHILE still only available in Northern Ireland, BT has launched its broadband television service, BT Vision. This service is designed to put the TV viewer in control by combining the appeal of TV with the interactivity of broadband. Users will be able to watch what they want when they want and not be tied to TV schedules. The service does not require a regular monthly subscription.

The service gives subscribers access to an extensive library of on-demand content via broadband, as well as over 40 Freeview channels through their aerial. The library is designed to enable people to watch programmes at a time that suits them rather than the schedulers.

BT Vision is delivered through a new set-top box, the V-box. This contains a personal video recorder (PVR) that can store up to 80 hours of content, pause or rewind live TV, and record programmes at the touch of a button. The box is also compatible with high definition content. BT Vision features a "Replay TV" service, allowing the viewer to catch up with some of the broadcast TV programmes they may have missed during the previous week.

BT Vision's library of "on-demand" content is delivered over broadband and includes entertainment to suit all tastes. There will be current and library movies, music videos, concerts, kids' programmes, recent and classic television including drama, comedy, documentaries and other genres.

In the summer of 2007 BT Vision will launch its new sports service. Following a recent deal with Setanta, BT Vision Sport customers will have access to the Setanta Sport channel and its 46 live FA Premiership games, 60 live games from the Scottish Premier League and a great deal of other sport. They will also have access to the 242 "near live" on-demand FA Premiership games secured by BT in 2006. That means three-quarters of all FA Premiership games will be available in full to BT Vision Sport customers.

Viewers have a choice of subscribing to content genres or paying for the content as they go. Movies will be available on a pay per view basis with current titles offered at lower prices than satellite, cable and high street video chains.

-1-111

MySpace to block access for sex offenders

e ianuarv 2007

-1 -1

mVspace.

SOCIAL networking site MySpace is to introduce technology designed to identify and block convicted sex criminals.

The site is hugely popular with teenagers , largely due to its entertainment and music content . But it has also become a target for paedophiles looking for underage internet users.

MySpace will use technology from Sentinel Tech Holding to identify and block users with a history of sex crimes.

The company 's Sentinel Safe technology will allow MySpace to search state and federal criminal databases and remove profiles of registered sex offenders.

"We are committed to keeping sex offenders off MySpace," Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer at the website, said in a statement. www.myspace.com

-11

My Space is getting more vigilant about the treat of sex offenders

Maximum envy MAXFIELD has launched the Max-Ivy - a portable MP3 player sporting a beautiful scratchproof magnesium casing, touch key interface and a host of features.

Under the hood, the Max-Ivy comes with either a 1 Gb, 2Gb or 4Gb of internal memory as standard (storing 16, 32 or 64 hours of music respectively) and contains a versatile player that supports MP3, WMA-DRM 10, and OGG format files making it fully approved by Napster, Yahoo, MSN Music and Musicload for use with their content services.

This multifunctional player sports a 1.8 inch 65,000 colour TFT screen and provides JPEG viewing / slideshow capabilities along with its easy ID3-Tag navigation play list function and six preset EQ options.

It supports speedy USB 2.0 data transfer and contains a rechargeable built-in Lithiumion battery that provides 14 hours of continuous music playback. www.cmsperipherals.com

news & reviews

kS o R

Blogging phenomenon re^^ n -„t),-nnIr,

GB 1 12 GB IA, WAV, OGG, FLAC 2px Full-colour display

BLOGGING will peak in 2007, research analyst Gartner predicts, lung off when the number of writers who maintain a personal site reaches 100 million.

Gartner analysts expect that the novelty value of the medium will amaa off as most people who are interested in the phenomenon have decked it out, and new bloggers will offset the number of writers who Abandon their creation out of boredom.

The firm estimates that there are more than 200 million former MDggers who have ceased posting to their online diaries.

Gartner made the assertion as part of its top 10 predictions for W. The firm also believes that Windows Vista will be Microsoft's last major update of its Windows operating system.

The software vendor is expected to borrow a page from the book of at3en source projects and create a modular operating system that sflDws for individual components to be updated.

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SOFT is best known for its free AVG anti-virus =Aware , but that's just the tip of the iceberg: there's a much wider qP¢ of software offering more in-depth protection. AVG Internet Imao y sits at the top of that list, protecting computers against msw spyware and spam, and including a firewall and email a^. rear window is well laid-out, listing the various parts of the -ch with an icon to show whether or not it's working ^e e-mail scanner comes with plug-ins for specific email ® oplications such as Outlook and Eudora, but it will work With any others just as well, although more setting up might be needed. The scanner can check for both viruses and spam.

• - sift particularly Pop-up messages from the firewall appear • Im not using ait111irm or Outlook in the centre of the screen - this is more ttlaa. obvious than in the rival free program --n we Zonealarm and the Windows Firewall, and e could help make sure the messages are noticed. The information provided isn't as pensive as that from some other firewalls, and while k .Lm links to an online record of programs to tell you if they're Ureaty harmful , AVG doesn't, which is a shame. %Wm scarfs can be set to run at a specific time, which is a useful f^ aapecially for home users who can leave the scheduler woming in the background without having to worry about it. Overall, 4111111116 Ularnet Security is a comprehensive suite with some useful em rho S70 price includes two years' worth of updates.

january 2007 • 5

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Microsoft opens book search service

Sky sucks up to Google IN THE UK, Sky has teamed up with Google to boost the broadcaster's recently launched Sky Broadband service. Under the agreement Sky will be the first partner to Sky - now an ISP in the UK - has entered a strategic partnership with Google there deploy Google's suite of search, advertising, communications and video services, all of which will be tailored and branded for the satellite broadcaster's broadband platform.

As part of the deal, Sky customers will get a branded version of Google's Gmail service.

Sky will also launch a multi-platform user-generated video portal powered by Google's syndicated video tools.

The site will allow users to edit, upload and share video content, including the facility to upload and download from a mobile phone.

Google will provide its search tools and targeted •' search advertising across Sky's portfolio of 3 websites.

While Sky TV content can be delivered on other operators ' broadband networks in Ireland, Sky has yet to move in as a broadband service provider itself to the Irish market.

rkliiiiil - -4

MICROSOFT is taking on Google , and boor publishers worldwide , by introducing its own book search engine.

Windows Live Book Search is currently available to US surfers and includes collections from the British Library, University of California and University of Toronto.

The service will initially cover noncopyrighted books , but will later be expanded to include protected works with the publishers ' agreements.

Google was sued by the US Authors Guild in September 2005 for its Book Search , which was accused of widespread copyright infringement at the expense of th rights of individual writers.

In June this year French publisher La Martiniere Groupe filed a lawsuit against thi search giant , alleging that Google Books amounts to " counterfeiting " and "breach o intellectual property rights".

The publisher demanded damages of € 100,000 for each scanned book.

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6 • january 2007

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HP Photosmart A618 Could HP's Photosmart A618 be the first of a new breed of wide-mouthed photo printers?

HAVING a small, portable printer that can create real-life snaps from memory cards or a digital camera has complemented the boom in digital photography. The question is, where do manufacturers go from here?

HP thinks the answer lies in producing larger prints and the Photosmart A618 can print 7x5in (18x13cm) photos, as well as the more common 6x4in (15x10cm) type.

To do this, the printer has to be a little wider than earlier models but other than that, the mini-toaster design is pretty similar. There's a 6cm screen on top, which can be angled up for viewing, and a square button-ring to its right for navigating the menus and previewing photos. To the left of the screen, you can select various effects via another square cluster of buttons.

Open the front cover of the HP Photosmart A618, verdict which becomes the paper output tray, and the back cover, which opens just far enough to slip in 20 sheets of photo paper, and Bigger prints and built-in Bluetooth, but the you're set up.

Photosmart A618 is still Four memory card slots on the front quite slow and print accept all the common types, and quality is not outstanding opening a small cover reveals the in our opinion. single, three-colour print cartridge. A Price: €228 spring-loaded carrying handle folds www.hp.com/ie itself away neatly, and an optional battery pack can be added to make the A618 fully mobile. It also has Bluetooth, so you can print straight from a camera phone. It connects to a computer via USB. Print quality was good, with smooth colour transitions and fine detail from HP's Vivera ink, though some shadow detail was lost in our test prints.

HP supplies consumables in packs for 60 or 120 15x10cm prints. With the 120 print pack, the cost per print comes out to just 27c.

Print times were slower than HP claims, taking 1 min 50secs and 2min 1 Osecs respectively, for 6x4in and 7x5in photos, but considering the price tag, it's a good refresh for HP's compact photo printer.

8 • january 2007

news & reviews

Jt I LW I%.A

LV Zj.I r r \/r V l 1 r r.

)n next gen console Nintendo DS browser The Web on your pocket games console SONY PSP owners can play movies old surf the web, but all Nintendo OS owners had was a wireless chat /Stem . Now Nintendo has released a .alb browser add-on for the DS. R^s Wifi ready, but there's little memory amenable , so the browser comes on two expansion cards: a standard DS game card and another gamepack with a bit of memory on it. There are talc versions : one each for the original DS and the new DS Lite. =•e software is based on the Opera browser, with a row of familiar icons along the bottom of the screen. Pages can be viewed squashed to DS screen width or shrunk and combined with a (! magnifier to zoom in (using the stylus to navigate). The browser can be password-protected and has its own page-filtering. The stylus-based operation 1It buchscreen works to r+arigation but the worked well, as does the optional handwriting sit media-free recognition. But on the whole, things were erg is dull. sluggish and the multimedia web features we €44 take for granted - movies, Flash, embedded - - -ter,do-europe co audio - are sadly absent.

17 a

,N TIME for the launch of the PS3 games console in Viarch, game publisher EA will launch Sony Online ntertainment's Untold Legends Dark Kingdom. _,told Legends Dark Kingdom is an action roleplaying game (RPG) offering high definition graphics, cinematic storytelling and in-depth character progression. Expanded game-play through the Playstation network will also be featured.

Untold Legends Dark Kingdom provides gamers with a next-generation visual experience using the graphics rendering power of the PS3's system cell technology, gamers can enjoy new high-definition graphics offering vibrant environments, beautifully rendered characters, highly detailed creatures and intense battles filled with combat, magical spells and the latest special effects.

Players will be able to experience realistic RPG action through the integration of real-time physics through the use of a unique physics engine system, as well as lightning-fast creature combat and interactive environments filled with destructible objects and challenging puzzle elements. The epic storyline - written in collaboration with Keith Baker, a freelance writer of Dungeons & Dragons material, his setting Eberron comes to life through in-game cinematics and VO dialogue as players vie to end the tyranny of a King they once served. www.ea.com

is

BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & Technolo gy Exhibition

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seat' 11th, Friday 12th and Saturday 13th January 2007 I^Miition open to the public from 9.30a . m - 5.30p.m. air Ada Prices YCllladertz/Children and Senior Citizens €5 , Family Tickets €25 (two adults and Pieties of 20 or more qualify for the special discount admission price of €4 -acre ft dwge for teachers who accompany school parties.

S It

www.btyoungscientist.ie january 2007 • 9

news & reviews

First Blu-ray notebook arrives in Ireland THE next generation of high capacity discs for high def movies, games and interactive movies is now available on Dell notebooks.

Dell's XPS M1710 is the first notebook to feature Blu-ray Disc technology.

This is Dell's fastest consumer notebook, the XPS M1710, and features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia graphics with 512Mb and up to 4Gb of memory. The XPS M1710 notebooks can write across CD, DVD and

addition, it offers the highest optical capacity with up to 50Gb of storage or equal to more than five times the ca of dual layer DVD. In addition, seven of eight major Hollywood studios have announced support for the format with more than I feature titles announced to date.

Pricing for the new notebook starts at €2,949. www.dell.ie

Blu-ray Disc media. Using these systems, users can burn up to 50Gb of data or author up to 50Gb of video on a single piece of media. Blu-ray Disc technology offers significant advancements for users requiring high-definition content and storage for archiving large amounts of data and digital content. This optical drive technology supports feature-length, high-definition video and offers the highest picture quality available. In

O

Revive those dusty classics with this turntable that plugs straight into a computer Pocket LOOX N 100 Series Its my way! - all in one travelling One touch on the screen and you're off.

Pocket LOOX N100 Series combines NAVIGON MobileNavigatorl6 with an integrated SiRFstar III chipset and antenna for a powerful, fuss-free and fast GPS solution.

Additional to mobile navigation, the Pocket LOOX N 100 offers an integrated music player and a selection of games.

Weighing only app. 110 grams, it is perfect for any pocket and can be used, whether you are driving, cycling or on foot. A user interface, which is visually very easy to follow, ensures a uniquely ease of use.

Recommended Retail Price: €369 incL VAT Can be purchased in the following shops: Nary , Nornzc stor near you

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UNTIL NOW, the easiest way to get vinyl music onto a computer, CD or MP3 player was to connect a hi-fi to a sound card. However, if both components weren't in striking distance of each other, this meant heaving a desktop computer to the front room or using a very long audio cable to connect the two.

Thankfully, there's now a better solution: the ION USB Turntable. Simply connect it to a free USB port, install the accompanying Audacity music software and convert your LPs without a hi-fi - or a strained back - in sight.

Although larger than a traditional hi-fi record player, the USB Turntable works like any other. There are phono cables to connect it to an amplifier, which allows you to hear what you're cueing up. Alternately, sound can be passed through the computer and out of headphones connected to the sound card or speakers.

The turntable can play both 33 and 45rpm speeds, and there's even an option in the Audacity software to convert 78 records into digital music files.

A step in the right direction for digitising However, a dedicated 78 stylus vinyl but dedicated be needed for this is not software to make the supplied. process even easier The instruction manual would have been is very clear about how welcome. to set up the turntable and €178 software, and explains v; r, ,ccpeats.com how to splice continuous recordings into individual tracks, save tracks as Wav, MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files, as well as how to troubleshoot basic problems.

It also explains how to record vinyl at high speed and use the software to convert it into normal speed.

Essentially, this means recording a 33rpm track at 45rpm and using Audacity to automatically correct tempo and

10 • january 2007

A

pitch. It worked a treat and could save hours when recording a large batch of music.

Unless you like the authentic hiss, crackle and pop of vinyl, there's additional software to clean it up. This is o"I" a demo, though, so you'll have to fork out another £20 ll'I after a month to keep it.

The cartridge (stylus needle) supplied with the turntable is not of the greatest quality but the recordings we made were fine. The cartridge can be swapped with another if audio quality is of prime concern.

Tone arm weighting and anti-skating can be adjusted if the needle can't track the groove, and there's i gain dial on the back to change the output level to the computer.

Another nice touch is the stereo line-input for attaching external analogue sources such as cassette tapes and mini-disc players. Once a device is connected (cable not included), the turntable acts as a pre-amp to send sound to the computer, which can then be recorded just like vinyl.

On the negative side, the ION USB Turntable's light weight means only a slight knock is needed for the record to jump. The USB Turntable's €178 price tag seems extravagant. Audacity is freely available on the web and is not software that's specially designed for the turntable. It does the job but would have impressed us more if recordings were started and stopped by the turntable's start/stop button, rather than having to manually fiddle around onscreen.

The turntable is compatible with the Mac operating system and Linux but will not work with Windows Media Center Edition.

Linksys pips Apple to iPhone DE iPhone has finally hit the selves , but not in the way that Apple fans were hoping.

Linksys introduced a series of Haven VoIP devices on Monday wrier the 'iPhone' brand. The Braces include cordless and swless models that support Skype and Yahoo Messenger with voice cervices. Prices range from €79.99 c . 369.99.

The `iPhone ' name is noteworthy Mcause media and analysts have reed the name over the past year •ndicate a mobile phone from Aspie. The name was chosen Aea'se it resembles that of the VWAccording to the latest rumours, Apple is preparing to launch a aaabrle phone early this year. The allepany was also believed to be r wclhk g an iPhone last August, as mall as last year when Motorola at sd selling its iTunes powered Q0L Apple has never given any adica ion that it plans to launch a i*ane, nor that it plans to name S e device 'iPhone'. *A if Apple is preparing to ttaeuch an iPhone, the company will ew be forced to use a different 4111111r11k A spokesman for Cisco, Linksys' Serge company, said that Cisco alla L..4 the trademark to the Isrlwe brand in 2000 through the # rdeaee of Infogear Technologies.

Apple first registered the internet ^atae name iphone .org in 1999. {Air computer maker did not 0Rely return a request for sonument_ So Cisco spokesman declined laarnent on any dialogue brace Apple and Cisco, but said an so company had no reason to *arms that Apple ever intended to a w !M name 'iPhone' for its .ersred smartphone device.

Zow's trademark would be arerrloss if the company never 41yred a product , but its aaweew ip claim would remain valid • iq as the networking s+er showed an intent to a& So and in commerce within Aire rears after filing for the -according to Matthew +e100L a San Francisco trademark d• copyright lawyer.

Aaeer does have a shot at Bow" the rights to the name, •awt p it can prove that cl=aed b the trademark before +r 111loo C Kabak added.

news & reviews

The invisible scarf WITH the large increase in sales of LCD and Plasma TVs the necessity to place the TV-set on or in a large cabinet no longer exists. It is often done anyway, because the DVD player (or other AN-device) needs to be placed close to the TV set. Marmitek takes advantage of this trend with the introduction of the Invisible Scart. Now you can place your AN-device in another corner of the room and still control it and watch the images.

The Marmitek Invisible Scart works by sending a wireless signal from your VCR, DVD-players DVD-recorder, satellite dish, set top box etc. to your (second) TV-screen.

The Invisible Scart provides a stylish alternative to the thick and stiff scart cable that would otherwise run behind the TV. Furthermore, the wireless signal transmission from your AN-device is the prefect solution if you don't want or are unable to place your AN- device close to your TV-set.

With the infrared receiver that can be placed anywhere you can continue to control your AN-device with your own remote control, even if it is not in sight, in a closed off cabinet, or in another room.

The Invisible Scart works wirelessly, which means you are no longer bound to the length of your scart cable or the location of your AN-devices.

The novelty of the Invisible Scart is that it can be directly connected to the scart connection of your TV-set.

Marmitek offers two types of Invisible Scarts.

One, the Invisible Scart 200 is a short range version and is suited to single room solutions and costs €39,95. The second, the Invisible Scart 300 is a full range version and is suitable for sending AN signals to another room and costs €49,95. www.marmitek.corn

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Get rid of those wires around your home entertainment devices with the Invisible Scart 200

Chris C. Kemp , director of strategic business NASA's Ames Research Center has signed a development at Ames Research Center.

'Space Act Agreement ' with Google that will see "Even though this information was collected for some of the agency's space exploration the benefit of everyone , and much is in the public photography made available to the public for the domain , the vast majority is scattered and difficult first time. for non-experts to access and understand."

Certain NASA data will added to Google Earth, No details of any financial deal have been and the search giant will also offer high-resolution , but Google is already building a million announced real-time tracking , 3D maps of the moon and Mars square foot campus within the Nasa research of the International Space Station and the centre in Silicon Valley. movements of the Space Shuttle.

"Partnering with NASA made perfect sense for "This agreement between NASA and Google will Google, as NASA has a wealth of technical soon allow every American to experience a virtual expertise and data that will be of great use to flight over the surface of the moon or through the Google as we look to tackle many computing canyons of Mars," said NASA administrator Michael issues on behalf of our users ," said Google chiefs Griffin. executive Eric Schm "This innovative combination of information technology and space science will make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone."

Future plans for collaboration include adding real-time weather mapping to Google Earth as well as joint research , products, facilities, education ands missions.

A "NASA has collected and processe more information about our pi

and universe than any o

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Wimax for the road. warrior

THE Cinergy DT USB XS Diversity TV stick can be connected easily to your laptop or PC using a 2.0 USB port so you can watch TV on your PC without the need for extra wires and cables. When the Diversity function is switched on, signals from both antennas combine to create a new, improved signal. This makes it possible to achieve clearer reception in most fringe reception areas without the need for a house antenna. Watching TV while travelling is also possible, which is ideal when travelling by train or with children in the back seat of your car. When the Diversity function is not activated, both tuners can be used. This makes it possible to record one program while simultaneously watching another. This handy gadget retails for €149.

WIRELESS broadband provider Irish Broadband has launched its new mobile broadband access card , Irish Broadband Go! Based on Wimax technology, this broadband data card offers broadband speeds for a fixed monthly fee, and without usage restrictions.

With Irish Broadband Go! you can now access the Internet on your laptop anywhere within our coverage area, at mobile broadband speeds that are faster than 3G at up to 512Kbit/s. The Go! Card gives users the freedom to access their emails or download large files out on the road.

Unlike alternative mobile data services Irish Broadband Go! has no download caps and does not restrict access to services such as VoIP or instant messaging.

Irish Broadband Go! launches initially in the Dublin area and will roll out to Cork, Galway and Limerick metropolitan during 2007.

Irish Broadband Go! is available now directly from Irish Broadband on 1890 56 44 56, from its website or through a number of large retail outlets. There is a once off purchase fee of €99 and a monthly charge of €39 .95 (Incl VAT). www.irishbroadband.ie

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Mozilla Firefox 2 The popular alternative to Internet Explorer gets a revamp UDZILLA's Firefox appeared nearly two years ago as the first real native to the domination of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It was Oran from the remains of the old Netscape internet browser, which goes it a good pedigree and means that it's actually older, in parts, 1i Internet Explorer.

Its chief claim to fame is that it is open source and built almost Mre+y by volunteers. The open source tag means that it's not aaaMered by strict copyrights, so anyone can use, copy and modify Velafox . as long as they don't make money from it.

Firefox 2 doesn't add many features but that's mainly because Firefox 1 was such a leap from Internet Explorer that there's now not much to add.

The tabbed browsing has been enhanced, H rrr1 to improve on a with the ability to save the current open 4mming product, and tabs when you quit the program, and have lirs what Firefox is. it reopen the same tabs next time. This 'llr uarovements are wW but they add to feature used to be available as an add-on, liar a1 ady excellent but now it's been brought into the main sev*nce. And since program, and Firefox is all the better for it.

IN tse, we certainly Add-ons (previously called Extensions) are wend giving small programs written by other rasa a try. Mozilla programmers to add features to Firefox. A +ramm 2 is a faster, popular one is AdBlock Plus, which can am and more versatile rraOve to Internet cut out annoying pop-up ads.

That's the real strength of Firefox - the am= Ffee ability to fully customise the browser. It w^^ozilla.org gets slow when there are lots (more than 10, say) of add-ons running, but it's still very Grade. To combat this, the session management tool, which warlasfbers and reloads websites should the browser be closed =do ally, has been integrated into the main browser. two other big new features are a phishing blocker, which amps a regularly updated list of bad sites and warns when a user mm 1D visit them, and a spell checker that automatically marks up qnaMiq errors in a user's written text. Other than these, the browser t•Uwrr and , supposedly, less bug-prone. We had a few problems aft crashes in the last edition, but none so far, so we'll continue to ■as aAe.-'er that's the case.

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MICROSOFT has consolidated its search, internet telephony and messeging services into one desktop interface through Windows Live.com.

Through Windows Live you can make customised and detailed searches and create and develop an internet desktop or 'home page' that is personal to them alone. In addition, Microsoft has incorporated software that allows the user to keep up to date with current affairs and their personal interests.

Windows Live has also been launched with an enhanced safety centre with a free virus checker, so that users can stay informed and connected, whilst being online protected.

The service also incorporates Windows Live Messenger.

The Live Messenger enhanced service allows people to instant message as well as communicate via audio and video conversations. Users can also make PC-to-PC phone calls using headsets and can exchange pictures and other personal files.

The service also includes Windows Live search which, with the aid of a new design, allows the individual to create their own personal searches that best match their own criteria and can then be saved and shared. The Live search toolbar has been devised to be particularly userfriendly and allows for quick and easy searching as well as tracking news, RSS feeds or blogs. www.live.com

\^inhe

Photoshop Elements

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 L Another change of image for the popular photo-editing application ADOBE certainly isn't the only software manufacturer guilty of paying little attention to the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix It" tenet.

The previous version of Photoshop Elements. for example, was a well-received application that helped to bridge the gap between basic photo-editing programs and professional applications like the full-blown version of Photoshop.

However, the balance between ease of use and depth of functions is a delicate one, and too much tampering with the Elements formula could easily tip things in the wrong direction. Thankfully, most of the new features in Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 are genuine enhancements to the already solid foundations laid down in previous incarnations.

Version 5 makes many useful additions to the organisational element, including single-click methods of importing photos and groups of photos from either an external source (digital camera, memory card or CD) or from a folder on your hard disk. During an importing session, you can even get Elements to perform automatic red-eye removal, although this tends to make the process a lot slower and can be a bit hit and miss.

An improved version of the program's Stacks feature allows photos with similar visual verdict traits to be grouped together. Elements also allows you to save different versions of photos, sensibly preserving the originals and making copies for you to edit. The application's photo browser now allows you to scroll through photos a lot faster, Strong organising and and older versions of the same pictures can be located easily by clicking on the editing tools suitable for photography enthusiasts, photo's Version Set icon. but it could be overkill for Elsewhere, Flash animation has been incorporated into the program, allowing the average casual for some creative fun in the shape of animated galleries and 'flipbooks' of snapper. sequential photos.

-ice â‚Ź104 In terms of hands-on editing tools, the latest additions are skewed towards ww.micromail.ie slightly more advanced or creative users. The lens distortion correcting tool and enhanced support for Raw format files, for example, are clearly aimed at photo enthusiasts who want to exploit higher-end camera equipment. The trouble is that, the more Adobe adds to Photoshop Elements, the more complicated it becomes to use. There are lots of simpler, cheaper photo-editing programs out there that are more suitable for beginners. But for enthusiasts and those wanting to get the most from their digital photos, Adobe Photoshop Elements is still one of the best applications around - and it's all the better for its new features.

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Digital plotting through the Port Tunnel E

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MICHELE NEYLON says one of the latest fads in the "search wars" seems to be in

personalisation How short some people's memories really are. Yahoo! was offering

personalisation options for its users as far as back as 5 years ago -

T'l

ele

NAVTEQ, a provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, mapped the new Dublin Port Tunnel before it opened - ensuring the information is available as soon as possible for integration into satellite navigation systems.

Ronan McGurren, geographic analyst with Navteq, said that, as the tunnel is over four kilometres long, it is not possible to rely on GPS signals to give a position reading, so a specially equipped car was brought over from Paris to complete the job. The car features an Inertia Measuring Unit which MICROSOFT has unveiled relies on `dead reckoning' - the • ••w map component of same principle used by • Windows Live service.

Christopher Columbus when fte Virtual Earth 3D sailing to America! The difference a>went will be available is this sophisticated unit • an optional view in calculates the position of the Mlsdows Live Local vehicle 200 times per second and inch. Microsoft's is accurate to less than a few feet, motion service. whereas Columbus calculated his Nbcsosoft expects to have position once a day and could not for more than 100 easily be several miles out. a1Mia• by September 2007.

A gyroscope in the unit gauges the direction of the vehicle whilst w odometer measures the distance travelled; by relating this ration to the starting point, the current position can be cwculated. Once you know where the vehicle is, an accurate owe of the road can be created even in the deepest tunnel.

In addition to this more traditional method of `positioning', !• Navteq team used the same system and specialist we to create this new section of map. Developed mod. ively for the job, the software enables the field teams to inroad sections of the live database to a mobile computer I^ updating on the road. Travelling in pairs, the person not Oft" constantly talks to the computer via a headset, Ong all the changes as they travel.

rtual Earth

it may not have had a funky AJAX/Web 2.0 feel about it, yet it was highly functional.

These days there's no big media buzz around poor old Yahoo!, so everyone's attentions are focused firmly on the "big boys", namely Google and Microsoft (MSN).

Google and Microsoft seem to be going head to head in several spaces, in particular, online advertising, which I may revisit later in 2007.

Google's personalisation options allow you to customise the look and feel of your Google home page. Want the latest Irish news? Simply add the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed from BreakingNews.ie. Want a silly quote from George Bush to brighten up your day? Simply add the widget to your home page. Naturally, now that Google now owns it, you can add YouTube videos to your little corner of the Web as well.

You can mix and match content and tools to meet your every need. So if you need to do your expenses or check the local weather. If your website offers an RSS feed then your content could be consumed by Google users. If it doesn't, then maybe it's time you produced one? If you are feeling adventurous you can write and share your own widgets by following the developer guide. If your service can catch the eye of the online community this form of viral marketing may pay dividends.

Meanwhile Microsoft has been beavering away at its own answer: Microsoft Live (www.live.com), however it doesn't seem to be anything as mature as Google's solution. While writing this I tried to customise my page and was met with nothing but errors! If I could get it to work I'd have loved to review it!

:: Blacknight Solutions on 1850 927 280 :: www.blacknight.ie

news & reviews

Napster tunes into mobile music in Ireland first DIGITAL music firm Napster released details of its Mobile service has, which was launched in December on the 02 Ireland mobile network.

Hosted by Ericsson and featuring Napster's catalogue of over three million songs, artist images and ring-tones, Napster Mobile is offered to 02 Ireland's 1.6 million subscribers through NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode technology.

"The European launch of Napster Mobile on 02 Ireland is a significant achievement for Napster, as it marks the introduction of a comprehensive Napster mobile experience in a country where Napster does not currently offer a PC-based service," said Napster president Brad Duea.

He added that, from January, customers would be able to access the service through Wap- and Java-enabled handsets.

We b Hosting Tips A number of large multinationals have announced plans to consolidate their many data centres and operational locations into a far smaller number. 0ne has to wonder why they are centralising all their infrastructure. Clearly it makes financial sense to reduce overhead while maintaining or improving performance - which is the goal of these types of infrastructure consolidations.

The fact that some of the largest IT companies in the world are embracing this strategy is an endorsement of hosted applications. Take a standard business with a couple of in-house servers as an example. the servers probably act as a file store and e-mail platform. There is most likely a tape backup solution that the MD or resident IT-guru (who is full-time in a sales or admin role!) manually runs the backup, rotates the tapes and brings one home every evening; and there is a maintenance contract in place which guarantees repair/replacement SLAB. The consolidation strategy is one of reducing un-needed infrastructure.

For a small business to have their own servers and most likely no full-time IT staff is poor business. For starters the capital cost of hardware and software licenses is high, as well as the maintenance contracts and internal labour required for bug fixes and software patching.

The alternative is hosted appliactions. In this scenario, an Internet Infrastructure Provider supplies the machines, software licenses (SPLA ... so very cost effective), power and IP connectivity. The IIP also guarantees better uptime and repair SLAs than is possible in-house. Furthermore the backup can be automated and sync'd to an off-site (other data centre) location. The real carrot of this solution then, is not only that it is demonstrably superior, it is also significantly cheaper - as there is no capital outlay, and only a minimal monthly spend.

Clearly the industry believes hosted applications (Software as a Service SaaS - some call it) are the way forward - with Microsoft embracing it with their SPLA licensing scheme. The greatest challenge is in educating the market - moving equipment off-site has a perception of risk, even though it's actually being moved to a better facility! sponsored by

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ELITE Multi Room Systems, a provider of home entertainment multi-room music systems, has just opened a demonstration at its new Home Cinema Centre in Dalkey, Co Dublin.

Elite Multi Room Systems (EMRS) sells all the latest home entertainment equipment and carries out customised installation home cinemas, multi-room and garden music systems, LCD and Plasma TV systems , tile TVs for bathrooms , lighting control s for houses and gardens, smart cabling, home security cameras 94 computerised home automation.

In their new base at the Home Cinema Centre in Dalkey, consumers can now experience the latest in home entertainme-technology in a relaxed atmosphere. Customers can play their favourite CDs or DVDs using some of the most advanced equipment in the world.

Elite Multi Rooms Systems only recommend and install high quality equipment including I Light, Rako, Living Control, Loewe televisions, Linn Audio Equipment, Hantarex, Panasonic, Proj Design , Yamaha, AMX, Infocus, Barco, SIM2, B&W, Speaker C-a" Revel, Lexicon and many more top brands.

EMRS offer specialist home cinema installation. The cinema is hidden away when not in use however with the touch of one buff on a remote control, you can close your curtains, dim the lights your cinema screen will appear. When the movie ends, press a button, the lights come on and the projector screen disappears Architects in the know, plan ahead for multi-room systems.

Wiring for multi-room audio and video technology has increasing'. become a part of the infrastructure of new build homes or office=just like central heating, air conditioning and alarm systems.

However it's never too late, EMRS can install multi-room systems with minimal disruption to older buildings. Discrete wall and cei -q speakers and neat wall or touch panel controls give an impress:of understated elegance.

Elite Multi Rooms Systems also offers a variety of lighting solutions to suit any environment, domestically or commercially, r homes, offices, restaurants and hotel. Lighting can change a brightly lit living room into a dimly lit home cinema. You can also regulate the times, the lights turn on while you're on holidays anc r an intruder trips the alarm, your entire home will be illuminated automatically.

Computerised control systems can control everything in your house from music and television in your living room to electric gates and doors, intercoms and security cameras, lighting syster-• central heating, security cameras and air conditioning. EMRS car install simple to use control panels that work at the touch of a button - the control system interprets commands and applies certain logic, however the user needs not know or understand the underlying control logic or interfaces. All the user needs to know is that, by the touch of a button things happen.

Smart cabling is future proofing your greatest asset - your horn - and is the most important decision you could make before building a new house or renovating your home. One Touch Automated Home Smart Cabling offers a practical cost effective and discrete network solution to all your terrestrial digital or cable tv, telephony and computer/internet needs. By installing a smart cabling system into the build of a new house means present and future technologies can be added as and when required or desirec You can visit the Home Cinema Center, at Unit 1, The Courtyard 19 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co Dublin www.elitemrs.com

16 • january 2007

news & reviews

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Internet Explorer 7 Does Microsoft's long-awaited browser stand up to all the hype?

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THE first thing that any user of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) will notice is how it looks. It dispenses with the usual menu system, opting instead for a streamlined toolbar. This can be confusing at first, but the new look is in line with Windows Vista and the recently launched Live Messenger.

Internet Explorer has long been ridiculed for its lack of support for tabbed browsing, which means multiple web pages can be viewed without firing up an IE window for each. Thankfully this feature has made it into version 7. Opening links on pages in a new tab requires a right-click, but a blank tab can be opened by clicking the blank tab in the toolbar.

A great inclusion is the Quick Tabs option, which displays thumbnail images of all open web pages. This is handy when working with lots of tabs, particularly when tabs have shrunk to an illegible level. Open tabs can also be accessed from the dropdown Tabs List menu. A group of tabs can be bookmarked as a single unit, so it's easy to access several websites in the future.

The new Favorites Center is an improvement on the old Favorites menu and sidebar. The Center can be docked at the left of the screen or accessed only when required. From here, bookmarked sites can be visited. Clicking on a bookmark opens the link in the current tab, but click on the blue arrow next to an entry and links open in a new tab. RSS feeds are also handled by the Favorites Center and provide an excellent alternative to a dedicated RSS reader.

A new search box in the toolbar makes it possible to conduct web searches without having to visit a search engine first. Several search engines can be added to the list of providers to cater for different types of searches, and these can be accessed from a drop-down menu.

Printing has also been improved and the new Shrink to Fit option means the amount E7 is a definite of paper needed to produce website wprovement over IE6, page prints is reduced. It is also easy to rang it an essential switch between portrait and landscape re-ade for users of images, and remove headers and licrosoft's web browser. footers.

Free Security has also received a major .ww. microsoft.com/ie overhaul in IE7, fronted by the antipftishing filter. This feature blocks sites known to be malicious, and warns about any which seem suspicious. The browser will atso block `spoofed' domain names which are used in phishing spins . IE7 also supports High Assurance Certificates, which help b ensure the owner of a site is who they say they are.

It's now easier than ever to clear your browsing history, cookies and cache files , so information can be protected on a shared computer. Another new feature sees the inclusion of an address per in every browser window - including pop-ups - to help prevent users being unknowingly redirected to malicious sites. biternet Explorer 7 is not perfect, but it has come on in leaps and hounds. The new features may even be enough to sway sorry- ^irefox users back into the Microsoft camp. january 2007 • 17

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portable music players on test

The newest portable music players are smaller than ever and even let you view videos, images and text.

Here are six of the best for under â‚Ź260

lien Apple brought out the first iPod, it cost several hundred euros and was basically a portable hard di that happened to have a music player attached to it_ It also only came with 5Gb of storage.

Nowadays, that much storage is available far less money and, importantly, in a much smaller package. In this group test, we'll be taking a look at six of the best portable music players around, all of which come in at â‚Ź260 or less. That amount buys at least 2Gb of storage - some of our players have as much

18 • january 2007

portable music players on test

Apart from its size, the best thing about the iPod Nano is the ease with which music stored on it can be browsed and organised on the fly.

All the players here use playlists, artists, albums and song titles to find music, but Apple is the only company to use a truly intuitive method to navigate it - the famous scroll wheel. None of the other players comes close, as far as ease of use goes. There's also the ability, lacking in some players, to add tunes to a playlist while listening.

The Nano comes with Apple's standard earbud headphones, which are not particularly good. It's worth replacing these at the first opportunity, particularly as they have become a magnet for thieves.

The iTunes software is the only way to put music on the player, and the iPod can't play downloaded music that's protected with the Microsoft DRM, only music bought from Apple's iTunes store and music copied from your own CDs, tapes and records.

There's no sound recorder or radio, but it can show images, and has a calendar and to-do list, a few games and a stopwatch. No case is supplied, but plenty of third-party accessories are available.

Creative Zen V

I& b a rule of thumb , 1Gb provides space 250 songs.

106 the first iPod contained an internal hard ft4mm modern players , including the iPod bW we Rash memory instead. This makes for a ad faster player, although it can be more We'll look at both types of player, and goats the pros and cons are of each.

he best known of all portable music hom tare Nano is the newest and smallest of fimilv. As we were going to press, WAyW Diced a completely new, thinner

version of the iPod Nano.

This one (RRP â‚Ź209) provides 4Gb of storage space and the top half of the player is taken up with the screen, which is a little on the small side compared with some of the players in the test. That said, the screen is clear and fairly bright, and has been slightly improved in the new edition.

Unlike all the rest of the players in the group test, this one doesn't come in black - that's reserved for the 8Gb edition (RRP â‚Ź259). The case is made from aluminium rather than plastic, which makes it more durable but gives it a slightly retrograde feel compared with its predecessor.

Music players are getting smaller in all dimensions, and while none are as thin as Apple's iPod nano, none in our test are as small overall as the Zen V (RRP â‚Ź12 5). Volume levels are good with little clipping at high volumes.

There is a record function, using the built-in microphone or the line-in socket on the top of the device. Quality from the microphone was not great, but it's more than enough for recording a lecture, for instance.

The supplied Creative earbud headphones are of reasonable quality, but seeing as Creative makes several good models of earphone, we were surprised that a better quality pair was not included with the Zen V. The Zen is only the size of a large biscuit, but it packs in 4Gb of memory. The display is medium-sized and clear, with bright colours that make it easy to see what's going on. The colour schemes can be changed using the onscreen menus. It uses the same playlist, artist, album and song navigation as the other players, but the joystick in the middle is used to physically navigate through the menus. It's possible to add tunes to a playlist while others are being played, and there's a clever DJ section in the menus which can randomly select tracks, play tracks that haven't been heard recently, and help find music in a number of other ways.

The player can charge using the USB connection to a PC. A cloth carry case is supplied in the box. There's no FM radio, but it

portable music players on test

<< does come with an organiser (calendar and todo list) and the ability to view pictures (but not video). The screen's quality is not great, but it's satisfactory for this kind of image viewing.

Music can be transferred to the player using the Windows Media Player or just using the drag-and-drop feature of Windows. This means it's not necessary to install the supplied software, although installing it does make

no difficulty in navigation. The size of the display means that plenty of information can be shown on the screen at once. There are several extras, including an FM radio, picture, text and video viewer, and a recorder. The internal microphone makes very good recordings, which is just as well, because there's no line input. There is, however, the

But the player itself (RRP â&#x201A;Ź159) is much better than that, design-wise. It's comfo to hold, the display is clear and the buttons depress satisfyingly when clicked. The m are intuitive and as simple as the design of player. Though it lacks the chic of some of rivals, the buttons were accessible by chum with the player sat in the palm of the hand.

things easier.

Iriver U10 The U10 (RRP â&#x201A;Ź249) is the least orthodox music player in our round-up. Instead of having any buttons on the front panel, you push down on an edge of the large colour screen. This navigates the menus. In theory it's a great, intuitive idea. However, the interface is a bit slow, so while on another player it might be a case of zooming through the menus, here it's a matter of clicking and waiting. The delay is very small - generally less than a second - but it is irritating having to hang around waiting for the player to respond.

Uniquely among music players, the U10 can play Macromedia Flash files - in fact, the menus are made from Flash files - so it can play downloaded games. Some are included with the player, but other games need to be specially made for the U10 - it can't just play any file. There are more details at the company's website, including links to download sites.

The sluggish interface is a shame because otherwise, the interface is very good. It's a clear and colourful screen, which means there's

20 â&#x20AC;˘

ability to tilt the screen display through 90 degrees, so the player can be operated either vertically or horizontally, according to your preference. Sound quality was good, and although the player doesn't go particularly loud, it's enough, and there is no clipping at

Music is transferred to the player using tt: supplied software, or by using the Window interface. This made organising our music really quite easy - putting music on the plays is a simple matter of selecting files and dropping them into the player window undc-

high volumes.

The supplied earbud headphones are very good quality, although the buds were a bit big for our ears, making them a little uncomfortable.

My Computer.

The supplied earbud headphones are of a reasonable quality, although as with most of n headphones supplied with players in this test. i would definitely be worth replacing them witi a better quality pair for sustained listening.

This is one of two hard-disk-based players in our tests. The 8Gb disk will store about 2,000 songs, but the downside is that the player is slightly larger than most. It's not a h deal, however, because the P640 is about the

The software supplied can be used to transfer files to the player, but this can also be done using Windows' own built-in facilities. One qualm is that judicious use of the `hold' function is required, otherwise it's very easy to accidentally press against a side of the screen and find oneself listening to a different song.

size of the average mobile phone.

MSI P640 MSI's media players generally come in at the budget end, and this one certainly looks the part to begin with. There's an excess of plastic packaging, whereas most manufacturers at this level have moved on to sleek cardboard cases.

Sandisk Sansa E260 While nobody has come close to improving the classic simplicity of Apple's iPod navigation, Sandisk has got the closest to emulating it. Like all these players, the E260

portable music players on test

4W €170) uses playlist-based navigation to W and play a piece of music. It has a wheel, irh glows blue when in use, that is used to pl k through lists of music and options. This k6c only player in our round-up - in fact, the ■ ilr player we've seen - to successfully melat: Apple's scroll-wheel approach. It does 4bo quite well, making navigating through >t*ae lists fairly simple. %-.noyingly, there's no way to create a 0lmw-_:,r while playing other files. It's possible to r^t 4aes to the Go List but only while playing p a:r_p . So unless the music files on the PC are aoi±v arranged into playlists, it'll mean -remng to whole albums on the go. The option is to go through each track in -,1 select it, play it, then add it to the Go ,-fly then is it possible to play the Go Jf. That's fairly annoying. ie only player in our round-up that the option to increase its capacity - it it for micro-SD memory cards. These -ing to show up in high-end phones quite expensive, but in a year or so rovide an inexpensive way to get more ien the supplied 4Gb is full.

Sansa E260 can play video files, -h these need to be specially converted -e supplied software. Music, on the and, can be simply copied to the device Y indows Media Player, or just Windows he E260 was neck and neck with • Nano, and we simply couldn't separate the first true rival to the daddy of music players.

tht s

of using a hard disk rather than flash memory for storage. This takes longer to search through, so there was a slight delay when finding tracks, and similar tasks.

Playback quality was good, and the player's screen, although it's only a monochrome green screen, is readable. We noticed a lot of flicker on the screen, though, which may be a problem for some. It only plays music, not pictures or video, but it has a few nice touches such as an intelligent shuffle mode and the ability to play through favourite songs. There's also the ability to output a line-out signal through the headphone socket, which means it can play music through unamplified speakers. The supplied earbud headphones were a good quality pair.

The winners are...

iPod

All the players use a USB connection to the PC, although only the MSI and Creative players use standard leads, so if the others break, it could mean an expensive replacement.

The difference between hard disks and flash memory is small in use, so the two hard disk players in our group test have the advantage,

Photos Extras Settings Shuffle Songs

capacity-wise.

All the players use similar menu systems for locating tracks, but the iPod's scroll wheel is by far the easiest navigation tool, a method Apple protects with a patent, which it refuses to license to rivals. Only the Sandisk Sansa comes close, while the others are all hamstrung by some aspect of their navigation.

The screen sizes are similar, except for the smaller screens on the Apple and Sony players.

The Sony player is the only monochrome screen, but this won't matter too much as the player can't show images anyway. All the others

%ft NW-Al 200

bmw* be expected from as style-conscious monl'a^y as Sony, the NW-A1200 (€240) lea packaged in a sleek purple and black It's one of only two that come with Ldc- 1 _ d charger (the others charge using the NO LSB connection). It's also one of two to a ire a hard disk, which explains its 8Gb of ^. . Earger (along with the MSI player) 410 ad the other players. However, like the 4rl%wrui. it's not possible to simply drag music files on to the player using Nhabw-. - the SonicStage software has to be iii. The installation wizard refused to

The new iPod Nano

can, and in addition the Iriver, MSI and Sandisk players can play video in specific formats.

Because the merits of the iPod nano and Sansa e260 are so closely matched, we have awarded two Buv It awards. The Sansa has a microphone and recorder, and plays video, while the Apple is sleeker, slimmer and easier to use. For most it will be down to personal preference.

On a similar level is the MSI P640, which has a decent navigation system, a good screen, and lots of storage. Finally the Creative and Iriver players are worthwhile buys, although none of them reaches the level of the Sandisk ■ and Apple devices.

a}

t a 141MAiiiiiiiiii our test PC, so we had to browse #Ir a9pied CD, find the appropriate setup the aid nut the installation program Aber which it worked.

116 bwons can be a little tricky to press, iaW bo u+r small and recessed slightly into ine irit of the player. The menus are easy

44

4010K however . The player is a little

The MSI P640 chunky but effective

CONTACTS: www.applestore.ie www.peats .com for Creative and Iriver www.tnsdistribution. com for Sandisk

low ian most of the others, on account

January 2007 • 21

formula 1 in schools

The new Honda Formula 1 Wind Tunnel in Brackley

The Wind Beneath Their Wheels In the struggle for that crucial tenth of a second, aerodynamics play a fundamental role in Formul a One racing formula 1 teams invest up to 20 percent of their total budget in 'the science of the winds', making their cars even faster thanks to innovative aerodynamic designs.

The precision involved is taken down to the last millimetre, following the motto, 'races are won in the wind tunnel and lost on the track'.

i

Down with the force The significance of aerodynamics can be seen primarily in downforce. The search for greater downforce has become one of the driving forces behind the constant development of Formula One cars. Their shape is determined on the computer, in the wind tunnel and on the track, with every area of bodywork - from the wings and deflectors to the rear diffuser under the car - being carefully shaped. The aim of this precision is to channel airflows perfectly over and around the car and so generate as much

downforce as possible, which presses the car down onto the road and permits shorter braking distances and higher cornering speeds. Experts estimate 80 per cent of a Formula One car's grip is generated by downforce, and only 20 per cent mechanically.

Modern Formula One cars can withstand centrifugal forces of up to 4G without sliding off the track. The art of aerodynamics allows far higher cornering speeds than would be possible without downforce, and so not only ensures a better performance but also even more safety.

As a rule of thumb, 35 per cent of the total downforce is generated by the rear wing.

However, as it also causes the most drag, it is the rear wing's setting that is changed most from race to race. For the Italian Grand Prix on the high-speed track in Monza, with its long straights and fast corners, the teams use flat wings to gain the highest possible speeds. On street circuits like Monaco, or circuits with lots of tight corners, wing elements with a steep

r e

N

The Virtual Wind Tunnel

D. 'Gex Bun yelp

F1 in Schools teams are provided with the Virtual Wind Tunnel software program that predicts the effects of drag and lift. After testing for aerodynamic efficiency, teams can C refine their car designs.

The wind tunnels help the teams to assess two main aerodynamic factors: Drag: The car will move faster if its shape minimises the resistance of the air to its forward movement.

Lift: Things that move quickly tend to 'take off'. Formula 1 car engineers need to do exactly the opposite to airplane engineers.

They want their car's shape to minimise the natural lift effect.

3

22 â&#x20AC;˘ January 2007

setting help generate as much downforce apossible so the cars can drive through the corners faster. The front wings are respon a * for 25 per cent of the downforce - a value can quickly be reduced to just 10 per cent br turbulence if the car is travelling directly another car. The remaining 40 per cent of downforce is provided by the diffuser on the vehicle underbody, a type of air accelerator whose tunnels and ducts lead the flowing air towards the rear so that it generates the strongest possible suction effect.

Every adjustment counts Slight adjustments to the aerodynamics of a car can make a great difference to its speed. air duct panel between the front wheel and side panel, for instance, can add more speed than two or three extra horsepower. Only d teams with their own wind tunnel can keep with the extremely fast development in this and Honda Motor Company have recently opened a new state of the art wind tunnel at I Honda F1 Team's Operations Centre in Brackley, Northants, UK. The engineers spe up to 15,000 hours every year at the wind tunnel, and each complex costs about â&#x201A;Ź45 million.

The new facility effectively provides the Honda Racing FI Team with an in- house 'tea track' - a fully automated, fully instrumented testing facility able to accommodate one of tic team's full-size RA106 race cars. The tunnel generate a wind speed of 80 metres per secone (the equivalent of 180mph), driven by the 5. _^ a diameter fan and its 16 rotating and 27 static blades, and its powered by a 2263kW electric three-phase induction motor, generating 4360Nrn of torque at 495rpm. The rolling is also capable of running at 80 metres per second.

Shigeru Takagi, chief operating officer for Regional Operations (Europe, the Middle Ear and Africa) of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and president of Honda Motor Europe Ltd. commented: "This facility is a demonstration of our strong commitment to motor sport and to our research and development capability. Our passion for the toughest challenge in motor sport our desire to become Formula One champions requires a very strong infrastructure and it is with this in mind that we have invested in our new wind tunnel at Brackley".

Under pressure to deliver But creating a competitive Formula One racing car is a highly pressuri task. The design and development group at the Honda F1 Racing Team Operations Centre ir.

Brackley has less than five months during the

formula 1 in schools

4' ason to develop its car for the next war The new model has to comply with /lr new regulations that are introduced IV & Formula One authorities, and w ri rate the latest advances in s^logy and race design, as well as edrsie adjustments based on the vital gasxi, learned from the way the previous 4t -formed. The task is always to build rte..'. better performing and safer car.

T?- Honda F1 Racing Team used \A' digital product development illetr and Teamcenter product lawricdge management and ration solution throughout the apwm 1mtent of the new Honda RA106 4ar i T the 2006 Formula One race 40.r- Cadpo Solutions, a partner of @Li,^ :< a dedicated sponsor of the Fl in ils programme and has generously ogQracd free software to all participating oku: ' which gives the students a real 4M : tf what is involved in F1 + rxrring.

*la'ous testing routpines Tft -rquirements for precision and ,yen -n-an there are painstaking testing awno -s built into virtually every element ding a Formula One car. The UGS 4mawwr played a central part in oiaggrrnng this . Initial wind-tunnel +iial to assess the aerodynamic ixti of the new design involved a" Jcsign data from NX in two ways.

ANOTHER F1 in Schools software Sponsor is Honeycomb Solution. They have provided participating schools with CFdesign Upfront CFD software. The software transforms a standard MCAD work station into a fully interactive 3D flow bench, wind tunnel, thermal test rig and environment chamber. No specialist skills are required, so students can get an instant taste of the world of engineering.

The system is CAD-integrated in a specific sense, in that it reads native CAD data, imports both geometry, assembly structure and now other information (such as material definition), then allows the students to work in an environment that's tailored to the CFD workflow.

Once the students are happy with their aerodynamic designs the car is milled and physical car can be tested again in a mini wind tunnel machine at the make centre which the school has been matched with.

In Formula One racing, aerodynamic development will remain one of the most important factors affecting performance, no matter how the regulations change. The designers are a long way from exhausting all the possible options, and will never stop chasing that extra fraction of a second in their bid for victory. So Formula 1 in Schools participants take note.commitment with research and development pays off!

First, the data for the 3D model was used in computer simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which simulated the flow of air over and around the car. Second, the NX data was used to drive a laser machine tool to create a 50 percent scale model of the car made of carbon composites. This resulting model was tested in a real wind tunnel testing facility at Brackley.

All about aerodynamics While the aerodynamics are the most important factor in the design of a full sized Formula One car, it is also equally important in the Honda Fl in Schools Challenge.

The F1 in Schools teams have only one shot at construction so now that they have finished their car designs with the use of their computer programmes it's now time for the teams to test how their race car will perform on the track before the car is physically made.

To do this the F1 in Schools teams will use the same basic technology Formula 1 engineers and fighter jet engineers use around the world before construction Virtual Wind Tunnels.

Windspeed and flow are measured in wind tunnels by dye or smoke being injected upstream into the airstream and the lines that dye particles follow over and around the object photographed as ■ the experiment proceeds.

For more information visit: www.fl inschools.ie www.hondaracingil.com www.cadposolutions.com www.honeycomb.ie

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janu ry 2007 • 23

d

he latest JNLR survey estimates that 60% of Irish people don't use e-mail. This was a startling statistic and one which I find slightly exaggerated in a attempt to grab media coverage. A more telling and trustworthy report comes from the telecoms regulator, Comreg, which reckons that 47% of the population do not have a PC in the home, relying on internet access in the workplace instead. The Central Statistics Office estimates that under 55% of Irish households have a PC, but this is as poor figure when you compare it to PC penetration

I

I

u

hill climb to the

information highwa y How do we get everybody in this country access to and using technology?

STEPHEN CAWLEY opens up the debate

in Sweden where it has reached 82%.

The bottom line is that Ireland as an information society is lagging behind the other OECD countries. In its most recent report, the OECD rated Ireland a poorly 13''' out of 15 countries when it came to broadband penetration.

training and education to equip them with the basic computing skills. "In the UK, basic training courses are available through libraries, community centres, schools and retail stores.

We need a similar initiative from government here. The ECDL is just too advanced for most

While the government has been proactive in developing world-class online services such as Revenue Online (www.ros.ie) and Comhairle (www.comhairle.ie), it has not done enough to stimulate the uptake of PC and broadband usage.

of these users."

PC within reach A prudent starting point would be for the government to make PCs as affordable as possible to purchase. How about reducing the VAT charge on a new PC? Peter Evans, product director with broadband service provider BT believes that there should no VAT on the purchase of a PC. "An entry level PC can be purchased in Ireland at PC World for â&#x201A;Ź350 but then the consumer is expected to pay VAT at 21%. This should not be the case." Evans argues that if we are to get that 47% of the disenfranchised using technology then we need to look at how we provide this group with

Government initiative Evans advocates a computing initiative from the government that truly caters for first timers and which does not, as happened in the UK, become a scheme that benefits people looking to upgrade. "Training, low rates of VAT on

purchase and an affordable method of pa}-i for it will drive PC penetration."

Chicken and egg So which comes first, PC ownership or broadband adoption? And does the ownersh: of a PC stimulate broadband adoption or is opposite the case? Truly, it is a case of `chic and egg' but a sensible approach is to look a: the PC as the primary access device for broadband internet access. There have been pretenders to the throne - such as the mobil; phone and the Xbox 360 games consoles, bcultimately the desktop drives access.

information society in Ireland Give us your feedback We are running a

II

appropriate training to absolute beginners, offer tax incentives on the purchase of a PC, and remove or at least reduce the VAT charge on it.

Mer apps r top of that, users need killer ophcations to get them to use hair PCs , and these killer gplications need internet 4aanectivity. Now, whether or not ._.. iry need ^,249 eana

54,703 ?55

Irondband

The ECTA Broadband scorecard places Ireland at a lowly 14th position Vends or just dial-up ones is Broadband barriers rrxher question. E-mail, online banking and Evans at BT would argue that there are also mbne shopping for flights and holidays are many younger and very clued-in users who Alr+ec basic killer applications for ordinary cannot display their prowess online because they err.. It 's more than likely that you don't need cannot get access to a broadband service. `There *K at home to complete any of these tasks, is a need for more progress on local loop r bon, as you have a PC at work. So it seems unbundling. If you look at the OECD score card, probable that the majority of the 47% the countries that are racing up the broadband Ow .ion't own PCs at home are in fact using league table are the countries that are unbundling • rr.ternet-connected PC at work to carry quickest." Richardson at Eircom says that the - these personal tasks. .fund even among those who have PCs at ba-x. they may not necessarily see the need for %wudhand . There are, according to Evans at 10. - ^% er 2 50 ,000 users of dial-up internet access

e t

;Lund. They are using these slow 4wrcctions to do the tasks we mentioned iw;. are spending little time online, and are %w-. to pay a low fee to do so. The challenge am < to educate these users on the benefits of -ading to broadband.

rlllcation process need to be educated about the potential r A ef, 2.0 - the morass of multimedia content 4kw els and applications that are being Awri..ped thanks to the availability of the fast AMP-€t pipe . The success of user generated aarer:t sites such as YouTube saw Time !rne vote the online user as its `Person of > for 2006. People are creating their os, music, podcasts and video podcasts ading them to the Web for other users Peer to peer sites are starting to legal music file sharing and TV es such as Sky are lookig to deliver vies via DSL. It's an exciting media n, but to be part of it you need a PC Lsicb,oadband connection.

incumbent is doing its utmost to make broadband available, with 100 new exchanges being broadband-enabled this year. For him, its more a question of application and educating the users on the ones that will be most attractive to them.

Broadband lobby group Ireland Offline recently carried out a survey which showed that internet users who move to broadband • increase their internet usage significantly. Crucially, 73% • of people who used dial-up • access said they did not switch to broadband • because it was not available to them. 73% of those who

A Home Computing Initiative is required urgently. Finally, media such as PC Live! must continue to provide users with details of new ways of using their connected PCs - whether it be broadcasting to the world via a blog or podcast or just messaging and video conferencing with relatives ■ in the US.

reader survey at www.pclive.ie/re adersurvey and we want to hear from you on how you use your PC, what online services and PC applications you use, and the state of broadband provision in the country. We will be giving away an Epson high definition projector as a prize to one lucky respondent.

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Action points %ftctive responsibility mss- Richardson , marketing manager with bent broadband provider Eircom sees cation process as a `shared ibility between service provider, *nent and the media'. He says `Users understand the relevance of :'' rid, and while the young are informed, more time online than watching TV, groups need help from us in the potential of access."

It is clear that to make high-speed online access almost `ubiquitous', action needs to be taken by three parties. The broadband providers need to increase the availability and speed of their offerings. Price is not a barrier at this stage.

The government need to take steps to provide

january 2007 • 25

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RSS feeds

appetite

magine having every newspaper in the world delivered to you every day. Apart from the logistical issues, it would take the entire

RSS is an easy way to stay up to date with your favourite websites. If you've never given it a go, now is the time

day to read even a fraction of them. Better, then, to pick and choose stories from the best news sites on the Web. Even this takes time, particularly for those with a dial-up internet connection that may struggle to load image-

I

heavy web pages.

So what's the solution? Well, imagine having the bits that interest you from any paper in the world delivered to your computer as soon as they are published online. Let's also throw in alerts about sporting events, concerts, updates to your favourite blogs and websites and news of mog1 -e- -competitions you Btogtine sL^ might want to enter.

Thanks to RSS, it's possible.

newsreader. All you have to do is tell the newsreader software the sources (web pages) from which you'd like it to collect feeds.

In this feature, we'll focus on a newsreader called RSSOw1, which can be downloaded free from our Cover CD ROM. It's easy to set up and use, and it collects RSS, Atom and XML feeds. Once the download is complete, doubleclick on the exe file to start the installation process, following the prompts onscreen.

When you first launch the program a screen Wma similar in layout to the inbox screen of

Microsoft Outlook's e-mail RSS has been around program will for a while. It stands appear. Folders wPo for Really Simple containing pref Syndication and it's a loaded feeds are clever bit of web magic displayed in the that allows all the latest left-hand pane, alerts, news and RSSOwI provides pre-loaded feeds to help you get started, labelled and updates - called RSS such as BBC News/ News Front page feed organised by feeds - from your category. These favourite websites to be collected and sent to the plus sign next just click on are expandable; your computer. To do the collecting you'll need view its contents. to a category folder to a piece of software called an RSS news reader,

It's so simple

unless you're using a web browser that has this built in, but we'll come to that later. Any website that displays the RSS, XML or Atom icons makes feeds available to an RSS

26 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

We'll use the News category by way of example. Click on the plus sign next to the folder labelled News. A list of online websites from which RSSOwl has collected feeds will

appear. Double-click on ti RTE News/News Front p feed - all the recent feeds from the front page of the RTE news site will appear the top right-hand pane.

Each of these relates to a story on the RTE website.

Click on one and a sumnn

of the story will appear in the Preview pane underneath - to jump to the full story online either double-click on the feed in the top rig hand pane or click on the web link at the top the Preview pane. Providing the computer is connected to the Internet, the web page with the full story should appear in the same wine To close the web page, click on the cross at t top of the window.

Feeding time Once you've found your way around the category folders, it's time to try adding your own RSS feed sources from which RSSOwl w collect. There are three ways to do this: by dragging-and-dropping the RSS feed icon fr a website to the category in the feed reader v want to add it to, by using the search tool bu, in to RSSOw1, or directly from websites. The first way is self-explanatory but we'll look at last two options in more detail.

To search for feeds from a specific website, press Ctrl and G in RSSOwl to open the feeds search dialogue box. Type the name of the website in the search box and click on the Search button. To add any of the results to the list of favourite feeds, ensure the box next to each is checked, then click on the Import button. Choose a category to add these feeds to - Computers for example - then click on OK Adding feeds you find online to RSSOw1's Iis of favourites is a little more complicated. Feeds

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EDITORS' CHOICE

RSS feeds

Feedeter -

<<

different groups of may be represented by feeds on the toolbar. By the RSS, XML or default there will be a Atom icons. RightLatest Headlines button click on the icon and in the Firefox toolbar select Copy Link .eieorM'^ ssio n.w.,^a.o,nmvman, a<u, gon.nx, q. click on this to display Location from the pre-loaded feeds. To drop-down menu that add feeds of your own, appears. Now go back go to the website you'd to the RSSOw1 main like to get RSS feeds screen. To add the feed from and navigate to to an existing category, the right web page. right-click on the You can decide how frequently you want RSSOwI to Click on the orange category heading and check for updates on feeds icon at the end of the select New then Firefox address bar - this appears whenever the Favourite. Click in the box labelled URL/Path browser detects an RSS feed - and the Add under the Properties tab, then press Ctrl plus Live Bookmark dialogue box will appear. Make V to paste the link. Give the feed a title if you sure that Bookmarks Toolbar Folder is selected wish and use the options in the drop-down . uanry F ^ie

menu under Update Automatically to choose how regularly RSSOw1 should check for new feeds, then click on OK. Add new categories by right-clicking on the Samples folder in the left-hand pane and selecting New • Category.

Other options RSSOw1 is not the only reader and some web browsers even have their own RSS readers built in. Opera, for instance, has an integrated e-mail program that can also be used as an RSS feed reader (obtain it free from our Cover CD ROM). As feeds are listed among e-mail messages, forwarding them to friends is simple. If the Opera navigation bar detects an RSS feed on a website it will display a Newsfeed button - click on this to set up a subscription to that feed.

The latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) version 7, which comes as part of Windows Vista or is available from our Cover

News on the move All of the RSS readers, integrated and standalone, that we've looked at so far tic in to using the same computer to view fe you regularly use more than one computes different locations, an online RSS reader as Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) might just up your street. You can view a persot>lg

feeds digest from any internet-connected computer anywhere by logging on to your account, which is free to set up.

To help get you started adding feeds to your account, use the categories or populm, in the Create in: text box if you want feeds feeds listings on from this source to have a first screen to sd separate toolbar button. feeds of interest.

You can also type a Then click on the name that will appear on Subscribe to m% this button in the Name: selections' button,. text box. Click on OK view feeds, click an when you've finished. A the My Feeds tab. new button will appear in Click on any of ttit the browser's toolbar feed sources listed with the name you've the top left-hand specified. To change the pane in this screw name at any time, rightFeeder contains a directory of different feeds from view all the feeds click on the toolbar around the world collected from that button and select source. To add feeds, click on the Add link Properties from the drop down list, type in a this pane and cut and paste the address of new name, then click on OK. You may wish to add feeds from different web page you'd like to add to the collection.

This is done by opening the web browser m sources to a single group with its own button on the toolbar. To add new feeds to an another window, navigating to the page vt 'z want, highlighting the address bar and uslrj existing Live Bookmark group, go to the website from which Ctrl plus C to copy and Ctrl and V to pa,-you want feeds to be the web address into the Blog or Feed URI collected and click on text box. Then click on Subscribe.

CD ROM - also has 10- -") u a built-in feed harvester and reader. the orange icon in the IE scans any web address bar again. This page you view for time, click on the RSS feeds, and these button with the arrow can be viewed by pointing down to the clicking on the Feeds asp ^''^: right of the Create in: button. To subscribe text box. Select the to a feed, click on it group listed under the to view it, then click Bookmarks Folder on the `Subscribe to just one of many media outlets in Ireland that RTE is Toolbar heading that this feed' button, offers RSS news feeds you want to add feeds type a name for it to and click on OK. and select the folder you want it to appear in.

Alternatively, download the Firefox plugTo view feeds, select Favorites • Center • Feeds. in Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org) to have Mozilla Firefox has a built-in feed reader, RSS feeds displayed in a pane to the left of too, but refers to feeds as Live Bookmarks. the main Firefox browser pane, with feed The browser displays feeds in drop-down content displayed in the main pane. You can menus and places a dedicated button for

28 • january 2007

always cut and paste feed addresses st-ia into Sage by right-clicking into the fcc4 window, then select new bookmark ar..'. the feed address into the Location fic.

Give the feed a name too.

With the basics taken care of, all you need worry about is finding interesting feeds on web and adding them to your feed reader. N feeds will present themselves as you surf the web, but to look for feeds on a specific subj try Feedster (www.feedster.com). This is directory of feeds from all over the Web.

That's newsworthy Don't be a news-collection drone, bustling around the Internet looking for news stories and website updates that interest you.

Instead, let an RSS feed reader do the legwork for you. Getting to grips with a ncv piece of software, or new functions in exist software, might take a little effort but it %N: S pay off in no time.

J

v1sI s r J

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NIALL KITSON turns soothsayer and sees the stars of cutting edge consumer electronics for 2007 Bigger, better, smaller, faster, more, now, again. The January mantras are usually in full swing about now with the usual promises of must-haves sweeping away the next big thing from three months ago. 2006 was a busy year popularising the RSS feed, the vidcast and YouTube. High Definition TV sets began appearing on the shelves and towards the end of the year there was even something to watch on them.

In 2007, the focus is shifting back towards the meat and potatoes of hardware and service providers. Microsoft, Apple, Dell and Sony all have big releases while behind the scenes wireless networks come home to roost. Forget thinking outside of the box, the coming year is about everything back

30 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

into it from high speed mobile internet to TV, voice and data from a single provider.

Get used to it now because by the end of '07 the words `wireless' and `convergent' will be the first things you'll be thinking about whether you're looking for a TV set or a mobile phone provider. Consider this the year when hardware learned to cut the cables and get into broadcasting and telecoms learned to defrag.

Fruit of the Zune Looming large on the horizon are Mircosoft's tentpole products for the year.

Laden with features such as Wi-Fi and the ability to share songs between units, the Zune is in danger of becoming one of the

Zune is looking to put pressure on the iPod

digital innovations for 2007

All Pictures and Video,

compatible. While the chinks are ironed out the Irish launch has been put back to the end of the year. Another fine mess...

Claudia s V rtual Folders a All Pictures and `videos

• Date Taken Keywords

Beautifully Polished Windows

Animals Buildings

Destined to be more successful is the long-

Europe

awaited arrival of Windows Vista. Five years in the making with some 50 million lines of code, the obsessively backwards-compatible OS is set for a January release. Concerns about the requirements for the upgrade look likely to be hyped out of proportion with all but the most basic of PCs over the three-year mark being able to run without difficulty so long as the minimum Direct x9/128Mb graphics card is on board. The main selling points, sceptics would argue, look remarkably familiar to Mac users or anyone who has come across Yahoo! Widgets

Hawaii

landscapes Tokyo

Vista'

• Rating Pidore, LD Public

may wonder what all the fuss is about but a slick GUI makes for an immediate `wow factor' that will silence the unbelievers until they at least figure out all 15 ways to power down.

Beginners may also take solace from the rake of

0 Intemet

+m and be the last Microsoft OS ai the year before being released on Faores. A lukewarm marketing strategy led to only a hardcore of frustrated buying in to the 30Gb capacity MP3 at S250 a go. Despite taking a 9% share , numerous problems have beset from low battery life to poor screen on displaying album cover art to a user friendly interface. Other caps on lity have also not gone down well. ^rting ' feature allowing for file ensures files only last either three days

style

l

e egance

Tar gus now availabl e at

or three plays (whichever expires first) after transfer. Problems also abound with the content management software, Zune Marketplace, which has already garnered a reputation for being hard to install and for crashing when forced to sync video with sound. Nor does it manage podcasts or work on a Mac. And as for the click wheel on the front? It's not a click wheel. Possibly the most embarrassing part of the Zune debacle apart from its name (already a pejorative term the world over) is that Marketplace is not Vista

practicality EJ 1DI W«id of ekactnxiics

& much more visit www.targus.com

Vista introductory texts that have been available since last summer.

Where the iPod meets a mobile phone Having come dangerously close to jumping the shark twice in 2006 by opting for Intel processors on the Macbook Pro then having the audacity to allow their machines to dualboot Windows natively, Apple is doing it again and again this year. The source of speculation since being announced two years ago, concept blogs for the iPhone have ended up being nowhere near the mark. Opting for a sliding

n the nay

digital innovations for 2007

Albums Songs Shuffle Son

Plau

Exit

with a 2407FPW monitor and a nifty multimedia keyboard. It's fast, energy efficient and looks like a Borg cube but it don't come cheap. With a price tag of €4,444 all in this won't be bothering the consoles just yet, but multicore technology is here to stay.

According to Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner "core expansion will be a dominant theme for Intel over the next few years." So that's why you can get a Centrino laptop for €500!

4 cxl

5 JILLL

Ivan

B ray

9Kxvsk`

Could this be the first phone iPod?

design, the iPhone could be essentially a mobile and an iPod strapped together with separate memory and power sources. Using a 2.2" screen with a 3MP camera and full iTunes integration the iPhone could come in two models with either 4 or 8Gb memory.

Wimax Ireland may still have one of the lowest rates of broadband uptake in Europe but that hasn't stopped development of new wireless options for smug urbanites already spoiled for choice with fixed line, wireless and OFDM options, such as Clearwire, already jockeying for position. The view from Irish Broadband is that the next big thing will be WiMax and it's bringing it to a town near you. Labelled t`WiFi on steroids" by chief executive Neil Parkinson, the new network currently boasts 90 percent coverage in the Dublin area through its

built-in receivers not just for Wi-Fi lama WiMax, allowing the user to select ter network of their choosing.

HSDPA Broadband on the go is also going tt your handset in 2007 with the rollout HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packr Access) by 02 powered by Ericsson technology. Touted as the world's mo>powerful mobile network, HSDPA can deliver download speeds 4 times faster All 3G offering 3.6Mbps downloads inclu television, music and digital magazin.Backwards compatible with EDGE and GPRS and with a forecasted download speed of 14.4Mbps on offer to 1.6 mil customers, HSDPA could well be the test on multimedia in the palm of your hand as fact or fad.

Not that 3G is taking this lying dour. danger of losing the techie market, attention has turned to the regular puneq with a series of flat rate price plans and r "X-Series" service with Ebay, Google MA even Skype functionality. The playoff

We'll sees

Personalised TV Far more interesting is the new foray into home entertainment, the so-called iTV. Essentially a streaming device working off iTunes, Apple intends to offer movies, television series and sporting events for download on a per episode or per season basis. At present issues exist with content providers looking to recoup lost advertising revenue as audiences go online rather than be at the behest of scheduling. At $10 to rent a movie ($15 to buy) and $1.99 per episode of television, the sums have yet to add up on iTV to make it a viable alternative to cinema/DVD and issues with the quality of material pervade. With torrenting providing better quality than its legal downloads, Apple will have to tread the line between attracting content providers and offering a commercially attractive product to consumers. Not to mention the backlash from chains with high DVD sales such as HMV and Walmart.

US Having only just got used to the idea of dual core processors, Dell has augmented its gamer-centric XPS line with the quadcore XPS 710 which boasts an impressive 2.66Ghz of processing power, three 160Gb hard drives, 2GB of RAM, two Nvidia 7950GX2 graphics cards and Windows Media Centre bundled

32 • january 2007

Sam Raimi TobeyMaguire. Kirsten DunoUames Franco.

Allred Molina, Rosemary H1 161, lit Simmons

Absolutely eye-popping special effects are married to intense . hears- stoppnq drama as Tobey Maguire s Spider - Man weaves another web around Newean and leaves us desperate to see the third installment . Be'( sequel ever made?

Forget about it. Best comic book ever made ? Now that's a bit closer to the mark.

Next showing on Sky Movies 9 at 11.15.9th tan 2006 You have 263 days to download this movie

1. Robot ' The Day oher Tomorrow Aliens: Special Edition

Sky can deliver movies over broadband Ripwave product and is looking to bring the same quality of service to all urban centres in the country. Network access by be gained either through a fixed line service with a receiver delivering speeds of up to 7Mbit/sec uncontended upload and download or on the move with a 40:1 contention ratio. While not currently available on laptops, newer models will have

between content and service may well It, the deciding factor in this struggle.

Wireless USB There will also be good news for the wort 700 million USB devices with the launch wireless USB. Positioned as an alternative Bluetooth and offering speeds of between 480Mbit/sec and 1 Gbit/sec the simple

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EXCEED YOUR VISION

digital innovations for 2007

addition of a dongle to any device serves as an instant upgrade without the need to trade in that trusty old printer you keep tripping over.

UWB Equally exciting is the launch of UWB (Ultra Wide Band), another wireless service that broadcasts large amounts of data within a radius of up to 30ft. Designed for the creation of small home networks UWB could become the wireless solution of choice for homes with more entertainment options from video to HD DVD and less and less available space under the television to put them.

Flat panel developments On the subject of space, LG will be using 2007 to launch its new range of flat panel HD TV sets with more functionality and stickers on the side than previously thought possible.

The PC1D, available in both 50" and 42" models, comes with XD Engine, HDMI, 3D Digital Comb Filter, S-Video, PC Input, has 4 speakers, is HD-Ready and that's not even the flagship product. That honour goes to the PY2R which on top of everything its little brother' does, comes in 50" and 60" screens, a swivel stand and a woofer built in. Don't expect either to retail below the €2,000 mark.

Blu-ray vs HD DVD No year is complete without a healthy dose of cross-platform competition and with the arrival of PS3 the ante will be upped not just in terms of console design and functionality but crucially in the element of future proofing. Sony maintains its machine will have a lifespan of 10 years and to prove it they've packed a Blu-ray player into every unit at half the price of a regular model.

Currently retailing around the €1,000 mark, Blu-ray has positioned itself as a logical next step to DVD with a marketing emphasis not only on backwards

compatibility with the `old format' but Bluray players can upgrade your DVDs to catch up to the new standard. With HD DVD players selling at half the price of Blu-ray, however, Sony may well be in for a fight, especially as the X-Box 360 will soon have a HD DVD module for it released during the year. Format wars on not one but two levels, just like the platform games on which Sega and Nintendo raised a

YouTube style thinking, BT's existing broadband customers will get to bat 6 with a selection of content from Chu Disney and independent film studios as Lionsgate with deferred sports con provided by Setanta. NTL plans a su service with the acquisition of Teleu c Virgin Mobile to expand its service i be rebranded as Virgin Media.

All to play for

generation.

Strange bedfellows Unlikely partnerships will doubtless be a hallmark of 2007 with unlikely bedfellows engaged in branding exercises and convergence to claw back revenue lost through competition, clip culture and VOIP. Sky and Google have entered into a deal whereby the latter would provide branded e-mail, search tools and AdSense and a video portal allowing for mobile phone downloads uploading to Sky's broadband customer base. Google's latest acquisition, YouTube, has also struck a content partnership deal with Channel 4. Expect the best of YouTube to start appearing on E4 to fill the void left by defunct viral compilation show "Shock Video". Whether the clip culture novelty of YouTube will transfer to the majesty of an LG wallmonster remains to be seen.

Some vision here Convergence goes a step further still with BT's quadplay service launching in Northern Ireland combining VOIP, digital TV, broadband and mobile telephony in one place. Putting control in the hands of the user, subscribers will be able to build not their own packages but their own channels to watch at the time of their choosing. Smacking more than a little of

CINeOS

So will Microsoft throw in the towel Zune? Will wireless homes be de ri December? Will Bluetooth be consi the dustbin of history while telecoms cable companies claw back lost ground the Net? Common sense says yes to at two of the above, but who knows? As YouTube, something can come along -Al blow everything else out of the water b o" power of novelty alone. Caveat emptor

Top tech headlin D is for disc wars - Blu-ray vs HD DVD H is for HSDPA - Cellular mobile broadband I

is for Apple iPhone - Long rumoured music phone

P is for personalised media Apple streaming it from PC to TV

S is for Sky broadband - and its partnership with Google X is for XPs - Dell's groundbreaking gaming machines

Z is for Zune - Microsoft's new portable music player U is for UWB - Wireless communication between consumer electronics

V is for Vista - Microsoft's new PC operating system Blu-ray from Philips

V is for video on demand - BT Vision's breakthrough service W is for Wimax - High speed wireless networking W is for wireless USB - Plug and play and no wires

34 • jan

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shared storage

Sh re a share

and

alike

With so much stuff available to download , a PC's hard disk is quickly filled . We look at a storage option that's perfect for the home network Freecom's

n the age of plentiful downloads and

Storage Gateway WLAN includes a built-in wireless

router

broadband •

connections,

its easy to fill up our computer's hard disk with music files, digital photographs and even full-length Hollywood blockbuster movies.

That creates a few problems.

Most of us solve this problem by buying one of the many affordable USB hard disks that are now available. That's fine if you just own one computer, but more and more homes now have two or three computers used by different members of the family.

If you've got a network set up at home, then a much better solution is to use something called NAS (network-attached storage). ® •

4

i K! A NAS drive is just like any other type of hard disk, but instead of a USB port it has a network interface built into it. This allows you to connect it to a network router just as you would connect any ordinary PC. Once the NAS drive is connected to the network it can then be used by any PC on the network. The advantage of NAS compared with USB disks is that a NAS

36 •

drive does not require a PC to be on in order for other PCs on the network to access it.

Large corporations have been using NAS drives for years so that employees can share files and make backup copies of their important data. But now that home networks and broadband internet connections are becoming increasingly common, NAS drives start to make sense for home users too.

There are quite a few NAS drives available, offering a wide range of different features and prices, but there are a few basics to think about before buying one for your home network.

The first feature is, of course, the size of the disk. A NAS drive is going to be shared by several people, so it needs to provide enough storage for everyone's music collections, digital photos, video clips and other personal files.

Most NAS drives start at about €223 to €297 for a 250Gb model. Prices increase to €372€520 for a 500GB drive, while a full terabyte (1000Gb) will cost €743 or more. snares But, as the saying goes, size isn't everything.

One thing we discovered while testing a number of these NAS drives is that some of them can be quite complicated to set up.

Buffalo's LinkStation is attractively pricc,i. providing 300Gb of storage for just under €297, but we found that its software and manual were a bit untidy, and might confuse people who don't know very mu(.' about networking. In contrast, Iomega's StorCenter is a little more expensive, costiog €267 for a slightly smaller 250Gb disk, but is much easier to use. The Discovery program provided with the drive automatically searches your network to locate the StorCenter and then displays it ar just another device in the `My Computer' window on your Desktop. You can then c( files onto the StorCenter just by dragging them onto the icon with your mouse.

The Iomega software also makes it easy create individual user accounts - sometimeknown as `shares' - to keep your important

"In the age of plentiful downloads and broadband connections, it's easy to fill up your computer's hard disk with music files, digital photographs and even full-length Hollywood blockbuster movies" J

Web: www.iomega -europe.com

OW oft. Each person who has a computer on i w--%ork can have their own user account, r 1 Lh user account has its own `home' Wor -m the NAS drive. Inside the home rvu can create additional folders, which either public or private. The public can be used by anyone on the network it easy to share files with other - while the private folders can be -protected to keep important files prying eyes. matters price, size and ease of use are the most am features that you need to think Darn NAS drives offer other features ■ also come in handy. Most NAS aio have USB ports built into them. mow' you to connect additional USB W to the NAS drive. The USB drive s act like another NAS drive g %ou to add even more storage to cork at very low cost. You may also tvD connect a printer to one of these Imo. allowing everyone on the network de same printer. staily important feature to look out for ing known as UpnP -'universal plug

and play'. This allows the NAS drive to work with media player devices such as the popular SoundBridge or Pinnacle's Showcentre.

Ordinarily, you need to store all your music and video files on a PC and transmit, (or `stream') those files from the PC to the media player. But if the media player and NAS drive are both UPnP-compatible then you can stream files from the NAS drive straight to the media player without even having to turn on the PC. Iomega's StorCenter is UPnPcompatible, as are rival NAS drives from Freecom and Maxtor.

It's also possible to store music and video files that are protected with Microsoft's DRM

shared storage

(digital rights management) system on the NAS drive. Just remember that only the PC that originally downloaded those files will be able to play them.

Other features that might make a difference when buying a NAS drive include things such as backup software. Iomega and Buffalo both score here, as they include good backup software with their NAS drives, as does Freecom with its Storage Gateway "LAN. The Storage Gateway is a bit pricey, costing just over €297 for a mere 160Gb. However, it also includes a built-in wireless router, which means you can use it to set up a wireless network at home, or to connect the Storage Gateway to an existing wireless network.

NA 'an If you 've got a home network with two or more PCs attached , then it really is worth thinking about buying a NAS drive.

They may be a bit more expensive than an ordinary USB hard disk, but the ability to share the drive with other users makes them incredibly convenient . And, as we all start to download more audio and video files from the Internet , you'll soon find that its money well spent.

■

Some NAS drives let you stream music direct to a media player, such as the Soundbridge

smart storage

Storage is no longer the most tedious topic in home computing as ANDREW PETERS discovers

NETCENTER

is easier to have fun with your home PC these days. As broadband penetration increases, Irish consumers have discovered the joys (and occasional frustrations) of finding and downloading their favourite movies and music. As PCs have become less beige-box and more stylish entertainment devices they have begun to supplant the trusty HiFi system in countless student bedrooms - acting as both TV and stereo. We are doing more with our PCs than ever before and, to put it simply, we are pouring more information into them with each passing year. If it's not downloaded movies or music it might be your

A typical NAS appliance

38 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

summer holiday pies (probably taken with %rw digital camera , as traditional film cameras a :gleefully pronounced dead this year by couindustry pundits).

Increasing need for storage Of course, all of this has a downside. As ÂŤ L increasingly use our PCs to entertain us an,: store our digital information we use up more and more capacity. The time-honoured solu:.iao to this problem was simple: When we run ,u. I capacity, we buy a new machine with a big_c hard drive.

However, now that our PCs are housing, eta film and music collections, not to mention the treasured memories stored in our digital pictures, a simple hard drive crash can have tragic consequences. The old saying about u_.â&#x20AC;˘ and baskets springs to mind.

NAS, or Network Attached Storage, is one technology that storage companies think will soon be adopted by the consumer, in much the same way that businesses have already embraced it

L

smart storage Pocket storage Well, there's also the USB key, which is probably the easiest way to store data out there. They seem to be everywhere these days, their popularity a result of their low what are we to do? One thing is clear: it's co think beyond the hard drive when it s to storage.

US comes home

ire, or Network Attached Storage, is one mlogy that storage companies think will be adopted by the consumer, in much the way that businesses have already embraced the uninitiated, NAS is standalone disk we that is accessed by a PC over a network, than being plugged directly into a USB or internal drive bay. If yours is a hold with more than one PC in it, as are these days, NAS is certainly ping worth thinking about. When it to shopping for a NAS box, there's plenty wee at the moment: Netgear, Seagate, omega, SMC Networks, Cleverstuff, Media, Lacie, Maxtor all have offerings mold fit nicely into a home network. Prices from around €300 to €3000 with up to 2 oes of storage capacity (nearly eight times &Wciry of the latest PCs). The advantages PLILS are simple: more storage space, and

data security. er, you won 't find a NAS box in the Irish home, as Paul Collas, marketing for Dell Consumer and Small Business . told PC Live!: "We believe that home Mproduct solutions are still very niche be-' for home users and that the home PC r ring as the primary digital hub where lloaxisumers ' content is stored."

*a learning curve r `)leni with NAS boxes, for now, is that not entirely consumer-friendly. A bit of know-how is needed to set them up. customers come across terms such as which refers to a configuration of hard w*h built-in redundancy) and are put off. that NAS is on the verge of becoming simple plug and play option, but is not vet. Until this happens, it will make to the Irish consumer market.

eve is to invest in a new PC • •^e problem that NAS faces is that there astem easier options out there. The first, as mentioned, is to simply invest in a PC beever hard drive. "Dell has experienced i(t growth in the standard hard drive irr on its systems in the last year and ices continuing to increase based on cost decreases and increased demand I digital files ," said Collas. This is all but it doesn't address the problem of kid disk crash that wipes out your

family album as well as your entire cost and ease of use. movie collection.

The good news is that they continue to drop in price, as For those looking for a simple is the case with portable drives. You can pick up a 2Gb answer to their storage problem, USB key from somewhere like PC World for around €50, combined with a more secure method and use it as back-up simply by plugging it into your PC of holding their precious digital data, and dragging your files over to it. It's not the most the external hard drive remains the advanced storage solution on the market, but for many it preferred choice. Using one to is the easiest back up your data or give you some way to keep up extra storage room couldn't be with their data simpler just plug one into your needs.

USB port and your PC will Some USB acknowledge it and let you treat it keys such as like any other hard drive. So, the the U3-enabled simplest and cheapest approach USB key from might be to buy a 40Gb portable Cleverstuff can hard drive and use it to back up also carry your existing movies and music. software However, this still leaves you applications. with a dilemma. If you use your One example is the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. new portable hard drive to back up Another is Signupshield Security which collects sign-in your information, you have not gained credentials as user's log in to websites and when the user any extra space, just duplicated what visits the same website again, Signupshield Passwords you have already. On the other hand, if automatically fills in sign-in credentials for them. Most you use your external drive to store impressively, Migo Personal Edition allows you to bring extra information on, as an extension your entire PC desktop on your USB key including your to the hard drive on your PC, you still e-mail as it supports Outlook. You can work on any lose your valuable data if the thing computer as if it were your own. kicks the bucket. One simple solution is to use a number of external hard There are other RAID configurations out drives, and there are a few options when it there, but for home use it is probably RAID 0 comes to doing this. This brings us to the or RAID 1 that you are interested in. question of RAID, and it's definitely worth the So, if NAS is looking a little too complex for effort to get acquainted with this concept if you you, consider a couple of portable hard drives in are not already. RAID stands for `redundant a RAID configuration, or even a single portable array of independent disks', and is a way of hard drive used simply as back-up. It really storing the same data on multiple disks. There couldn't be simpler could it? are a number of types: RAID 0: Allows you to group all of your external hard disks as one, so your PC thinks they are a single disk. For example, you can combine two 80Gb drives to give you `one' 160Gb drive, and as your machine takes turns to access each drive it will perform quicker than a standard drive of the same size. The problem here is that if one drive goes down, they all go down; no entire file is written to any one drive, each one gets a chunk.

RAID 1: This is a much better backup tool, as each drive acts as a mirror. Each file is written to each drive, which slows things down a little, but means that if one drive goes, the information is not lost and another drive can step in and take over. You can add more drives to your RAID 1 system to increase capacity, secure in the knowledge that your data is safe should there be a problem with one of them.

Storage in summary So what is down the line for digital home storage?

Manufacturers are adamant about one thing: NAS is coming. Yes, this time will mark the triumphant entrance of consumer NAS products into the market. For now, it seems, they are a little too complex and expensive for the average home user.

However, the industry is convinced that as consumer data needs become greater, NAS will be the logical option for home users. Mid-2007 is now touted as the new `due date' of NAS into the Irish consumer market. In the meantime, watch ■ what you do with that data.

CONTACTS: Iomega for Rev and NAS products e-mail: info.ie@omega.com CMS Peripherals 094 937 4000 • www.cmsperipherals.com Cleverstuff - www.clever-stuf .ie inuar

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A proud heritage Bose Corporation can look back on a 40 year history of making high end consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1964 by Dr Amar G Bose, then professor of electrical engineering at the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In the 1950s, he began researching psychoacoustics, investigating the relationship between reproduced sound as perceived by people and the same sound measured by electronic instruments; hence developing and patenting advanced audio technologies. MIT encouraged Dr Bose to start his own company and create products based on his patents, which he did with great success. Today, Dr Bose is still chairman and technical director of Bose Corporation.

Your Music, Your Home, Your Choice The Bose philosophy is all about integration and all the products in the range have been designed to bring you the very best of home entertainment with the minimum of fuss.

Store and organise your entire music collection with the most advanced home entertainment system Bose has produced to date - the LIFESTYLE® 48. This system will change the way you think about film, music and even your CD collection. The LIFESTYLE 48's stylish media centre incorporates a DVD player and AM/FM tuner with 50 presets and RIDS, and plays CD, CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 CDs. The radio frequency remote also commands most TVs, VCRs and cable or satellite tuners. And thanks to the tiny award-winning JEWEL CUBE® speaker and hideaway ACOUSTIMASS® module, the LIFESTYLE 48 fills your room with rich, life-like sound. Its ADAPTiQ® audio calibration technology analyses the acoustics of your room when setting the system up and will create the perfect, tailor made sound for your living space so you get the best possible audio performance from your home entertainment system. Another clever feature is the uMusicTM playback technology built into this system, which is capable of digitally storing up to 340 hours of music. The LIFESTYLE 48 can essentially create a library of music by learning your personal tastes and moods and will select music you like and suggest tracks that you may not have played for some time. This technology responds instantly and sensitively to your mood of the moment.

40 • January 2007

home entertainment

*Jr -nany people , modern living has expanded the way Ae use our homes. Cooking, eating, working from home a^C even being in the garden can be so much more fun there's great music to keep you company and with 'he =exibility of the Bose LIFESTYLE® range there is no area to compromise. rcorporating Bose Link networking, this home WT-- ainment solution will allow you to listen to music wr,_ghout the home simultaneously from just one a r:e. So you can watch a movie in the lounge, listen to !t -adio in the kitchen or ask the system to select a go:* list while you're in the study.

Versonal® Audio Sir' the introduction of Personal® Audio by Bose, war. one can now enjoy exceptional digital sound in a roer of different ways. A complete range of Bose Saity personal audio products are now available, iir computer speaker systems offering a desk-top 4ntp-ainment experience beyond expectation, to a of headphones delivering quality sound airc ned with comfortable fit and stability. The new 11111174r?ANION ® 5 multimedia speaker system is a top-of!r -rage system which turns your computer into a ur-c^ete entertainment hub, delivering a multi-channel rtlr r,:: experience you might expect from a fully wired 4.r weaker system.

3:se also offers the new BOSE® on-ear headphones, *r.?nng a comfortable and very lightweight on-ear mr-,:uration with the added convenience of a 1„sible headband and fold-flat earcup design for #a-.ased portability and easy storage into a small semiVr_ carrying pack. The new BOSE on-ear headphones with two detachable single ear-cup audio cables, can be used together or separately to give ng lengths. Also just launched is the new BOSE® headphones which are perfect for use with MP3. mically designed for long-term listening these ones come with three interchangeable, different

The Bose SoundDockT®: Turn your iPod Into A Music System The SoundDockTM lets iPod® owners access, control and listen to their stored music with the ease of dock and play. No headphones, cables or adaptors are required. The SoundDockTM system seamlessly integrates with all iPods that have a dock connector. The SoundDockTM system includes a proprietary' acoustic design that delivers clear, full sound across the entire musical spectrum. Using an integrated system approach, amplifiers, equalizers and speakers are perfectly matched; there is no need for the user to make complex adjustments to ensure superb acoustic performance.

Bose on - ear Headphones

silicone ear tips that offer a comfortable and quality 1r-g experience.

'P.± Bose range has been designed to integrate with ndividual needs, from the space you live in to the :` music you want to listen to whether it be in the _, whilst you're out and about.

dOr wore details on accredited Bose dealers in Ireland art www.bose.ie

The Bose LIFESTYLE 48 DVD home entertainment system

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january 2007 • 41

high definition audio

Wired for sound High-definition audio formats offer sound quality that makes CDs sound like rusty old squeezeboxes hybrid players. igh-definition TV might be Also, when the formats were in they grabbing all the headlines at the infancy you had to buy a dedicatec 40 moment, but back in 2000, often expensive, player to listen tc w audio went through its own highdiscs. However, the ability to pla\ a definition upgrade. That's when two formats is increasingly being intep-sm new formats for music first saw the into standard DVD players. This .a light of day. The first is called Super meant that prices have fallen Audio CD (SACD) and was jointly significantly. developed by Philips and Sony. As its For example, the Samsung name suggests, it's an upgrade of the DVD-HD950, a DVD player that castandard audio CD, but it offers much play discs in both enhanced formats a The Linn Unidisk SC is an audiophile - quality player from the top end higher sound quality. well as standard DVD movie discs, is Around the same time a second format relatively cheap at €205. sound better than DVD-Audio discs, with many was also introduced. It's known as DVD-Audio and A little further up the price range you' ll find people claiming that SACDs have the edge over was developed by the DVD-Forum, a consortium Denon DVD-1920. Again, this is primarily a D`." their rival. of large companies that includes Pioneer and player, but it's got built-in support for both In reality the differences are minuscule and even Panasonic. As you would expect, it is based on DVD-Audio and SACD discs. It costs €365. audiophiles would be hard pushed to tell one existing DVD technology, but it also offers a format from another. significant leap ahead in audio quality over the

H

0

traditional CD.

Snap without crackle

4

To understand how these formats improve on the existing technology used in audio CDs, you need to understand a little bit about how digital audio works.

Sound stored in digital format is captured as a series of snapshots that are then played back rapidly to recreate the original audio. It's a bit like how movement is captured on film. A 35mm film looks much sharper than a 16mm film because each frame contains more detail. Similarly, whereas CDs store audio with 16 bits of data, DVD-Audio uses 24 bits of data and so each snapshot contains more information.

With film, the higher the number of frames shown per second, the more fluid the on-screen movement appears. With audio, the sampling rate corresponds to film's frames per second.

DVD-Audio uses a higher sampling rate of between 96KHz and 192KHz, as opposed to the 44.1 KHz used on a CD. SACD offers a similar standard of sound quality to DVD-Audio, but uses a new method of recording and storing digital audio called direct-stream digital.

The upshot of all this is that the new formats hold significantly more information about the audio they contain than a traditional CD and so both SACD and DVD-Audio discs make audio sound sharper, more detailed and more natural than a CD. There are arguments over whether SACDs

42 • january 2007

State of the art prices

You're surrounded Another big advantage these formats have over CDs is that they support surround sound. Many classic albums have already been remastered in surround sound specifically to take advantage of this feature. They include Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by the Flaming Lips, as well as many jazz and classical albums.

In addition to this, both DVD-Audio and SACD discs can include non-audio content such as text, graphics and videos for display on a TV screen.

So, for example, while an audio track is playing a slideshow of photos of the band may appear on a connected display along with the song's lyrics.

When the new formats first burst on to the scene they were locked in a fierce battle for market supremacy. Each camp kept its technology separate from the other so consumers were forced to make a choice. You could only buy a player that worked with either SACDs or DVD-Audio discs, but not one that could play both. The situation could have been a replay of what happened when the competing video systems, VHS and Betamax, were launched in the 1980s.

But over time, however, most manufacturers came to realise that neither format was going to kill the other off and so they started producing hybrid players that could handle both discs. Some companies, such as Sony, still only support a single format, but the vast majority now produce

Of course, because the enhanced formats are capable of outputting extremely high-quality aJ34 they are pretty popular among audiophiles. TI---so people are not scared of spending large amou-'a of money to get the very best playback qualit} That's why you'll also find premium decks ava as at prices of well over a thousand euro.

For example, the Linn Unidisk SC is an audiophile-quality player that handles both typrs of discs, but costs a whopping €4.396.

It is becoming increasingly clear that neither 1 the high-definition audio formats is going to become as popular as CDs in the short term, o, even perhaps the longer term. In many ways, t re momentum is now with lesser-quality formats sx as MP3 that people can carry around on small portable music players.

Sounding off However, now that support for the two standards is increasingly being integrated in,: standard DVD players it means more and moi people are being given access to high-defini!,: music. And with an increasing number of classic albums being released on these high-definition formats, an awful lot of music fans are going to find it hard to resist buying classic albums from the likes of David Bowie.

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A M S U N G I;nuht0n

Old way's the best KARL TSGDINOS says look out for those ` early gigs' Like the GPO during the 1916 uprising, everyone in Ireland seems to have seen U2 play in the now-defunct Dandelion Market.

If everyone who says that had actually been at those early gigs, U2 would have retired on their earnings before they even got started. (As it is, they're not doing too badly these days.)

Of course, phenomena like U2 happen only once in every generation. But even moderately successful bands have to start somewhere, and there are "early gigs" happening all the time all over the place. We just don't know which, if any, of those gigs will prove significant.

I recently had the pleasure of attending such a gig when I served as a judge at a Battle

of the Bands in Dublin. Battles of the Bands have long been at the heart of rock'n' roll, and I've been to dozens of them over the years, in schools, halls, parks and even churches. They were a great chance for bands to compare notes and chops. They were terrific social hubs. But most importantly, they represented a chance for bands to get out of the spare bedroom or the garage and play in front of an audience.

Against the grain I have to admit that I had my doubts about this one. In the era of MP3s, MySpace, CoolEdit and GarageBand, when digital detachment seems to be the norm, I wondered if Battle of the Bands was an idea whose time had passed, like Super-8 film or "You're a Star."

I needn't have worried. It was one of the most enjoyable nights of music I've heard in a very long time.

The format was simple: eight bands had a half hour each to play their best stuff. The judges then had to pick a winner, and this band pocketed â&#x201A;Ź250 prize money. The judges gues Declan Meehan included friends and collea(presenter of the morning show on East Coast Radio) and Brian Adams (Music Director of Today FM). Like me, they are veterans of countless Battles of the Bands, both as attendees and occasionally even as participants.

The bands were for the most part derivative, and primarily played cover versions. They were working within familiar musical genres: Punk, Indic, Grunge, Speed Metal and Rock. This much we expected; these bands are, after all, still finding their feet.

We also expected to hear enthusiasm and commitment, and there were plenty of

both.

High skill level What we didn't expect was the quality of the musicianship.

Usually, you will hear a good singer or a guitar player - or maybe one of each. We 'eren't disappointed. Kim

Davitt, lead vocalist of Last Call, has a tc-q voice - powerful and distinctive - and bN t* best of the night. Halcyondaze boasted a 'ms guitar player, who just needs a little disci his riffing. But what shocked us was that

w4

the bands had great rhythm sections, and of the drummers were top-notch. Franz I drummer with the Speed Metal band Deathonation (pronounce this in the Du-â&#x20AC;˘:a and you'll get the pun) really stood out t, :% Also unexpected was the fact that sever bands included original material in their .-a. fact, this is what ultimately prompted the j panel to choose Addicted to Oxygen as the winners. Throughout the contest, the ju,iz:^ been leaning towards Last Call, which liai ! powerful poppy sound and some nice origi songs in their set. Addicted to Oxygen carne storming, but the first half of their set was well chosen covers, and this was not enou sway the judges from their choice. When shifted to playing their own songs, the deal tilted in their favour. Our primary regret as judges is that we didn't have more prizes to out. In mean time, I know that the bands I probably won't stay the course. They will up or rnerge, change styles, line-ups and n (a couple were changing names right up until show time). There were the makings of two, not three, terrific bands from the assembled musicians, and that's a very good ratio ind Addicted to Oxygen also had the best stagecraft of the night, displaying a real s of "working" the audience. Some of the of bands lost points for needless messing be songs, which disrupted the flow of their ses That said, the audience enjoyed the nigh[ thoroughly, and supported each band no matter what their tribal allegiances. That reflected a sense of community, a "we're a:- I this together" attitude that will not only sc-4 this specific group of musicians and their :nl well, but also rock 'n' roll itself. You can ti.4 out more about the event and find links t(, of the bands on http-.//organiserl23.bebo.com.

That's the digital connection, and it will .it to be going on with. More importantly, y(,_ should make the effort to go to events like -ti wherever and whenever you can. It's where i will find the true spirit of rock 'n' roll.

You never know, one day you might be to say that you were there at the beginning And it won't be a word of a lie.

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The latest viruses target smartphones, presenting researchers with a fresh challenge

anti-virus research

V

irus writers used to be stereotypical nerds - teenage boys in bedrooms, avenging what they saw as grievances against the world. Nowadays, the threat is more sinister - often, viruses are designed to steal information such as passwords or bank details, or to tie up a company's computer system and blackmail them. Many of these new viruses are bankrolled by criminal gangs. Fortunately for the rest of us, anti-virus companies are also getting better at what they do, with plenty of money being invested in new research.

We visited the research labs of two anti-virus companies, F-Secure and Symantec, to see how that money is spent and to ask whether the fight against viruses is being won or lost.

Anti-virus software is an invaluable safeguard.

But how do AV companies combat new viruses?

th e

To catch a virus New viruses are caught in several ways. The researchers, who work shifts to provide 24-hour cover, set up `honeytrap' computers, which are open to the internet without any form of protection, and effectively invite intrusion.

They also handle virus protection directly for the networks of several large corporations - when one of these gets attacked , the companies can instantly take a sample of the virus.

Finally, samples come in from interested users around the world , or from ordinary people's computers , which report in when they see a new virus.

When a virus arrives , it's assigned to a researcher. They investigate it to see whether it's a new threat. Generally, new viruses are variants of ones that already exist, which means they're relatively easy to identify and defuse.

The researcher will examine the code of the virus - each anti-virus company has its own set of tools to examine files . Some of these are publicly available, while others are private to the company. In general, they allow the researcher to look inside a program file (all viruses exist on a computer as program

files, in some way) and see what it intends to tell the computer to do.

The tools also allow him or her to see what files are dropped on to the PC, what changes are made to the Registry, and what other settings are adjusted when the program is run. All of these things help researchers figure out how harmful the virus is and how quickly it might spread across the Internet.

Once a researcher figures out how the virus affects the computer, he or she can then devise an antidote - a piece of software that will remove

"Viruses are designed to steal information such as passwords or bank details, or to tie up a company's computer system and blackmail them" 46 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

anti-virus research

those files and change the settings back to their original values. Many viruses use tricks to hide from the computer, so it's hard to see what they are up to, but anti-virus tools can usually see through these. The researcher also has to write a `signature ' for the virus - a unique way to identify it, so that anybody running the anti -virus program will be protected when the program sees the virus' signature. + )-ice the antidote and signature have written, it's a case of sending it to the LL.rv assurance department for testing. people make sure that the new lure is unique to that virus, and that the to won't cause any problems on

WITH all this money being spent on expensive anti-virus labs, it 's hard to imagine how the free anti-virus programs (such as Avast and AVG) can compete . However, both of these free programs have big companies behind them , and both companies develop full-price products for homes and businesses as well . That means that they, too, can afford to spend money on research and development.

Free versions of the software are effectively being subsidised by companies and individuals who pay for the better features of the full versions . Also, all virus companies routinely share information about new viruses.

Paid -for anti -virus products provide support , which is lacking in \ \ \ free tools, but figures showing how comparatively successful \, = they are at catching viruses are difficult to come by . ft

people's computers . The package then gets added to the company's next update - the next time a consumer's anti-virus program checks in for an update, the new one will be downloaded , and the PC in question will be protected.

Most anti-virus programs update themselves several times a day. It's important to make sure the program 's list of virus signatures is up to date, so that new viruses can be picked up.

Windows, the operating system that most of us use, is the most targeted by viruswriters . That's partly because it's easier to get into and poke holes in compared with operating systems such as Linux or MacOS. But the main reason it's popular with virus writers is because it's used by the vast majority of users. If a virus writer wants to get the most `hits', he or she will want to attack the most computers, and that usually means writing a Windows virus.

That said, one emerging trend is viruses for mobile computers such as smartphones. Most of these

"Generally, new viruses are variants of ones that

already exist, which means they're relatively easy to identify and defuse" new mobile viruses are written for the Symbian series of smartphones such as the Nokia N70. Both the companies we visited have secure shielded metal cages for testing these phones, which prevent other signals from getting in or out, so they can't infect anything else. In future, mobile computers might be the next virus battleground.

Wasting viruses , not your money The labs run by security companies are staffed by dedicated researchers who can get the better of a new virus in a matter of hours. But if they're so good at it, why do so many of us still get infected by viruses: Many people don't have any computer security at all, and that lowers security for everyone. If one person allows a virus to get through, it can cause havoc for all. Generally, the answer to getting fewer viruses is as simple as making sure your anti-virus program is fully working and up to date, along with the firewall and other security â&#x2013; programs.

january 2007 â&#x20AC;˘ 47

file sharing

File sharing is one of the most popular applications on the Internet. Every day, thousands of people download files from other internet users' computers, whether it's a fix for a problem with their PC, the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, a home video, or an obscure piece of music. The problem is that the vast majority of such downloads breach copyright agreements.

Some people rejoice in the free availability of just about anything you could imagine, while others look on aghast and wonder how actors, writers, singers and musicians will ever make a living when no one pays for anything. Technical experts worry about the dangers of viruses being spread, but marvel at the ingenuity of the way file sharing works while businesses back the efforts to get the technology itself banned.

Whatever your opinion, one thing's for sure file sharing is now a major part of internet use.

In this feature we'll explain how file-sharing technologies work, set out the political risks associated with them and demonstrate legitimate uses for file sharing.

How peer-to-peer works?

To understand what file sharing is, let's start with a more traditional way of accessing information on the Internet. Whether it's via the Web, or via an FTP server, when downloading a file it is stored in a particular place, such as Microsoft's web server. To access it, you connect to that server and download a copy of the complete file using a web browser or a file-transfer programme.

That works pretty well, but there are some problems with it. For example, what happens when there's a really important new file available, like a security fix for Windows? Everyone tries to

48 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

File sharing gives free access to music, films' '9 software and more. We explain how it works, and how to stay on the right side of the law download it at more or less the same time, and as a result you see "Server too busy" messages, or when the download does start, it's incredibly slow. There's another issue with downloading files in that way; the process is vulnerable to a single point of failure. In the newspaper business, for example, printing presses are the single point; with files, it's the web servers. If the hardware fails, no one can access the file. File sharing called peer-to-peer technology in the business has provided solutions to both problems - just about anyone could make a file available, and by spreading it around more than one computer, you're not relying on a single web server to provide the file to everyone.

What exactly does peer-to-peer mean?

Ordinary file sharing - such as that used on a home network - isn't very different from the usual way of making a file available on the Web; everything's stored in a single location. But with a peer-to-peer system, there's no central server.

Instead, the files are stored on individual computers, and transferred between them using the Internet. There are often multiple copies of each of the files, and no single point that a computer must connect to in order to fetch the file or information that's been requested. Your computer is one `peer' connected to the same network (the Internet) as the other peers hence the name.

Crucially, no single peer is required to obtain the entire file. You download a little bit of the file from each PC - the clever bit of peer-topeer technology is how it works out which bit to retrieve from which PC - and remember, they're spread all over the world.

This means that a peer-to-peer system can be very resilient. If one computer is operating slowly, a file can be requested from one of the others that has a copy of it, and if one or more of the PCs in the network crashes or is switched off, the others can carry on operating.

1

file sharing

>> sharing can allow people to do. This is why it's such a legal hot topic, especially since you don't need to invest in a big web server to distribute a popular file. Once one person has it, they can share it with others. It's the potential for free sharing of things that would otherwise cost money that has music and movie companies reaching for their lawyers.

How will the musicians be rewarded if their songs are shared freely, the music companies ask? But to counter that, music fans point to unsigned bands that have become popular precisely because their music was free. Free downloads give people a chance to hear music that the overly commercial record companies wouldn't have invested in - and when such bands are, eventually, signed to a record contract, many people will still buy the CDs. It's an argument that even the record industry must have some sympathy with, since free tracks are regularly made available on services such as

The BBC 's interactive media player uses file sharing technology to help distribute video files more efficiently

What 's out there?

Like it or not, just about everything in our lives is going digital - music, video, newspapers, photographs. Anything you like can be scanned, saved and turned into a computer file. And once it's in a file, you can - most of the time - do anything you like with it on a computer. Even though there are attempts made to protect material - such as the encryption on DVDs - it doesn't usually take very long for those to be circumvented. There are tools that will strip the copy protection from music you've paid for, enabling you to play it on any device, instead of just the approved ones. The music industry calls that piracy; other people think it's just like making a tape of an LP to listen to in the car, instead of buying a second copy on cassette.

Few would argue, though, that it's right to buy one copy of a film or a CD and then give away free duplicates to absolutely everyone you meet in the street, but that's effectively what file >>

january 2007 â&#x20AC;˘ 49

file sharing 5l^ BitTorrent The Cadla...- Floe Wins

iTunes. Before the advent of online music stores like iTunes, with their easy access to large back catalogues, many fans saw file sharing as a way to get copies of rare or unavailable tracks, in some cases ones that had never been made available on CD. However, file sharing isn't just about music.

The original legal battles were fought mostly over music files, which are usually small enough to download in a few minutes. But as technology has improved, it's become possible for much larger files, such as TV programmes or software, to be shared easily and effectively - thanks in large part to the advent of the distribution tool Bittorrent (on which more later).

If you know where to look, you can download TV shows as soon as they air in the US, or even obtain full versions of major software packages . The obvious concern for companies is that when this happens, people OLirneWiire

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LimeWire is one of the programs for accessing the Gnutella file -sharing network may not pay for a legitimate version; although, as with music, others suggest that people try before they buy. If you rely on a piece of software for business, you're likely to buy a real copy eventually, so you can get support.

But if you can't even try it first, will you buy it when you're not sure if it's suitable?

There's another downside to file sharing besides the thorny legal issues, too, and that's security. You're not fetching information from a trusted source like the Microsoft website you're accessing it from the hard disk of a complete stranger. The file that you think is an exciting piece of shareware could

Search for Torrent' Files

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Bittorrent splits flies into small pieces so separate parts of the data can be downloaded from a number of PCs in order to complete the whole file have a virus or adware embedded in it, although it is possible to scan downloaded files before opening them. Or the song you've been searching for could be a poor copy from a scratched album, with the last 20 seconds missing. And you should also note that some file sharing sites provide links to pornography and lots of it. You are unlikely to find it without specifically searching for adult terms but be warned; torrent sites are awash with hardcore videos and images.

Legitimate use Although it might not be immediately apparent, there are plenty of legitimate ways for file sharing to be used. For example, if you're working with a group of people on a collaborative project, file sharing can be an easy way to ensure everyone has access to the d ocuments they nee d

The green parts of the bar indicate pieces of the filet m• have been successfully downloaded

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Once Bittorrent is installed , clicking a torrent link win automatically start up the software the problems of distributing files are magna Even a large security update is probably u 20Mb. A good-quality TV programme could be 10 times that size, and making it available

online - as the BBC has said it would like toi with much of its material - would lead to massive bottlenecks and require huge servers cope with the demand. File sharing - and the increasing take-up of broadband - opens up possibility of spreading the load w h et h er th ey ' re across tens of sprea dsheets , Word thousands of files or graphic computers, making designs. It's even much easier for possible to use file people to see the sharing to let friends programmes they on the other side of =i11IFPI:06 want. The same i, the world download true of other laru, your wedding video. It files - using file won't necessarily be sharing can be a quick, but if you don't quick and efficien: have a DVD recorder Pro-Music.org explains the industry 's views on file sharing way to distribute on your computer, it'll be cheaper than buying one. And it's this them, without the problems associated with potential for distributing information widely putting a file on a single server.

To understand why organisations think fife and cheaply that major organisations such as sharing can be useful - and why some other, the BBC are investigating.

As more people want to are so distrustful of it - it's helpful to know watch video online, little more about how it works, and take a hr-r look at its history.

Past, present and future t is illegal to either upload or download copyright I music without the express permission of the rights holder. IRMA, the body charged with combating piracy on behalf of the music industry chases and prosecutes serial uploaders.

Dick Doyle, Director General of IRMA, clarifies its position on internet file sharing: "Illegal file0

50 • january 2007

sharing is undermining the livelihoods of everyone in the creative chain involved in making music, from composers and music publishers to performers, musicians and record companies. IRMA must protect its members' interests by taking on file sharers who refuse to get the message."

There's a very important component to peerto-peer file sharing that people don't always think about: when you fetch a file from Microsoft's website, for example, you know how to do it - you type www. microsoft.com into the browser. But if files are spread acroc, different computers, how on earth do you know where to look?

I

file sharing

contact if they Peer-to-peer filewant to complain sharing systems get about a file being round that by grouping shared.

That's the computers that are made it much sharing files into an adharder for hoc network. To join the organisations like network, the computers the RIAA have to be running (Recording special software, such as MySpace allows unsigned bands to showcase their Industry Kazaa, Limewire or music online Association of Bittorrent. When you to shut such systems down.

America) file, the software finds out access a want to The big name in file sharing right now, which of the currently connected computers however, is Bittorrent. It's popular because have that file, and then your computer fetches it's uniquely suited to downloading large files the file directly from one of them or, in the case - such as video clips, or software installation Of Bittorrent, from several at the same time. packages - and does it quickly. With The first really popular file-sharing system Bittorrent, when you start downloading a file, you don 't do it from just one other computer. Instead, files are divided into segments, and different segments are fetched from different computers . That's especially

was the original version of Napster, which allowed people to share their collections of files - usually music files - with other internet users.

When you set up Napster, your computer would send the Napster server a list of the files you had available to share. It would then build up a master index, allowing other people to search for tiles easily, and then connect to your computer .o download things that they wanted. But if you had a really popular file, several people would be trying to fetch it at the same time, and transfers would be slow - just like the old problem with a web server. More worryingly, the Napster index was, essentially, a list of music that was mostly ;opyrighted and eing shared legally. It's no •urprise that n-entually the -lusic companies succeeded in shutting it down.

Napster was

useful with a typical broadband connection where you can receive information faster than you can send it.

Once a piece of the file arrives on the computer that's requested it, that piece will be shared with anyone else who needs it, so everyone is helping to spread the load around. That 's one of the reasons why it's so interesting to companies like the BBC the Corporation's Interactive Media Player is designed to make recent and

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sharing site is available to buy in the shops, or is currently on TV or at the cinema, it's more than likely illegal to download it. Remember that it is an offence and could result in prosecution. Although there haven't yet been many cases in Ireland, record companies will attempt to find out from internet service providers the identity of people sharing copyrighted files; and by its nature, file sharing can't be completely anonymous.

But there are other things to watch out for, besides viruses. Earlier versions of the Kazaa software, for example, are notorious for containing adware and spyware, while some Bittorrent software may crash the computer. Before downloading any file-sharing software, check the Web for advice and information, and keep adware detection software up to date.

That's not all, either. You may find plenty of things to download, but don't forget that many broadband accounts either have a download limit, or a fair-usage policy. Service providers can detect which users are using file-sharing software, and those are often the first ones singled out for attention. Heavy users of filesharing systems could find their connections blocked at peak hours to prevent them from slowing the service for others, or even disconnected completely.

While you can sometimes change the settings on a PC and router to avoid these measures (see www.portforward . com), it 's not foolproof.

Most of the material linked to on file-sharing sites is illegal, and we do not recommend you break the law. But file-sharing technology has a bright future and we hope the entertainment industry fully

archive material available over the Internet. By using Bittorrent technology, T., «. .e ^r.... .ew ^.....e.v «. m...me y..^.ar ..a.ae.m sq,.w a. e..emy ^,. ^^ ^ •N^ .+ ^^ 8 w.ewe mve a .w. w+, aee q..wmm ^^..• oN..w .io...r that can be done without the need for •acceeded by servers which could \azaa, and a The Port Forward website has plenty of tips to help optimise cope with tens of ,etwork called the BitTorrent connection thousands of people all Jnutella wanting to download the latest Eastenders or .imewire is just the name of one of the Little Britain. Instead, everyone who takes part 'rograms compatible with the Gnutella in a download also contributes. etwork. To avoid Napster's problem, there's There are plenty of files on Bittorrent that no central index. Instead, when you look for a can be shared without breaking the law. For file, the request is passed from one computer example, when we visited www. bittorrent.com, 'o another, a bit like asking a friend who says, pop group The Cardigans were offering the \o, I can't help you, but I'll ask my video of their latest single, and there were -.eighbour." Your request is passed on, and any hundreds of free games available for download. positive answers are passed back, supplying the It's best to start out by downloading the -iternet address of the computer from which original Bittorrent (usually referred to in filethe file can be downloaded. It's slower than sharing circles as a client). Don't get a client \apster, and there's still the same problem of r.,

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from elsewhere - some clients try to charge money for downloads, or infect your PC with adware or viruses.

s a rule of thumb, if the content you find on a file-

harnesses it for legitimate use.

Once downloaded, follow the instructions to make a default installation of the software.

Once complete, go back to Bittorrent.com and find the file you want. Click on the green download link, and choose the `Open with' option, selecting Bittorent from the dropdown menu. If you can't find the downloaded file, select it in the Bittorrent window, click on the blue Info button, and select the Open Folder button on the right-hand side.

Reasons to be careful Whether it's the BBC sharing licence-fee funded material, a software company sending out test files, or just friends sharing a home movie, file sharing can be a really useful tool.

But it's as well to remember that there are problems too. While the BBC will be using customised software and you can be fairly sure of what you're getting, in many cases there's nothing to stop someone sharing a file that isn't what it says. It could be a virus instead of a music file, or a message from Madonna telling you that ■ you shouldn't be trying to rip off her songs. january 2007 • 51

green technology Search

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Sir David Attenborough has called on governments to take action to stop global warming becoming a 'catastrophe'.

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desktop or notebook PC in the

as Sir David Attenbo have urged people to

home. You may also have a printer,

called a carbon footprint.

scanner, digital camera or router. Home

This footprint is just a simple

entertainment and communications

way of measuring how much

equipment is an even bigger category,

carbon dioxide people

with many homes now boasting mobile

contribute every year to the greenhouse

and cordless phones, satellite boxes,

gases that many fear are warming our

games consoles, audio systems, MP3

planet (see the box on page XX to find

players and hard disk recorders.

out your carbon footprint).

Then there are our washing machines,

their bit for the environment

With politicians of all persuasions

dishwashers and kitchen gadgets, not to

realising that ecological issues are a hot

mention the elaborate network of lights

topic, and those who were once sceptical

and heaters that ring many homes. The

about global warming, such as Sir David

extent to which we now depend on

Attenborough, now changing their tune,

electricity for essentials tools and life's

definitive information and advice is hard

little helpers is quite astounding.

to come by.

It's also of great concern to a growing

-r,

Respected figures su

So we decided to investigate the issue,

number of scientists, politicians and

attempt to dispel myths where we found

charities, because everything we've

them and develop a set of practical ways

mentioned so far has one thing in

in which technology enthusiasts can make

common: they all devour power, and some

a difference, however small.

of them eat it up all day and night.

Collectively, these devices have a

Where the power goes

significant impact on the amount of fuel

Power consumption is gauged by

used to generate the power they consume.

measuring in watts (W) the amount

The total energy consumption per

of energy a device consumes per second and expressed fi llowatt hours

household is used to calculate what's

Power-hungry devices are fillip affecting both the environment

balances. We show you how to sa' money by using your IT equ

Washing machine

Energy Manufacturer Model More efficient

(KWh). For a full explanation, sae

Acre G is the most

backing up data. If

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki[TRIL

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the PC is performing a

A typical PC with monitor consumes around 120W, while electric kettle would consume 1800W. Although these figures seem to indicate that computers go

such iorough

not a major factor in drivieg up household bills and carbw emissions, you have to

lengthy operation, the

Ong equipment in

monitor can, at least, be

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it A bands you'll be Mog yourself, and the met, a big favour.

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turned off. The computer

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program you use for downloading

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or backing up has a `Turn off this

consider how long each des is used for. Typically, a ketie

npipment is not tagged wA the same easy-to#rstand energy labels,

might be turned on four ter

tti0 it's a sobering

a day for a two-minute hot

to that many

The familiar EU

'hat's only eight minutes a day, whits eans a total daily consumption of .7KWh. A PC that' s used for home ntertainment and internet browsing ight be turned on for many hours st

aikscreen plasma

Energy ratings are

'Rs consume

now being applied to

not in use makes sense, but when you

an increasingly large

turn something off, is it really oft? The

.20W. More than half of the respond o our survey said their PC was switdsd

Itdo you turn it off when you're not rtttiing it? Significant savings can be

they consume a reduced amount of power,

fn for 40 hours a week or more, whits vorks out at 4.8KWh. Therefore the K

+1106 simply by switching things off when

from a remote -control unit . Standby power

rO

40iile not using them - everything from

is also used to keep internal clocks ticking

r

,an make a significant net contributis0*

rise to electric lights.

and to store user options and presets. The

Tre same goes for computer equipment, +iYer is sometimes left running overnight

amount of power consumed in standby is

An downloading from the Internet or

cycle wash. But again, it is the cumulative consumption, multiplied

to do

lobal warming.

Nearly all the high- drain devices is ome (dishwashers, vacuum cleaners,, ucrowaves, electric showers , kettksald rashing machines) are used for only AM leriods so there is little scope for uft hem more economically, apart from Noosing the most energy- efficient odels when the time comes to repute em. By law, multi-coloured EU estel^ Labels must be attached to all domesit

power than a -freezer. If 11 a, have a plasma

Capacity (cotton) kg Water consumption / Noise (dB(A) to 1 pW)

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use it.

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Standby for action Turning off devices when they're

range of goods

switches on many electronic devices merely set them to standby mode where but are ready to respond to commands

small compared with, say, running a hot-

by thousands of

D

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households around Ireland, that poses AA

Sate change

the problem.

While standby mode is preferable to leaving a device fully powered, >>

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Check out the website of the Royal Society in the UK for unbiased and informed opinions on global warming

LO \

green technology

reen views research conducted around the world

The only way to completely disable a*

has revealed that vast amounts of

devices is to switch them off at a wsi

power are wasted by devices left in

socket, but for those that need inteas

standby mode. In Australia, a

clocks, that's not always practical Having identified where the power

staggering 13 per cent of the

goes in your home, you can take act!

country's domestic electricity is consumed in this way. While the Irish

Obviously you won't want to swith r

figure is lower at six to eight per

completely any device that has an

cent, it is still highly significant.

essential timer, such as a video recoallp

When in standby mode, many but some televisions, DVD recorders

but there's no reason not to power dare other devices when they' re not beiul used. If this seems too onerous, or yaw

and set-top boxes use up to 15W, and

think you might forget to switch off. will

there are compact hi-fi systems that

not fit simple mechanical timers to flit

draw up to 25W. The only way to be

appropriate power sockets? These ca

sure how much energy your

bought very cheaply from local suppler

equipment uses, both in fully

and at the time of writing we found

operational and standby modes, is to measure its power consumption with

for sale on the internet for as little as €10 for three.

an energy meter. You won't find these

Another approach that's especially

appliances consume just a few watts,

alongside the light bulbs in the local

useful for PC owners is to use a

supermarket, but good electrical

power-management block such as the

retailers have them, or you can order

OneClick. This device shuts off the

a basic model online from Pears

power to all the peripherals attached r

(www.peats.com) for €35. Plug it into

desktop PC (it doesn't work with

a mains socket, then into the

notebooks) once the computer is shit

equipment you want to monitor and

down. It's a great idea, providing you

read its power consumption from the

don't connect a router to this supply i

digital display.

THERE are lots of websites where you can calculate your personal carbon footprint.

One that we like, because it also suggests ways of reducing or offsetting the impact of energy consumption, is at www.carbonfootprint.com.

Usefully, it splits your footprint into primary and secondary components. The primary footprint is directly under your control because it relates to the energy ca'Wn foot int consumed in your home, car and when travelling, whereas the secondary footprint is made up of energy consumed by others on your behalf, such as by equipment manufactured, public services and in the production of clothes and food.

It's worth remembering that the bulk of the carbon generated by a PC (and by any piece of high-tech electronics) occurs during manufacture. Broadly speaking, 80 per cent of the energy goes into making the equipment and only 20 per cent into using it for its entire working life. So while it's possible to reduce carbon emissions marginally by changing usage patterns, the most significant impact that can be made is not buying a new PC until you really have to.

there are other PCs in the house that need to connect to the Internet. The One-Click panel provides sockets for up to devices, including the PC, for €40.

If you're really committed to saving energy, the Electrisave meter (at around €100) clamps onto the cables of the mai

It doesWt cost the Earth to save the planet

shop.. trat

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flight Offset

What, Your carbon lomprint ] pint am . and then do .. m,Ihi,g about a!

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The site of Bill Oddies's smiling mug is a small price to pay for the valuable information available at www.carbonfootprint.com

54 • january 2007

General

Deep Cleaning

Cleaning

Set your inkjet printer to switch on and off according to demand

Nozzle Check

directly, they save it

supply and beams its readings to a

by reducing the need to produce

portable meter that is programmed

replacement consumables. If your

with current electricity prices. The Auto Power

device displays how much power is

printer has no power-saving mode,

being used throughout the home, its

you could consider saving all your print jobs for printing as a batch at

cost, and the volume of greenhouse poses being generated.

Custom Settings

Print Head Alignment

the end of a computing session.

Most notebook PC users are

There are national and

B Slat Status Howler...

familiar with the power-management

international initiatives in place to encourage manufacturers to reduce

options in the Windows control

the standby consumption of

reduces its power consumption by several

panel. Through these, hard disks and

appliances to as little as 0.5W, and manufacturers are also being pressured to

watts, as does turning down the volume

it devices with power switches so that they can be switched off without having

chargers and other chargers with a

of amplified speakers. Mobile phone

b grovel around on the floor looking for

transformer in the plug should be removed from their sockets when not in

a mains plug . These are factors you

use. Some handheld PCs and mobile

should consider the next time you are upgrading or replacing computing and

devices can be charged by plugging them

entertainment equipment. If you vote

using a separate charger.

into the USB port of a PC instead of

with your wallet, manufacturers will eventually get the message. PCs will soon

Just because you're using a computer system, doesn't mean it all has to be

be available with the Eco-label flower symbol, which means that they'll use less

switched on all of the time. Printers,

energy during their lives, and fewer (mmful substances in their manufacture

equipment such as routers can all be

*ttp://ec.europa. eu/ environment/

them. Many printers can be set to autopower mode in which they switch themselves off after a set period of inactivity, but can be quickly awakened by

scanners, speakers and networking turned off when you're not using

ecolabel).

hactical approaches to saving power Apart from switching off equipment or putting it into standby mode when not in sae, there's a host of simple steps to minimise the energy footprint of IT and entertainment equipment. Simply turning own the brightness of a TFT monitor

the PC when required. Some scanners have this feature too.

You can save paper by printing on both sides of each sheet, and save ink by using draft printing modes and smaller font sizes for working versions of documents.

While these actions don't

monitors can be set to turn off after a period of inactivity, and the entire computer can be set to hibernate, with the current state of Windows being saved to hard disk for a prompt recovery without restarting. For notebook users, the aim of power management is to maximise battery life, but it makes just as much sense to use similar options on a desktop PC to save mains power and its accompanying carbon emissions.

What difference can you really make?

There aren't many situations in life where you can make a contribution to the common good while at the same time saving money, but energy conservation is one of them. For every pound saved on an electricity bill, you're also saving 6kg of carbon dioxide, which is what a coal-fired generating plant would emit while making this much power.

Even if you're rolling in money and can easily afford to pay high electricity bills, you owe it to the rest of the world not to be a net contributor â&#x2013;

iW Perfonr.sre and MSlred.er.

Pick a task...

Schemes

Advanced

Hibernate

UPS

Select the power scheme with the most appropriate settings for this computer Note that changing the ratings below eel modify the selected scheme.

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nextgen operating systems

Part 1 The first question PC users ask when a new version of Windows is launched is `Do I need to get new hardware?'

To help you prepare for Vista's arrival, we explain the demands the new operating system will make on your hardware

-Vista on a desktop PC

umours that hardware requirements will be excessive for Microsoft's new Vista operating system have swept through websites and blogs, causing alarm among PC users. Figures such as a minimum spec being a 4GHz dual-core processor, 2Gb of Ram and a lTb hard disk abounded.

But there's really no need to panic. The new operating system will run even if you don't have a dual-core CPU and high-end graphics card.

Practically all new computers are quite capable of running Vista. However, unlike earlier versions of Windows, the new operating system can scale with the hardware's capabilities. For example, if you have a high-performance 3D graphics card, you will be offered more advanced graphical interface features than if you're running Vista on a laptop with an older integrated graphics adapter.

Direct3D for the desktop Many Windows users look enviously at the transparency and transition effects in Apple's Mac OSX. You can get effects like these under Windows XP, but only by using special add-on programs such as Windows Blinds or WindowFX from Stardock (www.stardock.com). However, these The Aero interface sparkles with transparency, animated transition effects when maximising and minimising windows and a preview in the taskbar

56 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

effects have nowhere near the same fluid and elegant visual impact as those on the Mac. Windows Vista is supposed to change this with its vector-based graphics engine, codenamed Aero. It takes care of translucent frames and shadow effects around windows, an: animated transitions when minimising or maximising windows; it even has a 3D-effect clock speed adjuster. There are two flavours o: Aero: Aero Glass is the fully featured interface with all transparency effects, while Aero Expres has a similar theme but doesn't use the

Specs to optimise performance The majority of PCs made in the past two or three years are powerful enough to run Windows Vista, but just being able to run it doesn't guarantee that it will be an enjoyable experience. For the best performance, particularly in the graphics area, your computer should meet the following requirements.

Processor: Any current mid-range AMD or Intel CPU will do for Vista. Dual-core processors are better because, when running under Vista, Superfetch and Indexing services run in the background all the time. Vista will have many more 64bit drivers than the current 64bit edition of Windows XP Professional.

nextgen operating systems

The six Vistas As we went to press, Microsoft announced that there will be no fewer than six versions of Vista released at the same time. Targeting low-end home users will be the very limited Home Basic version for basic home computing needs, :ne Home Premium version, which adds the Aero interface and tablet PC ; apabilities and the Ultimate version. This version will incorporate all the capabilities of the Home Premium and Business

i manding 3D effects and is designed for use on older systems.

To make use of Aero Glass, your `aphics card must support DrectX 9 and the Windows Onplay Driver Model (WDDM), ad it should have at least 64Mb 4f memory. If these requirements R not met, Vista will use Aero Espress. You'll also be able to use Oe'Classic' Windows 2000 iene if you really want to. You m find more information about the

versions. For 'emerging markets' there will be a stripped-down Starter version.

For business customers, there will be a Business and an Enterprise version of Vista. All versions of Vista will be available in 32 and 64bit flavours.

There won't be a separate Media Center Edition (MCE) of Vista, according to Microsoft. Instead, the functions of the Media Center software will be incorporated in the Home Premium and Ultimate versions.

Audio drivers allow you to set separate volume levels for every the Aero Glass interface, what application that uses sound the PC's 3D capabilities are Changes to the Windows core and whether HD (high-definition) There are few changes in Vista's processor videos will play smoothly. The support.

The main new feature is that all resulting data, which includes variants of Vista except the Starter Edition will information about the processor, be available in 64bit versions. There are Ram and hard-disk performance, is improvements in power management: a new stored in an XML file and is standby mode combines Suspend to Disk and available to other applications. So a Without DX9 graphics, the Suspend to Ram, to make resumes much game could read the data obtained desktop looks very similar quicker. Superfetch technology uses improved

by Winsat and set the numbers of Al to that in Windows XP memory management to start frequently used (artificial intelligence) opponents or applications more quickly. Windows XP device the level of graphics detail accordingly.

Vista

griphics system next month.

3enchmarking built in aable windows Vista to adjust itself to the :ware in the computer, the developers have r ated a sort of benchmarking tool, the sdows System Assessment Tool (Winsat). program is run automatically during Vista Y^allation and every time hardware is added or ged. Vista uses the information to work out her the PC's graphics card is up to running

let: If your overboard has 'cs integrated *s chipset, only _s based on the 45G, ATI Radeon 200 or Nforce =3O chipsets will -rt the Aero Glass cs interface. The I sequirements are of dedicated os memory and se of dualre memory.

0

Memory: 512Mb of Ram is enough for Vista, but 1Gb or even 2Gb is better as this will allow the operating system to use more memory for the Superfetch feature.

Further diagnostic functions are supposed, above all, to increase stability. For example, defective regions on memory modules can be recognised and excluded from use, to avoid system crashes. Vista is also reputed to be able to detect imminent failures on hard drives, a feature that obviously uses the industry-standard Smart (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) information built in to most hard drives. Under Windows XP, you need thirdparty software to do this.

drivers will only be of very limited use under Vista. The reason for this is that the new driver model moves substantial parts of the drivers from the kernel to User Mode, which is supposed to deliver more stability. You can read more about the improvements in the Windows Vista kernel on the next page.

Mini-computer in a notebook lid For notebooks, Vista will support a completely new class of device, known as Auxiliary

Hard disk: In principle, Vista can be installed on any hard disk larger than 10Gb (Vista itself occupies 6Gb). Microsoft recommends, for best

Graphics card : Aero Glass needs DirectX 9 compatible cards with at least 64Mb of memory.

For higher resolutions the card should have 256Mb of memory or more. HD (high-definition) videos can only be played back on systems with a graphics card that has HDCP-capable DVI or HDMI connectors.

performance with several applications in a multitasking environment, Serial ATA (Sata) disks with at least an 8Mb buffer and support for Native Command Queuing.

Optical drives: As Vista is only supplied on DVD, a DVD ROM drive is a requirement for all PCs where installation won't be carried out via a network. The burning function in Vista now supports most common DVD formats.

January

007 â&#x20AC;˘ 57

nextgen operating systems

Vista and the TPM Displays. These are effectively minicomputers with their own small display integrated into a notebook lid. They can also be used to interactively display information when the notebook is turned off. Current notebooks will also benefit from Vista, as Microsoft has refined the power-management features and made them easier to use than those in Windows XP.

Support for HD DVDs New features for multimedia PCs include making a reworked version of the Media Center software an integral part of most Vista versions for home use. Microsoft is also working on a module to allow reception of subscription TV services; and Vista will support the new highresolution HD-DVD format. A wide-

TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, and describes a small chip that is currently a source of heated discussion. Many users fear they will only be allowed to use certified applications. The chip is one of the central elements in VistaOs planned Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB). It creates protected areas in the system for working with sensitive data, makes encrypted storage possible, and allows content to be digitally signed. Currently, TPM is only used to encrypt the system partition and check the system status (Secure Startup). A TPM is not a requirement for using Vista, nor is it used in DRM for audio or video files.

Hot topic : the TPM chip makes it possible to digitally sign content

reaching system for Digital Rights Management (DRM) when playing videos or audio files is under development too, but this technology is not likely to be popular with many users.

Is the change to Vista worth it?

Spectacular' graphics are only one aspect of Microsoft's new operating system. Even if your computer's graphics card isn't powerful enough to support the new visual effects, the change is worth considering. The new driver architecture makes Vista more stable than XP and provides more functions for notebooks and Media Center PCs. In addition, it's more

reduced access rights for more secure surfing.

The advanced search functions

58 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

Windows XP makes use of Prefetch to keep frequently required program code ready fur use in memory, so the corresponding pros can start more quickly. For Vista , Microsokl programmers have extended and refined thmechanism. Unlike Prefetch, Vista's Superfetch does not just load the `usual suspects' when it comes to frequently req;: -programming code; it also makes a step-h:. step analysis of program use, thus learning :sx applications you use most often and what store in its cache.

More stable drivers Windows XP moved parts of the drivers r USB devices and printers from the kernel into the user space. This prevents system crashes if the drivers are faulty. Microsoft Vista extends this technique to graphics caand audio hardware drivers. In Windows NT4, Microsoft integrated the graphics drivers into the kernel in order to get bets; performance, but at the expense of lower stability. Vista's Windows Display Driver

The heart of Vista Not as obvious as Vista's chic graphics, but nonetheless important, are the changes in the way Vista interacts with the computer's system components.

Vista is based on the NT kernel, now at version 6. This means there's not much change to the interface between the operating system and the processor. However, in comparison with XP, support for 64hit processors is much better; apart from the cut-down Starter Edition, all versions will be available with 64bit CPU support. This practically forces hardware manufacturers to make 64bit drivers available for all current

released in 2007.

over-runs.

It's easier to use Vista without running as an Administrator than it was under Windows 2000 and XP. If you start Internet Explorer7 under Vista, it defaults to using drastically

A clever cache

much easier.

The task switcher Flip3D shows window previews with a 3D effect

account potential exploits such as buffer

hard disk image.

The first motherboards with EFI supparI will be on the market soon.

and virtual folders make working with files

peripheral devices.

To make use of the virtualisation hardware in the new Intel and AMD processors, Microsoft has come up with the Hypervisor. However, this won't arrive until Vista Server is

secure than any previous version of Windows, as large parts of the program code have been written from scratch, taking into

with up to 128 primary partitions per hard disk. Pre-boot applications replace the customary DOS system tools. These cou: include diagnostic tools, partitioning programs or software for auto-installin_-

Vista and EFI Vista is the first consumer desktop operating system from Microsoft that fully supports the replacement for the Bios: the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). As EFI no longer switches the processor to Real Mode, motherboards using the Bios replacement can boot faster. In addition, hard disk partitions can, in theory, be up to 18 Exabytes in size,

Model (WDDM) represents a partial rever of this step, as it drastically reduces the proportion of the code that is running in tkernel. This not only makes the whole systc more stable, but also allows a new graphics driver to be installed without a reboot.

Individual volume controls The audio subsystem also runs largely in usr. mode and can no longer impact negatively aq kernel performance. One new feature is thr you can now set the volume level individualiâ&#x20AC;˘ for each application. The majority of USB Firewire audio devices no longer need drier-. from the manufacturer, but can use Vista's own drivers.

With Vista, unlike Windows XP, users without administrator rights can install device drivers, as long as the administrator has giver. them the necessary rights and the drivers are digitally signed.

Graphics effects Until now, even with powerful graphics cards and 2D applications, Windows has seemed a

nextgen operating systems ACPI support only

Asus displayed a prototype notebook with an auxiliary display in the lid, at the Microsoft Winhec 2005 hardware developers ' conference

bit dull in terms of its graphics. With Vista, that 's about to change: DirectX 9 cards will deliver cool graphical effects.

Many users are expecting a futuristic 3D desktop from Microsoft's new Aero graphics system, because the full implementation of Aero (Aero Glass) requires a DirectX 9 graphics chip.

In reality, Vista just uses the graphics system's 3D functions to generate 2D graphics. The advantage of this is that the strain is taken off the CPU, and the graphics chip's power is used rather than being idle as it is at present. For example, under Windows XP, a dual-display setup with a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200 requires just 7.4Mb of memory on the graphics card. As modern graphics cards have a large amount of memory for storing textures - at least 128Mb is normal these days - this remains mostly unused with 2D

The Asus notebook's auxiliary display is controlled using cursor keys

built up in the background and only put on the screen as they are required. Using this technique, the operating system can move complex windows over the screen without any jerkiness.

A further advantage is that the graphics card looks after the scaling and transformation of windows or other user interface elements.

Therefore the processor does not have to be concerned about optical effects such as the

and Caller ID

way to the processor by generating a virtual address space for the graphics hardware and allocating processing time on the graphics chip to each application. Vista uses virtual graphics memory consisting of the memory on the card and areas of main system memory. For optimal performance the memory on the graphics card should be at least 256Mb. Vista is able to take full advantage of PCI Express graphics cards as data transfer can take place in full duplex mode at 3.73Gbytes/sec.

AGP, on the other hand, is limited to 1.99Gbytes/sec and cannot transport data in both directions simultaneously.

9

A completely new 3D API Until now, Windows game developers have had the choice of two 3D application programming interfaces (APIs):

applications under XP.

Work for the graphics card Microsoft has finally moved away from the ancient Graphical Device Interface (GDI and GDI+) used in its existing operating

Vista means the end of the line for old notebooks without ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) support. Windows Vista no longer supports the old, outdated APM (Advanced Power Management).

Microsoft has also disposed of the burden of supporting older notebook processors: the energy-saving function drivers for the AMD K6-2 and the mobile Pentium III are no longer included.

Notebooks using these processors would not really be suitable for Vista anyway,

Vista supports HD videos, but you need to have DVI and HDMI

HO M I

interfaces with HDCP systems, to a desktop compositing engine, AV enabled otherwise Vista the Desktop Window Manager, that is based will not play the content on DirectX. A GDI compatibility layer is built into the new engine, though, to allow transition when maximising or minimising older applications to run. It's worth noting that windows, moving previews in the Windows Vista uses the graphics memory as an off-screen Task-bar or 3D previews in the task switcher buffer, so elements of the user interface are replacement known as Flip3D. Applications such as 3D games can no longer take over control of the graphics chip under Vista. They only get control over the display from the Desktop Window Manager, which is

responsible for drawing the windows.

The advantage of this is that the screen redraw is more fluid when switching between a game and the desktop than under Windows XP.

Windows Vista will include complete Media Center functionality as standard on most versions

At least 256Mb of memory The technical foundation for the Aero Glass graphics are the WDDM and the overlying Desktop Window Manager. The WDDM uses the graphics chip in a similar

OUT

Direct3D and OpenGL. OpenGL will remain in Vista. As previously, full support for OpenGL requires installable client drivers

supplied by the graphics chip manufacturer. If required, you can use XP drivers, but for best performance you will need WDDM drivers. Vista will have two Direct3D versions installed simultaneously.

Existing games make use of Direct3D 9, which is also used by games written for older versions of DirectX. In addition to this, Vista will have a completely new version of Direct3D, which is not backwards compatible: DirectX 10 (now officially known as Windows Graphics Foundation 2) will only run on Vista. New in DirectX 10 is Shader version 4, which adds the geometry shader to the existing vertex and pixel shaders. These are programs written in special high-level languages that can be used to directly program the geometry and rendering parts of the graphics chip. For DirectX 10, you will need a new type of graphics chip, because of the new shader model. At the time of writing, graphics manufacturers had not officially announced when these new chips will be available. â&#x2013; Next month - Vista on your notebook.

how to

Run programs with an Apple Mac style launcher hen it comes to launching programs and navigating Windows, the Start menu is the first port of call for most people. But there are alternative program launchers. In this Workshop we look at one called RocketDock.

If you've recently used an Apple Mac computer you'll know that an animated 'docking' area can be used to launch programs. RocketDock brings the same functionality to users of Windows XP. It will look great and allow for more customisation compared to the Start menu. By default the dock includes links to commonly-used components of Windows, but you can add as many shortcuts as you want. Here's how to download and use this handy tool.

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Step 1 We've created a link to the RocketDock download page at www. rocketdock .com. Scroll down to find and click on the Download button before clicking on the Latest Version link (at time of writing this is version 1.2.5, but don't worry if a new version has appeared - just use this instead). Opt to save the file to the Windows Desktop and wait for the download to complete ? at little more than 3Mb this should not take long on broadband, but may take 10 to 15 minutes on dial-up.

Step 2 Double-click on the 'RocketDock-v1.2.5.exe' (or similarly named) file that now appears on the Windows Desktop to start the installation.

Select a language from the drop-down menu and click on OK followed by Next to continue.

Read and signify your agreement to the terms of the License Agreement and click on Next before indicating where the program should be installed and then click on Next again. If a Desktop icon is required, tick the box and click on Next followed by Install. A few moments later, installation will complete. Click on Finish to launch the program.

Step 3 By default, RocketDock appears at the top of the screen, but can be repositioned later on if desired. Try moving the mouse cursor over the icons of the launcher bar to view the animated effects. There are several default shortcuts in the bar that provide access to commonly used

60 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

storage locations, such as My Documents and My Pictures, along with access to the Control Panel. Click on any of the animated links to launch the associated shortcut.

Step 4 RocketDock can be locked to any of the four sides of the screen as preferred. Right-click on an empty section of the dock and make a selection from the Screen Position menu. From the same menu it is also possible to activate the Autohide feature. With this enabled, RocketDock will be made invisible until the mouse pointer is moved to the edge of the screen where the bar has been docked, at which point it will spring into view. This option is available whichever side the dock is positioned.

Step 5 It doesn't take long experimenting with RocketDock to get the general idea of how the program works, so now is a good time to configure the various options that are available.

Right-click on an empty section of the dock and select Dock Settings. Starting in the General section, select the language that should be used and indicate whether the program should run automatically when the computer starts up. Selecting the Lock Icons option prevents dock items from accidentally being moved or deleted and Disable Icon Labels prevents the appearance of pop-up text.

We'll look at the Ubericons option later.

Step 6 Moving to the Icons section, you can change the appearance and actions of dock icons. By changing the Quality setting the appearance of icons can be improved or degraded to help improve performance and the look of the program. Beneath this, individual settings for icons can be changed, such as how much an icon zooms when it is rolled over. Selecting the Zoom Flat option causes the entire dock to zoom during a roll over rather than individual icons.

Step 7 In the Position section are settings that control the position of RocketDock. If more than one monitor is attached to the system, use the drop-down menu to select which one the dock

Rocket0ock is a smoothly animated, alpha-blended application launcher that is similar to ObjectDock.

RocketDock renders quickly like MobyDOCk, has the visual sharpness of Y'z Dock, and the stability that neither seem to possess.

It is compatible with every dock skin format we are aware of. In fact, d you have a skin that doesnt load properly, send it to us, along with a screenshot of what it should look like and we'll see what we can do about integrating the format..

Features: Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock , RIO Launcher, and Y'z Dock skins â&#x20AC;˘ ObjerSDack Docklet support Vnirode compliant Simple drag -n-drop interface . True multi-monitor support Supports alpha-blended ICO and PNG icons . Icons zoom and transition smoothly Auto-hide Popup on mouse over Layering options Horizontal and Vertical offsets Fully customizable Runs great on slower computers supports many languages and can easily be translated

16 Setup - RocketDock

Completing the RocketDock Setup Wizard Setup has finished installing RocketDock on your computer. i he application may be launched by selecting the installed

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for all your Home computing and I. T. needs

should appear on. The Screen Position option enables the dock to be locked to one of the four sides of the screen and the Layering menu can be used to force the dock to appear on top of all other windows. If the dock is set to be 'Always on bottom', enabling the 'Popup on mouseover' option forces it to jump to the foreground when needed.

Step 8 Still in the Position section of the Settings screen, there are two additional options. By default RocketDock appears in the centre of whichever screen edge has been selected as its home. By moving the Centering slider to the left or right, you can move the dock as required. The Edge Offset option can be used to move the dock out from its default position at the very edge of the screen - this is a particularly useful option if the dock is locked to the bottom of the screen, as it allows the Taskbar to remain visible at all times.

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Step 9 Moving to the Style section, there is a range of settings that can be used to change the appearance of the dock. The Theme menu includes a range of skins to choose from, while the Opacity slider can be used to make the dock slightly or completely transparent.

To change the appearance of pop-up text, adjust the settings in the bottom half of the dialogue, using the Preview windows to check how things will look. In a few simple steps it is possible to completely transform RocketDock. Click on OK when all settings have been configured.

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Step 10 Items can be added to the dock in a couple of ways, the easiest being to simply drag and drop and icons from the Windows Desktop or a folder onto the dock. Alternatively, rightclick and empty a section of the dock and make a selection from the Add Item menu. A file refers to a file or a program, while Path refers to a folder location. From this menu it is also possible to add a separator to help keep icons organised into groups. Items can be removed by selecting the Delete option or by dragging them off the dock.

Step 11 The settings for individual icons can be customised regardless of whether they are built-in icons or ones that have been added manually. Right-click on an icon in the dock and select Icon Settings. Click on the Icon entry to the upper-left of the dialogue and several icons will be displayed in the window to the right. Make a selection from here to change the default icon. Below this, it is possible to change the pop-up text for an icon, as well as changing the parameters of the shortcut.

U be rl con Vberlcon creates a more custam: o able atmosphere on your desktop by .'tending Windows to perform w effects when you launch your Irons and foders The effects are pluginbased to give you Control over the look and feel. The name !rand ales to Overlton " which will begin to make sense from the moment You see your toss iron fly towards you.

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pens.• Extrememly effluent • Plugin.hased for complete o.stomiZation • Integrates with your Desktop , Explorer and most software • umwde tpmrnlemt • Simple plugin SDK for creating new effect • Included Plugirs: o zoom o Flatmur • Supports ay languages and can easily be translated • And best of all its FREE

january 2007 • 61

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RocketDock is compatible with other -II utilities from Punk Software, including the previously-mentioned Ubericon. le Pay a visit to the developer's website at www.punksoftware. com/ubericon to download this add-on which is also provided free of charge. Double-click on the downloaded file on the Windows Desktop to install the software and in RocketDock make sure that the Ubericon option is enabled, as mentioned in step five. The plug-in applies animation effects to icons on the Desktop and in folders when they are double-clicked.

The same effects can be applied to icons housed in the dock.

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configure things further from the plug-in-specific Settings menu which is displayed. By default, there are three different animation effects built in to Ubericon, but additional plug-ins are available for download. Pay regular visits to the plug-in page at www. punksoftware . com/ubericonplugins to see what is available and for installation instructions.

Step 13 To configure Uberlcon, right-click on the icon that appears in the Notification Area after installation - the Run at Startup option should be ticked. From the Plugins submenu select the type of effect that should be used on icons and

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would like to suggest a new feature or sirryq chat with other users of the program, pay a visit to developer Punk Software's forums The forums can be accessed from the Abef section of the Settings screen or by visiting http://forums. punksoftware.com. The active message board is a great way to ge' help with any problems and find out what others think of the program. It also offers a means of keeping in touch with the softwar developers for the latest news.

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Use Google's book search service G oogle Book Search is a new way to find books on the Internet and `look' inside them, turning the pages with the mouse or even copying the entire book to a PC. Google doesn't list every book and of those it does, only some are available to read from cover to cover. Others are 'limited previews', which include the contents and some sample pages, or are `snippets' of basic information about the book. However, if it's a well-known book that's out of copyright, the chances are that Google will find the complete version. It's still in beta (testing)

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phase so there are a few wrinkles but it's an interesting development from Google and well worth a play. Here's how to use it.

Step 1 To start using Google Book Search, go to Google.ie. This will open a page that should look familiar to anyone who's spent any time on the Internet - it's a variation on the Google homepage. Just like the world's best-known search engine, everything here is kept very straightforward. There's an empty space where visitors can type in what they're looking for and a couple of simple options below; there are also some advanced search features which we'll come to later.

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Step 2 Let's try searching for a particular author. He's a Scot called David Lindsay who wrote a curious little book called A Voyage To Arcturus in 1920. It's the sort of title that regularly gets described as a minor classic but is quite hard to find.

Leave all the settings as they are and type `David Lindsay' (including

the quote marks) into the Google search box.

Enclosing the name in quotes ensures that Google searches for the entire name, rather

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than all the Davids and all the Lindsays. Then click on the Search Books button.

Step 3 Google Book Search returns nearly 10,000 pages worth of information on the elusive author, including several limited previews of the book we're interested in. Click on the first entry in the list to open the main book result page, where there's a scan of page one of A Voyage To Arcturus. Notice the little blue arrows at the top right-hand corner of the page? Clicking on these moves back and forth between the pages that are included in the preview - it really is rather like browsing through a book in a shop or a library.

Step 4 Click on the right arrow to move through the pages. In this example, the first five pages are available to look at, after which it jumps to page 13. This is the kind of page coverage that a

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limited preview offers to interested readers. There's plenty of other stuff here too - for example, clicking on the `More about this book' link opens a page that includes links to reviews on the Web, other related web pages, a table of contents and links to sites that sell the book.

Step 5 Click on the Back To Search results link at the top left of the screen and click on the second book in the list. This time the site requires visitors to sign in with their Google Account. Don't have one? Click on the Create a Google Account link, complete the form and then come back, type in your email address and password and then click on Sign In. Google says this sign-up process is required for titles that are still under copyright, but doesn't make it clear why this applies to some books but not others. Anyway, signing up is a decision for you to make - we don't have any great concern with it here.

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Step 6 Despite requiring visitors to sign in, this preview works in exactly the same way as the one in steps three and four, so go back to the search results page, scroll down to one of the entries that's labelled Snippet View and click on it.

The next page contains brief details of the book, links to booksellers and related web pages, and a `Find local bookshops' link. Notice that the text we were searching for (David Lindsay) is highlighted on the clippings from the book in the middle of the page.

DAVID COPI'EIIFIEI.D THE YOUNGER.

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Next, let's look for an entire book. Click on the Google Book Search link at the top-left of the page and type in Dickens. Click on the `Full view books' radio button underneath the search box and then click on Search Books. When the results come back, scroll down the list to The Personal History of David Copperfield and click on it. In this example, the entire book is there for anyone to read from start to finish by clicking on the forward and back buttons to turn the electronic pages on the screen.

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Although it's not terribly convenient to read a book online like this, it does make a fabulous research tool. See the little search box on the right-hand side? This can be used to find any words and phrases that occur anywhere in the book. For example, to find those pages that feature one of Dickens' most compelling - and loathsome - creations, type

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`Uriah Heep' (with the quotes) and click on Go. Google Book Search finds lots of instances of Heep's name and provides clickable links for each one to jump straight to the correct page.

Step 9 There are other ways to read a book using Google. Go back to the search results page, scroll down to Dombey and Son and click on the link. Here the book's available just as David Copperfield was, but with a difference - this title can be read on a PC using the free Adobe Reader program. Click on the download button and after a while the book opens in Reader. Save it to the PC's hard disk by clicking on the Save a Copy button

on the button bar and read it at leisure.

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Here various options can be set to make it easier to find exactly the right book, including fields for the 1 -1 book publisher, a date range for when the book came out, author's name, phrases that occur within the text and the ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Remember that Google Book Search is still in its infancy and, as such,

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may not always work properly. That said, we experienced no problems using the serve e when creating this workshop.

Make use of worksheet tabs in Excel Learn about tabs in create multiple w( I f you use an up-to-date web browser such as Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer 7, you'll be familiar with the concept of tabbed browsing, which allows the web surfer to view websites on distinct tabs. This isn't a new idea. Many aspects of Windows use tabs, as do many applications. Microsoft Excel, for example, employs tabs to allow users to manage multiple spreadsheets - or worksheets - that can be saved as one file.

Worksheets can interact, so one can influence information on another. In this workshop we demonstrate the basics of tabbed worksheets.

We use Excel 2003 but the techniques are applicable in some earlier versions of the application.

Step 1 Launch Excel and, if the application doesn't do so automatically, open a new, blank sheet (File menu, then New and click on Blank workbook in the Task Pane). A new, blank spreadsheet sheet will duly open and, in Excel 2003 at least, three worksheet tabs will already be present at the bottom - named Sheetl, Sheet2 and Sheet3. If only one tab is present on the newly-opened sheet, right-click on the tab, choose Insert from the pop-up menu and select Worksheet from the Insert dialogue box.

Now select a worksheet by simply clicking on its tab with the left mouse button, or use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl plus Page Down or

64 â&#x20AC;˘ january 2007

Ctrl plus Page Up to cycle through all worksheets.

Step 2 The first useful thing to learn about worksheet tabs is that they can be renamed. This facility will come in handy when writing formulas that reference cells on other worksheets, as it will be easier to remember a name you've intentionally chosen than the defaults of Sheetl, Sheet2 etc. Right-click on any of the worksheet tabs, select Rename from the pop-up menu, type in a new label name and hit Enter - we called ours PC Live! . Note that tab labels have a maximum length of 31 characters.

Step 3 Worksheet tabs can be moved around easily.

Just left-click on any tab and hold down the mouse button while dragging left or right. As you do this, a small black arrow will appear above the tabs to indicate where the dragged tab will end up when dropped. Release the mouse button to drop the worksheet tab in a new position.

Step 4 Entire worksheets can also be copied from tab labels. This is useful if you want to experiment

without altering the original worksheet. Rightclick on the relevant tab and select the Move or Copy option from the pop-up menu. In the Move or Copy dialogue box, decide where r replica worksheet is to be positioned - the `(move to end)' option will place it to the rigtt of existing tabs and the 'To book:' drop-dov.allows a different spreadsheet file to be chosen ? and click to place a tick in the `Create a copy' checkbox before clicking or OK. If it is copied to the same worksheet, the replica will have the same tab label name as the original, with a (2) suffix to distinguish it.

Step 5 The real benefit of working with multiple worksheets is that they can become threedimensional. In addition to referencing by columns and rows (two dimensions), formula can be created to examine and act on

Callsave 1850 201 117

COMPUTERSTORE

25 26 27 28

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29

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or email computers @cantecne.ie for all your Home computing and LT. needs Move selected sheets To book:

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30 31 1 32 33

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information contained on other worksheets - a third dimension. This is less complicated to achieve than it may sound.

We'll demonstrate it using a simple example, which should give you the basic idea. Select any tab (we've picked our PC Live! tab, named in step two) and type a number in any cell. It doesn't matter what cell or figure you choose but if you want to copy us, we typed 928 into cell Al.

Move or Copy...

Select All Sheets

Workshops

Pc Live!

Section

Step 6 Insert...

Now move to another worksheet by clicking its tab (we renamed our Sheet2 to Workshops). We're going to have this second worksheet (Workshops) reference cell Al on the first worksheet (PC Live!), and display whatever it finds in cell B2 on the Workshops worksheet. So, click in cell B2 and type '=PCLive!Al' (without the enclosing quotes) before hitting Enter.

In the blink of an eye, Excel will have referenced the content of cell Al on the PC Live! worksheet and displayed the result in cell B2 on the Workshops worksheet. Change the figure in cell Al on the PC Live! worksheet and cell B2 on Workshops will update accordingly. Note that the significant part here is the 'PCLive!' reference, which tells the application on which worksheet it should look for the subsequent cell reference or cell range. Proceed by building formulas in the usual way and, when the need comes to reference cells or cell ranges on other worksheets, use the `WorksheetTabLabel!' convention to direct Excel to the right cells.

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xcel is ideal for storing any data that can be broken up into recurring patterns. In an address book, everybody has a name, address, town and postcode.

Although each address is different, they're all made of the same types of information.

The same applies to a library of audio CDs, where every disc has a title, artist, track list and running time, and to collections from priceless antiques to old postcards.

In this workshop we'll demonstrate how to build an Excel database and print labels

from it using Word XP or Word 2003. In the next issue , we'll explain how to sort and filter the spreadsheet data, and use it to print personalised letters.

Step 1 Excel 2003 has been used for the screenshots in this workshop, but any version of Excel from 1995 onwards should work fine. Start Excel, and in cell Al type `Family Name' (without the quotes), then

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Whitfield

2 Whitfield 3 Smith 4 Jones 5 Carter 6 Garfield 7 Turner 8 Bradwell 9 Harrison 10 Bharwani 11 Ellin ton

press the right cursor key (the rightmost key of the cluster of four with arrows on them).

Cell B1 is now selected. Type First Name and then press the right cursor again. Type House Name into cell C1, and then repeat the procedure to type Street into D1, Town into E1, County into F1 and Postcode into G1.

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The Beeches I1 High Street • • r^nn1n:hire ^3 n n rdshre 123 Broad Street 16 Acacia Avenuerenelai .•,wlth shire Yorkshire York 2 Low Road Yorkshire 11 Vemalls Street Leeds Dunroamin Shropshire Ludlow 33 High Row Burnley Lancashire 24 Sloan Rd Hereford Herefordshire Lodge House 19 Crispin St Humberside Hull 55 Bracken Rd Darlington Durham 7 Mayville Rd

Simon Anne Liz Bill Adrian Will

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Step 2 With the column labels in place to define the pattern of each entry, it's time to enter some data. For now, use the same dummy names as in the example. You can replace them with real names later. Click with the mouse or use the cursor keys to move to cell A2, and then type the name Whitfield. Press the down cursor or the Enter key to move to cell A3, and repeat this procedure to enter the remaining family names as shown here.

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D A B C + 1 Family Na First Nam, House No Street The Beeches 2 Whitfield Simon Anne 3 Smith 4 Jones Liz Bill 5 Carter Dunroamin 6 Garfield Adrian Will 7 Turner 8 Bradwell Donald Lodge House 9 Harrison Eric 10 Bharwani Noorali 11 ]Ellington Helen 12 13

D C A 8 I Family Name First Name House Name Street The Beeches Simon 2 Wnhfield Aorta 3 Smith La 4 Jones Bill 5 Carter Dunroamin Adrian 6 Garfield 7 Turner Donald W" 8 Bradwell Lodge Hous Eric Harrison Noorali 10 Bharwani Helen 11 Ellington 12 13 14 15 16

E Town

F County

Post

Step 3 Use the mouse or the cursor keys to select cell B2, and from there enter the first names as shown. Then, starting at cell C2, enter the house names. Before going any further, it's time to fix the problem of entries overflowing their assigned columns, because they're hard to read. Use the mouse to move the cursor, which is currently a plus sign, to the dividing line between the top of column A and the top of column B. When the cursor is near the line it changes shape, as seen here.

EJI F G H Postcode Town County

Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the right to widen column A. When the column is wide enough to display all the entries it contains, including the label at the top, release the mouse button. Repeat this procedure to widen columns B and C. Now is a good time to save the work so far.

Hold down the Ctrl key and press S, then type Addresses as the file name and click on the Save button.

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G F E D C A B Postcode County Town 1 Family Name First Name House Name Street YO1 234 York Yorkshire The Beeches 11 High Street Simon 2 Whitfield Herefordshire HR6 789 123 Broad Street Luston Anne 3 Smith HA4 567 Hampshire 16 Acacia Avenue Ramsey Liz 4 Jones Y02 456 Yorkshire York 2 Low Road Bill 5 Carter Y04 567 Yorkshire 11 Vernalls Street Leeds Dunroamin Adrian 6 Garfield SHt 234 Shropshire Ludlow 33 High Row Will 7 Turner BB1 234 Lancashire Burnley 24 Sloan Rd Donald 8 Bradwell Herefordshire HR5 678 Hereford St House 19 Crispin Lodge Eric 9 Harrison HUH 234 Humberside Hull 55 Bracken Rd Noorali 10 Bharwani DLI 234 Darlington Durham 7 Mayville Rd Helen 1 1 Ellington

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66 • january 2007

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Using the same techniques for entering data and widening columns, complete the list of 10 names and addresses shown here. If a mistake is made while typing, either highlight the incorrect cell and type the correct version to replace it, or highlight a cell and press F2 on the keyboard to edit the existing entry.

When all 10 names are in place, press Ctrl plus S to save the changes. You won't be prompted for a file name this time.

❑ First row of data contains column headers

To sort the list, click the appropriate column heading . To narrow down the recipients displayed by a specific onceria, such as by city, click the arrow next to the coklmn heading. Use the checkboxes or buttons to add or remove recipients from the mail merge.

List of recipients:

Step 6 When spreadsheets are used as databases they typically contain hundreds of rows, so it's essential to `lock' the labels on the first row so they don't disappear off the screen when scrolling down to view rows with b higher numbers. To lock row 1, click on cell A2, and then click on the Window menu and select Freeze Panes. Whenever panes are frozen,

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I wail Merge has special features for easily working with addresses. Use the drop-down list o select the proper database field for each address field component.

Required information Last Name First Name

Family Name First Name

everything above and to the left of the current position is fixed in position, and as there's nothing to the left of cell A2, only the single row above gets locked.

Courtesy Title Company Address 1 City State

r^r= Family Name First Name

Postal Code Street Town County _- _l Postcode - v (not matched) se the drop-down lists to choose the field from your database t.._- __..._- _..__ -o the ,ddress information Mail Merge expects (listed on the left.)

Spouse First Name

optional information Middle Name

Step 7 This step is not essential but it makes the spreadsheet easier to use. The aim is to colour the top row of the sheet so that it stands out from the data on the rows beneath. To do so, click on cell Al and hold down the left mouse button. Drag across to cell G1 and release the mouse button. Use the Fill icon (a little paint pot) on the toolbar to choose a colour, then save the sheet with Ctrl plus S.

Step 8

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The list is now ready for printing as address labels, but this cannot be easily achieved in Excel without the purchase of an add-on program such as Label Merge from PATools (http://patools.co.Lik). Fortunately, Microsoft Word includes a label-printing facility that's easier to use than any add-on. This feature was completely revamped for Word XP, so the remaining steps apply only to Word XP and Word 2003. Click on the Tools menu, select Letters and Mailings, and then click Mail Merge Wizard (Word XP) or Mail Merge (Word 2003).

Step 9 On the right-hand side of the screen, a Mail Merge panel is displayed. Select Labels, then click on Next to continue to the second stage.

Click on Label Options to invoke a dialogue box in which you must select the correct type of printer and define which make of labels you'll be using. If you don't yet have labels of your own and simply want to complete this Workshop, select Avery A4 and A5 sizes as the Label product and J8361 as the Product number. The labels can be printed on plain A4 paper for testing.

Step 10 Click on OK to close the Label Options dialogue box, then in the Mail Merge panel click on Next.

In the Select recipients section, make sure that Use an existing list' is selected, and then click on Browse to locate the list. The list to look for is, of course, the Addresses file just created in Excel. Once found, double-click on it to invoke the Select Table dialogue box shown here, in which Sheetl (the name of the default worksheet tab in Excel) will be pre-selected.

Click on OK to continue.

Step 11 In the Mail Merge Recipients dialogue box, the names in the Excel file are listed with a tick next to each name. Clicking to remove the tick from a name excludes it from being printed, but as we're going to print them all on this occasion, there is no need to select anything.

Just click on OK to close the dialogue box, then at the bottom of the Mail Merge side panel click on Next.

Step 12 To specify what gets printed on each label, click on Address block in the Arrange your Labels section. This displays the Insert Address Block dialogue box, in which you should click on the Match Fields button. The fields in the Excel file are the column headings, and care is needed to match up the fields with the names Word uses, otherwise results will be unpredictable. Three of the fields (Family Name, First Name and Postcode) are automatically matched correctly, but you'll have to match the others yourself. Here is House Name being matched to Address 1, for example.

Step 13 Similarly, match Word's City field with Town, Word's State field with County, and Word's Address2 with Street. Click on OK to close the Match Fields dialogue box, then click on OK to close the Insert Address Block dialogue box. In the Mail Merge panel on the right, click on Update all labels, then click on Next. The labels are displayed exactly as they will print. If there's a problem, click on Previous and repeat step 12.

All being well, click on Next.

Step 14 In the Mail Merge panel click on Print, then in the Merge to Printer dialogue box, click on OK. When the standard Windows Print dialogue box is displayed, load suitable labels into your printer (or use plain paper) and click on OK. It's now possible to save the labels as an ordinary Word file that can be opened and printed at any time, without further messing. Just press Ctrl plus S and give the document a suitable name. In the next issue, we'll explore how to filter the names and addresses to create a run of personalised letters - a mail shot, in other words - so don't miss it.

M

Order your copy NOW! The ICT Directory Diary is the definitive desktop reference to Information & Communications Technology in Ireland.

To order your copy please contact

Teresa Lenehan (01) 294 7761 teresa.Ienehan@mediateam.ie

how to

Calibrate your TV

M

ost people would never think of calibrating their TV screen, but if you want the best possible picture and are willing to have a go, then it's a job that's well worth doing properly.

Although you can do some basic adjustments using free tools such as those found on THXcertified DVDs, to get professional results you need to use a purpose-built product such as Colorvision Spyder TV www.colourconfidence.com.

The Spyder TV has two components - a software application and a USB colourimeter. A colourimeter is a device a bit like a camera that fixes to your TV screen and measures the light and colour levels. These measurements are then fed to the software, which works out what the correct settings for brightness, contrast and colour should be.

It sounds complicated, but its not. All you need is a laptop PC (or a desktop PC that's within about 1 m of your TV), a DVD player and about 30 minutes of time.

Step 1 Install the Spyder TV software on your PC from the supplied CD, then plug the colourimeter into a spare USB port. The colourimeter fixes to the middle of your TV screen (any kind of TV can be calibrated) using either the suction cup (pictured) or a camera tripod. Make sure the colourimeter is touching the screen so it doesn't let any stray light in. Also, make sure the screen is clean. You should do all the tests in a darkened room.

Now put the supplied test DVD into your DVD player, making sure to use the right one, as both NTSC and PAL format DVDs are supplied PAL is for Ireland.

Start the Spyder TV application on your laptop and you're ready to go.

Step 2 The Spyder TV software is easy to use and guides you through all the steps easily. There's also an excellent paper manual that explains how to use it with the varying types of onscreen controls you'll find on different TVs. Its important to let your TV and DVD player warm up for about 30 minutes before starting.

The TV we used is one of the hardest to adjust, as there are no numbers or divisions on the sliders. We found the easiest way around this is to mark up a small piece of paper the same length as the sliders and use BluTak to L_ 68 â&#x20AC;˘ January 2007

stick it temporarily to the screen, as pictured. We marked it every five divisions for clarity.

Step 3 The first thing the software asks you to do is record the current settings of your TV so you can always go back to them if you want. You can also enter other details, such as the make and model of your TV, and its location.

This is great if you have several TVs you want to calibrate.

As you can see in the picture, the software asks you to enter the settings yourself, which is where the calibrated piece of paper we made earlier comes in handy. If your TV doesn't have one or more of the settings shown, simply untick the relevant box and it won't be measured.

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Step 4 The software will automatically measure the current white and black levels of your TV. You'll be prompted to select the relevant test pattern from the DVD menu using your DVD player's remote control.

There are four patterns used. Each time, the software will make a measurement then ask you to change one of the TV's settings. For example, it may say, 'Now set the contrast to 37'.

It does this several times for each TV control, so it can get a bit tedious, but do persevere. Don't forget to get rid of the on-screen TV controls before making each measurement, as these can affect the picture levels.

Step 5 When you've completed all the calibration steps, the software saves all the details into a database and lets you view or print a report of the results for future reference, as shown in the picture. The information is shown as a graph for each setting, which gives you

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or email computers@cantecne.ie for all your Home computing and I.T. needs

a quick visual summary of your TV's performance.

As TVs can change over time, it's important to recalibrate your TV every six months or so, or when you change any of the cables or components connected to it, such as a new DVD player.

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To check how much difference the calibration has made to the picture, select the Before and After patterns from the main DVD menu. There are three screens brightness, contrast and colour. You can see from our before and after pictures that there's a remarkable improvement in quality, particularly in skin tones and overall balance of brightness and contrast.

If you're not happy with the final result, there are separate manual test patterns available on the DVD for brightness, colour, contrast and sharpness that you can use to give a final tweak to the settings.

As the original TV settings have been recorded by the software, it's easy to return to your original setup for comparison purposes.

Design and send HTML newsletters

f you receive electronic newsletters, the I chances are that they'll be colourful affairs, with a mixture of text and graphics worked into the design. This is all thanks to HTML, the computer language behind the Web. HTML code can also be incorporated into emails so, in essence, an HTML newsletter is a web page. There are lots of good reasons for wanting to create and send HTML newsletters via e-mail, but one very good one is cost. An HTML newsletter

is a cheap way to achieve wide distribution.

In this Workshop we'll demonstrate how easy it is to produce and send an HTML newsletter with nothing more than Microsoft Word and your trusty e-mail program.

Step 1 The first step when creating an HTML newsletter is designing its pages. We're going to do this using Microsoft Word 2003, though the techniques demonstrated here

how to

can be employed in earlier versions of the application (back to Word 2000). If your design skills don't stretch to creating a layout, it is possible to use pre-designed layouts. A wide range of designs is available at the Microsoft Office support website. Go to the Microsoft Office Online homepage and then type `newsletters' into the search box before clicking on the Go button. If you find a template that suits your needs, click on it to download it. It can then be customised to include your own text, photos and graphics. Most newsletter templates have more than one page, just delete the pages you don't need.

Step 2 It's a good idea to plan the layout of your newsletter with paper and pencil. This design can then be referenced when building the Word document. The first element to which close attention should be paid is how text will appear in the newsletter. Use the Columns function under the Format menu in Word to choose the column layout you want to use. Experiment with a few text layouts until you are happy with the look of your design. Note that if using a ready-made template downloaded in step one, the text columns can still be altered to suit your needs. However you work, be sure to save regularly.

Step 3 Photos and graphics are important components of a newsletter so it's vital to carefully prepare all the images that will be used. Look at the dimensions and quality of your images. Also bear in mind that large images may take a long while to be sent or received via e-mail, so use an imageediting program to optimise the pictures to produce small file sizes while retaining a high-quality appearance - saving images as

compressed Jpegs or Gifs is a good idea.

In fact, it's a good idea to try to reduce the size of newsletters as much as possible so they don't clog up inboxes. In Word, click on the Tools menu and then Options.

Choose the General tab and then click on the E-mail Options button. Experiment with the e-mail-filtering options to find one that reduces the size of e-mails without upsetting the layout of the newsletter.

Step 4 With the text prepared and arranged in the newsletter, it's time to turn attention to the other design elements that will make your newsletter stand out from the crowd. Word enables use of a wide range of non-text elements, including graphics, tables and even animations. To add a previously prepared picture, open the Insert menu, select Picture, choose From File and then use the Windows Explorer navigation dialogue to locate the relevant image file.

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Publishing - Concise

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Step 5 When the newsletter design is complete, it's time to turn the Word document into an HTML e-mail that can be sent out to readers. This is done from within Word itself. From the File menu choose Send To and then the Mail Recipient option. The email headings of To, Cc and Subject will open above the Word document. Type in the e-mail addresses along with a subject and click on the Send a Copy button. If you want to select contact addresses from your Outlook address book, click on the `To' heading. We'd advise sending a test copy of the newsletter to yourself first, to make sure it all looks good when upon receipt.

Step 6 Sending newsletters via Word offers the opportunity to set a number of options

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relating to how the messages are deliveâ&#x20AC;˘eFrom the e-mail header click on the Options button. The dialogue box that opens displays a number of features. Fcexample, delivery receipts can be requested or the sending of the newslette' can be delayed until a specified time arc date. Advanced security settings and importance and sensitivity fields can alsc be set up via this dialogue box.

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cantec COMPUTERSTORE

Callsave 1850201 117 or email computers@cantecne.ie for all your Home computing and LT. needs.

Watch movies with SkyByBroadband

T

Download Sky movies and sports programmes for free via broadband on y

he recent launch of Sky's high-definition TV system has rather overshadowed another service that the company rolled out a couple of months ago . SkyByBroadband is a service that allows you to download films or sports programmes onto your PC by using a broadband internet connection.

You'll need an existing Sky subscription - to either the sports or movie channels - but apart from that the service is completely free. You ' ll also need to have Windows XP and Windows Media Player running on your PC (Mac users need not apply, unfortunately).

Downloaded material will only play on the computer originally used for the download , and you cannot make backup copies on DVD either.

However, the SkyByBroadband service is handy if you want to download a bunch of films onto a laptop or a Media Centre PC that is part of your homeentertainment system . Here we show you how to get movies and programmes on demand.

Step 1 Before you can begin your movie downloads, you need to register for the SkyByBroadband service on the Sky website. Go along to www.skybybroadband .com and follow the nstructions for creating an account. It doesn't cost anything, but you'll need to provide some of the details of your existing Sky subscription, so dig out that old Welcome To Sky brochure you got when you 5rst signed up for Sky. You'll need to set a password for your SkyByBroadband account, and the website is a bit picky about the type of passwords it will accept, so tad the instructions on the website carefully.

Step 2 Once you've completed the sign-up process you'll oe prompted to download and install the SkyByBroadband software. This is very straightforward and took us less than five minutes.

Once the installation is complete you'll be offered nvo channels from which to download content - Sky Movies and Sky Sports. You can browse either channel , but the material you can download and inew on your PC will depend on your existing Sky subscription.

To download movies you will need to subscribe to Sky Movies 1 and 2. To download sports programmes you'll need to have a subscription for Sky Sports 1 and 2.

Step 3 Click on either the Movie or Sports channel and you'll be taken into a browser where you will see what content is on offer. Here's the movie browser, but the sports browser is very similar. There's a Download Of The Week, along with a list of Top 10 Downloads, so you can grab the latest releases instantly.

On the left-hand side of the screen is a Browse panel that lists films according to categories such as comedy, romance and action. There's also a search tool in the top right-hand corner so you can type in the name of a film to see if its available.

Step 4 To download any film (or sports programme), just click on the title on the browser page. This will take you into another page that provides more detailed information about that film. There's a cast list and plot summary, as well as links to other films in a similar genre, or by the same actor or director.

Some films are only available for a limited period of time, but 'Sin City' is going to be available for another 327 days. This means we can hit the download button to start the download right away, or use the bookmark option to save the download for later.

Step 5 Heroes the My Library page, which shows details of all the films you've downloaded or that you might want to download later. The page is divided into three sections. The Ready To Play section lists films that have been downloaded and are now ready to play (you have to download the entire film onto your PC before you can watch it).

The Download Queue shows films that are currently being downloaded, along with a status display that shows what percentage of the download has completed.

There's also a Bookmark section, where you can make a list of films you might want to download at a later date.

Step 6 The good news is that a two-hour film such as 'Sin City' only takes up about 800Mb of hard disk space.

The bad news is that Sky uses a peer-to-peer filesharing system for its movie downloads. This means that download times can vary quite a lot, depending on how many other people are downloading the same film as you.

It took almost four hours to download 'Sin City', but barely an hour for 'House of Flying Daggers'.

Still, at least you can use the Download Queue option to line up several films and then just leave your PC to download the films overnight or while â&#x2013; you're at work.

Game zone special

-

using game cheats

Get a handle on games

Hidden cheat codes can help you get more out of older games, but they are also open to abuse. We see whether cheats prosper

S ince the dawn of competition, people have cheated in a bid to gain an extra advantage. Video games are no different, and cheat codes have become part and parcel of the trade. So what are these codes? Basically they come in the form of a password or sequence of combined key presses that reveal a hidden menu. The menu will offer options not found elsewhere, such as the ability to switch on special powers that would normally have to be earned, the choice to skip a level altogether or most commonly, a `god' mode where the player is granted all weapons and tools and is also granted invulnerability in gameplay.

Initially it was all so innocent, just entering pokes on your Spectrum to get some extra money in Football Manager, or pressing a combination of buttons on the Megadrive's controller to skip levels in Sonic the Hedgehog. Often such cheat codes were implemented by the developers for testing reasons to enable beta players to properly 72 â&#x20AC;˘ January 2007

investigate the game. And often, these were done with a knowing sense of humour - for example typing dog in the console is the cheat for god mode in the Medal of Honor games.

But over time, cheat codes weren't just slyly implemented by the programmers, but sneaked in by skilled amateur bandits to tilt gameplay. With the rise of online gaming and modding, the concept of unfairly balancing games became an increasingly nefarious affair, and, naturally, gamers and developers have become increasingly concerned about the

problems it can cause.

But why is it such an issue? Well, on a basic level, when playing against opponents from around the world, it's important that the games are

I

Game zone special

played on a level playing field - think of it as the digital equivalent of running the Olympic 100m sprint against a group of athletes reared on steroids.

Despite this gloom, the games industry has evolved to become a global trade that has near enough eclipsed the music and film sectors, with large financial implications. And while it's bad news that cheating is a serious problem on game servers, the good news is that there have been many moves to combat these activities.

Cheat your way ahead But before we dig into the murkier side of cheating, we should discuss the positives.

Well, positive in the sense that you can extend your enjoyment of favourite games without harming anyone. Invariably the line between good and evil is whether you're playing solo or multiplayer. If you want to skip a level or two on Half Life because you're stuck, or add some money to your Sim City bank account, then that's your business, but if you start doing it to beat fellow players then bending the rules can become a thorny issue.

If you're of the honest variety then there are many places to get assistance, most notably the internet. Cheat websites such as www.gamefaqs.com, and www.cheatcodesgalore.com offer walkthroughs, codes and modifications, or mods, that can give you a helping hand with virtually every game for any system. Such websites expand on the sections that have featured in computer magazines for years, offering tips and cheats for games, and are now huge libraries of helpful quick-fixes. As an example, we searched on Games FAQS for Harry Potter.

Every game featuring the pint-sized wizard is listed and on multiple formats. Want to jump higher on the PC version of Sorcerer's Stone?

-

using game cheats

Cheating means players can become superheroes without earning their cape

Simply type in harrysuperjump during the game, and quite literally, ta-da! Of course, using any such method comes at a price, most notably the shame and guilt of not l being able to advance without some assistance.

And, like anything from the Internet, what's not to say that what you've read is complete rubbish? It might not work or it could crash your computer.

How to input cheat codes Cheating may be unethical online, but a properly used cheat code can help you get value for money from the game or have fun when it's legitimately completed. Each game has fan websites where walkthroughs and cheats can be found, so try the sites we mention above or type the title and `cheat codes' into a search engine.

Most cheat sites will tell you how to enter a code, but some people may find it difficult to fathom. Most cheat codes are entered in the game's console mode.

Games may have different commands for accessing the console, but the two most common are to press the key next to the 1 at the top-left of the keyboard during gameplay, and the tilde (-) key.

The menu will provide a blinking cursor for a code to be entered, or list options for you to choose from. Cheat codes can be deactivated from the same menu.

Fighting back So it's all good, clean fun, right? Well, as mentioned, cheating at games evolved from a sneaky quick-fix to help you get past that impossible end-of-level baddie to a serious blot on the games scene that threatened to ruin honest players' entertainment. It started with the development of exploits in online multiplayer games, these being the rearranging of the game's program code to assist players. Soon players could become superheroes without earning their cape, which naturally left nongeeks battered and bruised when their decidedly average characters came up against unfairly enhanced mega-villains.

As online titles began to increase in popularity with the acceleration of internet speeds, developers soon started detailing the rules and regulations regarding fair play in agreements that players had to promise to adhere to. Inevitably though, many just ticked yes to these terms and used such exploits nonetheless. And while some might have just been innocent newbies experimenting with nifty tricks to help them

progress, many others were much more unscrupulous and quickly become too powerful for the good of the game.

Honest players became frustrated at servers being ruined by such antics, and it seemed that companies were doing little to

stamp it out. One such aggrieved game administrator was Tony Rey, who set about trying to eradicate the problem in 2001. He established a program called Punkbuster, which started out as an independent application before quickly being integrated into many titles' game engines. Rey explains:

Game zone special

-

using game cheats

Typing `dog' in the console is cheat for god mode in the Medal Of Honor games

"Years ago, my favourite online game was pretty much destroyed by a large influx of cheating. Many people were trying to come up with a way to address the cheating problem, as the game's developer had thrown their hands up and admitted they just weren't going to try to address the issue. The idea was to have a virtual referee standing over the shoulder of the player watching what was running on the computer while the game was being played." Punkbuster's expansion means it has become the online gaming world's best police force, and it has evolved to become a sophisticated system to prevent cheating. It works by scanning for known cheat codes, monitoring players and checking games to see if cheats have been used. Once suspect players are detected, they can be banned from games and servers. Proof of its success comes from the fact that myriad major games (including Quake 4, F.E.A.R and Far Cry) now have the system built into their online games.

Until recently, it was predominantly shooter titles (where strength and firepower advantages can quickly ruin a game), but many role-playing offerings are now using it as well. Aaron Cohen, the producer of MMORPG Ultima Online, recently commented: "Punkbuster is obviously our most public effort to combat cheating. Our goal is to make sure players who play by the rules are rewarded for their hard work."

A dangerous game Although Punkbuster was established by a gamer, not a development company, the fact that many firms are now using the software as standard is proof that the industry has also awoken to the dangers of hackers and cheats. Games that are broken open by cheats are less fun for everyone else to play, so customers stay away in droves. It's in the best interests of games companies to weed

74 â&#x20AC;˘ January 2007

incompatible with Punkbuster, or they've been forced to update the software mo+e than is reasonable. Are they blameless parties that are victims c' overly prudent online monitors or jus' frustrated cheats aggrieved at being busted? It is impossible to say, but like any tight legislation aimed at 6 weeding out t h e b a d app Ies, I t s likely that a few hapless souls ge' caught out.

However, most garners we spoke to agreed that this is a small price to pay to ensure that the majority enjoy an honest gaming environment.

Especially as many use cheat techniques not as a stepping stone to gaming immortality, but to cause mayhem and ruin out games. the The price of cheating people Whether you feel that cheating is an trying to individual's right to gaming pleasure or a get an unfair horrid blight on what is after all meant to be a advantage. With some titles requiring a bit of fun, it's clear that it's part and parcel of regular subscription fee to play online, it's playing video games. Garners are a clear that a hack-free game environment passionate crowd and it's clear that some will must be maintained. It would be a tragedy bend the rules in their pursuit of success. It's for players and a potential financial black even gone so far as to become a marketable hole for developers if the inclusive concept commodity, with garners complaining about of online gaming turns into a farcical battle the online trade of characters on auction sites such as Ebay. It might not sound like something you'd want to spend your hardearned Paypal dollars on but advanced gaming characters sell for big bucks, with one Everquest wizard recently going for â&#x201A;Ź1,375.

The obvious problem with someone arriving on a server with the gaming equivalent of Gandalf is something that companies want to eradicate, and Sony has recently banned such sales. So whether it's fighting between the computer savvy rich and the back to prevent hacks and exploits (and humble game-playing poor. better late than never), or blocking dubious But Punkbuster and its ilk are not Ebay shenanigans, it's clear that the flawless. One of the problems of any industry now considers cheating a serious policing system is the chance of innocent issue. But we all share a role in cleaning up parties being swept up in the clean-up our servers, and while Punkbuster is a mission. Gaming message boards are massive leap forward in making games fair, swamped by people claiming to have done it also requires a loyal community to ensure nothing wrong yet being evicted from â&#x2013; that a safe environment is maintained. servers. Some claim their hardware is

1

This PC Live! Datafile is a regular feature of the magazine.

To be listed here , contact Mark Webster on (01) 294 7763

FCLiW DATAFILE

WHO'S WHO IN ... Broadband P roviders Dynamid Static IP

BT Ireland

Chorus

1800 923 929 residentialsales@btireland.ie 1Mb - 3Mb www.btireland.ie

1890 940 632 info@chorus.ie

www.chorus.ie

Clearwire Broadband

DigiWeb

1800 882 333 sales@cleawire.ie www.clearwire.ie

1800 28 58 28 sales@digiweb.ie www.digiweb.ie

eircom

1800 503 303 broadband@eircom.ie www.eircom.ie

1890 929 422 Gaelic Telecom sales@gaelictelecom.ie www.gaelictelecom.ie

1890 444111

Ice Broadband

Imagine

info@icebroadband.com www.icebroadl)and.com 1890 929 292 sales@imagine.ie

24:1 or 48:1

1890 56 44 56 sales@irishbroadband.ie ww w.i r ishhroad ba n d.ie

1890 940 632 NTL Ireland

UTV Internet

online.sales@ntl.ie www.ntI.ie/broadband

1890 926111 support@u.tv www.utvclicksilver.com /index.asp

DSL

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Sign up today at www.btireland.ie or call 1800 923 929

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only €39.99 m Copyright PC Live! 2007 - Cannot be reproduced in any form without our prior consent

Computer driving you nuts? Welcome to our new

FCLjW DATAFILE

Resource Guide where the specialists below can help you boost your PC performance . To list your company contact Mark Webster on (01) 294 7763 or e-mail mark .webstera)mediateam.ie

WHO ' S WHO IN ...

PC U pgrades ProNet Solutions

Laser-Computers Sales Ltd w ^Q7C1,

Unit 4, Donore Road Ind Est, Drogheda, Co.Louth.

Tel: 0419804688 Fax: 041 9834706 email: info@pronetsolutions.ie Web: www.pronetsolutions.ie

1 Dundrum Rd, Dundrum, Dublin 14 Tel: 296 2330 - Fax: 296 2341 email: nikki@laser-computers.com Web: www.laser-computers.com

Computer Hospital 20 Stephens Street, Dublin 2 Tel: 01478 3769 Fax: 01478 3946 email: compex@indigo.ie

Computer Works COMPUTER WORKS

Carrig Computer Services

Cybertec Computers For all your computer needs.

Buy Online at: www.cybertec-computers.com Telephone 014361738

CA-Ajc. CO ?UZER kavica

e-mail sales@cybertec-computers.com Web: www.cybertec-computers.com Right-Click <right - cl gco e

^.n.

70 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2 Tel: 014759681 Fax: 014759321 email: sales@right-click.ie

(1C.0/k CompuMr Clinic

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D 'n REPAIR

Dublin PC Repair Tallaght, Dublin 24 Tel/Fax: 014624745 Mob: 0851184708 Email: dublin.pcrepair@ntlworld.ie Sales Repair Upgrades

Micropro Computer 98 Nutgrove Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 Tel: 014930514 Fax: 014943885 MicroPro

email: info@micropro.ie Shop opens 8.30am - 7pm 6 days

marx-:N%

computers

Unit K, The Milkmarket, Limerick Tel: 061313414 Fax: 061313415 email: carrigsales@eircom.net Web: indigo.ie/-carrig/systems Cork Computer Clinic Ltd 16 South Terrace, Cork, Co Cork Tel: 0214316303 Fax: 0214312563 email: opurcell@ corkcomputerclinic.ie Web: www.corkcomputerclinic.ie

Data Recovery f' RTech ^

shop4memory.com Upper Main Street, Celbridge, Co. Kildare Tel: 01-6275611 Fax: 01-6275612 email: info@shop4memory.com

Unit 5, Cian Park Industrial Estate Drumcondra, D9 Tel: (01) 80 40120 Fax: (01) 80 40 110 email: printerparts@eircom.net

Bits andPCs Limited

23 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2.

Tel: 01 676 2205 - Fax: 01493 4156 email: info@rtech.ie Web: www.rtech.ie

Bits and PCs Limited Ballinaclough, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary Tel: 067 43877 email: sales@bitsandpcs.ie Web: www.bitsandpcs.ie

f:Reverb Studios 7Jf.tr..,.^a^R Duy.,

PC £oIuti

Reverb Studios & PC Solutions - Multimedia Design & Computer Repair/Upgrades under one roof.

Jamestown, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim Tel: 0719625855 Fax: 0719625809 Email: info@reverbstudios.ie / info@pcsolutionsireland.com Web: www.reverbstudios.ie / www.pcsolutionsireland.com Skype: 'leonvquinn'

Marx Computers 18 Crescent Place, Dublin 3 Tel: 01853 1111 Fax: 01853 1116 email: info@marxcomputers.ie Web: www.marxcomputers.ie

Komplett.ie c/o GLS, Unit 47 - Rosemount Business Park, Ballycoolin, D11 Tel: 1520 932 003 Fax: 01 6335 609 email: sales@komplett.ie Web: www.komplett.ie

DCB Group

664

• DCB GROUP

5 The Mill, The Maltings, Bray, Co. Wicklow Tel: 01276 9000 Fax: 01 276 9090

Email: sales@dcbgroup.com Web: www.dcbgroup.com O Copyright PC Live! 2007 - Cannot be reproduced in any form without our prior consent

76 • january 2007

PC Lives reader guide to select digital camera retailers,

FCLiW DATAFILE

including their current special offer promotions.

(0 To list your company here contact Mark Webster on (01) 294 7763 or mark.webster®)mediateam.ie

WHO'S W HO I N...

Digital Cameras

Harvey Norman Harvey Naeman

Outlet(s ) Swords - Airside Retail Park and Dundalk- Dundalk retail park.

Phone: Swords 01 890 9900, Dundalk 042 9396600

Website To be announced shortly.

Brand names supplied Canon, Fuji, Sony, Kodak, Casio, HP and Olympus In-store photo processing Yes Online photo processing No Current special offer promotion Free 128mb card with every digital camera purchase. Fantastic new prices on 1gb Memory cards. Phone stores for details.

email mark .pollard@harveynorman.ie and melissaw@harveynorman.ie

Cantec Computerstore

cantec COMPUTERSTORE

Outlet(s) 1. Navan Shopping Centre, Navan, Co. Meath.

Phone 046 9060300 2. Farnham Street, Cavan Town, Co. Cavan.

Phone 049 4377400 3. R.B.K House, Golden Island, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

Phone 090 6471400 4. Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Co. Carlow.

Phone 059 9134300

Galway Camera Shop Retailer Galway Camera Shop Outlet(s) 1 William Street, Galway Phone 091-565678

PC World '

I' I

Outlet(s ) Blanchardstown Retail Park, Liffey Valley Retail Pk. Waterford, Limerick Parkway Retail Park, Dundalk Retail Park, Parkwell Retail Park, Galway Phone 01 8025555, 051355014, 042 9394102, 061431188, 016305800, 091386302

5. Manor Mills Shopping Centre, Maynooth, Co. Kildare Phone 016292300.

6. Ashbourne Town Centre, Ashbourne, Co. Meath Phone 018498000 www.canteconline.ie Email computers@cantecne.ie Brands supplied Canon, Fujifilm, HP, Casio, Epson, Trust, Olympus Online photo processing NO Current special offer promotion New retail brochure out, full range of digital cameras available. Contact us for more details.

Brand names supplied Samsung , HP, Sigma & Kyocera In-store photo processing Yes Current special offer promotion Samsung Digimax A5 5 Megapixel Ck €299.99 Samsung Digimax A6 6 Megapixel 1k €329.95 Samsung Digimax V70 7 Megapixel 1k €499.95 HP Photosmart R707 5.1 Megapixel Ca) €349.95 Brand names supplied Fuji , Canon , Kodak , Sony, Nikon , HP, Olympus, Packard Bell & Casio In-store photo processing No Online photo processing No Current special offer promotion Hewlett Packard 707, 5 million pixel CCD, 3 x Optical zoom, Pictbridge enabled Was €299.97, Usual in-store price €249.97, With magazine price €229.97, Save €70.

Soundstore Soundstore

Outlet(s): Blackpool Shopping Centre, Blackpool, Cork Phone 0214220850 92 Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork Phone 021 4277969 Sarsfield Road, Wilton, Cork Phone 0214343377 Ballybricken, Waterford Phone 051 859532

Brand names supplied: Samsung , HP, Praktica, Casio Current special offer promotion : Samsung S500 5 Megapixel for €199, Samsung L85 8.1 Megpixel HDMI for €449, Casio Z60 Exilim 6 Megapixel for €299 0 Copyright PC Live! 2007 - Cannot be reproduced in any form without our prior consent

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