APC

The world's longest-running tech mag

APC2 min read
Turning The Page
BEN MANSILL Works with the best damn editorial, design and production team in the biz. Welcome to this issue – and if you’ve come to us from our sister title TechLife – welcome to the world of APC! After many long years of serving up expert tech advi
APC2 min read
Exclusive Downloads
The Windows tool ScreenVideo offers a very easy screen capturing and films either the whole screen or only a part of it. A moderator function with picture-in-picture integration further enhances the films. This results in presentations, tutorials and
APC1 min read
Apc
Editorial Editor: Ben Mansill ben.mansill@futurenet.com Senior Journalist: Shaun Prescott Journalist: Joel Burgess Journalist: Chris Szewczyk Creative Director: Troy Coleman Contributors John Bailes, Tom Bedford, Jay Bonggolto, Sean Conway, Mufad
APC1 min read
Windows 11 Update Brings Back Ripping Cds
A new Windows Media Player update for Windows 11 has brought back CD ripping, meaning that any audio CDs you have can be transferred to your PC and added to a playlist. If you’ve been a PC user in the last 25 years, you’ve most likely come across CD
APC2 min read
US Seeks To Restrict China’s Access To Chipmaking Equipment
China, despite its growing economic status and political influence, remains behind the likes of the USA, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea when it comes to its chip sector, and the US would like to keep it that way. According to Bloomberg, the US is pushing D
APC2 min read
Intel’s 13th Gen Raptor Lake Specs Have Leaked, And It May Be Bad News For PCIe 5.0 SSDs
The rumour mill is in overdrive right now. Whether it’s about CPUs, GPUs, or motherboards, we know for sure that the back end of 2022 is shaping up to be absolutely mega for PC enthusiasts. Intel is getting ready to launch its 13th Gen Core CPU range
APC1 min read
AMD foresees 700W GPUs by 2025
Sam Naffziger, AMD senior vice president, corporate fellow and product technology architect, expects high-performance GPUs with TDPs as high as 700W emerging before we reach 2025. The pictured chart isn’t specifically discussed in a recent interview
APC1 min readInternet & Web
Latest Tor Browser Update Bypasses Internet Censorship
Bypassing internet censorship is among one of many updates coming to version 11.5 of the Tor Browser. Available to download from the Tor Project website, the latest version will “transform the user experience of connecting to Tor from heavily censore
APC1 min read
Prime Video Is Getting A Design Makeover
Prime Video is ugly as hell. Its menus are cluttered, its library is a muddled mix of free, paid and add-on content and its general user interface (UI) is about as friendly as those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park. Thankfully, though, Prime Video is f
APC1 min read
Hdd Shipments Plummet 33 Percent
Following a historic 33 percent decline in shipments year over year (YoY), the HDD market in 2Q 2022 seems to be on the verge of an apocalypse – or at least standing at the doors to purgatory. Weakening demand on the client side prompted this falteri
APC1 min read
Windows 8.1 Has Begun Its Imminent Demise
Windows 8.1 will hit ‘End of Support’ on January 10, 2023. There’s still a bit to go until that fateful day, but Microsoft’s least-loved OS has already started getting all melodramatic, announcing its demise to users. Logging into a PC running Window
APC2 min read
Inside APC
APC is Australia’s oldest consumer technology magazine – having been consistently in print for forty years, since our first issue way back in May 1980 – and we take that heritage and responsibility very seriously. While our focus is obviously on the
APC3 min read
Qualcomm Aims For Your Desktop
In January last year, Qualcomm spent $2 billion on buying Nuvia – that’s a lot for a company barely two years old with few tangible assets. What Nuvia had was expertise in processor design, particularly ARM-based chips, and also several ex-Apple engi
APC3 min read
Games Exec Says Old Approach To Profitable Game Development Is For “Idiots”. Is He Right?
Last month John Riccitello, the CEO of popular game engine Unity and former Electronic Arts CEO, ruffled a galaxy of feathers when he said in an interview that a consideration of monetisation during a game’s development period is essential for all bu
APC2 min read
Using Tech To Heal Yourself
As a healthy, somewhat outdoorsey, 32 year old, physical disabilities and chronic ailments were not exactly front of mind for me... that is until I broke my leg surfing in May, this year. It was a bad break. Bad enough that a friend of mine who is a
APC3 min read
My Love Affair With The PC
A big hello to our TechLife readers joining us for the first time! My name is Chris Szewczyk. I’m a bit of an all-round geek with a focus on core PC components. I’ll try not to bore you with megahertz and gigabytes this time and instead tell you a li
APC3 min read
When Madness Rules
We are living in very strange times indeed. The two years of Covid appears to the general public to have finished, but a recent tech conference in the USA appears was a super-spreader event, with many falling ill afterwards. The cost-of-living crisis
APC2 min read
GPU Prices Come Back Down To Earth
Graphics cards are now returning to RRP – albeit the recommended pricing is still pretty painful. But contrary to expectations of higher prices, there is reason to think that trend could be reversed. Cheap GPUs for everyone? If not this year, then ma
APC8 min read
The A-List
STUNNING CREATIVE POWER Alongside its 16-inch sibling, this is simply the world’s best laptop for demanding users. The amount of power on tap via the M1 Pro or M1 Max processor is staggering, and it’s backed up by a terrific screen and stunning batt
APC2 min read
Free Frames
Last year, AMD launched FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), an upscaling algorithm promising improved performance, possibly inspired by Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling). Rendering at a lower resolution then upscaling can boost performance,
APC8 min read
Fighting Bushfires The Smart Way: With Sensors, AI And Drones
The past few years have seen record wildfires in Australia, California and Europe, with conflagrations worsened by hot, dry conditions caused by climate change. That makes fighting such fires all the more costly – financially and in terms of firefigh
APC2 min read
The Top Five Capture Cards
This card has dual HDMI inputs on the rear. Why? So that you can mix two feeds at once, of course. You might want to use an SLR camera for the pro streamer look or stream yourself building a PC with one camera on you and another on your build. It may
APC3 min read
Gadgets
$99 | bonelk.com If you didn’t buy a proper laptop stand during the first half of 2020 as we ll rushed to the home to work, here’s one, now. APC likes Bonelk gear because it’s usually metal, seems to be high quality and looks nice in an elegant, clas
APC5 min readSecurity
NordVPN vs. ExpressVPN
NORDVPN | NordVPN 2-Year Plan US$5.24/month, NordVPN 1-Year Plan US$6.88/month, NordVPN 1-Month Plan US$11.99/month | www.nordvpn.com EXPRESSVPN | ExpressVPN 1-Year Plan US$8.32/month, ExpressVPN 6-Month Plan US$9.99/month, ExpressVPN 1-Month Plan US
APC2 min read
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
From $1,099 | microsoft.com/en-au The original Surface Laptop Go was an impressive offering that managed to make a super affordable laptop feel both powerful and not overly dissimilar from premium devices. Like most of the Surface updates, the Surfac
APC3 min read
Be Quiet Pure Base 500FX
$220 | www.bequiet.com Be Quiet has earned itself a reputation as a manufacturer of low noise products, as its name suggests. Unlike Be Quiet’s traditionally subtle designs, the Pure Base 500FX departs is something different, being a high airflow des
APC2 min read
Dynabook Tecra A40-K
$1,803 | anz.dynabook.com The Tecra range from Dynabook is designed for IT professionals and those looking for enterprise grade security systems that’ll allow employees to work securely from wherever they are. This means it comes with everything from
APC3 min read
DeepCool LE500 240mm
$79 | www.deepcool.com When DeepCool contacted us with details on its upcoming LE500 All-in-one CPU coolers, we weren’t particularly captivated until we saw the price. At just $79 for the 240mm LE500, this appears to be the cheapest 240mm AIO we’ve e
APC3 min read
ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOPDell XPS 13 Plus
$3,753.60 | dell.com/en-au Dell’s XPS 13 has always been a leader in the ultra premium laptop market, but as the new Plus naming convention might give away, the new range of XPS 13 Plus devices are adding even more to the overall experience. Some of
APC2 min read
Huawei MatePad 11
$848 (64GB) | consumer.huawei.com/au The beautiful thing about tablets is their simplicity. You really only need to ask yourself four questions before buying: does it do what I need it to do? Is it fast enough? Is the battery life good enough? And ho
APC1 min read
Asus Rog Delta S Wireless
$299 | rog.asus.com Asus gamer cans tend to be large and heavily stylised, and the first impression after unboxing the new wireless version of the year and a half old standard model was a worry they’d be heavy and uncomfortable – but they’re neither.
APC1 min read
Asus Rog Strix Scope Rx Tkl Wireless Deluxe
$275 | rog.asus.com The Asus ROG Strix Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe is a nearly perfect TKL keyboard that delivers the goods where it matters the most. With the custom ROG RX switches, solid wireless connectivity and battery performance, a comfortabl
APC2 min read
Samsung M8 Smart Monitor
$1,199 | samsung.com/au How much functionality do you want from your PC monitor? Just the pixels? Or all the features? Arguably, the new Samsung M8 Smart Monitor gives you the lot especially if you want to use it as a business monitor. It’s built aro
APC2 min read
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
$599 | samsung.com Samsung’s Galaxy A-series phones generally emulate the style and features of its high-end models at a lower price. The A53 is a case in point: it might as well be called the S22 Light. The phone is large but not ungainly, measuring
APC2 min read
Motorola Moto G22
$249 | motorola.com.au Motorola has form when it comes to building great smartphones at low prices. The Moto G22 certainly ticks the latter box, costing only $250 for a fully featured Android 12 phone, even it’s hard to get excited about a phone with
APC2 min read
Bcuninstaller 5.3
Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 | FREE | bcuninstaller.com BCUninstaller – or Bulk Crap Uninstaller, to give its rather crude full name – is recommended as it is the best alternative to the overrated Revo Uninstaller, and it’s constantly getting better at r
APC1 min read
Hazel 5.1.1
macOS 10.13 or later | US$42 | noodlesoft.com Hazel makes it easy to create scripts to perform actions on files using a similar interface used to create smart searches in Finder. The biggest addition in version 5 is the ability to pull text strings f
APC2 min readInternet & Web
Gmail Releases Visual Updates To Its Compose Window
Free | gmail.com Google unveiled visual updates and improvements to Gmail’s recipient field last October, promising to complete the rollout a month later. That did not occur, but the company has now resumed the update’s rollout. The search giant anno
APC1 min readInternet & Web
Em Client 9.0
macOS 10.14 or later | Free; Pro from $79.95 | emclient.com The all-in-one approach of eM Client makes it a good option for people who want to keep email, notes, and calendar together. The New Account assistant works with several types of email accou
APC3 min read
Turnkey Linux 17.0
Linux | $various | turnkeylinux.org TurnKey Linux is a godsend for anyone who has spent hours preparing a server, cobbling together the necessary components to deploy network accessible software or web apps. The project produces an extensive set of a
APC15 min read
Why Is Your Wi-fi Still Slow? And How To Make It Faster!
• Switch your router to a faster, less congested channel • Stop the bright lights on your router bothering you • Get alerts when new devices connect to your network • Update your router’s firmware to improve its speed • Ensure your router hasn’t been
APC15 min read
Amd Zen 4 Unwrapped
AMD’s Zen architecture revitalised the CPU industry, bringing much-needed competition and higher core counts to consumers everywhere. It’s hard to believe we languished on 4-core Intel CPUs as the top mainstream solution for a full decade, starting w
APC11 min read
The Best Way To Build A Smart Home
For more than a decade now, we’ve been waiting for our homes to become truly smart. “Smart home” as a concept is not new, but the problem is that the major platforms vying to run our homes, such as Apple’s HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, are j
APC7 min readSecurity
Six Security Holes You Need To Plug Right Now
Just because you’re not a large enterprise or a household name, that doesn’t mean your business can blithely ignore security breaches. Indeed, it might surprise you to discover that the truth is actually quite the opposite: smaller businesses are the
APC4 min read
Blueprints
After the heavy influx of new components to our Intel budget build last issue, including a new CPU and GPU, we kept the changes to a minimum this time around. The only changes of note here are a new B660 motherboard from Asrock, swapped in to trim th
APC2 min read
System News
Mark Williams Mark is an IT professional with a strong interest in voiding warranties. Hard drives (HDDs) have been with us for many decades now. Costeffective with copious amounts of storage are the benefits of the hard drive. Superseded many years
APC3 min read
Market Watch
$3,299 | tinyurl.com/APC510CPL This system is the most balanced of this month’s round-up for gamers. The CPU is fast enough to not bottleneck many GPUs, and the paired RTX 3070 Ti will have no such problems here. The 3070 Ti is perfect for high refre
APC2 min readSecurity
The Attacks You Should Be Worried About
Every few months, a high-profile vulnerability comes along that grabs the media spotlight, but in many cases these aren’t the threats you need to be focusing on. As Lewis Pope, “head security nerd” at N-able, points out, a vulnerability with a Common
APC6 min read
The Problem Solvers
I have a PC that I love very much (my first build), but it’s not compatible with Windows 11, so after 2025, this machine will die. Can you suggest what to do with it? I don’t want to sell it, so maybe start with Linux? NAS? Any ideas? The spec is: In
APC9 min read
Delete Your Files Forever
YOU WILL NEED Windows 10 or 11 TIME REQUIRED: Two hours Once upon a time, back in the earliest days of personal computing, deleting a file meant it was gone for good. That was the assumption, anyway; then, in 1982, Peter Norton released the UNERASE t
APC7 min read
Organise Your Folders Like An Expert
YOU WILL NEED Windows 10 or 11 TIME REQUIRED: Two hours If you’ve been using a computer for around 20 years (or longer), you’ll remember how important it once was to keep your files organised. Hard drives were less common and – where they existed – w
APC7 min read
Check If Someone Is Snooping On Your PC.
YOU WILL NEED Windows 10 or 11 TIME REQUIRED: 30 minutes Your computer is full of personal data. From letters to your insurer and emails from your doctor to your tax return and list of your passwords, the documents and files stored on your hard drive
APC4 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Privacy In The Real World
Your privacy when in public spaces has been back in the news of late. A recent report from Choice Magazine revealed that a number of major Australian retailers (notably Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys) have been using advanced facial recognition on
APC4 min read
Apple TV+: Streaming With An Emphasis On Original Content
Set up Family Sharing to allow family members to access your Apple TV+ subscription. Having been in the content game for many years, it’s probably no surprise to learn that Apple has launched its very own video streaming service. While the iTunes Sto
APC3 min read
Make A Newsletter In Pages
IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to create a newsletter in Pages YOU’LL NEED macOS, Pages Apple’s Pages is part word processing app and part page layout tool. However, it’s the latter where it really comes in to its own, making it very
APC10 min readInternet & Web
How To Control Docker Over The Internet
Looking to pull images from sources other than the official DockerHub? Navigate to Registries under Settings and click Add registry to do so. Six providers can be added quickly, including an authenticated DockerHub account, or you can add your own se
APC9 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
Remove Yourself From Social Media
Personal information has never been more accessible. Your social profile and posts can give away all sorts of details to people you know, and people you don’t – from potential dates to employers and identity thieves. There are all sorts of steps you
APC5 min read
Set Your Pi For Mobile Streaming Video
• Raspberry Pi Zero 2W • Raspberry Pi OS Lite • 32GB SD card • 2.5A 5VDC PSU • Pi V2.1 camera • 4,500mAmp/hr battery • 2.54mm single-row pin header • 2.54mm pitch straight six-position pin header connector • Two HO-scale well cars • Assorted model st
APC4 min readInternet & Web
PyScript – Bring Python Coding To The Web
Most of us can’t live without the internet these days, but for the last ten years, the apps that power the web have required a smorgasbord of programming languages from HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to Content Style Sheets (CSS) to JavaScript. Mea
APC5 min read
Tech That Changed Australia (and The World) – Part 4
Determined and highly capable, Violet McKenzie was a dynamo. She was born Florence Violet Granville in 1890. Her mother, Annie, later married George Wallace, a mine clerk, and the family settled in the NSW coastal town of Austinmer. From an early age
APC2 min read
F1 22
$89.95 | PC, PS4/5, XB1/S/X | ea.com/en-gb/games/f1/f1-22 Remember the ‘live the life’ ethos of F1 2010? This game takes that to its logical conclusion, giving you an all-new living space for your multi-millionaire avatar, which you can kit out right
APC6 min read
Oric-1 & Oric Atmos
Beautifully styled and quintessentially European, the Oric line started life in the United Kingdom’s highly competitive microcomputer market, before finding a new home in France. With the Oric line, retro gaming fans can find new variants of classic
APC2 min read
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
$11.99 | PC, XB1, PS4, Switch | cupheadgame.com Not many games refer to themselves as delicious, but who would deny it works for Cuphead? Studio MDHR’s painstaking recreation of a 1930’s Disney aesthetic oozes confectionary flavour, and even if this
APC2 min read
The Cycle: Frontier
Free-to-play | PC | thecycle.game A sub-genre has been brewing away amidst the tide of battle royales and hero shooters. The obtuse shorthand is PvPvE – which essentially means multiple players having to occupy and fight through a shared space full o
APC2 min read
The Quarry
$89.95 | PC, XB1/S/X, PS4/5 | quarrygame.2k.com With The Quarry, Supermassive Games brings its horror shows back to the realm of the teen slasher. You can expect a cocktail of blood and hormones, as a group of potential victims runs around in the dar
APC1 min read
Venus Looks For Jupiter
Free | PC, Mac, Linux | bit.ly/VenusGame Venus is set to a track by Israeli rock musician Elisha Banai, with the lyrics flashing up as you jump, slide, mantle and wall-run through its minimalist high-rise world. You’ll recognise the red doors (every
APC1 min read
Baba Is You Xtreme
Free | PC | bit.ly/BabaXtreme Baba Is You Xtreme is a free sorta-sequel to the clever puzzle game, only everything is a little bit wrong. The music sounds muffled, the congratulation message at the end of levels has been spelled wrong, and – worst of
APC1 min read
Stack Zoo
Free | PC, Mac | bit.ly/StackZoo Devious platformer Stack Zoo asks you to think while you’re leaping around. Beating each level isn’t a matter of reaching the exit without dying, but figuring out how to reach it with the stack of humans and animals t
APC5 min read
Metal Gear Solid V
Release: September 1, 2015 Developer: In-house Publisher: Kojima Productions Link:konami.com/mg/mgsv I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for a videogame than the years I spent waiting for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Once it was finall
APC2 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Researchers Teach AI To Learn Like Babies
AI models are often trained from a state of no knowledge, where they are given a goal and stimulus and have to muddle through the learning process from scratch. We’ve often thought that this was largely what humans did too, however researchers gave a
APC8 min read
Talk Not Text: A New Adventure Begins
In 1976, some people found themselves standing at the end of a road before a small brick building, surrounded by a forest, pondering “What next?” They would enter the building, get a lamp and some keys before going down, down and south in order to un
APC10 min read
Clean Out Windows 11
YOU WILL NEED Some or all of the following tools: Bulk Crap Uninstaller, CCleaner, TreeSize Free, Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder, SteamMover (all free) The emergence of smaller, faster boot drives has resurrected an age-old problem: how to stop your

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