Cold Cathode Tubes

Cold Cathode vs LED Backlighting

CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lighting) and LED (Light Emitting Diode) backlighting technology has been used for quite a while in a variety of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panels. LED is the newest out of the two coming into light (no pun intended) in the last few years. Whilst CCFL is the oldest of the two being the original backlighting system in LCD panels. So it should be a simple answer of yes LED is better because it’s newer. But it’s not as simple as that unfortunately. This article aims to help you understand why.

WWDC 2013

WWDC 2013 Announcements – My Impressions

Apple announced a series of updates at the 2013 WWDC keynote and in this article I aim to give you my impressions of what I saw.

True to form Apple started with a bang a fancy intro that “warmed the hearts of viewers” I for one am not one of the Apple sheeple that unjustifiably love everything that Apple does. I dislike the whole pomp and circumstance and cult like behaviour that Apple love to throw at people’s faces. Just show us the products already! But maybe that’s just me, anyway I digress.

ios7

iOS 7 – What Would You Like To See?

iOS has only changed slightly since it was unveiled in 2007 and many feel that it is long due a major overhaul in it’s UI. iOS has arguably always offered one of the most fluid user experiences and with every iteration as the hardware gets better iOS is further optimised for the faster hardware.

As an iOS user there really is no denying though that iOS could do with a refresh. There are elements within iOS that just scream dated and some major polishing just needs to take place. In this article I’ll be going over some of the changes that I am hopeful for in the next major iteration of iOS.

1. Further Intuitive Use Of Banner Notifications & Removal / Redesign Of Push Notifications

Gallifrey

Doctor Who Series 7 Finale Review

The finale to series 7 of Doctor Who was broadcast on Saturday, titled “The Name of the Doctor” it definitely seemed that the episode would be an epic one and that it was.

The beginning scenes of The Name of The Doctor was probably my favourite part. It took us to Gallifrey (the Doctor’s home planet) and showed us the first Doctor stealing a faulty TARDIS and then subsequently showed us other scenes of past Doctors with Clara superimposed into the background of each scene. It was video editing done really well and it was just awesome seeing the past doctors in a montage of sorts.

Jhdmaxx Minecraft Server

Updates To The Minecraft Server

Yes, the Minecraft server which you can visit by adding MC.JHDMAXX.COM into your Minecraft client server list (PC only) has been updated and I’d like to thank my friend James for all of his hard work revamping the server. Figuratively speaking the server had pretty much been the same since it’s launch back in 2011 and it came to a point recently where the server just wasn’t going anywhere and the guest building world (Beta) was in complete disorder. That’s all changed now with the introductions of some of the features and plugins I’m about to highlight. Please note that at this point the server is still undergoing changes to further improve your gaming experience.

MacBook Pro

13″ MacBook Pro Impressions

The other day I decided to purchase a refurbished 13″ MacBook Pro to complete my little circle of synchronisation and to give me the power to do more on the go. Long story short I’m loving this machine. This article aims to help you understand why. For about a year I’ve been rocking a Compaq Presario CQ57 laptop which worked well for what I was using it for (browsing and the occasional image manipulation and website development session) but anything more than that and the laptop’s processor was hopelessly, hilariously defeated.

Pebble Watch

Smartwatches. The Next Big Thing?

I’ve always found wearable technology a bit… well… gimmicky. Whether it was a Bluetooth headset, or a mini clip on MP3 player (iPod Nano). However there is now one form of technology that does somewhat intrigue me. Smart watches.

Smartwatches have technically been around for a while now and they’ve all sucked pretty much. Early smartwatches were basically standard watches (digital) with a load of buttons on them that could double up as a little calculator. Very gimmicky indeed. If we advance sightly we’ve seen watches that double up as “cell phones”. Basically the same sort of design as the calculator watches but included a radio transmitter, a sim card slot, a speaker and a mircrophone. They’re actually still around too, in the form of cheap imported GSM devices with wrist straps that are beyond unusable.

Self Stirring Mug

Self Stirring Mug Review

Back in December I received an interesting gift from my sister. A self stirring mug! Yes I know the review seems odd and slightly (very) delayed but nevertheless let’s review it.

The Appearance:

The mug is composed of many different pieces. The outer shell of the mug is brushed aluminium or brushed stainless steel for the most part and the inner lining of the mug is a matte textured black heat tolerant plastic. The same plastic is used for the handle, the battery cover and base plate and the battery compartment. At the bottom of the interior of the mug you’ll find the stirring mechanism which is a sort of tiny plastic propeller. I thought the mechanism would be bigger but we’ll talk about how well it works soon.

Final Cut Pro

I’ve Finally Advanced To Final Cut Pro X

If you’re tuned into my regular YouTube videos at youtube.com/jhdmaxx you may have noticed that the videos have had a little bit of extra “sparkle” to them. I’ve finally advanced to Final Cut Pro X. This article aims to help you understand the benefits of investing in such an application and whether or not you really need to.

APU

Are APUs The Future?

As we geeks know, the typical I/O system of a desktop or laptop system usually consists of a CPU and a GPU. CPU stands for Central Processing Unit and is in charge of managing… well… pretty much everything really. And the GPU which stands for Graphics Processing Unit is usually in charge of… you guessed it… graphics.

But what is an APU? Is it better? Is it more efficient? Well this article aims to show you the difference and help you make the decision between an APU system and a conventional system.