Tim Hanlon

I'd forgive you for thinking that a 1993-era first-person shooter running in a web browser is not particularly worthy of Gizmag's attention, with the browser-based Quake Arena having been online since 2009. What makes this noteworthy is that while Quake Arena runs as compiled x86 code and a browser plugin, this Doom port relies solely on web standards like HTML5's Canvas element and Javascript. That sound you hear is an infinite number of high-school IT teachers groaning.  Read More

Until recently, the massive market share of Microsoft's Windows operating system meant that authors of viruses, malware and other nefarious software all but ignored the small kid, Apple's OS X operating system. That's no longer the case, but it's easy to stay safe from the MacDefender malware that's doing the rounds at the moment - here's how.  Read More

Here's a sign of the times for you - neither T-Mobile's press release announcing the release date for its upcoming flagship HTC Sensation 4G or its website bothered to mention how much it'll cost - that news came courtesy of the T-Mobile Twitter account.  Read More

Apple has officially announced what's in store for the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6 in San Francisco. The latest versions of its OS X operating system for the Macintosh, and iOS operating system for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad will be unveiled, along with a service called iCloud.  Read More

iA's Writer app for the iPad has been on my home screen since it launched, and it's one of the apps I bring up when people ask me what brings me to carry a giant iPod touch in my bag. In an age where it's not at all weird for someone who writes for a living to stare at two or more monitors displaying tweets from hundreds or thousands of Twitter users and RSS feeds from hundreds or thousands of websites/blogs in real time, iA Writer is an infinite number of steps in the opposite direction. The effect on my ability to craft words has been nothing short of ridiculous.  Read More

For the rest of 2011, I'm visiting a new country every week or two. I'm not the biggest fan of getting lost, asking for directions, or getting ripped off by taxi drivers, so keeping my iPhone's battery charged is high on my list of priorities. I came across Mophie's Juice Pack Powerstation while I was doing my pre-travel gadget shopping, and was surprised at how small, light and cheap the unit was. So how does it stack up?  Read More

Apple's desktop lineup has typically pushed users requiring plenty of fast I/O towards the Mac Pro - but the latest iMac refresh has broken the tradition. While quad-core Sandy Bridge CPUs and faster ATI Radeon HD GPUs are welcomed, it's the addition of Thunderbolt ports (one in the 21.5-inch and two in the 27-inch) that really ups the ante for a number of professional users.  Read More

PlayStation owners in the audience will likely have noticed an inability to connect to the PlayStation Network (PSN) over the past week, though Sony today made an announcement revealing that things are much worse than a week without access to online multiplayer gaming. At some stage between the 17th and 19th of April, a hacker gained access to Sony's systems. Sony believes the hacker was able to retrieve the personal information of 77 million PSN accounts, and say it is possible that credit card details were also retrieved.  Read More

Even if you're using IMAP to access your email, certain newer email clients like Thunderbird 3 and Postbox will download and store your emails locally in plain text. This leaves many users making a difficult choice between leaving sensitive data unencrypted, or venturing into overkill territory by using a tool like FileVault, PGP Whole Disk Encryption or TrueCrypt - which see you encrypting your entire home directory or hard drive and dealing with a performance overhead. This article will show you how to encrypt only your Postbox email on a Mac, but can easily be adapted to other email clients (or other folders like your Documents folder).  Read More