Dialogue Box: Lifting technology's skirt
Published: 15 Oct 2007 11:30 BST
Ever wondered what a microwave oven could do to your wireless access, or what effect a radioactive rock might have on a flash drive?
Probably not, but then hopefully you're slightly more sensible than Rupert Goodwins and Charles McLellan, the presenters of ZDNet UK's weekly magazine show Dialogue Box.
Slipping slyly behind the back of the latest industry headlines, while slapping established thinking firmly around its chubby face, Dialogue Box asks the questions that need asking — and some that don't.
Dialogue Box 6.2: The interplanetary internet
Technologies designed to communicate with spacecraft should help to build a more robust internet back on earth. Rupert and Charles explain, with the help of a kebab [05 May 2009]
Dialogue Box 6.1: Satellites, the sun and IT
There's a lot of hardware orbiting our planet, generating ever-increasing space debris. Further afield, the sun is currently in a quiet phase, but is unlikely to stay that way. Rupert and Charles ponder the implications [27 Apr 2009]
Dialogue Box 5.8: Return of the Axis of Awesome
What do a netbook, an ultraportable, a smartphone, a pico projector and a weird videophone have in common? All have been examined by Dialogue Box and consigned to their places on the Axis Of Awesome [16 Feb 2009]
Dialogue Box 5.7: A projector in the hand
Take a DLP chip and combine it with a low-power LED lamp and you have a projection engine that can run off battery power and fit in a smartphone-sized case. Dialogue Box takes a peek at the new world of pico projectors [09 Feb 2009]
Dialogue Box 5.6: When power goes bad
What happens when a power surge delivers more volts and amps than your electrical equipment can handle? Dialogue Box pushes a capacitor to the limit — and beyond — to find out [02 Feb 2009]
Dialogue Box 5.5: The Mac at 25
There's a world of difference between a 1984 Macintosh and a 2009 iMac. Dialogue Box compares the specs and summarises its findings in the currency it knows best: the price of a pint of beer [23 Jan 2009]
Dialogue Box 5.4: Touchscreens feel our pain
Apple's competitors are trying to sprinkle some iPhone magic on their smartphones, with frankly mixed results. Rupert and Charles examine four contenders using the 'SwearMark' test [15 Dec 2008]
Dialogue Box 5.3: Solid-state disk torture test
Last year Dialogue Box showed that radiation could affect data-transfer rates on solid-state disks. How does the latest generation of products stand up to a similar zapping? Rupert and Charles don the lead-lined lab coats... [08 Dec 2008]
Dialogue Box 5.2: Building a Nehalem testbed
Watch a state-of-the-art desktop PC appear before your very eyes as Rupert and Charles assemble a Core i7 system from a kit of Intel parts [01 Dec 2008]
Dialogue Box 5.1: 'I can't believe it's not Vista'
Rupert and Charles poke and prod the 'pre-beta' of Windows 7 and find it looks and feels like Vista Service Pack 2 [24 Nov 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.10: Windows Mobile vs the 3G iPhone
In the last of the current series, Rupert and Charles look at two of the latest Windows Mobile smartphones, to see how they match up to the standard set by Apple's iPhone 3G [16 Sep 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.9: Browsers, benchmarks and betas
Like everyone else, Dialogue Box has been poring over Google's Chrome browser. See how fast it runs JavaScript on an Asus Eee compared to Internet Explorer 7, and more [09 Sep 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.8: Powerline networking
Connecting your office or home via the mains wiring is quick and easy, but what are the drawbacks? Dialogue Box uses a vacuum cleaner, a desk lamp and a fluorescent tube to demonstrate some of them [02 Sep 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.7: Transcontinental laptop challenge
Rupert lands in San Francisco with a non-booting laptop, which Charles tries to fix remotely from London. Then a colleague from down under calls in with a 'crook' notebook. Can Charles banish the blue screen of death? [27 Aug 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.6: The reality behind virtualisation
Virtualisation promises something for virtually nothing. Dialogue Box finds that isn't necessarily so [12 Aug 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.5: The Axis of Consumerisation
Remember the Axis of Awesome? Dialogue Box reckons that, if a product is both cool and useful, and satisfies four simple criteria, you're likely to find it appearing at work, by stealth [05 Aug 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.4: Dual-band 802.11n shoot-out
Which 802.11n frequency band goes fastest and furthest — 5GHz or 2.4GHz? Dialogue Box fires up its new router and takes a laptop on a wireless walkabout [29 Jul 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.3: Does the iPhone 3G mean business?
Dialogue Box hooks up its shiny new iPhone 3G to Exchange Server, and has an 'email-off' with a keyboard-equipped Windows Mobile smartphone. Rupert also finds a characteristic way to demonstrate the iPhone's motion sensor [22 Jul 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.2: Atom power hits the desktop
Intel's Atom is out on the streets, promising a new era in low-power computing. But is it more spin than win? [15 Jul 2008]
Dialogue Box 4.1: A unique peek at a bright LED future
Last year, we wanted it. This year, we've got it. In the first of a brand new series of Dialogue Box, Charles and Rupert throw light on a revolutionary new LED technology that gives you more than just a glow [08 Jul 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.10: Memory lane
There are a number of runners and riders in the next-generation memory stakes; Dialogue Box has the inside track, plus highlights from series 3 [13 May 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.9: JCB phone torture test
Dialogue Box deconstructs Sonim's JCB-branded phone, first in the studio and then by running it over with a truck [07 May 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.8: Fake finger fools fingerprint reader
Moulding plastic, jelly, milk and tea are all the ingredients Dialogue Box needed to get past one biometric security device [28 Apr 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.7: Place your bets on IBM's Racetrack
Can IBM's Racetrack memory unseat the current flash and hard disk favourites? Dialogue Box marks your card, with help from the 'could-o-meter' [22 Apr 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.6: IDF debrief
What do the Atom processor, MIDs, a bio-sensing chip, fuel cells, Shanghai's traffic and a revolution in photography have in common? Answer: Intel's recent Development Forum [14 Apr 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.5: Return of the Axis of Awesome
Rupert and Charles debate the coolness and usefulness of a range of mobile technology, including a military-grade mini-notebook and a pocket Etch-A-Sketch [08 Apr 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.4: Are black websites really greener?
If you want to be green, you should give your website a black background. True or false? Dialogue Box investigates [31 Mar 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.3: Barbados or bust
Dialogue Box's Rupert Goodwins is on his own in the studio this week, as Charles McLellan jets off to the West Indies — or does he? [26 Mar 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.2: Why the wait for solid state?
Dialogue Box finds out what's driving hard-disk replacements [18 Mar 2008]
Dialogue Box 3.1: Another fine Mesh...
To kick off series 3, Dialogue Box examines three low-power laptops and takes the OLPC XO into the field on a secret mission [11 Mar 2008]
Dialogue Box 2.10: A Christmas news roundup
Dialogue Box takes a whistlestop tour of the top tech news stories of 2007, and looks ahead to what the major headlines might be in 2008 [24 Dec 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.9: Here is the wireless weather forecast
Dialogue Box gets the lowdown on 802.11n Wi-Fi in a London hotel, and brings you the nationwide outlook for 3G coverage [10 Dec 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.8: Asus Eee — the sequel
Dialogue Box brings you the latest on one of the products of the year. And then takes it to pieces [03 Dec 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.7: Making an omelette with Penryn
Dialogue Box cooks up a culinary analogy to explain what actually goes on inside a processor [20 Nov 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.6: Celebrating 60 years of transistors
Dialogue Box marks the launch of Intel's Penryn processors by examining the history of the transistor, with the help of a kiwi fruit [14 Nov 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.5: Who's king of the OS jungle?
Dialogue Box hacks its way through the IT jungle, pitting Ubuntu's Gutsy Gibbon, Apple's Leopard and Microsoft's Vista against each other in a bid to reveal the alpha OS [05 Nov 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.4: How the Asus Eee stole our hearts
Dialogue Box peers into the future — and the present's pretty good too, with Asus's new £200 laptop [30 Oct 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.3: Smartphones and cool laptops under scrutiny
Dialogue Box goes on the prowl at the Symbian Smartphone Show, and finds the only full-spec laptop light enough to use as a yo-yo [22 Oct 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.2: Wireless networking hits the buffers
Dialogue Box's resident buffers check how much of 802.11n's hype is reality — and how much just irradiated hot air [15 Oct 2007]
Dialogue Box 2.1: Inside a blade server
Dialogue Box returns for a new series, and steps inside a blade server — with a little help from the magic screwdriver of shrinkage [09 Oct 2007]
Dialogue Box 10: The best of Series One
Dialogue Box introduces an unsuspecting online world to the Axis of Awesome, radiation, a potato, lightbulbs, sore thumbs, supercomputers, speech recognition, thin clients and UMPCs [31 Jul 2007]
Dialogue Box 9: Putting the 'Um...' in UMPC
The first ultra-mobile PCs got roundly ridiculed for, well, everything. Now the second generation is out on the street — and in the Dialogue Box studio [23 Jul 2007]
Dialogue Box 8: Thin client, fat chance
You're here but your data is there. Dialogue Box takes a look at PC remote control and its cousin, the thin client, upon which the Axis of Awesome passes judgement [16 Jul 2007]
Dialogue Box 7: Giving Vista a fair hearing
If computers are so smart, how come they don't understand a word we say? That's perhaps unfair — but, as Dialogue Box found out, even the state-of-the-art speech recognition in Windows Vista has its problems [09 Jul 2007]
Dialogue Box 6: Attack of the 20ft blade server
If small computers are powerful, how mighty are the big ones? Dialogue Box looks at the ups and downs of cramming supercomputer power into a desk-sized box [29 Jun 2007]
Dialogue Box 5: The ultramobile laptop face-off
Dialogue Box gives Sony's ultramobile Vaio VGN-UX1XN the Axis of Awesome treatment, and a usability test results in sore thumbs [25 Jun 2007]
Dialogue Box 4: Projecting projector costs
Inside a modern projector, you can find the latest million-mirror nanotechnology — and a light bulb. Guess which costs more [15 Jun 2007]
Dialogue Box 3: Wi-Fi and hot potatoes
Dialogue Box goes wireless this week, with the Axis of Awesome testing the Wi-Fi-enabled touch-driven smartphone from HTC and a demonstration of the real perils wireless can bring to the office [08 Jun 2007]
Dialogue Box 2: Solid as a hard disk
This week's Axis of Awesome looks at one of the most desirable yet unashamedly technical add-ons you can get: a 32GB solid state hard disk [06 Jun 2007]
Dialogue Box 1: The 'Axis of Awesome'
ZDNet.co.uk's regular video magazine show chews over the latest happenings in tech, and rates all the newest enterprise IT products and development on the 'Axis of Awesome' [06 Jun 2007]
- Dialogue Box 6.1: Satellites, the sun and IT
- Dialogue Box 6.2: The interplanetary internet
- Dialogue Box 6.3: Whatever happened to UWB?
- Dialogue Box 6.4: Away day at Microsoft Research
- Dialogue Box 6.5: Linux vs Windows boot-off
- Dialogue Box 6.6: A first look at Moblin
- Dialogue Box 6.7: Testing solid-state disks
- Dialogue Box 6.8: Top tech trumps
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