Reviews Round-Up: Karmic Koala

published 6 November 2009

Centralised management tools might not be sexy, but to an IT administrator a good one can be worth its weight in gold. This appliance from Kace impresses our reviewer particularly for its labelling function.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

One would have images that by 2009 capturing notes digitally would have been the norm, but in fact, it's still an emerging market. Our reviewer was generally impressed with the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, but the lack of OCR software out of the box was considered a bit of a disappointment.

Ubuntu 9.10 review: Karmic Koala

Ubuntu is probably the best known of the Linux distributions, but can it compete with Windows 7? It can do pretty much everything that Windows can, and it's free, but moving to Linux on the desktop is still likely to be more for ideological rather than practical reasons.

Head to Head: Windows 7 vs Windows Vista

Windows Vista was a big, big disappointment that much we know. But how does it really compare to Windows 7? We put the two side by side, and it doesn't come out to well for the older guy.

Apple iMac 27in

Apple in stunning hardware shocker! With the 27in iMac, Apple has really pushed the boat out. We know the 24in iMac is impressive so how could bigger be bad? However, there are still a couple of things we're not sure about . And yes Magic Mouse we're looking at you.

Apple MacBook

The iMac isn't the only machine that Apple refreshed. The MacBook gets a much-needed chassis overall that really brings it up to speed in the quality stakes. Is it truly now fit for business?

Benny Har-Even is a twenty-year stalwart of technology journalism who is passionate about all areas of the industry, but telecoms and mobile and home entertainment are among his chief interests. He has written for many of the leading tech publications in the UK, such as PC Pro and Wired, and previously held the position of technology editor at ITPro before regularly contributing as a freelancer.

Known affectionately as a ‘geek’ to his friends, his passion has seen him land opportunities to speak about technology on BBC television broadcasts, as well as a number of speaking engagements at industry events.