How virtual reality will change the world

After 25 years of a failed dream, 2015 looks to be the year we all put on headsets to explore strange new worlds. Richard Cobbett investigates why we should hope it works out this time.

Virtual reality isn’t simply a new way to look at screens. Your first experience is, admittedly, a slightly drunken out-of-body one; of reaching for things that aren’t really there – of knowing that you’re sitting with a fancy headset and tangle of wires on your head, yet your brain is convinced it’s in deep space. Or a movie. Or a cyberpunk cafe. It’s an experience that can’t quite be described, and which has little do with the very primitive first attempts that took arcades by storm and then flamed out at the start of the ’90s. This time, some of the smartest minds in the tech industry have devoted themselves to taking us to incredible new places.

Field Review: Samsung NX1

Samsung’s tech-laden flagship model might be thecamera to get DSLR users to switch to mirrorless. by JACK NEUBART

I’ve worked with mirrorless cameras in the past, but never found them quite up to the task. After unpacking the new Samsung NX1 ($1,499, body only) and 16-50mm f/2-2.8 S ED OIS lens ($1,299) and taking a closer look at the two, I thought, this could be the deal changer. I might finally be ready to trade in my digital SLRs for a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.

On the face of it, the NX1 can go head-to-head with my Nikon and Canon gear, beginning with a 28.2MP backsideilluminated (BSI) CMOS APS-C (cropped) sensor—without a low-pass filter (for added sharpness). Add to that a crystal-clear electronic viewfinder (EVF), touch-panel display, maximum 15 fps still capture at full resolution, 4K video capture, and fast AF.

This camera is certainly loaded with enough features to attract even the most hardened among us. But performance is what counts. Is the NX1 a solid-enough performer to sway the pro or serious amateur away from DSLR-dom for good? We shall see.

Memory Upgrades

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to turbocharge your old laptop or PC is to give it some extra RAM. But there are a few things you’ll need to know first...

Memory is an often forgotten part of a PC, but it should be the first thing you look at when you’re trying to upgrade an old machine to a more sprightly specification. Increasing the amount of RAM in your PC can make a huge difference when playing games and using intensive software such as video- and photo-editing programs. Newer operating systems also tend to be more RAM-hungry, so if a Windows upgrade has reduced your PC to running at a crawl, a lack of memory could well be the cause.

Using images in your web and print publications

It’s always worth livening up a newsletter or website with images, but how do you do it without spending a fortune? Ben Pitt explores the options

Images are an integral part of virtually every online and printed document you see. They draw the reader in, giving an instant understanding of what the accompanying text is about. They also make documents more attractive than if they were just a sea of text.

Images can be expensive to create, though. Professional photographers and illustrators require wages in line with their skills and experience, not to mention the time involved and the equipment costs. If you need to pay people to appear in photos, it can get even more expensive. That’s fine for professional projects with big budgets, but there are lots of web and printed publications that don’t have much cash to spend. In many cases the text is written and edited by hobbyists and volunteers, and there’s literally no budget for the entire project because it generates no income.

The objective of this article isn’t to do photographers and illustrators out of a living. However, if hiring a professional isn’t an option, it doesn’t necessarily mean your publication must be devoid of graphics.

Can you survive a web avalanche?

How would your website cope with a sudden surge intraffic? Darien Graham-Smith examines the solutions that will help you keep a step a head.

If your business gets linked to from a major website, or referred to by a popular Twitter feed, you may find you suddenly have more traffic than you can handle – meaning visitors will suffer a slow experience or no response at all. So what precautions can you take to protect your site from a sudden flood of visitors?