SanDisk has teamed up with SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in Korea, to develop a platform for mobile television and personal video recording.

Mobile subscribers will soon be able to view and record paid-for mobile TV content using technology and services from SK Telecom and SanDisk’s TrustedFlash-enabled memory cards.

Copyright and technical issues mean that almost all mobile TV services can be provided only via a streaming service, which is highly dependant on network coverage and bandwidth availability.

SanDisk has helped to alleviate some of these issues with its TrustedFlash range, which includes security technology for storing personal and private data.

The system securely preloads, downloads and side-loads premium content on Flash memory cards in mobile phones and other consumer electronics products.

Dr Se-Hyun Oh, president of SK Telecom, said: “SanDisk and SK Telecom can allow mobile TV users more freedom to enjoy the purchased content, and allow mobile TV operators to adopt a variety of pricing and business models.”

The new system enables mobile network operators to offer premium mobile TV services that can be securely recorded on TrustedFlash-enabled memory cards, while protecting against unauthorised transfer or distribution.

Storing the content on a removable memory card allows subscribers to bring paid mobile TV content with them when upgrading handsets, or port it to other devices such as a personal media player or PC.

“By offering new technology embedded in our products, SanDisk and SK Telecom are offering new capabilities to mobile network operators that enable them to provide more value to subscribers,” said Farshid Sabet, vice president and general manager of SanDisk’s Mobile Network Operators division.

Both companies said that the system can also be used for content distribution such as games, movies and electronic books.

Plustek’s Opticfilm range of film (negative and slide) scanners tend to give good results, but it takes a little tinkering to make the most of the scanned images.

The new 7300 is no exception. It’s easy enough to use – having install the driver and the supplied Silverfast scanning software, you can scan images to disk or to a program such as Photoshop Elements (not supplied). The Silverfast software is comprehensive and allows a wide range of adjustments and fixes, at the expense of ease of use – it can be hard to figure out which button to press when, for instance.

The scanning guides supplied (into which you slot a strip of negatives or a set of mounted slides) are sturdy and easy to use. But it’s too easy to allow the negative or slide to move just a touch, resulting in a tilted image. This can be fixed easily enough but it’s still a hassle. Scan times are similar to competing film scanners, but the lack of batch scanning – each frame must be scanned individually – is a problem.

The resulting scans were impressively detailed with good colour balance (again, after fixing in software), but overall we were more impressed with the ease of use of the Canon 8800F

Maxtor’s Onetouch external hard disks are popular because of their simple approach: users can back up all of their important files just by pressing the little Onetouch button on the front of the unit.

That button is still there on the new Onetouch 4 Plus, although the device itself has been completely redesigned otherwise.

Instead of the lumpy concrete-slab design of the Onetouch 3, this new model has a more slimline, upright design that looks a lot neater sitting on a desk.

Our review unit was a 500GB model, priced at a very reasonable £100. That should be enough storage for most home users, although there’s an even larger 750GB model available for about £150 (there’s a compact portable version coming out too, although this will only offer 80-160GB of storage).

Installing the drive is very straightforward - you just plug in the power supply and connect it to a USB or Firewire port on the computer. The Maxtor Manager program that controls the disk has already been placed onto it, so it can quickly be installed onto the PC (or Mac, for that matter) just by double-clicking on it with your mouse.

The Manager program allows the user to specify which files and folders to back up when the Onetouch button is pressed. There’s also an option for synchronising folders between two computers, which will come in handy should you ever need to transfer files between a desktop and a notebook computer, for instance. You can also set the Onetouch button so that it launches a different program, such as perhaps video player software, if you use the drive to store lots of video clips.

This approach certainly makes the Onetouch easy to use. Our only complaint is that, ironically, there’s no backup copy of the Manager software supplied on a disc. If anything goes wrong during the initial installation or you delete the file, you have to send an email to Maxtor’s technical support department to request another copy of the software.

That’s only a minor criticism, though, and the Onetouch drive’s easy-to-use design and attractive price make it a very good choice for anyone who needs some extra storage for their important files.

Vista Compatible: Yes

There are several ways to search Rapidshare, one is to simply use Google with the site parameter to find files on Rapidshare. This method is somewhat complicated because a user needs to know the advanced parameters that Google provides and will encounter several links that are still in Google’s index but not available anymore at Rapidshare which deletes files after a certain amount of time automatically.

A far better way to Search Rapidshare would be to use one of the many websites that have databases with files that are hosted at Rapidshare. The main benefit is that those websites are normally up to date which means that most files are pointing to working pages at Rapdishare in contrast to the search results of search engines like Google.

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As well as producing conventional satellite-navigation devices for use in cars, Route 66 also makes a range of software products that can be used to add navigation to mobile phones or Pocket PCs.

The new Mini attempts to combine both elements, combining a GPS satellite navigation unit with software that allows the user to download extras such as maps and travel guides from the Route 66 website, which can be installed on the device. It’s a nice idea, but the software side of things has a few problems.

The device itself works perfectly well. Before using it for the first time it needs to be charged for a few hours, but it comes with an in-car charger as well as a USB cable for PC connection, so it can be charged in the car or indoors.

Once that’s done you just turn it on and let it locate your position (preferably using it outdoors or in your car, as like most similar devices it can’t pick up locations very well if it is indoors).

Using the device is easy, as the 3.5in touch-sensitive screen can be used to select features with a tap of a finger, and it is a quick process to type the destination address into the unit by using the on-screen keyboard. The standard navigation features (postcode search, generation of directions) are all quite straightforward to use and work very well - it even had the Computeractive office listed in its database of places of interest.

Unfortunately we struggled a bit with the software side of things. We couldn’t install the Route 66 Sync software - required to download the extra features - on our notebook PC at all. We were able to install it on a separate desktop PC, but the software couldn’t properly connect to the Mini when we plugged it in. Only on the third attempt were we able to get the software to install and run properly.

To be fair, the Mini works perfectly well as an in-car GPS navigation system, but it’s a shame that the additional software proved so temperamental. For £30 a version is available with European maps.

The Toshiba A200 notebook offers an impressive array of features, notably an HD DVD drive for watching high-definition (HD) movies.

In addition to watching films on the 15.4in screen it also includes a socket for connection to a high-definition television.

The computer uses Intel’s Core2 Duo T7500 processor and has 2GB of memory, making it a fairly powerful notebook. It also has a separate graphics card, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600.

A 200GB hard disk should be enough to store lots of music and video, and a memory card reader, internal webcam and s-video output ensure it’s nicely up to speed in terms of handling media. Bluetooth and wireless network access are built in, although there’s no support for the latest 802.11n wireless technology.

Weighing in at under 3kg it’s nicely designed and is light enough to lug around. We liked the black finish but the inside is bland with few customisable function keys, although the keyboard is nicely responsive keyboard. The open lid folds back over the rear panel so all of the sockets are on the front and sides.

In general tasks the A200’s performance was impressive, and it is powerful enough to play some recent games, albeit at reduced quality. After trying out a few HD movies we had mixed feelings about its capabilities. Such films can’t be viewed using Windows Media Player - you need Toshiba’s software (supplied) to watch. The program is fairly light on features but it’s capable enough for playing films. The notebook comes with Windows Vista Business, which although it might sound daunting, is much the same as Vista Home Premium.

The screen did a reasonable job of showing off high-resolution films without truly impressing us: pictures were sharp and detailed but the colours were muted and there seemed to be a faint grey hue over the image. Sending the content through the HDMI output to a suitable television is very easy, and the image was picked up straight away on our television.

We were initially very impressed by the vibrancy of the Windows desktop, and the appearance of games and other PC software on the larger screen didn’t disappoint. HD video didn’t fare as well, though, and suffered from the same issues as on the notebook’s screen. If you are after a high-performance alternative to a standalone player, you shouldn’t expect to see the same results here.

The Toshiba A200 certainly scores points as a good all-rounder, being able to handle all sorts of typical day-to-day tasks, gives decent games performance and does offer the option of HD video. At just over £850 it’s not badly priced either, but if you’re primarily attracted by the HD DVD drive, don’t expect to be able to use it as a true alternative to a dedicated player.

Choosing a good notebook bag is very important; spending an extra £10 or so may mean there’s no need expensive repairs or even for replacement.

The Brenthaven Prolite III is a tough-looking bag with more padding than most. It also has enough extra pockets to handle paper documents and extra gadgets.

The bag is big enough for notebooks with a 17in widescreen display, there are smaller and slightly cheaper bags for 13.3in and 15.4in notebooks.

There is padding on the sides of the notebook as well as the front and back. We were happy to subject our notebook to the rigours of the daily commute and were not disappointed. The main notebook pocket is just big enough for the notebook, avoiding the temptation to pack other bits and pieces with it that could scratch or damage the notebook.

The shoulder strap is comfortable with a well padded bit in the middle to help ease the strain of carrying a notebook. We were a little disappointed that there are no backpack-like straps.

The secondary section of the bag has a double zip system so it is in theory possible to keep it closed with a simple padlock. It’s a shame that the same is not true of the notebook section. It’s not that likely that someone will slip the notebook out without anyone noticing but it would give some more peace of mind.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft has made an unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo Inc for $44.6 billion (22.4 billion pounds) in cash and stock, seeking to join forces against Google in what would be the biggest Internet deal since the Time Warner-AOL merger.

In its boldest-ever acquisition move, Microsoft said on Friday it offered $31 per share for Yahoo, or a 62 percent premium over the Internet media company’s closing stock price on Nasdaq Thursday.

Yahoo, whose shares jumped to $30.75 in premarket trading, said it would evaluate the bid.

Microsoft shares, which have a market capitalization of about $300 billion, fell 6 percent to $30.78.

Speculation over a Microsoft move on Yahoo has swirled for at least a year, as investors wondered whether the two would seek a joint stand against an ever more powerful Google.

Internet audience researcher comScore estimates Google’s share of the worldwide Web search market has reached 77 percent, while Yahoo is second with 16 percent and Microsoft was a distant third with 3.7 percent.

“Microsoft’s wanted to do things that could build up its online business dramatically,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. “This is going to be a big bet for them. But I also think it’s where they see the market going, so they really needed to get there.

“This is more than a shot across the bow at Google, because you put these two guys together who are basically two and three in search and makes them far more relevant,” he added.

Critics of a tie-up, however, have pointed out that Microsoft and Yahoo have very different corporate cultures and many overlapping businesses, from instant messaging to email and advertising, as well as news, travel and finance sites.

“To me, the premium seems exorbitant, for what is a dwindling business. I personally don’t see how the synergies of Microsoft-Yahoo is going to take on Google,” said Tim Smalls, head of U.S. stock trading at brokerage firm Execution LLC.

Yahoo attracts more than 500 million people monthly to a range of media sites including Yahoo Mail, the world’s biggest e-mail service for consumers.

It has been losing market share to Google in the increasingly strategic Web search market, and warned earlier this week that Yahoo faced “headwinds” in 2008, forecasting revenue below Wall Street estimates.

Microsoft said the online advertising market is growing rapidly and expected to reach nearly $80 billion by 2010 from over $40 billion in 2007. It added it is “increasingly dominated by one player,” referring to Google.

“We have great respect for Yahoo, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, said it had identified four areas that would generate at least $1 billion in annual synergies for the combined entity.

Under the proposal, Yahoo shareholders can choose to get $31 cash, or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. The deal in aggregate must consist of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock, it said.

Mark May, analyst at Needham & Co, said that while the price is a premium to Yahoo’s recent trading price, it was in line with its average trading value over the last 2 years.

“I would not be surprised to see this bid have to be raised over time,” he said. “I think there are companies out there like Comcast and Viacom and others that still need to address the emergence of online media and haven’t. So there are clearly other strategic companies out there.”

The Microsoft-Yahoo deal would be the largest in the Internet market since the $182 billion purchase of Time Warner by AOL in 2001, which was seen as the worst merger in recent corporate history, with clashing corporate cultures and many of the promised synergies never materializing.