Aimed as an introduction to the overall LEGO concept of open-ended, imaginative play, the Light and Sound Stacker has all the elements needed to explore the basic concepts of "put together/take apart", but is also updated with the latest technology to build an understanding of cause and effect as well. Place a brick on this butterflys bright green body and his antennae light up and one of three soft chimes sounds.

The set is geared for babies aged 9 months and over who are just beginning to ..

Its fitting that one of the training texts for this package is from Arthur C. Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey. This widely respected large-vocabulary voice-recognition application does an astonishingly good job at delivering what once seemed like technology of the distant future.

There are a few catches, however. The system needs to be set up for a specific users voice through a training session: a time-intensive process that involves what seems like yelling into the small Time-Life ope..

It takes two hands to hold Sonys new DSC-F717 digital camera, but thats because there are so many features packed into it. The F717 captures images at up to 5.2 megapixel resolution--thats 2,560 x 1,920 pixels--and can facilitate good sized enlargement prints.

Images produced by the camera are crisp, colourful, and deep in detail. With USB 2.0 support, transfers to PC zip by and can be set to happen automatically. The large auto-focus Carl Zeiss lens zooms optically at 5x, with another 2x i..

Optical Character Recognition is a technology that sets out to do what the human brain can do almost instantly--convert visual data into textual data. In other words, to read and understand printed text. To a certain extent, todays generation of OCR software manages to recognise most text you can throw at it, but still needs to be babysat.

Readiris Pro will, fairly quickly, recognise large blocks of text with deft precision, provided the text is in a monospaced font with no page creases..

Plummeting prices have meant DVD recorders are now starting to become a practical replacement for the humble VCR. Philips DVDR70 is a perfect example, giving amazing picture quality, up to six hours of recording on one disc and the ability to re-record as often as you like, using reusable DVD+RW media as well as slightly cheaper, single-use, DVD+R discs.

Installation is quick and easy, with a single-sheet Quick Install Guide provided in the box so you dont even have to open the manua..