Blog - Ben Hardwidge | bit-tech.net

AX:GS - The Final Picture

Posted on 18th Dec 2009 at 11:15 by Ben Hardwidge with 5 comments

A new decade is quickly sneaking up on us, but there’s still plenty of time left to post up the final winning AX:GS blog before we all head off to engage in our merrymaking activities of choice. Before we do that, though, we’d like to give a big, mastodon-sized thank you to everyone who took part in the AX:GS experience, from the bloggers and idea-smiths who attended the event, to the ever-helpful guys at Asus who made this all possible.

It looks like you’ve had a lot of fun getting in touch with your inner journo and putting your thoughts into writing on the blogs, and we’ve also found them rewarding to read. It’s always good to be able to step outside the realms of predictability in the tech industry and get some fresh, innovative ideas, and that’s exactly what we got from you guys.

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the fourth round of blogs

Posted on 14th Dec 2009 at 14:24 by Ben Hardwidge with 41 comments

We’ve now reached the end of the PC hobbyist’s adventure that was the Asus Xtreme General Summit. Hardware has been tweaked, blogs have been scribed and cake has been eaten, but what did you guys get out of the whole experience? For the fourth and final round of AX:GS blogs, we asked those who attended the event to tell us what they’d taken away from the event, and we’re not just talking about the phenomenally sized bag of silicon swag that was handed out at the end.

AX:GS - Future Features for RoG and Asus

Posted on 7th Dec 2009 at 11:02 by Ben Hardwidge with 3 comments

The curtain has dropped, the house lights are back on, and it’s now time to unwind and enjoy while tinkering with your hardware prizes over Christmas. Yes, the tech idea showcase that was the Asus Xtreme General Summit blogging marathon has finally been brought to a close.

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the third round of blogs

Posted on 26th Nov 2009 at 15:11 by Ben Hardwidge with 7 comments

Imagine that you’ve suddenly been awarded the job of heading up the R&D team at Asus. You’ve got a crack team of engineers, a limitless budget and a production line at the ready. You now have your chance to rid the world of those little niggles that have repeatedly forced you to yell obscenities at your computer, and the motherboard and graphics card world is your silicon oyster. What would you change? That’s what we asked the bit-tech readers on the AX:GS blogging team to consider for the third week of blogging, and it’s a question that’s inspired a veritable invention book, packed with innovative ideas.

AX:GS - Event Coverage

Posted on 24th Nov 2009 at 10:58 by Ben Hardwidge with 12 comments

If you’re a tech-head who’s bursting with ideas that you can’t wait to share with the rest of the geek world, then here’s your opportunity to air your views and even get them exposed in the limelight.

If you were one of the attendees at the Asus Xtreme General Summit earlier this year, then you’ll currently be penning your thoughts about the event and your hardware prizes over two blogs every week. We’re currently reading through the third week’s blog entries, and we’ll be posting the highlights soon, and we’ve also put the posting guidelines for the final week’s blogs up on the forums.

In the meantime, each week we’re posting our favourite blog from the previous round in the bit-tech Blogs section, so here’s Skiddywinks’ winning blog from the second week:

AX:GS - Event Coverage
"That can't be it, surely", I remember thinking to myself. It really was a sight to behold. The Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Hotel stood before me, and it was intimidating. I felt like such a peasant in my jeans, t-shirt and years-old biking backpack. The people entering there were wearing suits and carrying briefcases. They looked important.

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the second round of blogs

Posted on 13th Nov 2009 at 17:44 by Ben Hardwidge with 12 comments

With the prospect of getting your mitts on announced chipsets and top-end hardware, not to mention a booty bag of free hardware, you might think that the hardware at the AX:GS event would be the main subject of all the attendees’ blogs, but this isn’t the case. Although a lot of the AX:GS bloggers did indeed write about the overclocking gadgetry on show at the event, it seems that most of you were also overwhelmed by the exclusive choice of venue.

Skiddywinks, for example, describes the daunting demeanour of the Raddison Edwardian Bloomsbury hotel in his blog. “It was intimidating,” he says, adding that “I felt like such a peasant. Me and my jeans, t-shirt and years-old biking backpack. The people entering there were wearing suits and carrying briefcases. They looked important.”

AX:GS - Asus reinvents the GTX 285 - enter the Matrix!

Posted on 10th Nov 2009 at 15:06 by Ben Hardwidge with 9 comments

Here’s your chance to scoop up your very own 15 minutes of fame, stardom and maybe even a bit of geek-envy from your peers while you’re basking in the spotlight.

Asus Xtreme Global Summit – highlights from the first round of blogs

Posted on 2nd Nov 2009 at 18:11 by Ben Hardwidge with 8 comments

Following several weeks of prodding, tweaking and possibly lovingly caressing your fancy new Asus kit from the AX:GS event, it’s now time to reveal your first impressions of the hardware you were awarded.

Yes, the first round of AX:GS blogs is now up in lights, and last week’s posts have been successfully digested by the bit-tech judges. Before we share the highlights with you, though, we would like to thank you for your patience while we’ve been ironing out the gremlins with our, ahem, gremlin iron. Thankfully, most of the problems have now been sorted out, and most of you have access to the blogging area on the Asus Republic of Gamers website, but please drop us a line if you encounter any other issues so that we can get them sorted out.

Asus Xtreme Global Summit – Blog about your prize and win a trip to Taiwan

Posted on 13th Oct 2009 at 17:04 by Ben Hardwidge with 15 comments

It’s time to flex those fingers, dust off the thesaurus and prepare to start hammering out your own exciting tech journal. If you were one of the lucky winners of a ticket to the recent Asus Xtreme Global Summit in London, then Asus wants you to blog about how you got on with your shiny new prizes. What’s more, your blogging skills could even win you the chance to get flown out to the Asus factory in Taiwan to hobnob with the R&D guys.

In the first round of blogs, we want to read all about your first impressions of the kit you took away on the day. You may have even noticed some interesting features about your new hardware that isn’t widely known, for example. We basically want to know what tasks you’ve thrown at your prize, and how you’ve got on with it. In particular, we also want to know how useful you’ve found any of Asus’ own features that you won’t find on other manufacturers’ hardware.

Tags asus, blog, global, prize, summit, taiwan, trip, xtreme

Make your own Dvorak keyboard

Posted on 2nd Sep 2009 at 08:10 by Ben Hardwidge with 16 comments

Patented by August Dvorak in 1936, the Dvorak keyboard layout proposed a new way of typing based on the way that humans typically work, as opposed to the needs of mechanical typewriters (the reason QWERTY was originally designed).

Dvorak places the most commonly used letters on the second row, referred to as the ‘home row’ because it was where a person’s fingers typically sat. All the vowels are on the second row, while the sparsely-used Q and Z keys are placed on either side of the third row.

The layout was also designed on the principle that people should type from the edge of the keyboard inwards, as it’s apparently easier to switch from your little finger to your index finger than vice-versa.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the Dvorak keyboard really is the superior layout that it was claimed to be, then there’s an easy way to try it out for yourself. After all, your keyboard is just a mechanical rack of buttons that’s controlled by Windows. If you have a spare keyboard up on the shelf then it’s usually easy enough to transform it into a Dvorak keyboard.

The Dvorak keyboard layout

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Archive for Ben Hardwidge

AX:GS - The Final Picture

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the fourth round of blogs

AX:GS - Future Features for RoG and Asus

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the third round of blogs

AX:GS - Event Coverage

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the second round of blogs

AX:GS - Asus reinvents the GTX 285 - enter the Matrix!

Asus Xtreme Global Summit – highlights from the first round of blogs

Asus Xtreme Global Summit – Blog about your prize and win a trip to Taiwan

Make your own Dvorak keyboard

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