Ros Asquith on the Apple iPad

Ros Asquith on the already ubiquitous Apple iPad Ros Asquith

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Learn to fix a loose laptop screen

15 minutes Professional cost Varies: depends on brand and model DIY cost Free Difficulty: All laptops are slightly different, but the design and position of laptop hinges is generally the same across all models. Unless you have a Mac. As Apple puts its products together in a very different way, it's difficult to open up a Mac laptop screen. For more information on how to fix a loose laptop screen on a Mac, visit ifixit.com. Remember: do not attempt this if your laptop is still under warranty as you will invalidate it. Take it back to the retailer to repair. Before you start Turn off the laptop and remove the battery (refer to your instruction manual on how to do this). Open the screen Look at the laptop screen. You should see several rubber plugs in the corners of the lid. There will probably be two plugs near to the hinges, and either two or four plugs at the top of the screen. Pop the plugs out using a sharp knife, and put them to one side. There should be screws underneath the rubber plugs

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Learn to get your wireless keyboard and mouse working

15 minutes Replacement cost £17.99 DIY cost £1.79 Difficulty: • Check all of the cables are plugged in: obvious, but try it. • Replace the batteries in the keyboard and/or mouse. • Reconnect the devices by pressing the reconnect button on the wireless receiver, and on the keyboard and mouse. Failing to reconnect wireless devices after changing the batteries is the most common cause of wireless keyboard and mouse failures. • If nothing is working still, restart your computer. If your computer does not have a reset button, then you can shut down your computer by pressing the power button. If the machine still refuses to shut down, try pressing and hold the power button for 10 seconds. • If this didn't fix the problem, try plugging in another keyboard and mouse that works on another computer. If the problem persists, then something is wrong with your computer and it should be serviced by an engineer. Otherwise, your keyboard and mouse are faulty. • If the keyboard and mouse work erratically, then you may be suffering from interference from another device. It is possible for another wireless keyboard, video sender or garage door remote to interfere with the signal from your keyboard. Try reconnecting the keyboard and mouse again, or locate the source of the interference. If all else fails, replace with a wired equivalent. Rating: 2/5 Gadgets Saving money guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Rescue a wet gadget

Time varies Replacement cost Varies DIY cost Free to £3.77: includes cost of nail varnish remover, cotton buds and a pack of uncooked plain rice Difficulty: Getting a water-damaged gadget working again is a hit and miss affair. If you dropped your mobile phone into a bowl of water, fished it out within a couple of seconds and immediately removed the battery, then you have a reasonable chance of success. If you have spilled a glass of wine over your laptop and left it over night, it's time for a visit to the repair shop. Wine and other sugary drinks leave a residue behind when they dry, and this can have a corrosive effect on electronic circuitry – even if the device works initially, you may find that it stops working after a few weeks

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Learn to replace an ipod battery

30 minutes Professional cost £39-£59: depends on the model of iPod DIY cost £10: depends on the model of iPod Difficulty: Your iPod may still play your tunes, but over time the lithium ion batteries irreversibly lose capacity and you end up having to recharge more and more often. Fortunately, replacing an MP3 player battery is something that you can do yourself without specialised tools. Do not attempt this if your iPod is still under warranty as you will invalidate it; get Apple to fix it for free instead. The difficulty of battery replacement varies by model (see box below). This tutorial applies to the popular iPod Video, but the same concept applies to many models: for model‑specific tutorials visit ifixit.com. Opening the iPod Make sure the hold button is on before you start. Insert the opening tool in the thin gap between the plastic front and the metal back (illustration A).

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Learn to remove scratches from DVDs and CDs

10 minutes Replacement cost Varies DIY cost 97p: for a lint-free cloth Difficulty: You can buy dedicated CD or DVD cleaning products, however instead of forking out for these, use white toothpaste or metal polish instead. Before you deal with the scratch, ensure the CD or DVD is clean

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Fujitsu to cut 1,200 UK jobs

• Job losses account for almost 10% of Fujitsu's UK workforce • Move follows loss of contracts and company-wide pay freeze Japanese IT group Fujitsu is axing 1,200 jobs, almost 10% of its UK workforce, as the recession sees corporate clients and public organisations try to conserve their cash. The company, which has a number of contracts with government departments including the Ministry of Defence, employs 12,500 people in more than two dozen offices including its corporate headquarters in London. While the losses are expected to be spread across the country its largest office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, which has 1,240 staff, with 750 people based in Manchester and 670 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. "Fujitsu has proposed this measure reluctantly," the company said in a statement. "However, action is necessary to ensure that the company remains competitive in the current difficult global economic climate and is in a solid position for future growth when the economy starts to recover." Unite , the largest union in the UK, condemned the proposed redundancies as "wholly unwarranted". National officer Peter Skyte said: "Unite is pressing for detailed information about the reasons for this proposal and the areas affected. We will be doing everything possible to protect the jobs of the workforce." Fujitsu UK, which recorded annual revenues of more than £2bn last year, had already introduced a company-wide pay freeze and slashed the number of contractors it uses in order to save costs. A spokesman said the move was not connected with the loss of any particular piece of business, but the company has suffered some setbacks over the past year. It looks set to lose work with BT as the telecoms company recently appointed a joint venture between services group Carillion and Telent as its sole network outsourcing partner. Fujitsu has been servicing the network in several parts of the country. Last year the company was ejected from the multibillion pound renovation of the NHS computer system – the largest non-military computer project on record – as it lost its £896m contract to run hospital IT upgrades in the south of England. That business was subsequently picked up by BT. The company, which is also a shareholder in the National Lottery operator Camelot, is currently part of a consortium chasing a £1bn 10-year contract to run the armed forces' recruitment services. Job losses Recession Redundancy Work & careers Computing Japan Richard Wray guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Fujitsu to cut 1,200 UK jobs

Is it worth paying for home technology support?

Technical support can seem prohibitively expensive - but is it a price worth paying? Ben West reports One in five of us have missed a deadline because our computer has crashed or lost a document, according to a survey by PC World's home technology support service The TechGuys. And nearly a quarter of us wait more than 10 minutes for our computer to do something on an average day. In times of frugality, repair becomes a more realistic option than replacement - but which is the best place to turn to for help? Many people contact the manufacturer's helpline in the first instance, but if your computer is out of warranty, typically after a year, this can be very costly if you do not have a service contract

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Before you sell your computer, smash the hard drive, says Which?

The only surefire way to stop criminals stealing data from secondhand computers is to destroy the hard drive, a study by Which? Computing magazine has warned. Even though people think they have wiped data from machines before they sell them on auction sites or put them onto rubbish tips, the files remain on the hard drives – and can contain vital information such as bank details and other personal data sufficient for identity theft. They can be recovered using specialist software that is widely available. The magazine recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers which it bought from the auction site eBay – demonstrating that normal deletion is insufficient to remove the data. Criminals source used computers in order to find such useful data, the magazine warned.

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Tech Weekly podcast: Macworld and CES preview

This week, we bring you four Tech Weekly programmes (so, more Tech Daily, perhaps?), based around what's happening at the Macworld and Consumer Electronics Show expos in the US. Bobbie Johnson will round up the big names and scour the floor to find out about the new exciting gadgets that we'll be seeing during 2009 – and we'll bring them to your ears every morning this week (UK time). Today's installment is a preview to this week's events, with our regular columnist Paul Carr and Kat Hannaford, T3.com's news editor. They tell us what to look out for (and what NOT to expect), and Bobbie goes off to meet the Mac devotees that are sat at the very front of the queue for tomorrow's show. Get involved and tell us what you'd like to hear this week from all the shows (the contact details are below), and don't forget to check out

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Tech Weekly podcast: Macworld and CES preview