What is the point of the Karotz Smart Rabbit, the internet-connected robotic rabbit? It's a question that we've asked ourselves a number of times during our time with this gadget.

The Karotz is an evolution of the Nabaztag, and at first glance it looks like a fun novelty toy. However, after a long, complicated installation process that involved driver issues, countless restarts and even an email to customer support - who were to be fair friendly and helpful - we can't really say that it's much fun.

Although it looks like a toy, it's not really suitable for kids, as it needs to be connected to the mains to work. Plus we could imagine a child getting quickly frustrated over their parents taking such a long time to set up and install the thing.

So is it useful then? Once everything was installed and the Karotz Smart Rabbit was connected to the internet, we were able to add 'apps' to enable it to connect to radio stations or RSS feeds. The only visual cue you get is a coloured light on the front of the Karotz so RSS feeds and emails are read out in a computerised voice.

You can get apps to run at certain times, or associate them with one of the three plastic RFID keys that come with it.

In theory you pass the key (shaped like a little rabbit) in front of Karotz and it will register the key and run the app. In use this was a frustrating process of rubbing the key all over the Karotz Smart Rabbit in the hope that it will read the key. It was annoyingly inconsistent.

Verdict

Costing £115 in the UK or $130 in the US, this just isn't fun or useful enough for the price. The inevitable rise of the robots and overthrow of mankind is still some way off.

While some webcams offer basic motion detection, they need to be plugged into your PC, which must be kept switched on when you're out. This surveillance might reassure you, but the resulting electricity bills won't.

D-Link's Wireless N Home Camera DCS-930L works independently of your PC, so even with everything else turned off, the camera still broadcasts.

It can connect to your home network via Ethernet or Wireless N. The step-by-step setup makes the potentially complicated process of installing and configuring a network camera straightforward, and if you have a WPS-compatible wireless router, the installation is over in a matter of minutes.

Accessing the video stream while you're away from home is easy thanks to the Mydlink service. When you install the Wireless N Home Camera DCS-930L, you're asked to create a MyD-Link account. This can be used on any PC or mobile device that's connected to the internet.

There are also apps for iPhone and Android, which make checking the video stream even quicker. As long as you have a good connection at both ends, the streaming quality is very good.

The built-in microphone is also a great tool for monitoring your property. The camera can be set to email you when it detects motion, which is handy, though it might make you a little paranoid.

The price and complexity of network cameras means they've never been embraced by home users, but the D-Link Wireless N Home Camera DCS-930L looks set to change that.

Finding new ways to communicate face to face is always a priority for long distance relationships. While 2D video calls via webcams are a step closer, wouldn't 3D video calls be even better?

The short answer is no. Not yet, anyway. But perhaps we're being a little unfair in our expectations of the Minoru 3D webcam.

This isn't a device that is going to deliver a life-like holographic avatar of a far-flung friend to your home; it's more like throwaway fun.

With expectations suitably lowered, the Minoru 3D webcam serves its purpose well. Calibration is straightforward, with an easy to follow guide to tweaking the Minoru's two cameras to get a suitable 3D image. The image is displayed via red and cyan anaglyph 3D, so you and the person you're talking to only needs a pair of cheap cardboard glasses to see you in three dimensions.

While this form of 3D is very limited, it does mean that you and your contacts don't need to spend money on expensive 3D equipment to use it.

The camera is compatible with more advanced 3D technology like Nvidia 3D Vision, so you can enjoy an all-out 3D experience if you have the hardware. Even in red and cyan, the results are surprisingly good, and although you wouldn't want to use it for too long, it's a fun way to chat.

The Minoru's two cameras can also produce picture-in-picture footage, so you can hold objects up to one while talking to the other.

'Minoru' is Japanese for 'reality', and although this camera's 3D effects are far from realistic, they're not bad either. A fun diversion for 3D fans.

Microsoft's LifeCam Studio looks like a CCTV camera from a dystopian nightmare – forget the eye of Sauron, this feels like the eye of Microsoft, and it's pretty terrifying.

Perched on top of our monitor, we were frightened to use our iPads and iPhones while in its gaze, lest a warning light went off in Steve Ballmer's office and Microsoft employees swept into our office to force Zunes into our trembling hands.

Of course, looks aren't everything, and underneath the LifeCam Studio's rather austere surface is a very decent camera. With a maximum resolution of 1080p, the detail and quality of the video it produces is exemplary.

The Truecolor technology included with the device makes subtle changes to lighting and colour that help improve the overall quality of your footage, and can be tweaked to produce the best looking video for your environment. There are also some fun video effects and augmented reality objects that can be added to the live video.

All of this comes at a price. If you're recording at full 1080p HD resolution with effects turned on, your PC's CPU usage will spike, and if your machine isn't powerful enough to cope, your footage will more closely resemble a slow PowerPoint slideshow than smooth, DVD quality video.

It performs perfectly well as a webcam for video chats at lower resolutions, but unless you and your contacts have fast internet connections and no data caps, broadcasting at full HD is out of the question. The LifeCam Studio is much more suited to video blogging.

Trust's catchily-titled Widescreen HD Webcam is certainly one the cheapest around. But does it follow that it's also the weakest?

Well, to be honest I was expecting that to be the case, but the truth is that this is an incredibly capable little camera.

It's about half the size of the FaceVsion camera and is even smaller than the relatively diminutive Logitech C510 too.

But it's fairly mighty to boot, with a stable three-way clamp and a pair of white LEDs to the left of the lens to highlight the face in a darkened environment. Neither of the other cameras had anything like that.

It doesn't have the more expensive camera's onboard processing power though as it requires a much beefi er system to run on. The minimum CPU specs are down as a modern dual-core, a far cry away from the 1.8GHz CPU the other two needed as a base. Still, if you've got a decent processor you don't need to worry overmuch.

That means that it's relying on the CPU when you're recording so we managed a fairly impressive 25fps when it was recording 720p video, though that is when running on a 2.6GHz quad-core.

It's also got a quality software bundle too giving you ArcSoft's WebCam Companion in the box. This allows you to do all the silly framing and superimposed face fun, but also allows you to record 720p video and post it directly to YouTube.

It also comes with a basic motion recorder too that will record clips and send them to you via email or FTP. A worthwhile webcam then that is surprisingly feature-rich.

Should you baulk at the cost of the FaceVsion TouchCam N1 then you will no doubt be happier to see that Logitech isn't asking anywhere near the £90-odd price tag slapped on that solid little number.

TheHD Webcam C510 comes in at a more pleasing £40, but doesn't have any of the Fischer Price stylings of the cheaper cams like Genius' offerings.

This is a sleek, black camera, that's more on the unobtrusive side than the showy. It's solidly made and comes with the now-traditional three-way connecting mechanism for mounting on your laptop, LCD display or desktop. Realistically though you're unlikely to want it stood on your desk as it's not entirely stable…

The C510 also comes with a packed bundle aside from the necessary evil of driver installation disks. It comes with a launcher for the camera which gives you access to a host of related apps that you can download for free to use with the C510. It also links in with any software ready to use the HD camera, such as the latest Skype client and Live Movie Maker too.

Aside from Skype it also comes with Logitech's own HD video calling app, called Vid HD. It's more basic than Skype, but that only makes it incredibly easy to use. Crucially it also works cross vendor so you're not restricted just to Logitech cams.

It's an excellent little cam, with a great bundle to boot. Well worth the £40 price tag.

With the FaceVsion TouchCam N1 retailing dangerously close to the £100 mark it's going to have to be a bloody good camera to justify it's very existence.

After all, how many of us really need a high definition webcam? Come to think of it who actually needs a standalone webcam full stop?

Trying to convince a buying public, who likely as not have a laptop as well as their desktop PC, that an external webcam is necessary when there's one sat in the lid of their lappy is always going to be tricky. Especially if you're asking this much cash.

But luckily the TouchCam N1 is a darned good camera. With Skype and Live Messenger both hitting the HD video messaging trail the N1 is all ready to roll. It's picked up pretty much immediately by Skype, and so it should considering it comes bundled with the installer in the FaceVsion packaging.

There's precious little else in that package though; no fun stuff and no recording/editing software either. Which for this price is a bit of shame.

Frame rates are nothing to write, or video call, home about either averaging around 19fps. Which is a little short of the purported 22fps which the marketing spiel would have you believe. Still, there's no hassle actually getting the cam working, it's about as driverless as they come and all it needs is plugging in and you're away.

It is a pricey beast, but if you're in the market for a HD webcam then you'll get framerates as smooth as any other on the market and guaranteed Skype compatibility too.

Should Hollywood make a biopic called The Webcam, it would tell the tale of an unloved little fellow; a cute and plucky device all eager to please and full of promise but somehow ignored and ultimately unloved.

Webcam II: The Second Coming would be an entirely different tale, however – as long as it starred Microsoft's LifeCam Cinema.

With its matinee idol looks and cool aluminium body, it certainly stands out. What really makes it interesting, however, are the two letters H and D.

Before we go any further we should point out that although the LifeCam does support a maximum resolution of 1280 x 720 – or 720p in high-def speak – don't expect to be Skyping your pals and ogling them in near-Blu-ray quality.

In testing, a 15fps, 720p video stream generated a data rate of 3,290kbps. This is far more than a standard ADSL connection could push upstream, and a lot of wasted bandwidth for chatting. With that said, you could be forgiven for wondering what all the HD fuss was about.

The answer is video sharing, specifically via social-networking sites. YouTube, for example, has for a while now accepted HD uploads. With the new LifeCam, you can make your assault on internet stardom safe in the knowledge that it wasn't the video quality that prevented you from becoming the next big meme.

Up close and personal

Even without HD mode on, the LifeCam Cinema does a sterling job when it comes to video conferencing via the likes of Skype and Windows Live Messenger.

We were particularly impressed with how it coped with iffy lighting conditions, giving good pictures even in very low light.

Its auto focus system was excellent too, and the device's built-in stereo microphone gave top-notch results even over the din of a particularly noisy PC. If you're after the best webcam around, the LifeCam Cinema won't let you down.

It's brilliant for video conferencing, and if you regularly upload video broadcasts of your musings, its 720p 16:9 video output will give your work a top-quality feel.

In short this is the best webcam that we've seen in a very long time – and that's saying something.

We've been fans of Logitech's webcams for years, and this latest model still manages to impress.

The build quality and styling of the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro are superb, with nice design touches such as the light that lets you know the camera is active showing as a smart white ring around the Logitech logo.

The mount is intelligent, too, happily hooking over a desktop monitor or laptop screen, or sitting on a flat surface.

Great snaps

Picture quality is fantastic. The lens is autofocus, and it reacts reasonably quickly to objects moving close to and far away from it.

It also does a cracking job of dealing with problematic lighting; one test in which cheap webcams always do poorly is low light. Usually, we'd expect to see pictures that were either very dim or hampered with unacceptable levels of noise.

The Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro does very well in low light, however, producing images that are more balanced and detailed than we're used to seeing in webcams that cost half as much.

Disappointing sound

Audio, however, isn't as accomplished as we've seen from earlier Logitech webcams.

There's an annoying amount of background buzz, and it tends to pick up ambient noise far more then we'd like; when we tried to use it to talk to folks on iChat from the office, they complained about being able to hear our colleagues in the background.

No software is supplied, but that's fine as it happily works with iChat, Skype and Photo Booth; indeed, it should work as a video input for any modern software. Though it's a two-megapixel camera, there's no way of capturing stills at full resolution without investing in a third-party piece of software.

Despite the disappointingly-indiscriminate microphone, this is still a great webcam, and it's definitely worth paying a little more for a good one.

Comic Life Magic is for 2D work, although less about drawing and more about arranging pages of images together as stories.

In CLM you choose images from your library or new ones taken in iSight and arrange them into comic strips, then add effects, speech bubbles and captions to bring life and a story to the pictures.

It's a popular application that most fans use simply to have fun, but can also be put to work sketching out storyboards for more serious movie or print projects.

The Plasq website shows off professional work done in the software by comic designers and even film makers, who used the previous version of Comic Life, Comic Life Deluxe, to plan film scenes.

Core tools

New features in Comic Life Magic are mostly thanks to the intervening release by Apple of Leopard, with its Core Animation and Core Image tools. These 'Core' areas of Leopard are blocks of coding resources that software developers can interface with to add dynamic graphics features to their products.

Plasq has leveraged these resources in Comic Life Magic to good effect, adding an entirely new floating effects palette (see the image to the right) containing a powerful range of new editing features, including things like being able to apply interesting warps and blurs to images, amongst several dozen other filters.

A highly intuitive vector-cutting tool has been included too, which enables an editor to roughly circle a figure or element to cut from an image, and then automatically gauges where the edges of that figure are placed.

It works well even on non-uniform backgrounds without using the 'greenscreen' feature, so you can quickly cut out Granny from a photo shot in the Grand Canyon and have her imposed on a Amazonian background, which should sufficiently confuse her!

We don't have any pressing need to create comics or storyboards, and imagine it will hold niche appeal on that score, but we found it very useful for creating dynamic photo albums.

Effects and themes

We took a few hundred shots from a wedding and laid them out in Comic Life Magic, adding captions and speech bubbles as we went along.

Then, using the one-click output options, popped the results on our .Mac account. iPhoto and Aperture can both do the same kind of thing but lack the funky comic templates and comic-like effects, which are great fun and a novel way to document holidays and special occasions.

We especially liked the Japanese manga-style themes, which seemed very fresh to our eyes.

That's magic!

If you have Comic Life Deluxe and are thinking of upgrading, we recommend the new version. The new editing tools are one draw, but the new layout is a better place to work in, and has less of a childlike look and feel.

Our only complaint with Comic Life Magic was a minor bug in the main interface, when we clicked the Hide Details tab, which slides the left-hand effect panel away to reveal the main layout in a bigger space. This produced a wonky layout change for us, where the editing panel remained superimposed on the main layout though with the commands de-natured.

A fully featured demo is available on the Plasq site, and there are quite a few videos on the web about Comic Life Magic, mostly on Viddler but also on YouTube, including some from the Macworld 2008 show, which was where we first got wind of the update.

Comic Life Magic went on sale in June, and the price seems good to us. It's a fun application with good iLife and .Mac integration and if you already use it for your story-boarding we're sure you'll love the richer set of features in this new release, not least the expanded template selection.