29th May 2009
Vinyl is Back….
….and back in a big way. Best Buy, one the largest retailers in the country, is selling records at its online store. These aren’t the beat up, scratched ones someone’s uncle bought back in ’78. No, they are new and sealed in the cellophane. Take a look at this article from CNET to find out more.
28th May 2009
Sending Files Through Email
Here is an interesting article about a topic that we end up repeating and repeating, the size of email attachments. We had a customer who just last week had their email server grind to a screeching halt because these protocols were not followed.
Netgear XAVB101 Powerline Adapter Review
To recap from yesterday’s post, I’ve been looking around for a gadget to help with the wireless dead spots in my house. I looked into wireless bridges and even considered the possibility of running network cables through the ceiling of the basement. Those options went out the door when I found the Netgear XAVB101 Powerline Adapter. A powerline adapter allows you to use the existing electrical outlets in your home to create a network. Powerline adapters have been around for some time now, but their ability to provide fast internet to the rest of the home has been spotty at best. The Netgear XAVB101 though has risen above the rest to become a real contender. The setup is fairly simple. I opened the box and took the two wall outlet adapters out. I took one down to the basement office where my router is and plugged it into the electrical outlet. I connected an ethernet cable to the jack on the adapter and plugged the other end into my router. I took the second one up to the living room and plugged it into the wall outlet behind the TV and computer. To give some brief background I have a Dell Optiplex SX260 sitting behind my TV. It is connected to the TV to allow us to play movies and videos from the computer to the TV. I then took another one of the provided ethernet cables and plugged it into the adapter upstairs and plugged the other end into the computer. Within 10 seconds it had been given an IP address by the router and I was on the internet. In total it took around 5 minutes to set up the adapters. The speeds were impressive. I was able to play shows off of hulu.com with no stutters or lags and was able to transfer files to the computer at speeds comparable to if it were plugged straight into the router. I have to say I am impressed. I purchased mine from Amazon.com for around $110. I have seen them at other retailers in the range of $140. Definitely worth the price.
27th May 2009
Netgear Powerline Ethernet Adapter
I’ve been looking for a solution for some time now to fix the wireless dead spots in my house. One spot is in the corner of our living room where we have a computer hooked to the TV to play youtube and hulu videos among other things. I think I might have found the solution. In the past powerline ethernet adapters didn’t provide enough bandwidth to be worthwile. Powerline ethernet adapters let you drop a network jack anywhere in your house that there is a electrical outlet. The model that I bought yesterday is supposed to provide enough bandwidth to stream HD content. It should come today so I’ll give you a review on it this afternoon.
26th May 2009
Small Computing
What would you do with a computer the size of a power plug? Personally I could think of a ton of different uses. These little computers have 1 USB port, no display and an Ethernet jack. It runs linux and has a 1.2 Ghz processor. Read more about the tiny computer at the link below.
22nd May 2009
Scary Backup Survey
Acronis conducted a survey about backup habits and found some scary results. They found that over 60% of respondents only backup their data every two or three months. They also found that 80 percent of the some 6,100 participants experienced some data loss. If you are only backing up every couple months or aren’t backing up your computer then you’re just asking for trouble. Call us today so we can help you set up a backup routine for your home or office.
21st May 2009
What does your business card say about you?
In business they say that a first impression can make or break a deal. Many times that first impression is made with your business card. Here is a cool list of the 100 most creative business cards.
20th May 2009
Windows 7 on a Dell Mini 9 (Part 2)
It happened with little fanfare and with little struggle. I installed Windows 7 on my Dell Mini 9 and I love it. All of the drivers installed during the OS install except for 2 base system drivers. I’m not even sure what they are related to, obviously not something that I use. I made a DVD from the ISO that you get when you download the free release candidate from Microsoft. I then hooked up a standard internal DVD drive to an external drive enclosure and had the mini boot from the DVD. The installation was quick and a lot less hassle than Vista or even XP. Before I even got to the desktop it connected me to my wireless network and I was off and running. After the install and installing the couple pieces of software that I needed, I still have 6.5 GB of a 16 GB drive. No complaints yet. If I do, you’ll hear about them here. If you want more detailed information about how I did the install leave me a comment and I’ll send them your way.
19th May 2009
Windows 7 on a Dell Mini 9
I’ve decided this afternoon that I am going to install Windows 7 on my netbook. I’ve been so impressed with its speed and small footprint that I want to have it in an enviornment that I can use it more on day to day tasks instead of just in a virtual enviornment. I will post back with the results in the coming days.
Netbook For Children
Dell has introduced a netbook targeted at the K-12 crowd. Its rubberized around the edges to make it more rugged than a normal netbook. Save your pennies to send your kid back to school in the fall with their very own netbook. Click below to read more.
18th May 2009
Adobe Acrobat Patch
Adobe has found a security flaw in its popular PDF reader Acrobat. Take the time today to update your version of Acrobat to the latest version which is 9.1.1 Below is an article about the patch.
Twitter For Businesses
Here are 10 essential twitter tools for business. These tools can help make your tweets more effective. Are you using twitter to promote your business? Not sure where to begin? Give Scott a call and we can help you navigate twitter and other social networking sites.
15th May 2009
HP Battery Recall
If you bought an HP laptop between August 2007 and March 2008 there is a good possibility you’ll be able to roast marshmallows over your battery sometime in the future. Check out the article below from CNET to learn more about the recall.
14th May 2009
Another Facebook Phishing Scam
Take a look at the article and watch out for phishy emails in your facebook inbox.
Google Outage
If you haven’t heard already one of the major forces on the Internet, Google, suffered a major outage today. From all indications it looks like it was affecting most, if not all, of Google’s properties. You can read more about it at CNET
13th May 2009
Hotel Wi-Fi
When I travel, I bring my Dell Mini with me to stay connected to the rest of the world. I usually try to stay at hotels that offer me free Wi-Fi. To some its not a big deal, to me it is. Here is a great list of hotel chains and their Wi-Fi status.
12th May 2009
Openoffice 3.1 Now Available
In the past we hipped you to openoffice, a free alternative to Microsoft Office. They have released a new version, 3.1, which has some nice enhancements to this already comprehensive productivity suite. If you haven’t checked out openoffice yet or are ready to upgrade check out the link below.
8th May 2009
Can you run Windows 7?
Microsoft is releasing its new operating system, Windows 7, this fall and the question on many people’s minds is; can I run it on my current computer? Now is the time to find out. Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to find out. You’ll be surprised at the minimum requirements for this operating system. I haven’t tested it on a older PC yet, but it is looking like most standard computers will be able to upgrade easily to the new operating system.
7th May 2009
Evernote
OK – this might not be news to some people because I think I am behind the curve on expressing my love for Evernote. I’ve heard about this note organizing software here and there for a little while but never took the time to check it. I did last night and I don’t know how I lived without it. I’m one of those people who instead of sticking post-it notes all over my office I write notepad notes and saves them to my desktop. These are all notes about something significant that I had to write down immediately before it got lost in the mess I call my brain. My desktop was filled with these little notes. Evernote lets you write quick notes that you can organize with titles and it is easily searchable. Your notes also get synced to your account on evernote.com so they are available anywhere you have internet access. I think I’ve such only just scratched the surface on what this product can do. There are a ton of other features that I haven’t mentioned. Try out evernote for yourself and yes it is free to use.
5th May 2009
Windows 7
Are you interested in getting your own free copy of Windows 7, the latest operating system from Microsoft? You can download Release Candidate 1 today and through June. I will be downloading and testing so look for some posts about it here in the future.
4th May 2009
160 Characters in a Text Message
Text messages have taken over as one of the main forms of communications in this day in age. Text messages are limited though to 160 characters. Have you ever wondered why? Click below to be educated.
2nd May 2009
The Dreaded Blue Screen of Death
Every PC user has experienced them and most PC users are mystified by the gibberish displayed on the screen. MaximumPC has taken some of the mystery out of the blue screen of death with this article