Sabtu, 30 April 2011

How Can You Save Money On All Your Bew Gadgets And Gizmos?

Saving money is the name of the game, no matter what you are buying. It does not matter what kind of new devices you are shopping for when you do it online you will save a ton of cash and that is not the best part of shopping on the internet. The internet makes your shopping not only affordable but fin and easy as well. You can shop for absolutely any kind of gizmo when you do it online and you will never have to leave the house. The internet will change the way that you shop forever. You can compare all of the latest gadgets and gizmos in jut a few minutes, if you were to try and do that in person it would take you days and day, maybe even weeks. When you shop online you will be able to find all of the best deals and prices, deals that are just not available offline. When you shop online for these things you will be able to pick and choose as you want to. The selection is always phenomenal online. The internet is the only place to shop online for gadgets. On the internet you can find everything from blackberries to portable mp3 players to funky little toys to play with. In no time you can find just the thing to give as a gift or to buy for yourself. If you are sick and tired of giving the same old same old each year then look to the internet for the latest gadgets and gizmos. When you shop online you will always find cheap items that will last and last. You can find name brand gadgets or not, it does not matter because everything online is selling for less than you are used to paying anywhere else.

Jumat, 29 April 2011

How Can Lettings Software Make Your Life Easier?

If you are managing or running a busy lettings agency, you will already be familiar with the complexity involved in handling a large number of properties, clients and enquiries and keeping track of everything. If you’re thinking of starting a property rental business, you will need to consider how you are going to run your office. Letting Agent offices are busy places and as an agent trying to grow your business, you need to be sure that your back-office processes are well-organised, allowing you to concentrate on finding the right properties for your clients. There are dedicated software packages available on the market that can help to automate many of your processes. They help you to co-ordinate all the essential information you need in order to run your business successfully, including: • Full client accounting facilities • Automatic statement generation • Letters portfolio • Comprehensive diary • Full internet/web integration • Dynamic link to word processing packages • Synchronisation with email packages Choose the property rental software that benefits you By choosing a software package that is easy to install and administer, you are already making your life easier. Rather than trying to co-ordinate landlord and tenant details on paper, or in several different computer files, dedicated software allows you to bring everything together into a single system. In addition, you can acquire better control over the money that comes through your agency. This makes the whole lettings process much more straightforward, meaning that it is easy for existing staff to get to grips with and easy to train new staff to use. If you want to increase the amount of lettings business that comes through your office, then it pays to have an administrative system that’s working for you rather than against you. Get some software on free trial and see how it can make a real difference to the way you run your business.

Hotels: How to Get Free Gifts

Planning to visit Las Vegas or any other vacational resort where casinos are a major portion of their business? I have just the thing for you. Here, I will show you how to pass off as a High Roller and collect many complimentary items and gifts. What is the Secret? The Secret is that you have to make them believe you are rich and love gambling. In short you have to impersonate a High Roller. Why? Hotels love high rollers because these players leave behind thousands of dollars each visit. And the real cool part about this is that if you act the role, casinos will lavish you with the same gifts and complimentary items that a real High Roller would receive. How ? It is not that difficult to fool the hotel and resorts with some finesse and true self-confidence. It can be done. 1) The Way you Dress: Elegant and smart is the way to go. Opt out of the baseball cap, t-shirt and jeans. Try and wear a suit or at least a regular buttoned shirt with an elegant dark jacket. It was Shakespeare who said that the clothes maketh a man, and so too, when going to a hotel resort. They judge you according to how you dress, so dress according to the role. 2) A Large Pad of Notes: Yes. Just like in the movies. Carry a large bundle of notes with you and keep them in plain sight. You do not have to really take with you that much. Instead, take a few notes and place them at the top and at the bottom of real note-size paper cuttings. Just remember to never expose this while you are in the casino. Use other notes you’re your wallet instead. But do it nonchalantly so that none of the casino personnel will notice. 3) Always Flash Your Notes Around: No matter where you go, whether its to the hotel restaurant for lunch or for to the bar. They will be watching. From time to time, use that money to play at a range of table games or video game and bet some of that money. Remember you must use some of your money to play but just do not use all of it. 4) Play Complicated Games: This is one of the more problematic things to do and requires some training at home. Learn on your own how to lay and how to bet on the high rolling games such as roulette, baccarat and craps. You could also play poker or Texas holdem in one of the larger ante tables, but in any case stick to your plan and you will soon reap the flowers. Conclusion: Above, I have outlined some of the more practical methods by which one can save money by receiving gifts from the casino. These gifts range from casino comps (free money to play), room deals that can get nearly free and many others such as free drinks, clothes, coupon to stores in Las Vegas and many more. Note that what you are doing here is completely legal provided you don't take up a false name or falsify your passport card.

Kamis, 28 April 2011

Hot myspace layouts will improve the site visibility

Hot myspace layouts will improve the visibility of the Myspace Internet account. They will not only drive more traffic to the Internet, but also improve the network of the friends, social life and communities on the Internet. Check out the Internet for more downloads on hot favorite layouts. One point to remember is that there are no specific colors for each layout groups. But make sure the color combinations are in accordance with those generally accepted norms. For instance, the color meant for youngsters come in trendy colors that may attract the attention of the youngsters. Therefore, while pasting the images on the layout, make sure that the colors are trendy and in synchronization with the times. The layout can also have many trendy designs spread all over the place. It could be anything relating to objects or designs that may be of personal interest. It could be wild animals all over the layout if you are somebody liking the wild life. It could also be stars, clouds and heavenly objects if you are a star gazer. Similarly, it could be of landscape and art work if you like nature and surroundings, embedded in the layout. The account holder can opt for design based layouts and themes. For instance, the color combination can be interspersed with designs. In case, you are a person with a feel for nature, the flowers, such as wild lilies or orchids can be spread in the layout in a masked manner. The flowers can also be highlighted effectively to ensure that they are present prominently on the layout. But make sure that the size of the flowers on the layout are not too large that can hinder the beauty of the background, The problem of the background is such that it should not only meet the aspirations of the Myspace member, but at the same time, maintain the aesthetics. The trendy design is the most preferred these days, since it is the youngsters who are on Myspace these days in huge number. Unless, the number of people on Myspace is spread across multiple age groups, having people with common interests could be a problem. Therefore, make sure that the features on Myspace are common to other users. The layout plays a critical role in ensuring that there is some amount of commonality among the Myspace users. All it needs is sprucing up the Myspace page with attractive layouts. If you are an elderly person, not keen on multiple colors, then opt for serene colors that can go along with your age in the layout. The hot layouts depend on the seasons. For instance, there are new layouts for the Christmas season. Similarly, there are new layouts for the Valentine's Day. There are some event specific hot layouts also. For instance, the layouts designed for birthdays and weddings are also termed hot layouts. For new year season also, there are new layouts. All these are sought after round the year because they are event specific. Make sure that there is no duplication of the hot layouts among friends.

Home Printing Machines

Home printing machines are available on the market today in many sizes, prices and capabilities. Many different forms of printing can be accomplished in the home. Whether you want to create unique tee-shirts using a home screen printing machine or you want to produce elegant laser printed letters, the equipment is readily available to you for home use. Once, home printing machines simply were not something that people had in their homes or even in their small businesses. They were expensive and complicated. Besides, no one had a computer or anything else that required a printing machine. Typewriters were then the only means of creating printed material at home. Of course, since ancient times woodblock printing and other forms of printing that required the use of a carved block could be created at home, but this wasn't exactly a home printing machine. Today, it is rare to walk into a modern home and not find a home printing machine of some type. Whether it is an inexpensive bubble jet or ink jet printer, a slightly more expensive laser printer or an all-in-one fax copier printer combination, the majority of modern homes have some type of home printing machines. "Let me print that out quickly for you" simply was not heard in the home in past years. Before the 1980's home printing machines simply were not available on the market. When these machines first appeared, they were quite expensive and only the financially comfortable could afford one for their home printing needs. Of course, during that time, computers were also something only the financially comfortable could afford as well. Today, with the prices of home electronics going lower every single day, home printing machines can easily be found for under $100. Even the supplies that allow the home printing machines to operate and create photographic quality images are quite affordable and most anyone can have extra supplies readily available. Home office supply stores may carry top of the line equipment and supplies but stores such as Sam’s Wholesale and Wal-Mart stores are enabling relatively cheap purchases of home printing supplies and equipment. The world is rapidly changing. Today many homes have home printing machines of some type. Soon, every home will have this equipment as technology continues to lower prices for home electronics. Better, faster and less expensive printers are on the horizon. Who knows what type of home printing machines will appear in the very near future.

Rabu, 27 April 2011

Home Computer Repair – Do It Yourself?

Home computer repair is not brain surgery! Most computer repairs can be broken down into two specific areas, software and hardware. Now I do admit that in some people’s hand, a screwdriver can be a dangerous object. But if you can change a light bulb without shocking yourself, I’d bet you could swap out a computer part. Software gets a little trickier but is still within the grasp of most computer users. I’ve been involved in computer repair in one way or another for over 25 years. The three major repairs I get called for on a weekly basis are: Spyware/Malware Issues Hardware failure (power supplies, hard drives, and ram usually) Computer boot problems (lost password, toasted OS, hardware failure) All of these can be quite a challenge depending on the value and risk of losing important data, which can be anything from tax records to photos. Any computer can be repaired; it just depends on time and budget. But not all data can be rescued. If a hard drive suffers a catastrophic hardware failure, data recovery is doubtful (unless you want spend 100’s if not 1000’s of dollars for special services). So the best scenario in any home computer repair solution is have a good backup of your important data before you start any repair. I never work on anything for over an hour without immediately backing it up on another media (USB thumb drives are only about $30 for up to 5 gigs of storage and CD or DVD prices are under a buck). I learned the hard way very early in my computer using experience. It’s much easier to deal with any home computer repair if you don’t have to worry about important data. *Please, backup your data right after you finish this article and start doing it on regular basis. When you have a secure backup, the home computer repair is a matter of a little investigative work (to determine the real issue – sometimes Windows will point you in the wrong direction) and coming up with a good solution. Let’s look at the best way to prevent each of the three most common computer repairs and if you already have the problem, some possible solutions. Spyware/Malware – Two good preventive measures to eliminate Spyware and Malware is to keep your OS (normally Windows) up to date on security patches from your friends at Microsoft. This is pretty easy to do if you turn on Automatic Updating in your Security Center (go to Control Panel, click on Security Center, then check that Automatic Updates is turned on). The other is to make sure you have a good Anti-Virus software installed and it gets updated automatically. These two programs give you about a 93% solution. Another 5% can be addressed with Anti-Spyware software such as Windows Defender (free from Microsoft, just do a search for it on your choice of Search Engine) or Spybot, a free program from www.spybot.info that does a good job too. Where’s the last 2%, well there is no 100% solution I’m sorry to say. Although common sense on where you surf, what email you open, and where you click can generally keep you safe. What if you are already infected? Well, there are manual ways of removing Spyware/Malware programs but they aren’t pretty and involve a whole lot of searching around and rebooting in safe mode. If you search on the offender (normally most have a common problem) you can find a manual solution. If you would rather skip all that hassle, the most effective commercial program I’ve seen is SpySweeper. Last time I looked it was only $30 per year and could save you a lot of time and pain. You can find it here: www.webroot.com Hardware Failure – OK, not a lot of prevention available for this home computer repair. Keep in mind that most modern computer components have a 3-5 year mean failure rate. Depending on how much you use or leave your computer on each day, this time period can expand. I have several testing computers that are very old (plus 7 years) that don’t get used often. But one point I do want to make is that almost every customer I call on for a hardware failure issues had warning signs before the final crash. Strange noises, computer freezing up, frequent re-starts, etc. are causes for alarm. Don’t wait until the computer literally dies, if any of these events start occurring, go to the proactive mode and replace the power supply, hard drive, or ram. Which one? That’s a challenge, I’ve found that some diagnostic programs can be helpful, but a lot of the time it’s experience. Basic rules of thumb; Freezing, rebooting can be both flaky power supply and RAM going bad. Power supplies slowly loose ability to supply enough wattage, so if you run fine for the first 30 minutes that’s another tip it could be the power supply. RAM just gets flaky due to constant heating and cooling. It will usually start dying slowly too. Both are cheap to replace but the power supply has anywhere from 8 to 10 plugs you get to keep an eye on when changing out. Any power supply above 250 watt will be fine for most computers, 300 watt is better. Match the power supply or RAM exactly or look up the motherboard requirements if you want to jump up in speed or wattage. On hard drives, boot failure with the message “no operating system” or similar is almost always a controller or hard drive (some hard drives have controllers on them that go south too). When you go to save or copy files and get an error can also indicate a hard drive issue. Noises of any kind coming from your computer can only be the power supply fan or hard drive. Sometimes you can low level format a drive and bring it back but with the cost being so low on new hard drives, why take a chance. Boot Up Problems – Number one offender is Windows of any flavor. All versions use a “registry” to manage all software, user, and hardware settings. This is just a fancy database of settings but can easily destroy itself. Open files don’t close properly when there’s a software problem and there goes the database integrity. When you go to reboot, the registry is not readable or flat gone. In Windows XP, there are several files involved in the “hive” (5 to be exact). Any one of these can toast itself, but I always replace all five since they are so interdependent on settings. The easiest fix, if you can access the Recovery Console, is to find a usable set of back up files and copy them to the current area of access. This sounds pretty simple but the directory structure is fairly long and you have to unhide the backup locations. If you go to Microsoft’s knowledge base here you can read all about the Recovery Console and how to replace registry files: http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1 . You can run the Recovery Console from Windows XP if it is installed or from your install CD if not. But what if you don’t have an install CD (many computers manufacturers don’t provide one anymore)? You can always use a bootable CD with an NTFS write enabled OS (like Linux) and do the same copying of files recommended in the Recover Console information. If that sounds too scary, you can always borrow some friends Windows XP install CD of the same flavor (Home or Pro) to use Recovery Console. OK, no friends have an install CD and no access or desire to Linux CD, now what? Well, plan B is to take your hard drive out of the computer, change the little connector on the back of the hard drive to slave (most hard drives have instructions right on the case to show how), and connect it to a working Windows XP computer. Now you have access to the drive with an NTFS write enabled OS. Go back to the instructions on Recovery Console fix and get after it. If the hard drive won’t even light up or spin, well then you get to install a new one. Most of the new units have a CD that will handle all the details of adding the new hard drive. Then you get to use your Recovery CDs from the manufacturer to install the all the original software on the new hard drive. Don’t have the restore disks? Check with the computer manufacturer and they’ll sell you a set for under $20 usually. Make sure you give the exact model number to get the right software for your unit. Whenever I buy a new computer, if I don’t get a set of recovery CDs, I order them right then and there. That way I’m ready for what ever happens. So, now you have the basics on home computer repair for the three most common problems. It’s not that hard for most people, just take it slow and read the instructions. Push comes to shove, find a friend who may have a little more experience to help. You buy the pizza and they provide a little experience and moral support.

Selasa, 26 April 2011

History Of The Computer; Analog Or Digital?

In 'History of the Computer - the emergence of Electronics', we saw how the development of Radar during the second world war led to an understanding of pulse technology. At the same time methods were refined for the calculations required for the ballistic trajectories. From these beginnings, the digital computer was developed. What is meant by 'Analog' and 'Digital'? A couple of examples will explain the difference. An analog is something which is analogous, obviously, but you may know that an analogous process or function is one that is equivalent, or very similar to another one. An analogy is often used to explain, or to assist the understanding of, some new feature in terms that are understood. For example a home electric circuit for house wiring to operate a lamp. The supply is controlled by a circuit breaker, when it is available at the outlet where the lamp is plugged. This can be compared to plumbing, where the water supply is controlled by a valve or tap on entering the home, then pipes carry the water to the kitchen, where the supply can be turned on or off by a tap or faucet, and is immediately available. The rate of flow of the water can be controlled, which is analogous to a dimmer on the lamp. The analogy is not absolutely the same, but aids in the understanding of the electricity supply by someone who knows the plumbing system. Digital, concerning digits or numbers, refers to the use of numbers to represent all things. As an example, a digital watch uses numbers to indicate the time. The numbers on the face of traditional watch are distributed around the dial, so that the hands pointing to them are analogous to the passage of time. For example the minute hand pointing straight down, half way through the circle of the clock, represents the passing of half an hour. If the hour hand is pointing to the number 3, this indicates 3 hours of the 12 for a complete circuit. When we learnt to tell the time we knew that this was half past three. The digital watch however says 3:30. Closer to our topic, we can consider the evolution of the gramophone record. The vinyl LP was the standard medium for music recording and playing from the 1950s, tape recordings were also developed in parallel. Both these media use a modulation system, where the amplitude, or strength, of the modulation is proportional, or analogous, to the loudness of the original live singing or playing. This music had been converted by a microphone into a variable electrical signal, analogous to the sound. With the invention in the 1980s of the Compact Disc, digital techniques were employed to represent the changes in sound levels, by using a sampling pulse to monitor the loudness of the sound. This sampling pulse is used at a high frequency, so that it is not audible, and traces the progress of the sound. The principle is analogous to the movie camera where a sequence of still pictures are shown at a rate of 32 frames per second, so that they appear to show a moving picture. Similarly a tv uses a frame rate of 50 or 60 per second (strictly speaking 25 0r 30 interlaced). The big advantage of a digital recording and reproduction system (amplifiers etc are also digital) is that, due to the nature of the high frequency pulses, it is possible to copy them exactly when transferring from one medium to another, for example copying a from cd track to compilation cd. With an analogue system there are losses in every transfer, so that a recording on a cassette tape copied from a vinyl lp via a home stereo is noticeably poorer quality than the original. A computer can also be analog or digital, though the digital type have vastly outgrown the analog. An analog computer might be used in research work, where, for instance a record may be made on a moving chart of the temperature and humidity in a room being air conditioned by a new design air conditioner, the chart could also be a display on screen. Either way, the graph is an analog representation of the temperature and pressure. Early electronic controls in aircraft were run by a form of analog computer, the amount the ailerons moved was proportional to the movement of the joystick, but not directly proportional. A calculation was performed, which depended on the speed and height of the aircraft, and other factors. The electronic 'boxes' involved linear amplifiers and variable response circuits, all fed by sensors from the flight controls etc. Subsequent articles in this series are concerned only with digital computers. We look at how they are put together, and how they perform, in simple steps, more and more advanced calculations.

Senin, 25 April 2011

Home Computer Repair

Hello, and welcome to Computer Repair at Home! If you think home computer repair is hard or next to impossible then please read this article. Ok, so you are almost certainly here reading this because you have, or believe you have a computer predicament, or maybe your home computer is just not performing normal. DO NOT do the flying experiment! Your computer cannot fly, and will by no means be able to fly, so do not test this theory out of your second story window! Simple home computer repair techniques I will explain to you will help; all while your bank account stays untouched(credit cards too) So concerning this blog… I am going to be schooling you(not selling you) how to go from identifying that you have a home computer repair problem, all the way to fixing that same problem. The principle is to get your home computer functioning the way you want it to. Along the journey you will learn I do own and control a home computer repair and services company, BUT in no way am I at this juncture to solicit their services. We only service a very little area in southeast Michigan. Be taught what you can here for free, so that you will not require any home computer repair gurus for help. If you are inquisitive what our website looks like take a look, I am very proud of it: www.CHcompsol.com What not to do. Do not shell out for such programs like Norton Anti Virus, Mcafee Anti Virus, or any other over priced program. These programs expend more on advertising than on the quality of their product, and most will not assist you in your mission to get your home computer repaired. Also there are programs obtainable only by way of the internet which will not resolve any of your home computer repair problems and only make your bank account decrease. Some programs are, Registry Repair, Registry Cleaner, Reg Mechanic, and Reg Cure. These programs will cause you a lot greater harm than benefit, and there are not a lot of ways to get help in the occasion you do not recognize how it works. I have experimented with most of the programs in one way or more on my home computer. You can discover a lot of them when you do a very easy Google query for “home computer repair”. I have thus far not found one program that works effectively for a broad variety of computer repair problems. There are a number of programs that function well for very precise list of home computer repair jobs, the problem then is in recognizing your individual issue, and can it be fixed without spending money; often the answer is yes! In the occasion I do ever find a program that can resolve a lot of the normal home computer repair issues, I won’t delay in endorsing the program and I will profit monetarily. You have been warned. I am human and this is what I love to do, if I can get paid for it, while staying honest, I will. Until then, on with the free home computer repair counsel and instruction… Home Computer Repair - how did I learn? How do I identify how to repair home computer repair problems? I have learned a lot, diverse things from different programs that I had to buy. I educated myself that these programs were not doing anything really complicated, everything I knew I could do myself . I have decided not to tell you the exact learning process with my experience with various programs, and online tutorials about home computer repair. That will just end up boring you a lot, and you’ll leave and end up paying for some program that will cause you more harm than good. Not to mention cause your bank account $ amount to decrease! Instead I will explain to you in very simple terms how to do your very own home computer repair. I’ve gained the knowledge, so I am passing it off to you, in the hopes you can benefit, or your computer can benefit, without spending loads of cash on programs that will not work and just confuse you. Most programs that claim to fix your computer, do not, and are a big waste of $$$. I know, as I have tried a lot of them when first getting into home computer repair. I learned a lot from them, in how they worked, but my bank account took a hit for this. I learned that these programs were not doing anything special, and I eventually taught myself the gist what each program did. Now I am able to fix almost any home computer repair problem. You will have the ability to do the same, but you will not have to learn from an over priced program you have to purchase and spend hours interpreting. You could now do one of two things: use a professional company to do your home computer repairs or you can comprehend that almost all problems are very simple to fix, and you are able to do it, with a little help from me, in no time flat. So don’t become stressed out while reading my blogs, ingest my lessons one step at a time. I wish I could emphasize this more, you must take this slowly and stop when you don’t understand something before moving on. In very little time you will have the skills to identify and resolve most of your own home computer repair issues.

Minggu, 24 April 2011

High Quality Headphones. Who Needs Them? You Do!

O.K. Now you’ve finally purchased your beloved iPod and your ready to listen to some tunes. Unfortunately the headset that came with it are for crap! Who wants to waste their time listening to poor audio on an expensive iPod. You want gear that will match the quality of your iPod and offer the best sound quality possible. Good news is there is a HUGE selection of quality headphones. A wide range of styles, quality, and prices. Don’t waste your time with the crap missing out on what music should sound like. Don’t be afraid to try something new and know that mixing brands is o.k.. When it is time to shop for headphones consider the following. Fit: Fit can make a huge difference in terms of sound quality believe it or not. Ear bud headphones fit into the ear canal but don’t enclose the ear as a result of this other sounds can interfere with what your listening to. In turn ear bud users turn up the volume which damages the ears. Ear buds can also be rather uncomfortable. This type of headphone is the kind that came with your iPod. An excellent alternative to ear buds are the enclosed model of earphones with padding. This type of headphone contains what is called a dynamic transducer, and in my opinion offers the best type of audio listening experience. Another type of headphones is headsets that fit tightly on the head or wrap around the head DJ style. Another alternative are the Canal Phones. These are designed to fit comfortably inside the ear canal and provide better sound with more isolation and good bass. Canal phones are considered to be more effective and safer than other headphones. They are able to eliminate most of the external noise. Which in turn means you won’t have to turn up the volume in order to hear it, reducing the possibility of hearing loss. The lesson here is find headphones that block external noise, then you won’t have to turn up your volume! A nifty feature on some enclosed headphones is a noise cancellation feature. This is used when there is a hissing, or you can hear external noises which lessens your listening experience. All you have to do is flip a switch to take advantage of this feature. The background noise will be cancelled out and all you hear is sweet music to your ears! Wireless headphones are also another great feature available for people on the go who don’t want to be “tied down”. The one draw back is wireless headphones usually have a small broadcasting range. Try and find one that offers a good range so you can wander far and wide!

Sabtu, 23 April 2011

Hey Tosh got a Toshiba?

Toshiba is a Japanese electronics company. It is short for Tokyo Shibaura Denki, the name of the company produced when two Japanese electronics giants, Tanaka Seizosho (established 1875) and Tokyo Denki (established 1890) merged in 1939. This new company was nicknamed ‘Toshiba’, and the company eventually adopted this name formally in 1984. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of TVs, DVD players and laptop computers, among other things, and the world’s third largest manufacturer of computer chips. It focuses on digital equipment above all else, announcing in 2004 that it will no longer produce old-fashioned CRT TVs, switching instead to only manufacturing LCDs. Generally, and similarly to other Japanese electronics manufacturers, Toshiba’s market position is that it is not cheap, but instead produces high-quality, well-designed products. Outsourcing has dented this reputation with some companies in recent years (notably Sony), but Toshiba’s reputation still holds strong – they do outsource, but make sure to only choose high-quality manufacturers when they do. Today, Toshiba is investing heavily in next-generation versions of several technologies, including HD-DVD (high density DVD, a DVD that can hold much higher-quality movies that current discs can) and SED (a display technology that is widely seen as the likely successor to LCD). However, Toshiba has also seen its fair share of controversy, which makes some reluctant to buy its products. In the ‘80s, Toshiba sold equipment to produce quiet submarines to the Soviet Union, prompting a diplomatic crisis between the US and Japan and the arrest of two Toshiba executives. Most recently, Toshiba bought Westinghouse, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of nuclear reactors, hoping to cash in on many countries’ plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations, and earning them the ire of environmental groups, who went as far as to hold a demonstration outside Toshiba’s headquarters.

Jumat, 22 April 2011

Here you can find tips on how to create a unique MySpace profile using MySpace backgrounds

Creating a unique MySpace profile is very important. You will first have a lot of visitors, and you would not want them to be bored with your settings. Next you might get bored yourself if you do not have the right settings. To do the above you can get the help of MySpace backgrounds, which will give the profile a lovely look depending on how you use them. These backgrounds come in various colors as well as themes. You can find various themes with these because not all sections of the profile are the same. You might want to use something different for the blog section or the about me section. Using various backgrounds on the profile will help a great deal, as the sections are what everyone looks at. You might want to say something specific in the profile in the about me section. It could be anything about what you like or what you do. So what you can do is pick MySpace backgrounds, which will suit these. The backgrounds which match what is written will help a great deal, as then the visitors will not have a great deal of reading to do. They will instantly know that you like something, or you are doing something specifically. The effect will be unique, because you are talking about yourself personally through the profile. By using MySpace backgrounds, you can be sure that you will be getting a bunch of new visitors to the profile. The best way to make the profile unique is to choose theme-oriented backgrounds. First check if the theme is right about what you have spoken about. Next you will have to choose the right colors. It should also blend with the content, so that the profile has a unique look and feel. Next you will have to choose graphics, which will load easily. If these are chosen, then there will be no need to make the visitors wait. All these tips will go a long way in helping you create a very unique profile. Depending on what you write, you can make sure that the MySpace backgrounds blend with that. You should not use cartoons for some content that talks about sports as your interest. Picking these backgrounds is also not a difficult task, so there is no need for you to be taking too much time for this. The only main thing that you will need to remember is that you will have to choose the right sites. Since there are so many sites, which offer MySpace backgrounds, you should ensure that you will get something free of spam etc. It will be unique if you can also give different backgrounds to each section. This will give a fresh look to the profile, and also speak of variety.

Help! My Email Is Driving Me Crazy! Part 2

Create Folders Once you delete emails you do not need and deal with the spam, you will still no doubt have a lot of email left to deal with. Instead of letting hundreds of emails build up in your box, it is important that you find a filing system to allow you to get them organized. Start building email folders that you can file specific emails in. You may want to create a folder for work related email, email from friends and family, financial or shopping email, and maybe even a folder designated to travel. Having specific folders to file emails in can help you keep your inbox nice and clean, and it will be easier to deal with incoming email as well. Archive Folders While creating folders can greatly help you control your inbox, if you receive a few hundred emails a day, these folders may be filling up quickly and you may need to organize your email even more. One thing that you can do is to set up archive folders that will hold your email that was received before a certain date. You can actually set up these folders just like your inbox so everything will be filed appropriately. You may even want to set up an archive folder for each month so it is easy to find older emails. This will help you make sure that only more current emails are stored in the folders in your email inbox. Organize Your Address Book While you want to keep your email inbox organized, you will also want to make sure that it is easy for you to send out emails as well. One way that you can make it easier to send out emails is to make sure that your address book is organized as well. While many email programs will organize your address book alphabetically, you may find that this is not the most effective way for you. You can choose to organize your addresses in groups that will make them easy for you to find and this type of organization will also make it easier for you to send out group messages as well. When it comes to your email inbox problems, organization is the key to success. Keeping everything organized on a regular basis will help take the craziness out of checking your email. Start using these tips and you will be amazed at how much time you can save and how much easier it becomes to deal with your email.

Kamis, 21 April 2011

Help! My Email Is Driving Me Crazy! Part 1

If every time you open your email inbox you find yourself resisting the urge to scream, it is time you learn how to get your inbox organized. With spam, newsletter subscriptions, and fifteen emails from your Aunt Hazel, it can be difficult to keep your sanity. Thankfully for you, there are some great ways that can help you keep your sanity while checking your email. Believe it or not, getting your inbox organized can save you not only a great deal of time, but it can also save you frustration and stress as well. The following are some tips that can help you take control of your email inbox. The Delete Button is Your Friend’ One of the most simple and effective things that you can do to get your email inbox more organized is to start using the delete button. It may be tempting to keep all of those emails, but anything that you do not need should be deleted. If you fail to delete email messages you will end up having to sort through hundreds and maybe even thousands of old messages to find what you want. Using the delete button can permanently get rid of the email that you do not need to have in your box, and will leave your inbox cleaner and much easier to deal with. Dealing with Spam Another thing that can help you get in control of your email inbox is to start dealing with spam. Deleting spam is great, but you may need to take more action than just deleting it. Some email programs will allow you to mark emails as spam so you will no longer have them delivered to your inbox, but to a junk mail folder. Other programs may allow you to filter your email so that spam does not come to your inbox and you can check the spam folder to make sure that nothing important ended up in it. If you eliminate the spam from your inbox, you can save a great deal of time, since you will not longer have to deal with it.

Rabu, 20 April 2011

Help! Finding information online

With so many different ways today to find information online, it can sometimes be hard to know where to go to first. I want to look at the major and most effective ways to find information online. The biggest and most commonly used method is to use a search engine such as : Google, Yahoo, or Msn. All three of these search engines offer similar features. Text search, Image search, Local search, Product search, are a few of the services they offer. It used to be only a few years ago where Google dominated the Search Engine market. Due largely to the fact that their search technology was the most advanced. Because of the huge investment other companies have put into their search technology, it’s getting harder and harder every day to say which one is really the best. With this in mind I think it comes down more now to which company do you prefer or which layout you like the most. Another method used to find information is through what is called a Web Directory. Web directories will usually either be relative or general: Relative - A relative web directory will contain information and links to websites that are all to do with one topic. An example would be a Weight Loss directory that contains only information and links to sites that have something to do with Weight Loss. General - A general web directory is a site that will contain links and information to do with all types of categories. It will usually be arranged topically to allow ease of use in finding exactly what you want. The biggest and one of the most used directories is dmoz.org, which contains links and information to thousands of different sites, all arranged into categories. I would recommend checking out a few of these sites, and really trying them out for yourself to see which one will be suit your needs. I’ve found that each site can be used most effectively in different situations. Happy information finding!

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Selasa, 19 April 2011

Headsets - An overview

Headsets are headphones with a microphone attached, making a device that you can wear on your head to easily hear and record sound. Their popularity has risen sharply with the recent growth of voice chat on the Internet, both on Internet phone services such as Skype and in online games such as Xbox Live. As a consequence, most electronics shops now sell headsets. As most headsets at the cheap end of the market are unbranded, however, it can be very difficult to know exactly what you’re getting for your money. As a rule, you should try to avoid buying headsets from the big High Street electronics retailers, as they will generally sell very cheap headsets for much more than they’re worth. Smaller computer shops are a better bet, as are independent music stores and games shops. The best place to buy a headset, though, is one where you can compare features objectively – and right now, the only place you can really do that is on the Internet. Since you can’t see or touch the products on the Internet, shops have to go to a bit more effort to provide you with technical specifications, which allows you to compare what you’re getting for your money across different sites. On shopping sites like Amazon that have reviews, you can read opinions from people who have actually used the headset already, which saves you the fear of buying a dud, and will often give you information about what the package does and doesn’t contain that no other source will tell you. The best way to buy a headset, though, is probably to compare them at the big shopping sites first, and then write down the model number of the one you like best and try to find it at a discount on auction sites like eBay. This way you get the headset you want for the best price.

Senin, 18 April 2011

Have You Seen LCD Projection TV?

Have you seen LCD projection TV? No, really. I don’t just mean a picture online or in an advertisement on a normal tube television, but have you actually seen projection TV? It really is completely different that what even the hardest of hardcore couch potatoes have ever witnessed. It is impossible to properly describe the effect of LCD projection TV, but roughly it is to normal TV what the CD is to the cassette tape. Leagues of difference, I say. It is the bee’s knees, the cream in your coffee, the sprinkles on your donut, the…aw, enough. Let’s cut to the chase. Big yet sleek and impressive without ostentatiousness, Toshiba has a pair of outstanding 42” LCD projection TV sets to draw the consumer’s eye. The featured Toshiba LCD TV, the 42” LCD projection TV, is but one representative of the “Diagonal Cinema Series” bunch. Just under thirty-five hundred dollars (see Toshiba.com for ordering information), this 42” LCD TV comes replete with Toshiba’s “adaptive LCD projection TV technology,” which makes feasible the addition of innumerable extensions to this LCD projection TV, thereby allowing all your favorite doodads all the benefits of it, up to and including Dolby-based sound systems. Speaking of sound systems, have you heard the Sony projection TV line? No, I mean have you really heard of it? Well, it’s Sony and that right there says a lot. Audio has been at the heart of Sony business since time immemorial (okay, the 1950s to be precise), thereby levering projection TV sets against the competition as in other audiovisual fields. Sony product information promises that their products will be at center of a complete audio “suite.” Stuff like Focus technology, TruBass and SRS 3-D dot the T’s and cross the I’s of the projection TV experience. It is said that good sound can save an average movie, but poor sound can ruin a great movie. If one of the prime selling points of LCD projection TV in general is the technology’s presentation of movies, Sony LCD projection TV should be a must on any serious TV shopper’s priority list. See Sonystyle.com for the entire LCD TV line, not to mention a tantalizing description of SRS WOW technology; you can rest well assured that this will warm the movie goer’s cockles.

Minggu, 17 April 2011

Has Someone Stolen Your Identity? Here Are 8 Ways to Tell

Right now, someone could be using your identity to start a new credit card, to get a loan, to drain your checking or savings account. In some cases, you might not find out about the theft for weeks, sometimes even months. Unfortunately, the longer it takes to discover the crime, the more damage will be done and the harder it will be to rectify that damage. Thankfully, there are some ways for you to detect identity theft before the problems progress too far. Below are some of those methods. 1. Errors on your credit report – By checking your credit report yearly, you'll be able to determine if anyone is opening up accounts in your name without your permission. Otherwise, you may not learn there is a problem until you need to take out credit. 2. Mail problems – One of the least-technological ways to commit identity theft is stealing mail. If you aren't receiving mail or if you aren't getting items in the mail that you are expecting, such as credit card bills, then you may be a victim of identity theft. 3. Being rejected for credit you didn't request – As you may already know, if a creditor rejects your request for credit, he or she must send you a letter in the mail explaining the reason for the rejection. If you begin getting these letters, but you haven't been requesting credit, then that's a good sign someone is using your identity. 4. Being the victim of pretexting – Pretexting is a scheme involving the Internet or the telephone. Someone contacts you claiming to be a legitimate organization's representative, then they'll ask for your personal information, possibly a PIN number or a checking account number. If that has happened to you and you've given out that information, then there's a good chance you'll be a victim in the near future. 5. Changes in your credit balances or checking account amounts – Unexplained changes in any of your financial accounts should be a big signal to you that something is not right. That's why it's a good idea to check all of your balances weekly and compare them to your estimates. As soon as you spot a discrepancy, you need to follow up with your financial institution. 6. Being denied credit – Sadly, some people don't discover they have been identity theft victims until they go to buy a car, get a second mortgage, or open a new credit card. If you thought you had good credit but are getting denied, then it's a good time to check your credit reports, even if you've already done your yearly check. 7. Being contacted by debt collectors – When you start getting calls or letters about unpaid debts, which you don't recall having, you should never automatically pay them. Instead, send a written request for more information about the debt. By law, the creditor must supply you with this information. 8. Having some types of spyware on your computer – While not all spyware leads to identity theft, you need to realize that it can pose a serious threat to your privacy. Your passwords, credit card information, and online activities could have been monitored by unknown third parties, which leave you vulnerable to an attack.

Sabtu, 16 April 2011

Harmful Secrets Of Computer Monitors

Copyright 2006 Michael Madigan If you use PCs, you are staring at that PC screen a lot. Therefore you need a correct screen setup as soon as possible, or your eyes, neck shoulders and the rest of your body will suffer. The trend in computer screens is to replace the box type computer monitor with a flat screen , saving weight space and power. However all the following tips apply equally to both types. Suitable positioning of your monitor screen will cut back on unwanted exertion, and bad positioning, plus other possible health problems like exhaustion, eyestrain and related disorders like itching and styes. Eyestrain, neck and back pain can be considerably reduced by proper selection of the monitor (or flat screen). The screen should be positioned in proper relation to other components like the keyboard, desk, and chair. While using the computer monitor, ensure the following:- The screen is in front of you and at least 20 inches (45 centimetres) away. The screen should not be more than 40 inches (100 centimetres) away. Ideal computer screen size is between 15 to 20 inches, (about 37 to 50 centimetres) measured diagonally. If the screen is very small, you’ll find it difficult to read the characters. If the screen is very large, you may require too much space. The ideal position is to have the screen directly in front of you. But, if that is not possible, the maximum ’offcentering’ recommended is 35 degrees to the left or right of you. Thats approximately...not very much! The top line of the computer monitor screen should be at or below your eye level. If necessary raise your chair a little, so that your line of sight is also raised. (However if you do this, make sure your feet still get get good support, and your thighs can move freely under the desk.) Computer monitor should not be placed above or on top of other equipment like a CPU (central processing unit) or a surge protector. The screen would be then higher than your eyes. That might well increase strain on your eyes, neck, and back. If your work is chiefly involved with printed matter, it is better to place the computer monitor a little to the side, with the documents on a stand just in front of you. There should not be too much distance between the monitor and the printed matter. The screen should be placed at right angles to windows, so avoiding irritating reflections. The ideal screen position is to have it directly in front of you. But, if that is not possible, the maximum ’offcentering’ recommended is 35 degrees to the left or right. If your work is chiefly involved with printed matter, it is better to place the computer monitor a little to the side, with the documents on a stand just in front of you. There should not be too much distance between the screen and any printed matter you are working on. Do not tilt computer monitors sharply either toward or away from yourself, as the objects on the screen may appear distorted making them hard to view. Also, if the monitor is tilted back, there are chances of the overhead lights creating glare on the monitor, and a tilted or propped monitor may become unstable and fall over. You can tilt the computer monitor screen slightly - somewhere between 10 to 20 degrees - so that it is perpendicular to your line of sight. Always ensure that the angle and tilt of the screen can be adjusted without much effort. For anything other than minor screen adjustment, it is is better to have the computer monitor sitting on a a riser/swivel stand, available from any good computer accessory store, on or offline. To avoid glare, make use of a glare screen, available again from any suitable source of computer accessories... Get your screen setup right and you've taken a big step towards healthy computing in 2006 and beyond!

Jumat, 15 April 2011

Hard Drives- Choosing the Right One

Hard drives come in many different sizes and configurations. How much data a hard drive can hold is measured in gigabytes (GB). The latest hard drives can hold anywhere from 80 GB to 1000 GB (1 TB)! When buying a hard drive, size isn't the only factor to look at, however. By choosing the right hard drive for your needs, you'll enjoy your computer more. Hard drives are inexpensive and you should never skimp on one to save money. For business or basic home use, an 80 GB hard drive should suffice. If you plan on downloading music, movies, or installing a lot of games on your computer, your hard drive should be at least 160 GB. For laptop users, the same space requirements apply, however, many laptops come with small hard drives. Many laptop users choose to keep the small hard drive and buy an external hard drive for excess files to keep costs down. You can have a huge hard drive, but it will be worthless if it doesn't move data fast enough for your computer! To find data, hard drives have platters on spindles that spin, similar to a CD. How fast a hard drive spins is measured in RPM (revolutions per minute). The higher a hard drive's RPM is, the faster it will perform. Desktop hard drives almost always have 7200 RPM hard drives. Laptop hard drives can range from 4200 RPM to 5400 RPM for budget and midrange uses and 7200 RPM for high end use. Hard drives with RPMs of 10,000 or more are available, but those are mainly for gamers, computer enthusiasts, and servers. If you are computer user looking for performance, you should know about RAID. RAID lets you put 2 or more hard drives of the same brand and model together and run them at once, which results in faster performance. You can also use RAID so the second hard drives automatically backs up data from the first hard drive, so you always have a backup of your data. There are numerous possible RAID configurations out there, too many to mention in this article. A hard drive's cache is also another important performance indicator. A hard drive's cache will hold frequently accessed data for faster access by the computer. A good hard drive will have at least 8 MB of cache. As with RPM, the more cache a hard drive has, the better. Hard drives generally have either an SATA or IDE connection. Both connections are for attaching the hard drive to the motherboard via a cable so that data can be sent and received to and from the computer and drive. SATA is the newest connection and is better than IDE in that it can be faster and uses a much smaller cable. IDE, however, is just as fast as IDE in real world performance testa and hard drives that use IDE are cheaper than SATA hard drives. However, IDE hard drives use large cables that can restrict airflow. Fortunately, you can buy a rounded IDE cable that is not as big for $5-$10 at almost any computer supply store or online computer part retailer, such as Newegg.com or Fry's Electronics.

Rabu, 13 April 2011

Handling Your Printer Cartridge

Printer cartridges are extremely important things. However you slice it, when you look at the printer cartridge, you can see that it is integral to the performance of your printer. Without a good and clean printer cartridge that is dispensing ink in an even fashion, you are never going to be able to get particularly good printouts for anything. Therefore, it would perhaps seem surprising to some that so few people follow any sort of proper procedure when it comes to them handling their printer cartridges. Sure a lot of people like to think they're doing it, but very few people actually do it properly when it comes right down to it. Here are some things you should take a look at when it comes to handling your printer cartridge. First and foremost, do not try to touch the copper areas of the printer cartridge more than you have to for things like arranging it for refills and things such as that nature. The copper area of the printer cartridge includes things like the head and the nozzles and the less you mess around with that area, the better things will be in general. Of course, if you need to clean clog out of the cartridge or do anything else of that nature, then you are going to need to handle the printer cartridge. But otherwise, try not to handle the copper area more than necessary. Use the cleaning utility and the alignment utility that comes with your printer software as much as you think is necessary in order to bring about the optimal printing conditions that you want. There are a number of different cleaning utilities and alignment utilities that do good work that are not utilized at all by the people that purchase those particular printers. If you are going to err, then err on the side of overuse because while the utility does consume ink every time it is used, it is going to consume more ink if you allow it to become dirty and inefficient in the way that it dispenses ink. While there is nothing wrong with refilling your cartridge again and again when it comes to the specific way that you decide to print in today's world, do not hesitate to replace the cartridge if it becomes broken. A number of people that have started refilling their cartridges instead of buying new ones really have no recourse when they find their cartridges are broken; almost as if there is some sort of emotional attachment to the idea of never having to buy another cartridge again. Of course, this is not how you should view things; be happy that you save money every time you refill, but don't hesitate to replace your cartridge if it gets to a really bad point.

Selasa, 12 April 2011

Guidelines for Inkjet Cartridge refill

There are number of instructions to be followed at the time of refilling an inkjet cartridge. So whenever your printer ink runs dry you need to follow the below steps for inkjet cartridge refill. 1. It’s very important that you handle the cartridge carefully. Avoid touching any metallic parts. 2. Always clean needles and syringe to avoid any color mixing. 3. It would always be advisable to store the cartridge in an airtight bag with a moist paper towel when not in use. 4. Refill the cartridge only when the warning light glows. 5. If you are re-filling black cartridge, then enlarge the fill hole on top of the cap with the drill provided. 6. If you are re-filing color cartridge, then you have to remove the cap first. Either hold the cap in a safe manner or carefully remove the cap with the help of a knife. 7. Put together needle and syringe and fill in the color that you want your cartridge to refill with. 8. Insert the needle into the correct fill hole straight down till the foam. If you are filling with the color ink then make sure you are inserting in the correct ink slot. 9. When you start injecting the ink into the slot, make sure that you are doing it slowly and you may have to clean the print head with a tissue. 10. When the color cartridge is completely full, ink could be seen at the fill hole, slightly remove the syringe till the ink on the fill hole vanishes. 11. The capacity of the black cartridge is about 20ml, so make sure that you don’t over-fill it. 12. So you have now successfully filled the cartridge. 13. After the process of refilling is complete, re-cap the cartridge. To ensure safety, stick a tape on the top of the lid. 14. Clean the print head with a tissue or a sponge till the time it stops dripping. 15. Its time to install the cartridge back into the printer and run a cleaning cycle. 16. You should always clean the syringe and the needle that you have used with water so that it can be used again.

Senin, 11 April 2011

Guide To Computer Security

Since you're reading this article, you're already connected to the Internet. You've probably already thought about security on your computer or network. Every day seems to bring new threats and it can seem pretty daunting, but the key thing is to have a common sense approach and to take a few basic precautions. There are lots of great tools available to help and you don't have to break the bank to get them. Here are some areas to take a look at: BACKUPS Securing your information starts here. You'll need some or all of the security tools listed below, but even then you can't guarantee 100% that you won't have a problem. Hardware failures do occur so backup your data. One easy way to keep your important files is to burn them onto CD or DVD. ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE An absolute must have. Alright, you already knew that, but I can't stress too strongly the importance of having good, up-to-date antivirus software. With new threats and Viruses arriving every day it's important to maintain update subscriptions and download virus definition updates as soon as they become available. There's a lot of good antivirus software available, both free and for low cost. I'd recommend going for paid software...you just never know when you're going to need to call a helpdesk and that's generally the difference between the free stuff and the stuff you pay for. Norton, McAfee, AVG and others all sell antivirus software that's affordable on a low budget. FIREWALL A firewall is always recommended to help protect against unauthorized access to your PC. For a small number of PCs a software firewall is usually best and is the easiest to work with if you're not an IT expert. However, don't discount hardware firewalls, especially if you have a network with a lot of devices on it. Whatever you do, don't rely on the Network Address Translation or packet filter built in to your ADSL or Cable router. It almost certainly won't be enough. If you're buying a particular company's Antivirus software it's worth considering buying their integrated AV and firewall package if they have one (if they don't then maybe you should try someone else). It may well save you money and be easier to configure and maintain. ANTI-SPYWARE SOFTWARE If you spend a lot of time browsing the Web (and let's face it, who doesn't?), then spyware is going to find its way onto your machine. A lot of it isn't particularly nasty, but the really bad stuff can send important information like passwords, bank details or credit card numbers to people you really don't want to have access to that stuff. At the very least it can slow down your PC and since you didn't ask for it in the first place then you should get rid of it. Some tell-tail signs that you have a Spyware infection are: - You're getting pop-up ads all the time - Your default homepage or other settings in your browser suddenly change (especially if you can't change them back) - Your computer is slow (there could be other reasons for this, but it's worth checking for spyware) There's some good free software available from Lavasoft called AdAware. Microsoft also have their own free tool for Windows users called Windows Defender. Among the paid-for Anti-Spyware software Webroot's Spy Sweeper regularly picks up awards from computer magazines. PASSWORDS More and more people are accessing secure sites for shopping, banking, etc. Provided you take sensible precautions it's a great way to shop. If you've been doing any online shopping you'll be used to dealing with secure sites. Whatever methods these sites use to secure their servers or encrypt your traffic, if they're accessed by passwords then you share some of the responsibility for the security on your transactions. Here are a few tips on how to keep unauthorised users from accessing your accounts: - Be inventive with your passwords. Don't use easy to guess stuff that a lot of people know about you or can find out. Use a mixture of uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers and special characters (again be inventive. Just using a 1 instead of the letter i is no use if it still spells out an easy to guess word). - Use different passwords for different accounts. If you always use the same one and it's compromised then someone will have access to everything. - Don't write passwords down on paper or post-it notes. That's a hacker's favourite way to find passwords if they have physical access to your office. - Don't get Web browsers to remember your passwords on shared machines or in office areas. If you log into a machine that other users have access to then never use Windows or Web browser mechanisms that remember your account details. Having different passwords to lots of different accounts does make it more difficult to remember them and it's important that this doesn't lead you into bad habits. So what do you do? You could look at getting some password management software. Naturally, Norton has a password manager, but other good options include "Web Replay" from Deskperience or "PC Password Manager XP" from CPLab. WHERE TO NOW? You don't have to go out and buy every piece of security software right away. Prioritise one or two to start with (I'd suggest Antivirus and Firewall software). Also download trial versions so you can be sure you're happy with them before you part with your hard earned cash. Be careful on the Internet, but don't let it spoil your day.

Minggu, 10 April 2011

Guide to Buying Discount Computer Supplies

When it comes time to upgrade your computer or find parts that need to be replaced, shopping online is a practical way to shop. It has also become a more convenient way to shop than visiting several computer supply stores in your local area or in the nearest big city. The good news is you don't have to leave your home to find products and services that you need. In your leisure time, you can stay in your home and find bargains on your computer. Free time at work is also an opportune time to browse and surf to find the computer supplies you need. Shopping for Discount Supplies There are a variety of websites now that offer an extensive choice of products. Instead of driving to several different stores to compare products and prices you can now do it with the touch of the mouse. Whether you are shopping for one product or need several, home shopping will bring to light the best bargains available. As competition increases, there are many sites that offer discount prices - and you win! Start Shopping It is simple to find computer products or brands that you are seeking. At the search engine of your choice, type in the key words for your computer merchandise using the type or name brand of the computer or part you need. Then, you just choose the website you want to inspect and take your time reviewing the products they offer. While you are looking for discount computer supplies and accessories, you can also shop for additional products. Many sites are like a department store and have a variety of discount products for you to choose from. An online mall is a great place to shop for assorted merchandise. You will be able to find any computer supplies that you may need including hard drives, CPUs, modems, scanners, monitors and many other necessities. Shop for Other Discounts While you are on these sites, you can also shop for other wares. The selection is unlimited! At the same time you're shopping for discount computer supplies, you can also find discounts on sporting goods, tools, pet supplies, electronics, candles and auto parts. While you are looking for your supplies, you can often find great gifts and things that your family would like. It is often more economical to order multiple products from one site. This way you have combined postage instead of paying individual rates. It is best to check shipping costs on each site to find the best possible rate. Remember to include the shipping costs in your overall expense. Compare Discounts When you are shopping for discount computer supplies, be sure of the product you want to buy. Check to see if there is a picture or a detailed description so you will know what you are getting. Check different online catalogs to compare products, quality, and prices. You can even make a wish list on your favorite sites and watch for sales on these items. Become an Online Shopper Find the products and supplies you need at discount prices online. This can save you a lot of time and money. Take advantage of the abundance of sites and opportunities to find everything you need. You may never want to fight the traffic or crowds again after you have tried shopping at home.

Sabtu, 09 April 2011

Guide to buying a desktop computer

With the rapid pace of technological developments, nothing has become as ubiquitous as the computer. Everyone's got one. And they are used for all manner of endeavour, by people of all walks of life. So, do you simply buy the computer that someone's selling? Or do you do some homework and figure out what detailed specifications are going to make some difference to you? At Myshopping.com.au you can compare the prices of a wide range of different computers from different vendors and of different specifications. This guide will help you find what you're looking for. Mac or Windows (PC) At the outset, you need to decide what you are going to use the computer for. This will help you make the fundamental decision of whether you should go Mac or PC. Although, with the advent of the dual core processor (an Intel chip now used by Mac) the differences are narrowed a little, there are still some choices that can help you favour one system over another. Historically, Mac computers have a reputation for greater stability that comes from a more robust operating system than Windows based computers. Largely for this reason, Macs have been the computer of choice for the graphic design industry, the music production industry and the video production industry. This has prompted the software manufacturers to make professional software packages for these disciplines that favour the Mac operating system. Although they have packages supporting the Windows operating system, they are often less capable. Consequently, if you are engaged in these industries and need your computer for this type of work, you should consider Mac. Mac computers appear to attract fewer viruses and software malfunctions than do Windows based PCs. On the down side, there has always appeared to have been limited software support for Mac systems. Another decision that may guide your choice is the aesthetics of the computer. If you have limited available space, there is nothing quite like the iMacs or the mini Macs for space saving. iMac's all-in-one desktop units are compact and complete with all the connectivity you need. However, the look of other brands may be more to your taste, with many models available in compact packages and modern colour schemes to suit practically all dÊcor. Now that you've made that basic decision, you can start comparing the apples with apples. The Components of Your Computer The two factors that determine the price of your computer are size (yes it does matter) and speed. Either or both of these two dimensions are a factor of practically every component that makes up the machine. Naturally the highest price tags go with the combination of biggest and fastest. CPU The heart of the computer is the CPU (central processing unit). You need to decide which CPU you want driving your computer. These come from different manufacturers, and the current development of the technology is called Dual Core, which means that there are two processors on the one chip. Dual Core technology delivers more performance with less energy requirements. Intel and AMD are the two leading CPU manufacturers, and they offer different products under different names. Current processing speeds range from about 1.4 GHz (gigahertz) through to 3.46 GHz. But it is not simply just a matter of speed. There are other considerations. Mac Operating Systems have a different architecture to Windows and will perform many functions faster with a slower speed CPU. A dual core chip at 1.4 GHz will deliver a better performance that a Pentium 4 chip at 1.8 GHz. A 1.4 GH dual core chip running a Mac with OSX Tiger, will perform better than a 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 processor running Windows. You need to decide what you want your computer to do, what your major software requirements are before you decide on the CPU processor. However, for everyday use, a processor faster than 1.8 GHz will deliver excellent performance. As a rough rule of thumb, choose a Celeron for low cost computing, a Pentium 4 for mid-range budgets, or an AMD Athlon for bigger budgets. You can compare computers based on Pentium, Celeron, Athlon or Dual Core CPUs by searching those specifications on Myshopping.com.au and finding different vendors and brands using different processors. RAM This is where bigger definitely means better performance. RAM is the system memory that enables the computer to use its programs and swap data between the hard drive and the program functions. It's important to match the speed of the RAM of your computer with the speed of the CPU. The more RAM you have available for your programs to work, the faster will your computer run. Most computers today come with at least 256 M (megabytes) of RAM. But memory is a relatively cheap component, and it costs little extra to upgrade to 512 M or greater. HARD DRIVE The hard drive of the computer stores your program files and your data. As computers have advanced, so has the need for more capacity to operate programs and store data. People working in media fields tend to work with very large files and require large storage space. Most computers in today's market come with a minimum of 40G of hard drive space. However, this can be upgraded (usually in 20G chunks) to as much as 200G or more. The effectiveness of your hard drive also can depend on its physical speed (5400-7200 RPM) and the speed at which it can transfer data between the computer's RAM and the hard drive. Faster means better performance. REMOVABLE MEDIA You will want to have a CD-R or (CD-RW) drive installed in your computer, and or possibly a DVD or DVD-R. For reading a CD ROM, all that is required is a CD drive and for watching DVD movies, a DVD ROM drive. However with a CD-R drive, you can record your own data and music CDs, and with a DVD-R drive, you can burn files in a DVD format, allowing you to store movies and data in far greater quantities. The CD-RW (DVD-RW) drives allow you to use re-recordable media. Your decision will depend on what you want to use your media drives for and what you want to store. Other removable media will possibly include flash card storage, which is usually plugged in via the USB ports on the computer. MONITORS The monitor for your computer is integral to its function and aesthetics. If you are working in graphics you may want to stay with a CRT monitor. However most bundle offers these days are supplied with LCD monitors, which have the advantages of smaller space requirements, use lower energy and offer wider screen images. However they generally are more expensive (although prices are dropping everyday), can frequently be not as bright, have limited viewing angles and sometimes require a digital interface connector. For graphics intensive work, LCD screens do not have the same capacity to render colours in gradients as CRT monitors. Once again, size matters. Bigger screens cost more than smaller ones. VIDEO AND SOUND For a detailed explanation of video cards, please see the article on Myshopping.com.au dedicated to Video Cards. The interface between the CPU and the Monitor is provided by the video card. One of the basic decisions you need to make is whether you require a 3D or 2D card. Video cards come in two different types: those that use an AGP (accelerated graphics port) on the computer motherboard and those that use the PCI bus. Data transfer rate is critical to video performance. Faster video cards use an AGP, and this proves a faster data transfer than PCI cards. Most video cards also have their own video memory installed on the card, a feature that increases a computer's memory performance. Today, these memories are often 128M or 256M, and can be more in the higher-end cards dedicated to sophisticated video work or gaming. Video cards performance is also affected by what is known as clock speed or clock rate, cards with a faster speed offer faster performance. Cheaper computers, and laptops and notebooks, have an integrated graphics chip included in the motherboard instead of a discrete video card. This type of configuration is not as powerful or as fully functional as having a separate video card, which can allow more comprehensive gaming, the use of multiple monitors and faster and better rendering of images. For a computer to reproduce the sounds recorded in games, movies and music products it requires a sound card. Quality of sound can be affected by the sound card your computer has installed. It's important that you know how you want to use the sound reproduction processes of your computer. If you are a musician and want to record audio, then you will want to be sure that you have excellent connectivity, good midi access and at least 16-bit (CD quality) audio reproduction. Sound cards give you the possibilities of full cinema surround sound, and the many subtle effects employed by high-end games. Nearly every computer comes with a set of stereo speakers. However it pays to have a good listen to what you're buying. Make sure you listen to program that you are familiar with (take your own CD along) and compare the sound in a quiet environment. Many speaker systems for computers have poor frequency response and are underpowered. For desktop use that does not involve a quality listening environment this may be satisfactory. But if you want to listen to music and watch movies for the full effect, then you need to consider buying a good quality set of speakers. Use the search facility of Myshopping.com.au to compare specifications and prices of different speaker systems. KEYBOARD AND MOUSE The choice of keyboard and mouse are personal choices. Sometimes it depends on what you do on your computer, whether you have formal typing skills or whether you're a two-finger hack. Serious writers may prefer an ergonomic keyboard. Keyboards frequently have different clicks and responses to others. You may prefer an infrared cordless keyboard and mouse. You may prefer an optical mouse on which you don't have to clean the rollers. Optical mice have no rollerball, and can be used on most flat surfaces, but they are more expensive. CONNECTIVITY Today, connectivity is everything. Your computer can have wireless connections to all of your peripherals: printer, scanner, and other computers. Having an onboard modem will only be really important if you are using a dial up internet connection. Broadband modems tend to be peripherals and you can connect via USB, wireless or firewire. It does pay to consider how you will connect to the internet and other peripherals. It's not always convenient to get behind your computer to plug something in or unplug it. Some sound cards have a front face panel with all the connections you need. The USB ports on Macs are conveniently located. Many PC manufacturers haven't caught on to the fact that it's important for some people to easily access the connections to their computers. To compare the different bundle offers from different brands, and to compare the different components by their specifications, search the Myshopping.com.au database for exactly the specifications you are seeking. You can compare prices and vendors, and order what you need online with a few clicks.

Jumat, 08 April 2011

GPLv3 attracts 116 projects in first week

The third version of the General Public License (GPLv3) has been adopted by 116 open source projects in its first week of operation, according to an overview compiled by software risk management firm Palamida. A further three projects have opted for the Lesser General Public Licence, which offers fewer restrictions than the regular GPLv3. [Source: LinuxNewsBlog]

Kamis, 07 April 2011

Good Reasons To Have A Wireless Network

Having a wireless network opens up many possibilities. Wireless networks provide an inexpensive and easy way to share a single Internet connection among several computers. This means you only need one modem, and you can add additional computers to the network just by plugging in a wireless card and turning them on. The new machines are connected to the Internet immediately. A wireless network also lets you access files and printers from anywhere in your home. It allows you to synchronize files you have on your laptop with your home computer, and you can easily send files between computers as well. Using a wireless network to transfer files is faster than sending them via e-mail or burning them to a CD! Because printers connected to one of the computers on a network are shared by all the computers on that network, you can write documents anywhere in your home, press the ‘print’ button, and collect the printed files from a printer that is connected to another computer. If you are a game player, you’ve probably noticed that your games often have an option to play over a local area network or LAN. Wireless networks are LANs! This means you and your family can play these games together and don’t have to be on computers that are next to each other to do so. Let’s face it – it’s more fun to play against real people, and it’s even more fun to play against people you know instead of strangers on the Internet. Your games will also play much faster over your LAN. Additionally, you can connect game consoles to the Internet and begin playing these games online. It is much easier to experience online play through an Xbox or PlayStation 2 that is connected to a wireless network than have to use a modem! Wireless network connections are always on. This means you can connect to the Internet whenever you want without waiting for your modem to dial in. Laptops can be carried from room to room, and they will always have access to the Internet. Since wireless networks operate without the need to log in, you don’t need to set up usernames or passwords. The single greatest thing about a wireless network is that it is, well, wireless! The biggest reason to have a wireless network is because it eliminates the need for costly, ugly, and dangerous wires trailing all over your house. You can use your computer in any room you want – no more being trapped near a phone outlet or walking over that tangle of wires in your home. The cost of getting enough Ethernet cables can add up, and sometimes, you may even have to make holes in your walls to set up a wired network. If you’re renting, of course, this is impossible. With a wireless network, you don’t have these problems - you can even use your computer outside if you want! And if you move, there is no need to disconnect and pack up all those wires, and you no longer have to examine all the wires for damage whenever your Internet connection goes down. You can see how having a wireless network can simplify your life.

Rabu, 06 April 2011

Good Computer Maintenance - Part Two

In our last part of discussion of good computer maintenance, we will discuss backing up, some free stuff, and cleaning tips. All great bits of advice for proper care of your computer. Back It Up One maintenance task that is still crucial is backing up your data, particularly if it is business or financial related. At the very least, manuallly copy such data to a recordable CD or DVD disc when it changes. More sophisticated options include using the more automated backup tools that come with Windows, a stand alone backup program for networks such as the well regarded Dantz Retrospect Professional (www.dantz.com), or a Web backup system such as the excellent IBackup (www.ibackup.com). Free Stuff One really interesting maintenance task is checking to see who is spying on you. If you download a lot of software, one or more programs may be peeping at your Web surfing habits, which could be slowing you down. Such behavior naturally riles people, and good spirited entrepreneurs offer free software to weed out the sneaks. The best overall stand alone program for this is Patrick M. Kolla's Spybot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org). Another fun, and free, software maintenance program is WinPatrol (www.winpatrol.com). Among other things, it shows you all the programs that load automatically every time you load Windows, letting you disable any you do not want running that may be slowing you down, regardless of whether you use Windows XP, NT, 2000, ME, 98, or 95. Cleaning Tips Clean your monitor if it becomes smudged. But stay away from glass cleaners ... they can remove a monitor's anti glare finish. Use isopropyl alcohol or distilled water along with a lint free cloth. Wet the cloth first, then the monitor. Periodically open up your computer's case to clean out dust. Every couple of years or more frequently if your PC is in a dusty area. This will help prevent heat build up, which can shorten the life of system components. Use either a portable vacuum cleaner or compressed gas duster. To minimize static discharge, avoid older vacuum cleaners and brush attachments, and prevent the metal of any vacuum cleaner from touching your PC. After vacuuming the inside of your PC, vacuum the grille in front and your keyboard. Before working inside a PC, ground yourself ... turn off your computer, leave it plugged in, and touch an unpainted metal surface inside the PC. Your PC should be plugged into a three pronged grounded outlet, preferably on a dedicated circuit. Do not move a PC or connect or disconnect its cables while it is on unless they are plugged into a univeral serial bus port. If your mouse starts misbehaving, take it apart and clean it. Shake out dust, or use a cleaning swab or compressed gas. Finally, it is best not to smoke around your PC. Cigarette smoke can coat the innards of your PC with tar, shortening its life.

Selasa, 05 April 2011

Going Wireless With Your Headphones

If you're looking for the latest in wireless headphones for your enjoyment and private listening, whether to TV, stereo, home entertainment such as theater, iTunes or Ipod, you might do well to look at the highly recommended Sennheiser RS 130 wireless headphones. These state of the art wireless headphones provide an advanced communication via FM radio frequency. The result is clear sound with no background noise or static and nearly 500 feet of free movement. The headphones have terrific surround sound effects and weigh less than ten ounces. They are ergonomically designed to provide hours of comfort. The features of the Sennheiser RS130 wireless headphones include a base station for the headphones that is attractive and stores the headphones whre they are not in use and also charges the batteries. Batteries are NiMH type, and their single charge keeps them going for 22 hours of your listening enjoyment. The wireless headphones base station has a 900 MHz high performance transmission, also wireless, that delivers a playback that is very impressive in its high fidelity capability. Its transmitters use Sennheiser's customized system of intelligent automated tuning. This seeks and then chooses the best of three channels from base to headset that are available for delivery of sound to the wireless headphones. A music professional and online consumer music advocate reviewed the Sennheiser wireless headphones. He noted the worldwide acclaim of all Sennheiser audio products as well as its firm's state of the art designs and manufacture. He said that the Sennheiser RS 130 wireless headphones lived up to the Sennheiser quality reputation by delivering a high performance sound, as well as top notch value and ergonomically designed comfort. He said that he tested the Sennheiser wireless headphones both inside and outside, in conjunction with his speaker system - a ZVOX 315 - and his iPod. The ZVOX 315, by the way, is a surround sound single box speaker system that uses a single cable to connect to an mp3, an iPos, portable music instrument or equipment, or a computer, TV, CD player, DVD, satellite or clock radio, game console or any other device that has a jack for headphones or an audio output of some sort. He also used his iTunes from his laptop. What he found was that the Sennheiser RS 130 wireless headphones gave him unparalleled listening without any disruptive noise. His recommendation was that anyone who was looking for a set of wireless headphones for less than $200 to be used with their iPod, their iTunes, their TV, stereo, or home theater, didn't need to look anywhere else.

Minggu, 03 April 2011

Getting the Best Value on a Monitor

Getting the Best Value on a Monitor. A computer monitor, or simply a monitor, is the screen on which you view things from your computer. As you are reading this, you’re probably reading it on a monitor - either on your laptop, your desktop, or even a mobile phone or PDA. In any case, the monitor has a very important job. A good monitor should see you through several computer upgrades, so it is important to choose a good one. There are several types of monitor - cathode ray tube (or CRT) and Liquid Crystal Display (or LCD). CRT. CRT monitors work by an electron gun shooting electrons down the CRT to the screen, where the electrons cause the phosphor coating lining the screen to glow. On the coating there are dots, one of each colour (red, green and yellow) - each dot is called a pixel. CRT monitors are large and bulky but cheap. They generally need slightly more room than their screen size, so a 17" monitor will need 18-19 inches deep (size is measured diagonally). They are not as common these days, with the more advanced LCD monitors becoming the choice for people updating their systems. LCD. LCD works by blocking light - specifically, they are made of two pieces of polarised glass, with a liquid crystal material between them. A light is passed through the first piece of glass, and at the same time, electrical currents cause the molecules of liquid crystal to align, allowing varying levels of light to pass through to the second substrate, creating the colours and images that you see. Thin Film Transistor LCD (or TFT-LCD) is a type of LCD that works by arranging tiny transistors and capacitors in a matrix on the glass of the display. To turn on particular pixel, the proper row is switched on, and then a charge is sent down the correct column. Since all of the other rows that the column intersects are turned off, only the capacitor at the designated pixel receives a charge. The capacitor is able to hold the charge until the next refresh cycle. Generally speaking, no matter how big a screen on a LCD monitor, they are usually only an inch or two deep. However, the angle at which the monitor is positioned can make it difficult to view due to fading. Other things to consider are: · The refresh rate, as it can help reduce eye strain - at least 60 Hz is recommended, 75Hz is ideal. This does not apply to LCD screens, as they turn each pixel off individually. · Resolution is the amount of pixels on a screen, and together with refresh rate they decide picture quality. See what the highest resolution is at 85Hz to give you an idea of how good the picture will be. Something to note is that when resolution increases, the writing on a screen will decrease. LCD monitors only display well at the resolution at which they were designed - this is called the native resolution. · Dot pitch is the distance between adjacent pixels - around 0.26 for a 17" monitor is good. · Controlling the picture quality is essential - check to see how easy they are to use, so you know how to adjust contrast, brightness and alignment. · Warranty - how long is it and do they offer an extended warranty? · "Dead Pixel Policy" - what do they allow for? Look carefully before you decide to buy a monitor. You don’t want to be stuck with a monitor full of dead pixels that disturb your viewing on the monitor. Knowing what you want is only half the battle of getting a good bargain on a monitor - knowing what’s what so you can go in well-armed with knowledge is the other half.

Sabtu, 02 April 2011

Give a little surprise by using MySpace Layouts

Some like it plain, while others prefer colorful and bright; and there are others who want to have plenty of pictures and logos on their pages. MySpace Layouts provide people with what they seek and there are various MySpace Layouts that one can adopt and use in their page. Or if they like certain features from various MySpace Layouts, they can mix them up, tweak the html tags and create new theme for their page. Earlier when people wanted to make their pages or sites look cool and classic, they had to resort to taking the help of a professional, but now MySpace Layouts does the trick. If we were to spend some time browsing the net, we will find plenty of MySpace Layouts that look very unique and out of the ordinary. There would be some that are gothic MySpace Layouts or some that are filled with cars or gizmo based MySpace Layouts. You might have a close friend circle and you could get into a competition as to who can come up with the most interesting of the MySpace Layouts. For this purpose you need to find other sites that supply MySpace Layouts to you. Also known as pimping your space, these sites provide the users with colorful background pictures, some interesting funny pictures. At times there are adult content as well, but these need to be avoided if the site you are using it on is an open forum. But putting in any offensive language in the MySpace Layouts, you will not only be frowned upon, but your MySpace Layouts will not attract many. Ever since the social networking trend caught on, people have been signing up on not one but many other sites, and most of them have the feature of incorporating MySpace Layouts in them. If you want to change the feel of your page or give the visitor a surprise you can use the MySpace Layouts or the graphics or the banners from there to add fun to your page. You can then flaunt your MySpace Layouts and maybe even put it as part of your resume to showcase your creative talents. If you have managed to feed in a few images or slideshows that you created, these would add value to your page. And you could see a flurry of traffic on your page. If one visitor enjoys the MySpace Layouts, he will bring his friends along. It is like going to an art exhibition, except here they are MySpace Layouts that is doing the trick for you. Make sure to keep changing the MySpace Layouts every now and then to stop getting bored with your page. This will keep feeding the other members who come by something to look forward to.

Jumat, 01 April 2011

Get Rid Of Spyware From Your Computer

The Internet has revolutionized the whole ambit of communications and has proved to be a boon to mankind. However, its privacy and security is being threatened with Spyware, which can intrude into the computer and cause great damage to the whole system. Most malicious Spywares can access the valuable personal data that might be stored in your computer and cause financial and personal losses. If you don’t protect your computer from spyware, it will be just like keeping your doors open to unwanted elements. Your computer can get affected with Spyware or Adware very easily but this happens mostly through “pop up” ads, downloadable games, music and screensavers. Spyware is a term which covers a vast variety of illicit software that has the capability to intrude, intercept and take control of the operations of the computer that it invades without the approval of the owner or user of the computer. Spyware can help someone do the following illegal functions: 1) Read your e-mails 2) Access your e-mail list 3) Watch which keystrokes you are typing 4) Access your credit card information that might be stored in your computer 5) Get to know your passwords listed in your computer 6) Steal your social security number 7) Track all the websites that you visit It is, therefore, essential for you to know whether your computer is infected with spyware or not and the following are the positive signs regarding the existence of spyware: 1) If your computer starts running slower 2) If some programs do not run correctly 3) If you notice some programs that you were previously not aware of. These could have been installed by the spyware. Perfect Solution for detecting and removing Spyware from your computer The perfect antidote to the menace of spyware is to download a spyware detection tool, which will run a spyware detector and scan your computer for signs of existence of spyware. Most anti-spyware companies offer free trials for scanning and finding out whether the spyware is present or not. If the result is positive, you would have to use the full software to get rid of the spyware and safeguard your computer. After using a reputable anti-spyware tool, if you still having problems then what’s the solution? It is quite possible that even a good anti-spyware tool might not be able to obliterate unwanted malicious software from your computer. The reason could be that a single scan might not be enough and that you might need to operate a number of scans and you might even need to use a second program to completely erase all spyware and adware. It has been noticed that there is no anti-spyware that can attack all the threats posed by the spywares. Some anti-spyware programs can tackle certain threats and these are listed in the software. As such, it might be necessary to employ two or more anti-spyware tools to get rid of all unwanted software that might have heavily infested your computer. Since most anti-spyware tools specify which spyware variants they can detect and remove, it is advisable to use such a devise at the vendor’s premises in order to see its effectiveness and the areas that it can work on. You will thus get familiar with the various anti-spyware tools and with their names and functions. However, it is important to remember that when you apply these tools to remove the spyware from your computer, you should disconnect the same from the Internet connection. Just as a virus can invade your body and cause various diseases and even death, spyware can also invade your computer and cause irreparable damage. Use the anti-spyware tools as soon as you notice any spyware signs.