External USB drives make a lot of sense for computer users not comfortable with upgrading their laptop or desktop internal drives and as a backup device. Photos, movie clips, music, pdf, and other image files take up vast amounts of storage space on your hard drive. One friend of mine’s daughter, a former Apple Store genius, has 1.5 Terabytes of online media stored. Read the rest of this entry »
External Hard Drives Are Handy and Cheap
December 21st, 2009The Prius of Printers - Laser Printers
December 8th, 2009That ink in your inkjet printer costs about 300 to 500 times the cost of gasoline, according to research by the . So if there was technology that would let you save ink in the same way that a hybrid car saves gasoline, that can mean hundreds of dollars per year in reducing printing expenses. While there is no hard and fast rule, Read the rest of this entry »
Kick the Cable TV Habit - Save $1300
June 4th, 2009Kicking the cable TV habit saves my household over $1300 per year. At my prior house, the Comcast cable bill for Digital Preferred service, with two HD boxes and NO DVR ran $113 per month. No HBO, Showtime, or sports upgrade is included in that princely monthly sum. Giving up CNN, ESPN, HGTV, FoodNetwork, and local city council meetings is a small price to pay for such big savings.
Last fall when I moved out of downtown, trying to get Over the Air programming was horrible with any combination of rabbit ears or set top boxes. The solution proved to be only about a $50 outlay. Read the rest of this entry »
Free Software is Green Two Ways
May 7th, 2009Free software is green technology. First, it saves you the green in your wallet. In these times, every bit helps. Also, you don’t need to buy add on anti-virus software, for more green savings. Second, free software is distributed in an environmentally friendly manner. It is available via download on the Internet. So there is no need to order a retail package encased in the indestructible clear plastic packaging. It also means that no delivery vehicles, either warehouse to your house, or warehouse to big box, are involved.
Third and most importantly, it helps to promote reuse of technology, rather than recycling. Prolonging the life of an existing PC for another 3-4 years is more environmentally friendly than recycling, even when the energy savings costs on newer technology is figured in. Read the rest of this entry »
Impress Mom on Mother’s Day
April 20th, 2009
MSI Wind Nettop - As tall as a wine bottle
There has been the old adage, don’t give a woman a device with an electric plug for a special occasion. Given the number of pink and other girly colored electronic devices, I think that times have changed.
Anyway a homemade gift these days is perfectly appropriate anytime for parents, particularly in our financially strapped economy. So how about investing about 30 minutes of your time to build a pc perfectly sized for the kitchen with your son(s) and/or daughter(s) for mom? Read the rest of this entry »
Sell High, Buy Low, Pocket $400 +
March 30th, 2009I wonder how many Best Buy customers who bought big ticket items with no interest financing still have the product they purchased? If you examine some of the on line sales sites, there are many almost new computers, tvs, etc., for sale for people who need to pay the rent or utilities.
In any event, since the beginning of the year, I sold my two laptops, a 17″ HP I bought new last June and a black Macbook from Black Friday 2006. No they didn’t have deferred financing on them. A new new laptop and a netbook were bought as replacements; most astoundingly, I managed to pocket over $400 at the same time. Read the rest of this entry »
HDTV Dual Purpose - Save at Least $100
March 27th, 2009This one is so simple I almost dared not post this idea. If you are still using a CRT with your desktop or thinking of trading an older laptop for a diminutive netbook with a 9″-10″ screen and need to replace a bedroom TV, think about combining your video output into a single small format LCD high definition television of 19 to 32 inches. Gamers have been hooking their Wiis, Xboxes, and Playstations up, so why not a PC for more pedestrian uses?
Almost every LCD HDTV comes with at least an analog standard VGA port, in addition to the other 3-4 inputs to feed signals into your television. Some of the newer media oriented desktops and laptops have Read the rest of this entry »
Operating System Installations Comparison: A Surprising Winner
March 27th, 2009
Asus eee Netbook 1000HE $389, Apple Decal Priceless
When it comes to setup, not all operating systems are created equal. Some require quite a bit more tuning than others. And you’d be surprised which one is the winner in terms of speed. In the last two weeks, I have had the occasion to do sell a laptop, buy a netbook, work with three operating system installations:
- Sell my black Macbook
- Buy the highly rated Asus 1000HE netbook
- Install both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux on a Dell Desktop
If you plan to sell your computer, you should plan to at least reformat and reload the original operating system. If you have experienced a slowdown in your PC, found certain devices no longer working, acquired an impossible to get rid of virus or endless popups, you may want to reload your operating system as well. Just be sure to back up your data, photos, audio, etc, first. Below is my recent experience in operating system installations. Read the rest of this entry »
Spring Tech Tuneup
March 23rd, 2009After a cold and snowy winter, spring couldn’t have arrived soon enough. We’ve already set back our clocks to daylight savings time and welcomed spring last week. While many electronic gizmos are part of our daily life, some gear, like cameras, camcorders, and gps may only be used intermittently. A few minutes spent to make sure all is well will make the Kodak moments more enjoyable. Below are some tips to make sure that you’re ready to capture those spring events like Easter, commencement, and impromptu moments outside. Read the rest of this entry »
Use Web 2.0 and Save Big
March 20th, 2009Using Web 2.0 social networking in a paired up purchase last week helped save about 20% on a $490 purchase of a printer and netbook. There are great promotions out on the retail landscape, but often you have to fulfill one of several requirements: Read the rest of this entry »