Skip to main content

Gadget Wisdom

Category: Lifestyle

0 Responses

You Can Now Break the Software Locks on your Cell Phone

As CNN reports, new copyright rules announced Wednesday allow cell phone owners to break software locks in order to use them with competing carriers.

The U.S. Copyright Office determined that consumers cannot enjoy full legal use of their cell phones because of software locks added by the providers block access to the phones’ programs. Since ownership of the cell phone is technically that of the customer, restricting the software means that they are putting an artificial limit on the hardware.

For those of you choosing to stay with your provider, the advantages come with features that are locked out. For example, many providers lock out the feature allowing you to transfer ringtones or pictures taken with a camera phone to a computer using a data cable so that they can charge you for transfer over the network. Ringtones and such are big business.

Published on December 3, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Nintendo for the AARP Generation

Nintendo showed up last month at the Life@50+ event, the New York Times reports, sponsored by AARP in Anaheim, California. Promoting games to generation more used to board and card games might seem like a stretch or a reach, but it is apparently working in some countries.

Nintendo in Japan has been focusing on producing products for an older generation, including a which puts players through a daily routine of number games, word puzzles, and reading exercises. They were offering the US Version of this, called Brain Age, at the AARP event.

We think the idea of designing computer games for an older generation is a good one. Marketing to them may be a bit harder, but as with many other things, if you feed an untapped market with well-designed, thought-out, and tested products, you will not only be successful financially, but you will be starting a new trend.

Published on November 30, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Ten Things Not to Do With Your Hard Drive

We’re always amused when we read of the foolish things people have done with their important information. Protecting your data, if that data is important to you, takes some foresight.

The people at Silicon.com have put together briefs of foolish things people have done to their hard drives or other data sources. The list includes:

  • Formatting your drive…ten times
  • Leaving a banana to rot on top of your hard drive
  • Mailing your drive in for repair in a pair of dirty socks
  • Dropping it
  • Spraying WD-40 into a drive to quiet it
  • Dropping it from a helicopter

Now…we can’t emphasize this enough…backup your data…protect your data…disaster may strike at any moment. And if it does…the services that specialize in data extraction cost big bucks.

Published on November 19, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

For Those of You Who Like Macs

As Wired reports, Justin Long, well known as the face of the Mac in their recent Get a Mac campaign, will not appear in that series of commercials when they resume.

Long plays opposite John Hodgman, who plays the role of a PC. Now, we think Hodgman steals the show from Long, despite the fact that Long plays the product that Apple is trying to push.
Get a Mac Actors

For years, we did criticize the Mac when you had to buy all the hardware from Apple and could not do anything with it yourself. We still recall the Performa which we spent hours trying to disassemble to replace the battery that controlled the clock. Even that supposedly required an Apple technician. The Performa(feel free to comment to disagree) stunk as a computer.

But in recent years, the Mac unveiled OS X – which is actually a UNIX based operating system. That allowed hundreds of open-source programs designed for UNIX systems to be easily ported over. The creation of USB as a standard had already made the purchase of peripherals that were Mac compatible easy, and then Apple opted to switch the processor line for the Macintosh to Intel, the processor that most PCs are based on(No, we aren’t forgetting AMD). Intel processors aside, the hardware standardization and the switch to an operating system that incorporated the best Apple GUIs had to offer with the power of UNIX removed most of our fundamental objections to the Macintosh.

That just left the price point and the fact you can’t build one yourself from parts. But, we have no trouble considsering them as an option for those for which they are suited. For those of us with tight budgets, a PC running a free Linux distribution might be almost as good. Of course, Linux and free means no tech support.

Published on November 10, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Free PDF Software

CutePDF is a third-party software package for the creation and manipulation of PDF files. Several of these products have come onto the market as Adobe’s Portable Document Format(PDF) becomes more and more popular to offer alternatives to Adobe Acrobat.

CutePDF offers a free product, the CutePDF Writer, which uses a Postscript to PDF converter, for example Ghostscript(A staples on UNIX-based systems) to create a virtual printer that turns the printer output of any program into a PDF. There is also an optional free addon that requires you to install adware in order to use it. However, the Writer itself has no such strings attached.

For those of you who want to eliminate the free Adobe Acrobat Reader there is the Foxit Reader from Foxit Software.  Adobe Acrobat Reader is a bloated and slow program which installs resident on your system, using resources even when not being used, and requires you to wait through a long splash screen to pull your file. Foxit Reader allows you to read and print PDFs. There are addons for the reader that cost money. They allow annotation, saving PDFs to text files, etc. Foxit also offers a Creator and Editor which are available at a charge.

For the simple creation and viewing of PDF files, these two pieces of software work.

Published on November 10, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Windows Vista is Coming

The other day we received an email advising us that Vista was coming and suggesting we download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Vista is due to be released in January, and the smart move is to review the information. We all know eventually we won’t be able to hold onto XP and be forced to shell out money to Microsoft.
So, we tried the Vista Advisor on a Dell E1405 laptop running Windows XP Media Center Edition. It informed us that Windows Vista Home Premium appeared to be the best version for us. Home Premium is akin to XP MCE, it includes Windows Media Center.
The other flavors of Vista are Home Basic, Business, and Ultimate. Home Basic is equivalent to the current Home version. Business includes not only the advanced networking functions that are stripped out of every XP version but Pro, but extra security tools and backup. Ultimate includes all the business functions and the Premium Media functions.

The question you must ask is: Why Switch? Ultimately, as we mentioned, XP will be obsolete, fewer and fewer programs and drives will run, and we’ll feel the peer pressure. But for the early days, until it is time to replace a computer…what makes Vista worth it?

Pricewise: Home Basic will retail at $199, $99 for upgraders; Premium $239, $159 for upgraders; Business, $299, $199 for upgraders; Ultimate, $399, $259 for upgraders.

Now…you could buy a computer for these prices…not top of the line…but should your OS cost as much as the system? If you buy OEM, they will probably give you one of these options, most likely Home Basic. But for an upgrader or a builder…let’s get into more detail.

Vista overall makes useful improvements in multiple areas. The majority of XP Users log in using administrative privileges to have full access to features and thus leave themselves open to various security issues. A new feature called User Access Control allows one to log on as a standard user but perform certain tasks with enhanced privileges. This is possible under XP using the RunAs command…however its implementation is not convenient. Either way, many programs written for Windows do not properly implement their own security under the XP Security model and may not under Vista. PC Magazine noted that the feature is plagued by implementation problems and frequent popup windows that may cause users to disable it entirely, negating its point. Other security improvements include Microsoft Defender, an antispyware program and IE7 which was just released for XP.

On the useless, or at least minimally practical side of things is Windows Aero, a new graphical user interface that will require state of the art processors and graphical hardware to be able to run. It looks nice, but those who buy Home Basic won’t even get it and many power users will turn it off to avoid the performance hits.

There is more…increased search functions, new designs, and it will come out at the same time as Office 2007(Another product to dump your money on).
If you decide to buy a computer from a manufacturer before Vista is released though, note that some manufacturers as well as Microsoft itself will be offering free upgrades to Vista if you buy during the holiday season, since it was unable to release in time for the lucrative holiday sales market. For more details on the various manufacturers, click here.

In conclusion, if you get Vista…enjoy it. But it is not yet worth the investment. For those of us a bit more frugal, we will be unveiling a new category here on Gadget Wisdom…Free Software. Remember, Free does not mean bad.

Published on November 10, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Updating your Computer

For most people, the most involved they get into updating the software that runs their company is when they buy a new version at the store, see the pesky Windows Update notice, or if some technical support technician advises you to as a way of avoiding actually trying to solve your problem. Remember this…the companies who manufactured your software put out updates to improve its functioning and correct bugs. Top of this list is Microsoft, which seems to patch a new security hole every day.
Assuming you use Windows, here is our advice:

  1. Check for BIOS updates. The BIOS is the most basic part of your system. BIOS updates can improve the functioning of your processor, allow you to adjust the clock speed more efficiency, add new control options…etc.
  2. After that, look for driver updates for your hardware. It may not necessarily be working poorly…but couldn’t it be working better? Have the latest versions of everything.
  3. You probably have Automatic Windows Update enabled, but try running it manually every so often. Or disable the automatic and run it manually once a month. It will save on those annoying required restarts.
  4. After this, periodically check the websites of your frequently used software for updates.

Note: Periodically to us means about once a month for these things. It will take a few minutes, and ensure your computer has the latest updates to your software.

Published on November 2, 2006
Full Post
2 Responses

U3 USB Drives

Not long ago, we gave you our basic advice on buying USB flash memory drives, also known as Jumpdrives, after the popular Lexar line. We commented we did not have enough funding to review a large selection of drives.

Then we moved on to some advice on security and data protection using these drives. We suggested you visit Portableapps.com for some applications that can run on a flash drive.

But, for those of us who don’t want to put together our own Windows-based selection of portable applications, there is U3. U3 is backed by various USB flash memory producers and is a system that “turns simple storage devices into USB smart drives.” Essentially, it combines data protection, portable applications, and password protection against a single standard several companies used.

We picked up a U3 smart drive, the SanDisk 1 GB Cruzer Micro with U3 ( SDCZ6-1024-A10, Retail Package) at our local Staples for $19.99 after a mail-in rebate. The Cruzer Micro is a U3 Smart Drive with a retractable USB connector. It has its issues. It certainly looks flimsy…although no one is going to try and run it over with a car. The retractable USB is nice, but with it being designed to go on a keychain, without a cover…the connector will likely fill up with lint and other pocket dirt.

The biggest complaint with this item for some is the U3. The U3 software can be uninstalled, turning it back into a standard USB drive…which you can then install the same portable applications on. What the U3 software does is link in built-in encyption as well as a menu launcher. The problem is that this software launches automatically and tried to reboot the computers we put it into. It also is Windows specific. Both of these can be showstoppers if you want to be mobile. The computers of your friends, as well as public terminals, don’t appreciate something that looks like malicious software.

Ultimately, for those users willing to put up with it, U3 is a nice and convenient way to run a good basic set of applications off of a USB drive with a minimum of difficulty. And you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.

Published on October 19, 2006
Full Post
0 Responses

Turning Your Key into a Flashlight

We’re always looking for new and amusing items to report on, and often CrunchGear finds something simple and useful that proves that innovation is not dead.

We found this item, the True Utility Locklite…which is an LED light that affixes directly to the housekey, becoming a part of it. It is simple, elegant…and we wonder why no one has thought of it before. Unfortunately, the manufacturer is a British company, and we could not…so far find a US distributor to refer you to…the one downside.

Published on October 19, 2006
Full Post
1 Response

Tips on Buying a PC

SeekingAlpha’s Sound Money Tips is a good source for interesting advice for cost-conscious individuals. We do not always agree with their advice, but it is certainly a good starting point. Today, they present their Tips on Buying a New Desktop PC. Their three tips are…

  1. Back to Basics
  2. Remember Memory
  3. Process This

Back to Basics advises you to avoid frills, but make sure the basics you buy are easily upgradeable. We agree that fancy components can add to the bottom line of your price, but the question is what you plan to do with the computer. Prune down the list of things you want to do with the computer to the most important, and start your design with that. You can always add extras later if the company isn’t offering a good bundle rate for them.
Remember Memory…Memory is a very easy to accomplish upgrade that most non-technicians can do themselves. It is not as delicate as CPU replacement. Remember that many PC manufacturers will give you 2 pieces of RAM to reach your total amount as it is cheaper to them than giving you one piece of the total size. Remember…sometimes it is worth a little extra to have that extra slot available for later. Obviously you should get the type of memory your computer’s motherboard uses(just remember there isn’t only one type), and while size is a consideration…memory speed can also enhance your offerings. Unlike megabytes, speed has to be the same across the chips to get the benefit.

Process This…the CPU is the heart of your computer. A program goes from your hard drive, to your RAM, to your CPU. Slowdowns at any stage can mean performance decreases, although the percentage of performance varies. Intel and AMD both have their advantages. For the last few years, AMD had outpaced Intel in the 64-bit and dual core areas, but reports indicate Intel’s new dual core offering blew AMD out of the water. However, AMD has a lower average price point.

Obviously, the issue is more complicated than that. Specific issues of processors, memory, etc will likely be addressed in future articles. For now…just remember rule of thumb if you aren’t building it yourself…never buy bottom of the barrel…always try to buy somewhere in the low-end of middle of the price spectrum at the least.

Published on October 18, 2006
Full Post

Get New Posts By Email