Category: Consumer Technology

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Why should I use Facebook?

I have been working in the computer industry for over 10 years and until recently I hated the idea of Facebook and other social media sites like MySpace and Twitter. 

At first I didn’t get Facebook. It looked like junky old web site pages with basic information about that person. I didn’t understand the attraction.  What I didn’t get at the time is what it evolved into. Facebook is the best way to stay in touch with other people who you know and care about. 

Is a lot of the content your friends post junk? Yes, yes it is, but the fact is when a buddy of mine from out of state posts anything, I can see it. 

This is the important part.  I wouldn’t normally talk to my out of state buddy on the phone or even via email. Why you ask? Because there just isn’t that much important stuff to talk about. However this is where Facebook becomes valuable.   

Facebook allows people to post the insignificant parts of their lives for all of their friends to see. Not everyone can see what they post, only the people they allow to be their friends.  Do I need to know my best friend is cleaning her room right now? No, probably not, but it’s nice to put a virtual marker out there. It allows me to know she’s ok and also allows me to share in her daily life, and vice versa. 

Here’s a good example. I was once on my way from South Florida to Tampa on a business trip. While in the car, I posted to Facebook that I was “On my way to Tampa for another business trip.” Well a friend of mine who I didn’t know had even moved to Tampa shot me a message and we ended up having dinner together and catching up. I would have never thought to call her, but since she was scanning Facebook at the time we were able to connect. 

Basically, Facebook is a passive way to stay in much greater contact with the people you wouldn’t normally bother actively calling or emailing. It allows everyone to be just a little bit closer in this era of overly busy multitasking we all find ourselves in. 

If you haven’t tried it yet, go ahead and give it a shot. You don’t have to post a thing.  Find your friends (and trust me they are probably already on there) and just see what happens. Facebook won’t email you everything people are doing.  When you have time you check it and catch up with friends.

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Stocks Gadget missing on Windows 7 RTM

If you have used this gadget you probably know that all of the other available stock gadgets don’t come close to its looks and ease of use. I was really disappointed to see Microsoft remove the gadget from the tool kit in the final version of Windows 7.

I am sure they had their reasons; my best guess is whoever provided the quotes for this gadget didn’t want to do it anymore? Or maybe because it does have a 20 minute delay and most apps are real time now?

I was able to find a solution to get the Stock Gadget running on Windows 7 RTM.

I will detail the solution here but to give credit where credit is due I found the solution here (thanks AthlonXP1800):
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproappcompat/thread/6fea0e6d-1074-492f-a76c-6af214802d1d

1) You will need to have the Gadget from Windows 7 RC1 (although I am sure its floating around the internet.) You can find the files you need at “C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\Stocks.Gadget” (copy the entire folder)

2) You will also need the “C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\wlsrvc.dll” DLL file from the Windows 7 RC1 machine.

NOTE: If you cannot find a Windows 7 RC1 machine you could try using these files from a Vista machines although I am not sure if it would work.

3) Click the Start button, type CMD, when it comes up right click on it and run as administrator (or just press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER after typing CMD)

4) Once the command prompt window is open type the following commands:

C:
CD “\Program Files\Windows Sidebar”
TASKKILL /F /T /IM SIDEBAR.EXE
TAKEOWN /f wlsrvc.dll
icacls wlsrvc.dll /grant %username%:F

5) Take that DLL file from your other machine and copy it to “c:\program files\windows sidebar”

6) Finally, copy the Stocks.Gadget Folder from the other machine and copy it to “c:\program files\windows sidebar\gadgets” folder.

7) You can restart the Sidebar application by running “c:\program files\windows sidebar\sidebar.exe” or by rebooting your PC.

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Comcast sucks. Why they don’t get it…

SUCKS

For the third day in a row my high speed internet has been disconnected. Why? Because my HOA (home owners association) has canceled my television service. Now if you are wondering what my TV service has to do with the interwebs, you and I are in the same boat.

Each day I have spent 30 minutes on the phone and they add my modem back to my account.

Today however I demanded 1 month’s service credit for the repeated interruption. The first two times I didn’t even bother to ask. First time I figured it was due to the HOA. Second time I thought ok that was strange. Third time, now they have wasted over an hour of my time.

So the first tech guy was nice and got me up and running and was “checking with billing” for my credit. He then blind transferred me to someone with the initials “WCI”. She asked who I was and what I wanted. I explained I thought I was on hold while the tech got a status on the refund. She then told me it was my fault because I use my own modem.

I want to make it perfectly clear that it’s a problem with their systems and only happened after the HOA stopped paying for TV service.

I cut WCI off and told her that was the final straw and if she was going to be so low as to blame me and my 2 month old cable modem then I didn’t want to be a customer any longer.

Then I got transferred to cancellations, they wanted to know why. I told them because of WCI’s attitude of blaming me. She then proceeded to tell me that they could only give me a credit for 3 days (about 3 dollars). So I canceled my service. I am a free man!

ATT U-Verse here I come!!! Lisa and I are very excited.

One final thing for those of you thinking of canceling, you always pay a month in advance so make sure to tell them to cancel the day that you are paid up to. It will give you enough time to make the switch.

Comcast, shame on you! Your middle managers really all need to be fired. I bet your top executives don’t even know how bad and unsympathetic your customer service is. Not once did any of the three customer service representative take one second to ask why my service was failing each day. All they cared about was handling me per their carefully constructed plan thought up by middle management, a plan which leads to lower hold times and displeased customers. Well ATT has U-Verse now, you need to get your act together or everyone is going to leave you and not even that colorful logo can save you now.

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Eric’s List of Best Must Have BlackBerry Storm Applications

I have seen a lot of these app lists in the past but they are never complete.  Since I seem to rebuild my Blackberry all the time I thought it would be nice to share a complete list of what applications I install for the BlackBerry Storm each time.  They are all free unless otherwise noted. Also a lot of these applications will work on standard Blackberries as well.

 
Must Have Applications for the BlackBerry Storm:

  

  • FaceBook
    • Actually made by RIM, it’s a clean, very deeply integrated client for the BlackBerry.
    • With version 1.6 you can do everything you need right from your mobile device.
    • http://www.blackberry.com/facebook  (from your wireless device)
        
  • BlackBerry App World
  • Pod Trapper
    • The #1 application on the BlackBerry Storm, period.
    • Allows for automatic download of Podcasts to your BB, will delete old ones automatically.
    • Great to have Audio and Video on BB for those times you have nothing to do.
    • Some really good Podcasts out there (will post a list of some of the good ones soon).
    • Paid Software ($10 and worth every penny).
    • Free 30 day trial.
    • http://www.versatilemonkey.com/ 
       
  • Visible Vote
    • A must have.
    • VV will show you all pending legislation and allow you to vote on it.
    • Once you have voted it will show you your state legislators and how many voted with you or against you.
    • Has some FaceBook integration too if you dare bring politics to FaceBook
    • Best part, when you vote it emails your senators letting them know how you would like them to vote.
    • http://visiblevote.us/blackberrybetainfo.php 
       
  • Slacker Radio
    • At work I use Pandora but on the road you have to use Slacker.
    • It has offline cache of up to 25 radio station for free (great for slow BB’s on t-mobile)
    • Advanced UI, easy to use.
    • http://www.slacker.com (from your wireless device) 
       
  • Google Maps
    • Google always knocks it out of the park.
    • Best app for maps and directions.
    • Also great for looking at local traffic.
    • http://m.google.com/maps (from your wireless device) 
       
  • YouTube
    • Another great app for the BlackBerry Storm from Google.
    • It’s a really rich full featured application for watching YouTube videos. 
       
  • Mobi Pocket
  • CoinToss for BB
  • Weather Bug
    • Uses GPS to tell you local weather without having to type in where you are.
    • Get it right off the App World for Free. 
       
  • Staples Easy Button
  • StormSketch

Honorable Mention Applications: 

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Windows 7 performance on your next Netbook?

So I recently got a new Dell Mini 10 notebook. I had always planned to rebuild it on Windows 7 but before I did I thought I would take a benchmark test. Everyone thought that Windows 7 would be slower on a Netbook. The following test shows otherwise.

Turns out it was almost twice as fast.

Windows XP Windows 7

Total Performance Rating

99.1

172.2

I don’t have much to explain it. The only thoughts I have are that Windows 7 was designed to run on Netbooks. Also given that selling point they may have tweaked Windows 7 to run better on benchmark tests giving an inflated result. Also the XP benchmark was taken with all of the Dell preloaded software on it which could have been slowing the system down.

In any event, that should show everyone that if you are thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 but are worried about speed, you have nothing to worry about.

Test Name

Windows XP

Windows 7
CPU – Integer Math

17.7

21.6
CPU – Floating Point Math

81.5

94.9
CPU – Find Prime Numbers

54.4

65.0
CPU – Multimedia Instructions

0.9

1.1
CPU – Compression

618.7

708.3
CPU – Encryption

2.3

2.6
CPU – Physics

14.7

16.3
CPU – String Sorting

307.4

382.1
Graphics 2D – Solid Vectors

1.7

0.6
Graphics 2D – Transparent Vectors

1.0

0.7
Graphics 2D – Complex Vectors

31.2

17.2
Graphics 2D – Fonts and Text

18.4

21.8
Graphics 2D – Windows Interface

21.4

11.5
Graphics 2D – Image Filters

74.1

72.9
2D Graphics – Image Rendering

73.0

83.8
Graphics 3D – Simple

8.9

62.4
Graphics 3D – Medium

3.4

6.4
Graphics 3D – Complex

1.0

1.6
Memory – Allocate Small Block

681.2

682.1
Memory – Read Cached

626.8

715.5
Memory – Read Uncached

569.1

597.8
Memory – Write

559.6

616.5
Memory – Large RAM

75.2

76.1
Disk – Sequential Read

43.4

38.3
Disk – Sequential Write

47.0

43.3
Disk – Random Seek + RW

2.2

2.0
CPU Mark

254.2

305.2
2D Graphics Mark

139.8

87.3
Memory Mark

173.9

186.2
Disk Mark

334.7

302.1
3D Graphics Mark

9.1

31.4
Total Performance Rating

99.1

172.2


  • Dell Inspiron 1010
  • Inspiron 1010, Intel Atom Processor Z530, 1.6GHz, 533MHzFSB, 512K L2 Cache
  • 1GB RAM
  • 10.1 Inch High Definition Widescreen Display (1366×768)
  • Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
  • 160GB, 2.5inch, 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
  • Genuine Windows XP Home Edition SP3
  • Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini Card
  • Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
  • 56WHr Lithium-Ion (larger batter)
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Dell Mini 10 Review


Dude I got a Dell! Thanks to my work I was able to get a Dell Mini 10 fully loaded for around $125. Because I was buying two other very expensive computers they were giving away a Mini for 50$. After I added extra features it ended up costing me $125.

Here are the quick specs.

  • Dell Inspiron 1010
  • Inspiron 1010, Intel Atom Processor Z530, 1.6GHz, 533MHzFSB, 512K L2 Cache
  • 1GB RAM
  • 10.1 Inch High Definition Widescreen Display (1366×768)
  • Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
  • 160GB, 2.5inch, 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
  • Genuine Windows XP Home Edition SP3
  • Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini Card
  • Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
  • 56WHr Lithium-Ion (larger batter)

What is a Netbook?

A Netbook is simply a really small and low cost computer. Now if you are telling yourself that sounds really good, there is a catch. Its really slow by design. They should only be considered a good idea if all you do is browse the web and check your email. Even installing office on a Netbook may be too much for it to handle.

So how slow is it?

Well it seemed very sluggish but Dell had loaded a lot of junk software on it. It definitely could be used for the home research terminal. You know, looking up stuff on Google, keeping some recipes, that kind of thing.

Why the Dell Mini?

It was Dell because of the deal I got, however, I had my choice of the Dell 9, 10, or 12. There was two reasons why I picked the 10. First was that it’s a Netbook and the smaller the better. The only reason I didn’t pick the 9 was that it doesn’t have the function key row and the keys are too tiny for my fingers. The second reason was because it has an HDMI port.

What did I want it for?

My plan was to use it with a software called Boxee to watch Hulu and other internet TV. However the Video card (Intel GMA 500) just isn’t strong enough to stream video. Real bummer.

Other bad things?

Yeah the touch pad sucks, the buttons are built into it and because of that you keep moving the mouse by accident.


The bad video card really sucks, and the other downside is it’s the only Netbook in the world with non-removable memory. With most you can take out the 1GB stick and upgrade to 2GB.

What now?

Well its useless to me for what I really wanted it for but I got lucky. I found out they make a Dell Mini 1010v which ironically is cheaper and has a better video card (the Intel GMA 945) and can be upgraded to 2GB. The only downside? Can’t get the HD screen, but if my real goal is to hook it to the TV then I am cool with it. I will be returning this one and should have the new one next week.

Below is a comparison between the two.


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HowTo: Using Word 2007 to Post Blogs with Images (Cut and Paste to Blog)

So I had a blog previously on blogger. The reason I went with Blogger was because it was bought by Google and I thought it would be the best.

However it started to be a huge pain to attach images. I am a screenshot kind of guy. I think any story is better told with a screenshot. Take this awesome speed test from my house as an example:


Now I could have just told you I got over 20MB buts the picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is how you do it:

First you have to use Word Press, other than SharePoint (which is really an option for consumers) it’s the only blogging site with build-in support for image attachment.

  1. Open Word
  2. Click the Office Button at the top left of the windows
  3. Then click New


  4. Then click the New Blog Post


  5. Notice the Blogging interface is different than the normal word interface.


    1. Ether a wizard will come up or click “Manage Accounts” and add. Click Register Now if you get the wizard.


    1. This should bring up the New Blogging Account window.
    2. Simple pick WordPress (make sure you already have an account) and finish the wizard.
    3. Then make a post, copy an image, then paste it in.
    4. Press the publish and you are done!