Archive for the ‘Advice’ Category
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 |
Disney has put a fully featured remote controlled WALL•E up for pre-orders today. This is definitely something I would LOVE to get, since it does contain some cool AI functions. You can tell it to follow you, or to go explore - and he will do just that making it not just as any other remotely controlled toy. My cat will love it for sure!
One thing bothers me, and that’s what’s written under Additional Information box:
WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
What a fart is all this about? What chemical is it? All these toys lately made in China are becoming way too dangerous, or in reality, they were always dangerous but lately we are at least (vaguely) informed of the dangers they bring.
I guess at least it is not Radioactive (or is it?), like the Glowing Lanyards a Japanese couple was arrested for selling… [read here]
If you still want it, it’s available now at Disney store for preorder for $249 bucks.
Does anyone know what the chemical is? It might be something miniscule but still I’d like to know 
Posted in Advice, Gadgets, Toys | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 |
Starting with announcements last year, and first version of EEE PC’s and OLPC’s hitting the market, the world of under-powered Sub-Notebook mobile PC’s is getting quite a stir.
A lot of people are in the market for getting one, but the choice has now become really hard.
Here’s the current line up of all of these Mini PC’s which came out, and some newer modes and brands coming out this year. If any new one is announced or if I’ve missed any, let me know and I’ll add it to the list.
OLPC - One Laptop Per Child Project’s XO Laptop
Starting at the beginning, one of the first real products which users could buy was the OLPC. The mission of the One Laptop Per Child association was to develop a low-cost laptop ($100 dollars) - the XO Laptop - and to provide the children around the world with a computer. The incentive was to buy one for a kid in a 3rd World country and get one for yourself. It worked more less well even though it ended up costing way more than $100 USD, but the cause was good and specs were not too shabby either.
Wireless B/G/S network (supporting Mesh Networking) which enables kids to chat with other users on the closed network and share single Internet connection.
OS: Fedora-based Linux
Comes with: microphone and camera integrated and runs on AMD’s Geode LX700 CPU. Has a 1GB Flash Drive and 256 MB of Ram.
All in all - this was and is a nice computer for kids around the world who had nothing before, but how I see it, the main thing this little laptop did is start a little revolution.
Link: http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php
EEE PC - Easy to learn, Easy to Work, Easy to play PC (EEE 900)
Before we knew it, ASUS announced the super famed EEE PC last year. People eagerly awaited and as soon as it came out it was instantly sold out at many places. In just five months Asus has sold over 1 milion units! Since the new model with a larger screen and more memory has been introduced, I will not talk here about the first generation of Asus’ EEE PC (the 700 series), but rather about the Second Gen EEE Pc, the 900 Series.
The new version of EEE 900 was officially launched in Hong-Kong on April 16, 2008 starting at about $513 USD (in US it will cost a bit more most likely). While it is a tinny bit larger than it’s predecessor, it does offer more. It has a multi-touch trackpad (similar to MacBook Air) allowing two-finger scrolling and zooming via the “pinch” gesture. It is also finally available in both Linux (Xandros) and Windows XP versions.
The Linux version is named EeePC 900 and comes with a 20GB of storage (4GB built in and 16GB flash), while the XP version is named EeePC900 Win - and it comes with 12GB of storage (4GB built in and 8GB flash). Microsoft Works and Windows Live Suite come pre-installed on the Windows version. (more…)
Posted in Advice, Laptops, Notebooks, Sub-notebook, UMPC | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 |
If you are looking to put a website on line, one of the hardest things will be finding a good, reliable web host.
Choosing a web host is not a trivial thing. There are many aspects to consider besides the price, which most of times matter more than the price you pay for hosting. Here are some tips on what to look for:
(more…)
Posted in Advice, How-to, Web Hosting | No Comments »
Friday, February 8th, 2008 |
I got a couple of emails from people asking how could they get the pretty little Chip-in widget I have on the right side of the blog.
It’s quite easy actually. You go to ChipIn.com, open a free account, fill in the details about your cause (for accepting donations), and you get a nice little code you can paste on your blog or website. They will even show you on how to paste it on one of the most common blogs, like MySpace, TypePad, Blogger, etc.
Once the code is pasted, it can look many different ways. Either like the small chip-in on the right side of this blog, or like one of 7 other choices they offer. They got sizes that fit all needs! You can also have multiple chip-ins
Now get your Chip on and get some cash There are nice people all over the place who actually do donate so there is no reason not to have one on your site. Good luck
Posted in Advice, Widgets | No Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008 |
Starting a business is never easy. Good tips are always welcome on both what you should do and on what you should avoid.
Over at Young Entrepreneur website, I found a very nice post about the top 10 mistakes when starting a business. Hope you find it useful.
Another site I find useful, since we’re on this subject, is FreelanceSwitch.com.
Via: YoungEntrepreneur.com
Posted in Advice, Business | No Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008 |
The new Penryin Core 2 Duo CPU’s, those smaller, faster and less power consuming chips, are slowly creeping into many new computers.
Latest one to add Penryin to their line of notebooks is Dell.
Dell’s Penryn update has finally made its way around the globe to Gee Dubya land. The XPS M1330 is at the front of the queue with $400, 2.5GHz T9300 or $675, 2.6GHz T9500 processor options above the wimpiest CPU config. Not exactly free but then we don’t have to deal with Big Red droppings on the lawn either. We should see the rest of Dell’s XPS and Inspiron laptops go Penryn before the day is done.
– Engadget
Since this is still very new tech, the prices are a bit steep, but expect that to go down very soon. Many more manufacturers will be incorporating Intel’s new sprinter into all of their machines so don’t rush out yet. Wait and see what Apple comes out with. MacBook Pro’s have been long overdue and you should expect new revamp within 2-3 months (my estimate).
If you want to get a PC, and maybe even Dell, you might ask - Why Wait?
Dell’s 1530 XPS Notebook can come configurable with a BlueRay drive, but 1330 does not have it yet. It seems though that BlueRay may be coming to it’s smaller cousin very soon.
[...] the latest BIOS update for the popular XPS M1330 lists support for an unspecified "Blu-ray / DVD +/- RW Combo Drive." No word on when we’ll see these actually for order, but if you were in the market for an M1330, you might consider holding off until these become available.
– Engadget again :) - [link to Dell's Bios Udpate]
When buying a new laptop this year, make sure you look for these things:
- OLED displays (they are brighter and they spend less battery)
- BluRay drives (DVD’s are too small and HD/DVD is Dead)
- Penryn Core 2 Duo CPUs T5000/T7000 (fast, small, battery friendly)
- No less than 2GB of RAM.
A long battery life of at least 3-5 hours would be good as well. Apple is known for long lasting battery life, alas, not really the case with MacBook Air 
My MacBook Pro turns out 3.5 - 4 hours without braking a sweat.
Get Dell: click here.
Posted in Advice, BluRay, CPU, Dell, Penryin | No Comments »
