Category Archives: tech

Geeky Stuff, tech

My Shopping List…

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 NerdDad and I have decided that we need a new desktop computer. We haven’t bought a computer since Windows Vista and that was about 3 years ago.

I have to say that I am a bit overwhelmed at all the choices that out there! I usually love Dell computers but I want to make sure that I am getting the most for my money but… I don’t want to settle for something that will be buggy later. If we aren’t shopping with Dell we usually shop reconditioned at CompUSA but we tend to have little issues with those later. This will be a computer we will keep for a while because it will probably become a media computer in a few years or a kid computer;).

So what are we looking for?

  1. A Windows machine (No, I am not buying an Apple. Period)
  2. Under $700
  3. Probably at least an i3 but probably more
  4. We want to run 2 screens!
  5. I want to Skype and stream video for a possible Web show.
  6. Want to play video games
  7. Blogging, of course but that is such a small resource demand
  8. Running a Virtual Machine for NerdDad’s projects
  9. Run VNC well (again, not a huge demand)
  10. Want it to run fairly quietly & cool (previous issues)
That isn’t really all that much. The challenge is knowing what is over kill versus a little room to grow. How much Ram should I get? How many cores? A little SSD? What level of a graphics card?
Ugh! So much research to do! Anyone have any wisdom?

Geeky, Link Love, tech

Geeky Links 9/17

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Ars Technica has a great piece talking about Intel’s $300 Million Ultrabook fund that is designed to take on Apple!

Discovery has a piece on how to boost your wifi signal with only a beer can. I think we will use a Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry can instead but I think it will be ok;).

Blastr has a piece on 4 Awesome items that stars of the original series took home.

The BBC has a piece on the new World’s Record holder for collecting Daleks. Hull isn’t a fan of the Doctor but is fascinated by Daleks. This doesn’t bode well for humans;).

Apps, Reviews, tech

Make Phone Calls on Your iPad

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I just got my brand new iPad 2 and am loving checking out all the cool apps that are making my life better! My most recent free find is Talk a Tone.

This is a great utility for utilizing you free Google voice! It is super easy to use where you just input your Google voice info. Then you can both make and receive calls! Your a given different compression choices and the sound is pretty good. Depending on your connection there may be just a little lag buy I haven’t found it to be a problem at all.

So go, talk and enjoy! All for free!

tech, Tech Tuesday

The Ubuntu Way

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Thanks for joining my for Tech Tuesday! Did you know that Linux has surpassed Windows in instillations? But that is mostly on professional machines like web servers and data centers. I think it is time that we see widespread acceptance of Linux on personal computers! Which brings us to the star of this week’s Tech Tuesday: Ubuntu!

Ubuntu is a free Linux operating system and it rocks! Before you all panic, you can install it so you can dual boot (when you can boot up in Ubuntu or Windows).  But why? It is a system maximizing operating system! We have it installed on a kids computer that only has 512 of ram and the kids have no problem playing all their internet games! It doesn’t crash and it runs so much faster than the same system would run on Windows!

Some people tell me that they don’t want Ubuntu because of all the Windows programs they like. Well, a lot of these problems are eliminated by either living in the Google Cloud (with Google Docs) or by using Open Office. I have found that Open Office can convert most documents for me and save them back to a Windows readable format. Anyone can send you a pdf if all you need is the information.  And I do have a dual boot system to help me print my coupons but that is all I use it for;).

Ok, so you all can see I love Ubuntu! Get it, use it, love it;).

Have you used Ubuntu? What is stopping you from using it? Or are you using it and loving it? Let me know!

tech, Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday: Dropbox

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Everyone knows that backing up your data is vital! And in this age of cloud computing (not being tied to one computer) you want to be able to has great mobility. Well, for this issues and more, I introduce Dropbox.

Dropbox is installed on your computer(s) and you place your files right in it. They are still on your hard drive but when you change them they are automatically backed up online. When you sign up you can get 2 Gb right off and more if you have referrals (so please sign up through my links;).

You can log in from any computer and access those files. NerdDad uses 4 different computers and doesn’t have to keep track of a jumpdrive;). I use is on our media computer and both sides of my laptop (Windows and Ubuntu). You can also share files with others. NerdDad and I no longer have to email documents back and forth!

So there is my ringing endorsement for Dropbox and if you don’t believe me, Techzilla also endorses it;). And if 2Gb aren’t enough, you can buy more space!

Make sure you come back next Tuesday to see what free (or nearly free) tech resource I am going to blog about on Tech Tuesday!

tech, Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday: Original Video Content

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So for the last Tech Tuesday I talked about places to get free television content. But there is other stuff out there to watch! Original content is something that is really developing. Right now there are just a few sources that I currently go to.

Revision 3 is a great producer of podcasts! They have podcasts on tech, pop culture, etc.

TWiT (which stands for This Week in Technology) produces shows beyond just TWiT. They cover just about everything in tech.

YouTube is of course a source of tons of original content. I have found great comedy stuff, parodies, you name it. There are some great web series available. The most notable may be The Guild.  Now that YouTube is taking the 15 minute limit off submissions I think we are going to be seeing even more original content with more full series.

I am always looking for good, quality, family friendly content so I will post as I find more! But do you have any great sources? Please share!!!

headlines, politics, tech

Net Neutrality or Free Market?

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Ok, before you all jump down my throat please hear me out.

On the whole I believe that the government getting involved in any industry and regulating it or making rules for it is bad. I think the whole net neutrality thing is a perfect example. Why, because it is only needed because the government got involved in the internet game to begin with. I know it sounds far fetched and crazy but bear with me because I will get back to this point.

For those who aren’t familiar let me do a basic over view along with why it is needed. Those who are familiar hop down to the next paragraph. Basically by the Federal government adopting net neutrality it would mean that all internet would be considered equal. Why is that important? Lets supposed that your internet carrier is Comcast. When you are downloading your Netflix On Demand Comcast may slow down your service. That could be so you don’t “slow the network” or because they want you to get premium channels through them and not get Mad Men through Netflix. Either way you are paying for a service and your traffic should be considered equal with everyone else. Internet companies will point out that there are people clogging traffic by downloading bit-tor material (which is usually illegal) so it is their right to prioritize traffic. Of course I don’t agree with groups messing with internet traffic but the idea of the government telling businesses how to run just bugs me.

The internet, like traditional phone service, power, and garbage is semi regulated. It doesn’t seem to be a truly free market. Many places only have 1, maybe 2, choices for dependable, ground based  internet service. But why? Why isn’t this a wide open market? The lines that are in the ground are a utility and should then be open to all businesses using them. If that was happening I think the need for Net Neutrality legislation would be gone. Say Comcast decided to not allow media downloads, well then go to someone else. Would this possible effect pricing? Yes and in both directions. People who have no need for substantial traffic might pay less while people who use the internet as their exclusive source of entertainment along with regular gaming traffic, might pay a little more.  But there would be more choices and there more competition. If you want to prioritize traffic, go ahead but that would make many people buy the internet commodity elsewhere. The problem would solve itself.

So how about we just deregulate this along with all other utilities. Then maybe we can have a free market with not only the flow of ideas but internet traffic!

(That said, if we don’t deregulate Net Neutrality is a necessary evil.)

Free, tech, Tech Tuesday

Tech Tuesday: Favorite Browser

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First off let me admit that I really, really like Google;). I like their products, I like how they treat their engineers (from what I hear), I like Google products.

I, like many people, ran from the Internet Explorer browser as soon as a viable option was available. I have run Netscape (yes I am old) but that didn’t really compete with Internet Explorer in ability so I really consider Firefox the first real post IE browser. And I liked Firefox. It had great extensions, didn’t lock up as much as IR but, there is always a but, it is a memory hog.

Then came along Chrome. It ran faster and more efficiently that Firefox so I tentatively started using it. Then I found it cloud capabilities. I can sync my bookmarks and access them from any computer. So I don’t need to worry about losing them no matter where I am working. They have a bunch of cool extensions that you can use to make bookmarking, blogging, etc easier. We aren’t even talking about how well gmail works with it (and the awesomeness that is all the gmail capabilities). The one drawback is that the coupon sites still haven’t updated all their coupon printing software to work with Chrome. But I am sure that will come and come soon!

Well now there is a Chrome App store!!! This includes both paid and free apps, extensions and themes. I am so stoked! There are games, VNC utilities, I mean all kinds of cool stuff. It just came out yesterday and I can’t wait to get my little fingers into all the fun!!!

coolness, science, tech

Nano Superconductors

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Tiniest superconductor: the four-molecule-long nanowire (Image: S.-W. Hla)

Saw-Wai Hla‘s group at Ohio University has developed a wire that is 1 molecule wide. How cool is that? It is zero resistance so it doesn’t lose any heat.

They took that wire and developed a superconductor using wires that are 4 molecules long. The wires were made with an organic molecule and salt on top of a sheet of silver.  From looking at the group’s site it looks like the organic molecule is chlorophyll.  This is so cool!!!

The idea of taking something so organic and creating a semiconductor out of it just so freeing as far as the limitless technology development that could come. Forget a cell phone, build it into your jacket. And making it organic like this would really bring down the production cost. Because really, how hard is it to get chlorophyll;)?

Now obviously this isn’t market ready. It looks like they aren’t sure why it conducts at 4 molecules of length but not 3. So there is a while until this happens in the mass market but heck, I am only 34;).

This is cooler than the Jetson’s robot maid, well maybe;).

(HT: New Scientist)