Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Acer's Aspire 1820PTZ Convertible Tablet

Acer Aspire 1820PTZEver wanted a laptop that seamlessly transforms into a media tablet? Well then your in luck because Acer has designed just that. The Acer Aspire 1820PTZ is a netbook in which the screen can be turned 108 degrees and set flat to become a working digital tablet.

Everybody wants their netbooks to be compact and easily transportable. The Aspire comes in weighing 1.72kg and is a little thicker than many netbooks. But then again other netbooks don't have a tablet built into them. The battery in the back causes the machine to prop up in the back and that combined with the slight heaviness of the screen will cause the device to tip over if the screen is tilted back too far. Full dimensions for the Aspire come in at 11.22 x 8.22 x 1.12/1.36 inches.

The overall feel of the Aspire is solid which is good considering the whole thing is plastic. Reports show that there doesn't seem to be any keyboard flexing and everything appears aligned when the lid is closed. Some concerns with the screen rotation and flipping hinge have arisen with people concerned about how long the small piece of equipment will be able to handle the slightly heavy screen. But that is all just speculation for now.

Keys on the keyboard are slightly large and completely flat. This doesn't allow for much space between the keys which will take some getting used to. However, the overall feel of the keyboard will be usable for many users. The trackpad is slightly small though it did the best it could with the space it had to work with. The trackpad seemed to be quite responsive

The Aspire's screen the layer on top of the screen is very firm, most likely because of the digitizer. However, reports of poor color and contrast seem to be related to the top layer. Reports of bad viewing angles, especially in portrait tablet mode, have also been seen. A high pixel density gives the screen a nice, sharp look and while the default color profile is lacking, it can easily be fixed with some calibration.

The Aspire also comes with a multi-touch screen which supports both your fingers and a stylus. The device even tucked away a stylus for you in a slot below the screen. You are technically supposed to switch your tablet between finger and stylus mode depending on which on you are using but the Aspire doesn't seem to have any problems differentiating between both though your finger works best in finger mode as does your stylus in stylus mode.

The screen itself can only be rotated in one direction, indicated by a directional arrow on the central hinge. However, once you put the Aspire into tablet mode, the screen is rotated into the correct orientation by an accelerometer. Screen rotation can take anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds depending on the number of windows you have open at the time. Two magnets have been added to the device to keep the screen in place while in tablet mode which seems to be very helpful.

Considering the Aspire is small, the built-in sound is also small. But unfortunately the sound is also very soft, even when turned up to max volume. However, the sound does appear to be fairly good in a small room or office. The spdif out works very well based on other reports.

Performance wise the Aspire seems pretty quick and good for general use. It comes with Windows 7 64-bit pre-loaded. As far as video performance goes, the Aspire does pretty good. It runs standard definition videos with no problems and even high definition videos with no problems. The Aspire comes with a built-in webcam and mic which work decently. Built-in 802.11n WiFi works well and the Aspire even has Acer's Signal-Up technology which helps boost WiFi range.

The battery life on the Aspire seems to last a very long time, probably somewhere around 7 or 8 hours and the processor runs at 1.2GHz most of the time. There isn't a lot of heat distributed by the machine and some heat does resonate out of the vent located on the left side of the device but it isn't anything to worry about. Some slight whirring comes out of the aforementioned vent but it is nowhere near intrusive or disruptive.

Overall the Aspire 1820PTZ comes with tons of stuff loaded onto it and runs really well. The ability to transform into a fully-functional table makes it all that more useful and especially handy for people who need a good business device for traveling. If working on the go is something you do a lot, you may want to check out Acer's Aspire 1820PTZ.


Looking for a Technology Rental to help you GO? Call 800-736-8772 today to reserve a Laptop Rental for your next trip.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Dell Ultraportable Vostro V13

Dell Vostro V13Last night, Dell gave a sneak peek at what is thought to be a major addition to the Vostro line of netbooks. Now Dell had been teasing a new Vostro for the low price of $450 to US media groups but like all secrets somebody slipped up and spilled the beans. In this case it was Dell Singapore who instead of telling about the device just went all out and launched the netbook as the Vostro V13 with complete specs.

It appears that the company is taking everything it learned from building the Adamo XPS and putting a more practical use to it. Now there aren't a ton of specs released about the V13 just yet but what we do know is that the netbook will measures a tiny .65-inches thick and weighs in a little less than 3.5lbs. The V13 could be home to any of three processors; a 1.2GHz Celeron, 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo or a 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo with integrated X4500MHD graphics.

The V13 is slightly thicker than the Adamo XPS but this little extra "fluff" allows for the accommodation of an Ethernet port, an eSATA port, USB 2.0 port, an SD card slot and even an ExpressCard slot. Take all of that and add it to a 13.3-inch display and a $450 price tag on the low end and you have yourself a nice little machine.

The small size, low price and good specs make the V13 the perfect travel laptop. It is easily portable and lightweight so it won't lug you down during business trips. The price makes it affordable for any type of entrepreneur whether you work for a fortune 500 company or a small town business. But if a permanent laptop isn't your style or necessity, then you can always go with an affordable laptop rental.

Overall the Vostro V13 looks to be a great laptop and one that will surely get people excited. Its easy portability and low price make it an excellent travel laptop and the specs just make it good all around. Be sure to check this one out when it hits us here in the states in the near future.



Looking for a Technology Rental to help you GO? Call 800-736-8772 today to reserve a Laptop Rental for your next trip.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Surgeon Creates iPhone App For His Patients

Surgeon Creates iPhone App For His Patients

Dr. Steven Deneberg, a Omaha, Nebraska plastic surgeon has created his own iPhone app. It allows his patients to choose a procedure without even stepping foot into his office. iPhone or iPod Touch users can download it, pick a procedure and see examples of potential procedures. It even allows them to email the doctor with photos of their problem areas and receive feedback without having to have an appointment.

Deneberg says he created the app himself, "I bought a stack of manuals and taught myself how to program it and this is what happened," he told KETV in Nebraska. But he is no stranger to innovation. In the 90's, he was one of the first plastic surgeons to take his business to the internet, launching his own website with hundreds of pictures.

When the app was finished, Deneberg tested it and had it approved by Apple. It's the first app of its kind. Dr. Deneberg has also started a company to develop iPhone apps for plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists, and anyone else in the medical field who could benefit from showing photograph to their patients.

Monday, November 16, 2009

iPhone's Roambi Pro, Visualize Data On The Go


As more and more business are using iPhones to actually conduct business with other businesses developers are creating more business targeted iPhone apps. One such as, Roambi, was released for free earlier this year. It allows you to take your "Excel data into interactive visualizations, and deliver them to your iphone, with our free online publisher."

Today they've released the Roambi Pro. For $99 per year and per user, you can take your data to another level. Roambi Pro is a secure, hosted service that lets you take your critical business data from Google Docs, Excel, and salesforce.com and create visualizations to share with any iPhone user.

Roambi Pro user can upload their data to the secure server. You can then choose how you'd like to "see" your data, (i.e.: pie charts, graphs, etc), they'll create it for you. The spreadsheets are turned into interactive charts and graphs. To see more information on a specific piece of a pie chart, you simply touch the piece you to explore.

According to Leena Rao at TechCrunch "...the app itself intuitively stores various charts according to subject matter and category, making it easy to access various visualizations quickly and efficiently."

Roambi Pro also provides live refresh, so your information is always current. If anything changes on a company's spreadsheets when the user is away from their office, the user can update their data with the push of a button. And it saves the hassle of having to call in to update the company numbers before a presentation or meeting.

So whether you're a small or medium or large business, this app may be perfect for keeping track of all the data you need when you're working away from your office.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Apple Products Among Time's Best Travel Gadgets

Time Names Apple Products Best Travel Gadgets
Time Magazine has just come out with their list of the best travel gadgets of 2009 and Apple products seem to reign supreme. The iPod touch and the MacBook both made the cut; the MacBook because of its size and environmental friendliness and the iPod Touch due to its Wi-Fi compatibility, speed and selection of games.

Strangely absent from the list was what is perhaps Apple's most popular product: the iPhone.

So what else made the cut? Coming in at the number one spot is the Slingbox Pro HD. It is followed by MiFi, the Targus 4-port Smart USB Hub, the MacBook and Beats Solo rounding out the top five. To see the complete list, visit Time.com.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Manage Your Job Search On the Go

Manage Your Job Search On the Go

With unemployment numbers in the double digits and the economy just starting to recover from a recession, many people are spending a majority of their time looking for a job. Job-seekers are also forgoing the old-fashioned ways of job-hunting and looking to everything from social media to their iPhones for help landing employment. Below is a list of ten must-have iPhone apps for job-seekers.

1. CareerBuilder.com App (free) - search for jobs just like you would on the website.

2. Job Compass (free) - allows you to find jobs within a 100 miles radius of your location.

3. Now Hiring ($0.99) - search for jobs or a whole new career.

4. Job Finder ($0.99) - aggregates jobs from multiple search sites.

5. Craigster ($0.99) - the Craigslist App.

6. LinkedIn App (free) - works just like the LinkedIn website.

7. iJobs ($0.99) - search the entire world for jobs

8. ABContacts ($3.99) - manage your job contacts

9. BeamMe (Free/$7.99) - send your business card to any computer or mobile device

10. Domain App (free) - set up your own web domain

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Must-Have iPhone Apps for Business

The Best iPhone Apps for Business

The iPhone App Store has over 2,000 apps that are strictly for business, allowing you to use your iPhone as an important part of your work. Many of them are free or inexpensive. A lot of them require you to have a membership with their parent company before you can take advantage of the mobile versions. There are apps for tracking your business flights, apps for networking, apps for keeping up with your office phone system and apps for security and keeping up with important documents. But which ones are the best?

How do you choose just the ones you need? Take a look at our list of some of the Best Business Apps for iPhone.

Friday, October 30, 2009

An iPhone App that Sells Cars?

An iPhone App that Sells Cars

Next time you go to a car dealership, you may see the salesmen typing on their iPhones. Don't worry, they aren't goofing off, they could very well be speeding up your purchasing process. AutoRevo announced today the release of an iPhone app, AutoRevo Mobile. The app supposedly allows car dealers to keep up with their inventory via the iPhone.

With the app, dealers can decode a VIN from a photo of a VIN barcode, update prices, edit vehicle information, and shoot and upload photos. They can also run CARFAX Vehicle History Reports and manage leads. AutoRevo Mobile makes it possible for car dealership employees to manage inventory anywhere, at any time.

In a press release, Chad Polk, the CEO of AutoRevo, said he thinks the app will change the way the entire car industry works, "We had several dealers buy out their existing contract and upgrade to the iPhone in order to be an early adopter of AutoRevo Mobile. That tells me we have a game changing product that will move the industry forward. You can literally have a car advertised on your site before the ink dries on the bank draft."

AutoRevo is a provider of car dealer websites and software for car dealership marketing. The company's internet marketing platform, FastLot, provides dealer websites with integration with any automotive shopping site, real-time inventory pricing tools, lead management, digital customer delivery documents, advanced reporting and more. Founded in 2003, they are headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and are aligned with the car industry's top e-commerce sites including everything from eBay Motors to AutoTrader.com, CARFAX to Google, and hundreds more.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Nokia's 6788 is First Based on TD-SCDMA

Nokia 6788Earlier today, Nokia announced it's new product, the Nokia 6788, which is the first device from the company for TD-SCDMA, China's domestic 3G standard. When you have the world's largest mobile phone operator collaborate with a company like Nokia, the end result is the 6788.

"Nokia sees TD-SCDMA as being central to the successful evolution of 3G in China, and so is full committed to this 3G standard. With a wide range of integrated china Mobile applications, the Nokia 6788 marks a new level of collaboration with china Mobile and offers enriched experiences to China's 3G users. Nokia plans to introduce more TD-SCDMA phones in the near future, further boosting the development of this 3G standard in China." said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia.

According to Vice President of China Mobile Communications Corporation Mr. Lu Xiangdong, "We are excited to see the launch of Nokia 6788. With extensive experience in the China market, Nokia will provide Chinese consumers with TD-SCDMA solutions that are perfectly catered to their needs. Such cooperation between the world's largest operator and the world's leading mobile phone manufacturer will provide an important boost to the development of TD-SCDMA in China."

The Nokia 6788 has been specifically designed to work on China Mobile's network. Because of this, it offers rich data services and is an all-in-one device that provides users with faster download times and internet speeds. The Nokia 6788 has a ton of cool features that are sure to please the subscribers to China Mobile. The 6788 comes with a 5 megapixel (2592x1944) camera with a dual LED flash, a 2.8" QVGA display, 4GB of memory with microSD expansion, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and the highly successful Symbian S60 platform, 3rd Edition.

The design of the 6788 is highly influenced by the traditional furniture and architecture of the Chinese culture. The 6788 incorporates Chinese design elements like traditional patterns which are seen on the back of the slide and battery cover. People in China are already very excited about the Nokia 6788. with all the cool integrated features and slick design, the subscribers of China Mobile can't wait to get their hands on one, all 500 million of them. The Nokia 6788 will be available by the end of December.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Barnes & Noble Introduces Nook

Barnes & Noble Introduces Nook
Yesterday, book-selling giant Barnes & Noble introduced "Nook," a new e-reader that experts say will give Amazon's Kindle a run for its money this holiday season. The e-reader market is expected to see a lot of business with a projected three million devices being sold by the end of 2009 and six million are expected to sell by the end of 2010. This particular device will be available in Barnes and Noble's 800 American stores by late November, however the store is already taking pre-orders.

Barnes and Noble says Nook will allow users to share most books, a function that puts it a step ahead of Kindle. For wireless, Nook will use AT&T and Google's Android Mobile platform. It also features a unique dual use of display and color. A small color display, located below the main display, allows users to browse titles at the bookstore. It also uses e-Ink technology for easier reading. It can hold up to 1,500 books (the same as Kindle) but it does lack a web browser.

Nook books can also be viewed on Blackberries, iPhones, PC, Macs and other personal electronic devices. This publishing standard is called the ePub format. It also acts as antipiracy protection from Adobe. Barnes and Noble is well prepared for the release, with a newly opened bookstore of over 700,000 titles, over twice of what the Amazon store has to offer. Another advantage is that users can connect the device to free Wi-Fi when shopping inside an actual Barnes & Noble store, something Amazon/Kindle users can't do.

Several other e-readers are expected to hit the market soon, but none with the relationship Barnes and Noble has with publishers, which offers another advantage. Upon announcing the Nook, yesterday, Barnes and Noble stock shares rose 10 cents on New York Stock Exchange.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

An App a Day

An App a Day

iPhone apps can be confusing. The App Store contains thousands of applications for your iPhone or iPod touch and often, so many of them do the same exact same thing. A quick search for third party Twitter apps brings you over 170 results. But how do you know which one is the best without wasting hours pouring over websites and reviews and asking your friends?

With "App of the Day" you don't have to spend the time looking for quality apps, the suggestions come to you. It features applications that are community-nominated and featured on the homepage each day. iPhone users have the opportunity to comment, submit app ideas and leave feedback for potential app buyers. Each user can only nominate one app per day with the highest nominated application being the winner each day.

The concept is so simple and will add a lot of ease to iPhone use. Many are asking why it's taken so long to make it happen. The website was founded by Jordan Satok, a 15-year-old Toronto-based entrepreneur who focuses on web startups in the software field. Satok built the site, which is hosted on Rackspace Cloud, in less than ten days.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Keeping Your Laptop Secure Outside of the Office

Keeping Your Laptop Secure Outside of the Office

Professionals are traveling outside of the office more and more these days and they are taking their laptops with them. Whether working at another location, visiting a client or simply having lunch at a local cafe, one thing that is often overlooked is laptop security. If it's your personal laptop, a work laptop, or even a laptop rental, chances are it's loaded with files that are important to your life and your business. Whether you are looking to prevent a snoop from gathering your personal information or preventing a thief from taking your entire laptop, there are several good measures everyone should take and a few good habits you should develop.

Starting with the basics that every laptop owner should know, if you're worried about being hacked or robbed while visiting a public Wi-Fi spot, you are right to be paranoid. There are so many different ways criminals can get into your system these days; one of the first things you can do is turn on your firewall. By turning on your firewall, you block unwanted intruders whenever you are in a public place. This is such a simple way to keep yourself secure and everyone should know how to do it. If you are a PC user, simply click on Windows Firewall. If you are using a Mac, go to System Preferences, then Security, and find the Firewall tab.


Another important thing that everyone can do is password protect or unshare your shared folders. Folders of documents and photos that you may want to share with other computers on your home network, might not be something you want everyone on a public network to have access to. Fixing this is simple. See to it that your folders are password protected when you are in public or better yet, turn off any sort of sharing you have enabled on your laptop.

Other ways to protect yourself involve what you do when you visit various websites. Whenever you're visiting a website, use a secure connection if it's an option. This means using "https://" instead of "http://." This option is usually available when checking your email on the web (Gmail and Yahoo Mail for example) or using any type of personal calendar program. Several other site have the option, as well. Another tip is to don't save your passwords in your browsers. Sure, it makes life a lot easier, but if your computer gets into the wrong hands - whether it be a thief or even a co-worker, they will be able to see everything you may not want them to see.

Of course there are several more obvious options. Most people are aware that anti-virus and malware software and programs are an important part computer ownership. And it's important to keep a back-up of all your important data. Whether your computer is stolen or you just spill your coffee, having all of your important files backed up can save you time and agony. If you have to leave your laptop unattended for any reason, a laptop lock is inexpensive and will keep your computer stuck to any table or desk.

If these tips don't ease your mind, there are always a few extra precautions for the tech-savvy. With a number of tools, you can encrypt your hard drive or just a few files which essentially means scrambling it up so it's unreadable to anyone who does not have access via a master password. To do this on a Mac, you can do this by creating an encrypted disk by using the disk utility application. Windows Vista and 7 also offer a data encryption application. There are also a number of free programs such as TrueCrypt that serve the same purpose.

Securing your network with an SSH tunnel is also an option, but again, this is usually reserved for the most tech-savvy of laptop owners. An SSH tunnel is a secure connection to an outside computer to connect to the internet. An outsider trying to break in would think you are sending encrypted information to a single destination when in reality, you're using a trusted remote server as a proxy.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Adope Flash Player 10.1 For Some Smartphones

Adope Flash Player 10.1 For Some Smart Phones

Adobe has announced that it will release Flash Player 10.1 for Windows Mobile and webOS, with Android, Symbian and Blackberry to follow shortly after. Whether or not they will release it for iPhone is still up in the air but quite likely. A spokesperson for Adobe says they are still waiting for some cooperation from Apple.

So what exactly does this mean? Well, expect more flash-heavy programs and a wider, more diverse range of apps for your mobile devices. Count on more games, GPS services, social networking and videos. While most smartphones have always had a version of Adobe Flash, it has always been a lower-power version because of limited processors in the various devices. But with the release of the Beta version, software developers will be able to get their hands on it by year end and new apps should be in the works sometime during the first half of 2010.

About 75% of all websites use Flash for video and running online advertisements, which should be extra incentive to various websites for creating mobile versions of their brand. Many websites depend on advertising to survive, and in the past, many of them have blocked mobile access due to the lack of ability to properly advertise. Sounds like the new addition of the more advance Adobe Flash is a win-win situation for both consumers and retailers.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Sprints New 4G/3G Routers to Support Multiple Wi-Fi Connections

Spring 4G/3G CradlePoint RouterLong gone are the days of searching for an elusive Wi-Fi hotspot for Sprint mobile broadband customers. Instead of having to hunt for a cafe or other public wireless hotspot, users can now create their own Wi-Fi hotspot by connecting multiple Wi-Fi devices such as smartphones, laptops and cameras to Sprint 3G/4G networks. Sprint's new Mobile Broadband Routers can connect any Wi-Fi-enabled device at 3G or 4G mobile broadband speeds anywhere that Sprint 3G and 4G networks are available.

The Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router are both essentially Wi-Fi routers that accept both 3G and 4G USB wireless dongles. Plug the dongle into the router and you have a Wi-Fi network that runs without a hard line. This means that Sprint's new Mobile Broadband Routers can connect any Wi-Fi-enabled device at 3G or 4G mobile broadband speeds anywhere that a Sprint 3g or 4g network is available.

The Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S model can support up to four simultaneous Wi-Fi connections while the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router for business will support up to 32 simultaneous Wi-Fi connections. The ability of these wireless routers to be used with 3G and 4G networks looks to offer unprecedented advantages for the growing number of Wi-Fi users in the country. As 4G continues to be implemented across the country users will be able to maximize their wireless performance as they begin to start connecting to the industries fastest available network.

Heres what Todd Rowley, Vice President of Sprint 4G had to say about their newest broadband routers.

"These mobile broadband routers provide an unprecedented bridge to high-speed network performance for multiple Wi-Fi devices or multiple users," "The addition of these mobile hotspot products offers even faster connectivity speeds to Wi-Fi users without the need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. These two new products can potentially connect the Sprint 3G and 4G networks to the hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi-enabled devices in the U.S. today."

For more information about Sprints 4G network, check out their site at Sprint.com/4G.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

New Sony Reader PRS-300 Pocket Edition & PRS-600 Touch Edition

New Sony Reader PRS-300 Pocket Edition & PRS-600 Touch Edition

Electronic books or "e-books" have become one of the latest trends in technology and Sony is just one company that is profiting from the idea. The Sony Reader not only allows users to purchase and read books from the Sony Connect eBook store, but it can display Adobe PDFs, ePub format, personal documents, blogs, JPEG files, RSS newsfeeds, and Sony's BroadBand eBooks, as well as playing MP3 and unencrypted AAC audio files. It is viewable in direct sunlight and requires no power to keep a static image. While the Sony Reader has been available since 2006, on August 5th, 2009, Sony announced two new versions of the reader, the PRS-300 Pocket Edition and the PRS-600 Touch Edition.


PRS-300 or the "Pocket Edition":

The PRS-300 or the "Pocket Edition" has been put on the market to replace the now discontinued PRS-505. Priced very competitively at $199, it has a smaller display screen than the larger version (five inches) and a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, with three adjustable font sizes. It features 512 MB of internal memory with 440 MB of it accessible. The battery is said to last up to two weeks on a single charge. It is available in navy blue, rose pink and silver.


PRS-600 or the "Touch Edition":

The PRS-600 or the "Touch Edition" is meant to replace the PRS-700 model that is no longer offered. It's the high-scale version of the Sony Reader and boasts a touch screen. The PRS-600 features six inch display screen with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and has 512 MB or memory with 380 MB accessible. It does, however, support the Sony Memory Stick Pro DUO and SDHC for expanded memory purposes. Like the PRS-300, a fully charged battery is said to last up two weeks but this edition is priced higher at $299. The PRS-600 is available in black, silver and red.

Friday, August 7, 2009

New Smart Phones Coming this Fall

Verizon Diamond 2Word has been out about Verizon's upcoming HTC Whitestone for some time now but now we finally have some specs and images to put with the name. Some other news that leaked was about Verizon's HTC Mega and some more news on the Tachi.

The Verizon Diamond 2, or "Whitestone" as it is being called, is trying for a September/October release date so we could see this in our hands i in the near feature. The specs for the Diamond 2 are pretty impressive, especially considering that this isn't a keyboard phone. The Diamond 2 has WM6.1, 512MB ROM/256MB RAM, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with anti-handshaking, GSM/CDMA World Phone, Qualcomm 7600 at 528MHz, 3.6" WVGA touchscreen and gpsOne (aGPS and full GPS). One thing it doesn't have that some people may have been expecting is WM6.5 on launch.

HTC MegaThe next piece of leaked intel comes in for the Verizon HTC Mega. Until recently, we haven't known a whole lot about the HTC Mega. We knew it had new TouchFlo 2D and some other low-range specs but that's about it. But now we have some new information and it comes as follows. The HTC Mega will have WM6.5, 256MB ROM/256MB RAM, GSM/GPRS Edge/HDSPA, gpsOne, Qualcomm 7225 at 528MHz and a 3-megapixel fixed-focus camera. As you can see, the HTC Mega isn't the greatest thing to come out, but it is obvious that it is geared more towards the low-end of the market, and even so it isn't bad for that group.

TachiThe only new news on the Tachi is this picture of it's design. The biggest noticeable difference is that the d-pad doesn't have as much chrome on it. But that is basically it so far. One thing we can almost be sure of is that the Tachi will more than likely not be available in the U.S and instead will be available in China.

Well it sure is good to finally put a face to the name with the Diamond 2 and the HTC Mega and I guess it is even a good thing that we saw the latest Tachi version. It will be good to see how these devices when they hit store shelves and we can finally get them in our hands.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Ins and Outs, Ups and Downs of the New 3GS iPhone

The New 3G iPhone

Technology today is seeing amazing heights, and Apple is at the top of those heights, with the creation of iTunes, the iPod, Mac book and now the iPhone. The 3gS iPhone is one of the most innovative pieces of technology of our time, with the ability to read maps, make movies, edit photos and movies, and voice recognition. With touch screen functionality you can navigate with just a touch of a finger between applications, pictures, messages, and phone numbers. The iPhone has become even more affordable with a price of $199 with a two year contract from AT&T.
The easy to recognize face that is identical to the original iPhone with the exception of the bright, high quality, high resolution 480 x 320 3.5-inch display is easy to hold in your hand with the slightly curved back. However they haven’t found a way to cut down on smudges and fingerprints, But alas, the smudge loving plastic cover is needed now that the iPhone has so many technologies like GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. One of the down sides to the new body shape is it will not fit in the original iPhone docking station, and it is sold separately for about $30.00.

The Apple 3G S iPhone has improved on the call quality that may not be noticeable when you upgrade but in a side by side comparison there was an obvious difference. Apple has also had to lengthen the life of the battery because 3g does require more power, not to mention the support of all the cool new applications and music, video and pictures. If you are in an area where 3G isn’t a necessity you can dig down into the menu and turn that feature off.

You’ll notice that the camera is the same as on the original iPhone although images were a little crisper and sharper. The camera will now ask permission to use GPS to geotag photos with your current location. Geotags allow you to have an image tagged to a map position so you can have landmarks to refer to and make maps a little friendlier.

Outside of the cool features I think it is important to mention a few pros and cons of the programs.

- Power Point documents can now be seen on the new iPhone but to save any files you still have to email them to yourself.
- If you sync MobileMe calandars your calendar subscriptions like iCal or Gcal will be disabled
- However, even though the full Exchange Suite is not available the core elements work really well, like email, calendar and contacts. Unfortunately, enterprise contacts and calendars coexist on the same device with personal contacts and calendars.

Over all the new 3GS iPhone has all the bells and whistles any tech loving on the go person could want and outside of renting laptops for business trips it really can keep you in touch with your office and fits nicely in your pocket. However, if you are going to pay around $170.00 a month in cell services I do advise doing your homework as some of the application conflicts just might be a deal breaker.

David Letterman Just Doesn't Get it

I think I can safely say that most Twitter users understand the shear coolness of spreading the latest news around,but David Letterman had a little difficulty grasping the concept...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Verizon's Tethered Internet - Good, Not Great

On a recent vacation to Put-In-Bay, Ohio, a small town on South Bass Island in the south west of Lake Erie, I was pressed to find a solution that would allow me to stay connected to my office while still being 250 miles away. I, of course, always use remote desktop for working in the evenings and on other trips I’ve taken, the problem with this vacation was the location. It wasn’t exactly in a metropolis where WiFi connections are abundant. The solution was tethered internet access through my BlackBerry Storm.

I looked on Verizon’s website and found the service, and choked at the price of $60/month; but knowing I couldn’t go a week without the internet, I called Verizon to get the service. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that: not only did I get tethering for half price because I owned a BlackBerry (now making the service only $30/month), but I also could turn the service off and on for only the days I wanted it, I didn’t actually have to have it for an entire month. I had the service activated for a period of 8 days, for a grand total of $8.

$8 for internet access anywhere I had cell phone service. Now that’s a value… sort of. Upon arrival to the island I settling in to our cabin I hopped online. The internet was slow, but faster than I expected honestly. I was able to check my email, look up some local restaurants and reviews, get weather reports and maps for fishing; but when I tried to remote desktop back to my office… nothing. There simply was not enough bandwidth to get back home.

Several times throughout my trip I tried to connected, and several times I needed to connect, but I never could. I was able to check my email via a web interface, but that was the extent of my access to my office. This doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work for remote desktops in other locations, but… the fact that I had good signal strength and still couldn’t get connected makes me skeptical to rely on it for mission critical business.

I’m not saying that Verizon’s tethered internet wasn’t nice. It was. It was great to have. But… if you’re looking for a sure-fire way to work when you’re away from the office, I simply cannot recommend it. If you’re looking to just check email, do basic browsing, etc. then it is probably more than sufficient; especially if you’re only paying $1 for access.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

iPhone 3.0: 10 Hidden Features in Latest Update

With the recent release of the iPhone 3.0 software update there are many hidden and undocumented features popping up now that people have had time to play around with the new iPhone OS. Here is a compiled list from PC World of the top 10 unknown features of the new operating system and some of my thoughts.

Adjustable Song Scrolling Speed


When previously listening to a song on your iPhone, there was just a simple dot on the song bar to rewind or fast forward your music. However, in the new 3.0 software update, you can now scroll through songs at various speeds by using different movements with your finger. Normally, if you drag your finger left or right on the song bar, you will scroll through a song at "high speed". But, if you do this movement while dragging your finger down the screen, then the speed will decrease to "half speed," "quarter speed," or "fine scrubbing." While its unclear at this moment if this feature works with movies I still have to say the adjustable scrolling speed is a great addition to the iPhone, especially for music lovers.

Special Characters In Messaging

The 3.0 keyboard has a few new features such as special characters and a quick punctuation feature while typing in letter mode. Some of the new special characters are activated when holding down certain keys and signs. For example, if you hold down the "." you also get an option to choose "...". The dash"-" also displays an em-dash "-" while the quotations and apostrophes display "<<" and ">>" respectively. While I'm all for making typing quicker and easier, is there really any use in providing functionality for the ">>" and "<<" symbols?

More Ways to Access Spotlight


Spotlight, the search function that lets you look through your e-mail, contacts, appointments, and notes can now be accessed and opened in many different ways. Your Mail and Contacts screen now how a search bar at the top of the list for spotlight and spotlight can even be accessed quickly from the home screen by swiping towards the right side of the screen. To me, it seems that the spotlight function being added to the contacts and e-mail sections of the iPhone should of been a no-brainer in previous operating systems but its great to finally see them implemented.

Quote Fragment Within Reply in Mail


The Mail app in the iPhone 3.0 update can now reply with a quote from the original e-mail. In order to do so, you need to tap and hold while viewing an e-mail (just like with copy/paste) and select the portion of the text that you want to quote. Then simply hit the reply button and the selected text will be appended to the end of your e-mail under your signature. This seems to be an easy way to reply to specific parts of an e-mail without confusing the other reader.

Remove Individual Texts from A Conversation

One of the biggest annoyances in the iPhone 2.X software was that you had to remove an entire conversation of text messages instead of deleting parts. In the new 3.0 update, there is an Edit button which allows you to select and remove individual text messages from a certain tree, similar to the way it is done in the mail app. In this way, you can also select a text to forward instead of copy and pasting the text itself. This is a great way to keep track of important texts for later reference without having to keep all the extra junk attached.

Open Link In New Tab In Safari


Safari now uses tabbed browsing just like explorers on a desktop. When browsing all you have to do is tap and hold on a hyperlink and you will be prompted with dialog to open this link, copy it, or open it in a new tab, just like Firefox or IE. This is a great step forward in multi-tasking on the iPhone.

Force Quit Unresponsive Apps

Due to the many functionalities of the Home button on the iPhone, this key will no longer force quit unresponsive apps like it did in the previous version. To force quit an application in 3.0, you will now have to hold the sleep/wake button at the top until the red power off slider appears. You will then have to hold down the home button to quit the unresponsive application. While this will probably seem like a hassle at first since you will be accustomed to the old way of quitting applications, it seems that it was a necessary change to due the many functions already associated with the home key.

Change App Store Account On The Fly

In the old days you were stuck changing your iTunes account from your computer and then syncing back up with the iPhone. In the 3.0 software you can now change your account two different ways. The first by going to Settings/Store and logging out and then back in with a different account. The second way of changing your iTunes account is by going straight within the App Store application. At the bottom of each search page your account will be displayed and if you tap on it you will be able to view your account information and even change it.

Unlimited Number of Apps Installed


In the 3.0 software update you can now install an unlimited number of applications on your iPhone with space permitting. The number of application pages themselves has increased from nine to eleven and should applications be installed above the 176 mark, (i.e. they can't fit on the applications page), then these applications can be accessed through spotlight. Its great that iPhones can now have unlimited applications but what I don't get is why they couldn't just make an unlimited amount of application pages with the option to access any of them through spotlight.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

iPhone 3G S making waves, and not the good kind

On Tuesday June 9th, Apple made the much anticipated announcement of the new iPhone, the iPhone 3G S. The excitement was building to a level I had not seen before, and especially being kind of "non-techy" it nearly shocked me to see grown men and women acting like children on Christmas eve. Actually, I really think it may have been bigger than that, I think I'm going to go so far as to say the the behavior I saw in friends and across the Internet was more closely related to the fanaticism you see when you look at a pre-teen who is just about to meet her favorite Jonas brother.

Normally I wouldn't follow such a thing, an iPhone is just another cool phone to me. And in full disclosure, I don't own one, I have a BlackBerry. Perhaps that was my problem. That being said, I was interested in what the new iPhone would be like, what new features it would have, and how much it would make the old iPhone look like a 1985 Macintosh. So I watched, read, checked out the twitter trending topic. The second Steve Jobs spoke, his words literally flooded my computer screen at an amazing pace. I got all the info I needed, it wasn't much of a difference. You get a compass and a few features AT&T won't allow the iPhone users to access, at least not until the end of the year anyway. So, that lead me to think, "What are the iPhone junkies thinking now? That's got to be a let down, a huge let down." I was wrong. The excitement grew as the release date was announced and iPhone junkies were ecstatic, until they read the fine print.

According to the AT&T website, the iPhone 3G S pre-orders will start to show up on doorsteps June 19th. But before that can happen, current iPhone users looking for an upgrade need to make a huge decision. Right now (Thursday June 11th 10PM CST) current users have three options to purchase a new iphone, the first: pay to upgrade. This would be anywhere from $399 (16GB) - $499 (32GB) just for the phone. This isn't including the $18 upgrade fee, the additional $18 "one-time AT&T upgrade fee" or the extra $30 per month mandatory data plan. The second option: cancel your contract. Yep. You heard it right. AT&T customer service reps are actually telling irrate iPhone users that if they don't want to pay the full price to upgrade their phone they can cancel their contracts and start over as a "new" customer. But its going to cost you. The early termination fee is $175. I bet you're thinking, "Great, I'll take it!" But there's a catch. You then have to wait 90 days (after losing your phone number) to get a new contract with AT&T. And you'll still be paying $199 or $299 for your phone. The third option: wait until your contract is up and you can upgrade without all the hoops and extra cost. I'm sure by then a new iPhone will be released and you can, once again, be back up to speed with the rest of civilization.

So aside from the obvious bind this puts most "tech junkies" in, it also creates some moral questions. Especially since you, the customer, signed a contract with a company stating that you will be a customer for 2 years in exchange for the subsidized price on the iPhone you purchased last year. So based on my course work in the subject of "Life" and contracts, one would only assume that you are not entitled to a "discount" upgrade in the middle of your contract since you haven't totally fulfilled your part of the agreement. Sure, you can pay the $175 and you're all square, AT&T gets its subsidized money back and you are now free from your contract and the proud owner of an outdated iPhone that you can't use. Seems fair to me. According to a few blogs I've read this week pertaining to this issue, many customers have been loyal to AT&T and the iPhone brand and now they feel betrayed. From a business standpoint, you want a $500 phone for $250, I (as the business owner) will give you the phone for $250 in exchange for you signing a contract that you will be my customer for 2 years, I'll even give you a discounted upgrade at the end of those two years for staying loyal to me. Seems fair to me, and one heck of a deal.

I guess we will all just have to wait and see what Apple and AT&T do next. Perhaps Apple will issue everyone who upgrades and pays full price for the iPhone 3G S a $50 iTunes credit or an Apple store discount for life. Who knows. But all that I'm seeing now is a bunch of grown men and women literally crying over this piece of metal and plastic. Its a phone. Yes, its an iPhone. But its still JUST a phone. If you want it bad enough I guess you're just going to have to do what you need to do to get it. And for some, no price is too high to be the first to own something that everyone will have soon enough.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Palm Pre At Best Buy For $200 Up Front

Palm PreEverybody loves seeing new things at a great price. Take the Palm Pre for instance. Sprint is offering it at a decent price of $200. But wait! There is a catch. In order to receive this price you have to pay $300 and send in a $100 rebate. Rebate!? Yes everybody hates rebates. Waiting and waiting for your money to come in the mail is a pain and nobody wants to do it. But what if I told you that you could get the rebate price without sending in the rebate? Would you believe me? Well it is most certainly true.

Best Buy is selling the Palm Pre on launch day, June 6th, for the rebate price of $200. Now in order to get the rebate from Sprint, or the rebate price from Best Buy you have to commit to a two-year agreement, which is basically a standard requirement for discounts on U.S. smartphones.

But I wouldn't recommend waiting around to get a Palm Pre however. Sprint is warning that they expect the demand of the Palm Pre to exceed the supply immediately after launch. "We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for awhile."

If you don't know anything about the Pre, here is a small overview. The Pre itself will replace Palm OS with Palm's new webOS. WebOS is a multi-tasking operating system with the ability to wirelessly sync a huge variety of of data through online servers like Facebook and Google. The device has a 3.1 inch multi-touch-capable display as well as a sliding keyboard. It has 8GB of on-board storage with 7GB available to the user. The Pre also comes with a 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi b/g, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.1.

The U.S. version of the Pre will only be available with Sprint. Sprint plans on incorporating into the Pre their mobile broadband service EV-DO Rev. A, Sprint TV, and Sprint Navigation. The Canadian version of the Pre will be provided on the Bell Mobility carrier and will be released later this year. In Europe and Latin America, the Pre is expected before 2010 and will have the 3G standard HSDPA.

If you are looking to buy the Palm Pre, you are definitley getting your moneys worth. I would advise buying it at Best Buy. While you still get the same price from Sprint, at Best Buy you don't have to hassle with the mail-in rebate. Get it quick, because the Palm Pre is expected to be sold out quick.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

iGo Green Universal Charger

iGo Green Universal Charger

Imagine a world without multiple chargers for all of your multiple gadgets. This fall, that world could become a reality as iGo will make the first green universal charger available. The charger, just one in a new line of green products scheduled to make their debut this year, will work with over 3,000 devices including the most popular laptops, cell phones, media players, GPS devices, and handheld gaming consoles.

The universal charger will also be electric bill-friendly. The charger consumes about 80% less power on standby than traditional products and will shut down when the attached device is fully charged.

But that's not all iGo is doing to go green. In a recent press release, iGo president and CEO, Michael D. Heil, announced that iGo is launching iGo Recycles, "an electronic device and charger recycling program created to reduce landfill waste," to accompany the release of the new universal charger and other green products. Through the program's website, customers can print shipping labels to mail in old chargers to be recycled. The website also features a list of places where electronic devices can be recycled and makes them easy to locate by zip code.

The charger will be available in two versions. One plugs into a standard wall outlet and is scheduled to sell at $110. The other is designed for cars and airplanes and will cost $130. Custom power tips will be available for about $10 a piece. The green universal charger from iGo will be available around September 2009, both in stores and online.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

First Samsung Phone with Android

Samsung I7500 with Google AndroidLast month on April 27, 2009, Samasung became the first company among the global top three mobile phone manufacturers to reveal an Android-powered mobile phone. This new cutting-edge smartphone is known as the Samsung I7500 and features a 3.2" AMOLED full touch screen, blazing fast 7.2Mbps HSDPA(High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), and WiFi connectivity. What especially makes this phone great is that the user will be able to access all of the Google mobile services as well as fully browse the web, all thanks to the Android mobile OS.

The Samsung I7500 offers access to a full suite of Google services from Google Search, Google Maps, and Gmail, to YouTube and Google Talk. The I7500 even comes with an integrated GPS receiver which can be used with Google Maps to find your location, access Google Street View, find your latitude and longitude, and even get a detailed route description. There are currently hundreds of applications available to be used by the Android OS and there are sure to be many more to come.

Being the first of its kind, the I7500 will be setting the industry standard for mobile phones utilizing the mobile Android operating system and they do not want to disappoint. This phone will offer a comfortable 8GB internal memory with 32GB available externally and will also feature a 5-megapixel camera. The power behind the phone revolves around a 528Mhz Qualcomm CPU and a 1500 mAh battery. As of right now the i7500 looks like it will be setting the bar high when it becomes fully available in June, 2009.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Doctors Tweeting During Surgery?

Doctors Tweet During SurgeryWhen one is faced with the decision of surgery, it is never an easy feeling. So many things could happen and could potentially be life threatening. You always want to make sure everything is on order. The tools are ready, you are ready, and the doctor is ready. But what if you were lying on the operating table and you looked over to find your surgeon furiously Tweeting before your operation?

The social-networking site Twitter, which has grown in size and popularity at an incredible rate, just found another use for itself. While we all are desperately trying to figure out what new thing Ashton Kutcher is Tweeting about, there is one new thing that you might be interested in checking out. There is an all new fad hitting Twitter these days, and its live surgery updates. That's right, doctors are now starting to post on Twitter, during surgery, about their progress.

Last month, a hospital in Detroit posted a live feed on Twitter about their operation. The doctors talked medical students through the procedure of a complicated brain surgery. From all across the country, students could ask questions like different techniques used by the doctors, whether or not the patient could feel anything or even what types of music the surgeons listen to during the operation. While this all sounds incredibly irresponsible and dangerous, it actually is safer than it sounds. During the procedure, there is always a seasoned staff of medical officials tending to the patient while whoever is not doing something Tweets abput what is going on.

This new experience has gotten so popular that at the Mayo Clinic, the hospital hosted a what they called a "tweet camp". The camp taught doctors, nurses and other officials about Twitter and other social-networking sites. One of the best things about Tweeting live surgeries is that a doctor can post an answer to a question one time and instantly have it accessible to thousands of people instead of having to answer that same question over and over again for each person. The Mayo Clinic is very serious about their on-line out reach. So much so that they even have a person whose only job is to handle the Mayo Clinic's on-line outreach. The Mayo Clinic posts videos on YouTube for people who are looking for videos about things, photos on Flicker for those looking for photos, and now live surgery updates on Twitter.

People are now asking doctors to Tweet about their surgeries on-line as well. The reason for some people doing this is to reach out to other patients needing the same surgery and trying to show them what is going on in hopes to put them at ease a little bit about their procedure. There is no doubt that people are nervous when they go in for surgery. But the doctors that Tweet their surgeries do it so they can relieve some of that pressure and fear from their patients. It is a way to explain the unknowns about whatever procedure someone is going in for.

The generation we live in today is used to displaying their whole lives on-line. It is obvious that the people of this on-line generation are the future doctors and surgeons of tomorrow. As the new generation takes the reins from the current doctors, expect to see a lot more on-line interactivity between doctors, patients, students, and interested people in general.

With sites like YouTube, Flicker, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket and, of course, Twitter, you can expect more and more surgeries and procedures to be posted live on-line. This is just the way our culture is moving. We are a technologically driven society and this new technology is the future of our businesses and our lives. It will be interesting to see the directions things, like doctors Tweeting, will go.

*For more information on technology rentals in Detroit visit our Detroit Computer / Audio Visual / And Office Equipment Rental Page!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Nine Hours with MSI Wind U110 Eco Notebook

MSI Wind U110 ECO NetbookNew from MSI is a laptop that looks to revolutionize the mobility aspects of wireless notebooks by offering 9 hours of battery life from a 6 cell batter. This laptop model achieves such low power consumption by using the 1.6gHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU as well as several other power management features.

The netbook comes complete with ha 10 inch monitor with a 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 3 USB ports, 160GB hard drive, a 1.3MP or 2MP webcam, and a 802.11b/g or 802.11b/gn networking card with optional bluetooth. This laptop looks to maximize mobility and make your life more convenient. Wether you're watching a movie at home, working from a cafe, or browsing online while on vacation you can be sure that this laptop will keep up with you. The power efficient design of the U110 ECO makes it so you can keep surfing, blogging, and communicating with the world whenever you need to.

Although I wouldn't expect this laptop to be running high performance graphics and programs, its upgraded mobility functions are more than enough compensation for those who are truly on the go and need maximum battery life at all times.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

New Blackberry Storm

lackberry StormThe world is changing. Our businesses these days are no longer strictly in an office. We travel all over the globe doing business with people from almost any country. In this busy world, it is necessary to have a device that allows you to access anything you would need to work on the go.

The Blackberry Storm is one such device. It is the newest installment in the world of smartphones. It has cutting edge multimedia capabilities that give you access to anything you need. The storm has a high resolution 480x360 pixle color display, transmissive TFT LCD screen which is also light senseing and supports over 65,000 colors. A 3.2 megapixle camera with auto flash, auto focus, and 2x digital zoom is also inluded. The camera also has video capabilities. Since it is a smartphone, it needs easy to use data input and navigation. The Storm has a SurePress touch screen, an on-screen portrait Suretype and multi-tap QWERTY Keyboard, and dedicated Send, End, Menu, and eturn keys. The Storm is also Bluetooth capable with Bluetooth v2.0 enabled. This Blackberry, like most, is a media player. It supports video formats in MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, and WMV. It has a 6hr talk time battery life and a 15 day stand by battery life which allows for long use. You will never get lost again because the Storm has stand-alone and assisted GPS as well as Blackberry Maps. The storm supports and expandable memory that supports a microSD card, 1 GB onboard memory and a 128 mb flash memory. The wireless capabilities are also very good. The Storm's wireless network sports UMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz, 850 MHz and 1900 MHz GSM/GPRS networks in North America, a 900 MHz and 1800 MHz GSM/GPRS networks in Europe/Asia Pacific. You also won't have to worry about your device's security. The Storm has password protection, screen lock, sleep mode, support for AES or triple DES encryption when integrated with Blackberry Enterprise Server, FIPS 140-2 Compliant and optional support for S/MIME.

Needless to say the new Blackberry storm has everything you want and more in a smartphone. It is top of the line and will surley satisfy any of your needs while working on the go. The Blackberry Storm will run you around $199.99 for just the device plus extra for the plan. But in my opinion, well woth it if you work on the go and are in need of a capable smartphone.

Friday, February 27, 2009

SunCat Batteries Providing Solar Charging

The new solar-powered phones like the Samsung Blue Earth are a great eco-friendly concept. You probably won’t see the sun-powered phones replacing mainstream handsets anytime soon. With many other gadgets needing to be checked on and made better. Knut Karlsen believes that integrating flexible solar cells onto rechargeable batteries could be a more immediate solution to reducing our carbon footprint.

The SunCat involves flexible solar cell strips glued to nickel metal hydride rechargeable cells. It is also named after a feline basking in the sun. A silver pen that is conductive and has flat wire recycled from a broken Canon lens Knut was able to get a little bit of charge connection. The first prototype was not ideal and he is currently working on a second model that may include a display for checking battery life and capacitors for more efficient charging.

One slight problem with this would be the battery would have to be smaller. They would be like this if the extra components were to be added into a regular cell. They are confident that the issues can be worked out along the way.

Monday, February 16, 2009

New Asus Eee 1002HA Netbook

Asus Eee 1002HAThe Eee 1002HA is the newest addition to the Asus family. This new netbook is a step up from its prdecessor, the Eee 901 and is a great laptop for use for work at home or on the road.

The Eee 1002HA has a 5400rpm 160GB standard hard drive with only 1GB of DDR2 RAM. The 1002HA also has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor which is great for running apps and programs for your job and it comes with an integrated webcam and Windows XP, Photoshop SEC 690, H.264 and Quake Live. It also has 3 USB ports, a VGA-out, audio in/out, ulticard reader, and an ethernet outport. It also comes with wireless bluetooth and weighs about 2lbs 12ounces. One particular feature that alot of peopel will be happy with is that Asus has integrated its multitouch trackpad which many people seem to like. It has a two finger dragging gesture that will totally replace the loss of your mouse wheel as well as a triple tap acting as a right click. The one thing this computer doesn't have that its predecessor, the Eee 901, is a longer battery life. The Eee 1002HA only has a three-cell battery as opposed to the 901's six cell battery. However the 1002HA does run up to 3 hours on a single charge.

But overall the Asus 1002HA is a great computer. It is very capable of doing anything you would need it to. It is a respectable recomendation to anyone who wants a hard-eorking, kong-lasting netbook and the nice brushed aluminum shell is good to look at too. This new Asus will run you around $430 which isn't a bad price.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Tired of car adapters? Get an AC inverter.

AC inverters to make travel easierIf you carry very many electronic gadgets with you in the car, you know what an annoyance it is to carry around both AC adapters for when you are at home or in the hotel, and DC adapters for using electronics in the car. Whether you need to power your PDA or laptop on the go, or just charge the kids' Game Boys, a DC power inverter in your car can save you the hassle of all those DC adapters.

Several models are available on the cheap, such as the XPOWER-175 by Xantrex, which can run electronics up to 150 watts, and has automatic protection against low car battery and overload.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Phanfare's Photon: Picture App for the iPhone

PhanfareEverybody knows about the online photo sharing services like Photobucket. But one you may not know too much about is a site called Pahnfare. Although being relativley unknown, Phanfare is a surprisingly good site and their new iPhone app is putting them back in the limelight.

This app, nicknamed Photon, could quite possibly be the best iPhone photo sharing app on the market. This is mainly due to Phanfares use of cloud storage and online gallery features which is integrated nicely into the iPhone, some new features added to the iPhone's own camera features, and the wonderful fact that this helpful app is totally free.

With the Phanfare app and plugins for your desktop, you can upload all your pictures to the service. You can get a free account with 1GB of space, or for a $55 a year account you can get unlimited accounts.

The interface for Photon is very similar to that of Apple's own photo app but comes with a few important changes. For example, you can access all your pictures from the phone and the built-in camera app comes with a picture stabalizer and a self timer. You also get the traditional greyscale, sepia, or auto scale features for your pics as well as the option to crop or add captions to your photos. A very cool feature is the ability to add music to your slideshows, though you can only do this through the site itslef.

The app caches your photos on the phone which allows you to run most of Photons features offline. Plus, you also get the option to choose how much disk space on your iPhone you want to dedicate to the cache so you only use what you want to use. The only downside, for now, is the fact that you do not have the ability to zooom in on your photos, though luckily Phanfare CEO Andrew Erlichson says that this feature will be added in the next version of the app due to apperar some time in the next 4 weeks.

Overall it appears that Phanfare's Photon is the best iPhone picture sharing app out right now for the iPhone. Its main focus is to give you easy access to all of your photos while also giving you the ability to share ttem with your friends. This is one iPhone app that will surley please anybody who uses it.

iPhone Leading the Smartphone Gaming Charge

We are now finding out from a new study that smartphone gaming is becoming popular very fast. If offers personal connectivity and productivity. The old top seller for a phone was a RAZR and from a new comScore study shows that the iPhone is leading the smartphone gaming charge.

In November of 2007 there was not one smartphone that was on the top 10 list of phones used for mobile downloads. A year later in 2008 there were 6 or the top 10 phones listed as smartphones leading by 8gb iPhone 3g. The people using smartphones nearly tripled going from 734,000 to nearly three million.

The next phone that was on the list was the 8gb iPhone then the 16 gb iPhone is number seven. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 and Curve 8310 make the appearance of a smartphone. The Samsung Instinct and the LG Voyager also make appearances among the top 10 gaming phones. The iPhone makes a great gaming platform that is continuing to grow in popularity.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Google's Gdrive is Coming!

Everyone has been going crazy for Google's Gdrive, an online hardrive that will replace any need for your current hard drive.

The Gdrive is a cloud-based storage device that will allow for storage of your entire hardrive. It will run with a desktop client who will keep all files and folders while a google server will do the rest. This is particularly good for people who travel alot or need to work away from their desktop. With the Gdrive you will be able to work on an offline project like word or spreadsheet and save it to your Gdrive, then, on the road you can open up your laptop, check your Gdrive and start working on that same project or vice versa. Go see my post about the Gdrive in more detail on A Computer Blog if you want more.

Needless to say everybody has been waiting for years, thats right, years since they first heard the rumors about the Gdrive and it looks like all the anticipation will be worth it.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Social Network Sites, Go on, Get Out There!

Regardless of who you are or what you do or even how old you are, online presence is becoming more and more of a necessity. If you are a business owner online presence is imparative. Social networking sites are the fastest way to reach a broad audience and with a little effort your networking pool will get larger and larger. Since the rage of Myspace and Facebook started a new study conducted by Pew Research shows that networking sites aren’t just for teenagers and college students.

According to the study, in February 2005, only 8 percent of adult Internet users claimed to use social networking sites, but that number has increased to 35 percent as of December 2008.

The Breakdown looks like this:
• 75 percent of 18 to 24 year olds use social networking sites
• 57 percent of 25 to 34 year olds are also using sites.
• As age increases, the percentage steadily decreases
• Still, 7 percent of adults 65 and older have accounts on social networking sites
• According to the study, 89 percent of adults who use social networking sites do so for the purpose of staying in touch.

As young social networkers get older they are going to keep up with the friends they have made all over the world so the amount of older adults involvment will increase. Not to mention the fact that new networking sites are popping up all over the place and some of them like TEE BEE DEE are aimed at the more mature adults who enjoy conversation and discussing issues.

Myspace is considered the realm of young teens and high school students, yet 50 percent of adults who subscribe to social networking sites are Myspace users while Facebook is for college students, 22 percent of adults are on Facebook,and LinkedIn is meant to cater to adults. However, , with only and 6 percent of adults are on LinkedIn however as other sites become known that will change. For now Myspace is still the hottest ticket.

There just isn’t a better way to get yourself out in the public eye and meet people and show people what you do and who you are. Social networking gives you the power of the rippled effect. For each friend you meet they have friends who are going to be curious about you and so on and so on. So don’t be afraid to hop on board.

Monday, January 19, 2009

HP Mini 2140- An all aluminum netbook with a brawny SSD drive

HP Mini 2140 Aluminum NotebookOne of the biggest complaints of netbooks is their anemic hard drives, often less than 20GB of storage. For a mobile professional, this might not be enough space to store large presentations, images, or videos, and may not be enough space for someone to install all of the software they need to run outside of the office. HP stepped up to the plate and delivered a new netbook with an 80GB SSD drive, or the option of 160GB 5400rpm or 7200rpm SATA drives, the Mini 2140- an all aluminum notebook weighing only 2.62 lb and just over an inch thick, great for people who need to downsize how much baggage they carry.

The 2140 features a 10.1" LED lit screen that displays either 1024 x 576 or 1366 x768 resolution. The notebook also has a specially designed keyboard, that is 92% full size, and uses keys coated with a special treatment that protects the print from wearing off with use.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

New Sony P Series Vaio

One of the smallest laptops has just arrived and its packing a big punch. The Sony Vaio p-series is making some serious waves in the world of laptop computers and the size is the most talked about feature.

But the functionality is what you should be most impressed with, with Windows Vista preloaded it makes accessing your documents and other information as easy as sitting at you home PC. The Sony P-series can also boot into the Xrossmediabar ( XMB) giving you easy access to the Internet and other functions without loading Vista in it's entirety.This should make working from the airport on a P-series a more bearable experience.

The Vaio p-series comes in with a respectable 2 GB and 1.6 GHZ CPU and for a laptop that can fit in your pocket the 128-GB solid state hard drive gives the p-series some speed.

In my opinion the world of laptops is on notice, because Sony has taken the game of working on the go to a whole new level.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Windows Live Mesh - Perfect for Those On The Go

Windows Live MeshYou have a work computer in the office, you occasionally get business done at home and have a mobile laptop for business trips and keeping yourself informed while on the go. What exaclty do you do when working at one computer but need to access an entirely different one? Stop e-mailing yourself files or using a clumsy remote desktop and get with the program known as Live Mesh.

What exactly is Live Mesh you might ask. Its pretty simple really. Live Mesh is a data synchronization system from Microsoft that allows files, folders, and programs to be shared with one another across multiple platforms. In other words, Live Mesh allows you to synchronize your work computer, your home computer, your laptop, your pda, and even your mac, all which may live in different places, to one another in order to create your virtual network of cloud computing.

Say you and your coworkers are collaborating on an important project and want a more efficient way to work and communicate when not in the same building. Live mesh allows you to share files and folder between multiple users and keeps everything synched as files are updated and added. Need to know when something has changed in these types of networks? No need to worry. Live Mesh allows you to monitor your connections with others and you can see when new members are invited or when files have been changed. Perhaps your ambitions aren't entirely business related and you just want to share your pictures with family and friends. Live Mesh would work wonderfully in this situation as well.

Live Mesh also includes an online cloud storage component known as Live Desktop which allows you synchronize folders to be accessed via a website. Basically you don't even have to be at one of your own personal computers to access your files. This is great when needing to work out of a cyber cafe or anywhere else where you aren't using your own personal computer.

In short, Live Mesh looks like a must have for those who are constantly on the go and looking for newer and better ways to stay connected.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Fuel Tank from Callpod charges devices when you aren't near an outlet

















What do you do when your mobile device runs out of powere but you are not near an AC power outlet? Callpod.com heard our cries, and delivered an on-the-go charging solution. The FuelTank is a 4300mA/Hr lithium battery that can charge 2 devices without a power outlet. It can charge most devices multiple times, and when the FuelTank itself is drained, it is recharged with a power outlet in about 2.5 hours. The FuelTank is $69.95, and adapters to connect devices are $9.95. An extensive list of adapters is available to cover most Cellphones, gaming devices, and PDAs.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Welcome to Our Work To Go Blog!

Yep it's a blog about how to do a better job while working on the go. So get ready for some info about mobile devices, laptops, PDA's, mobile software apps, and anything else we can think of that makes working on the go easier.

As always if you would like to be a guest author just shoot us an e-mail at web@xponex.com