When you buy a new computer or TV from a big box store, they usually aren't making that much money off of that actual product. Where they do cash in, however, is by convincing you to buy tons of peripherals at incredibly high markups. (And don't even get me started...
What happens when you Google yourself? If you've got a popular name, any pertinent results are usually washed out by waves of news about the serial killers, athletes, and CEOs who share your name. If you don't have one, then the results will probably be a mismash of labeled photos,...
There are few things quite as satisfying as removing the clutter from your desk. It's a great way to procrastinate from doing actual work; it results in immediate gratification; and, occasionally—among the leftover takeout containers—you'll find an important paper that you thought was already relegated to the waste bin of...
Boingo—the hot spot aggregator that sells you wireless service in airports and hotels around the globe—announced a new plan yesterday. For just under $40 a month, they're selling unlimited access to their hot spots around the world. While that's not exactly cheap, it comes as welcome news to frequent business...
One of the benefits of having a laptop is that when the power goes out, it simply switches over to battery power and there's no harm done. But if you happen to experience a California brownout—or even an ill-timed kick to the power cord under your desk—you'll notice that desktops...
In the New York Times today, there's an interesting article about a computer problem for PCs that has happened to me several times. I'll be getting set up in an airplane to watch a movie or presentation on my laptop when the sound stops working. Once, it was because I...
More screen space makes you more productive. It's a fact [PDF]. That's why I just upgraded my monitor to a 19-inch widescreen LCD display from Samsung NewEgg. Well, the productivity thing, plus the fact that it was relatively cheap (under $200) and very snazzy looking.Bigger is better, according to the...
A couple of weeks ago, I lamented the fact that there werent any commercially available external hard drives that simply plug into our PCs and automatically and regularly back up everything. It turns out that such a device has just been developed. ...
A few months ago, I mentioned that Windows Vista users can increase the read cache of their PCs—thus speeding up loading times for start up and other applications—by plugging in spare flash drives. The ReadyBoost function of Vista that allows users to take advantage of this trick is...
Sure, we all know that we should be backing up all of our files regularly. And, given that storage has dropped below a dollar per gigabyte, there are certainly no space constraints anymore. But even using the "system tools" menu on our PC to...
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Vistas new ReadyBoost system allows you to basically add RAM to your PC by taking advantage of any flash drives that are plugged into it. The folks at ExtremeTech have come up with several other ways to speed up your Vista OS by...
I recently bought an iPowerPro adapter to charge my laptop on a long plane ride to Asia. I even checked with seatguru.com to make sure my seat had access to the juice, but when I got on the plane, an outlet was nowhere to be found. I was stuck rereading...
As you may have noticed, Im a fan of Gmail. Has that changed now that Yahoo! Mail has announced that it is offering unlimited storage to users starting in May? Nope. While I may keep a Yahoo! account on standby in case someone comes up with a genius way to...
Microsoft Word, the medium in which almost all of my work is done, is not a particularly user-friendly beast. It crashes on occasion, and it doesnt interact well with documents written on other software. In its standard settings, it tries—often incorrectly—to anticipate my needs, and it messes with my concentration...
Laptops and liquids dont mix well. Ive lost one to a Diet Dr. Pepper and have seen another fried due to a harried late-night combination of Google and Heineken. The two seem to be brought together in the most inopportune places—conference rooms and airplane...
One reason that the present doesnt look as much like the future that we imagined it would be twenty years ago is that voice recognition technology still isnt nearly as meaningful as we thought it would be. The recognition software is slow to learn, makes lots of mistakes, and cant...
While its not out quite yet for the public, I thought Id tell you about a very cool USB-powered tool that uses fingerprint-scanning technology in a number of really cool ways. Basically, it allows you to give any computer the biometric security capabilities that come built-in with many...
Even if youre not so enamored with the USB interface that youd consider using the technology to say, fire up your grill, there are tons of useful USB-powered devices and gadgets out there. (For example, in the last couple of weeks, Ive shown how you can take advantage...
Several of the cool gadgets Ill be pointing you to, like the mouse-that-fits-into-your-laptop I mentioned last week, require Bluetooth in order to interact wirelessly with your computer. And while the majority of new laptops and desktops come equipped with Bluetooth, most older models like my Dell Inspiron do...
Recently, I set up a wireless hotspot from my house that will let me have free internet access in a lot of the places I travel. Thats because the company that makes the wireless mini-router Im using has created a global community of hotspot-providers who give wireless access...
