Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Got 37 Bucks? Have a Laptop - The 7-inch eBay netbook really does cost under $40

It's actually $37!! The 7-inch netbook runs on Windows CE and has 2GB storage. "What's the catch (apart from the extraordinarily underpowered internals)?" asks Charlie Sorrel. There appears to be none

Monday, June 28, 2010

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 06-27-10

This was a short show because of technical problems. Next week is the 4th of July and we will be playing a rerun. Have a safe and sane holiday!

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 06-27-10. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Today's App Corner: Hurricane

We have 2 paid apps this week because there are no free apps in this category.

Hurricane season is here. Whether you are tracking because the storm is approaching you, or you just study weather, check out the app Hurricane. If that is too pricey for you, a less expensive and less elegant app, Hurricane Tracker will do much of the same.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) I have been sort of quiet in regards to the oil spill in the gulf, I have been interested in the effect of our basic destruction of our planet for long time. I have been seeing some incredibly disturbing stories lately. I am worried that this is going to be much worse than what is being presented to us. There seems to be some real concerns with the dispersants I have posted one article, and one news story on Youtube. http://www.sfgate.com

http://www.youtube.com


2) I have forever been a fan of illusions they demonstrate so well that what you perceive to be truth is only a factor of your point of view. For me this holds true in everything from political views, to science, and accepted laws of physics. So when I ran across the top illusions of 2010, well let’s just say I felt it belonged here in the Gregg zone. http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com
3) This is another of those topics that seem to keep popping up in various forms, the idea that technology is reaching some sort of crescendo regarding evolutionary advancement of our species. A blending of mans consciousness and machine, creating a sort of immortality. I find this line of contemplation utterly fascinating. We are privileged in that we live in a time of such speed of progress that the changes are evident to a degree never before observed, we are witnessing either a great beginning, or a catastrophic ending. This is an interesting article on the subject here. http://www.dailygrail.com/
4) As an example of the previous post in the medical field I found this to be interesting in that twenty years ago it would have been headline news. In today’s world with technology speeding along at such an increased rate it only rates a place buried on the back pages of the web. In biblical times this was considered a miracle today it is just accepted, with a caveat like what took so long. http://www.newscientist.com
5) For my geek offering I ran across this and thought it might be worthy I am not much of a gamer other than spider, minesweeper, and the like, but this sounded like it might be a very big deal for games, and other applications, regarding internet personalities like the avatar news anchor post I put up a month or two ago. http://www.gamepro.com

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Ends Sunday Specials at Newegg. Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive for $100 - $30 instant coupon = $70 shipped. Weighing in at only a few ounces, it fits easily into a pocket or a purse. This drive comes with a USB 2.0 interface which does not require any power adapter as it is powered directly through the USB cable. It is compatible with Mac and Windows. Use Promo Code: EMCYWZW53 at checkout.

ASUS MS236H Glossy Black / White 23" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor w/HDMI 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50000:1 for $230 - $50 savings - $20 rebate = $160 shipped. Use Promo Code: EMCYWZW45 at checkout.

Western Digital External 1.5TB USB 2.0 Hard Drive for $120 - $35 instant savings = $85 shipped at Dell. This external USB 2.0 drive is preformatted for immediate use. Simply plug it in to a USB port of your system to add high-speed storage. The WD Elements Desktop External Hard Drive is an ideal choice to manage all your digital content between work and home. June 23rd 6AM CST.

MWave has the OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 Desktop Memory (OCZ3OB1600LV4GK) for $93 - $10 rebate [Exp 6/30] + $0 shipping = $83 shipped with free "M" Club membership. CAS Latency of 9 with timings of 9-9-9-26. [Compare]


Office Depot has the Toshiba Satellite L555D-S7005 17.3" Widescreen Notebook Computer on sale for $500 with free shipping. [Compare]
• AMD Turion II Dual-Core Mobile M520 2.3GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB HDD
• 17.3" LED 1600x900, ATI Radeon HD 4200, DVD SuperMulti Drive
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64, 802.11b/g/Draft-N, webcam/mic

SuperBiiz has the LG GH22NP20 22x DVD+-RW Internal Drive (Bulk) for $21 - $5 off with coupon code POPSICLE [Exp 6/27] = $16 + shipping. Shipping ranges from $7 to $10. A user review indicates that it'll burn at 22x with Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden media. It also supports speedy 16X DVD+R DL burning for those who need the DL capacity.


MWave has the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive for $40 + $0 shipping = $40 shipped with free "M" Club membership. Western Digital covers this product with a 3-year warranty. [

iMate has the iSwap 1000 3.5" SATA II HDD Mobile Rack Enclosure for $14 with free shipping. Allows for tool-free hard disk installation, fits into standard 5.25" drive bay, and features anti-vibration rubber foot stand and security key lock (with two spare keys).
iSwap 1000 SATA II 3.5 inch HDD Mobil Rack S-ATA II 3.0 Gbps
[IM-FCKF-1000-BK] $28.99 $14.45

Tiger Direct has the HP Compaq dc5850 VS728UA Business Desktop for $400 with free shipping.
AMD Athlon X3 2.8GHz processor, 4GB DDR2 memory, 500GB hard drive
• DVD+/-RW writer, Windows XP Pro/Vista Business, ATI Radeon 3100

Newegg has the Hitachi Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM 3.5" Internal Hard Drive for $70 - $10 rebate [Exp 6/27] = $60 with free shipping. Rosewill RX-DU101 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure included with purchase. Features 32MB cache, 7200RPM, an average seek time of 8.2ms, and a three year limited warranty


TigerDirect.com offers the Western Digital ShareSpace 4-Bay 2TB Gigabit Ethernet Network Attached Storage, model no. WDA4NC20000N, for $279.99. With free shipping, It features two 1TB hard drives (for a total of 2TB), multiple RAID configurations, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 connections, and more.

AnyBizSoft continues to offer downloads of PDFtoWord PDF Converter 3.0 for Windows for free. It's $20 off our mention from last August (of an older version) and tied with our mention from last week as the lowest total price we've seen for such software. This software is designed to convert PDF to Word with page layout and formatting retained. Note that you'll need to become a "Fan" of AnyBizSoft on Facebook in order to get a keycode.

Staples offers the HP Pavilion p6510f AMD Athlon X4 2.8GHz Quad Core Desktop PC, model no. WW639AA#ABA, for $449.98. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find by $60. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include an AMD Athlon X4 630 2.8GHz quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, 750GB 7200 rpm hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4200 128MB graphics, DVD burner with LightScribe, 802.11n wireless, 15-in-1 card reader, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Apple iPhone 4 Antennas

This is a very interesting article about the iPhone 4 antenna and cell phone antennas in general. I have a 3Gs with no 4 in sight. But I can attest to the fact that my phone is not affected by the way in which I hold it. Yes, I've tried to kill the signal and I can't. I've heard some people say they think it is all a software issue. I don't, I think it is an antenna issue. Is it still a very usable phone? Sure. Should you move your hand if you lose your signal. I would. Using a case should help and will probably help protect a phone with not 1 but 2 sides of glass. Is this a design flaw? I'd call it more of a design compromise. Or is that a compromised design?