Saturday, February 20, 2010

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Dell Small Business offers the Dell Vostro 220 Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz Mini Tower Desktop PC with the Dell E1910H 18.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $439 plus $35 for shipping. That's $297 off and tied with our mention from two weeks ago as the lowest total price we could find for this system, although our last mention had a larger LCD. Sales tax is added where applicable. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo E5700 2.93GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, DVD burner, and Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.

Best Buy offers the refurbished ASUS Essentio Pentium Dual-Core 2.6GHz Desktop PC, model no. CM5570-AP002, for $299.99. With $29.99 for shipping
Features include an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 2.6GHz processor, 6GB RAM, 640GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI output, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

$81 SuperBiiz.com offers the Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. WD10EARS, for $89.50 with free shipping. Add it to your cart and apply coupon code "BIGCAT10" to cut the price to $80.55 ($0.08/GB). This "green" drive purports to consume less power compared to other models and features a 64MB cache

Deals at Overstock.com: Computer accessories from $1 + free shipping
•Serial ATA Hard Drive Right-Angle Data Cables 2-Pack (pictured) for $1.49
•14-Foot CAT5e Ethernet Cable for $1.49
•Saitek 4-Port USB 2.0 Mini UFO Hub for $3.49
•Eforcity USB Optical Scroll-Wheel Mouse for $3.49
•6-Foot HDMI Cable 2-Pack for $4.49, 3-Pack for $6.99
•Car Audio Cassette Adapter for Apple iPod / MP3 for 81 cents

Linksys Wifi Router Amazon $30
Amazon.com offers the refurbished Linksys Ultra RangePlus 802.11n 4-Port Broadband Router, model no. WRT160N, for $29.99 with free shipping. This router uses MIMO technology with multiple radios for improved signal strength and range.

Dell has the Dell 24" ST2410 Widescreen LCD Monitor for $189 with free shipping. Sports a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 50000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 250 cd/m2 brightness, and 5ms response time. Uses a TN panel with 2 CCFL tubes for back lighting

Amazon has the LG 32LH30 32" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV for $380 with free shipping.
Full 1080p resolution, NTSC/ATSC with Clear QAM, XD image processing
50,000:1 dynamic contrast, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 6ms response time

TigerDirect.com offers the Seagate BlackArmor 110 2TB Network Attached Storage, model no. ST320005MNA10G-RK, for $249.99 with free shipping

NewEgg has the Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive WD20EADS (bare drive) for $150 with free shipping

Toshiba has the Toshiba Satellite 15.6" L500-ST2544 Core i3 Notebook for $599 with free shipping. [Compare]
Core i3-330M 2.13Ghz processor 3GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, 6-cell
Intel GMA HD, DVD SuperMulti, 802.11n, webcam, Windows 7 HP x 64

Newegg has the Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive for $60 with free shipping. Includes 3-year manufacturer limited warranty

Newegg has the OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8004GK for $87 - $30 rebate [Exp 2/28] + $0 shipping = $57 shipped.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Microsoft’s Creative Destruction

Author Dick Brass was a Microsoft VP. His NY Times op ed takes Microsoft culture down with the scalpel that only an insider can wield with great impact.

If you wonder why Microsoft these days always seems a step or two behind, read this article for the answers.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-14-10

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-14-10. 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.

Links From The Gregg Zone

1) My green link for the week has to do with the clean water situation worldwide, and is currently being considered for use in Haiti. This is a system called a bio-reactor it uses bacteria to clean putrid water in about 24 hour. The green aspect of this revolves around water delivery, as an example the army is currently sending two of these to Afghanistan, they say that they can save a lot of gasoline currently used to deliver water for operations there. They are requesting the company producing them to send their prototype to Haiti to help with the recovery. http://www.wired.com
2) This is one of those technological advancements that I remember seeing in many sci-fi movies, reading about in several books. The author always has to come up with a way for all the different species of aliens to talk to our hero. Somehow I never thought I would see the universal translator in my life time, but then forgot about Google. The Google techs are working hard on the problem, and they say in a couple of years they will introduce the translator phone. You speak English in to your phone it is translated and comes out as verbal Spanish at the other end, and reverses the process back to you. I would guess the cell phone app is already being designed. http://technology.
3) This is a follow up from last week, I am still all wrapped up in this announcement that time control technology has been achieved, and perused by several countries around the world. I ran across another interview with David Lewis Anderson on the net, you can listen to this one without paying, or subscribing at Whitley Strieber’s Dreamland. You will need to click on the listen link then select the correct one, it is titled “Is Time Travel Already Happening”? http://www.unknowncountry.com
4) Today is the twentieth anniversary of a famous photograph; this is one of those things that make you think about just how small our life footprint is in the overall scheme of the universe. Taken from four billion miles in space by Voyager 1, just as they were shutting down the offices. The photo was quite sensational when it came out, called the Pale Blue Dot. It shows Earth as two or three pixels on a photograph measuring 14 feet wide. The link is at NPR and has a audio link attached if you prefer to listen to the story and interview. http://www.npr.org
5) My geek link this week illustrates just how totally out of touch I am with this, this is from EEF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) twentieth anniversary bash, being covered by Macworld. Features a video with Adam Savage from Mythbuster’s fame. The video is in two parts, I watched it all, and was left totally clueless, but that’s okay. http://www.tuaw.com

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

For members, BJ's Wholesale Club offers the Fuji Finepix Z33WP 10-Megapixel Waterproof Digital Camera in Green, model no. 15940073, for $99.99 plus $9 for shipping. That's $31 under our August mention and the lowest total price we could find now by $29. (It's the best we've ever seen.) Sales tax is added where applicable. The Z33WP is waterproof to 10 feet and features a 3x optical zoom, 2.7" LCD, underwater mode, face recognition, movie mode, voice memo, 50MB of internal memory, SDHC slot, A/V output, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Deal ends February 28.

OnSale offers the refurbished Sharp AQUOS BD-HP22U Blu-ray Disc Player for $99.99. This $25 mail-in rebate drops it to $74.99. With about $13 for shipping, that's $51 under the lowest total price we could find for a new one. It features BD-Live 2.0, DVD upconversion to 1080p, one HDMI output, and more. Rebate ends February 28.


mwave.com offers this 10-Foot USB 2.0 Cable for $1.29. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we've seen for this cable in this length. It features USB Type A Male and Type B Male connectors.


Dell fifteen inch Inspiron laptop $399 at DELL
• Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.1GHz T4300, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD
• 15.6" display, integrated Intel 4500 MHD, DVD±R/RW, 6-cell battery Intel® Pentium® Dual Core™ T4400 (2.2GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB cache) Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 Year Basic Service Plan

Newegg has the Asus GeForce 9500 GT 1GB PCI-E Video Card for $63 - $20 rebate [Exp 2/28] = $43 with free shipping. Features a core clock of 550MHz, 1400MHz shader clock, 32 stream processors, 800MHz memory clock and DirectX 10 support

B&H Photo Video has the Apple 16GB iPod nano 5th generation (Black, Silver, Green, Pink, Blue, Orange, and Purple on sale for $160 with free shipping. Features built-in video camera, FM radio, 2.2" LCD, and enough storage for 4,000 songs

Sa
Micro Innovations IC455C In-Sight Webcam $13 at Buy.com with free shipping. Features a 1.3Mp resolution, 30fps real-time video, and a built-in microphone.

VodBurner, is giving OnComputers listeners a special price on VodBurner. All you need to do is email vodburner@vodburner.com and mention that you heard about VodBurner on the OnComputers show. They will then email you the instructions on how to purchase a VodBurner lifetime license for $USD 99.95.