Thanksgiving PC Deals

From Gizmodo, here are the PC deals in alphabetical order for this Thanksgiving Weekend (and with a tip of the hat to Earl for his post below which I couldn't edit):

Acer Aspire One 10.1" Netbook w/ 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, Windows XP - $149.99 * [Office Max]

Acer Aspire One Black Intel Atom N270(1.60GHz) Netbook $189.99 [Newegg]


Acer Netbook 10.1" Netbook w/Intel 1.6GHz Atom Processor N270 - $199.99 [Office Depot]

Acer Aspire 15.6" Widescreen Notebook Computer w/AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor L310, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $379.99 [Office Depot]

Acer 17.3" Blue Laptop w/4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Premium (Online Only) - $498.00 [Wal-Mart]

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - $349.99 [Amazon]

Compaq Presario Dual-Core Desktop w/ 3GB RAM, 500GB HD, Windows 7 - $239.99 * [Office Max]

Compaq CQ4010F Desktop Computer w/AMD Sempron LE-1300 Processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive - $229.99 [Office Depot]

Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive - $179.99 [Best Buy]

Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive - $229.99 [Best Buy]

Compaq Presario AMD LE-1300 Desktop w/18.5" Monitor - $329.99 [Office Depot]

Dell 10.1" Inspiron Mini 10V Netbook w/Atom 1.6Ghz Processor N270 - $249.00 [Dell]

Dell 10.1" Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive - $379.99 [Best Buy]

Dell 14" Inspiron 14 Notebook w/Intel T4300 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $599.00 [Dell]

Dell 14" Studio XPS 13 Notebook w/Intel P7450 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive - $999.00 [Dell]

Dell 15.6" Inspiron 15 Notebook w/Intel T4300 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $549.00 [Dell]

Dell 15.6" Studio 15 Notebook w/Intel T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive - $499.00 [Dell]

Dell 15.6" Studio Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive - $599.98 [Staples]

Dell 16" Studio XPS 16 Notebook w/Intel P7450 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive - $999.00 [Dell]

Dell 17" Studio 17 Notebook w/Intel T4300 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive - $749.00 [Dell]

Dell 20" Studio XPS 8000 Desktop w/Intel i5-750 CPU, 6GB RAM, 750GB Hard Drive - $899.00 [Dell]

Dell Desktop PC w/AMD Athlon X2 215 Processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive, 20-inch LCD Monitor - $499.98 [Staples]

Dell Inspiron 537s Desktop w/Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $349.00 [Dell]

Dell Inspiron 537s w/Intel E5300 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, w/20" LCD Monitor - $499.00 [Dell]

Dell Inspiron w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $499.00 [Dell]

Dell Studio Desktop w/Intel E7500 Processor, 6GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, w/18.5" LCD Monitor - $699.00 [Dell]

Dell Studio Desktop w/Intel Q8300 Processor, 6GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive, w/20" LCD Monitor - $749.00 [Dell]

Dell Studio Slim Desktop w/Intel E5400, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, w/18.5" LCD Monitor - $599.00 [Dell]

Free Software w/Purchase of Computer - Free [Office Depot]

HP Notebook Computer G60-508US w/Intel Celeron Processor 900 - $299.99 [Office Depot]

HP Notebook Computer G71-343US With Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 - $449.99 [Office Depot]

10.1" HP Mini 110-1037NR Pink Netbook - $339.95 [Amazon]

10.1" HP Mini 110-1109NR White Netbook (Windows XP) - $199.99 [Amazon]

13.3" HP Pavilion DM3-1030US Silver Laptop - $499.99 [Amazon]
13.3" HP Pavilion dm3z AMD Neo Laptop w/4GB RAM, 320GB HD - $529.99 [HP]

HP 15.6" Laptop w/Intel Celeron Processor 900, 3GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 - $299.98 * [Staples]

HP 15.6" Notebook w/Intel Processor, 3GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive (Model # G60-519WM) - $298.00 * [Wal-Mart]

HP 15.6" Laptop w/Intel Pentium Processor T4300, 4GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 - $399.98 * [Staples]

HP 15.6" Notebook w/AMD Turion II Dual Core Processor M500, 6GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 - $599.99 [Best Buy]

HP 15.6" Notebook w/AMD Turion II Dual Core Processor M500, 8GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 - $699.99 [Best Buy]

15.6" HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition Laptop w/i7 Processor & HD LED Display - $999.99 [HP]

HP 17" Notebook w/4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive (Model # G71-329WM) - $398.00 [Wal-Mart]

HP 17.3" Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $599.98 [Staples]

HP Desktop AMD X4 Quad Core, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive w/20" Monitor, HP Deskjet DJ350 Color Printer & Windows 7 Home Premium - $499.97 [Best Buy]

HP Pavilion Desktop P6229PG w/20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - $499.99 [Office Depot]

HP Pavilion Elite e9250t w/Intel i5 Processor, 6GB RAM & 500GB HD - $799.99 [HP]

HP Pavilion p6280t Desktop w/Quad Core Processor, 6GB RAM & 640GB HD - $569.99 [HP]

HP Pavilion All-In-One 19" Desktop w/4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive, MS213 AMD - $598.00 [Wal-Mart]

HP Pavilion Desktop w/AMD Processor, 3GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive, w/20" Monitor (Model # P6243w-b) - $398.00 * [Wal-Mart]

HP Pavilion Slimline s5210t Desktop w/Dual Core Processor 640GB HD & 3GB RAM - $349.99 [HP]

HP Pavillion Slimline s5220f Desktop Computer w/Intel Pentium Processor E5300, 4GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive - $369.99 [Office Depot]

HP Pavillion Slimline Intel E5300 Desktop w/20" Monitor - $519.99 [Office Depot]

Macbook 13.3" Notebook w/2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3 Memory, 250GB Hard Drive, w/$150 Gift Card - $999.99 [Best Buy]

10.1" Samsung N110-12PBK Netbook - $326.95 [Amazon]

Sony 15" Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 - $399.99 [Best Buy]

Sony 15" Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, Sony Headphones, Built-In Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movie - $479.97 [Best Buy]

Sony 15.5" Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $649.98 [Staples]

13.3" Toshiba Satellite T135-S1307 TruBrite 13.3-Inch Ultrathin Black Laptop - $699.99 [Amazon]

Toshiba 15.6" Widescreen Notebook w/AMD Turion II Dual-Core Processor M500, 3GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive - $469.99 [Office Depot]

Toshiba 16" Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 3GB DDR3 Memory, 250GB Hard Drive (Model # L505-S5984) - $399.99 [Best Buy]

Toshiba 16" Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4GB DDR3 Memory, 320GB Hard Drive (Model # L505-S5984) w/Printer and Case - $499.97 [Best Buy]

Toshiba 17" Notebook w/AMD Turion II M500, 3GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive - $499.99 [Office Depot]

Toshiba L505-S5998 T4300 4GB RAM, 320GB HD Notebook - $399.99 [Office Max]

Wacom Intuos3 6x8" Pen Tablet - $199.99 [Amazon]

eMachines 15.6" Notebook w/AMD Processor, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive (Model # EME627) - $198.00 * [Wal-Mart]

eMachines Desktop w/AMD Athlon Processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, w/18.5" LCD Monitor and HP Deskjet Printer - $299.97 [Best Buy]

BLACK FRIDAY early DEALS this blog updated until Black Friday

Categories at BlackFriday .info

Black Friday Ads at BFads.net

BlackFriday.com

More BlackFriday Ads

D-Link® DIR-615 Wireless-N Router $20 Free Shipping

eWiz.com has the Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM System Builder's DVD for $171 - 10% off with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30] = $171 with free shipping. Ultimate includes everything that's found in Home and Professional editions in one package. [Compare]
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit 1-Pack = $171 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack = $125 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
Windows 7 Professional 32-bit 1-Pack = $125 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack = $94 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]
Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack = $94 shipped w/ BLACKFRIDAY [Exp 11/30]

NewEgg Black Friday Deals good until 11/29

THere must be FIFTY HardDrive BlkFri Deals here.

http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/ has lots of Dell systems, $184 Dell netbooks and computer accesories as well as tech deals.

newegg.com again offers the Western Digital Caviar 1.5TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. WD15EADS, for $89.99 with free shipping

Dell Small Business offers the Dell PowerEdge T100 Pentium Dual-Core 2.7GHz Server (pictured) for $249 plus $25 for shipping
It comes with an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 2.7GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive, DVD-ROM, and Gigabit Ethernet. No OS is included.

7-Port USB 2.0 "Squid" Hub with built-in cables for $7 + free shipping
Shop4Tech.com offers this 7-Port "Squid" USB 2.0 Hub in Black for $8.99. Add coupon code "BF18" to your cart to cut it to $7.37. With free shipping,

Toshiba Satellite L505-S5984 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz 16" Widescreen Notebook for $399.99. With $14.99 for shipping,

Newegg has the refurbished Microsoft Zune 30GB Digital Video MP3 Player for $90 + $0 shipping = $90 shipped.

CompUSA has the Synaps 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor (11010230Y3) for $160 + $0 shipping= $160 shipped

Troll sent this one Get a 10-inch Netbook for $199

Wills sent this link - $39 Dell All In One Printer/Scanner

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Google Press Center: Press Release

"Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it is working with airports across the country as well as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to provide free Wi-Fi as a holiday gift now through January 15, 2010. The gift currently includes 47 airports, including Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely."

This is a very nice gift from Google, if you're traveling this holiday season use it while you are waiting. (70 minutes, on average)

Happy Traveling!
AlaskaJoe

Is it OK to Use OEM Windows on Your Own PC? Don't Ask Microsoft - SuperSite Blog

"Is it OK to Use OEM Windows on Your Own PC? Don't Ask Microsoft"
This is interesting I don't know many people that read the EULA these days. (I do know someone that took 3 days to read the EULA for Skype.)

I'm a registered system builder with Microsoft so I'm OK. I don't think Microsoft is enforcing this part of the License.

I like Windows 7 better than any other OS from Microsoft. Try it you'll like it! :)

AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-22-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-22-09. 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) Green is an interesting subject; it can run from paying attention to habits at home, to the steady supply of new products and processes. Then there is those things we usually don’t think about here is an example of one of those, green rocket fuels, an interesting concept. http://www.astrobio.net
2) This is an amazing subject from Gizmondo they condensed several articles and videos into a new section called “This Cyborg Life” you can spend some time with this one I know I did. http://gizmodo.com
3) Bordering on the edge as far as useful products are concerned, at least for home use, or at least for home use living in Las Vegas. You guessed it I am referring to bomb proof wallpaper; I don’t suppose it will be coming to my local home depot soon. But then, considering tornadoes, and hurricanes maybe it will. http://nextbigfuture.com
4) This is one I hooked up with, thanks to Joe, we seem to be seeing a lot of things going on with the FCC lately. This is just one more, but kind of interesting and one of those things that seem like they were inevitable, when you think about it. http://mobihealthnews.com
5) Last up an offering from Troll, who often saves me when it comes to trying to find something geeky. Titled “Inside The Google Chrome O S Security Model! Zero Day” When I read that title I knew two things, I had the link I needed, and I would not be able to understand 80% of it http://blogs.zdnet.com

No Telecommuting Allowed!

"Why on Earth would you hire for a job that requires someone who basically eats, sleeps and breathes online, and then demand they spend part of their time actually going to and from an office instead of being online and in touch with your customers?"

Trial/crapware banished from PCs bought from Microsoft store

"That's not really a great way to show off your new OS. After all, customers are expecting to get their new machines home and see performance from the get-go. While Microsoft can't control what makes it out the door at other retail stores, they're putting PCs they sell at their own store on an application diet."

A lot of people are buying new PC's now that Windows 7 is out. Your Windows XP PC is a bit long in the tooth! Now for under $500 you can get a new PC and LCD monitor, sometimes less.

When you get that new PC it's full of Trial/ crapware, this article has a link to help you remove it and help you install the apps you want and need, apps like Firefox, Skype, Open Office, ETC. In case you are to lazy to read this article here is the link to remove crapware.

Enjoy your new PC with Windows 7, I love mine!

AlaskaJoe

Backup Your Ubuntu Machine Easily with SBackup :: the How-To Geek

"Your computer’s data is very critical and losing it can can occur due to variety of reasons. A complete (or even partial) backup of your system is always a good idea. SBackup is a tool that’ll help you backup and restore data on your Ubuntu machine with utmost ease."
With so many people trying Ubuntu these days, I though this would be a good article to post.

This is an easy way to protect your data. We all know we should always Back-Up our data regularly. ;)

This is just a copy and paste to install SBackup.

AlaskaJoe

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Categories at BlackFriday .info

Black Friday Ads at BFads.net

BlackFriday.com

More BlackFriday Ads


Shop4Tech.com has a 7 Port USB 2.0 Hub with USB Cables for $9 - 15% off coupon code NM15 [Exp 11/21] = $8 with free shipping. It is powered through either the USB Bus or unobtainium.

Dell Business has the Vostro 220s Slim Tower plus Samsung 2494SW 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $419 + $35 shipping = $454 shipped. Add computer to cart to receive monitor. Pentium Dual-Core E5300 2.60GHz, 2GB DDR2, 80GB HDD, 16X DVD-ROM Integrated GMA X4500HD Video Card, Integrated 5.1 Channel Sound Card

Dell has the 15.6" Inspiron Laptop core Duo for $499 - $100 off coupon code 40M?6?W03KFH93 [Exp 12/4] = $399 with free shipping. Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 2.0GHz, Windows 7 Home, 3GB, 250GB HDD Intel GMA 45 00HD video, CD/DVD Burner, Wireless, 6 Cell Battery

ZipZoomFly has the Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive for $90 - $15 rebate [Exp 12/10] + $0 shipping = $75 shipped. These drives use less power and operate at lower temperatures and acoustics than standard desktop drives.

Acer Core 2 Quad 2.5GHz Desktop PC for $400 + free shipping
PC Connection again has the Acer Aspire M5700-E5801A Intel Core 2 Quad 2.5GHz Desktop PC, model no. PT.SB90X.009, for $399.95. With free shipping week ago for the least expensive Intel Core 2 Quad desktop PC we've seen. It features an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, 750GB Serial ATA hard drive, dual layer DVD burner, integrated video plus one PCIe X 16 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Of note, it's eligible for a Windows 7 upgrade through Acer

Dell Small Business offers its Dell Vostro 220s Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz Slim Tower Desktop PC with a Dell E Series E1910H 18.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $399 plus $35 for shipping. . Sales tax is added where applicable. This PC features an Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz dual-core processor, 2GB RAM, 160GB Serial ATA hard drive, DVD burner, Gigabit Ethernet, and Windows 7 Home Premium

Anyone can try out the Office 2010 Beta for One Year

MS Office 2010 Public Beta is yours to try out for one full yuear. Here is a link to download it,

News: OCZ Technology Announces 3.5″ 1TB Colossus SSDs

Can we start throwing hard drives away now? I have not yet seen an SSD in a standard desktop system but supposedly OCZ will soon make a 1 TB SSD.....

Apple machines are less reliable - The Inquirer

"Laptops from Toshiba and Sony were nearly 40 per cent more reliable than those from HP."
This is interesting, I have been saying Dell or HP, I guess I need to rethink my recommendations. "Acer, Gateway and HP had failure rates significantly higher than the average," the report said. I know Acer/Gateway/eMachine support is not one of my favorites. I had a customer with a new Acer desktop in 6 weeks the hard drive failed, I contacted Acer for the customer and was told they (Acer) would not ship me a new hard drive we (the customer) had to ship the whole computer back to them for replacement. That cost my customer an extra $50 for shipping.
I know Riley has a Toshiba and is very happy with it and has been for a few years.

I hope my new Netbook last. I got it from Costco and they give you a 2 year warranty.

AlaskaJoe

Credit Card Scam Bilking Users of "Club" fees

Just using your credit card at sites like Buy.com can be dangerous if you click on any "extra" offer as the site may give your credit card number to a club that bills you every month. VIDEO

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-15-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-15-09. 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) To start off the week as usual something green, or car, or the way I really like it a green car idea, or in this case a reality. Coming soon to Austin Texas, like very soon if not already there. The article I am using is from March this year, and they are calling for a roll out this fall. I am talking about “car2go” kind of like a zip car but better, and easier. With the zip you need to return it, and pay until you do. With car2go you just park it anywhere in the city limits, and you are done, just lock and leave. Sign up on line; locate a car using your phone, or computer. Reserve or just go on the fly, pay by min., hr. or day, gas, insurance, repairs, everything provided. This really sounds like a very user friendly system. http://www.benzinsider.com/
2) Sticking with favorite subjects, I am going to offer one on food. This is a very nice site for anyone who is concerned about what you eat. It is put up by Whole Foods a clickable listing of the worlds healthiest foods. There are 129 foods listed, you click on one and you get, a description, nutrient chart, health benefits, history, how to select and store, recipes, health concerns, and a reference list of where the info came from. I have not found anything as easy to use and informative when it comes to understanding what you are eating as this http://www.whfoods.com
3) Now we are going to step into one of the more interesting areas of the zone. There has been quite a bit of rumor, and speculation floating around the net lately about whether or not Obama is going to be the disclosure president. The entire UFO situation is going off the charts these days, for some reason the U.S. is holding back, activity worldwide is increasing expediently, and a lot of other countries are wondering what’s up with us, why are we holding back? Some of this is coming from sources not usually considered to be that far out. Like the Vatican there are some very interesting links in this article. The main argument is that they are releasing bits and pieces to prepare us for disclosure http://www.examiner.com
4) Here is another extremely interesting link dealing with the subject of computers, and mind. The article titled “Mind Reading (Neural Decoding) Goes Mainstream”. Along with some very interesting reading are four super videos, the first is a segment from Sixty Minutes on what is going on in the field. I liked the part where they read Lesley Stahl’s thoughts and got ten for ten correct. The second is a video from a tech show showing “Geek Girl” using the “Star Wars Force Trainer”. The third is from Emotive on their new headset, I did a link on this last year, but they seem to have come a long way. You can use the headset to give your avatar facial expression to match yours, or in a game change the intensity of the action by its reading your thought process, even control the game with out using your hands, thought alone. And the last video is from Honda connecting your mind to a robot, wheel chair, or your house you think it is a little cool in here and the house reads your thoughts, adjusts the thermostat. Check them all out here, very cool site http://www.hplusmagazine.com
5) This geek link comes from Troll, thanks again. I was particularly caught by the line Intel will pay AMD 1.25 billion dollars in cash within thirty days. Like they will just take it out of petty cash, or what. I have to admit I am not familiar with this action at all, have not had time to read the article in full yet. But, I think tomorrow I will have to check out a graph of AMD’s stock chart just out of curiosity. Sometimes numbers can be a little unsettling. http://blogs.zdnet.com

CyberWarfare: The US Central Military and DOD Networks Hacked and Monitored. Electrical Grids Crashed.

The US Dept of Defense, US Dept of Congress, US Dept of Commerce,US Dept of Energy and NASA have all been breached (hacked) and foreigners have downloaded terabytes of information. Even worse:
The firewalls and encryption protection of CENTCOM the most important military network controlling both the Afghan and Iraq war was breached and monitored for days. by foreign spies. Video

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Samsung 23" 1080p LCD Display w/ Logitech Wireless Desktop for $170 + free shipping
Dell Small Business offers the Samsung 23" 1080p Widescreen LCD Monitor, model no. 2333SW, bundled with the Logitech MK300 Wireless Desktop, model no. 920-000920, for $269.99. Apply coupon "QJV?Q7CB$9J0T7" to drop it to $169.99. With free shipping Good 'til 11/16

Samsung 24" 1080p LCD Display w/ Logitech Wireless Desktop for $190 + free shipping
Dell Small Business offers the Samsung 24" 1080p Widescreen LCD Monitor, model no. 2494SW, together with the Logitech MK300 Wireless Desktop for $229.99. Apply coupon code "8G2FHZ?KVLC1FD" to drop it to $189.99. With free shipping,
Good 'til 11/16

Newegg has the lenovo G550 2958-A4U 15.6" 3GB NoteBook for $400 with free shipping.
Intel Pentium dual-core T4300 2.10GHz, 15.6", 3GB Memory, 250GB HDD
DVD±R/RW, Integrated Graphics, 802.11n Wireless LAN, 6-cell, Windows 7 Home Premium

PC Connection has the Acer Aspire M5700-E5801A Core 2 Quad Desktop for $400 with free shipping. Sports an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz processor, 4GB DDR2 memory, 750GB hard drive, DVD Super Multi drive, Intel GMA X4500 graphics, and Windows Vista Home Premium x64.


Dell Business has the HITACHI Deskstar HD32000 IDK/7K 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive for $144 with free shipping. Has a rotation speed of 7200RPM, 32MB buffer, 8.2ms average seek time, and uses a 5 platter design

Dell Vostro 220s Slim Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz Desktop w/ 19in LCD & Windows 7 $399 , Dell Small Business Dell E1910H 18.5" LCD; Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz; 4GB RAM; 250GB HDD; DVD burner; gigabit ethernet; Windows 7 Home Premium; 1yr warranty

Windows 7

I've revised my opinion of Windows 7 somewhat. I did install it and from what I see, it's very good. Why did Microsoft have to make upgrading so difficult. Why not allow upgrades from XP? Why make upgrading so confusing? If I could upgrade from XP and the price weren't so darn high, I'd do it. MS you've taken a good OS and tarnished it with the upgrade confusion and it wouldn't hurt to lower the price a bit. $174 for a win 7 pro upgrade? That's too much.

AMD Nicks Intel for $1.25 Billion

Boy, spend a few minutes musing about AMD's Fusion strategy and the world passes you by.

Intel is settling its 2005 suit with AMD for an eyebrow raising $1.25 billion. That cash will do a lot to clean up AMD's balance sheet (after deducting the fees for lawyers who read 2.000,000 pages of records and countless e-mails).

More details are forthcoming.

AMD's Audacious But Risky Fusion

AMD's Fusion strategy -- merging a central processor(s) (CPU) and graphics processor (GPU) onto one silicon chip -- aims, like nuclear fusion, to generate more computing "energy" than heat. Considering that today's graphics cards have more than a gigabyte of dedicated memory, the architectural issues of marrying CPU and GPU on one chip are significant. AMD, losing ground to Intel's Core i5 and i7 processors in performance systems, is making an audacious move to leapfrog Intel in the mainstream notebook and desktop market.

But this move is risky: the plan could hit the rocks with schedule delays or early defects (the first Opteron's were recalled with an erroneous computing defect). The current plan delivers Fusion products in 2011. To succeed with this schedule, AMD has to manage on schedule a raft of complex technology:

1. Architectures for two new CPU cores and a GPU core
2. Fusing the CPU cores with the GPU in a single, high-performance chip
3. Migrating from 45 nm to 32 nm silicon fabrication technology at high yield
4. Getting the CPU-GPU Fusion processor to work error-free.

When Intel tried to do an architecture change with a silicon process change when introducing the Pentium 4, the results were poor. Intel lost several years of competitive advantage before catching back up with Core 2. That's why Intel, much chagrined, now alternates new architectures with new fabrication processes.

You have to give AMD the tip of the hat for audacity; they really are putting all the chips on the table. But don't be surprised in a year if all this technology change proves too difficult to pull off on schedule.

Framed for child porn — by a PC virus by AP: Yahoo! Tech

"Framed for child porn — by a PC virus by AP: Yahoo! Tech: "Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.

Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen."

This reminds me a lot of the Julie Amero case. Of course that was a typical adult porn storm (I experienced one on my home computer years ago after accidentally surfing to a "bad" site -- of course I knew how to immediately shut down the computer).

Firefox turns five: half a decade of Web liberation - Ars Technica

"Five years ago today, Mozilla announced the official release of Firefox 1.0. The open source Web browser has come a very long way since then and has achieved a level of popularity that few would have imagined possible. The success of Firefox and Mozilla's unwavering commitment to open Web standards has helped to usher in a new era of vibrance and diversity in the browser market. To commemorate Firefox's fifth anniversary, we are going to take you back in time for a look at some of our classic coverage of the popular browser."

I can't believe I've been using Firefox for ONLY 5 years. I feel like I've been using it forever. I adopted it because of security concerns and because I wanted to try tabbed browsing. I really can't remember when I last used IE except for things like some Microsoft sites. Occasionally, I still find a site that doesn't render well in Firefox, but that has become extremely rare as time goes on.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-08-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-08-09. 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.

AT&T Ends Internet Calling Ban on iPhones

According to this article VOIP and Skype can now run on IPhones

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) There is something about spending large parts of our lives in given locations; we are always keeping up to some degree on what is happening there. Kind of like Joe checking the weather in the valley where we used to live. I remember in the early years living in Los Angles it was very pleasant, and then came the smog, pollution, and population explosion. I could not adapt had to move out, now I see they have done much to clean the air, granted it’s not enough. They are at least progressively oriented and trying to solve problems. This is something I just ran across that I liked quite a bit worth taking a look, be sure to compare the pictures of the bridge. http://news.cnet.com
2) It has been a few weeks since I put up a link about medical advancement, I ran across this and thought it looked quite promising. Basically they are learning how to grow new organs, bones and tissue using the body of the person needing the procedure. I don’t think it will be many decades before we are able to extend life spans well beyond 100, and do it with bodies that would be aged at 40-50 by today’s standards. http://blogs.zdnet.com
3) When I saw this story I tried to Google around to find an article with a little more information without any success. So I will leave it up to you if you want to dig a little deeper. If you have not seen the movie “Supersize Me” you really should check it out. I remember a segment in the movie where the guy said he suddenly had intense cravings for his McDonalds meal. Said he had never experienced that before. This article really brought that home. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
4) This is about what seem to be a new development in the field of air-metal batteries. I have seen many variations using lithium, aluminum, and zinc. They have great potential, able to store up to 10X today’s lithium batteries. They would make good grid batteries for storing solar to use at night, also cars, and the usual suspects. If this pans out it may be the one we have been waiting for. http://www.technologyreview.com
5) For my geek offering, I thought this was interesting, physicists are saying the speed of computers has a limit, just like the limit for the speed of light. From the sounds of it we won’t have much to worry about for a while though. http://blogs.zdnet.com

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Dell Small Business has the Dell Vostro 220 Slim Tower Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 Desktop Computer w/ 19" LCD Monitor for $409.00. $35.00 Shipping. Dell E1910H 19" LCD; Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz; 2GB RAM; 250GB HDD; DVD-ROM; gigabit ethernet; Windows 7 Professional; 1yr warranty

Joe sent me this link to inexpensive versions of Windows 7. Please double check the version and 32/64 bit and full/upgrade edition on your order.

Acer Aspire AS5732Z-4510 NoteBook Intel Pentium T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 2GB Memory DDR2 667 160GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA 4500M - Retail
Comes with Windows 7 Premium $400

Refurbished HP Pavilion s5120f AMD Dual Core 2.7GHz PC for $300 + free shipping
Buy.com again offers the factory-refurbished HP Pavilion Slimline s5120f Athlon 64 X2 2.7GHz Desktop PC, model no. NP187AA#ABA, for $299.99 with free shipping. That ties our October mention as the lowest total price we could find by $30. It features an AMD Athlon X2 7750 2.7GHz dual-core processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, DVD burner with LightScribe, modem, memory card reader, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. A 90-day warranty applies, but it's not clear who backs it.

Chocolate.com: Free $5 gift card
At Chocolate.com, subscribe to the company newsletter via this short form and receive a free $5 gift card for any future purchase from Chocolate.com. The gift card can be immediately redeemed by signing into your account and using the coupon code on your first purchase. Of note, you can limit the frequency of the newsletter.

Insignia 42" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $499 + $70 s&h
Best Buy offers its Insignia 42" 1080p Widescreen LCD HD Television, model no. NS-L42Q-10A, for $498.99. Shipping adds $70, or choose in-store pickup. Even with shipping, that's a $151 overnight drop and the lowest total price we could find. Sales tax is added where applicable. It features a native resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p), 1,400:1 contrast ratio, 450 cd/m² brightness, four HDMI inputs, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.


ZipZoomFly has the Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA Hard Drive WD15EADS on sale for $110 - $15 off $100 with eBillme [Exp 12/16] = $95 with free shipping. Features a 32MB buffer, 100MBps internal data transfer rate, and is covered by a 3-year warranty.


.

Mozilla releases first beta of Firefox 3.6 |

Among the features in the new version, - • Personas, which lets people customize the browser appearance. • Faster execution of Web-based JavaScript programs, better browser responsiveness, and faster startup time. • The ability to drag and drop files from the computer to the browser. This is useful for uploading files to Web sites, as will a feature not in the beta • Expanded support for geolocation technology • The ability to detect the computer's orientation for machines that offer accelerometer support. • Video built into Web pages with the HTML5 "video" tag now can be viewed full-screen. Earl

Microsoft will release six updates next patch tuesday - The Inquirer

"MICROSOFT HAS announced that it will release six security updates, with three for Windows labelled as 'critical', next Patch Tuesday, the 10th of November."

This coming Tuesday is Update Tuesday. Don't forget to do them.

AlaskaJoe

Verizon announces $350 Early Termination Fee!

Verizon announced yesterday that they are doubling their early terminations fees, to reach as much as $350 for some users. YUK

Who's Your Graphics Daddy?

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) change so quickly that it's hard to keep up with where your 2007 unit fits with today's units. Moreover, nVidia in particular has played games (pun intended) with model numbers, recycling G80 units.

This article is a graphics hierarchy chart that will place your particular unit on the graphics food chain. Useful to see how you might move up or laterally with anewer GPU.

So, What Does Google Know About You?

This article link takes you to the new Google Dashboard for your personal Google accounts. There, you'll be able to see and change the information Google keeps about you. Worth checking out.

More on the subject of the dashboard here.

The piece de la resistance is here, a link to Google's ad preferences on just little, old you based on your Google cookie. Opt-out links available too.

McAfee says piracy has tripled and spam is up. Malware comes free with pirated files.

McAfee says piracy has tripled even in wake of Pirate Bay prosecution. Spam is up and malware travels easily with pirated files.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-01-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-01-09. 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.

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Joe sent me this - Black Friday starting already:
http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/sears-black-friday-ad.html


Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LCD Monitor $170 at Newegg
Newegg has the Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1(ACM) Built-in Speakers for $180 - coupon code EMCMLNX45 [Exp 10/31] = $170 with free shipping.


Dell PowerEdge T110 Intel Xeon 2.4GHz Quad Core Server for $320 + $25 s&h
11. Dell Small Business offers the Dell PowerEdge T110 Intel Xeon 2.4GHz Quad Core Server for $320 plus $25 for shipping via the directions below. It's $318 off and among the least expensive new Xeon-based Dell servers we've seen. (It was $20 less a week ago, since expired.) Sales tax is added where applicable. It comes with an Intel Xeon X3430 2.4GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive, DVD-ROM, and Gigabit Ethernet. No OS is included. To get this deal:Click here to begin scroll down to the hard drive section and change the quantity to "1"; click "Update" click "Continue" and add to cart for $300



Western Digital 1.5TB USB 2.0 Hard Drive for $100 + free shipping via 2nd-day
Dell Small Business offers the Western Digital Elements 1.5TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive, model no. WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN, for $99.99. With free shipping via 2nd day delivery, that's $0.07/GB and the lowest total price we could find by $39, although we saw it briefly for $11 less last week (since expired). Sales tax is added where applicable.


Acer X223WBD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor $130 at PC Connection
PC Connection has the Acer X223WBD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $130 with free shipping. Enjoy life with 1680 x 1050 resolution, 2500:1 contrast ratio, 300cd/m2 brightness, 5ms response time, DVI with HDCP.


SAMSUNG SH-S223C 22X SATA DVD Burner Black Drive $26
ZipZoomfly Part#: 10011470
Manufacturer SKU: SH-S223C
List Price: $29.99

Circuit City has the Olympus FE-26 12MP Digital Camera for $80 + $7 = $87 shipped. Features 3x optical zoom, a 2.7" LCD viewfinder, digital image stabilization, 20 shooting modes, AF tracking, face detection, and automatic shadow adjustment

Fujifilm A150 10MP 3x Digital Camera for a low $70 Free Shipping 4.5oz; 10 Megapixels; 3x Optical Zoom; 3" LCD; SD/SDHC; 2x AA

I-inc iH-252HPB 25" Widescreen LCD Monitor
I-inc iH-252HPB 25” (24.6" Diagonal) $189.99

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Starting off with another of those stories that give a little hope for solving some of our pollution, and congestion problems. When it comes to the inter-cities cars really do not make much sense. I read somewhere that the average speed for a car in London is about the same as walking speed. Just the cost of parking in most downtown areas of larger cities should prove a major deterrent, but people just put up with it. This is a really nice solution for cities with decent weather, and to a lesser degree on a seasonal basis for other areas. A zip car concept using bicycles, has just been unveiled in Vancouver, really looks like a good idea, story here complete with video. http://www.paulhillsdon.com
2) Here is a discussion of an idea for launching cargo in to space, much cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than our current procedures. Think Alaska, a very big gun with a barrel over a mile long buried into a mountain. Now all you need is a viable alternative to gun powder. The three discussed here to power an Orbital Gun Launching System; Light gas power, Ram Accelerator, and Nuclear Cannon. This sounds like a workable idea to me, the major cost of space development is launch cost, while this will never be for people, due to the G-force, water cost 10,000 dollars a gallon, and satellites cost mega-millions. For cargo to build stuff like hotels, space stations, even interplanetary spacecraft not requiring spec’s capable of launch stresses, it sounds perfect. Technical but a good read, and food for thought check it out here http://nextbigfuture.com/
3) I was looking at a site referring a project called Sietch Nevada, basically building an underground city, based on the concept from the novel Dune. Anyway, it got me to thinking about a link I put up a year or two back about vertical farming. Thought I would check in and see if anything new was going on there, just because I think it is such a great idea. Putting up the site again, at least I think it is the same one. If you are not familiar with this check it out, this will be our future food source for vegetables, just a matter of time. I was happy to see that there is still a lot of interest, recent news stories and interest. If you are into the subject and would like to learn just how important it is, be sure to read the essay’s from Columbia University. http://www.verticalfarm.com
4) One more ecology article here, for those who thought my talking about investing a few bucks into the emerging fields of green technology for the last three years (wow has it been that long, almost), check out this article about the Eco Barons. There was another article that the top ten wealthiest in China are into green tech. Good read, encouraging http://business.timesonline.co.uk
5) Had to throw in something for Halloween real Quick. http://www.guidespot.com
6) For tech link this week a new search tool for Google in case you somehow missed it, Firefox has a new goody to combine a Google search with Wolfram Alpha. Looks pretty cool to me, but then I am easily impressed. http://www.howtogeek.com

Dear Microsoft: What's the deal with Windows 7 upgrades?

"One group at Microsoft seems to be stuck in 1999. For some inexplicable reason, the technical team responsible for packaging and manufacturing and selling Windows 7 has decided to clam up about a product it is selling by the truckload."

If you bought Windows 7 Upgrade media (mine was in my mailbox today) you will want to read this article by Ed Bott. He and Paul Thurrott (http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/upgrade.asp) are by for the most vocal of the Windows experts about Windows 7 upgrade issues.

Google’s New Mobile App Cuts GPS Nav Companies At The Knees

It is not a standalone navigation app. Rather it taps into a lot of the resources Google makes available on the Web, including Google Maps, Streetview, voice recognition, and sophisticated search. Google says its navigation will come to iPhone, if Apple approves (AppleInsider.com)
Droid arrives on Verizon Nov. 6 with Google Maps Navigation Here is a YouTube unboxing and demo video of the new DROID by Motorola-Google-Verizon that comes loaded with Google's new Navigation software using the Android OS,

How I'm installing Windows 7 - Geek News Central

This is the way I would do an Upgrade to Windows 7. They call it an upgrade but it really isn't. This way you can avoid any problems in going from Windows XP to Windows 7. I don't run dual boot systems, I have Ubuntu on another computer so when I want to play I just use a KVM switch to change OS.
I have heard and read that some folks have had problems upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. I don't believe in upgrading an OS, one reason is you bring any problems along with the upgrade. If your computer isn't running right, an upgrade might not fix it. Another reason I don't upgrade is if you want to go from a 32 bit OS to 64 bit (I have been running Vista and Windows 7 in 64 bit for a couple of years.) you could run into problems.
I think a clean install is the only way to go. Saving your old hard drive is not a bad idea, in case you want to go back. Once I went to Windows 7 RC1 I turned off my Vista computer and are saving it in case a customer needs help and I need Vista, Otherwise it stays off. I don't even have a Keyboard, monitor or mouse connected to it. I remote in when I need it. When I received my copy of Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft I again did a clean install. I have all of my data backed up on my server here at home. An off site back up is a very good idea, I don't do it because I'm lazy.

I think when you go to Windows 7 you will be very happy. I did notice Saturday 10/24/09 Microsoft's Update servers were busy, I would think that was because that was the first Saturday after the release of Windows 7 and a lot of new computers were sold and connected for the first time. I didn't have any problems connecting to Microsoft's update server on Monday.

Happy Computing and enjoy Windows 7.

AlaskaJoe

Fake Facebook e-mail contains Trojan

"A new variant of the Bredolab Trojan horse is attached to a fake 'Facebook Password Reset Confirmation' e-mail, security firm MX Labs is reporting.

Some users are receiving the e-mail from 'The Facebook Team,' according to the security firm. The sender's e-mail address displays 'service@facebook.com.' In reality, the address and sender were spoofed."

Just FYI. I know none of our readers would fall for this one.

Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7

"With much fanfare and even a few parties, Windows 7 has arrived. In this extensive review, Peter Bright dives deep into Microsoft's new OS offering to see what's new, what's still the same, and whether it's worth upgrading."

Windows 7 upgrade paralyzes some PCs with endless reboots

"Some users trying to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 have seen their PCs crippled by an endless series of reboots, according to reports on Microsoft's support forum.

A Microsoft engineer writing on the same forum said the company was investigating users' problems, but he downplayed them as 'isolated issues.'

Users began posting messages about the endless reboots Friday, saying that the Windows 7 installation would hang two-thirds of the way through the upgrade. They reported a message on their machines that claimed the upgrade had been unsuccessful and that Vista would be restored. Instead, their PCs again booted to the Windows 7 setup process, failed, then restarted the cycle."

I have one thought about this. While Windows 7 was thoroughly beta tested and the RC had wide public usage, the upgrade version did not. Indeed, Microsoft has kept, up until release, the details of a clean install using upgrade media top secret. So too were secret the other details of the upgrade media. Are these just bad media burns from downloads as MS seems to be contending, or this there a distinctive flaw or incompatibility in the upgrade process? Only time and testing will tell. This is testing that I contend should have been done more widely pre-release.

As most of you know, I do not advocate upgrading even from 32 bit Vista to 32 bit Windows 7. Of course I have to clean install because all the computers I will be upgrading will be going from either XP to 64 or 32 bit Win 7 or Vista 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit. I'm not letting MS off the hook here if they are to blame, but users also have a responsibility to back up their data (or perhaps image their drive if they want to be able to start back at square one) before upgrading. I will be doing both before I do a clean install of course, but it should also be done before an upgrade.

No matter how well designed the Windows 7 upgrade engine is (and I have a question about it in my mind at this point in time) things can go wrong. After all, we are talking about upgrading an OS. It is great when it works, but it should not be all that surprising if it doesn't.

Microsoft blames Windows 7 upgrade mess on user confusion

"Microsoft yesterday blamed user confusion for the problems many have encountered trying to move from Vista to Windows 7 after buying a discounted upgrade offered to college students."

Pilots Say Laptops Contributed to Distraction - WSJ.com

"The pilots of Northwest Flight 188 have told federal investigators that a bathroom break, chatting with a flight attendant in the cockpit and then taking out their laptops to discuss work schedules created distractions that led to more than an hour of radio silence with air-traffic controllers, according to people familiar with the statements."

"How many cores you got?" 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 ... 100?

Tilera has announced a 100 core processor, looking to the server market, where server software like Apache Web server and MySQL database could make good use of that many cores.

No live show today!

Because I have been ill for the past two weeks today's show will be a rerun of 08/09/09 show. We will be back live next week on November 1st.

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 08-09-09. 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.

I'm sorry about that.
AlaskaJoe

Psystar sells $50 software hack to run Snow Leopard on PCs

Any PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem processor installed can take advantage of Psystar's Rebel EFI software hack to run Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Microsoft Issues eBook on Windows 7 Installation

This is pretty neat. It is geared for enterprise but still has some useful info for tech-minded home users. The fact that it is free is sweet.

If you don't already know (and I know you do), tomorrow is the big day.

Update: Here is a link directly to Microsoft courtesy of Earl: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?SID=1053596-2-0-ARTICLE-0&familyid=EE2A1D38-88A9-43B3-95BC-7E962F0B6030&displaylang=en

Athlon II X3 435: AMD's Three-Core, 2.9 GHz, $87

Athlon II X3 435: AMD's Three-Core, 2.9 GHz, $87 Triple-Threat
Today AMD introduces what might turn out to be the ideal budget CPU, with three cores for multi-threading, a relatively high 2.9 GHz clock speed,

Apple Updates MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini and Introduces Magic Mouse

Apple, already on top of the world, after announcing revenues that blew past analyst predictions, updates its MacBook, iMac and Mac mini and introduces the super Magic Mouse.

Sorry, The Cloud Ate Your Data!

How Microsoft and T-Mobile betrayed over a million users of the Sidekick smartphone.On October 1st literally every user of the Sidekick data service lost the private personal records – emails, notes, calendar entries, contacts, etc. — they had stored on the system.
Note - MS now says most users will get their data back - Microsoft & T-Mobile says lost Sidekick data to be restored‎
Apple-Insider's excellent analysis of what happened with insider info.

On Computers Radio Show - October 18, 2009

Hi all.

Today's show will be a rerun from August 2nd. Enjoy.

Wi-fi to get a whole lot easier with Wi-fi Direct

Wi-fi Direct will let wi-fi devices like phones and laptops connect to one another without joining a traditional network. The Wi-fi Alliance - whose members include Intel, Apple and Cisco -may release it as early as middle of 2010.

Top recording engineers explain why music sounds awful | The Audiophiliac - CNET News

From the aritcle: "It seems like the main problem comes from record company pressure to make perfect recordings. Vocalists' off-pitch and out-of-time singing is tweaked with Auto-Tune; music-making is largely technology-based. That is, technology has replaced musical talent, and singers like Britney Spears were cited many times as to where it's all headed. Not so musically talented, her music has to be patched together in the studio. There's not a lot of there there."

Windows Vista: A Review Recap

Here is an interesting trip down memory lane about the initial reviews for Windows Vista. While the reviews were generally lukewarm to positive, there was a lot more qualification and trepidation. Could anyone have really predicted that the public would not only not embrace Vista, but that it would prefer to downgrade to XP in many cases.

I've made a kind of a peace with Vista on my laptop, but it came that way and it was a year after Vista' release when the driver availability was better and many of the most nagging problems had be improved. It also had horsepower to run Vista. It has been okay, but I'm still really looking forward to upgrading it to Windows 7.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-11-09

Remember the show for 10/18/09 will be a rerun, the host will not be available for the OnComputers Radio show.

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-11-09. 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.

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Refurbished HP s3700y AMD Dual Core 2.6GHz Desktop PC for $300 + free shipping
Buy.com again offers the refurbished HP Pavilion Slimline s3700y AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.6GHz Desktop PC, model no. PNC689AAR, for $299.99. With free shipping, that ties our mention from three weeks ago as the lowest total price we could find for this refurb by $16. It features an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz dual-core processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive, DVD burner with LightScribe, memory card reader, and Windows Vista Home Premium.



: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex GX280 Pentium 4 2.8GHz Mini Desktop PC for $99 + $25 s&h
Today only, Dillyeo.com offers the refurbished Dell OptiPlex GX280 Pentium 4 2.8GHz Mini Desktop PC for $98.97 with around $25 for shipping. It's $48 under our June mention and the lowest total price we could find by $4. This system features an Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive, Gigabit Ethernet, wired keyboard and mouse, and Windows

CREE 110-Lumen LED Flashlight for $11 + $2 s&h
GoldenGadgets.com offers the CREE 110-Lumen LED Flashlight, model no. F-NF07, for $11.99. Add coupon code "ENDSUM09" to your cart to cut it to $10.79. With shipping at $1.73, it's tied with our mention from four weeks ago as the lowest total price we've seen for this particular model. It features a CREE XRE LED bulb and a glow-in-the-dark tail cap.



Dell OptiPlex 360 Intel Dual Core 2.6GHz Desktop PC for $312 + $35 s&h
Dell Small Business offers the Dell OptiPlex 360 Pentium Dual-Core 2.6GHz Desktop PC (no monitor) for $312 plus $35 for shipping. That's $135 off and the lowest total price we've ever seen for an OptiPlex 360. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 2.6GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 80GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive, no optical drive, 3-year warranty, and Windows Vista Home Basic.


Canon PowerShot 12MP Camera + $50 Gift Card for $130 after rebate + free shipping
Staples offers the Canon PowerShot A1100 IS 12-Megapixel Digital Camera in Gray, model no. 3444B001, for $129.99 with free shipping. Plus, this mail-in rebate yields a free $50 Gift Card. Although that's $10 more than last week's mention of the camera alone, the addition of the $50 gift card makes this one of the best deals we've seen for this camera. The A1100 features a 4x optical zoom, 2.5" LCD, SDHC slot, face detection, red-eye correction, and more. Rebate expires October 17


Portable Solar Charger for $18 + $2 s&h
GoldenGadgets.com offers this 2000mAh Portable Solar Charger, model no. S-ZWT01, for $19.99. Add coupon code "ENDSUM09" to cut it to $17.99. With $2.41 for shipping, it's pennies under our June mention and the lowest total price we seen. It includes interchangeable power tips compatible with several portable electronic devices, built-in 2000mAh lithium-ion battery, and USB connectivity


Western Digital Green 1TB SATA 3Gbps Hard Drive for $72 after rebate + free shipping
ZipZoomfly.com still offers the OEM Western Digital Caviar GP 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. WD10EADS, for $87.99 with free shipping. This $15 mail-in rebate chops it to $72.99 ($0.07/GB). That's the lowest total price we could find by $13, although it was offered for $2 less a week ago (since expired). This "green" product promises reduced power consumption compared to other models by up to 50%; it features a 32MB cache and runs at 7200 rpm. Rebate ends October 31

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Starting off the week with some encouraging news in the solar field. Seems a new solar power plant entered the grid in Southern California. The only thermal solar plant in the U.S. it is only able to handle about 4,000 homes at the moment, but it is easily expandable. The thermal solar concept is pretty interesting in that it does not require solar cells, rather uses tracking mirrors to concentrate heat. The other advantage to what they are doing is by making everything factory produced bolt together modules; they keep coast down, but can act quickly. http://www.esolar.com/
2) Now here is some news that may make everything obsolete, how about nuclear batteries. The size of a penny last hundreds of years, and millions of times stronger than conventional batteries, sounds too good to be true somehow. But, in the “what if” game, it would make a nice car, not needing fuel for a hundred years or so. A forever lap top, survival flash light on steroids, or how about my whole house. Got to be a catch, check it out here http://hardware.slashdot.org

3) Here is a new prototype sent to me by Wills, how about a roll up computer. That’s right the entire computer, monitor, keyboard; everything rolls up into something that looks like a mailing tube with a shoulder strap. Got to wonder where all of this is heading, R&D must be incredibly frustrating these days; your idea is obsolete before you start drawing. Anyway check it out thanks Wills. http://tech.msn.com/
4) One of the things they have trouble with when it comes to nano-scale designs is power. How do you get mechanical power to an incredibly small machine? Well it seems they may have had another of those breakthroughs. A big wow for me, just trying to understand the scale they are dealing with. The smallest possible motor and be able to demonstrate it can do useful work, consisting of only two atoms, circulating around in a round lattice of laser light. My dick Tracy watch, and transporter must be right around the corner. http://blogs.zdnet.com
5) For a geek link, how about using computers to amplify and demonstrate ESP. This is really pretty weird they have used three computers, and the internet to communicate using only the power of thought. Very basic but who knows where this may lead, to me this is right out of a sci-fi novel. The implications of just what this means is amazing. Granted I have put up a lot of links that probably were the ground work for this, at least on the sending end, the receiving end is a little more muddled. Anyway check it out there is even a video. http://blogs.zdnet.com

The Intel Museum: Fab-ulous

I'm spending my weekend in Santa Clara CA, and just a little way up the street from my hotel is the Intel campus.

What is very cool is that they have a small but excellent museum there that is open to the public. There you can not only experience the history of Intel; but the history of computing, especially in the last 30 years.

Intel was founded in 1968 by two guys, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore (Moore's law), who worked for Fairchild Semiconductor. They thought better of naming the new company Moore-Noyce (more-noise) and so Intel was born.


There are displays of everything from how chips are made to a trip through Intel's marketing strategies. One really neat thing is that the entire floor of the museum is made of perforated "clean room" tiles.

I wandered the museum by myself. Then I took a free docent-led tour that was both fun and informative.

One of my favorite things in the museum was an original Altair 8800. After all, it is the computer that started it all for the home user.


My other favorite thing was the silicon ingot. The docent told us that it was just like the ones they actually make the wafers from, but that is was shorter than the ones they use in production. The ingot on display would produce 12 inch wafers.

The museum is free and is open 6 days a week. There are both static and interactive displays that are fun for all ages. If you find yourself in Silicon Valley with an hour or 2 to spare, the Intel Museum is a great way to totally geek out.

A Review of Windows 7 - WSJ.com

"I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced. It's a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers."

If this were just hype, I wouldn't be passing this article from the Wall Street Journal along; but having used Windows 7 for a while now, I don't want to go back to XP. In my opinion, and the opinion of others I've talked to, this is the most "ready to go" Windows ever. You don't have to wait until Service Pack 1.

If you need a new computer and can hold out a few weeks, get one with Windows 7 pre-installed. If you are using an older version of Windows like XP or Vista, I recommend upgrading to Windows 7 if your equipment meets at least the minimum requirements and you are up to the task of doing the upgrade. This really is the best Windows ever.

Down to Earth -- the other side of inflight WiFi

I'm back on the ground today and have a few more comments about Southwest Airlines WiFi offering. I still think it is a wonderful option, but there are a few downsides.

The first downside is that there are no AC seat power ports, so when your battery is done, so are you. As Southwest points out, they have recharging stations at their gates. I've never had any trouble getting a recharge at a Southwest gate when I needed one. In fact at my home airport, Sacramento, we have free airport-wide WiFi so it is a pretty sweet deal waiting for a flight at the Southwest gates. But I digress.

Another downside is that each and every web page I opened was framed with a fairly wide strip across the top. This top frame allowed me to return to the Southwest-Yahoo portal, and did give some current flight info like the altitude, but it was entirely too big and intrusive, especially when I was paying real money for the privilege. I did think the Southwest-Yahoo portal itself was nice, and once logged on, it the portal itself could be ignored.

The content is filtered, though I didn't encounter a problem. This is a mixed downside. I really don't want to be subjected to someone next to me talking loudly on VOIP or surfing porn, but like all content filtering, it is not perfect, so be forewarned. I didn't have any trouble doing anything I wanted to do. That included watching some news videos, Yahoo IM, email (POP3 and SMTP -- not relegated to Web mail), and flight tracking (with Southwest's own portal and also my favorite flight tracking sites).

The last downside is an unwieldy log in process. First you have to give you name, email (for sending the receipt), and agree to the terms of service. Once you do that you have to enter your credit card info including security code and full address. This is a real pain in the air. How much easier would it be to be able to pre-register your credit card with Southwest for this purpose, and then log in, agree to the price, agree to the terms of service and be good to go. I found it very cumbersome to log in from a cramped airline seat on a dim, battery powered screen. They type was small, gray and for security the cc number was obscured by dots. This was good for your seat partner having a hard time seeing what was going on, but it also made it difficult to enter the proper info, all the while the battery was draining its precious minutes. I had pre-stored my cc number in an encrypted file and memorized the date and security code. With my pre-planning I didn't have to actually pull out a card and I did that part via cut and paste, but it still wasn't a particularly easy maneuver.

That about wraps up the things I felt could have been better. I wish I had a way to give this feedback directly to Southwest Airlines. It is meant to be constructive. Still, no matter what the drawbacks were, the benefits of having WiFi in flight were greater. It was a wonderful experience, and just like I've sought out airlines that check at least one bag for free, offer in-flight TV, and offer WiFi and/or recharging stations at the gates, I undoubtedly would prefer to have the option of in-flight WiFi. According to Southwest, they should be offering WiFi for the entire fleet sometime in the first quarter 2010. There is no plan to offer in-flight AC seat power ports.

A Glimpse of the Future

I'm sitting on a Southwest Airlines 737, 40,000 ft above the western United States between Denver and Sacramento. On the first leg of the flight the WiFi didn't work for some unknown reason, but it was fixed during our stop in Denver. So far I've emailed, and Yahoo chatted with a few of my closest friends. Now I'm trying my hand at "sky blogging". I usually leave my computer in its bag so I'm learning to type while bouncing across the sky. 1.7 Mbps down, but it errored out on the Speakeasy upload test. But awesome download. I'd love to know more about the technology. If it is satellite, I'm not seeing the latency that I usually see. I'm also guessing at $10 for a 2 hour flight, that not a lot of people are partaking of the Internet goodness here. This is one of only 4 WiFi equipped planes that Southwest has, so getting to try this was just lucky on my part. When it works, it is on the pricey side, but it is awesomely and geeky cool.

Update: A quick Google tells me this is Ku band satellite. Now that I'm settling in I'm seeing some latency, but it is not as bad as Wildblue's heavily traffic shaped service. I certainly feel that I'm getting a good service for a high but not prohibitively high price.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-04-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-04-09. 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) I am pretty sure this is the first green link I have put up that I almost feel I should apologize for, but there is no way I could resist something like pee power. It seems that those guys at Ohio State have really come up with something interesting this time. They say one cow can produce enough urine to provide hot water for 19 houses, hard to resist a comment on that. They say if they can convert a car battery, 90 mpg. I am not going to comment on the obvious lap top remark. All kidding aside this not only looks like a workable idea, they say it can be available in six months. http://www.myfoxdfw.com
2) This started out with a conversation with Joe over the reality of money’s value, I was talking about how money has no real value, it only has a virtual value because all of us playing the game agree to use it as currency, and that value is arbitrary. Looking around for Google ammo to express my point of view I ran across this. While making my point it has a very Gregg Zone Link plus. Seems there is a very real economy rising in the third world using cell phone minutes as currency, replacing cash. Check this out http://www.nextnature.net
3) This is one of those sites to educate your self in almost any area that interests you. If you like to follow new areas of interest like taking a course at the community college on a new subject that started those curiosity juices flowing. This may be something you are interested in, it is a free online educational site setup by Rice University in a new and innovative way. You can contribute your knowledge, and benefit from others in a very open environment. http://cnx.org/
4) This is something that was announced last year, I just saw it last week thought that it is very interesting, another of those promising technologies that seem to be popping up everywhere. Sometimes it looks encouraging the way technology is pacing our planet worries. This is one of those win-win type situations using excess heat and co2 coming from power plants, combining it with sea water to make cement. It reduces the co2 created in making the cement, and then sequesters excess co2 in the finished product. Very cool http://www.scientificamerican.com
5) A very interesting geek offering this week, I was recently introduced to the idea of a national wireless mesh network and I started looking into it; this is an extremely interesting idea. I am posting two links the first deals mainly with cars, they have this in the testing stage now in Europe by wirelessly connecting lots of cars to each other they can, by using break sensors, and other sensing devices in the car communicate road conditions, weather hazards like black ice, along with a lot of other stuff to other cars. Article here http://arstechnica.com/
But, this pales when compared to what Massachusetts is up to they are talking about complete and total wireless access statewide, everything. Every cell phone, traffic light, lap top, car, everything serving as a mini cell tower sending data along. This could be huge, they want it to be free it would change everything. http://74.125.155.132

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

New: Rosewill Amplified Directional Indoor HDTV Antenna for $15 + free shippingnewegg.com offers the Rosewill Amplified Directional Indoor HDTV Antenna, model no. RMS-DA8300, for $14.99. With free shipping,. It supports both analog and digital signals


New: USB Sound Card Adapter for $4 + free shipping

eForCity.com offers this USB Sound Card Adapter for $5.49. Apply coupon code "DEALSA092822" to get it for $3.99. With free shipping, it's $2 under our July mention and the lowest total price we've seen for such a device. It allows you to plug headphones and microphone into a USB port on your PC

3-Foot HDMI to DVI Cable for $4 + free shipping
eForCity.com offers this 3-Foot HDMI Male to DVI Male Cable for $4.99 with free shipping. Coupon code "DEALSA092820" cuts it to $3.99. That's the lowest total price we could find by a buck. Deal ends October 5

New: Seagate 1TB SATA 3Gbps Internal Hard Drive for $80 + $6 s&h
Fry's Electronics has the retail-boxed Seagate 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. ST1000340AS-RK, for $79.99 plus around $6 for shipping ($0.09/GB). . This drive features a 32MB cache and runs at 7200 rpm.
Posted 3 hr 4 min ago More Serial ATA Hard Drives Fry's Electronics Coupons


Buy.com offers the Kingston 16GB DataTraveler 120 USB 2.0 Flash Drive, model no. DT120/16GB, for $29.95 with free shipping ($1.87/GB). That's the lowest total price we could find by $5.

Today only, Woot.com offers the Sunpak FlexPod Flexible Tripod in six colors for $3.99. With $5 for shipping, it's the lowest total price we could find by $9. Designed to be functionally similar to the Gorillapod, this tripod bends and twists to secure your digital camera to "just about anything." Google Images has several examples of the similar Gorillapod in action

Samsonite Camera Bag with Built-In Compass for $6 + $5 s&h
Today only, 13deals.com offers the Samsonite Camera Bag with Built-in Compass, model no. SB602BLU, for $5.99 plus $4.50 for shipping. That's tied with a 1-day deal from Features include an adjustable shoulder strap, functioning compass on the top, a snap clasp on the top of the bag, carabiner, and more.

I-Inc iF-281DPB 28in Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Built-In Speakers $259.97, Oct. 3 12 PM

TigerDirect has the I-Inc iF-281DPB 28" Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Built-In Speakers for a low $259.97. $27-$47 Shipping. Tax in FL, IL, NC.

1920x1200; 3ms; 800:1; 500nits; VGA & HDMI (HDCP)

'Free' Windows 7 upgrades not always free, says consumer group

"To me, whether it's $12.99 or $17.03, the charges are all outrageous," said Edgar Dworsky, the editor of Consumerworld.org

Report: Final version of free Microsoft Security Essentials to ship September 29 | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

"Microsoft is targeting MSE at customers who are unwilling and unable to pay for security software."

My question is: Are you going to trust Microsoft for the security of your computer? Will it work?

This is a good idea, I have a lot of customers that don't have any idea what they need to protest their computer from threats.

I have noticed Windows Vista doesn't break as easy as Windows XP did. I hope Windows 7 is better.

AlaskaJoe

US relinquishes control of the internet

After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control ...

Windows 7 OEM Prices Revealed - PC World

"For those of you looking to grab an OEM license of the admirable new operating system, you will be happy to know that Windows 7 comes in at a slightly cheaper price than its predecessor Vista."
Here is a way to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7 for a lot less money.

AlaskaJoe

Upgrading to Windows 7 the Easy Way - OS, Software & Networking by ExtremeTech

"Are you planning on upgrading your computer? Especially if you're running Vista, Windows 7 offers a compelling combination of faster boot times, improved responsiveness (since there are fewer processes running at any given time), and several fun and practical user interface enhancements. But what about your stuff?"

I always do a clean install. You need to remember, if your computer isn't running right, then upgrading just brings the problems along.

This Windows Easy Transfer wizard makes a clean installation so much easier. You need someplace to put the data like a NAS, or USB drive. I have my Documents ETC.. on my server so they can be accessed from any computer on my network.

To do a clean installation of Windows 7 is easy, once you have your data backed up just put the disk in the drive and reboot your computer and follow the prompts. It ask you a few easy question along the way. Like do you want to upgrade or do a full install? The next question you need to think about is do you want to do a fast format, a full format or leave the drive the way it was. I always do a fast format. Then you just let it run. On my system Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8500 with 4GB RAM GeForce 9500 GT 1GB video care. Windows 7 found all of my drivers and I didn't need to do anything. Then I installed my 2 network printers, and a few apps I use all of the time and it was finished. I installed the 64 bit version.

You will find "Windows Easy Transfer" by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools. It is in the same place in Vista and Windows 7.

I think you will enjoy Windows 7

AlaskaJoe

The Cheapest Way to Get Windows 7! - Windows 7 OEM Prices - Gizmodo

"Newegg has listed prices for OEM copies of Windows 7—technically intended for little computer building businesses, but there's nothing stopping you buying them. And as long as you understand some mostly-minor limitations, you can save some serious money."

This is a good way to get your hands on a copy of Windows 7. As long as you don't need to call someone like Dell or HP for support.

I am using Windows 7 as my main computer these days, and I love it.

AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 09-27-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 09-27-09. 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) Every now and then I run across something that gives me hope, when it comes to getting off the oil merry-go-round this really hit home. These are links to a video, and a home site from the video. This is about Shai Aggasi who shocked the software world by resigning his position with SAP just as he had been appointed the next CEO to undertake this project. He is heading a new way of introducing fully electric cars to entire countries. They have Denmark, Israel, Hawaii, Australia, and the San Francisco Bay Area, either singed up or in progress. They have a deal with Renault-Nissan to build the cars. The trick is separating battery ownership, from car ownership. They plan to sell electric minutes, as opposed to petro miles. Kind of like a cell phone you pay for the minutes. Video link here http://www.ted.com main site link here http://www.betterplace.com/
2) This is a site sent to me by my friend Tony in Playa Del Rey California, part of my morning Skype coffee group. When he mentioned spray on batteries I knew there would be a place for it here. Nano-technology is at it again at the nano-scale things get interesting, it may be possible to use the movement of your fingers while typing to power small applications. Even stranger they say it will be possible to grow batteries using viruses, but the idea of charging your phone by walking, walk to work the long way and recharge your lap top. What is next, I can’t wait... link here http://www.cnn.com
3) My Troll link for the week; this is something that Riley might find interesting and Joe frustrating. It seems Microsoft may have found a way to solve the touch screen keyboard you need to look at what you are typing problem. I found another one of these solutions a few weeks ago they had a tactile answer using small balloons, I have to admit I think this makes all that research and development obsolete before it hits the prototype stage. Evidently with this all you have to do is put your fingers on the screen and it will automatically orientate the keyboard to where your fingers are. Very cool thanks Troll, link here http://news.cnet.com
4) I ran across this term biomimicry, had to add that to dictionary, anyway the term got me interested. Going to use two links here again the first to the main page for The Biomimicry Institute, it is a term referring to mimicking nature to form a product or process design. As an example there is work being done studying how geckos can climb glass walls, there is a beetle that extracts its drinking water from fog. The list is quite long, there is a new science coming from this line of study. The second link is a site where you can search your needed application to see if there is a relevant process in nature that may help to solve your problem. Main page link here http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/ search for your application here http://www.asknature.org/
5) This is probably a site every one knows about, but was just discovered by me, that’s not anything new in my geek spot. Anyway I just found it and for a surfer like me it is very interesting, and helpful. It is a listing of over four million suggested sites, broken down into over a half million categories. The search engines are so commercial I find them more and more difficult to use, even the advanced search dictating the URL as org. or gov. eliminating words like shopping cart, shipping, and price do not have the same effect they used to. Anyway I like this site as a tool for surfing, http://www.dmoz.org/