Archive for Tech + Life
June 25, 2008 at 1:11 am · Filed under Tech + Life
Demand for notebooks is soaring as we speak. Manufacturers are trying to keep up with this but have warned that supplies could be low. In fact if anything has hindered demand or shipments of laptops then its been shortages of parts. It’s a fast changing business that is witnessing new trends all the time.
I’ve seen an increasing amount of consumers enquiring about gaming laptops. If you’re a gaming enthusiast with a tight budget the good thing is that you can get a gaming notebook a lot cheaper now because the average life is dropping. The speed of gaming laptops has greatly improved and its really a feasible means of gaming. Speed to one side, also worth a mention is the revolutionary thin chassis designs we are witnessing these days. Ok so there still is a difference in performance no matter how advanced gaming laptops have become but that should always be there. It seems as if everybody is possessed with creating sleeker, portable notebooks and I’m certain we’ll see gaming laptops like that soon.
I think demand for custom notebooks will always be about. With major manufacturers you normally don’t have an idea what they put into the system. You can usually save cash on specs you do not desire by configuring the system to your needs. Despite there being numerous of laptop computers in the stores its unlikely you will find a lot of options of performance portables. Mass customisation of notebook compputers has got past this problem. I think you also get improved support when purchasing a custom laptop. The fact that there is choice and competition makes its very possible.
Next generation notebooks do look like an appealing proposition. The current trend along with those mentioned seems to be inexpensive ultra mobile laptops. They have their divided sector in the portable computer market in such a small space of time. I want to see a larger version of these inexpensive ultraportables. I think it could be a massive success. Overlook speed and cost and we would already have this. Laptops for gaming will get littler, that’s for certain. Manufacturers are always seeking to distinguish themselves in this tough market so that keeps things improving.
June 11, 2008 at 8:18 am · Filed under Consumer Kicks, Tech + Life, The Telecommunication Way
What’s worse than subscribing for a broadband service and subsequently discovering that its quality does not match up to earlier promises? This type of scenario occurs to subscribers in almost every country, around the world. Ofcom, the United Kingdoms’ communications regulation department, has created a program which attempts to prevent such unpleasing activity by broadband providers. Ofcom has published a voluntary document of consumer trust, allowing broadband providers to increase consumer trust with this governmental seal of reliance. The program aims to prevent damaging and overly misleading broadband specifications, though it does not extend to the use of exaggerated marketing. This government commission requires providers to allow mystery shopping, fake subscribers inquiring on speed and quality specifications. This ensures that sales departments do not infringe on the document’s convention, preventing the companies from continuing misleading advertising. Ofcom’s new policy also offers a valuable complement to the broadband providers also. The commission allows the companies to allow stricter usage guidelines, and support them through systematic governmental backing. Service Providers are also given the permission to deploy protocol throttles, ceasing activity to such IPs as those of BitTorrent and LimeWire. Due to the voluntary practice involved in this program, signatories who violate the rules of the commission will not be legally penalized, nor monetarily reprimanded.
May 27, 2008 at 7:30 am · Filed under Tech + Life
Fax cartridges and fax rolls of paper are very common in the
workplace today. We hardly even think about it before we tell
someone to “fax that over to me”. Faxes make life so much easier
for us than in the past when things had to be mailed back and
forth through the postal system.
The fax machine was actually invented long ago. Alexander Bain
invented the fax machine in 1843 and received a patent. He was a
Scottish mechanic and his idea was an off-shoot of Samuel
Morse’s invention of the telegraph. In 1902, Dr. Arthur Korn
made improvements to the machine adding the photoelectric system
to the idea. AT&T worked to improve the technology and in 1924
created a means of transmitting pictures for newspapers over
long distances. In 1955, the first fax transmission across the
continent occurred. Since then, there has been amazing progress.
Today’s fax machines, fax cartridges and fax rolls are
inexpensive enough that just about every office and many homes
have this capability. These automated machines are small, easy
to use and affordable to purchase and operate.
Fax cartridges contain the toners which bonds to the fax roll
paper using an electrostatic process. The transmission comes
over the telephone line, audible to humans as a bunch of beeps
and buzzes. The fax understands how these signals mean for the
toner to be affixed to the paper to provide the exact image as
the document being faxed over.
Fax paper rolls are a special type of paper that allows the
toner to bond properly. The paper feels somewhat slick to the
touch. One fax roll will produce many faxes.
Fax cartridges can be obtained as original or non-original
equipment and also as refurbished equipment. Original fax
cartridges are the most expensive solution because these
cartridges are brand new and are not expected to be refilled.
Non-original fax cartridges are generic cartridges made by a
different manufacturer than the original fax cartridge. These
are less expensive than the original fax cartridges. The least
expensive solution is the refurbished, refilled fax cartridges.
These cartridges have been used and then recycled, reconditioned
and refilled for another use. Usually, when using this type of
fax cartridge, you purchase a refurbished cartridge for your
fax, use the cartridge and then return it for recycling and
obtain another refurbished cartridge.
Fax machines which use fax cartridges and fax rolls have become
so inexpensive today. Many business contracts are signed and
processed via the fax machine. Some of the biggest deals in
business today are finalized by fax. If you do not yet own one
of these handy machines, you’ll be surprised when you learn how
affordable they are and how much time can be saved by the use of
a fax machine with a fax cartridge and fax roll
May 25, 2008 at 3:20 pm · Filed under Tech + Life
A DVR player’s best benefit is enabling people to have more control over their day-to-day schedules. A Digital Video Recorder (DVR) allows you to record video in digital format on the DVR’s hard drive. A DVR is a cross between a video tape recorder and a DVD recordable drive on a computer, but a DVR is a lot more. Here are some benefits of DVR players.
Watch Your Favorite Programs On Your Own Time.
With DVR players, you can record hours and hours of TV programs for viewing later. The amount of programs that you record is only limited by the size of your DVR player’s hard drive. This enables you to watch your favorite reality TV show or soap opera when you want to watch it. Surveys of DVR owners show that recording TV shows for future viewing is the biggest benefit for owning a DVR player.
Archiving Favorite TV Programs.
Some DVR owners use their DVR player to archive their favorite TV programs and TV series. Archiving is best if you hook your DVR player to your home computer network.
Digital TV Best For DVR Recording.
The recording quality of a DVR player is best when recording digital TV versus analog TV programs. This is one reason why DVRs got their start with satellite TV with the TiVo DVR. Satellite TV is digital. If you have cable TV, non-digital programs are getting to be less of an issue as many cable companies are now going digital. See TiVo and Satellite Company Deals
Bypass TV Ads, Instant Replay, Freeze Screen.
Another popular benefit of DVR players is the ability to treat TV programs just like a DVD movie. You can by-pass TV ads, you can replay a TV program scene, or just freeze the screen. Studies show that many DVR owners still watch TV ads, but just bypass ads that are of no interest to them.
DVRs Are Great For Recording Security Surveillance Video.
DVR players are quickly becoming the most popular way to record and store surveillance video. A DVR player frees you from having to handle bulky video tapes and also the digital images are of better quality than video. Businesses are the most avid users of DVR players for security surveillance recording. This is because DVR players practically make security surveillance hands-free with no changing out video tapes all the time.
Share and Display Digital Media on DVR Player With Home Network.
DVR players are a great way to share digital media between your home network and your TV. Most DVR players are easy to hook up to your home network as they use an USB cable which is fairly standard way to hook up to computers. With a DVR player hooked to your home network or home media center you can view digital photos and other digital media on your TV. If you have two DVRs on your home network or media center, you can share digital TV programs. Another great benefit of hooking up your DVR player to your home network is that you can remotely schedule your DVR player to record TV programs.
About the Author
Randy McClure is a web site publisher of http://www.easyaccessclub.com . EasyAccess Club is an eCommerce resource for discount shoppers, small businesses, and churches. We provide discount shopping reviews of stores, feature discount stores, offer eTool resources, scam alerts, and eTips. Also, visit our other sites: Small Business Online - http://biz.easyaccessclub.com and Church Online - http://www.access-jesus.com .
May 22, 2008 at 5:04 pm · Filed under Tech + Life
You may see someone you know in Anthony ?
perhaps even yourself.
Anthony plays the role of “the savior.” He feels responsible for just about everyone?s reality. He believes he must rescue them and keep them well and happy. . He feels he has failed in his “role”, and cannot rest, as long as someone he feels responsible for is not well and happy. Others easily use or control him by making him feel responsible for the fact that they are not well or happy.
When he is with others, he has difficulty identifying his own needs. In this role “others? needs are more important than his.” He avoids expressing needs that would prevent others from getting what they want. Playing the savior often causes him to become the “victim” of those he is trying to “save.”
He is so preoccupied with other people?s problems that he seldom recognizes or confesses his own.
His family, however, complains that he gives more time to solving other people?s problems than theirs. He does care about his family, but receives greater satisfaction of recognition and self-worth from solving others? problems.
He often feels used, tired and resentful that he spends so much time on others while they rarely reciprocate. He worries about others and becomes stressed about their situations and difficulties. He advises them and he tries to control them, exerting pressure on them (for “their own good,” or to “prevent them making a mistake” and thus possibly ruining his “results”).
He criticizes and rejects others when they make mistakes or when they do not follow his directions or orders. He gives advice even to those who do not ask for it and feels disappointed when they do not follow it. He attracts to himself people with problems and rejects himself for not being able to “save” them.
He finds it difficult to confess or express his weaknesses, needs, fears or his own problems. He fears, that in doing so, others will see his faults and lose respect for him.
As a child, he was programmed to believe he was responsible for his siblings, a role his mother had also played.
Some beliefs that engage him in this role are:
1. I am responsible for others? reality.
2. Without me, others cannot progress - cannot be well.
3. It?s my fault if others are not well.
4. If I am not able to create a perfect reality for them, I have failed in my role and am not worthy.
5. If others are not happy with me, I have failed and I am not worthy.
6. If others do not trust me, I am not worthy.
7. If others do not listen to me, do not obey me, do not follow my advice, I am incapable in this role and I am unworthy.
8. If I am no good in my role, I will not be respected and will be unworthy of their esteem. I will end up alone and will be in danger.
9. If I am not in control of things around me, anything can go wrong. I cannot trust others. If I am not in control, I am in danger.
10. If I show weakness or need, or if I have vices, I am in danger because:
a. I will be rejected, unwanted, and in danger.
b. My weaknesses will be used as a means to hurt me.
11. I am worthy only if I am in the position of authority, i.e. teacher, savior, parent. Only then can I feel safe and secure.
12. If I am needed (as a teacher, parent, savior), I will not be abandoned. I will not be alone.
Some beliefs which can free him from this role:
1: We are all is 100% responsible for our own reality.
2: We are all guided from within.
3: The others are totally responsible for the reality they create.
4. My self-worth is totally independent of what is happening with others.
5. My self-worth is independent of other people?s ability to trust me or not.
6. I am responsible only for my efforts and not for the results of my efforts.
7. I deserve love and respect exactly as I am.
8. I trust others and the Divine.
9. I feel united with others when I share my weaknesses and faults with them.
10. I am worthy of love and respect because of my being, not because of any role I play.
Those around Anthony can:
1. Understand that he is seeking his self-worth and inner security by playing this role.
2. Take responsibility for their own reality.
3. Lovingly refuse to allow him to overwhelm them and take control of their own lives.
4. Lovingly assert their need to take responsibility for their own decisions and accept the consequences of those decisions.
(Adapted from the “The Psychology of Happiness” by Robert Najemy available at http://www.Amazon.com and http://www.HolisticHarmony.com. This book and other writings can be viewed at http://www.HolisticHarmony.com where you can also download FREE articles and e-books.)
About the Author
Robert Elias Najemy is the author of over 600 articles, 400 lecture cassettes on Human Harmony and 20 books, which have sold over 100,000 copies.
He is the Founder and director of the Center for Harmonious Living in Greece with 3700 members.
His book The Psychology of Happiness; ISBN 0-9710116-0-5 is available at www.amazon.com and http://www.HolisticHarmony.com. where you can view and download FREE articles and e-books.
May 5, 2008 at 8:12 am · Filed under Tech + Life
With such a large array of laptops in the market what should you buy? There is a vast array of mass market laptops that are extremely cheap and then you have gaming laptops that are expensive and powerful. Well it depends on your requirements but you should always purchase the best technology you can that you budget allows. You never know when you may crave to play the latest game, only to realise your cheap laptop can’t handle it. Laptops meant for playing games are just high spec laptops which can easily run todays software and games which makes more sense if this is a long term purchase.
When buying laptops you can purchase from the tier one brands or from the local companies. Both have their own benefits. Usually with brands you have the safety of knowing you are buying a companies product and that company has and will be around ages. However more often then not, support is lacking, you don’t get any performance components, processing power costs a premium and there isn’t much choice of gaming laptops with the majority of them. Local manufacturers can most likely give you whatever you require. They give all the high performance internals without charging premiums for them. The customer service is more personalised and they usually take care of you. Getting a good warranty is important because small system builders could got out on business.
When buying a gaming laptop the cpu, memory and graphics processor are the most important components one should consider. The cpu should be a dual core cpu like the intel core duo with a clock speed of over 2GHz as standard. 2GB is the minimum amount of ram need for playing games. To play games you need to have a dedicated viedo card. Usually you get 256MB dedicated video memory. A mid to high end card should play all current and future games without any effect on the game play. Anything better is a bonus and will just make frame rates a lot faster.
When looking to purchase laptops, whether they are for gaming or any other purpose where is the best place to buy? The large OEM’s would prefer you go via retail as it makes their products more valuable however there are discount online retailers opening up all over the place and with their low operational costs they are offering seriously cheap prices. In the case of gaming laptops too, for the most choice online seems to be the best place to look as you just won’t find the same variety of these products in your local electronics store.
May 4, 2008 at 4:18 pm · Filed under Tech + Life
Buying a Desktop PC
If you haven’t bought a new Desktop PC in the last few years,
then good news, things have changed for the better. About two
years ago, you would spend between $700 to about $1000 for an
all inclusive desktop system. Now you can spend about $200 to
$500 less and still get great components with a faster computer
processor. Here is what to look for in your new Desktop PC.
Today most desktop pc’s run at chip speeds of about 2GB to 3+GB.
The best part about these higher speeds is that these computers
cost less than two years ago. Other major changes to desktop
pc’s in the last few years are the inclusion of LCD flat screen
monitors, DVD recordable drives and wireless internet cards.
LCD flat screen monitors are completely different from those
bulky CRT monitors. LCD monitors have a small footprint and are
designed to look beautiful in any home office. DVD recordable
drives are also a great innovation. Many people love their CD
recordable drives that can save about 700MB to each blank CD.
Bland DVD recordable discs can save up to 4.7 GB making DVD
recordable media the way to go. Finally wireless internet cards
are great for hooking up your computer to the internet without
the use of wires. Take away the clutter of cords and wires
behind the desktop or running throughout the house. If you have
a home network, you no longer need wires drilled into each room.
So if you are buying a new Desktop PC this year, prepare to
rejoice.
April 5, 2008 at 10:22 am · Filed under Tech + Life
In this article we’re going to take a shot at the entire MCSE certification process to determine if there is really a purpose to the procedure other than for Microsoft to make a profit.
When networking was in its infancy certifications were a luxury to say the least. Only a very few were certified, with Novell being the leader in the field. In the early days the Novell system was very stable and didn’t change much from year to year. The reason this is brought up is because when Microsoft worked its way into the networking arena, stability was the last thing that the Microsoft systems had. From year to year their systems would change so drastically that within a very short period of time, an MCSE certification was close to worthless.
Some would argue that the constant change, or as they would like to call it, improvement, in systems was simply to provide purchasers with the best possible solutions for their businesses. While there may be some truth to that, one can’t deny a very simple fact. Microsoft is in the business of making money. By constantly improving their systems, they not only require businesses to purchase new equipment but in turn, they also require the technical people who work on this equipment to get re-educated. All of this translates into more money in Microsoft’s pockets.
But there is more to this than just making money, though ultimately that is the bottom line. Beyond that there is control and Microsoft has it. Because of the hype surrounding the MCSE certification and Microsoft’s products in general, the companies who hire the technical people to work on their systems have latched onto the MCSE certification as an easy, no brains, way to accumulate as many resumés as possible. As a result of this, an MCSE certification has become sort of a guild license. This in many cases is simply a false measure of competence, especially for someone with no experience, that ends up denying a qualified person with no certificate a job. While many MCSEs are competent there are many people out there who don’t have that piece of paper but who are more than qualified to do the job. Ironically, many of the people who contribute to Microsoft’s own Windows 2000 magazine do not own certifications.
Another thing you have to ask yourself about these certifications. If they are indeed so important, is why are so many courses and exams offered for huge discounts and in time frames where you can’t possibly learn everything there is to know to do the job correctly? The answer can only be that Microsoft is simply concerned with making a profit. Otherwise they would not allow people to complete courses and exams in time periods that in no way would leave them qualified for employment.
No doubt the arguments will go on and Microsoft will flatly deny that this is the case. As to whether we will ever really know if this is purpose or profit, it is impossible to say. But the evidence does point to Microsoft simply trying to line their already bulging pockets.
——————————————————-
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to MCSE Certification
——————————————————-
April 2, 2008 at 1:09 pm · Filed under Tech + Life
Cisco certification candidates, particularly CCNA candidates, must master binary math. This includes basic conversions, such as binary-to-decimal and decimal-to-binary, as well as more advanced scenarios involving subnetting and VLSM.
There’s another conversion that might rear its ugly head on your Cisco exam, though, and that involves hexadecimal numbering.
Newcomers to hexadecimal numbering are often confused as to how a letter of the alphabet can possibly represent a number. Worse, they may be intimidated - after all, there must be some incredibly complicated formula involved with representing the decimal 11 with the letter “b”, right?
Wrong.
The numbering system we use every day, decimal, concerns itself with units of ten. Although we rarely stop to think of it this way, if you read a decimal number from right to left, the number indicates how many units of one, ten, and one hundred we have. That is, the number “15″ is five units of one and one unit of ten. The number “289″ is nine units of one, eight units of ten, and two units of one hundred. Simple enough!
Hex numbers are read much the same way, except the units here are units of 16. The number “15″ in hex is read as having five units of one and one unit of sixteen. The number “289″ in hex is nine units of one, eight units of sixteen, and two units of 256 (16 x 16).
Since hex uses units of sixteen, how can we possibly represent a value of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15? We do so with letters. The decimal “10″ is represented in hex with the letter “a”; the decimal 11 with “b”; the decimal “12″ with “c”, “13″ with “d”, “14″ with “e”, and finally, “15″ with “f”. (CCNA candidates will remember that a MAC address of “ffff.ffff.ffff” is a Layer 2 broadcast.)
Practice Your Conversions For Exam Success
Now that you know where the letters fall into place in the hexadecimal numbering world, you’ll have little trouble converting hex to decimal and decimal to hex - if you practice.
How would you convert the decimal 27 to hex? You can see that there is one unit of 16 in this decimal; that leaves 11 units of one. This is represented in hex with “1b” - one unit of sixteen, 11 units of one.
Converting the decimal 322 to hex is no problem. There is one unit of 256; that leaves 66. There are four units of 16 in 66; that leaves 2, or two units of one. The hex equivalent of the decimal 322 is the hex figure 142 - one unit of 256, four units of 32, and 2 units of 2.
Hex-to-decimal conversions are even simpler. Given the hex number 144, what is the decimal equivalent? We have one unit of 256, four units of 16, and four units of 4. This gives us the decimal figure 324.
What about the hex figure c2? We now know that the letter “c” represents the decimal number “12″. This means we have 12 units of 16, and two units of 2. This gives us the decimal figure 194.
Tips For Exam Day
Practice your binary and hexadecimal conversions over and over again before you take your CCNA exams. Binary math questions come in many different forms; make sure you have practiced all of them before exam day. The number one reason CCNA candidates fail their exam is that they’re not prepared for the different types of binary math questions they’re going to be asked, and that they aren’t ready for hexadecimal questions at all.
You don’t have time to learn how to do in on exam day. You’ve got to be ready before you go into the exam room, and the only way to be ready is a lot of practice.
Finally, make sure you read the question carefully. You’ve got hex, decimal, and binary numbers to concern yourself with on your CCNA exams. Make sure you give Cisco the answer in the format they’re looking for.
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!
April 1, 2008 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Tech + Life
As a CCNA candidate, you most likely have some background in PC hardware and workstation support. If so, you’re already familiar with loopback interfaces, particularly 127.0.0.1, the loopback address assigned to a PC.
When you’re learning all about the different physical interfaces for your CCNA exam - serial, ethernet, and BRI, among others - there’s one logical interface you need to know about, and that is - you guessed it! - the loopback interface.
What isn’t as immediately apparent is why we use loopback interfaces on routers and switches to begin with. Many of the Cisco router features that can use loopbacks are intermediate and advanced features that you’ll learn about in your CCNP and CCIE studies, but these features all come back to one basic concept: If the loopback interface on a router is down, that means the router is unavailable as a whole.
In contrast, a physical interface being down does not mean the router itself is out of commission. A router’s ethernet port can go down, but the other physical interfaces on that router are still operational. Since a loopback interface is logical, there’s nothing physical that can go wrong with it.
As I mentioned, you’ll learn different Cisco router and switch features that utilize loopback interfaces as you climb the Cisco certification ladder. There’s one misconception about Cisco loopback interfaces that you want to get clear on now, though. You’re probably familiar with loopback interfaces on a PC, and may even know that the address range 127.0.0.0 is reserved for loopback addressing.
Note that this reserved address range does not apply to loopbacks on Cisco devices, however. If you attempt to assign an address from this range to a Cisco loopback interface, you get this result:
R1#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
R1(config)#interface loopback0
R1(config-if)#ip address 127.0.0.2 255.255.255.0
Not a valid host address - 127.0.0.2
R1(config-if)#ip address 127.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
Not a valid host address - 127.1.1.1
The range 127.0.0.0 is reserved for host loopbacks (such as PCs), not routers or switches. The most commonly used address from this range is 127.0.0.1 - if you can’t ping that on a workstation, that means you can’t ping yourself, which means there’s a problem with the TCP/IP install itself.
Keep these details in mind on the exam and in the workplace, and you’re on your way to CCNA exam success!
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
You can also join his RSS feed and visit his blog, which is updated several times daily with new Cisco certification articles, free tutorials, and daily CCNA / CCNP exam questions! Details are on the website.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Get your CCNA study guide from The Bryant Advantage!
