Contest: Enter To Win $100 Toward Computer Cables and Accessories!

The cost of computer and A/V cables and accessories can add up to some serious money, so wouldn't it be nice to get a break once in a while? Right now, you can. Optimized Cable Company, an online retailer of computer, audio, and video cables and other related hardware accessories is holding a "Messy Cable" contest.
It's pretty easy. All you have to do is snap a photo of the disorganized/twisted/unkempt cable setup on your computer or A/V equipment and send it to the folks at Optimized Cable Company. If they judge your photo to be the messiest setup, you could win $100 online store credit with them. See all the details on the "Messy Cable" Contest page.
Optimized Cable Company has a pretty significant selection of cables (HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, USB, etc.), adapters, mounting hardware, switches, and loads of other computer and A/V accessories. Their prices are very competitive for the quality of their products. Check out all the offerings at Optimized Cable Company.

The "Messy Cable" contest is going on right now, but it ends October 31, 2009...so don't wait too long or you'll miss out.

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Gdgt: Social Networking Niche Website Focused On Gadget Lust

With the exponentially increasing popularity of social bookmarking websites, it was inevitable that we would begin to see specialization of focus. Oh, sure...we all know about Digg, StumbleUpon, and countless other sites that connect people based on their attraction to a news item or a new product. The emerging trend now is websites that target a specific market, making those connections with like-minded folks a bit more profound and probably longer-lasting. And, it's no surprise that the niche market for the sites that are paving the way would be tech-oriented. After all, it's the technology-related areas of life that drive innovation.

One such site I discovered recently is Gdgt. The "disemvoweled" name might make you think this site is small-time, but it's actually got a lot going on. It's social networking for people who love their gadgets; the devices they have, the ones they drool over, and even the ones they had. Founded back in July of this year by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas (both from Engadget, among other endeavors), Gdgt has grown in just a few short months to catalogue tens of thousands of gadgets, tech-related definitions, and the people who love and use them.

Once you sign up and create a profile, you can get started. Using the simple menu at the top, you can browse popular gadgets to find yours, or you can get there quicker by using the "Finder," that asks you for specifics about the gadget, then displays the possible matches. When you find the device you're looking for, you can add it to your "Have" list, your "Want" list, or your "Had" list (which I think is a cool feature, as it shows your gadget history). If you don't find the exact gadget you're looking for, you are allowed to "Add New," as long as you're prepared to fill out a detailed specs form and provide a good picture of the gadget. If you do create a new entry, it won't show up right away, because the folks at the Gdgt site need to approve your entry. I myself added an entry for a Samsung SPH-A700 Sprint phone I used to have (seen in photo at right), and it was approved overnight.

So, now you've filled out your profile's gadget list...now what? Well, you can give ratings to your gadgets, for one thing. You could also try starting or joining specific gadget discussions from that gadget's page or clicking the "discuss" tab on the main menu for current popular discussions. And of course, don't forget the social aspect of Gdgt; connecting to people. On a gadget's info page is a list of folks who want it, have it, or had it...check those folks out and add them as friends.

If you love your cell phone, smart phone, portable media player, or other favorite device, Head over to Gdgt's website to start sharing your gadget lust.

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Twitter Desktop Clients: My Current Pick and a Few Others

I've mentioned before that I use Digsby for my IM, email, and some social networking updates. One of those was Twitter. But when Digsby recently updated Twitter functionality, the relatively low RAM on my laptop couldn't keep up and slowed Digsby's Twitter response time to a snail's pace. It was then that I had to consider turning to one of several Twitter desktop clients I'd heard of. There are quite a few of them out there; some are very popular, some are almost well-guarded secrets. And most of them are available for the common Windows, Mac, and Linux Operating Systems.

After some consideration and my common practice of reading reviews, watching how-to videos on YouTube, etc...I chose Twhirl. This Twitter desktop client is run by the folks at Seesmic, who gave us Seesmic Desktop. It installs quickly and cleanly, even if it finds that you don't already have Adobe Air installed on your computer (a required installation) and has to include this. Twhirl is a great proprietary Twitter desktop client; it's easy on the RAM, has an intuitive user interface, and lets you run more than one Twitter account if you so desire. Twhirl does let you tweak your settings for updates, languages, and appearance so you can customize it to your liking. If you want to check it out, here's the Twhirl main page.

For a desktop client that does more than just Twitter, consider TweetDeck. I have not actually used this one yet, just because all my other updates come to me via Digsby, but I've watched several demos of TweetDeck, and I'm very tempted to give it a try. TweetDeck will run Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace updates, conversations, and other interactive functions in a multi-column user interface. Like Twhirl, it needs you to have Adobe Air installed, but the information I've gathered shows that installation is snappy. The main attraction of TweetDeck is those columns and the latitude it gives you to customize them. Of course, the settings and appearance are not left out of the personalization loop either. TweetDeck is still in Beta, but all reports are that it's running more like a final release. If you haven't already, I suggest you head over to TweetDeck for an eyeful.

If you want to check out a few other Twitter desktop clients, all of which will require Adobe Air as a platform, here you go...knock yourself out:
Seesmic (desktop, web browser, or iPhone)
Spaz (for mobile or desktop)
DestroyTwitter (still in Beta)

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My Cricket Wireless Experience (Part One): Getting Started

Here's my situation: I'm relocating temporarily to my parents' home (older folks need help with the heavy lifting of daily life), their home is not wired for internet, and my cash flow is prohibitive. What to do? My solution was to sign up with Cricket Wireless Broadband mobile internet.
Cricket Wireless has been around for several years, and though their service is only available in certain areas of the United States (like here in the Chicago area), they are expanding. Their network uses CDMA technology, the same type as Sprint and Verizon. Cricket Wireless, a division of Leap Wireless, is probably best known for their more affordable, contract-free cellular and mobile broadband services. This is what has attracted my attention to them.
Here's the current rundown on Cricket Broadband wireless internet: like many of the other nationwide carriers (Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, etc.), they offer a service plan with a 5 GB data cap, and of course, a wireless USB device. One difference is that right now, Cricket is offering very sweet deals for the devices (practically giving them away), and charge $40 per month while the other carriers charge $60 per month for the same type of service. You're also not locked in with a one or two-year contract for service. This means that if you want to switch to another carrier, you're not going to be paying any early termination fees.
Just as an example, because prices and promotions vary by location and over time, when I set up my service a few days ago I paid $80.81 out the door. How does that break down? The Pantech UM185C USB modem was regularly priced at $129.99, with a discount of $79.99...so I paid $50.00. The activation fee was $27.31, listed on the paperwork as a $72.69 discount from $100.00 regular price. And the promotion was classified as "first month free" which means I don't pay the $40.00 for my first month up front, but rather, on my first due date. To bring it up to $80.81, the local taxes came to $3.50. This promotion does have a $50.00 mail-in rebate, though Cricket Wireless requires completion of 45 consecutive days of use and service before eligibility kicks in. After this is the common 60-day minimum for receiving the rebate; and the rebate will be in the form of a Cricket Wireless debit card (like a branded gift card).
I'm not using the device regularly yet, but I have set it up and done some initial testing. The installation is relatively quick and easy, as the software is pre-loaded in the device itself and the absence of a contract cuts down on install time and difficulty. It took me about five minutes and minimum hassle to get it up and running. This is in comparison to a Sprint Mobile Broadband USB card/service I used previously, the installation of which took about 45 minutes, a required phone call for verification, and a couple of computer restarts.
SO, how does it work? My overall impression is that it's pretty decent as a mobile broadband solution. I used an online speed test service and (from a location with a "weak" signal) and came up with around .50 megabit-per-second download and .10 megabit-per-second upload. For the lay person, these numbers are in the range of the speeds given in the FAQ section of Cricket's own website.
Since I've seen negative comments around the web on the subject of these speeds, I would remind everyone that none of the carriers offering similar mobile broadband services can significantly compare to the speeds commonly experienced on home broadband internet from cable or phone providers. This means that attempting heavy use with media such as music, images, video or games is going to be slow and disappointing.
I'll be reporting back again after I've had more experience with Cricket's service and this device. Meanwhile, if you want to check them out to see if they're in your area and look at their services and devices, here's the Cricket Wireless website.

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Google Chrome 3: New and Improved (Really)

Google's Chrome web Browser has now been available for just over a year, and people all over have been discovering its power and simplicity. If you've been waiting for it to mature a bit, or if you haven't given it any thought...now is the time to act.

Today Google has made Chrome version 3 available to the masses. This, of course, doesn't count the Chrome 3 betas that have already been available to software/internet geeks.

Since the update was waiting for me when I opened Chrome this morning, I gave it a spin to test out the new features they've added. I'm very pleased with the speed of navigation and page rendering/loading. Please keep in mind that I'm not a top-notch geek, so the following is by no means a comprehensive list of the new feature set.

Improved Performance

One of the things that most impresses me is that Chrome 3 uses HTML 5 as a standard. To me and the rest of you average end users out there, this means you're going to see all that embedded media without plugins like a Flash player, because the HTML 5 protocol automagically takes care of rendering dynamic content.

The Look

Many of us love shiny, pretty things. Chrome 3 has finally given us some of that visual swag. The default theme itself is wearing a new slick gradient skin and the navigation icons seem to pop a bit more. Now, however, you're not going to be "stuck" with the default theme if it starts to bore you. They've given us some very cool and colorful themes to tart up the browser a bit.

Fastest Yet

I definitely see an increase in speed, and so will you. Not just in navigation time, but in page-load terms as well. Even if you have multiple tabs open...doesn't matter. Chrome 3 is beating the pants off my Firefox right now.

As I said above, there are more improvements in Google Chrome version 3 than what I've mentioned. If you want to see the full story, head over to the Official Google Blog.

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Grooveshark: Coolest Free Online Music Service You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Pandora? Rhapsody? LastFM? Project Playlist? All very good online music services, in my opinion. They're also very popular, but have you heard of Grooveshark? If you have, you can stop here and congratulate yourself for being party to its awesomeness. If you haven't, read on because this info is for you.
Far from being "just another free online music service," Grooveshark is not new. Nor is it a secret, though many people I've asked don't know about it.
Once you hit the link and land on the home page, you're greeted with a slick and simply functional user interface with a can't-miss-it search box right in the middle of the page. The box wants you to enter a song, artist, or album to search for...and you're going to be hard-pressed to enter a song, album. or artist request that doesn't come up with what you're looking for. Grooveshark seems to have everything.
Underneath the search box is a row of link buttons mostly for those with a Grooveshark account (quick and easy to do), but the popular button shows you what tracks are getting the most play.
Of course you'll want to set up an account right away. Once you do, you're ready to get busy adding songs to your favorites list, setting up playlists, and even customizing playlist widgets that you can post to popular social networking sites. If you can copy and paste HTML, you can embed the widget on your own website too. For an example of this, check my sidebar for the "Rock and Metal" playlist widget.
There's even an option to upload music. This feature is one you can explore on your own, since I honestly don't feel the need to. And of course, being a free online music service, there's no downloading...unless you're an accomplished hacker.
In addition to the free Grooveshark service, there is the VIP account option. For $3/month or $30/year, you get an advertisement-free experience, priority support, and advance notice of new features, products, and other goodies.
So, now that I've gotten your interest piqued, check out Grooveshark.

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HTC Touch Pro 2: New, Improved, and Coming to Your Wireless Provider (Most Likely)

Yes, I know...everyone's into their iPhones, the Palm Pre, the Blackberry Bold, and so on, and so on. In my opinion, one PDA/Smartphone flavor that isn't getting a lot of press (despite its awesomeness) is the HTC Touch Pro 2. I wrote about its predecessor, the HTC Touch Pro last year in this post.
Of course the Touch Pro 2 is an improvement over the original, inside and out. The hardware overhaul includes a larger screen, the clunky and space-eating D-pad has been replaced with a more sensible row of navigation keys, and the side-sliding QWERTY keypad has been revamped into a more familiar offset pattern like a regular computer keyboard. HTC even brought back the tilting screen from the HTC Tilt (a.k.a. TyTn) from a couple of years ago, which is a great feature for setting the phone on a table to watch video content.
Under the hood are the expected improvements in the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, with the carrier specific user interface going deeper into the menu system than the original HTC Touch Pro. It's just speedier and more user-friendly than before.
Speaking of carriers, The HTC Touch Pro 2 is going to have pretty widespread availability and choice of mobile service. Usually, only one or two wireless providers pick up a given phone. The HTC Touch Pro is already available at Sprint and T-Mobile, is expected at Verizon and AT&T Wireless later this month, and sometime soon at US Cellular. At the moment, though, price is a bit of an issue. For example. both Sprint and T-Mobile are offering their respective versions of the HTC Touch Pro 2 for $349 after rebate/instant discount with a 2-year contract. No word yet on pricing by the other carriers yet, but one would hope that once they're all hawking this gem, the prices should get a bit more competitive.
If you haven't seen the HTC Touch Pro 2 in action, here's a video unboxing/review by Noah Kravitz of Phonedog.com.

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Google Wave Will Be More Like a Tsunami

Google's many development teams have given us some great stuff through the years. Google Search, Blogger, Gmail, and their recent acquisition of YouTube are just some of the highlights of how this tech powerhouse in Mountain View, CA drives us to increase the potential of what we can do with the internet.
Hold on to your hats, because later this year Google is going to release to the masses a communications platform so dynamic and powerful that some people are already throwing around the term "e-mail killer."
I'm talking about Google Wave. It's a first-of-its-kind internet communication protocol that will allow you to communicate with friends, co-workers, family or anyone in a more advanced way than e-mail or even instant messaging can support. In fact, this new platform is sort of what you'd get if you mixed e-mail, instant messaging and microblogging (like Twitter) and served them up in a bulletin board/chat room.
You can use it to share photos or videos with friends, and everyone is able to respond in near-instantaneous real-time with replies,comments, tagging, etc...all at the same time. Co-workers can collaborate on projects the same way; everyone has a hand in creating and revising the project moment-by-moment, with the ability to see every step of the developing project, who made which changes, and have multiple conversations about it.
In short, this is going to be revolutionary in much the same way that cell phones, e-mail or instant messaging were when they first became popular with the general public. Not many of us saw much of a use for those beforehand, and now we don't want to do without them because they changed the way we communicate.
The best part of this is that it isn't proprietary. Google is not sitting on this protocol. From the beginning of their development of Google Wave back in late 2007/early 2008, they've designed it to be Open Source. This will allow other companies (like Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Mozilla, etc) to create a Wave service or client and develop plug-ins and applications for it.
It's still in development currently, meaning that average users won't see it for several months. Meanwhile, if you want to know more, hit the highlighted link a few paragraphs back...or watch Google Wave Developer Preview over at YouTube. It's 1 hour, 20 minutes in length, so if you don't have time now, just bookmark it for later. Also, don't let the title scare you away...it was recorded at Google's Developer conference for tech geeks, but there's plenty of simple explanation for the rest of us.

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eBay Buying and Selling: Some Finer Points On Doing Both Well

Until just a few weeks ago, I had no eBay experience whatsoever. Since I've been assisting my brother with his somewhat brisk selling activity recently, and being such a quick study with all things Internet, I thought I'd share some of what I've learned.

Beyond the basic idea of buying and selling on eBay lies a universe of good and bad practices that dictate your rating as a buyer or seller. Some of these things come from eBay rules, and some of them are based on the ratings you receive from other "eBayers" that you conduct business with. I'm going to focus on the interactions with other eBayers.

On the buying end

I've read quite a few complaints in the eBay forums that could have been avoided by the old "caveat emptor" (buyer beware). Searching and locating an item on eBay is easy, buying from a good seller takes some research. First and foremost, check their rating and look at both good and bad comments. You might even go so far as to investigate the commenters' own ratings to validate the claims. If you're not satisfied with the seller's rating, and there are other sellers with the desired item, go with that. If the item is only being offered by one seller with a low or unsatisfactory rating, and you don't want to wait for a better seller to come along, at least prepare yourself for a possibly prickly transaction.

Investigating the item is just as important. Make sure you read the description and examine pictures carefully. Didn't have all your curiosity satisfied? Ask the seller, and make sure to put all your questions in one message instead of several. No one wants to read a dozen different messages from a single buyer about a single item.

eBay is serious about buyers and sellers sticking to the Pay Pal transactions. They offer Buyer Protection with Pay Pal, which is to your benefit as either a buyer or a seller. Don't try to persuade the seller to conduct the transaction "Off eBay" by offering cash or money orders. That's what Craigslist is for.

Another thing: Be quick with your payment. You've won the auction by being attentive to the time frame, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to dawdle for a few days before paying.

Be a good seller

Honest and above-board selling practices should be a no-brainer, since you can't sell on eBay until you've gotten your feet wet with a few purchases (and experiencing the process), but there are plenty of folks with poor memory or careless treatment of others.

Pre-plan your listing so the information is accurate and effective. The listing title should have the item name and (if space allows) a word or two to call attention to condition, rarity, or some other selling point. Make a draft or two of your description; keep it relevant and only as long as it needs to be...it's not a creative writing exercise, it's an advertisement. Your pictures of the item are also very important. Take the best photos you can, make sure they are well-lit, in focus, and show good detail. Examine the photos carefully before you put them in the listing. Make sure to examine them in smaller size too, since pictures are reduced in the upload/insertion process.

Be attentive to bidders and buyers. If someone asks a question, try to respond quickly...their continued interest, as well as your rating, may depend on it. Try not to accept those "off eBay" transaction offers, since eBay frowns on the practice.

Timely shipping is important. Unless your winning bidder or buyer tells you there's no hurry, you should assume there is. You're aware of when your listings end, or when someone has used the Buy It Now option...Don't drag your feet; get it on its way as soon as you can. Sometimes the winner/buyer is local and might want to pick up the item. If you don't mind it, this option should be in the description, with a reminder that even for local pick-ups, the payment should be via Pay Pal.

For all eBayers

The rating you give to fellow eBayers should be fair and accurate. Both buyers and sellers should wait until the transaction is complete and the item is received before leaving the feedback.

Take advantage of the little extras that eBay offers, like adding a few extra photos to a listing, or using their "Listing Designer" to make it stand out. There's also a community on eBay where you can share your experiences and learn from others.

These are just a few helpful suggestions; there are many other things to consider when buying and selling on eBay. To learn more head over to eBay University Learning Center

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AlternativeTo: Find Great Software Suggestions Without Loooooong Web Searches

Not everybody has the patience, time, or inclination to go on a wild Google chase in search of software and application alternatives. If that's you, you might want to take a look at AlternativeTo, a great website that offers some great alternative software/apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Online that you might not know about.

Once you're there, the site offers a couple of ways to do things. Tabs at the top of the page let you choose your operating system to narrow the possibilities. In the search box, you enter the application you want to find an alternative for, hit enter (there's no "search" button), and you'll get a list of possibilities. If you're feeling adventurous or looking for inspiration, you can check the "Most Views," "Most Likes," or "Recent" tabs for an idea of what's out there. There's even an "OMG Fail" tab full of items that don't have alternatives listed yet, ripe and waiting for someone to come along and make a suggestion. Of course, to do so, you'll have to create an account or sign in via Open ID or Facebook Connect.
Fair warning: AlternativeTo is in BETA and it hasn't had time to be exceptionally comprehensive in its suggestions (which is another reason for visitors to contribute their suggestions if they have any).

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Likaholix: A Whole Lot of Liking Going On

Are you ready for a new kind of networking where you connect based on things you like?  It's called Likaholix, and it's becoming quite popular because most of us like to talk about the things we like.

Once you've registered (natch) you're ready to jump in.  First, you use the search box to find something you like.  It can be anything; books, movies, gadgets, furnishings, clothing, cars, whatever.  If you find the item is already liked by someone, you simply click a button that says "like this," fill in a comment about why you like it, and you're done.  You might also find that you are the first person to like an item.  If that's the case, you choose pictures and/or videos to represent the item on its listing page, make your comment, and create tags for it.

But wait, there's more!  There are other things you can do once you've got a few likes under your belt.  There are a lot of other people liking things on Likaholix too, and some of them like the things you like.  Guess what?  You can like the people who like the things you like.  You can even like the tags.  With all this liking going on, it's still possible to get stuck, so there is a recommendations button that comes up with some pretty good suggestions.

Likaholix also lets you share your likes on Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed...so you can expand your likes out into your web universe.  There's also a "status-centric" feature for those who have built up a reasonable stash of likes:  You can become a "tastemaker" when you have at least ten likes in a given topic, though you're limited to two separate topics for Tastemaker status.

If you like the idea of liking and being liked by others who like things...click on over to Likaholix now and start sharing. 

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Google Chrome Doesn't Replace My Mozilla Firefox; We'll Call it a Tie

Last year, I all but ditched Windows Internet Explorer for Mozilla Firefox (and the recent release of IE 8 has not made me reconsider). Being very happy with Firefox, I restrained myself from really investigating Google Chrome, though I kept informed on prevailing opinions in the tech community since before the Chrome Beta was released last autumn.

A few weeks ago, I decided the time was ripe to give Google Chrome a shot. I'm glad I did, because after putting it through my paces, I'm very impressed.

One of the most obvious (and now, recognizable) features of Chrome is the user interface. Clean and minimalistic icons, tabs, and integrated search/address bar make it very friendly to use. And this is coming from a guy who appreciates a bit of decoration, color, and lots of customization options. Speed and stability are two other areas where Google Chrome shines, which isn't surprising, since it's based on parts of Apple's Webkit (ask any Mac Geek what makes the Safari browser so awesome).

I won't give any more than this, so you'll just have to try Chrome for yourself. Download and installation is a breeze, and with a short learning curve, you'll be up and running pretty swiftly.

And no, I will not be ditching Mozilla's Firefox. I've already learned to work with both of them, usually in tandem.

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True To Form as a "Late Adopter," I Finally Joined Twitter: My Education and Thoughts

I joined Twitter Yesterday, and after finally taking the plunge I'm very glad I did.  

I put it off for so long because I didn't think it would be useful for me; I thought it's just a bunch of people posting inane updates that no one cares about.  Wrong.  Oh, there are plenty of people using it to keep others updated on the minutiae of their daily lives, but there are also many people using it as a powerful networking and information tool.

If you're not familiar with the workings, I'll give you the basics as I, a quick-study novice, understand them.

Twitter is what's known as a Microblogging service.  Once you set up an account and make your profile over the way you like it, you're ready to start finding people and letting them find you.  Aside from the folks whom you know as Twitter users, you're likely to find friends and acquaintances whose presence on the site surprises you.

Using Twitter's simple search tool, you should be able to find the people you want to connect to by their full name or Twitter username.  If that doesn't yield the desired results, you might send emails to folks you know, inviting them to connect to you.  

When you connect to someone on Twitter, it's called Following, and it's a 50/50 decision.  That means when you click to follow someone, they have the option of following you back or blocking you.  Following someone allows you to receive their updates on your Twitter home page.

Every update you post (limited to 140 characters) is called a Tweet, and the action of posting is referred to as Tweeting, though I've heard others call it Twittering.  There's a special kind of tweet known as @reply which allows you to publicly reply to someone's tweet.  This is done by beginning your reply tweet with @username, of course using the person's real username. 

There's also a direct messaging feature on Twitter which is only a two-way communication between people who are following each other; other than that it's one-way in the direction of the follower (meaning a follower cannot reply via direct message unless you follow them too).

Though I've only been with Twitter for a day, I'd like to give a little advice.  If you want to use it just to keep up with friends, follow celebrity gossip or popular current events, go crazy, follow as many people as you want.  If you want to use it as more of a business or semi/professional networking tool, use common sense when deciding who to follow, who to follow back, and who to block.  Twitter is not devoid of spam, and the more caution you use with your networking (even if it is just social) the better off and less annoyed you'll be.

By the way, you can follow me at twitter.com/jdsheline.

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With Summer Will Come Windows 7: Upgrade Considerations For XP and Vista Users

Microsoft's next Windows Operating System, Windows 7 will be released sometime this summer (expectations are July). Whether you're using Windows XP or Windows Vista, you'll have the option of upgrading to Windows 7 (instead of having to purchase a full clean install package), and of course licensing cost and upgrade path will be different for XP vs. Vista.
Common sense dictates that Windows XP users will have more issues to consider than will Vista users, since hardware and driver compatibility gaps are bigger and more numerous with XP than with Vista. As far as pricing for the upgrade paths from either XP or Vista, nothing is announced yet, but prevailing opinion is that users of XP will pay more to license Windows 7 for upgrade than Vista users, but still not as much as full retail price for a new copy of Windows 7.
If you'd like to find out more, here's a really informative article over at Ars Technica.

Coming Soon: My first impressions of a design & publish software; Canvas 11, Do you Twitter and Tweet?

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Find PDF Copies of Owner's Manuals at OwnerIQ

For every gadget, appliance, and machine there is an owner's manual. You've probably got a few dozen laying around your home (or stashed neatly away in a file for easy reference). If you're like many people, you probably have fewer manuals than you should...because we're human and sometimes we lose things. Maybe you're one of the proud few who've never lost an owner's manual in your life (good for you). Whichever the case, you'll want to consider popping over to OwnerIQ, a website that lets you download owner's manuals in PDF format for free.

So Owner IQ is an obviously good idea for those looking to replace the manual they misplaced, that's a no-brainer. It's also a good idea to get a PDF copy of manuals you already have, especially larger, more complicated manuals that are much easier to navigate as a PDF than a booklet. Think of those feature-rich high-end electronics you own, and the massive owner's manuals they came with.

When you go to the site, you might as well register then and there before doing anything else. Why? Because once you've located the owner's manual you need, you'll be required to create a free account before you download the PDF. It does make sense, because the site lets you build a collection of manuals into a little library. This means if you lose the PDF copy you've downloaded, you just get another one. Once you've registered, select the specifics from the four drop-down menus to find your manual. Easy as that.

Of course, you have no guarantee that you'll find the specific manual you're looking for. However, the collection is building constantly, and as more people are using the site, the likelihood of finding the owner's manual you seek increases.

Coming Soon: My experience with imo.im, First impressions of Media Monkey

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Online Instant Messaging Client: Imo.im Startup Looks Good

Yes, I just talked about instant messaging clients a week ago with my post about Digsby, but I just got some info about another one, and it looks pretty promising. In fact, this looks so good I have to share it here before I've put it through the paces myself.
There's a web-based instant messaging startup called imo.im in its alpha testing stage (not a final release version) that's now available for anyone to use. Since it's an online service, there's nothing to download and install; no resource-hungry IM application sucking memory on your machine. Imo.im supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, Windows Live IM (MSN Messenger), Yahoo, Skype, and MySpace IM. It integrates these popular messaging services with voice and video support too, not just texting capabilities. The latest additions to the feature set make imo.im comparable to other popular messaging clients; you can edit contact icons and display names, "star" your favorite contacts for quick reference, block/unblock contacts, move them between groups, find contacts online or off, and of course there's the option of signing in as invisible. I should also note that imo.im has multiple language support is available; including but not limited to Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Macedonian, French, and Turkish.
As I stated above, I have not yet given imo.im the benefit of my practical usage. I will be doing exactly that over the next few days, and I will report back with my results.
In the meantime, you should give it a try as well, come back and make comments to let me and the other readers know what you think. Head over to imo.im. When you get there, take advantage of the helpful links at the bottom of the page before diving right in...a little info goes a long way.

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Tips: Get More Mileage From Open Source Software

If you've seen some of my earlier posts on open source software, you'll see I'm a big fan. I encourage everyone to look for open-source alternatives to the sometimes ridiculously expensive paid software out there. It's not because I'm cheap (I prefer frugal anyway), but because I prefer to have my opinions and feedback considered as a user (an area that's sorely lacking with most paid software customer support).
In the spirit of being helpful, here are a few tips to get some major mileage out of that open source software you're thinking of installing.

Explore
Before you actually decide to download and install, you should do your homework. You would definitely do this for software you're going to pay for, so there's no reason not to inform yourself. Is it useful to you? What can you do with it? How does it work? Asking these questions of open source is important for productivity, but also ensures you don't install a bunch of software that's just going to take up space. It's also important to explore because open source is usually more feature-rich than paid, and may be more efficient to use. Once you've installed it, look through it again to see what features you missed before, and learn how to use them.

Use the Community
Your new open source software comes with a community of developers (who actually write and code the software), testers, and users like you. I've noticed that these open source communities are usually much more active, involved, and centralized than their paid software counterparts. Explore these communities, ask questions and make suggestions.

Update Regularly
Unlike paid license software, which commonly languishes for months and months before issuing significant updates/service packs, open source updates more often with more significant improvements. Take advantage of this, and check on a regular basis (you'll get to know the usual pace once you've used it for a while).

Spread the Word
Are you really loving that open source application? Talk about it, tell your friends, co-workers, family. Chances are they don't know about it, so spill the beans...most people will appreciate the fact that you shared such a good thing with them.

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Amazon Kindle 2: A Great Idea For Books Just Got Better

I love a good book. If it's an engaging fiction or a truly interesting non-fiction, I'm a captive page turner until I finish. And, part of my love of books has always been the mechanics of that page turning, the ink on paper, a good reading font, etc. However, I also appreciate technological developments. And Amazon, the worlds largest online bookseller who merged books with tech, giving us the Kindle Wireless Reader over a year ago..are about to unleash the Kindle 2.

The Kindle's straightforward purpose of downloading, storing and displaying a book with easy-to-read text hasn't exactly taken the world by storm yet, but the Kindle 2's improvements over its predecessor may change that.

The Kindle 2 is roughly the same height and width, yet definitely thinner, the display resolution has been sharpened and improved, and the page refresh speed has been punched up a bit. It will download a book in 60 seconds from a selection of over 230,000 books, and can store more than 1,500 of them. It does offer newspapers, magazines, and even blogs over its wireless connection as well.

The Amazon Kindle 2 will be released Tuesday, February 24 with a retail price of $359. I know it sounds a little steep (definitely out of my league right now), but considering the benefits of such a device, it's worth considering for serious readers.

Find out more by visiting Gizmodo's First Hands-on with the Kindle 2, then head over to the Kindle 2 page at Amazon.

Coming Soon: Desktop docks for PC users, Gmail keeps cranking out new features, An online fix for lost product owner manuals

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iTunes Alternatives: Media Monkey and Songbird

I think it's safe to say that most folks who store music digitally use iTunes, and if not, know about it. Some people may even think it's the only digital music option (no joke). I use it myself, but recently I've found a couple of alternatives that I had not heard of before, and maybe you haven't either. Maybe, like me, you've been satisfied with iTunes (or whatever you use) and had no reason to look for alternatives. There are two in particular you should check out: Songbird and Media Monkey. They both have functionality similar to iTunes (like their compatibility with iPods and similar devices), though each has a couple of extra features that might sway you.

Songbird
I stumbled across Songbird a couple of months ago while I was looking for something else (as good finds sometimes happen). I discovered that it has customization features, like skins and layout, and since it's open source, there are all kinds of third party widgets you can add to it to make it your own (no surprise, since it's a Mozilla product). After I downloaded it and began using it, I found out there's just one thing: as of this post, there's no equalizer so the sound quality leaves something to be desired. The last time I checked the issue, a suitable equalizer was in development, so I would keep an eye on this. Head over to the Songbird website to Check it out.

Media Monkey
I haven't tried this one out yet. A buddy of mine told me about it, so I decided to get the info. I'm probably going to end up getting this one. First, there is a free version and a paid (Gold) version. Media Monkey's main draw is that it supports huge music collections. How huge? Try 10,000+ tracks. Reportedly, iTunes becomes very sluggish when you fill it with a large collection like this. Media Monkey is designed for serious collections, and this is reflected in the advance tagging and searching options it offers, both in the free and Gold versions. Interested? Take a look at Media Monkey.

Coming Soon: Docking your desktop on Windows, Windows 7 upgrade paths announced

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My Current Instant Messaging Client...Digsby

If you only use one or two instant messaging applications, such as Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, this post is probably not for you. If you find yourself spending several minutes starting up all your IM apps only to have them cluttering up the notification area of your taskbar, you might want to use an IM client. Don't know what that is? It's a third-party application that will handle all (or most) of your separate IM services.
There are lots and lots of IM clients out there. Some of the biggies are Trillian, Adium, Pidgin, and Miranda IM (to name a very few). I have tried Pidgin and Miranda myself, and while these two are loved by many, I have found myself getting along pretty well with one called Digsby. My preference may defy logic, since a widely held opinion is that the other IM clients I mentioned are superior to Digsby in many ways. However, at present I like what I like...and I'm liking Digsby.
Why? Mostly the "eye candy" and ease-of use (trademark preferences of novices like us). There are various options for skins in the main window, conversation windows, and even lets you customize chats with specific IM buddies. Another useful feature is tabbing in the conversation window, allowing you to carry on multiple IM conversations without having separate windows cluttering up your screen. Additionally, Digsby has an email notification feature much like the one you're used to in each of your separate IM services, letting you view the message right from the main window.
So what does Digsby support? It will handle AIM, Windows Live IM, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk IM, ICQ and Jabber; for email it covers Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, AOL Mail, and serves as an IMAP/POP as well. Last, but not least, you can also use it for messaging on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.
All this functionality comes with a price. Not money, because Digsby is free to download. The sacrifice I'm talking about is resources...Digsby eats up a lot of RAM, even for an instant messaging client. For example, I have four separate IM accounts (each linked to an email account) on my Digsby. When it's running (which is most of the time), it uses around 20MB of RAM...that's quite a bit. You'll have to decide if the convenience and functions are worth its hogging of resources.
Check it out if you're consistently running more than one or two separate IM windows at a time. And as always, educate yourself before downloading.

Coming Soon: What's on my desktop, Online Publishing, Tips for freeware productivity

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Two Great Freeware Disk Utilities: AusLogics Disk Defrag, CCleaner

Not long ago, I found that there are loads of useful freeware utilities out there. I know that many Windows users are content with the default utilities found in the "System and Maintenance' menu of Windows Explorer...that is, if they take it upon themselves to perform upkeep.
In the interest of learning to do things for myself, I stumbled across a couple of awesome software utilities for Windows hard disk maintenance. And both of them are free to download. Now, since we are tech novices here, I'm going to give you my advice: Before you actually download, install, and use these or any other utilities...educate yourself on what it does, how to use it. The sites linked below have lots of useful information you'll want to look at, and you'll also want to remember that friendly search bar in your browser.

First up, CCleaner. It has been said that the name used to be "Crap Cleaner," but that the C now represents the C drive on a computer (the most common letter designation for the hard drive).
Since I'm not a hardcore techie, and you're probably not either, I'll put it in understandable terms. It cleans your hard disk; removing the temporary files that build up every time you download and/or install software, move files, change files...almost anytime you do anything. As you can imagine, all those temporary files (most of which are unnecessary) begin slowing down your performance because they're lurking all over the hard drive. Besides removing those temporary files, CCleaner also has an uninstall tool, a startup menu tool (to make your machine start a little faster), and a Registry Integrity Tool (I'm still learning about this one). It's recommended that CCleaner be used regularly. That can mean once a day, once a week, whatever...of course, the longer between cleanings, the more you'll notice the sluggishness creeping back into your computer's performance.

Great, now you've gotten rid of all that crap. Follow it up with Auslogics Disk Defragmenter. Why? Because even temporary files leave holes when they get deleted. And don't forget about all the things you've consciously and purposely deleted recently. Those applications you've uninstalled and the spaces left when you move files, blah, blah, blah. This particular disk utility works a bit better than the default available on Windows. All you really have to do is open it up and turn it on. It's a nice and easy follow up to CCleaner.

I'll say it again: Educate yourself. In using these utilities or any other, a little research goes a long way. If you don't know what something is, look it up.

Coming Soon: Amazon Kindle 2 is here, Checking out Media Monkey, Chris Pirillo and Geeks.com

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Windows 7 Is Coming...And It's What Vista Shoulda/Coulda/Woulda Been

Okay...You've been using Windows Vista for a while (I'm a year and a half into it), and it's been okay, right? Some have complained about Vista's system-hogging, that it's slow in the startup, or that there were too many changes from Windows XP. If you've been using it for a while, you've either gotten used to it or you've third-party software to tweak performance more to your liking.
But wait! What's that on the horizon? Could it be? YES! It's a new Operating System from Microsoft Windows, and it's called (at least for now) Windows 7.
I've been watching this for a few months now, which is more than most novice tech geeks can say. I've seen it released for "public beta testing" over the last month (purportedly the largest OS public beta test EVER), and the consensus is rolling in from all over the Tech Geek Universe that Windows 7 is everything (or almost everything) that Vista should have been. I actually thought about participating in the public beta test of Windows 7, going as far as to read a post on Gizmodo/Lifehacker about dual booting two Operating Systems. Alas, even though I understood the instructions, and realize that a dual boot does not run both at the same time, I'm not confident that 1 GB of RAM on my Laptop is enough of a cushion. So, I will wait patiently for the Final Release of this new OS.
What's so great about it? The folks at Microsoft have trimmed down the RAM usage for Windows 7, and they've also introduced a slew of new User Interface elements that are slick, more customizable, and actually useful. Oh, and news that will make many Vista users weep tears of joy: They've made User Account Control more friendly; allowing you to decide how attentive/intrusive it is...so you don't have to turn it off to keep it from popping up unnecessarily.
The latest news right now is the information that Microsoft has released regarding the versions that will be available. As soon as Techies began participating in the public beta test, and noticed that the beta was labeled "Windows 7 Ultimate," speculation ran wild that Windows was going to release too many different "flavors" of Windows 7 like they did with Vista (You know...Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Enterprise, Ultimate, and Super-Duper Deluxe With Whipped Cream And A Cherry On Top). All kidding aside, there will be several different versions, but Microsoft is doing better with which versions will even be available to which market. To cut to the chase, we average end users will only need to know about Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional; though anyone who wants Ultimate will be able to get it...it just won't be advertised in the mass market. The Enterprise version will be peddled to the Corporate world, and the Starter version (made almost exclusively for developing markets outside the U.S.) isn't of interest to the average consumer. I'll be keeping up with Windows 7 developments, because from what I've seen, this will be the one to get. I'll bet even those who've wisely clung to Windows XP will finally have a real reason to update.

Want to learn More? Hit Gizmodo's "Complete Windows 7 Coverage" Post.

Coming Soon: You don't have to be a geek to use system tweaks, Songbird vs. iTunes, Oh, how I love Digsby!

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Crash....And Reboot

It should be clear from the absence of any posts for the last three months, I've been away. Without going too deeply into detail, it'll suffice to say that I've been out of work since the beginning of September. Naturally, this entails a dire financial situation--that still needs correcting--with sidebar issues that make it hard to focus on tech developments (most cost $$ that I don't have yet).
I'm not giving up yet. I may have had to relocate and lose some stuff, but if it's humanly possible, I'll recover. It's kind of a system crash and reboot situation.
I've not been entirely out of the loop...I'm still gathering and digesting the information paths for what's going on in the tech universe. I guess what's changed is that (for now) many of the gadgets and new software, etc. that I was interested in because they seemed attainable to me are now just interesting because they represent advancement of tech. I guess that's what it's supposed to be about anyway...

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