Know More About The Printer Toner Cartridge

Laser printers require to be handled with better care in order to ensure proper functioning. One issue which is common with the laser printers is the use of ink cartridges that tends to finish off much faster with time. This kind of problem necessitate the use of toner cartridges and other varieties of ink jet to cover up the major setback that ink cartridges offers you at times.

Toner cartridges and ink jet: the difference

Toner stands for an amorphous carbon powder primarily used in the laser printer of present date. The heat generated from the laser beams melts the powder and it leaves behind imprints on the given paper. In contrary with the toner cartridges, the ink jet cartridges include small spaces within them for having the ink imprinted on the given paper. These cartridges operate when they are injected with the help of pressure.

Toner Cartridges: its overall importance

Including an extensive printing life span, quality, efficiency of the laser image applications and speed are some of the key benefits that people selecting toner cartridges receive. The toner cartridges forms to be quite large and they hold a significant toner amounts as well. Today, with the help of these printing cartridges you can easily print around 5,000 pages.

Though the toner cartridges are found to be expensive than that of the ink jet cartridge but the benefits it offers in ensuring a longer life of your valuable printer make the price rather insignificant. If you have to print many documents at a time, toner cartridges will be your best choice.

Toner cartridge: tit bits

Toner particles including more consistent shapes and sizes result in the printing of better color image. Your empty toner cartridges can be refilled by your vendor. The re manufacturing industries help you in this regard offering several alternatives rather than replacing all the cartridges from to time. Its your affordability that matters to get the refilled or remanufactured units of toner cartridges.

Lenovo Notebook Series

Being China's largest and world's fourth largest computer manufacturer does not slow Lenovo, they always try to improve quality of products and service. This way they gain trust and praise of the customers.

There are 3 laptop series that known common by customers that belong to Lenovo. These series are ThinkPad, IdeaPad and Lenovo 3000 series.

Lenovo laptop series divide by their purpose, weight and size. Average weight of Lenovo laptops change from 1.1kg to 4gk and size scales 12.1 inch to 17 inches. In common all series have high speed dual core processor made by Intel Company.

If you are planning to buy a laptop as a customer, Lenovo promises future with high quality products and customer services.

ThinkPad Series

ThinkPad series laptops are for people who want powerful, high performance capable laptops with security to protect data's about your works. These laptops have durable chassis, high-end ultra performance hardware, hard drive protected against shocks and attractive design. With these features ThinkPad laptops may be your best work friend. With Nvidia Quadro FX graphics and new generation high speed Intel multi core processors these laptops are fast, powerful and valuable. ThinkPad also reflects energy efficiency design of Lenovo, you can find some options that will extend life of battery. After sell support (web, phone, and service) reacts very fast about your problems. ThinkPad series offer useful solutions like one button system recovery, without being have to be computer engineer.

IdeaPad Series

A laptop series that can be used at your home, office or home-office. Unlimited freedom, portability and wireless connections are all together in these unique Lenovo laptops. With experience of being in laptop industry for a long time, Lenovo designed IdeaPad series with world class quality experts and engineers for you to have new experiences. Designs of new generation, hardware of high technology meet at the hands of a company know computers very well, Lenovo. IdeaPad's exhibit features more than new face verification technology: Intel's multi core high speed processors (Intel Core), original Windows Vista, Lenovo desktop navigator (A new and fast way to access programs, shortcuts and more), Lenovo OneKey Theater (Change from normal mode to film mode in a fast way), Lenovo OneKey Rescue System (Recovery and repair only with one button). Because of their eco friendly structure and low power consumption IdeaPads have Energy Star 4.0 certificate. Also they are graded Gold and Silver by EPEAT.

Lenovo 3000 Series

Laptops in this series are designed to meet needs of personal users and small companies. From software to hardware every bit of these laptops are designed with user in mind. Advanced software and hardware will let you do your business and have some fun with your laptop. While battery life extends with Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology, operation times shorten.

Laptops Or Notebooks

owering demand for laptops or notebooks has made the electronic market widely popular like never before. It is yet another alternative for desktop PC. The exclusive design makes it small, lightweight and easily portable. When at home, you can conveniently carry the laptop to different rooms. It is your companion when traveling or outdoors. Given below are few tips for buying the right laptop!

How do I choose my Laptop?

Basically, a laptop should be selected based on its features and portability. Benefits of using a laptop are entirely dependent on specific needs of users. Generally, it is easily transportable anywhere and any time. Also, this user-friendly devices price varies according to its features. We have categorized the users, outlining the type of laptops that will suit them.

Home users For people, who surf the Internet occasionally, a portable laptop with similar features of a desktop PC is a great choice. Home users can look out for either midsize or desktop replacements with 800 MHz processor and 256MB RAM. They are budget-friendly and also offer added features.

Students Students will prefer a lightweight laptop that can be easily carried from classroom to library. For such users, a thin-and-light or an ultraportable laptop with 256MB RAM, a burner and Pentium M processor is the right choice.

Regular Fliers Frequent travelers prefer a lightweight laptop whether at airport or in meetings. The smallest and lightest ultraportables with processors in the Pentium-M family, built-in Wi-Fi, 256MB RAM is the right choice.

Business power users Such users who attend seminars or prepare presentations, a thin-and-light or desktop replacement laptops are appropriate. Powered with 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive space and an Ethernet card, this is the right kind of laptop that serves all business needs.

Multimedia Author or Gamer Such users involve in editing audio, video or photos using Photoshop. A desktop replacement with 512MB RAM, a 2GHz or faster processor and 80GB hard drive space is the right choice.

What are the types of laptops available in the market?

Technology has enabled the availability of laptops in various shapes and sizes. Keeping buyers perspective in mind, given below are few kinds of laptops.

Ultra portable These compact laptops mainly suit mobile professionals or frequent business travelers. The smallest of all, it weighs less than 6 pounds with screen size of less than 12 inches.

Thin & light It is apt for those who mainly consider performance, features and price. This easily portable laptop is great for occasional fliers. It weighs less than 4 pounds with screen size of 12 or 14 inches.

Midsize Suitable for home and small business users, a midsize comprises of basic computing software that facilitates word processing, storing digital photos, burning CDs, online communication and so on. It weighs up to 8 pounds with screen size of 15 to15.5 inches.

Desktop replacement Usually, this laptop is used at home and is great for business users. It delivers exclusive computing muscle for serious gaming, multimedia authoring and high-level digital audio/video work. It weighs up to 8 pounds with screen size of 17 inches.

Tablet PC Such laptops are widely popular for their portability, flexibility and unique features. They allow you to take handwritten notes and navigation through menus, documents and web pages in various styles.

How do I pick a suitable laptop processor?

Generally, processors found in laptops are AMD or Intel made. When others focus on processors performance, few consider their battery. With minimal power requirement, laptop processor generates lesser heat than desktop processor. It basically extends battery life and prevents excess heat. For beginners a 2.0GHz Pentium 4-M, 1.7 GHz Celeron-M, or 2200+ Athlon XP Mobile are recommended.

Key features be considered while buying a laptop Laptops with bewildering features tend to confuse you. Once you have decided on its weight & processor, consider other components. Few important ones to be kept in mind while buying are listed below:

Hard drive This stores all your programs and files. Higher the drives storage capacity, more is the data storage. The speed may vary depending on the capacity of the drive. If planning to store operating system, documents or photos, look out for a 20GB or 40GB hard drive. Laptop with 80GB hard drive is suggested for saving large quantity of files like high-resolution images or movies.

Memory (RAM) Usually, a certain amount of memory (RAM) is required to run programs including operating systems. Look for a laptop with 256MB, 512MB RAM, 1GB RAM or more.

CD & DVD drives Most laptops have an inbuilt CD/RW, DVD or external Drive. They are connected through USB that is meant for burning disks and watching movies. There are combo drives that read or write to 2 media formats.

Ports Ensure that all peripherals and gadgets can be well connected with your laptop. A USB 2.0 or FireWire is required to connect MP3 player, digital camera or camcorder. Most of the devices also work with USB 1.1.

Screens People who choose a lightweight laptop tend to compromise with the display. Laptop with larger display is suggested for those interested in multimedia or 3D games.

Networking & Wi-Fi Connecting to Internet is easy with laptop featuring built-in Ethernet support, a PCMCIA network interface card, or Wi-Fi (802.11b or 802.11g) support.

Graphic Card It processes video by freeing up memory (RAM) for other system operations.

What other accessories should I concentrate on?

Given below are the major accessories to be considered when buying a laptop.

Mouse option Generally, laptops do not feature a traditional mouse but there could be a mouse option. Nowadays, all laptops come with a touchpad, nub or both.

Bluetooth It is a short-range wireless networking technology that is supported by some laptops. A bluetooth-enabled PDA or cell phone will allow you to talk and exchange data wireless.

Extra Battery If you are entirely dependent on battery, ensure that you have a spare that can be carried along.

Docking Station With this, you can connect your laptop to a standard keyboard, mouse, monitor & printer.

Carrying Case It is always advisable to have a laptop carrying case for safe and convenient transport purpose.

Why Network Attached Storage Is Important?

Network Storage device is basically a server which is specifically dedicated to the file sharing system. It is not actually like a device attached to the department computer which serves applications to a networks workstation users rather network storage device is a hard disk storage setup with its own network address.
Although it is considered as a network however it does not supports a typical server centric systems server functionalities like file management, e-mail or authentication. The basic idea behind the usage of network attached storage device is to increase the hard disk storage space to a networks server without shutting them down for upgrades and maintenances.

When we talk about storage centric design, storage is not the constituent of the server with network attached storage. On the contrary the processing of data is handled by the server and network attached storage device delivers the information/data to the users. The network attached storage device is independent about its placement in a LAN, it can be located anywhere within the server or externally .And one conspicuous point is that it can be made up of multiple networked NAS devices. A network attached storage device appears as a single node that is the IP address of the head device and clients usually access NAS over an Ethernet connection i.e. LAN.

Protocols handled by Network attached storage devices:

It handles a number of network protocols; some of which are as follows:-

1. Microsoft's Internetwork Packet Exchange and NetBEUI
2. Novell's Netware Internetwork Packet Exchange,
3. Sun Microsystems' Network File System.

Benefits of Network attached storage devices:

1. It allows large to store and retrieve large amount of data in an affordable price than ever before.
2. It can be utilized for both home and businesses.
3. Unlike traditional file server, it creates systems designed for data storage.
4. Network attached storage device design is begins with the fundamental components requisite to support file transfers and add features on an ascending developmental track.
5. It can store any data that appears in the form of files, for example e-mail boxes, remote system backups, web content etc.
6. A network storage device system tends to provide reliable operation and easy administration.
7. Network attached storage devices do not require monitor, keyboard or mouse. Generally, they run an embedded operating system rather than a full-featured Network operating system.
8. The performance is mostly found to be increased in case of network attached storage device as the file serving is taken care by NAS and not by a server responsible for also doing other processing.

Therefore,

However, the reliability of a network attached device is dependent on how well is it designed internally. The results of using a NAS are greatly dependent on the speed and traffic on the network and the amount of RAM on NAS computers or devices. However, if all these parameters are met, Network attached device is an amazing and a very affordable solution for file sharing for both home and business purposes.

Computer Parts And What They Are All About?

If computers form a part of your daily life, youll need to have a basic knowledge of computer parts. Computer Parts comprise of the computer monitor, hard disk, keyboard, mouse, floppy drive, CD- Drive and other peripherals. The computer CPU is the heart of the computer and comprises of numerous circuits and hardware, software applications that help run a computer. If a computer is overloaded or suffers a virus attack, the CPU is one of the first hardwares to crash out. A computer can never run without a CPU which is sort of the heart of the computer. The computer monitor displays all the info stored within your computer and acts more of a window, run by the CPU. The keyboard is a hardware you use to type and operate your computer through typing on specific keys that include alphabets and numbers. The mouse helps you to navigate and scroll on the display monitor. The floppy and CD Drives are hardwares you use to store or transfer materials from and into your computer.

Other computer peripherals that form a part of the computer include any other electronic devices be it speakers, microphones, printers, web cameras, scanners or copiers, plotters or modems that are associated with the computer. Computer peripheral parts generally come with software drivers which require installations. Basically computer parts comprise of both hardware and software of which hardware parts are physical attachments to the computer like the ones mentioned earlier while software tends to be programs installed within a computer through drivers or CDs to enable a computer to run smoothly and effectively. The combination of hardware and software applications is what makes a computer run smoothly.

Computer parts must be changed or replaced if a computer faces problems while functioning by a computer professional. The CPU or the system unit which has the random access memory (RAM) is the brain of the computer. The RAM is where all the data is stored enabling the computer to run and can be stated as the most important part of a computer. Computer parts are readily available in the market and one must have adequate knowledge regarding the same especially while purchasing an assembled computer.

How Easy Is It To Get A Free Laptop?

Many of us have heard about offers to get a free laptop, and click here to get a free laptop and many other crazy offers, so I appreciate this may be a little hard to absorb to begin with, but please take a moment and clear your mind of all the other things you have heard, because I would like to explain to you a method that has been discovered that will allow you to obtain a free laptop, and easily.

A basic explanation is that you will have an opportunity to test a laptop and its abilities, and in reward as opposed to a cash payment you will receive a free laptop, in fact the laptop that ypu have been testing so from the minute you receive it on trial you can personalize it to the way you wish as it will be yours to keep.

Simply by participating in the scheme that is offered you get to select the color of laptop the model is set as a Dell XPS M1530, with Intel Core 2 Duo, 3GB memory and 250GB hard drive, so you can see just from those specs that it is not a cheap giveaway, it is a quality free laptop that is a reward for your participation.

Entering into the scheme is very easy, simply enter the color of the laptop that you would like to receive allowing you to personalize your free laptop even more, and then lace your email address in the box provided so you can have the relevant information and forms sent on to you.

After having done this simply open your email, check for the new mails in your inbox and in no time at all you can be surfing the web and chatting with friends on your free laptop from Dell, there is absolutely nothing to be lost by trying to get your hands this great offer and be rewarded with a free laptop if its not too late.

I would encourage anyone reading this to visit the site and sign up as quickly as possible to see for yourself how easy it really is to get a free laptop. Once you have done all the above and are surfing the web on your free laptop be sure to tell your friends how easy it is and let them try too but only after you have got your name registered!

Teach You About Desktop Hardware Basics

For over 30 years, computers have been part of our lives. We discovered that we could use it effortlessly at both the office and at home. Actually many take it with them wherever they go and see it as being an essential part of their lives. In spite of this, just a few really know the parts they frequently use. General computer knowledge by most people's standards is how to use the keyboard and the mouse.

Computer hardware is part of the computer that can be touched in a physical way. This is speaking of the two basic parts of the computer, the monitor and the CPU. The CPU contains the important and sensitive parts of the computer including the processor, memory and hard drive. Software are the programs that run the hardware in your computer. One main difference between hardware and software is that software cannot actually be touched.

It's fine if you don't know this. What's there to know when you already know how to use it? If you don't know anything about computer systems, how will you be able to buy a good one?

The following are some facts you should have regarding computer hardware. This is not an in depth analysis, but it provides a nice introduction to the basics.

Your processor controls all of the computers processes. Your computer will be able to convert and process data more easily if you have an efficient processor. The time is takes for the computer to read data will be decreased. The amount of RAM has the largest affect on the speed of the system. This helps your PC perform many tasks at once. If you tend to keep many windows open all at once, this is particularly true. Hard disk memory and RAM memory are often confused with each other. Storing of files is accomplished on the Hard Disk. This is the place to file the word documents or mp3 files you want to save.

A motherboard is another essential aspect of the CPU. This is the place to lay all the computer's components. You will need to sometimes change all the parts when the motherboard breaks down, because some will no longer be compatible with the new one.

All About Pc Forensics

Due to technology advancement, almost all of the ammo in a association is created and managed electronically. Alone a insufficient percentage of earful is dedicated to paper. This changing trend has encouraged augmented and else cyber crimes or machine crimes to select assign in the total world. Here comes the pc forensics to encounter these computer-age crimes.

A surprising statistics has shown that environing 71% of these specific illegitimate activities come from "inside the organization". This shows that the employees of the companies are misusing the computers to steal important data. They very benefit outsiders to influence access to private and confidential cue of their companies for their own benefits. In conventional circumstances, these cyber criminals are undetected and they are able to obtain absent easily through various companies all the more haven't got the expertise to track these irresponsible employees. Looking at these situations, it is primary to arouse the involvement of the computer forensics investigators or experts to hint the crook event in the organizations.

Having computer forensics investigators and experts in the companies is determining in handling cyber crime cases whereas all the digital evidences in emails, internet banking transactions, documents or files generated from operating transaction and databases want to be safeguarded and preserved carefully. All these evidences are ephemeral and can be destroyed easily. Single wound up computer forensics, all the cloaked and deleted documents can be identified, collected, analysed and presented to the court for legal proceeding.

Pc forensics allows the uncovered data and lawless activities to be revealed. This "legal" hacking is absolutely earnest in ensuring the computer step security throughout the nature is hardy protected.

Buying Guide On Projectors

With the development of technology and science in the field of commerce, entertainment and education, projectors have become a part and parcel of life in todays scenario. They are now an indispensible part in office, educational institution even at home with the coming up of home theatre systems. Its an apparatus or a hardware device that integrates a light source and projects an enlarged image or a video onto a flat surface for various display purposes.

A projector is just a key word that covers a large variety of types according to the need of the consumer.

Starting with the basic overhead projector, there can be LCD projector, digital projector, slide projector, video projector, front projector, light valve projector, DLP projector, movie projector, cine projector, CRT projector, dip projector, home theatre projector, or very latest pico projector etc. as a consumer you are pampered with a wide variety of brands that manufacture projectors. That also leads you to a kind of confusion as a layman. But, you can excess all the information regarding the various brands of projectors that are available in the market, the types that suit your needs and also the criteria that you should consider before you buy a projector.

The Main Players:

The main brands that are in the field of manufacturing projectors are Aiptek, Acer, Casio, Canon, Dell, Mitsubishi, Microtek, Hitachi, Toshiba, Yamaha, Lenovo, IBM, HP, Panasonic, Xerox, Toshiba, Sanyo, Sharp, Epson, Samsung, Sony, BenQ , Infocus, Optoma etc. These brands will offer you different types of projectors with all modern features to suite your personal and professional needs.

The Popular and the Latest:

Projectors can primarily be divided into two categories; home projectors and professional projectors. Accordingly, they are subdivided into various types according to their functions and features. Overhead projectors are the most common projectors that are widely used in classrooms and presentation halls. They are recently being replaced by CRT (cathode ray tube) projectors and vary widely by LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) and DLP(Digital Light Processing) processors. LCD and DLP are the two techniques used by digital projectors. HP and Samsung are the market leaders in both these technologies. Digital projectors are widely used in home theatre systems as well as educational and business purpose, because of their user friendly features and good quality images. Pico projector or led projector is the latest technology tiny projector that you can carry in your pocket. They are being offered by brands like Optoma and Aiptek.

Things to look for:

The main features or specifications that you can look for while buying a projector are its features, design, convenience and cost. They are, however, directly related to the purpose of your use; i.e. whether you will use it for your home theatre system, or for a classroom, a big conference hall or an office. A business Projectors will not perform well in a home theatre system.

Ups Protection Services: An Endeavor For Trouble Free Operation Of Ups

Today UPSs have been extensively used across various organizations to provide backup power to electronic devices during the failure of main power supply. The increase in demand of UPSs has also given rise to many protection services that is required time and again for the proper and smooth functioning of the UPS. These services are mostly provided by the UPS manufacturing companies that provide complete maintenance and support solution along with the product. Apart from the manufacturing companies there are also many servicing companies that take contracts of maintaining and servicing the UPS. The most important thing is to provide timely maintenance and service so that it works efficiently for longer period of time. UPS maintenance and repair services are provided by the manufacturing companies or there are companies that specifically operate in the servicing of UPS.

The services provided either by the manufacturing companies or by the servicing and maintenance companies under UPS protection services include:

Installation Services The installation of UPS should always be carried out by trained and experienced engineers and electricians who have complete knowledge of electrical installation and testing according to the highest standards that are compliant with the relevant regulations. Proper installations of the UPS are quite important for smooth and efficient operation.

Commissioning Services Commissioning services are usually required in factories and big organizations where UPS have to support the power back-up for heavy machineries or the load of numerous computers in a big organization. To commission such huge UPS, factory trained engineers are required. They have been trained to carry out UPS commissioning in accordance with the manufacturers instructions. These factory trained engineers not only carry out the commissioning work but they also provide necessary training for efficiently operating these UPSs.

Maintenance and Servicing Maintenance and servicing of UPS at regular interval is quite essential to keep the UPS in best of condition to provide necessary back-up when required. Service engineers make a regular visit in order to keep the UPS in best of condition always. Moreover it also proves to be beneficial in the long term by increasing the life span of the UPS with proper care and maintenance of the UPS. Maintenance and servicing is carried out by trained and experienced engineers and they attend the complaints within 24 hours so that customers do not have to face any kind of inconvenience.

Battery Replacement and Disposable Service Companies providing UPS related services thrive for complete peace of mind of their customers. In order to provide complete satisfaction they not only provide pre-sale service but also take care of post-sale preventive and maintenance. Battery replacement and disposable is one such service under which a used battery is replaced by the new battery and the old one is disposed with compliance of Government Legislation and regulations.

Some Key Differences Between Desktops And Laptops

There are a lot of things to consider when you go shopping for a new computer. Should you get a laptop or a desktop? The fact is that for the same price youll get a lot more out of a desktop than you will a laptop. If you need portability though, a laptop is the best option. Lets take a look at a few things that make desktops a better investment overall.

Price Differences

I think its pretty much common knowledge at this point that laptops cost more than desktops. But have you ever wondered why? Well, there are a number of reasons but one of the big ones is that they cost more to manufacture. When a desktop is put together they dont have to worry as much about space and cooling issues. Building a laptop takes more precision, and this increases the cost.

Usability and Ergonomic Considerations

Have you ever had your hands cramp on you from typing on a laptop for too long? I have, and its not a fun thing. But with a desktop you can get an ergonomic keyboard and other things that improve your computer using experience. Laptops have a lot of constraints in this way. Sure, you can still get an external device, but it just gives you one more thing you have to carry around with you laptop.

Desk Space

Laptops are meant to be compact. But when you think about it, if you have a desktop the only things that really sit on your desktop are the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Most of us put the actual tower underneath the desk. So in the end a laptop and desktop take up the same amount of desk space.

Resolution Problems

You can increase the resolution of your laptop monitor if you want to, but you may run into a few problems. Very quickly the text become too small to see. And really the only way to get a bigger monitor for a laptop is to either buy a new laptop or get an external one. A typical monitor for a desktop is 19, whereas most laptops are around 14 17. This is a huge difference!

Branded Usb Flash Drives To Promote Your Business

With so many people using computers in their homes and businesses today, using branded USB flash drives for promotional giveaways is pretty much a no-brainer. You see, often times information that would otherwise be emailed contains too much data for this method of transfer. This is where the giveaway flash drive comes and anything promotional that can be done with a flash drive, can be done even better with a branded USB flash drive.

Branded USB Flash Drives To Promote Your Business are Affordable

Of course when it comes to promotional giveaways, one major consideration is always affordability. How much will it cost per unit and will the money spend deliver back viable promotion. Branded USB flash drives fit both these criteria not only due to the overall amount of relevant promotional information that they can contain, but also due to their low price per unit, not to mention the flexibility and diversity as it pertains to customizing the individual unit.

So How Much Will You End Up Paying Per Unit?

So how much will you end up paying per unit for custom branded USB flash drives to promote your business. The answer to that question is that its really up to you. You see there are a number of variables, all of them effecting the cost per unit that you're going to have to decide on. Memory capacity is one and they range from 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. Naturally, how much information or data you plan on storing in your flash drives will determine what amount of memory capacity you will need.

Rule Number One Of Custom Commercial Design Work

Then there is the design to consider. Rule number one, is to make sure that you understand completely the color and design options that are available prior to doing your creative design work. You see, you may be limited with regards to the amount and type of colors that your supplier can use and if you get ahead with your design work without knowing what these colors are, you could easily end up with a finished design that has to be tossed, only to start all over again from scratch.

Its Just Gotta Have a Nice Shape To It!

Besides your definitely going to want to check out the shape options that are available to you before you even can consider coming up with preliminary design concepts. You see, the shapes that custom branded USB flash drives are now available in might surprise you and when it comes to promotional pop, you just can't beat a unique shape that connects to your business genre or a specific product or service that you're providing.

Try To Keep Your Design Message Simple and Easy To Comprehend

Some of the most common shapes today include oval, round, stick and even square shaped. However; you never know when something new is going to come available, so make sure that you get exact details from your supplier regarding shapes prior to doing your design work. At the same time, try to make a point of not getting overly creative to the point that the message your trying to convey with the shape and design work is in anyway muddled. Remember that your clients or customers need to absorb at a glance anything that your attempting to convey.

The Main Hardware Of Computer

Have you ever know what is inside your computer? Computer is a complex device that contains various hardware and each of them has different function. As a computer user, you need to understand about the hardware which work together make computer become a complex device.

Currently, 6 kinds of hardware are consisted in a computer but some advanced computers have a few more hardware. This article will explain the name of every components and their job in a computer system. I will explain step by step from the lower point based on their function.

1. Power Supply Unit

Power supply form is like rectangular box that stores power to the other hardware. Its position is commonly on the corner of CPU. To find it, take a look on the back of computer where it is linked with the power cable.

Current power supplies come with 50 watt increments, for instance 350 watts, 400 watts, 450 watts, etc.

2. Motherboard

Motherboard is the brain of a computer, also known as mainboard and system board. All hardware are connected to motherboard and through it, these hardware are work together.

3. Central Processing Unit (CPU)

CPU is the very important component. Its basic function is running all of computer programs. Sequence of numbers representing the programs which kept in computer memory.

It is also controlling and operating the other units operations in the computer system. Each hardware has their own specifications and these specifications are calculated to generate computer system performance. The faster the performance, the faster the data access while using computer.

CPU performance is also measured based on processor speed in gigahertz (GHz) which has developed more than 3.8 GHz nowadays.

4. RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM is a data storage form. There are different types of RAM with various speeds. When pay money for a RAM memory, you should select the compatible type with your motherboard so it can work properly. The higher RAM installed in your computer, the better speed will be delivered by the computer.

5. Hard drive

Hard drive is a place to store entirely data in a computer includes game applications, software, operating system, etc.
Recently, hard drive capacity size is getting larger along with the size of data and more than 1 TB capacity of internal hard drive has been made-up. With that large hard drive capacity, youre able to store a large amount of information without being afraid the hard drive is full.

6. Cooling fan

The louder smooth noise heard when you use computer is coming from cooling fan. The cooling fan helps the computer system temperature keep in low level. Without it, the temperature is easily to get hot since the heat generated by the other hardware while they are running. It gets the heat out of the CPU in order to make computer works well in secured temperature.

For additional hardware, external hard drive is an individual hardware separate with those six components. This external device is must-have computer accessory since it can be a backup device for your valuable files and it is easy to taken handy because of its lightness and portability.

By:
andreas j lee

Please have a look on the other writing in super lightweight USB storage drives and Sony camcorders hard drive

Buying Ibm Laptop Parts From Online Stores

With IBM being such a large corporation many people have confidence in their technology, and quite rightly so, however as with any technology on occasions they need some maintenance and upgrades, and when this need arises knowing where to turn for your IBM laptop parts can be a time and money saver. Buying laptops parts online is becoming increasingly popular and the ability to obtain genuine, quality IBM laptop parts online is growing rapidly.

Being able to source your required IBM laptop part quickly and easily, from the comfort of your home and in just a few clicks can be a real quality factor when things go wrong unexpectedly, especially if you laptop is used for business purposes. Being back up and mobile as son as possible is critical to the survival of any business, and laptop suppliers recognize this for this reason many sites offering IBM laptop parts will also offer same day shipping.

So you can see from the above that by purchasing your IBM laptop parts online there is a good possibility that you will not only save money but also receive the part quicker than having to order from the manufacturer or in your local computer centre. Also selecting the right store to purchase your parts from you can receive a professional and friendly service at the same time as a fast and efficient delivery on your part.

All this combined together provides the beginning of the benefits and shows why you should consider buying your IBM laptop parts online, and remembering it can be done from the comfort of your own home there is no unnecessary phone calls and queuing to speak with an operator, there is no parking problems in the city, and many of the other hassles that a trip to the computer centre has to go with it.

Finding a site online to but your IBM laptop parts from used to be difficult, now finding one is easy, selecting the best one is the challenge, so as I always mention look for a site that is easy to use, has a wide variety of parts, has a good reputation that can be clearly seen by recent customer feedback, and providing you manage this you will have an easy time getting your IBM laptop parts delivered to your door.

Microtek Ups — The Ultimate Power Backup

If you depend a lot on your computer for your work, you need to have a powerful battery back up. With sudden electricity cuts or failures, chances of your PC crashing are very high. There is no other way to be prepared than to get home a reliable and efficient UPS. Everyone needs to have a dependable UPS to keep his PC protected from sudden power failures. While looking for some reliable and efficient UPS devices, the name that tops the list is Microtek UPS. This is an efficient device that saves the chances of data loss and thus provides complete protection to your PC from crashes and data loss, delivering immediate power back up at times of electricity cut.

You must be eager to know as what are the specifications of the Microtek UPS that makes it so admirable and worthy in the market. Here we have a detailed review that speaks out all its worth mentioning qualities and features. Lets take a look.

This UPS model is instilled with extended input voltage range of 135-300 volts. It has a commendable power range that keeps your system attached with a power back every time the power gets cut. It also accompanies a smart boost function for low input voltage along with smart buck functions for high input voltage. Making it further more beneficial for the users, this UPS model is embedded with an over voltage protection. You can buy Microtek UPS to enjoy complete PC safeguarding from the power fluctuations, overload and short circuits.

If you are skeptical to buy Microtek UPS as you fear the overcharge as it offers an absolute battery deep discharge protection. Also, you will enjoy a back up time of 25 minutes to approximately one hour back up as tested on he Pentium D3.0. Your PC will go on performing for at least half an hour giving you enough time to save your work, and later you will be signaled about its low battery.

Adding to its specifications list, the Microtek UPS easily takes the load of the woofer attached. Also there is no requirement to restart the computer after power reconnection. After asking for such affordable Microtek UPS prices, it delivers great handling of voltage spikes by immediately switching the battery to the on mode. With such Microtek UPS prices being offered such a product is worth making an investment. Lastly, it has a good battery life adding to its long list of plusses.

Windows 7 In Box – Access All Fuctions in One Place

If you newly shifted from window xp to Window 7. you might be difficult to find out the control panel options like change simple settings like System settings, managing user accounts keyboard & Mouse settings, , starting various Windows tools etc. window 7 in Box is specially designed for guide the new operating system. this tool provide the access to almost every functions of windows. These functions are grouped in one categories. Those functions are described above and you also seen below in screenshot.

This is portable app , you are also able to carry with USB for any window 7 PC.

Features

• Spyware,Adware,Malware Free.
• Nothing to install.
• Runs from the Desktop or a Flash Drive.
• Uses very little Memory.
• Access almost all the functions and settings of Windows 7.

Download Windows 7 In a Box [via]

MCSE and System Administrator Job Interview Questions – Part 4 – PC Technician

This article set is targeted at both the interviewer (who needs a pool of valid questions they can ask) and the candidate (who wants a pool of sample questions they can prepare for). Needless to say, both MUST know what they're talking about. Also, although I consider these questions as a thorough verbal test for the candidate's knowledge, in most cases, when he or she passes this phase, I will also ask them to perform an actual hands-on lab based on my written exercises. As I said before, I might also include these in a future parts of this series.
I wish to thank Shachaf Cohen of John Bryce Training in Israel who has helped me to compile a large part of this article's questions.
I have deliberately left out the answers to these questions. I want YOU to research them and take the time to actually learn these topics, if you don't know them already.
Most sub topics start off with relatively easy questions where the candidate is supposed to demonstrate their knowledge on that topic. A few sentences will be enough to show their (lack of) knowledge on the topic.
As always, your comments and feedback are more than welcome. Use the "Comment" form below to send them in. If you're using this interview question sample in your own environment please drop me a line telling me how it works for you. Also, placing a link to my site and giving me credit for my work is expected.

PC Hardware

• What is FSB?
• What are Vcore and Vi/o?
• On what type of socket can you install a Pentium 4 CPU?
• What is SMP?
• Which Intel and AMD processors support SMP?
• How do LGA sockets differ from PGA and SEC?
• What is the difference between Pentium 4 and Pentium Core 2 Duo? Explain the new technology.
• How does IRQ priority works?
• What technology enables you to upgrade your computer's BIOS by simply using a software?
• What happens if you dissemble the battery located  on the Mother-Board?
• How do L1, L2, and L3 work?
• How should we install RAM on a Dual-Channel Motherboard?
• What is the advantage of serial over parallel bus?
• Is USB using serial or parallel bus? What about Firewire?
• How much power is supplied to each USB port?
• When should you change your bus-powered USB hub to a self-powered USB hub?
• What is a UPS?
• What is the difference between standby and online UPS?
• What is LBA (in Hard-Disks)?
• How many Hard Disks can you install on an E-IDE controller?
• Can you configure two hard disks to use the Master setting on the same PC?
• What is the difference between Narrow-SCSI and Wide-SCSI?
• What is SAS?
• What are the three main reasons for using RAID?
• Is RAID 0 considered to be a redundant Solution?  Why?
• How many disks can be used for RAID 1?
• How RAID 5 works?
• What is the smallest number of disks required for RAID5?
• What other types of RAID do you know?
• What are the six steps for laser printing?
• What is the difference between PCI-EX x1 and PCI-EX x16?

Microsoft-based Operating Systems

• What is the difference between a workgroup and a domain?
• What are the major advantages of working in a domain model?
• What types of operating system installation methods do you know?
• What is an answer file?
• How would you create an answer file for Windows  XP? How would you create one for Windows Vista?
• How do you perform an unattended installation on Windows XP?
• What is Sysprep?
• How do you use Sysprep?
• What is the major difference between Newsid and Sysprep?
• What is the function of the pagefile.sys file?
• What is the function of the hiberfil.sys file?
• What is the Registry?
• How can you edit the Registry? Name at least 3 ways of doing that.
• What should you do if you receive a message stating: "The following file is missing or corrupt: 'WINDOWS'SYSTEM32'CONFIG'SYSTEM"?
• How would you repair an unsuccessful driver update?
• When should you use each of the fallowing tools: System Restore, LKGC and Recovery Console?
• How do you set different print priority for different users?
• How can you reset user's passwords if you don't know his current password?
• What's the difference between changing a user's password and resetting it?
• You want to grant a user the right to perform backups – should you add him to the administrators group?
• What is MMC?
• What is gpedit.msc?
• How would you use the MMC to manage other servers on your network?
• You set a local policy for your Stand-alone XP Professional – would the local policy effects the administrators group?
• What new in the Windows Vista Local Policy?
• What is the difference between User Privileges and User Permissions?
• What is Safe Mode?
• Which logs can be found in Event Viewer?
• What is msconfig? On which OS can it be found?
• Can you upgrade XP Home Edition to Server 2003?
• Which permission will you grant a user for a folder he need to be able to create and delete files in, if you do not want him to be able to change permissions for the folder?
• What is the difference between clearing the "allow" permission and checking the "deny"?

Networking

• What is a NIC?
• What is a MAC Address?
• When would you use a crosslink cable?
• What are the main advantages and disadvantages of Fiber-Optic-based networks?
• What is the difference between a Hub and a Switch?
• On which OSI layer can a router be found?
• What is CSMA/CD?
• What is multicast?
• What is Broadcast?
• What is the difference between TCP and UDP?
• Describe some of the settings that are added by TCP and by UDP to the packet's header.
• What are TCP Ports? Name a few.
• What is a TCP Session?
• What three elements make up a socket?
• What will happen if you leave the default gateway information empty while manually configuring TCP/IP?
• What will happen if you execute the following command: "arp –d *"?
• What is ICMP?
• When would you use the ping command with the "-t" switch?
• What command-line tool would help you discover for which port numbers your computer is listening?
• What is APIPA? How would you recognize it?
• What is a Cyclic Redundancy Check?
• What would you type in at a command prompt to view the IP settings for the computer that you are sitting at?
• What command would you type in at a command prompt to view the IP address of the remote computer?
• What is the W Value for class B?
• What is the Net ID of an IP Address of 18.9.25.3 with Subnet Mask of 255.0.0.0?
• What is CIDR?
• What is 255.255.255.255 used for?
• What is the maximum number of hosts for a Class B Network?
• What is the (default) class type of 195.152.12.1?
• What is the subnet mask for 10.0.10.1/17?
• What is the result when changing from a subnet mask of 255.255.224.0 to a subnet mask of 255.255.240.0?
• How can you access a shared folder from a remote computer? Name at least 3 methods.

MCSE and System Administrator Job Interview Questions – Part 3 – Exchange

This article set is targeted at both the interviewer (who needs a pool of valid questions they can ask) and to the candidate (who wants a pool of sample questions they can prepare for). Needless to say, both MUST know what they're talking about. Also, although I consider these questions as a thorough verbal test for the candidate's knowledge, in most cases, when he or she passes this phase, I will also ask them to perform an actual hands-on lab based on my written exercises. I might also include these in a future part of this session.
I have deliberately left out the answers to these questions. I want YOU to research them and take the time to actually learn these topics, if you don't know them already.
Most sub topics start off with relatively easy questions where the candidate is supposed to demonstrate their knowledge on that topic. A few sentences will be enough to show their (lack of) knowledge on the topic.
As always, your comments and feedback are more than welcome. Use the "Comment" form below to send them in. If you're using this interview question sample in your own environment please drop me a line telling me how it works for you. Also, placing a link to my site and giving me credit for my work is expected.

Technical Interview Questions – Exchange 2003

• Tell me a bit about the capabilities of Exchange Server.
• What are the different Exchange 2003 versions?
• What's the main differences between Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2000/2003?
• What are the major network infrastructure for installing Exchange 2003?
• What is the latest Exchange 2003 Service Pack? Name a few changes in functionality in that SP.
• What are the disk considerations when installing Exchange (RAID types, locations and so on).
• You got a new HP DL380 (2U) server, dual Xeon, 4GB of RAM, 7 SAS disks, 64-bit. What do you do next to install Exchange 2003? (you have AD in place)
• Why not install Exchange on the same machine as a DC?
• Are there any other installation considerations?
• How would you prepare the AD Schema in advance before installing Exchange?
• What type or permissions do you need in order to install the first Exchange server in a forest? In a domain?
• How would you verify that the schema was in fact updated?
• What type of memory optimization changes could you do for Exchange 2003?
• How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if they're right?
•  What are the Exchange management tools? How and where can you install them?
•  What types of permissions are configurable for Exchange?
• How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes on a specific server?
• What is the Send As permission?
• What other management tools are used to manage and control Exchange 2003? Name the tools you'd use.
• What are Exchange Recipient types? Name 5.
• You created a mailbox for a user, yet the mailbox does not appear in ESM. Why?
• You wanted to change mailbox access permissions for a mailbox, yet you see the SELF permission alone on the permissions list. Why?
• What are Query Based Distribution groups?
• What type of groups would you use when configuring distribution groups in a multiple domain forest?
• Name a few configuration options for Exchange recipients.
• What's the difference between Exchange 2003 Std. and Ent. editions when related to storage options and size?
• Name a few configuration options related to mailbox stores.
• What are System Public Folders? Where would you find them?
• How would you plan and configure Public Folder redundancy?
• How can you immediately stop PF replication?
• How can you prevent PF referral across slow WAN links?
• What types of PF management tools might you use?
• What are the differences between administrative permissions and client permissions in PF?
• How can you configure PF replication from the command prompt in Exchange 2003?
• What are the message hygiene options you can use natively in Exchange 2003?
• What are the configuration options in IMF?
• What are virtual servers? When would you use more than one?
• Name some of the SMTP Virtual Server configuration options.
• What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options.
• What is a Smart Host? Where would you configure it?
• What are Routing Groups? When would you use them?
• What are the types of Connectors you can use in Exchange?
• What is the cost option in Exchange connectors?
• What is the Link State Table? How would you view it?
• How would you configure mail transfer security between 2 routing groups?
• What is the Routing Group Master? Who holds that role?
• Explain the configuration steps required to allow Exchange 2003 to send and receive email from the Internet (consider a one-site multiple server scenario).
• What is DS2MB?
• What is Forms Based Authentication?
• How would you configure OWA's settings on an Exchange server?
• What is DSACCESS?
• What are Recipient Policies?
• How would you work with multiple recipient policies?
• What is the "issue" with trying to remove email addresses added by recipient policies? How would you fix that?
• What is the RUS?
• When would you need to manually create additional RUS?
• What are Address Lists?
• How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists?
• How can you create multiple GALs and allow the users to only see the one related to them?
• What is a Front End server? In what scenarios would you use one?
• What type of authentication is used on the front end servers?
• When would you use NLB?
• How would you achieve incoming mail redundancy?
• What are the 4 types of Exchange backups?
• What is the Dial-Tone server scenario?
• When would you use offline backup?
• How do you re-install Exchange on a server that has crashed but with AD intact?
• What is the dumpster?
• What are the e00xxxxx.log files?
• What is the e00.chk file?
• What is circular logging? When would you use it?
• What's the difference between online and offline defrag?
• How would you know if it is time to perform an offline defrag of your Exchange stores?
• How would you plan for, and perform the offline defrag?
• What is the eseutil command?
• What is the isinteg command?
• How would you monitor Exchange's services and performance? Name 2 or 3 options.
• Name all the client connection options in Exchange 2003.
• What is Direct Push? What are the requirements to run it?
• How would you remote wipe a PPC?
• What are the issues with connecting Outlook from a remote computer to your mailbox?
• How would you solve those issues? Name 2 or 3 methods
• What is RPC over HTTP? What are the requirements to run it?
• What is Cached Mode in OL2003/2007?
• What are the benefits and "issues" when using cached mode? How would you tackle those issues?
• What is S/MIME? What are the usage scenarios for S/MIME?
• What are the IPSec usage scenarios for Exchange 2003?
• How do you enable SSL on OWA?
• What are the considerations for obtaining a digital certificate for SSL on Exchange?
• Name a few 3rd-party CAs.
• What do you need to consider when using a client-type AV software on an Exchange server?
• What are the different clustering options in Exchange 2003? Which one would you choose and why.

Daniel Petri’s MCSE and System Administrator Job Interview Questions – Part 2 – Active Directory

This article set is targeted at both the interviewer (who needs a pool of valid questions they can ask) and to the candidate (who wants a pool of sample questions they can prepare for). Needless to say, both MUST know what they're talking about. Also, although I consider these questions as a thorough verbal test for the candidate's knowledge, in most cases, when he or she passes this phase, I will also ask them to perform an actual hands-on lab based on my written exercises. I might also include these in a future part of this session.
I have deliberately left out the answers to these questions. I want YOU to research them and take the time to actually learn these topics, if you don't know them already.
Most sub topics start off with relatively easy questions where the candidate is supposed to demonstrate their knowledge on that topic. A few sentences will be enough to show their (lack of) knowledge on the topic.
As always, your comments and feedbacks are more than welcome, you can use the form after the article. If you're using this interview question sample in your own environment please drop me a line telling me how it works for you. Also, placing a link to my site and giving me credit for my work is expected.

Technical Interview Questions – Active Directory

• What is Active Directory?
• What is LDAP?
• Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few options.
• Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD?
• What is the SYSVOL folder?
• Name the AD NCs and replication issues for each NC
• What are application partitions? When do I use them
• How do you create a new application partition
• How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs?
• What is the Global Catalog?
• How do you view all the GCs in the forest?
• Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs?
• Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that?
• What are the Support Tools? Why do I need them?
• What is LDP? What is REPLMON? What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN?
• What are sites? What are they used for?
• What's the difference between a site link's schedule and interval?
• What is the KCC?
• What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default?
• What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server?
• What can you do to promote a server to DC if you're in a remote location with slow WAN link?
• How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? • Can I get user passwords from the AD database?
• What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire?
• Name some OU design considerations.
• What is tombstone lifetime attribute?
• What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 DC in a Windows 2000 AD?
• What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD?
• How would you find all users that have not logged on since last month?
• What are the DS* commands?
• What's the difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE? Usage considerations?
• What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails?
• What FSMO placement considerations do you know of?
• I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do?
• What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you NOT seize? Why?
• How do you configure a "stand-by operation master" for any of the roles?
• How do you backup AD?
• How do you restore AD?
• How do you change the DS Restore admin password?
• Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago?
• What are GPOs?
• What is the order in which GPOs are applied?
• Name a few benefits of using GPMC.
• What are the GPC and the GPT? Where can I find them?
• What are GPO links? What special things can I do to them?
• What can I do to prevent inheritance from above?
• How can I override blocking of inheritance?
• How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do that.
• A user claims he did not receive a GPO, yet his user and computer accounts are in the right OU, and everyone else there gets the GPO. What will you look for?
• Name a few differences in Vista GPOs
• Name some GPO settings in the computer and user parts.
• What are administrative templates?
• What's the difference between software publishing and assigning?
• Can I deploy non-MSI software with GPO?
• You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that?

Harry Potter to headline Sony PlayStation video store

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be available to download on Sony's brand new PlayStation video store upon its pre-Christmas launch later this month.

The adventures of everyone's favourite young wizard will join Bruno, Casino Royale, Star Trek, Transformers 2, Angels and Demons and Crank 2 as inaugural titles which will be downloadable to the PS3 and PSP.

Sony has inked deals with all the major studios, including Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and Universal meaning we're likely to be greeted with all the major blockbusters (and Hannah Montana) as they're released.

 The store is slated for a November launch with HD and SD versions available.

Windows 7 begins the long process of replacing Vista and XP

With all the launch parties, cute ads, and reviews going on, you could be forgiven for thinking that the whole world was suddenly going to turn over to Windows 7 on the day of release. Unfortunately, that kind of instant turnover (hmm… sounds delicious) isn’t really feasible in the real world. Some people are getting 7 when they get a new computer.

Some want to see it on a friend’s PC before they drop the bills on it. Others are still using the RC. And there must be some like myself who are just waiting for the initial hiccups to be worked out — something I’m waiting on with Snow Leopard as well.

So what kind of gain is Redmond looking at? Round-about a 1% increase in October. Now before you put your flaming hats on, Mac-lovers, that’s a 1% absolute increase, meaning that the percentage of computers running 7 in the world went from 1.75% to 2.82%. That’s a pretty significant gain, though I admit it is ripe for mockery by the ignorant.

The 1% gain, indicated by statistics collected by StatCounter, is accompanied by a 1.2% drop in Vista and .5% drop in XP installs. It’s worth considering that since these are based on computers browsing around the internet, a lot of business PCs and servers are probably left out of the count — though they too will take a while to ramp up as IT departments figure out just how they want to go about it.

OS X gained half a point during October too, so they’re not standing still either. 7 represents a bigger threat than the divided XP/Vista front. In a year that 2.82% will probably have the decimal point moved right one place, and its user-friendly features and critically-acclaimed status may actually put a bit of pressure on Cupertino. We’ll soon see, though.

The perfect room: a bed, TV, and an Xbox 360

Clearly the designers of this media room don’t care if you sit too close to the TV.The whole house is featured over on Design Sponge, but this media setup caught my attention. I’m jealous.

Kid’s Loft – The French movie poster from “Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down” I got from my brother who worked with Pedro Almodovar for over 10 years. The TV swings out so they can watch TV from their desks. Boi Sconces are from Pucci International, king size futon upholstered in espadrille fabric from Donghia. We set up a king upholstered mattress to lounge, play X-box and have kids sleep over.

I was constantly getting yelled at for sitting too close to my 27-inch TV growing up. You’ll get a headache! It’s bad for your eyes! Blah, blah, blah. Well, I can tell you I never got a headache from it and my eyes are bad because of genetics, not from watching Captain Planet two feet away from the TV.

Actually that media room is kind of my dream bedroom: a king size mattress stretching from wall to wall and a TV with an Xbox 360. That’s all you need, really.

The HyperMac will charge your Mac notebook and iPhone off the grid

The HyperMac from Koyono aims to keep your MacBook and iPhone charged when you don’t have access to a power outlet. If they had swappable batteries, this wouldn’t be an issue. Apple, however, decided that no one actually wants to change batteries on the go anymore; that’s a last gen feature. That’s fine. The HyperMac looks like it should get the job done.

So basically what this thing does is power and charge a MacBook and iPhone (or any USB device) simultaneously. The battery pack even runs at both 16.5V and 18.5V like the OEM Apple chargers, which means the battery shouldn’t be put under any unnecessary strain.

There are three sizes available: 60 WH, 100 WH, 150 WH. These things aren’t cheap either. All three models use a lithium ion battery pack that can be recharged up to 1000 times and are encased in aluminum to match the MacBook. The 60 WH model runs $199, with the 100 WH and 150 WH models fetching $299 and $399 respectively but also coming with a free DC MacBook Car Charger. Pricey, yes, but also one of the only solutions to run a Mac for extended periods.

No unlimited Spotify use for Orange iPhone users

It seems the onus now rests upon Vodafone to serve up an iPhone deal to get O2 sweating.

Orange Apple iPhone customers will not have unlimited access to streaming sites like Spotify and YouTube with the network claiming users must stay within the 750MB data allowance.

 After the buzz-killing announcement that Orange's new iPhone tariffs fail to beat what is already on offer from O2, today's news casts further doubt on the network's ability to shake up the 3GS landscape.


"We recognise that iPhone customers will use popular streaming services such as YouTube, Spotify," a company spokesman told ElectricPig. "As a result we do not intend to apply network protection controls, as long as customers remain within their usage allowance."

 So basically, what Orange is saying is 'we're kind enough to let you eat the luxury box of chocolates you're paying a fortune for, but you're not allowed to eat the whole box.'

 O2, who is prepared to let you eat as many chocolates as you want, will be as buoyed by this news as it was by the revelations that Orange were unable to undercut its lofty tariffs.

 Spotify, which is selling its Premium subscription service on the basis of unlimited music, will be less chuffed seeing as Orange contracts will only amount to around 13-hours of streaming. Factor in regular web surfing habits and users will be running out of free data by the weekend.

 It seems the onus now rests upon Vodafone to serve up an iPhone deal to get O2 sweating, but it's yet to reveal its plans for the handset.

Swedish government promises superfast broadband to all

[Sweden] The Swedish government is following in the footsteps of the Finns (well almost), as their IT-ministry is now promising that 90 percent of all Swedish homes will have access to a 100 mbit/s broadband connection before 2020.

According to Swedish IT-minister Åsa Torstensson it isn’t possible to function in the information society of today without a fast internet connection. You hear that? This is the information society, people!

The Swedish government is therefore launching a new broadbrand strategy, according to which there needs to be a set minimum level of broadband speed.

Today that minimum level is 20 kbit/s, which clearly isn’t anywhere near enough if you’re going to download lots and lots of movies.

Sweden is one of the more well connected countries in Europe and about 89 percent of the population have internet in their homes.

DIY: How to give your iPhone’s chrome bezel a brushed metal look

The iPhone is one sexy kit, but it generally doesn’t doesn’t stay that way for long. So if your chrome bezel is scratched up, why not give it the brushed metal look? All it takes is a two-sided kitchen sponge and a bit of work to give your iPhone a different look.

Windows Mobile HTC HD2 will not have Android Market

While offering Android apps would prove a massive boost to the WinMo platform, the company has its own big plans having recently launched the Windows Marketplace for Mobile alongside update 6.5.

 A mistake on T-Mobile's website yesterday had many tech sites convinced that the incoming HTC HD2 Windows Mobile handset would have access to the Android Market app store.

While it seems absolutely ludicrous that these two smartphone behemoths would join forces to see Android apps sold on a WinMo platform, some reports suggested it could be a reality.

A quick call from T3 to T-Mobile's PR agency today unearthed that the post was a mistake from the network provider that would be hastily pulled from its website, although no official comment would be made.



While offering Android apps would prove a massive boost to the WinMo platform, the company has its own big plans, having recently launched the Windows Marketplace for Mobile alongside update 6.5.



2010 will see the release of Windows Mobile 7, which the company hopes will do for its much-maligned mobile OS what Windows 7 has done for its PC platform after the disaster of Vista.



HTC's Peter Chou last week said the company was pledging full support to Windows Mobile and would not be offering the HTC HD2 on the Android OS.

Too expensive? DJ Hero sales ‘modest’

While there’s no hard numbers, an analyst over at Capital Markets has called the sales of DJ Hero “modest.” Usually you want phrases like “brisk pace” and “exceeding expectations” when you release big ticket games like DJ Hero, but it doesn’t seem to be happening here.

You already know why: the game is too expensive. It’s asking a lot of consumers to spend at least $120 on a video game ($200 for the special edition), the genre of which may be played out, when the economy still hasn’t picked up for the average person yet.

Or maybe the DJ culture isn’t as attractive as the whole rock and roll culture?

It should be noted that the game isn’t necessarily bad, with our own Greg Kumparak saying it “doesn’t suck horribly.” High praise from the big man.

I also don’t recall seeing a big marketing campaign behind the game. Maybe people just don’t know enough about it?

Whatever the reason, the game isn’t quite a huge hit.

Britain opens its first rehab clinic for gamers

Sufferers spend days at a time glued to their computer screens - going without food, sleep, or any social interaction. As a result they suffer malnutrition, relationship-breakdown and postural problems.

A rehab clinic in Somerset has now opened its doors to people with serious gaming addictions.

The centre will adapt its Minnesota Method Twelve-Step programme, which it normally uses to treat people addicted to drugs, drink and gambling, to treat gamers that exhibit similar behaviour.

Patients at the clinic will take part in group therapy, video sessions and therapeutic tasks including vacuuming and washing up.

According to The Telegraph: “Sufferers spend days at a time glued to their computer screens - going without food, sleep, or any social interaction. As a result they suffer malnutrition, relationship-breakdown and postural problems.”

Brian Dudley, the centre’s chief executive told the The Telegraph that he believed between five to ten per cent of the nation know someone addicted to an online game.

Dudley believes that the rise and rise of online games such as World of Warcraft, which requires players to invest large amounts of time to progress, has triggered this new addiction.

With the recent release of Championship Manager, there are sure to be bleary-eyed, pale-skinned addicts across the country that don’t know what day it is. If this sounds like you, contact the centre now.

Giveaway: 5G iPod Nano case from iSkin

Who wants an iPod nano case? I’ve three brand new cases from iSkin that want nothing more than to protect your precious iPod nano. These are for the latest camera-equipped models, but they will work just fine for the 4G models too. All you need to do is leave a comment describing why you want one after the jump. Since I have three cases, three different people will win.

How fun.The contest will run until 11/10/2009. Be sure to use your real email as that’s how I’ll contact the winners.

Apple sells only 5,000 official iPhones in China

Not that this should surprise anyone, but Apple has sold only 5,000 iPhones since last week when it officially launched. The phrase “officially launched” is key, since people there have been able to buy the iPhone on the gray market for some time now. And it’s a superior phone on the grey market, since the official phone doesn’t have Wi-Fi. That’s right: a smartphone nearly in 2010 that doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

The phone isn’t particularly expensive, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that China Unicom and Apple have released a crippled version of a phone that had already been widely available.

Who’s gonna buy that? Apparently very few people!

Someone, and I don’t know who, expects Apple to sell as much as 460,000 official iPhone in China per year. Keep in mind that that’s still less than the number of grey market phones, so all of this is sorta silly.

Warner Bros. replaces Microsoft as Family Guy sponsor

The Family Guy-Microsoft story has been tearing this country apart for too long. No more! Seth MacFarlane & Co. have found a new sponsor for their Almost Live special, and it’s none other than the movie Sherlock Holmes, which stars Robert Downey, Jr.

You’ll recall that Microsoft dropped its sponsorship of the show last week when it saw a rough cut of the special. Too raunchy, said Microsoft. No it’s not, replied MacFarlane. Well, we’re leaving and taking our money, said Microsoft. Oh boy, replied MacFarlane.

But there’s nothing to worry about, for Warner Bros. has stepped in with its checkbook and credit line to save the day.

It’s good news for those of you who still watch Family Guy.

iPhone 4 rumours start thanks to Chinese retailer

Could the iPhone 4 have been leaked thanks to a Chinese retailer? Known for leaking parts of the iPhone 3GS to the internet, which turned out to be the real thing, they're a source which is being taken very seriously by other sites, including Gizmodo.

Today's leak shows the midboard, which is a part of the phone designed to keep the motherboard and screen separated, to avoid interference. It looks roughly the shape and size that is expected to be in an iPhone, and while China Ontrade wasn't very forthcoming with further details, they did reveal that the iPhone has a new design, with an "amazingly beautiful" back.


 

Just where did China Ontrade get this information from? Reportedly from Foxconn, which is one of the companies Apple uses to manufacture its products. It's a leak which needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but as they've shown to be correct before, we're going to start wishing even harder for a brand new design for the iPhone 4, which will undoubtedly go on sale next summer.



The iPhone has just gone on sale in China as of last week, where an official 32GB handset costs 6,999 Yuan, or around £625/$1,024USD. That price doesn't even include the cost of the monthly contract, suddenly making our disappointment at the tarrifs Orange is imposing on iPhone users diminish quite a bit.

Left 4 Dead 2 demo now available for Xbox Live Gold members

Previously available for pre-orders only, Left 4 Dead 2's demo is now on Xbox Live for all Gold subscribers, because taking demos away from Silver members is a great way to make Gold appear more valuable than it is. The demo should give you a good idea of what to expect in Valve's soon-to-be successful zombie sequel -- more of the same, but even better.

At the time of writing, I can see the demo on Xbox Live, but I keep getting an error message. Either that means too many people are downloading it, or Microsoft has screwed up for everyone as usual. In any case, it's there, but you might have to be patient.

Now I will continue getting myself excited for the game.

Sony PSP Go sells just 28,000 on first day in Japan

The Sony PSP Go, the company's great hope of reviving its handheld gaming fortunes, appears to have fallen short of expectations after sales figures revealed a meagre 28,000 units were shifted in Japan on the first day.

The console, which ditches the unpopular UMD format for a 16GB hard-drive and downloadable games, hasn't performed nearly as well on home soil as the first two incarnations of the PSP. The original PlayStation portable sold 171,293 on day one in the land of the rising sun, with the PSP 2000 shifting a lofty 130,000 handheld beauties.

The good news for Sony is that the PSP Go performed 28-times better in Japan than it did in Australia, where it flogged, yes you guessed it, 1,000 consoles.



We don't have any UK (or US) figures yet, but we'd imagine the lofty price tag of £200 means it's unlikely to have performed any more triumphantly.

Acer outs 18.4-inch Core i7 laptop, I shall call it GIGANTOR!

Acer’s new 18.4-inch AS8940G-6865 is a desktop replacement. And by “desktop replacement” I mean that you could attach four legs to it and use it as your desk. It’s big, is what I’m trying to say. Don’t actually attach legs to it, but I guess take with you the impression that this is a large laptop. Also, it’s powerful, so keep that in mind as well.

The machine boasts a newfangled quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU 720QM at 1.6GHz, an 18.4-inch LCD at 1920×1080 resolution, 4GB of DDR3 memory, an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M GPU with 1GB of dedicated DDR3 video RAM, 500GB SATA hard drive, Blu-ray/DVD burner combo drive, 8-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

There’s also five USB ports, an HDMI port, eSATA port, card reader, webcam, VGA output, Dolby audio, draft-N wireless, “touch-capacitive media control interface,” and a travel weight of more than 10 pounds.

Pricing starts at $1350 – Newegg seems to be first out of the gate to sell the machine.

Full press release:

New Acer Aspire Notebook PC Maximizes Performance with New Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Processor and Windows 7 Technology

New Aspire AS8940G-6865 Notebook with 18.4-inch Display Delivers Intensive Gaming, Entertainment and Multimedia Performance

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Acer America today introduced the Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 notebook PC, featuring the new Intel® Core™ i7 Quad-Core 720QM processor and Windows® 7 Home Premium. This mobile processor delivers extremely fast performance for the most demanding applications such as playing games and editing digital photos and videos.

Designed for entertainment and multimedia enthusiasts, the Aspire AS8940G-6865 offers superior performance, innovative features and advanced technology for mobile users. This new notebook boasts a large 18.4-inch widescreen HD display for extraordinary visual quality, advanced NVIDIA graphics, Blu-ray technology, a high-quality audio system, a large hard drive and ample memory, making it a mobile powerhouse. The addition of Windows 7 to this new notebook provides users with a new level of performance, simplicity and ease of use.

The Aspire AS8940G with the Intel Core i7 processor delivers a breakthrough in PC performance, allowing users to multitask between applications quicker and enjoy faster performance overall. The new processor features Intel Turbo Boost Technology(3), which accelerates processor clock speed up to 75 percent to match a user’s workload(4) demands, giving more power when it is needed the most. Intel Hyper-Threading Technology(5) allows applications to work better in parallel, making multitasking quick and easy.

“This new Aspire notebook offers multimedia enthusiasts the ultimate in mobile entertainment – cinematic quality sound and visuals, an industry-leading feature set, and the performance to handle demanding digital media,” said Preeta Anil, Product Manager, Notebooks for Acer America. “The addition of Intel’s new Core i7 processor further boosts the power and performance of the Aspire AS8940G for games, movies, videos and more.”

Superior Technology for Mobile Cinema and Gaming

For the ultimate cinematic experience, the Aspire AS8940G-6865 features cutting-edge visual and sound technology. This new notebook includes an 18.4-inch full HD widescreen CineCrystal™ LED backlit display with a 1920×1080 resolution that exhibits true HDTV with a 16:9 aspect ratio in a new edge-to-edge design that’s perfect for widescreen movies. The certified Dolby Home Theater® Audio Enhancement technology combined with the Acer CineSurround sound system with five built-in speakers and the Acer Tuba CineBass booster bring clear tones and deep bass beats for incredible entertainment.

Users can enjoy the clarity and precision of Blu-ray Disc™ high definition technology for watching Blu-ray movies in extraordinary detail as well as burn CDs and DVDs of music, photos and files. The NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250M graphics maximize the gaming experience by providing intense computing power. Additionally, the 1GB of dedicated video memory allows buffering capacity for seamless graphics and visuals.

Further enhancing the multimedia experience, Acer’s Touch-Capacitive Media Control Interface allows consumers to quickly and easily control their entertainment choices, including media playback and volume levels. The Aspire AS8940G also comes equipped with a FineTip keyboard with backlight, making it more user friendly when watching movies or listening to music in a dark environment.

Mobile Performance and Connectivity

Additional popular technologies allow customers to stay connected and be productive while on the go. The integrated media card reader, DVD burner and 500GB of hard drive storage enable customers to quickly and easily view, download, store and share their digital media content. Additionally, the Aspire AS8940G offers users further flexibility and expandability with an extra eSATA hard drive port.

The Acer Crystal Eye™ webcam delivers smooth video streaming and high quality images for online chats and business video conferences, even in low-light situations. The built-in digital microphone conveys superior voice quality, keeping background noise levels low and minimizing echoes.

Consumers can connect via 802.11a/b/g Draft-N with expanded wireless features, and all models include Gigabit Ethernet for a fast wired connection.

Pricing/Configurations/Availability

The Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 notebook will be available for U.S. customers at leading retailers this holiday season. A sample configuration follows.

Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM (1.60GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
18.4″ Full HD Widescreen CineCrystal™ LED-backlit Display
(1920×1080 Resolution, 16:9 Aspect Ratio)
4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel 1066MHz Memory
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250M with 1GB dedicated DDR3 VRAM
500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive (1)
4X Blu-ray Disc™/DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive
Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 802.11a//bg/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
Acer Crystal Eye™ Integrated Webcam
Touch-Capacitive Media Control Interface
5 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 HDMI Port, 1 eSATA Port
8-cell Li-Ion Battery (4800mAh)
Dolby Home Theater® Audio Enhancement
Acer CineSurround Sound System (5 built-in speakers)
Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
MSRP $1,349.99