Getting a new computer

Well, we (my family and I) are getting a new computer. Not a new PC in the sense of Dell or HP (which are now the better PC brands), but rather in the sense of a self-assembly kit.

The kit includes:

• A corporate steel ATX Mid-Tower case with 7 expansion slots and 600 watt power supply
• A powerful motherboard with:

NVIDIA nForce and NVIDIA GeForce chipset

A 1333 MHz front side bus

4 SATA ports (3.0 Gbps) and on-board RAID

Gigabit LAN interface

HDMI — great for my 24″ widescreen monitor which supports 1920×1200

8-channel high definition audio

PCIExpress

• An amazing Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600) processor

Each core: 2.4 GHz

A 1066 MHz front side bus

An 8 MB cache

Support for EM64T (x64)

Support for Intel Virtualization (perfect for running virtual machines)

Stuff like Smart Memory Access, Advanced Smart Cache, Advanced Digital Media Boost, etc.

• 2 GB of DDR2 memory  at 667 MHz — not amazing or great, but good for our needs; besides, DDR2 is insanely cheap to add.

No monitor, hard drive, optical drive, or operating system. That’s okay, because we have all of the above. It also doesn’t come with a fan/heatsink, so we had to buy one with the kit.

This computer is going to be an excellent improvement over the current Intel Pentium D (2.66 GHz) that I use everyday. Do you know how hard it is to do all of the things I do on 512 MB of shared memory (DDR1, no less — expensive to upgrade) and bad integrated graphics that won’t let me make full use of the 1920×1200 monitor? Memory is the most crippling limitation of my current computer; I can’t multitask very well, and running Firefox and Word side-by-side is sluggish.

Yes, I know. At some point in the past, people lived on 286’s and 4 MB of RAM.

With this new machine, the video compression that I do will be blazing fast — on 4 cores. And I do believe that setting up virtual machines on the computer (perhaps a Linux server and a virtual 32-bit XP installation) will be the best way to suit all of our needs — my father’s compute-intensive scientific research, my own Web development and multimedia work, as well as for running all of the miscellaneous items that won’t run well on 64-bit Windows. (Yes, I’m going to be installing Windows XP Professional x64 Edition; I’m not quite ready for Vista yet.)

As of right now, the barebones kit isn’t yet sold out, so take a look. It’s only $299.99 after instant rebate and mail-in rebates.

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Take Care of Your Computers

Fast-teks can help you do exactly that. These computer technical support people are skilled and experienced at what they do. With professional, high-quality service at affordable prices, they do many things, including:

• Technology consulting
• Software training
• Network monitoring / management
• Computer / network security
• Email service support

And they even offer some things which compete with other services I’ve recommended in the past. For instance, their web site design and hosting directly competes with us (FreddyWare), and their data recovery services compete with a well-known program called SpinRite.

But a lot of businesses want a reputable name and a reputable company servicing them, which is why Fast-teks is the best place to go for on-site computer services. Small- and medium-sized businesses will find that their certified technicians will have you up and running (again) in no time!

This company offers a full range of IT solutions. Take a look at their services, and they can “take care of your computers”.

Brought to you by our friends at Fast-teks.

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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LifeSize Communications

I talked about H.264 a while ago as a great standard for distributing high-quality video. Would you be surprised to find that H.264 is also used for high-definition video conferencing?

LifeSize Communications provides interesting solutions for businesses and all sorts of organizations, from international NGO’s, to governmental agencies. The ability to communicate is important; the ability to see each other in LifeSize is a luxury, made possible by their telepresence solutions. Long-distance communication is so much more effective when everyone can see the others’ gestures, facial expressions, and body language.

Let’s talk more about the video. In October of last year, LifeSize Communications “rocked the high definition conferencing world” when they released a 720p product, allowing for high-definition telepresence on a typical broadband connection. The resolution is 1280×720, and amazingly, 30 fps. Typical (competing) video conferencing solutions are simply webcam quality; they aren’t well suited to a business environment or one in which the appearance of face-to-face communication is essential. LifeSize products lets you meet with the illusion of life-sized participants!

These are great solutions for any small business, enterprise, or organization. The best video conferencing solutions around!

Brought to you by our sponsors at LifeSize Communications.

(5 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Gadgets from China

We all know about the most popular gadgets in North America (and probably Europe as well) — high-profile inventions from well-known corporations targeting geekie consumers. Items such as the Kindle, or the iPhone, or the iPod Touch, or even new laptops, are such gadgets.

But we’ve disregarded items invented in Asia that are valuable in themselves; things that are low-cost but often offer the same (or similar) functionality as more well-known products that are publicized at conventions like CES. There are a lot of gadgets that can be shipped from China that we can appreciate, such as those useful things one can find on LightInTheBox.

Some items we might find in high demand here in North America, such as SD cards, Wii accessories, MP4 players (yes, it’s the new standards - nobody cares about MP3 players anymore), and GPS devices — can all be located on LightInTheBox. A 1 GB Kingston Secure Digital memory card is only $8, for instance. Or buy a super-slim MP4 (with video) multimedia device with a 1.8″ screen for about $35.

Ah, the wonders of e-commerce.

Fortunately for international customers like those of us in Canada or the United States, LightInTheBox has a secure (with SSL) e-commerce site supporting various currencies, including CAD, USD, GBP, and the Euro — just to name a few. They accept MasterCard, VISA, Google Checkout, Western Union, and PayPal, accounting for the majority of payment methods used worldwide. They ship, as well, using UPS, DHL, and other reputable names. (Also, did I mention that their site is tested daily for vulnerabilities by ScanAlert, so you know your personal information is safe in their hands, where a privacy policy exists.)

If you’re pondering low-cost alternatives to high-priced gadgets, LightInTheBox is the place to be. And you might wonder, why buy from this site I’ve (probably) never heard of? And here are some answers: simply because it is operated in another country doesn’t change the value of a service like theirs; their site does have reputable brands and products, including unlocked iPhones; and I’m promoting it — I never promote something that I think is going to be risky for the consumer.

Still curious? Check it out.

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Recommended gadgets

New gadgets are popping up all the time, and we’d like to introduce you to a few of them: first of all, the Amazon Kindle (e-book reader but so much more), the iPod Touch, and the MacBook (not Pro, not Air).

Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device. A new e-book, news, and blog reader that is the perfect size for using on-the-go. With a monochrome, high-resolution screen that mimics the effect of real player, Kindle has a great screen that is absolutely suited to reading any sort of text or mixed media. Kindle also has a cell-network wireless connectivity function that makes updating content the simplest thing in the world, without installing software on your computer or using messy cabling. Convert your existing files to the Kindle’s document format for free through e-mail, or order e-books/news subscriptions through the Kindle itself with its built-in keyboard, and have the files delivered within a minute. (It’s not a multimedia device, though; however, the Kindle does what it does well.)

Kindle - the next-generation tool for reading anywhere, anytime. Only 0.65 pounds.

Apple (8 GB) iPod touch - the intuitive look and feel of the iPhone, without the phone. This is Apple’s relatively-new multimedia device, supporting video, pictures, (of course) music, but also now web browsing and wireless access to the iTunes Store - through an 802.11 wireless connection. With new Safari browsing, integrated access to YouTube, and easy web search, it’s yet another great gadget from Apple. Not to mention that it’s excellent as a normal music player, with any earphones you use.

Don’t forget the 3.5-inch multi-touch display, and the entire thing is only 8 millimetres thick. iPod Touch.

Oh - and if you want great sound quality with earphones, take a look at Bose in-ear headphones.

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MacBook Air Hype

It seems that today’s MacWorld Expo has aroused quite the hype about the MacBook Air. Though many people were expecting something a bit smaller (in horizontal size), it’s a great gadget that is leading the way into ultra-portable computing. Only 0.76 inches at its tallest, and 0.16 inches at its thinnest! Go MacBook Air!

What’s so great about MacBook Air? It’s only 3 pounds! It comes with a full 13.3-inch widescreen LCD monitor, and a full-sized keyboard (including the backlight function). The trackpad is much improved, with additional features for zooming and navigation based on innovative functions from the iPhone.It may have a few places to stick your cables into, but it is a wireless device. With full 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth 2.1, you are set up for wireless use right out of the box. You can also wirelessly connect to the optical drive of another computer and use whatever disc is in there the same way you might use the SuperDrive on the MacBook Pro. (And the fast speeds of Wireless-G means little or no delay.)

Still not convinced? Take a look at the Apple Store from the image/link above. Or read this Gizmodo post.

MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest notebook. At a size that fits inside a paper envelope.

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