HP Magic Giveaway kickoff on jkOnTheRun! Enter here.
Finally it’s time to kick off our HP Magic Giveaway where one lucky winner will snag a huge prize bundle full of magic. It’s a great time of year to be giving such a great bunch of stuff away and we’re making it really easy to enter our contest. A big shout out to HP and Microsoft for putting this contest together and supplying all the great prizes!
Here’s what’s being given away, all to one super duper lucky duck:
- HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC
- HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC
- HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live)
- HP Mini 1000 (with XP)
- HP MediaSmart Connect
- HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer)
- HP 564 Photo Value Pak
- Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses
- Microsoft Windows Live
- Corel VideoStudio X
- Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray)
That’s FOUR new computer systems accompanied by all that other good stuff. The TouchSmart is a 25-inch all-in-one PC that is totally awesome, the HDX18 is an 18-inch laptop, the dv4 is yet another cool laptop and the Mini 1000 is the newest netbook from HP. You could win all of this stuff in time for the holidays if you follow the simple rules and enter our contest.
All you have to do to enter the contest is to post a comment on this thread that shares your best mobile tech tip that has provided you the most “magic”. That’s it, certainly not too much work to win all this cool stuff. Your tip can be anything that makes your mobile tech work well for you and that you think worth sharing. Explain your tip with enough detail that anyone can figure out how to start using your idea with no help. Since this is a giving time of year and HP is sharing all this cool gear with the winner we think it would be super if the winner would share some of that stuff with those who need it. There are four computers after all, and while it’s not a requirement it would be special to see it shared with others. If you will share some of this prize package then tell us who you will share it with and why. That’s all you need to do to have a shot at over $6,000 of great gear.
Here are the official rules for the jkOnTheRun HP Magic Giveaway contest:
- Entries must be left in a comment on this post, nowhere else.
- Only one entry per person.
- Contest is open to all entrants world-wide.
- Entry to consist of your best tech tip to share explained in detail. Plans to share part of the prizes should also be left in the same comment.
- Contest will accept entries from December 16 – December 22.
- Kevin and I will choose the ten best entries and choose the winner randomly from them to be announced December 23.
- Winner will have 24 hours to provide us with shipping information via email upon our announcement, otherwise an alternate winner will be chosen.
- Our decisions are final.
- Our friends and families are not eligible nor are any employees of the GigaOM network.
That’s it, now isn’t that simple? Get thinking about your best mobile tech tip and leave the advice in your comment. Only seven days until someone is going to have the best holiday season ever! Good luck!
The best tech tip I have for mobile users is to get Google Mobile for their mobile phone/device. I’ve been using Google products like Google Docs, Gmail, and Reader and Google has done a great job getting these products to work with mobile phones. You can get Google mobile at google.com/mobile/. Also check the Google mobile blog to stay up to date with the latest updates googlemobile.blogspot.com. I’m sure a lot of people rely on Google because it’s very convenient and reliable so I hope you find this tip helpful.
If I win, I will donate the netbook to the Oakland Children’s hospital and my current PC will go to charity. I already have a working printer so I’ll donate the new printer to charity as well. The Kung Fu Panda DVD will be donated to my local library. The Microsoft Office 2007 software will go to a college student that needs it since I already have Microsoft Office 2007 software. I will help geeks by writing a video review of each notebook and posting (the Corel software I win will be used for editting the videos). The Touchsmart PC will be used as a family computer, the HP HDX will go to me for my college assignments, and the other HP laptop will go to my sister for her college work.
Make sure you turn off all unneeded services while on battery – WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared, 3G etc – it can eat 25% of your battery in just over 90 or so minutes, not leaving you much else, and take a spare battery with you, making sure it’s charged if you haven’t already charged it. If you’re also able to FTP or Secure Shell into your device, make sure you disable that as well. It’s an obvious piece of advice, but you’d be surprised how many don’t do it.
Hi Kevin and James, I would sure like to win that HP Gear. So here is my tech tip: When upgrading or taking apart a computer with a CRT, like the first Gen iMac, be careful not to touch the anode, if you do 25 KV of electricity will pump through your body, and could be fatal. The CRT remains charged with electricity even when off and not plugged in! To discharge the CRT you have to put a metal object (Like a screwdriver) with Rubber handle, have shoes and clothes that are not conductive and touch the anode with the Metal screw driver. The CRT is now discharged and safe to touch.
If I were to win this contest, I would Keep the Mini Note, give the HDX18 to my father, Give the DV4 to my sister, And my mom would sure LOVE that Touchsmart PC. In All I would give this to everybody as a christmas surprise. I currently do not have a laptop, and am using a desktop, from my apartment in NYC.
Thanks a Whole Bunch!
Mathias Rios
I’m not a super duper lucky duck but I would love to win this package. The best tip I have to share is to keep your stuff portable and by that I mean to keep your stuff on USB flash drives. I use an 8GB card and keep all of my work on it. I keep a backup copy in case the card fails. I no longer fear a computer crash, my stuff is safe, and I can borrow a computer to get my work done.
Notes, notes everywhere
We already know that OneNote is by far the best note taking software out there
and whilst it does have the ability to keep it’s files on a file share, that still requires you to have a 24×7 connection.
Windows Live Sync (previously Foldershare) to the rescue here as it is possble to sync the folder that you keep OneNote files in over many many machines.
As a result, my Notebook exists on my home desktop machine, home laptop machine, home server (as a backup) and my work laptop. Regardless of where I choose to work, my notebook is there (as if by magic) and whenever it has a network connection, it syncs in the background.
Now you could use Mesh but that is beta software (although it does work) but Live sync is available today and just as importantly is free. Unlike Mesh it is also quite happy running on a low powered Netbook.
And of course, the above is valid for just about any type of folder but doingthis with OneNote really make note taking effortless.
I work as a IT consultant and I have many clients that I work with at the same time. I have a few work machines for test labs but I use my T61p as my primary laptop.
I vpn in to my clients networks to do my job and most clients do not have the same type of vpn access method. Some are using Cisco, Nortal, Microsoft. Installing multiple client on a single pc, just does not work. So, I use Vmware Workstation.
Each client has there own visualized Windows XP. That way I can run each vpn client isolated. The other bonus is that client that I work with, the pc that is on there network, is clean and new. On top of that, I do not expose my primary workstation to my clients network. I do all my work for that client in that Vm. Think of it as a window inside a window. I can still copy files and do copy and paste, since Vmware supports this.
Since all my clients are now Vm’s, when I move to new hardware, which is about once a year, I just copy my Vm’s from my backup and I am done.
Btw..for backups I use Windows Home Server.
Thanks,
Matt
Tech Tip – If you act as your family’s tech support, sign up for an account with logmein.com or a similar service. [I have no affiliation with logmein.com, it is just what works well for me.] Install the logmein client on each of the family member’s PCs, so when they contact you for tech support you can remotely access their computer and easily resolve their issue.
I plan to keep the touchsmart and maybe the mediasmart. One laptop, likely the pavilion, will go to my cousin whose kids are about to start school [1 elementary, 1 preschool] and they do not have a computer. I’d give them a smattering of software and the all-in-one printer as well. Pretty much the rest of the equipment will go to the local Boy Scout camp that I volunteer at. They are running their camp software on an IBM T20 thinkpad and it is a little slow.
Thanks!
the best mobile tech tip is to be sure to kept always access to the “mobile edition” of jkOnTheRun, either with your sexy (really?yack) iphone or in any junk that has internet, you can´t miss it, you can´t simply miss it.
As an unlucky man i don´t know even why i bother, but here its goes , i would keep one computer, been wishing one for 3 years, always delaying dreams and projects, would give one to my brother that really needs something not pre-historical to use autocad in school, really don´t want him to give up his dream because of a computer. I would share the rest with people i see are in the same situation, want to work an can´t, it would have to make a difference, thats all , merry chrystmas.
The thing that really is magic to me, and is simply amazing to anybody who sees it, is when I turn my WinMo phone into a wireless router with WMRouter. It’s absolutely fantastic when you’re stuck somewhere, don’t have any cables, but need to do something substantial with the internet that’s just not convenient on your phone itself.
Immobilize any would be criminal, with most of us carrying all our information on our cellphone and laptops. We use password, tho remember any password can be circumvented. The thing to do is wipe your missing phone data! If you configure this before hand, this trick will delete all your information after a certain amount of designated failed password attempts. These options which is available in password section of the iPhone and check this for windows mobile users http://tiny.cc/k3p9P can save you from identity theft and the stress of knowing someone has your personal information!
I have the perfect people for these computers in mind. First i’d donate the most powerful laptop which i believe is the HP HDX to the Omega Envoy team, the only student run google lunar x-prize which just happens to be at my school; they been in desperate need of a computer to get off the ground and start trajectory calculations. Then HP Touchsmart i’d have to pay it forward to my beloved father who has kept up with his aging computer just to pay for school and let me have the future he wants me to have. The HP Pavillion would have to go to a school or child I feel is in need this Christmas, as I’m a brother for big brother big sisters I can safely say I have a few kids in mind. Now as for the HP Mini 1000, I’m just going to have to be a little selfish cause I’m thinking its about time to retire my old 12′ powerbook which is being held together by scotch tape
Happy Holidays Guys!
The technology that keeps me most productive is VoIP.
VoIP gives me the opportunity to stay in touch wherever I go as long as there is an Internet connection but also to be reachable on a single number.
Almost all of the devices I recently bought are VoIP capable. No matter if it is my Nokia E51, my eeePC and my Laptop that run a VoIP client. At home I use the AVM Fritz!box (higly popular in Germany) at work a dedicated Grandstream VoIP phone.
The Nokia even supports VoiP over 3G which makes it possible to pop in a local SIM Card with some data plan and still be reachable on the same number.
In case you pick me I will play a bit with the hardware as I like to play around with new toys
After that I will have a look at who of my family and friends could use it in a productive way (including myself).
The
When you work from a mobile computer, it’s important to have your data in the “cloud” for flexibility and backup reasons, but not be TOO dependent on a connection or a specific computer. So I recommend these tips for keeping your data always available to you, regardless of where you are, whether you’re online, or what computer, device or platform you’re on:
- GMAIL AND IMAP. Open up a free gmail account, and set it up to check your regular work email address. Then, enable imap (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=75725). At that point, you can have your pick of ways to read your email: using Mac’s mail.app, Outlook, online, or on your blackberry or iPhone. Simply set up your mail reader to check your Google account through imap. No matter the device or platform, you’ll always be able to see all your mail– both incoming and outgoing. And google gives you oodles of space… you’ll be able to put your hands on any archived emails in no time at all.
-GCAL. This is Google’s free Calendar application (available to you when you open a free gmail account) that you can sync up with OSX’s iCal, outlooks calendar, and other calendar programs. I like it also because when someone sends an Outlook meeting request, gcal will automatically add it to your calendar for you, even if you don’t use Outlook. Also, you can share calendars with other people.
- EVERNOTE. Go to http://www.evernote.com and download this excellent free notetaking tool with extremely advanced search and text recognition features. It’s my #1 tool for staying organized. I use it to store everything from meeting notes to photos to passwords to login information for the various sites I manage. Plus, it has a handy screencapture tool built in, and plugins for the major browserss. Evernote will store your database of notes and images on a secure website, and sync to your Mac, PC, or iPhone. You can even snap a photo from your cell phone and email it directly to evernote… and see it right there on your computer next time you log on!
- DELICIOUS – Instead of using bookmarks on your browser, open up a free account at the social bookmarking site del.icio.us. You can even attach notes and tags to your bookmarks to make them easier to locate later. Then, you’ll always be able to access your bookmarks from any computer or phone, regardless of the browser you use.
- REMEMBER THE MILK. I have just started relying on http://www.rememberthemilk.com for tasks. This is a free online to-do list that uses google gears to also allow it to work when you’re offline as well. You can categorize and sort your lists any number of ways, set up tags and reminders, and easily send tasks to yourself by email or voice even when you’re on the go. It’s also got a blackberry client (with the paid service) and an iPhone app. We’ve migrated from Outlook’s tasks to Remember the Milk in order to track our company’s projects.
Those are my favorite mobile applications that I use daily. Having recently had a hard drive fail on me while travelling, and then switching to a new computer and new platform, I’ve been especially grateful for having all that vital data in the cloud to save me countless hours of headaches.
Thanks,
Amy Stewart
My best tech tip is to use Live Mesh. Looking at some of the previous comments, this tool (especially going forward) can accomplish many of the items already mentioned – remote desktop support, file access (on any machine, or in the cloud), synchronization, sharing, etc. Its still young, but TONS of potential. If I won this package, I would love to be able to share some part of it with a local charity that could use support. I would like to donate the software and at least one of the machines to a Childrens shelter here in MN, which (with our -10 degree temps right now) are getting extreme use.
p.s. And if I win this contest, I will share my prize with a retirement home to help them stay connected with their loved ones.
My tech tip is for people using more than one computer with limited desk space. Synergy allows you to share your keyboard, mouse and clipboard across several computers on the same network. It’s an old program, but works well even on Vista. I have a Vista machine, an XP machine and a Mac all on a single desk. With Synergy and a multiple input display It’s almost like working on a single computer.
If I win the Magic, I will give the HP Mini 100 to my little brother. He’s gone back to school and I have yet to get him hooked on OneNote. The notebooks will go to the local public high school, to help teach kids that you can do more with computers than just download music. After I play with them a bit, of course. All I really want is to get my hands on the TouchSmart.
Tech Tip – My favorate Tip from jkontherun is NuevaSync. I love having my gmail calender on my iPhone.
Thanks
Carlton
Firstly, the use of a Launcher (Launchy, Exexutor, FARR, it doesn’t matter which) always the thing that gets people going “What? Hang on! What was that magical thing you just did? Show me! Tell me! Me want one!” (or words to that effect).
It’s on my disk-on-key so that makes it a mobile tip right?
Secondly, I’d definitely share this stuff with others because there’s just more here than I could make good use of. I posted the following on another site taking part in this giveaway: I’d give the printer to a doctor friend who’s short of cash and in need of a new printer, and I’d give the HP HDX 18 to my local community center which is running a raffle for the families of the victims of the Mumbai attrocities. The Mini 1000 could become my eldest son’s first machine (he’s 6.5yrs old) and the rest would be used to upgrade mine and my wife’s computing experiences in and around the home.
My tip would be to store the IMEI number of your GSM mobile phone. This can then be used to blacklist mobile phones that get stolen. This greatly discourages phone theft. The number can be accessed in most phones by using *#06# .
For more information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity
Best Tech Tip…If you are planning to give a laptop to your wife or family member who is totally computer illiterate, either hire a friend who will teach them the ins or outs of computers, buy a book or software (like computer professor) to teach them…or…send them to a computer 101 class. I love my wife and my mom very much but they are both computer virgins. I gave my wife my old laptop and built my moms computer and now my life is gone. My wife has questions or creates a problem she can’t fix about every 10 mins (or is just feels that way) and I have to stop what I am working on and try to fix it. This happened last night when some how my wife hit a keystroke that caused everything she typed to turn red and underlined the text. I thought it was just the color type was changed and underline was highlighted, but no, that was not it and it took a reboot, her losing her document and much complaining from her about how “computers are stupid” but 1/2 hour later the house was back to Christmas bliss…well at least until the next question popped up about 15 mins later. My mom calls about every 3 nights with a problem or something is not working right, or the printer is doing this or that. She called the other night about her internet being totally slow and things acting weird. I asked whether she took my advice about installing an anti-virus and firewall (which I suggested 2 months ago) and I got…”oh, I guess I should have done that.” And, of course she had a virus, so 5 hours later – they are back up and running.
If I win, I am planning to give the some of the laptops to my Autistic sons special needs classroom. They use the computers to help them read, write, and most importantly…communicate. They are using very old computers that will not run the newest education software and the new laptops will allow them to use the latest software and help these wonderful kids better communicate.
Thanks from computer brain dead…
Dan
My best tech tip is two tips:
1) For sharing with Windows based devices (netbooks, notebooks, desktops), put as much of your life on your SDHC card (not USB stick) as possible using Portable Apps (PortableApps.com) – and make sure to use the Disk Management function of XP and Vista to assign the same drive letter to that card wherever you plug it in. I suggest SDHC card because they don’t stick out of the side of your netbook/notebook so much and so are less prone to making you less mobile to avoid getting knocked out/unseated.
2) For even more portability, get a Transcard (or similar) USB adapter for your SDHC card. That way if you come upon a machine that doesn’t have an SDHC slot, you put the SDHC in the USB adapter, and that sticks into the USB port that you certainly do have.
As for sharing, I’d have no choice. My kids are still using my older hand-me-down computers and would insist on sharing the haul
My best tech tip relates to using a blackberry with Google services, particularly Google Apps. Google Mobile is awesome – my calendar is always in sync and now my contacts are too. It’s easy to install – just point your blackberry browser to m.google.com (note, you need to use the blackberry internet browser, not a third party app like opera mini).
Another tech tip that has already been mentioned is evernote.com. I use it for note taking and what I love about it is that I can access from my notebook or my blackberry.
If I were to win, I’d give some of the hardware away, but honestly, I haven’t thought about what would go and what would stay. Most likely, the netbook and one of the other laptops would stay and the other machines would be given to my daughter’s school, Legacy Preparatory Christian Academy in The Woodlands.
My biggest tech tip would be to check out the refurbished stores when buying a new laptop. I was able to get my Dell XT for 40% of the cost that it would’ve been brand new, and have had absolutely no issues with it. While other brands and models might not have as good of deals, still there is no reason to pay full price.
I’d have to share with my family. My parents and brother are having huge computer issues and could really use new laptops.
Best tip? NEVER be complacent about backing up! Computing is becoming ever more mobile and ever more portable which is great, until you lose important data, either accidentally or through theft, corruption etc… whatever form of data you value, always store your own (in my case local, offline!) copies.
No matter how many times I’ve tried to get myself to do this I’ve still had stomach-churning moments when I’ve lost gigabytes of photos from my old desktop, had my phone stolen and lost copies of emails and contacts etc…..backing up is so simple yet something far too many of us just don’t bother with!
As to sharing to prize, my wife and I had our first child just three weeks ago, an adorable girl! I’d love to share this gift with my parents and the in-laws at Christmas who all live many hours away and can’t see her as often as they’d like so I’d try to get them into the heady world of webcams!!!
Good luck to all and thanks.
Andy
The best tip I have for a mobile worker, would to make sure that you always, and I mean always have battery life covered. One time I was away from an ac and I forgot to take my extra battery on a trip. Well, once your battery is dead, your computer is nothing more then a piece of metal or plastic. Without power, you can’t use it. Make sure you always have an extra battery.
As for the prize, I will give everything away, except the HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC. The mini would go to my sister, because her computer just bit the dust, and she really can’t afford a new one.
The rest, I would donate to a school around me that really needs new computers. They could use everything from this list and I would be happy to do that. Honestly, I would donate the HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC as well, but I really want to give it a try, it just looks so cool.
Thanks again!!!
My favorite mobile tech tip would be making completely free calls and SMS from your cell phone anywhere in the world. The best thing that has made mobile phones even more useful is Wifi and mVOIP (mobile VOIP) softwares. And undoubtedly the Nokia N series phones like N95, N85 and more can do a lot with Gizmo5, Fring and Truphone on them. My personal favorite is Gizmo5 because of the kind of things it does.
1. You can have a free U.S number from Ipkall and can receive calls on Gizmo5 on your mobile and since Gizmo5 itself offers free calling to a whole lot of U.S numbers through their backdoor calling anyone from a mobile or PC can reach you on your cell for free. (Well if You use Wifi and if you use 3g which is not yet available in India, it makes sense that you have an unlimited data plan). Also a U.S number becomes a “World number” automatically because there are tons of softwares and sites which offer completely free calls to U.S number (Jaduka, Earthcaller, Mediaringtalk, Poketalk and a whole lot more). So wherever you are in the world, if you have a Wifi enabled phone and Wifi network, you can be reached for free by any1 in any part of the world on your cell phone.
2. If you have a grandcentral account(which I do have fortunately), you can make calls to U.S and Canada for free from your cell phone by teaming it up with Gizmo5 and since Gizmo5 allows you to call U.S numbers for free both by backdoor calling and by teaming it up Grandcentral, you can call any number in the world for free by calling Ringplus.net access numbers. SO that makes Gizmo5 a software that allows worldwide free calling from a cell phone.
Also a whole lot of SMS service providers like mig33,tex2, 160by2.com, cellity communicator and a whole lot of websites and softwares available on Getjar.com, so SMS is also free worldwide.
Saves a whole lot of money and is the best possible use of a mobile phone with Wifi and unlimited data plan.
Simple, Just keep ur brain while doing anything(i.e. don’t loose it at moment of need , use brain).
Its a general problem with people, either they don’t follow procedure or forget what they r doing while doing things. I have seen lots of people while assembling computer systems, repairing hardware wasting precious time, since not following procedure they spend lots of hours trying to find problems, they either use hit or trial to solve problem or do some kind of tricks.
It is not only in hardware that one needs to follow proper procedure while working but also with software.
Lots of people don’t do things properly, at the moment they should find something important they forget what is required. this is a big problem what ever u do.
There can be 1000 new technologies which can surface each day in the world. But unless u keep ur brain u can neither get the hang of them nor u can use them. Tech or not, Brain and attention to things is all the is important.
People would say that my post is usless it has nothing of tech, But i will say “Tech comes from brain, Brain doesn’t comes from tech”
If u use brain right u can use all the technologies below and above my post. With ease.
SuMMary of the post:::: Keep ur brain always , even when desperate, excited or tense. U will get through everything. without brain ur Nothing at all.
Here’s my best tip:
I read a lot of PDFs on my MacBook. By a lot I mean I’ve read hundreds of pages in the past couple months. The best thing I’ve come across recently is TouchPad Elite (Air Mouse is similar). This allows me to nearly full screen whatever I’m reading, then set my Mac a comfortable distance from my eyes without having to worry about it being in a comfortable position for my hand to rest on the touchpad. I can launch Touchpad Elite and use the multitouch interface on the iPhone/Touch just like it was the touchpad on my Mac!
Who I’d share with:
First I’d share one laptop with my sister. She’s in college studying to be a pediatrics nurse. Next I would end up donating most of the rest of it (minus the mini) to my daughter’s school so they could include them in their next fundraiser to help pay for after school programs for the kids.
My most useful tip is to get a copy of eWallet. It gives you a pretty safe way to use your PDA to store sensitive personal information, like your passwords, so that instead of using the same password for everything you can have unique ones – that never worked for me before because I just couldn’t remember them. For the traveler, you can record all your hotel frequent stayer numbers, the door combination to the remote office you only visit now and then, so you can get rid of all those wallet cards and scraps of paper. I keep mine organized with several folders; one for personal info, one for financial info, one for company info, and one each for the various volunteer organizations I’m involved with. I keep all my credit card info in the financial section – besides making it easy to order online because I’ve got the verification code there, if I ever lost my wallet out on the road somewhere, I’ve got complete records including customer service numbers to contact my credit card companies. Be sure to take a look at the various kinds of predefined cards, that will spark some thoughts about what all can be recorded there – I keep thinking of more things that are useful to record. I use the combination of PC/Windows Mobile so I can look this stuff up either on my PC or my phone, depending on whatever is closest, and if my phone got lost/stolen along with the wallet, I’ve still got the copy on the PC (and the backup of that on another server).
As a bonus, someone already suggested Live Mesh – the most useful thing I’ve found to do with that is to use it to synchronize the photo directory on my phone with my laptop and the web. Now I never have to upload photos, by the time I get home from somewhere, they’re already there, and if I want my wife to be able to look at them, I can just have her check the website.
I’m personally in pretty good shape for computers, but my wife badly needs a laptop upgrade, and my son is heading off to college next year, so two would go to them. Probably at least some of the rest would end up going to the Scouting organization that my kids are in – they’re always needing stuff and I know a printer is definitely on their list.
I would say my best tip of the year is to actually use twitter. A lot of us have heard about it and dismissed it.
In the latter part of the year, I actually started to use it. The increase in communication with readers, bloggers, other tech folks has been not only fun, but a traffic increase as well.
Bookmark syncing.
I do that by using the Opera browser (in fact, “use Opera” is a tip itself, but I digress…)
There are (inferior…
) options for Firefox too, like Foxmarks. Bookmarks are invaluable and well sorted ones really allow you to find sites you need both on the go and when stationary, and having them synched and up to date wherever you go is one less worry.
My work laptop, workstation and my home desktop are constantly in sync this way, and with Opera you can even sync the highly useful built-in Opera Notes – and the data goes to the MyOpera servers, where Opera has (to say the least) a vested interest in keeping it safe. It had quite an impact on my browsing habits. Foxmarks and whatever other variants are out there for Firefox probably do a decent job too.
In the unlikely event I win, I definitely intend to share this package around. I have a good friend fighting cancer and facing nasty chemo who will need in-bed entertainment and a way to keep in touch with others via Skype etc to keep her fighting spirit up, so the DV4 laptop would go there. The touchsmart would go to her family/kid for schoolwork and fun along with the printer and all the software. I’d hang on to the HDX and mini laptop myself as I currently just have a desktop at home and a WinMob phone – I could use some laptops to fill the gap.
Good luck to all entrants, Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) and hope you all have a great new year!
My best tip is to look at the ways mobile devices can help you in your life and select the device based upon your needs. Do you just want to text and make phone calls? The iPhone is not what you need. There are many “cool” devices out there but there are many more to come. It is in your best interest to look for the features that appeal most to you rather than the flavor of the month device.
Should I win, I will keep one of the computers since I do not currently have a personal computer. With the rest of the prizes, I will donate them to my favorite charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org). St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay. And with daily cost to run the hospital over $1.3 million, it is important to give to this cause.
If you travel with a laptop (I almost always do) plus other devices with rechargeable batteries, get USB charging cables for as many of those devices as possible. Power outlets are often at a premium in hotel rooms, and plug changers for other countries are bulky. If you can just plus in your laptop, and then top off all your other devices, you’ll be much better off.
Hi Kevin and James,
I would like to share two simple(Some of us know it,But many of us do not know it) but very useful technical tip related to google.com.
1.You can use google search box as a calculator to make your day to day arithmetic calculations.Better you can use the Google toolbar.
2.Another one is google.com\dictionary which is very simple to use to list out the meanings of any word in most of the languages in simple words.
Actually there are more features with google.you can explore it.
Coming to sharing the prize,
I would like to share one of the prize I win with a poor boy,really a poor boy who is 3 year younger than me and currently doing his graduation part time,as he is working in parallel so that he can compensate his expenditure for his study. A laptop or PC is possible for him only in dreams. If I share one with him, he will be very much happy and very useful for his final year project!
I decided to donate one more for my primary school which is lagging of a personal computer to manage accounts.Its in a village and not having good infrastructure.A PC will be very much useful for them.
I decided to donate one more to my sister who is very fond of musics and movies.If I give that to her, she will be very happy !
One more will go to my dad!
My best tip(s) I can give is actually the utilization of different utilities. With the advent of having more than one computing machine to work from, it has gotten more and more difficult to sync things between a laptop and a desktop. Also thrown in things such as Netbooks, UMPCs, PDAs, Smart Phones, iPhones, and Macs; and the whole situation gets very complicated. I have found that getting all the important andpertinent information synced between them is very difficult. Being a gadget junky can yield too many choices with so many loved devices that it is not uncommon to use a one set of devices one week and a different set the next.
Here is what you need to keep them all straight.
.Mac (MobileMe
iSync (for the Macs and iPhone)
Microsoft Sync Toy
SD & miniSD card reader/adapters
If you have a .mac account you can mount your iDisk on either a Mac or PC. Move all your pertinent information to the iDisk account. On the Mac you can then set iSync to be able to sync the info from the iDisk and other Macs via iSync. For the PCs with the iDisk mounted you can then sync to the iDisk using Sync Toy using a synchronized folder set. You can use a sync utility for the Mac. You can then have a folder set in Sync Toy to also synchronize a folder to a an SD (mobile data repository) or Mini SD card (smart phone). What I do is that I have Sync Toy folders set to replicate to the local PC from the iDisk as a back up. I really sync it to an SD card that I am able to take from PC, to Mac (using a Expresscard adapter on my MacBook Pro or a USB reader for a MacBook). Smart phones can use a miniSD to SD card adapter and then you can use Sync Toy to also sync that up as well. This also works with One Note files as well.
I hope this tip works well for anyone else.
Happy Holidays.
I started reading these and was amazed. I need to read these all, when I’m done.
Here is my tip:
I’ve been slowly easing into cloud computing. Windows Live has increased their storage from 5 Gig to 25 Gig, so I have been uploading backups of my family pictures. IE allows drag and drop upload, while it is blocked on other browsers.
From here I can remove the bad pictures, and share with other family (my wife is probably going to remove the bad pictures). They are even connected to Snap Fish for ordering prints, but I have not done that yet.
I also downloaded Gladinet, which access on-line resources as if they were local. It is not working with Windows Live since the upgrade to 25 Gig, but they are working on it.
Then I’ve been adding stuff to Google docs. I used to e-mail myself notes, to do something, read something or keep track of something, but now I’m creating documents in Google docs and they are all in one place, and accessible from all over. I’ve even copied some to my Axim for working on while off line (I’ve been cut-and-pasting, so I need to read these and see if someone has an easier way to copy back and forth).
I’ve even copied the table from the post on JKOnTheRun for all of the HP Magic contests to keep track of when they start and end, and which I’ve entered.
I guess my advice for anyone interested in cloud computing, is it start slowly, and figure out what works for you; and keep backups of everything you can.
As for sharing the package:
I was at my sister-in-laws last weekend, when her daughter told me her mom needs a new computer. The Gateway all-in-one is getting flaky. So, I would share something with her. She is a single mom, with limited help from her ex, and a newly graduated teacher, she is a teacher’s aid this year, so on a limited income.
She might like a portable computer, so I would discuss her needs, and compare to the prize package, to see what would best fit her needs.
THanks!
My favorite tech tip is to store as much data as you can in the cloud… somewhere.
How’s this relate to mobile usage? My home Linux server, which contains all of my photos, movies, financial info, etc. gets backed up automatically every night. Same for my work laptop, and my three other home machines. I do this with the Jungledisk ( http://www.jungledisk.com ) client software, which is dirt cheap. It uses the Amazon S3 system for the file storage. That costs me about $8.00/month for a few dozen gigabytes of storage.
I travel quite a bit for work, including internationally. I usually have to carry private company information with me. It’s a reality than there have been cases where people have had their laptops stolen or confiscated. Since all of my machines are backed up to S3, I don’t need to carry any sensitive work info on my laptop. When I get to my destination, I can get to it via Jungledisk.
If worse comes to worst, and my laptop gets stolen, I just need to get access to another laptop, download a new copy of the Jungledisk client, and I’m back in business.
For non-work related stuff, I can get to any of my private files from anywhere with a net connection and a computer. There’s a “USB” version of the client that runs off of a thumb drive ( so it doesn’t write any info to the host computer ) than can be used on someone else’s machine without having to install any software at all. Convenient when you’ve gone to visit your parents and you forgot to bring the latest pictures of the grandkids.
My tech tip is for anybody who uses gmail/google apps as their primary interface for email/contacts/calendar. It is often a pain getting these things to sync somehow to your cell phone. That’s were a wonderful service called NuevaSync (https://www.nuevasync.com). They provide exchange like sync of your google contacts and calendar.
All you need to do is sign up for their service and then connect your Google account. They have a simple tutorial to tell you how to set up the sync with your exchange enable device (like an iPhone) and instantly your contacts and calendar begin to sync.
They also have plans for providing this kind of sync with gmail email as well.
My tech tip can apply to all of your power hungry devices. Get one of those 8 outlet surge protectors and plug in all those devices that you don’t frequently use. For example, I plug in my XBOX 360, PS2, Wii, stereo receiver, printer, and my cell and laptop chargers. Here is the vital tip: use the switch! When you are not using these devices, flip the little switch on the surge protector; it will save massive amounts of energy that will otherwise go wasted. Anything that uses a remote, like a receiver, uses power even though you turn it off (lots of other devices do as well). This is especially helpful now due to the recession as people are trying to cut costs a much as possible. It is also much easier that plugging/unplugging all the time and will increase the lifespan and condition of your power cables. Saves the environment as well!!!
I already have a laptop so I would give them away to my friend in Canada who is about to start college (I hope), and also to my mom who is in serious need of a pc (she currently uses a scrap pc with ubuntu installed on a usb flash drive), and one to my sister who just started a new job. I would donate the rest to the fire station that is around the block from my house. Finally, I think I might hold onto the TouchSmart because its so cool.
Happy Holidays peeps.
Tech tip- If you have computer with xp you can get extra life to it with a program called eBoostr. It basically does the same as readyboost with vista. Works great on netbooks too. I am using it with aspire one and should bring a nice extra boost for 256Mb ram systems. Trial version lets you use it for 4 hours after every restart for free. They claim it even gives you more battery life. You can find it from http://www.eboostr.com
I would share the prize with my family and friends. My brother would get the dv4 for studies and my girlfriend’s mother HDX for work and school. I’d keep the mini and touchsmart for me and my girlfriend.
I’m always bringing my laptop to school. I also have a not-so-high-tech phone. One thing that makes me convenient is bring a cheap USB charging cable for the phone. If ever I’m in a public ride and heavy traffic abrupt me, I just plug the cable to the sleeping laptop and there it charges. It’s very necessary to have your phone fully charged for emergency calls especially when you can’t just open your laptop in untrusted public place.
When working with PCs and external storage devices, I always switch-off autorun/play feature of Windows. At school, we have lots of work to deal with USB flash disks and we know viruses just spread quickly as soon as you plug them in especially when you’re running XP. Still, I’ve got my thesis program that actually targets this vulnerability and it’s safer.
I got it very useful when using PortableApps with your USB flash device. It’s very useful if you have ready-to-run apps right on your device when you can’t bring your bulkier laptop. Sample portable apps are Firefox web browser, Pidgin messenger and password storage manager. It’s very trustworthy too since you are the one who place them on your device.
For sharing these prizes, I’ve planned to share them with my CISCO professor ‘cause she got an ageing IBM, our CISCO lab with P-II PCs, my loving mom and neighbors. I’ve got the full reason of the sharing here: http://marcpodi.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A35B14836E0FE981!1717.entry
Thanks again jkontherun!
My mobile tech tip is to carry an extra laptop battery or two around with you throughout the day. I’m in college, and this is the only way I can get through the day and keep my computer alive.
If I win this prize, I’ll be sharing it with my family, especially my sisters who can use some new computers.
My Tech tip is a two parter. First get a gmail account and install Google Mobile tools on your smartphone. Second install Google Calendar sync to make sure your calendar between multiple platforms is completely synced.
Revan
My best tech tip:
Technology can be expensive, so keep your eye open for sales and deals on your inks, batteries, and media like CDs or Paper! Then, keep extras in stock so when you need to replace something you don’t have to run out to the store and pay full price for the item. Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible, and keep them charged! When my mouse’s batter life is down to 1 bar, I place it on the charger that night so I don’t ever have to worry about not having a charged and ready mouse. When I come in from a photo shoot I upload the pictures to my PC, and then place the batteries straight into the charger. Don’t wait for them to be dead, or almost dead. Keep’em charged!
I plan to share. A lot!
The two items I’d love to keep would be the HP Touch to give to my wonderful husband, and one of the laptops for myself. (and yes, I’d review them here!)
All the other items I’d give away to local charities and organizations that could use some new technology. Some of these include the Pregnancy Care Center and the Children’s Advocacy Center.
The Pregnancy Care Center not only counsels expecting mothers, but offers classes in English, Basic Computer Skills, Resume Writing, Self Presentation, and others to help struggling women find jobs.
The Children’s Advocacy Center provides more than shelter for troubled youth. They clothe, love, and care for and child that needs it, and they do this all based on donations from the golden hearts of our community.
My husband and I proudly support these organizations by attending their banquets, donating money and items whenever possible. It’s one of the small ways we’re able to give back to our community, thus making the world we live in, a better place.
The items we keep for ourselves will also be put to use for volunteer work. We both design and manage websites, several of which we provide free of charge for charitable organizations. Along with the design, we donate web hosting and much of our time. I use my computer weekly to print labels for one of these organizations as well.
Most phones have built-in data modems, and most of the major carriers support the feature. To dial up the Internet, all you need is a connection kit (usually a data cable and software available from your carrier) that connects your cell phone to your laptop, your ISP information (this varies from mobile to mobile, so contact your provider for details), and a data plan. For the most part, data speeds aren’t much faster than a 56Kbps dial-up modem’s, but carriers such as Verizon have introduced 3G services with broadband speeds ranging from 144Kbps to a possible 2Mbps per second. Paul
My son races in the Camping World Series West and consequently, I travel a lot. The most useful Mobile Tech Tip I have is to put your GPS Navigation system on the very top of your packing list. Before, I would be lost in each of the cities we would visit. Now, I come off as a mastermind, because I am the one that everyone else follows. Also if we are at the track and someone wants Chinese Food – I just consult my GPS and it gives me all the info I need to make it happen. The best part of this tip, aside from the ease of completion, is that since I already have a GPS system that I use daily – packing it costs me nothing! It fits in my purse and I have learned never to travel without it!
Well, I like to have access to all my data when I’m mobile and I use an iPhone to access this data. My iPhone is jailbroken and since I’m a unix guy I like to use simple text based applications like mutt to read my email and makes notes in text files
I use the terminal application from cydia to ssh remotely and login to my server to read my email remotely. I also connect to the corporate network using the built in vpn of the iPhone and then keep a watch on the servers. Even performing maintainance on them if the need be. Ofcourse, vnc allows me to basically use my iPhone as my desktop for extended periods of time, virtually.
And what is a desktop without some music, I have my favorite songs and videos stored on the iPhone. Battery life is important for me so I charge whenever I get the chance. Carry the charger and an extra juice pack with me and use the original first gen iPhone, which gives more battery life than the iPhone 3G.
The best tip for anybody running a computer is
Install your OS isolated(create a partition only for it) and
MAKE an IMAGE when you fresh install it!
You can change your programs or config but, if you yave an image you can start anew in 5 minutes.
Today, you only need the OS-a browser and access to the web and you are running.
Since I run windows, I can’t speak about other OS but the tiniest/better solution I use is ghost(.exe standalone from CD or USB).
Don’t make lamentations afterwards, IMAGE before…
LUCK FOR ALL… FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PRÓSPERO AÑO NUEVO!!!
My best tech tip is to buy gear that was hot 3 to 12 months ago. You can get a lot more for your money if you don’t mind being the last to have it. The specs might be a little behind, but you can get gear that was announced at CES 2008 for 30%- 80% off their original prices.
Check out where prices on the UMPCs have gone. Another example is the MacBook Air. I came very close to getting one in January for $1799. You can get the same config for $1199 now from Apple resellers.
Yes, this isn’t the sexiest tip, but the longer you can resist the urge the better for your wallet.
(Great contest theme James and Kevin, but please don’t count this entry in your contest since we gave away some HP Magic of our own:-)
My mobile tech tip would have to be utilizing virtual desktops in the absence of multiple monitors. Setting up a desktop for work, internet/chat, music, and one for miscellaneous has helped me keep my tasks organized. Also, making sure it’s simple to move between desktops is key–setting up an easy keystroke sequence (control+right, control+left, etc) makes a huge difference.
If you don’t have some type of backup process in place be sure you’re prepared to lose everything on your computer.
I wish I had one killer piece of advice for mobile computing in the form of location for all cloud functions, but I’ve found so far that I’m more effective with an ‘ecosystem’ of cloud tools.
My centerpiece is Zoho apps for creating, sharing and editing documents. Windows Live SkyDrive serves as an archive and occasionally hosting a document for public consumption. (Hordit with it’s free unlimited storage may be a candidate to allow me to centralize documents that have been stored around the internet at various cloud hosting services.) Yahoo bookmarks provide a record of darn near anything I’ve read that might be of use. Yahoo calendar shared with my wife with SMS & email alarms for appointments keep me organized. Someday I’ll feel more functional when I have: the ability to access and store documents directly from/to their cloud locations without having to first download/save to my desktop, the ability to do automated backups from one cloud location to another, and the silver bullet that will make me feel confident in storing any content regardless of how sensitive in the cloud without fear of theft/compromise or loss.
Sorry – I mixed a little fantasy in with a response that’s supposed to be actionable reality but hopefully it helped paint a more complete picture.
Although I think I’d have a tendency to want to use all pieces of the prize, I would really only plan on keeping the Mini and giving a laptop to my parents who have limped along with an underpowered 7-year old desktop. I’d quickly shuttle the rest of the prize to my church so they can donate to family or organization that’s most in need.
Hi,
my tech tip, making a cheap media center for your home by using playstation.
you have playstation 3 for playing game and playing movies, but you need DVD or download movies.
you can download movies using torrent or legal one and install a media center software to share over wifi and add it to your playstation 3.
This will help to play any format movies on playstation 3 without any headache involved.
I have decided to share prize with my brother and a friend, as we have single pc to share. and share other prizes with my dad.
Best Mobile Advice. Well there’s two things.
1. Backup, Backup, Backup. It’s been said before many times, and it will be said many more times. But those who don’t backup always pay dearly for it. So, what’s the easest way to have constant backups of everything you need? I use a combination of Live Mesh & MS Onenote. OneNote contains most of the work and notes I take on a daily basis. I only work in shared notebooks, that sync to my home machine the minute I walk through the door. This ensure that if anything happens to my laptop I only loose one days worth of information. Live Mesh is the perfect compliment to OneNote. Live Mesh syncs all of my data that isn’t stored in OneNote: Contacts, bookmarks, and any other file that needs safe keeping. So between OneNote and LiveMesh, I always have a backup that is less then 24 hours old.
2. Get a TabletPC. I own a 2710p and using it is by far the best addition to my mobile gear. With the slice battery, I get in excess of 9 hours of battery life (and that’s after 15 months of use). I know there are some that will disagree, but a tablet is the most unintrusive mobile device you can own. A tabletPC is the only device I know that gives you the full PC experience and doesn’t get in the way of conversations / interviews / discussions with other people. It the perfect marriage between pen / paper / computing. For anyone who truely wants /needs a computer while mobile, a tablet PC can’t be beat.
Nevin
My Tech Tip:
Use one of the many free video conversion programs to transfer your favorite DVDs, video files, and YouTube videos to your mobile device. I use Videora to convert video for my iPod 5G, and VideoHelp.com has tutorials to show you how to convert to and from nearly any format available. There are also many online conversion tools that will allow you to upload a video, and receive a link to the converted file. Great for those times when you’re using a netbook and don’t have a lot of computing power!
Having hours of video to watch makes my long commute alot more enjoyable!
Should I be fortunate enough to win this prize package I would share one of the laptops with a friend who is struggling through grad school, trying to make a better life for himself. The rest of the prizes would find a home with a local children’s hospital.
Tech Tip: How mobile do you really want to be? Laptops are great, umpc’s/MID’s/netbooks are even better, but what if you could have all of your files, programs, etc, always with you and less than one ounce for less than $20?
Load up a USB flash drive (I use a 4GB) with a bootable OS like ubuntu or even XP! Take all of your programs and files to any computer around, and you wont leave a trace when you unplug. Alternatively, use portable apps to run popular open source software without installation straight from the drive.
There’s a lot of great advice out there already, so it’s getting tougher to find something to say! My advice is to create a redundant copy of any important information you store online. Free online email and storage is great, but they can close your account at any time without notice. You can just auto forward copies of mail to another free service as a backup. Or download it, of course. It’s not magical until you lose everything. =}
If I won, I’d definitely keep the netbook and probably the Touchsmart. I’d give my aunt one of the laptops, and maybe surprise hubby with one for Christmas. Not sure about everything else, but we’d probably divvy it up amongst our family and friends as extra surprises for the holidays.
I travel between 60 to 100 days a year and I’ve learned a couple of tips the hard way:
#1 – carry a backup of your data on a USB drive and in a DVD or Blu-ray format (20 years of being paperless for me means my data = 505 gigs) – having your presentations on a USB allows you to grab someoneelse’s laptop and present asap!
#2 – only purchase devices (phones, ipods, cameras, ebooks, etc.) that charge from a USB port
#3 – carry a backup laptop – an OQO-2 or Acer Aspire One work great – have them loaded with your programs/data.
#4 – if you can’t carry a backup laptop – have one waiting in your office or home that your staff can overnight to you
My best tech tip is one that cannot be repeated too often: backup! As a college student, I am constant working in different environments. Last year, I was working in an airport, traveling around visiting different schools. Airport security decided it would be a good idea to frisbee my laptop onto the x-ray conveyor belt, destroying the harddrive. Luckily, I was neurotically backed up and had even emailed the work I was doing in the airport to myself, so all that I needed to do was slave away at my job to pay for a new laptop. One can never have enough backups; your thoughts are too important to be trusted to the vagaries of travel or the structural integrity of a few millimeters of plastic. That’s something I would say to the newest n00b or the most seasoned computer user.
I would actually give almost everything in here away; the only part that I think fits into my tech life is the netbook. My parents could definitely get a lot out of the touchsmart, and my sister needs a new laptop so the Pavilion would be perfect for that.
Thanks a lot for running this giveaway!
My best tech tip is to use Meebo.com (or similar site) to acess the most popular instant messenger accounts (yahoo, aim, icq, google, etc). No downloads necessary, just log into the website and you can even save chat history, buddy lists, preferences, account settings, etc. Its great that I don’t have to clog up my computer with IM apps anymore!
As for the sharing= 1 laptop goes to my friend Rob for being an amazing friend to everyone. The mini goes to my sister that just started college and is already editor of the newspaper. The touch-smart would go to my mom, the owner of a small business that is really struggling a lot. I would use one laptop myself when I start teaching in the next year or so at a public middle school in Pittsburgh. Thankyou for giving me a chance at some magic.
The best tech I could dish out is probably to keep your computer start up entries clean. All you have to do if you have windows if go to start click run then in the box type msconfig. Then go to the tab that says start up and disable all. If your computer needs anything it will turn it back on.
——————- Tl;dr? ————–
Please read ;(
I will start with how this package will effect me since that’s
the least important. Okay, I will attempt to stray away from the sob stories.
Anyways I am 19 years old and I never went to college, I couldn’t afford it and
My family moved way too much for it to work out, recently though I have been getting
into classes on line, I’m attempting to become a network administrator but that requires
me to have a working computer, my current one is horrible. It crashes randomly, and I am
constantly asking tech support forums for their help, having a new laptop would just enable
so much. I can not even begin to tell you how much. I have a desk top now and the portable
does not exist, when I heard about these give aways that was the first thing that came to my
mind, then I realized what else I could do if I won the package.
My sister is 22 and she just had her second baby, she is doing very well taking care of
she without a doubt in my mind deserves a new laptop, on top of that I want
them, but she can not afford anything not absolutely necessary. She has a computer now but it
is horrible, ads that have flash cause he computer to crash, she can not go on a lot of the
sites that she introduced me to, it’s not a very fun thing to know. If I win this contest, and
I know I won’t
her to bhave the printer, she loves taking pictures of her babies and being able to print them
out would be amazing. I want to be able to give her something but I know I’m not able to.
The touchsmart, which I guess you could say is the most notable piece here; would go to my
Grandma, my grandma is almost 70 years old and everything she watches has a website. She loves
watching animal planet and Hgtv. She has asked me to show her how to use the computer so she
can go online but her eyes aren’t the greatest so she can’t see the little pointer, and she
has arthritis so using the mouse can be painful at times. As of right now her life is probably
less than what she would want, she eats/sleeps/watches tv. She used to be extremely active.
She is %100 native American and she grew up on a reservation and she dealt with racism and
she worked her entire life, this is something she more than deserves, it would mean everything
to her. Not just as a new item in her life but as a connection to more people than just her
neighbors, she has been wanting to look up one of her brothers who moved to Hawaii a long time
ago and if she had this it would put her on
The best tip I can recommend is to have more than 1 backup source and keep them all in sync. I’ve got items on a MyBookWorld Edition 1TB network drive. I’ve got all of my writing projects backed up there, and on a USB hard drive and even the more important items on a USB flashdrive.
The key is keeping them all in sync. I use CopyTo 3.x (http://www.kish-d.com/download.htm)to keep everything in sync. Its a great, easy to use, file sync tool for your PC; and its cheap ($15 USD). Kish offers free upgrades, but hasn’t made a huge update to the app since 2007.
So, backup, backup often, backup to mulitple locations (in case your backup craps out too), and keep your process and solution simple.
If your home has more than 2 Windows-based computers invest in a Windows Home Server with sufficient disk capacity to store backups of each computer. It makes restoring whole computer images very simple and it just works.
If successful I will be giving the entire package to our friends who run a support group for families in need Their current computer systems are dated and in desperate need of an upgrade. They work 24 hours a day at times providing information via skype, www, email and phone support for upto 6000+ people. They rely on the generosity of others to keep the organization operating and this will be my way of sharing the magic.
Best tip I can give, or the most generally useful tip is that spending an extra hour to configure the OS when you first boot a new computer pays off major dividends down the road. Any hardware is workable if you configure the OS properly. Biggest example – Vista, but on any computer, setting up the battery settings and such will help get far better use out of the notebook than the standard configurations will.
Also – Windows Mobility Center in Vista (Win+X) is far more useful than one would expect, as it groups all the major mobile settings (LCD, battery, wireless, sound, presentation, external monitor) into one simple and easy to use app. Its not the most powerful tool out there, but its built in and lets you access the most important settings right away.
As for what I would do with the new HP computers if I got them….I’d keep the Mini Note for my own mobile use, the TouchSmart would go downstairs to replace the family iMac, the dv4 would probably go replace my mother’s old PenM based Sony, and the HDX18 would either become my dad’s workstation laptop or an HTPC. This would also get my 9 (almost 10!) year old brother his choice between the dual-booting iMac and my mom’s old Sony, and get him a really good printer in the as well, so he won’t need to come and beg me or dad for printing in future. Through this, I hope to encourage him to start using the Terminal and learn the Unix bash scripting language at an early age, so that he can be more technologically savvy.
The two or three leftover computers would likely be given either to charity here or sent to family and friends to distribute in our native villages in rural India, where they will benefit from it the most.
Tech tip: Its low tech but have more than one power adapter for all of your favourite mobile devices – at your home, work and girlfriend/partners/parents place. For a cyclist like me, it means un-jack, standby and go and also means you never carry more than the actual device in weight. You’ll always at some point forget to fully charge or have a spare battery so it means that mains AC power is always available in your most frequented places (unfortunately your local Starbucks – unless they are enlightened won’t let you store a spare there!)
Share: Only need one windows PC, so if I win, I’m about to become the favourite alumni student at my former primary school (shhhh its a secret!)
My best mobile tech tip would have to be: have a battery backup handy. I’ve been using the Lenmar Power Port which has saved my boring bike rides on a few occasions. It provides about 2 full charges to an iPod Touch which I just think is amazing. It’s one of the most powerful battery packs out there that I’ve seen (700mA). I always keep it charged because if I forget to charge one of my other various mobile electronics it suffices on-the-go (must be able to charge said device through USB).
If I were to win I would share the laptop with someone less fortunate than myself. Someone who broke their computer or had it stolen. Now that I think of it, someone I have been conversing with on another board actually had their computers, swords, guns, etc. stolen while they were away. I believe this is a great way to show them that people care and give it to people who recently had a drastic event in their life and I want to take some of that stress away. I would not only give to his family but another deserving family who suffered something similar
The best mobile tech tip I can share – and boy did it ever provide me with magic this year! – is to buy an inverter for travel. I bought this one – http://www.amazon.com/PowerLine-0900-66-200-Watt-Inverter-Charging/dp/B000QFISDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1229453279&sr=8-1 – fits in your coffee cup holder in the car – and it really helped us on a cross-country trip. Specifically, there were 3 of us in the car, and the inverter was going at all times, charging cell phones, ipods, laptops, digital cameras, you name it. No one had thought we needed it (“we’ll just charge our stuff in hotel rooms”) but I bought it anyway and everyone was grateful! We don’t even own a car – we rented one for the drive from L.A. to NYC – but this was a relatively inexpensive, invaluable purchase I highly recommend for people on the go.
In terms of sharing the prize, I need a new laptop and a new desktop…but I would give the rest of it away. That’s right, all the rest!
I volunteer with a great group here in New York City called Getting Out & Staying Out (gosonyc.org). They help 18-24 year olds coming out of Riker’s with all of the challenges they face – housing, jobs, education – all towards the goal of avoiding recidivism and any other type of bad behavior.
GOSO is well and tightly run, but it’s hit a bit of a rough patch, given that – in lean times – most people will donate any extra money to more ‘family friendly’ charities (think charities for children, etc.).
So, long story, long…give me the HDX 18 series notebook PC and the HP TouchSmart IQ816 AIO Desktop PC, and I will happily donate the rest to GOSO!
Live Mesh – Hands down. Cannot live without it. While it is still in beta, it is a godsend because you can have all your documents “In the cloud.” No more tossing all those USB Flash Drives into a Ziploc bag. And it has remote desktop for free. Why pay for logmein or gotomypc?
*********************************************
Anthony is eight-years-old and lives with his grandmother in Stuart, Florida. His grandmother works three part-time jobs and Anthony spends the majority of his time alone. Anthony is a good kid and I believe a computer will be a way for him to free his mind and perhaps discover something about himself. As naïve as it sounds I believe in the power of technology to transform lives.
**********************************************
thanks guys
Geek tech advice : As home connection are becoming cheaper and faster, my advice would be to set a small computer (fan less, your wife will be happy believe me) that you can use as a gateway. Buy the smallest computer and add a big 2.5” disk.
Install a VPN server. It helps to surf when you need to connect to an insecure network. All your backup are accessible securely from anywhere and sometime it can save your life…
It helps of course to backup the phone/netbook data wherever your are and with few clicks (or tap) the whole family will not loose the latest contacts/data if something happen.
Windows or Linux depend on your needs !
To access it if you don’t have fixed ip use a service like dyndns.
Being working, as for now, in a relatively poor country, I would give part of it to a local school where kids have literally no resources. The mini will be given to a geek co-worker that don’t have the luxury to buy a lot of devices for fun.
Good luck to everybody !
Live Mesh – Hands down. Cannot live without it. While it is still in beta, it is a godsend because you can have all your documents “In the cloud.” No more tossing all those USB Flash Drives into a Ziploc bag. And it has remote desktop for free. Why pay for logmein or gotomypc?
*********************************************
Anthony is eight-years-old and lives with his grandmother in Stuart, Florida. His grandmother works three part-time jobs and Anthony spends the majority of his time alone. Anthony is a good kid and I believe a computer will be a way for him to free his mind and perhaps discover something about himself. As naïve as it sounds I believe in the power of technology to transform lives.
**********************************************
thanks guys
Buying tech tip: Buy behind the curve. This applies to almost all the tech that’s out there. This tip will not appeal to early adopters but can save you hundreds.
Example: I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 660 when it first hit the streets. I paid $600 and it was one of the best tech investments I have ever made. That was about 2 years ago. I can now buy the same unit for $300.
Another example: Last years camcorders are tremendous bargains. You lose a little performance but save $. The Canon TX1 was $700 earlier this year but is now $435
Final example: Buy a PC with last year’s processor. Is 2.66GHz noticeably faster day to day than 2.0GHz? Is it worth $200 extra?
If I win I would like to share my prize with my brother’s family who is having a rough XMas season financially.
Put down the mobile device while driving and nobody gets hurt!
When dealing with a buggy mobile device, consider turning it off for a while and give your presence to somebody who needs it – friends, family or even that person who rides the bus train or subway to work with you every day. Unplugging from our gear from time to time is healthy for us.
On a more practical note, while I am a strong believer in the power of the Off button in above-like situations, the best advice is what many have already stated – backup your data. Flash drives, on-line storage, and USB hard drives are so easy and affordable that there really is no excuse for not having your data backed up.
–Ken
Have you downloaded the Android emulator? Here’s a way to TEST apps on the Android Emulator before loading them on your Tmobile G1:
1. Download the apk file from the appropriate website. Try: http://www.andappstore.com, http://www.openintents.org or just google. Download this to the tools folder in the directory where the emulator is.
2. Launch the emulator by using a command line session in your favorite OS. Linux, Windows or Mac OS X.
3. Launch a second commandline tool and use the following to install the app:
adb.exe install packagename.apk (windows)
./adb install packagename.apk
4. In your running emulator window, the application should now be installed.
This is VERY handy to try apps out without mucking your G1 up!
As for the prize, my family would keep a couple machines and one laptop would go to my mother in law who has been battling cancer for 10+ years. Another would go to a nice lady at church who just wants to play a few games of solitaire and would have been happy if I just fixed her decrepit Pentium 100 machine. That would come along with some support from me of course!
Tech Tips:
1)I have several netbooks. I like to experiment with all OSes. I like to make a backup image of a system and save it to an external hard drive. I can restore most images in less than 2 minutes.
2)When I received my first Windows Mobile phone, I looked all over to configure it to sync with my Exchange server. Mail can be configured in the ActiveSync app of all places- either on the phone or the app on the desktop.
3)VNC and OpenSSH are great for connecting to other PCs. They are free tools and can be used on nearly all platforms.
4)Go Open Source. Many many terrific apps exist out there that are as powerful or more feature rich compared to licensed software.
I plan to share these prizes with my family. I have two daughters and a wife that could really benefit from a new computer. My mother-in-law would get a hand me down as well.
Many thanks for this contest!! I read jkontherun daily and appreciate your hard work.
My best mobile advice would be don’t forget the low-tech. A tablet is great for taking notes when you are prepared to do so and I use my WinMo phone for quick notes. However, sometimes there is just no substitute for a pen and piece of paper. Especially if you need to pass a quick bit of information to a person who isn’t as ‘mobilized’ as you are.
As for the prizes I would give the Mini to my wife who is looking for a more portable computer to write on. The HDX would go to my cousin who’s laptop just died along with Kung Fu Panda for her kids. The dv4 notebook would go to my sister-in-law who is looking for a new comp as well. The printer (and ink) would go to my father-in-law along with the MediaSmart connect as he is getting more and more into digital photography. I’d probably keep the TouchSmart for myself then distribute the other software among family members who need it.
Hi Kevin and James. My tip for everyone owning a notebook is: Try not to boot your notebook with a USB hub connected to the computer. Many notebooks do not boot up if such a peripheral is connected to a USB port. By taking care of this simple fact it may save you quite a lot of anxiety and time trying to understand what is wrong with your machine, not to mention phone bills for calls made to tech support in the desperation of the moment.
Whoops… forgot to tell you how I would share the prize. I would keep the dv4 and give the Touchsmart to a friend who is agonizing about the hardware for an entertainment system. The HDX would go to another friend who has a 10 year old computer because he hasn’t got enough money to get another. The Mini would go to my sister-in-law who is a college student and needs such a mobile device.
Download and install the small and Free (donation-ware) utility ‘CCleaner’ from CCleaner.com and use it daily.
This deletes all temp garbage files that computers hoard and fixes any registry issues to keep your PC running smoothly.
Especially useful for those NetBooks with limited RAM and storage.
Best tip? Always back up your data! Computing is becoming ever more mobile and ever more portable which is great, until you lose important data, either accidentally or through theft, corruption etc… whatever form of data you value, always store your own (in my case local, offline) copies.
Wow what a giveaway! If I am lucky enough to win these prizes, the very first thing I would do is surround myself with the boxes and drool a lot. Then reality would start to seep in and I would have to decide how to distribute these awesome prizes.
Of course the TouchSmart w/ the 25.5 screen would be mine. The Entertainment Notebook would go to my wife. I believe I would keep the HDX premium notebook, along with the rest of the goodies. However if my grandson would ask really nice I might be persuaded to part with the HP Mini 1000 and the Kung Fu Panda DVDs.
The rest of the hardware and software I haven’t decided who will get what.
Sincerely,
Duffer7
My best advice for Mobile Tech: When you buy something, and it isn’t working the way you expect, send it back or ask for help!
My WinMo smartphone had always had some static when I used the bluetooth headset for voice calls. I read some posts about the phone online that seemed to indicate it was a known problem, so I just put up with it rather than calling Verizon to complain. About 11 months later my phone’s keyboard started acting up. I had to call to get a replacement. New phone showed up, I restored my data to it, and away I went. The first time I used my bluetooth headset with the new phone, I realized the clarity was MUCH better. Something was wrong with the other device, but I just kept making excuses for it!
TIP: IF IT DOESN’T WORK, SEND IT BACK OR COMPLAIN!
If I were lucky enough to win this prize package, here’s what I would do with it:
1) Two devices would stay with me – The TouchSmart IQ816 and the HDX 18. The good news is that my HP ZD8000, with a Vista Ultimate license would be donated, see below.
Corel Video Studio X would be kept by me, to help make sense of all the mini-dv tapes I’ve taken and yet to do something with (Sorry family!)
2) The Pavilion dv4 Entertainment notebook would be donated to a family I know in Las Vegas that had their PC (and other things) stolen from their house. They need to be able to connect to the internet so that kids can do homework / parents can pay bills, etc.
3) The Mini 1000 would be donated, see below
4) The MediaSmart Connect would go to a very dear friend of mine who has the perfect home network setup and could use this device to round out the network.
5) PhotoSmart C6380 would be donated, see below
6) HP 564 Photo Value Pack would be donated, see below
7) Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition would be donated, see below
9)Kung Fu Panda DVD & Blu-Ray would be donated, see below
Donation Target: South Kitsap School District #402. The reason this school district would receive the donations is two-fold, #1, K-12 education is critical for all citizens in this country, and #2, my computer literacy (or addiction, depending on the vantage point!) can all be traced back to my school district putting a small group of us in front of an Apple II in the late 70s and early 80s. To give something back would be awesome.
The best tip i can give is to BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP. I back everything on an external hard drive once a week. This external hard drive gets backed up to another once a month and all of my important documents are on a dedicated server that i pay a monthly fee for. This is great because even if my house catches on fire, I still have my important documents. Losing your data is one of the worse things ever so BACKUP.
My best mobile tip is to use evernote to sync documents between mobile devices. it is freeware and they even have apps for windows mobile, the iphone/ipod touch and a web interface so you can always have access to your documents. This is great for college students.
If i win this i will probably keep the 25″ touch all in one but the rest would be gifted to family members that do not have computers yet.
The keep your computers humming along and speedy over time, make sure you regularly defrag your hard drive. I use the handy Defraggler (http://www.defraggler.com/) to do this — it offers built in scheduling for set it and forget it defragging. It also lets you defrag individual files. Best of all its free for both home and business users.
Also check out Piriform’s (http://www.piriform.com/) other tools: CCleaner to clean up unused files and settings, and Recuva to help restore deleted files.
I would share some of my winnings with my local church which is collecting gifts for local needy kids.
The keep your computers humming along and speedy over time, make sure you regularly defrag your hard drive. I use the handy Defraggler (http://www.defraggler.com/) to do this — it offers built in scheduling for set it and forget it defragging. It also lets you defrag individual files. Best of all its free for both home and business users.
Also check out Piriform’s (http://www.piriform.com/) other tools: CCleaner to clean up unused files and settings, and Recuva to help restore deleted files.
I would share some of my winnings with my local church which is collecting gifts for local needy kids.
1) Rather than alt-tabbing multiple windows or resizing them yourself in vista right click on taskbar and click on either show windows side by side or stacked view, in xp it tile windows vertically or horizontally.
2) Ever wanted to google an error but didnt want to type it. click on titlebar of error message window ctrl-c and ctrl-v in notepad.
#1 – Read jkontherun.com
#2 – Backup, Backup, Backup! I run superduper on my mac (works great as a cloning program/bootable backup) and I use Mozy.com. Having your important files encrypted in the cloud is always reassuring especially if something happens to your home!
Happy Holidays and congrats again Kevin.
best windows mobile tech tip – back up, and often! You will realize just how much soft-resetting and the occasional hard resetting you will be doing if you plan on customizing your phone in any way past stock.
My best mobile tech-tip is that if you are going to be traveling and need to pack a few documents but need to pack light. Don’t bring the laptop along. Simply take your iPod (or other portable USB storage devices) and store all of the files on the it’s hard drive, and they will be able to download/copy when you need the documents. The convenience without the weight
If I win this grand giveaway I think I will put it to best use because not only will I use it but hundreds if not thousands of people will as well. I am a 20 year old College student, who is struggling to finish our school work and assignments. If I win this contest I will donate everything but the HP Mini (I will keep) to our college lab. The donated hardware will be used by hundreds of College students and we will ALL be grateful for your generosity.
I recently returned to school to complete my degree. Like so many others, I chose to use an accredited online university.
The text books are all eBooks, in PDF format. While this makes for great reading on a regular computer, you can’t just take the book with you to read when you get 5 minutes to yourself.
And don’t get me started on reading the texts with my PDA!(A tried and true Dell Axim X51v!) No PDF viewer for WinMo works well when there is much more than just text on the pages.
I found my answer in a free program from Merlin Software, called eBook to Images
http://www.merlinsoftware.com/ebook/index.htm
This program will read PDF, LIT, and other eBook formats, strip out just the text, and create a series of sequential PNG files. You get to select the screen resolution, the font and type size, and can preview a sample image for readability. All the images are placed in a folder, or if you prefer, a series of folders.
After copying the folder to my PDA, I use XN PocketView’s slideshow feature to read the text. Other image programs with a similiar feature will work just as well.
Now I can easily read my textbooks anywhere I go!
Great website guys! And a great podcast too, I never miss an episode.
Tip: while on my work laptop, run TwitterFox in Firefox so I can keep up-to-date with everything that is going on
Gift: laptops to wife’s adopted brother and sister (twins) headed to college next year
Tip:
Nokia unlocked smartphones use $15 data plans on at&t. Blackberries and other smartphones require $30 data plans. That saves you $360 over the course of two years.
Here’s My Tip – Instead of sharing folders across your network where all the computers in the work group can be seen, set up a virtual private network using the free hamachi vpn. When your mobile you can access your desktop files from your notebook. An added benefit of sharing your files through a vpn is only those in the tunnel can see them. Even your family and friend that come on your network never see your files.
If I won the prize I plan on keeping the HDX, the Media Connect, and the printer. I would give the TouchSmart to my Dad, a senior citizen who enjoys playing games, listening to music, and orgainzing his photos. The Pavilion would go to an elderly couple who often call me for tech support. They have an old machine running Windows Millennium and I think it is time for an upgrade. I would probably give the Mini to a friend.
Hi There,
My mobile tech tip would be when traveling, whenever possible, store all your tech in your carry-on and check the rest of your baggage. I fly standby quite often and I always have my tech with me. Sure I have to take out my laptop at the scanner, and I get a few looks from the TSA’s, but it is far easier than worrying about who else may come across my tech bag and walk off with it if I don’t make my connection.
If I am the winner, I plan on giving one of the laptops to my brand-new Daughter-in-law who is not too techy at all. Her husband took my advice before they were married and got a hassle-free Macbook and she is still putting along with an old Win98 laptop. I have another friend who is visually impaired and could use a new printer and I am sure her kids would love the DVD.
My best tech tips that I can give you is: 1. Backup your data onto an external hard drive preferable a capacity or size bigger than your computer. As a college student, I know it is very important to backup your data, as my data has gone lost before. 2. Download Portable Apps from PortableApps.com and install it onto a usb drive and install programs on it. As a college student I move from computer labs to another a lot. So with this, you can have your own internet browser with all your settings and bookmarks, your own music player to play all the music on your usb drive, your own instant messaging program, your own office suite which is openoffice, and your own planner or calendar. Of course the list goes on and on as you check out their website (PortableApps.com).
Winning this package would mean so much to me as I am a giving person. My reward is feeling good by giving. I would give the two laptops to two of my friends that are in dire need. We are all college students. One of my friends is a secondary education major. He is in a financial strain and it would be so nice if he could have a laptop. His current laptop is such a mess and is very outdated. It would have constant problems after I have fixed it many times, but it has finally met its’ end. He is also such a giving person and a gentleman to others. He would rather give then receive, but it is about time that he receives something. What he gives to me is love from a friend which is to me very precious since I don’t receive love that often even from my parents. He is always there for me whenever I need him. Every time I see him he gives me a big hug and picks me up even if it’s around a whole bunch of people. He treats me like a brother. My other friend is a geology major. His whole life has been a financial strain on him. I try to help him as much as I can. If it weren’t for me last spring, he would not even be in school because of financial issues, but I helped paid a part of his tuition. But a computer would be one less thing he would have to worry about. He has always been there me when I needed a talk. So thanks for this wonderful opportunity for this chance to win something so magnificent.
live mesh and evernote are your friends. Those two utilities can give you full access to your home system(or others) on the run, and keep important documents in the cloud where you need them. Collaboration is dead simple with shared folders. cost? zero for both. Upgrade evernote if you feel the need, but the free version works fine for me.
Both notebooks would go to 2 students that work for me.
Tech tip: For personal and legal use only, to recover high resolution photos that have annoying DRM protection (which are on a wedding photos DVD perhaps), view the photo in full screen mode at the highest resolution, then use a screenshot utility (use default OS tool, or shareware or freeware) and take multiple screenshots as you scroll/pan around the image. Then use a panoramic photo stitching utility (there are many free ones available like autostitch on windows) to put all the screencaps together as one large photo. Rinse and repeat for each individual photo or if you can figure out how to do so, automate the process.
Prizes: I use an old Windows machine with just 512 megs of RAM, so you can imagine how old it is! I would keep the mini, give my wife the touchsmart, and gift the rest to my parents and in-laws, and donate some of it to a local charity or give it to a local high school to be given as a scholarship to a gifted student with limited resources. No idea what is Microsoft Window Live? Live is a search engine. Perhaps you meant MS Live One Care?
Oh and I would keep the blu-ray Kung Fu Panda so I can try to convince my wife that we should buy a blu-ray player.
Mi tecnologia es simple
Una es VNC ya que con este programa me permite tomar el control remotamente de la pc de mis clientes y poder ayudarlos y/o hacer mantenimientos o cerregirles problemas que tengan con sus PC.
Otra es WinRar ya que con este programa comprimo mis datos personales (si me llegaran a ocupar demasiado utilizo el Hacha para partirlos en partes)
Otra que hago es cambiarle la extension a mi copia de seguridad, ya que algunos virus me borraban algunos documentos mios
I’ve had large computing tasks e-mail my phone
(text message would work fine, also) when it was done.
I didn’t have to keep checking whether the task was done.
My trick is a quick an easy way to send an e-mail to your gmail account from your SMS enabled device.
Use the Gmail chat SMS text function from the google labs to send a message to your phone. Then save the number on your phone. Then you can use it to send a message that will appear in your inbox without all the trouble of logging in.
As for what I will do, I will share the all the laptops but the tiny netbook with my friends so that we can play games together even after we all go off to different colleges. That and they need computers, theirs are not the best.
I have a couple good tech tips. My first one is you don’t have to have a wifi printer to use your printer wirelessly. I have a non-wifi printer hooked up to a desktop that is connected to my home network. If you go into the settings of the printer you want to “share” and then setup your home network. You can also share your hard drives and disc drives this way too.
My second tech tip is that you can use a Blackberry 8830 as an internet connection if your computer has bluetooth capabilities.
First- enable bluetooth on both your pc and blackberry. Connect them with each other.
Now go into your bluetooth devises on the pc, and click on you phone.
Go into the router tab, and select use as a router.
THERE! This works good for on the road internet.
I would like to one one of these GREAT gifts. I support HP 100%. I am very interested in one day going to college for computer science, and these computers would help me out a lot. I am currently teaching a program to all of my teachers at my school how to use computers more in there daily life. I would one day like to also own a website like this one, but it probably wont be as good. My plans for the prizes would be giving a computer to each of my grandparents for a Christmas to get them more involved in the current times. I am also doing a Christmas thing that I donate to families in need and I would donate a computer to the family that I support. And the rest of the accessories will be gifted for Christmas for my family. I will probably keep HDX for myself. THANKS for giving me the chance for winning! This would also be a good birthday gift for me, DEC, 17.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Geordan
JF40
JAY FIRE RESCUE
My tech tip is try try using a virtual machine on your primary computer (even a laptop). Even though it causes a small slowdown, it gives you the benefit that you don’t really need to deal with uninstalling programs. You don’t need to worry as much about security and you have the freedom to try programs without any concern that you won’t like them because you can just reset to a previous save point. VirtualPC, VMWare, and VirtualBox are free virtual machines to try out.
My most useful productivity tools are Office Suite on my Nokia N82 and my iGo ultra slim bluetooth keyboard. I upload most of my work files to box.net which I can access on my phone at its mobile site m.box.net. In the same way, I can access evernote at its mobile site m. evernote.com. I can then download any file to my phone as the need arises. If I have to edit a downloaded document or if I have to create a new document, the bluetooth keyboard is very handy. It works like a regular keyboard and makes typing very easy. It gets better when there is a tv that I to which I can attach the phone via its video out port. Its like using a regular desktop computer. Incidentally, my N82 has an 8 GB micro sdhc card. Since documents take up very little space, I have more than enough spare memory. The convenience that the setup provides, ie. useful hardware and online storage is certainly magic. Who would have thought that one day you could tuck your computer into your pocket? My phone is a ‘micro” computer only in the sense that it is small. But, for all intents and purposes, it is a state-of-the-art computer.
If I win, I’d like to share the price with the Sister Maria Carmela Brescia School in Tagaytay City, Philippines. The nuns there provide free education to indigent children.
My best mobile tech tip is to have a husband who knows what to do when I need help. I know it’s not very original, but I am not a techie. (So I was smart enough to marry up!)
I would love to share these computers with Healthy Marriages of New Mexico. They work to strengthen marriages and help couples who are getting married to have the tools to help their marriages survive and thrive.
My idea of a productive mobile is to stay minimal and have a bunch of your stuff in the “cloud” > online, that is.
1.Carry a netbook, not a notebook. Netbooks are much smaller, they’ve a decent 10-inch display and they’re really cheap as well. Hardly weighing in at 3 pounds, they’re just so much more comfortable to carry around than notebooks. And obviously Windows XP / Ubuntu Linux are much better choices for netbooks than Vista.
2.Frequently upload your important documents and files to o’line backup services like Dropbox (2GB for free account) or Windows Live SkyDrive (25GB). Dropbox does this automatically while you’ve to manually do this for SkyDrive. By this, not only is your data safe, but also it’s accessible on the go!
3.Get PortableApps. It sits right within your thumb drive and runs many dead useful tools (Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Clamwin antivirus…) without having to install anything on an alien computer. PortableApps will also help your organize all the files on your thumb drives.
Now if I do win this contest, I would certainly like to share a few of these prizes with others.
I’ll keep the HDX 18 for myself and donate (kind of) my current Pavilion dv5 to our hostel’s computer center.
My sister needs a notebook for her campus training which’ll be starting shortly, so she’ll get the HP dv4.
My dad gets through e-mail, news and some light Office work. My mom keeps gazing at our family pics, so the Mini netbook would be just perfect for them. Dad is very comfortable with Windows XP, so that’s an added bonus.
Now I’ve little use for the rest of the stuff. The TouchSmart won’t fit into my hostel room and it’s just overkill for my parents at home, so better someone else put it to better use. I’ll request you guys to give away the rest of the prizes to the runners-ups here, as it’ll be so inhumanly cruel to run away with all these prizes when so many others are participating. If that’s against rules (hopefully not!), I’ll make arrangements for a biggie contest at our upcoming tech fest to give away these stuff as prizes – our fest will certainly get a facelift!
So that’s my story. Hopefully it’s good.
Merry Christmas!
My tip goes to the readers who, like me, have a 3-4 year old laptop and got their hands on a copy of Windows Vista, and want to install it on said laptop (be it for whatever reason, the better search, the improved Start menu, the new explorer with the useful breadcrumb navigation, better security or just for the eye candy). Now, most manufacturers don’t support Vista on pre-2007 laptops, so they are pretty much on their own. Here are my recomendations:
- Increase the memory to the maximum the laptop supports (and you can afford of course). Vista has a lot more processes running than XP, so it will greatly benefit from more memory. You can run it somewhat decently with 1 GB but I find that 2 GB is the sweet spot. And forget about Readyboost, regardless of what Microsoft marketing people might say it does not compensate for the lack of system memory. So hunt around for some SO-DIMM sticks at online stores, eBay or maybe get the from a friend who retired his old laptop. If you don’t know what kind of memory your laptop supports check the Kingston Technology site (http://www.kingston.com/), you can use its memory search by manufacturer and model number to find that information.
- Despite what is said online, you probably won’t have much trouble finding the right drivers for your laptop hardware. I find that Windows Update does an adequate job of finding the necessary drivers for your chipset, GPU, integrated sound, Wi-Fi, Ethernet controller, memory card reader, touchpad, etc. The main issue you will probably find is with dedicated hardware keys for launching programs, changing the sound volume, switching on the radios, etc. If Windows Update is able to find drivers for switching on/off wireless and bluetooth and changing the screen brightness, at least through a Fn key combination, then it’s not so problematic as most other functions you can find a way around. Otherwise, then you might be out of luck, sorry. Vista has a nice feature, called the the Windows Mobility Center which provide tiles for quick access to functions like switching on/off the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth radios, adjusting the screen brightness, sound volume and changing power plans. To open it just right-click the battery icon on the system tray and select Windows Mobility Center or use the shortcut “Windows Key + X”.
- For power management laptop manufacturers usually provide proprietary software that automatically adjusts the power scheme depending on whether the machine is running on AC current or battery. Again if you have an older laptop that power management software might (probably isn’t) Vista compatible. My advice is to use the open source Vista Battery Saver (http://www.codeplex.com/vistabattery) to automatically change the power plan. This piece of software is quite light on resources and has some other functionalities like enabling/disabling the Aero interface and Windows Sidebar when the power source is changed or battery power falls bellow certain amount. You can fine tune the power management by customizing Vista’s power plans. Just right click the battery icon on the system tray, select Power Options and change the plan settings (check the link tinyurl.com/5sk5vm for more information on configuring Windows Vista’s advanced power settings)
- One of the downsides of Vista (and this is true with both old and new computers) is that the hard-drive is constantly grinding, which can slow down the system. This happens because Vista is continuously indexing your files (better search does come with a price, I’m afraid) and creating shadow copies (more on that later). To mitigate this performance trade-off you can reduce disk activity by limiting the locations indexed by Vista, just go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Indexing Options and modify the monitored folders (click on the “Show all locations” button to access all indexed locations). My advice is to segregate the frequently changed documents to a separate folder from your more stable documents so that Vista Search doesn’t have to be constantly reindexing. As for the shadow copies (also called Volume Snapshot Service, or Previous Versions), this is a service that creates automatic snapshots of files and folders. This is actually a useful feature, active in all versions of Vista but only the Business and Ultimate versions of the OS can take full advantage of it. To access it just right click on a folder in explorer, select properties and go to the Previous Versions tab and select one of the snapshots from the timeline. So why is it active in the Home and Home Premium versions if users can’t access it? I honestly can’t come up with an answer for that. You can disable this feature by going to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System selecting the Advanced system settings on the Tasks at the left, go to the System Protection tab on the newly opened System Properties window and disable the Disks available for Restore Points. Although Previous Versions aren’t available by default to Home and Home Premium users they can actually take advantage of this feature through a third-party free software called ShadowExplorer (http://www.shadowexplorer.com/). Finally if you want to recover some of the space taken by the shadow copies you can do it by running following command in an elevated prompt (run cmd.exe as administrator): vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for= /on= /maxsize=.
So these are my tips, hope they can help some readers with old laptops to enjoy the Vista Wow : )
Now in the off chance that my entry gets picked, and seeing that it’s just too much hardware for a single person, I would share the prize with my family and friends. I’d keep the HP TouchSmart IQ816 and retire my old Athlon-64 desktop tower and CRT monitor, which would save me a lot of much needed desk space in my cramped room. The Photosmart C6380 printer would come in handy when I print my PhD thesis (I’m a researcher in Developmental Biology), and the HP Mini 1000 would be great for writing it on the daily commute to the lab (maybe this way I can finally finish it). The HP HDX 18 would go to my cousin, Armando, a struggling landscape architect who’d appreciate the large screen real-estate and horsepower for his CAD work. My parents are a little behind the times so to finnaly get them on the Web I would give them the HP Pavilion dv4 (not an entirely selfless gift, I admit, I would be trading “tech support” for Mom’s cookings). No room for a TV at my place (and not much time anyway) so the HP MediaSmart Connect would go to my friend Sara, who has thing for home theaters (and would give me an excuse to visit her more). And finally the Kung Fu Panda DVDs would go to the kids in the family.
Not the most altruistic sharing, I’m sure, but it would please me to spread some joy with my loved ones- That said it would be perfectly understandable to award someone who would be willing to donate the prize to some charity or institution in need.
Let me just finish by saying thanks for the chance to enter this giveaway.
Actually the best tech tip I have ever had HAS to be an article I read on jkontherun back in March reviewing the file sync service SugarSync, http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/03/sugarsync-most.html – SugarSync: “most useful sync tool ever?”.
I had spent years struggling with external hard disks, USB thumb drives, microsoft briefcases and endless File Syncing software, only to be endlessly frustrated with keeping track of where the latest version of a file is and what I can safely purge.
I had never heard of online file sync services, and the term “Cloud Computing” was still in it’s infancy, so when I read “the most useful sync tool ever” I had to find out more…
After reading the review, I signed up for a free trial and was hooked IMMEDIATELY! While it is by no means perfect, SugarSync has changed the way I work forever. Being able to keep working files updated at work, at home AND on my laptop, both across PCs and Macs is the ultimate for me. Not only do you always have the latest files on every computer, but you have an automatic online backup, with version history!
I can also set certain folders to simply replicate to “the cloud” rather have have a copy of every file on every system. a virtual online backup.
And now I can even access any file, from any system, at any time from my iPhone! I can either view the file directly, or send a copy to someone via email.
I have since turned a couple of colleagues onto it and my girlfriend now uses it to back up photos from her phone.
So my best tech tip in fact came from the tipsters right here on jkontherun.
I’m sorry if I sound like I am over-enthusiastic about SugarSync, but it really has changed the way work. I have no affiliation with SugarSync, even though it must look that way!! I am simply a SugarSync convert.
I would definitely share part of the prize with my parents. I think the Touchsmart PC would help my technophobic parents deal with technology on a day to day basis by combining a touch interface with things like video chat and note and calendar sharing. The hands on approach would be a godsend for them. I would give the entertainment notebook to my girlfriend, the Microsoft Office to my brother, and the Kung fu Panda DVDs to my niece. I think I would keep the HDX notebook myself and use the printer in my office. I think the local Art School would be able to find a use for the mininote 1000.
My experience suggests the simplest things are the most important: (1) Keep it Charged, (2) Backup Regularly, and (3)Keep it with you – its no use if its at home.
Well if i win this contest i would give the HP Touchsmart to my daddy, he´s an independent worker and he urgently needs a new pc for work. I know he would be very happy with this prize, because he has one but its too old and works very slow, he needs a faster one. The HP mini i would give it to my friend Ylonka, she´s such a good person, she deserves it and she need it too because she´s studying telematic engineer, like me, so obviously she needs a computer, but she doesn´t have enough money to buy a laptop, i know she would be surprise and very, very happy with this Hp mini. The microsof office home and student edition and the kung fu Panda DVD´s i would give those to my little cousins the first one they would use it for making the homeworks of the school. They are smart kids and they like to learn new things, and the kung Fu Panda for entertaiment, that would be a great christmas present for them. The printer i would share it with the husband of my aunt he´s always printing and scanning documents for his job so this present will perfectly fit for him. The Hp pavilion dv4 i would give it to my sister and to her friend Willy (well she would share it with him), they are studing at school and like we have just one computer at home my sister sometimes want to work on it for making some school work and the pc is unavailable because someone its on the pc, so i would give it to her and her friend (they always study together) so they would be happy and i would be happy too because i wouldn´t have to wait for using the pc.
And like i study too i would keep the HP HDX 18 for myself, i would make a lot of good things with it, projects for school, homework, etc. I would be more than happy if i win this contest.
My best advice this year is getting a universal travel charger for the batteries of the gadgets that you usually will take on the road (cell phones and digital point-and-shoot cameras). In Asia, they have been selling variations of this universal charger that charges batteries 2000mA and under (which covers most digital point-and-shoots and cell phone batteries). See this guide (sorry it is in Chinese) that someone wrote for some pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/6xy85b
Basically, the charger is a clamp with two charging prongs that you can adjust to contact the positive and negative contacts on the battery. It will work for contacts that are on the narrow edge of batteries (like that Nokia battery in that guide) or contacts that are on the bigger face of the battery. Using this, I only need to carry one charger (it is also small and that the wall prongs fold in for more compact storage) for my cell phone and my digital camera. Also, if someone that I am traveling with forgets his cell phone charger, I can just share with him this universal charger and we won’t have to try to hunt down a compatible charger (which can be difficult and expensive especially abroad). In addition, this can be consider a green product since you won’t have to throw out the charger when you break, lose, or switch your phone or digital camera. You can just keep on using this charger regardless of which phone or camera you have (except for cameras and phones that have built-in battery like the iPhone).
As for the prizes:
I would give the TouchSmart & Mini 1000 to my mother and sister respectively. They both have ancient computers (over 6-7 years old, time for a refresh).
The HP HDX 18 series and Pavilion dv4 notebooks, I would donate that to the company I work for. We are a small tight-knit group that works hard together. Going into perhaps years of recession, these 2 laptops will help to cut down our IT budget a bit.
The rest I would just donate to whoever I think can best utilize them. Either local schools or deserving individuals.
CLearly some of the best tips are already taken – Backup being the most popular and by far the best.
There are many hiddin options in the Google online apps and some of them are real winners. One of my favourites is the notification service in Google Calendar.
If you select Settings at the top right and then select the “Mobile Setup” tab it displays a page allowing the user to set up their mobile phone to receive SMS messages for appointments.
I am in Australia and it is supported by several Australian moboile providers. I am notified by SMS whenever I have an event in mjy callendar.
I would give one of the laptops to my wife who is studying. This would assist ion her studies. I would also give a laptop to my daughter in law who is home with small children.
Hey here are 2 tech tips that i would like to tell you guys.
1-Get the right device for when your travling. Eg. you wont your phone,music player, camera, gps, some thing to back up data on and a device that you can use as a router for your internet. You dont wont to be having up to 6 devices not including your computer. Get some thing like a Nokia N96 which is all of these devices in 1 or some other device that can do all of these things, and make shore that this device can be charged through USB so there is no need for an other power cable.
2-Back up your computer and always have a 2nd battery for it, and if u have a Mac Book/Pro get a BG15-21-130 External Laptop Battery from Batterygeek.net for only $299 that can give you up two 7-9 hours of charge.
If i was to win this prize from HP and you guys i would keep the HP 1000 for me for school,the Pavilion i would give to my Dad to replace his computer, the HDX 18 would replace my Asus and the TouchSmart i would give to my that would replace her old desktop. Than the 3 old computers, the printer and the Kung Fu Panda dvd will all be sold on eBay and all of the money made from these auctions will be donated to The National Breast Cancer Foundation Of Australia.
Thanks Beau
My best tech tip is the programs portable in pendrive (usb).
and …it would share with my family
I am always out and about.
I get around by motorcycle and backup, so back doesn’t appreciate having a laptop weighing it down on-top of all the other things I carry around. Teaching materials, books, and photocopies.
My tech tip(s) is utlize your USB.
I have two usb sticks.
One is loaded up with firefox, thunderbird, and pidgin portable. I don’t need to stress about keyloggers getting my password on the school computers as my passwords are saved/cached on the stick.
The other is loaded up with slax (great portable version of linux), which if I get the chance I will boot up into linux thus avoiding anychance at all of getting my private information stolen via keyloggers or trojans or whatever. Also works on old slow computers, however bios must support booting from USB.
I will use the prizes to set up an E-learning centre in a Thai farming community. For the whole info check out my blog tntbeckingham.blogspot.com
I’d have to say the best thing I’ve found this year is Adobe Air. The sheer number of versatile programs that are available for the architecture are amazing. Being able to use software on any OS (Windows, OSX and Linux) is excellent.
It’s relatively easy to code for and can create brilliant mini sites easily.
My tip is one I haven’t seen on the list yet.
Part of your regular mantinence on your computer every 6 months should be a clean install of the operating system and your programs. Most OS’s get slower as the registry clogs up and programs are installed and uninstalled. Backing up your data and doing a clean install of the OS is like a huge spring clean as it gets rid of all the rubbish and gets your pc running “as new”. You’ll need an external drive to backup your data and all your programs on disc or the external hard drive. Then format your drive and reload your OS or recovery discs. It takes a while to do but you’ll be amazed at the performance boost. And any “nasties” will be gone. If you can you should also do a “vanilla” install of the operating system rather than relying on the restore discs. Most systems are full of unneccesary “bloatware” that slows down your machine. You can legally use a normal copy of the OS and the serial number on the bottom of your laptop. Then just download the drivers you need from the manufacturer. This will give you a lean efficient machine, that runs its best.
Better yet, if you have some versions of Vista, is to use the backup and restore features in the OS. YOu can then have a complete backup, including installed programs and updates, which you can restore at anytime to get yourself to a fully working machine in an hour or so in case of disaster. If you don’t have Vista then Acronis True Image will do it as well, some say even better than Vista. If you’re doing the backup you need to do it as soon as you have installed your main programs and windows updates. Acronis can also be used to do regular backups of your entire system that can be resored easily in times of need.
Now if I’m lucky enough to win, I’m going to keep the HDX. As a photographer a machine like this would change my business. I’m going to use the MediaSmart as a entertainment PC for the family and give my wife the DV4. She’s starting uni again next year and a new laptop would be invaluable to her. One of the things I love about her is how she puts 100% in all the time. She’s been struggling a bit with her older celeron based laptop with handling some of her media requirements for university. However she still got a distinction average this year.
All the other prizes and my wife’s older (but still perfectly functional) laptop I’m going to give to my brother and his kids. That will be the Mini, the printer, media hub etc. He’s had a real rough time for many years as a result of making some very poor life decisions. He’s a single dad to two great kids. For the last few years he’s really tried to put his life together, but it’s been hard. i’d really like to reward him for his incredible effort and hopefully some new gear will give him an incentive to keep moving forward. His son is in year 6 next year and the Mini would be perfect for him at school.
If he wins the prize I’m going to buy him 12 months of internet so he can get the most from the gear.
Gordon
My intentions with this prize:
First, I’ll be honest and say I would keep the entertainment notebook as well as the printer. My mom has no pictures yet of me at college due to a lack of a printer. And my current hardware can play Diablo 2… and that’s about it. The HDX 18 series Notebook, Mini 1000, and a DVD copy of Kung-Fu Panda would go to the Urbana Middle School FIRST Robotics Lego League that I mentor through my University. They currently use a small MAC that can’t be away form it’s charger for 10 minutes without crashing, and these laptops would be perfect. With the rest, I would let my family and my boyfriend’s family each pick a gift for Christmas. Being in college I can’t afford gifts really, and they have done so much for me to help me make it where I am. They truly deserve more than I could ever offer. The leftover items will be given to the Lutheran Church I volunteered at in high school as well as my FIRST robotics team from high school, if at all applicable. Any other software, etc. will be given freely to any foundation, program, or individual who comes to me with need. I think it’s easy to see that I really won’t have use for all of this great giveaway!!
My mobile tip!!:
All across the world from Chicago, to Tokyo, to France, people are spending more time on their phones. It’s a trend that has been easily seen in the last decade alone. Even in my small hometown, I am shocked to see handfuls of people with a phone piece wrapped around their ear every time I go outside. You know what I’m talking about, “that guy” who starts talking out of nowhere, you respond a little shocked and scared by the abrupt and unprovoked greeting, only to find he’s talking to the plastic jutting from his previously unseen ear.
My point here is that those cell phones are getting just as much strain as our mouths. And it’s crucial for many to keep that battery at peek performance.
Many of us know to let our batteries drain to fearfully low levels if we REALLY don’t want to upgrade within the next two years, but there are actions to be taken to keep that dangerous level from creeping up on you before dinner. So here are some tips I’ve learned from experience, research, and a mother who has had some bad luck with cell phone batteries.
To keep it far simpler than the previous chunk of my email: (1)Avoid unnecessary vibrating accompanying a ringtone, (2)keep off bluetooth/internet access/etc., (3)avoid charging overnight, and (4)accept the fact that you’re out of service when you’re out of service!
(1) It takes a lot of energy to shake up your gadget. Use it when rings are unnecessary, but don’t couple it with your ring.
(2) This is similar to your laptop, in that the battery can be drained by a constant connection, or attempt for connection. Every phone is different for turning these off when they’re not necessary, so my advice is become good friends with your manual if you use such attributes.
(3) You’re still using energy, and in the grand scheme of things if everyone stopped doing this, quite a bit of energy could be conserved. But on a more technical level, many batteries are negatively affected by overnight charges. Just charge till it’s full. And if you really don’t want to waste those precious hours of potential charging/full power, turn off the phone when you sleep. All of my family members have learned the downside of charging overnight, every night…. using up that 1/3-month “guarantee” every time.
(4)And last, but not least, don’t kid yourself about getting service in the basement of your office building for that 3 hour conference. Or when you’re out on the camping trip with the college buds. Preserve the battery for when you really need it, instead of wasting it on searching for a nonexistent signal.
I hope this helps someone. I tried to keep them simple and general enough to help everyone.
Thanks for the opportunity guys!
First the tech tip:
Use firefox and install the foxmarks addon. It help to keep all your bookmarks synchronised among all the computers you use (Office/Personal/Home..). It is a really useful tool.
Next – organise yourself better using Chandler. It is a tool which has a desktop version and web based interface. These two are always kept synchronised. Helps to synchonise tasks between individuals, between home and office..
And now what would I do with the gift package?
Keep the HDX 18 for myself
Give the HP mini to my nephew who is doing his Engineering degree.
Present kungfu panda to my daughter
Donate all other stuff to my old school in India.
My best tech tip is to always carry an extension cord with multiple sockets so you can charge all your gadgets at the same time. Like me i have 2 cellphones, a camera, a laptop, an archos 420, and a psp. After a long day of work, sometimes I need to charge all of these at the same time. Most of the hotels only have one socket free or two at the most. So bringing an extension cord (which can also keep your gadgets closer to you) with multiple sockets (so you can charge all your device at the same time) will always make sure that all your babies (thats what i call my gadgets) running till the next day.
Another tip is to buy this all in one adapters ( so that you can convert you US plug to European plug or asian plug, etc) so that you can plug your extension cord and charge up all your devices. I found out this one for myself when I went to Malaysia. I’m from the Philippines and I failed to charge my gadgets because Malaysia had a different ac socket.
And lastly If I win I will give my mom the laptop because she broke her old one and give the other prizes to my family. I think ill keep the mini1000 for myself.
BACKUP!… it’s so simple but so little people do it, being a computer technician i am constantly plagued by people who continue you lose files.
You can pick up external/portable/flash drives for pennies these days, if even you only use it to back up your most important documents.
You will be thankful you done it the day your computer fails. I’ve been there and it does happen.
BACKUP PEOPLE
My modest tips are:
1. Use both Google and Windows Live online services with their respective applications: Firefox (or Chrome), Picasa, Thurnderbird for Google and Windows Live Essentials for Windows Live.
2. Internet is good for communicating but not for storing your data which never should leave your laptop unless temporary sharing with others.
3. Trust Microsoft help and support (built-in Windows and online one) and use it a first place to solve your problems or to learn how to do things. Nobody knows Windows better then Microsoft itself.
4. Don’t buy software that you may get free with a little search. First look at commercial software offered free from their well-known vendors (MICROSOFT, AVAST, PARAGON-SOFTWARE, CYBERLINK etc). Then start looking for free open-source solutions.
5. Blogs are an excellent source of information where I learn a lot but comments on them I found usually useless and are better to be avoided.
6. Give or share the desktops or laptops with children or their schools but only when they have installed and can handle good the latest or at least the previous operating system (such as VISTA or XP in case of Windows). It is not good to donate a laptop with Windows 98 or 2000 with very few resources and their place is to recycle shops or factories. Old things belong only to History courses and not in children’s hands.
As tips go, they don’t get much simpler than this:
Get a case for your phone/PDA/Camera/laptop/insert expensive device here. Your smaller electronics will get scratched and “linted” in your pockets. Larger devices are less likely to suffer damage in a short fall. Spending $20-$30 to protect your $400 phone is a very sounds investment.
I’d share it with a needy family member and a friend. It’s a great package, but I can’t use it to setup a full computer lab, which would be very cool. I’d keep the media extender, TouchSmart (maybe) and the mini, the rest (including software) would be gifted.
Having problems using usb storage with windows.
Recently I came across the problem that I wasn’t able to transfer files from my camera after using an usb stick or the other way round. Everything was fine when using linux.
The reason: Windows seems to run out of drive letters.
I own a siemens pc with two dvds drives, two hdds with one/four partitions and card bay with five slots. I also own a all-in-one scanner/printer with four slots. There are also three usb-hdds with three/four/four partitions for me and my family members and four ubs-sticks. My handy, my camera and my gps show up as usb storage too.
Of course all this stuff isn’t used at once, but depending on who connected which gadgets during the day I simply wasn’t able to add another one.
First solution: Reboot and plug in.
Second solution (Don’t want to save and reload all open apps): Remove drives in the device manager. Use view->show disabled devices to find drives currently not connected
Third solution: Reduce the number of partitions and or drives. I bought one big usb-hdd to replace two others and use only one partion. I also reduced the number of windows partitions on the build in hdd.
I’ll give away the media center, at least one of the laptops and the office software. The touch screen and the printer may replace my current hardware, so I’ll give away this stuff too.
Mabuhay from the Philippines!!!
I got the MSI Wind based on your knit picking about the Right Shift Key… as a programmer that made a world of difference for me, thanks a million for your reviews!
My Tech Tip: I pack my MSI Wind into my Scooter’s GIVI box then visit my clients… some several hours out! Its a joy to be able to bring such a light computer out! But it can be hell trying to move files back and forth between the desktop and the laptop.
When I get back to my office, I sync up files to my desktop using UNISON File Synchronizer. It runs on Windows, Linux, and OSX. Best of all it’s FREE! Problem solved!
As a second tip, I have a second sync defined for things that are either non work related or don’t change too often. That way my start and end of day Sync runs quickly even over WIFI. These are my Music, Pictures, Videos, Reference files.
Lastly, I even used it to sync up with my clients web servers over the Internet! This way I can work remotely… do one sync to get any changes done by others… update several files and not have to FTP them one by one… and end up with a backup
If I win, there is a Christian Elementary & Hospital up in the Rice Terraces on the mountain range put up by a retired G.I. that our family has been helping out and that could definitely use some tech!
Coooool free stuff is always good.
I would have to donate the touch screen desktop to my parents because at the moment she is taking care of my grandmother who is very sick and she has little chance to communicate with the outside world.
I would have to donate the laptop to myself since I desperately need a new system and this would be perfect for when I’m on the run updating my site.
I would give away the rest of the stuff to other family members in need so they could keep in touch. A few cousins live far away and have new babies and we would all love for them to do the webcast thing and videochat so this would be perfect!
The best Mobile tech Tip. There are many
1. Using Google Sms channels to get email updates via sms updates. I always had problem because of the internet Bill going quite high to check my mail. SO what i did was i first made my email feed(gmail) free by using freemyfeed.com and then i created a Private Google SMS channel at labs.google.co.in/smschannels and then i had it running, Free email updates and then whenever i got Important mail i logged in.
2. Using The SMS search was the best as in India WIFI is not available everywhere and buying a WIFI enabled cellphone is too costly. SO i use Google SMS search.
3. I own a Sony K550i. If you know about it you would know about the Mobile Blog feature which allows users without logging into blogger’s site, on an GPRS enabled phone you can Publish posts with pictures to your blog. I am a frequent blogger and so this has worked out for me. It Rocks.
4. I used Scoopt. It is a website which allows fellow cellphone users to take snap shots of any news related pictures and then Scoopt.com sells those images to the press and you get 50% of the revenue. I earned about $75 during the recent Mumbai Terror Strikes.
5. This ones the last one. In India the SMS rates are quite low but when someone near you who has Bluetooth enabled and wants you to send a message to him you can use easyjack , a software which will allow users to exchange SMS messages using Bluetooth.
I currently have a Computer Which has got 512 ram , pentium 4 and is very slow. If i want to upgrade it’s Too costly. SO if i win i will Keep Touch Screen Computer with me as i always wanted one but the price was….. and also give away one laptop to my father who will use it for his office use. And for the remaining, i will donate it to the government school “Bharat Rachna” and also an orphanage “Bal Vidhya” near my house which will use it to teach computers to the Children who are not privileged as we are.
I hope i win.
If you Jailbreak your iphone, then set it up for ssh access, you could use it as ‘a usb flashdrive’. An alternative way to get this function is to again jailbreak the iphone, install a program called Netatalk which will connect your mac to your iphone using Appletalk and it should work just like an ole fashion drive(you would have to look for it in Cydia though)!
If I’m the lucky recepient of the HP Magic Giveaway I would keep all ither than give the mini-note to my mum over in Blighty (England), the 17″ laptop to my mother-in-law and the 14″ to my father-in-law.
Oh and good luck to all (you all deserve judgin by the great tips)!
There are a couple people around here like me who are poor and need to find a couple ways to get around the system to save a couple extra bucks. Well, since I take my laptop everywhere, I guess it’s time I spread the wealth. People are always texting me lately, they text me about their personal lives and I text back. The difference between those people and me is I don’t pay a penny for my text ;D. Anyone in the US (subscriptions for other countries are available) can do this, whether it is texting (text anyone in world with cellphone), or even calling someone (free from computer to computer, regular phones cost a little bit). There is a program that is free that lets you text. To text for free to anyone in the world, simply get AIM or iChat if you have a mac. No Joke! All you do on both chat clients is File, Send SMS and type your SMS and your done. When you send the SMS, it will pop up as your screen name on the AIM account. Skype is a full on calling program. Calling from computer to computer is free, but when you want to call anyone in the US, it only costs about 2 cents a minute for standard people, there is an upgrade where you pay $2.95 a month for unlimited calls in US (landline and cell), $5.95 a month for unlimited calls to Mexico (landline only) , and $9.95 a month for unlimited calls to 39 countries in europe (certain countries will allow cellphones, go to skype.com to find out) For Pennies a day, I say that’s a great deal.
What I would do with the computers is I would keep two for myself (to set up my base station) and give the other two away. My best friend in the world is much less fortunate then me, and I feel his pain. His family can barely afford food, rather then a computer. I try to help them out every month with donations, but unless they are on the tip of the iceburg they won’t take it. He needs a computer to finish his high school and make his way onto college. I would give one to him, and one to his family so they can have it. I’ll try to put as many programs that they will need on there for him so he won’t have to pay extra later. I just really hope I could help him more.
My best tip is simple- get into the habit of emailing your important draft work to yourself. I can’t tell you the number of times I needed a document and wasn’t at my primary machine and just a quick gmail search made everything all better.
I don’t have the discipline to do backups, nor do I have the time to use any app I am not using on a daily basis!
Scot
If you’re starting mobile guy road this could be helpfull:
1) remote desktop software – if you don’t have your stuff with you this is a way to acces it. Don’t use this as your primary way to get data. I’m using logmein (www.logmein.com), but there are other tools like VNC (www.realvnc.com) or windows Home Server (www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/eval.mspx).
2) centralize data –
use Live Mesh (www.mesh.com) or SugarSync (www.sugarsync.com) to keep your data synchronized. I have windows home server in my home so all my important data are accessible from one place.
3) backup, backup, backup. Use backup tool to backup your data. I’m using Home Server Backup and Acronis True Image (www.acronis.eu).
4) Keep your digital gadgets clean and ready to go.
Hope some of my folks get new pc’s this Christmas
BTW. sorry for my mistakes. English isn’t easy.
Thanks for the opportunity guys! Let see the best tech tip or advice I have ever received was about using Norton’s Ghost software. In my opinion, the development of Ghost is right there next to the creation of the universe! Ghost is an advanced disk cloning backup and recovery program that’s so easy to use, my Granny makes use of it! This software has saved me plenty of IT hours at work and at home. It’s absolutely essential for running software test labs, or when trying the latest Linux or Windows OS, or any new beta programs. I don’t know what you guys use at Tech Manor, when you install test runs of different OS versions, but trust me Ghost will save you hours on updating and software installing, etc.
This is a lot to give away. I recently bought a new HDX myself, so I’d probably just keep the netbook to try the “cloud” experience you guys talk about. My brother graduates from bootcamp Jan. 02, so he’ll need something when he goes on deployment, the HDX for him. My sister and her family are in desperate need of a new home pc system, the TouchSmart, printer, and Kung Fu Panda would definitely make a wonderful Christmas gift for her and the kids. I’m here in Georgia, and I’m sure you guys know who Clark Howard is, the save more, spend less and avoid rip-offs guy! Anyway, he does this big Christmas drive for kids in our foster care system here. I’ll probably give the other DVDs, Media Connect, and Pavilion to a couple of the group homes in my county. I’m sure these kids wouldn’t expect to see any gifts like this under the tree!
HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC for my wife cousin
HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live), HP Mini 1000 (with XP), HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer), HP 564 Photo Value Pak, Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses, Microsoft Windows Live, Corel VideoStudio X, Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray) for orphanage in Olsztyn, Poland.
HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC and HP MediaSmart Connect for me
I live in both worlds of Mac and PC, so my “solutions” tend to be hardware oriented.
1. Purchase a power adapater (such as Igo) with multiple tips. Use the adapter as your HOME power source, keeping the OEM with the laptop/UMPC. I tend to travel with only one unit, but use whatever at home. This way, I don’t have to continue to swap power adapters, just have to change the tips.
2. Purchase a PSP. It’s great for movies, games, and music, and more rugged than toting an iPod. I’ve seen more PSP’s in use on flights than laptops and DVD players.
If I win the contest, All but 1 or 2 computers will be donated to my grandsons Catholic school, or organizations my wife and I support.
Merry Christmas! And thanks for all the fish…
It is funny, almost evvery great tip I have gotten has been from this site. It prompted me to buy 4 computers, a ton of software, my iPhone, etc…
The best mobile tip I ever got (besides buying a new toy) is roboform. I teach online so I log onto SEVERAL education sites each day not including the forums I participate in, personal email accounts I must check, online bill pay services, etc… Roboform has allowed me to keep the passwords secure while transferring them to new computers (since I have 2-3 each year since reading this blog) with ease. My mom recently had her UX280 on because it had all the URLs she needed while she went back to the p1610 to type them in. If she had RoboForm that all would have been pointless.
I am sure I will give some of those gadgets away, but if I win I will be sure to write up a review of everything I keep and a description of where the others went.
Happy Holidays everyone!
My Best Mobile Tip
Well when I use Nokia E71 I learn a lot.. You can use your mopile as a camera and never miss an important event in your life.. And after that event you should always sync your files to your computer or else your phone memory will be full.
Never ever reach the limit of your memory card or else it will be corrupted try to retain about 20% of the memory.
What an amazing prize pack!!! My tip may not be exciting or groundbreaking, but I find this is the best way to keep my mobile devices running well.
For smartphones, in my case a Centro, make sure to sync your device often, as in once a day or every other day. I learned the hard way when I lost all of my appointments for the next month. Plus, since smartphones don’t have the power of a full computer, make sure to clean out your phone once a month. For example, get rid of files and e-mails that you backed-up elsewhere, or delete programs you no longer use. Extra programs can eat up memory, and that can be a device killer.
Well, that’s actually 2 tips, but for me, 2 very important tips.
Thanks for running the contest!!!
I’ve been to the HP giveaway sites and read the blogs. I see that no one wins with their sob stories. So I won’t give you another. Our family is so HAPPY! My mom is happily disabled at 42. I have had cancer removed, happy they had to take the cervix I am 23. My 22 year old sister has cancer and weighs 86 lbs. My 15 year old sister is depressed because our family is so happy! Oh by the way , myself and my 22 year old sister have a rare inherited blood disease called Dysfibrinogenemia, only 300 known cases in the entire world. We will probably not survive the disease. But who cares, we are happy! When you win your “Magic” I hope you don’t just give it to yourself, or college brother. But to a family who truly needs the “Magic. We have an organization in OH that gives you a rebuilt computer, not the greatest, but will help you out. Only one computer per disabled family. If by the “Magic” of X-mas we win. All the computer parts and broken computers will go to http://www.atohio.org/contactstaff.html. They will help the disabled. I just wanted to share my family’s happiness with you all. Thank you.
My best tip is to keep everything important backed up on a USB drive or External drive. I recommend backing up your digital photos anytime you upload more to your computer. I have a 2 year old and our computer crashed a few months ago. Everything was gone, but thankfully I only lost pictures from about 3 weeks since I kept backing them up. I have a 2GB drive that I keep in my purse and you can even use it at Walmart or somewhere that has photo developing to print off some photos while you’re out anyways.
If I won, I would give a laptop either to my aunt with 5 children under the age of 13, or to a guy I work with that got ate up by the housing market, he has two kids of his own. My aunt’s children would be able to use it to type up their school reports and to do research. The guy I work with had to file bankruptcy because he couldn’t sell a house. The other one I’d give to my daughter’s paternal grandfather. His work flies him all over the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico and puts him in hotels while the contract is going. He only has a cell phone, which often might not work depending on hotel location. I’d love for him to be able to take advantage of the free wireless to keep in touch with his family. The mini would be for my daughter. She’s super smart and has tiny fingers so Mommy’s computer is more difficult for her to use than a mini would be. I’d probably keep the printer and kick my old one over to my aunt so her kids could print out stuff they do on the computer. Thanks for the opportunity!
Marcia
With 3G, Edge, Wibro and god-knows what else we have these days, it’s basically difficult to not be online anymore. We’ve seen you (James) blog your way through a freaking tornado (http://tinyurl.com/blogging-rita), so that shows how powerful the internet is nowadays.
With that near-constant connectivity comes great functionality, like ‘living in the cloud’. Something that is growing on me more and more, and simply makes sense. People have more and more smart devices, and multiple computers to work with (be it your work- and home pc’s or laptop and desktop), manually syncing stuff is a tedious and tricky process.
So, my tech-tip would be; Go online. Really.
If you’re running a (small) business, use Google’s excellent email hosting for all your emailing and calendar needs (http://tinyurl.com/google-sb). You can of course sync them up with your desktop clients, or use tools like Fluid (OSX, http://www.fluidapp.com) or Google’s own Chrome browser (Win, http://www.google.com/chrome) to create an ‘application’ of your email, calendar or anything else.
Use a service like Dropbox (Free 2GB, http://www.getdropbox.com) or SugarSync (Paid, http://www.sugarsync.com) to keep your most important files online and in-sync on your multiple computers (if you have that). Also, Delicious (www.delicious.com) is great for saving (and using!) your bookmarks online. Google reader offers you a near-perfect online application for all your RSS needs (I recently replaced my desktop application for Google Reader).
For more sensitive data, and if your geek-level allows you to, using Subversion (subversion.tigris.org) for your work files, university documents or anything else is also great. Using an online service such as Beanstalk (beanstalkapp.com) or Unfuddle (unfuddle.com), and a desktop client like Versions (OSX, versionsapp.com) or Tortoise (Win, tortoisesvn.tigris.org) to easily control Subversion, your data is both safely (and securely) stored online, but it’s also fully versioned. you can always easily go back a version or two. Or twenty
.
That way all your most-important data is available to you at all times, and should your computer decide to die on you for whichever reason, no important data is ever lost. True mobility, true safety. The internet was never this helpful before!
–
As for the gifts, should I be so fortunate to win this amazing gift set, I would definitely share some of it. I would definitely give a laptop to my girlfriend’s mom, as she has no computer of her own and loves to check her blogs and forums, and play some online games every now and then. I would make my dad a very happy man with giving him the HP MediaSmart for christmas (no more lugging my mom’s laptop around whenever they want to watch a video!). The other laptop and the printer would be great for my girlfriend, she has a lot of university work, and being able to bring a laptop with her would make her university live oh-so much easier. As for the TouchSmart, I would be very tempted to keep that puppy for myself.. It would make the bedroom so much easier for whenever we watch a TV show together on bed. Oh, now you’ve got my geek-mind working full speed!
Either way, wether I win this fantastic set or not, I want to thank HP and you guys for truly living the giving spirit! It always makes me feel proud to be human whenever I see people share.
My tip would be for anyone who has an older Windows Mobile smartphone out there that is collecting dust.
The greatest thing you can do with these devices is flash the default carrier ROM with a custom one.
I recently did this for my T-mobile Shadow. The ROM I used was one based on the stock HTC S740 one. There’s a wiki up on the fantastic AllShadow.com website with instructions here:
http://wiki.allshadow.com/index.php/S740_Erofich
Basically it’s as simple as connecting your phone to your pc via active sync then running the installer linked off that wiki page.
About as painless as it gets.
Of course, doing this will wipe everything from your phone, so be sure to backup whatever you need first.
The “magic” here is in getting new features, abilities out of a phone you may have written off for good. In my case it meant getting a nice upgrade to WM 6.1, along with the smooth home screen that HTC gave to the S740.
The nice people over at the XDA Developers Forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/) have custom roms for just about every single HTC phone out there.
—
If I won this, I would be sharing the computers with family, since they all are in need of working computers of any sort. I’d keep that sweet Mini 1000 for myself though!
My tip would be:
If you have a box.net account and an iPhone, install the box.net app! Box.net is a great online file storage service where you can upload files, allow people to collaborate with you and allow you to access your important files from anywhere in the world. I use it to backup Uni work that I do and find it incredibly useful. The iphone app allows you to do everything you can do on the website but also allows you to automatically upload photos that you take with the iPhone’s camera and to keep track of who is viewing your files and their updates.
If I won, I would share the prize with the rest of my family. I would give the TouchSmart PC to my mum as I think she’ll be able to get the most benefit out of it because of how intuitive it is to use. (She’s not very good with technology) I would give one the the laptops to my brother as he’s always wanted a laptop, and give the other laptop to my dad as his current one is over 10 years old. I would keep the mini 1000 for myself as I think I would find it very useful to take with me to Uni.
Thanks for the opportunity,
James
backup backup backup. use cd’s/ dvd’s and or usb flash drive/ external flash drive. Yet another day at the office where a windows pc was virus infected ( why people just don’t by macs). all there photos from a recent holiday gone. I usually burn at least 2 copies of everything onto dvd’s, and if it is I’ll never get that document, or photo again put it also on a external Harddrive. Don’t expect the prints from the local photo developing lab to keep those memories either. I have seen some 2 year old prints fade and change colour. Shame when they are wedding photos.
If I won I would donate it to a local charitys who need it.
My best tech tip? Easy! Take care of your computer! People load all sorts of things on their computers, delete things off it without even giving a second thought to it. People often blame their computers slowing down on age, but in all honesty, if you take good care of it, even older computers can be fairly speedy. So, remember kids: Format, run an anti-virus software/anti-spyware/-anti adware software, and once every six months or so, go ahead and clean up your registry if ya need it! Computers aren’t cheap!
And as I’ve decided earlier, I would be keeping a computer myself, giving one or two to my family, and then donating the rest of the package to Child’s Play to raffle off. I think it would be an amazing chance for Penny Arcade to offer something nice for their readers to have a chance at, and the potential to make a lot of money for such a great charity. If you didn’t know, Child’s Play is a charity that donates toys, video games, movies, and stuffed animals to children’s hospitals and pediatric centers around the world. Their goal is to help children who have to spend time in the hospital feel a little less lonely/bored, and to give them something to take their mind off why they’re in the hospital.
The team of hackers iPhone Dev-Team has finally achieved what it believed Apple impossible: They have made the release of the total 3G iPhone with a simple software for them, which means that if you get a 3G iPhone now we can unlock the same as the classic iPhone and use it with any cellular provider that accepts SIM chips.
For now, however, this only works with 3G iPhones having the BASEband in version 2.11.07 or above. Those who are not aware, the BASEband is the operating system on the chip telecommunication iPhone, unlike the firmware that is the core operating system from the rest of the iPhone.
According to the hackers, they think this tool to remove Internet at the end of this month (possibly December 31).
I want to help a manolitompv of scarce resources that is in front of my house that resive boys and girls from an early age.
Best tech tip: learn more. Do research. All the time.
In the world of tech, knowledge is power. This has been so ever since the modernist revolution plagued the world with what we no know as rapid change. While the concept seems vague, it is highly applicable in all aspects of our life today. Especially when it comes to technology. You just have to know. Thinking of buying a piece of tech? Research the tech, and the market it resides in. You’ll get more for your money. Already have some tech equipment but need them to do more? Learn the capabilities of what you have, and see how far they can be pushed. There is no shame in asking, but great loss in not learning. This goes for electronics, gadgets, household items, everything really. No money? No problem! Price is not part of an analogy when it comes to freedom, so well proven by the Linux community that has made it possible for tech to reach those who could never afford it. Upgrading, switching platforms, finding the best tool for the job… all comes down to knowledge. Spread the love. Spread the knowledge.
I will be doing so myself, as I have an HP tx2000z for personal use already. The Mini will go to my girlfriend, as she doesn’t have a portable computer of any kind, making doing research in the library for her M.A. tedious. Similarly, we have to share my camera at the moment, so she will also get the camera. The HDX will go to my parents, as they have an entry level HDTV, but a ridiculously old desktop on a different floor of the house. Movie nights will finally be a reality for them. The Touchsmart will go to my housemate, his Asus Eee900 doesn’t cut it for his music production dreams (which is also part of his Ph.D. thesis). I will keep the printer, mine was killed by my cat this week. Office will go to someone who needs it (I use Evernote, OpenOffice). Corel I will use for my own Ph.D. thesis if it proves useful. If not it will be donated to an undergrad film student in my department. Kung Fu Panda will go to my girlfriend for her class of 10-12 year old army brats to watch.
I wish everyone good luck with the competition, many thanks to HP for this massive blowout and for the tx2000 I’ve had such a great time with so far, and more thanks to James and Kevin for an insightful window into the world of mobility.
Mobile devices, especially mobile laptops, are more prone than desktop computers to rough handling and damage. Data loss may occur without a proper backup scheme. To protect myself against such data loss, I backup my laptop daily. However, a general backup of one’s laptop, including system files and user documents, could span gigabytes and become massive and unmanagable quickly.
As I am lucky enough to run a flavor of the Linux operating system, I have an efficient and versatile solution. I use an open source python script, rdiff-backup, that provides the ability to backup selected directories, locally or over a network. It will send only the changes that occurred since the last backup, so the growth of the backup drive is slow, and it conveniently keeps a current mirror of your data available on the backup. It does not have a graphical user interface, but it may be automated by entering it in crontab or anacrontab. It has already saved me from one hard drive failure.
Useful information and links:
* rdiff-backup: http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/
* Debain-based distribution install command: apt-get install rdiff-backup
* Basic backup command: rdiff-backup /home /media/Backup/home
* See the man page (man rdiff-backup) for a host of configuration options.
Finally, note that I am not affiliated with the rdiff-backup development effort.
As a scholar finishing a Master’s degree, I know that technology increases the efficiency of research. The HDX 18 will serve as a powerful desktop-replacement platform for article- and book-length projects. I would love to use the HP mini as a mobile platform for notes and research. The battery of my current four-year-old laptop will no longer hold a charge, and a replacement is too costly.
The Pavilion dv4 laptop could be of use to a fellow graduate student who does not have a personal computer. I understand well the difficulty emerging scholars face without the convenience and
necessity of a personal computing platform.
My wife, also a Master’s student, will enjoy the HP TouchSmart, the printer, and associated media components. They will also help record our first pregnancy and our child’s early years, so our families, who live far away from us, can participate in this exciting time. Photographs and movies are merely substitutes for the presence of family, but the media can help maintain these important connections from across long distances.
My best tech tip is to make use of free on-line data storage to back-up important files while using a PC remotely (or just as general back-up storage for those with insufficient on-site storage). The negative to this is the data storage limit that most sites provide. The best I’ve seen is a site called Oosah.com, which provides 1 tb of on-line storage. That’s an amazing amount for a free site.
Sharing the wealth – I think that two of the PCs would go to a local library, which has more people waiting for free PC use that it has computers. An additional PC would alleviate the waiting. A second PC would go to a non-profit organization that provides bridge housing for single mom’s with kids. It houses the families for a limited period of time while the mom’s attend job training and search for permanent housing. That PC would be used for job search activities as well as general entertainment & homework help for the kids.
Thanks for giving me a chance to share.
My best tip comes from working with many people who are very computer challenged. Share everything you know and don’t just do it for them. Make them do it, multiple times. It takes the average person 12 times being exposed to something before they master it and can use it by themselves. So whenever I help my co-workers, family members, strangers… I’ll figure it out, and then make them do it a couple of times. I’m a teacher not a computer person… but this helps so I’m not showing the same person the same thing over and over.
The package would mostly go to my first grade classroom. They only get to use the computer lab once every six days so this would allow daily use and much better individualized instruction for my students. One of the lap tops would go to my husband who is going back to school in January.
The best tip I have has to do with wireless networking on a Window Vista PC. Have you ever played an online game, or perhaps streamed video over your network and noticed regular hiccups with about a one minute interval? It is a problem that a lot of people run into, and is due to Vista’s built-in network service. The reason this happens is Vista’s network service runs a constant background scan of all wireless networks at a one-minute interval.
The solution is to use the brilliant little program “Vista WLAN Optimizer” http://www.martin-majowski.de/wlanoptimizer/
It is a very basic program which functions to simply disable the background network check. Furthermore, when you exit the program, everything just goes back to normal. I and others have used it to great success.
My best tip is to gather all your old phone and donate them to women’s shelters. There are so many women who have had to leave their homes, some with their children, fleeing abusive spouses and to give them a way to get in touch with the ‘network of angels’ is something thatstays with you forever. Even donating your old cables and cords for phones that you don’t remember having could give just one woman a way to keep her phone working for that crucial few minutes.
*****
If I won, I would be looking to donate most of the items to a local school. I’ve been really impressed with the One Laptop Per Child initiative, but I think charity begins at home.
I’d keep Kung Fu Panda- I haven’t seen the movie, but the Panda on the cover looks so cuddly cute!
My best tech tip came from a post on Treocentral.com from Malatesta: So for anyone using a Treo, this is a great solution if you want Blackberry like push email.
The *best* solution for now (for myself), until either Google fixes some issues and/or Chatter gets updated, is this:
- Unlimited SMS
- Chatter
- Fastmail.fm account (“member” for 1-time fee of $14.95)
I then have Gmail forward my email to my fastmail.fm account, which then forwards an SMS to my phone via phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com.
Chatter is then setup to check email at fastmail.fm, but only when an SMS Trigger is sent with my fastmail.fm user name.
I send through Gmail’s SMTP server, so all email comes from Gmail and is logged there.
Benefits:
(1) HTML emails
(2) Push
(3) Excellent battery life, since Chatter only fetches when new email is there
(4) Fastmail.fm is IMAP, so low bandwidth/fast checking
Complicated? A bit. Took 10 mins to set up, but now I have pushed HTML email and the best battery life you can get–even better than polling.
First, for fastmail, you have to have the $14 “Member” plan as it allows forwarding, the free version does not. The $14 is just a one-time “setup” fee, then it’s free again.
————————————————————-
Gmail
In Gmail, go to Settings –> Forwarding & POP/IMAP
-Forward a copy to your Fastmail.fm account i.e. fastmail email address
-Keep Gmail’s copy in the inbox
Further down on the same page
- Enable IMAP
————————————————————-
Fastmail
Now go to your fastmail.fm account, Options –> Define Rules –> Forwarding
Message with: To/CC
That: Contains
The Text:
Forward to: @messaging.sprintpcs.com
Forward type: forward notifications only
Done/Save
————————————————————-
Chatter
In Chatter, set up a new account using the Fastmail template and just fill in your information.
Under the Edit Mailbox –> Deliver Tab
Offline: Check
QSync: NO Check
SMS: Check
In the SMS Space, put in your Fastmail email address, or even just using “@” usually works.
Under the SMTP tab, you can use Fastmail’s server or just use Gmail’s. I prefer using Gmails as you’ll have a saved copy under your sent folder.
Server: smtp.gmail.com:465
SSL: Must be checked!
Fill in your Gmail login information and return address.
—————————————————————
That should be it…
A note on performance: this isn’t as fast as true push, but I found I get most emails within 10 minutes of being sent, depending on how Sprint’s SMS system is working. Plus it takes a few moments for Chatter to do it’s thing.
Hope it works and I didn’t miss anything.
Thanks to JKontheRun for this opportunity. I will definitely be using the prize package to make lots of people happy.
Ellen
Here is my tip – keep your internet identity secure!
First, log into Facebook, Yahoo, MySpace, etc. and check their privacy settings. Make sure that you are not publicly searchable. Make all of your pictures, notes, etc. only visible to your friends and family. Make sure your primary email address is never posted.
Second, sign up for an email service that provides fake email addresses for you. For example Yahoo allows me to create an unlimited number of email addresses that begin with a word of my choice. I use these addresses to sign up for contests, advertisements, etc. When I notice spam being delivered to them, I can disable them! Too many people use their firstname.lastname as their email and post it all over the internet! This can compromise their identity!
If I win, I would be sharing the pcs with my new boyfriend and his children. They are unable to afford a pc and the kids need one for school. My mother needs the netbook as she is on a fixed budget and cant afford a pc, plus she only needs webmail and search capability.
Happy Holidays!
One of the things I share most with others (customers, family and coworkers): Use ActiveSync! It can turn your phone into one of the best media players on the market! I have used ActiveSync to put assorted movies and music on my phone. Now whenever I’m in class, on the road or on a plane, it is my mobile entertainment center (along with being a great phone too)!
I’d love to share this prize, not only with myself, but with my 3 other family members. I know HP is a wonderful brand. My old desktop doesn’t even have 500MB of RAM! The Mini would be great to take to class since I am a Computer Science major. My brother is a freshman in college and could definitely use a new laptop.
Love the promotion, and congrats to whoever wins the prize! – Brandon M.
Microsoft Mesh: this is an awesome program and website.
https://www.mesh.com/Welcome/default.aspx
You can sync your mobile devices, home computer, and laptop. It gives you the ability upload projects and files to the total of 5GBs. It also gives you the ability to collaborate with others on projects. The best feature is it’s free. I hope this tip is worthwhile for someone.
Jim
The best advice I can give any mobile computer user is to configure a second monitor and expand you desktop across both monitors at your primary working location. Nothing will increase your productivity or improve you computing experience as much as running dual monitors. And best of all most every mobile computer has a VGA output port enabling you to run two monitors “out of the box” – your mobile computer’s built-in display and a second free-standing monitor. In Windows, you can enable the second monitor by right-clicking on the desktop and select Properties from the menu (or select Display Properties from Control Panel). From the Display Properties dialog select the Settings tab, click on the image for the second monitor, and check the box below labeled “Extend my Windows Desktop onto this Monitor.” Close the Display Properties and you will now have two full monitors to open/place the windows for your running programs. By default your second monitor will be to the right of your primary monitor, but on the aforementioned settings page you can drag the icons of the primary and secondary monitors around so they are oriented as you have them on your desk (left-right, right-left, top-bottom, etc.).
I do plan to share part of this prize with the non-profit BuildingSTEPS, which is run by our good friend. It’s a great organization providing an opportunity for disadvantaged high-school students that show an aptitude in the sciences or math to go to college. Read more about it at http://www.buildingsteps.org/.
Thanks – Keith
My best tech tip is:
Choose a sequence of at least eight numbers and letters for your password. Use a meaningful, but silly phrase based on letters and numbers such as: My 6 year-old niece’s name begins with B becomes m6yonnbwB. If you can use a combination of uppercase and letters, even better!
Hope this helps someone out there!
I am going to give the first computer to my brother who is undergoing radiation treatment for brain lesions. He is 44 and works for the highway department. His budget has never allowed for tech gadgets and this would be great to see him through his illness.
The rest I would use in my classroom at Rome High School!
For those who heavily rely on their phones, it would be best to have multiple chargers (eg. car charger, a charger for home, another at work). But for instances when none of those can be used a hand-wound charger can prove useful, though unfortunately does not charge the battery for a lengthy conversation. Nevertheless, when only a few minutes worth of talking is necessary and there is no option to charge otherwise (outlet/car/etc), a hand-wound charger can be quite the savior.
What I love with my mobile device is streaming music from my home PC to where ever I am to my mobile phone using Orb. Free and easy and now I can get ALL my music anywhere!
Mobile Tech Tip: Keep CABs of all the software you use on your storage card, that way you can always get back to working condition if things go badly. Also, subscribe to a Microsoft Exchange service so that you can sync and get all your contacts and calendar items back quickly, even while on the go. I use Mail2web.com: http://live.mail2web.com/ It’s a free service and works like a charm!
The Magic: This gear would be shared with my sister and her son. As a single mom they can’t always afford the latest gear. This would help a lot.
Thanks JK!
Best Tech Tip: Download the SkyFire Mobile Browser! (www.skyfire.com). Skyfire is currently in Beta but is a great browser for your Windows Mobile or Symbian cell phone.
1. You can view webpages EXACTLY as you view them on your PC. Fast page loads, full audio, video, and images.
2. Not only is Flash supported, but Silverlight, Quicktime, Ajax, and plenty more applications and plug-ins are supported.
3.You can INSTANTLY send a webpage URL via SMS text to family members and friends.
4.Great zoom features. Also, NO scroll bars-use your stylus or finger to move the navigate the page to view content.
—SkyFire is a quick and easy download. Try it!
—If I win the HP Giveaway, I plan to share the package with my niece who will be attending college in August. Also, I am currently working on a Non-Profit Organization in which provides desktops and/or laptops to under-priviledged children. My sister currently has a program in which she works with children with cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, and a after-school program. I am planning to give items to some of those children also.
Thanks !!!!
Wow, there are too MANY tips to just pick one. So, I’ll give you my top three.
1.) find a backup solution that works for your platform and USE IT! Setting up email accounts, all the email, all the applications, all the settings, all the registry hacks takes time and if anything fails then it has to all be done over again. I like Sprite Backup for winmo devices, which are the ones that I use the most. For iphone users, backup is done nicely with itunes. For blackberry users, cradle your blackberry with the dock and pick your backup preference. JUST DO IT! If your device needs a hard reset, pop in the backup and TADA, you’re back to rights!
2.) Get a GPS and location based search application. for winmo devices, I really like the Microsoft solution of Live Search. This does GPS and is a GREAT search solution which includes SPEACH RECOGNITION which makes it truly useful while driving and such. Dare I say it is MAGIC how well it works. All platforms offer some type of GPS and Search product. GET ONE!
3.) Buy a TRACK BACK sticker and put it on your device! There are many types of these programs, which associate a private ID# to your device with a toll free 800# for a goodly citizen to call in to, WERE THEY TO FIND YOUR DEVICE! I am a believer that if you give people an option to DO THE RIGHT THING, they will. I like a product called STUFFBAK. For just a few bucks, you get THREE stickers. Then, you put in a reward amount. If anyone finds your device, they call the number and turn it in. Sure, they could probably figure out your number, call the service providor, etc. But, there is a REWARD with a service like Stuffbak and that might be JUST the incentive the average joe or jane might need. Getting your stuff back is awesome, having some anonymous person do the right thing, PRICELESS!
I don’t NEED a lot more computers, so I would plan to give away all but one of them. Okay, I might keep ONE AND the mini notebook.
Locally in the Bay Area, we don’t to a charity called the SHELTER NETWORK. This charity is for people who have lost their way so to speak, and are without housing. The thinking is, that without the most SIMPLE of needs fulfilled, like a warm place to stay, the average person just cannot get enough momentum, emotional and physical to pull themselves up and out of whatever dire situation that they might be in.
The organization is ALWAYS in need of computers and we have sourced computers for them in the past to help. But, of the people who are IN the program there are often kids, very bright kids who are working JUST as hard as their parents to keep moving forward. Many of them DO excel in school and get good grads and often are getting scholarships to colleges and universities, but for the most part this funding DOESN’T pay for a computer – which is a necessity for ANY student. I would like to setup a small grant and challenge for all the kids in this situation, that the one with the most NEED, and the one with the highest grades, would be given the computer of their choice for their college start! So, it would give the kids a target and give us ALL the opportunity to GIVE!
congrats on a GREAT program, and thanks for not making me create a video!!!
Happy Holidays and good Cheer.
Really, using Windows Live is the best way to go. There’s Live Mesh, but it’s still in beta, and mobile client is still in limited release.
Grab a Windows Live ID and follow the steps.
First, you get the Services, which are the websites that give you online storage, photo albums online, social features, mail, etc. Sign in for the ID and you are ready. Go to http://home.live.com/ and start. Mobile version is http://mhome.live.com/
Then we have the Essentials, which are the PC clients that complete the experience. Go to http://download.live.com/ and grab the entire Windows Live Essentials Wave 3 Suite.
You get the installer. It will prompt you to select which programs to install: Mail, Photo Gallery, Messenger, Writer, Toolbar, Movie Maker, Silverlight, Office Live Add-in. Choosing Photo Gallery or Toolbar installs Sync. If you have one “essential” program already, it will only be updated.
You can choose to install Sync separately at http://sync.live.com/, which I recommend to get full access to its features, which is also available for Mac.
After the installation, your are ready to sign in once with your Live ID and get setup.
The benefits of Windows Live are:
A)You can upload photos to be viewed online; including multiple files and folders. All with 25GB of storage.
B)You can sync your photo libraries with multiple computers.
C)You can sync your favorites online and between computers.
D)Sync folders and files p2p between computers.
E)You stay connected to your friends wherever you are, and give them the latest on what you are up to.
F)Publish online easily wherever you are.
G) Access your mail offline!
H) Collaborate with your friends in groups, events, shared files, favorites and folders.
I) Never miss a thing. An event, or a file you need.
The opportunities are wonderful and the services are fully integrated. All of this can be done wherever you are: on the web, on your PC, or mobile.
Using Windows enhances the experience.
It’s awesome that you are part of the Giveaway. I will share the magic of the giveaway in closed family, as we are all in for new computers.. Though i may share the magic by donating a piece to a poor school, charity or social working group.
I see that my best mobile tip was already mentioned once in a previous post but since I think it is a very good one and one that has provided me with the most “magic”, I’ll use it again.
Any one who has and uses a Windows Mobile device, a Palm OS device, a Blackberry or an iPhone should get a copy of Ilium Software’s eWallet (http://www.iliumsoft.com/). It is a piece of mobile software (and synching desktop software, too) that allows you to store passwords, PIN numbers, credit cards, bank account information, website usernames, memberships and more on your device all protected by 256-bit AES encryption. I use it a lot for multiple things. First, I keep my credit card information in eWallet because I don’t always carry all of my credit cards in my physical wallet. With eWallet I have all the information I need at hand. Each credit card entry has all of the same information that is on the card itself (name, card number, expiration, CVC#, PIN #, customer service phone number, website and login credentials and even a custom note. I use this most often if I am ordering something online but don’t have my wallet or a particular card. I always have my phone with me though. And if I should lose my wallet, not only do I not have to worry about losing all of my credit cards but I still have all of the information necessary to call and cancel the ones I was carrying. I also keep my bank account information there (Bank, account number, routing number, PIN #, website, etc.). Another cool feature is the ability to attach files to your password protected entries. Have a picture or scan that you’d like to keep secure but have access to on your phone? Create a Picture Card in eWallet and add the original file as an attachment. A secured copy is saved inside your encrypted wallet so you can delete the original but still retain the protected copy and extract it whenever you need it! Cool!
What has provided me with the most comfort though is all of the other items I can store in eWallet. I keep all of my travel and loyalty membership information in it so I don’t have to carry all of those little ID cards with me. Have a lot of online memberships? No problem. Create a category or categories for all of your online memberships so you can create unique strong passwords and keep track of all of your logins in one place, even when you don’t have access to your e-mail. Have multiple family members? I love eWallet because I have not only my account numbers and so forth but I can also keep track of other, less used numbers and information. I know my library card number by heart but if I want to check something out that my girlfriend has on reserve I can’t do it with my number. Thanks to eWallet, I always have her card number handy so I don’t have to bother calling her and risk not getting hold of her.
So, maybe it’s not “magic” but it is definitely an extremely useful tool and very inexpensive too.
If I win this incredible prize package I will definitely share some of it with my family. My dad is still using a 10 year old Compaq tower that was meant to be replaced a few years ago but has never happened. It is incredibly slow and even the simplest of web browsing tasks is near impossible because of the old hardware.
I’d also give a computer or two to my brother and his fiancé because they recently announced that they decided to get married in January (!) in Florida and, while I’m still not sure if we can afford the trip down I would like to, at least, be able to give them a smashing wedding gift. If it’s all the same, I’d really like to keep the printer because my old Canon i250 just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Thanks much for this contest and opportunity and good luck everyone!
best mobile tech tip…..?
I guess depends on the user and the uses….
Playing with various tools over the years here is where I currently set and find to be the best help.
Windows Mobile device of your choice. Touch Pro is my device of choice. Couple that with a redfly companion and the WinMo device really shines in features and functions. Make sure you run a remote desktop application. Logmein.com is the one I prefer. Oggsync for my corporate outlook account on the cell to google calendars and contacts. This helps me keep my work and personal time lines in sync. Man I was getting in trouble a lot missing this event or that event before I found Oggsync.
After that I live in the cloud via google and it’s notes, readers and such. Live(MSN) is coming on board in the same arena. And customers/clients love there MSN and windows products. To increase my cloud depency is the logmein tool to where if I need a direct tie to a corporate server or my personal computer, then I’m in remotely.
Then the best tip after that is, for mobile access,always have a back up connection. don’t count on wifi spots. they could be down or drained by college kids doing projects or one of many other growing nitch group sucking the life out of the bandwidth. I do love my EVDO cards and look forward to the pocket MIFI that should be coming out soon.
What would I do with the goods? Use them with the rest of my family. My wife could use a laptop to build her power point presentations for her Dare classes she teaches, as well as her zune collection. My son (16 years old) or my daughter (11 years old) would love either of the mini or other laptop for school studies, honest dad! yeah right they would see more zune/itunes & myspace pages then anything. My son (9 years old) and step son (9 years old, and only day older then his step bro) both love the hp magic touch. every time we walk into best buy or circuit city it’s the first place they run to. (if not, its the second place only because the line to the rock band demo is way to long.) my step daughter (6 years old) lets face it, she’s just thrilled if what ever computer she can play with can go to barbie.com and/or play an audio book. audio books are the bomb to her if they are about princesses, fairies, or tinker bell. The bomb factor is not up for discussion with her.
Any how it would definitely free up or computing bottle neck with the family as we have one family computer and the Q1 that I use for work and the kids just can not see why dad wont share even though they promise not to crash it or anything.
good luck on your picks guys as you got some really good ones.
and yes it was all the good articles about sammy is why I’ve got a Q1 “qwon”
Merry christmass to one and all!
Dropbox – I have been using a free 2GB account (http://www.getdropbox.com) and it has made my life a lot easier, especially in connection with a modified SendTo: folder.
When you sign up for Dropbox and install the client app, it will create a special Dropbox folder (“My Dropbox”) on your hard drive, where you place and receive files that are copied to and from your account upon (re-)connecting.
To make “dropboxing” files even easier, create a shortcut to this folder in your SendTo: folder (Windows key + R, enter “SendTo”). Now you can copy any file to your Dropbox folder simply by right-clicking it and selecting the Dropbox entry in the “Send to” entry. (Visit http://forums.getdropbox.com/topic.php?id=985 for additional tips.)
For an optimal experience, also change the shortcut icon (right-click, “Properties”, “Change icon” button, “Browse” to find directory) – the original Dropbox icon is contained within “dropbox.exe”.
This way, I don’t need to use my USB thumbdrive to copy files from one laptop to another and can also access all of my Dropbox files online at getdropbox.com.
_
In case I am selected as the lucky winner of this great competition, I would like to keep the HP TouchSmart and the HP Mini 1000 to replace my trusty Motion LE1600, which I have been using for the last two and a half years. I think the Pavilion and HDX notebooks as well as the HP PhotoSmart printer and all software could be put to great use in a school in Mississippi – a student association at my former university has been traveling there regularly for the past five years to help in local communities in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity (their website is at http://www.mad-ev.org (German) ). I am sure they know a school that could use the equipment. Lastly, I would give the HP MediaSmart Connect to Scott from Michigan, who was my best friend’s host dad during his high school year abroad. When asked whether I could also stay with them for two weeks, he and his wife immediately agreed and were truly amazing hosts.
James and Kevin, thanks for having this great contest! To you and all readers: Happy holidays and all the best for 2009.
I’m here to GET tips, I really don’t have any original tips of my own. Can I still win? I need a laptop so I can surf the internet while laying in bed. The rest of the prize would go to the Women & Children’s shelter (WCA) in Boise. They offer their clients assistance to succeed on their own and many of them need a personal computer for work.
Tech Tip: Adjust the battery thing when you are using it to decrease your performance when you are going wireless. Turn off the Wi-Fi if you don’t need it because it eats the battery. For things you need to remember, make calender events and use it to alarm you because your phone will always be around you.
My use: I want to share the joy of the holidays with many people with this prize. I would give my dad one of the notebooks because he has yearned one for long but we won’t be able to afford one this year due to the economy. He has given me so much and I feel this would be one reward. Another laptop would be given to this short-term crisis prevention hotline that helps the Charlottesville community. They need a new computer to use for day-to-day operations and for volunteers to use. The rest would be given to random people with me going around being a sort of “Secret Santa”. The joy that it brings me to bring a smile to someone’s face would be priceless. You hear about these people in the news and I have always wanted to do something similar so this would be my chance. I could document the whole process and provide stories/pictures of the process for the blog. I would only keep one of the notebooks for myself.
Buy a mac and an external hd and use time machine. Quit using windows computers. Buy an iphone.
Ok…
I have more than 1.
Live Mesh – Sync, share, and access the information you care about—wherever you happen to be. as well as remote access to all your PC
shozu – lets you upload pictures from your mobile phone to facebook, flickr,blogger, twitter and more.
dashwire.com – let u sunc your cell phone data on the website… and much much more.
The most useful has to be xda-developers.com
My tip is to get a smart phone and use it to it’s full capability. I have a Sidekick and I load MP3s on it, use the calendar, connect with my friends on myspace, email, I use twitter on it, and I can publish photos through it also. very functional and time-saving!
OOPS! I forgot to include what I would do with the prize pack… my comment is above (Posted by: Angie | December 17, 2008 at 3:17 pm )
I’d share some of the package with the local Battered Women’s shelter so some of the kids can learn about technology and maybe the moms can use it to get a degree online – that’s one thing they don’t have there – computers you can use!
At the moment, the pickings for netbook cases are pretty slim and lacking in really cool options. Thankfully, there are some really nice, practical and good looking cases already out there for things the size of your netbook, but you won’t find them at Best Buy. Next time you’re in a big bookstore, a Wal-mart or a christian shop, take a moment to look at the bible cases. They’re designed to hold a good sized bible (dimensions usually comparable to a netbook) securely in place while also holding other things like a paper notbook, pens and things that fit in small pockets. They are usually reasonably priced, come in a very broad range of colors and materials and the majority of them have no religious decorations – the only way someone will know what your case was for is if you tell them.
Now, for me, this would end up going to the family, spread out among the younger ones who haven’t really got their feet under themselves yet.
Fantastic thread. thank you guys.
-Rob D.
My tech tip is to combine KeePass (or KeePassX) Password Safe and Dropbox.
I use KeePass Password Safe to store any sensitive passwords (which, lets face it, are most of them). I can use a looooong pass-phrase to secure my list of passwords, and then have easy access to all my passwords. KeePass is Open Source, which means the code is reviewable, so I have a high level of certainty about the product. This is good.
I then put my password file into my Dropbox. Now, whenever I update my KeepPass password file, it gets automatically replicated between my computers–my work PC, my home server, my home laptop, etc. And, if I need, I can access my password file from the web. And remember, if I don’t have my looooong pass-phrase I am not able to open the KeePass file, so I am confident that my passwords are safe.
Niice.
My best technology tip is to any who use Windows Vista. I have seen on my sisters and moms computers (Compaq and Sony, respectively [i have a Mac]) that after an unexpected sleep or hibernation, like after a power outage or loss of battery on a laptop, the Sound can go haywire. If you get a message on the sound that says that no audio output device is installed, the solution is simple. Go into the Control Panel>Devices>Sound and uninstall the sound driver. Then, restart and voila, you have sound.
I would likely give the Mini to my sister, give the touchsmart to my Dad, and the dv4 to my mom. I would also give the HDX to the local Homefront Shelter as their computers are getting very old. Great post, great job staying the same while switching to WordPress
my best tip truly is to check your own services before BUYING a new product. I recently got a new phone and it wasn’t even compatible with my service. Its so simple but something you don’t think about when you see a new gadget on the market. Now Im stuck with a $500 phone I cant even use.
For my entry:
First, thank you for this contest. I have entered almost all the HP giveaway contests out there because I am that determined to win.
For as long as I can remember I have been surrounded my heros in everyday life and I believe it has turned me into one. While my aspirations have all yet to be reached, I do strive daily for excellence in family and business.
When my husband joined the military, I really didn’t know what to think. We were both young and like all young people, we “went with the flow”. 4 months after entering the Air Force, right out of college, 9/11 hit and the world changed drastically and so did our new marriage. Now my husband was on trainings and trips and school like we had never thought before and it was whirlwind for years. But we settled into it and were able to be a part of something great.
At the end of 2005, my husband was taken to Afghanistan and left me in a city alone, with no family or friends, to care for our then 10 month old. But rather then crawl in a hole, which some days I felt was the only option, we worked together overseas and created a charity for Afghan orphans. I worked diligently over here in the states to attract attention for the program, sometimes emailing and getting on the phone for hours and hours a night, trying to get news attention, and my husband worked in Afghanistan, finding out what we needed to do to complete our ideas. Eventually the project was picked up by some local media and it spun from there. We were able to collect over 1200 kites around the world to send to orphanages in Afghanistan to give those children a small glimmer of hope. Through the military and the US embassy, we were able to ship them over and have them passed out. Ill never forget the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. Unfortunately, with my husband now on his way home in 2006, without a liaison there, the project was impossible to continue.
I spent the next two years launching myself into project after project online and quickly became a ‘go to guru’ for help with moms wanting to start online boutiques. I created countless resumes for strangers, websites for strangers, and help create and launch several online businesses. Throughout all this, I wanted something that was for myself, my own. I had dabbled in a bit of everything and finally found something I loved other then just being a consultant. I started my own business in fall of 2007 on eBay, that eventually moved into a full time store online where I was able to work from home. I invested in my products and hand created everything. Single handedly I was able to get my product into stores and sell off my website. But then a fire struck in Jan 08 and I lost all my materials, we lost all our brand new Christmas presents, our couches, our mattresses, our linens, everything in the kitchen…the list goes on and on. Worse, we were exiting the military in a few weeks, and with only the clothes on our back. The items that made it through the fire and soot damage were sent to a professional cleaner, where they spent several months “restoring”. Meanwhile, I moved in with our daughter to my mother in laws, while my husband too his first civilian job in another state.
Eventually the rest of our household goods arrived, and the good old military managed to break half of what made it out of the fire. It just seemed to never end. But the great thing was that we could all move together and my daughter and I were able to meet up with my husband, find a place to live, and literally start over. New household goods, no military, new state, new job….
I started my business back up again and it has been great. I cant afford all the newest technology to keep it running as effectively as I would love to, but I am blessed with what I do have. I also started a blog and have been very fortunate to meet with and spend my days with mentoring and connecting with other women with aspirations like myself. I have been trying to do my best to create content that assist women that were in my position and realize that things just happen to us, that we cant control everything, but we CAN control how we feel and react in life. It would have been easy to pack it up so many times, but NOT doing it, is a testimony of strength.
In the upcoming year, I am expanding to include a nonprofit. My past has inspired me to know that what I need to do in life isn’t done. All my experiences have given me an amazing idea that I am going to go forth with and should be ready in January 09. This equipement IS the start of this new project for me. It could be the foundation of the new office and being able to start with zero debt and create from get go, would be incredible.
I feel like life is a journey. Something that you cant count on everyday to be the same, but you can create and mold what you get out of it.
What I would do with the other computers is pass the magic. There are so many ideas for the other computers. I have people in my life that have touched me and could use them, but I honestly want to take one into public, go to a mall, and stop people and ask about their years, their life, how they have been affected the last year and then LIVE reward someone in front of anyone that walks by, and change their Christmas with a computer right then and there. I would love to take a camera and capture someone’s joy with a random act of kindness from a stranger and share it with the world on you tube. I hope it could inspire others to pick an angel off the tree and give as well.
I also would like to take one computer and give it back away to someone on my blog. The reason is because we did a Christmas of dreams giveaway and I was able to solicit over $2500 worth of items and give it to three people that really needed it (one to a woman that lost her husband, one to a growing family that has been through some hard times, and one to someone to hand out to the local hospital where her child was at), but there were so many more deserving stories and lives. I would like to pick one more out and give one away.
The last computer I would like to keep as the first donation to the charitable foundation I am starting. If I won, not only would the equipment help in launching, but be the first actual donation that would go on to be something greater. Its just amazing to think about.
I hope this story shows you that I am someone whom tries her best to be a part of something bigger and beyond who just I am. I will continue to give and know that I will be blessed in return.
Thankyou for the chance,
Trisha Haas
http://www.momdot.com
Seeing how this is a mobile blog, here is a tip on how to stay mobile for cheap
. I had multiple tips but this is my best one.
The best part about mobile devices is that you can take them everywhere, right? But what if you don’t have wifi nearby? Seems kinda like a barrier for a mobile device which relies on the internet. Cellular data plans are also very expensive; Verizon charges $60 for 5GB of wireless transfer monthly, or $40 for 50MB.
So, here is my tip. If you need to access the web from anywhere, but can’t spend a lot of money, you can get unlimited data for $10.50 a month. That is, if you don’t mind dial-up speeds.
Basically, we’re using Boost Mobile phone here, then tethering it.
http://plans.boostmobile.com/paygo.aspx and choose paygo basic. Make sure to add the 35 cents a day wireless web service.
Before plugging your phone in to your pc, install these files:
http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/support/software/usbistallation.jsp
http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/support/showSoftwareDownloads.do
(install the usb modem)
Create a dial-up connection using the iDen USB modem and enter “S=2#777″ as the phone number.
And it should work. Cheap mobile internet
Disclaimer: As far as I know this is not against their TOS. However, if it is, and this doesn’t work, then don’t blame me.
If I win this prize package I will distribute it around my house, we are in need of some technological improvements here.
Tech Tip: Viewing RSS feeds on the go, WITHOUT a mobile data subscription! Some people have a hard time dealing with the extra costs of mobile data, but would love to read daily rss feeds (full, with all pictures) while outside using a pda/smartphone. My tech tip is to use two programs: Sunrise XP, and a Plucker viewer for your mobile device. This technology is so old the developers seem to have abandoned the projects, but the programs still work and are free. Sunrise XP can be set to download all your rss feeds to your computer, and do so with a timer (so you can leave your computer on and wake up, and all the feeds will be ready to go). Simply copy the plucker files onto your memory card, and use the plucker viewer to read them!
For Windows Mobile: The plucker program is called “Vade Mecum”. Free.
For Palm: The plucker program is simply called “plucker”. There are multiple versions of plucker viewers for palm, and even symbian. Also free.
This was the only way I could read jkontherun “on the go” in the past. I don’t think many people know about plucker stuff anymore, but it’s still one of the only free solutions to view rss feeds. My tech tip can apply to any website as well, since sunrise xp can be set to download entire websites automatically and store them onto a mobile device. That is what mobile technology is all about, cheap guys finding free solutions to do what they want (James speaking on mobiletechroundup).
How to get Free ringtones on iphone with no hacks
1. ON windows go to start>My Documents>Tools>Folder Options
2. View Tab> Uncheck “Hide Extensions for unknown filetypes”
3. Open up itunes
4. Pick a song that is 30 seconds long.(if not make a song 30 seconds long)
5. Right click select “Convert selection to AAC”
6. Now drag the converted song to the desktop
7. change the song name from “.m4a to .m4r”
8. Drag that back into itunes
9. Snyc into itunes.
10. CONGRADULATIONS you just got free ringtones on the iphone with no hacks.
This tip will appear to make your web browsing more smoother, efficient and even more comfortable for your fingers.
When typing an address into your web browser, most browsers will let you press enter and add the ‘http://www’; prefix at the beginning however, unless you have a custom DNS server to accept website names without typing the ‘.com’ at the end, you will have to type out this suffix – which whilst it is quite a simple and small task to do, can be easily averted by simply pressing ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Enter’ after you type in the name of the website you wish to visit. The browser will take care of the rest.
E.g. instead of typing ‘www.facebook.com’, simply type ‘facebook press
‘Ctrl+ ‘Enter’ and away you will go.
And if I was to have the honour of being chosen …
• I would give the TouchSmart to my one in a million disabled cousin who cannot type or talk.
• Put the Pavilion DV4, MediaSmart Connect in a raffle for school’s Lenten charity focus09.
• Donate the HP Mini 1000, Photo Value Pack Corel, Visual Studio for fundraiser raffle for my local church.
• Donate the Kung Fu Panda DVD to Saint Vincent’s Charity.
• Use the HDX18, wireless printer and office suite to help me get through school
THANKS for your time!
Not being a tech guy myself, my mobility tip is that you should make friends with tech people. Send them birthday cards, always keep in touch, because one day you will need them. If you are on the road and something goes terrible wrong, who ya gonna call? That’s right the tech guy you gave those basketball tickets to. You see my point?
How am I going to divi-up the prize? The HDX and the media extender are keepers. My girlfriend would get the Mini. The Pavilion would go to my sister, and my father could use the TouchSmart. I am sure I can find a nice home for the printer as well.
The best mobile tech tip I have is this: before a meeting, put your phone on silent, minimize your email, mute your laptop, and spend more time looking at the presenter than your device.
If I win, I know a family that is in desperate need of a new computer, and I would give them one from the prize package. My sister and her two nieces would receive the Office 2007 and a Kung Fu Panda DVD.
My tip is to carry an SD card that flips open to a USB, I use this all the time it is normally stored on my camera and if I need to access a file just take it out and stick it in my laptop or if I need to get a file passed on to me I have the choice of using it as either an SD card or USB stick. Very versital.
The tip I have and I use quiet often is : I travel a lot and there are places where i am not able to get internet/broadband (yes there are still such places). To meet such conditions I have got an internet plan on my mobile and whenever I go to such places I just connect my phone and access the web easily. All you need to do is to install necessary software for your phone and you are ready to go.
My tip is for netbooks running, linux like all good netbooks should, connecting to the internet on the road using a windows mobile device install the latest ubuntu 8.10 (or any distro with network manager 0.7). Enable connection sharing via usb plug in the phone and you will be connected in seconds. A second tip is if you have a mythtv setup to record your tv and your behind a nat router forward an obscure but personally meaningful port on the router to the myth box on port 80 then with mythweb setup (securely I would advice) also setup dyn-dns for a domain on a dynamic IP you can type http://your.dyn.dns.addr:/mythweb and you will be directed to a mythweb interface where you can schedule recordings and also watch recordings especially if you have the flash player setup correctly.
EDIT: my post didnt print the address to get to mythweb correctly it should have been http://your.dyn.dns.addr:obsure port]/mythweb ie http://joeblogs.ath.cx:123456/mythweb
My best tech tip (thus far) is: learn how to use a virtual machine to run a virtual Operating system. You can download either Virtual PC 2007, VirtualBox or VMWare to do this (for free). Linux operating systems are obviously free, but you will need to purchase a license to use a Microsoft OS (I paid ~ $60 for an educational version). There are dozens of free Linux distros available, but my recommendation (for its ease of use would be Ubuntu @ ubuntu.com). If you feel like making that decision, check out http://distrowatch.com/. Reason #1 for caring about virtual machines, in my opinion, is that your physical computer is protected from whatever viruses your virtual machine may have contracted especially if your computer supports hardware virtualization. Please check out this Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine) on this topic because I don’t want to hijack this comment thread. Reason #2 for this being a good tech tip is that you can test the compatibility of programs inside a virtual machine before actually installing it on your computer. Oh, and if you screw something up on the virtual machine, you can “undo” your changes. I use my virtual machine a lot (Microsoft Virtual PC 2007) to run a legit copy of Windows XP Pro SP3 and it has allowed me to experiment with the operating system in ways that I would have been ’scared’ to if I didn’t have it running in a virtual machine. Installing a virtual operating system inside VirtualBox or Virtual PC is actually simple and any issues that may arise are google-able.
I have little formal computer training, but I was able to learn this.
Now, to take full advantage of the power of virtual machines & virtual operating systems, your system needs to be fast. This is where the HP magic giveaway would make my day.
I would donate the TouchSmart PC and Corel VideoStudio X2 to the Center for Teaching and Learning at a local college in my area. I would also donate the dv4 laptop, 1 office home 2007 license, Printer, photo pack & Kungfu panda dvds to a local shelter for homeless families in my area. The hp mini & 1 office 2007 license would go to my sister-in-law who is a teacher to help with her teaching duties. The HDX would become mine as my husband would inherit my dv9700t HP laptop and the MediaSmart would remain with us too.
Thanks!
Jane
My tip applies to all who have any mobile device- Handphones, laptops, you name it, as long as it has a battery. Always calibrate your device monthly as that’d ensure that you get a more accurate reading of how much battery life you have left. For iPhones/Macs,
-Fully charge your device and let it charge for another 5 hours
-Remove it and start using it till the warning for low battery comes out. Continue using it till it goes in to sleep mode, and leave it there for another 5 hours
-Start charging it till it’s full and leave it charging for another 5 hours
There you go!
Also, I intend to give the HP Mini 1000, HP Pavilion dv4 Entertainment Notebook PC and Microsoft Office Home & Student Edition to my cousin. She’s divorced with 2 kids, and her estranged husband is only giving her a small allowance which leaves her barely able to cope, with 2 kids, of which one has undergone multiple operations. These 2 laptops will allow them to utilize it for their school work, along with Microsoft Office.
I’d also like to give away the Corel VideoStudio X2 & Windows Live to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which will hopefully grant someone a wish.
Cleaning your Windows XP Registry
The App I currently use is Microsoft Reg Clean,it cleans any uninstalled apps and issues that you may have on your computer and if you have any error and just click fix errors when finished it will create a registry key file and in that file it will all the changes in your registry, this is the best way that I keep my registry cleaned.
Jeff- HP HDX 18 Series Premium Notebook
Willie-HP Mini 1000
Chris- HP Pavilion dv4 Entertainment Notebook
My Dad the HP MediaSmart Connect
Faye-HP Photosmart (She needs a new printer)
myself- HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC
Wow, lot’s of contestants!
Here’s my tech tip. Google Docs – forms. Turn your Google spreadsheet into a form. Share it with everyone and anyone. You now have the ability to collect data from any and all who will fill out the form. A voting machine if you will. Data is collected directly into spreadsheet form. Simple and powerful. (Just think how much work this would have required not too long ago.)
El mejor consejo que les puedo dar es que si descargan musica, videos, o cualquier tipo de documento, tiene que tener un antivirus al dia, que les pueda asegurar una proteccion ante todas las amenazas que hay. Otro consejo es que no pasen visitando paginas web de dudosa seguridad asi como abrir cualquier correo electronico que les llegue.
The best advice I can give you is that if you download music, videos, or any type of document, you have to have an antivirus update, which can provide protection to all the threats that exist. Another tip is to not spend visiting websites of questionable security as well as open any mail that arrives.
I´m from El Salvador, but right now I´m on vacatios at Indiana. If I win this contest I would take all to El Salvador, and I will keep for me the HP HDX 18t Premium series, beause I´m in my last year on college so that will be a very helpful to me. Now to help others the rest of the package I´ll give it to the university where I go, that is Don Bosco University, is one of the best of my country, but as you know that is a third world country, so we have only the basic things, because over there we don´t see this wonderful technology, because is too expensive, many of the people make $200.00 a month so if very difficult buy something like this. But I´ll put one condition to them, that everything will be only use by the students, because I don´t want that any staff of the university will take it for them, and I know that all this equipment will serve to them a lot, and all those thing will be a useful tool, and will do amazing things for knowledge, So help me, to help them!
Just remember the word NOOB!
“N” – News –> Keep yourself updated with the latest news about version updates and/or latest software releases to make your devices improve it’s efficiency and to greatly enhance the performance of your devices.
“O” – Organize –> Delete unnecessary files you don’t need and save multiple contact numbers of a friend in one contact entry to make things manageable & easier to find. Organization is the simplest way to improve your relationship with your devices.
“O” – Off –> To make your battery last much longer turn off your WiFi, Bluetooth and/or 3G connections when not in use. Not only can you save battery but it will also protect you from potential treats from viruses, possible hacking and could greatly cut down the cost of your bill from unwanted use of these services.
“B” – Backup –> To avoid losing important data in any unfortunate event that may happen to your device you MUST backup. You can use the CD software that came with the box when you bought your device to securely back-up/synch your most important files, appointments, itineraries and precious contacts. A good backup is the same as a good bank who handles your life savings.
Just four easy things to remember for a lasting partnership with your devices. Take care of it and it will take care of you. So, always remember NOOB!
I’m keeping one computer but the rest of the prize I am giving to my brother and his new family. They are newlyweds who are expecting their first child. And with the small business they recently started this gift from HP can potentially help change lives for us here in the Philippines.
My tip is for using Google Maps and an iphone ( I think this works with other mobile devices, but I am not sure.)
Check your trip before leaving, and use the google maps capability to adjust the route to customize your trip – avoid a certain part of town, stop by your grandmothers, whatever. Email it to yourself. When you recieve the link on your iphone and click on it, it opens the google maps application and you have the custom directions ready to go. I think this is great, because google maps often takes me in directions I don’t like when I am in a familiar place.
I would share all of he tech except the Touchsmart – my mother, mother in law and a local charity called TROSA would be the beneficiaries of the bounty.
PS – that would be check your route on a laptop or desktop, as the customizing doesn’t work on the iphone.
I’m not very mobile, but the best tip I can give is straight from experience. Buy your mobile devices practically. Don’t buy gimmick, don’t buy fad, and don’t buy something you’ll never use.You’ll waste money, time and experience new levels of frustration. And never tie up your whole life on the digital side – stay grounded in more traditional ways. And as many above have mentioned already – backup! backup! backup! It’ll save your bacon.
Hi Kevin!
I know that I am supposed to share a TIP, so i thought why not share the info that helped me when I was recently trying to set up Windows XP 64 BIT on my dv6000 series HP Notebook PC!
I had searched around the net and while the information was in bits and pieces, I thought it would be neat if I could compile it and have it as a single repository for others who may take the brave leap to move onto x64 based systems!!
These instructions are for DV6000 notebooks with AMD64X2 Turion processors. They may work on other HP notebooks with AMDX64 cpus. Try it at your own risk.
With these instructions you can successfully install 64-bit chipset and display drivers, Conexant HD Audio, Conexant Modem, Broadcom Wireless LAN, HP Wireless Assistant, HP Quick Launch Buttons, Ricoh 5-1 Card Reader, Synaptics Touchpad and all the appropriate IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. My client didn’t care about Lightscribe (sp36168.exe) and didn’t want the HP Software Update Application (sp34794.exe), so I don’t know if those drivers work with XP x64. Everything else is listed below and works.
1. Once XP x64 Edition is up and running, go to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and download the chipset drivers for the nForce 6 Series 630a/GeForce 7050 chipset, Windows XP 64-bit OS. Install the Ethernet Driver Components, nForce System Management, and SMU Driver. Do not install the display and audio drivers included in the package. Everything else is extraneous and unnecesary. Reboot.
2. Next go to
http://www.opendrivers.com/freedownload/241627/nvidia-geforce-go-6-geforce-go-7-geforce-go-8-geforce-go-9-quadro-forceware-driver-174.31-windows-xp-download.html
and dowload and install the Windows XP x64 display drivers. Reboot.
3. The next two steps are for getting your Conexant HD Audio device working. First download, extract and install the MS UAA Audio Bus Driver:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-47284-1&lc=en&cc=us&product=1842078&os=228
Reboot your notebook once it’s installed. You can verify the success of your installation in Device Manager. Expand the System devices list and look for the Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio.
4. After the MS UAA Bus Driver is installed go here:
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=29367&st=0&p=295676&#entry295676
and very carefully follow the instructions for getting the Covenant HD Audio working on an hp pavillion dv9205us, using the sp35271.exe driver. These instructions also work for a number of other HP notebook models including the DV6000 series. There’s a direct download link for the only driver I could find that works with the 64-bit chipset. Again, follow the instructions carefully and make sure MS UAA is installed first or this will not work.
5. To get your Conexant Modem installed, go to Contol Panel>System>Hardware and open the Device Manager. Among others, you’ll see a yellow question mark next to an unknown Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus. Right-click on it and click “Update Driver”. Click “Install Software Automatically” and proceed. The Update Wizard will automatically download and install the modem drivers for you.
6. The link below will take you to the Synaptics Touchpad drivers. Download and install.
http://h10061.www1.hp.com/ccsearch/search?method=viewDocument&redirUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fh10025.www1.hp.com%2Fewfrf%2Fwc%2FgenericSoftwareDownload
Index%3Fsoftwareitem%3Dob-54610-1%26cc%3Dus%26lc%3Den%26dlc%3Den&docId=http%3A%2F%2Fh10025.www1.hp.com%2Fewfrf%2Fwc%2FgenericSoftwareDownloa
dIndex%3Fsoftwareitem%3Dob-54610-1%26cc%3Dus%26lc%3Den%26dlc%3Den&uqry=&cqry=&ctry=us&dlc=en&lang=en&qry=sp37065.exe
7. Now for the Broadcom Wireless LAN driver. Download and install from here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-45290-1&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en
8. Download and install the HP Wireless Assistant from here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-55203-1&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en
9. At this point you’ll still see unknown base system devices and an unknown device (yellow question marks) in the Device Manager. Right-click on the unknown device and do the same steps you just did to install the modem. The Update Wizard will automatically download and install the HP Quick Launch Buttons for you.
10. Now to download, extract and install the Ricoh 5-1 Card Reader Driver. Use sp36216.exe found here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-52020-1&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en
Don’t sweat that this is a Vista driver. It works.
11. Once the card reader is installed, right-click the first unknown base system device listed in Device Manager and click “Update Driver”. In the Update Wizard click “install from a list” and browse to the SwSetup/sp3216/MSx64 folder. Proceed with installing the driver from that folder.
12. Now you’ll have one less unknown base system device showing. Repeat the above procedure with the next one on the list, only this time you’ll direct the Update Wizard to theSwSetup/sp3216/SDMMCx64 folder.
13. Do it again with the next unknown base system device, directing the Update Wizard to theSwSetup/sp3216/xDx64 folder.
All the base system drivers should now be installed and there should now be no more yellow question marks in Device Manager. If there are you have more hardware devices than are on the machine I worked on. Check your hardware for any uninstalled devices and search the HP site for XP x64 drivers. If you can’t find any you can try XP drivers.
There may be a yellow question mark next to a Ricoh device in the Disk Drive section of Device Manager. In that case you’ll need to download and install the Ricoh Media driver from here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/137645
==============================================
HOW I INTEND TO SHARE THE MAGIC:
My name is Reeve and I am a student in Mumbai, INDIA.
I have an HP Laptop dv6000 series purchased in 2005. Although this machine is decent, it
cannot keep up with my demanding requirements. Unfortunately being a student, I cannot afford to purchase a newer one…….
If I do win the prize, I will firstly sell of this machine and donate the proceeds to the valiant Police force who fought with vigor during the recent Terror attacks that occurred in Mumbai. It was a very disheartening experience and I want to do as much as I can for them. I will personally keep the HDX machine. The HP dv4 machine I will gift to my elder brother on Christmas, as he is using a machine that he was gifted in 2001! It is really really old and I would love to surprise my elder brother by gifting him a spanking new machine!! It would be simply amazing to surprise him as his little bro would really be making his day! The HP Touchsmart PC, I will gift to my darling mother. She is currently learning how to operate a PC on our old Desktop PC which is a Pentium 2(64 MB RAM) machine and is just not good enough by today’s standards. I will donate that old machine to a school where I teach underprivileged kids as a part of my Sharing Care club (http://www.sharingcare.org/). The HP Mini, I will gift to my retired dad. He will be simply delighted to have a small lightweight machine to check his emails and to read the online articles that he loves to read. It would be perfect for him! I will give the movies and printer to my little cousins who would enjoy them as well as use the Printer which will come in handy for their school projects!! This gift would all in all, make Christmas a whole lot brighter for my entire family!
I am including some pics of me and my amazing family! I miss them a lot as I am away in a Boarding, and I want to give them a crazy surprise this Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffgr5qQsA1w
Thanks a ton for this opportunity!
Hope you do give me an opportunity to spread some Magical Cheer within my beloved family this Christmas!
Regards and Merry Christmas in advance (I am in a very christmassy mood! Can’t wait to go home!!!
)
Reeve
I would share this with my family!
My best mobile tip will be using an Iphone Backgrounder Which allows users to run applications is background. It’s QUite COol. The reason is that it helps me in various thnigs as i am a local business man and so i need to many things together like calculate as we don’t have computerized systems at my shop. We also don’t have a broadband connection but a WIFI which helps us to Surf and check mail on my iphone.
After Getting the prise i will share it with my son who always wanted on computer but could not get one. And the remaining three, first i will keep one for my office. The next i will Give it black mont foundation for young orphans where there are KIds all over from india who have never even heard of the sophisticated gadgets we use. I have also donated some money but that’s not enough fot them to buy computers so i need your help. If any other help you can provide please do tell me.
Well, I’m sure this won’t be the wordiest entry you get, or perhaps even the most deserving one… but if you’ll accept my name in the pot for these prizes, I’d really appreciate it. I’m not much of a computer pro but I’d say that keeping a nice flash drive on hand is a good idea… ya never know when a hd might crash or something and if you put your more important things on a flash drive, you’ll have it in case of emergency. Thanks for this awesome giveaway. I have a Mother and also a Sister that are both on disability and on meager fixed incomes. I do help them a little with their bills but I’m just not able to provide them with any luxuries or electronics, such as computers and computer related items. I know they’d be thrilled to death to have things of this nature though, they’ve both expressed interest. If I win this great giveaway, I’ll keep a little something for myself, probably the Printer as I could use that… and the rest I’ll give to my Mama and Sister, their names are Peggy and Libby. Thanks, Merry Christmas, and God bless.
Hi, Winning this entry will be of great help to me. Working abroad (BAHRAIN Middle East) and being away from the family (Philipines) is really hard. Especially when you are from the other side of the world. If I win this giveaways, I would like to share them with my families. This will help me stay to always connected with my loved ones from the Philippines. I would like to keep the Touchsmart with me, HDX18T and the MediaSmart. The HP MINI will be for my younger sister who is now on her highschool, the other notebook will be for my MOM and Brother (dv4t) including all the rest of the packages.
Im an IT guy and work abroad as a Systems Administrator. I would like to share some important TIPS for you all regarding Password Security, Phishing Emails and Office Desk. I hope this helps you guys protecting not only your PCs, but your personal information as well.
PASSWORD SECURITY
1. Don’t share your password with anyone (Including Support Teams).
While this seems like a very basic concept, many people don’t consider it a security risk to share or give passwords to helpdesk technicians, co-workers, managers, friends, or family members. Remember… Your Password is the key to your User ID, so don’t let other people have access to it including helpdesk team.
2. Don’t write your password down.
It’s always best to commit your password to memory. However, if you must write something down, write down a hint or clue that will help jog your memory to remember the password.
3. Change your password often.
Even if you use a strong password, there is still the chance that someone could guess or crack it. For this reason, you should change your password often.
4. Use a different password for each of your accounts. Using a single password for each of your accounts would be comparable to using a single key for your car, your house, and your office. If someone steals your key (or gets your password), they have access to everything.
Using multiple passwords requires additional effort on your part (you have to remember more) but it reduces the possibility that someone could gain access to all your information.
5. Don’t check “remember my password” boxes.
Numerous programs offer the option of “remembering” your password. Unfortunately, many of them have no built-in security measures to protect that information. Some programs actually store the password in clear text in a file on the computer. This means anyone with access to the computer can read the password. It’s best to retype your password each time you log in eliminating the possibility that someone will be able to steal or use it
HOW CAN YOU RECOGNIZE A PHISHING E-MAIL?
Important: Do not click links in emails. If in doubt, close your browser, reopen it, and type the web address for the site you want to visit directly into the Address bar.
You should consider several factors when deciding whether or not an email is authentic:
1. Unofficial “From” address: Look out for a sender’s email address that is similar to, but not the same as, a company’s official email address. Fraudsters often sign up for free email accounts with company names in them (such as “smallbusiness@yahoo.com”).
Note: Fraudsters can forge the “From” address to look like a legitimate corporate address. Because of this, the “From” address is just one factor to consider when deciding if an email is trustworthy.
2. Urgent action required: Fraudsters often include urgent “calls to action” to try to get you to react immediately. Be wary of emails containing phrases like “your account will be closed,” “your account has been compromised,” or “urgent action required.”
3. Generic greeting: Fraudsters often send thousands of Phishing emails at one time. They may have your email address, but they seldom have your name. Be sceptical of an email sent with a generic greeting such as “Dear Customer” or “Dear Member”.
4. Link to a fake web site: To trick you into disclosing your user name and password, fraudsters often include a link to a fake web site that looks like (sometimes exactly like) the sign-in page of a legitimate web site. Just because a site includes a company’s logo or looks like the real page doesn’t mean it is!
CLEAN DESK POLICY
It is crucial to protect sensitive information from disclosure. Office space is frequented by visitors, consultants, vendors, cleaning crews, maintenance and fellow employees. Please keep your workspace neat. If it is messy, you may not notice when something is missing.
Throughout the day:
1. Lock sensitive documents and computer media in drawers or filing cabinets.
2. Physically secure laptops with security cables.
3. Secure your workstation before walking away (Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Windows key + l)
4. Do not post sensitive documents. Examples include:
· User IDs & Passwords.
· IP addresses.
· Contracts.
· Accounts numbers.
· Client lists.
· Intellectual property.
· Employee records.
· Anything you wouldn’t want disclosed.
At the end of the day, take a moment to:
· Tidy up and secure sensitive material.
· Lock drawers, file cabinets and offices.
· Secure expensive equipment (laptops, PDAs, etc.).
So that’s it. Hope this will hep everybody in securing your PCs and Personal Information. Remember, Small things that we tend to ignore are usually the ones that are most important. Remember “Prevention is better than Repention – Protect your PC means Protecting your Personal Information”.
Chris C.
Thanks for hosting this awesome contest! The best tech tip I give my friends and family is to stay on top of their software updates. You would not believe how many give me a blank stare and “what’s that?,” when we talk about our computers.
If there’s time I’ll have them sit at their computer and walk them through the updating. Or offer to show them at a later date.
My most memorable experience took over two days to perform all the software updates on dial-up, and then clean their computer system.
If I win, I’ll keep a notebook and give the HP TouchSmart to my brother (he’s 40+ and never owned a computer), the other notebook to my older sister (her computer is 8+ yo and needs to be replaced), and the HP Mini 100 to my younger sister (she just lost her job two weeks ago and only wants a computer for email access.)
My best tech tip is to clean your computer frequently, get rid of all the superfluous junk that gathers on it to make the speed fat. I will share this prize with my fellow students at Jersey City State!
I’m on a tight budget and I don’t own the latest greatest device. I own an used Axim X51v. While friends around me brag about their Iphones and news phone devices, I’m happy that I saved some money and I’m still able to do so much with my ancient device. There are so many older phone and pocket pc models out there that are being sold for a song and they are still able to do so much. It’s not always necessary to over spend beyond your means for the latest greatest device, when there are so many devices out there that will allow you to get online, surf the net, check emails, play countless games, check RSS feeds, use Skype, compose documents etc.
Forgot to post that this prize would be shared with family in Phillipines and Toronto. Thanks.
Here is my best tech tip, something like a series of important steps:
1. If you are new to computer or a mobile phone or either something, go online with other computer (either in cyber cafe or a friend’s computer) and search for tutorials or reviews on which one you should buy. The Internet itself is a huge knowledge base.
2. After you get your computer, the first and important thing to do should be installing a good Anti-virus, I have got some great and free Ant-virus suggest to you, Avira AntiVir Personal, AVG Anti-Virus, or avast! 4 Home Edition. For additional protection you can install Firewall software and Anti-Spyware software.
3. If you got plenty of time left, you can follow some good blogs that discuss about internet and technology, a good example like jkOnTheRun. You can learn a lot of things and latest news regarding to computers.
4. Remember to do backup after you have used the computer or mobile phone for a period, I am sure that you have got your favorite songs, photos, documents, etc. already, and I am sure don’t want to lost them. One of the good backup software is Live Mesh.
5. The last but not least, learning from failure. Sometimes we may do something wrongly and might caused the computer or mobile phone stop working, learn from this mistake, don’t make this once again.
—–
If I have won in this contest, I will share the prizes with my family. A laptop and a netbook for my brother and sister, another laptop for my father, and lastly the HP TouchSmart PC will be for myself.
I have the cheapest possible cell phone, in case of emergencies. I am still trying to force myself to implement my “hints.” Actually turn it on when I leave the house, in case someone needs me. And recharge it when I get home. To most of you, these are easy, “givens.” To me, still a challenge.
As for sharing, a close friend and her husband are attempting to start up a new business. A new computer is essential for them, but the finances are in dire straits. I’d love to be able to give them one.
Being a part-time web instructor, I advise my students to start posting their works online and to go the free route. I encourage them to make their collections of designs as mobile as possible since at one point in our curriculum, they are required to find a client, deal with that client and create a project either pro-bono or with a fee.
Sure, they can get a web host and domain name for their portfolios, but being beginners and students, I want them to be as resourceful and intuitive as they can in using available tools online and perhaps save them lunch money to spend on other important things..
Although print portfolio has a very professional presentation, students cannot afford to pay high-quality printing and binding services for multiple copies of their works.
The 5 disadvantages of having printed stuff as your portfolio are:
1. Expensive – not ideal for student to spend on yet being beginners
2. Exposure – limited to those saw and received your printed portfolio.
3. Static Medium – viewers can’t interact with it (well, unless you have and thin OLED display there)
4. Mobility – sure it’s easy to bring a compilation of your work, but giving a link to your online work is easier
5. Upgradability – hard to update as new works are created
Here are some free sites that can host your work for free!
1. Coroflot & Behance – stores hi-res photos and graphics for free!
2. Scrnshots – upload unlimited web comps and screenshots from your desktop
3. DeviantArt – rich creative community, best in receiving feedbacks from fellow artists.
4. Flickr – not just for photos, also great for webcomps as they have a note labeling feature.
5. CarbonMade – has a free account which lets you upload and categorize your work.
I also have a class website for my student using Google Sites (http://sites.google.com) It let’s them view their attendance and required works every week. The best thing about google site is the numerous add-ons that can be placed within the site. For example, on our lesson about CSS, I have embedded a youtube video of someone’s tutorial on that page, they can refer to that in case they get lost on the lesson. Would want to give the link of our class website so you can browse it, but I don’t want risking spam and unnecessary downloads of files there (I can send link privately)
There, I hope students, designers and instructors did get something on this tip
I’m thinking of keeping the TouchSmart, the HDX would go to my brother who’s managing his own business. The Pavilion dv4 would go to my girlfriend who’s been using her old laptop, would really want this for here. I don’t need the HP Mini 1000, but if it’s more powerful than my aspire one, I might sell mine and keep this one to lug to classes and keep student grades on it 
I would like to make some changes in the entry.
Please consider this as my entry and not the earlier.
Hi!
The best tech advice which I claim to have given is to tell my sister to install BitDefender Total Security 2009 on her laptop which she uses for her college. It helped protect her laptop a lot as others had viruses on their laptops.
I would share all the prize items with the neighborhood church except the HP Touchsmart and the HP Entertainment Notebook. The church has given a lot to me. It has changed my life. I would like to give it atleast something as I am a student and cannot give now because I am a student.
Thanks,
Piyush.
I hope I win this awesome contest.
May God bless you and help you choose the correct person.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The tech advice I would give is to keep personal and business computers and e-mail identities separated. If you have to be “gamer” while on the road, get another laptop pc. Games aren’t critical to have available and secure. Business stats and info has to be, especially if it belongs to customers or clients. And don’t trust it all to a memory stick, either. Can you hear it coming…Backup, Backup, Backup.
This giveaway for me would truly be a giveaway by me to someone else. I have access to 2 good desktops and a nice laptop. I would give the package to the school my daughter attends, the Stone City Christian Academy. We already purchased one computer for the school’s computer lab earlier this year, but oh my would this be a doozy of a package for them to have. Well, maybe I’d keep the movie for myself. They shouldn’t watch movies at school anyway. Thanks HP, Microsoft and jkOnTheRun for doing this promotion. Whoever wins this, enjoy. Somebody’s gonna’ have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hmmm the best tech advice.
1. Firstly and most important advice, Backup your data, there is nothing more important for a tech person than his data, damaged hardware can be replaces but lost data cant be recovered. So get your self and External HD.
2. Secondly that is important, keep your Computer Dust free, trust me i have experienced this, not keeping my CPU dust free ended up in a loss of my motherboard 4 times and my graphic card 3 times.
3. Always have a Backup UPS for your pc only, one that manages your voltage and keeps your pc running at least for an hour. I have one and it has really helped me, i get to use the pc with the lights are out, as well as i don’t loose my data, and also it help protect your pc from being fried due to high voltage.
If i were to win this competition i would firstly be over excited and overwhelmed, because i have won nothing in my life.
I would like to share this with children of the Don Bosco Boarding School, their are appox around 6 to 7 boys here who have not much in life and life has nothing to offer them, i want them to have a notebook so they can learn about computers. Secondly i would like my wife to have the HP Mini, cause she is doing a 4 month course in Sales & Marketing and at the moment she is writing everything down on paper which is a difficult to manage so much of it. The Movies i would like to give to my cuz cause they love kung fu pander.
I have an AT&T Tilt, ther eis this wonderful option to use it as a wireless modem, which means on this season of long road trips, we can be connected on the road.
I would share this with my sons’ school as they need new equipment.
I would love to win this. I don’t use the computer much. My job requires me to answer emails and input some financial info.
If it was, which it is, to share the best mobile tech tip, that would be to use the “offline” mode as much as possible and if you don’t have a phone with this capability, you should upgrade. A second tip would be to use Opera Mini.
Winning this prize would enable me to select a few organisations and give away three of the computersm, the printer as well as the movie.
Nice! Thanks!
I’ve heard how nice the HP touchsmart is…I would love to own one!
My tech tip: If you store info on a memory card and encrypt it, be sure to back that data up on another computer or external hard drive. If your phone fails and you have encrypted the card no other phone will read it. Encryption is a great security tool but it can work against you as the only devise that will read that encyrpted info is the one that did the encryption.]
Merry Christmas to all!!!
Tip – Backups !
make Backups – Pictues,Documents,Work Stuff etc. Remember if its gone there is no bringing back !
My mobile Tech tips.
1. Ease Of access – a great way to access data on the go is to prepare a pendrive loaded with portable application (can run on the pendrive itself ) most of the app can be obtain from here http://portableapps.com contain a lot of application from the web browser to pdf reader .also prepare a live CD such as Linux knoppix in case the OS have problem booting up.
2. Services –Remote pc software such as ( remotepc or LogMeIn ) Let the user access the pc at home from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection but you have to pay a little fee to use it. secondly file storage service such as( rapidshare or megaupload ) can be a great way to store data and receive it back at another location. this kind of services is a must have for the mobile goers who are rarely at home.
3. Power management – extending battery life also mean more productivity so try to conserve as much power as possible by turning off the wifi/Bluetooth/3G Connection if not in use also turn off the unneeded visual effect (can increase system performance as well), if you can spend a bit more ,try getting a higher capacity battery this could be a live saver.
4. Backup – Don’t trust storage media to much make sure you backup all the important data ”periodically” if using optical media such as CD or DVD burn the backup data at the lowest speed possible thus increasing its lifespan.
5. Security – always use an antivirus and make sure to keep them up to date, when traveling we may take media from somebody else so make sure to scan the media first before transferring it to your system.
6. Maintenance – once in a while try cleaning your system fan, replace rusted screw and for the hard to reach places use a mini air blower to clean it, that will increase the device stability and lifespan. Maintain the OS by removing unwanted application, defrag, manage startup application and clean the registry manually or by using software such as Tune up utilities.
Sharing the magic : If I win this I will give the HP touchsmart to my father who like to spend his day surfing and listening to music, i will take the HP HDX and HP netbook for myself to use in college. the dv4 notebook will be given to a friend who also in college right now.
Best tip – For people like me who are ten thumbs with techie products, have the phone numbers of support for computer and make friends with computer savvy people.
Sharing this prize with the love of my life now are robotic teams from the local high schools. These kids are the future which is coming fast. The high tech prize would help with programming and trouble shooting the robots. Medical care will be in the hands of these high tech robots for everyone.
The cost of flash drives has plummeted so that they can now easily be given away to potential customrs. I make my PowerPoint presentation to a potential customer and then handout copies of the presentation on a flash drive which the customer representatives can keep so they can review the presentation, or better yet, make the same presentation in front of their co-workers and superiors.
I would like to share this equipment with my department staff to show them that we can improve our operations with just a few new tools.
My tech tip is short and simple, switch to Firefox and ditch IE.
I’m not much of a mobile techer as I’ve been disabled and not very mobile. But, my daughter who lives a busy life on the opposite coast as me has found that using the mail message center of facebook downloaded on her Blackberry was a good way for me to keep in contact with her. We’ve kept pretty curent that way. Not sure why it is better than just checking her email. If I were lucky enough to be considered for such an awesome prize I would definitely share. I would keep a laptop, since I don’t have one and one for my son who will be going to college next year and after paying tuition, we won’t be buying him one. My mom needs a computer, she uses WebTV and boy is it slow. She wants to sell some of her stuff on ebay since my dad passed away and you just can’t do that on WebTV. The rest I would donate to a local organization called Project Self Sufficiency. Thanks for a great giveaway!
Best tech tip?
Hmmmm…
Use Puppy Linux for OS recovery…
well..i have an old nokia 1100 ..but still this trick applies to it….if ur mobile fall in water u can rescue it by.
1-remove it from the water as fast as u could and close it
2-remove all its parts u can from each other
3- put all of them in a box full of RICE…yes rice
rice has the ability to absorb water
4-after some time ur mobile is ready to go
what i will do if i won ( i hopeeeeeeee
)
I intend to give a laptop to my relative who is on the third year of the computer science dept in faculty of eng. and doesn’t have a laptop till now .this laptop will be extremely useful to him.
I have an architect relative who might found the printer and the photo pack useful.
Also I intend to give the (Corel VideoStudio X2) to one of my friends who love video editing and 3d stuff.
I will give 2 office licenses one to my father and another license to one of my friends.
Also the panda movie will be a nice present to my small cousin
THANK U
How to recover product keys for Office or Windows XP:
Download NirSoft’s ProduKey software free from the Internet and you can get not only the product keys for Windows XP and Office products, but also SQL Server and Exchange Server. ProduKey is completely free.
The software is easy to install because there is no install. Just download the zip file from the web site, unzip the files, and double click ProduKey.exe into the folder. No software is installed on to your computer. You can also just copy the .exe file onto a USB stick and run it off any computer directly from the stick.
If I win I would give a laptop to my daughter in law’s mom. She is in her late 50’s and her husband died two years ago. She can’t afford a computer and she is very loney. This would bring some joy into her life. I would also give a laptop to my son’s friend Darryl, he lost his job and is living with friends while he tries to find another one. He’s hardworking, honest and kind and a PC would help him find a job and also improve his skills.
The DVD’s would go to my grandson, and the printer I would give to my local church. They have an old one and this would be a blessing to them.
Thanks for this chance, Happy Holidays and Good Luck to everyone!
This is a great mobile tip for VPN and college students because most universities require some sort of VPN to access their wifi. I often find myself connecting to VPN networks because I attend a large university. Every time I open my laptop I must log on to the VPN in order to access the Internet. Not that this is a tedious task it’s just annoying. So I thought write an applescript to automate the task. Right before I attempted to write the script to connect to my VPN if and only if a specific wifi network is joined. I came across this little application PearportVPN. It does all the work for you and even disconnects from the VPN before putting your mac to sleep. That feature is great otherwise you would receive a time-out message upon opening your mac again.
Here are my thoughts! I am a 58 year young Grandma,, I have and will always have an HP!
Mine is at least 10 years old, but is used constantly by my Grandchildren. MY best tip is,,, DONT let them go to sites that may get your puter sick! Also be very selective of the updates you install from Microsoft! Let me explain! I have learned so much in the past 6 months! Mine is an HP with an AMD processor.
Microsoft released SP3 a while back, and I was very trusting, so I downloaded and installed it. Bad bad move on my part! SP3,does not work well with an HP computer with an AMD processor!
Immediately after I installed, my puter crashed,then it forever booted and re booted, and showing the blue error screen of death! My thoughts are these. There are millions and millions of people just like me. I am not computer educated, I go by trial and error. After months and months of frustration, I finally sdid a system recovery.That did the trick,, but I lost most everything I had by the way of programs. Its been a slow process to get back my beloved hp. Advice wise,,, there are many sites with very knowledgable people willing to help with Computer problems!
I stumbled upon bleepingcomputer.com,thankfully! There with much help and patience,, they helped me get my HP up and running, I also learned what caused my HP to crash, and how I could have avoided doing a system recovery!
SO,, for millions of people like me out there,,,Search for help from people who are knowledgeable! Do this before you try to heal computer problems on your own!!
On to what I would do if I could win this contest. First I would probably pass out from shock! I would yell, scream, and try to do sumersaults! I have 4 Grandchildren who I adore. We are on a very very FIXED income, due to the economy. Husband is retired, so by the end of the month we have 2 dollars left if we are lucky! I cannot afford Christmas dinner, nor can we afford to buy even a little something for our Grandbabies! I WOULD SHARE with my Grandkids! We have a 16 year old who is in dire need of a laptop for her school work, so she comes to use mine,,, bad bad thing as she likes My Space! I have 2 Grandsons both 14 and in the 8th grade. I learned the hard way, that using a flash drive at school and then using Grandmas computer, can transfer Viruses back and forth! Each of my Grandsons would get their own laptop! I have an adoreable 8 year old Grandaughter, a 3rd grader, who has always been on the Honor roll, and had recieved the Presidents award for all A grades all year, in 1st and 2nd grades. So far she continues the excellance!
So many great gifts from HP and so many people Praying for a win! I wish everyone luck,, And will cross my fingers on this one! Not a horrible smart person here, not young, just a simple ordinary Grandma with a big dream! TYTYTY
This tech tip has to do with windows update. I do a computer repair for a living. In a typical week I do a lot of Windows XP Reinstalls due to the increasing number of malware infections. I already have service pack 3 slipstreamed so service pack 3 isn’t a time consumer. What takes most of the time is Windows updates. Most of my customers have High-speed Internet. Though most of the time it’s not very high speed. 25kb per second. A few of them are even on dialup. So installing updates can be very time consuming process. Which is why I developed this method / technique for installing windows updates so the entire process goes faster.
Tech Tip – Backing up the windows updates.
1) Install Internet Explorer 7 first. That way all the updates for IE7 will be included in the list of downloaded updates.
2) Once you’ve installed and rebooted, proceed to windows updates and download all the critical updates that are available.
3) Once the download processes is complete and the installation process started (example – installing updates 1 of 30) we can start backing up the files.
4) Plug in a USB stick or a portable hard drive into the computer.
5) Navigate to c:\windows\softwaredistriubtion.
6) Copy the download directory to your removable device.
That’s it Your finished!
So what exactly did we just do? All the windows updates that are downloaded are downloaded to the c:\windows\softwaredistribution before they are installed.
You now have all the updates backed up. When you reinstall windows on a different computer just transfer the download directory from your removable device back into c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution folder. Now when you go to download all the updates, the processes should take very little time. Not much downloading will occur. It should go right to done for each update. This process goes fast assuming that all updates available have been backed up. So you may want to do a backup the updates once a month.
————————-
If I am lucky enough to win the prize package I would share the laptop with my friend Tom. He operates his own ultralight business and just started raising a family. He had a gateway laptop but it had an untimely demise as it fell off the couch and broke. The laptop wasn’t very old but was still out of warranty. He is on a tight budget. So If I won I would share with him one of the 2 HP laptops.
My tech tip is don’t fall asleep with the laptop on your lap. They get hot and they fall to the floor and hurt the cat!
My tip is to not be afraid to take a class to learn something else. Also find someone you trust to allow remote access that can help you out!
I would love to win this as my daughter is a special needs child & I’m a student. We could both use computers and then I would donate to my daughters teachers because her school had a fire the first weenend in Novemeber and a lot of equipment was lost. Thanks for a great giveaway!
Tech tip: if you have multiple computers and need to be able to access them easily, try setting up Logmein, and Hamachi. Hamachi allows you to access shared files on other computers using hamachi. and logmein lets you remote control your other computer. both are very useful and have saved me a lot of work.
I have a friend who could use 1 of the computers, also my moms computer is falling apart. it is 4 years old, so it is slow too…
I would see that they get 1.
My best mobile tech tip is: always have easy access to your phones camera! Map it to one of your main buttons for easy access. This is a different proccess for every phone type, but dig around in your phones options, or Google your phones make and model along with the question of how to map buttons and you’ll be all set
If I win, I will definately be sharing the love. I know a small / home business owner who desperately needs a new machine to work with. My kids need a computer as does their grandma. And I know I can find a home for some of that other gear with deserving people
Thanks for the contest!! <3
When electronics aren’t functioning properly, pull the plug out for a minute and let the product reset itself. This cures a lot of problems.
The best tip I can give is to keep copies of everything on a usb drive. Easy to carry with you and a nice backup. Thank you
tatertot374@sbcglobal.net
Here’s my tip:
Always do a little research before downloading a service pack! There are going to be times when you may have an application/driver/software that will give you a little trouble with a new service pack. And when I say little I mean a lot! I have an HP desktop at work with an AMD 64X2 proc that gave me the worst time when I upgraded to XP SP3. It seems that HP released a patch for their AMD line that would help the transition a little smoother because SP3 kept giving me a bluescreen because of it trying to load an intel specific driver on startup. Had I navigated to Google or HP I would have easily found out I have to use a small patch first. I should have remembered about my time trying to load SP2 from SP1 and had issues with specific software I was using. If I did have a nice new HP product I promise to not neglect the HP updates and keep checking them from now on!
The best tip I’ve got for any mobile worker or someone with multiple computers:
Get a NAS (or create a network share from your main system that is always on) and on all your system repoint you’re my documents to the network share and set windows to make it available offline.
Press [Windows]E to open My Computer.
Right-click the My Documents icon in the folder tree, and select Properties.
To change the location of the My Documents folder, type the new path in the Target text box, or click the Move button.
After that you will also need to right click on the folder used for your My Documents and select the make available offline.
This way all your system will share your documents both on and off the network.
Need for my new home office and fun
I don’t have a laptop, that’s why I’m trying to win this package, however, I would suggest to anyone to have a portable hard drive for large files and for backup. That way, you’re not tying up valuable resources on your computer. With a notebook, the added step is to only plug in the hard drive when you need to use it, so it doesn’t drain your battery.
If I win, I will give one of the computers, probably the HP Mini, and the printer to my in-laws who have no computer. I’ll donate another to Pensacola Little Theatre, the non-profit where I work. The third, I will seek a deserving student who doesn’t have a home computer; I know people who work with underserved communities so it shouldn’t be any trouble to find someone who is a good student and gives back to their community to reward with a new computer. Finally, I would keep one laptop and the Media Connect for myself.
My mobile tech tip is always carry your cellphone with you you never know when it can come in handy in situations of emergency.
I will donate all of prizes to the schools and hospital on the island here except for the HP HDX I will give that one to my sister.
My tip is for someone who isn’t always mobile and has a desktop and a laptop PC, who wants to keep Outlook in sync between both devices. I picked up PSTSync (http://www.outlooksync.com/products/pstsync/pstsync-overview.html) for this purpose and it works great over a network connection when both devices are on the same LAN. It keeps both copies in sync when you run it manually, even if you had used Outlook on both devices to make changes while they were not together.
If I were to win this great prize, I’d give one laptop to my step-daughter who is a new mom and who has always only had older hand-me-down computers. Another laptop would go to my wife so she would be able to go online when visiting her daughter (6 hours away by car).
My mobile tip is , “Keeping Your Mobile Workers Protected”.If you have office or you work in a team with other people,this may come handy.This great piece of advice i received from one of my friend’s currently working in a company called “Jamin”.It may be lengthybut i hope someone may find it useful as it did wonders for us.
The increased use of broadband access such as DSL and cable access has made it easier for hackers to get into PCs. When a computer is always on it increases the chances that someone will gain access.
How can you help prevent and possibly eliminate the chance your remote workforce will be hacked?
1. Disable file and print sharing on Windows systems.
2. Shut down the DSL or Cable access when not in use.
3. A VPN on its own is not enough security.
4. Installation of firewall software is required. Intrusion detection software is a wise idea as well.
5. Home networks must use firewall software to prevent any of the networked computers from being accessed by a hacker, who then gains access to the company system from that computer.
6. Remote workers who regularly use hot spots and hotel provided Internet access must be sure to have firewall software installed and running.
7. Educate all staff to the importance of using firewall software and not become lax in this regard.
Promoting the use of remote work is a goal that is important for many reasons, but it is important to remember that the security of the company system is of utmost importance.
Investing in firewall and intrusion detection software is the best solution to prevent unauthorised access to your corporate system.
____________________________________
Now something about whom & what i’ll share
———————————-
I already do have a computer & i don’t have a need for another.If i get the opportunity to win, i would keep the Wireless AIO Printer & the Kungfu Panda DVDs with me & will donate the rest of the stuffs to a local children home/school where i teach at.
The home has been established over sixteen years ago to provide a home,education,medical aid & opportunity to some of the children of my city Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) who found themselves living on the streets of the city.Children who suffer extreme poverty and who have little or no ability to change their lives. More than anything they need the love and security of a home.
This home takes the responsibility of these children so that these kids can get proper education,proper foods & atleast some happiness & can grow up like a normal kid should.This organization strives to integrate poor children with no family & children with disabilities into the mainstream of society.
Some of the pictures of these kids can also be found on my Flickr photostream here :- http://www.flickr.com/photos/33248598@N02
My job is teaching in one of these homes as i’ve mentioned earlier.And not only me, many college students are teaching the children here in their part time.In my school,there are more than 150 children who share 10 old desktop computers.These homes try to educate these children so that they can prepare themselves for the higher studies.
So, you can see,the opportunities are endless.I would love to donate those computer parts to our school so that the children can get better opportunity to learn & prepare themselves for a better future.Thank you for understanding.
The biggest lifesaver for me is using applications that store data locally as well as in the cloud–I call it “cross-syncing.” Services like Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com) or Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/) are great because they allow syncing between multiple devices, but since they cross-sync, you don’t have to be online to take advantage of their services. I try to cross-sync as much of my data as I can–There are extensions to sync my bookmarks (Foxmarks), my documents (OpenOffice2GoogleDocs), and Google Calendar (GCALDaemon for Sunbird). Not only is it convenient and accessable from everywhere, it turns the internet into my backup system!
As far as the computers, I’m keeping the mini-note and the printer, The touchsmart goes to my mom–she’s trudging along on an old emachines and can’t even skype, the laptops would go to my two brothers, and I’d sell my 4g eeepc and printer and donate the proceeds to Child’s Play. Thanks for a great year of reporting!
My best mobile tip (not unique I know, since many recommended it!) is to use cloud computing and a sync/backup system so you always have access to your info. I use a combo of google products and sugar sync to always be able to access my documents. Since I’m a VA it’s critical to me not to lose my clients information.
As for sharing – I would love to be able to share this prize package with a good friend who’s been a big support to me and to some needy family members.
Laurie
My tip is that when traveling with your laptop, remember not to have metal objects such as inkpens, binderclips or any other such item in the case with the laptop, as the metal can scratch the plastic surfaces (I’ve done this!). I would give one of the computers to our local Hospice, which uses paper files still!
What an amazing giveaway!
I would say that the most “magical” tech tip I have yet encountered is using IMAP4 for mail. I know that it sounds simple, but there are still many people I talk to every day who have not yet moved to an IMAP provider and are still juggling POP3 mail on multiple computers. Like our esteemed hosts, I have quite a lot of mobile tech floating around: two Apple laptops (MacBook Pro Santa Rosa and an iBook), a HP laptop (dv2000z running Vista Ultimate x64), a purpose-built Linux desktop, a N800, and an iPod touch. On all of those devices I have my IMAP box configured in the mail client. No matter which computer I have with me, I always have access to the same exact inbox.
Using IMAP for my mail inbox does more than just mail synchronization for me. It also provides me with a central place to put other information that I may need access to on any computer. For instance, when I purchase a piece of software electronically, most times the serial number for that program is delivered in an email. I simply put the email in a folder so that when I need to configure a new computer, I can set up my inbox and retrieve all of the information I need. I even have it organized into a list of software that I need to install on a new computer before it works the way I need! Settings and instructions go there too so I always know how to get a computer set up the way I need it to be productive.
For those people who need to manage their inbox carefully to avoid an overflow of things to do, using multiple computers can be daunting unless they all share the same inbox and are all configured to be productive. By keeping this information in a mail folder I can pick the best computer for the task at hand without losing my ability to keep track of the inbox.
It also works as an offline synchronization mechanism, and can be used with both webmail and standalone mail clients easily. This is very important to me as a pure web-based solution is not robust enough to handle being out of connectivity. I can put information in my IMAP inbox that I need to get connected and not worry about it because a copy is cached on my hard drive. This is the very model for how cloud computing should be done and I would love to see a robust offline synchronization platform built around these same concepts for other applications.
In fact, Apple has actually done this in OS X 10.5. Apple’s mail client can store notes and to-do list items on an IMAP account, which gives you a synchronized to-do list on every computer without using a separate cloud service and dedicated software. Notes and to-do items can be viewed on any IMAP client too. If you use Anxiety ( http://anxietyapp.com/ ) you can quickly enter new to-do items and view them at a glance. Other productivity programs can join in the fun, too. For instance, Things can synchronize its database with the Apple to-do item database, which allows you to synchronize your Things database between machines by using IMAP.
I use other cloud services (Basecamp, Google Docs, etc.) too, especially for collaboration. But I think that an IMAP inbox can be the most essential and “magical” step into cloud computing as it vastly improves an experience that many people use hundreds of times a day and is always accessible even without an internet connection!
I’m not even sure what I’d do with all that stuff if I did win it. I would probably keep the dv4 to replace my long-in-the-tooth dv2000z system, and I would no doubt have some fun playing with the HP mini since I don’t have a netbook at all right now. The other two computers I would probably pass along to my parents, and if they didn’t need them they would no doubt find a good home for them. My aunt has started a retail business with multiple locations and she has been able to find a use for every extra computer we can lay our hands on so far!
My most magical mobile tech tip is to embrace a phone+PC mobile tech system. Unless you have very specific needs, forget trying to find a single device to do all things. That route leads to a compromise somewhere in power and portability. A more enjoyable path is to embrace multiple devices to handle your different needs.
For example, my iPhone is my primary mobile device because it is easy to carry everywhere and is always connected to the Internet (almost). It is adequate for most of my mobile tech needs.
When I expect to need real computing muscle, I turn to my Toshiba R25 Tablet PC. A convertible with a 14″ widescreen, it is a rather large and heavy tablet, but the Core 2 Duo processor and extra screen space offer me greater productivity. If need be, I can tether it to my iPhone via Netshare for mobile Internet.
My iPhone offers full mobility and connectivity but limited productivity options. My Tablet PC offers less mobility but full computing power and greater productivity. Separately, neither fulfills all my needs. But together, they cover all the bases in a way that no single device could. Furthermore, at the desk, my iPhone offers several remote operation options, like Air Mouse and Remote, and provides many of the functions of a side monitor or on-screen sidebar. Two devices that work together can offer great benefits.
As for sharing, truthfully, I could fit all of these computers into my home setup, mostly because I don’t have much of a home setup. My wife’s laptop is aging and unfit for mobile use, and we gave away our desktops (one for free at a yard sale and the other to a friend’s daughter). I think I should get credit for seeking to replace computers I’ve already given away. Probably give away one of the notebooks in a similar manner.
My tip would be to embrace the cloud! Perhaps not fully as Kevin did but key parts of it. I use a personal hosted MS Exchange Account, fantastic for managing all my email over multiple devices.
For notes I love Evernote, notes are synced from whichever device I am using, iPhone, HTC Advantage, netbook or home PC and available everywhere I can get online.
Live Mesh does the job of syncing all my work files over all my devices, I can even use the iPhone to access my files through Safari.
For all my photos, Flickr is the winner, and I use Windows Live Phot Gallery to do the uploading.
What happens when the cloud fails!!! Well, I also use a Patriot XT 16gb USB key with Microsoft Synctoy to sync my Live Mesh folders. Also on the key is the wonderful PortableApps suite which I can use on an Windows PC to then work on my files. I also have pendrive Linux on there so can even boot a locked down OS PC with it to work on my files.
I would give one of the Notebooks, Office Licence and Printer to my daughters Girl Guides group. My parents would get the desktop as they love using the internet to keep in touch with family and that big screen would be a boon to them!
my best advice always keep your stuff backed up! get a click free drive or an external hard drive those are self explanatory. either do it on the road or when you end at night. just do it.
I would share with my sister. they are def what I would call poor and they have 4 kids. they could use computers. i would also want to give one to a local battered women’s shelter that I worked with a couple years ago.
thanks for the chance.
I am a mom first and foremost, but I am also a CPA. I have made the decision to only do bookkeeping clients so that I can be home for my kids. My Mobile tip is to use Quickbooks online. With Quickbooks online, you and your accountant can work from anywhere that there is internet access. No more making backups to give to your accountant, and waiting until they are done to enter anything. Everyone can work at the same time. Plus they make offsite backup for you!
I want to win this contest so that I can share it with my nephew. He was having a party celebrating the end of the semester last May. He had about ten other school buddies at his apartment. He was attending the University of Memphis. In order to join a gang in Memphis, you have to commit a home invasion (break into a home while the people are home). There was a knock on the door and since it was my nephew’s house, he answered the door. Four guys with guns stormed the house. They hit my nephew on the head with a gun. Then they made them lay down on the ground, while they took wallets, cell phones, iPods, and since it was my nephew’s house, he lost his computer, stereo, TV, and anything else they could help themselves to. Police were called and my nephew was taken to the hospital. They had cracked his skull and it was pushing on his brain. He had to have brain surgery. So not only did he loose everything, but he now has $100,000 of medical bills. He is very scared now, and was not able to go to school this semester; however, he is ready to go back next semester. He has to testify and he is afraid that they will come after him again. We are thinking that maybe he should leave Memphis.
For those that use your mobile devices to get things done, I recommend an application called ToDo for your iPhone. I previously used a calendar for my todo lists, but have since switched over to a true todo list application on the web called Toodledo. It syncs seamlessly with the iPhone with the ToDo app and I feel more control over the day to day things I need to accomplish than ever before.
If I were to win the giveaway, I would share the computers with my family. My parents have a very old computer and have been wanting a laptop for a long time but have never been able to save up enough to get one. I would probably keep something to fit into my current media center setup. My sister has an old Dell laptop that I’m trying to revive but it might be time to step up to something newer and better in an HP
I’m not very good at tech tips, but the best one I have is to use Roboform to generate safe passwords and DIFFERENT passwords for each website you visit that requires one. It’s easy to use, and roboform keeps track of them.
If I won, I would donate a laptop to the pediatric wing at my local hospital for the children there to use. I would also try and think of another child based charity to donate another one.
dcadmar at gmail dot com
Hp needs to make the tc1200 hybird tablet pc with the multi touch technology. It would make tablet pcs sells rise. umpc have died. Bring back hybird/slate tablet pcs Hp.
e actual life of a laptop battery will vary with computer usage habits. In a survey by chipmaker Intel, 57% of laptop users said they wished their batteries lasted longer. And that is wishful thinking, according to Isidor Buchmann, president and founder of Cadex Electronics in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He suggests that although batteries become about 10% more efficient every year, the average PC’s power needs also increase by about the same amount. Result: The average battery life is still painfully short (just two to three hours for most laptop models).
The more you use physical devices – which require more electricity to operate – the more of the battery’s power you can expect to consume. The devices that create a larger power drain are the hard drive, the floppy drive and the CD-ROM.
Here are some tips to extend the life of your laptop battery:
1. Power down the display
Lowering the brightness may give you as much as an extra hour of runtime. And to increase even more the lifetime of your battery lower the screen resolution and color depth. This will decrease the workload on the GPU, thus extending the battery runtime.
To change this settings follow the steps below:
a. Open the Windows Start menu and click the Control Panel
b. Open the Display menu
c. In the new window click the Appearance tab. Under the Advanced button you can disable extra features like ClearType fonts and fade effects which will cut down on the CPU’s power consumption
d. Now go to the Settings tab
e. Here adjust the color depth to 16 bit. This is more than enough in office and internet applications.
2. Turn off unused devices
Many new notebooks provide a hard-wired On/Off switch for the Wi-Fi radio for this reason.
To save even more power go to the Control Panel, select System–>Hardware–>Device Manager, and disable the following items: Ethernet adapter, infrared transceiver, and Bluetooth radio . You should do this beacause having Bluetooth enabled and not using it actually consumes quite a bit of power.
3. Decrease hard drive activity
Defragmenting your hard drive regularly will decrease the frecuency with which your hard disk has to spin, therefore the battery will last longer. This is due to the fact that defragmentation optimizes the placement of the data on the drive and when a program makes a request for certain data it can be found more quickly.
To defragment your hard disk follow the steps.
1) Click the “Start Orb”
2) Click the Control Panel
3) Click “System and Maintenance”
4) Finally, choose “Defragment your hard drive” from under “Administrative Tools” (at the bottom of the menu/list).
Or, my favorite/quick way:
1) Press the “Windows Button” on your keyboard, type “Disk Defrag” and press enter.
Again, the power of typing what you want to run in the search field at the bottom of the start menu is a huge time saver. I’ve read a few books now that talk about “Run” missing from the start menu as though it is a horrible thing, with instructions on how to get it back. There really is no need—the search field does the job better than Run ever did. And if you really want run for any reason, pressing “Windows” and “R” together still does the trick.
But I digress…
The defrag menu is as shown in the image below. You can simply uncheck the “Run on a schedule” box to disable it, or pres the “Modify schedule” button to pick a new time.
But that’s for users. What you need is a nice command line interface and you’ve got it here…
defrag -a [-v]
defrag [{-r | -w}] [-f] [-v]
defrag -c [{-r | -w}] [-f] [-v]
Specifies the drive letter or mount point path of the volume to be defragmented or analyzed
-c = Defragments all volumes on this computer
-a = Performs fragmentation analysis only
-r = Performs partial defragmentation (default). Attempts to consolidate only fragments smaller than 64 megabytes (MB)
-w = Performs full defragmentation. Attempts to consolidate all file fragments, regardless of their size
-f = Forces defragmentation of the volume when free space is low
-v = Verbose mode; the defragmentation and analysis output is more detailed
For example, to check how things are doing on one of my test systems, I ran “defrag c: -a” and got the following back at the command line (note that you must run the command prompt as Admin).
Another way to decrease hard drive activity is to set your paging file to a fix value, and this value should be around 1.5 times the amount the RAM you have installed on your computer.
To set the paging file go to the Control Panel and click through System -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory Change.
4. Disable startup items
Startup items are programs that load into memory every time Windows boots up and cause other open applications to spill over virtual memory and adds to the CPU load, shortening battery runtime. Here is how to remove some of them that are not necessary.
5. Condition the battery
Battery memory is where the battery becomes conditioned to run for less time than it is designed to run. Say for example, you run your computer on battery for an hour and then you plug it back in to let it recharge. The battery will become conditioned to run only an hour before it runs out of juice.
To correct Battery Memory problems, you must completely drain the battery and recharge it. To completely drain your battery, you must go into your Windows Control Panel and select Power. Then you must turn Power Management Off. Next, you must go into your BIOS and make sure that if there is a power management setting there, that you turn it off as well. In most cases, once you are inside the BIOS, you will highlight Power Management and press Enter. Then locate the item Hibernation at Critical Battery, and by using the Minus sign, change the setting to Off. Once these steps have been completed, then use your Escape key to return to the top level menu, and select Save Settings and Exit.
Once you have completed turning off the power management in both the BIOS and the Operating System, you must unplug the computer, turn the computer on and let it run until it completely runs out of electricity. Then you should charge the battery for 12 hours. At the end of the charging cycle, then run the computer again until the battery is dead, and then charge the battery for 12 more hours. You should repeat this process four times, before returning the computer to its original power management settings.
A great little tip to keep in mind is that if you do keep your laptop plugged in for an extensive period of time REMOVE the battery. Let it discharge and give it a break. This will extend your battery life quite a bit.
Another way to condition your battery is to keep it cool. It’s best to use (and especially charge) your batteries at room temperatures. Extreme conditions can drain your battery quickly.
By the way, I work for dgministries a church (non-profit organization) and I would donate these computers (except for the mini and touchsmart) to my church. I know they would appreciate it and so would i .
Thank You
HP Magic Give Away Submission (Tech Tip)
I know I compete for quality time with my almost-adult kids. So, I bought their time:
My Tip: I asked the three of them to jointly decide on a wireless phone plan that they each could live. They had to collectively decide on the “bells and whistles” the cell phone plan would have. I would pay the monthly bill. I gave them a maximum dollar amount I would pay each month.
There were two sets of criteria: A) The Plan had to be a family plan that allowed for individual telephones lines and allowed free air time on the phones within the plan. B) Each Child had to dedicate 1/2 hour a week on their cell phone talking to their Mother and 1/2 hour a week talking on their cell phone to their Father.
If either of them failed to meet Part B of this activity during the first three months they would immediately be kicked out of the Plan (no exceptions).
We have been doing this for almost a year. My wife and I have had some very eye-opening conversations with our Children.
(end of tip)
Below are three projects of how I would share my Magic:
Recipient #1
Senior Opportunities West Senior Center
1220 S. Seventh Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-262-6610
Small Call Home
7th Avenue and Buckeye Road in Phoenix, AZ! In the 1970’s the “60 Minutes” television show once described this stretch of inner-city Projects as “the most dangerous mile in America”. Today, much has changed and, as they say – much remains the same. At this intersection sits a high minority-populated, economically challenged Senior Adult community center. This is where I will house my HP Magic project. Many of the Seniors have family/grandchildren living a distance away. With the HP Magic gift I will plan and establish a regular on-site schedule where Seniors can call home using internet webcam and VoIP/Skype technology. With the permission of family members grandparents can virtually visit with their children, connecting with grandchildren classrooms as school projects and, once comfortable with the concept, even visit online with other Seniors who are tech savvy. There is life beyond Bingo.
Recipient #2
William R. Sullivan Elementary School
2 North 31st Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85009
602-353-5220
Software for Sullivan
The software and server will be donated to a needy elementary school to complement its computer lab. W.R. Sullivan is a Pre-K through 8th grade school located in the heart of Arizona’s desert and the “shadow” of the Arizona Capitol. This area is high in crime and unemployment and lacks expected amenities; there are no libraries, parks, and shopping centers. The school is part of the Murphy Elementary School District, which ranks third highest in at-risk students of the 20 districts comprising the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Nearly 96% of the students qualify for free meals. The school’s tax base consists of few homeowners and almost no business or industry sector. The significance of these conditions is that Sullivan School must educate nearly 1,000 of the city’s most underprivileged children with only meager monetary resources for instruction and maintenance.
Recipient #3
South Mountain Community College
7050 South 24th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85042
602-243-800
HP Scholarship Drive
One laptop will be donated to to my employer, South Mountain Community College, to be used as a raffle prize. 100 tickets will be sold at $50 each with all proceeds donated to the general scholarship fund. $5,000 generated from this activity will support a full-time student’s tuition for one year.
Thank you…….
My best tech tips is that no one has an excuse as to why there computer doesn’t have a basic security package with so many freeware programs available. Just because you payed for it doesn’t always make it better. I believe in paying it forward, and each of these programs will perform a different action and help keep your system safe or help fix problems already there. Not all of the programs are automatic, you need to update manually at least once a month and run them.
You can find many options, I’ll list my favorites to get you started:
Anti-virus AVAST(Free for Home Use)
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
Firewall ON-LINE ARMOR
http://www.tallemu.com/downloads.html
Spyware SPYWARE BLASTER (stop it at the door before it gets on your computer)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/
Spyware Cleaner SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY
http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
Malware MALEWARE BYTES
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Malicious site protection for IE and Firefox WEB OF TRUST (WOT)
http://www.mywot.com/
Welcome to a bit of the free world and secure and clean that new and old computer.
If you want a vanity number for your tmobile cell phone? Heres how. sign up for skypeout@www.skype.com. BUY a call out number for $19.95,use the vanity search box to find your number. Exp DaVi = 3284. Then pick your area code. After call tmobile and say you wanna port your new number over. Use your skype order number as the account number to port. Bam you have a vanity number for your cell phone. I did it and it worked 3**-8**-DaVi/3284.jdp*=)$
I don’t actually have a need for any of the prize kit, however I will also attempt to win it for my favoured charity, Queenscourt Hospice, here in the UK.
My tip? Remember, computers ARE out to get you, they’ll fail at the most awkward time and pass that failure on to any surrogate device you try to fallback to. This is not by chance, nor an accidental happenstance. The truth is that Skynet will not take control by blowing us all up, rather by slowly frustrating us out of our tiny minds.
Seriously though, if you are using computers for any business or mission critical purpose; either in business, home or educational life, make sure you have a contingency plan for when it all goes terribly wrong. Make sure you have tested that contingency and if at all possible have a final ‘all bets are off’ plan which requires the use of absolutely no technology at all.
Only then will you have real peace of mind.
Tip #1: Use Truecrypt on your mobile laptop, with preboot authentication.
Tip #2: Install Linux on a USB key, and use that to boot while on the road for even greater security. You can create a system with no personal information for general surfing. I once had to find a hotel two hours down the road while traveling with my family. Pop in the USB key, connect to random public wifi hot-spot and search for hotels with Google Maps. I called a place in the mountains on my mobile to make the reservation. It ended up being beautiful, and affordable, and most of all, didn’t expose my normal system to the public internet.
Tip #3: We don’t have desktop systems in my family. Because of this, there is no guarantee that any given system will be on the network to serve as a universal share (file and print). To solve this dilemma, we bought an ASUS WL700G which does it all. We have the printers connected, the DSL modem and it serves as an NAS.
If I were to receive the prize package, one of the systems would go to my son who for some reason feels the need to upgrade to a system with Pixel Shader capability : ). The rest would go to the local Boy Scout Troop to support there efforts. Any thing they don’t want, would probably go to the bay area computer recycling charity that supplies schools with computers.
Regards,
Hans
Dear all I have TWO tips for you:
(A) to chat from your phone go to “http://m.ebuddy.com”
it enables you to chat without installing any thing to your phone
it can log you into:
MSN mobile
AIM mobile
Yahoo mobile
Google Talk mobile
MySpace IM mobile
ICQ mobile
Facebook mobile
or if you want a page that contains links to mobile services
copy the following code to notepad, save with the extension HTM
an transfer it t your and enjoy
START COPYING FROM HERE
<br><a href=”http://www.google.com/m”>goole search</a>
<br><a href=”http://mobile.live.com/hm”>hotmail mobile</a>
<br><a href=”http://mim.live.com/”>MSN messenger mobile</a>
<br><a href=”http://m.facebook.com”>facebook</a>
<br><a href=”http://m.zedge.net”>zedge mobile</a>
<br><a href=”http://m.ebuddy.com”>ebuddy</a>
<br><a href=”http://m.google.com/”>m.google.com</a> gmail, youtybe, etc
<br><a href=”http://m.google.com/youtube”>m.google.com/youtube mobile</a>
END OF CODE TO COPY
=================================================
(B) to use internet explorer without installing it, useful when you want ti use it from your USB flash stick at your friends PC or at net cafe
1-download it from microsoft (the ordinary file you used to install)
2- make a new folder any new folder lets say “d:\new folder”
2- extract it with winrar or any similar program that folder
i know it is .exe but winrar will extract it i promise
3-go to the folder you will find a lot of files
search for “shlwapi.dll” and delete it
4-open folder options and uncheck “hide extensions foe known file types”
5- create a new text file and rename it to “IEXPLORE.exe.local”
make sure notepad didn’t add the .txt at the end of the file name
we are done now you can launch IE7 by double-clicking “iexplore.exe”
=============================================
if i won i will give a pc or two to the orphanage at our district
and one to my cousin
Use SMS services! send a text to 466453 with a query, and it will give you info.
This is sort of old fashioned, but my tip is to take the time to learn some keyboard shortcuts.
I am amazed at how many people don’t even know CTRL-C or CTRL-V, etc…
They think it is magic when you do it.
Also, along similar lines great programs like AutoHotKey allow you to write your own scripts. I use it to disable the always in the way CAPS LOCK key, but there is almost no end to it’s uses.
Hmm… I think the best tech tip I got dates back nearly 10 years ago now. A respected co-worker said this of our profession: “The most important skill in being a sysadmin is not knowing everything–nobody can do that. Instead, it’s knowing what you DON’T know, and then knowing where to go to find out.”
In the years since then, I’ve been able to apply this in demonstrating for my employers that I could solve whatever complex troubleshooting issue I faced with some research–whether it be in the manuals and readmes, Micro$of TechNet, Google searches, or even phoning a friend. I probably owe much of my techie reputation to my Google-fu more than anything.
My best tech tips are prob pretty amateur compared to most. I agree with many of the above great tips.
My kids love to color and paint and I have taken approx 35,000 pics of the 4 of them to date (ages: 7, 5, 3, and 1). I purchased a Wacom tablet and utilize this with Photoshop CS3 for the majority of my photo editing. The tip I have is that to avoid the mess of always getting out the markers, crayons, and paint download a program called ArtRage: http://www.ambientdesign.com/
The starter edition is adequate but the full version is well worth the $25 bucks and gives them fun tools like glitter.
This helped justify the expense of the Wacom and the kids have a blast creating paintings and drawings.
The kids love this and it allows them be creative without the mess.
Best tip: Bookmark jkontherun.com
Mobile Tip:
Get the Monster 4 port travel surge protector. Not only can you charge more devices, you might even make some friends doing it, especially in an airport!
My tech tip will save you money and help save the planet. Plug all of your electric devices into strips. For example have your media center hooked all to one strip (except a DVR) and when the center isn’t in use just unplug the strip. 40-60 % of electricity used in the home is lost to electronics that are drawing juice when not in use. So strips will make for easy unplugging and is the ultimate surge protector when not plugged in!
If an application requires a CD or DVD to be in a drive, rather than waste your battery running the DVD-ROM drive, rip the CD to ISO and then mount it using an ISO reader.
My favorite ISO creator is ISO recorder, which is available for free here:
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
My favorite ISO reader is MagicDisk from MagicISO (available here: http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm )
The steps to do burn an ISO using ISO recorder are:
Verify the path and filename for the ISO – change it now if you want to
1) download and install ISO recorder and Magic Disk
2) Insert the CD or DVD to burn in you DVD-ROM drive
3) Open “My Computer”
4) Right click on the DVD-ROM drive
5) Notice there is now an item “Create Image From CD”
6) Click this item
7) Notice the “CD Recording Wizard” launched
9) Click next
10) wait for the ISO creation to finish
The steps to mount the ISO are:
goto My Computer and notice that the image is now mounted as if it were a CD or DVD
1) Notice that MagicDisk has created an item in your system tray (the lower right corner of your screen)
2) Right click on this icon
3) Select “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM” – the first item in the context menu
4) Select the drive from the submenu
5) Click the “Mount . . .” menu item
6) Navigate in the “Mount CD/DVD image” dialog to the ISO image you previously created
7) Select the image and click open
As far as who would get what:
1) My son would get the HDX 18 notebook
2) My wife would get the Mini 1000
3) A technology teacher (to be determined later) at my son’s high school would get the Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC
I’m actually on holidays and currently typing this from my Win Mo Treo.
Single piece of mobile advice? Windows Live services are free, use them. Live Mesh (get it at http://www.mesh.com) syncs my desktop and my notebook and this phone. True synchronisation too. When I add something it starts straight away. There’s also the mobile version of Windows Live – Messenger, Hotmail, etc. Since Wave 3 of the release they are all fully usable with all the features you need on the run. Just go to home.live.com on your smartphone and it will take you to the mobile version.
As for the prize distribution. I have a fine desktop and notebook, so I would give those all away (the touchsmart definitely to my parents, who are forever looking around the corner of the kitchen to see the TV or change the song. The touchsmart would be great there). I think I would only keep the netbook (my notebook is really a desktop replacement) and the blu-ray of Kung Fu Panda. As a high school student I’m not very rich, so it would be great to be able to make people happy with these gifts.
Thanks.
Not just a mobile tip, this works on desktops, too. I just learned it, but I’m sure the experienced folks out there will think, “big deal”. Use “F3″ to search for something on any given page. It really speeds things up when you’ve got a huge page full of data, and you only need to find a single word or phrase.
For anyone running Vista the easiest and least expensive trick is to get a mid gigabyte usb drive with readyboost. This simple addition will boost your computer experience almost as much as putting more ram in the machine. This idea is not being utilized as much as it should be in my experience,
I will donate the desktop to my wife, a notebook to my ninety year old dad, a notebook to mikecane blog and a mini 1000 and software to this site to make someones Christmas a little nicer. Thanks in advance.
My Mobile tip:
I notice this functionality is disabled for some Vista Home Basic users running the OS on laptops, hibernation. Click Start > click the arrow beside the lock on the Start menu, you will notice that ‘Hibernate’ is not available. Here is a quick and easy way to enable it to conserve battery life and write data to the hard disk when you are on the go.
1. Click Start
2. Type ‘powercfg.exe /hibernate on’ without quotes.
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, this will run the command with administrative rights.
Its also a fast way to boot Windows Vista fast and be at the desktop in seconds. If you would like disable Hibernation, its just as simple:
1. Click Start
2. Type ‘powercfg.exe /hibernate off’ without quotes.
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter, this will run the command with administrative rights.
Three critical components in the HP Magic giveaway I believe sends a clear answer about starting a small business. I am a photography and graphics design enthusiast, I could see my self taking advantage of the innovative TouchSmart with its enormous/gorgeous screen for editing photos in Adobe Photoshop and vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator and doing prints on the HP AIO Printer. I am also a heavy user of AutoDesk AutoCAD 2009, I often print drafts and render into 3D, the power of that system would definitely help with that.
Its quite overwhelming when you think about what HP, Microsoft and so many sites are giving away. HP has exemplified something here, the gift of giving, so why not do the same? If I were to win all this hardware, I definitely could not keep it all. My brother would absolutely love an upgrade from his XP machine to the HP HDX 18 and my other brother would be excited about the HP Mini 1000. Why I would love to win this contest is specifically for the HP Touch Smart and media smart. The all in one printer and laptop I most likely would give away as a Christmas gift to a lucky member at the up coming Church harvest. A lot of folks are in rough economic times (world-wide)right now, giving somebody a laptop might not necessarily make ones life completely better, but its a nice gesture that will make their holidays a very special and memorable one in addition to starting off the New Year with a bang. This collection of devices is screaming, show the good in you, so why not make the ’smart’ choice of sharing the magic too. Thanks!
There are a few programs that I find indespensible for a seamless mobile experience.
- Use Jott and Evernote for keeping miscellaneous notes, to do lists and reminders. This can be installed on every computer and phone you own. It’s the best use of your phone camera and voice recorder, period.
- Use Opera (as much as possible) for your browser. Opera Mini is great and has Opera Sync implemented. This keeps your bookmarks available on all devices, including your phone. I know there are other bookmark managers, but Opera’s is built in and simply the best, hassle-free experience. Plus, it’s definately the fastest browser for your PC, Netbook, UMPC and phone.
- eWallet is indespensible for private data. Again, it is available for your phone as well as your PC.
- For data backup, I use Zenfolio for photos and SugarSync for everything else. Sure it costs a modest amount each month, but I found it works the best across all devices. You pay for storage and it can be installed on as many devices as you want.
I personally have an iMac for my powerful desktop; a UMPC / netbook that I carry in my bag or on work trips; and a Motorola Q9h Windows Mobile Smartphone. I find this the perfect combo. Buy a netbook / UMPC with bluetooth so that you can tether. To maximize battery life on your portable PC, look on the web for numerous tips to tweak your OS install.
As for the generosity part, I would give away the two larger laptops and the printer…one (and the printer) to my son’s school and one to our local childrens hospice. The mini will go to my wife, who always receives my hand-me-downs and the TouchSmart will be for my 3 boys to share (to replace my 12 year old desktop that they currently use). I will keep the MediaSmart for myself to play with!
Thanks HP for the generosity!
Here are my tech tips:
1. Stay synchronized. If you haven’t done it already switch to Firefox and install an addons called Foxmarks, it can synchronize your bookmarks across multiple computers. Get Dropbox to syncronize important documents and files, it monitors any changes to your file and it has an ability to revert changes too. Use Gmail with IMAP for all your emails and Google Reader for your news.
2. If you like listen to music, get a bluetooth stereo headset. Use that with your laptop or your mobile devices (only if it supports A2DP). It’s virtually cable free so no more tangled cable mess for you. Also if you use your phone to listen to music, you don’t need to bring your portable music player so that’s one less device to carry.
3. Backup often, you’ll never know what bad things will happen. The simplest one you can do is get an external harddrive and copy all important files to it.
4. If you are frequently outside with no power connection, get a solar charger. It can help putting more hours to your small devices.
5. Get a good casing for your devices, protect them and they will last longer for you.
I would keep the HP min and give the rest away to charitable organizations.
Do NOT buy apple. They may look nice, be popular, and seem better, but look at the prices. learning windows over OSX would be the smarter thing to do. I doubt every country in the world has enough money to pay $1000 for a computer when you can get an HP with the same specs for less than $500.
I guess my best tip would be to keep your cookies and temp files cleared every day.
Most people don’t do this.
It will cause you computer to get slower and slower as they continue to build up.
There’s a great program (and it’s free)that is easy to use and clears all your cookies and temp files with just a couple clicks.
http://www.ccleaner.com
Click “download” at the top in the gray bar.
Then click “Download from FileHippo.com (more downloads)”
Then on the right in the green box, click download latest version and follow the prompts.
You won’t regret getting free program.
I use it every night just before I turn my computer off.
I have a printer that has an ethernet jack. I often need to print to it while I’m not on my local network. I went onto my router and setup a port forwarding rule. External port was set to 9100, and internal port was 9100, with the internal ip set to my printer’s ip address. Then I setup a dynamic ip address domain (like dyndns.org) so wouldn’t have to remember ip addresses. Next I installed a printer that used that url for the printer ip address/location. Presto! You can print from outside your network.
I know of a friends and family that would love to be able to have a new computer (some of them still use windows 95/98 computers.) I’d give a few computers to them.
I have one tip that is vital to all windows users: make sure you know where your install cd or dvd is. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to run a repair install, reinstall, or format a hard drive. If your windows doesn’t start or work right it doesn’t matter how many registry keys you change, nothing works like a fresh, or at least “repaired” copy of windows.
If you don’t have a cd-rom drive on your computer then make sure you have a usb stick that has been PeToUSBed with a full version of windows. I accidentally gave mine to a homeless woman with some change. A month later my windows stopped working and I needed to have it for work in the morning and I didn’t have a usb cd-rom drive. I bought one at bestbuy only to find out the nlited xp CD I had didn’t have a repair option. MSDNAA to the rescue! I Downloaded an XP iso (via MSDN downloader running via wine on ubuntu on my other partition, also something nice to have as a backup..) and 5 hours later windows was back with all of my files and settings!
If I were to win the giveaway, my girlfriend’s sister needs a computer so she may get the pavillion. One of the other ones maybe would get donated to the Pumping Station One hacker group in Chicago in order to mod into something even more amazing! The touchsmart has some very interesting hardware in it, while the netbook is cheap enough to go crazy with modding!
Merry Christmas all, and congrats to whoever is the winner of this awesome giveaway.
My tip involves presentations and other important work files. While most of the world uses pdf files successfully, I’ve discovered the hard way that its not as easy to find a place to print them.
My solution? Save each document as a pdf and jpg file. During one meeting I needed to have my presentations reprinted (they were lost by Fedex)but the hotel copy center was out of service. I noticed across the street a Walgreens noting 1 hour photo service.
I called my office, asked one of my staff to email me the pages as jpg. I walked over and handed the clerk my sd card, and in 45 minutes I had 12 copies of my presentation on 8×11 photo paper!
The presentation went well. I’m not sure it was the documents or how we handled adversity but we got the job and still have the customer.
I hope this helps someone along the way…
If I win, I will be giving most of the equipment to my kid’s school. I volunteer on their technology committee and we are trying to get enough equipment to setup a media center in the school’s library.
Tip :- Pack your laptop bag with five essentials.You should always take a grounded (three-prong) extension cord with at least three outlets so you can recharge multiple gadgets; blank CDs, for transferring files to another PC or burning tunes to play in the rental car; an RJ-11 phone cord, because you never know when you’ll need one; an ethernet cable, for the same reason; and your AC adaptor, with airline and car power adaptors.
This contest has come not a moment too soon in my life! I am a single parent of two children. My sister recently died and left behind four children of her own with no one to care for them. I stepped in, and now have all six children in my home. It has been very difficult, because my son has learning disabilities and requires home schooling. I do not have my own computer, and so we make daily trips to the local library, but the time limits on the computers there are short at best.
I am aware that the local animal control desperately needs updated computer equipment to better place the animals that so desperately need a home. Additionally, I tutor underprivileged children in Language Arts for the local school district. These computers could make a huge difference for them as well. If I win this contest, I will do the following: Give one computer to the local animal control, give one computer to the local school for the students, and keep one for myself so that my son can use it for his home schooling needs. It would also be beneficial for my sister’s children to have a means of using the new computers as well. Please consider my family in this contest.
My best tech tip: Maximize your use of your cell phone, even if it’s not smart phone. I have the standard run-of-the-mill free phone from signing up for a two year contact, and I use the heck out of it. I use the calendar function as a reminder for notes I think of when not able to access a computer or notepad. I use the alarm function as an alarm on the road, and I use the countdown timer for cooking to always make sure I don’t burn anything.
Also since most online services nowadays have an SMS feature, I had the phone numbers for all of the services I use like Twitter, Google Calendar, Mint, Radar, and ChaCha, which is great for solving minor disagreements. I can even text ‘ATM’ to Washington Mutual and find the nearest ATM to my area.
In summary, my tech tip is even with a regular phone, you can act like a smart phone user.
My tip is that, before you go on a trip or tour,take your iPod instead of your laptop.An iPod (and other portable USB storage devices) can hold computer files, Outlook data, Internet Explorer favourites, desktop wallpaper, and in some cases, applications. Connect the iPod to a borrowed PC, and voilà – it’s like having access to your own computer. Later, synch the iPod with your PC back home.
I’m Ajay from India.I’m related with Missionaries Of Charity(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionaries_of_Charity) here in India.
My job involves rescuing children from people who use disabled children for their own profit like forcing disabled & homeless kids to beg (yes you read that right !!!) & using them to entertain people.
We (with a member of 30) search for these kids in society & bring them to our organization so that these kids can get proper education,proper foods & atleast some happiness & can grow up like a normal kid should.You can read about these kids more on our blog here :- http://elaan.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/world-day-for-the-prevention-of-child-abuse-nov-19th-2008/
I want to share the computers(if i win) among the children of this orgnization.i would love to give you the direct contact info & address of the organization so that you can send the prizes to them if i win.
This is my tip:- Get directions on your phone The free Google Maps for Palm, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and smartphones from Vodaphone shows nearby businesses, gives directions and displays images of your location.Google Maps on your mobile will give you directions, and help you find suitable businesses
If i win, i’ll keep the TouchSmart with me & the rest will be distributed in the following order.
1) The HDX 18 lappy will go to the Local Animal Rehabilitation Center which desparetely needs upgraded hardwares.
2) The DV4 series lappy will go to a local girl’s school where is running by very poor funds & they will be delighted to get something like that.
3) The AIO Printer will go to my local guardian,my uncle who is currently having to go to Cyber Cafes to get his documents printed or scanned.If he get the printer (with Scanner) ,he can do his job in his own home.
4) The Mini 1000 will go to our Church.They don’t need a high-end computer but just something basic where they can store some important data.
5) Kungfu Panda will go to one of my brothers.
6) Windows Live & the Corel software will go to a local Multimedia training center called “Arena Multimedia”.
7)The office package will go to a Basic computer training center for kids.
Thank you for the oportunity.
Tip :-Use your phone as a modem Most Bluetooth phones (and some others) include data-modem capabilities, enabling you to use your phone to wirelessly connect your laptop to the web. Check with your carrier for a connection kit and compatible data plan.
In case of sharing, i will keep the Mini & will donate the rest to a locan women shelter.I’m sure they will have very good uses of these computers.
Create your own hotel room hotspot Some hotel rooms still offer only wired broadband access. But a portable router – such as Apple’s AirPort Express or Linksys’s Wireless-G Travel Router – lets you create your own wireless network, so you’re not shackled to the uncomfortable guest-room desk.
I won’t spare much time here but just this that i have a computer & that’s a good one.So, i’ll be donaing all the stuffs to a local children’s home which consists of disabled & homeless children.As i already do have a Quad Core computer with 24″ widescreen, i think those children will really find a great use of this amazing prize package.
The best mobile tech tip:
Be sure that you disable or turn off the Wifi/Bluetooth/Infrared features of your cellphones or mobile notebook when you are not using them. Enabling them when you’re not using them will only drain your battery’s charge faster.
So if you would choose me, that would definitely change my life and save me from my unstable job where I could lose my laptop depending on my employer’s decision. If I lose my laptop which is my life — I would also lose my motivation, career and productivity so please I hope I win on this contest.
I will keep the laptops for myself and my brothers who are struggling hard to make their efforts and ideas into action.
I will share other prizes to my poor relatives. Their kids have the chance to turn their fate by letting them have the computer tools and teach them about it. I want to motivate them and encourage them that there is a way to escape poverty and that way can be found by developing computer skills.
By becoming the winner, I would be able to multiply the magic HP had shared and be able to share it to bring sunshine to people’s lives
Thank you so much for this contest.
My tech tip concerns wifi routers.
I would urge all tech savy people to check out dd-wrt.com . Ive been flashing my Linksys routers with this alternative Firmware for years.
It adds a load of extra features from simple turning up the power, to complicated traffic shaping and wds configurations.
I currently have 3 Linksys WRT-54GS models running his v24 firmware.
My tech mobile tip is something I put together on my own. It allows me to pull my facebook events into my Nokia mobile calendar via Outlook. I searched a lot but I couldn’ find an accurate solution so this is the guide I made up
http://www.kanjhan.com/2008/09/21/get-your-facebook-events-on-outlook-and-your-mobile-device/
If I was to win the contest I’d keep the HDX18t and the HP Mini 1000 as they’d be perfect for a university student like me. Enough juice to game on the HDX and portability for note taking and presentations with the Mini.
I’d give the touchsmart PC to my mom and dad as a gift for their new house.
I’d give the Dv4 to a very close friend at University who’s laptop is falling apart and needs tape to hold up the screen.
I’ll give out the software titles to friends and family as I see befitting.
Merry Christmas J and K
$ very useful programs that make my list for top tech tips.
1. Vonage – I’ve been using if for 3 years. I have probably signed up at least 20 friends since I’ve been a member and Vonage takes care of me by giving me a free month of service or $50 for each new customer. Haven’t had a problem that was Vonage’s fault in over two years. Unlimited calling and long distance for $24.99 a month…can’t beat it. If your internet connection goes down, you can configure it to forward calls to your cell phone. Lots of nice features such as call forwarding, simulring (rings on your cell phone if you please when your home phone rings) etc…
2. Foxmarks – It’s a free add-on for your Firefox browser that syncs and backs up your bookmarks and passwords across multiple computers and more. Works!!!!!! No hassle.
3. Roboform – Password manager.
This is what it does:
• AutoSave passwords in browser.
• AutoFill passwords to login form.
• Click Login button for you.
• Fills personal info into online forms.
• Saves offline passwords & notes.
• Generates Secure Random Passwords.
• Encrypts passwords and personal data using AES, Blowfish, RC6, 3-DES or 1-DES algorithms.
• All personal info is stored on your computer only.
• You can take RoboForm with you on USB disk for ultimate portability.
• Sync your passwords and notes to Palm or Pocket PC.
• Backup & Restore, Print your passwords.
• Works under Windows as an add-on to IE-based browsers.
• Works with Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox under Windows.
Last but not least is a program called Clone DVD2 – It copies movies to create unparalleled picture quality DVD backups, whether it’s the main title you’re copying or the complete DVD. CloneDVD will compress long footage at high speed to the highest of quality using specialized transcoding technology, allowing you to select your audio and language settings and also the final target size. It’s a piece of cake to use even the novice user, CloneDVD’s intuitive Filmstrip assistant guides you through all the available configuration settings, allowing you to choose which chapters to include and offering the option to trim individual chapters.
A visual quality bar shows how your configuration choices affect the quality of the final copy.
If you are copying protected DVDs you will need to purchase and use AnyDVD. It runs in the background with now adverse issues.
You can literally copy any DVD movie out there without any hassle.
That’s it for now. Merry Christmas to all!
definetly upgrade the ram to make pages open faster
Greetings from Ireland
My tip is: Consider how mobile devices will fit into your lifestyle before buying them!
It might be cool to have a device that plays videos on a 3-inch screen, but will you actually use it on your daily commute? What use is a WiFi communication device if you’re never around WiFi hotspots? Save money by thinking about how you’ll use new gadgets before splashing the cash on them!
If I won the prize, I would give the computers to relatives and friends as Christmas gifts. Some of them are in dire need of upgrades
Hi ,
first tip :
If you use windows mobile you have seen frozen mobiles which make all you data , tweaks , SMS/MMS and contacts gone by a heart beat.It has happen to me ,cause I’m always trying to install new softwares on my pocketPC so one faulty software is enough to make all of your personalized well managed PDA gone!
So here is what you have to do , either use the spb backup or resco backup , ( both are great but resco had an updated software released lately which is awesome ).They both get your phones backed up so nicely and from everything you have on your mobile including installed softwares, ring tones , messages and contacts and they can do that periodically at anytime you set them so you don’t have to do it on your own.believe me guys , that’s a life saver!
number 2 : use skyfire browser on your mobile for watching you tube and stuff and use opera mobile for just surfing….! that’s the best mixture you can get out of all the mobile browsers out there!
number 3 : on your laptop , use FIREFOX!
not only because its better , but because it had so many add-ons you can use for so many things. I believe many people already use those add-ons but there is one I like to share which makes my life easier all the time, and that is “READ IT LATER” add-on which basically help you tick any page you wanna read later , saves it in it’s bar , and after you wanna read it , you just go there and click on it’s link , the benefit of the tool is that comparing to other ones, it is much more simple.
number 4 : get rid of all the icons on your desktop , download and install RocketDock software and enjoy the benefit of a simple desktop , which had all your icons in a simple , user friendly , non cpu/ram consuming behavior, it runs smooth , makes everything look good and is a freeware!
OK , I think those might be enough , I really wish to win as me and my wife are both geeks but can’t really afford the high tech stuff , we just suggest good tips to people but really can’t use and enjoy them ourselves.
Best Regards,
Tech Tip: These are so basic, but so vital. BACK UP all important files (photos, music, documents) create those restore disks RIGHT away, do not put it off, fully charge your mobile devises (carry an extra battery or alternative charger is good too) and be kind and do the maintenance on your mobile equipment and not just say, yeah I need to get to that, maybe next week.
MY Sharing:
First I would make sure my fabulous soon to be graduate had a notebook set up and ready to take him into college. I know this would make life much easier for him to be able to carry it to class and back home for studying and notes. He is a true gem,having fantastic grades, perfect attendance and also takes college credit courses already while still in HS. This would be a great surprise for him, and one he would truly benefit from.
The mini would be perfect for my 10 year old who attends a magnet school with focus on math and science studies. he placed 3rd over all in his school’s science fair this year by studying the effects of soda and diet soda on weight gain and energy levels. Time and time again he spent hours researching online, and typing up his reports and findings. Currently he is learning excel, and power point. I do believe this would expand his education by allowing him to experiment with the new lessons from school at home.
My parents are about to retire in 2010 and start up their very own Barkery. (bakery for dogs). Mom is running a very old system currently, and reboots often just to keep it going. They would be able to run the business with a new PC and keep on top of building their online presences with a blog and website of their own.
Remaining items would have to go to my middle son’s school. They have a fantastic program with focus studies in Math/Science, Arts and Cultures, Micro society, and The Performing Arts. They do so much for the students, and the teachers go way beyond in their out of the box teaching. I know the school could inspire more students through the use of new computer equipment.
These are my wishes if I were to be so lucky as to win.
My tip is about video format converting. Have you ever had a .div file but needed a .wmv file? Have you ever had a .flv file and needed a .avi file? When then, you need the FREE Quick Media Converter from http://www.cocoonsoftware.com/#us
It does video and audio and has all of the formats available. Try it, You like it!!!
I’ve sent my entry earlier and made a video. Please help me win this HP Giveaway Contest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48acHWmIXkU
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
my mobile tech tips are:
1. make your own html home page with all the mobile version of your most used webs. For example: http://www.google.com/palm
m.google.com/search
m.google.com/mail
mobile.wikipedia.org
2. on linux, I convert movies.avi to other formats to see them on my palm with this nautilus script:
%M -ofps 20 -srate 24000 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=32:vol=5:mode=3 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=96:vhq:keyint=300 -vf scale=420:320 -o %M2.mpg
3. emulators+old classic games is better than the games for your mobile phone OS. Always look for emulators. I played “Monkey Island 1 and 2″ on my palm, and a lot of classic games
4. backup automatically every day AND save the backups in different folders, I lost all my calendar and agenda data once because I loaded the wrong backup.
5. phones with external memory cards are always better than internal memory phones.
Isolate your data from your computer. Why should a crash or a HD failure or being away from your computer prevent you from accessing your important documents or even your programs. In the past people carried USB flash drives with their favorite portable apps and data. Now, just install dropbox (http://getdropbox.com) on each computer. Anything that you used to put on a flash drive can go here. It’s accessible from the web too!
Use Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com) or iGoogle to track your favorite sites and RSS feeds. Both also support widgets for things like stock tracking, twitter following, calendars, etc. Rather than keep a set of bookmarks, use these sites to manage the information behind your bookmarks.
Use yodlee moneycenter (http://www.yodlee.com) to track your finances and be a password store to all our sites on the web. The specialize in finance and utility bills but you can also store passwords/follow email accounts, reward programs, etc.
My Tech Tip
I use Windows Home Server to retrieve files while on the go. While vacationing I upload photos and video every evening. If something were to happen to the camera I wouldn’t lose all those photos.
You don’t need to have a Windows Home Server to upload your photos but at least use some service that will enable you to upload. WHS also has a webpage associated with it that allows you to share your vacation photos while your on vacation. Not several weeks after!
My Giving Back
We had a family in our area that adopted a 3 year old Ethiopian boy only to have a tragic accident with a lawn mower that has left him a triple amputee. How awesome would it be to deliver a new touchscreen PC to him. I’m sure he would enjoy Kung Fu Panda as well!
Here is his story:
http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=701&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=110&S=1
Thanks for the opportunity.
My mobile tech tip is to check out Facade for Windows Mobile. It makes the calendar on my smartphone an order of magnitude more usable.
As for the prize – my kids would get the TouchSmart, my mom would get one of the laptops, and I’d donate the mini and the other laptop to our local shelter.
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer,
Really loved his mobile lifestyle;
And Panera’s free wi-fi,
Was closer than SBUX by five miles!
All of the other reindeer,
Were stuck behind in Santa’s stable;
Sitting behind their Macs and PCs,
Tied to Ethernet cables.
Prancer was old-fashioned,
And Dancer didn’t trust wireless;
So they never let poor Rudolph,
Untangle the hardwired mess!
So that famous Christmas Eve,
Didn’t happen like they said;
‘Cause no one wanted to discuss,
The night Santa’s internet went dead.
Yet on that fateful foggy night,
Santa’s Tech Support came to say;
“Rudolph, with your EDVO-A,
Can you download Garmin’s emergency update?”
A disaster was looming,
How bad we can’t say;
But our good boy Rudolph,
Didn’t stop to eat hay.
He opened up Skype,
And took out his Blackberry;
His iPhone was working,
With the Mophie Juice Packs he carried.
All the way to the sleigh,
He Googled and charted;
He downloaded and PDF’d,
(And Ebayed a Go-Kart!)
The GPS was fixed,
All the waypoints OK;
Christmas toys were delivered,
The geek saved the day!
Then all the reindeer loved him,
And they friended him in Facebook;
“Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer,”
(they Twittered)
“You’re really smarter than you look!”
Although I had thought to cleverly weave my tip into the ditty, I couldn’t quite do it. So here’s my “magic” mobile tip:
***Consider buying a second power adapter to keep in your mobile bag. One like the iGo Everywhere systems (igo Everywhere 85, for example) provide a wide range of tips for multiple computers, an additional dual power accessory for charging your phone or mp3 player, and car, plane, and wall capabilities. One small package means I don’t have a lot of chargers to pack when going on a trip and that I always have what I need when I need it. Even if it’s someone else’s computer!***
P.S. When shopping for a new mobile device, take the time to define what your mobile tech needs are, then make a list of your wants. (i.e. “I need to get my work email on my new cell phone, but I want to be able to Sling, too!) Buy the best device for your budget, meeting as many of your needs as possible. Then remember that your tech gadgets will be obsolete almost before FedEx delivers them!
I would like to share this package with family members and a charity or two. My husband normally gets my hand-me-downs, so he’s been hinting that playing Flight Simulator on the Touchsmart would be a totally awesome experience. My sister, who is taking several online classes and teaching a couple as well, uses an underpowered HP dv1000, so I’d like her to get the 14’ laptop or the HP Mini 1000, whichever she’d prefer. The 18” HDX is just too big for my mobile needs, so I’ve earmarked that for a suitable charity, along with the printer, possibly for the Dress For Success office in our town, as they help underprivileged women find jobs in the local business arena.
Thanks for being a part of this contest, James and Kevin!
A little tip my chirpractor gave me was to get a backpack with the wheels for my notebook, so when I travel, I am not carrying that weight on one shoulder which was making my back hurt.
AS for sharing the prize, I really plan on giving the printer and notebook to the robotics team my kids are on. The team is strictly self supporting, and has been a great educational experience for my kids. However, they really could use some computers and printers.
The best mobile tech tip of 2008 is EVERNOTE! Wow what a program!. The iPhone and WM6 clients are awesome, too. I am a Onenote convert. I interact with EN with my voice using Jott, email, my WM phone and tablet PC and I’ve just begun using the file sharing option too. EN has become my goto application for all the random bits of info I collect from the web, working with clients and when I am out and about. The OCR feature makes taking a picture of a whiteboard indispensable. I like the shared notebook feature too, as I can share specific notebooks with clients and partners. EN just released a partnership with Eye-Fi which publishes photos from your digital camera directly into EN, great for my field work.
My tech tip is simple. Instead of purchasing USB flash drives, get a micro SD card along with several different adapters – including a USB adapter and an SD adapter. There are some that even double as a USB/SD adapter (half the card pulls away and exposes a USB connector). See this image: http://tinyurl.com/3ojehz
Now, you have a single flash storage unit that you can use as a flash drive, an SD card for your digital camera, a micro SD card for your phone, and more.
Hi James and Kevin,
My tech tip is to use a piece of free software called CCleaner. It is a great tool to prevent your computer from slowing down over time. I used to regularly do a clean install of Windows XP, but since I am using CCleaner my computer keeps clean and fast.
Oh, and as a bonus tip; always buy HP computers
I am typing this on a 5 year old HP NX5000 laptop and it is still humming away very nicely. Of course I would love to win a more modern machine, especially if it is an HP!
My best Mobile Tip? Put all your data on one hard drive and use Live Mesh/GoToMyPC/LogMeIn to get to it. This way you are always using the latest copy and you’ll always know where it is!
I would share some of this with my Mother (who has never EVER used a computer before!!!!) and some with the Ark, which is a local charity.
Happy Holidays, Everyone!
My Tech Tip is using OneNote for account management, the key tip is using your digital camera to take pictures of your client and insert them on the account page. Pictures trigger more memeory than names and addresses.
If I were to be blessed I would contribute almost everything to the Highlands Christian Elementary Computer lab.
A few tech tips to help:
1) Wait 8 months before buying that gadget and even better wait a year. I am a man and a gadget fiend, and have found that I save 20% to 50% if I don’t buy gadgets as they roll out. Wait for the Price drop and you probably don’t really “need” it anyway. I normally wait at least 6 months and then start shopping. You might even find someone who was testing out or changed their mind and can get a great deal on a slightly used one. I put the money I want to spend in separate savings account when I want to buy something. Funny thing is, that account keeps getting bigger because after 90 days your desire for the new shiny toy goes away.
2) Turn the computer off one full day a week. Disconnect from the Internet for 24 hours. Read a book, go outside, play a board game with the family. Try it and I bet that it changes the level of importance your netbook/deskop/pda have in your life.
3) Stumbleupon. Wonderful way to get out of the rut of reading the same blogs. Ever few weeks I hit the stumble button and I never fail to find a new blog or website that adds to my reading material.
4) Amazon.com Prime. $79.99 a year and you get free two day shipping. For a book reader, this will keep you from buying anything at B&N or Borders. It is also great for finding a gift for someone that you need in a few days.
5) Lower the screen brightness on all laptops/pdas and other mobile devices. You will be amazed at what level you can live with and enjoy much longer battery life.
What will I do with the equipment if I win?
HP Mini 1000 – I would keep that as I am shopping for an ultra portable netbook because I travel a lot for work.
HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC – I have a daughter with Autism and need something she that has a touch screen. I would donate the Dell computer and 22″ Screen we currently have for the use noted below.
The rest of the equipment would be donated/used in one of two ways:
My wife and I are working to unify families in this are who have kids on the Autism Spectrum. Families like us, find it hard to do things that normally families do with their kids, because kids with Autism can be disruptive. We gave many families their first experience with kids birthday party this month and it has shown us that we need to do more. Parents with Autistic children tend to stay home because it is easier. We want to show them that it isn’t that hard.
Next year we planning on doing an Easter Egg Hunt, BBQ during the 4th of July (maybe even a camp out), fund outings and having Santa Clause available for pictures. We would use some of the items as prizes in the Easter Egg Hunt and then some for gifts from Santa. Ideally, I would like to take the laptops and barter them for services with Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy consultants and maybe even gift certificates to a few educational stores here in Denver. We would then use the bartered time/gift cards as gifts to the families who need them. Therapy is expensive and we know many families that can’t afford it and are still waiting for help.
Thanks for the chance!
Mark
Sync and work in the cloud!
1. Use Opera as your browser, automatically synchronizing your Toolbars, Bookmarks, Speed Dial, Typed History, Search and Notes
2. Use Dropbox or Live Mesh to synchronize all your important and frequently used files. Also, store your OneNote notebooks in a DP or LM folder
3. Use Gmail and Google Reader
4. Use Adobe Buzzword or Google Docs
5. Finally, when you need some files that aren’t synchronized, remotely access your desktop computer with LogMeIn or a similar service
My best Mobile Tech Tip: Be very aware of how you can store files and how your mobile device can access those files.
Since we have a mixed work environment (Apple, Windows and Linux), I store presentations in my phone’s MicroSD card. I don’t use a laptop at work so I never know which platform will be used to present. Also, phones can be lost or broken so I always store photos/videos on the card just in case.
In regards to larger mobile devices (netbooks and laptops), it’s important to backup your data just as a precaution. At work my files are stored into the cloud via JungleDisk, at home I use NAS storage that works great with different platforms (Apple, Windows, etc).
Storage of data is getting more important and the different solutions that solve this problem keep evolving. The best time to find a solution that matches how you work is when your mobile device is functioning properly.
Happy Holidays!
Tech Tip for Windows: After buying a new computer the first thing you want to do is remove all the crapwear before using it. It’s ideal to start with a fresh install but not everyone has the original CDs. It will save you from problems down the road, like having 50 programs start at start-up.
Tech Tip for Mac: Buy an external hard drive and run time machine for your MacBook. Those drives fail often. I think it’s the magnetic latch above the hard drive but I have done no scientific study to prove that. But I have a 60% fail rate on the ones we have.
I work with supporting student laptops at a University. The above tips might seem simple but I deal with people that don’t follow them above all day long.
If I win I want the touchsmart. Give the rest of the cool stuff to the top 10 you picked. Let the community here enjoy it.
Thank
jason@allworldautomotive.com
Awesome giveaway!!
My best mobile tip is to use evernote to sync documents between different mobile devices. This is a must for my line of work I really don’t know how I ever managed without it.
If I won, I would keep one and give the rest to my daughter’s school. Her school is K-12 and has 50 students so they don’t qualify for the technology grants that other school’s get. They only have a couple of pc’s for all the kids to share so needless to say they would be thrilled to have them.
I would gladly write a follow post on how the hardware had been used.
Thank you for the wonderful giveaway!
3 words
Backup, Battery and Synchronization.
I know this is like giving 3 tips and not 1 but believe me all three are equally important.
Backup – You can never ever be anal enough when it comes to backup. I got burned few times before I became serious about backup. You just can’t afford to lose your data should you end up breaking/losing/crashing your WinMo/iPhone/Blackberry or even a laptop.
Battery – As one of the other reader mentioned “when battery is dead, your computer is nothing more then a piece of metal or plastic.” keep a spare battery or atleast don’t forget your charger at home;)
Synchronization – Bookmarks, documents, contacts, files etc.
You got to have it for effective mobile computing. Live Mesh, OneNote, Plaxo, Foxmarks are the few finest products that can help you keep things uptodate whether you are working on your desktop, laptop or mobile.
Well, I don’t own any mobile device yet. True, it is sad but still, with these prizes there’s still hope. My tip still would be around security. Never let your guard down. Constantly equip your machine with 3 levels of security or your machine will be compromised. A second tip would be that freeware is just as good! I use a firewall, anti-virus and anti-malware products with daily update and tests. You should too. The alternative would be reinstalling your XP every few weeks/months, loosing valuable data and time and sometimes even your WoW accounts. (For WoW though there is a dedicated crypto stick you can buy from Bliz, but thats a diff story).
Anyways, as I am about to be heading with the wife and kids to Canada soon, leaving the holy land for yet another round of futile religious clashes, I will surely give (if won) the strongest laptop to my 64 years old mom. She is a real computers freak and I hope we will be able to communicate better that way over the ~10 hour timezone diff.
Cheers,
Tal
SugarSync is a great service which allows you store 10gb of data (family photos, documents) offline as a perfect backup solution. You can access the data from any location in the event you lose a pc/laptop.
My mother is a massage therapist who could definitely use one of the HP computers for her small business. My nephew would enjoy the DVD as well as a PC.
My mobile tech tip is one I have been using quite a lot lately.
I recently purchased a 32GB ipod Touch. I have wanted to use it for email and brousing while in the car (not driving of course)
Anyway, I have a Sprint Mogul. Hmm – what to do.
I found a program called WMWifiRouter. I am able to use my Mogul as a router. The iPod picks up the router and connects to the EVDO Rev. A signal via WiFi.
It works flawlessly. Now my iPod touch has 3G
My mobile tip, well a few of them.
1. make use of an online service that allows you to sync your contacts and schedule. I cant tell you the number of times that plaxo, or my pda, has saved my bacon when the laptop crapped out. Exchange is wonderful.
2. Use multiple PST files. It assists in organization, and also allows you to back up smaller files, which can be distributed as necessary to various machines.
3. A second monitor is a godsend when you are at a desk. Sure we all love our small laptops and devices, but when working on a complex spreadsheet, the biggest flat panel you can afford will pay for itself. I always run it in conjunction with the display on my X61T.
4. use alternative input devices, pens are great, so are fingerprint readers, they can assist you in automating repetitive tasks.
5. Use a password repository. I like KeePass as I can sync between desktop and blackberry. it insures that even if I dont have my lap my passwords are secure and available to me.
I would use 3 of the machines (I have 4 kids) and I know of a VERY deserving family, whos kids would be greatly enhanced with the addition of a PC.
Thanks and Happy Holidays
The best way to keep your important information available at all time (as long as you have an internet connection) is a Gmail account.
When you need to remember something, just send a message to yourself using the subject line to input relevant tags, then input the information in the body.
That way it’s a breeze to recover anything you might need in a few seconds using the integrated search.
Now as for the HP systems, I would definitely like to find a use for the touchscreen computer in the kitchen, to keep recipes, grocery lists etc organized and always at hand when I cook.
The laptop would go to my wife that is going back to school again, while I would use the mininote to keep myself mobile when I go to client meetings. I found out I don’t really need a full blown laptop, and the size and weight would be perfect to use it as my every day mobile companion.
This may be somewhat obvious, but it is often overlooked by people with mobile devices; with most devices you can use it as a GPS and use it to link internet to a pc in a remote area. Most devices have different ways to set up the two features I mentioned, so I reccommend visiting their website or searching online.
As for the computers, I would give all of them away (except for one laptop) to a local church to use for their outreach programs. Often times computers (and a printer) could be put to good use in organizing events and providing people less fortunate access to computers.
The best mobile tech tip I’ve had this year was EverNote.
I was using Google Notebook to organize notes, sites or whatever.
The difference is that EverNote has a mac/win/iPhone desktop apps.
I use my HP 2133 at work, and we have no wireless. With Evernote, I can take notes at work and they will sync up with the web app when I get home.
Too Sweet.
MY TECH TIP:
* Sometimes, turning off your computer and turning it on again is the BEST way to solve those computer crashes, problems, etc. I do this most of the time and it really works and saves me money!
PLANS on sharing the prizes:
I plan to share most of the prizes to my fellow schoolmates who can’t afford to buy those gadgets at its original retail price. I plan to hold an auction event in the university for some of those items. I know that some students studying here in our university can’t buy or afford those gadgets (eventhough they badly need it for their studies) due to financial reasons and by having an auction event just for those students, they could at least have the chance of buying those items in the least price possible. The money or amount collected will then be added to the funds of our organization’s outreach program to the selected slum communities here in our city. Our organization is an academic and social organization in the university that holds community outreach activities such as feeding programs, leadership training for the youth leaders, medical mission etc. from time to time.
My best mobile tech tip is to “Use HandyShopper!” I have become so much better at getting all the stuff I meant to buy at the store now that I use HandyShopper on my mobile device. I still grab a piece of paper to jot down something I think to buy when I am not near my Palm, but I always stick that paper in my pocket and then enter it in my Palm later. It has been wonderful help to me and it’s free! They have a lot of support on line too.
My BEST mobile tech tip…is LEARN TO USE MICROSOFT ONENOTE! It has changed the way I work with my laptop(s). Everyone with who I meet and LiveMeeting with, asks me right away “What is that application?!” I even spend the time to walk them through all the capabilities but no one ever seems to install and use it. Of course, everyone wants my notes because I use preformatted meeting templates and I have quick access to all other notes from every other project over the past 5 years. If you have a laptop and Microsoft Office, you have to check out OneNote and soon you will be like me and wondering how anyone could live without it..but you will also know why YOU seem to be the only one who can quickly pull up information when it’s needed.
Have, or looking at a PS3? Running out of memory from all the movies and games? Solution: Hook up an external hard drive to the system and come out with unlimited gigabytes.
Last year, I spent my Christmas in the hospital. I experienced the crummiest holiday while sitting there. Luckily I still had my thumb. (It was almost cut off.) This year, Merrill Lynch is being bought by Bank of America, and so far, statistics show that Bank of America will choose their own employees, making the loss of my dads job highly probable.
If I won this miracle of a prize, I would give it all away. Well almost all of it. The HP Mini and Printer will be the only things I will keep. I chose these because I am about to go to college, and with the financial situation my family is about to experience, the cost of a laptop and printer for school would be a great help. The HP Touch will be given to the yearbook/newspaper room at my school. They deserve it because they are about to experience their 3rd 4 million dollar budget cut. My local hospital, whose name is escaping me right now, has made the best out of my last Christmas. Now, I would be so happy if i could give back. I don’t think kids should be stuch in a hospital on such a wonderful holiday, so the other 2 laptops would be given to two patients who I find the most deserving. I have talked to the hospital already and they thought it would be a great idea. The DVDs will also be handed out to the patients. The MediaSmart Connect will also be given to my hospital to make their lobby more enjoyable. That i did not tell them so it will be a great surprise.
I chose the hospital since I plan on going to Medical school and becoming a doctor. It will cost a lot of money which is why that laptop and printer can go a long way.
Thank you for this opportunity.
My best tech tips are related to recovering when your WinMo mobile device goes bonk (remember its not “if” its “when”) A)automated backup software to an exe file on a storage card or non-volatile RAM daily(obvious…I know B)Keep at least your last 3 backups…you may need to get back to something from the day before that you accidentally deleted or corrupted or made a bad change to. C)store cabs of all your vital apps on your storage card on non-volatile RAM, it comes in handy when a full restore from backup isn’t a good option. D)keep your registration numbers in a password protected file or wallet program on your storage card or non-volatile RAM. Do these things and you can recover your bonked WinMo device or files anywhere you are without needing a desktop PC. From personal experience I have recovered from a device meltdown during a meeting with my boss…awesome.
)
I plan to share this package with family members, our church and the neighbor kids (seriously, they would love the DVD
Having had to deal with the loss of important data on my Windows Mobile device, I wish to pass on these related factoids:
1) If your mobile device takes any form of flash card – use one. These cards will give you much more storage space and act as a backup volume while adding negligible weight to your device.
2) If possible, use Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) to backup your calendar and contacts to Plaxo’s website. It’s free and you can use it synchronize data with your webmail account(s) and your computer(s).
3) If you use Windows Mobile, get Dashwire (www.dashwire.com) for your phone as well. Like Plaxo, it’s free. Dashwire will let you backup data that Plaxo doesn’t, like your text messages, pictures, call logs, etc. It’s a wild program that will let you use a web page portal on your PC to interact with your phone’s data.
Were I to win, I’d give the TouchSmart to my wife (she’s never owned a new computer), one of the laptops to my friend (who’s looking for a new PC and he helped me get my current job) and one laptop would be for me. By getting the new laptop, I could then donate most of the equipment that I use now to people who could use it (that’s about five computers), people with older or no computers at all.
Mobile devices are useless when they run out of juice, so my mobile tip is to have an external battery such as the Tekkeon myPower All. The great advantage of this device over a spare battery is its flexibility: it can power a laptop, mobile phone, MP3 player, personal video player, or just about any other electronic gadget you might be carrying. While there are other portable batteries, the Tekkeon is fairly small, weighs less than a pound, gives an extra 3-6 hours of battery life for a laptop, and looks beautiful.
If I were to win I’d keep the Mini for when I travel and donate the rest to our undergraduate Computer Science lab. I’m thinking our students might come up with neat apps that can use the touch screen, and there are always students asking to check out laptop PC’s to develop their capstone projects; the current laptops we check out are 4 years old and many are now busted and falling apart. My kids would get the Kung Fu Panda DVD
My mobile tech tip:
When choosing laptops, choose one that balances size and performance. From my experience, don’t go for cheap ones…
Basically, choose one which is not too large so it won’t defeat the purpose of a laptop being portable but have enough horse power to do what you want – not because it is cheap.
I know of many people who has brought a large laptops who do not take them around with them because it is too large and other people who have super slow computers because it is cheap. It is not cheap nor easy to upgrade a laptop so it is best to choose one with good performance which will save you money in the long run (as it will be able to serve you for longer).
So summary:
- Relatively small laptop (15inch or less) for portability,
- balanced with good performance which will serve you for many years as upgrading later will be very expensive.
If anyone does not follow these points, they will likely regret their choice… unless they only use their laptop for very basic stuff.
use your phone’s camera to take pictures of membership cards like those for grocery stores, airline miles cards, etc. — that way you can keep them out of your wallet. if your phone’s screen is large, like an iPhone, the bar codes on some of these cards can be read by a barcode scanner.
i also use my phone’s camera to take a quick photo of where my car is parked in the airport parking garage or other unfamiliar parking lot. this is handy when you come back later, or in case of damage to your vehicle while you’re away.
When storing your mobile devices for long period of time, you should remove the batteries whenever possible, so when you decide to use it again in a couple of months the battery is not completely empty.
I will keep the big screen notebooks to myself, and give the others to my bro/sis. Since I am collecting Bluray now, I will keep the BD, and give the dvd to one of my lucky friend.
I am none too techy. I come to places like this for help, actually. My best tip is don’t forget to drain and recharge your laptop battery about once a month.
I also never leave my laptop out in the car in the cold or heat.
Tech tip to make you browse faster:
1. No need to type “www.xyz.net”. Just type “xyz” then press Shift + Enter.
2. No need to type “www.wikipedia.org”. Just type “wikipedia” then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Work like magic for me.
Prize:
so I can give my Aspire One to my little sister. She’s in Senior High and she has been asking for a computer for some time.
1> One notebook will go to my wife. Merry Christmas, honey!
2> One computer will go to teachers of LIA, an English learning institution in our city.
3> One computer will go to our church. Their computer died last year.
4> And the Mini HP, I will give it to… me
Tx for the chance, James & Kevin. I visit your website regularly. Keep the good job.
Merry Christmas and good luck to all!
Hummm, my tip is get some velcor and stick it one your dash somewhere and stick your mobile phone on it, this way if you get a call it just takes a push of one, well 2 for speaker and you are still hands free while you drive—ALOT SAFER!!
I would keep the TouchSmart the others items I would split up between my 4 kids, and my 2 stepkids. The step daughter would definitely get the printer and software, she is a photographer at heart!
My tech tip comes from a bad experience. SAVE YOUR PICTURES SOMEWHERE BESIDES YOUR EVERYDAY USE COMPUTER. We lost about 2 years worth of photos when our hard drive crashed. We are getting a couple of USB 250 gig hard drives for Christmas, so hopefully this will not be a problem again. If I win this contest, I will let you pick who 2 of the laptops go to. I would like to give one to my brother-in-law that just started his own business from home. The other two, however, are up for grabs. If you guys know a couple people or places that are in need, that would be great!
How to Fix Vista When It Won’t Boot
1) A number of people who help in this area obsess with interpreting the stop errors. This is not difficult, and a simple google will get this done. I find them basically useful to steer you to a hardware problem or a software problem, and don’t suggest obsessing or spending much time at all on them.
2) Review any new installations including hardware, software, or drivers.
Check for common hardware problems that could cause the “no boot”, even if the stop error message suggests it’s software induced. This includes
having updated MOBO drivers, checking the battery, checking that cables are tightly seated, all the cares are in correctly and tightly; and that your memory sticks are seated correctly, and are compatible with the pc. Check the integrity of your cable pins. Finding a broken one can save you hours of time. Check that the RAM installed is compatible with your MOBO, and that it’s seated correctly.
3) If you have a Vista DVD, or can borrow one since you don’t need a Product Key to use these tools, either Startup Repair or the Bootrec.exe tool should get you back up and running.
How to Use Startup Repair: (Any of the links provide screen shots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm
http://www.vistaclues.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/click-repair-your-computer.png
4) Here is the MSKB for rebuilding the BCD using very simple quick commands from the command prompt which you can either reach with by inserting a Vista DVD or by tapping F8 when you start your pc and at the F8 (Windows Advanced Options Menu) selecting “Safe Mode with Command”
Using the Bootrec.exe tool to Fix Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us
You may only have to type these commands–it has helped me to fix a variety of software no boots consistently:
bootrec /Rebuild BCD
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /Fixboot
5) In addition you can try all of the options at F8 to use system restore to fix this. The point here is that sometimes trying system restore from one of the F8 safe modes works, when system restore from the others don’t.
Since they each take only seconds to try, if the options above don’t work,
I’d try them. The F8 options in Vista are the same as XP, and the MSKB link i for Safe Mode Boot options is labeled XP by MSFT, but they are the same for Vista (they haven’t updated to add Vista to the title as they have with several MSKBs that apply to both).Then you can also try (it takes a couple seconds) LKG–Last Known Good Configuration at the F8 menu. Documentation on how to do this follows.
6) Try to F8 to the Windows Adv Options Menu>try 3 safe modes there (I don’t use WGA for this purpose) and Last Known Good>then I go to Win RE in Vista. That gives you a choice of Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, and Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
These methods are outlined in
A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP/and this works for Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore from MSFT:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx
System Restore can be run from the Win RE recovery environment from the same link as Startup Repair, and sometimes it will work from one F8 safe mode location or from the Win Recovery Environment when it won’t work from other locations.
I would give the HP Mini 1000 with XP to my mom who badly needs a computer and have a great time teaching her how to get things done on it. She is amazed at the document production by Microsoft Office, having been a secretary for years using a typewriter, and I’d like to help her learn to use it as well as to exchange pictures with and IM with the rest of the family.
I hate carrying all of those wall worts with me as a travel/commute. I’ve got so many different portable tech toys that I carry with me that I’ve found getting the universal wall adapter and car charger that accepts a USB connection helps to lighten my load. Now I just carry one wall adapter along with the required USB cables for each device.
Tech Tip : Follow me phone
Why to use two phones when you are at home ? I followed this http://nerdvittles.com/index.php?p=78 article and now I have one phone when I’m at home
If you want to share information stored on your computer with other people nearby and everyone’s computer has a wireless network adapter, a simple method of sharing is to set up an ad hoc wireless network. In spite of the fact that members must be within 30 – 40 feet of each other, this type of network presents a lot of possibilities. For example, you might consider establishing an ad hoc network at a meeting of mobile computer users so that you can share information with other attendees on their own screens rather than an overhead projector. (After establishing the network, you can do this by using Windows Meeting, for instance.)
Ad hoc networks are by definition temporary; they cease to exist when members disconnect from them, or when the computer from which the network was established moves beyond the 30-foot effective range of the others. You can share an Internet connection through an ad hoc network, but keep in mind that the Internet connection is then available to anyone logging on to a computer that is connected to the network, and thus is likely not very secure.
To set up an ad hoc network:
1. On the Start menu, click Connect To.
2. In the Connect to a network window, click the Set up a connection or network task.
3. On the Choose a connection option page, click Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network, and then click Next. (This option only appears on computers that have wireless adapters.)
4. Read the ad hoc network information, and then click Next.
5. Provide a network name, select whether the network is open or requires authentication, provide a security phrase if necessary, and then click Next.
After Windows Vista sets up the ad hoc network, you have the option of sharing your Internet connection.
To disconnect from an ad hoc network, display the Connect To A Network window, click the ad hoc network, and then click Disconnect. That’s it !!
Mini tip: If you want to quickly find something on wikipedia or wiktionary just type “wiki (whatever your looking for)” (for example, “wiki wimax”) in your browser search box and hit shift-enter to bring up the I’m feeling lucky result. Takes you right to the wiki entry.
I donate all my 3 year old plus computers to local kids who’s parents can’t afford them (after re-imaging them and adding OpenOffice, doPDF and AVG Free).
I like the google toolbar, but I don’t like all the real estate it takes up in FireFox and I don’t use all the functions. So I grab the buttons I do use and add them to my other toolbars like this:
1. Right-click on the google toolbar and select ‘customize’
2. Drag the buttons you use directly from the google toolbar onto another toolbar, like the bookmarks toolbar, and order them any way you like
3. Don’t forget the special “word find” button that allows you to find your search terms within your current page. Make sure it is visible by typing some search term in the google search box first like “word find” and then drag the words “word find” from the toolbar to your bookmarks toolbar as well.
4. Once you have all the buttons you use moved over to the bookmarks toolbar replace your firefox search box with the google toolbar search box by opening the google toolbar options, selecting ‘layouts’ and choosing ‘replace firefox search box’
Presto, you have all your favorite google toolbar functions without taking up all the real estate.
Note: If the google toolbar is still sticking around or you want to move some more buttons later, right click on the menubar and check or uncheck ‘google toolbar’ to make it appear or disappear as needed.
I donate all my 3+ year old computers to local kids who’s parents can’t afford them (after re-imaging them and adding OpenOffice, doPDF and AVG Free).
This tip is for those who do not bookmark every site they visit. Ever wanted to visit a site say: “jkontherun” (if you are wise enough, you’ll Ctrl+D it!), and not sure it had a .org or .net or any .xyz domain, add this search engine (only if you are damn sure google is not evil!) and bypass the search results page directly to the webpage you intended to visit.
Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” search engine
In Opera : enter the following address in a new entry in Tools>Preferences>Search Add (u can also edit the search.ini file with the same search string)
“http://www.google.com/search?btnI=1&q=%s&sourceid=opera&num=%i&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8″
In Firefox : copy the following text without quotes into notepad and save the file with “any_name.src” extension in “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins” assuming the ff default install location in windows
”
”
In IE 7 (via IE7 Pro Plugin) : Add the following search string into the engine box in IE7 Pro Preferences>Search
“http://www.google.com/search?btnI=1&q={KW_UTF8}&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8″
“The HP-Magic Giveaway would definitely help students who aspire to be tech-savvy or just with a dream to learn more, but have been denied of that dream due to various reasons (underprivileged esp. rural kids).
Because I too am a student and definitely understand the situation, the dream in those little eyes of kids,
Given that chance I would like to make a few students dream a reality, I know there are plenty of passionate, aspiring and worthy students.
I’ll be donating those goodies to the NGO “sikshana”, meaning education in Kannada. This NGO Sikshana foundation is working by adopting, empowering and improving government schools in India
more Info here:
(http://www.sikshana.org/)
I’ll be content with the Touchsmart (been amazed with the touch concept) and the Photosmart (because I have no access to a printer as of now, I’ll be having a lot of print works for my academical projects).
That’s it for my entry. There may be other causes to consider, but still I’m optimistic. I’ll promise that these stuff won’t end up on ebay.”
Choosing a USB Hub
While there are many choices with USB hubs, be sure to take the time to find the right one for you. Color and size are important but remember to think of the uses and positioning of current and future devices. Making the right choice up front can simplify life, save money, and make for a more enjoyable computing experience.
Don’t buy any tech from China because it won’t last long if it works at all.
I hate it when I reach for my cell phone, to make an important business, and discover that my phone is “dead.” I always keep it recharged, but the battery was running down quickly. Well I did some research and with some experimentation discovered that if I follow a few simple rules, my phone remains functional longer. Here are my rules: I use either a ringer or vibrate but not both; I have my screen’s brightness at its lowest setting; I turn my backlight setting down; I close applications not in use; I try not to let my battery fully discharge; and last but not least, I don’t do any of the fun things on my phone, like play games or take pictures. It really seems to work for me!
The majority of this prize would go to my friend, a single mom to two adopted children. She was injured on the job and looking at a medical retirement. She loves photography and hopes to turn her talent into a new career. The HP Magic Giveaway will help her realize her goals.
My wife would also get the HP Mini 1000 so that she can hold a blog contest of her own and recruit followers for her new blog. I think this is an awesome way to extend the magic of the HP Magic Giveaway for another month!
My best tech tip.
We all know those people that are horrible with technology and seem as if they don’t even try to learn it. They just ask the closes techie to do it for them or to “help” them. These people can get on your nerves or eat up a lot of your time really fast. Now I love helping people. I love it a lot. However, these people just take up too much of my time and I just don’t have that kind of time anymore (parent and busy at work). So here is my tip…
Non-tech Person: “Can you help me do/with ?”
Me: “Sorry, I don’t know how to do that (even though I totally do). If I ever come across a solution for that I’ll let you know.”
After awhile they will stop asking you for help.
Enjoy!
Ward
Tip – What to Look For in Netbooks ?
When shopping around for a low-cost notebook, particularly one you want to buy as a gift, you’ll want to consider a low-cost netbook. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, look for the following specs:
Screen: While children and those with 20/20 vision can work comfortably with a 9-inch display, everyone else will appreciate a 10-inch screen.
RAM: Don’t settle for any less than 1GB of RAM. 512MB will not cut it.
Operating System: To be fair, there are several choices here and some of the Linux flavors are easy to use. However, if you want to be sure you can use all your software and hardware on a netbook, you have to go for one with Windows XP. Whatever you do, don’t buy a netbook with Vista as these slower systems just can’t handle it.
Battery: You can save a fair amount of money by getting your netbook with a 3 or 4-cell battery, but you’ll only get 2 to 3 hours of endurance. Go for a 6-cell and 4 to 6 hours of endurance if you can possibly afford it. The Samsung NC10, pictured at right, gets a full 6.5 hours of battery life.
Hard Drive: A 5,400 rpm hard drive offers a lot more capacity and often better write performance than the low-cost SSDs you’ll find in most netbooks. Avoid anything with a 4,200 rpm or slower drive like the plague.
Wi-Fi: No need to get 802.11n. 802.11g should be more than sufficient
Sharing – We are a group of 5 friends & we would like to share the prize among us.
My mobile tip has to be to, Create your own hotel room hotspot Some hotel rooms still offer only wired broadband access. But a portable router – such as Apple’s AirPort Express or Linksys’s Wireless-G Travel Router – lets you create your own wireless network, so you’re not shackled to the uncomfortable guest-room desk.
Most of the HP hardwares will go to a church in our locality.I’ll keep the Printer & the softwares.
Quick tip – Batteries – batteries – batteries ! Always carry an extra one – maybe like a spare tire in your car, a spare, in addition to the extra one, in your trunk – ?
But I really want to win this contest for a not-for-profit and myself. I was married 30 years, when, on my husband’s 50th birthday, I gave him his birthday card, he said, “Thanks – I want a divorce.”
I had put him through college and worked on and off during the marriage for family vacations, second cars, etc. but had never worked to support myself, and now I was on my own.
That’s when I found “The Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center.” I enrolled in their adult re-entry computer education program and it not only helped me get a job; it got me through one of the most difficult times in my life.
I’m still on my own, at 60+ yrs., but I’ve had the same good job for 8 yrs and I just started blogging. Mary Rigg gave me my opportunities, so I’d like to share this gift with them. Here’s them – http://www.maryrigg.org/w/driving.aspx and here’s me ~ http://www.kateswindow.com
BTW – I don’t have a laptop, I can’t afford one, but if I did/could, I know enough to get an extra battery – just like I have two batteries, one always recharging, for my digital camera. Thanks for this oportunity.
Tech Tip: Implement firewalls to protect mobile clients
Client firewalls are programs designed to protect individual computers connected to a network. These personal firewalls examine the data stream and deny access to suspicious inbound and outbound traffic.
Some firewalls even provide access control to block specific applications from accessing the corporate network or the Internet. As the number of telecommuters using corporate laptops continues to grow, these firewalls have become vital for providing mobile security to corporate users.
Your organization’s security policy should take steps to secure all corporate assets behind a firewall. And your mobile clients are no exception to that rule.
You should run Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) on all of your corporate desktops. However, when it comes to mobile clients, the protection ICF offers is insufficient.
I’ll donate the Mini & the DV4 series of laptops to a local children charity.I’ll keep the HDX & the rest of the gears would be distributed among my kousins & my brothers.
My tip :- Go to an airline lounge to stay connected If there’s no hotspot at the airport, you can often connect through a lounge. With a Priority Pass you gain admission into 500 lounges in some 300 airports, including all the major UK airports. Standard membership is £69 per year plus £15 per visit.
I’m interested in the Touchsmart. Rest of the stuffs will be distributed among the students of a science college nearby.
My best tech tip: Make sure you backup your info and photos. I keep all my photos downloaded on a free photo web site, like photobucket. That way, if your computer crashes, your photos will still be on their site, even if you lose them off your own hard drive. If I win, I plan to share these computers with my whole family. Mom would love a new computer. My 24-yo daughter is a big time gamer. My 13-yo son wants to be a big time gamer, and I would love to have the convenience of a laptop.
I have two tips, both regarding email. I’m not a tech, so both are from personal experience.
#1
Use different email account for different things. Examples:
I have one email account for “professional” type use, appropriate for resumes and such. Mail from banking and bills goes to this account as well.
A second account account is set up up for family and friends using a fun name. Strictly personal. You can always use your more professional name for this, but sometimes you just want to break away from the mold and have fun.
I enter sweepstakes, so I have set up a third account for this because it can generate lot of mail. Since much of the mail in this account is from the same places I shop, I’ve decided to use this account for online shopping as well. If my friends need a referral for a sweeps entry, this would be the address to use.
#2
Although I do have an email account through my ISP, I have found using Gmail to be much more convenient. Not only is the account free, but you have access to so many features. Gmail also filters out spam quite well, better than my ISP. I have Hotmail and Yahoo accounts, but since starting Gmail, they lay dormant.
Filtering mail using the labels feature gives you easy access to the mail you want to read. You also have the ability to control mail from your computer using the IMAP option.
If accessing Gmail online you have Google Reader, Calender, Google Docs, Google Alerts, Blogger (and more) readily available.
———————
Now on to how I would distribute the prize. No WOW entry, just a desire to share with family and friends.
I’m sure my dad really enjoy the the Entertainment Laptop and MediaSmart Connect. He’s done so much for me and I would love the opportunity to to give him such an awesome gift. He’s lost a lot of his mobility since retiring so they would be handy gifts for him as well.
I would love to have a notebook, so I’m planning on keeping the Premium notebook for my use.
The TouchSmart and software would be set up for household use. In addition to being disabled from a stroke a few years ago, my roommate will be having foot surgery in January and will have to stay off her feet for about four weeks or so and it would be a great way to occupy time. My (aging) desktop is set up in my room and it’s not very convenient for multi-user use.
At least two of the three movies would be family gifts, and the netbook would be donated to Oakland Children’s Hospital where I’m sure it would be put to good use (hopefully they would set it up for the kids to use).
—————————
Thanks for hosting the giveaway.
Energy saving.
Check out how much energy all your computers, peripherals and devices consume.
For your awareness, environment and wallet.
My favorite mobile tech tip? Alright? As a blogger, I come up with topics ideas all the time. But sometimes while I’m out and about, I can’t put those ideas down anywhere. And I lose them fast. So instead, I text the subject of the post in a couple keywords and email it to my GMail for later post creation.
Of course, if I had the netbook, I could post from anywhere…really, if I do win, I’ll be splitting the pot with my wife’s church. They have helped my family in a way that I couldn’t and I’d love to help them out.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this package.
The best mobile tech tip I can think of is using your cellphone’s camera to record your own annotations annotations. It works for me because whenever I get a new idea, I quickly record it so that I don’t forget.
If I won, I would keep the TouchSmart and one of the laptops. I would give the rest away to my friends and family as Christmas gifts. Merry Christmas!
I never go anywhere without a flash drive and my Nokia 9300. My phone has a plethora of office products (word, power point and such) so I can type something up while waiting anywhere and sync it via bluetooth when I get home.
The best tech tip that has worked “magic” for me is using a wonderful USB flash drive to save all of my work documents on. It’s particularly useful if you’re working on a document using several different computers (i.e., at work, home, school, etc.). I often get confused as to which document is the most recent version. Saving my work to a flash drive eliminates any confusion.
My best tech tip is not to leave your old mobile device sitting around in a drawer or on a shelf gathering dust after you upgrade to something new.
Your unwanted mobile devices can be used to help someone else:
A. http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/pages/1/index.htm This site will recycle old cell phones and use the money to get calling cards for our troops.
B. You can donate old cell phones to Women’s Crisis Centers. The cell phones will work for emergency calls even if the cell phone is not activated by a provider like ATT.
C. Sell your old cell phones, ipods, and GPS devices and donate the money to the charity of your choice. Some websites were you can do this are:
http://www.sellmyoldcellphone.com/
http://www.pacebutler.com/cell.cfm
http://ucellwebuy.com/
http://www.empties4cash.com – besides taking ink jet cartridges, they also take old cellphone.
If I win this giveaway, I am going to give one of the laptop computers to my church to use along with money we have raised from recycling to use with a digital projector for church events and classes.
Two of the computers will go to two of my friends who are disabled so they can start home-based businesses to supplement their disability income.
The HP TouchSmart computer I will keep because my old Compaq is limping on its last legs. I will use it to write a book called “How To Live Practically Free on Absolutely Nothing: Resources For These Troubling Financial Times.
My best mobile computing tips are to backup all of your most essential documents on an online file storage site like Windows Live Skydrive (skydrive.live.com). Also use a webmail service that will let you keep the email, calendar, and contacts synced between your desktop and the cloud, such as Windows Live Hotmail + Windows Live Mail or Microsoft Office Outlook with Outlook Connector. You can also use this to keep your email synced between many smartphones (Windows Mobile and Blackberry at least). Finally, you can use an online document editor such as Acrobat.com’s excellent online word processor to edit your documents on any computer.
As for the prize, I would donate this hardware to my parents, who are missionaries in Thailand. They could use these computers for their church, Light Baptist Church in Tak, Thailand, where my dad teaches free computer usage classes as a way to present the gospel. They would also be used to make videos to help the deaf in Thailand that my mom works with, and also to make sign language videos to help hearing people learn sign language. They would be useful for teaching English classes that they teach for free to help people improve their English skills. They would be useful for making fliers and websites to help more people know about the free classes. You can see all about their work at their website http://www.TenForThais.org. The computer they currently use is very old, so this would be a great help to their ministry. Also, my 7 younger siblings who are still at home could put the computers to good use in their homeschool. Thus I think that this prize could be put to very good use by them.
I turned off the phone on my original iPhone to save money in these trying times (choosing to use my work BBerry’s phone instead), but I still wanted personal email/PDA/iPod on my iPhone (yes, it’s basically a Touch now). The only connectivity issue among those three is email, so I sync my email on the iPhone before leaving for work, using my home wifi network; I do any email on the train to the office. Since I’ve found a free wifi connection in the building where I work (and I’m sure there are others in the vicinity), I can sync everything while I walk down the corridor to my office (I even sync Toodledo). Whenever I need to do email during the day, I just take a walk down the hallway. It’s not the slickest tip in the world, but it’s one that saves me about $40 a month.
Best mobile tech tip:
Use your digital camera to record information and take it with you:
1. snap a photo of your address and phone number written out for emergencies.
2. snap a photo of your google map to take it with you: you can easily pan and zoom it to see the details.
3. snap a photo of your recipe and take it to the store to buy your ingredients:-)
The applications are nearly endless.
If I were to win, I would probably keep the mini-note and the Touchsmart and then donate the other 2 PCs to other local homeschooling families in need. Computers can be an incredible tool for home education!
Best tech tip is for those having issues with intermittent WiFi connection or no connection to a wireless server you have used before. The best way to get back working quickly is to go to the wireless properties dialog and “Remove” the wireless source. Reboot the computer and the new connection will be stable. You will have to reenter the encryption key, if it’s a secure wireless source.
My best tech tip is kinda lame but i’m limited in tech know how. I try to reset my router once a week so it doesn’t get hung up!!
Great Contest! Thanks so much for entering me!
Janna Johnson
jannajanna@hotmail.com
Here’s my entry actual entry “http://jkontherun.com/2008/12/16/hp-magic-give-1/#comment-44096″
Note: This is not another entry
since the code for ff search was within search code tags its omitted in the comment, you can find it here : “http://www.wikihow.com/Add-a-Custom-Search-Engine-to-Firefox’s-Search-Bar-(Windows-Version)”
“http://www.google.com/search?btnI=1&q=” is the key to get the desired results
Here’s my entry actual entry “http://jkontherun.com/2008/12/16/hp-magic-give-1/#comment-44096″
Note: This is not another entry
since the code for ff search was within search code tags its omitted in the comment, you can find it here : “http://www.wikihow.com/Add-a-Custom-Search-Engine-to-Firefox’s-Search-Bar-(Windows-Version)”
“http://www.google.com/search?btnl=1&q=” is the key to get the desired results
My tech tip is to make sure you back up your digital photos in more than one method (ie, not just external hard drive or CDs). I backed mine up on an external hard drive, and learned the lesson the hard way – when I deleted the files off my laptop to make more space thinking they were backed up, I learned the software for the external hard drive deleted them from the drive. If I hadn’t had the photos backed up elsewhere, I would have lost them all – my puppy’s first photos. I’d love to win this contest…here’s hoping I finally win something.
This is a super computer package, it would be a blessing to win. Thanks for making the entry so simple.
My mobile tech tip is this…
I volunteer at our local Family History Center/Geneology Library where we help people find their ancestors and teach them how to do research via the internet as well as through traditional resources. Using a flash drive is essential for transfering work from the center’s computers to my home computer, or for clients to transfer data to their own personal computers. Since using a flash drive for this purpose, I have found it invaluable for so many other applications as well. Last year I went out of state to visit relatives. I was able to take data along on my flash drive and work on it there using their computer. This was a God-send as I do not have a laptop. Things are pretty tight this year for us as my husband works in home construction, so I was thrilled to be able to get flash drives on a Black Friday sale for the computer users on our gift list! A great gift idea.
Sharing…
At the Family History Center we have a program where we can go into the residences of our clients and teach them how to do research from home. In order to participate in this program volunteers need to have a laptop. Since I have never had a laptop (and our old desktop is badly needing replacement} I am hoping to win this package. I would give one computer to my husband for use in our home and keep a laptop for my volunteer work. The rest I would share with two young women. The first is a disabled mother of two. They have been struggling for some time now, and just recently husband was laid off from his job. They really need a computer. The second person I would share with is a woman who is trying to rebuild her life after an abusive marriage. She too is in desparate need of a computer.
Thanks so much!
I am an IT consultant and work as 2nd level support. Many a times I am on phone with my client explaining her/him the steps to perform to solve the problem. Please not 99% of my clients are non-technical who use computers as a part of their work. One of the tips I share with almost all of my users is the use of the “Windows Key” on the keyboard.
Please note that most of these clients have shortcuts of all the applications that they use on the desktop. Every time I tell them to open an application they first minimize all windows to reach the desktop and start the application. So here are the shortcuts using “Windows Key” which save my clients lot of mouse clicks.
“Windows Key”+E
Opens a new Explorer Window.
“Windows Key”+D
Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop.
“Windows Key”+D again
Opens all windows and takes you to most recent application.
“Windows Key”
Displays the “Start Menu”
“Windows Key”+L
Locks the computer
“Windows Key”+R
Shows the Run Command Window.
If I win the contest , I will give the PCs to my old country school(The school is 157 years old and needs help). I will sell everything else except one laptop for myself. The money I get will help the school buy some software for the kids.
Thanks
By default, the N70 and other modern Series 60 smartphones come ‘locked down’ in terms of the applications they’ll accept, installing only those that have large companies behind them, able to afford the expensive ’signing’ process. But there are hundreds of other great applications, many of them free, that are ‘unsigned’. Don’t worry about this just go to ‘Tools | Manager | Options | Settings’ and turn ‘Software installation’ “On”. You can now install any compatible program without being blocked by spurious security warnings!
I would keep the mini and the TouchSmart for myself. All software, the printer, and one laptop (Pavillion) would go to my 13-year old nephew that lives with his grandmother because his parents aren’t responsible enough to care for him. Earlier this year, his home was foreclosed and he, his grandmother, and 2 siblings were forced to relocate. The other laptop is destined for my friend that is attempting to finish up her degree in child development.
Sob story aside, I’m only entering for the netbook and the TouchSmart so that I can have new toys to play with. I recently purchased a very high end laptop for myself (for work and play) so I don’t actually need them, I just want them.
TIP: Be certain to remember your PASSWORD if you enable the phone lock feature. Without your password, your phone will need to be reset at the place of purchase, which will result in the loss of your personalized settings and all content stored in phone memory.
This is a great contest package and this is my plans for when I win it (I am thinking positive mind you). I don’t know what specific models and accessories would go to who yet though.
1) A PC would go to my church. They have a very old, not so long for this world desktop pc.
2). I would send a PC to my aunt. She runs an organization called Holly Help This helps out animals. It is a non profit organzaition run on recyclable can and fundraising, donation and grant seeking. The website is run by a supporter, as my aunt has no computer. She is actually retiring from her full time job this month, so it is a good time for her to have a new pc for her organization.
3). I would probably give the netbook to my son. I am not in a position to buy one and I know he wants a laptop. This would also help make homework more fun.
4) I would keep a notebook or myself. I bought a used Desktop in 2000/2001 and have been using it since. I only use it to backup data now as I use my work computer my company provided me. (Lets just say that it takes over 12 hours to run a Mcaffee virus scan on my personal pc. you can see the need at somepoint to replace it and why I do not use it often).
Thank you for the contest. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to All.
A tip for Motorola phone owners -Call Forwarding :-
————————————-
Dial *72 + the number you wish to forward to. Press “SEND”. To deactivate call forwarding, dial*720 “SEND”. Listen for confirmation, then press “END”.
Well this would be an awesome Christmas present! I only really need a laptop from this, so the rest would go to my family so that I can bring them out of the dark ages! My parents are using an ancient machine that struggles with basic things like Microsoft Word, so I would definitely give them a laptop (maybe the HDX? I have no use for something that big!) and the TouchSmart. I know they’d appreciate it! I’d give the Mini to a friend who has been complaining about not having a laptop for his university classes.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Four steps to better photos with a N series Nokia mobile :-
1. Firstly and most importantly of all, just as with my article on video recording, light is everything. It’s photons of light that trigger charge in the camera’s sensor, and the more of them the more accurate the reading from each sensor pixel. In good light, there’s more than enough information being gathered and your Nseries camera will produce results comparable to those from standalone cameras. In poor light, either in the evening or under flash conditions or in a dimly lit room, there simply aren’t enough photons hitting each pixel for the sensor to be absolutely sure what value to report, which is why you get ‘noise’, flecks of random colours in your photo. In a standalone camera, the sensor pixels are bigger and each gathers in more photons, so you don’t notice the same degree of noise.
It’s also worth noting that you may also have problems in very bright light with any digital camera, as photons ‘overflow’ from one pixel to the next, with the result that you sometimes see ’smearing’ around bright sections of the image.
Be aware of the light conditions at all times and try to anticipate the effect the level will have on your Nseries camera. It also goes without saying that the obvious rules of photography apply, such as not shooting towards the light source unless you’re trying for a special effect.
On the N93, understand that using the optical zoom will decrease the amount of light getting to the main sensor, so only zoom in if you’re confident there’s enough light to cope.
2. Next, understand how the autofocus system in these Nseries devices works. The image within the central graticule is sampled many times a second when you slightly depress the shutter button, with the lens moving backwards or forwards in an attempt to maximise the contrast of edge detail within the graticule. Now, this system normally works well enough, but it can fall down if there’s not enough light (see point 1. above) or if the object in this part of the image doesn’t have any detail that’s suitable for contrast sampling.
In this case, it’s best to move the centre of your composition slightly, to something that’s the same distance away but which has better detail. Once focussing has been achieved on this, you can keep the shutter partially depressed and move the image centre back to the original subject, before finally pressing the shutter all the way down.
For typical ‘point and shoot’ landscape shots, where there’s no real close-up foreground, the auto-focus system will probably make a mess of things, so make sure you change the shooting mode to ‘Landscape’, in which the auto-focus is disabled and the camera behaves just as that in an ‘infinite focus’ lesser device, such as that on other camera smartphones.
3.Take a little time (if possible) to think about adjusting the settings from ‘automatic’ values. For example, using ‘Night’ as the ‘Shooting mode’ forces the camera to use a longer exposure time, thus letting more photons in and reducing noise, at the expense of blurry images of anything that’s moving – or the whole scene if your hand isn’t steady enough when pressing the shutter button. ‘White balance’ is also worth fiddling with if you’ve got the time to set a shot up properly – colours seem different under different lighting conditions and this is your chance to allow for this factor. Finally, ‘Exposure value’ is invaluable if you like playing around with light, perhaps shooting into a bright light (decreasing the exposure value) or trying to pick a dark subject out of a bright background (increasing the exposure value). By default, your Nseries camera software will try and average out the light intensity across your image, which is often not what you actually want. In each case, adjusting the exposure by a couple of stops can make a big difference and give you more control.
4.Learn to press the shutter properly. First of all, there’s shutter lag, which is quite well known. Having pressed the shutter button, there’s a lag of up to second while the exposure level is calculated and implemented, so learn to allow for this in terms of composition and in terms of staying ‘in position’ for a second or so after pressing the button. In addition, the shutter will be ‘open’ (whether it’s a mechanical shutter (as in the N93) or an electronic one (as in the N90) for a specific duration (e.g. 50 milliseconds) and if you’re moving the smartphone during this time then your photo will have a degree of blur. So it pays to brace yourself (hold the smartphone in two hands, stand with your legs apart and hold your breath momentarily) and gently ’squeeze’ the shutter rather than stabbing at it.
I would share this prize with my church and family. We would first give a computer to Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church to show our gratitude to God for winning. My hubby needs a digital camera and I would love to be able to give him one for Christmas. We have two girls in college who could use laptops. My parents are in need of a computer so that they can get online and be able to keep in touch with our extended family especially now that Dad is fighting colon cancer. The movies would be given to my siblings and their families. Wow! A wonderful Christmas could be had by all. Thank you for the chance to win.
My tip would be about Disabling Script Debugging :- It can drive you mad … you’re surfing away when you get a message saying there’s an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want to use. Here’s how to get rid of it.
Mostly these web page bugs won’t affect your use of the page, it might but usually they don’t. The intrusive ’script debugging’ errors are a nuisance. That nuisance is made worse by many of these bugs generated by pop-up web ads. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web page (one for each separate error)
To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:
In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
In that section are two items:
Disable Script Debugging – should be ON.
Display a notification about every script error – should be OFF.
Click OK to finish.
It’s that simple!
As for the prizes,i would like to keep the Mini 1000 & would like to donate others to a children’s hospital who can make a good use of upgraded hardwares.Thanks for the opportunity.
Tech Tip Restarting w/o Rebooting :-
Shutting down doesn’t have to mean you’re sorry — sorry to go
through the long power-up, memory-test, starting-Windows process. That takes so long because it includes both restarting Windows software and rebooting your computer’s hardware.
You have the option, though, of restarting without rebooting.
1. Click Start and choose Shut Down.
2. Choose the Restart button in the dialog box.
3. Hold down the Shift key, click OK, and keep holding the Shift key until you see the “Restarting Windows ” message.
I’m an University student & if i win they would be nice presents for my family as currently using outdated systems.
So if I won this prize here is how I would distribute it out and why.
Kung Fu Panda (Blu-ray disc): Friend with PS3 as i do not have a blu-ray player Kung Fu Panda (DVDs): neice and nefew as I think they would really enjoy it.
HP Mini 1000: Keep for myself as I could get work done during my hour long commute to my university.
HP Pavilion dv4: Give it to my brother as he is working in US and is using an old IBM with 1Gb processor and he could use an upgrade.
HP HDX: Give it to my sister as her computer is outdated and she will be starting university next year also so it is a good desktop replacement and can be lugged around when needed.
HP TouchSmart: Give to my parents to keep as it has an innovative way to use which seems pretty cool.
When Your Computer Is Frozen :-
Every once in a while, Windows wanders off somewhere to sit under a tree. You’re left looking at a computer that does nothing. None of the computer’s lights blink.
Panicked clicks don’t do anything. Pressing every key on the keyboard doesn’t do anything, or worse yet, the computer starts to beep at every key press.
When nothing on-screen moves (except sometimes the mouse pointer), the computer is frozen up solid.
Try the following approaches, in the following order, to correct the problem: Press Esc twice. This action usually doesn’t work but give it a shot anyway.
Press Ctrl, Alt, and Delete all at the same time. If you’re lucky, the Task Manager appears with the message that you discovered an unresponsive application. The Task Manager lists the names of currently running programs, including the one that’s not responding. Click the name of the program that’s causing the mess and then click the End Process button. You lose any unsaved work in that program, but you should be used to that. If that still doesn’t do the trick, click the Task Manager’s Shut Down menu and choose Restart.
If the preceding approaches don’t work, push the computer’s reset button. When the Turn Off Computer box appears, choose Restart.
If not even the reset button works (and some computers don’t even have reset buttons anymore), turn the computer off by pushing its power button. (If that merely brings up the Turn Off the Computer menu, choose Restart, and your computer should restart.)
When nothing else works, if you press in the computer’s off button long enough, it will eventually stop resisting and turn off.
Hmmm. I don’t have a sob story…but I am a hard core gadget junkie and bargain seeker and winning all these great gadgets at once would be a thrill of a lifetime. More than likely I would distribute most of these items to my family members abroad who are all technologically challenged – my sister for example, just started using Windows XP…she had been still using Win 98 (ARRHGHHH!). Thanks for the consideration.
Tip :- Printing Internet Explorer Favorites :-
To print out the Web pages listed under Internet Explorer’s Favorites menu, follow these steps:
1. Click on the Start button, point to Programs, and then click on Internet Explorer.
2. On Internet Explorer’s File menu, choose Import and Export.
3. In the Import/Export Wizard, click on Next.
4. Click on Export Favorites and then click on Next.
5. Click on Favorites — the topmost folder — and click on Next.
6. Click on Export to a File or Address, type C:\MY DOCUMENTS\BOOKMARK.HTM in the Export to a File or Address box, and then click on Next.
7. Click on Finish and then click on OK.
8. Quit Internet Explorer.
9. Open the My Documents folder on your desktop and open your newly created BOOKMARK.HTM file. (It opens in Internet Explorer.)
10. On Internet Explorer’s File menu, choose Print. Click in the little check box marked Print table of links and click on OK.
Wow. what i would do with this package. i cant even begin to even explain to you how excited and happy it would make me to be able to receive something like this and have the ability to share it with others. i really don’t have a sob story. im not going to lie. this give a way makes me drool. with everything that is included in the package i get like this huge computer nerd high. if i were to win the Hp Magic Giveaway i would give one of the computers to my little brother. He always bothers my mother for her computer to do simple tasks like downloading music. Of course her response is a stern no. He whines and whines and gets really annoying from time to time. lol. but i guess thats how little brothers are.This would serve good use for him. he can finally have something that will keep him entertained for hours. My mother has enough stress going on so this would atleast keep her youngest son occupied and still while she makes dinner. I would also give another computer to my little sister. She has been trying to use a computer that is filled with viruses and always lets her down. I would like to give her one that she can depend on. I would like to finally be able to give my brother and sister something that they will like and be able to use. i cant afford that much and it would make me feel so good to be able to put a smile on my brother and sisters faces. they are really a pain my ass sometimes but i would like to do something nice for them, for once. on top of me not being selfless i will be excited and happy as hell to get a computer that is super amazing. It would be a dream come true. i’d have the latest technology and up to date. Being that i am a struggling college student, this will be really helpful. i really don’t know what else to type. all i can say is that if i were to win the contest, i’d be really greatful. i never win anything lol. i don’t have my hopes up but i’m just giving this a shot. if it doesnt go to me i hope it goes to someone who really needs it more. i woudlnt want to prevent someone from getting something out of my selfishness. well here is my entry. i hope its suitable.
Saving Multiple Word Documents at one go :- To save a multitude of Word documents all at one time, you can switch to each window and click “File” > “Save” command. Or you can be sneaky and do the following.
Press and hold the Shift key …
Choose “File” and “Save All”
Normally, you choose the “Save” item. But if you press the Shift key before choosing the File menu, it magically becomes the “Save All” menu item.
There is no prompting (unless the documents hasn’t been saved yet), and no wait-and-see. Everything is just saved to disk as fast as your computer can handle it.
First and foremost i would like to win this contest for my 2 best mates.
They recently lost their father, just about 2 years after they lost their mother 2 cancer. Since they have a lot of new expenses i would love to be able to give them a complete new computer each, so the touchsmart pc and the hdx 18 notebook would go to them.
Since my father will undergo surgery on the 19th of december and will have to be in bed for 3 months, the mediasmart connect would go to him. The pavilion notebook i would donate to my mother, since my father uses the computer so often for his work that my mother doesn’t get around to computing at all.
The HP Mini 1000 is the one thing i would keep myself, because i am fascinated by netbooks and maintain a website about this: http://www.eeepc-benelux.com (gives me the opportunity to review it). The Photosmart printer would be donated to my sister, since she is using a printer of the year 1998. She could really use a new one for school. The office license and photo value pack would go to her as well.
I hope this can be considered a valid entry.
My tip – Four steps to better photos with a N series Nokia mobile :-
1. Firstly and most importantly of all, just as with my article on video recording, light is everything. It’s photons of light that trigger charge in the camera’s sensor, and the more of them the more accurate the reading from each sensor pixel. In good light, there’s more than enough information being gathered and your Nseries camera will produce results comparable to those from standalone cameras. In poor light, either in the evening or under flash conditions or in a dimly lit room, there simply aren’t enough photons hitting each pixel for the sensor to be absolutely sure what value to report, which is why you get ‘noise’, flecks of random colours in your photo. In a standalone camera, the sensor pixels are bigger and each gathers in more photons, so you don’t notice the same degree of noise.
It’s also worth noting that you may also have problems in very bright light with any digital camera, as photons ‘overflow’ from one pixel to the next, with the result that you sometimes see ’smearing’ around bright sections of the image.
Be aware of the light conditions at all times and try to anticipate the effect the level will have on your Nseries camera. It also goes without saying that the obvious rules of photography apply, such as not shooting towards the light source unless you’re trying for a special effect.
On the N93, understand that using the optical zoom will decrease the amount of light getting to the main sensor, so only zoom in if you’re confident there’s enough light to cope.
2. Next, understand how the autofocus system in these Nseries devices works. The image within the central graticule is sampled many times a second when you slightly depress the shutter button, with the lens moving backwards or forwards in an attempt to maximise the contrast of edge detail within the graticule. Now, this system normally works well enough, but it can fall down if there’s not enough light (see point 1. above) or if the object in this part of the image doesn’t have any detail that’s suitable for contrast sampling.
In this case, it’s best to move the centre of your composition slightly, to something that’s the same distance away but which has better detail. Once focussing has been achieved on this, you can keep the shutter partially depressed and move the image centre back to the original subject, before finally pressing the shutter all the way down.
For typical ‘point and shoot’ landscape shots, where there’s no real close-up foreground, the auto-focus system will probably make a mess of things, so make sure you change the shooting mode to ‘Landscape’, in which the auto-focus is disabled and the camera behaves just as that in an ‘infinite focus’ lesser device, such as that on other camera smartphones.
3.Take a little time (if possible) to think about adjusting the settings from ‘automatic’ values. For example, using ‘Night’ as the ‘Shooting mode’ forces the camera to use a longer exposure time, thus letting more photons in and reducing noise, at the expense of blurry images of anything that’s moving – or the whole scene if your hand isn’t steady enough when pressing the shutter button. ‘White balance’ is also worth fiddling with if you’ve got the time to set a shot up properly – colours seem different under different lighting conditions and this is your chance to allow for this factor. Finally, ‘Exposure value’ is invaluable if you like playing around with light, perhaps shooting into a bright light (decreasing the exposure value) or trying to pick a dark subject out of a bright background (increasing the exposure value). By default, your Nseries camera software will try and average out the light intensity across your image, which is often not what you actually want. In each case, adjusting the exposure by a couple of stops can make a big difference and give you more control.
4.Learn to press the shutter properly. First of all, there’s shutter lag, which is quite well known. Having pressed the shutter button, there’s a lag of up to second while the exposure level is calculated and implemented, so learn to allow for this in terms of composition and in terms of staying ‘in position’ for a second or so after pressing the button. In addition, the shutter will be ‘open’ (whether it’s a mechanical shutter (as in the N93) or an electronic one (as in the N90) for a specific duration (e.g. 50 milliseconds) and if you’re moving the smartphone during this time then your photo will have a degree of blur. So it pays to brace yourself (hold the smartphone in two hands, stand with your legs apart and hold your breath momentarily) and gently ’squeeze’ the shutter rather than stabbing at it.
I would share this prize with my church and family. We would first give a computer to Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church to show our gratitude to God for winning. My hubby needs a digital camera and I would love to be able to give him one for Christmas. We have two girls in college who could use laptops. My parents are in need of a computer so that they can get online and be able to keep in touch with our extended family especially now that Dad is fighting colon cancer. The movies would be given to my siblings and their families. Wow! A wonderful Christmas could be had by all. Thank you for the chance to win.
Repeating Heading Rows in Word Tables – In a Word table, the heading (or header) row is the first row in the table — the one that usually describes what each column contains.
To make the header row repeat at the top of each new page, click to put the cursor in the header row (or select the header rows if you have more than one) and choose “Table” in the top menu bar, then click “Heading Rows Repeat”.
So, that’s my tip.Hop you like it.
I’d give the 2 bigger notebooks, the MediaSmart, TouchSmart, the WLAN Printer and the softwares to my previous school. It’s a 8-level secondary school, and because of the religion-oriented management they get many times fewer money, than other schools financed by the local self-goverments. Students should learn on modern equipments, but they now see foreign-language films on some half-dead CRT televisions. The school have some projector, but not enough laptops.
The only thing I’d take for myself the Mini 1000, because I really need it for the uni, but I can’t buy it in my country, actually here’re only 2 or 3 kind of netbook in the shops.
My mobile tech tip is simple: If you’re going out when everything is covered with ice make sure you put your valuable tech gear (ie phones, cameras) in front pockets! I can state through real life experience that 14 times out of 15 when you slide over, you will land on your backside or back. Not having said items in front pockets will cause pain and heartache. I know, I was that man.
As for sharing. that’s simple too: My family in England don’t have the money to purchase computer equipment. I would make sure they get a laptop each so we can have better communication than just the phone or letters.
My best tech tip, would probably be to do the research. Too many times people jump at purchasing items when they see a descent price. But, there are times where if you spend a little more, the experience can be so much greater that the money was completely worth it.
As for sharing, I have a family member going into college, who an definetly going to be looking for either a laptop or a PC. All parts of the prizes will go to other family members.
My best mobile tip is this
I had a doubt that my girlfriend was cheating me as she had called my friend (a boy) to her house without telling me about it (my another friend told me about it) so what i did was traced with my mobile what she was talking with my friend that day (my friends gave me the time also when they were going to meet!)
Just do this to your cellphone –
1. Activate the “Automatic Answer” in the headset profile of your cell phone and set the ringing volume to “Mute”
2. Short-circuit the left middle and right pins on the bottom of the mobile phone with all connections touching each other this will activate profile “Headset”.
If you cant do this just keep your earphone connected to mobile.
3. Now place it under a table in a room and call it. Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just call on your phone.
4. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.
Actually she was discussing some project. Quite funny.
I am a student so i will probably keep the Touchsmart Pc with me. The laptop i will give it to my brother who is studying for MBA (business degree) In india so he will need it. And the rest 2 laptops , my father has retired from his doctor job and now gives free health check-ups to people who can’t afford to go for those costly check ups, so he will use the laptops for his free check-up clinic.
May the best entry win!
I highly recommend to all of you to guys to download “Google Earth”.
http://earth.google.com/
Just choose if you want the free or the Pro version. Any version will do.
It has saved me a couple of times. I live in the province and when I applied for a job in a city online , the employer requested me for an interview and told me to go to their office. As I was not really sure where to go because I am not familiar with the employer’s address, I decided to go to a computer shop and asked them to install Google earth on their desktop so that I can view map of the employer’s address. Viola! I found it and printed the landmarks near their area and I was able to go there early. Guess what, I passed the interview and its now my current job. I really thank Google Earth and since then, I always install a copy of it on my computer waiting for the next magic that may happen to my life.
I plan to keep the HP mini and the Touchsmart PC for my family. The Touchsmart PC will replace my old desktop. My old desktop and the Photosmart Printer will be given to my elementary school(where I graduated, batch 1998) since they don’t have a working computer right now. The HP DV4 laptop will go to my girlfriend who is a graphic artist. It would really be a great help for her work since she has no laptop. The HDX 18 will be given to my father as a sign of gratitude, who always worked hard for our family. He is currently using a cheap portable DVD player with a 7 inch screen. This laptop will be a very big upgrade and I knew that my father will be very happy about this one.
The media connect and the video editing software will then be donated to GMA Kapuso Foundation.
http://www.kapusofoundation.com/
It is a very well known foundation here in our country that initiates charitable activites. They are well known in helping children from faraway provinces.
The last thing that I will do is to invite street children in our house and I will treat them with foods and drinks.Those street children are very poor and they always eat leftover foods from the garbage. To make things happier, I will show them the Kung Fu Panda DVD on the big screen of the HP Touchsmart PC. I want to give them a memorable Christmas that they will never forget . I want to share them the magic that HP has given me. Thank You and I hope that I will win this one. God Bless Us All..
Productivity hack: Using Gmail as my total personal database solution: Every day I create or come across bits of information I want to archive somewhere I can always find again. There are many “note taking” solutions available both as installed apps and online. Too many in fact. As a dedicated Gmail user I have found what I think is the best solution for me. I have created a “plus” Gmail address (remember+myusername@gmail.com). Each time I need to archive a piece of information (or a complete e-mail for that matter), I compose a new Gmail and address it to my plus address. I enter the information to be archived in the subject line (and in the body of the e-mail if additional space is needed. Next I add a few key words to the body of the message and press send. *LATER* when I need to recover that piece of information I search Gmail for “remember+myusername@gmail.com,” and I include one or more of the key words I associated with that particular item of information in the search. Using the plus address narrow the search dramatically. The additional use of the key words makes it a snap to recover any bit of information I have archived using this method instantly. This method eliminates forever the need to “file” this type of random information. Hope you find this helpful. | If I am lucky enough to win, I plan to the prizes to upgrade my home office. Thanks. Jeff Ruday
I guess I would have to say the best tip I can give is the program my wife told me about.
ccleaner.com
It clears cookies and temp files with just a click.
It will uninstall programs.
There are always footprints left behind from a program after uninstalling.
With this program, you can uninstall a program, then go to regtistry and click scan for issues.
It will find all the footprints left behind and clean them out.
Best of all, this is a free program.
Most people don’t keep their computer clean and it will end up slowing you down.
Using this on a daily basis will help keep you running smooth.
To keep you and your notebook running running well wipe your keyboard with anticeptic wipes and put a vacuum to the air intake (fan)This should keep the bugs off of you and the dust bunnies from building a house in your laptop, so that you both run longer
If it doesn’t fit in your pocket with everything else you bring around, you’ll forget about it almost everyday.
My best tip for mobile tech lovers is ..
My tip is for those who always get frustrated of their laptops running out of battery juice, it’s something I’ve always used and always found it very useful .. Go to your power options and disable the Stand By/Hibernation action when you close the lid of your laptop. Most notebook computers come configured that the computer will go to stand by, hibernation or sleep when you close the screen, this might be a fast way to do it but you’re missing a very valuable way of conserving battery life. When you disable this action, the computer will instead turn off the screen only when you close the lid meaning that the device will still be operating normally and performing any operation you need done but you do not need to be watching around for it.
For example: when downloading a large file off the internet or running a media conversion task .. etc or may just you’re moving to get a glass of water while you’re loading a couple of pages in your browser, all you have to do is close the lid of the notebook and you’ll be conserving a great amount of power when doing this on regular basis as we all know the screen is the largest power consumer on a notebook.
Cheers,
Ahmed
Best mobile tech tip – BitPim with Audacity. BitPim (http://bitpim.org/) is a program that, once downloaded, allows for transfers of data to and from the phone. I mainly use it for mp3 transfer, as my phone stopped accepting syncs through Windows Media. Audacity allows for creation of custom music and ringtones. While custom ringtones can be annoying, sometimes it’s useful to be able to distinguish if, say, your mother or boyfriend is calling instead of a business associate. That and custom music can be entertaining for long flights.
I’d give three of the laptops to my supervisors. I’m in Americorps, and the budget is small. The laptops for business use are 3-5+ year old Dells that crash constantly. My boyfriend is a programmer, so I’d also ask him for tech support to get Ubuntu/Windows dual boots operational. It would be so nice to not have to wait ten minutes for the laptops to turn on and access IE.
Set your laptop on its case to keep the heat off you. Best to use a slim case like a sleeved one. Heat is never a problem after this tip.
If you have a WinMo smartphone with a 3G data connection, use Pdanet or Usbmodem to connect it to your Windows notebook for getting online anywhere there is a cellular signal. Usbmodem works with Macs, and Ubuntu’s new network manager can connect to most data-cabable phones on its own.
So Here is my tip.
Grab yourself an external battery. I use a Tekkeon with the addition of a usb port, so I can charge/power two devices at once. I use this setup for two main reasons. For travel, where I only need to take the power cable for the battery and a couple different usb cables. I can charge my Fujutsu p1510, cell, mp3 player, camera and so on. Its compact and easy to keep organized. The other use is for field racording, where I can power all the above, but can also power a compact mixer, small monitors (speakers), and charge some AA batteries if I need to. All in all it makes for allot less crap that I have to lug around, and most importantly the blissful experience of not running around in a near panic in search of a power outlet.
As far as the stuff goes. I would give my little brother one of the laptops for school. I would donate another to an indie documentary film maker that I know who could use a piece of tech less than six years old. I haven’t figured the rest out yet, but all that I would probably keep is the Touchsmart PC and one of the laptops. Everything else would go to a home that would not normally be able to afford it.
Simple really… get an iPhone. there is no better device/platform right now for mobility. Evernote, Mint.com, Twitter clients, excellent email, etc… That’s my tip!
If I were to win I would, finish the tech upgrade to the RV for our upcoming “sabbatical”…
First of all, I wanted to say thanks for allowing for such an awesome giveaway.
Second, my tech tip. This would be to create a USB bootable bartpe disk with a bunch of utilities on it. Details of which can be found here:http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
A bootable USB drive allows for troubleshooting, fixing while off the boot volume.
Work with multiple platforms? Not a problem. My current usb troubleshooting drive has Linux, Windows, and yes, even an OSX install on it. Since the drive is both firewire and usb, I am able to troubleshoot just about any computer out there, including ppc macs.
Here are some steps to follow:
1. Install Bartpe and utilities on the pendrive.
2. Install Linux, allowing linux’s bootloader to override the windows one. You now have a pendrive that allows for selecting between windows and linux.
3. Using the remaining space, install OSX. Since we are working with an MBR partition type, some slight hackery will be involved. You will need to run from an already installed system, by navigating to /Volumes//System/Packages. Here, type open OSInstall.mpkg Install OSX as you would normally.
4. Congratulations, you have created a truly universal recovery/diagnosis hard drive.
As for the prizes, here is how I would plan on distributing them:
* My current HP desktop would be donated to a family member that would get most use of it.
*My current EEEPC would be donated to on of the schools I attended.
* The 18″ laptop would be dontated to my brother for his video editing studies.
* My mom would receive the DV4 laptop
*The touchsmart and the mini 1000 would be used by myself.
*One bluray and one dvd would be kept, the other given to a family member.
Not to mention, this would make for one of the best prizes I would have ever won, and would make quite a few people really happy. (Speaking for my brother and his video editing)
There’s no mobility without speed! We all hate it when it the computer slows down! Here’s an easy way to speed up your computer during start up and keep it up to speed! Since a lot of extra stuff gets added while you’re surfing the web, go to Start > Run, and type “msconfig” and press OK. In the new window, go to the STARTUP tab and click “Disable All” and press OK. The important things like your virus scanners re-enables themselves automatically anyway, and all the spyware and junk gets disabled so you don’t have to wait for it to load every time.
This package would really create some magic in our house! The laptops would go to my classroom to help my students with autism connect with the world outside our our classroom. The printer would replace the one that just died at our home and continue to be used to print out school assignments and scout materials for my husbands’ troop. Thanks for the opportunity to share some magic!
1.Don’t charge mobile frequently;charge mobile only when it is completely discharge or say battary low,don’t use it when charging goes on,it increase battary life.
2.Use Seadragon (Mobile) for Smooth image browsing.
3.Laptop Security tips:
For Windows users:
a)Laptop Alarm(www.syfer.nl)free application;will sound an alarm whenever anyone unplugs or moved power cable or mouse;stutdown
b)Yawcam(www.yawcam.com)free tool,turn your webcam into a motion-sensing security camera that can back up pictures it snaps to an FTP server
c) free application like
LaptopLock (www.thelaptoplock.com) &
‘Adeona’(adeona.cs.washington.edu/)
open source cross-platform to secure data
4.Use virtual credit cards for online buys.
5.encrypt your drive with TrueCrypt
I have two tech tips one is never let you family kids husband on the computer to download anything, unless they are an IT professional (I am pretty tired of reformatting the hard-drive) the other possibly as important, is always read those installation manuals, they were written for a reason. You might be surprised what you could learn.
I have though of how I would share the winnings, I think it would be nice to be able share some of the winnings with college students that might not have a computer.
Always eliminate static before doing your repair work on your computer.
if i win it will goes to my family&friends.HDX to sister as b’day gift and touch screen stay in home,a laptop goes to my school where i spend some beautiful years of my life.remains are giftedand share with frinds.
(sorry for second comment i have dial up connection,i lost my connection i don’t know why?)i don’t know how to edit my 1st cooment so i post this
#1 – Read jkontherun.com
#2 – Backup, Backup, Backup! I run superduper on my mac (works great as a cloning program/bootable backup) and I use Mozy.com. Having your important files encrypted in the cloud is always reassuring especially if something happens to your home! Second part is making sure that you can restore that backup. You can have 100 different backups, but if you can’t restore, you are out of luck. Not to many people actually try this unless they need to. If you wait until that day and it does not work, you are SOL. As far handing out the stash, I will ship all equipment and software anywhere and to anyone you guys want, but I get to keep the TouchSmart.
Happy Holidays and congrats again Kevin.
How to convert you favourite feeds into PDF files ready for print using http://www.feedjournal.com:
I love to read and subscribe to RSS feeds, but sometimes I want to be able to physically hold a paper in my hand and read it. Printing your favorite RSS feeds in a newspaper like template can be easily done with FeedJournal (www.feedjournal.com). It is a great service that will allow users to convert their feeds into a printable PDF file. Now your favorite feeds will look like a traditional newspaper.
Customizing the entire layout will take a few moments to complete. For easier reading, you can choose to have multiple columns and leave out images. FeedJournal will also let website owners add widgets to their site. Subscribers of the website can view the same newspaper PDF file.
Some people may be reluctant to print their favorite RSS feeds because they change so frequently. However, it is still a nice feature to use every now and then. There may be times that you must hit the road and will not have access to the internet. Printing your feeds before traveling will provide you with the opportunity to catch up on some much needed reading. Although you would go through a lot of ink and paper if you print every feed, being able to choose a few of them is still convenient.
Once you complete the quick signup process, you can choose a few of the available feeds or you can import your own personal favorites. Just simply click onto the “new feed” button and a pop up window will allow you to easily enter the feed URL and its category. Typing in a few feeds won’t be time consuming but the list could add up very quickly. Although I enjoyed using this service, I can’t imagine doing it constantly. Most likely, I will print feeds before taking a trip to a destination with no internet.
FeedJournal is definitely a cool service. Bloggers and website owners can use it to their benefit. Providing subscribers with an easy to print version of their latest articles or blog posts will give them the chance to spread it around. Offline readers will become interested enough to visit their websites and even subscribe to them. If you have always wanted to create your own newspaper, you will have the opportunity to do so with this useful tool. Within a few seconds, your chosen feeds can be printed in a professional and easy to read manner.
Throughout my years of computing, marketing madness has always pushed me to buy the latest and greatest devices. Recently, I’ve been trying to get away from thinking this way, especially with the way things are going on in the world.
This past year, I used eBay and Craigslist to sell off all my unused devices, and put the money towards a used last gen. 12″ PowerBook. It has all the power I need, and still has tons of style.
My best mobile tip? Use what devices you have to have to their full potential. The computers made in the last few years have more power than most people need. Creativity is not limited by the hardware you use, only your imagination.
My best tip may sound kind of dumb but here goes.Ask for help when your not sure of how to do something or fix something.Intead of guessing how to do it.
My best tech tip is to use a syncing tool such as SugarSync. I love this program!
I use it to keep my favourites, documents, photos, music and passwords in sync over my 3 machines. If I’m visiting friends or family, I now don’t need to take my laptop, my phone has internet access so I’m covered for my browsing and email, but if I want to show them a photograph I’ve taken, I can bring up SugarSync on their machine (or my phone using the mobile interface) and find what I need.
Whats more, if I need to reinstall the OS for some reason I know I have a backup ready and waiting for me to sync across. After I’ve installed AV, windows updates and my day to day applications, SugarSync is the next program I install, leave it running overnight and come morning I have a fresh system with all my files ready to be used.
Create a pen flick for task-switching with a Tablet PC. The correct key combination is crucial to keeping the task switcher on screen.
Go to Control Panel > Pen as Input Devices > Flicks and choose which gesture will enable switching. Select (edit), title the gesture what you wish, and enter the key combination, Ctrl+Alt+Tab for the Alt-Tab switcher or Ctrl+Win+Tab for Flip 3D.
Without adding Ctrl, it appears as if this gesture doesn’t even work; but, with it, the animations remain on screen until a window is chosen with a tap on the screen.
My tech tip:
The iPhone is a great phone but the battery can quickly die. To save battery life, simply turn off Wi-Fi when you are on the road or do not need network access. This will help to save battery life. Go into “Settings” and turn Wi-Fi off. You can also go into “Settings>General” to turn off Bluetooth (which will also improve battery life) when the Bluetooth is not needed. These simple tips will improve battery life and make the iPhone usable for much longer without charging.
My best tip is a very simple tip that not many people seem to know. When you want to lock your Windows desktop because someone is walking by and there is something sensitive on the screen or you just need to leave your desk, etc, use the Window Key and “L” key. This has proven incredibly useful to me.
I’d share the prizes by donating most of them to Loaves and Fishes “Shop for your kids” and “Shop for your parents” days where a local foodbank helps parents and children “shop” for each other from donated gifts. For many families, this is the difference between having and not having presents for the holidays.
Well my tips is: for people who are blind is to enable them to use a cell phone, because I helped a friend and friends who are blind, with his cell phone (notebook, PC etc.). model that best use nokia N73, but there are some models that you can install this program, is to load an application that allows them to talk to them that the cell, and therefore in this way can use a cell phone to make calls, read their messages, send messages, enter the menu, and much more, it is very helpful this application.
Well this application runs on Symbian O.S. 9.1 or 9.2, the application is installed Talks, then install the Eloquence (I install it in Spanish, but there are other language) this is the one that speaks to them, depending on which version is installed language is the language that they speak cell.
I hope this tips will help someone who did not know that you can do that with the mobile.
in spanish.
Bueno mi tips es el siguiente: es para aquellas personas que son ciegas (no videntes) es para que puedan usar un celular, ya que yo ayudo a unas amiga y amigos que son no videntes, con su celular (notebook, PC etc.) modelo que mas uso nokia N73, existen algunos modelos mas que se puede instalar este programa, consiste en cargar una aplicación que les sirve para que el celular les hable, y por lo tanto de esta manera puedan usar un celular para hacer llamadas, leer sus mensajes, mandar mensajes, entrar al menú, y mucho mas, les es de mucha ayuda esta aplicación.
Bueno esta aplicación corre en Symbian O.S. 9.1 ó 9.2, se instala la aplicación Talks, luego se instala el Eloquence (yo instalo en español, pero hay en otros idiomas) este es el que les habla, dependiendo de que versión de idioma se instale es el idioma que el celular les hablara,
Espero que este tips ayude a alguien que no supiera que se puede hacer eso con el celular
I have been using ORB for a year and it is a great way to take advantage of your home computer while you are on the road or on your mobile phone. It is free and gives you access to files, pictures, videos, and most importantly tv if your home pc has a tuner. I think this is a useful tool for a user of any age and the set up is pretty easy.
Tech Tip:
For me, as a student/athlete I am always on the go. Either going to practice, an away game, to class, to the library, or to a friends room. One helpful tool that has always helped me out has been the ability to tether my notebook to my mobile phone, using USB, Bluetooth, or now with my Nokia a little program called Joikuspot. Joiku is very easy to use. What this program does for anyone using a Symbian mobile device with Wi-Fi is it setups a WiFi hotspot for you to use to browse the web, having your cellphone act as a wireless modem. Its really quite genius. I have been using this program for almost a year now, and it is certaintly better than tethering via bluetooth, usb, or with Infared.
How to get started?
1) Go to http://www.joikuspot.com/ and download the version appropriate for your phone.
2) Install the software to your phone, and startup the application. Create a wireless hotspot, by entering in the name of the hotspot that you would like to create. ex) Bobs Hotspot.
3) Create a password or let Joiku do it for you.
4) Go to your Windows or Mac computer, and using your WiFi connection finder, locate “Bobs Hotspot” or whatever you happened to name yours.
5) Connect, and when prompted enter the password that you created and you will be surfing in just a moment.
As I stated earlier, Joikuspot is a relatively easy application to use, and I highly recommend it to anyone with a Symbian and WiFi phone. The only downside to the free version is that there are quiet a few clients that you cannot use, such as MSN, Skype, or Outlook. The upside, is that if you are operating in the cloud, connecting to gmail, or goog docs, can be done sans browser! Paying a few bucks for the full version will let you do pretty much anything. Speed is determined based on if you are in a 3G area or standard Edge connection.
Using this tethering technique is great for students or even professionals on the go as it can help you take care of a last minute assignment, or shoot a quick email. Maybe even fire off an attachment to a client.
Who Would I share this prize package with?:
My girlfriend has been wanting a netbook for a long time now, ever since I showed her the original Eee701, in pink no less. I now have an ASUS Eee 1000H, so I would give her the HP Mini 1000. I’m quite sure that would make her holidays a very happy one. And she won’t be stuck on her old Compaq desktop!
The HP HDX 18 series, I would give to my mom so she can finally have her own computer. Shes been using our family PC to do her web browsing, and email friends and family.
My family desperately needs a new PC. They’re using a Dell Dimension 4500, and it is over 5yrs old now. Well past due for an upgrade. I would give them the HP TouchSmart to replace the aging Dell. Its time there was an upgrade for that old warhorse.
I don’t really need the computers for myself. If I were to win I would probably keep the Pavilion dv4, but I might give it to my sister as she has a Vostro that has been lugged around her college, and is beat pretty bad. It’ll depend on if she stays nice to me or not! lol.
The rest of the prize pack I will probably keep for myself. One of the KungFu Panda DVD’s my younger cousins would like, I know that much!
As my best tech tip, I would like to share to anyone wanting to personalize their windows interfaces. There are multiple ways to do this make sure you follow step by step.
Easy Way:
I usually use this method because it’s less time consuming and quick, but does not give me full access to change every feature of the windows user interface.
1. You can easily go online and find themes at “www.wvistathemes.com”.
2. Most are compressed in .rar files, but after extracting those files, you should drag the main folder to the directory, “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes”(if all the files are not in one single folder, create a new folder, and put them in the new folder and rename it accordingly to what the theme is called).
3. IMPORTANT: This part would be the most important part before you actually apply the theme from the directory. You will have to simply download the “Vista Glazz” setup from, “http://www.codegazer.com/vistaglazz/downloads/”, and install the program. It should require that you restart the computer, and once you do, your computer should be able to run custom visual styles and themes using this method.
4. Finally, right-click your desktop, access personalization, then theme, and you from there you select “browse” from the themes drop-down list to browse for your theme in the directory, “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes”, and apply the theme. *You’ll need at least 126MB of video memory in order to run transparency.
Method I’d Prefer:
Now I’ll only use this method if I know I want my user interface to look a way I specifically want it to look.
1. You’ll need to download and install WindowBlinds from “http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/”. Again, depending on how much computer power you have, some users will not be able to run transparency. It’s fine to download the free trial, in you should be able to get more options than if you used the first method.
2. The fun part would be to find a theme you like, and they should all be available to download at “http://wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?libid=1″. They should all have the extensions, “.wba”, and some are large and some are only a few kilobytes.
3. This would probably be your last step and in which would be to simply open that .wba file that contains the files for you theme with WindowBlinds. The theme files should be loaded into the program and WindowBlinds should open itself for you to double-click and apply your theme from the list of themes. I like WindowBlinds more only because it lets me customize my font letters on the taskbar, how the taskbar looks and change the size of the taskbar, and control how small the letters in my windows are to look as.
Here’s if you want to customize your login screen:
1. Download the .rar file from, “http://www.deviantart.com/download/51557823/”, and extract it. Install the setup, “LogonStudio Vista.exe”, contained in it.
2. All you’ll have to do now is drag and drop the files that contain the extensions, “.logonvista”, into the Logon Studio program, and apply it from there. You should be set from there on.
My Note:
I truly love giving people tips, especially when it comes to designing things such as your windows user interface or websites. I not only love giving tips, but also gifts! I had a dream about I had given something so valuable to someone I loved so dearly. Even now, I’ll day-dream about me giving something so great of mines to my mother this Christmas, and in return receive her love. These days, there are so many of my cousins, brothers, and sisters, and all my uncles and aunts won’t look at anyone of us as a special one to them, who means so much to them. I look at giving to them a thousand dollar computer as a way to keep me in their hearts. Those I’d truly want the greatest love or blessings from would be from my mother, my aunt, and from my household family!
The best tip I can give is a simple one for people who find their desktop solution is taking up too much space. Buy a netbook and ‘build’ yourself a home docking setup for it. All it takes is a usb hub, a few recycled parts of former bulky desktop setup (keyboard, printer etc) and a decent flat panel TV that accepts a VGA input. This solution will be enough for 99% of modern computer users plus it saves all the hassle of syncing if you want to take your system on the road with you. Saves a load of space too and the TV/monitor can be mounted on one of those moving brackets which means when work time is over TV time is a breeze to set up. Dont forget to take you old bulky powerhungry desktop to the nearest recycling centre!
If I were to be lucky enough to win I’d like to share the prize with the Stuart Mangan Appeal (www.stuartmangan.org)
Screen brightness is one of the biggest factors in determining the life of battery. Luckily the user has full control of the same factor. The one thing that helps me enjoy mobile computers for a longer period of time is adjusting the screen brightness to match my surroundings.
Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. . Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apples, Dim your screen , Some laptops even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to get a bit more battery life. Cut down on programs running in the background. Itunes, Desktop Search, messenger etc.
My tech tip is that lithium battery’s can be very dangerous when miss-handled, so be careful not to puncture, short, or overheat any of your precious devices lest they explode and hurt you!
Here’s my mobile tech tip. Get yourself the largest capacity thumb drive you can afford. (I use an SDHC card with a reader writer usb attachment. For a grand total of 32gigs of storage.) Next get a portable browser. There are portable versions of all the top browsers out there. (I prefer FirefoxPortable.) Customize with skins, addons and bookmarks. Place your portable browser on your thumb drive. Now your ready to take your browser where ever you go with no need to install it on any pc. Go from your home pc to your schools computer lab to your work computer with all your bookmarks, preferences and settings intact. There are browsers that now incorporate a sync feature that will allow you to take your settings from one browser to another. But you might be on a computer that does not use your particular browser and in some cases they might not allow you to install your software. Along with portable browsers there are portable versions of applications that you may like to use. If you can’t find portable apps that you want to use you can always make your own. There is a program called Thinstall that will allow you to make a portable version of your existing software. Besides having all the programs you need you have room for all your media files (i.e. mp3’s and video). You can also use your drive on other devices besides the pc. It all depends what kind of connectors you have. For example a usb to mini usb. I hope someone will find this mobile tech tip useful. As for the giveaway, I would keep the HP Touchsmart for myself and gift the other prizes to my family. My fathers PC is several years old and is in terrible shape. It freezes several times a day. The fan causes the whole case to shake. And the monitor is twice as old as the rest of the computer. Did I mention the cd drive no longer closes. The whole family (7) has to share this one computer.
This isn’t about me, but an article I read. James Karl Buck, a grad student from UC-Berkeley, was in Egypt covering an anti-government protest. He and his translator were arrested. He managed to send a tweet through his mobile phone – “arrested.” Because he was able to do that, the word got out. His followers contacted the university and the university hired a lawyer for him. He was released. It seems kind of weird but also really cool that a micro-blogging website could be a tool for social activism and a way to let people know you are okay in case of disaster.
I guess my tip would be to look at things with a new perspective. Twitter became a way to pass an emergency message. Are there other applications or websites that can serve a purpose they were not originally intended to?
Mobile Tech Tip – Restoring Drive Letters to USB flash Drives on a work computer
USB flash drives, networked drives and restricted access to Disk Management at work is a recipe for drive letter assignment disaster. It is no surprise that networked drives controlled by your desktop administrator are going to have first bids over drive letters, leaving your personal data as a lonely USB Mass Storage Device without a letter to its name no matter how many times you try each free port. If your work computer is anything like mine, you are unable to re-assign a drive letter due to restrictions which are designed to help rather than hinder. To reclaim the drive letter which is rightfully yours you will need a couple extra flash drives from colleagues. Firstly, plug in enough flash drives to occupy the allowed drive letters (e.g. E: and F:). Next, disconnect the network drive (remembering the server path) and connect another flash drive to occupy this new letter (e.g. G:). Then, remove one of the first drives to free up a letter of choice and insert the drive whic you require a connection with. Finally, remove the drive occupying the network drive letter and re-map the network drive to its server path.
Desktop tech tip – Task Manager shortcut
Ctrl + Alt + Del ( + mouse clicks) is the most well known method to pull up the Windows Security window and allow access to a variety of functions such as locking the screen, changing password and of course the famous Task Manager. Too many times I have been frustrated by a resource hungry process or application that leaves me screaming for the Task Manager in the fastest way possible. Even though the above shortcut is the most well known, there is a faster way. Just press Ctrl + Shift + Esc and you are now the quickest hand in the West.
What I would do with the prize
I would surprise most of my family members at Christmas. We would easily be able to stay in touch and keep us close. It has been a tough year and being apart from one another for most of it hasn’t helped.
Im not smart enough for tech tips, but i have a kind of tip. Do not put you tongue in a light socket or you will have a afro.
A telltale sign of phishing is when e-mails are not addressed to you specifically by name but instead say, “Dear Customer.” If an e-mail doesn’t take the time to address you by name, something is wrong! When you receive an e-mail, ask yourself, “Why am I receiving this note?” If you are unsure, call the company directly and ask. Never assume an e-mail is authentic just because it looks like it came from a trusted company. Hackers easily spoof the “from” field of an e-mail to make it appear it is a legitimate correspondence. Never click on an attachment contained in an e-mail, because you never know what virus or spyware is lurking beneath the surface waiting to steal your private information and send it to the hacker world. It is important when you go onto a Web site to make certain the page begins with https:// That “S” means “secure,” and, if it is not there, anything you input can be intercepted by a hacker. One of the nasty tricks hackers use when trying to redirect you to a fraudulent site is to mimic the URL of the trusted site. For example, you might want to go to mycard.citibank.com, but the hacker site might say something like mycard.citibank.com@216.45.54.303 where that @ symbol means you are connected to a hacker’s Web site pretending to be your credit card.
Hackers are very good at what they do. Sometimes you can take every precaution and still find yourself in trouble, not knowing if you are giving your information to a hacker. The best protection is your own vigilance. Don’t click, don’t open unless you feel confident about the sender.
free easy fax “server”.
i know a faxes arent cool but they are used a lot in business. i diconnected wife’s fax machine and ran the line to our xp machine using ms included fax software. then i shared the receiving folder using foldershare (mesh, dropbox, whatever). she is mobile so she can get her faxes anywhere now. set up a ubs battery so we dont have to worry about short power failures. my backup is automailer freeware sending the new faxes to her extra gmail. easy, free, stable for years now. she doesnt have to jump through hoops to use it so it is actually useful.
i would share a puter with my kids’ preschool. they are non-profit and run it b/c they love the critters – so i am grateful. they have top notch facility due to donors. pretty sure at least 1/3 of the kids are in there free or reduced rate – they dont like to say no. special people there. they could use a machine for research, planning, fliers, worksheets and whatnot.
thanks for doing this. i enjoy your work. have been lurking for 6 months or so.
3 words…Windows Live Mesh. Go to http://www.mesh.com, install the agent on your PC, laptop, or wherever you need access and synchronize an online desktop to have access to your files wherever you are. There is even a virtual desktop to use when at a friend’s computer. It allows online data storage and remote access to any machine in your Mesh.
I use internet for free by unsing my mobile! Follow this –
1)First Activate Airtel Live!( It is FREE).
2) Create TWO Airtel gprs data accounts in your mobile and set the
FIRST one as the active profile.
3)Connect your phone with your connectivity cable using blutooth dongle or usb/serial cable.
4) Go to control panel and create a new dial up connection.
Connection Device : Your mobile’s modem
ISP Name : Anything you want to enter.
Phone Number : Your mobile number.
Username: blank
Password: blank
5) Now setup your browser at your pc to use the proxy
100.1.200.99 and port 8080.
6) Connect to the dial-up account.
7) Try on your mobile and access any site. You will get “Access
Denied…”. Keep the mobile down.
8 ) On the PC ( or Laptop) open your browser, enter any address ,
press ENTER and WAIT for some minutes.
9) That’s it done ! now you can open any page on your pc for free
If i get the price i will take the HDx laptop as i need because i am working as a programmer but i have a Compaq which is damn slow. The the Touchsmart i will give it to my mother as christmas preset as she is very sad due to my fathers death. My sister is doing hotel management and she had told me she needs it so the Hp mini for her. Then remains the Hp Laptop, i keep a competition between office friends and the person who will eat the most will take it as a christmas present.
Thanks for arranging a lovely contest.
Yograbo is the software which on installation on your internet enables mobile phone will let you to broadcast Live from your cell phone. This feature enables you to transmit any live event in real time using any of the wi-fi or GPRS connection on the mobile. With the help of this software one can view any live videos from anywhere on the mobile by just having an Internet connection either by Wi-Fi or GPRS.
I work for the A private Organisation called “Vidhya Sagar” (meaning Knowledge House)
My name is monik. This organization runs on pure donations. It is run by me and 4 of my friends. We are mainly concentrating on Giving Education in Rural India. You might have read that the maximum number of poor people in the world who cannot afford to buy food are in India also because of high inflation rate (as of now 8%) , especially in Rural Parts of India like Villages of Rajasthan like “Mandar” where we had held a camp for Adults and children for 15 days (5 hour camp everyday), where we tought them to basic computers and Speak English so that they can earn atleast $3 per day by doing the job of a typist or simple guide of their villages for tourists. Currently we have only 4 computers and 3 laptops. They are not at all enough to serve 400 (reducing 300 people due to lack of computers) people In 15 days ( as of the count in “Lunavada” a Village in Gujarat held during last month november – 12th to 27th, specially for children – children’s day) We are looking for more and more computers so that we can teach more and more children. I hope you can offer me some help via this contest.
For those who would prefer to build their own computer (and use windows os), there are 4 things one must get. Two of which are software based tools: Diskeeper Pro and Hiren’s Boot CD.
After a fresh installation of any OS, the HD is most likely fragmented, by a lot. Also, the OS doesn’t waste a lot of space, so the MBR (master boot record) isn’t allocated for a lot of space, so it gets filled, thus fragmented quickly. The included disk defrag program for winxp isn’t good. Diskeeper will not only defrag the HD, there’s also active defrag(will defrag files as they get fragmented from programs saving the file or accessing the file) as well as reallocating the ideal size for the MBR and paging file.
Hiren’s boot cd has a ton of useful commandline tools for windows. I use it primarily for backing up my whole installation. Which is the second thing one should do. Install all software one would like to have right after a fresh install, and back it up. That way, if the computer messes up, one can easily recover to a state where one can immediately use the computer.
The next two items are hardware based: a FULL tower system (with 9 or more 5.25″ bays) and a 4 or more sata drive back plane (docking thing for HD’s that fit in 5.25″ bays). I’ve learned that a midtower does not let one configure their system enough, and a full tower gives that option if one needs. The back plane allows easy access to HD’s if they die, or if one needs to back up things. I personally have two HD’s in a raid array (mirror) and leave the two bays free in case I need to back up one external drive to another external HD.
I know from personal experience (for some reason, all HD’s I get die after 2.5 years) that reinstalling things is a pain, especially needing to reinstall all of the windows updates and software. By having a few tools and hardware configurations handy, it allows me to actively maintain my computer. Recovery from an HD failure might now take 2-3 hours instead of a whole day.
Best tech tips?
Treasure all your tech gadget in your life. They are important.. no matter what you use, you know it best. Always fully utilize with what you have and you will be happy. Why I’m saying so? Because not everyone of us can afford to buy latest gadget, expensive one of course.
I still use my old p4 computer.. old ide hard disk, but I know whats best for them. I take care of them very much..
By the way, if I win this… thanks, you just give me one more thing for me to treasure my whole life.
My best technology tip is to use the gmail search because you can find emails, contacts and conversations quickly
And i will share with my childrens and make them learn better.
Idea-I
Mobile phone also should have status like messenger’s have. Like Busy, In Meeting, Available, Don’t Disturb, Out of office,Sleeping … etc And caller should come to know this status when he calls this user.
To Be more specific caller tunes should represent User status. This technology will give more advantage to the people who basically getting disturb while they are in meeting or in Bed.
Idea-II
Text To Speech and Speech to Text converter.
Instrument should Capture spoken messages and should cleverly convert them in to text.
Now this text should be then deliver to destination of choice like SMS,inbox or blog.
This will save hours while listening to irrelevant voice mail.
My tech tip for you friends out their, is to spread the mobile technology and get everyone around you to be on the Run.
I did this in a very simple way, as simple as a
(Pin tablet) foe less than 60$.
Almost every one I know has a Laptop, but they use it as a discktop in 90% of the cases, and what they call “mobile” is the ability to Pack it up take it home and bring it back in the morning to work !!
what I did is that a got my boss a pentablet as a gift and showed him its applications on his laptop running windows vista ultimate; and npw after 7 months it became the most essential and most productive work tool at our company, every one is using it and wonder how they managed with out it for so long.
Not long ago I convened my boss to get an htc shift mobile and things know are definitely OntheRnn.
Best tech tip: A great website to get free antivirus and anti-spyware software is majorgeeks.com No need to call the Geek Squad when you can easily download shareware yourself.
I would keep one PC and then give the other three to my some of my students who could really use it.
Some say they are headed the way of the dodo, some say they are a waste of time, but my best tech tip is find a subject you know, one you love and START A BLOG. Oh, and read them too.
That will connect you to a community which will solve any tech, and other, problems and let you help others with theirs.
Always have a tech failure contingency plan. Technology is great but devices can fail at any time, any place, for any reason. Have a computer? Back up your data… Cellphone? backup those contacts. Going hiking somewhere new? take a paper map and compass. Do you have a critical presentation that you’re transporting on a thumb drive? Email yourself a copy as well. Redundancy is your friend. Get into the habit now before a crisis arises.
my “magic” tip is very simple
I have a built-in radio in my car. You can play mp3 files from CDs, but unfortunately there is no usb entry, and hard to play more music freely creating a playlist. The solution is quite simple: I bought mp3 player simply Pentagram Vanquish RT Video Pro with 4GB (in Poland costs about 60$) of its own memory and function of FM broadcasts. Now that the player, and the car will set the same FM frequency and I have no problem listening to my favorite music as I want. Of course, it works with any radio receiver
its useful also for the boring events 
i use this whenever i have computer issues and i’m sure everyone already knows about it.
Whenever you get a mysterious error message, don’t freak out, google it! usually within 5 minutes you’ll be able to fix the problem and if it’s a more serious problem you’ll probably be able to get more info on it and a way of fixing it!
Usually saves you hours trying to find help on the manufacturer’s site, also will save you money since you’re not paying anyone to help you. Actually this system has saved my whole computer when my OS refused to load, simple fix and i had my computer back!
My tech tip is for those who think they’re too old or too uninterested in tech. My father, who’s a retired military man, never felt the need to personally use a PC before retiring – the army had secretaries and staff to do all the typing and stuff. Come retirement (and a new diplomatic posting), he was forced to learn the basics of computers (i.e. windows and email) just so we could keep in touch while he was stationed in the US for a couple of years (we’re in Manila). After serving 2 years, he came back and started getting into coin collecting. I introduced him to ebay, and the next thing you know, he not only has a paypal account but is doing a robust trade for old Philippine coins – the kind that was minted during the time of the Spanish colonization and US administration.
So, from being a total non-techie, my Dad learned to become even more tech-savvy than me! You CAN teach old dogs new tricks!
Merry Christmas!
PS – I’ll share the package with the son of a single mom my wife knows – she’s working in the middle east right now just to put her son through college. Hopefully, the computers will help the son make it through college and somehow repay his mom in the future. Thanks!
PPS – I’ll also give one to my Dad. He uses an old IBM Thinkpad that’s due for retirement already.
As i don’t have any mobile gear or goodies – there’s not much tips or advice i can offer. However, because the printing press was cutting edge technology once, I would like to offer three small and portable books (those things with paper and ink and glue) that pack a punch. They might just give tired eyes a break from the harsh refresh rates of screens and monitors.
These aren’t really hidden gems, or unknown treasures, they’re well known. Plus they’re probably out of place on this post. But you can’t beat a good recommendation, right?
1. Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
(Budhism via Germany)
2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
(Sci Fi for adults about kids)
3. South of the Border West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
(Japan’s most haunting export – even more so than Ringu)
If i were lucky enough to win i’d keep the netbook for myself and the rest of the kit would go to three friends who have just started a business. Happy 2009 to all.
Since I don’t own a mobile phone or any mobile computing gear (I’m not very ‘mobile’, basically a shut-in). I’m probably the biggest non-tech-savvy person on the planet. Until about a year ago, my only internet usage was via webtv. At that time, my dear husband bought a laptop computer for me, which has been giving me migraines over the past month and a half (since November 5th to be exact!). I’ve had to do two system recoveries (or is it ‘restores’? It was the program that takes your computer back to ‘factory-fresh’ condition.) since then; and I have no more room left to do any more. Ackkk! What will I do IF I encounter another problem which requires a system restore! I think my computer days will come to an abrupt end!
Pitiful as it may seem, I snatched the mobile tech tip that I’d like to share from the NY Times, because as I mentioned, I don’t have any tips of my own; since I don’t own any mobile equipment. Here is their tip which I’d like to share because it sounds like an extremely cool tip to me (but what do I know?):
The popular iPhone seems to have a way of becoming, ahem, “lost.” But there are a number of apps that can help you recover a missing phone.
If a good Samaritan has found a lost phone, the app Call Owner Lost Phone! makes returning it easy. Install the 99-cent software, then go to the control panel to enter the number you want your lost phone to call. The icon for is a hard-to-miss stop sign with “Call Owner” on it. One press and a call is made to the number you chose.
If the person who “found” your phone isn’t so scrupulous, there is Private-I, which can trick miscreants into to e-mailing you their location. There are two versions, Private-I Lite, which is free if you agree to accept promotional e-mails from the company, or the 99-cent Private-I. They both work the same way. If a thief is tempted to touch the icon labeled “Private,” a screen comes up that says “loading photos.” As the upload appears to drag on, the phone is e-mailing its GPS coordinates to you.
I felt too guilty swiping the entire article so you can read the rest here:
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/helping-lost-iphones-find-the-way-home/
(Props to Roy Furchgott for sharing the above tip! I promise, I did take some time researching tips to find one I felt comfortable ’sharing’.)
I’m sorry …. I know, pretty lame, huh? But I wanted so badly to be able to enter the great HP Giveaway!
How I would love to share the prize package IF I were to be so fortunate to win it:
I would love to be able to give one of the laptops to a dear friend of mine, who devotes a lot of her time, energy and money towards helping the homeless and down on their luck in the city she lives in, which happens to be Gainesville, FL. She goes without things so that she can help out and give to others in need. Her computer is some old dinosaur (I know she’d had that computer for several years, when we moved from there in 1998 so it’s pretty old) and her monitor is one that one of her friends was going to throw away, from his electronics repair shop. She is so deserving of a good computer, and I feel she will use it towards giving people in need a hand up – such as obtaining jobs and other necessities of life.
One of the other laptops I would love to give to a single mom that posts on a message board where I like to read and post. Some of the members there are really involved with helping to find “missing” people. Others there devote as much spare time as they can, to helping to identify unidentified bodies that turn up around the country. Others try to help solve murder cases. The person that I’m thinking of recently helped in identifying the remains of a young lady that had been ‘missing’ for years. Her old desktop has been giving her problems and she is unable to even get on to some websites any longer. She used to play a trivia game that I play every day and she is no longer able to play any more, because of computer problems. I’ve never met her and only know her through a cyber-friendship; yet I feel a connection to her and feel that she would use a new laptop in a way that would bring relief to families of ‘missing’ persons.
But it’s a toss-up since I don’t really *know* her (personally) – so I may choose to help our local food bank instead. I would love to donate a laptop to our local food bank – with the thought that they could raffle it off and use the proceeds for extra food. So many people have been laid off in our small town (as in towns all across the USA), because many were employed by the local mill. The mill recently closed down and I know there have to be more people in need, than there is food to go around. I’d like to donate the Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition to them, as well; so they can sell raffle tickets for them to buy extra food for those in need. It pains me to think of people going hungry.
One of the other laptops I would love to be able to give to my sweet, sweet niece who has been down on her luck this past year. Her husband is in the home remodeling and renovation business – and not many people are remodeling, due to poor real estate sales in South Florida. I think the laptop would also aid her husband in obtaining employment opportunities. They are going through one of those home foreclosures that you hear about happening daily, all over the country. Lately she’s been tellling me how she can’t do certain things on her computer, because there isn’t enough room (memory, I think? Maybe it’s her hard drive? Like I said before, not tech savvy here….sorry). She and her husband are the parents of my two beautiful grand-nieces and she is so good about emailing me pictures of the two little cuties on a regular basis; since I live over 3000 miles away from her. She is a fantastic photographer and I would also like to give her the Corel Video Studio, as I think she would put it to great use. My reasons are a little bit selfish, because I want to be able to keep getting pictures of those two little cuties! She is such a good photographer, I think she could possibly get work as a semi-pro photog; and having a great working laptop would be a big help to assist her in that arena, I’m sure . I would also like to give her one of the Kung-Fu Panda videos, as I think her girls (ages 1 and 3 years) would really enjoy seeing it a hundred times. They could view it on the her laptop!
I would love to be able to give the IQ816 to my dear husband (I would get to use it too, sometimes!). He is a 100% Disabled American Veteran, and he is the most wonderful soulmate to me. He does so much for me, and he is the one who actually has the ‘disability’ rating; although I am physically disabled myself, just not ‘legally’ declared so. I think he would really enjoy having a computer that he could feel that he can use! He bought mine for an anniversary present last year and he doesn’t touch it (he simply refuses, even when I’m not online which really isn’t very often). I would also like to give one of the Kung-Fu Panda videos to him, as I think he would enjoy watching it! He would probably donate it to our local (podunk town) library after watching it, so that other families could enjoy it, too.
As for the printer, I’d like to keep that for me and my dear husband, as we do not have (and never have had) a printer. I can only imagine how handly that might come in! My husband and I might actually get more excited about having a printer, than that rockin’ looking IQ816 PC! I get a kick out of it when I’m having problems with my laptop and a Norton message pops up and tells me to “”print this page”, because I may need to refer to it later after restarting”. Kind of hard to do without a printer. I guess the photo value pack goes along with the printer, so I’d like to keep that, also. I feel I’m getting a bit greedy here but my husband would be so thrilled for us to finally be able to have a printer!
I think that about covers all the great prizes! I don’t really expect this entry to make it into your top ten (I usually say “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all (except for meeting my wonderful husband 17 years ago!); but it’s certainly worth a shot. Everything I’ve written here is true and I would absolutely LOVE to be able to feel like one of Santa’s helpers by spreading some very magical Christmas Joy to some worthy people that I feel truly do bring joy into the lives of others!
Good luck to everyone! I’m sure someone very deserving will win; and will happily share the joy with others who are deserving, as well.
Thanks to you both, Kevin and James, for hosting this fabulous contest! And thanks to HP and Microsoft for providing this most incredible prize package!
My 1st tech tip: flash drives. Get one; put all your cool stuff on it. It doesn’t get more mobile than that. It’s not in the clouds or over some mesh. It is in one of your pockets, encrypted if you chose it to be, or free as a bird. It works on a Mac or Windows PC with zero problems. It is a technology that made us forget about those crazy things called Zip Drives or Super Floppy Discs. Those were the days. In about two years we all will be carrying around a one terabyte of flash drive, for 10 dollars.
My 2nd tech tip is a simple one: a better way to recycle. We all have great old gadgets that have come to the end of their usefulness for us. That’s how my tip will come in handy. It involves a bit of time, more so than just dropping it off at some local e-waste recycler. I’m sure most of you have heard of the cities in China that are chalk full of our old computer and printers and who knows what else, thanks to unscrupulous e-waste company here in the states. The e-waste in China is very seldom disposed/recycled in a proper manner. So rather than dump it off some where, look around your neighborhood or school that could use a computer, monitor, or any gadget that has served you well.
As for what I would do with all the HP gear. I would keep the HP Mini 1000 and give the rest away to people that need it the most.
~ramon
Since I don’t own a mobile phone or any mobile computing gear (I’m not very ‘mobile’, basically a shut-in). I’m probably the biggest non-tech-savvy person on the planet. Until about a year ago, my only internet usage was via webtv. At that time, my dear husband bought a laptop computer for me, which has been giving me migraines over the past month and a half (since November 5th to be exact!). I’ve had to do two system recoveries (or is it ‘restores’? It was the program that takes your computer back to ‘factory-fresh’ condition.) since then; and I have no more room left to do any more. Ackkk! What will I do IF I encounter another problem which requires a system restore! I think my computer days will come to an abrupt end!
Pitiful as it may seem, I snatched the mobile tech tip that I’d like to share from the NY Times, because as I mentioned, I don’t have any tips of my own; since I don’t own any mobile equipment. Here is their tip which I’d like to share because it sounds like an extremely cool tip to me (but what do I know?):
The popular iPhone seems to have a way of becoming, ahem, “lost.” But there are a number of apps that can help you recover a missing phone.
If a good Samaritan has found a lost phone, the app Call Owner Lost Phone! makes returning it easy. Install the 99-cent software, then go to the control panel to enter the number you want your lost phone to call. The icon for is a hard-to-miss stop sign with “Call Owner” on it. One press and a call is made to the number you chose.
If the person who “found” your phone isn’t so scrupulous, there is Private-I, which can trick miscreants into to e-mailing you their location. There are two versions, Private-I Lite, which is free if you agree to accept promotional e-mails from the company, or the 99-cent Private-I. They both work the same way. If a thief is tempted to touch the icon labeled “Private,” a screen comes up that says “loading photos.” As the upload appears to drag on, the phone is e-mailing its GPS coordinates to you.
I felt too guilty swiping the entire article so you can read the rest here:
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/helping-lost-iphones-find-the-way-home/
(Props to Roy Furchgott for sharing the above tip! I promise, I did take some time researching tips to find one I felt comfortable ’sharing’.)
I’m sorry …. I know, pretty lame, huh? But I wanted so badly to be able to enter the great HP Giveaway!
How I would love to share the prize package IF I were to be so fortunate to win it:
I would love to be able to give one of the laptops to a dear friend of mine, who devotes a lot of her time, energy and money towards helping the homeless and down on their luck in the city she lives in, which happens to be Gainesville, FL. She goes without things so that she can help out and give to others in need. Her computer is some old dinosaur (I know she’d had that computer for several years, when we moved from there in 1998 so it’s pretty old) and her monitor is one that one of her friends was going to throw away, from his electronics repair shop. She is so deserving of a good computer, and I feel she will use it towards giving people in need a hand up – such as obtaining jobs and other necessities of life.
One of the other laptops I would love to give to a single mom that posts on a message board where I like to read and post. Some of the members there are really involved with helping to find “missing” people. Others there devote as much spare time as they can, to helping to identify unidentified bodies that turn up around the country. Others try to help solve murder cases. The person that I’m thinking of recently helped in identifying the remains of a young lady that had been ‘missing’ for years. Her old desktop has been giving her problems and she is unable to even get on to some websites any longer. She used to play a trivia game that I play every day and she is no longer able to play any more, because of computer problems. I’ve never met her and only know her through a cyber-friendship; yet I feel a connection to her and feel that she would use a new laptop in a way that would bring relief to families of ‘missing’ persons.
But it’s a toss-up since I don’t really *know* her (personally) – so I may choose to help our local food bank instead. I would love to donate a laptop to our local food bank – with the thought that they could raffle it off and use the proceeds for extra food. So many people have been laid off in our small town (as in towns all across the USA), because many were employed by the local mill. The mill recently closed down and I know there have to be more people in need, than there is food to go around. I’d like to donate the Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition to them, as well; so they can sell raffle tickets for them to buy extra food for those in need. It pains me to think of people going hungry.
One of the other laptops I would love to be able to give to my sweet, sweet niece who has been down on her luck this past year. Her husband is in the home remodeling and renovation business – and not many people are remodeling, due to poor real estate sales in South Florida. I think the laptop would also aid her husband in obtaining employment opportunities. They are going through one of those home foreclosures that you hear about happening daily, all over the country. Lately she’s been tellling me how she can’t do certain things on her computer, because there isn’t enough room (memory, I think? Maybe it’s her hard drive? Like I said before, not tech savvy here….sorry). She and her husband are the parents of my two beautiful grand-nieces and she is so good about emailing me pictures of the two little cuties on a regular basis; since I live over 3000 miles away from her. She is a fantastic photographer and I would also like to give her the Corel Video Studio, as I think she would put it to great use. My reasons are a little bit selfish, because I want to be able to keep getting pictures of those two little cuties! She is such a good photographer, I think she could possibly get work as a semi-pro photog; and having a great working laptop would be a big help to assist her in that arena, I’m sure . I would also like to give her one of the Kung-Fu Panda videos, as I think her girls (ages 1 and 3 years) would really enjoy seeing it a hundred times. They could view it on the her laptop!
I would love to be able to give the IQ816 to my dear husband (I would get to use it too, sometimes!). He is a 100% Disabled American Veteran, and he is the most wonderful soulmate to me. He does so much for me, and he is the one who actually has the ‘disability’ rating; although I am physically disabled myself, just not ‘legally’ declared so. I think he would really enjoy having a computer that he could feel that he can use! He bought mine for an anniversary present last year and he doesn’t touch it (he simply refuses, even when I’m not online which really isn’t very often). I would also like to give one of the Kung-Fu Panda videos to him, as I think he would enjoy watching it! He would probably donate it to our local (podunk town) library after watching it, so that other families could enjoy it, too.
As for the printer, I’d like to keep that for me and my dear husband, as we do not have (and never have had) a printer. I can only imagine how handly that might come in! My husband and I might actually get more excited about having a printer, than that rockin’ looking IQ816 PC! I get a kick out of it when I’m having problems with my laptop and a Norton message pops up and tells me to “”print this page”, because I may need to refer to it later after restarting”. Kind of hard to do without a printer. I guess the photo value pack goes along with the printer, so I’d like to keep that, also. I feel I’m getting a bit greedy here but my husband would be so thrilled for us to finally be able to have a printer!
I think that about covers all the great prizes! I don’t really expect this entry to make it into your top ten (I usually say “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all (except for meeting my wonderful husband 17 years ago!); but it’s certainly worth a shot. Everything I’ve written here is true and I would absolutely LOVE to be able to feel like one of Santa’s helpers by spreading some very magical Christmas Joy to some worthy people that I feel truly do bring joy into the lives of others!
I wish everyone good luck! I’m sure whoever wins will be very deserving; and will happily share this magical prize package & the joy that comes with it, with others who are deserving, as well.
Thanks to you both, Kevin and James, for hosting this fabulous contest! And, thanks to HP and Microsoft for providing this most incredible prize package!
Oh yippee!
The contest entry page is back up now! Thank you again, Kevin and James!
My tech tip is : ditch Internet Explorer. Not that everyone here still hasn’t done that but you’d e amazed at how much less ‘junk’ the less technical people’s computers will get if they use Firefox instead.
So many prizes! I forgot about the Media Smart Connect! That would also go to the food bank, in the hopes they could sell raffle tickets in order to raise money to buy more food to feed the hungry. IF the Corel is for video only, my niece wouldn’t need it so that also would be donated to the food bank.
Thanks to everyone for sharing some great tips. I only wish I were able to comprehend them all! lol I do understand Glenn’s tip above (5:14 am) and I use Internet Explorer and I had no idea that internet explorer did that!
Tip :- Removing Previously Typed Words from Online Drop-Down Lists
————————————-As soon as you begin to type something online — a Web site address in Internet Explorer, for instance, or a name into an online form — Windows XP often races in to help. It sends down a little box, listing items you’ve typed previously.
A quick point and click lets you retrieve a word or phrase from Windows XP’s handy AutoComplete list, sparing you the effort of typing it in yet again.
Some people, however, don’t like Windows XP looking over their shoulder as they type. And it’s especially annoying when Windows XP keeps listing your typographical errors.
To delete a word or phrase from most AutoComplete drop-down lists, press the down-arrow key to highlight the entry and then press the Delete key. Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t delete individual Web addresses you type into Internet Explorer. You must delete Internet Explorer’s History to remove those.
To make Internet Explorer stop listing your previous entries, follow these steps:
1. Open Internet Explorer and choose Internet Options from the Tools menu.
2. Click the Content tab and click the AutoComplete button. The AutoComplete Settings dialog box opens.
3. Click to remove check marks from Web Addresses, Forms, User Names and Passwords on Forms, and Prompt Me to Save Passwords.
4. Click the Clear Forms button and the Clear Passwords button and then click OK. Those two final buttons delete previously stored AutoComplete entries.
It’s convenient for Internet Explorer to store the passwords you use for your Web site. But that makes it convenient for anybody who sits at your computer to log on to password-protected sites. Even if you enjoy AutoComplete, consider removing the check mark from the User Names and Passwords on Forms box in Step 3.
I win this package then, I will give away 1 laptop to a orphanage home in our area having around 100 of children under their shelter,some of them are pursuing higher studies as well,this will be a great gift for them.
I will give away a laptop and a printer to my Brother in Law, for expanding his small business of hardware and mobile repairing, so that he can start a computer printing shop. (Nothing can be cool idea than this on earth, to please your wife), then I will keep touch smart and a laptop and HP Media Smart Connect with me, as I am looking for an alternative for my 5 year old desktop PC, which sometimes refuse to start while displaying the message something like “Not enough resources to start the system”.
My tip would be something like this – Change TCP/IP using command line :-
____________________________________________________________________________
This i think is very helpful for the people they connecting their laptop to their different office. Those office having different TCP/IP setting.
Example.
Office 1 using static ip address
Office 2 using dynamic ip address.
Solution
________
Create a batchfile for office 1.
C:\ip\Office1.bat
netsh interface ip set address name=”Wireless Network Connection” static 172.18.11.100 255.255.248.0 172.18.8.1 1
netsh interface ip add dns “Wireless Network Connection” 172.18.9.1
netsh interface ip add dns “Wireless Network Connection” 172.18.9.2
Create a batchfile for office 2.
C:\ip\Office2.bat
netsh interface ip set address “Wireless Network Connection”
dhcp
netsh interface ip set dns “Wireless Network Connection” dhcp.
right click on cmd.exe run as Administrator.
go to c:\ip
execute whichever you want.
Or u can right click on your batch file run as administrator.
Similary you can add other details for your TCP/IP connection
For Dns
netsh interface ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.10
For WINS
netsh interface ip set wins “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.10
I hope this is very useful for the people those who are swapping different TCP/IP settings for the connection.
Note : instead of “Local Area Connection” or “Wireless Network Connection” change your Network connection name.
My wife and I both do volunteer work. I am the Financial secreatry for our church. She is a our Sunday school superintendant, PTA chair, food pantry volunteer,etc… We use our outdated HP for everything keeping records, creating letters to be sent home, forms, etc… Your new computing package would be a blessing. We couldn’t use all of it and would be sharing the wealth with the charities we work with. We would put the word out to our church, Food Pantry, Community Center and PTA if they need a HP mini, Wireless printer or Corel Video Studio. As well as using our new computing power in our work for these charities we would offer the use of it to them. By spending less time on our new faster computers we could devote more time to these charities.
1- My tech tip is protecting your smart phone with a password. While you will be able to answer voice calls, your device will be otherwise unusable without a code if it’s been idle for a certain amount of time.
To make it easier to retrieve your phone, you must use a lost-and-found service.
With services such as Stuffbak (http://www.stuffbak.com/sb/default.aspx) and TrackItBack (http://www.trackitback.com/portal/whatwedo.html), you tag your phone with the company’s sticker and then register it. If someone finds it, the sticker will direct that person to the Web site and phone number. The service will do its best to reunite you with your lost phone.
2- If I win this wonderful contest, I will share the prizes whith my wife, my sons and my brother.
Merry Xmas,
Carlos
This is very good tip/advice which i got from one of my friends.Always works.
The tip is How to unlock a memory card that is password protected ?
You need a file explorer like FExplorer which you can download from here :- http://www.gosymbian.com/dhscr/download/dwl_fe_uk.php?name=FExplorer
How to Unlock the card:
Insert card into your phone but don’t access it through phone.
Run FExplorer and Open the path C:\system.
You will find a file called mmcstore ,rename the file mmcstore.txt
Copy that file(mmcstore.txt) to your pc and open that file in notepad.
You will find your password in that file.
_____________________________________
I am a single, disabled mom, living on social security only, with two sons about to start college. I have had to have my neck rebuilt, and my lower back is inoperable at this time, so the disc degeneration is taking it’s toll on me.I used to teach the severely disabled and now I am on my way to being one of them. We also had to move into a two bedroom trailer from a wonderful house with land. My sons have been subjected to a lot due to my problems.
I would dearly love to help out my sons with their college needs; and this would go a long way to help them. We would keep the desk top here at home to share with the printer, and each boy could have a laptop for school and work with programming. I, of course, would let them help in all decisions regarding who gets what.
The last laptop I would like to give to a friend of mine, who has lost his house and job due to the economy. He did find a factory job at minimal pay, and that one is about to close too.
The child’s software I would love to donate to the children’s wing of the hospital for the poor kids there to enjoy, along with whatever else was not going to be used to better the future outlook of my sons.
I do not know how else I will ever be able to get technology for my sons college and work needs other than a wonderful contest like this. Thank you for this opportunity.
Connect Mobile To Your Personal Computer
_____________________________________
Connecting mobiles to PC have always been difficult but that could really easy if you understand the basics of connecting mobile to PC and transfer your ringtones,games,Data between your mobile and PC.
Recognize Connecting Capabilities Of Mobile:
First you have to check what are the connecting abilities of your mobile. I mean by how many different ways your mobile can connect to other devices.
The most common connecting ways are:
1. Bluetooth
2. Infrared
3. Cable Connection
So at least one of them should be there in your mobile.
_____________________
If You Have BLUETOOTH enable mobile:
Materials Needed:
i) Bluetooth Dongle For PC
ii) Bluetooth Enabled Phone
iii) Mobile’s Software
First we would like to tell you about Bluetooth dongle it is and electronic USB device which is connected to your PC and then you PC can receive and send all type of Bluetooth signals and that is the key point for this type of connection.
First connect your Bluetooth Dongle To your PC and install its driver as if provided. Then switch on your mobile’s Bluetooth reception so you can send Bluetooth signals to PC.Then run your installed PC software for that mobile which you are trying to connect.
For NOKIA mobiles PC Suite is provided if you buy mobile and same is the case for other companies so you should have your PC software of your mobile otherwise you can download from internet. Now you are on your on way to send Data from PC to your device.
__________________
If You Have INFRARED enable mobile:
Materials Needed:
i) Infrared Dongle For PC
ii) Infrared Enabled Phone
iii) Mobile’s Software
First it would be better if you get to know what is Infrared Dongle. It is an electronic USB device which helps your PC to send and receive infrared signals and this is device which would act as a bridge between your mobile and PC.
Turn on infrared reception in your phone and connect infrared dongle with your PC. Now you have to align you device horizontally with your infrared dongle so now you are connected to your PC.
Open / run you mobile PC software to start communicating with your mobile.
For NOKIA mobiles PC Suite is provided if you buy mobile and same is the case for other companies so you should have your PC software of your mobile otherwise you can download from internet.
Now you are on your on way to send Data from PC to your device.
__________________
If You Have mobile DATA CABLE:
Materials Needed:
i) Connecting Cable
ii) Mobile’s Software
First it is good if you have knowledge about connection cable. Sometimes it is provided with you mobile phones when you buy them and some time you have to buy them. It acts as a bridge between you mobile and your PC and transfer electrical signals from your mobile to your PC and PC to mobile.
This cable may connect at serial port at back of your PC or this cable may connect at USB port. Do as it is provided. Connect on end of cable to your mobile and other end with your PC.
Open / run you mobile PC software to start communicating with your mobile and start sending ringtones,games, themes e.t.c.
For NOKIA mobiles PC Suite is provided if you buy mobile and same is the case for other companies so you should have your PC software of your mobile otherwise you can download from internet.
Now you are on your on way to send Data from PC to your device.
______________________
Now something about sharing.First off, I’d give the TouchSmart to my mom, who isn’t very good with computers normally but only needs one to see pictures the family sends and to view woot.com.
I’d take the HDX; I’m currently a college student studying computer science, so having a laptop that can handle any programs I make for it would be a great boon to me, as well as clear up some of the dorm room clutter caused by my old desktop.
I would donate the MediaSmart Connect to my school,as they have a lounge that is in desperate need of such a device.
The HP Pavilion dv4-1145 would go to my high school AP Computer Science high school teacher. She fostered in me my love of all things related to computers, but being a high school teacher with a family, has always been too strapped for cash to afford a laptop.
The netbook would be given to my university’s ACM program as part of their yearly raffle in order to raise money for the club. We’re a small school with a relatively small CS department, so our club hasn’t been able to do many of the activities we’ve wanted to.
With the printer I’d like to start a community print service on my dorm floor at school. I’d charge a small fee for usage to cover paper and ink costs, or give it to someone else with the intention that they do the same. This is due the insane costs of printing at school, and not everyone has their own printer.
I’d take the copy of MS Office. OpenOffice is great, but I often run into formatting problems between it and what my professors give me or what they want submitted.
I’d give the VideoStudio software to my local church so that they can better advertise upcoming or past events.
Finally, I’d give the Kung Fu Panda DVD to my grandma, who has taken it upon herself to raise her great-grand children and who could use the break this distraction would give them.
Control Your Office PC from Home :-
Nowadays, more and more employees prefer distant work without the need to go to their office. According to statistical analysis, every third employees in USA and the Europe works remotely from home and their works performance is nearly 25% higher, than of those workers that choose to work at the office every day.
Most of these remote workers consist of journalists, translators, IT specialists and programmers. These specialists can either do one part of their job in the office and another from home or work only from home if needed.
There are more and more programs developed to provide access to remote computer nowadays. With such programs, employees can view their remote PC full screen, launch and close supplications, copy and paste text between computers, read e-mail, and access any files that they left behind. Claim home equipment on their taxes, save money on gas, and convince their boss that they will be more productive without need to go to the office (from home). Two of such software are LogMeIn and TightVNC.
1. LogMeIn
LogMeIn is a software suite that enables you to access the remote computers over the Internet. This software is developed for both professional help desk personnel and end users.
LogMeIn is free with capability to remote multiple computers, with affordable monthly plans if you need more (visit their official website for more information). This program runs its application through Web browser, which differentiates it with other computer remote programs. If you are using Mozilla Firefox, it will ask you to install a plug-in and then opens the view of the remote PC in a new browser window. If you have multiple of remote computers, LogMeIn possibly will slow down your internet browsing and your processor clock speed a little bit.
LogMeIn also gives you some capabilities to kills the connection from its control window (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and change the view settings, as well as connection setting adjustment via tabbed access. The software is also integrated with 256-bit SSL encryption and dual passwords (one for the remote PC’s and one for the program) to provide more security.
You can take advantage of the synchronization and file transfer abilities if you upgrade to the professional edition, but advanced users should be able to use the programs without any difficulty (restriction for small files). Still, for the price and functionality, LogMeIn is a great program.
Do visit https://secure.logmein.com/ for more information about this software.
2. TightVNC
TightVNC is an open source and cross-platform remote desktop software that have capability to extend VNC’s RFB protocol to remote other computers screen.
This software is integrated with ‘tight encoding’, which gives the capability to control remote computer over low bandwidth connections. The ‘tight encoding’ feature able to compress the image (computer screen) and other file type as well, which produce a small bandwidth between both server and client. With this ‘tight encoding’ feature, it is possible to play games and watch videos at the remote computer over a broadband connection, although at a low frame rate. TightVNC is also combines with many other features, such as file transfer capability.
TightVNC is cross compatible with other remote computer server and client that uses the VNC implementations. However, its ‘tight encoding’ may not work with other programs, so it is recommended to use TightVNC at both server and client to take the full advantage of its features.
Do visit http://www.tightvnc.com/ for more information about this software.
If i win,i’d keep a laptop and a printer, because the printer I have now has a problem with the paper feed. I have to reset it several times and jiggle and push the paper every single time I need to print something.
The other computers, peripherals, and software would be donated to the WCA (Women & Children’s Alliance) in my locality. They provide a shelter for battered women and their children, and provide services to facilitate these women making a life for themselves without having to go back to the batterer. I don’t know if the WCA would use this equipment in their offices, or distribute it to some of their clients to enable them to be successful, but whichever, it will go to a great cause.
Some tips from me which i’ve found useful or which did a bit of “Magi” for me :-
FOUR THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO.
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:
1. FIRST Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.
2. SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.
Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other ‘remote’ for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).I tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!
3. THIRD Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.
4. FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #
A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can’t use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
This is the kind of information people don’t mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.
Finally i would like to say that,it’s hard times for so many, with the economy the way it is, with so many of our loved ones serving in the military–this would be a blessing to many.
But it goes to only one. So, what would I do with the prize package if I won? I would divide it among my family and friends, those that I know are having the hardest of times at the moment…like my friend Kelly who is a single mother attempting to make a better life for herself and her son, and my sister who is attempting to go back to college for her Nursing degree at the age of 42 (and with seven children to raise). How life changing this would be for them!
I can assure, that a gift such as this would be carefully considered and my heart would feel such joy to share it with others. Thanks for the opportunity.
Sorry for the typo in my previous post.It would be “Magic” & not “Magi”.Thank you.
My tip is related to Windows XP User Accounts :- Windows XP enables an entire family or small office share a single computer. Because everybody has a user account, Windows keeps track of everybody’s settings. In fact, the same computer acts like five different computers for a family of five.
Best yet, the computer keeps track of everybody’s programs while different people use the computer.
Switching users is fast and easy. While holding down the Windows key (it’s usually between your keyboard’s Ctrl and Alt keys), press the letter L. Wham! The Welcome screen pops up, letting another person use the computer for a while.
After you finish using the computer, hold down the Windows key and press the letter L. Wham! The Welcome screen pops up again, letting a different user log on
I use the 2 laptops for my village people. These laptops can be very useful for the people of my village where they can use it freely anytime. I will also get the Internet connection for them which will be much more useful for the students. And also our institute has a very good service, e-Sagu: An IT based Personalized Agricultural Extension System, for farmers. Most of the farmers in our village can access this service using these laptops. It will be of great use for the farmers and the students.
In brief, I will use the 2 laptops
i) to familiarize the village people in using computers and internet,
ii) to provide the training freely (this may take some time to regularize)
iii) to provide free printing services iv) to provide free e-mail fecilities for the people who have their relatives staying outside the village(mostly abroad and longer distance).
Tip about purchasing or upgrading to a new PDA.
There are many issues to keep in mind when buying or upgrading to a new mobile device. However, two of the biggest concerns are usability and compatibility. Before you even start looking at devices, you should give a lot of thought to how you intend to use one. For example, are you just looking for an organizer or is checking email while out of the office an important feature for you? Also, where will you be using your device most of the time? In your office (where there might be Wi-Fi access) or out in the field (where a cellular Internet connection would be preferable)? Once you’ve answered these questions, ask around to see how others are using their PDAs. This way, you will have absorbed a great deal of valuable information before you go to try out models at the store.
You should also be concerned about compatibility with your primary applications. Compatibility varies from device to device and also depends on the version of the operating system the device uses. Existing applications may not be fully compatible with the newest PDA on the market. For example, the enterprise-level software you may be using to synchronize your calendar with your current PDA may not be compatible with the cutting-edge device that was just released.
Me and my mom have alternated volunteering between two children’s charities for as many as holidays as we’ve been physically able. I speak for us both in saying should I be selected we would donate a portion of the prizes to those charities, both organizations work with children with pediatric cancer and their families. The issue is near and dear to our hearts because we’ve dealt with pediatric cancer of several nephews so it would mean a lot to us to be able to give back to the very organizations that helped our family when we needed it.
I would be sharing something interesting too.So, here it goes….
Charging a Mobile Phone with Peepal Leaves
————————————-
Its very Strange But True Very True.I didn’t believe it when i got to know it for the first time after reading about it on a website but it really works.
Now, you do not require any mobile charger to charge your mobiles. Only there is need to use green leaf of peepal tree and after some time your mobile will get charged.
No soon the people came to learn this development, they tested it and found encouraging results. If your mobile has been discharged and you are inside a jungle then you need not to use any charger. You Should pluck two peepal leaves and your work would be done.
It is very good idea and easy to charge your mobile. You would have to open your mobile battery and connect it with peepal leaf. After that without shaking mobile set you should set the battery in your mobile set. After some time your mobile would be charged.
Whereas according to the botanists, it is just changing mutual energy into electrical energy power can be saved in battery. Similarly, it is also possible. They said that it is the subject of research.
Step by Step guide to charge your mobile battery using peepal leaf :-
———————————————————————
1- Open your mobile cover.
2- Take out your battery.
3- Take two to three fresh leaves of peepal/pipal/ashwattha tree.
4- Touch the stub of these leaves on your mobile battery terminal for a minute.
5- Clean the mobile battery terminal with the soft cloth.
6- Put your battery again in your mobile and switch it on.
7- Now you can see the result.
8- If required repeat the process with fresh leaves.
________________________
I work in a primary school which consists of children aged 3-11 years. I would like to use this amazing equipment to enhance the children’s learning by introducing these new technologies such as the media centre and touchsmart computer. At the moment our ICT budget is extremely limited, with no real funding, therefore most equipment is worn and dated, and we come from a school where products like this are only a dream. If I win, I will be donating every single product to the school (I will be able to use them as well) where everyone will be able to use them to the full, this is including the children, members of staff, members of the local community and myself (I am the ICT Technician). Using this hardware will make learning more exciting. I believe a child’s education is the most important thing, the more way’s we have to enhance their learning the better, products like the touchsmart can help us introduce new ways of learning.
Technology Tip: A tip that could be useful for almost all of us here.
We all know mail accounts can be set to redirect incoming mails to another email address.
Gmail takes it a step further.
With Gmail, you can now send mail from one address as if they are originating from another address. To enable this feature go to settings > Accounts and click Send mail as. Then follow the directions.
That’s magic for me. A big time saver.
Regarding sharing of gift. I plan to gift one notebook to my sister, one to the local charity organisation, some goodies would be up on my blog as a giveaway. The printer would go to my girlfriend, who just a week back discussed an idea of having a printer for she wants to do crosswords on the paper and not on computer!
My apologies for my entry appearing twice above. I was having trouble getting the page to appear. Feel free to delete one. I had the hardest time just getting back to this page. For whatever reason, I kept receiving a message, “this page cannot be found” – but only with this particular page of your blog!?!?
My headache has grown so I’m going to lie down and dream about HP prizes!
I hope to be back later to finish up reading the rest of the tips that I’ve not read. IF I can get back to this page again.
My best mobile tech tip is the use of the windows 7 ,pre beta version!
Microsoft after Vista experiment seems that managed to create an OS that should be used in every mobile pc!
As for the use of some the prizes,im living in Greece and tech comes really slow over here, so it will be a great opportunity to play with something new that will take ages to reach here
I am not a techie so the best tip I can give is to Backup your files. I learned this the hard way when my computer was fried by lightening. I have learned alot more by reading the comments on this blog and the other hp magic blogs. Thanks for that.
I really hope to win this prize package and if I do I plan to share this with family and friends. My son would get a laptop. He is working on becoming employed as a teacher: High School English and he does not have his own computer. We have been struggling financially for many years so he worked his way through college and I am very proud of him.
I know he would benefit from having his own laptop and the office software to prepare lessons for his job. Getting a full time position would most likely mean he would be moving to a new area and having a laptop would mean he could also keep in touch with the family.
I have friends that have been under financial troubles and thier computers are old and outdated. Having a good computer really opens up new opportunities. One friend I am thinking of could post her art on etsy and generate some possible income that way.
I have been battling MS so I am limited and the TouchSmart computer really appeals to me because typing many times brings spasms and that limits my ability to be on the net. So the TouchSmart sounds like a viable solution to that problem that will continue to grow worse unfortunately.
Thanks for the opportunity and Happy Holidays!
KISS. Keep it simple, stupid! Turn off all battery devices when not in use. The same applies to your home where you should unplug items not in use. The energy savings is immense.
I would give the entertainment notebook, media receiver and entertainment DVD’s to the Eastern Star Retirement and Nursing home for their use in creating a theater room for the enjoyment of their 270 residents. The home is a not for profit facility that provides loving care for all who live there. This donation would provide a further upgrade that would be enjoyed by many people.
http://www.iowaoeshome.com/
The items that I would keep are the HP TouchSmart desktop, the printer and the HP Mini 1000. My old HP desktop and HP printer would be given to the home.
This is a wonderful gesture by this website, HP and Microsoft. ‘Tis the season of giving and it’s a wonderful idea to have the winner further share the sponsors’ generosity with worthy causes.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Everyone knows that Gmail is an awesome mail client – both for mobile and PC. Its user interface is innovative and easy to use from everywhere. However, many of us have numerous e-mail addresses and most of them have their own interfaces, which are not as good or accessible using your mobile.
My tip is to aggregate all your mail in Gmail and use it as a front-end for all your emails. This has many benefits.
First, you need to have a Gmail account. To read mail from other accounts in Gmail, there are two ways:
1. Forward your mail to your Gmail account – the easiest and fastest way. If you can setup forwarding on your other mail account, forward incoming e-mail to your Gmail account and it will appear to read using Gmail interface.
2. Or, have Gmail check your account for you. If your other account is accessible using POP3 protocol, go to Settings -> Accounts in Gmail. Locate “Get mail from other accounts” and add your account information there. Gmail will automatically check and download new mail for you.
Then, you need to be able to send your e-mail from your other account. For example, you have Joe@mycompany.com e-mail address – you still want to send it as this email, not as Gmail. Go to Settings -> Accounts in Gmail and add this e-mail address to “Send mail as”. You will need to validate your e-mail and from then on you can send mail using Gmail as Joe@mycompany.com. There are further customization options. One minor drawback – your Gmail address will also be added to the outgoing e-mail header as a “Sender” – this is required for security reasons. However, the “From” field will say “Joe@mycompany.com” – which is what you really wanted.
“But I already have most of my mail downloaded using POP3 on my computer” you cry (or something similarly). It is very easy to upload your older messages to Gmail. Just create an IMAP access to your Gmail account in your mail program. IMAP for Gmail is provided for free from Google. Enable it at Settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP. When you have created your account – just copy your messages, which you have downloaded, to the Inbox in the Gmail IMAP account – they will be uploaded to Gmail server.
But there’s more – Gmail is very smart and will recognize conversations in your uploaded messages and store them Gmail-way. Moreover, Gmail will recognize the mails where you are the sender – they will be automatically put into “Sent” folder.
Moving all your mail to Gmail is good because now you can access it from whereever you want. Configure IMAP accounts in all your mail programs – you will not have to worry about synchronization between multiple computers. Even when you are on vacation, you have full access to all your mail using a web browser.
Another good reason for moving all your mail to Gmail – free backup. You won’t have to worry how to backup your mail – you will be living on the cloud.
If you use Gmail SMTP server, Gmail automatically stores your sent messages – all conversations will be preserved.
If you still doubt this service because of a possible mess when you have so much mail in one place – use Gmail’s labels – they are really awesome and powerful. Setup Gmail filters so that your new mail is automatically assigned a label and you will never get lost in your mail.
In conclusion – use Gmail to aggregate all your mail accounts. Backup your mail in Gmail and access it anywhere, anytime, using any device. Live in the cloud.
Hope this tip is useful and thank you for the opportunity of winning the HP gear
Seriously, one of the best tech tips I can think of is really very easy. BACK UP YOUR IMPORTANT FILES. Every other day. Write the files to a flash drive. Then if your hard drive fails you have an easy way to rebuild your machine. If your pictures are important, back them up. If you have documents, games, spreadsheets, that you can’t live without, back them up. Simple, efficient, necessary.
I am not so much a mobile user as others, but I did take the laptop with me on a recent trip. Buy one of those airline approved computer bags and it will help you move faster through security check
The best tech tip I’d like to share is one I learned recently and don’t know how I lived without it. By default the Tab key in OSX only works for text boxes and lists, but excludes select controls (drop-down menus) on a form when using Firefox. Since I use Windows at work and I use OSX at home, and FireFox on both, I was always frustrated that the browser worked differently in OSX. Luckily, there is an easy fix.
Open up the System Preferences tool and then select Keyboard & Mouse, and then Keyboard Shortcuts. At the bottom of the box it sayssays “Full keyboard access”. Change the setting to “All controls” instead of the default “Text boxes and lists only”.
That’s it! Problem solved. (although I wonder why Apple didn’t make “All controls” the default from the start. It seems like a minor tweak, but I never realized how much it bugged me.
As far as sharing the prizes, I plan to give the HP Mini 1000 to my daughter for her basic elementary school computing needs, and give theHP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC to a co-worker who’s had some hard times lately and has no PC at home.
Thanks for the chance to win this package, and for the great website & podcast!
I keep a computer tote filled with extra cords, jump sticks, usb cords, extension cords, etc. That way whenever I am on the go I can just grab and go and am always prepared. But my best (and from experience) tech advise that I can give is to back up your work often and onto another disk or jump stick. You just never know when the main computer is going to fail you. And be sure to back it up often while you are working on the project.
I have two simple tech tips. Understand that I have no commercial relationship to either organizations that I will mention.
1). Buy a Magic Jack. It costs only $40.00 and $19.00 of that is for unlimited local and US and Canadian long distance calls, your notebook can be your telephone answering system. Free voicemail, caller ID, call forwarding check out http://www.magicjack.com
2). Get yourself a Gmail account. With over seven gigabytes of on line storage (and counting!) it is by far, the easist way to back up those crucial files, and have world wide access to them.
If I win, I intend to share the wealth with a charity, and my co-workers who are over worked and underpaid and would love any one of the incredible devices in this fantastic offering.
My tip is a simple one.
Not so long ago Google did deplorable things to the iGoogle homepage layout. In particular they added a fixed width sidebar that takes far too much space on UMPC/Netbook sized devices (such as my CompanionQ1) I was rather distraught until I came across a spiffy keen script for the Greasemonkey plug-in for Firefox. Not only did it help restore the original look, but even made it better by collapsing the header section to a toggle link. (Honestly, who doesn’t have some sort of search box in their browser about 50 pixels up and the the right of the google standard one anyway..)
Links
Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Greasemonkey:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
“Super DUPER igoogle”:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/31715
Were I to be lucky enough to win I would most assuredly share the shiny prizes with my friends and family.
Here’s my tip:
Every so often, loyalty to one platform or another comes back to embrace you.
My mobile tech type is a simple one but one that has been very effective for me the last couple of years. Hopefully this one isn’t a duplicate.
First, open a gmail account with google if you do not already have one. Then, go to the reader page within your personalized google account. You can search for RSS feeds or even add feeds from your favorite blogs manually to this reader.
I realize there are other readers out on the market. The reasons I prefer google’s version are:
1. Everything is browser based. Thus, I can go on any computer and check my RSS feeds.
2. This one goes hand-in-hand with #1 – all feeds are kept up to date. If I mark a feed as read from my work computer I do not have to mark it read from my iPhone.
3. If you own an iPhone, they have an iPhone optimized site that works great on the iPhone. This also does not require an install on the iPhone.
4. Google does a good job of suggesting feeds that might be of interest based on your current subscriptions. I have added several feeds I would have otherwise never stumbled upon.
As far as what I will do with my winnings should I win this contest…
I have an older sister that has four boys and they are living on a single income. I would donate one of the laptops for sure. They currently have a very old and extremely slow clone desktop. The oldest is in High School so I would probably give him one of the laptops to use both now and whenever he goes to college.
I am not trying to suckup but I want to say thanks to both James and Kevin for the wealth of great information you continue to give us!
My mobility tip is to use virtualization and remote desktop to make your life easier. I normally run my linux desktop in a virtual instance so it can be easily moved around; but most of the time it stays on my server at home, and I use NoMachine’s NX software to connect to my desktop from my current location anywhere in the world. (One can also use FreeNX) NX works much better than VNC, even over slow links and satellite connections. I was recently working at the South Pole for a year – the ability to work with a remote desktop over the satellite connections was invaluable as the satellite connections only work for less than 12 hours a day. The connections go over ssh so most places have firewall holes for this already.
If one’s desktop is actually a virtual instance and one knows that they won’t have internet access, the virtual instance can be copied to one’s laptop and taken along for the trip. The other advantage to running a virtualized desktop is that one can run whatever native OS on the laptop to get full hardware support and not have to waste time getting linux properly working on the laptop – such as suspending the system.
My mobile tech tip is for those of us who not only work on the go, but who also want to play that way, too.
I’ve seen way too many people who consider themselves gamers settle for the simple games that come with Windows while they’re on the road, when it’s so simple to give yourself some quality alternatives. So many great games will fit (and run!) on your USB stick.
What really made jaws drop for me this year was when I pulled out my usb and copied my installation of World of Warcraft on a loaner laptop. Especially with all of the updates, installing WoW can be prohibitive simply because it eats up so much time just installing that you might not even get to play, but most people don’t realize that you can just copy that c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft folder straight to USB and then when you’re on the pc where you to play, copy it right back, set up a shortcut, and you’re off and running.
You can tweak this with a little practice, removing the patch files that WoW stores in several places to save space. Not to mention, you’d be surprised at how many quality games can be run with this same process!
I have two boys who live with their mom, both of which would love a computer of their own to replace the antiquated system they currently share, so I’d love a chance to make those smiles shine through with a win here!
My Tech Tip is simple, DON’T BUY NEW!!! Or maybe I should clarify, first generation product as it comes off the assembly line. I have always waited 6 months to a year before I buy any device and it has always served me well. While saving tons of money, I always get a device fully well knowing it’s Pros and Cons, what can and cannot be fixed as well as a wealth of information on how to get the most out of the device.
This has served me well with every type of device in Geekdom there is, from Wireless Phones, Notebooks, UMPCs and Desktops. I do not ever recall buying anything as soon as it comes off the manufacturers assembly line.
If I was fortunate enough to be selected, I would give my 16 year old Son one of the Notebooks, I honestly do not know what the actual distribution would be. He certainly deserves a nice new notebook.
If selected, I will also take one of the device, most likely the DV4 Notebook and let JKOnTheRun have an auction right here on the site, (if they are willing of course) and let the readers bid on the device right here on the site. One Half of the Proceeds will go to the American Heart Association and the Other Half will go to the Childrens Hospital National Medical Center located in Washington DC.
In closing I wish everyone well for the upcoming New Year and have a great Holiday Season.
GOOD LUCK!!
My best mobile tech tip isn’t very unique but extremely practical. Always make sure your laptop case is completely stocked. Forgetting a cable, or leaving the extra battery behind because you just didn’t take the time to check can be costly in terms of time and credibility. If you have to, make a list of those things you need to have and double check to make sure they are always packed.
I would share the package with various family and community especially a single mom who is confined to a wheelchair and needs to find a way to work from home. Her income is totally from child support and disability programs so she can’t afford to buy a computer of her own. It would be so satisfying to see her become self supporting.
My mobile tech tip is to collect up all of the accessories from my mobile devices, sort them into logical groups then store them in a plastic zip lock bag. The plastic bags I use are the Glad Zipper freezer medium bags . I find these are a good size, are strong to travel well and they a place to write what the contents are for.
Below is a list of mobile devices that I have in my collection. Each section is represents a plastic bag and each subsection is the contents in the bag.
HP110 PDA,
Charger
USB cables
Cell Phone
charger
Digital Camera
Extra batteries
XD memory cards
USB cable
Lens cleaner
Video Camera
Extra battery
Charger
Firewire cable
Laptop, home
Changer
Digital pen
Laptop, work
Charger
External Memory
SD memory
USB memory stick
When not use I store all of the these bags in one area so when I need to travel it very easy to find what I need to take on the trip.
Once I’ve determined what I am taking I use the plastic bags to make it easier to find things in my gear bag.
How I share the magic?
I would give the HP TouchSmart IQ816PC to my sister’s family.
The two laptops, HP HDX 18 series and HP Pavilion dv4 c/w Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 , I give to my nephew and to my wife’s niece as they are going to university next September.
The HP mini 1000 I would give to my best friend . He may give it to his daughter as she will be going to university the year after next.
I would keep the HP MediaSmart connect for my family.
The HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO printer c/w HP 564 Photo value Pak printing package would go to my wife’s parents.
I would keep the Microsoft Windows Live (I think this is a free service).
I would keep the Corel VideoStudio X for my family.
I would keep one copy of Kung FU Panda for my kids and give two others to colleagues at work with kids.
To James and Kevin and everyone who entered the contest thank you for your tips and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
To the winner of Share the Magic contest congratulations and enjoy.
First, huge kudos to you folks at jkOnTheRun, HP, Microsoft and all those who are making this give-away possible.
As for my tip, this is something I have been learning and hopefully will continue to learn in my mobile life: KEEP IT SIMPLE! (I will leave off the “stupid”…) Yes, it is somewhat cliche, but it is true. I think this is especially true for those (like me) who run, not walk, to new technological advances. There have been times when I have been so busy just trying to keep up with all the “tools” that they have made my mobile life more complicated, not simpler. So here’s just a couple of the most important ideas:
1. When trying to keep productive, keep the number of “toys” to a minimum. There was a time that I had a Palm, a notebook, a desktop, a phone… way too much. I am thankful that technology has advanced that many of these tools can do more, and do a better job at it. Limiting the number of tech tools streamlines your efficiency.
2. Find a system and stick with it. Sometimes we waste so much energy trying out new systems that it defeats the purpose of being productive. Sure, there are many great pieces of software out there, but I don’t have to use them all. I have narrowed down my software to 3-4 that I use all the time, and I have kept the same system for a while now, and I am much more productive because of it.
3. Find a simple backup solution and DO IT! There is nothing worse than losing data and information. With a simple backup plan you will save a lot of time and money.
As for giving part of the prize away, I most certainly would. My church is in desperate need of upgrading equipment, a very good friend of mine works for a non-profit and he needs a new laptop, and I know a young couple who are volunteering their time to work with youth who need a new laptop. I would definitely share the wealth if I was fortunate to receive such a generous prize.
So, thanks again for running a great give-away, and a fantastic website!
My tech tip is to remember to back-up any and all important data. It doesn’t matter if you use an external HDD, a flash memory stick, or in the cloud. In fact, a combination of back-ups is probably a good idea.
If I were to win the package, I would probably find uses for all of the items around my house. (A PC in each major room would be great- one in the living room, one in the bedroom, one in the basement/entertainment room, and one to take when I go out.) I would give my current laptop to the local SPCA, from whom I adopted one of my cats. (I don’t need two laptops, after all!)
Good luck to everyone in the contest.
Thank you to James and Kevin for the coverage, and James, Kevin, and Matt for the podcasts.
Happy Holidays to all!
Woadan
Having a long battery life is essential. Thats why I suggest lowering the brightness of your lcd on your laptop when doing things such as surfing the internet, checking email, etc. This can be done usually with the touch of 2 buttons. Usually there is a icon on the F# keys on the top of the keyboard. There is usually a key you press up there that can lower the brightness and increase it. Also don’t forget to enable power saver mode on your bottom right corner of your taskbar if you use windows Vista. Turning your WiFi off when you don’t use it can help save battery life too. There is usually a switch on the front or side of your laptop to do this.
I’m a big fan of evernote for keeping organised – but its also a fantastic tool for protecting yourself when shopping online. You simply press “print screen” on your keyboard and use the built-in screen grabber to grab key bits of the transaction. For example store a screenshot of the “product description”. The confirmation email you get does not necessarily have this info, and if the company updates its webpage you won’t necessarily be able to prove that the product you received was different to the one you ordered. A screengrab can really help protect you in these circumstances, and is also searchable thanks to evernote’s image analysis function. I’ve also used it to take screengrabs of the talk-to-a-customer-advisor-online chat boxes that you now get, but which would otherwise disappear as soon as you close the window. You don’t, of course, need evernote to do this – but I dare you to find the same info I can in just a few seconds using this remarkable tool !
One Mobile Tech Tip to rule them all:
I have good news and bad news. The good news is this is an extremely valuable tip. The bad news is, it’s not something you can read and then use to solve all your mobile tech plans in 5 minutes.
My mobile tech tip is, to have a mobile tech plan. What does that mean? It means you need to define and prioritize your mobile tech needs and goals. If you can do this you will ensure you have the correct tools, be successful.
For instance, why do you need mobile tech? Do you work in a corporate environment, but always want to be connected to your personal network. Perhaps a phone with access to your social networking platform of choice is all you need.
Are you a “road-warrior,” someone who’s away from home for multiple days at a time, and needs to remain productive, you probably need a laptop/tablet pc, and a mobile phone.
Are you a student who readily has access to PCs on campus, and isn’t interested in taking notes in soft copy. You might be able to meet all of your needs with just a USB drive and some local software.
The key here is to keep going, continue to define and refine your Mobile Tech plan, it may change year-to-year, or even day-to-day. I’m an IT Consultant who’s away from home Mon-Thur most weeks. So on for my normal week, I make sure I have my TabletPC (relevant Client and Corporate files, connection to the Mesh for any files I may have forgotten), smartphone (e-mail access even w/o PC), mobile 3G connection (productive even during delays at the airport), Zune (entertainment to keep me sane, and podcasts to keep me educated), and eBook reader (additional entertainment).
However next week when I go overseas on vacation, I’m taking one mini-tablet, a phone, zune, and a camera.
The point is if you don’t know your Mobile Tech Plan you can’t bring the right gear (hardware and software) to be successful (be that productive, or just to relax and capture the moments of your vacation).
Keep up the great work James & Kevin. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
1. Set up your PC to do stand by and don’t shutdown frequenty, instead go standby
2. Contact bluetooth manually, not auto on
Adding Pen input buttons to the MS Office Toolbar. These steps are for Outlook, but they generally apply to Word, Excel, etc. Just substitute Editor Options for Word Options, etc.
1. Create an email
2. Click on the Office Button on the top left corner of the email message
3. Click on Editor Options
4. Click on Customize
5. In the drop down of commands, select Ink Tools | Pen Tab
6. From that list of options add the Ink commands you want to appear in the Quick Access tool bar. I added the Ball Point Pen, Felt Pen, Eraser, Ink Color, and Close Ink Tools. Add as many commands that give you one-click access to your needed ink toolset.
7. Below the list of commands, put a check next to “Show Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon”. This will move the toolbar from the top of the window to below the Ribbon, and will require much less hand movement to select your ink tools.
Also, I would donate all of the prizes to my local school district which has a very reduced budget for 09. Thanks!
My tech tip is a simple one, based on a 3 letter acronym:
USB.
Most portable electronics today can be powered / charged from a USB port as well as using an AC or DC adapter. Instead of carrying around all of the various car and home chargers to keep your devices running through christmas travels, bring the USB cords. If you have a laptop, you can power your devices from the laptop USB while you’re staying with family or at a hotel. In the car, you can now get adapters that plug into your cigar lighter and give 2 or more USB ports for power. Carrying the USB cables gives you a single, universal port type to pull power from your vehicle, without having to spend $30 for each device to get a car adapter.
One such Cigar Lighter to USB adapter can be found at your local wal-mart in the automotive section for around $7, and you’ll never have to buy a car charger again!
My tech tip would be to always make sure you run virus checks on your usb, as using them in other public locations such as libraries, work, schools can open up your home computer to all sorts of nasties.
My mobile tech tip is a simple one for travelers — register your cellphone number with your airline or online travel provider for flight schedule alerts via SMS. During the winter months, with cancellations and delays at the whim of the weather, a message from your airline can save you hours of aggravation (even if you’re picking up a passenger at the airport!). Most US carriers provide this service free of charge, or you can register at flightstats.com for updates.
This is a tip that applies to most things, not just tech. It is Keep Things Simple. Whether you are coding, setting up your PC for yourself, or anything, keep it as simple as possible and you will experience fewer problems and be able to solve them more quickly.
I would give 1 PC to my parents and 1 PC to a good friend, neither of whom have PCs yet. Probably the software and media thingy, and maybe another PC to either a local childrens home or a local homeless shelter.
Thank you, and Merry Xmas
Okay, here’s my tip. I’ve battled several power outages trying to get this on.
Do you hate those pesky viruses?
Well, I know I do. On my system I have a various collection of virus protection software. Some are AVG, CCleaner, and TrendMicro (free-online). What I find works best is TrendMicro. I find it very thorough, it’s easy to operate, it’s online, and most of all… it’s free!
Do you think that you might have a virus on your system? Or do you just want to scan your computer?
Then head on over to http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
It’s pretty simple after that. When you arrive at the page, click the red bolded link called ”Click here for FREE Scan!” it should take you to another page (**Below the link is the system requirements for this program**). Once clicked, it should take you to another page. In the box titled, “Continue with your free scan,” select “Get HouseCall free scan,” clicking this link should then take you to another page. When you arrive here, there is a disclaimer, read it over. If you agree, then check the “Yes, I accept the terms of use,” box and proceed. The next page then takes a test of the operating system, to check compatibility. If compatible, it gives you two options on how to run the system. They are Java-based, and Browser plug-in. I use the Java-based one. When you have choosen, click the button located under either the Java-based or Browser plug-in (whichever you prefer to use). It should then start updating and starting the scan. It gives you two options, either scan the whole computer, or select files to scan. After that has been choosen, it will start the scan. Clicking the “Results” tab above the box (tabs are in grey) will show the progress and results of the scan. When the scan is complete, it lists off the problems, and you can choose to do whatever you wish with them.
Hope that helped some virus vunerable computer owners. Happy computing
-Nik
Who would this go to?
Well, Since I was one, I was diagnosed with JRA (Juvinelle Rheumatioid Arthritis.) My family has been there for me and I want to pay them back. Dealing with JRA has put a lot of stress on me, and I’ve been able to juggle my schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and my medications, all very well. I’m currently receiving high 90%’s in all my classes at school, I’m on the Student Leadership Team at my school, I’m an avid swimmer – mostly in the summers, I volunteer when I can (just recently at the local tree lighting), and I’m currently involved in a study to test a website, for teens like me that have JRA. It’s a site that helps teens cope with the disease. If all goes well, it could help tons of teens like me, feel better about their condition. Also it helps you learn more about your condition, and how to learn ways to calm the pain when you have “flair ups.”
Basically, since my family has been there for me 100%, I plan on splitting it up with them. Also, I plan on giving the Kung-Fu Panda DVDs to the IWK Children’s Hospital – where I have spent a lot of my time at. The doctors have been so helpful, and supportive. I would give it to the Rheumatology department. It would go to the place where kids have to go when they get joint injections (which I have had twice before) and where they get monthly doses of certain medications from a machine, through a tube in the arm. These kids and teens (like me) have to stay there for the most of the day, or even the whole day, and this would provide them with some more entertainment. Also, I am thinking of donating my older computer to my friend’s brother’s daycare, or to the IWK Children’s Hospital. My sister, who has been there for me, always being very supportive of me, is graduating this year and she just had her 18th birthday on December 17th. She has applied to Dalhousie University. She plans on majoring in Radiology – because of my constant MRI’s. She loves working with children, and it would be good for her. She needs a laptop for her studies, but since university costs a lot, and money is tight, we can’t afford to get her one, so I would be giving one of the laptops with software, to her for her birthday and Christmas. She also works as a lifeguard, and constantly volunteers at the IWK and at the local library, reading to children (reading buddies). My mom has been there from the very beginning. Currently her computer and the printer that she uses are both messed up and in need of major repairs/replacements. I would be giving her a laptop or the TouchSmart desktop with the proper software. The current printer she uses prints unevenly, bleeds, and fades away a lot. The computer freezes, doesn’t respond, and the mouse triple clicks on everything that you choose. My dad would get either the TouchSmart, or the other laptop, with software also. He works full time to provide for our family, just so we can have a nice Christmas. He works long hours, and busy weeks. For myself, well I’ll probably just take the Mini 1000. It’s really all I need. I will also be keeping the editing software for myself, because I do a lot of photography/video, as it is one of my hobbies. The rest of the items that I didn’t mention would be split up among my family and/or the IWK.
Without them in my life, it would be nothing like it is today. I would probably be miserable, not having them with me. I truly am glad to have them. And I love them all
Well, that’s basically it. I really appreciate you doing this contest, and allowing everyone to enter, it truly is magical, Thanks.
I just want to applaud everyone else that entered, and wish them good luck. Thanks so much in advance, even for considering me. Happy holidays! Have a good one!
-Nikolas Harris
P.S
I’ve decided on attaching a link to a picture of my current desktop computer – enjoy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29940029@N07/3096534206/
I have also made a slideshow with Windows Movie Maker and posted it to Youtube. It’s the people that have helped me, and are supportive to me in my life. These are also some people that I will be sharing this wonderful package with. It’s basically a thanks to those people. I also tied it in with the Hp Magic Giveaway. Watch it if you like
Tech Tip: I find that if you use all HP equipment or all the same brand name equipment everything seems to run smoother with less error messages or quirks and it is much eaisier getting tech support if needed from 1 company than having to try and keep track of 3 or 4 different company numbers.
Who I’d share with: There are lots of needy children out there who wont have naything under there tree this year. I would find 2-3 LOCAL family’s right here in my town and share this win with them and make there childrens Christmas one worth remembering and it would be all thank to jkOnTheRun! and HP.
Thank you for this contest and the opertunity to win and share with those needy families.
Simple tip, but here it is:
Go to this website and read every comment that has been posted:
http://jkontherun.com/2008/12/16/hp-magic-give-1/
As I tried to decide which mobile tip I could pass on, I read many of the comments listed on this page, and I realized something–the ideas shared are incredible and EVERYONE can benefit from reading them.
As far as the computers are concerned, I am impressed with HP, Microsoft, and James and Kevin for lining up this prize package. I would thoroughly enjoy donating it to individuals less fortunate than me and then sending James and Kevin the stories and photos to post for everyone to see. I’m certain I could do this by January 31, 2009!
im not going to win so i will advertise my site heres the link if you wanna check it out http://speakyomind.wordpress.com
My best mobile tech tip: If your cellphone is NOT a smartphone but can run java applications, download the Opera Mini browser.
The ability to have the desktop view of most of the web has added immense value to my cellphone plan (with $10 unlimited data add-on), increased my use of my handset, and provides instant access to the info I need.
The best tip i have for using mobile based tech has to be for using the Iphone without having to charge on a daily basis. The tip is to use the Location services only when it is necessary for a Sat Nav based app. This allows me to use the phone for up to two days without charging.
If I were to win this prize pack then I would be donating some of the tech to family members and girlfriends family members.
The 18″ Notebook would be used as a Desktop replacement for my father who’s eyesight is not that great anymore.
The Touchsmart and printer would go to my girlfriends parents as they have not got a PC at home anymore.
The Netbook and 14″ Notebook would be kept by myself for my day to day usage. This means that my current netbook solution (Lenovo S10) would be donated to my sisters Boyfriend as he is in the Navy so the size would be really useful for him.
The software would be split up but i would keep the Corel suite for myself as I am an amateur photographer.
I would give the Kung Fu Panda DVDs to my niece and nephew who live in Romania at the moment.
If I were to win then i would be happy to take picture of all the recipients of the computers in situ after they have been delivered. I would also be happy to issue follow up stories.
Thanks for offering this great prize and keep up the good work with updating us with the latest and greatest in mobile tech.
My tip: For you educators out there, rip all of your music to MP3 format.
I have found software out there that organizes MP3 files and they’re extremely useful in the classroom, at home (studying scores, etc.) and during presentations, recitals or concerts. We had our Winter Concert last week and all of the background music, minus vocals, for the students (grades 2-6) was on the USB memory stick.
If selected, I would donate some of the equipment/software to my school where I work and to my church.
georgeB
My mobile tech tip is to use (as much as possible) Google’s mobile tools. Also use mobile version of a website if possible. It may help you tons in both time and money.
I plan to share the gift with my family and community who need it.
The best mobile tech tip is to use your cell phone as a GPS device. Don’t spend money on a GPS standalone when you have a GPS enabled cell phone right there with you! Look over your cell phone’s instruction manual or look if you have any programs installed!
If I were to win this giveaway I plan to play Santa with my community giving the people that deserve it the most!
Tip:
I read a lot of PDFs on my MacBook. By a lot I mean I’ve read hundreds of pages in the past couple months. The best thing I’ve come across recently is TouchPad Elite (Air Mouse is similar). This allows me to nearly full screen whatever I’m reading, then set my Mac a comfortable distance from my eyes without having to worry about it being in a comfortable position for my hand to rest on the touchpad. I can launch Touchpad Elite and use the multitouch interface on the iPhone/Touch just like it was the touchpad on my Mac!
Sharing:
I would give the package to my family.
My top tip comes from the perspective of someone currently still stuck with a typical handset instead of a souped-up smartphone. Though I once had a PalmOS phone and plan on getting an iPhone soon, I’ve still found the Mobile Web quite useful in the mean time.
Which leads to my tip: access web sites via Google instead of directly. When you choose a search result on Google’s mobile page, you’re taken to a version of the page formatted by Google for a mobile handset. Some sites are quite unwieldly if access directly, so I simply do a Google search for the site’s URL and visit the specialized version instead. This makes the site far more usable, and it may be surprising how much you can do online with a plain handset. Data costs are also not much of an issue for me – Verizon has a little-advertised plan that lets you get data on your normal handset for $5/month, with usage deducted from your plan minutes.
If I were to add a second tip, it would be to not ignore SMS – applications like Facebook Mobile, Google SMS (very powerful yet not well-known), and kwiry allow for many handy operations simply via text/multimedia messaging.
As a grad student, I would definitely appreciate some better computer equipment, but certainly wouldn’t have need for the whole package. I would likely donate portions to fellow college students or my church. Also, being a former homeschooler, I know several large homeschooling families that could benefit from some of the items.
Tip.
Mobile Call forwarding:
Dial *72 + the number you wish to forward to. Press “SEND”. To deactivate call forwarding, dial*720 “SEND”. Listen for confirmation, then press “END”.
Best Tech Tip:
I dont know if this is even considered a tip since it should be common practice in the internet age.
1. Don’t spend a lot of time going to the news, make the news come to you use rss.
2. Read, read and read more information especially technology related and be informed about the changes in technologies everyday. There is something that will make your life so much easier for you.
3. Dont take just one review on its word, your application to devices and technology might be different from theirs, always make the extra effort and read more about the technology you want to invest in.
4. Follow some blogs closer than others, everyone knows how to talk and write something, not everyone knows how to do it intelligently.
Bottom line – The internet is too powerful to not utilize it completely. Everything you might want to know about might just be found if you look.
My best mobile to tech tip is to invest in a voip phone service. While I am a skype fan I have found that a full VOIP service to be a much better option. If you look around you can find companies that will set you up with for a lot less money than your local telco. I can use a softphone on my PC or my Nokia N800 and at my house I have a Linksys pap device that allows me to use standard analog phones with my VOIP services. Even if you are not a major telephone user I think it is still beneficial to look into it just for the cost savings.
Given the ready availability of two, four, sixteen, up to 64 gigabyte flash drives, there is absolutely NO reason that your virtual tool bench shouldn’t be available to you on ANY system at ANY time. New-and-improved software tools are coming out regularly, but your old tried-and-true “saved my seat many a time” tools deserve ready access.
One tool in particular that comes to mind is InCtrl5 (if I remember correctly — may not still be available, which is too bad for those who didn’t snag a copy back “in the day”) which takes a comprehensive snapshot of a system configuration, and then does an exhaustive state comparison between “before” and “after” for any system event you care to monitor — from a major software installation or update at one end of the range, all the way down to referencing individual data files updated after executing a single step of an interactive administrative package (or diagnostic exerciser, more to the point).
I particularly like using it in conjunction with another favorite tool, roboform – an automatic form-filler, which can be completely memory-stick resident and which just happens to excel at capturing and then playing back any form-based repetitive system-configuration sequence you can interact with via browser. It is quite possible to poke and probe and analyze response patterns and diagnose some seriously hairy failure mechanisms, merely by picking and choosing between logically indexed “passcards” of test routines which are invoking the REST of your favorite tools.
Essentially, it brings the concept of “Object Oriented Programming” to the realm of diagnostics, letting you re-use almost anything you’ve ever done in a given environment, over and over. And as you gain experience, your toolbox gets stronger, deeper, and broader — and your value goes up.
Hey, works for me. And if this ENTRY works out for me, we have evolved a list of people, during these PREVIOUS 48 or 49 contests, we plan to share with. In particular, one very helpful “Force for Good” teenager going off to major in teaching sign language to Special Needs children; one “Prime Mover” for ASGO (the Autism Society of Greater Orlando) who reeeally needs a laptop or netbook for when she isn’t in her office coordinating community activities; and my autistic younger son, who just might find new ways to interact with people from things he can learn from a touch-screen; and last, his special needs school, whose teachers bring their OWN systems in from home.
Happy Holidays, to all!
Mobile Tech tip:
Being as mobile as you can be means being connected yet being as portable as possible. USB 3G cards are great for connectivity but very unsightly and prone to damage due to how they stick out of the USB port. Most of these devices are nothing more than USB to PCIE adapters. I’ve dissected my Sierra Wireless 575U card and pulled the PCIE card out and have so far placed it in a Samsung Q1U, a Sony UMPC 390 and my HP Mini 1000 (In spite of the BIOS locks!). Its perfect for maintaining constant connectivity and yet maintain portability.
Who I’d share with:
Well my niece has been eyeing my Mini 1000 since the day I got it so one would go to her, the HDX I would keep since I don’t have a gaming machine, the Touchsmart would go to my wife since she wants a PC with a tuner on it, and the rest would go to the local Boys and Girls club.
The best mobile Tech tip I can offer is to purchase an iPhone 3g. once you get used to it you will find that you wont ever need a laptop or PDA. the iphone does it all.
now can I please win the prize?
Here is a very simple mobile Tech tip that has helped me in a pinch several times. Buy a very short (1 foot or less) USB to Mini USB cable and shove it into your wallet or purse for emergency use. Considering that many mobile devices charge and sync using mini usb there have been times that I have needed a quick charge from someone’s PC or needed to to transfer files quickly on the run!
My best mobile tech recommendation would be to make you aware of the great environmental responsability that you, as a technology user, have upon your shoulders. What I mean by responsability is that each of you has a technology device, such as a laptop, netbook, mobile phone that regularly gets replaced (1 – 3 years)and normally gets thrown away for a new one. And that impacts the environment enormously.
If I am not mistaken, we all (you and me) love technology, love the newest in mobile stuff and as a result we normally have more than our share of gadgets. Environmentally speaking, we have a direct and greater impact upon the environment when we throw away those same very gadgets for the newest ones or by the carbon footprint that is created when a gadget is created to fulfill our gadget addiction.
How could we help? Instead of having various gadgets each to accomplish a specific need, have one or two that handles all your needs. Don’t throw away old gadgets, donate them, give them to family, friends or simply sell them. Support environmentally friendly gadgets. Use your gadget until it literally begins crumbling beneath your fingers!
In summary, love your gadgets but love the environment even more!
Best mobile tip I have is…to make sure the batteries are fully charged. *=:~ )
Happy Holidays!
My best tip that I can come up with (that I have personally learned) is this:
Although most companies (AT&T, Road Runner, etc.) have an email set up with accounts and services purchased through them…try not to use them…go for the free services because it will save you some heart ache later. The reason this tip is so important is because I ran into a problem just recently because I use the services (email) through Road Runner.
You see, if you do not pay the bill (internet, cable and phone) on time, they will also disable your email…yeah, you would think they’d just shut your services until the payment was made, but no, they will disable your email causing any email you receive to be returned to the sender as unreceivable and non-existant (until of course you pay the bills).
So, as a tip, go ahead and pay for the services you’d like to receive but always think of the free email like yahoo, gmail and others out there…that way you’ll never have to worry about having your email returned to the sender if they cut off your internet service on a sunday morning and you don’t have a phone because it’s through the company also (very frustrating).
Here’s my entry, I hope I’m not too late for this either…
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!
My tech tip. Keep it simple. One e-mail address for business, one for personal. Defrag, delete browsing history and cookies weekly, ALso make sure you don’t leave your mouse in an airport when going thourgh security.
Please don’t disqualify me…I forgot to add that I would be sharing this with two families that could surely use the equipment; movies, computers, programs and so forth…as well as my own family.
Again, I’m really sorry…I forgot as I was trying to explain my tip and got sidetracked.
Have a Merry Christmas!!!!
-barbarabaker
The best tip I can think of is get and make use of a sprint or verizon USB 3G data card. While I know this is something pretty much everyone already knows it has been my most valuable mobile tech resource.
A great use for the card is to use PCAnywhere or UltraVNC to maintain control over your various computer systems wherever you might be.
Thanks.
Jim S.
Hello everyone, my name is Cathy King-Chuparkoff and I am a technically illiterate. I know just the basics and my 6 and 4 year old girls are passing me quickly.
Hi James & Kevin,
I picked the following tips I believe can be easily described here and followed by your readers:
1.NOT ALL BATTERIES ARE CREATED EQUAL…
…And therefore should not be treated in the same way. Some recommendations like “drain before charging to avoid memory” are not applicable to current battery technologies like Lithium Ion, and may even damage new batteries. Each battery has unique needs that must be met to obtain reliable service and long life. The following is a quick summary, with the types grouped by handling:
- Lithium-Polymer (Li-Poly) and Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) Batteries
Do charge the battery often. The battery lasts longer with partial rather than full discharges. These batteries may remain in the charger since they have no “memory effect”, and avoid full discharge.
- Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) Batteries and Nickel Metal Hydrid (NiMH) Batteries both suffer from memory effect. Do run the battery fully down once every 3 months (1 month for NiCd). Over-cycling is not advised. Do not leave battery in charger for more than 2 days because of memory effect.
2.YES, I KNOW YOU ONLY DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE FROM TRUSTED SOURCES, BUT…
…Even trusted sources may be infected. There are sites like http://www.virustotal.com or http://www.virscan.org that allow you to upload that nice freeware package to be analyzed by the top 38+ antivirus engines on the market before you install it. And even better, both sites provide this life-saving service for FREE.
3.SOMETIMES, A LITTLE BOOST IS ALL YOU NEED!
Good wifi signal is probably as essential as battery life.
FreeAntennas.com (http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html ) has a nice project that can be done using tin-foil/aluminum foil and can provide you a better boost (and with much less headaches) than many $50+ wireless booster solutions. Life hacker (http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/boost-your-wireless-signal-with-a-homemade-wifi-extender-296367.php ) published a nice video explaining how this project can be used. BTW, you can quickly verify the signal boost on Vista using the following command-line (start-search):
netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid
4. WHILE “ON THE RUN”, WATCH YOUR TV AND YOUR HOME…
If you have a Slingbox, you may be able not only to watch your favorite cable channels when on the run, but also to watch your home or your pet fish for example. All you need is a camera/camcorder that has either composite or S-Video outputs. You may even use the slingbox remote control function to turn the camera on/off or to adjust zoom, etc. The Slingbox player (slingplayer) allow to switch the different inputs (e.g. cable TV and camera) using the following menu options: Connect -> Video Input
If I win this amazing prize I will use the HP TouchSmart, the MediaSmart Connect and the Corel VideoStudio X to create my home media center. I will give the HDX 18 Notebook to my older daughter, and the dv4 to the younger. I would also propose randomly choosing among the other 9 best entries to receive the other prizes, divided on the following “packages”:
a)HP Mini 1000
b)HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer) + HP 564 Photo Value Pak
c)Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition)
d)Microsoft Windows Live
e)Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray) – 3 packages
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
rw- — —
The best tech tips ever:
If you are tired of reading all the posts, here is the best tech tip ever: find someone who is really good with computers and google search and marry him/her (or be friends with). Your tech issue will be much easier to deal with and you learn new things everyday.
Hi everybody,
My best tech tip would be to listen to the MobileTech Roundup every week! Second best would be to find a way to back up your files. There are so many ways to do it but many of us become complacent and think that it will not happen to us. I have tried lots of ways and the one that I have come to count on besides copying to a large hard drive is Carbonite.com. It backs up in the background and I do not have to worry about losing my precious files, especially my pictures. I hope whoever wins the HP’s will enjoy them, I am typing this on my HP DV6000. I have had it a little over a year and love it. If I won I would share them with my family and friends.
Merry Christmas to all.
My best tech tip… hmm, would be always carry around a backup device(such as a cell phone or blackberry) along with your laptop even if wherever you are going has wifi, because batteries die, which brings the 2nd part of the tip- bring extra batteries on a trip.
If i win the netbook will be going to my dad(he owns a small salsa business that makes nothing yet, so something to keep record of the sales and stuff would be nice for him), kung fu panda to my little brothers, and one of the laptops will go to one of my friends who could really use a laptop.
The Best Tech tip I can give has already been taken 22 times, now 23 which is Logmein. However since that has been mentioned too many times to have any shot of winning, My next best tech tip for now would be if you have Windows Based Machine, If you dont want to learn to use other Alternative Browser such as Maxthon (http://www.maxthon.com) or THEWORLD (http://www.ioage.com/en/index.htm) Acoobrowser (http://www.acoobrowser.com/) Make sure then you software has been updated to IE7 and install the most important ADD-In called IE7PRO (http://www.ie7pro.com/), Followed by the form filler program Roboform (http://www.roboform.com/).
Best mobile tech tip: Get the google’s tmobile G1. Its got opensource OS and It keeps all your favourite google’s cloud services in sync on ur mobile. I know the OS is in very early stage. But the beauty of opensource is someone will keep contributing and you have to support the openness of the software.
I will donate the following items to a charity. Which charity will be decided by the users choice on my blog.
HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live)
HP Mini 1000 (with XP)
HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer)
HP 564 Photo Value Pak
Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses
Microsoft Windows Live
Corel VideoStudio X
Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray)
Thx
My techy tip is a simple one – Be sure to back your data up! if i were to win this WONDERFUL prize package, I’d split it among my family members – daughter in college could certainly use that mini pc for note taking in her classes and the microsoft word for students, hubby’s office really needs a new desktop pc and I would really love to have a new laptop. We all could get use from the wireless printer; i’d give the kung fu panda to my nephew!
One of the best technology systems for teachers is the SmartBoard. Like a giant computer monitor, the Smartboard makes computer lessons very interactive. In art, students can take the different colored markers and using an art reproduction analyzing the painting. When the straight lines are traced in red, curvy in blue and zigzag in green the reproduction is taken away and students see the structure of the painting. It is like magic!
This giveaway comes at this blessed time of sharing what we have with others to make their lives better. If I win, I will have a great time distributing all these electronic goodies. Over 600 students will benefit from the magic!
I am an elementary art teacher in an urban school district in Kansas. Our student population is very diverse which brings our school strength, joys and challenges. While the classroom teachers are given the latest technology, specials teachers–art, music, physical education and library–get ours much later, if at all. Usually we have to jump through major hoops, such as writing and administrating grants, to gain access to technology. To honor these dedicated professionals I will be sharing the laptops, printers and software with the other five people in my specials team.
The HP Pavilion DV4 Entertainment Notebook PC and HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC would have excellent visual and auditory capabilities for the music and art classes. The touch screen features of the HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC would make it ideal for working with our learning disabled and English for Speakers of Other Languages students. The HP Mini 1000 would be perfect to take to district meetings to take notes or for our Physical Education teachers to track their students’ progress. The HP MediaSmart Connect would help students access television programming, such as when the Winter Olympic Games are broadcast in 2010. The specials team recently completed a school wide unit on the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
Because it is wireless, our entire specials team could share the HP Photosmart C6380 wireless AIO printer. Visual examples would be more appealing to students in color than black and white–especially on the quality paper of the HP 564 Photo Value Pak.
The software will make all of the hardware work to its capacity. With the Corel VideoStudio X2 teachers and parent volunteers in the PTO will have a great time making videos and slides shows of school activities to share at Parent Nights at the school.
We can’t show Kung Fu Panda at school, because it is rated PG, but my sons and nephew would love this DVD.
Thanks for the opportunity to reach the hearts and minds of children through the magic of technology.
You may laugh, but my tip could save you lots of headaches.
Keep in mind that even if you use a PC-based email package, that’s not the only filtering point in your email environment if you have a service provider which ALSO gives you web-based access to your email.
Because then (whether you know it or not) that provider is HIGHLY likely to be filtering your email, dumping SOME of your communications into your SPAM folder (which is only visible from a browser connection into your email account, NOT from Outlook Express or other email package) — and you would never know unless you checked via browser.
And, in case you haven’t read up on the issue, Google’s gmail has NO option to allow you to turn off that “Spam” filtering, so by default YOU don’t even KNOW that something has been sifted out.
In Google, however, it is possible to side-step the automatic SPAM filtering by creating your own filter which runs before the spam filter. On your “Inbox” page, look for and click on “create filter”. In the popup window, select the item which mentions “does not contain” and enter a string of six or seven symbols (shifted numerics usually work best) — and make sure to repeat one of the symbols at least three times in a row… The resulting string is pretty much guaranteed to never be found in an incoming email, always triggering the next stage of the filter process. Click “save” or “continue”, and on the next page, select the item most similar to “never send to Spam folder”.
Save that filter. From now on, you will see a slight increase in incoming cruft, but you can be reassured that you aren’t going to miss out on any legitimate opportunities that some SPAM filter arbitrarily decided you didn’t need to see.
If this turns out to ‘cut the mustard’, we’ve already ‘got a plan’ for divvying up ‘the Magic’. Our younger son is autistic, and would benefit hugely from the TouchSmart; one of our teenage care-providers is heading to College and well deserves a laptop-to-go; our son’s special needs school is still quite new and small and has almost no extra equipment; and our local community of families with autistic children has a person running ASGO (the Autism Society of Greater Orlando) who very much needs a laptop to assist with her efforts when she is NOT in her office. The rest of the kaboodle? We’ll find good homes for it too — Magic comes around and goes around, as long as you Share it!
my best tech tip would be if you don’t understand it ask an expert before you kill it!
My best mobile tech tips:
1) by as much memory as you can afford – laptops, phones, any gadget can benefit from more memory.
2) if something isn’t working properly try turning it off then back on. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten a panicky phone call from someone asking for help with their mobile devices that stopped working or just aren’t working properly. About 90% of the time the problem can be fixed by shutting down/turning off then restarting.
If I won this great prize package I’d give the PC to my mom who is using an old pc that gives her nothing but headaches. I’d give one of the laptops to my brother who is always stopping at libraries to use their computers because his laptop is on its last legs. I’d share the MS Office with my mom and brother. I’d give the Kung Fu Panda DVD’s to nieces and nephews who will watch the movie over and over and over.
My best mobile tech tip? Microsoft’s best-kept secret — OneNote 2007 (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx). Of the Office programs, OneNote has been the most useful to me over the past couple of years. I had previously been a moderately disorganized person, even though I use a Palm and Microsoft Outlook to keep track of my calendar, to-dos, contacts, and other miscellaneous scraps of information gathered online and off. It was a good system in theory, but the weak point was the end user — me. I simply couldn’t quite keep all the information cohesive and useful.
The standard Microsoft license allows for one copy to be installed on a primary computer (my desktop), and another copy on a portable device (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/HA101655301033.aspx#2). This is where my mobile “magic” starts to happen. I do most of my work on my laptop, though I like to keep a copy of just about everything on my desktop computer as well. For most files, this requires regular syncing between the two — not a lot of work, but still requiring some steps from me.
After I installed OneNote on my laptop, I opened the notebooks (from the desktop, over my home network) that I wanted to work with. Here’s where the “mobile magic” starts to happen… OneNote automatically syncs the note files as changes are made while the network is connected. When I am working “offline”, the changes are automatically updated on both computers as soon as I am back on my network. I can literally work on my notes in one room, get up, go to the desktop computer, and the notes are already there. No clicking “Save”, no clicking “Sync” — it’s all automatic, as if literally by magic.
OneNote also provides me with an extra degree of mobile magic. Since returning to college this year after a 20-year “break”, as a student enrolled at least part-time, I was able to purchase Microsoft Office Ultimate (which includes OneNote and Outlook) for $60 (http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx). I quickly discovered that OneNote and Outlook play very nice together, further enhancing my productivity and general organization.
For example, in the notebook for my online class, I copy and paste the weekly message board assignment into OneNote. Clicking the little task flag at the top of the screen automatically creates a task item in Outlook, which is added to my Palm the next time I synchronize it. Conversely, marking the task as done in any of those places marks it done in ALL the places. Again, my organizational processes are nicely streamlined, requiring very little of me other than to DO the actual task. I’m looking forward to the next version of OneNote, which appears to be headed for online integration — http://jkontherun.com/2008/10/28/cloudy-microsof/, which would provide an even greater cohesiveness to my organization and productivity.
OneNote has many other useful features, but in terms of mobility, its strongest points for me are in the seamless connectivity it provides between my Palm, my laptop, and my desktop computer. It has been a tremendous asset during my first term back to school, and I highly recommend it to anyone. If you are fortunate enough to win this contest, I would encourage you to keep the copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student — OneNote is included, and, to me, is worth just as much than the other programs included.
If I were to win this contest, I would share the prizes with several people, including my wife and her friends who get together regularly to make cards for the patients and families at the cancer center. I also have a couple of other people in mind who I would love to be able to give the gift of mobility and portability to. The only things I would want to keep for myself would be the TouchSmart PC (to replace the aging family computer), and the Kung Fu Panda DVD for my 6-year-old son.
Joe Grabowski
My tech tip would be a program called PDANET for Windows Mobile. (There is also a Palm OS version). This lets you tether your Windows Mobile phone to your laptop as a wireless modem either using your sync cable or via Bluetooth. It is the most painless way I have found and is a real life saver if there are no wifi hotspots around. It also doesn’t require you to subscribe to a “phone as modem” plan at additional cost. As long as you have a data plan for your phone it will work.
If I should win, I would donate the Touchsmart desktop to my kid’s school pc lab,(They could definitely use it! I would then distribute the remaining laptops to my kids (keeping the Mini 1000 for myself, gotta have a netbook
Win or lose, love the site!!! Happy Holidays to everyone!
A Windows Mobile 6.1 device provides just about everything you need to be completely productive on the road. You can use mobile email, check the web, send text messages or IMs, edit Office documents, listen to MP3’s, watch videos, etc. But what about when you want to use another device when travelling, but you don’t want to splurge on a mobile broadband card or $15 a night for hotel wifi? Enter the excellent Windows Mobile app called WMWiFiRouter. This application lets you share your internet connection via USB, Bluetooth, or even WiFi, and it is so easy to do. The program is basically self configuring. When using WiFi as the connection, it becomes a little mobile hotspot, and even provides limited DHCP capability in that it will configure a private local IP address and then dole one out to another device via ad hoc WiFi. Personally I bring my Treo 800w and iPhone (which is jailbroken and does not actually function as a phone at all), and then am able to share the Treo’s EVDO rev. A connection with the iPhone. This allows me to have the benefits of the best-in-class mobile browser of the iPhone with the speed of the broadband connection on my Treo. Of course, this works just as well with any WiFi enabled device. Having a hotspot in your pocket is what every mobile warrior can use!
If I were to win I would share at least one of the laptops with my brother, who’s current laptop is about to kick the bucket. I would donate the Office 2007 software to a local school to be given to students that would most benefit.
Do not answer when you answer your phone, make sure you recognise who is on the other line first. Prank calls do exist.
I would advise using public key-based security systems for SSH, OpenVPN, and any other authentication on a sensitive computer. That way, your system’s access control is not just based on any password, but on a certificate on file, which can be revoked.
In the SSH variety, you could disable password logins, and then you could log into your machine securely without bothering to remember them.
Or, if you’re a little paranoid, you could put a password on the key. Capturing your password wouldn’t do the other person any good, because they also need your private key file. Which can be revoked.
I don’t want to spend a lot of energy thinking of places I’d put machines I don’t win. I guess I’d give one or two to my brothers, because I always give the nicest things to my brothers, and I’d bring one or two to the tutorial service I volunteer at, because the kids could use them there.
My best tip is to make sure you regularly update your security package, make sure your batteries are fully charged, and keep current on the ever changing technology. Most of all don’t be afraid to tackle a problem. Do the research online to find a solution. Most of the time, someone else has already faced the same problem. If you are determined enough, there is always a solution.
There is so much need right now in my community and the world. I just want to let you know how I would distribute this prize to help others. I work at a community college in Orlando. I would donate part of this package to a deserving student, part to benefit a visually impaired student, and part to benefit a local animal shelter.
As for tips:
1. Many have talked about the beauty of the Fujitsu p1610. it truly is a great machine. you can get a pretty good deal + around $600 – on ebay, since Fuji put them on ebay when the p1620 came out. Enjoy!
2. The second: travelling in europe, it’s definitely doable to have lots of internet access for cheap. bring a HSDPA phone – on ebay for $100 or so if you don’t have one – and a dongle/pc card for your pc/umpc/netbook/fuji p1610
– ebay for about $60.
Then turn to prepaidGSM.net to find your best provider for where you going… Worked great for us for Italy, but listings for countries around the world.
As for what to do with it: I’m sharing with Center for Economic Research and Social Change… against racism, fighting poverty…
Tip 1: Backup – Just try living without all the data on one of your hard drives for a week.
Tip 2: ipod Touch is a great do all mini computer if you have to travel cheap and light. Connect at any wifi for free internet, use google apps for essential applications.
Tip 3: Backup that data
I am an adult, married with kids, college student and could use the computers for my self and my kids but I would give one of the laptops to a fellow married college student who really could use a laptop to do his work while away from home.
Ken
My best tech tip -batteries, have at least two for your most used devices. If there is an extended battery or slice available, get two of those and swap them while using the primary battery as a bridge battery. Get a charger for the batteries. This way you can always have a full charge and a fully charged spare every day as you head out. Technology is useless if it has no power.It is simply the best investment you can make other than the device itself.
As to the prize package, I will be giving all of iit away. The TouchSmart will go to my mother who wants to exchange e-mail with my nephews in Vermont. I will give the rest to the nephews, all four of them, ages 8-16.
I would like to give some tips to mobile phone users.I hope someone will find it useful.
So Welcome to world’s latest mobile security and some Anti spam tips for mobile phone users :
1. Always use a Company Branded and sponsored Mobile phone featuring with all terms and conditions with valid receipt or certificates.
2. Avoid Overcharging mobiles phones which reduces the battery life.
3. After Purchasing mobile phones ensure it is loaded with trusted antivirus.
4. Anti virus For mobiles , such as Kasper sky security,Norton ,Mca fee etc are the trusted choices over the world.
5. Beware of fake mobile antivirus or rogue security softwares for mobiles.
6. Always Lock the key pad of mobile phone when not in use.
7. Ignore blue tooth feature or disable the blue tooth when not in use.
8. Prefer the cell phone password key in order to disable the access .
9. Enable the pin code and and enable it when ever there is use of it.
10. Avoid giving cell phone to strangers and avoid phone unattended.
11. Keep Mobile phones away from children.
12. Always note your IME number as Global service mobileity provided these features.
13. Don’t talk on mobile phones while driving the vehicle.
14. Always store the helps line no of network service provider so that ,in case of mobile theft it can be contacted and blocked.
15. If possible enable mobile service tracking features for tracing and safety.
16. Always make a scan of mobile phones .
17. Avoid un necessary text messages from service providers.
18. Block all the voice calls from coming from service providers as it can be tele marketing.
19. Avoid spam messages or text message oor spam email entering mobiles.
20. Always read the mobile manual provided by the manufacturer for security policies.
21. Ensue that your mobile phone is covers insurance .
22. Be careful while downloading any thing from mobiles ,it can link to harmful site.
23. Switch off your mobile phones when not in use ,which boost battery life.
24. Be careful while using GPRS facility in mobile phones.
25. As mobile phones are plug and play device , so be careful while attaching your mobile to any other USB port device.
—————————————-
Now something about what i would like to do with all those $6000 worth of stuff.Certainly, like many people here,i don’t need them all for my personal use.So, i will take the Mini 1000 & will share the rest of the parts in the following order :-
1) The Touchsmart will be given to a science muzeum nearby where they desperately need an updated computer for their job.
2) The HDX 18 lappy would go to a college student who lives 2 houses away from my house.He has just enrolled himself into a multimedia computer course but finding it difficult to cope up with the speed of the course as he can’t practice at home for not having a computer of his own.
3) DV4 notebook will be given to my uncle who can then make a very good use of it while travelling.
4) The AIO Printer & the photo value pack will go to one of my sisters who doesn’t have a printer.
5) The rest like the softwares & movies will go to one of my brothers who will love to watch Kungfu Panda in all its glory.
So, that’s what i would do if i get the chnce to win.Thank you very much for the opportunity.
My tech tip: It’s a little bit simple but it helped me a lot when I was needed for internet. My story was when one day I was far from the city where no wi-fi was over there and I was needed for internet. So, I knew that connecting via USB from the cellphone to the computer was able to have internet from the cellphone network coverage. So, I did’t took the USB so I try the next thing. I thought a way to use the internet from my cellphone to the computer and BAM and idea came to my mind and was to turn on the bluetooth both from my cellphone and my computer. I click over “connect to a network” and “set up a connection to a network” and where says “connect to a bluetooth personal area network (PAN)” and searched for my cellphone and just click over it and that’s it! Internet from my cellphone via bluettoth! Another tip is to see all the info and service test from a sony ericsson cell phone and here’s the tip: *, left, *, right, *, left, left, *, left, *.
How I’m going to share the magic…
With all this stuff I would help to an institution and to a person. The Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live) is going to be destined to the institution, where they take care the children with limited resources, where they could give several uses to this laptop. One of them is to be able to take the administrative control since they lack a computer and this could facilitate this control. Also I will give to them the DVD’s so the children can enjoy the movie. The HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC is going to be destined to a friend that I had seen that his parents had sacrificed too much to be able to pay the university to him but they cannot provide him with a computer and with a computer he can grow more academically as professionally. He will need this computer because of his career, he will study design and he needs a powerful laptop that can open powerful programs like photoshop. As an extra I will give to him the photosmart, software and the Corel Video Studio X2. The HP Mini 1000 (with XP) I’m giving it to one of my parents because they don’t have a computer to take to their work. I’m not who is giving all this stuff, just a bearer of the kindness of the company HP and Microsoft that have such a great heart to help several human beings who lack of computers.
I’m very happy to help the institution and to a friend. By the way, this institution that I want to help is an institution that with some group of friends, we help them in the ilumination of the school and what better to help them with a computer. To see a video of this institution visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivOK1UJBAwk. Guatemala is a third world country and helping the schools with some technology, the country will be better and improved. This makes me to think about South Korea, this country was a third world country and with the learning of technology is now a first world country. God Bless Hp and Microsoft for this fantastic giveaway!
Hope I win!
As an entrepreneur with a business concept heavy in graphics and file sizes of hundreds of MB I frequently ran out of hard drive space on my computer and required external drives. The problem was when I used other computers, for example in a hotel, it would not have my software installed, such as Photoshop and many others. I remember thinking back then, “Wouldn’t it be great to have my entire laptop hard drive info and personal settings with me at all times without lugging my laptop with me everywhere?”
Enter the Western Digital Passport portable external drives, which come with WDSync software that allows you to carry with you all your files and personal settings, encrypted, in a portable drive (500GB is only $129). You can plug into any PC and edit Microsoft office docs, send or receive emails and more, leaving no files behind on the computer you used, including cookies and cache. I recommend backing up your important files on one drive, and using a second drive for on-the-go computing as described above.
If I’m fortunate enough to win these items, here’s how the magic will be shared. I would set up several competitions, similar to what you are doing here at JKOnTheRun, for everyone to win. The Kung Fu Panda will go to an elementary school in my town, where the students will compete in an essay of how they can do something to better themselves or better their community each day. One of the PC’s will go to this school as well, in a contest where students write how such technology will improve their educational experiences. Another PC with the Microsoft Office software will go to a disadvantaged student, through another contest, as I have worked with disadvantaged youth on a volunteer basis before. I plan to keep one notebook PC for my own use, and most or all of the other items will go to less fortunate individuals but will not be “free giveaways” but rather something they must take proactive action to acquire. I hope it will foster a proactive attitude with a lesson in compassion and humanity in my community, as I believe the world is full of talented people who often fail to achieve due to lack of motivation to take action.
Thanks, guys!