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?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Now something about whom & what i’ll share
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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!