Computer and Web Articles

I recently came across the Lapdawg website (www.lapdawg.com) and (though I do not own any of the Lapdawg products myself) thought I might share it with you.

The Lapdawg is a laptop stand that allows you to “turn your laptop into its own workspace”. The stand transforms into various configurations, including a TV tray position, book holder position, bed tray position, breakfast tray position, and lap desk position.

Visit the site, check out the gallery, and review the tech specs. The Lapdawg retails for $89 (shipping not included) and, if you do decide to purchase one, drop me an email and let me know how it works out.

The Wi-Ex ZBoost 510 helps people looking to increase their cell phones’ signal strength by a bar or two.

The little gadget extends cellular coverage for single or multiple users in homes and offices – and can provide up to 2,500 square feet of coverage. As a bonus, the ZBoost also extends your phone battery’s life by allowing it to use less power when the signal is stronger.

You can learn more about the ZBoost (and purchase it, if interested) right here.

I’ve watched computer mice come an incredibly long way in the past 20 years, and have been particularly excited by recent experimentation and improvements made in the realm of mouse ergonomics. I sat down to research a new mouse for my primary work computer a week or so ago and found that the more research I did, the more variations of interesting mice I discovered. With all the mixed expert opinions, reviews, and research/study results, I’ve yet to reach a final decision on a new mouse, but I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the unique models I came across!

• AirO2bic Quill Mouse – A 3 lb. mouse that is apparently the only computer mouse to date that’s been recognized by the Arthritis Foundation.
• Warm Mouse – A naturally antibacterial, PC- and Mac-compatible mouse that keeps your hand and fingers toasty on cold days by providing up to 104 degrees of infrared heat.
• Wow-Pen Vertical Mouse – Developed to help eliminate carpal tunnel syndrome, this compact vertical mouse’s design even allows for handwriting input.
• Ortho Mouse - Developed by a medical doctor to help prevent RSIs, this mouse was nominated for the Ergo Cup Award by the Industrial Engineers Institute of the U.S.
• Zero Tension Mouse – The creators of this odd looking mouse claim their product allows all the muscles of the hand, arm, and shoulder to effectively relax during use.

Have you heard of Roku yet? It’s a digital video player sold by Netflix.

Roku instantly streams highly quality movies from both Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand, pulling movies from the Internet and displaying them directly on your television.

With Roku, you can choose from over 50,000 movies and TV episodes to watch instantly – and just like with DVDs, you can pause, rewind, or play them anytime.

Twenty-four hour movie rentals from Amazon cost between 99 cents and $3.99 each, while movie rentals from Netflix are free and unlimited so long as you have a Netflix membership (even the cheapest option at $8.99 means free, unlimited, instant Netflix movies for your television).

Roku is small, delightfully easy to set up, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Learn more at www.roku.com.

Write anywhere. Really – I mean it.

With Inka pens, you can pretty much write anywhere.

The technology of an Inka pen comes in most handy when you’re actually away from the web-world–when computers, networks, and wires are out of sight. In fact, Inka pens were specifically designed for use in extreme environments.

With features like pressurized ink cartridges, stainless steel barrels, integrated PDA styluses and watertight exteriors, Inka pens will write wet or dry, at any angle, at any temperature, at any altitude. Sounds like the pens were developed with the people of Summit County in mind.

Learn more at www.writeanywhere.com.

Question: Dear Erin, You recently wrote about how to send text messages to cell phones from a computer. I’m hoping you can help with something kind of related that I’m experiencing. It’s cell phone spam and I don’t have any clue how to stop it so I was wondering if there’s a cell phone spam blocker or something like that I can use or maybe some other tool like that out there? Please help!!!!!!!!! — Cindy (from Dillon, Colorado)

Answer: I actually experienced the same problem of too much cell phone text spam myself at one point, so I understand your frustration. Cell phone spam is even worse than email spam because you can’t just install a spam-blocker into your phone *and* you have to pay when you receive the spam! Booooooo.

Instead of rewriting the explanation of how you can go about decreasing the amount of spam you receive on your cell phone, I’m going to recommend you have a look at this great post in the New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/5cauyq. This should help a ton. Good luck!

If you still have a big, bulky fax machine in your office, I just have to ask … why?!

With access to a variety of premium, low-cost, and ever free web-based fax services right at your fingertips, why in the world would you opt to keep the clutter of a fax machine in your office? In fact, I’d wager there’s an affordable online service out there that can do absolutely everything your stand alone fax machine can do — and more. No extra phone lines, no extra supplies, no fixing the machine when it breaks, no more wasting paper or toner on faxes that didn’t need to be printed.

For those with occasional, basic faxing needs, check out FaxZero at www.faxzero.com. Send up to three pages anywhere in the U.S. or Canada for free, or send up to 15 pages with no ad for $1.99.

For those with more regular faxing needs, check out eFax at www.efax.com and start reducing your company’s paper clutter. Fully featured plans start at less than $20/month. You might also wish to take a look at RapidFax (www.rapidfax.com), which offers basic plans for personal use as well as professional plans tailored specifically for small businesses.

One would assume that after years of writing tech articles in addition to the approximately 3 billion hours I’ve spent online thus far in my life, I’d know what to do with my technotrash.

Even I assumed this.

Yet lo and behold last week I found myself looking at a broken monitor far beyond donation potential, and I wasn’t quite sure what the most responsible method of disposal was.

A bit of research cleared my confusion and I now know of an incredibly useful, socially responsible company that can handle whatever technology-related trash I might have. The company is called GreenDisk, and it can handle whatever you’ve got — from a single DVD to a printer to an office building filled with unusable computers. Greendisk safely and securely destroys old data, recovers reusable components, and recycles the rest.

Learn more at www.greendisk.com.

California-based BlueLouge sells some very nice gadgets for the common computer workstation, and their tagline says it all: “Minimalism has never been so useful.” Unclutter your desk and mind with their simple solutions to everyday problems and watch your daily work stress float away (well, at least some of it, anyhow!).

My favorite item that BlueLouge sells is the SpaceStation, which is a beautifully minimal desk organizer for laptop users containing internal coiling pins that conceal all the cords that come standard with the modern computer.

The SpaceStation sells for $79.95, and you can view plenty of photos and read all about its features by clicking the nice big photo of it on BlueLounge’s homepage (www.bluelounge.com).