Computer and Web Articles

In honor of the first Christmas tree I glimpsed in a neighbor’s front window a few days ago, here are a few tips that are sure to assist you in experiencing one of your best Christmases ever.

First, you need to know whether or not today is Christmas. If you’re confused or not sure as to what I mean, I suggest visiting www.isitchristmas.com.

Second, delight your young ones by having a personalized letter from Mr. Claus sent from the North Pole right to your house. This lovely bright-pink site will handle all the details for you, quickly and easily (and for $9.95): www.becomesanta.com.

And lastly, if you’ll be doing a bit of gift shopping for a special technophile this holiday season, do make sure you visit the Oregon Scientific website in the near future at www2.oregonscientific.com. From fancy weather stations to handheld altimeters to compass watches to waterproof action cams, you’ll surely find a treat or two for the gadget lover in your life in their online store.

Earlier this week, upon clicking a link on the Lifehacker blog, I found myself looking at the CNN Money website, watching a short 2:47 video clip on a technology that I’d never heard of: inkless printing.

Printing photos taken from your phone is about to get a LOT easier, folks! Imagine clicking a button to send a photo from your cameraphone to your iPod-size inkless printer, which will print your full-color photo in 30 seconds.

Now imagine having that inkless printer actually embedded in your cameraphone or laptop (integrated printers coming soon!). Now, consider that the inkless photos printed with this new technology are essentially water resistant, smudge resistant, and quite hard to tear. Even cooler.

These inkless printers should be out on the market by the end of 2007, with increased distribution and production beginning early 2008. Take a look: http://tinyurl.com/2fw6yu.

1. www.recalls.gov — Your one-stop shop for U.S. Government recalls, reporting dangerous products, and learning safety tips.
2. www.pdfill.com — Looking for an alternative to Acrobat Professional (the program that allows you to make your own PDFs)? Look here.
3. http://www.oooms.nl/usb — Four words: Coolest memory sticks, ever.
4. http://handbrake.m0k.org — An open-source DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for Mac, Linux, and Windows.
5. http://keepass.sourceforge.net — Securely store and manage all your online passwords. Keep them all in one place, and keep them safe.
6. www.hipcal.com — A neat little site that rolls an online calendar, to-do list, e-mail reminder alerts, and address book all into one. For free.
7. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4079364 — An older–yet still interesting and very relevant — article on the awful phenomenon of phishing.
8. http://fireftp.mozdev.org — A secure, cross-platform FTP program for Firefox. A little bit slow, but very much free.
9. http://www.websudoku.com — Billons (yes, billions) of free online Sudoku puzzles for you to play.
10. http://www.crayola.com/parents/travel/bingo1.cfm — Going on a road trip with the kids? Print out these four travel bingos and you’ll buy yourself another half hour of peace.

www.Engadget.com is a blog for technophiles offering “obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics.” Browse through their posts and learn about the iPod-controlling Nike watch, internet-enabled Samsung phone, paper-based battery, Logitech’s Bluetooth mouse, DXG’s super-duper cheap camcorder ($149.99 - what?!), or Panasonic’s iris scanner.

Engadget.com is not a portal, not an online store, not a recommendation service. It exists solely to keep you up to date on the latest and greatest goings on in the always-evolving world of technology.

Take a look: www.engadget.com.

The National Cristina Foundation is a wonderful organization that directs the donations of used computer equipment to nonprofit organizations, schools and public agencies throughout the United States.

If you’re considering a computer or computer-related equipment upgrade in your home or office, please visit www.cristina.org before tossing your old computer/equipment into the trash or putting it up for sale on eBay or Craigslist.

I recently had the honor of meeting Franklin Joyce and Juli Morey, the amazing folks behind Electricbaby.com, a design company debuting a new line of laptop sleeves, laptop sweaters, and accessory cord bags in a variety of unique styles. Each piece is beautifully designed; some are embroidered, some are made with a stretch-fit sweater material and some boast the artwork of popular graphic designers. Detailing includes neat little “extras” such as custom zips and interior pockets for documents and discs.

From the creation of interactive education projects to the provision of graphic collateral for nonprofits, Electricbaby is part of the new wave of young companies committed to making a difference in new and creative ways. Sales of Electricbaby products help fuel the company’s mission of mixing urban arts and community action.

Here’s the incredibly exciting news: for today’s contest I have two prizes from Electricbaby. The first prize is a BASS (silver) cord bag, a stylish little bag with protective padding for mp3 players, cords, flash drives, etc. The second prize is one of Electricbaby’s amazing laptopfolder bags: the “Smoke” folder bag, complete with a durable brushed canvas exterior, embroider graphic details and a deluxe satin-finish quilted liner.

To see these prizes, visit www.electricbaby.com. To win one of these prizes, just send an e-mail to info@timeforcake.com by April 4, explaining in two sentences or less why you’d like one of these prizes and what size/type of laptop you have. Winners will be chosen on April 5.

If you own a Mac and aren’t running an older operating system, chances are you’ve heard of Widgets. If you own a PC and have already upgraded to Windows Vista, chances are you’ve heard of Gadgets. If you’re still running XP, this next little bit of information doesn’t pertain to you.

For the ultimate resource offering the latest Gadgets and Widgets, head over to http://www.Widgipedia.com.

You won’t be disappointed; the site is overflowing with useful and/or fun Gadgets and Widgets for you to download and run on your computer. The site is clean and easy to use, and there’s a great FAQ page as well as a forum to answer all your questions.

www.Booqbags.com sells a variety of high quality bags, backpacks, sleeves and accessories for laptop computers. Their products most definitely cannot be classified as cheap, but I’ve learned that you tend to get what you pay for when it comes to laptop accessories. And yes, I learned the hard way.

Last summer I purchased a cheap laptop bag from eBay for my new laptop, thinking there was no reason to spend a larger chunk of money on a nice bag. And OK, yes, I admit it, I also purchased that bag on eBay because it was bright red and, at the time, I thought it looked pretty cool.

Anyhow, upon returning from my New Zealand trip last September with an almost-broken back caused by nothing other than carrying that cheap red bag around day and night during my travels, I understood how wrong I had been about the “no need to invest in a good bag” decision. Needless to say, I tossed the cheap bag and made a visit to the Booqbags website, quickly finding a product that was worth every penny.

Without a doubt, BooqBag’s neatest site feature is its time-saving “BagFinder” tool. Punch in the dimensions of your laptop and the site instantly displays a list of all compatible products. Cool.

I recently happened upon a bright green website called Vitamin T.

Located at www.dailyvitamint.com, the site offers handy tips on a daily basis. The tips relate to anything and everything - from cooking and food to finance and money to transportation and travel. While not all the tips are particularly helpful, it’s fun to browse through their archives on occasion; you never know what neat little trick you’ll pick up.

Here are a couple of recent tips I liked:

1. Make your iPod battery last longer. When listening to your iPod through externally powered speakers (not headphones), turn speaker volume up and iPod volume down. This draws less power from the iPod battery, and you can listen longer before having to recharge.
2. Use www.addall.com to save money when buying books. Before you ever purchase any book you should first check www.addall.com. This website is a comprehensive search of all new and used book sellers online. It then ranks them by price. Great for school textbooks or your next favorite read.