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To Save or Not to Save: Should you buy a used laptop?

Mark — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:35:34 +0000

In a world where technology goes out of date in the space of a few months, buying the latest and greatest may not always be the best idea. There seems to be a collective attitude at times that says we must always buy the best, fastest, shiniest product on the market. That is just fine in some cases, but the real question should be, “Do I really need this advanced technology, or is it just a convenience?”.

While new technological developments in the computer world can be very fascinating, it is interesting to take a look at the other options available to consumers. In the article, “Why You Should Buy a Refurbished Laptop“, the author talks about the many benefits of purchasing one of these refurbished machines.

First of all, many of the computers that are returned are simply sent back because of cosmetic defects. If you do not particularly care about a scratch on the cover of the computer but simply want a functional machine, Dell and Apple both offer refurbished machines for a lesser cost than their newest computers. These machines have perfectly intact screens and other hardware, which makes them just as usable as the next laptop. Most companies have some kind of a service to provide refurbished computers to their clients. With some of them, the computers may not even have been used. Usually the company has different types of refurbishments that they handle, some of which may be machines that have been repaired and tested, as well as those that have only cosmetic damage.

The main advantage of buying a refurbished laptop over turning to an outside seller is that there still may be a warranty available for the machine if it is purchased from the company. Sometimes eBay or Craig’s List sellers will have a computer for sale that still has its factory warranty, but this is not always the case. Also, when buying a computer from a third party seller, the buyer has no way of knowing if that seller is honest. Though many of them are, there is always a risk in the purchase.

For those that need a laptop that is still up to date without being brand new, buying a refurbished computer could be a very wise choice.

Pandora Radio

Mark — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:36:18 +0000

As the internet becomes a tool we use daily, it not only makes logical sense to create an internet radio station, but also from a practical standpoint. Pandora Radio uses a unique design that creates playlists specific to your own taste in music. This internet radio station is a product of the Music Genome Project, which was started to identify the individual characteristics of a massive amount of songs. The founders’ idea was to group songs based on the characteristics of the individual song, rather than the specific band or genre. This unique approach allows the user to search for a certain song, and if the song the user wants is found, the radio station creates a playlist or specific station of music that is similar in tone and sound to the original song. The goal of the founders of Pandora Radio was to analyze songs based on the fundamental characteristics of the music, such as the major or minor tonality, harmony and rhythm of a particular song.

As for the usability of the station itself, the interface is very easy to use and does not require much getting used to. This is really nice in that it does not waste any of your time. The only thing that the user must do is type in a search for a certain song and verify that the search result was what they wanted. Pandora then creates a playlist with songs of the same characteristics.

Another neat feature is that Pandora allows for user feedback on the same interface in which the songs are being played. The “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” buttons beside each song are the means by which the feedback is accomplished. If the user does press the “thumbs down” button on a certain song, the station immediately deletes the song from playing on that particular station. That way, the user never has to listen to the offending song again while on the station that he or she created.

Oh, and the other great thing about Pandora is that it is free!

One additional aspect of this project that many users will find handy is Pandora’s mobile capabilities. Pandora Radio can be played from a mobile phone if the user so chooses, and the company offers this use for free! This differs greatly from the pricey alternatives to mobile music capabilities offered by other companies.

The only aspects of the usability of the station that a person might find unattractive are that the music played on the station cannot be “rewound” and replayed upon demand and that there is a limit on the number of songs that a user can “skip” per hour. These drawbacks are minor, and the station only implements them to comply with regulations.

Overall, Pandora Radio is a fun, easy and hassle-free way to find a continuous playlist of songs tailored to an individual’s taste.The unique way in which the Music Genome Project analyzes songs allows for a wonderful user experience while keeping use of the product free of cost.

To read more about Pandora Radio and the Music Genome Project, visit their blog.

Sprint Airave

Mark — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:03:49 +0000

The Sprint Airave is a device that allows you to route your Sprint calls through your broadband connection instead of going through the regular cellular network. It basically acts as a little cell phone tower in your home and connects to Sprint over the internet. This is useful if you have a house somewhere with poor cell phone coverage and it is also useful if you have a land line or voip line that you use a lot at home, but would prefer to use the same device for all your calls.

The Sprint AirRave has rather complicated pricing. You have to pay $99 for the device itself, plus $5 per month. Then to get unlimited calling, your account will require paying $10 per month for each phone you want to add unlimited calling to. If you have multiple lines on the same plan, it costs $20 for all of your lines to be covered.

Part of the reason for this complexity is the fact that you can use other’s Airave stations. So even if you don’t have a station yourself, you can add the $10 per month option to your phone and then use their Airave to make unlimited calls for free. If you don’t want people using your Airave you can restrict it to only work with certain phones.

The Airave has been in testing for about a year and will be available in stores August 18th.

Sony Mylo

Mark — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:07:43 +0000

I recently had a chance to play with a Sony Mylo. Actually I hadn’t even heard of it before, but I was pretty impressed. It is a small handheld device about the size of a mobile phone that can be used for email, instant messaging, and Skype VoIP. It also lets you play music and video.

The bottom half of the Mylo slides down to give you access to a small but adequate keyboard. It is bigger than the keyboard on a Blackberry or Treo, b

ut it uses embedded keys which don’t feel quite as natural as the Blackberry.

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Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader System

Mark — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 17:50:04 +0000

There have been quite a few ebook readers on the market, but none of them have really taken off. The Sony PRS-500 is the first one I’ve seen that really looks like it has potential.

The biggest difference between this eBook reader and others that have been on the market is the “electronic paper”. Sony has created a device that doesn’t use power to display text on the screen. It only uses power when it changes the text. The screen “remembers” what was written on it. (more…)

Using a Blackberry Internationally

Mark — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:07:15 +0000

I’ve been using my Blackberry in Mexico for a few months now and I’ve learned a few things about getting mobile email outside the United States. I wanted to write a bit about things I’ve learned in hopes that others will find it useful.

If you are looking at an international email plan, you will probably want to go with a Blackberry instead of some of the other types of smartphones. Other smartphones will allow you to work internationally, but I haven’t seen a plan that gives you unlimited usage. Instead they charge you by the KB which works out to about $15 to $20 per MB downloaded. If you are busy with email, it doesn’t take long to get 20 or even 50 MB of data transfered. At $20 per MB you’ll pay over $1000 for 50 MB. That is a pretty steep charge for a month of usage.

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Voice over IP in Mexico

Mark — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:25:59 +0000

I am writing this article from the center of Mexico. As I write, my wife is talking on the phone with a friend in Nebraska. This week, I’ve received several calls reminding me to vote and the Kansas State Unemployment office called me to tell me that one of my businesses was overpaying on unemployment tax.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the internet. Where I’m at in Durango Mexico I was able to get a low speed cable modem connection for about $31USD per month. The connection is only 512k, but it works great for all of our communication. We use Vonage for our phone. They provided us with a small device that plugs into our router and our standard cordless phone plugs into the phone jack on it. Our number is the same as what we had in the US, so many people who call us don’t even know we are in Mexico.

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Six ways to Play an iPod in Your Car

Mark — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 17:22:59 +0000

iPods are very popular devices, but many people have problems getting them to play in their vehicles. This article looks at the six different ways you can play an iPod in your car.

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Merge iTunes Libraries

Mark — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:49:14 +0000

If you use iTunes on multiple computers, you’ve probably run into the problem of having several copies of the same song in different places and no good way to get one consolidated library of all your songs. The method described here doesn’t merge the iTunes xml file, but it will merge all of your song files to make sure you have one copy of each song. Once you have this consolidated directory, you’ll have to re-import all of your music into iTunes.
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Blackberry 7230 First Impressions

Mark — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:42:30 +0000

Previously I reviews the Blackberry 7100t. While I was generally happy with the device, I found that I was avoiding typing because of the strange keyboard (multiple letters on each key). I started looking for a better solution and started looking at the Blackberry 8700 series. While these looked like great phones, they were very expensive–generally about $300 even when signing up for a 2 year plan.After a brief search on ebay I found a 7230 for under $80. It doesn’t have some of the additional features of the 8700, but I figured it would give me a good chance to try out the keyboard and see how I like the form factor. If I decide I don’t like it, I’m not out much money and I can always turn around and sell it again on eBay.

Another reason I went with the cheaper phone is because neither the 8700 nor the 7200 phones work with OS X as a modem. However, the newest Blackberry Pearl 8100 does work with OS X. I don’t want a Pearl because it has a similiar key layout to the 7100t, but I’m hoping that the next phone released with a full keyboard will have the OS X compatibility.

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