Electronic Gadgets and Gear

TB seems to be the point where it's really the cut-off for easily available commercial hard drives. Everything above that, and it gets a little harder to find. And if you want to be perfectly honest, 1tb, or maybe 1.5 is the real, effective cut-off. You can walk into pretty much any big box electronics store and find a 1-1.5TB drive. 2 is a little harder, and throughout much of the country, it just isn't going to be sitting there on the shelf, because there isn't enough demand for it yet.

No, super hard drives don't wear capes, or fly through the air. They are hard drives that are at least 1Terabyte. In fact, if I'm very lucky, none of the entries will be anywhere close to the 1TB lower limit. I want to see what is the biggest one I can find- that is reasonably available to the public. After all, I'm sure Bill Gates has a 40 million TB hard drive, but if it's custom, it doesn't really count.

I decided a little while back that I wanted to try something. I wanted to cancel cable.

Now, I'm a die-hard movie fan. When my kids are at school, I can often be found on the computer, with an HBO on-demand movie on. Or Cinemax, or Showtime, or Starz... Need I go on?? Besides, who lives nowadays without cable?! When I was growing up, my parents didn't have cable for the longest time, and I always felt like a dork because of it. So, I guess I finally became my parents.

At $140 a month, I was tired of going broke, and watching a bunch of crap that wasn't worth watching. So, I decided to ditch it. But that doesn't mean I stopped wanting entertainment. And when I heard about the Roku box, I knew I had a way out. Roku is a company that makes a box that works with your Netflix subscription. You load up your WATCH INSTANTLY queue, and it transmits the signal from your computer to your tv. Cool, huh??

Now, the caveats. It only works with Netflix currently. And even then, it only does the movies you can watch instantly. And I'll be honest- the selection is pretty limited. You won't have any trouble if you're a documentary, indie, or 80's comedy junkie. Otherwise, if you're the kind of person that loves the latest blockbuster, you're going to be really disappointed. Also, there's just not much for the kids. But Netflix is adding new movies all the time, and this won't be a problem soon. There are quite a few TV shows on here, with Showtime adding a lot of theirs, and also one of the major networks (can't remember if it's NBC or CBS- NBC, I think). As far as it only working with Netflix, that's about to change soon too. Roku has made it open source, and their are a lot of smart people out there working on it now. They're also trying to sign deals with such places as Hulu.com, and others. This will open up an incredible world of movie watching potential.

As for how it works, we had such a horrible time trying to set it up. It wasn't the box's fault, but that my router wasn't compatible. And trust me, it's the router's fault. It's not compatible with anything! But once we got it, there wasn't a single problem. I've got the screen up right now, and I can scroll through my watch instantly queue. As soon as I update online, it updates it on the screen, and it works like a charm. And since you still get movies through the mail with the normal Netflix service, it doesn't matter if your favorite one isn't on the watch instantly list.

Oh, and that $140 for cable?? It's now $18. The extra is paying for all the other stuff that I have wanted to buy for a while, but could never afford. If you decide to try it and it isn't for you, assuming you are paying what I did, you'll break even the first month. The second month, you're ahead by a little over $120. So if you can stand it for two months, you're getting paid $120 to see if it's right for you. Split that between the two months- $60 a month to watch all the movies you can stand. Yeah, that sounds horrible, huh?? ;)

The Gmail Manager is one of the simplest, yet one of the most useful addons for Firefox. Unlike MSN which pops up a huge box everytime you get an email, this just has a tiny little thing that sits at the bottom of your screen. It is red and says "0" when you don't have any messages, and turns blue and tells you how many messages you have when there are some. Furthermore, you can set it to check at whatever interval you want. So if you really want to keep on top of your email, set it to check every minute. If you don't care as much, make it 15, 30, or even 800 minutes. :)

So simple and so useful. That's exactly how an addon should be.

We're continuing where we left off in the series.

I'm the kind of person that can only function if I've got 10 tabs open. These are things that I may not want to bookmark, but I don't want to close the tab either. I've seen an addon before that lets you make temporary bookmarks, but I never downloaded it because I started thinking about how I use these pages. With most of them, I don't know how long I need the window open. I just know that I need that tab open for an indefinite amount of time, but it's not worth even a temporary bookmark. Think of them like sticky notes to myself (without using a program that eats up valuable screen real estate).

Take for example the tabs I've got open now. One of them is UPS tracking info for a package I'm anxiously awaiting. I expect it will be delivered today or tomorrow, but it's ridiculous for me to stick even a temporary bookmark on it. And having to scroll all the way down my list of permanent bookmarks? Hell no. The other tab I've got open is showing this guy make something like 18 million points in one shot on Peggle. I've got that game, and the only challenge I have left is the 750,000 in one game. So the idea of making 18m in one shot, to my can't make 750k in one game- I'm intrigued. If I can study it, perhaps I can copy it well enough to finish that challenge, but I haven't had time to really study the video yet. This blog also frequently has a few tabs open. Use Firefox, open several tabs. I write on the blog on one. I open all my research tabs for fashion, home decor, entertainment, life, and electronics in each of them. Then, I've got all my topics right in front of me. Again, nothing I want to keep on a long term, but I don't really want to search for it every day either.

So, I downloaded Permanent Tab. Right click, select permanent tab, and it turns it into a permanent tab. When you're done, right click and deselect it, and it can be closed. When it's on, no matter what, even when you have such a catastrophic lock up on your computer that you have to choose not to reopen the windows that caused the problems and start from new, these will reopen.

AdBlock is the number one plugin that you should be using for Firefox. Is it perfect? No. But there are a lot of ads that I don't have to view on the web, and I like that.

I have to admit that I'm very torn on this one. On one hand, I feel guilty for using it. I mean, I'm a webmaster, and I make my money off ad clicks. And if people aren't viewing them, I'm not getting paid. On the other hand, I don't want to view them either.

My husband has been in the IT field for a while now. He's not the only one in my family. My dad was a computer programmer before most people knew anything about computers. My mom is still a computer programmer to this day.

It's kind of the professional hobby of every IT worker to chase as many different areas of expertise as they can. See, in IT, certain programs come into favor, and then fall out of favor just as quickly as new technology develops. New programs will be written in a certain language because that's the kind of programming experts they have on hand. But as new hardware comes out and companies hire new workers that have experience with different software or hardware, they will have to move to different languages. So overall, it all cycles around. The hottest programming language might be something that's 20 years old, because none of the newer graduates are experts in that language. lol

So, most IT workers will learn new languages, or try and get different certifications that make them experts in a certain area. The more well-rounded you are, the better you appear to a potential employer, because you're able to bring a more varied set of skills. Some forward thinking companies will handle this for their employees, and assist them in getting certified. And it's not unusual to find that you get a raise after getting a certification.

Currently, the hot thing is Cisco certification. It's very easy to see why. The Internet has fueled a huge boom in Information Technology. But Cisco is one of the first to make routers that handle multiple network protocols, and internet protocols. And with their purchase of Linksys and Scientific-Atlanta, the entire Internet would look very different without them around. Because they control so many things that control the Internet, it's an important thing for most companies to want employees who are experts in Cisco.

Firefox is my favorite browser. I've never had a problem with it, and it has come up with so many good ideas that other browsers have stolen those ideas. Plus, my favorite part was the plug-ins, which is one area where they definitely lead the way.

Here are some of my favorite, and most essential, plugins for Firefox. These are the ones that I setup the second I get a new computer, and the ones I really miss when I'm using someone else's computer away from home. I'm sure you'll have your own list, but maybe you'll find a couple of new favorites here.

POP Peeper is a download that notifies you when you have a new email. Nothing new, right? Well, this works across multiple email clients. I've got at least three main email addresses that I use, plus multiple other ones. This would tell me whenever I have an email, no matter what the email client is.

Much rot is writ about how horrible Windows Vista is, and how people want to switch back. I mean, there is nothing more certain to induce horror and legendary flame wars than stating the words, "I like Vista." But guess what. I like Vista.

There's a lot of misconceptions out there about Vista, and I wanted to take a moment to talk about my experiences with it. Most of the complaints revolve around software that doesn't work with it. I think the most ridiculous claim I heard was that videos in Windows Media Center don't look good. The problem is, the person who made this complaint purchased a new computer with Vista already installed. Now why is this a silly complaint? Because Vista controls your computer, and Media Center controls you videos. It's called an operating system because it controls the normal operations of your computer, not every single file on it. When there is a compatibility issue (more on that in a minute), you should be writing the company that makes the software, rather than complaining that the operating system doesn't cover it. Now, I understand that Windows Media Center is made by the same company. But that doesn't mean it's anything more than a program, and if you like a different one better, use it. And as far as that goes, I've heard a few complaints that nothing runs on Vista. I think that's absurd. I have only found one program I normally use that wasn't listed as compatible. It probably would have worked anyway, but being a free FTP program, I figured that I could probably find a different free FTP program that was compatible, so I did that instead.

There is another major complaint I hear. People don't seem to like various features. They complain about the sidebar, or they don't care for a window popping up every single time they install a program. The features are there to provide you with a richer experience when using your computer. But if you don't like them, turn them off. That's right. It's your computer, so make it truly yours! I personally didn't care for the sidebar, so I turned it off. I don't mind the window asking me for permission to continue installing a program, so I left it on. If it bothers you, go to your control panel, and in the search area, enter "User Control Access". Turn it off right there. But what seems silly to me is that people are paying big bucks to get earlier versions of Windows, when they can simply turn off the feature they don't like.

Finally, I've heard that the Start menu is confusing. This one truly baffles me. See, I like to really use (some would say abuse) my computer. I routinely have many windows open at the same time, and I install all sorts of programs. So many that despite how it's supposed to work, XP could never handle the list. Eventually, I would add so many programs that it wouldn't show them all. It filled the entire screen and continued off the side of the screen. But because XP scrolls down and opens up branches of each program, it takes up very little room, and there's no chance of putting too many files. This is the first Windows operating system that actually works for as many files as I have, without becoming overloaded or clumsy looking.

There is one thing I have not heard a complaint about. Everyone seems to like the look. In fact, in most of the complaints, they actually praise the look and design. And I know, you're thinking that if you can't run anything, the appearance doesn't matter. As I wrote above, I have not had a software issue with Vista. But what about hardware? Sure. I had a hardware issue when I first bought the computer. But I immediately knew that it wasn't because of Vista. It was because I needed more RAM. When you have 10+ windows open, you're asking a lot from your computer, and it needs more memory to handle it. Once I gave it that, it did perfectly. So, without any software or hardware issues, I'm not sure what operational problems I'm supposed to be having. Sorry to disappoint, but I haven't had any of them.

Lest you believe that I simply don't know any better, I've been on computers throughout my entire life. I distinctly remember Windows 3.0, and I've had every single one of the Windows operating systems since then. Some were good, others weren't. But Vista is my favorite so far, and I don't understand all the hate that's out there. Most of the problems that people are having would exist no matter what operating system they used, because it's not an operating system issue.

My husband got his laptop about 2 months before Vista was released. I got mine a few months after, and it was pre-installed. Both of our desktops are on XP, and my husband is jealous that he doesn't have a computer with Vista. When it came time to buy my son his first computer earlier this month, we both considered it essential that it have a Windows XP operating system.

Send Later is a plugin that works with Outlook. It lets you schedule messages to be sent at a later time. On its surface, it seems like it would be extremely handy. But think about it. When's the last time you needed to send an email at a very precise time? And if you did, did you really feel unnecessarily tied down to the computer, so that you wished you could be elsewhere, if only it wasn't for that darn email? It just seems sort of pointless.

We all use email. That's how many people get hooked on the internet. But so few things exist to make the email run smoother. This week, I'm going to be discussing some software and plugins that will help your email run more smoothly. After all, we've got browsers with plugins. Why not email?

There are a lot of game widgets for Google. The problem is, most suck. Wei Hwa makes some insanely difficult brain teasers, and there are a lot of different ones to choose from. Right now, I'm trying to solve some devious Diagonal Sudoku puzzles he's got. I thought I was pretty good at Sudoku, and it's very rare that I find one I can't solve. On Wei Hwa's puzzles, I ran into several. :D

My fashion blog here is what started me down the path to being a blogger/writer. And it's still my most popular blog. But here's a little secret that I haven't told many people- this is my first widget that I ever made. It's not much, and certainly, there are a lot of clever people out there building really cool widgets. But building one for yourself when you know nothing about PHP?? Now that's cool.

Gmail has an instant messaging feature called "chat" which is going to be the next big messaging tool, I believe. It's already seeing a big upswing in popularity. I like this one, because it's easy to use, already setup when you have a Gmail account, and simple to understand. It's not bogged down with a bunch of unnecessary stuff, and at it's heart, it's just a simple messaging tool like I prefer.