Reviews, Rants, News, Tips & Tricks

Looking for a Great Deal on Microsoft Software?

2010-06-29T21:48:00.000-05:00

If you haven't upgraded to Windows 7 or are looking for a new version of Office, don't head to your nearest retail store/website just yet. You may have a cheaper option. If you are a student or teacher chances are that you qualify for academic pricing. Microsoft's web page with more information can be found here. You may have better luck, however, asking someone at the campus bookstore or checking your school's website for specific deals.

Another option I just read about on CNET's Cheapskate blog is Microsoft's TechNet subscription service. Basically for $200 you can download almost any piece of Microsoft Software for up to 10 computers (non commercial use). This includes Windows 7 and Office. A full list of available software can be found here (xlsx file). For more details on this product/program I recommend checking out the blog post on bnet.

Keep track of your money in 2010

2010-01-01T16:58:00.000-06:00

Check out the blog below for some geeky and some not so geeky ways to keep track of your money.http://scottandstefanie.blogspot.com/2010/01/keep-track-of-your-money-in-2010.html

Get more out of your gmail account

2009-11-16T20:07:00.000-06:00

Here's a useful trick to make it easier to organize your inbox.

Avoid Unwanted Data Charges

2009-11-04T20:57:00.000-06:00

My wife and I recently decided it was time to upgrade cell phones. Previously we were each an added line on our parents cell plans. After some deliberation, we decided it would be best if we cut the cord (pun intended, sorry) and started a new plan on our own. We ended up with new phones and a text/picture messaging plan, but no data plan. I like the concept of having internet on my phone (almost) anywhere I go, but I am not ready to pay the extra premium every month. Unfortunately, basically every new phone is made so that you can have easy access to the internet, even if you don't subscribe to a data plan. This often means an accidental button press, extra curiosity, or multitudes of preloaded data using apps can lead to connecting to the data network, resulting in unwanted charges. If you are a newer subscriber to AT&T, data usage without having a data plan will cost $2/MB. Since they always round up even one accidental visit to the mobile web will cost you $2 even if you only transfer 100kb of data.

So, if you are in this position what are your options? The first option would be to call your carrier's customer service and ask them to block all data to your phone. This will prevent any data transfer to/from your phone. This may be a very good option for some people. However, many texting plans now include text, picture and even video messages. For AT&T (I would imagine other carriers are similar) picture messages are actually sent through the phone's internet connection, but you are only charged 1 message, not kb of data. Therefore, if you block all data you are blocking a feature you are paying extra for.

I wasn't ready to give up picture messages, especially since I was wanting to experiment with posting pictures to facebook via my new cell phone. I started looking into other options and I came across a way to eliminate most of the accidental data charges and keep all of my phone features available to me. The solution is to create "dummy" internet profiles on your phone. I'll walk you through what this looks like on my LG Xenon. The process should be similar for other phones/carriers, but I can't guarantee your results.

First, look for through the settings menu of your phone for different "connection settings." Your user manual should help you find these settings.

On the Xenon go to Settings --> More --> Connection --> Access Points --> create a new profile
Here you can create a "dummy" access point with bogus information that will not be able to connect to the network, thereby avoiding data charges.

Next create a new Internet Profile by going to Settings --> More --> Connection --> Internet profile --> new profile. In your new profile make sure to use your newly created dummy access point in this set of settings.

Finally change the built in browser connection settings Settings --> More --> Applications --> Browser --> Accounts From here create a new account making sure to use your dummy Internet profile.

Notes:
If possible, do not delete the default settings, create a new entry instead. If something goes wrong you can always go back to the defaults.
There may be more places to change settings depending on your phone/carrier.
I have only used this on my phone and have not tested this extensively.
This may not eliminate all paths to data usage, but should significantly cut down on accidental charges.
I recommend doing some searching on google to try and find people who have attempted something similar with the same model phone that you have.

Toy Tracker

2009-07-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

gdgt.com is a new site for gadget news, reviews, etc. What's different about gdgt is the social networking features. At gdgt you can create an account and add the gadgets you have or want to your profile. You can discuss your favorite products, ask for technical help, or add to the database of gear. This can be a great resource if you choose popular gadgets. As the user base continues to grow and more products are added gdgt has the potential to become a one stop shop for research, reviews, and tips from actual owners. It was also fun to look up past toys and gadgets and see how far things have come. Check it out. If you like it you can follow me and we can be friends.

my gadgets

Online Storage

2009-06-28T20:50:00.000-05:00

Online storage is becoming more and more popular as high speed internet and cheap, high capacity storage infiltrates mainstream America. There are several ways to keep your favorite files online. If you want complete customization and flexibility you can build your own network area storage (NAS) unit. This is more cost and effort than most people want to exert. Instead, many people are opting for online services. An important use of online storage is for offsite backup. I use Mozy to back up some of my documents automatically. If you want to pay $5/month you can backup your entire computer and should the worst case scenario happen, you will still have all of your files. Mozy will give you 2GB free space (if you sign up with my link we will both get an additional 256MB) to try their service. Carbonite is a similar service. Another reason for online storage is to transfer your files from computer to computer. In the good old days we all used to carry around floppy disks. Then we upgraded to CDs and emailing ourselves that presentation we had to give in class next hour. Now USB drives and online storage are common place. Dropbox is a popular service for this. Online services for uploading files have been around for quite a while now, usually offering 500MB - 2GB free storage. Microsoft has recently upgraded its skydrive service to offer 25GB space for FREE. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however. For one, the drag and drop bulk uploader only works with internet explorer. You can add file from any browser, you just have to be prepared to select individual files. The other thing that limits Skydrive uses is its 50MB/file limit. This prevents you from backing up many video and other large files. If you want to share files, Skydrive will let you upload to a public folder and provide a url to share with your friends. I will probably upload all of our wedding pictures to skydrive to keep on copy (along with other backups) online. If you have an existing hotmail or live.com account you already have a skydrive account. If not, the 25GB may tempt you to signing up for microsoft's service. Don't forget, you can create different accounts at 25GB apiece if you really need a lot of storage.

Nerd Search

2009-05-18T18:14:00.000-05:00

If you pay very much attention to tech news, you've probably noticed an abundance of buzz around the new Wolfram Alpha "computational knowledge engine." Wolfram is not a replacement for your favorite search engine, but it can provide a wealth of information in the world of science and math. Here's a full list of search examples. You can also watch an overview video (13 min). This site will only become more useful as more data and calculations are added. Go check it out. You'll never have this much fun doing double integrals.

More USB drive uses

2009-05-05T20:06:00.001-05:00

USB drives (thumb drives, usb keys, jump drives, whatever you call them) have dropped in price dramatically. I think I paid around $80 for a 1GB drive 5 years ago and now you can get a 2GB or even 4GB drive for under $10. With these drives so cheap (even given out by companies at trade shows) are you taking advantage of all that can be done with this portable storage medium? Below I've listed a few things that you can do with your drive besides carry your documents and spreadsheets around.

Portable Apps
http://portableapps.com
http://www.pendriveapps.com/
Portable apps are great for people who use multiple computers and have specific programs they want with them at all times. They are also great for anyone who does any troubleshooting/it work. The programs reside and run completely on the usb drive requiring no installation on the host computer. See the website for more info. This concept works with OS X, but is much more common with Windows programs.

Manage Passwords
http://cnettv.cnet.com/make-most-your-usb-drive-manage-passwords-your/9742-1_53-19556.html
This video is a couple years old, so there may be more up to date programs, but the concept remains the same.

Back up critical files
http://cnettv.cnet.com/make-most-your-usb-drive-back-up-your/9742-1_53-19558.html
Same applies to this video.

Add extra memory to your PC
http://cnettv.cnet.com/use-flash-drive-memory-windows-xp/9742-1_53-50004761.html
This could be a way for you to use one of those extra drives you have lying around to get a little more performance out of that XP machine.

These are probably just a few of the things that can be done with these readily available, cheap drives. As always, if you have more suggestions, please let me know.

Ditching Cable, Part 3

2009-04-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

I've already discussed getting free HD with an antenna and watching some of your favorite shows online. Now it's time to get extra geeky and combine some of this together.

The goal is to have one device connected to your TV that combines the all of these sources into a user friendly viewing experience. While this idea is starting to gain traction, no one has completely mastered it. Apple has its Apple TV and Netflix has the Roku box. A company called ZeeVee also has some products out there. Game consoles are also another way to have video content delivered to your tv. The xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 can also be portals to online video, which might keep you from having another device hooked up to your tv.

Right now the most flexible (and geekiest) option for getting your favorite content to your living room is by buying/building a media center computer. If you have a laptop, it may be as simple as installing something like Boxee or XMBC and hooking it up to your big screen. The downside is that you have to keep hooking/unhooking your computer. One of the cool things about Boxee is that it can be used on an Apple TV with a little hacking. This is a pretty cool solution and is fairly cheap since an Apple TV is about half of the cost of a small computer. Another alternative would be to purchase a small computer (Mac Mini, Dell Studio Hybrid) and put similar software on it. One advantage here is the option of using the built in dvd player as well.

Let's get ultra geeky now. If you built/custom ordered a computer just for the living room it could have all sorts of cool stuff. By using the right software (as mentioned above) you could have access to internet video, any videos/dvds ripped to your hard drive and possible even access to a Blu-Ray drive. This could also be a sweet gaming machine. I'm not just talking about hard core games, either. It would be pretty easy to install a few emulators and play your favorite NES games in all their 8 bit glory on the big screen. Here are a couple things you might want to consider before going this route. First off, how much is this going to cost? I don't know about you, but I am not made of money (perhaps you could justify it because of all the money you will be saving?). Secondly, a big beastly computer may suck up quite a bit of electricity, especially if left on all day. Thirdly, do you want another large living room appliance taking up space, not to mention its accessories (wireless keyboard/mouse)? Lastly, if this is going to be a noisy machine, it may just be annoying and not worth the trade off.

I personally have thought about this a lot and have only used my laptop to occasionally watch online video using boxee or hulu. If I was going to sink some money into this I would probably look at something like a hacked Apple TV. That is just my opinion. Would you like something like this? Or have you built a lean mean living room machine? Let me know your thoughts.

Ditching Cable, Part 2

2009-03-27T16:37:00.000-05:00

In part one of this series I talked about taking advantage of free digital tv by using an antenna. In this post I am going to start talking about other ways to get some of your favorite cable programing without the monthly bill.

One way to get more control over what programming you pay for is to use that dvd player sitting under your tv. For the same price (or less) as a month of cable you could buy at least one season of your favorite show. If you are going to be renting a lot of movies/tv shows, Netflix may be a better alternative for renting. For an even cheaper method of dvd acquisition check out your local library. Many have a surprising catalog of new and old movies. Go check it out and see what's available.

If you don't mind watching video on your computer or if you have your computer hooked up to the tv, (I will cover this in a later post) you can find a lot of great programming online. If you have a favorite show that would get cut off when you lose the cable check the network website to see if they have online episodes. All of the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) have almost all of their prime time shows available (usually with fewer commercials, by the way) on their web sites. More and more "cable" channels (Discovery, History, A&E) are starting to put some of their shows online as well. A great place to start is hulu. Hulu is a collaboration between several networks and movie studios to put video online. One of the nice things about having an online video source (even if you could watch your show on tv) is that it can be used like a dvr . You don't have to worry if you have something come up at 8:00 on Thursdays when your favorite show starts because you can watch it online the next day. Check out http://www.findinternettv.com/FullEpisodes.aspx for a pretty comprehensive list of what's available online, legally, for free.

If there is something that you can't find online or if you don't want any commercials, you can also purchase/rent video online to view on your computer. If you use iTunes you can buy & download tv shows and movies. You will be able to watch these on your computer or iPods. Amazon also has a similar service for streaming or downloading video.

Check back later to see how to use these services and your tv together for even more geek-tastic solution.

March Madness Online

2009-03-18T15:21:00.002-05:00

Have you filled out your bracket yet? Maybe you've filled out 17. Everyone has their own bracket service online. ESPN , Yahoo , and Facebook all have ways to track your predictions. Last year some people that I worked with created a crazy excel workbook to track scores, standings, etc. If you use Google Docs at all, someone has created a spreadsheet template that will do the same thing. You can use it to share brackets with your friends and set up your own scoring system. Give it a look if you haven't filled anything out yet.

Thursday is when all of the games start. As in years past, CBS is streaming them all online. That means you can watch any game without jumping back and forth to the break room to your desk (your boss may not condone this). It also allows you to watch your team, even if they are punishing that #16 seed. Follow this link to check it out. NCAA^® March Madness^® on Demand

A couple of notes: Streaming video continues to improve, but it may suffer if your internet connection isn't fast enough. Also, you may be prompted to download Microsoft's Silverlight program if it is not all ready installed.

Here are my picks (you might call them guesses)
If you want to fill out your bracket and compete against me leave a comment and I will add you as a collaborator so you can edit the sheet. Then read the "help" sheet and fill out one of the "Bracket #" sheets (I'm Bracket 1).

Happy Pi Day

2009-03-14T12:07:00.003-05:00

Look at the date if you've never heard of this before. Only 6 (maybe 7 depending on how you round) more years until super Pi day.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/magic-number.html

Ditching Cable, Part 1

2009-03-11T15:39:00.001-05:00

Whether you are trying to save money, realizing that even though there are 700 channels there is nothing on tv, or just want to be a geek, we all could benefit from dumping the cable and the high price tag that goes with it. I am going to split this up into several different posts (not sure how many yet) covering different aspects of changing how we watch tv.

The first part is simple. Limited geekiness required. Buy/use an antenna. Before you cancel the cable you should check a couple of things. First, go to antennaweb.org and put in your address. This will show you the distance and direction to the towers that send tv signals. This will give you an idea of what kind of antenna you will need. If every station is 50+ miles away, you will probably have to keep your cable or look into exterior/roof antennas. This will be a little pricey at first, so make sure you evaluate the cost situation. Next go to tvguide.com/listings, edit your location and select Broadcast stations. This will allow you to see what channels you will actually get. With the transition to digital tv, which I'm sure you are probably tire of hearing about (I sure am), stations are able to broadcast more than 1 channel. For example, here in Northwest Arkansas channel 29 is ABC. They broadcast ABC on digital channel 29-1 and the CW on digital channel 29-2.

Let's talk about indoor antennas for a minute. This is the cheapest option for free over the air tv if you live in an area with several stations. I currently use my antenna to pick up channels up to 45 miles away using an amplified indoor antenna. The Terk/Audiovox HDTVa is the antenna I am currently using for my tv. Since I am on the outskirts of town I needed an amplified antenna to keep from having to constantly adjust it depending on the station. Also, most of the towers I get signals from are in the same general direction, which helps maximize the number of stations I receive. Before the Terk I had an amplified phillips antenna that I had to adjust to pick up the same stations I get now. If you go shopping for antennas many will say HD antenna. This is usually just marketing. While an antenna may be optimized for digital signals (I'm not really sure how this works) the truth is that digital tv signals are the same UHF and VHF signals that you could pick up on rabbit ears (most stations are UHF). So if you have an antenna lying around, hook it up and see what you get.

This brings us to the next thing to consider when switching to an antenna. The TV. If you have a new flat panel LCD or Plasma tv you may benefit the most from an antenna. First of all, it all ready has a digital tuner (ATSC) built in. Second, it is most likely an HDTV. A major benefit of the digital tv switch is the transmission of HDTV signals. What you may not realize is that over the air HD signals are higher quality (less compression) than HD signals you may or may not get through cable. Also, since part of the HD standard is the 16:9 widescreen resolution, you can watch almost all of your favorite prime time network tv without everything being stretched horizontally. It may be for this very reason that you choose to get an antenna to complement your cable set up. Digital tv signals also broadcast scheduling information so that you can have an onscreen tv guide.

Now lets address the people that don't have flat screens in every room. If your tv is only a couple of years old it may have a digital tuner, even if it isn't a fancy HDTV. Odds are that it doesn't. These are the tvs that need the dreaded converter box. If you know how to hook up a VCR, then you can hook up a converter box (I may cover this in a different post). Once it is hooked up, connect your antenna to it and scan for all of your new channels. The channels you receive will come in clear, but will not be HD. One thing to note about digital broadcasts, it is all or nothing. You either get a crystal clear picture or you get an unwatchable annoyance. This is a good reason to test your antenna before you shut off the cable.

Quick Summary:

Save $$ by ditching cable
check antennaweb.org and tvguide.com/listings for stations in your area
buy the right antenna and converter box if necessary
hook it up and enjoy HD broadcasts on your big screen or a clear picture on your SDTV

I hope this has been informative. Stay tuned for ways to find other sources for your favorite programing.

RSS

2009-03-09T15:46:00.000-05:00

RSS is a web technology that makes keeping up with all of your favorite web sites easier. Wikipedia has a good explanation (Super Geeky). Here is a simpler explanation (Geeky). If you are reading this and are unfamiliar with RSS the best way to understand may be by watching this short video.

I personally use Google Reader to keep up with all of my RSS feeds. While many feed readers are online services (you have to be online and sign in) there are many desktop programs that can handle RSS feeds and may already be on your computer. For example, Apple's Mail program will let you subscribe to feeds without using a web browser or signing up for a service. One of the advantages of using an online service is portability. It doesn't matter who's computer you are on, you can log into your feed reader and get your updates. This is one of the ways that I live without newspaper delivery to my front door. I simply subscribe to my preferred news site and the headlines show up in my reader. I can quickly scan and decide what I want to read. If you find yourself spending a lot of time looking at your favorite blogs, news websites or even facebook, an RSS reader may save you time. If you like, you can even subscribe to this site by using this link: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ScottSpeaksGeek or by clicking on "Subscribe" in the top right corner of the web page. You can also see things I've read and shared on Facebook or Google Reader using RSS on the left and right sidebars (Shared Links (FB) and Shared Items (GR)). If you are a blogger you can turn any RSS feed into a widget with most services, like I've done on this site.

Intro

2009-03-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Scott Speaks Geek blog. This is going to be my online outlet to release my inner nerd. Here you will find discussions on different ways technology affects my life. Whether it is a review of my latest toy, talk about a technology news story or a simple how-to for all the non-geeks out there, I hope you find this site entertaining and informational. Please leave your comments and suggestions. I would love to hear them. I also write on a more personal blog, scottandstefanie.blogspot.com, if you would like to follow us there.

New Blog Coming Soon

2009-03-06T10:16:00.000-06:00

Check back soon to start reading Scott's "Geek" blog.