Hello everyone,

Here is an interesting video hosted by Chris Pirillo. The ioSafe Solo External Hard Drive is expensive but being safe may make it worth it to you. If nothing else I hope it get’s you thinking about backing up your personal data. Enjoy!

Professor Randy says: Better safe than sorry! I personally consider this Hard Drive to be a bit of “overkill”, but no one can deny the importance of backing up and keeping your data safe and secure!

Hello everyone,

Just in case you have not had time to check out  Apple’s new iPad, here is a post from CNN which will give you a quick look. Then I’ll finish with my “take”.

San Francisco, California (CNN) — Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday unveiled the iPad, the widely and wildly anticipated tablet-style computer that he called “a truly magical and revolutionary product.”

“What this device does is extraordinary,” Jobs said. “It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had. … It’s unbelievably great … way better than a laptop. Way better than a smartphone.”

The computer will act as a sort of missing link between the two. The model Jobs demonstrated at an invitation-only event in San Francisco operated without a hardware keyboard, with Jobs typing on what he described as a nearly full-size touchscreen keyboard.

“It’s a dream to type on,” he said.

It has a nearly 10-inch screen, runs existing apps from the Apple apps store and is available in 16-gigabyte, 32-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte versions, according to Jobs.

It will be about a half-inch thick and weigh about 1½ pounds.

Jobs said the iPad will be lightning fast: “It screams,” he told a crowd that included former Vice President Al Gore.

See CNN iReporters’ reaction to the iPad

The device will have a 1 GHz processor, an announcement that coaxed “oohs” and “ahs” from the audience.

Pricing will start at $499 for the 16-gigabyte version, $599 for the 32-gig version and $699 for the 64, Jobs said.

Having 3G mobile access will cost an extra $130 on each, he said.

Two mobile plans will be available through AT&T, and there will be no contracts, allowing customers to opt out at any time, according to Jobs.

They are scheduled to begin shipping in 60 days.

Professor Randy says: If I were you I would not rush out to pre-order the iPad. Everything that this device does can be done better by other, less expensive devices that are already out there. Time will tell, but my “gut” is telling me that the iPad although beautiful, isn’t different and is therefore unnecessary!

Hello everyone,

There is nothing like great, high quality tech articles full of wonderful content. Today I would like to point you to ten more awesome tech links. Enjoy the interesting and informative material!!

1) How To Rip, Store and Play Blu-Ray Movies:
(http://tinyurl.com/y8fohts)

2) Windows 7 –  Past, Present and Future:
(http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/nowwhat.asp)

3) PC Specs – De-Emphasizing the Processor:
(http://tinyurl.com/yc8dorc)

4) A Cheap Fix for Stubborn CD-Burning Problems:
(http://tinyurl.com/ycoltoz)

5) 10 Tips to Create a Motivating Working Environment at Home:
(http://tinyurl.com/ykuqp3l)

6) 18 Online Productivity Tools for Your Business:
(http://mashable.com/2010/01/17/online-productivity-tools-business/)

7) Tips, Tricks and Hacks to Make Windows 7 More Awesome:
(http://tinyurl.com/yck7w5l)

8) Facebook – Starting Over:
(http://mediactive.com/2009/12/12/facebook-starting-over/)

9) The Year’s (2009) Most Hacked Software:
(http://tinyurl.com/yzejfhe)

10) Hands On Look at What’s New in Office 2010:
(http://lifehacker.com/5411837/hands+on-look-at-whats-new-in-office-2010)

Professor Randy says: What could be better than great tech content written by extremely knowledgeable “tech gurus”? I hope you enjoy the fascinating and informative subject matter which is covered in these articles!

Hello everyone,

Update: Solid State Drive prices have come way, way down! See my most recent post here.

Within the tech community a topic of great interest is the Solid State Drive. Instead of using a spinning disc these SSD’s use flash memory to store (read/write) data.

Flash memory uses less energy, is quieter and faster than the standard Hard Disc Drive.

But the most important SSD factor by far is SPEED! Your Solid State Drive computer will boot up in seconds, your programs will launch in a snap, and you will no longer have to wait as you stare at the hour glass icon on your screen for five minutes. Take a look at this video – can you even imagine this?

Is that fast or what? So it’s a no brainer – let’s all go to SSD’s right? Well there is one slight problem: They ain’t cheap!!

Lucas Mearian of Computerworld (http://tinyurl.com/n88z9n) notes the price difference between the two is substantial (this great article was written in June 2009 and the prices have come down some since then, but the gap between HHD and SSD prices is still steep).

“Most consumer-grade SSDs from leading vendors now cost around $3 per gigabyte, while traditional hard drives cost about 20 to 30 cents per gigabyte for 2.5-in. laptop drives and 10 to 20 cents per gigabyte for 3.5-in. desktop drives, according storage market research firm Coughlin Associates Inc. In other words, even the cheapest 120GB SSDs are going to be around $300, though some are available on sale for less. So should you buy a high-capacity HDD for little cash or plunk down hundreds of dollars more for a fast, but lower-capacity, SSD? Or, should you wait?”

Professor Randy says: Patience is a virtue! I wouldn’t “pull the trigger” yet on a SSD. The current price-per-gigabyte ratio is still too high! Wait until the GB capacities increase and the prices come down and then make your move!

Hello everyone,

Today I would like to address the many video enthusiasts who may be considering buying a Blu-ray Disc player and/or the Blu-ray discs to go with it. As you can see by the title of this post, I’m not convinced by Blu-ray and I advise you to “tread carefully” when considering investing in Blu-ray. I firmly believe that Blu-ray is not going to have the same awesome impact that DVD did when it first came out and ever since. Optical discs will soon be a thing of the past as many netbook and notebook PC makers opt for disc-less designs in their computers (less weight, more room for a bigger battery). Let’s investigate further:

1) Some quick history:

In 2006, a format war began between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. These two high-definition optical disc formats were incompatible with each other and were attempting to improve upon and eventually replace the DVD standard (high- definition video resolution of 1080p compared to DVD’s 480p). Two years later in February 2008, Toshiba, the main company supporting HD DVD “raised the white flag” and the format war was over – Blu-ray was the victor! Blu-ray would now set the new standard and become the high-definition “king”! Blu-ray all the way! Right? Well, read on!!

2) Some revealing facts:

In 2009 (fully three years after the advent of Blu-ray), digital movies and TV shows generated more income than did Blu-ray. Digital movies generated almost twice as much income as Blu-ray, while DVD’s generated nine times as much income as Blu-ray!

3) Some key points to consider:

A) Without a doubt if you have a large screen HDTV (≈ 50″ or bigger), then a Blu-ray player will give you the best picture and sound quality on the planet. You will sit at home and say “wow”! You will think that you’re actually in the theater – which of course is the point! However, if your HDTV screen size is smaller than ≈ 50″ then it simply won’t be able to take full advantage of the color and detail information that’s on the Blu-ray disc. In my opinion it’s not worth the expense.

B) Up-scaled DVD’s look fantastic on a smaller HDTV screen. Any decent up-conversion DVD player (much less expensive than a Blu-ray player) will convert the DVD 480p to 1080i and it will be hard to tell the difference in image quality with the Blu-ray. DVD also looks very good on any non high-definition TV (digital SDTV).

C) DVD’s have been around for 12 years and consequently are more numerous (1,900 Blu-ray movie titles available compared to 105,000 DVD movie titles available). In addition, there are only 7 to 8 new Blu-ray releases per month compared to 900 new DVD releases each month. Many times you can’t find the movie that you’re looking for in the Blu-ray format!

D) Do you really want to start another video disc/player collection again? First I bought a VHS player and built up a nice collection of movie titles in VHS format, then I bought a DVD player and amassed a good collection of DVD’s videos. Am I now going to start yet another collection of expensive Blu-ray Discs and player? I think you know the answer! Just Say Nay To Blu-ray!!

E) Last but certainly not least: The future of accessing and watching video is by delivering it digitally through the Internet. Very soon all TV’s will come with ethernet jacks or wi-fi in them allowing you to buy, watch, and stream video content directly from the Internet. Right now Microsoft’s Xbox Live instantly streams from Netflix over the Internet to your TV and the incredible Roku box instantly streams high quality movies from Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand. This is just the beginning. Online digital download of movies on Internet enabled TV’s will soon make discs and disc players practically obsolete.

Professor Randy says: Don’t buy another disc player nor start another collection of discs! Stick with your DVD’s for the moment and wait for online video to take over. Streaming video is the future!

Hello everyone,

I’ve been working on computers all week and almost everyone in my area of town is upgrading their OS to Windows 7. I really like Windows 7, all of my clients are asking about it and I’m recommending it to them without hesitation.

Windows 7 is such a great OS that it would have sold itself on merit alone – but in addition, Microsoft came out with some super pre-launch TV commercials. The commercials are not only cute (the ones with Kylie), and funny (girl in park, football coach) but relevant and quite “catchy”.

I absolutely love a song in one of the commercials. The video clip is of a young guy wearing headphones and singing. The song is by Loyale (“The Moment” featuring Allen Stone). Even though I’m a bit older I think the song is just so cool!! It just makes me happy!! Listen to it here on your computers media player: Loyale- The Moment . Is that a great song or what?