Here are some great products no matter which way you look at it. But for this article’s sake, we’re listing 2 items in each category. A low priced item and a high priced item. The only prerequisite is that they are well received items no matter what the cost, so depending on your budget, you can’t go wrong. And another thing to note is that these aren’t the lowest priced or highest priced items in each category, they are just great values at each price. This means that there are cheaper Blu-Ray players, but they might not be nearly as good as the one I suggest. There are certainly more expensive ones, but as far as price for features and style, there is no sane reason to spend much more (in my humble opinion anyway).

Blu-Ray Player:

High – Playstation 3 250GB – Yes, it’s a game console, but it is also a great Blu-Ray player. In fact, I’m sure a lot of PS3 owners out there use the Blu-Ray player more than they use it to play games on!

Low – Samsung – BD-P1600 Blu-Ray Disc Player – Samsung has been one of the better producers of home entertainment equipment for a while now, and this is no exception. With built-in WiFi, Netflix streaming, and 1080p output, this is a great looking and inexpensive device.

Laptop Computer:

High – MacBook Pro 15″ Designed like no other personal computers out there, Apple continues to pave the way for everyone else. Top of the line performance and a virtually virus-free experience if you have the money to invest in this piece of technical art. This is the machine that will facilitate your photography, film making, music composition and recording, or just good old fashioned computing needs.

Low – Asus Eee PC Netbook – If you’re like most people, you use your computer to get on the internet and read your email, pay some bills, and check Facebook. If that is the case, then a Netbook computer is the right choice for you. Also, if you travel a lot, there’s nothing like a day’s worth of battery life on one charge to keep you going.

Point-And-Shoot Camera:

High – Canon Powershot S90 IS – Camera geek Ken Rocwell has been gushing about this camera since before it even came out. It’s as close as you can get to a full sized DSLR’s image quality in a compact point and shoot digital camera.

Low – Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS7K Panasonic makes some of the finest compact digital cameras around. Their secret? The lens of course! This one has a f/2.8 Leica DC Vario-Elmar 4x Optical Zoom Lens. Yes, that Leica.

Electronic Book Reader:

High – Amazon Kindle 2.0 – The wireless 3G worldwide access is what set the Kindle apart from other eBook Readers. That, and the fact that you can read it in just about any lighting condition makes this a worthy investment.

Low – Sony PRS-300 E-Reader Pocket Edition – Long battery life, quick page turning, and the ability to read many file formats (such as PDF or MS Word) make this a great value with no subscriptions or commitments.

Portable GPS:

High – Garmin Nuvi 1690 – Get real-time content on the go such as fuel prices, traffic conditions, and Google Local searches. The Nuvi 1690 comes with 2 years of the nüLink! subscription service that costs only $5 a month after the 2-year period ends.

Low - TomTom One 140 – This is the GPS I use. It is very small, but very readable. You can even put it in your pocket when you’re parking at the movie theater at night! I’m a fan of most of TomTom’s GPS devices, so maybe I’m a little biased.

TV’s:

High – Samsung UN55B8500 55″ 1080p LED HDTV – It’s an LED TV, which means it uses light emitting diodes to illuminate a liquid crystal display. Aren’t you glad you asked? The benefit is that it is super thin – only only 1.6″ deep. It also has an incredible range of brightness with a 7,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Don’t forget about the plethora of connectivity options including a USB 2.0 Movie Multi-Media Center and easy access to your PC or mobile device’s digital media!

Low – Vizio 42-inch SV421XVT 1080p LCD HDTV – If you are looking for a great looking TV that won’t break the bank, you can get a 42″ Vizio for well under $1,000. It has a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1 , and features SRS® TruSurround HD technology which creates a high quality surround sound experience while providing optimum bass performance, high frequency clarification and dialog clarity (according to their documentation at least). I have a 32″ Vizio in my bedroom that has been a very solid TV for the last few years. I wouldn’t recommend it if I thought it was no good!

I’m sure a lot of my less technical customers will read that title and not truly understand what that means. Let me try to explain what a DNS Server is and does in the simplest terms. A DNS server is like a GPS system for the internet. You type in a website address in your web browser, and the DNS server is responsible for finding the computer that is hosting the website you are trying to get to. This happens very quickly, and in most cases, you load the website in a few seconds. Because of the way the internet works these days, you internet service provider (ISP) provides a DNS server for you and you never have to think about it. So why would you want to use anyone else’s DNS servers?

Well, according to Google, the claim that theirs is faster and more secure than what your ISP provides.

While there are a lot of open DNS servers, including OpenDNS (which allows you to create an account and customize your DNS settings), for most people the task of setting up an alternative DNS server is confusing and not worth the hassle. So why do it? Well, besides the added security and performance, Google has promised accuracy. This means that if you type an address improperly, Google will not redirect you much like my ISP (currently Comcast) does. From their introduction to the new service, “Google Public DNS does its best to return the right answer to every query every time, in accordance with the DNS standards. Sometimes, in the case of a query for a mistyped or non-existent domain name, the right answer means no answer, or an error message stating the domain name could not be resolved. Google Public DNS never blocks, filters, or redirects users, unlike some open resolvers and ISPs”.

Google, has put together a pretty good “how-to” on how to change your DNS settings to their new servers. As always, feel free to contact me if you need help setting this up.

A while back a customer of mine asked me about the legitimacy of the Video Professor. For those of you who don’t know, the Video Professor is a series of computer training videos that are heavily advertised here in Charleston on TV, and more recently through popular social media sites Facebook.com and Myspace.com. My customer wanted to know if it was a good deal or not and if the videos were as helpful as advertised. I told him that while I had never seen any of the Video Professor branded materials, that I thought for some people it was a lot easier to learn certain concepts from a “live” video instructor than just a how-to book. In fact, I think CBT’s (computer based training – which are multimedia and interactive training sessions a computer) are sometimes better than classroom training as you can go at your own pace. It really depends on how you personally are able to consume and retain information.

What I never even thought of when he asked the question was the business model of a service like the Video Professor. I never looked further into how this company does its business because I am personally not the audience for this particular product. I did pick up from the TV commercials that it was similar to the Columbia House CD club that I got roped into once when I was a child. You may remember those – you got to pick 10 CD’s for a penny, and then you were sent a random CD every month along with a hefty bill (for an unemployed 13 year old). The trick was that you had to be very conscious of how the club worked and diligently mail in the title of the CD you really wanted every month and then remember to cancel you membership when you fulfilled the minimum requirement of full priced CD purchases. The problem was, no 13 year old I knew ever completed the program without getting a lot of CD’s they didn’t want or by getting their parents to bail them out. Nowadays, there are a lot of companies that use a similar model, but they always use your credit card! So instead of getting a piece of mail reminding you that you have an obligation to their service, it just shows up as a line item on your credit card bill. For me personally, that just wouldn’t work out. I would forget about it and continual get charged money for something I didn’t really need. I can’t imagine I’m not alone either, but that is just speculation. The big difference now is that you have an open forum called the internet to research any product before you make that impulse purchase.

With any product, you will find a lot of opinions that run the range of experiences with it. The truth is that the most vocal group are the ones that get burned by a product that does not live up to expectations. It becomes hard to filter through the negative minority to get a clear picture so you have to use a bit of common sense.

When I stumbled upon this article entitled “Video Professor Tries To Bully Washington Post, Fails”, it definitely piqued my interest. The author of the article, Michael Arrington, who is known lately for his crusade against social media gaming scams, has been doing a great job in my opinion of putting some of the more questionable internet business models under a microscope. It seems that according to Arrington, that while breaking no laws, the Video Professor purchasing model is quite confusing for the impulse buyer. The charges are not small either, ranging between $190 – $290 per product that are regularly sent to you if you do not opt out first!

In my opinion, it is a shame that the validity of the actual product is tainted by a business model that is associated with a bad experience I had with the old CD clubs 20 years ago. I for one would not recommend this product based on the subscription model alone. I feel that if the product was that good, people would buy more because they wanted it, not because the are obligated to. While I can’t say I don’t trust the content of the Video Professor, I can say that I don’t trust the business model of it.

That’s right, if you are a Charleston area Realtor and you show a beautiful townhouse (133 Darcy Avenue in Goose Creek) to a qualified buyer between Nov. 17th and December 17th, 2009, you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a free service call from Charleston Tech Support! Check out SCrelocators.com for the details.

Newsweek blogger Daniel Lyons has an interesing article about the security woes of Facebook.

I have long been spreading the word to my customers about the security problems of social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, & Twitter. Much like email, they have become a necessity in the lives of many of us who depend on the internet to aid in running our businesses. Also like email, they are a breeding ground for everything that is malicious on the net. Luckily the same security tips apply.

Here are a few quick tips to help make sure you don’t have to give us a call to clean up the computer equivalent of H1N1 that you might catch from malicious wrongdoers.

1) Just because it’s coming from a friend does not mean it’s OK. If you get an out-of-character direct message on Facebook or Twitter from a trusted person linking to a strange website, it might mean they have been infected and are spreading the infection to you. Don’t click on the link. Instead, contact that person and ask them if they did indeed send it!

2) Don’t give out personal information to online “Applications”. You really don’t need to give your cell phone number to the Mafia Wars or Farmville people. It’s a scam. They will start billing you through your cell phone if you do for what amounts to virtual goods.

3) If your computer has a pop-up that says you’re infected and it’s not coming from your anti-virus software, then that is most likely some malicious website trying to infect you. Don’t click anything! Hit Alt-F4 to close the window or just shut down your computer immediately. If anything strange happens afterwords it may be too late, at that point give us a call.

4) Keep you computer and its security software up to date. I know the constant Microsoft updates are bothersome, but the majority of malicious software out there attacks computers that could have avoided the infection if they were properly patched. Anti-Virus software is complicated and cumbersome. Take the time to learn the basics of how to update it and run a security scan so that you are familiar with it in the case of a fraudulent security notice as stated above, and more importantly so that you are pro-actively protecting yourself!

5) If it’s too good to be true, than it is. That is not technical at all, but it rings true most of the time. Sure there are some great free things like AVG Anti-Virus and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, but a lot of the time you will be paying a price for something that is advertised as free. Use your head, and use Google to research a freebie before committing to it. It will save you a lot of time and possibly money down the road.

Every time I need to find one of these I always end up searching for the key combinations to write the special characters and in an effort to save time for you (and myself), I’m going to include the most common ones here.

For Microsoft Windows:

Note: Use all this codes with the combination of Alt. For Example you need to type © than press and hold the “Alt” key and type 0169.

© - 0169
® - 0174
™ - 0153
• - 0149
§ - 0167
† - 0134
‡ - 0135
– - 0150
— - 0151
¶ - 0182
¥ - 0165
§ - 0167
¼ - 0188
½ - 0189
¾ - 0190
À - 0192
Á - 0193
» - 175
÷ - 246
ø - 0248
þ - 0254
ß - 225

For Mac OS X:

These are a lot easier to figure out on your own. You basically just use the option key as a modifier with any other key and see what happens. Here is a chart of the most popular ones:

© - Option+G
® - Option+R
™ - Option+2
¶ - Option+7
• - Option+8
§ - Option+6
– - Option, then minus sign i.e. Option+-
— - Shift+Option+-
† - Option+T

For a more complete list of the character palette for the Mac check out this page, for accents, check out this page.

MakeUsOf.com, which according to their site is a daily blog that features cool websites, computer tips, and downloads that make you more productive, has a collection of really useful “How-To” guides in PDF format that you can freely download on them.

Of particular interest is the Apple Snow Leopard based Mac Manual, the computer networks guide, and the Idiot’s Guide To Photoshop.

You can check out the whole list here.

With the release of Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the free upgrades that people were promised if they bought a new computer after June 26, 2009. The problem is that the method is different for each major computer manufacturer, and all of them are as troublesome as trying to get a rebate these days. Thankfully, PCMag.com has posted an article clarifying the process by manufacturer so you can hopefully get your computer up and running with Microsoft’s latest and (hopefully) greatest.

You can check out the article here

Also, if you want to read the world’s most in-depth review of Windows 7, the popular tech site Ars Technica has 15 pages worth over here.

Much like your transportation and communication needs, the computer has become an irreplaceable part of our lives. In 2009, it is unfathomable for most of us to imagine going back to a simpler time before Quickbooks, Facebook, Email, and iTunes. So how do we keep up with our digital lifestyles in these tough economic times?

The average lifespan for a computer can vary greatly depending on many factors, but in most big businesses the magic number is 3 years. If a computer starts to fail due to a mechanical issue after the 3 year period, it will cost more to repair it then it is worth. That’s a pretty draconian outlook on your hardware, and for most small businesses and home owners, its just not realistic (save for major component failures like the processor). So if your want to squeeze some life out of your PC and you don’t want to splurge on a new one, what are your options? RAM upgrades (system memory) are always the easiest way to economically give your computer a new lease on life. The more RAM, the faster the computer can work with files. How about your hard drive? You might still have plenty of free space, but that 5400 RPM hard drive that came with the computer could be replaced with a new faster 10000 RPM one. Its a good idea to replace your hard drive every few years anyway as they are the most common thing to fail in your computer, and also the most valuable because all of your files are on it (although they are relatively inexpensive themselves). These are two things that practically any computer – desktop or laptop, can have upgraded.

Ditch the color printer. I don’t mean throw it out, I just mean the ink on common inkjet printers are more expensive than gold. So why are you printing out Aunt Selma’s joke of the week with it? Most of what people print out can be done in black and white. A decent black and white laser printer will save you hundreds of dollars in ink costs. Laser printers usually cost more than 50% less to print per page versus an inkjet printer. if you don’t want to buy a new printer, you can also lower the quality of your printouts to save ink. Check the instruction manual or manufacturer’s website of your printer to see how to do that.

Paying top dollar for DSL or Cable? Most companies offer a tiered system of bandwidth. The rub is that the higher end tiers rarely ever perform as well as advertised here in Charleston. Check out www.broadbadreports.com and run a speed test on your connection. If you are getting less than what you are paying for, change your plan accordingly! Are you a cable subscriber and want to cut your costs a lot? AT&T has an unadvertised DSL plan for $10.00 a month for new subscribers. It is for their lowest tier of bandwidth, but for most home users, that is enough to get by with. I know some people who are constantly switching providers to take advantage of special offers, so keep your an eye on all of the local provider’s websites to see if anything good pops up.

Get a check-up. Preventative care can be a good way to avoid a disastrous problem before it happens. Replacing a dying hard drive before it crashes will cost you a fraction of the price of replacing one after the fact. You may also be suffering from a malicious infection that is slowing down your PC and not even know it. Just like the doctor, you should periodically get your computer looked at by a professional.

In a time when people are cutting the traditional phone cords in their home and using just their cell phones, how about cutting your cable/sattelite TV service as well? Lets be honest – traditional TV seems so archaic today. The unbelievable amount of commercials have forced anyone with a DVR to record their favorite TV shows and watch them at a later time so they can save the 20+ minutes per hour of commercial time. In a recent episode of American Idol, millions of viewers missed a surprise ending because they ran late and went into the next hour’s programming time when the DVR’s had already shut off. This is a sign of a major shift in the way people are watching TV content. Now you can watch most of your favorite shows on the internet for free with little to no commercial interruptions. Services like Hulu are bringing the big budget shows and movies, while YouTube is covering the independent home-brew stuff – kind of like the internet’s public access channel. With all of the major channels streaming their content as well on their own respective websites, why is anyone still paying Comcast over $100 a month? Even switching to the most basic services to get news or sports will save you some money. Furthermore, digital set top boxes like Apple’s AppleTV, Roku’s Netflix player, and even an XBox 360 are letting users get digital content on their TV sets.

Hopefully these ideas will spawn even more ideas to help you cope with tough economic times without sacrificing too much in the technology department.

The company also known as a verb for the word “searching” on the internet is now delivering a web browser to compete with the likes of Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, & Opera. On Monday, September 2nd, tech blogs reported about a leaked virtual comic book describing the reasoning behind Google’s foray into the web browsing software market. By Tuesday evening, computer users were able to test drive the new browser, titled Google Chrome.

Chrome is delivered as a beta product, which means it isn’t quite finished, but like most Google products that are released as beta, it is surprisingly stable and polished. Chrome is also distributed as an open source project, which means that the underlying code for the browser is freely available to download, and you can make any changes you want to the code and totally recreate the browser – as long as you too share the code you add or alter. The underlying rendering engine is the same engine as used by Apple’s Safari, which is called Webkit. It is this rendering engine that contributes to its amazingly fast page loading capabilities. It also handles javascript quickly, which makes web based applications work quickly. So how does it compare to the other browsers out there?

Well, I’m currently typing and posting this article using Google Chrome, and so far I am impressed. It is very clean and simple in design, but has some innovative and powerful features. I personally like the dynamic tabs, which let you drag a tabbed window out of the application to create a new window, and even add it to another existing window. If you have multiple monitors, this is pretty neat. The way Chrome handles download is also pretty cool – it puts them at the bottom of the page and has a button that lets you choose what you want to do with the downloaded file. How does it compare to my favorite browser, Mozilla’s Firefox? It currently is missing the main feature that makes Firefox so great – and that is the thousands of useful add-ons that let you customize it to do exactly what you want it to do. I do like it better than Safari on Windows, but since Chrome is not yet available for the Mac, it is hard to compare. Safari shines on a Mac, but is awkward on a PC because it neglects the Windows design standards set in place and tries to look like an OS X application instead of a Windows one. I have not used Opera in a long time (except on Nintendo’s Wii Console), and honestly have not had a reason to revisit it ever since Firefox came out, so unfortunately I really have no opinion on it. As far as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is concerned, I still think it is the worst browser ever written. Microsoft is hard at work on Internet Explorer 8, and has just released a public beta version to try out. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from version 7, and from the screenshots it looks like more of the same. The reviews for IE 8 have been quite positive though, so it might be worth a try. But lets be honest, it took me less than 1 minute to download and install Chrome. With Internet Explorer, you’d better have a good 20 minutes to get it up and running.

I’m excited to see what the future holds for this sleek and fast browser. More standards driven web browsers out there means that more websites will be forced to work on different kinds of computers and internet devices, and that is a very good thing.