The trend of pink notebooks is a rather new one as it is related to some other changes on the laptop market. Five years ago notebooks were mainly used by business people and some other technology lovers. They were used by people that wanted to be mobile with their computers and were willing to pay more to have a laptop computer.
The status of notebooks changed. The hardware of mobile computers got cheaper and this made it possible for notebooks to conquer new niches. One of the key events had been the Nicholas Negroponte's "One Laptop Per Child" project in 2005. Asus picked up this idea developed the "Asus Eee PC 700" the first so called "Netbook". This mini notebook computer had cheaper hardware but was good enough to surf in the internet, do office jobs and watch movies. By excluding an optical storage as well it got very cheap, small and ultra mobile. Nearly all big laptop manufacturers started to develop their own mini notebook computer.
With this much more affordable netbooks, mobile computing was more interesting for many more people. The focus was no longer on the performance or the specifications. All this small laptop computers have about the same performance and for this the main difference is now the way they look. The mini notebook computers are something that you carry around with you and for this you want to identify with it. It is no longer only a computer it is a fashion statement and lifestyle item and you want to be recognized with it. For this the laptop industry is now willing to bring a lot more fashion into the notebook market. One niche that stands out are sexy pink notebooks that are especially designed for the female taste.
With pink notebooks out, a new big market opened up accessories. There is now a high demand for ladies laptop bags which include pink laptop bags and as well other designer laptop bags. A big change comes with the pink notebook and the pink netbook, it is no longer used only for work or education, it became an item of fashion a lifestyle.
Shamina Power is a Student from Munich Germany. She is crazy about pink electronic widgets especially mobile computers.
Site: Notebook Comparison Article: Life Is Pink Notebook
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Pink Laptop Brands By JR Lang
Laptop computers have really become an integral part of the computer market industry. While some years ago desktop models dominated the marketplace, these days, the laptop, which is just a mobile version of the standard larger and stationary desktop, is at the top of the shopping list for most consumers, and for good reason. Laptops provide every possible computing solution but in a portable, handy and mobile device.
Today's laptops are far more advanced than their ancestors, with advanced computing capabilities as well as abundant choices of features, options and colors. Yes, the pink laptop has seen a growing popularity among consumers, and has become a real fashion statement for the lover of pink.
The continuing demand for pink laptops has prompted several manufactures to create them in various shades of pink. Also, don't think for even a minute that the pink laptop brands are some sissy machines, quite the contrary, they are as powerful and offer as much performance as their monochrome counterparts, but also look great as well. The following is a list of manufacturers that make laptops in pink and a look at those models.
Dell
Dell makes two pink laptop models, the Inspiron Mini Netbook and the Inspiron 14 standard size laptop. Both come with a variety of features and options that suit a variety of mobile computing needs.
Sony VAIO
Sony is a top name in laptop computers and the Sony VAIO brand pink laptops not only come in a great bright and shiny pink, but are efficient entertainment and computing machines as well. Featuring, the Intel Centrino Dual Core Processor, touch sensitive embedded A/V controls that change music tracks and volume instantly, superb surround sound through the built-in speakers, up to 4 GB of RAM and a lot more.
Lenovo Pink Models
Lenovo offers the mini laptop version in pink. The Lenovo Idea Pad S10 is loaded with some great features, including, an Intel Atom processor, an 80GB hard drive, built-in webcam and a lot more.
Asus Pink Laptops
Asus brand offers 6 laptop models in a variety of pink tones in their Eee models series and they also have a great starter laptop in pink for little girls. Asus is well known for creating user-friendly computers that offer an intuitive graphic interface. There are several shades of pink available with the Asus models and they also boast premium high quality finishes. Features, various screen sizes from 7 to 10 inches, 2Gb - 8GB hard drives, built in WI-FI and a lot more.
Hewlett Packard
HP specializes in mini laptop brands in pink. The HP models are very thin, about 1 inch and so they are much more portable than other pink laptop brands. The HP 210 Mini pink laptop is well known for having a very large keyboard and comes in a few models each with their own features, including an HD model.
Toshiba
The Toshiba NB 205 gives the pink lover everything they need to surf the Internet, email and word process in an ultra thin model that is lightweight and compact enough to fit into that pink purse! In fact, this pink laptop brand has won the PC Mag Editors choice award so that makes is a sure fire winner. Features, an Intel Atom Processor, Windows 7, 1GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive and much more.
The Toshiba Satellite comes in a soft and subtle purply pink, along with an Intel Pentium Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive. Its weight of 4.5 lbs and long battery life makes it the ideal travel laptop that does not sacrifice performance for portability.
Acer Pink Laptop Models
Acer offers the Aspire One AOA150-1570 in pink, as well as other models. Acer always offers quality machines, and a lot of bang for the buck, featuring Intel Atom processors, SATA hard drives, lots of RAM and a bright display.
Samsung
Samsung NC10-11GP 10.2 inch mini Netbook in pink is sleek and stylish and packed with features.
If you love pink, please visit us at Pink Laptops, we have some cool laptop guides, articles and laptop reviews like the, Acer Pink Laptop Reviews, and we offer cheap shopping on everything pink, including, cheap pink laptops, cell phones, iPods, gadgets and of course, pink accessories.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Today's laptops are far more advanced than their ancestors, with advanced computing capabilities as well as abundant choices of features, options and colors. Yes, the pink laptop has seen a growing popularity among consumers, and has become a real fashion statement for the lover of pink.
The continuing demand for pink laptops has prompted several manufactures to create them in various shades of pink. Also, don't think for even a minute that the pink laptop brands are some sissy machines, quite the contrary, they are as powerful and offer as much performance as their monochrome counterparts, but also look great as well. The following is a list of manufacturers that make laptops in pink and a look at those models.
Dell
Dell makes two pink laptop models, the Inspiron Mini Netbook and the Inspiron 14 standard size laptop. Both come with a variety of features and options that suit a variety of mobile computing needs.
Sony VAIO
Sony is a top name in laptop computers and the Sony VAIO brand pink laptops not only come in a great bright and shiny pink, but are efficient entertainment and computing machines as well. Featuring, the Intel Centrino Dual Core Processor, touch sensitive embedded A/V controls that change music tracks and volume instantly, superb surround sound through the built-in speakers, up to 4 GB of RAM and a lot more.
Lenovo Pink Models
Lenovo offers the mini laptop version in pink. The Lenovo Idea Pad S10 is loaded with some great features, including, an Intel Atom processor, an 80GB hard drive, built-in webcam and a lot more.
Asus Pink Laptops
Asus brand offers 6 laptop models in a variety of pink tones in their Eee models series and they also have a great starter laptop in pink for little girls. Asus is well known for creating user-friendly computers that offer an intuitive graphic interface. There are several shades of pink available with the Asus models and they also boast premium high quality finishes. Features, various screen sizes from 7 to 10 inches, 2Gb - 8GB hard drives, built in WI-FI and a lot more.
Hewlett Packard
HP specializes in mini laptop brands in pink. The HP models are very thin, about 1 inch and so they are much more portable than other pink laptop brands. The HP 210 Mini pink laptop is well known for having a very large keyboard and comes in a few models each with their own features, including an HD model.
Toshiba
The Toshiba NB 205 gives the pink lover everything they need to surf the Internet, email and word process in an ultra thin model that is lightweight and compact enough to fit into that pink purse! In fact, this pink laptop brand has won the PC Mag Editors choice award so that makes is a sure fire winner. Features, an Intel Atom Processor, Windows 7, 1GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive and much more.
The Toshiba Satellite comes in a soft and subtle purply pink, along with an Intel Pentium Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive. Its weight of 4.5 lbs and long battery life makes it the ideal travel laptop that does not sacrifice performance for portability.
Acer Pink Laptop Models
Acer offers the Aspire One AOA150-1570 in pink, as well as other models. Acer always offers quality machines, and a lot of bang for the buck, featuring Intel Atom processors, SATA hard drives, lots of RAM and a bright display.
Samsung
Samsung NC10-11GP 10.2 inch mini Netbook in pink is sleek and stylish and packed with features.
If you love pink, please visit us at Pink Laptops, we have some cool laptop guides, articles and laptop reviews like the, Acer Pink Laptop Reviews, and we offer cheap shopping on everything pink, including, cheap pink laptops, cell phones, iPods, gadgets and of course, pink accessories.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
HP Envy 17 Review - See This Laptop's Great Features By Nadav Snir
HP has introduced HP Envy 17 and HP Envy 14 almost simultaneously. These two laptops have features that are revolutionary in the laptop market and the Envy 17 could be the laptop to beat.
For people who are fond of big screens, the Envy 17 would be ideal. The screen is 17" and the laptop is packed with a host of powerful features. For starters, the laptop's configurations use HP's core i3 and i5 processors. In addition, this laptop has a DVD burner and an HDMI port and allows for the expansion of RAM up to 8GB.
For a computer with such a powerful processor, the ability to keep it sufficiently cooled can present quite a challenge as experiences with the HP Envy 15 have shown. One of the major complaints about Envy 15 was the amount of heat it generated and HP has addressed this problem in the manufacture of HP Envy 17. To address the issue of excess heat, HP has added vents on the battery slice in addition to repositioning some of the components.
HP Envy 17 is not only a powerful laptop but one that is also very cool looking. Covered in Aluminum, with a glass screen and a backlit keyboard, this laptop looks extremely elegant. For this laptop also, the mouse buttons are integrated into the touchpad. The size might discourage you from carrying it around - smaller laptops are the preference of the majority, and for this reason most people buying this laptop would be doing so to replace their desktops.
Because of its many advanced features and the attention to detail that has been observed in making this product, the Envy 17 is available at a premium price. However, it is possible to purchase the laptop at a discount. By obtaining HP Envy 17 discount coupons, the savings you could make on the purchase price can be quite substantial. Moreover, reading reviews on this product will help you make an informed decision on what to expect from your laptop.
When you buy HP Envy 17, you will benefit from the manufacturer's one-year limited warranty on hardware. Since the company also provides support via email and live chat 24/7, purchasers of their products know they are not alone should the machine develop complications. Moreover, HP has an in-house service through which it sends staff to attend to clients who need repairs or for trouble shooting in the clients' homes.
As you saw in this HP Envy 17 review, the many advanced features of this laptop make it good value for money.
About the author:
Nadav Snir operates a website which includes coupons and discounts to the best electronics stores on the web. To get those discounts, visit: http://Great-Info-Products.com/Electronics/index.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
For people who are fond of big screens, the Envy 17 would be ideal. The screen is 17" and the laptop is packed with a host of powerful features. For starters, the laptop's configurations use HP's core i3 and i5 processors. In addition, this laptop has a DVD burner and an HDMI port and allows for the expansion of RAM up to 8GB.
For a computer with such a powerful processor, the ability to keep it sufficiently cooled can present quite a challenge as experiences with the HP Envy 15 have shown. One of the major complaints about Envy 15 was the amount of heat it generated and HP has addressed this problem in the manufacture of HP Envy 17. To address the issue of excess heat, HP has added vents on the battery slice in addition to repositioning some of the components.
HP Envy 17 is not only a powerful laptop but one that is also very cool looking. Covered in Aluminum, with a glass screen and a backlit keyboard, this laptop looks extremely elegant. For this laptop also, the mouse buttons are integrated into the touchpad. The size might discourage you from carrying it around - smaller laptops are the preference of the majority, and for this reason most people buying this laptop would be doing so to replace their desktops.
Because of its many advanced features and the attention to detail that has been observed in making this product, the Envy 17 is available at a premium price. However, it is possible to purchase the laptop at a discount. By obtaining HP Envy 17 discount coupons, the savings you could make on the purchase price can be quite substantial. Moreover, reading reviews on this product will help you make an informed decision on what to expect from your laptop.
When you buy HP Envy 17, you will benefit from the manufacturer's one-year limited warranty on hardware. Since the company also provides support via email and live chat 24/7, purchasers of their products know they are not alone should the machine develop complications. Moreover, HP has an in-house service through which it sends staff to attend to clients who need repairs or for trouble shooting in the clients' homes.
As you saw in this HP Envy 17 review, the many advanced features of this laptop make it good value for money.
About the author:
Nadav Snir operates a website which includes coupons and discounts to the best electronics stores on the web. To get those discounts, visit: http://Great-Info-Products.com/Electronics/index.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
HP Plans to Release a Tablet Running on WebOS By Dan Sparrow
Since the new market of touch screen tables has taken shape, the HP company have always wanted to be one of the top players providing quality products that people would love and buy. However things did not go according to plan and even though they have a promising start with their Slate tablet, they ended up losing the race in front of the wildly popular Apple iPad.
At the beginning of this year HP's Slate tablet was tipped to be one of the strongest competitors for the yet unreleased iPad. But a shot while after the official launch, the Slate did not manage to become popular among users, on the contrary, it started to get negative reviews. The main thing that consumers objected to was the relative slow speed of the tablet and that was mostly due to the operating system which at that time was Windows 7. Shortly after the release and the commercial flop of the Slate, it was taken out of production by HP.
This might have looked like HP had given up on the tablets market and decided to focus on other markets where they already were influential. But this is not the case as HP recently have bought the Palm company for $1.2 billion and as a consequence they obtained all the rights for Palm's very successful operating system WebOS. This is a very important asset for HP, as WebOS was primarily made for smartphones and tablets and has proven to be successful in a long series of different Palm gadgets.
After taking over the Palm company, HP have publicly stated that they plan to release a series of smartphones and tablets. Most probably, all of these future gadgets will employ the use of WebOS as operating system. So HP will definitely attack the tablet market once again but it remains to be seen if they will resurrect the previously unsuccessful Slate or if they will make a new product altogether. It has also been rumored that by the end of this year they'll launch a new tables called the Hurricane, which at least according to it's name, promises to take the tablet market by storm.
Click on the following link to find out more information about HP PCs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
At the beginning of this year HP's Slate tablet was tipped to be one of the strongest competitors for the yet unreleased iPad. But a shot while after the official launch, the Slate did not manage to become popular among users, on the contrary, it started to get negative reviews. The main thing that consumers objected to was the relative slow speed of the tablet and that was mostly due to the operating system which at that time was Windows 7. Shortly after the release and the commercial flop of the Slate, it was taken out of production by HP.
This might have looked like HP had given up on the tablets market and decided to focus on other markets where they already were influential. But this is not the case as HP recently have bought the Palm company for $1.2 billion and as a consequence they obtained all the rights for Palm's very successful operating system WebOS. This is a very important asset for HP, as WebOS was primarily made for smartphones and tablets and has proven to be successful in a long series of different Palm gadgets.
After taking over the Palm company, HP have publicly stated that they plan to release a series of smartphones and tablets. Most probably, all of these future gadgets will employ the use of WebOS as operating system. So HP will definitely attack the tablet market once again but it remains to be seen if they will resurrect the previously unsuccessful Slate or if they will make a new product altogether. It has also been rumored that by the end of this year they'll launch a new tables called the Hurricane, which at least according to it's name, promises to take the tablet market by storm.
Click on the following link to find out more information about HP PCs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Monday, July 12, 2010
File Transfer Service Buyers Guide BY: Dustin Sklavos, NotebookReview.com Contributor
By Dustin Sklavos
E-mail is a great method for sending text over the Internet, but when it comes to sending large file, you'll likely need a more robust data transfer system. We break down four of the best File Transfer services available today in this buyers guide.
When I'm not writing hardware and software reviews, I'm a filmmaker. My composer has lived on the opposite side of the continent for as long as I've known him, but because of internet technology we're able to collaborate on films without so much as a phone call. I can send him video clips, he can score them and send them back, and I can just e-mail him and tell him "do this, that, and the other." We are by far not the only ones doing this.
Even beyond the arts, oftentimes friends need a specific file from you, a text file, or an image, or whatever. Maybe you need to make a single file or series of files available to specific people. I can tell you that while having your own site and server space can certainly make things easier, but logging into your FTP and oftentimes having to create an HTML file just to link to a file can be a major hassle.
Long story short: multiple sites and services have devised ways for you to get your material into the hands of the people you want it to. I already espoused the virtues of Dropbox previously, but today I bring you four other options for sharing files -- FilesAnywhere, YouSendIt, RapidShare and WeTransfer -- and discuss the pros and cons of each.
FILESANYWHERE
Using FilesAnywhere, I got the distinct sense their service was designed for power users and only power users.
FilesAnywhere signupFilesAnywhere service page
Signing up for their service is easy enough, and like many they offer paid usage models that expand their features and give you more flexibility. Unfortunately, compared to the other three services we're playing with today, FilesAnywhere's file size limitation for free users is punishingly small. 25MB per file is generally adequate enough to send a compressed song, or a text file, or a PDF, but severely curtails the service's usefulness.
What's worse, the service is hard to use. I can appreciate a robust service, but the level of abstraction here is poorly handled. FilesAnywhere's interface grossly over-emphasizes functionality, and is needlessly complex. It strikes me as being as obtuse as older Linux GUIs used to be, and I get the feeling that's the kind of user they're gunning for.
Even the number of plans they offer feels needlessly complicated at a staggering seven different account types. This is just unnecessary. Even at the enterprise level, I can only imagine IT grunts having to explain to their technophobic management about why they should go with FilesAnywhere, then having those managers take one look at the site and tell their employees to shove off. I'm all for more power and more features, but it needs to be abstracted far better than it is here.
I may be being too hard on FilesAnywhere. Having what amounts to your own personal hard disk floating around on the internet -- like Dropbox -- is certainly useful. The ability to use the service to send a fax(!) or even receive faxes on a paid account is obscure but handy. You can still use it to just post a file and send people links to download that file. But between the grossly limited file size for free users and the complexity of the service, I have a hard time recommending FilesAnywhere.
YOUSENDIT
After FilesAnywhere, YouSendIt is the only service in our roundup that requires you to sign up and create an account. For our purposes, I created a 14-day trial account of the "Pro" plan.
YouSendIt signup pageYouSendIt service page
As a small pat on the back, I'd like to say that I appreciated YouSendIt not asking me for credit card information for the 14-day trial account. There's a free account you can sign up for, but it's just slightly buried in the "Plans & Sign Up" page; the front page makes no mention of it. That account is very limited with a maximum file size of 100MB, but the "paltry" 100 downloads per file makes up for it somewhat. 100MB is not ideal but at least somewhat reasonable.
What's striking is how open the pricing is for add-ons when you send files. There are just checkboxes with prices next to them, offering extra features beyond just the basic "upload-and-e-mail" service. Truthfully I was a little put off by this, as it felt like an attempt to nickel-and-dime people, but all of those services can be added into your account if you use one of the two plans beyond "Pro."
Where YouSendIt really distinguishes itself from the competition is in the sheer flexibility of the service. There are plug-ins available for Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, Final Cut Pro, Aperture, iPhoto, and Photoshop, along with tracker apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry!
Ultimately YouSendIt works as advertised. You upload a file, they send a link in e-mail, and the recipient downloads that file off of the server. I appreciated the simplicity, especially after trying to work my way through FilesAnywhere's feature bloat.
RAPIDSHARE
RapidShare may be the most well-known of the services in this roundup, and for a quick "here's this file for you" it really can't be beat. There's no sign-up required, no e-mail address required. You upload your file on the front page, they give you a link that you can then IM or e-mail yourself, or you can enter an e-mail address (or several) and a message and they'll e-mail the link for you.
RapidShare service pageIf you're asking for simplicity I have a hard time finding any way to distill file-sharing down any more than this. Which is why it's unfortunate how hazy things start to really get on the RapidShare site. Having a Craigslist level of simplicity in your page design is fine and appreciated these days, but the design here leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You can sign up for a Premium Account which will offer more of everything, or you can sign up for a Collector's Account, for which no information exists on their site other than to tell you that you accumulate points using it that eventually lead to a free Premium Account.
A warning over the FAQ that its answers might be out of date doesn't exactly instill confidence either. RapidShare as an operation may be simple, but it feels slapdash and there's nothing there that makes me feel like giving them money. As I said before, for basic "here's your file!" RapidShare is pretty excellent, but beyond that it just seems too obscured to be trustworthy. Some clarity on the site would go a long way.
WETRANSFER
Our last contender is WeTransfer, and that's basically what they do. When I opened their page, my first and most immediate reaction was "holy crap, it's all Flash." The basic, main page that any user is going to see and spend the most time on is done entirely in Flash. Using Flash for your entire front page just seems like asking for netbooks everywhere to burst into flames.
WeTransfer service pageGood thing WeTransfer works well, then. There's no account to sign up for and I don't get the sense there ever will be. WeTransfer has a tiny panel in the center of your browser that lets you send someone (or up to twenty someones) a link to a file of up to 2GB on their server. That link will last for two weeks. The interface is simple and attractive, and the only reason RapidShare beats it for simplicity is because WeTransfer requires e-mail addresses. The flipside is that WeTransfer is, on the whole, easier to use.
But there's that Flash thing. I have no problem with Flash, but doing your site entirely in Flash and then having on the FAQ page "HTML version coming soon" screams "backwards" to me. Advertising is handled by having rotating images in the background, and these images are actually quite attractive. They're not hideous flashing ads or anything like that, just tasteful, textless high-resolution stills. Click the background and you're taken to the advertiser's site. I don't know that this model will work, but I give them points for trying. Still, I'm not sure Flash is necessary to achieve what they've done here, or at least not a browser window full of it.
CONCLUSION
The interesting thing about this roundup is that ultimately every service acquits itself fairly well for its specific purpose. I don't think we have any major challengers for Dropbox, which will probably remain my weapon of choice for collaborative projects for the foreseeable future.
Of all the services, only FilesAnywhere really operates as net-based storage, and if you're willing to weed through the countless features and figure out which of the seven plans is right for you, I can see it being incredibly useful and powerful. But it's pretty clearly for the power user, and you know who you are. Grandma Millie should steer clear.
YouSendIt and WeTransfer occupy similar space, I think, since they're really e-mail-centric services. If you need a basic means of disseminating files, WeTransfer's a great option, while YouSendIt is much more robust and offers more features.
Finally, RapidShare's best feature is its front page: the ability to just upload a file and then shoot the link out to a few friends makes it ideal for a quick transfer. Anything beyond that I find suspect, and information just isn't as readily available on their site as it needs to be.
What you're left with now are five services that all occupy very specific niches. Of all of them, I think FilesAnywhere tries the hardest to cover all the bases, but even ignoring quibbles with their interface design there is complexity that must be added in order to handle all of those different uses. But there isn't a single authentically bad or silly service in this lot, and if one (or all!) of them sounds like it suits your needs, godspeed.
E-mail is a great method for sending text over the Internet, but when it comes to sending large file, you'll likely need a more robust data transfer system. We break down four of the best File Transfer services available today in this buyers guide.
When I'm not writing hardware and software reviews, I'm a filmmaker. My composer has lived on the opposite side of the continent for as long as I've known him, but because of internet technology we're able to collaborate on films without so much as a phone call. I can send him video clips, he can score them and send them back, and I can just e-mail him and tell him "do this, that, and the other." We are by far not the only ones doing this.
Even beyond the arts, oftentimes friends need a specific file from you, a text file, or an image, or whatever. Maybe you need to make a single file or series of files available to specific people. I can tell you that while having your own site and server space can certainly make things easier, but logging into your FTP and oftentimes having to create an HTML file just to link to a file can be a major hassle.
Long story short: multiple sites and services have devised ways for you to get your material into the hands of the people you want it to. I already espoused the virtues of Dropbox previously, but today I bring you four other options for sharing files -- FilesAnywhere, YouSendIt, RapidShare and WeTransfer -- and discuss the pros and cons of each.
FILESANYWHERE
Using FilesAnywhere, I got the distinct sense their service was designed for power users and only power users.
FilesAnywhere signupFilesAnywhere service page
Signing up for their service is easy enough, and like many they offer paid usage models that expand their features and give you more flexibility. Unfortunately, compared to the other three services we're playing with today, FilesAnywhere's file size limitation for free users is punishingly small. 25MB per file is generally adequate enough to send a compressed song, or a text file, or a PDF, but severely curtails the service's usefulness.
What's worse, the service is hard to use. I can appreciate a robust service, but the level of abstraction here is poorly handled. FilesAnywhere's interface grossly over-emphasizes functionality, and is needlessly complex. It strikes me as being as obtuse as older Linux GUIs used to be, and I get the feeling that's the kind of user they're gunning for.
Even the number of plans they offer feels needlessly complicated at a staggering seven different account types. This is just unnecessary. Even at the enterprise level, I can only imagine IT grunts having to explain to their technophobic management about why they should go with FilesAnywhere, then having those managers take one look at the site and tell their employees to shove off. I'm all for more power and more features, but it needs to be abstracted far better than it is here.
I may be being too hard on FilesAnywhere. Having what amounts to your own personal hard disk floating around on the internet -- like Dropbox -- is certainly useful. The ability to use the service to send a fax(!) or even receive faxes on a paid account is obscure but handy. You can still use it to just post a file and send people links to download that file. But between the grossly limited file size for free users and the complexity of the service, I have a hard time recommending FilesAnywhere.
YOUSENDIT
After FilesAnywhere, YouSendIt is the only service in our roundup that requires you to sign up and create an account. For our purposes, I created a 14-day trial account of the "Pro" plan.
YouSendIt signup pageYouSendIt service page
As a small pat on the back, I'd like to say that I appreciated YouSendIt not asking me for credit card information for the 14-day trial account. There's a free account you can sign up for, but it's just slightly buried in the "Plans & Sign Up" page; the front page makes no mention of it. That account is very limited with a maximum file size of 100MB, but the "paltry" 100 downloads per file makes up for it somewhat. 100MB is not ideal but at least somewhat reasonable.
What's striking is how open the pricing is for add-ons when you send files. There are just checkboxes with prices next to them, offering extra features beyond just the basic "upload-and-e-mail" service. Truthfully I was a little put off by this, as it felt like an attempt to nickel-and-dime people, but all of those services can be added into your account if you use one of the two plans beyond "Pro."
Where YouSendIt really distinguishes itself from the competition is in the sheer flexibility of the service. There are plug-ins available for Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, Final Cut Pro, Aperture, iPhoto, and Photoshop, along with tracker apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry!
Ultimately YouSendIt works as advertised. You upload a file, they send a link in e-mail, and the recipient downloads that file off of the server. I appreciated the simplicity, especially after trying to work my way through FilesAnywhere's feature bloat.
RAPIDSHARE
RapidShare may be the most well-known of the services in this roundup, and for a quick "here's this file for you" it really can't be beat. There's no sign-up required, no e-mail address required. You upload your file on the front page, they give you a link that you can then IM or e-mail yourself, or you can enter an e-mail address (or several) and a message and they'll e-mail the link for you.
RapidShare service pageIf you're asking for simplicity I have a hard time finding any way to distill file-sharing down any more than this. Which is why it's unfortunate how hazy things start to really get on the RapidShare site. Having a Craigslist level of simplicity in your page design is fine and appreciated these days, but the design here leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You can sign up for a Premium Account which will offer more of everything, or you can sign up for a Collector's Account, for which no information exists on their site other than to tell you that you accumulate points using it that eventually lead to a free Premium Account.
A warning over the FAQ that its answers might be out of date doesn't exactly instill confidence either. RapidShare as an operation may be simple, but it feels slapdash and there's nothing there that makes me feel like giving them money. As I said before, for basic "here's your file!" RapidShare is pretty excellent, but beyond that it just seems too obscured to be trustworthy. Some clarity on the site would go a long way.
WETRANSFER
Our last contender is WeTransfer, and that's basically what they do. When I opened their page, my first and most immediate reaction was "holy crap, it's all Flash." The basic, main page that any user is going to see and spend the most time on is done entirely in Flash. Using Flash for your entire front page just seems like asking for netbooks everywhere to burst into flames.
WeTransfer service pageGood thing WeTransfer works well, then. There's no account to sign up for and I don't get the sense there ever will be. WeTransfer has a tiny panel in the center of your browser that lets you send someone (or up to twenty someones) a link to a file of up to 2GB on their server. That link will last for two weeks. The interface is simple and attractive, and the only reason RapidShare beats it for simplicity is because WeTransfer requires e-mail addresses. The flipside is that WeTransfer is, on the whole, easier to use.
But there's that Flash thing. I have no problem with Flash, but doing your site entirely in Flash and then having on the FAQ page "HTML version coming soon" screams "backwards" to me. Advertising is handled by having rotating images in the background, and these images are actually quite attractive. They're not hideous flashing ads or anything like that, just tasteful, textless high-resolution stills. Click the background and you're taken to the advertiser's site. I don't know that this model will work, but I give them points for trying. Still, I'm not sure Flash is necessary to achieve what they've done here, or at least not a browser window full of it.
CONCLUSION
The interesting thing about this roundup is that ultimately every service acquits itself fairly well for its specific purpose. I don't think we have any major challengers for Dropbox, which will probably remain my weapon of choice for collaborative projects for the foreseeable future.
Of all the services, only FilesAnywhere really operates as net-based storage, and if you're willing to weed through the countless features and figure out which of the seven plans is right for you, I can see it being incredibly useful and powerful. But it's pretty clearly for the power user, and you know who you are. Grandma Millie should steer clear.
YouSendIt and WeTransfer occupy similar space, I think, since they're really e-mail-centric services. If you need a basic means of disseminating files, WeTransfer's a great option, while YouSendIt is much more robust and offers more features.
Finally, RapidShare's best feature is its front page: the ability to just upload a file and then shoot the link out to a few friends makes it ideal for a quick transfer. Anything beyond that I find suspect, and information just isn't as readily available on their site as it needs to be.
What you're left with now are five services that all occupy very specific niches. Of all of them, I think FilesAnywhere tries the hardest to cover all the bases, but even ignoring quibbles with their interface design there is complexity that must be added in order to handle all of those different uses. But there isn't a single authentically bad or silly service in this lot, and if one (or all!) of them sounds like it suits your needs, godspeed.
Google Apps Standard Edition Review BY: Jay Garmon, NotebookReview.com Editor
By Jay Garmon
Google has made no secret of wanting to oust Microsoft as the premier enterprise software provider on the planet, but can Google Apps really displace Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange -- for free? We put Google Apps Standard Edition to the test in this review.
What's in Google Apps?
Signup page for Google Apps Standard EditionGoogle Apps is a subset of the various free Google web applications that you can assign to a personal web domain. Thus, rather than having an e-mail address at user@gmail.com, I can create user@yourdomain.com. Google Apps also adds under-the-hood controls you don't get from the usual Google web applications, emulating some of the broader account creation and permission controls of Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint.
There are ostensibly several different "tracks" for Google Apps, targeting either business, educational institutions, governments or non-profits. For the most part, there are no functional distinctions between these product groups; everybody gets the same set of Google Apps at the same price, but the marketing copy is different. The only difference that matters is that between the free Google Apps Standard Edition and the paid Google Apps Premier Edition.
Deshboard for Google Apps Standard EditionGoogle Apps Standard Edition includes private versions of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. Standard Edition is limited to 50 users per domain and roughly 8 GB of storage per user (7GB of mail storage, 1 GB of document storage). Premier Edition throws in Google Video, Google Groups, unlimited users, 25 GB per-user storage, and additional user controls and tech support; it will cost you $50 per user per year.
The quartet of applications in Google Apps Standard Edition are designed to replace the major functions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SharePoint Server. These apps are accessed through the web browser, rather than as desktop applications. This means you'll need an internet connection to fully access your apps, but in return Google Apps can run on virtually any operating system. Each app is assigned to a subdomain of your Google Apps domain, with your private Gmail available at mail.yourdomain.com, Google Calendar at calendar.yourdomain.com, Google Docs at docs.yourdomain.com, and the Google Sites intranet platform available at sites.yourdomain.com. Google Apps user accounts can also access the Google Talk instant messaging client, and can sync with a number of mobile operating systems. Using Google Gears and/or the Google Chrome browser allows you to sync most of your content to a local PC, so even if your internet connection fails you can access most or all of your data.
Bear in mind, the entire design philosophy behind Google Apps is to offer only the major functionality that most users will commonly need. The Google Docs word processor doesn't offer a tenth of the features of Microsoft Word, but Google Docs does include all the text formatting, saving, printing, and sharing options that comprise 90 percent of typical Microsoft Word usage. The same "just what you need" minimum functionality applies to all components of Google Apps. There are no pivot tables, no complex mail-merge wizards, and no mass library of presentation sound effects to choose from. If you're a power user of any proprietary software, Google Apps will not meet all your needs -- at least not out of the box.
What You Can Add to Google Apps
Google Apps marketplace mainpageThe Google Apps Marketplace offers -- either as giveaways or as for-sale products -- a wide selection of third-party web applications that integrate with Google Apps. Need a CRM app that integrates with your Google Apps contact lists? No problem. An expense reporting tool that links to your online financial spreadsheets? You're covered. Project management apps that sync with Google calendar and private Gmail? Take your pick. It's simply a question of matching cost to functionality. Moreover, most of these apps can be deployed to specific user accounts, so you can give your employees just the apps they need and not waste money licensing helpdesk apps for sales leads, or marketing apps for engineers.
You can add data to Google Apps almost as easily as you add third-party applications. If you are presently running an Exchange Server, Google offers an Exchange migration tool to directly transport your existing e-mail archives to your Google Apps mail domain.
Costs and Savings
Strictly speaking, even Google Apps Standard Edition isn't totally free, because you have to purchase a web domain to assign to your Google Apps. This will cost you seven to ten dollars annually, with the latter price being what Google charges you to buy a domain through them. No matter how you slice it, that's still a small price to pay compared with the costs of licensing traditional desktop software, plus any hardware you might allocate to run e-mail or network storage servers.
Google purports to estimate how much money you can "save" with Google apps at GoneGoogle.com. In truth, this sales-gimmick is a better illustration of how much Google Apps is worth. Gone Google claims that I saved some $30,000 annually by using Google Apps for my personal domain, JayGarmon.net. I never would or could spend even a tenth of that running my personal domain, but then I'd never set up a seven-gigabyte web-accessible mail account on my own server, with full RAID recovery, or VPN access to my document folder and my personal intranet (which I also wouldn't have set up). Replacing all that functionality with proprietary hardware and software may have cost me $30,000, but that's an argument for how much Google Apps is worth, not how much it saves.
What You Don't Get
Support page for Google Apps Standard EditionThe single most compelling reason to pay the $50 per user per year for Google Apps Premiere Edition is also the single greatest risk associated with Google Apps Standard Edition: tech support. If you're a paying Google Apps user, you get an actual phone number you can call in the unlikely event that your account data is hacked or corrupted. With Google Apps standard edition you're offered a support forum and FAQ setup, which is to say you're on your own to figure out most problems. Google has a very solid track record of uptime and data integrity, but in the worst-case scenario of data loss, Google Apps Standard Edition customers simply can't directly contact Google for help.
Conclusion
Any business with fewer than 50 employees should consider Google Apps Standard Edition. Small to medium businesses are exactly the sort of organizations that probably don't have (and can't afford) the on-staff technical expertise to run a mail server and a helpdesk. Even with the basic functionality limitations of Google Apps Standard Edition, the price simply can't be beat. For $10 per year in domain costs, you can avoid paying for virtually any software license or server hardware. The functionality you lack is more than made up for in the money you don't spend.
Google has made no secret of wanting to oust Microsoft as the premier enterprise software provider on the planet, but can Google Apps really displace Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange -- for free? We put Google Apps Standard Edition to the test in this review.
What's in Google Apps?
Signup page for Google Apps Standard EditionGoogle Apps is a subset of the various free Google web applications that you can assign to a personal web domain. Thus, rather than having an e-mail address at user@gmail.com, I can create user@yourdomain.com. Google Apps also adds under-the-hood controls you don't get from the usual Google web applications, emulating some of the broader account creation and permission controls of Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SharePoint.
There are ostensibly several different "tracks" for Google Apps, targeting either business, educational institutions, governments or non-profits. For the most part, there are no functional distinctions between these product groups; everybody gets the same set of Google Apps at the same price, but the marketing copy is different. The only difference that matters is that between the free Google Apps Standard Edition and the paid Google Apps Premier Edition.
Deshboard for Google Apps Standard EditionGoogle Apps Standard Edition includes private versions of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites. Standard Edition is limited to 50 users per domain and roughly 8 GB of storage per user (7GB of mail storage, 1 GB of document storage). Premier Edition throws in Google Video, Google Groups, unlimited users, 25 GB per-user storage, and additional user controls and tech support; it will cost you $50 per user per year.
The quartet of applications in Google Apps Standard Edition are designed to replace the major functions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SharePoint Server. These apps are accessed through the web browser, rather than as desktop applications. This means you'll need an internet connection to fully access your apps, but in return Google Apps can run on virtually any operating system. Each app is assigned to a subdomain of your Google Apps domain, with your private Gmail available at mail.yourdomain.com, Google Calendar at calendar.yourdomain.com, Google Docs at docs.yourdomain.com, and the Google Sites intranet platform available at sites.yourdomain.com. Google Apps user accounts can also access the Google Talk instant messaging client, and can sync with a number of mobile operating systems. Using Google Gears and/or the Google Chrome browser allows you to sync most of your content to a local PC, so even if your internet connection fails you can access most or all of your data.
Bear in mind, the entire design philosophy behind Google Apps is to offer only the major functionality that most users will commonly need. The Google Docs word processor doesn't offer a tenth of the features of Microsoft Word, but Google Docs does include all the text formatting, saving, printing, and sharing options that comprise 90 percent of typical Microsoft Word usage. The same "just what you need" minimum functionality applies to all components of Google Apps. There are no pivot tables, no complex mail-merge wizards, and no mass library of presentation sound effects to choose from. If you're a power user of any proprietary software, Google Apps will not meet all your needs -- at least not out of the box.
What You Can Add to Google Apps
Google Apps marketplace mainpageThe Google Apps Marketplace offers -- either as giveaways or as for-sale products -- a wide selection of third-party web applications that integrate with Google Apps. Need a CRM app that integrates with your Google Apps contact lists? No problem. An expense reporting tool that links to your online financial spreadsheets? You're covered. Project management apps that sync with Google calendar and private Gmail? Take your pick. It's simply a question of matching cost to functionality. Moreover, most of these apps can be deployed to specific user accounts, so you can give your employees just the apps they need and not waste money licensing helpdesk apps for sales leads, or marketing apps for engineers.
You can add data to Google Apps almost as easily as you add third-party applications. If you are presently running an Exchange Server, Google offers an Exchange migration tool to directly transport your existing e-mail archives to your Google Apps mail domain.
Costs and Savings
Strictly speaking, even Google Apps Standard Edition isn't totally free, because you have to purchase a web domain to assign to your Google Apps. This will cost you seven to ten dollars annually, with the latter price being what Google charges you to buy a domain through them. No matter how you slice it, that's still a small price to pay compared with the costs of licensing traditional desktop software, plus any hardware you might allocate to run e-mail or network storage servers.
Google purports to estimate how much money you can "save" with Google apps at GoneGoogle.com. In truth, this sales-gimmick is a better illustration of how much Google Apps is worth. Gone Google claims that I saved some $30,000 annually by using Google Apps for my personal domain, JayGarmon.net. I never would or could spend even a tenth of that running my personal domain, but then I'd never set up a seven-gigabyte web-accessible mail account on my own server, with full RAID recovery, or VPN access to my document folder and my personal intranet (which I also wouldn't have set up). Replacing all that functionality with proprietary hardware and software may have cost me $30,000, but that's an argument for how much Google Apps is worth, not how much it saves.
What You Don't Get
Support page for Google Apps Standard EditionThe single most compelling reason to pay the $50 per user per year for Google Apps Premiere Edition is also the single greatest risk associated with Google Apps Standard Edition: tech support. If you're a paying Google Apps user, you get an actual phone number you can call in the unlikely event that your account data is hacked or corrupted. With Google Apps standard edition you're offered a support forum and FAQ setup, which is to say you're on your own to figure out most problems. Google has a very solid track record of uptime and data integrity, but in the worst-case scenario of data loss, Google Apps Standard Edition customers simply can't directly contact Google for help.
Conclusion
Any business with fewer than 50 employees should consider Google Apps Standard Edition. Small to medium businesses are exactly the sort of organizations that probably don't have (and can't afford) the on-staff technical expertise to run a mail server and a helpdesk. Even with the basic functionality limitations of Google Apps Standard Edition, the price simply can't be beat. For $10 per year in domain costs, you can avoid paying for virtually any software license or server hardware. The functionality you lack is more than made up for in the money you don't spend.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A Guide to Gaming PC Specs By Asam Mokonyama
PC gaming has been around for decades, but so has console gaming. Being a simpler platform, many players were drawn to consoles first and many even became veteran players without ever really considering PC gaming. Eventually though, some of the most competitive and hardcore gamers take a peek into the world of PC gaming because of all it has to offer. Some games are available for PC gamers that aren't out for any console, and many never will be. The PC offers a much wider range of controls (with keyboard and mouse) and therefore lends itself to a deeper gameplay experience that consoles can't replicate.
Another thing PC's offer is a breakout from the multi-year console cycle. When a console system first comes out there is generally wide-ranging acclaim for the technological capabilities of the system, but two or three years into its life cycle the technology is noticeably dated and yet the next generation console is still years away from release. This leaves many hardcore console gamers sour on their system of choice, and looking to PC gaming for potential answers.
For the PC gaming novice a common question is, "What's a good gaming PC spec?" Unlike consoles, PC's come with an infinite variety of processor types, CPU speeds, different types and amounts of RAM, and a whole litany of graphics cards to choose from. There is no easy answer to this question, because any answer I give today will be wrong a month from now. Ultimately any new PC gamer needs to learn the lay of the land a bit before purchasing their first system. Surprisingly though, this is much easier than you might think.
Product reviews are your friend. They will both save you money and save you from making purchases that might have disappointed you. Try to check reviews on both tech websites as well as on stores. Surprisingly, price alone is not a good indicator of quality and even something with what seems to be perfect specs on paper may not live up to expectations if there are other issues with it. Ultimately the most important piece of any gaming PC is the video cards. The graphics are the most processor and memory intensive thing about gaming today, so even if you are purchasing a complete system it's a good idea to make sure the graphics card included with the system can deliver solid performance for today's games.
By combining a little bit of research into graphics cards, checking out the specs on a variety of systems offered as gaming PC's, and looking at both professional and user reviews you will be able to make a very educated purchasing decision. A good gaming PC spec will change from month to month but the procedure for figuring out what the latest and greatest is and how to get the most for you money always remains the same.
Another thing PC's offer is a breakout from the multi-year console cycle. When a console system first comes out there is generally wide-ranging acclaim for the technological capabilities of the system, but two or three years into its life cycle the technology is noticeably dated and yet the next generation console is still years away from release. This leaves many hardcore console gamers sour on their system of choice, and looking to PC gaming for potential answers.
For the PC gaming novice a common question is, "What's a good gaming PC spec?" Unlike consoles, PC's come with an infinite variety of processor types, CPU speeds, different types and amounts of RAM, and a whole litany of graphics cards to choose from. There is no easy answer to this question, because any answer I give today will be wrong a month from now. Ultimately any new PC gamer needs to learn the lay of the land a bit before purchasing their first system. Surprisingly though, this is much easier than you might think.
Product reviews are your friend. They will both save you money and save you from making purchases that might have disappointed you. Try to check reviews on both tech websites as well as on stores. Surprisingly, price alone is not a good indicator of quality and even something with what seems to be perfect specs on paper may not live up to expectations if there are other issues with it. Ultimately the most important piece of any gaming PC is the video cards. The graphics are the most processor and memory intensive thing about gaming today, so even if you are purchasing a complete system it's a good idea to make sure the graphics card included with the system can deliver solid performance for today's games.
By combining a little bit of research into graphics cards, checking out the specs on a variety of systems offered as gaming PC's, and looking at both professional and user reviews you will be able to make a very educated purchasing decision. A good gaming PC spec will change from month to month but the procedure for figuring out what the latest and greatest is and how to get the most for you money always remains the same.
Evetech.co.za is a leading supplier of high Performance Desktop PCs and computer hardware in South Africa. When shopping for new computer, we recommend you to look at these Custom Built Home & Office Desktop PCs, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 400 Series Gaming PCs, Extreme Gaming Computers and Intel Core i7 Desktops Gaming Systems.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Asam_Mokonyama
Maintaining Your Laptop By Kathy Mercado
How many times have you been frustrated with your laptop not working fine? You will be encountering problems such as it keeps getting stuck all the time and the browser doesn't upload fast or you are not able to open your files as quickly as you would love to. Or, you want to type a document with MS Word, and no matter how much ever you type the cursor doesn't move fast. What you need to do is to learn how to maintain your laptop to improve its performance.
The first and foremost thing you need to do is keep it dust free. Providing your laptop a good casing would do some good for its enhanced performance. Accumulation of dust inside the fan which keeps the CPU cool could prevent it from functioning properly and slowly it could lead to other problems.
Most importantly, how you carry and drop your laptop matters a lot. You need to be extremely gentle with your hands and electronics are very delicate items. Above all, do not eat in front of your computer. Small crumbs can easily drop in and spoil your keys and other components.
Never keep your laptop near electrical components as the magnetic field generated by the latter can harm your computer. Keep your laptop screen clean and make it a point to dust your computer regularly.
You should also move all the important files to an external disk. This would increase the occupied space which gives the memory to work free and fast. You need to keep updating your applications which you use regularly. The programs and applications which haven't been used for long should be uninstalled and deleted immediately as they affect the performance too.
Last but not the least, use the system defragging option. Defragging improves quality of space in the drive and increases the speed of performance. Following these tips given above can definitely help you improve the performance of your laptop.
The first and foremost thing you need to do is keep it dust free. Providing your laptop a good casing would do some good for its enhanced performance. Accumulation of dust inside the fan which keeps the CPU cool could prevent it from functioning properly and slowly it could lead to other problems.
Most importantly, how you carry and drop your laptop matters a lot. You need to be extremely gentle with your hands and electronics are very delicate items. Above all, do not eat in front of your computer. Small crumbs can easily drop in and spoil your keys and other components.
Never keep your laptop near electrical components as the magnetic field generated by the latter can harm your computer. Keep your laptop screen clean and make it a point to dust your computer regularly.
You should also move all the important files to an external disk. This would increase the occupied space which gives the memory to work free and fast. You need to keep updating your applications which you use regularly. The programs and applications which haven't been used for long should be uninstalled and deleted immediately as they affect the performance too.
Last but not the least, use the system defragging option. Defragging improves quality of space in the drive and increases the speed of performance. Following these tips given above can definitely help you improve the performance of your laptop.
For laptop news or laptop reviews, visit laptopblog20.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Mercado
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