After slapping an Intel X25-M solid state drive in my MacBook Pro I received a few inquiries from readers asking if it was safe to use PGP Whole Disk Encryption with SSDs being known for having limited lifespans. I reviewed PGP WDE for OS X two months ago and fell in love with it; utter simplicity, trusted security and it doesn’t affect system performance. However, a common misconception is that there is a lot of encryption happening in the background Continue Reading »
It has almost been a year since I wrote about the future of computing and how I thought that it was all about Solid State Drives (this was before I became infatuated with the cloud). Well I finally got my hands on one. It’s Intel’s new X25-M 80GB SSD and it is among the fastest consumer-aimed SSDs out right now. Continue Reading »
Ever since I purchased my MacBook Air 8 months ago, it has been my primary machine. I did everything on it, with the exception of HD movie viewing which was outsourced to my HTPC setup. It was a bit on the slow end but I enjoyed the portability. However in the recent months my feelings towards it have changed substantially. Continue Reading »
That’s what Valleywag author Paul Boutin wants me to do in his latest Wired magazine article aptly-titled Kill Your Blog. Don’t worry, I am definitely not going to heed Mr Boutin’s so-called advice and I’m not shutting down my blog (although I bet this post title just got me a ton of clicks). Neither should you. Continue Reading »
It doesn’t matter which part of the Intarwebs you reside, you have probably heard something about today’s Apple event - the invitation to which was titled “the spotlight turns to notebooks.” The typical Apple blog rumor mills and even the PSTAM forums have been a flurry of activity in the past few days. Some claim we’ll see networked HDTVs with Apple TV-like functionality Continue Reading »
While it may sound like some paltry attempt to evangelize another form of Wi-Fi connectivity, WiMax is a substantially different technology that’s aiming high. Why is this something to familiarize yourself with? Last week WiMAX was “turned on” for the city of Baltimore, Maryland - and many more cities are on the way. In a nutshell, WiMAX refers to a set of technical specifications detailing Continue Reading »
A few weeks ago I learned about the Apple recall of their (”impossibly small” as Steve Jobs would say) iPhone 3G USB power adapter. Apparently the prongs are at risk of separating from the adapter and becoming lodged in electrical outlets. I filled out the form online and today the replacement adapter arrived. Continue Reading »
Update: Ryan has been chosen as the winner.
As I announced two weeks ago, I am starting my giveaway today. Quick refresher: HP provided me and 14 other bloggers with an HP laptop and a bunch of accessories to give out on my blog. While the promotion is geared towards college students, anyone can enter. The laptop at the core of this promotion is the powerful HP Pavilion dv4t entertainment PC Continue Reading »
When you talk to accomplished programmers, it’s no shock to hear they began programming at a very young age. Unfortunately, I was not the same way and did not grow up programming. I was much more into hardware during my childhood. I learned how to solder, read and write circuit schematics and build small projects. For my 7th grade science fair project I built a so-called breadboard robot Continue Reading »
AskMeGo is a recently launched company that aims to engage website visitors with their live Q&A toolbar. However, their plans go much further than the toolbar. AskMeGo enables publishers and their users to tap into a “distributed knowledge network.” Anyone can ask a question through the toolbar and get paired with an self-proclaimed expert in that topic for a live one to one chat, all within the toolbar. Continue Reading »
Last week I made the upgrade from the Nikon D80 to the new Nikon D90. The D90’s claim to fame is that it is first DSLR camera to feature video recording. This lets me consolidate my gadgets as I just gave back my loaned Samsung SC-HMX10C HD camcorder. The D90 bundle comes with the new Nikon 18-105mm VR lens and retails for around $1,300 USD. Continue Reading »
Admittedly, I have been living a happy life in Appleland for the past few years and haven’t stopped to check out what’s been brewing in the PC world. Now that I have been tinkering with the HP Pavilion dv4t laptop that I am going to give away, I was a bit surprised by what it could do and what it was packing. I’ll start off with the basics. The dv4t notebook Continue Reading »
As part of a new-fangled viral marketing promotion with Hewlett Packard and marketing agency BuzzCorps, I will be giving away an HP laptop and lots of goodies along with 14 other college-oriented blogs. As you probably caught on from the name of this promotion, it is aimed at college students. Continue Reading »
JamLegend is well on its way to becoming the latest online gaming craze. A product of LaunchBox Digital, a Washington, D.C. based early-stage startup incubator, - sorry, they prefer to be called accelerator - JamLegend brings Guitar Hero style gaming to your browser. No need to buy any fancy controller, your keyboard will do just fine. You can even hold it upside down like a guitar if you so please. Continue Reading »
Dropbox is the recently-launched YCombinator-backed startup that aims to seamlessly sync files between multiple computers as well as act as a conduit for backing up files to the proverbial cloud. They have been the subject of some great reviews and truly deliver what they claim. That being said I don’t plan on reviewing Dropbox, Continue Reading »
