Creating something from nothing

The other day on the radio I heard a biographer talking about this famous hollywood actress from the 30s and 40s who in the 1950′s invented the principal of radio frequency hopping that is still used today in technology like Blue Tooth devices. This got me thinking about what could I create? And then it hit me. A company.

Okay so I’m no Donald Trump or anyone. I don’t have any money to speak of. What I do have though is a pretty good set of skills for computer and networking repairs. I also have some pretty decent ideas on how to get the most out of a computer. My neighbors are quite envious of the fact that I don’t pay $160 a month for cable but yet can watch as much TV as I can.

So I decided that I need money. Well, who doesn’t need money today? I’m still behind where I was in 2008 before I took a 4% pay cut at my last job. So what’s a better way to earn money than to start up a side business. In my case, it’s going to be computer repair. I’m not giving out too many details until I get everything registered and trademarked (coming very soon) but I will say I have a very open and flexible business model and with my experience in the field I think I can do this in a way that might just open some eyes in the small business world. I guess only time will tell which sucks because I’m excited to get this thing off the ground.

One of the things I am excited about is my open ended business model. I’ve designed a near flawless starting out fee and pay structure and the best part is that this model requires no capital to get started. You do obviously need a few things such as a phone number and a computer with internet but since I’m already working I have all of those things.

The other exciting part is that I’m striving to run my company on as much free software as I can manage. Just to prove that it can be done. Now not all of it will be totally free but I’m trying to keep my expenses to a minimum while getting things off the ground.

For example I am using a seven dollar per month Skype phone plan that includes an online number. For my business I will use this phone number. For my private number which will be like my business cell phone, I’m using Google Voice. Using an iPhone someone gave me, Google Voice, and Skype, I can take phone calls, and text from the same online number for free and I can use my Skype number as the main business phone number. It rings to my iPhone with no service on it as long as I am connected to WiFi. Someday I will get service but for now it’s not too shabby.

One of the other cool things I am doing to save money is that I leased a web domain for $2. I scored that deal on GoDaddy.com. I am going to host my domain from a box I already have running 24/7. I am also going to make an attempt at hosting my company’s email from that machine as well.

Two other things I’m working with is trying out Google Calendar for a shared calendar option to schedule service calls. It is also free to use. The other thing is that I’m going to be playing with free invoicing software. Actually I’ve already tried it out and as soon as my logo is ready I will be able to print invoices to PDF and email them to customers.

Since my starting capital is next to nothing, my pay schedule has to be creative as well. So I’ve developed a get paid as you work plan. If things go well, I hope to transition over into a more traditional type of payroll system. I had to find a way to give incentive my employees to do the work to bring in revenue while the company has no immediate way to fund a payroll.

The next part of the plan is to build up a customer list. I’ve got some solid leads and some good referrals. I’m just trying to make sure everything else is ready before the phone starts ringing.

I’ll try to keep posting as I discover more money saving solutions for running a small business out of your house. Someday I hope to have an office somewhere but for now I think we can hit the ground running right out of my front door. Remember, there is always a way.

Living Geek

So I wanted to update my blog with something. I was going to do this long ass tutorial on how to remove most types of virus infections but I tend to struggle with longer articles like that. For some reason when I blog I want instant gratification and trying to get complicated with my posts usually results in me scrapping the post all together to end up going another month with nothing. So I’ve decided that I’m going to try yet another direction with my blog. I’m going to make it more about me and my interactions with technology and life rather than  the sort of do it yourself type articles I’ve been trying to come up with. Lets face it, I’m a decent computer technician, but I seem to be a lousy teacher. Moving on.

So the last post to actually make the cut (questionably) was my article on how I managed to trim my monthly bills way back and utilize alternative services. I thought it would be a fair idea to post an update to say how that has been going. I’ll try to keep this brief in the interest of not losing interest myself and not scrapping this post all together.

So recently I did manage to upgrade my internet service from 18mbps down and 1.5 mbps up to 24mbps down and 3mbps up. This upgrade ended up costing me an extra $10 a month making my internet bill $65 a month instead of the before mentioned $55 a month. I gotta say this new service just flies. Not that 18mbps wasn’t stellar service, but now I truly am top tier.

Why is this change so important to me? I’m not really sure that it has a whole lot to do with anything other than bragging rights. Also it helps that I am currently running four internet capable computers on my home network. All of which partake in streaming videos whether it be from PBSkids.org or Netflix Instant Movies. One thing I can say is that my wife, son, and I can all be on our own computers watching whatever we want whenever we want without so much as a hiccup.

I am still using the Netflix $8/month plan. To recap this allows one DVD out at a time and gives us unlimited access to their instant movie collection. This service seems to get better and better everyday. One of the most beneficial features of this service is all of the children’s programming made available online. So now when my son wants to watch Spongebob or Wonder Pets, he can watch as much as he wants, or as little as he wants, when he wants. We don’t have to worry about missing his favorite shows or making sure we’re in front of the TV at a certain time. This makes spending time outside very easily manageable as well as simplifies life for my wife and I a great deal when it comes to trying to find programming for him to watch.

On top of that we still have access to Youtube, Hulu, PBSKids, as well as all the major network websites. This allows us access to newer content that isn’t yet released to Netflix. So with top tier internet, and access to the dozens of sites hosting current media, how can I go wrong?

For communications I am still using Skype but mostly I use my cell phone. I don’t make a lot of phone calls anyway so it’s not that big of a deal for me. However, Skype does allow me to maintain a “home” phone number that I can use on things like applications and resumes. Plus it includes voicemail service at no extra cost so you can always leave me a message. I also have to mention that it’s tough to beat Skype call quality. Half the time my cellphone sounds like I’m talking into a tin can.

So here’s the monthly financial breakdown. Internet = $65   Netflix = $8  Skype = $7    for a grand total of $80 per month. Granted I could knock about $20 a month off by dropping back down to about half the internet service I have today, but I’ve been spoiled rotten with my current service so I don’t see that happening. Still, I challenge you to come up with a cheaper package from anyone. Mine includes, Internet, Phone, and TV/Movies. And eat this Time Warner Cable (who I hate by the way because they lie in their commercials), all of my movies are “On Demand” and I have access to some of highest quality HD media available.

So if anyone actually reads this, just remember… There is always an alternative. The mainstream is the mainstream for a reason, but you don’t have to pay for it and you don’t have to be beholden to anyone. The real choices are out there if you’re brave enough to try something a little unconventional. You can save a lot of money and not have to deal with all that corporate red tape. There is no coax connected to my house and there is no dial tone on my phone line and yet I’m still more connected than you’re average bear.

Unplugged?

Today I heard a story on an National Public Radio news show about this woman who got fed up with paying her bills so she disconnected her phone, her cable, and everything. She now runs a business utilizing her Blackberry, and her Kindle reader taking advantage of public WiFi hot spots. This story hit pretty close to home as I am also guilty of nixing a few services in lieu of cheaper alternatives. So I thought I could document and discuss some of the ways I have trimmed back in this horrible economy. Maybe it will give someone else an idea on how they can save a few bucks a month or encourage someone to try something they were not so sure of. Some of the things I have taken it upon myself to setup as alternatives some people think are highly technical but I assure you I have only done things that while may take a little knowledge to get up and running, are usable by anyone including my 4 yr old son.

So I actually cut my cable service a couple years ago ago due to a sudden and sharp increase in my monthly bill. I won’t go into the details any more than to say that they jacked my bill up by $30 a month for no additional services. My response to them was to show up at their office the next day cable box in hand. After all, even when you only have a smaller budget package with around 60 channels to choose from, do you really watch more than 5 – 10 of those channels with any kind of regularity? Also, with the switch to digital TV signal, my HDTV with built in HD-Tuner became capable of pulling in around 10 channels with a simple set of bunny ears at no monthly cost. Also 100% of my TV broadcast is in HD, instead of just some channels or having to pay an additional monthly charge for that feature.

Now I will admit. The prospect of living life without cable can be a scary one when you are accustomed to having it. I will also admit it’s a very hard source of entertainment to replace outright once it is entrenched into your life. However I must add that it is very doable. On a very positive note, it doesn’t require draconian measures either. Just because you don’t have cable, doesn’t mean you have to miss your favorite shows. Not in this day and age. Now I’ll explain how I make it work.

First off a simple realization comes to mind. All the major TV and cable networks now post up to three of their newest episodes of their TV shows to their websites for instant viewing. That now means that missing a show when it first airs does not curse you to trying to seek it out during a rerun. Nor do you have to wait for an entire season to come out on DVD to catch up. This new service that broadcasters have been offering for quite a while now is also aided by such sites as Hulu and CastTV. These websites claim provide you with access to these shows which is sort of the case but most of the time they are simply linking you back to the network website. My suggestion to avoid being overwhelmed by the search possibilities of these sites is to go straight to the network website for the show you want to watch. For instance if you want to catch up on the Simpsons, simply start with www.fox.com and find the Simpson’s link. This can be easier than using Hulu or other third party sites as they often time include other videos such as clips and previews and it can be frustrating trying to determine if there is even a new episode available to view. Going straight to the site can cut down on some of the extras and get you to watching your show a little quicker.

A very important part of this message is that in order to enjoy streaming online video, especially once it becomes your primary source of video entertainment, you will need a rather robust internet connection. I recommend a Cable modem or DSL connection rated at at least 6 mbps download, and 1mbps upload. Obviously the higher the speed, the better off you will be. Everyone has their own preference on whether or not Cable or DSL is better, but it really depends on your area. Right now in my area cable offers a max speed of 15 mbps down / 1 mbps up, while with AT&T’s Uverse fiber internet I can get 18mbps down / 1.5mbps. Both connections are right around the same price point, but I went with the fiber because I’ve been reading that fiber technology is rapidly improving while cable companies are struggling with the ultimate limitations of coaxial cable.

So the bottom line, I cut off all my subscription TV services and knocked my monthly internet access fee down to $55 per month. I also did this by eliminating my land line phone service as well. The explanation for that is coming up. Bear in mind if you make these switches yourself that you do save on individual services when you bundle them together with either your DSL company or your cable company. So in the end you might end up paying more for your internet service than your neighbor but when you consider that your neighbor is still paying $50 additional on top of what your paying to maintain their TV service you realize that you may not be getting the lowest price on your internet, but your still saving $$$ every month.

The other piece of my own entertainment plan is Netflix. I started off with a standard $16 a month service that included unlimited per month, but two discs at a time by mail with unlimited access to Netflix Instant movies. However just recently my wife and I realized that we almost never watch DVD’s anymore. Therefore we dropped down to a $9 per month unlimited Instant with one disc out at a time. When Netflix Instant first started up they only had a handful of terrible B movies but over the last couple of years the quality and quantity of their instant movies has increased exponentially. I have even started seeing new releases now being available for instant viewing. The other nice thing is that if you really want to watch a movie, and they don’t have it on instant, you can always put the DVD on your list and receive it in the mail. This service has been worth every penny to us, even despite the fact that we’ve not exchanged movies with them in months.

The other part to saving money by unplugging is with your phone service. Let’s face it. Nearly everyone has a cellphone these days. Nearly everyone has an unlimited plan on their cellphone these days. If not, most people have reasonable plans on their cell phones. In fact, aside from my parent’s phone number and my in-law’s phone number, I cannot think of a single friend that my wife or I have where we have a number to their house. Everyone runs their communications via cell phone these days. So why pay for a land line? Well if you’re like me you still want a number to put on applications for things, or for companies to call you on as to not disturb you on your cell, there is an alternative to expensive traditional phone service. It’s called VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol usually referred to as Voice Over I.P. or Internet Phone. This is the type of service provided by cable companies when they over to run your phone service through your cable in a bundle package. Some other wonderfully less expensive alternatives include Skype and Magic Jack.

There are a couple different ways to run these services. The simplest is to simply get an IP enabled phone. Skype offers a couple models that support their services that do not even require a computer to be turned on. That is the downside to the cheaper way of doing this is that it does require you to have your computer on in order for it to act as your telephone. Some people don’t like their computers running all the time and for them I recommend the afore mentioned IP enabled phone. However if you’re really cheap like I am you’ll go out and buy a reasonable headset and plug it into your computer and when you need to make a phone call you’ll simply slide your headset onto your head, open the Skype program, and dial the number. One of the great advantages I’ve found to using Skype is that it offers many more features than traditional phone service such as the ability to put calls on hold or to transfer them on the fly to say a cell phone. The really great part is the price. For my Skype calling, my unlimited local and long distance calling (yes, I can call any phone in the country and talk as long as I want) for $3 a month. I’ll repeat that. $3 a month or three dollars a month for UNLIMITED local AND long distance calling  to ANYWHERE in the country. Now I know this sounds too good to be true. AT&T was charging me $45 a month just for a basic local service phone line. I believe I was paying somewhere around $60 per month for their unlimited calling plan plus $50 per month for my internet service. So what’s the catch you ask? I’ll tell you. Skype does not provide you with a phone number that can be called. This is a service provided by a third party that requires an additional monthly fee. I pay mine quarterly because that is the smallest payment package the company I lease my number from offers. My quarterly price for my phone number? $12 or twelve dollars a quarter! That breaks down to $4 per month. My total phone bill every month for Unlimited Local and Long Distance calling plus having a phone number that people can call that also has a totally customizable voice mail system… $7 per month.

Well this post is getting way long winded so I’m going to wrap this up with a summary right now. What I was paying…

Phone + Internet = AT&T Local and Long Distance $55 per month + 6mbps DSL $30 per month for a total of $85 per month plus taxes and fees (variable per month of course)

Cable TV = Time Warner Cable basic cable package which included around 60 channels plus 20 HD channels and an HD receiver with DVR $90 per month

Now…

ATT Uverse 18mbps – $55 per month

Skype Unlimited Nationwide Calling – $3 + Phone number $4 for total of $7 per month (no taxes or fees)

Netflix with Unlimited Instant Online Movies – $9 per month

Grand Totals (per month):          When I was paying too much – $175 Now that I’ve “unplugged” – $71 Total Savings per month – $104 Per Year – $1248

So the bottom line and the moral of the story is… this economy has really tightened some belts but if you put your mind to it and embrace technology, even a little bit, you can save some pretty big money. $104 a month has allowed my family to keep our house and maintain our entertainment and communications despite my wife losing her income and me taking a pay-cut in 2009. There are many things to consider when choosing to make changes like this so make sure you think it through. Both my wife and I have cell phones so the fact that Skype offers no emergency services does not matter to us. We have two separate phones capable of calling 911 in an emergency should we need to so that didn’t affect our decision but if it’s the only phone service you plan to have you need to know things like this. I will be happy if one of these two things happens or both… first of all if someone reads this entire article… secondly if it gives them an idea that helps them save some money.

Experimental Notions

So lately I have found myself rather broke and having no way to complete the upgrades I so desire for my computer. Also being poor has led me cancel my TV service through AT&T Uverse. So I’ve been having to find ways to entertain myself with only the hardware I have and that in which I can scrape up for free by offering to dispose of old computers and parts for my customers at work.

To get to the point, I recently acquired several of such computers and yesterday managed to construct a fairly decent machine. It’s only a P4 3.06GHz single core with a gig and a half of ram but I’m simply looking to put together multimedia box that can sit behind my TV and be remotely controlled. That way my wife and I can once again enjoy Netflix Instant movies streamed straight to our VGA enabled TV. With the loss of my TV service, my TV hasn’t been getting much use at all. Also the livingroom is obviously a much more comfortable environment to watch movies in on a regular basis.

So because I am broke, I am obviously trying to do this for free. I have no money to spend on hardware or software for this project. I ended up with a P4 3.0GHz, 1.5GB of Ram, 80GB hard drive, Geforce 6200, and a Sound Blaster Live 5.1. I also managed to squeeze in a DVD drive I scrounged up from another dead computer. The case does have a Windows XP Pro COA on it so I could legally install XP Pro if I wanted to. However staying in the spirit of free and trying to come up with something more interesting, I decided to give Linux one more try. I’ve made some rather disastrous attempts in the past to install Linux on various boxes. I’d never really been able to get it up and running before now.

I decided to go with the latest Ubuntu build. It seemed like a reasonable option as it is totally freeware and some major computer manufacturers have started selling some of their computers with it as an alternative to Windows OS’s allowing the user to save a couple hundred dollars. I figured if this was the Linux that people thought was marketable it would be good enough for me to try. Other than what I just mentioned, I really didn’t have any Linux experience to speak of other than seeing it a few times at LAN parties and the one failed attempt at installing Red Hat o so many years ago.

With all of my experimenting I decided to try out a couple different options. First I downloaded Ubuntu and burned the ISO to a CD and installed it onto my little junker box. Second I ended up finding and playing with some software called VMware. I am always hearing about virtual machines but that was also something I have not experienced on my own. I discovered that this VMware Player software that is also available for free download as long as you register your life away. It turned out to be an incredibly easy to use interface for setting up virtual machines. After much fussing and tweaking I even managed to use it to boot up a beta copy of Google’s upcoming Chrome OS. The version I had was kinda buggy and slow but it was nice to be able to see first hand what it is Google is up to. I have to say despite it being a Beta, I was not impressed. It’s going to turn computers into those crappy e-ppliances that came out and failed in the late 90′s.

I ended up with a vmware Ubuntu install on my main rig and a full on Ubuntu install on my junker/Linux box. I must say it was the easiest time I’ve ever had installing an OS. Once the ISO was burned (all done with free software available to anyone) the installer and set up was very simple. I was rather impressed with how quickly I had this OS I had never even seen before downloaded, installed, and running on not just one box, but a virtual machine as well. Unfortunately, my good impressions stopped there.

Nothing against the layout but Ubuntu if you’ve never seen it before is set up very much like Mac OS. It has a toolbar across the top with very simplified menus for launching programs and customizing settings. I’ve found that the settings customizations are incredibly limited. Also while it is awesome that Ubuntu installs with Sun OpenOffice, a totally free productivity software suite, the caliber of some of the other programs included is rather lacking. There is a kind of cool online App center where you can download more programs but the selection is rather small and the quality is more of the same. And while internet browsing and general usage seems to be pretty flawless (though tricky to grasp the new interface at times), the internet capabilities are rather limited. Netflix Instant movies will not play on a Ubuntu box. Also my iPod shows up as a removable hard drive, but there is no iTunes support so I couldn’t use it to soley support my iPod’s many functions.

All in all I’m not done testing and playing, however I am going to have to revert my junker box to Windows XP after all so it can support the functions that I have intended for it. I want to be able to watch Netflix instant movies on it as well as have access to my itunes library for movies and music. If I were putting together a very simple computer for my son to do homework on, I can see Ubuntu as a wonder alternative to a Windows OS in terms of keeping him out of trouble with the virus and spyware issues that arise. However for much more than that I’m afraid it’s not the most useful or friendly OS.

I will keep my hopes up and my eyes open. Perhaps someday I’ll run across another release of Linux to try or perhaps Ubuntu will grow and evolve. Until then I’m going to have to declare that Microsoft remains king in this arena. For out of the box functionality, I have not found anything that beats out my Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit. I suppose Windows 7 could be better but I haven’t had an out of the box experience with it yet except for my wife’s netbook which is running Windows 7 Starter. And while XP used to hold that title for me, it’s become not so great straight out of the box but given enough time on the internet it can become wonderfully functional in a short amount of time.

The bottom line? I don’t think Chrome and Linux are going to threaten Microsoft’s hold on the PC OS market anytime soon. Yes they are interesting and to a point useful alternatives. However they are just lacking in some of the more complex aspects of computer operating systems that people like me have taken for granted and hate living without. I’ll keep looking though, trying to find the most useful, easiest to use products at the lowest or no cost.

iPod Touch anyone?

So for the fun of it and the sake of the post I am writing this on my iPod Touch. I thought this a fitting topic considering I was recently asked for advice on the purchase of one. So here are my two cents on them.

To start let me mention that I am currently listening to music while I am writing this on a mobile WordPress app. If I were upstairs on my computer I would have no further comforts. Infact I would be constrained to an office chair instead of reclined out as I am on my couch. The bottom line is that this sort of functionality for such a tiny device is impressive.

So let’s get to some basic buying advice. If you have the money to go new here is the deal. Apple just released their generation 3 iPod Touch and iPhone products. These products are superior in ways and one should make sure they are purchasing an updated gen 3 product and not a hold over gen 2 for the same price. That being said it has come to my attention that true gen 3 hardware is only being used in the 32GB and 64GB models. So if shopping for the latest and greatest make sure you are not buying into the restickered gen 2 models that are being sold as gen 3 because they’re os has been updated.

If you’re like me and on a tight budget eBay is a great place to shop right now. My original 8GB iPod Touch was damaged and I sought to replace it as inexpensively as possible. I ended up scoring a 16GB gen 2 for $200.00. It also included a brand new leather case and a plastic screen protector. It was definately used but whoever owned it sure took care of it. Not to mention a brand new 16GB model would’ve cost me $300 with no awesome case included.

So don’t discount going used. My first one took a beating and despite a non functional sleep button still works totally fine. I loaded it up full of kid friendly games and animated movies. It’s definately a nice distraction to have on those long trips to the grocery store. And now when he drops it I don’t have to worry quite as much.

Mojumbo…

Okay, I haven’t been writing blog posts like I used to. I’m not sure what’s up with that. I haven’t been doing a lot of the things that I used to do. However I do have a few updates and ideas I wanted to write down if for nothing else, than just for the sake of writing them down. For me, writing can be a kind of therapeutic process which is partially why I started this blog in the first place. I can become very focused on whatever it is I am writing for me it can be an escape much like reading a book can be. The scenery around me, the background noise, the chatter of the TV or others around me all seem to fade away. This allows me to focus only on the page or screen in front of me and has become for me a source of meditation.

So without further ado… Here we go. Let’s start with some game reviews.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – I know there is a lot of hype and controversy over this game and the complete lack of attention given to the PC Gamers market out there. However all in all I have to say that this is a very fun and can be fairly addictive game. I know people hate the lack of dedicated servers and crappy match making system and total lack of customization options which does suck. Despite the flaws I have to say the single player story mode was as fun as ever. I often compare game story play through experiences with reading a good book. This game certainly does not lack the captivating story play that will keep you playing past bedtime for days until you finally beat it. I know some people can play though it much faster than that but as I have a job and a family, my gaming hours availability is often limited to a couple hours a night or whatever I can squeeze in before bed once the kid is a sleep.

Point being, despite it’s flaws, it’s almost worth the retail price just for the single player experiences. Also I imagine this game will be played around LANs everywhere almost making it a must have though I’m sure some underground versions are already out there for that crowd. The multiplayer experience despite it’s fall backs is still fun and full of intense moments. Despite the map size and options limitations, there’s still a good feeling from scoring the game winning kill and getting your instant replay shown to all the other players.

Left for Dead 2 - What can I say? If you liked the first one, you should love this one. This one plays the exact same way as the first one but offers new dialogue, weapons, and new types of Zombies. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I have this affinity for all things Zombie… Movies, Books, Games… you name it, I’ll watch, read, or play it. This game certainly does live up to it’s predecessor’s standards of Zombie killing. While the plot and story remain purposely very thin, leaving much of the situation up to one’s own imagination, the game offers hours of entertainment in crawling through a bunch of huge new maps, including a theme park with a tunnel of love. Also, and while I haven’t played them all, there are a few new game modes to continually sharpen your skills with and keep things fresh. I’ve always been a fan of survivor mode as long as you are with someone who knows what they are doing. definitely a fun game.

Borderlands – I don’t know why but for some reason I seem to love this game. To be completely honest, this game was actually kind of boring and repetitive. There are very few social interactions with NPC’s in the game and you spend a lot of it wandering around a desert wasteland by yourself constantly being challenged by all forms of the same types of wild life and bandits. However, with all that negative being said, I simply could not stop playing this game. There was a wonderfully addictive element to the RPG portions of the game. I spent hours going through my inventory making sure that I had the best possible weapons load out for my class and spent hours camping for loot to improve those weapon choices. I absolutely loved the character leveling and special talent tree that you are able to progress through in the game. Also, now that I’ve beat it once, I can go back through with my same character with my precious DPS intensive load out and blast through the next level of challenging monsters and baddies. So while I hate to love this game for whatever reason I hate to hate it as well. I have only just started my second play through but I do intend to go through it’s entirety.

I’ve also had some recent hardware improvements I wanted to make mention of. For Christmas my mom got me a Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard to replace my failed G15 Gen 1. I had asked her for a G12 which was identical to the G15 only without the LCD screen which I never really used anyway. She wrote me back and said that they didn’t sell the G12 anymore so she got me the next step up. She did very well indeed. I absolutely love this keyboard. The button mechanics and spacing are even better than on my beloved G15. While a soft clicking keyboard which I typically don’t care for, the keys still produce a very satisfying click when depressed that is almost crucial to my ability to type and game. Obviously I can get by on lesser quality but this keyboard offers me the maximum in comfort and feel.

Another interesting function of this keyboard is that it has a USB Audio Device embedded in it. It is only active when you plug headphones or speakers into it but it has proven very handy for use with my Skype. It allows me to keep my Skype phone calls on their own audio device so that the audio on the rest of my computer is not disrupted. Primarily this means I can leave my headset plugged in all the time for convenience without losing the ability to use my surround sound speakers. So while most people probably won’t have a use for the extra sound card, it has been a nice thing for me to have.

The other thing I asked for was a Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse. My G5 took a dump on me right before my keyboard did. I have to say, this G9 is like the Dodge Viper of mice. It’s not a mouse you’re average person will appreciate, but for that someone who wants a bit of extra this is a nice mouse. Unfortunately when I asked for it I wasn’t paying attention to the market and I asked my mom for a G9 instead of the newer and faster tracking G9.x. All the same, I have a hard time keeping up with my own cursor with a 3200DPI mouse which is still a huge improvement over my previous 2000DPI mouse. I can’t imagine trying to keep up with the 5700DPI.

Finally, from my brother I received a set of Logitech x530 5.1 Surround Speakers. While they don’t offer much advantage over my old Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers, the sure do sound a lot crisper. Even though they are still connected to analog stereo outputs they appear to be totally capable to putting out crisp Hi-Defination sound. The one feature that is actually a bit different about them is that the center speaker is twice as powerfull as the rest of the satellite speakers which produces a much fuller sound throughout. It also seems to make positioning that much more effective. Even though these are sort of the bottom dollar surround sound speakers, I can still ful appreciate their more modern design and technology. My computer has never sounded better.

I finally did it!

Okay, by now you should know that I am a total Fan Boy. Yes I champion AMD/ATI and all of their products. My PC has not seen an intel chip in about 10 years nor an nvidia video card since I upgraded my Geforce 3 with a Radeon 9700 Pro. On a side note, I have also recently (thanks mostly to christmas) become a Logitech Fan Boy as well. I am now equipt with Logitech X530 Speakers and a G110 Gaming Keyboard as well as a G9 Laser Gaming Mouse. Anyway, without further ado here is my ultimate tribute to the processor company that has been powering my PC’s for over a decade.

 

I’ve had this idea for awhile. I was never really sure if it was really something I wanted to do until recently. Also, when I’m 70 and it’s droopy and distorted, atleast I won’t have to see it. Either that or I’ll just get it fixed. Anyway, I hope AMD see’s this. I’d love to get some swag out of them. (Hint Hint A Free Phenom X4 965 would be totally cool.)  I just found out the other day that this aging AM2+ motherboard that I bought back in the day of X2′s and original Phenom’s is totally capable of supporting an AM3 Phenom processor thanks to a little Bios update that I completed the other day. That would have been nice to know about a year ago considering that just recently I helped my friend pick out and buy a Phenom II 965 for cheaper than I paid for my Phenom II 940.  Performance increases are marginal but they’re there. Oh well. I am still happy with what I have. If I weren’t, I don’t think I’d be getting tattoo’s like that.

The economics of a loss…

So today I lost my second hard drive in almost as many months. Actually I can’t remember exactly when it was that I lost drive one of array 2… my backup array. It wasn’t really all that important of a drive for me other than the fact that it provided me with 160GB of extra storage. That’s not a whole lot these days but when you’re on a budget, every mb can hold value to you. Anywho when the first drive died I was bummed but atleast I had it’s raid partner that I could run as an 80GB drive to offload some of my lessor important files to.

Well tonight that poor drive finally sucumbed to that which afflicted it’s partner. I’m assuming it was a combination of heat and age that did them both in. They were both 5 years old and were purchased at the exact same time. However while their loss has cost me some precious hard drive space I figured out today that I am probably better off in the long run not having those in my system. Here are my reason.

1. Power Consumption… Lets face it… Anything you plug into or attach to your computer for the most part is drawing power from that little box in the back like a buffet chef trying to feed a bus load of fat kids on their way home from fat camp. Removing anything unnessary from your power supply ensures that all your other devices will have ample draw during their peak performance times. It’s important not to overload your rig’s power supply period so a good rule of thumb is to weed out unnessities.

2. Heat… Hard drives generate a ton of heat. In a tight chassis situation they can also trap a lot of heat. So now you’ve got a little box that is producing and trapping heat. Under normal circumstances this is fine. However in my case I was running four hard drives in a case that barely qualifies as a mid tower. So I had two pairs of drives basically stacked on top of each other with my video card tightly between the two pairs. This was not optimum but it was literally the only way to fit everything in. Now that both those drives are dead, I have removed the dead pair and spaced out two remaining drives to allow for maximum ventillation. Hopefully these last two drives and my video card will both benefit from this and last alittle longer.

3. Ventillation… I sort of touched on this in my last paragraph. The basic principal is this. The more stuff you shove into your case, the more you’re going to obstructed the airflow of your case. Removing dead and unused componets frees up space for air to flow. The better the air flow and circulation inside your case, the cooler and more stable it will be. Air cooling should be totally effective at cooling any product at stock settings unless otherwise instructed by the manufacturer. If you’re system is overheating, you may need to rearrange some of you’re periphials to allow for better ventillation and air flow.

So this is my piece. I just thought up these benefits while I was boxing my rig back up after tracking down the source of my boot up problem. I don’t have the money to replace these hard drives right now and probably won’t for awhile so I suppose you could say I thought up a good side to losing these two valuable parts. There wasn’t much else I could do about it so why not think of a way to make my computer benefit from it?

The Triangle is Whole Again!

I’ve been kinda busy lately and haven’t gotten around to creating a new blog. What I’ve been doing during this busy time though includes working things out with my wife and getting her home. This all happened back around Thanksgiving and I’ve been meaning to posting something about it but I haven’t had the time or energy to do so lately. However when I got a comment from a friend and former teacher of mine on my last post I realized it was time to announce the wonderful news. My wife and I are back together. It only took her four months to come to her senses but she is home now and more welcome than ever. Our son is thrilled, I am thrilled… we are all a family again!

Granted nothing is guaranteed or perfect in life but things have definitely improved thus far. This has also allowed me to spend a tiny bit of my time to speculate on some different technologies and happenings going on out there. I guess what I’m saying is that I’ve got some pretty decent ideas for some blog updates but I haven’t the will to sit down and pen them out yet but they are coming. I’m so glad to be back and not so much for the blogging. Ha!

Oh the Irony!

Okay random reader, here’s the deal. I’ve sort of lost my taste for this blog. Unfortunately this last weekend she up and left me and my son. So the whole premise of this blog is kind of blown. I was really hoping to keep my blogging going, just not in this sort of context. I sort of think right now that this blog is one of those things that I want to shove in a drawer for a while and forget about like all those pictures and crap. Part of me wants to destroy it completely and take the whole thing down. Sort of like what I did when I rearranged the furnature in the bedroom and in the sunroom. I really need to move on and my best method is to pack up all the memories and put them away for awhile while I start picking up the pieces and filling in the gaps.

So basically I just can’t bring myself to be able to add to a blog where I’d have to scroll through pages of memories I want to keep locked up right now. So I’ve come to the decision of starting a new blog. I haven’t thought it completely out yet but I’ll keep this one around for awhile and post the new one when I’ve officially created it. I’m still in sort of a mourning period so I’m not feeling all that creative lately but I’ll come around eventually. Especially when I reveal my deep dark secret… dumb… dumb… dumb….

I’ll give you a hint… “3.0″ That’s the only hint. Maybe by the time I get around to writing about it it will be obsolete. Oh well. I’ll just have to plunk down another $10 and upgrade to the next and write about that. I guess we’ll see. And just remember one thing… don’t get married at 20.