hardware

So last week we served up some sites and programs you could use to watch television programming on your computer or mobile device.  While some people have certainly embraced the glory of streaming internet television, some people still prefer getting their fix from the 60″ flatscreen holding court in their living room. But what if you could get all that lovely internet TV on your actual TV?  Without the pesky bother of paying for cable?  Well, look no farther.  Here are a handful of options you can use to accomplish just that feat.

continue

And it’s also time for spring cleaning!  Happily, the Lower East Side Ecology Center is making the disposal of your broken and outdated electronics really easy for you–they’re hosting a baker’s dozen of e-waste recycling events through May 22 at various locations in all five boroughs.  And since New York state just passed a law making it illegal to throw away these old electronics starting in 2015, recycling your e-waste is a good habit to get into.

Here are a few tips to consider when preparing your electronics for recycling: continue

Dear Rovio,

I really wanted to love you, I did.  Your wifi enabled webcam, your omni-directional steering, your programmable web interface.  You were going to be my little remote sentry to keep an eye on my lair and keep me company on a long winter’s night.  Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be…

(hit “read more” for the rest of the story)

continue

Droid vs. iPhone, is there a winner, can there be a winner? I have the luxury of both phones, which I use daily both for personal things and for work. This will not be a whose carrier is better comparison. If I was to do that I would just say AT&T is the worst provider I have ever had to use in Manhattan and that would be the end of it, oh look I did I said it anyway.

Getting back to the heart of the matter: what is bad about the Droid and what is bad about the iPhone. You may be asking yourself why just the bad stuff? I think if you want fanboys to fawn over either device you have a lot of sites extolling their values all over the internet. So lets start.

iPhone: No removable battery Battery life Closed source architecture No tethering * Single carrier Lack of Google Voice

continue

Here’s a quick video showing you how I fixed the screen on my Canon SD850IS.

I had left it in my bag on a motorcycle ride through NJ and when I took it out to take a quick picture I realized that something in my bag had cracked the screen and make it totally unusable.

I didn’t want to throw away a perfectly good $400 camera, but without the screen modern point-and-shoots are very difficult to use (can’t set the flash, view pictures, zoom level, etc).  Luckily a couple internet searches led me to the Canon customer support line 800-652-2666.  When I called them they were actually really helpful.  I told them what camera I had and what I needed and they found the right screen for me with no hassle.  Best of all the replacement was only around $35 shipped!

Watch the video below for a quick run through on how to replace a screen.  Let us know if you want to see anything else worked on or questions answered in a video with the contact page or just leave a comment below.  I promise I’ll frame the shot better next time!

continue

Life hacker has a great troubleshooting tutorial dealing with how to figure out what’s wrong with your internet connection when you can’t get to a website. Print it out and file it somewhere safe, you won’t be able to get to the website when you need to follow the steps. From lifehacker: how to troubleshoot a flaky internet connection

Not sure what a RAM slot is?  Unclear what a USB port looks like? Sonic840 on deviantart.com put together an incredible collection of images of everything from RAM slots to CPU sockets to power supply cables.

I’ve already printed out a copy and stuck it on my wall over my workbench, I might have to order a full sized print from the creator.

Click here for a full sized version.

http://sonic840.deviantart.com/art/Computer-hardware-poster-1-7-111402099

found via gizmodo

Fragmentation deals with hard drives, more specifically the filesystem on hard drives. Almost all  filesystems fragment, but some are better than others. But what exactly is fragmentation?  Hard drives are composed of platters of magnetic media ( think of an old LP record) The files take up a block of space , if there is free space on the drive , the block are contiguous with each other. Perhaps a visual explanation would help here. And this is a basic explanation of the internals of a file system.

continue

I love my Iphone, it is the greatest phone i have ever had, and I’ve had quite a few.  Its a computer in your pocket, it also happens to be a phone. The variety of applications are great , and there is no end to them it seems. So we hit the darkside of our technological future. Battery life, quite honestly, as good as it is , it is still abysmal. I want a product that I can use for a week, not a day.

This is where 3rd party vendors come in. While there is a plethora of battery products out there for the iphone, the best I have found is Mophie. I ordered the Juice pack air and I love it. Yes, it makes the phone heavier, but it doubles the battery life of the phone. On a busy day I need it. There have been a a few heavy use days when i actually had to recharge both phone and battery. Which bring me to my next topic.

The battery pack doubles as a protective case, it also uses the new European charging standard for phone plugs (micro usb)*.  The case acts as a passthrough and you can sync your phone to Itunes with no problem. It also has a small recessed switch at the bottom. The Iphone actually uses more power when it charges, so leaving it on all the time would drain the battery. When it is fully charged , the battery pack will start vibrating alerting you to shut it off.

continue