Technology Metro

lol this is a very very cheap deal. $5 for a Ethernet switch is a very low price. Well actually the price is set at $15 on Newegg for SMC105DT Fast Ethernet Switch. You will need to use a $10 off coupon code (EMCADCFCH) to get the SMC105DT 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch for $5. There is nothing special on this SMC Ethernet Switch but for $5 its a cheap ethernet switch and will work as advertised. Nothing more to it. I almost forgot, this SMC Network’s Ethernet Switch’s shipping is free so for a total cost of just $5, you will get if right on your doorsteps. The price of this SMC Ethernet Switch elsewhere is:

• CostCentral.com $32.90 + $8.06 shipping
• POWERMAX $34.88 + $7.05 shipping
• PC Connection $35.28 + $9.49 shipping
• TheNerds.net $36.99 + $9.99 shipping
• Super Warehouse $37.99 + $6.99 shipping

So considering the price of the SMC105DT 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch on other shops, $5 is a great deal. Well this SMC SMC105DT 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch has 5 x RJ45 Ports. It is built on IEEE802.3, IEEE802.3u and IEEE 802.3x standard. It also has a 4K Mac Address table and 1MB of buffer memory. The size of the SMC105DT 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Switch is pretty small ( 4.3″ x 2.8″ x 0.8″ ). Here are some of the features of this SMC Networks’ Fast Ethernet Switch:

• Auto-negotiation of half or full duplex
• Auto-sensing of transmission speed on all ports
• Auto configuration for MDI/MDI-X cable connections
• ANSI/IEEE 802.3u compliant

Apple only produce quality products. I love what they have done to the portable music player industry. I have an iPod which I bought about a year ago (iPod Video 5.5 Gen). I have never been so satisfied with any other technological gadget. A friend of mine owns an Apple AirPort Extreme and he is more than satisfied with its performance. It is slick, small and does the job perfectly well. Apple AirPort Extreme is a wireless base station which is good for both personal use, business use and even for schools. Fifty users can connect using the AirPort Extreme Base Station using Wi-Fi technology (using IEEE 802.11 n standard). Apple AirPort Extreme also has three ethernet ports which can be used to connect computers to the network using Wires (using IEEE 802.3 standard). IEEE 802.11n is still on its development phase but it doesn’t pose a problem at all. EEE 802.11n is a good option because it can be used with all EEE 802.11a, EEE 802.11b and EEE 802.11g standards.

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station also has a USB port which you can use to connect printers and hard drives. You can plug-in your external hard drive and share the space with all the computers connected to this network. For sharing your printer, you can use the USB 2.0 port and use AirPort Extreme Base Station power to print documents wirelessly. from any computers within your network. You won’t have to worry about any computer other than in your network connect to your network as the AirPort Extreme Base Station uses the industry standard encryption technologies such as WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP which will secure your wireless network from intruders. You will have to use a AirPort Extreme utility software to configure your Apple Router which is very simple and easy to use and after you have configure your AirPort Extreme, no one can connect to your network without entering the correct password.

Apple’s AirPort Extreme also includes a built-in firewall which will keep you safe from the dangerous world of the World Wide Web. AirPort Extreme’s built-in firewall is automatically turned on. This Apple Router works with both Mac’s and PC’s so there won’t be any compatibility issues with the computer platform or your WiFi card. The cost of an Apple AirPort Extreme is not that high, you can buy an AirPort Extreme for $180 plus there is no shipping cost. You won’t be disappointed at all, it works flawlessly. Here are some of the features found on an Apple’s AirPort Extreme Base Station:

• 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking
• MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) smart antennas
• dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies
• three 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports
• one 10/100 Ethernet WAN port
• one USB port
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption
• a built-in NAT firewall

You will find these items inside your AirPort Extreme box.

• AirPort Utility for Mac and Windows
• AirPort Disk Utility for Mac and Windows
• 802.11n Enabler for Mac³
• Bonjour for Windows
• Power cord
• Printed and electronic documentation

View Apple’s AirPort Extreme Router from all angles.

Technology is advancing daily, this is specially true for computers. Processor are getting faster and faster every day and engineers are trying to cram in more cores into a small processor. You can never stop upgrading your computer as an existing one will be obsolete in no time at all. Some years before, two core processors were the top of the line and now there are processor with eight cores. Well they costs a huge amount of money now, but the price will drop dramatically in due time. If you are looking for a cheap multi-core processor, Fry.com is selling a Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 for $180. This is the lowest price of this Intel Core 2 Quad Processor. Other shops are selling this same Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor for a lot higher price.

• Buy.com has it for $257.99
• CostCentral.com is selling the Intel processor for $268.99
• Directron has it for $278.00
• CompUSA charge $279.99 + $8.49 shipping fee
• TECHONWEB sell it for $286.50

The best price for the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor other than fry.com is at Buy.com which costs $78 more. This is the best deal on the whole web for a Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600. Well you will have to pay a $6 shipping fee. So the total price will come down to $186. It is not the best processor you can find on the market when you talk of speed and performance but it is a great deal when you consider the price. Well here are some of the specifications for this Intel Processor:

• Made using 65nm, LGA775 architecture
• Total 8MB of L2 Cache, 4MB of L2 Cache per core
• Clock Frequency of 2.40GHz
• 1066MHz Front Side Bus

Not a bad deal for a relatively mid ranges processor. Get if before Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 is out of stock on Fry.com (Formerly called Outpost).

There are lots and lots of Linux distros and almost all of them are free to use. Linux Red Hat is one of the few paid Linux distros. Well, you might have heard of the name Ubuntu when there was a talk of Linux OS. That is because lots of people use Ubuntu because of its simple interface and user friendliness. I used to use Fedora Core on my desktop which I had made into a dual boot system with Windows XP installed on it. It was quite hard working with Fedora Core (Free linux distro based on Red Hat) as it was not as simple. Then I heard of Ubuntu and I checked it out. After a week of downloading using Bittorrent (I have a 64Kbps net connection ) the wait was finally over. I deleted Fedora Core from my hard drive and installed Ubuntu instead. Since then, I have never used another Linux distro. I am fairly new to Linux and Ubuntu made it quite simple for me to use a Linux OS. If it weren’t for my internet connection, I would still be using Ubuntu as my main OS (couldn’t configure PPPoE connection, got some unexpected errors). I think it was a one of problem and it might have been caused by my network card (don’t know for sure).

Well, if you want to try out Ubuntu for yourself you should start by downloading Ubuntu for free. I recommend you use download it by using Bittorrent. If you have a slow internet connection like mine, you are better off buying a CD or you can order a free Ubuntu CD here. It will take ten weeks for delivery thoug . After you get hold of an Ubuntu OS, you can install it on a partitioned hard drive (will be quite difficult for novice Linux users) or follow an installation process just like other windows softwares. This won’t mess with your boot loader or anything so for a trial use, this is the best option. There is a special software inside the ISO file or the Ubuntu CD which lets you install and uninstall Ubuntu in a few click of a mouse button. If you are satisfied with it, then you can install it on your hard drive with a dual boot system.

Ubuntu has a lot of must have basic softwares that comes pre-installed so there is almost no need to download other softwares. The latest version of Ubuntu that is available to download is called Gutsy Gibbon and soon there will be another Ubuntu version release. All versions of Ubuntu is provided for free. Actually, Ubuntu was developed for the continent of Africa as not a lot of people there can afford to pay for an operating system and there was almost no user friendly Linux distro available which a computer novice could use without much knowledge. The newest version is called Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and an ISO file was released for beta testing just on 20th of march 2008. Currently there are four variations of Ubuntu are

Ubuntu is an African word meaning ‘Humanity to others’, or ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. It will always be free of cost, including the updates and new versions. Ubuntu is available for PC, 64-Bit and Mac architectures. You will need a PC or any other computer with at least 256 MB of RAM which is required to run the desktop install CD. Installing Ubuntu requires at least 4 GB of disk space. The most recent full release of Ubuntu is 7.10 Gutsy Gibon which you can directly downloaded here.

You can wait for another 30 days or so for the new release of Ubuntu called Hardy Heron 8.04. I have to say this, Ubuntu is one of the most usable Linux distro and also economical if you can’t afford a Operating Systems like Windows XP or Windows Vista which costs a fortune. I will be downloading the Hardy Heron Ubuntu release and use it on my Dell Vostro 1500 laptop. I will write another article on Ubuntu Hardy Heron when it is out of beta stage.

When I first bought my iPod, I found it quite hard to load videos and even some audio on it. Lots of video formats and some audio formats is not supported by iTunes (the software used to load music, videos and pictures into iPod). Apple has to look into this system and find a new way to sync music and videos from PC to iPod. Well, I had some problems but with a little bit of search on google, I found some softwares that would convert videos, MP3’s to the proper iPod format. You can easily convert iPod Classic video with just some clicks. It is that easy. After you have converted the files to iPod suitable format, just add it to your iTunes library and the next time you plug-in your iPod, it will be loaded to it.

Even converting dvd to ipod classic is not that difficult, it may take some time to convert but other than that it is all easy. iPod is one of the best piece of technology made by Apple. Specially the click, which is magnificent to use is one of the technology that I like in 5th Generation iPod video and 2nd Generation iPod Nano. If you want to convert movies and musics to iPod compatible format you might want to take a look at the Avex DVD to iPod converter software. Someone at Apple needs to revamp the way iTunes behave, sometimes some songs magically vanish from my iPod without me even deleting it from my iTunes library. Well, iTunes can and will handle some file converting for you but it won’t be able to convert all the media files out there like DVD and some other formats so you will need to use a third party software to do so. There are some great softwares out there to convert DVD and other video format to iPod compatible format. Don’t forget to do some research as there are a huge collection of Video converting software for iPod’s.

As the days and months passes by, there is always some innovation be it in an existing technology or a totally new one. Well, about a decade ago, I had a PC that had a 100MB Hard Drive. At that time, I thought it was a huge space (we used 1.44 Floppy Drive). When you think of it now, it is a really low space. Back then, a game would fit in a couple of floppy drives and now it has started to even outgrow DVD drive’s space. A couple of years back, I got a new PC and it had an 80GB PATA Hard Drive, I thought that was more than enough space but now that hard drive is full and even my Laptop’s hard drive is about to reach its limits (160GB). I will be buying a new internal hard drive for my desktop soon.

Well, here is a great deal on an internal hard drive. Fry.com has a Maxtor 500GB Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive for just $90. It is a great deal if you consider the space and the speed of the Maxtor Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive. Here are some of the features included in the Maxtor Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive:

• 500 GB of storage capacity
• Spins at 7200 RPM and has 16MB of cache for fast data access
• Ultimate drive performance with SATA/300
• Whisper-quiet FDB motor
• Seek Time of <9.0ms

This Maxtor 500GB Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive has a thin-easy plug cable for improved airflow so it will help keep your hard drive cool even while in heavy use. It is also very easy to install this hard drive as it offers easy, no-jumper installation. You will find a MaxBlast software (for intelligent formatting and partitioning), SATA cable, power adapter, screws and a guide inside the box. Also comes with a three years manufacturers warranty which is another plus. The Maxtor Serial ATA Internal Hard Drive are in limited quantity so you might want to hurry up and grab yours and also one person will only be able to purchase one Hard drive.

When you buy a brand new laptop, they don’t come with a carrying case inside the box. You will need to buy it separately. There are a lot, I mean a lot of laptop bags and sleeves to choose from. Some laptop bags look really hideous but some are really cool. I bought a laptop about six months ago (to be exact, a Dell Vostro 1500 ). For portability reason, I had to buy a laptop bag. I was looking for a laptop shoulder bags and it was quite hard to find one that I liked. Finally, I choose one. The design not that great but the options, like pockets etc was the main reason that drew me into choosing it. The material used in it was basic and the price was a bit high for the product (I think I paid $30 for it).

Slappa provides the best casing you will find anywhere on the web as well as on location. They are one of the top laptop bag manufacturers out there. I found quite a few cool laptop bags and sleeves at Slappa.com . Ballistix PTAC Stealth laptop sleeves was the pick of the bunch for me. All the materials used in the laptop shoulder bags and sleeves are of top quality. The material used in these bags are made of ballistic nylon which is usually used in bullet proof vests so this should provide more than enough protection for your precious laptop. Here are some of the cool features of the Ballistix PTAC Stealth laptop sleeve that I found on Slappa.com

• It is water resistant to you can carry it around even in the rain and be sure your laptop stays dry
• It is tear resistant as the material used (1680-D ballistic nylon) is very flexible and is used widely in bullet-proof vests
• Quilted soft padding inside of the sleeve for added protection to your laptop
• Has a compartment to carry laptop adapters and some documents at the back.

One bad point about this laptop sleeve is, it doesn’t come with a shoulder strap. You have to buy it separately and it costs $13. The Ballistix PTAC Stealth laptop sleeve itself only costs $39.99 but I can guarantee it will be money well spent. From the design point of view, these bags are just top quality and has lots of technology added into for better protection. These laptop bags are made for 15″ and 17″ laptops. There are other protective coverings available for other gadgets to besides laptops. You will find few protective covering for Play Station Portable and DJ Gears. Slappa also has a whole bunch of CD and DVD cases for very efficient storing and carrying of these optical disks which is prone to damage by mis-handling. you will be more than satisfied with these products as it is made for quality. Lots of high profile websites and blogs have made positive reviews about the Slappa’s products so you are safe getting their products.I wish I had found this bag a bit sooner.

We are relying on our computers and other technological gadgets to do our work, store important data and do a lot of other things. We don’t worry about what would happen if everything on our computer were to be lost. Well, that is a very real possibility but not a lot of people know about it or worry about it. I have lost some important files and videos because of it and now I don’t take any chances. Hard disk crashing is a very common occurrence and with it having a lot of movie parts, it is prone to breaking. I have had this happen once, my hard drive was working fine and then suddenly it just stopped working. If I didn’t know better, I would have lost all the data in it. I went to a hardware professional who used a Data Recovery software and got almost all my data.

Well, if you can get your hands on a data recovery software, you can do this yourself. You might find some useful information on data recovery if you read this News Blog. You can take precautionary measures before your hard disk gives out on you and backup your files. You can do this by copying it on a CD, DVD or another hard drive itself. But it takes some physical space for you to store them. Nowadays, online backup is gaining a lot of popularity amongst computer users. It is a lot easier to backup all your files online but some companies charge a subscription fee for storage space. And you will need to have a high speed internet connection as using a dial-up internet connection not at all recommended for this for backing up huge files. It don’t cost you a huge amount though. Using a CD or DVD is still not the safest solution for Data Backup as optical disks can be damages by scratching or in time if the disk quality is not that good. It is a pretty cheap option though. Well, you will need to choose for yourself, which methods you want to use.

Having an iPod is great but sometimes you want to share and listen to the music on your iPod with your friends and family. Well you can connect it to a usual speaker or any audio device that has a line-in socket and cable. Well, this is not a very portable option and iPod is made for portability. Speaker systems from Bose costs a fortune and it is better get speakers from other manufacturers. One thing that is good about the Bose speaker system is it’s great designs. Bose speaker systems for iPod is not that portable so you won’t be able to carry that around with you either.

Here is a great opportunity to get your own portable speaker system for your iPod. The price is really low and everyone should be able to afford it. You can buy the Kensington FX 300 Portable iPod Speaker System for $10 at Buy.com. The original price of the Kensington FX 300 Portable iPod Speaker System $30 but Buy.com has sliced the price down to $10. There is no shipping and handling cost so you don’t have to pay anything other than the $10 for this iPod Portable Speaker System.

Looking from the design point of view, the Kensington FX 300 Portable iPod Speaker System is not a great eye candy. It looks like a lunch box but the usability of this piece of iPod accessory is great. There is a compartment inside the box to hold your iPod so you don’t have to carry two pieces. Just place it in the iPod holder that is present inside the Kensington FX 300 Portable iPod Speaker System and plug-in the speaker cord and that’s it, you are ready to go. It also has an external volume control for easy access.

Since the cost of microchip went down, almost everything from cars and other day to day use items are being embedded with microchips to do simple or complex tasks. Cars and other vehicles has been fitted with lots of technologies to make the driver’s life much more easy. GPS is one of the widely used visible technology fitted in a vehicle today. There are lots of other areas where technology is embedded in vehicles like engines, gearbox, suspensions etc which make the car much more safer and responsive to drive. Lots of these technologies are coming in from car racing and they do a lot of research on how to use technology effectively on their racing cars.

Well, GPS is not that widely used system in racing cars but still some of them use it to track exact location of their racing car when on a race and analyze the racing line it is taking. Well, normally we see the use of GPS to navigate the city streets but there is another application that uses GPS system, GPS Vehicle Tracking System. GPS tracking is very useful if you have a teenager who has just got a license. You can monitor his movements by usint GPS vehicle tracking. This is also useful if your vehicle was ever to get stolen. Other possible use for GPS vehicle tracking is integrating GPS tracking system for rental car companies. There is already a company in existence which uses this kind of technology to rent its vehicles which is based in greater London area. Networkcar.com provides this kind of service for any and all kind of customers, be it for home use of for commercial use. They provide around the clock vehicle monitoring service which is done remotely. They monitor the performance of the vehicle, the location its at in real time and also the security of the vehicle.