Today I have some instructions for customizing your internet
browser and information about the latest hardware gadgets
and their prices.
Here’s a great site that shows you how to customize
your internet browser – You too can have a custom toolbar
on your Web browser with all the options specific to your
needs. IE 6 allows you to easily add buttons or remove
buttons from the toolbar to create a custom look. You can
move and resize the actual bar as well as increasing the Web
page viewing space. This is easy for new & old users
alike and can help you to work more efficiently. Check
it out at: http://datadr.com/redir.cfm/CustomWeb_toolbar/
Hardware reviews - what’s new and what’s good?
To get the latest information, reviews, and prices, check
www.zdnet.com and www.cnet.com. Another trick is to
enter something like “DVD-RW reviews” in the Google
Search box and you’ll get many sites that have reviews
for DVD-RW drives. Here are some new gadgets you may
be thinking about and their current cost:
- DVD Writers –
how about being able to back up your computer data on a disc
that holds almost 5GB of information. DVD-writers have
now come down to under US$300. One of the highest rated
is the Pioneer DVR-A05 DVD-RW EIDE at under US$300.
- Handheld Computers like
the Palm Pilots – the highest rated HP iPaq Pocket
PC H4350 has come down to only US$374 and even has a full
(small) keyboard. Includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; cradle
that can charge a second high-capacity, removable cell (battery).
- Digital Cameras –
the awesome and highly rated 8 Mega-Pixel Minolta Dimage A2
SLR is yours for a mere US$690; while the incredible 5 Mega-Pixel
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-F717 should appeal to photography enthusiasts,
especially those switching to digital from 35mm SLRs.
It’s as low as US$535 and the very cute and small 3.3
Konica Minolta Dimage Xg is now as low as US$216.
- External USB Hard drive
– these have really gone up in capacity and down in
price. A 60GB external, USB hard drive can be yours
to store all those new digital photographs with, for around
US$100.
- FireWire – many
new digital cameras and digital handi-cams store images as
very large files. To get them into your computer as
fast as possible, consider adding a firewire card to your
system. You can do it yourself or have it done.
These cards are very cheap. Check at RIMO Bali Computer
Center for the latest prices.
(A few definitions: GB – 1,000,000,000 Bytes of data
or about 1 Billion characters. This article uses about
3000 characters! Mega-Pixel – how many dots the
camera records. The more the better. However,
anything above 4 mega-pixels is good enough for you to print
8”x10” pictures; 3 mega-pixels is perfect for
email and web sites.)
Just for fun: Through a series of questions, RealAge at http://www.realage.com
assesses your lifestyle and genetics to determine what your
“real age” is, compared to your chronological
age.
Favorite LINK: www.zdnet.com and www.cnet.com for computer
and electric advice comparisons, and prices.
