AUFordBoy » Tech Stuff

Toshiba HD-A30 DVD Player Review

Administrator — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:56:42 +0000

I recently purchased the HD-A30 DVD player from Amazon since they had a promotion going on that you received 10 free HD DVDs when purchasing a Toshiba HD DVD player. I’ve now had time to watch several hd dvds on it and I have to say that I am impressed. The HD quality is as I expected. I do have it hooked up to my 1080p LCD TV. The DVD upscaling also appears to work really well.

My only negatives: The boot time on this DVD player is a little slow, however this is just a minor flaw in the player. I’d estimate it takes the player around a full minute to boot up and load a disc.

Macbook Hard Drive Died…

Administrator — Sun, 13 May 2007 00:43:09 +0000

Well, I had my first ever problem with my Macbook last week. While using it as I normally do, the hard drive decided to quit on me. I quickly went though all the steps that I could find online to try to fix the problem. None of them worked as the computer did not even see the hard drive. Eventually I decided to call Apple and have it fixed under warranty. Luckily I still had about 2 months left on my 1 yr warranty and was able to get everything done for free. Apple next day aired me a box to ship them back my computer in. Once they received my computer (they paid for me to next day it back to them with a pre-paid label) it was back on its way to me in just a few hours! So here is a breakdown of what happened:

Day 1: I called Apple & they sent me a box to ship the notebook to them
Day 2: I sent the box back
Day 3: Apple received my Macbook & repaired it in the same day (even though its a VERY SIMPLE repair to replace the hard drive, I was happy they were able to fix it this quickly)
Day 4: I got the Macbook back with a brand new hard drive!

Although it is a pain to have to reinstall all the software, widgets, etc. that I use, at least I have most of my files backed up on my PC. I lost a few MP3s and a few pictures which is really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Anyway – just thought that I would post about my experience with my macbook’s warranty repair.

Windows Mobile 6 Release for T-Mobile Dash

Administrator — Mon, 07 May 2007 05:20:12 +0000

Well – I am really glad that T-Mobile has finally released WM6 for the Dash. I installed the new build today and so far it seems to be running much better than WM5 did. This release fixes many of the common problems that the Dash is known for such as dropping incoming calls by pressing the volume strip and also the random alarm problems. Anyway – I am glad that T-Mobile is the first carrier to release WM6 and although there will most likely be a few bugs, I am sure that this will be much better than WM5 which has had many problems.

Upgrading My MacBook’s Memory

Administrator — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:25:53 +0000

Since I have been using my MacBook more & more than any of my PCs (desktop or laptop) I have decided to upgrade to 2GB of memory. After searching around for the best place to purchase my new memory I cam across MemorySuppliers.com which has an excellent selection of memory at great prices. If you are in the market for some new memory for any of your computers I would recommend checking their website to find some great products and prices.

Syntax Olevia 327V 6 Month Review

Administrator — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:52:12 +0000

I have now had my Olevia 327V LCD TV for 6 months now and I am still 100% satisfied with this TV. I am hoping to buy another LCD TV for my living room since I love this one so much (I use the 327V in my bedroom). The picture quality is outstanding especially when watching HD channels like DiscoveryHD (one of my favorites). I have recommended this TV to many of my friends because it is much more affordable than many of the LCD TVs that are on the market and it has picture quality that is just as good or better than the more expensive brands. Anyway – I just thought that I would post an update on the TV since I have been receiving many hits from Google from people searching for 327V reviews. Feel free to post any questions you may have related to the 327V and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Sproose – Interactive Search Engine

Administrator — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:25:11 +0000

Be sure to check out a new search engine, Sproose. This Sproose home page will link will direct you to their website for you to experience their new ideas yourself. Many new search engines are incorporating personalization in their websites. With Sproose the user can actually rank the search engine results on a 1-5 scale with 1 being very poor and 5 being a great website. These user votes will have a direct impact on the ranking of the websites in the system. This is a great idea that can help reduce the amount of sites that are useless in the top of search engines. Each user will have their own favorite websites for specific keywords. Sproose will also be offering targeted ads to the voted websites. Sproose eliminates the need for tons of incoming links and link popularity. Now the user will help determine the ranking of a website.

Thumbs Up for Keystroke Logging

Administrator — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:12:59 +0000

So why might you need to purchase a keystroke logger? While there are many uses for these devices for law enforcement (used to help catch criminals by obtaining their passwords or encryption keys), there are also many ways that the average person can benefit from using a keystroke logger.

While I persoanlly believe that children do deserve some privacy rights while on the computer, you can never be too careful with sites such as MySpace. Many children think they are safe when talking to some of these low life paeodophiles, when in reality they may be getting themselves in a terrible situation. With a keylogger, you can monitor your child’s username and password just to check their messages from time to time to make sure they are not getting involved in something they should not. If you are interested in such a device you should be sure to check out this keystroke recorder website. They offer some great products that anyone can easily figure out how to use. So take the extra step today and use a keystroke logger to benefit yourself and others!

Optoma EP739 Update

Administrator — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:41:12 +0000

My Optoma EP739 bulb has finally died after giving me over 3300 hours of use. While I am not very happy about having to purchase another bulb for over $200, the projector performed very well and met the expected life of 3000 hours. Maybe I should watch my Olevia 327V LCD tv more often now to save my bulb life for my projector. Anyway I just thought that I would share the fact that the bulb for my EP739 did in fact provide me with well over 3000 hours of use.

T-Mobile Dash Review

Administrator — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:02:01 +0000

Well, last week I just so happened to drop my Motorola SLVR in the toilet….it did not survive. I have had around 20 different phones over the past 4-5 years and I decided I was ready to try using a PDA phone as I never have in the past. After reviewing all the various carriers and phones currently available I decided to try out T-Mobile’s DASH. I have only had the phone a few days now, however I am very impressed with many features of this phone. I am able to easily check my GMail using the Java gmail app I downloaded which I absolutely love as I need to check my e-mail a few times every hour. While the phone is much larger than what I am used to, it is still very small for its class and has numerous features to go along with it. As of right now I’d give this phone a 8.5/10 rating and will be keeping it until a new phone hits the market that I just have to have.

How E-Mail Travels

Administrator — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:09:31 +0000

An e-mail message is first composed by a user inputting characters to form a message that will be sent to someone. We will say that the e-mail is composed on a desktop with a wired connection to a DSL modem. When the mail is generated the software used to generate the message will create a header which is similar to the writing on the outside of a regular mail envelope. This header contains information such as the origin and destination of the e-mail. The user must input the recipient’s e-mail address so the computer knows where to send the message. For the remainder of this paper we will use the example of Bob@somewhere.com as an example of the recipient. This e-mail address is a series of characters which identify an exclusive mailbox to a person who can send and receive electronic mail.

Once the composer has clicked the send button, the message will be transmitted to a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) server. SMTP is a protocol used to transmit e-mail between two servers. Most home users will use their ISP’s (internet service provider) SMTP servers. For example a Bellsouth customer may use smtp.bellsouth.net as the SMTP server for their outgoing mail. The software used to send the e-mail will now upload the message that was put in the outbox when the composer pressed the send e-mail button. The SMTP server will determine the recipient of the e-mail by searching the header of the e-mail. The server is able to determine that the e-mail is intended for the person with the username “Bob” who has an account on somewhere.com’s SMTP server. While humans understand somewhere.com, the SMTP server needs an internet protocol (IP) address in order to understand where to send the message.

The SMTP server sends a request to a domain name system (DNS) server asking for the IP address of somewhere.com’s SMTP server. An IP address serves as a unique identifier on the internet such as a street address does for physical snail mail. The server returns an IP address such as 64.233.171.83. The sender’s SMTP server now connects to the SMTP server at somewhere.com using the IP address and sends the e-mail to the account “Bob” on the server.

Now that the recipient’s SMTP server has the message, it must now send the message on to another server usually being a post office protocol 3 (POP3) or internet message access protocol (IMAP) server. In our case Bob has a POP3 server to which he must connect to in order to download his e-mail. Bob’s desktop computer is wirelessly connected to the internet using IEEE 802.11, a packet-radio protocol that is also known as Wi-Fi. Using this protocol, Bob’s computer is able to connect to his wireless router which is connected to his DSL modem so now he has wireless internet. His e-mail software is able to download his new e-mails by logging in to his POP3 server account using his username and password.