If you want to watch true live TV on your iPhone, there are a few apps out there, but they only work over WiFi, not 3G. However, buying some additional hardware for your computer can get you actual live TV on your iPhone over 3G. I’ll explain everything below.

Apps to watch TV on the iPhone

First, let’s go through some of the apps currently in the App Store that let you watch pre-recorded and live video on the iPhone.

TVU

TVU allows you to watch live TV from more than 300 channels worldwide. It costs $5 and works over WiFi only at this time.

The basic features it includes are favorites, search, and landscape mode viewing. Also, there is no limit on the amount of time you can watch TV.

netTV

Apparently, this programs works over 3G, but is not nearly as polished as TVU. People have complained about bad program guide, slow video loading, and other types of problems.

However, it has about 200 channels from around the world that you can watch in full screen over 3G. Maybe the next version will be better!

tv.com

If you don’t care about the whole “live” aspect of TV, then you can use tv.com to watch videos from numerous networks including CBS, NBC, CNET and lots more.

The programs works over WiFi and over 3G, so that’s a nice benefit. I’ve used it before and it’s very good except for the fact that the video quality can be grainy sometimes.

Television

Not exactly live TV, but Television has quite a decent lineup of videos that you can watch from top sources like CNN, CBS, FOX, Comedy Central, ESPN, and more.

Currently it only supports viewing over a WiFi network.

How to watch live TV on the iPhone

Ok, so now if you really really want true live TV on the iPhone with access to all the channels you are currently subscribed too (not just random ones from other countries), then you need to go a bit further than just iPhone apps.

OrbLive for iPhone

Though this apps costs a nice $10, it’s definitely worth it! You can use it to stream music, video, and pictures from your desktop home computer to your iPhone.

Not only that, but you can stream your webcam to your iPhone and the best part, stream live TV to your iPhone.

The only catch here is that you need to have a TV Tuner card installed on your computer. That’s an extra $100 bucks or more, but if you really want to have access to all your cable and satellite channels live on the iPhone, you’ll need to buy one.

The other major advantage is that it works over 3G, which is super cool!

SlingPlayer Mobile

Another way to get all your channels live streamed to your iPhone is to use a SlingPlayer. Of course, you’ll have to buy one and connect it to your TV and Internet, but then you can use the SlingPlayer mobile application to watch everything.

As of right now, it only works over WiFi, but there are rumors it will work over 3G soon. You can use it to not only control your TV, but also control your DVR, Apple TV, or some security cameras.

If you know of any more apps to watch or stream live TV to an iPhone, post it in the comments! Enjoy!

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5 apps to watch TV on the iPhone

Follow the instructions below to get MMS working on your iPhone. First, connect the iPhone to your computer and let it finish a sync or backup.

Now on the Summary screen, click on Check for Update.

You’ll get a pop up message saying that there is a carrier settings update. Go ahead and click Download and Update.

The download and update process takes just a few seconds to complete, so there’s not much waiting!

Once you get the message that the iPhone carrier settings were updated, you need to turn off your iPhone and turn it back on for the new MMS feature to be active.

Now when you go to create a new message, you’ll see a small camera icon at the bottom left (above the keyboard).

Click on the camera icon and you’ll have the option to choose an existing photo/video or to take one immediately. Note that only the 3GS will have the option for video.

That’s it! Now MMS is enabled on your iPhone and you can start sending multimedia messages to your friends and family! Enjoy!

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How to enable and send MMS messages on iPhone 3G/3GS

However, they have recently reduced the price to $369 using an instant savings of $130. You can check the latest price here. You can also get it on Amazon.com for a lower $269.

Here are some of the major specs on the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 all-in-one printer:

• Up to 19 ppm for printing black and 19 ppm printing color (normal quality)
• 15,000 page monthly duty cycle
• 250 sheet input tray, 250 sheet second paper tray, 50 sheet automatic document feeder
• Up to 1200×1200 dpi output for black and 4800×1200 dpi for color
• 384 Mhz with 128 MB RAM (not expandable)
• Up to 4800 (48-bit) dpi scan resolution
• Memory card slot supports CompactFlash Type I and II, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Secure Digital (SD), SDHC, MMC, miniSD, microSD
• 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 Ethernet port, PictBridge, 1 RJ-11 fax port, and 1 wireless 802.11 b/g port
• Total weight of printer is 33.8 pounds and power consumption of 55 watts

Overview & Summary

For those of you who do not want to read the entire review, I have written up a short summary of the positives and negatives of the printer.

Positives:

• Printing quality is of high quality, both color and black
• Scanning is fast and reproduces the original document very well
• Ability to scan legal size documents
• The double-sided printing works well and is decently fast
• Connecting to wireless network is quick and easy
• Software runs on both Mac and PC
• Memory card slots allows for easy picture printing and easy storage of scans
• Ability to scan and automatically store digital copies of documents and pictures to a network location

Negatives:

• Print speed is slower than advertised (around 9 ppm for black and white during my tests)
• Starting up printer for the first time takes a very long time
• Software takes up more than 600 MB on the hard drive and slows down computer
• Software includes many programs that can confuse the novice user
• Turning off and turning on printer takes several minutes due to self tests
• Power save mode has issues such as the printer not waking up when you send a print job to it, requiring a full reboot of the printer
• When copying documents, the printer routinely skips pages altogether. This happens when faxing too.
• Unable to choose color or black and white when scanning from front panel

Overall, I would give the printer a 3 star rating and a buy recommendation only if you get it for $269. It’s a good printer, but some of the flaws that it has are big enough to consider another printer unless fixed.

What’s in the box?

• HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One printer
• Automatic two-sided printing accessory
• Second 250-sheet paper tray
• Black/Yellow printhead, Cyan/Magenta printhead
• 2 Black ink cartridges, 2 Cyan ink cartridges, 2 yellow ink cartridges, and 2 magenta ink cartridges
• 1 power supply with power cord
• 1 phone cord
• 1 large setup poster
• 2 CD-ROMs (Officejet printer software and Readiris Pro 11)

Setting Up Printer

Getting the Officejet 8500 Pro out of the box and working wasn’t as fast as I would have expected. Unpacking the printer was easy enough and installing all the components, such as the double-sided printer accessory and the second paper tray, were simple and straight-forward.

Installing the ink cartridges was also fairly simple and didn’t take much time. Just unpack and pop them into the slots. Though it did take a few tries to get the printheads into the slots exactly (top picture).

Once you get those installed, you load up the paper and plug in the printer. This is where the process got very time-consuming. When you power on the device the first time, it takes a whopping 20 to 25 minutes to calibrate and align itself.

Personally, I don’t think you should really have to wait that long for a printer to become functional! Either way, while you wait it says to go ahead and install the printer software.

Included Software

I was really not happy with the installation of the HP software. Firstly, it took almost half an hour to install the software and secondly, it was full of lots of programs that I did not really think I was going to use.

Overall, if you install the software using the default options, it takes up a whopping 600 to 800 MB on your computer! For me, that is completely unnecessary for an all-in-one printer.

If you install just the driver, it’ll still hit you back 270 MB. The software has become very bloated and will slow down your machine.

Wireless Setup

What I was happy about was getting the printer onto the wireless network. You can do it from the front panel on the printer and it was able to connect to my secure wireless network without any issues.

Also, once it’s connected, the software will try to find the printer on the network automatically and initialize it. That also didn’t have any issues, i.e. firewall problems, etc.

Other Features

Once the setup is finished, you’ll be presented with a menu where you can setup other additional features of the printer, such as Digital Filing, Digital Fax, and more. Once they are setup, you can email scans or scan directly to a network location.

Printing

Unfortunately, the speed of the printer is not as fast as I was expecting. Overall, though, it’s still pretty fast for an inkjet printer.

I printed out a 5 page document with just text and it took about 35 seconds to print. This translates into about 9 ppm, which is lower than the 19 ppm it is supposed to be able to print on normal mode.

If you printer a longer document, the printing speed does go up a little to around 11 ppm. For color documents, it’s also lower than stated on the spec sheet, but this could be due to the type of color print tested.

Finally, double-sided printing is slow at around 3 ppm. If you’re looking to do a lot of double-sided printing, you will not be happy with this speed.

Scanning

Overall, I was happy with the scan quality and speed of the Officejet 8500 Pro. You can choose to scan to email, scan to computer, scan to a USB stick or memory card, or scan to reprint.

The Officejet did a very good job or reproducing pictures and even text documents when scanned. Colors were accurate and the quality was overall very nice. Scanning was probably the one feature of the all-in-one printer that worked very well and as advertised.

Copying/Faxing

Both of these functions would have perfect scores if it were not for the fact that they simply did not work sometimes. After testing several times, I found that the copier routinely missed pages while copying.

If I placed a 5 page document to be copied, just about every single time, only 4 pages would get copied. That is simply unacceptable for such a high-end printer, especially one that is geared towards small offices.

This same issue happens when faxing, which is just terrible since your clients may not get all the pages required. The other major issue is that the printer thinks it copied/faxed everything, when it really didn’t! Big problem there.

Conclusion

My general feeling is that the HP Officejet 8500 Pro is a very good all-in-one printer, but because of a few big flaws, it fails to make the mark. Overall, you will be happy with the printer as long as you have a really fast computer with lots of free hard drive space and you manage to get a printer that does not skip pages when copying and faxing.

If you have an Officejet 8500 and have something to add about your experience, feel free to add it in the comments!

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HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 (A909n) Premier Review

It was around that time that Microsoft released their new home server product, Windows Home Server, a stripped down version of Windows Server 2003. The next generation of home networks was started.

Immediately, HP came out with servers to run the new Windows Home Server OS, including the HP MediaSmart 470 server and then the current MediaSmart 485 and 487 models. These machines all run Windows Home Server and include several hard drives for data backup and media storage.

Until now, however, you had to drop anywhere from $550 to $700 in order to get your hands on one of these bad boys! Not a small chunk of change, especially if you don’t have a small number of computers in your house and backup data on an external hard drive.

The HP MediaSmart Server LX195 changes the whole equation with a low price of only $399! And at the time of writing this review, the current price of the LX195 is a super low $299 with $100 instant rebate! Click here to see the price (scroll down to the bottom).

Before I get into the actual review, I wanted to go over the main features and highlights of the LX195:

• Supports all Windows machines and Apple Mac computers running OS X.
• Automatic backup of Windows PCs and Mac computers on your home network
• Software to automatically centralize all your digital media onto the server
• Ability to stream your media to any PC on the home network or to your TV via Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
• Ability to publish photos directly to online sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa, Snapfish, and Facebook.
• Ability to backup your server online to online backup services like Amazon S3.

Overall, the LX195 packs a lot of features into a small device. Here are the main specs for the LX195 server:

• Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor 230
• 1 GB of DDR2 DRAM
• 1 SATA 7200 RPM, 640GB hard drive
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• 1 built-in Gigabit Ethernet port

Here is an image of the back of the MediaSmart LX195 device:

What comes in the box?

When you receive your server, you should have the following items in the box:

• HP MediaSmart Server LX195
• 1 Ethernet cable
• 1 Power cable
• 1 quick setup poster
• 3 installation CDs (Software installation, Server Recovery, and PC restore)
• 1 warranty booklet

Getting Started

So how hard is it to get the server up and running? Luckily, it’s very straight-forward and takes less than half an hour. The first thing you have to do is connect your server to a wireless router in your house, which will then allow it to talk to all other devices.

Once connected to your router, pop in the Software Installation CD into your PC and the software will automatically detect your server on the network and begin the initialization process.

Once the server has been initialized, you will be asked to give a name to your new server, followed by a password. After that, you will be asked to turn on automatic updates, which is recommended.

You’ll also be asked to download and install any patches for the MediaSmart Server at the very end. This initial setup takes the longest since there are several Windows updates and several HP updates that need to be installed.

Finally, once you have restarted your computer, go to Start, All Programs and you’ll see two new options: Windows Home Server Console and HP MediaSmart Server.

Type in your password and then you’ll be logged into the main console, where you can setup all the different features of the server:

The first thing you want to do is get rid of all the red X’s in the Server Summary screen. Click on “Click for more details” and you’ll see what the critical items are:

Basically, you need to install the latest updates for the OS and also turn on the McAfee Total Protection Service, which is the anti-virus protection for your server. It’s a good idea to turn this on because if there are many files being transferred to the server from multiple computers, it’s possible some files can contain viruses.

Setup User Accounts

The next step is to setup the user accounts in the Windows Home Server Console. There are basically two ways to setup user accounts: individually or using the Guest account.

If you have computers at home that do not have passwords set on them, meaning the computer just starts without needing to login, then it’s best to just enable the Guest account, which means everyone will be able to connect to the shared folders without needing a username and password.

If each computer does have a login and password, then you should create user accounts with the SAME username and password on the server. So if you have a XP computer with a username of John and a password CoolDude, then create the same account on the server.

You can do that by clicking on User Accounts at the top and then pressing the Add button.

The reason you want the username and password to be the same is that it will make it seamless when accessing shared resources on the server. When you log into your computer, you will not have to type in the login information when you try to browse a shared folder.

Backing Up and Restoring Computers

Once you have setup a user account, it’s probably a good idea to start backing up your computers. Note that in order to backup a computer, you need to run the Software Installation CD on each computer. It will detect the server and add the computer to the list of computers.

Click on Computers and Backup and you should see the name of the first computer in the list.

Right click on the computer name and choose either Backup Now or Configure Backup to create an automatic backup schedule.

My recommendation is to create a backup immediately so that your OS and data are safe and then to configure a backup schedule so that your computer will be automatically backed up in the future.

A backup of my 30 GB laptop took about 30 minutes from start to finish! Not bad at all for the amount of data. Subsequent backups took less time since they were incremental.

Restoring a PC is also a piece of cake. Simply pop in the PC Restore CD and the software will automatically find your LX195 server and restore the PC to a new hard drive or the same hard drive within minutes. I was very impressed with how easy it was to restore my entire PC using the CD.

Add Media To Server

After setting up user accounts and backing up your computers, it’s time to start putting up some media onto your server. Once the media is on the server, you can stream it to any computer on the network, across the web, steam it to iTunes, or stream it to your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

Click on the HP Media Collector button to start transferring media. The Media Collector program will copy media files from all your computers on the network and organize them onto the server.

It will automatically copy pictures to the Pictures shared folder, videos to the Videos shared folder, music to the Music shared folder and so on. Note that with shared folders, each computer also will get a personal shared folder if you’re not using the Guest account:

Configure Settings

Finally, you should go ahead and configure any settings to desired values by clicking on the Settings button at the top right.

Here you can turn on or off automatic updates, set the backup time window and the number of backups to store on the server.

You can also enable Media Sharing, which will allow any digital media receiver in your house to access your shared pictures, music and videos.

If you click on HP MediaSmart Server, you can configure the Power Options for the device, so that it’s not sucking up power all day and night. You can enable a sleep window and your server will turn off until the set time or when you tell it to wake up.

HP MediaSmart Control Center

Most of the other features of the Windows Home Server Console are pretty straight-forward, such as the HP Photo Publisher tool and the Remote Access tool. What I really like are the in-depth walkthroughs for each setup and configuration.

Remote access requires getting a domain name and configuring your router, but it’s fairly easy to setup using their step by step directions. I was able to setup remote access in about 15 mins without any issues.

The other option, the MediaSmart Control Center, allows you to quickly access shared folders and perform backups.

Conclusion

Overall, the HP MediaSmart LX195 is a great home server for the low price of $399 (currently only $299). It offers a large amount of storage for backups, media and is simple to upgrade or expand, if necessary.

If you currently have no backup solution or way to share media between your home computer, the small price tag for the device will add a lot of value to home network!

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Hp MediaSmart Server LX195 Review

In this post, I’ll go through the advantages and any disadvantages that I found while working with this keyboard. Before we get started, here are some of the major features of the keyboard:

• Sleek and stylish design (piano-black finish and brushed metal palm rest)
• Long lasting battery (three year battery life means you’ll probably never need to change it)
• Advanced 2.4 GHz wireless connection that reduces interference with wireless networks and ensures a fast data transfer rate.
• Configurable function keys (F1 to F9)

What’s in The Box

Firstly, the diNovo keyboard is very sleek and stylish looking. It’s super thin and is very solid. I personally really like the silver metal strip at the bottom of the keyboard. It gives it the sleek look and makes it feel sturdier.

The only other thing that comes with the keyboard is the wireless receiver. It’s a tiny little USB stick that you will need to plug into your desktop or laptop.

Hardware – Getting it Working

So how easy is this wireless keyboard to use? Lots of people want to know like I do because I’ve had my share of wireless keyboards that wouldn’t even connect to my computer!

Well, connecting the diNovo keyboard was a piece of cake. It took all but 1 minute to get the keyboard working with my desktop. Just plug in the USB receiver and once it has been detected, turn on the wireless keyboard.

That’s it! The keyboard was working without having to install any software or drivers or anything else. It just worked! That’s what I like. The software that comes with the keyboard allows you to setup the more advanced features of the keyboard, so it’s up to you if you want to install it or not.

Now to the keyboard itself. The typing experience is enjoyable. I was originally using a Dell keyboard that came with my desktop, but the diNovo was far superior. The diNovo has the PerfectStroke key system, which makes each keystroke fluid and silent. It definitely makes a difference.

They keyboard has other nice features like an Eject CD button, a mute button, volume up and down buttons, and a Calculator button, which loads up Windows Calculator. Also, the keys are laid out as you would normally find them on most keyboards, so you don’t have to retrain yourself.

Software – Logitech SetPoint

The Logitech SetPoint software is pretty self-explanatory. Basically, it lets you choose exactly which program you want to open for each button. You can also choose to open a file, open a folder, show a custom menu, assign a keystroke, or do nothing!

Overall, the keyboard is a pleasure to type on and works flawlessly. With an excellent battery life, sleek design, and wireless capability, it’s worth $99. The only other feature I wish it had was an illuminated keypad!

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Over the last few years, there have been many attempts to create a product that could easily let you capture your hand-written notes in digital format, but nothing really worked that great.

When I heard of the LiveScribe digital pen, I was initially skeptical. But after hearing about it from so many people, I decided that I had to see for myself. Here’s the really short review:

If you have the need to write a lot on paper, this is by far the best product for capturing any kind of hand-written notes. Not only that, it links audio with your hand-written text, so you can jot-down notes and record what is going on around you.

It’s perfect for students and people who have to attend a large number of meetings.

What’s in the Box

Here’s what you get when you first open your new Pulse Smartpen:

• Pulse Smartpen (the pen has a headphone jack, microphone, OLED display, speaker, infrared camera, and removable ink cartridge)

• USB Mobile Charging Cradle

• LiveScribe Starter Notebook

You also recieve a 3-D recoding headset, Smartpen case, and interactive demo card inside the notebook that helps you get started.

Getting it Working

At first, figuring out how the whole thing works is a bit tricky. Can you start writing immediately or should you install the desktop application first? Basically, each notebook has special paper that the Smartpen can read using the camera, so you can turn the pen on and start writing immediately.

Note that you can only write on proprietary Livescribe notebooks, if you try to write on a plain piece of paper, nothing will be recorded. This is one downside to the product, but it’s also why it works so well.

Everything will be recorded as long as the pen is ON, which means you can see something in the display window, such as the time. Note that you should install the Livescribe desktop software before connecting your USB cradle to the computer.

Apparently, the Smartpen will only link with one computer, which I’m not too kicked about. That’s probably the other major downside I see in the product. If I spend $250 on a product, I should be able to use it on as many computers as I like.

Anyway, once you write in your notebook, simply connect the Smartpen back to the USB cradle and watch the magic! The software will automatically recognize that you connected the pen, will check for any new additions to the notebook, and if so, will upload them into the software for you!

As you can see, I’ve only used one page and the rest are empty. As you write on the pages, more will show up individually. Simply double-click on a page to view the digital version of it.

There are a few things to note in the above image. Firstly, you notice that some text is black and some is green, namely the circle. What does that mean? Anything green means there is recorded audio linked to that text.

Simply click on the green text and you will hear all the audio that was recorded while the text was being written! Cool huh? The other great feature of the Smartpen is that all your hand-written text notes can be searched instantly.

And this was probably the most impressive feature of all because my hand-writing is horrendous, however, the desktop application was able to find just about every word I typed. For example, I searched the word “again” and it found it and highlighted it:

The search feature is excellent and very useful if you take a lot of notes, but can’t remember where you wrote what. If you can remember one word, you’ll be able to find the notes using Livescribe.

To record audio while writing something in the notebook, just click the Record button that is at the bottom of each page in the notebook. They are basically special controls that let you navigate all the pens’ features and applications.

You can also create a bookmark anywhere in the notebook and then use the controls at the bottom to skip to previous or next bookmarks. You can use the Jump To Position control on the page to move around the page quickly if listening to audio.

The pen can hold up to 100 hours of audio and if you ever run out of space, you can delete them from the pen, but still have them stored on your computer. Of course, you won’t be able to listen to the audio by just using the pen if you delete an audio session, but it will remain on the computer.

But that’s not all. You can also upload your notes along with audio and create what is called a “pencast”. A pencast is basically a replay of your written notes along with the audio. Check one out here:

Pretty neat eh? You can create your own pencasts and share them on your blog or website. This is great for teachers or anyone who wants to explain an idea or concept to someone using pen and paper.

Overall, the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is an excellent tool for anyone who writes a lot. It’s simple to use, works very well, and has a lot of great features. Enjoy!

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Review – Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

Firstly, here is what they say about the new UltraHD camera:

The new Flip Ultra and UltraHD camcorders set a new standard for convenient and affordable video capture. Both new models offer a full two hours of recording capacity, a bright two-inch transflective screen for no-glare viewing even in direct sunlight, and an innovative AA rechargeable battery pack that can be conveniently recharged through the camera’s built-in USB arm.

Here are the specs for the Flip Mino UltraHD camcorder:

• High Definition video: 1280×720
• 2 hours recording time (8 GB built-in memory)
• Comes in black and white
• 2 inch anti-glare screen
• 2 AA rechargeable battery pack
• HDMI TV output
• 2x digital zoom
• $199.99 retail price

So let’s get to the actual review! The Flip arrives in a nice and compact box with a few pictures on it.

Once you open the box, there is another box inside about the same size. The top opens like a book to reveal the Flip camcorder sitting by itself.

Once you pull out the camera, all of the accessories are below. These include the battery back, a shiny wrist wrap, a quick start guide, and a black carrying bag. Note that you can use standard AA batteries in the UltraHD camcorder.

Here are some screenshots of the front, back and sides of the camera:

As you might have been able to tell from the pictures, the Flip UltraHD is a bit fat. I’m not complaining because it’s definitely great for recording high definition video without getting a Sony or Canon that is way bigger, but compared to other competitors in the market like the Creative Vado, the Flip is bulky.

One side has the power button and the other side has the HDMI port and the USB connector. Just pull down on the latch and the USB connector pops up. I was disappointed that there was not a USB extender cable included with the camcorder. It’s nearly impossible to connect the camera to a USB port without feeling like it’s going to break off because of the weight.

The positive is that it has a nice large screen and the colors are very crisp. The controls are pretty straight-forward and easy to understand. You have a Record button, Play button, Trash button, and then Zoom In/Out and Volume Up/Down buttons.

The camera also comes loaded with the FlipShare software for transferring videos to your computer, uploading them to YouTube or other video sharing sites, and creating your own movie or DVD. When you save it to your computer, it’s in MP4 format.

Using the software, you can add sound tracks, add titles, and cut videos. It’s a pretty decent set of video editing tools for such a cheap camera.

Here is a test video that I took with the Flip UltraHD outside of my apartment complex. What I didn’t like was that there was no image stabilization, so the images can look pretty choppy at times.

Overall, the UltraHD is a very good camera for the price, however, I would recommend doing your research and looking at other companies with similar products, such as Creative Vado HD. What are your thoughts? Enjoy!

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So in this little tutorial, I will walk you through how you can delete apps from your iPhone or iPod Touch without having to load iTunes and connect the device to your computer.

First, locate the app that you want to delete. Let’s say I want to get rid of Tetris.

Now, in order to delete the app, all you have to do is tap and hold down the icon until your screen starts to shake and then an “X” will appear at the top left corner of each one of the apps you installed.

Pretty nifty eh? Now tap the “X” next to any app that you want to remove and you will get a dialog box asking if you are sure you want to remove it. All data associated with that app will also be deleted.

And that’s it. Your app is now gone. Note that if you downloaded the apps from iTunes, you’ll want to remove it from there before connecting up your iPhone or iPod Touch as it will reinstall it when you sync up. Enjoy!

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The Cisco IP Communicator looks like the real thing.  The interface completely resembles the real IP Phone:

Since it is a virtual phone it has all the features of a real phone, you could get more from than the real thing.  The best benefit will be mobility, you won’t have to depend on physically having an IP Phone – just open it on your computer and start dialing.  Once it is open you can receive and make calls.

A complimentary Audio Tuning Wizard is included in the package.  It allows you to calibrate your soundcard properties (i.e. output volume and mic) using a step by step guide:

Any working mic and headphone equipment will do to capture your voice and then hear what the other person on the line is saying.  I use a cheap but high quality A4 headset with a mic connected to the sound card’s audio out and mic ports.  That should be the ports with the green and pink color:

Directory searching is also very easy, it can connect directly to your LDAP directory.  Accessing the directory is just a button away:

Here are some more of the advertised features of this software:

• Easy access to your User Options web pages and phone services – this is a clear advantage over the physical IP phone.

• Changing the look of Cisco IP Communicator – in theory, this software is skin-able.  There are at least 2 predefined looks that you can play with on my package.  I will look out for more skins in the future but now I want it to look like my real IP phone.

• Drag-and drop and cut-and-paste dialing – this is great since you are leveraging your OS’s clipboard ability to easily use numbers coming in from other applications like Outlook or messenger.

• Pop-up incoming call notification – helps a lot to see if someone is calling you even when IP communicator is minimized.

Overall I think IP Communicator is a great corporate tool.  It can easily be configured to use your own corporate phone policy and you won’t have to maintain any physical LAN cables (and power) for the phones.  It is listed as about $60+ on Google for a single software license.   New features are deployed via automatic software updates.  This easily beats the price per unit of the real phone which lists at a range of $200 to $600.

If you are looking for a serious phone alternative or even a cost effective primary phone, the Cisco IP Communicator is worth considering.

Ben Carigtan writes about software, computers, technology and how to get the best out of them.

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So if you want to find out which iPhone apps are cool, which iPhone apps are popular and which iPhone apps to stay away from, then check out these iPhone app review sites!

FreshApps

FreshApps tracks about 444 iPhone applications and adds about 85 new apps everyday. It’s just starting off, but it’s full of great apps submitted by real iPhone users. You can browse, search, rate and comment on any iPhone app. If the app is not listed, go ahead and add it so people can start voting.

WhatsOniPhone

I like this site a lot because they have a large team of writers that provide in-depth reviews of each app. Basically, they start with an overview and then write up a review with their own personal opinion and give a final verdict on the app. They also list out the prices for the apps, etc.

iPhoneAppPodcast

I like iPhoneAppPodcast because you can actually watch video reviews of iPhone apps, which I have to admit gives you a much better idea of what the app looks like, how it works, and whether you would want to use it or not. Some iPhone apps sound great, but don’t work very well. Pretty much the only site that does in-depth video reviews of iPhone apps.

Apple iPhone School

Another great iPhone app review site that breaks down the apps into nice little categories such as Photos, Calendar, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Clock, etc. They also have separate sections for games, health, multimedia, network, productivity, system, toys, and utilities.

Gizmodo iPhone App Reviews

If you are looking for super quick reviews of some of the most popular and used apps, then check out the list created by Gizmodo! They wrote up a huge list of iPhone apps ranging from Twitterific to Pandora. I like the list because most of the apps are useful and cool in some kind of way.

Ars Technica iPhone App Reviews

Not to be outdone, Ars Technica also has a apps review page that is better than Gizmodo because it is continuously being updated with new app reviews. As is Ars Technica style, the reviews are long and in-depth and you will definitely finish reading a review knowing whether you want to buy the app or not.

AppVee

This is another community based iPhone app review site that is just starting off, but has a decent number of users and reviews. They don’t have a huge list of iPhone apps yet, but it could grow if more people start to use the site. I like the rating system that focuses on ease of use, features and the GUI interface.

iPhone App Reviews

Another great site with a quick view of the highest rated iPhone apps. Each blog entry reviews one app from a personal stand point and describes how the app works, how well it performs, and whether or not there are any bugs, missing features, etc. The reviews are very in-depth and useful.

iPhone Alley

iPhone Alley is a great site for everything iPhone because it not only gives reviews of iPhone apps, it also has reviews for iPhone products and iPhone music. So if you wanted to get some personal opinions on the hordes of iPhone accessories, then this is a great site to visit for that.

Lockergnome iPhone Ratings

Lockergnome has a Digg-style iPhone app rating directory that allows users to vote up or down on various iPhone apps. Based on the number of points a app gets, the higher it shows up in the list. Each app gets a short description and the price.

AppRater

AppRater is basically a typical blog where each post covers one iPhone app. It gives a quick description, a ratings and review, and some stats about the app. Overall, it’s one of the weaker sites for iPhone reviews, but still might be worth checking out every once in a while.

That’s about all I could find! I know there are more, but I think these are the most popular sites for finding ratings and review for iPhone apps. Which sites do you use?

Also check out my list of 50 of the best iPhone wallpapers. Enjoy!

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I’ve never really bothered creating labels for my CDs or DVDs because it was simply too painful. I had to use some not so great software to create a design, then buy labels, then make sure I had a color printer, print it, and then peel off the label and stick it onto the CD, which I would mess up half the time!

I’m glad I got the DiscPainter though because it is perfect for lazy people like me! It’s small, super fast, and prints some great-looking CD covers for me! Check out the images below of two I created today:

The cool part about it is that it only took 30 seconds to print out each one of those CDs! I was very impressed by how fast it was able to print them. Apparently it uses some new technology called RadialPrint where it actually prints onto the disc as it spins around. It’s cool because you can actually see the CD be printed from inside to out as it spins. 

The quality of the print are very good even at the Draft quality, which is the setting I used to print the two CDs above. In Draft, you can see the actual circular lines on the CDs as it printed while spinning. If you go to Best quality, which for some reason is not set as default, it will take about 1 to 2 minutes to print, but will not have the lines showing at all.

The DiscPainter disc labeler is not free unfortunately, it costs around $270. I would only suggest it for those people who really create a lot of CDs or DVDs and want their collection to look really nice. If you have a lot of movies, etc, you can download the movie covers and import them into the Discus disc labeling software.

Which brings me to the software that comes with the product to create the discs. It’s called Discus and it’s pretty full-featured. Anything you could think of wanting to add to your label can be added including images, text, symbols, drawings, etc. Here are some nifty features of the software:

• Use the Canvas Tool to select from hundreds of different and cool-looking designs. You can basically get started printing really nice looking labels without having to do any work!

• Use the Collage Tool to create a disc label that includes up to 32 images on the CD, automatically arranged to fit perfectly. Once the pictures are added, there are some slide controls so you can adjust the position of the photo, rotate it, adjust the frame thickness etc. Makes it easy to create a Photo CD with pictures of everyone on the label!

• Has a large array of paint tools and effects that you can quickly add to the CD. You can draw freehand, fill shapes, add gradient colors, change the opacity, add clip art images, add stamps, and even create layers! Also, they have a whole bunch of symbols that you can insert also.

• The software also has a wide array of fonts to use for writing on the CD labels. You can also write vertically, in circles, and in a wavy pattern. You can also apply text effects such as an outline, glow, or shadow and change the letter spacing and line spacing also.

Overall, it’s a very cool product for printing and creating your own CD labels. Would I have bought this if it were not given to me as a gift? Maybe. I don’t really burn very many CDs or DVDs, so I probably would not use it that much.

However, it’s great if you have a large collection of music or movie CDs and DVDs. It’s also really good for anyone who has to send CDs and DVDs to clients, if you have a business. For $270, you can create professional looking CDs without having to go to Kinko’s!

Also, note that it can print full-size CDs and DVDs, plus mini hub and non-hub printable CDs. It comes with one ink cartridge that can last through about 100 discs according to the website. Enjoy!

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In reality, things turned out somewhat different. There are four things I dislike about the machine now that I have used it for a few months. The screen is too small to use for an extended period, the battery life is pretty short, the internal storage is too small and there is no integrated Bluetooth. All of these problems can be lived with or worked around, but they have stopped me using the EEE PC as the tool I was hoping it would become.

Computex 2008, which took place on the 3rd of June, saw ASUS roll out 3 new EEE PC models, for the purpose of this post I am going to take a look at the new 901 model, is it capable of overcoming the issues I have with my 701?

First lets take a look at the screen (pun intended), my old 701 has a 7″ TFT screen running at 800×480 resolution, which for browsing and email is actually fine but I am a writer by trade, meaning I have to spend long periods of time concentrating on what I am writing, and after an hour or so the 7″ on the 701 becomes a real eye strain. The new 901 has an 8.9″ TFT screen and runs at 1024×600 resolution, this represents quite a large increase in size, and should make the 901 completely useable for me. So that’s +1 for the EEE PC 901.

Battery life on the 701 is pretty terrible, ASUS will happily tell you that you can get up to three hours use from a single charge, in reality you are lucky if you get 2.5 hours, even less if you have the WiFi switched on. For an ultra portable notebook, this is ridiculous, even my ASUS G2S gaming laptop running in high performance mode can manage 2 hours.

The new 901 model is supposed to give a battery life of up to 8 hours, so even if we say ok ASUS are exaggerating again, we are probably still looking at a good 6-7 hours of use on a single charge, this is more like it! So what have ASUS done to give this huge increase? Quite simple really, they have used the Intel Atom CPU instead of the old Celeron M that was inside both the 701 and 900 series.

This tiny CPU draws a fraction of the power needed by conventional CPU types, so where is the downside? At first glance there doesn’t seem to be any, the Atom is rated at 1.6Ghz, the old Celeron in my 701 is running at 900Mhz (overclocked), so my initial reaction was great! Faster and less power! But when I checked out the benchmarks for the Atom, I found it actually performs worse than the Celeron does, although only slightly.

I can live with this, I use my 701 for purely work type applications I don’t need speed as much as I do battery life. So another +1 for the EEE PC 901

My original 701 has a 4GB internal SSD, which at first seemed plenty to install Windows XP (cut down install using nLite) and basic system software such as codecs and system tools, everything else I intended to install on a 4GB SD card in the SD slot.

The problem is, even if you use a streamlined XP install, by the time you have patched it fully, you are sitting with around 3GB of space taken up on the system drive, just not enough to have a decent size pagefile and leave some free for the future. The 901 comes in two sizes, a 16GB SSD running XP and a 20GB SSD running Linux. I guess a lot of XP users will by the 20GB Linux version and wipe the drive and install XP. So 20GB solves all of my problems, another +1 or the 901.

Having no internal Bluetooth in the 701 came as a surprise for me, this little notebook is the perfect partner for a data enabled cell phone, so I have been forced to carry a USB Bluetooth dongle around in my bag, I have lost 2 of them already, also it means losing one of the 3 USB ports. I am glad ASUS have included an integrated Bluetooth device in the 901. So yet another +1 for the new model.

So it would seem that replacing my 701 with a 901 is a logical choice, certainly one I am considering, it solves all of the problems I have with the 701 in a single integrated package. Does anybody want to buy a slightly used ASUS EEE PC 701? If not it can join the huge pile of gadgets I have purchased, tried and discarded over the years.

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For every website you see, there are a select number of different icons leading to creative and fun online tools and useful programs; they can be anything from weather update monitors, to mini search engine boxes conveniently placed in the corner of a web browser. What are the most popular web gadgets currently online? It seems the top choices are web organizers, which are designed to provide added organization and clarity to your desktop.

The most interesting types of web gadgets available now are in the form useful organizers, much like mini web calendars, scheduling programs, and some are even built with alarm clocks. For those people looking for added help with more involved tasks; there are expense management web gadgets that actually keep track of your monthly finances, as well as mini calculators and even calorie counters for those watching their weight.

A great feature to have is the virtual post it note; it allows users to actually post on a “virtual sticky note”, on their computer desktop, which keeps notes, reminders, and can be updated and checked off, just a like a real post it note. Looking for news updates and the latest info? There are web gadgets that keep track of your favorite sports team scores, the local weather report, and will even check your stock portfolio.

One of my personal favorites is a web organizer called De.lic.ious (located at http://del.icio.us/), an online book marking tool, which amazingly keeps a log of your favorite websites in an online virtual folder. Its very similar to the favorites option included on every computer internet browser tool bar-the difference here is that this program allows access to all your favorite book marks from any computer; since the bookmarked sites are stored online through this program.

It’s an innovative program that is now easily recognizable by the little blue icon usually located at the end of each the web page.

After looking at the unique selection of web gadgets online, it was hard to resist the urge to download a dozen of these tempting little programs; each one seemed to genuinely provide the promise of organization and convenience to an otherwise boring desktop.

However, the best place to start looking online for these incredible web gadget programs are at Google Gadgets, which offers a free selection of web gadgets from all categories (useful, technical, fun, etc) and for those Windows Vista users; its best to visit Windows Live Gallery (http://gallery.live.com/Home.aspx), with a free and rather impressive selection of downloadable desktop web gadgets.

What are your favorite web gadgets?

This is a guest post by Karen Worthy, a tech enthusiast.

Technorati Tags: Google, web gadget, gadget, web, Windows Live, Windows Live Gallery, De.Lic.ious, fun internet gadgets

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So is Apple TV 2.0 worth buying? This time around it looks like they did it right! And it’s definitely something every techie person and a lot of other people wouldn’t mind having around. There are a ton of new features in Apple TV 2.0, including a new sleek looking GUI interface! Good ol Apple style!

Image Source: Gizmodo

Of course the major “upgrade” to the system is the fact that you no longer need a computer to watch movies, watch podcasts, listen to music, check out Flickr photos, or watch YouTube videos! It’s all built into the Apple TV 2, which makes it a pretty kickass media capable device!

Firstly the new interface brings in a simpler navigation system with only two columns, one for major categories on the left and the right side for subcategories. As you go to a subcategory, it moves to the left and becomes a major category and shows the next subcategory on the right side. Pretty easy, kind of works like your iPod when browsing through the menu system.

Movies, Podcasts, TV Shows, Photos, etc

So what kind of choices do you have for movies, TV shows, podcasts, etc? Well let’s go through them quickly to give you an idea. When you click on Movies, you’ll see that you can browse by Top Movies, Genres, HD movies, Trailers, or simply search.

You’ll need to type in your Apple user ID and password before you can purchase or rent anything. It costs $3.99 to rent a standard definition movie and $4.99 for an HD movie and you have 30 days to watch it and 24 hours to finish it once you start watching it. Pretty much the same as TIVO, Netflix, etc. They currently do not have a huge collection of movies like Netflix, but they have promised contracts with all of the major studios.

Movie Trailers and Podcasts can be found in the same way. There is a large collection of both including most of the popular ones and of course it’s all free, so you can watch when you feel like it!

For photos, the Flickr and .Mac integration is great. The pictures look fabulous and they have some pretty nifty slideshow software included with fancy transitions and music soundtracks.

As for TV Shows and Music, it’s just like you would on your computer or iPhone. Browse for what you like, purchase it, and it will download directly to your Apple TV, no need for a computer! Lastly, you can browse all of the videos on YouTube and watch anything instantly, great for sharing stupid videos with your whole family

Overall, I’m very pleased with the Apple TV 2 and it’s simply a wonderful way to get movies, music, photos and TV shows into your living room on the cheap! Of course, you might want to wait just a bit longer until you read some reviews where people say that the collection of movies and TV Shows is exceptional. Enjoy! Source Gizmodo

[tags]apple tv, apple tv 2.0, apple tv 2.0 review, apple[/tags]

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Firstly lets talk about portability. Over the last two decades I have used every type of portable device available ranging from a transportable IBM PC complete with CRT and fold down keyboard to a Windows Mobile smartphone. The ASUS EEE PC is the first device I have ever used that I feel does everything I need it to do whilst maintaining complete portability.

The reason for this is two fold; firstly the fact it is a real PC, not a hand held device running a non-standard OS and cut down version of my application suite. Secondly because it is pretty much bullet proof. No hard drive means finally no moving parts, I can treat this thing as I treat my cell phone… harshly.

As standard the EEE PC comes with a proprietary Linux install, without venturing into the M$ v *nix debate lets just say I needed Windows XP to maintain compatibility with my normal working life. A RAM upgrade of at least 512Mb is needed for this and the install is quite complicated if you do not happen to have a USB CD-ROM drive laying around. Installing from a pair of USB memory stick is possible but far from straightforward.

I streamlined my XP install using nLite and stripped out all the unnecessary and depreciated windows features such as the phone dialler, Windows tour and hyperterminal. More importantly I removed all driver packages as the EEE PC comes with a full set of proprietary ones on CD. Using this method I was able to cut my XP install down to 700Mb or so, this really helps when you only have 4Gb of storage to start with.

So once I had my system with a working OS and a full application suite I decided to take it for a spin. I threw it into my day pack along with some baby milk and some diapers and jumped on my motorcycle with my girlfriend and our 2 month old son. We took off for the beach and within minutes I had the machine hooked up to my phone using a GPRS EDGE connection for Internet access and I was working whilst sitting on the sand.

Now this is quite an achievement, I had tried working on the beach before with a laptop but the TFT was never bright enough in direct sunlight, the EEE PC seems to do a much better job of running a display at a high brightness than any notebook I have ever used.

Now I use the EEE PC on and off all day, it is constantly switched on and connected to my wireless LAN in my house, every time I leave the house it gets thrown into my bag along with my mobile phone, if I find myself with a few minutes to spare during the day, maybe drinking coffee in a cafe or waiting for a doctor in the hospital then I can whip it out and get some work done. For me this is what makes this little machine perfect. It is truly portable.

This is a guest post by Mac T. Wheeler who is an ex-corporate techie and at the age of 40 he decided to leave his career behind and move to a small tropical island named Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. Now he earns his living as a copywriter and blogger whilst living in the sunshine.

Technorati Tags: asus eee pc,sub notebook,portable computing

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