February 22, 2010
HANDS-ON WITH THE DELL VOSTRO V13
Once my wife saw my Dell Vostro V13, it didn’t take long before we had two Vostro V13s.
The Vostro V13 is an ultrathin notebook with a 13” 1366×768 nonglare screen and a full-size keyboard. It’s two-thirds of an inch tall with the lid closed and weighs just 3.5 pounds. The aluminum body oozes style and elegance, with curved edges and a polished exterior that is surprisingly solid for such a light machine. It has the same appeal as some very expensive ultrathin laptops, the Dell Adamo and Sony Vaio Z, but sells for far […] continued
December 1, 2009
KINDLES FOR BOOMERS
If you haven’t had a chance to see a Kindle yet, you really owe it to yourself to ask someone to show you theirs. You’ll see their eyes light up with the same look that iPhone owners get when they have a chance to show off their toys. I’m a book lover from way back, an old school type with a deep love for the feel and the look and the smell of books, but I can understand completely why my wife loves her Kindle.
The Kindle is Amazon’s device for reading books, of course. If this is a […] continued
May 14, 2009
PORTABLE WIRELESS
Cell phone carriers absolutely adore monthly data plans. Want email on your new phone? Buy a monthly data plan for $40-60/month, to go along with the other charges for phone service and text messages. Want an easy Internet connection on your laptop so you don’t have to hunt for an 802.11 wireless network? Buy a notebook with a built-in cellular modem or a separate USB modem, along with another plan. Spouse wants a netbook? Pay Verizon or AT&T for yet another monthly fee.
So it’s no surprise that the carriers are coming up with creative new ways […] continued
April 8, 2009
SUBSIDIZED NETBOOKS
Netbooks will be widespread by the end of the year, shaking up the PC market and changing our world in ways that will be more dramatic than you expect. You might not have foreseen one of the ways they’ll be distributed – sold and subsidized by the cell phone carriers.
Many notebook computer users are familiar with the concept of a separate “mobile broadband” device built into the notebook, or plugged into a USB port, that gives the computer an Internet connection anywhere within a cell phone carrier’s network. Dell has been selling Verizon and Sprint internal modems with […] continued
April 7, 2009
NETBOOK FEVER
The world is changing in front of our eyes again. Let me give you a preview of some technology that is going to change the computing landscape permanently – and do it before the end of 2009. This is a big deal! Take a minute to read this – it will help you understand what’s happening when things start to move quickly this fall.
Maybe you’ve already seen lines of “netbooks” at Best Buy, or read some of the articles about the small new devices. Manufacturers are falling all over themselves to release netbooks – Dell has more […] continued
March 23, 2009
NEVERENDING WIRELESS WOES
I have shared a bit of wisdom with many of you when we’ve talked about setting up 802.11 wireless networks:
People who depend on wireless networks call me about connection problems.
People with wires don’t.
Wireless technology is just swell. Millions of people use it every day.
But if you’re making a decision about how to set up your home or office network, think long and hard about hiring someone to run network cables between the locations where desktop computers are located. You’ll plug in the computer and bang! everything will work without a hitch.
You can […] continued
February 11, 2009
HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS
Frustrated by flaky wireless connections? You’re not the only one. I’m proud of the solution that one of my friends and clients is using to increase the strength of a weak signal in his house. That’s the wireless USB adapter on the remote computer that you see in there, pointing towards the room with the wireless access point. Works like a charm – signal strength increased from “low” to “very good.”
I don’t think he’ll get venture capital funding until further testing is done with colanders, miners’ helmets, and tubas.
August 14, 2008
VERIZON MOBILE WIRELESS FUN
I have a Verizon mobile wireless adapter built into my Dell Latitude D630. I pay sixty bucks a month so I can connect to a reasonably fast EVDO broadband connection from just about anywhere. It’s becoming a standard accessory for business travellers who don’t want to hassle with conventional wireless.
A few days ago, there was a lengthy delay when I clicked the Connect button – “wait while your equipment is updated,” something like that.
It stopped working after that, although I didn’t recognize the coincidence for a while. I just knew that this error message came up when […] continued
May 7, 2008
VISTA FIREWALL – THE HOME/WORK MYSTERY
Vista’s firewall is significantly beefed up from the firewall in Windows XP – it monitors outgoing traffic, it’s able to adjust easily when a computer is moved from one network to another, and the settings are easier to find in Vista’s Network and Sharing Center.
Firewalls have become far more important on individual computers as our lifestyles change. Many home users and most business users are behind a firewall when they sit at a computer in the home or office – the router or wireless access point controlling the Internet connection is acting as a simple but effective firewall. With […] continued
May 5, 2008
FREE PUBLIC WI-FI!
If you have a wireless notebook, there’s yet another way the bad guys can get past your defenses.
When you connect to a wireless access point, normally you’re in “infrastructure” mode. Network traffic to all the computers using the wireless network passes through a wireless access point. In a public place – an airport or hotel, say – you can reasonably hope the access point has some built-in security to keep each connected computer separated from each other.
Windows computers are also able to connect directly to each other wirelessly in “ad hoc” mode – no access point required. I […] continued
google web search
Custom Search