Back To School NoteBook PC for Kids
Robert Saunders. Sep 04 2008 at 4:22 pmIf you still need a computer for your kids as they return to or enter into grade school, then you might want to take a look at the lightweight and inexpensive Dell Mini 9 Notebook.
First off, it runs on XP. Yes, that’s Windows XP. Didn’t think you’d see that for a new computer, did you? It weighs less than 2.5 pounds, and all it’s dimensions are under 10 inches. Just look at the picture at right.
It also has a solid state hard drive instead of a traditional hard drive, so there are fewer moving parts to get damaged by not-so-careful kids.
On the hard drive you get Microsoft Works which allows your kids to do some typing for school.
The starting price for this computer is $349 though you can add a larger hard drive for an additional charge. Just remind yourself that the computer is for them to take to school and do their homework, and with all that moving around you don’t want to worry about it getting smashed, or being so fancy that some other kid takes a liking to it. Plus you don’t have to worry about the kids wasting time playing games on it because the unit wasn’t built with that in mind.
Other features include wireless (WiFi) Internet capability, three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out (to connect to a larger monitor at home or in the classroom), an Ethernet port (for wired Cable or DSL internet access), an SD Card slot for working with music or photo files, and headphone and mic jacks. Bluetooth and a 1.3-megapixel Webcam are extra-cost options.
For more information just check out the Dell web site: Introducing the new Inspiron Mini 9 starting at only $349!
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Subscribe to the comments for this postMonkey Fables and Tales
Robert Saunders. Sep 03 2008 at 12:55 pm
Monkey Fables and Tales
Here’s another blog I found last week: Monkey Fables and Tales. This is a humorous, personal storytelling blog where the writer, known simply as “Monkey Tale”, writes down his almost daily thoughts even when he doesn’t have any. Let me warn you, his sense of humor isn’t for everyone, but he has his moments where he keeps it clean enough for most. Regardless, he tries to entertain in each and every post whether he’s talking about work or his inner thoughts.
In his best posts he tells good humor filled stories about his daily life. Today, there’s the story about the day he lost his voice. I also enjoyed the letter he wrote to his car titled, “Where’s The Love?”. In the former story you can almost imagine being in his head as he and his friends walk down the street or while he tries to drink to regain his voice at the restaurant.
He’s part of the Entrecard.com network (which I mentioned yesterday) and I like his ad with the monkey asking, “How about if I spank you?” (I’m not going to get into the origins of that question).
He has a few other blogs which are more serious. There’s Sensory Overload, a book review blog, and So Now What? where he reflects on politics, the economy, and current events.
None of these blogs tell you who he is, or where he comes from, and that’s probably not the point, but he’s out there in more ways than one.
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Google’s Chrome Browser
Robert Saunders. Sep 02 2008 at 8:00 am
On Labor Day, Google announced they would be launching a test (beta) version of their “Chrome” web browser in 100 countries today, Tuesday. It will be competing with the other top web browsers out there: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Opera among many others. (Download the browser)
As mentioned in an earlier post, a Beta version still has bugs to be ironed out, so you might want to be cautious about downloading the browser just yet, but you can read more about it in a comic book intro that Google released online.
Does the world need another browser? Probably not, but releasing a browser is an understandable move for Google. Here are some thoughts I have, in no particular oder.
First off, they have their own mobile phone operating system coming out in the near future called Android. Like Apple’s iPhone which uses the Safari browser, Google will want to integrate their own browser into their OS. This will be particularly important as Android will play a big part in Google’s mobile advertising plans. Yes, reader, more and more ads will be showing up on cell phones.
Advertising, yet again, is the another good reason for Google to release their own browser. The newer browsers are adding more and more privacy features. Some of which may affect cookies used by many online advertisers to track ad access and traffic. Some new privacy features may very well interfere with tracking ads, and advertisers won’t like that. So Google will most likely see to it that some tracking metho will be available while still protecting your privacy. If Chrome becomes a success, they’ll protect their advertising revenue stream. Google runs ads using their own systems called Adwords and AdSense.
On a related front, Microsoft, a high profile competitor of Google’s, currently has the most commonly used browser, Internet Explorer. The new IE8, also currently in beta, has more privacy features, which I discussed last week, that may put a crimp in Google’s ad systems. Releasing a browser of their own will further promote comparisons between Google and Microsoft in the public eye.
I encourage you to check out the Google comic intro to their Chrome web browser. It will give you insights into the workings of browsers, and some ideas of Google’s special plans.
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Splinters
Robert Saunders. Sep 02 2008 at 1:51 amOver the Labor Day weekend I spent lot of time reading some blogs I found on the Entrecard.com network. Entrecard.com is a bloggers network. They provide a system for finding and introducing bloggers to one another. Members of Entrecard, such as myself, have to add a “widget” to their blog that indicates they are a member. The widget also allows members to advertise other member blogs. You can see the widget at the top right of every page on Skylarking.
Splinters
Splinters
One of the blogs I found on Entrecard was titled Splinters written by a blogger who calls herself Suriel. As far as I can tell, Suriel lives in Arizona with her husband. They’re musicians in a band called Reliquary. Suriel also plays with a band called Paris Burning. She plays “bass guitar, keyboards, and sometimes percussion”.
One of the things I like about Splinters is the graphics. She has a great anime style ad for her blog (shown at right) along with a great photo of her playing bass onstage.
Of course, I enjoy Suriel’s writing, sense of humor, and the way she plays with words. Lately she had been writing about her move to a new home which had scorpions in it, but fortunately they were “killinated”. She’s also been keeping an eye on Gustav which has come very close to members of her family.
She’s been blogging since 1998 about her daily life, food, songwriting, music, photography, cooking, her cats, and more. Suriel writes in her blog at least once a week, and I’ve found myself checking in at least once a day to see what’s new, and read some of the older posts as well. Feel free to take a look.
I’ll be writing about more blogs I found as the week goes on.
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Speed Up Your Computer Tips
Robert Saunders. Aug 29 2008 at 1:16 pmI found this page on the Microsoft web site. They have five quick tips for speeding up your computer. The handiest are the Disk Cleanup and Defragmenting features.
Both of these tools can be found by clicking Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools.
If you and your household spend a lot of time on the Internet browsing, I recommend running disk cleanup once every week or two. The more often you do run disk cleanup, the less time it will take to complete.
Disk cleanup eliminates “temporary files”. These temp files are junk files that the computer accumulates as part of its normal operations. You need not work about losing anything that you saved. Anything you save isn’t considered a temporary file, no matter how long you intend on keeping it. Think of temp files as being scratch pads that the computer allows to pile up inside the hard drive.
Disk defragmenting can be run once every month or two. It’s also handy if you save and download large files such a videos and music. As with disk cleanup, the more you run it, the less time it takes to complete. In most cases, if you use the Analyze feature before the Defragment feature, it will let you know if the hard disk needs to be “defragged” or not.
Not familiar with the term defragmenting?
When your computer saves files it tries to save them near the center or the start of the disk so they can be accessed faster. In many cases the computer will chop the file into pieces and scatter the pieces wherever they fit. Your computer may run slower when it needs to access these files later becuase the computer must search for and reassemble the pieces.
When you defragment the hard drive, the computer reassembles all the files and rearranges them so the files are stored whole instead of in fragments. Also, it will put important programs near the start/center of the disk so they load fast.
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