Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Comparing Apples to Apples in High Definition
Feb 6th
This is the big weekend. . . for Flat screen TV sales across the country. With the SuperBowl being held this Sunday, all the consumer electronics stores are pulling out all the stops in order to get a shiny new plasma or LCD (or even LED!) television in your living room in time for the big game.
If you are making the switch from an older 4:3 analog tv screen to the 16:9 format flatscreen TV, you may or may not know that you can’t just get the same “size” TV. Since TV screen sizes are measured diagonally, and the ratio of height and width are different on a 4:3 screen vs. 16:9 screen, you have to do some math if you want the same size tv image to look at (or larger).
So if you have a 32″ tv in your living room, you can’t just go out an buy a 32″ LCD HDTV. If you do, you’ll basically end up with a smaller tv, since your tv image will be shorter on the new 16:9 screen than it was on your current 32″ analog 4:3 ratio screen. You’re not comparing apples to apples if you’re comparing two different format screens.
Of course TV manufacturers and the guy at your local Best Buy don’t really help you out in this area and instead will probably just shrug their shoulders and try to upsell you on a tv that’s larger than you need.
So what do you do?
The internet to the rescue! www.ScreenMath.com has a handy dandy conversion table which lets you look up your analog tv screen size and it will tell you the dimensions you’ll need to get in a 16:9 format in order to match your current tv screen size.
Just as a FYI, the popular 42″ HDTV size that has largely become the “base model” for LCD, plasma and LED tv’s in the store today is equivalent to a 34″ analog 4:3 ratio television set.
So technically, the 32″ tv we have in one of the bedrooms only needs a 40″ HDTV to replace it at the current screen size. If we got a 42″ HDTV, it would actually be an upgrade in screen size for that room. That’s nice to know!
Once you know the facts, you’ll probably feel a little easier walking into the store to pick-up a new HDTV. It’s just one less factor to worry about as you’ll have to sort out all the other alphabet soup jargon as you compare all the different options on the table these days for TV’s.
Virtual Insanity: Facebook Edition
Feb 5th
The march goes on.
Social networks are continuously trying to climb the social ladder by upping the ante almost weekly. Any regular user has experienced the social media sites’ constant redesigning of their interfaces in hopes of getting us users to use their sites more than the competitor sites as well as just use them more often period.
For example, Twitter recently tweaked their retweeting feature, have added personal lists features, hover pop-ups and other small updates they push out continuously time goes on.
Facebook is no different. They just changed the “news feed” display by adding the “live” option (which no one I know has ever fully understood). FB has also changed navigation and various other things along the way as expected.
But I just logged into my Facebook account today and was pleasantly surprised to see the new welcome message on my Facebook homepage:
“Welcome to your new, simplified home page.” [EMPHASIS MINE]
I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that “new, simplified home page” on Facebook. It was just plain scary!!
Why they do things like this? Doesn’t anyone over there do any sort of user testing before they push out new features and functionality to the entire world?
I’m sitting here wondering, just where in the world on this page do you want me to look first?
Ironically, there’s a “Facebook Lite” promo link at the top of the page trying to push a “fast and simple” version of Facebook.
I know, I know, these changes are happening because Facebook wants to compete with Gmail and email in general. The Google generation doesn’t email their friends anymore anyway. . .unless you want to attach and send a file (hint to FB coders, this is one new feature which would make sense).
But in the meantime, is it time to create a “I wish Facebook would stop messing with Facebook” Facebook group? Will you join? 
Clone Wars: Windows Mobile App Store
Jan 26th
Microsoft is huge on copycatting anything that seems to be working elsewhere. They are known to be that one person that’s always late to the party. Perhaps trying to be fashionably late, many times it’s just a huge embarrassment for Microsoft . . . other times, they are just glad they got in the door before it was too late.
Here’s a classic example of the clone-aholic tendencies of Redmond WA: Windows Mobile smartphone users (like me with my Samsung Blackjack) now have an App Store of their own. Of course, Microsoft is in denial that it is copying Apple’s itunes apps store, so it’s not called the “Windows Mobile App Store” like it should.
Instead, it is branded as the Windows Mobile Marketplace:
The only problem is that while the Blackberry App Store has launched with hundreds and hundreds of apps – over 1,100 games alone, the WM App Store only has about 500 or so apps in total. Nothing to write home about at this point.
We’ll have to wait until Microsoft figures out how to load up the store with great apps from 3rd party developers as the iPhone app store has done. But in the meantime, there are some neat WM apps like the Facebook, Skyfire browser, MySpace, and other apps which most WM6 users will want to look at and download.
Have you tried the Windows Mobile App Store? What apps have you downloaded so far? Which have been a waste of your time and money? Let us know in the comment section below!
(iphone + App Store) – iPhone + Blackberry = Blackberry App World
Jan 26th
It looks like Blackberry has wised up and launched a new web portal to give Blackberry owners something iPhone users have been bragging about for the last couple of years — an app store where you can download custom apps for your phone.
Blackberry App World is a slick new platform for crackberry addicts to get more digital content and applications for their smartphones so they can use them for more than just email.
The App Store is new, so there aren’t as many apps available as there are for the Apple iPhone but still, you’ll find over 1,000 games to choose from in the Blackberry AppStore.
There is a Free Blackberry App category which list apps such as Facebook, Pandora, Dictionary, and some other useful apps most BB users will want to download immediately.
Do you have a Blackberry? What applications have you downloaded recently from the Blackberry App Store? Please leave a comment below and let us know which apps you have downloaded.
Google’s Secret Switch For Secret IM Chatting with Gmail Gtalk
Dec 29th
Most instant messaging is for short, *instant* contact with others online. You’re not out to create eloquent dialogue nor really keep memories of your im chats with your friends or co-workers.
But when you’re chatting in Gmail with Gtalk, did you know that by default all your chats are saved in your gmail account — AND in the account of your instant messaging chat partner?
You may not want all your informal casual chat content to be saved (and used for whatever reason!) forever on the other side.
Well, Gmail’s IM Gtalk has a relatively unknown feature that STOPS recording everything you type in your IM chats. It won’t save your chats and more importantly, your entire chat transcripts won’t be saved in your friend’s gmail account either.
Basically you are taking your IM chats off the grid — like it used to be when you used AIM, Y! Messenger, etc.
Here’s a quick video on how to turn off the chat transcript recording feature in Gmail Gtalk — on a per-person/per-chat basis or by default for all your chats going forward:
Now you can zip those instant messages back and forth without worry about where they’ll pop up later somewhere without you knowing about it.
Outsource Your Work With Freelancers
Dec 7th
Not enough time in the day? Too much to do, too little time?
It’s time to look at outsource some of your workload. Hiring freelance coders, designers, proof readers, presentation specialists or even plain old virtual assistants can help save the day.
Nowadays, there are online marketplaces where you can go to find the help you need. You are able to submit a job description for small jobs (I’ve done jobs as small as $15) to full blown long-term contractor jobs. You can look to outsourcing as a virtual workforce or like a place to get digital handymen to fix the small things that you just don’t have the time nor people to do it in house.
Three in particular worth a look are among the biggies:
oDesk
oDesk’s angle is interesting – this service tries to ensure that every minute billed to your project is actual work. So you’re not getting billed for when they go to the bathroom, go outside to check their mail, fix a snack in the kitchen, etc. In fact, they offer per minute pricing via a proprietary remote desktop contractor interface that monitors keystrokes, provides periodic screenshots so you can actually see what your contractor is doing if you so wish to.
Rentacoder
I’ve been using rentacoder.com for smaller jobs. They have a lot of coders around the world that offer decent pricing. Like all of these marketplaces, you have to decide for yourself if you’re willing to open up your bidding to contractors where English is NOT their primary language, etc. Their communication interface keeps track of all discussion you have back and forth so that if there is a need to dispute in the end, a record of everything agreed to is available. They escrow your money for the job and won’t release it until the entire project is done and you approve the release.
eLance
This marketplace got bought out by eBay several years ago, and got a lot of attention – quickly making it one of the “big guys” in the outsourcing marketplace marketplace. The key to any job listing is that you have a lot of coders that are available so that you can get quality help – and also increase competition. Elance fits this picture. Although sometimes because of its prominence, sometimes the overall pricing might come out a little high (vs. if you listed the same project elsewhere). Worth testing to see if you like their platform for some jobs.
There are a bunch of other coder marketplaces too like scriptlance.com, guru.com, etc. All worth checking out. The key point is that you should identify a small job in front of you and test the waters to see if outsourcing is for you.
The 1 Black Friday Deal Everyone Should Buy (It’s $0.00)
Nov 27th
Black Friday has become a national sporting event.
That’s right, not shopping event – a sporting event.
Opportunistic deal hunting gone mass market, right? I’m sure either you just got back from shopping the crazy door buster deals out there at BestBuy, Fry’s, Staples, etc. or you know someone close to you that is right now.
Even if you’ve resisted the marketing machine, here’s one deal everyone should jump on. Why?
1) You can buy it right now in front of your computer without driving anywhere or getting in long lines.
2) It’s free after rebate – Everyone like free.
3) It’s for a Samsung brand bluetooth headset – Everyone can use a bluetooth headset.
The fine print says you can get 3 of these for free. Shipping is free too.
Just print out the rebate form with the receipt page when you get to it at checkout, fill it out and the envelope TODAY.
Now, when the box comes, all you have to do is clip the UPC and mail it away. Done. We like that.
What else are you getting on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Amazon has some great Black Friday deals with free shipping today too.
Leave a comment below and let us know what new goodies you picked-up!