Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Deals & Steals
Free Tech Support For Your Christmas Tech Gifts
Dec 25th
If you’re like most homes, you’ve probably unwrapped one or two Christmas gifts today that require a battery or outlet to plug it in.
Today’s gadgets are increasingly complex and require more than a QuickStart guide. Sometimes it can be frustrating since you want to get the tech toy up and running asap, right?
Well, BestBuy has opened up the lines to give everyone access to their GeekSquad tech support this week. If you have a computer, HDTV, iPod, smart phone, GPS, DVD player, Wii, etc and you are have some questions on how to set it up, get on the phone or fire up the web browser for a web-based chat with GeekSquad support.
It’s completely free this week until the New Year.
Hey, even if it’s not about a new toy, use GeekSquad this week to troubleshoot that annoying problem you’ve been having with your printer or webcam or media player or Tivo or . . . .
The cool part is that their tech support is available 24/7.
Just call 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD or click over to their TechSupport live chat page
How To Get Free Access to 3 WiFi Hotspot Networks
Aug 12th
Last time, I blogged about getting access to Comcast’s WiFi hotspot network for free. It’s a little known secret that the marketing department over at the cable internet company hasn’t really pushed for some reason.
But today, I found out that there’s more to the story!
Comcast customers now get free access to two other cable internet wifi networks, completely free…and vice versa.
If you are a Comcast Internet customer like me, all you have to do is log onto one of the three wifi networks: xfinitiwifi, optimumwifi or timewarnercablewifi with your comcast email address and password like you do with your own Comcast wifi network
If you like Free, this is like FREE TIMES THREE.
If you don’t believe me, just look-up the coverage map for Optimum Online’s WiFi network and Time Warner see for yourself!
This is a huge win especially those that live in the tri-state New York City area since each company dominates different geographies around the City. So now when you travel about the region, you are most probably near either a Starbucks or McDonalds — or one of the three major wifi cable company wifi networks — You’re covered!
Check out this quick video that shares the details of the wifi network collaboration, worthy of to be called the real triple-play deal!
QUESTION: IS IT TRUE? DO YOU SEE ANY OF THE THREE WIFI HOTSPOTS IN YOUR AREA? LEAVE A MESSAGE TO SHARE THE RESULTS IN YOUR AREA!
How To Get Free WiFi Hotspot Access If You Are A Comcast Internet Customer
Aug 10th
Ever been out and about wishing you had a wifi connection?
Of course you have!
Instead of trolling for open wifi signals, you might want to consider a more reliable solution. Of course, you could sign-up for Boingo, Wayport or other WiFi networks, but if you are a Comcast Hispeed Internet Customer (randomly branded Xfinity recently to confuse customers as much as possible of course), you might want to check out this option before you go out and spend any more money.
I recently found out that I can get access to a free WiFi hotspot roaming account just because I’m a Comcast customer — and so can you!
In fact, through this largely unpromoted feature of Comcast Internet accounts, you already have it! There’s no need to turn anything on, upgrade or change anything on your account.
If you take a look at the coverage map of NYC and the Tri-State Area, you’ll see that there are TONS of Free WiFi Hotspots available for you to connect to in almost any general vicinity.
Check out the quick video blog update below which I recorded today and uploaded using the free WiFi connection that details how to get free WiFi access across town and while traveling:
Read the rest of this entry »
DEAL ALERT: Free Custom URL Registration + Email Account
May 26th
You know you should get a custom website address and email account.
Stop letting Gmail and Yahoo!Mail take over your identity.
It’s time you buy your own URL and then start using that for your email correspondence . . . For $0.00!
The world’s largest webhost, 1and1 Internet is giving away free URL registrations (worth about $8-10) for the first year. And included in their URL service is free 2GB email accounts.
Even if you “buy” a new domain for $0.00 and then transfer after the waiting period to your own webhost, this is a great promotion to take them up on: 
http://bit.ly/freeurlregistration
Effects of the Economy on Technology Purchases
Apr 1st
Are we there yet?
It seems like it’s taking FOREVER for the economy to get to where everyone wants it to be. We’re all trying to drive in the same direction, but for some reason, we’re just not there yet.
In the meantime, everyone is making do with what they have.
Computer and gadget purchases are no different.
Here’s what I found in my office today after I was told that we’d be getting completely new technology upgrades including new flat panel monitors, ultra portable desktops, and lightweight moveable phone sets.
Little did I know to expect THIS . . .
Totally “moveable” . . . “lightweight”. . . “FLAT-panel” . . . uh YEAH!!@#?!#@?
QUESTION: What tech and gadget upgrades are you drooling over, but are holding out on for the time being? (READ: What’s on your current wishlist?)
Deal Alert: Free Apple iPhone 3G 8GB (No Rebates Either)
Feb 27th
Here’s a straight-forward deal alert:
If you’ve been saving up for an Apple iPhone on the AT&T network, you don’t have to break open your piggy bank any more.
BestBuy usually sells the Apple iPhone 3G with 8GB Memory in shiny Black for $99 with contract or upgrade for existing customers.
In fact, if you want to shell out your 100 bucks for the iPhone, you can see the regular offer on their website right now. Just go to www.BestBuy.com and search for the “iPhone 3G”.
You won’t be able to buy it on the internet like you can from AT&T Wireless or Apple.com because Best Buy only sells the phone directly to you in their big box store locations.
But if you can get $100 off the price of an iPhone 3G, wouldn’t you be willing to drive to the store to pick it up?
This offer is extremely tempting. . . Read the rest of this entry »
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!