CMUThought Community Thought

No matter how you implement id badges having the means of id card printing onsite can be a great cost savings and help increase security. By this mean that you are not having to ship personal information and pictures out to a local vendor to produce the badges and the turnaround can be minutes and not days. More and more companies and organizations are setting up their own printing solutions on site to help facilitate the time and cost savings of printing in house. They are equipping their staff and security personnel with a barcode scanner in order to accurately and quickly identify who is supposed to be on site. PosMicro.com is one vendor online that has the selection and expertise to help you find the right solution for you and your company. They offer a wide selection of printing and barcode solutions that no matter what your budget or need they are sure to have the right application.

I just recently took a new role within our company that allows me to work out of my home. I am in the field with my reps 4 out of the 5 days, but I do get one office day per week. Working in an office is much easier since you have all the tools you need such copiers, filing space, and other office supplies. There is a Canon imageClass D480 multifunction printer/copier/fax that would be a great accessory to have in any home office. A laser printer is not only faster, but much more economical for prints than a ink jet printer. My home organization at first was not as smooth as I had hoped. Plus the ability to have multiple machines in one spot will save in desk space. I had files and paperwork all over my desk and trying to make sure that I had access to the documents I needed when I went on a field ride was a little tricky. Now that I have settled and gotten my home office organized things are going much better and when asked to generate a report, or get information on a particular teleconference it is all within my fingertips.
I found an believable sale on the Canon Mutlifunction Laser Printer at buy.com for less than $300. This is almost $1200 off the retail and they were offering free shipping as of this post. With 23 PPM printing and copying the overall operating cost of a laser printer as compared to your inkjet printer is about a tenth of the total operating cost. This would make a great all in one system for my new home office.

if you are like most people who took advantage of the great deals on Philips 42 inch TV’s during the Super Bowl sale then you may be kicking yourself if you did not grab one of those deals. The question that you may be asking is should I look to get a plasma or LCD HDTV? The pictures on both are exceptional and really depends on the users set up and preference. There are some advantages to the LCD technology that make it some what attractive. That would be the life of the actual picture, truer blacks, and less chance of burn in. You can find horror stories all over the internet where people left a static image on their plasma screens and they had the image burned into the screen. Whichever technology you choose do not cut corners on the cables. Buying the right HDMI cable can make a huge difference in the picture quality. Do not just hook up your new HD TV with a standard RCA or even S-Video cable. You will not like what you see. Also, remember to do your research online as the cables sold in the store are going to cost more.

Right now you can refurbished models on sale that are approx. 30-50% off their retail price and gives you more Tv for the money. The Olympics are now under way and being broadcast in HD and with the baseball season starting their spring games now is the time to take advantage of those TV’s that have been factory re-certified and get a great deal. We would love to add another 47″ HDTV for our bedroom and just have not found the right set and the right price. I would love to get one of these sets for Fathers Day just in time for the Summer sports and just ahead of the 2010 NFL season where I hope that the Saints are able to make it back to the big game.

External backup hard drives have become an essential part of any PC with all the digital photography and digital movies that people are now storing on their PCs. With the push to more online digital content and movie theaters now more actively promoting and working with companies like NetFlix in order to sell digital downloads you need additional storage capacity. What makes the USB storage devices like the Fanton GreenDrive eSATA 2 TB drive you can store your movies and then have them available to take with you to a friends home or on the road. Because these devices are now wo compact and they carry and amazing amount of files they are a great addition to any home media PC.

I am amazed at the amount of backup storage that is now readily available to consumers at the click of a button. The backup solutions that are now offered by Fantom Greendrive include a 2TB eSATA drive have taken it a step further by reducing the power consumption that these devices use. It is estimated that they can save as much as Co2 as you would you save by taking your car off the road for 14 days. These new green devices are on sale for under $160 at buy.com and this is something that I would definitely love to have in addition to our multimedia PC. Plus the fact that when you compare the cost and ease of use of these USB drives anyone can simply plug and save that has very little technical knowledge. So go Green this year when you are considering the next addition to your home PC.

With the release if the new iPad the demand for digital photos that stand out and become part of your overall decor will rise. There a lot of people that have invested in the 7″-8 digital frames to hang around their homes and offices. “They are pretty cool and many college students are getting these in their dorms right now. These digital photo frames display several pictures at one time and they flash up a new picture every few seconds. It’s a great way to use 1 frame and show many different pictures at one time. You don’t have to get a wall full of picture frames now and you can just take one digital photo frame and have it to show several pictures. This is a great way to save wall space and money for displaying your pictures of family and friends. Take those family photos with a Kodak EasyShare camera and you can upload them directly to your new digital photo frame or with the new iPad you will have wi-fi connectivity that will allow you to share and view your photos with no wires needed.

No need to buy several picture frames to show off your best pictures. You can find these digital frames and digital cameras all on sale at buy.com. A one stop shop to get your home or dorm connected with the latest in wireless devices. It just takes one digital photo frame and you can conveniently display all your favorite pictures with just one picture frame. These are going to be very popular and the new thing that everyone wants when they see how great these digital photo frames really are.

If you are like use you have 100’s or thousands of digital photos sitting on your PC or laptop. My wife is an avid scrapbooker, and is always looking for creative ways to use the kids photos and make unique and memorable gifts for our relatives. Through a company called Pixifun you can now get very creative with your digital photos. They are currently offering free shipping and the kits start at $4.99. All of the kits include easy to use software for importing and sizing your photos, plenty of pre-cut photo inlays, and an alignment guide with test sheets for easy printing. Once you purchase the original kit, you can then go back and just purchase the refills. This is a great time to check out PixiFun for the upcoming holiday season. Wouldn’t the GrandParents love to receive a keychain with kids photos. We purchased a keychain for my daughters Soccer team, and that cost $8.99. Now we know that we can create our own, for less than $5. Great idea for all the soccer mom and dads who want to capture their youngsters team activity in a digital memory. They even have kits to create your own magnets and photo ID badges. Another great idea my wife has was to use these kits at our daughters upcoming birthday, where all kids can take a picture, and then create their own magnet to take home from the party. Talk about a great parting gift. Sure beats the candy and other little trinkets that are usually given out to the departing children. This way mom and dad can see what fun their child had at your birthday party.

For a limited time as of this posting they were offering buy 4 kits and get 1 free, with free shipping. Just in time for the holiday seasons. Don’t take our word for it. Click on PixiFun and check it out yourself.

More and more Americans are connected to the internet via a broadband connection and using wireless devices to stay connected. What is interesting is that of all the great things that wi-fi gives us only a small percentage print wirelessly. I have read up on some bulletin boards and talked with some friends and the thought of networking their printer gives many people the feeling of high tech nightmares. When you talk about networking a device many people start thinking about having to deal with routers, ip addresses, and cables. Thanks to the new printers like the Epson Artisan 810 hooking up your printer to your wireless network is simple. Plus adding its other functions such as scanning and faxing to your network is just as simple. It is a high end color ink jet printer with an impressive 3.5″ touchscreen LCD to help print,copy, and scan.

You can find the new Epson Artisan printer on sale at buy.com where they are offering free shipping and this weeks special price below $200.I would purchase this item for the all in one functionality that it offers and I have had other Epson printers and know that offer great support and products for consumers and small businesses. So don’t settle for printing from one just one PC if you have a wireless network and look at some of the new Epson printers that will make printing and scanning a simple click away from any location within your home and business. Plus the added benefit of having one main central printer that you and your kids can use which could help cut down on added ink and supply costs.

With so many mobile phones and laptops being sold these days more and more people are looking to take their internet connection with them on the go. This has lead to some great leaps in technology for mobile broadband most notably 3g networks. The battle has escalated between mobile carriers and the broadband carriers to secure their customers no matter where they may be trying to access the internet. Every week you can find a sale on the latest offerings on services and gadgets to help get you connected to the internet. Mobile broadband is nice in that you are not limited to just Wi-Fi hotspots. This has helped social network sites like FaceBook and Myspace to grow beyond their traditional base of home PC users to virtually anyone and anywhere in the world. There are applications that are in use now that allow mobile users to find their friends instantly and locate other friends in their network while they are out and about.

This can lead to a social gathering that can take place in a matter of minutes with little to no planning. Many of the major carriers have invested billions to grow and expand their capacity and it is now starting to pay off as more phones and laptops are being used to be access the internet and able to view streaming video and other content. Many companies like Cables Unlimited sees the expansion of multimedia and offer their wireless USB to HDTV adapter that simply allows you now to connect your laptop or PC wireless to an HDTV or projector. This would enable you to bring multimedia to life while you are on the road. I have been looking for something like this in order for use to use the high speed capacity we have at home to stream shows and videos from the internet to one of our HDTV’s and this would be a great addition to our home theater solution. The future looks bright for mobile broadband as our culture becomes more connected and people are not wanting to wait to get home to interact with their friends on their social network.

As the world of the PC continues to evolve more and more people are using them as a total media and computing solution. That is probably why we are starting to see more all in one PC options like the Lenovo IdeaCentre A600. The sleek 21 inch display houses all the PC components with and Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB ram. This system offers wireless connectivity through its Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g/n for streaming of HD video and sound. With the wireless mouse and keyboard this system can actually reside in your living room and set along side your HDTV.  The massive 650 GB hard drive is big enough to store a large amount of videos and pictures. With many of the videos now being released via digital download and cable operators pushing out content over the internet having an all in one PC Media center will be the standard.

I would love to add this system to our downstairs entertainment system so that our kids would be able to play some of their digital videos on the big screen and even surfing on a 52 inch HDTV could be very impressive. Luckily you can find this system on sale at buy.com for under $750.00 which a great deal for a stand alone PC. The way in which we surf and watch TV has changed over the last few years and with high end PCs like the Lenovo being offered at the sub $1000 dollar mark it is making it affordable for more and more people.

If you have recently upgraded your TV to one of the new plasma or LCD models chances are that you have now been introduced to the term HDMI. This stands for and is now being incorporated into many electronic devices like DVD players, stereo equipment and computers. Consumers are now trying to figure how to integrate all of these devices seamlessly with as little disruption to their current living room or entertainment setting. This network compatible language has crossed from the PC world where you had network switches like the KVM switch that allowed networks to talk to each other.

Many people are turning to online backup as their primary or secondary source to provide a secure backup. The problems in the past was the cost and the technical knowledge to make the transfer. They provide solutions for consumers and businesses to be able safely and securely back-up up their data online. The other nice benefit is that it your data can be accessible from other PC’s if you are away from home and need to access some important information. You can multiple vendors that offer pay as you go price of only $2 per GB so you can add to your backups as your projects expand and grow.

You can increase your surfing speed by upgrading your wireless router to the new Pre N type routers that offer several different through puts for your wireless networks. While we are probably not taking advantage of the dual band 2.4ghz/5.0ghz feature just yet it will be there for future upgrades. But the 1 GB network feature and the higher bandwidth throughput has been incredible. I have noticed a huge difference when looking at sites like YouTube and surfing online in general. We had to download an update for Windows vista that was 80 MB and that took only about a minute to download. It also features QoS which simply means that it helps maximize your connected devices like your VoiP, video streaming, and internet so that those more intensive applications are prioritized so that you have a smoother sharing of resources. It was super easy to install by just putting in their CD it will walk you though step by step if your replacing an existing router or this your first one. It also has a cool feature that allows you to share a USB device like an external HD or printer through the router that is simple and easy to use.You will be amazed at the difference in your broadband speed as well and now know what they are talking about when people say that they are using the internet for all their media needs.

I know these things usually cost about 25 bucks to get one, but I know where you can save some money at. If you need a Logo flash drive you can find them for under $20 and it makes getting one of these babies very cheap! It’s a very useful way to help you store your files with and it’s convenient because you can transport it around with you. Any device that has a USB port is all you need, to start transferring your files to. Not only do you get it at a cheap price, but they come with a 5 year guarantee so you know your going to get your money’s worth; if you choose to get one at Buy.com!

This Christmas we are going to finally be upgrading our camera and have been looking through various review sites and specials to see which one we should actually purchase. There are your basic point and shoot digital cameras and then the more advanced DSLR cameras. The point and shoots are nice in that they are compact and very user friendly. The problem is that all the ones that we have seen and our current point and shoot camera seem to have that lag between photos which has always been a big irritation. This happens when most when we are trying to capture moments at our kids games or at a family get together and it seems like we are always waiting for the camera to get ready to take the next photo. The DSLR cameras solve this issue, but are starting at around $500 and are somewhat bulky. I have been searching the online sale items for our new camera and just came across a great deal on a camera that we have been looking at buy.com.

Samsung Dualview TL220

I have recently started to look at the Samsung TL220 DualView camera which is one of the first of it’s kind on the market. The unique feature that is possesses is the dual lcd screen with one on the back and one on the front. This is a great way to be able to take those self pictures which most of us do on a regular basis. The rear LCD screen is an intuitive touch screen making navigating that various functions easy for anyone. With the dual view LCD you will never have to retake your pictures when you are trying to snap photos of you and your friends. It also possesses an impressive 12.2 megapixels and image stabilization to help reduce blurry pictures. And plus it offers burst shot mode which allows you take multiple pictures at once in order to get those action shots that many point and shoot cameras have trouble getting. You can also shoot HD movies that can be stored to the optional SD card in H.264 format which allows you to record and store twice as much as the MPG 4 format. This camera offers a ton of features that will make your pictures standout but most importantly it is user friendly and offers high end features for a great price.

Have a Happy Holiday!

The video game market is a billion dollar industry. This market just continues to grow and the games are getting more advanced as the years go by. Does anyone remember Pong? Now that was the game back in the day and we use to play that for hours as kids. Pong was the best thing in town; until Pac Man came along. Now Pac Man was the bomb and that still remains one of the most played video games of all time. Ms. Pac Man was a little bit better than the original Pac Man, but it’s all called Pac Man when the subject is brought up. I remember a couple of local restaurants that had Pac Man and I would love going to those places as a kid. The song “Pac Man Fever” was a perfect song for the time. The line that says “I’m headed to the arcade with a pocket full of quarters” was so true. Every time I would see a quarter as a kid, I would think to myself “that’s enough for a game of Pac Man”.The arcade style games are now starting to become more popular as parents of the kids are wanting to join in on the fun.

Video games have come a long ways since the Pong and Pac Man days. Playstation, Microsoft, and Nintendo have brought 100’s of new games to the homes of kids and adults all over the world. I think the adults like the games better than the kids do sometimes. The Playstation 3 has created a unique following but has not sold as many systems as the Wii and the Xbox 360. They are now promoting their new sale price in preparation for what should be a good Christmas for the gamin world. With all the major game makers lowering the cost to the consumer of the consoles in the past month this may be a signal that there are new updated systems on their way. This should certainly help out the game makers as they rely on the robust sale of gaming units in order to sell their games like the classic “Pac Man” remade for high definition.

I still enjoy playing some of the video games myself. I like a good baseball video game or one of the hunting video games you can play these days. Who knows what tomorrow will hold for the video gaming industry, but it looks like it’s here to stay for awhile. We can also enjoy the latest video games on our computers now and this is only going to increase the number of video gamers out there. Who could ever imagine that interacting with our television screens could be so popular?

Protecting your computer on the internet is an everyday job. There are so many different viruses, Trojans, hijackers, and things trying to get in our computers to cause it harm. In most cases, it’s nothing that will actually damage your computer. It will just make your computer slow down, or crash more frequently. McAfee is one of the leading companies that has software and solutions to help you protect your computers and networks.

Now if you have noticed that your computer isn’t running as fast as it use to be. Then there’s a good chance that spyware is on your computer. Spyware removers can be found at many places. Internet Security Software is a booming business. There’s so many people out there that have no anti-virus protection for their computers. They are just left in the open, waiting on an attack by some hijacker or trojan out there. Getting some protection for your computer is almost a must these days. It’s practically impossible now, to surf the internet with no sypware or virus protection on your computer. If you are one of those people that doesn’t have any form of protection on your computer.  You can do searches on the search engines, to help find reviews on different products and find multiple options on sale. See if you see any that having raving reviews about them. You will probably have to spend a little money for a good one. It’s a small price to pay, for having some extra security on your computer.

It is amazing to think how far computer memory and flash drives have come over the last two years. I still have one of my first thumb drives that held about 8 MB which was pretty impressive when I first received it. It was used mainly for transporting powerpoint presentations and other word documents back and forth to the office and on the road when I was traveling. Now with all the multimedia files and graphics that we use on a day to day basis having a USB flash drive like the Kingston 32GB data traveler is like having another computer with you. You can use it to store videos, important files, and documents and with it’s security enabled features you can feel safe that if lost your data will not be accessible by just anyone.
They are now on sale at buy.com for an incredible price of only $64 with free shipping. This would make a great Christmas gift if you were looking to send photos and videos to the family by being able to copy over the files and then have them played on their laptop or PC. Instead of opting for the digital photo frame imagine your parents or grandparents being to play the videos of their kids wherever they had a computer. The USB flash drive has taken on more of a useful day to day function outside of the work place because they are so portable and easy to use. For most users you just drag and drop the files you need onto the flash drive without the need for special software so they can be shared from PC to PC.

I have seen more ads for netbooks in the past few weeks as students are getting to head back to school. Everyone from cable companies to wireless providers are now offering these great little computing devices to lure new customers. The attraction to these newer devices is that they allow you to get online easily with all the functionality of a laptop without taking up the space. At first I was not sure how these new devices would fit into the mobile platform since most smartphones and iphones allow you to get on the internet. Now that I have seen them up close they make sense in that they offer faster computing power and full keyboard to make surfing the web and staying in touch much easier.

I was searching for a great birthday gift for my son and came across this Belkins TuneStudio Audio mixer that looked really cool and something that my son could really get into. It is apparently the first of its kind to allow you to digitally remaster files and recordings directly to your iPod. It is a 4 channel audio mixer that will output files in 16-bit 44kHz in an uncompressed WAV format that will give your ultra clear sound and clarity. You can connect mics and instruments directly to the control panel and control most any aspect of the sound that you want and then have it output to your iPod. So those garage bands can now easily have a mobile recording studio so no matter when that masterpiece comes into your mind you can just plug in and starting capturing greatness.

This slick new device is available for sale at buy.com for only $149.99 as of this post with free shipping. On other sites it can be found for around $300 so getting this for basically half price seems like a really good deal for those music enthusiast or aspiring artists looking to create their own unique tunes and sound.My son and his friends have been using a digital camcorder to record some of their videos where they play along with some of the more popular songs like “Boom Boom Pow” and then will upload those to Youtube. With this new tech gadget they will be able to plug right into their iPod and capture and edit their background music with the ease of just a few clicks and twists of the knobs.

If you are like many Americans you probably have some type of movie camera that you record the family events on. Once you get it recorded the question then becomes what do you do with the video and how do you get it to DVD which is the ultimate goal so that you can archive the memories as well as share with others. Many digital camcorders come with a basic video editing software that can be just as confusing to use as trying to figure out how to do a cross fade to the next picture. That is where Roxio 2009 video and music editing software can come into play. With it’s simple user interface you can be creating, editing and burning movies in no time at all. They offer very basic movie editing features that will let you take movies straight from your camcorder and add some chapters and background music to full blown editing to create your own masterpiece.
We have bee looking to upgrade our current version of Roxio so that we can capture and record our videos in different formats that will fit onto DVD as well be able to put them on the web for sites like YouTube. The new version of Roxio allows you do to this and add your favorite music that will actually create your very own music video at the click of the button. At buy.com they have Roxio 2009 on sale currently for $28.99 which is about $70 off retail with free shipping. So if you are wondering what to use to help create those memories then I would recommend the latest version of Roxio fro simple yet sophisticated movie editing and production that anyone can do.