The only thing wrong with using your PC and Windows Media Center as for watching movies, listening to music, or watching TV is that using a wireless keyboard and mouse to control your TV and media isn’t the best experience. 

Some of the early dedicated Media PCs came with remotes and some laptops still do, but since virtually every PC sold these days comes with a version of Vista that includes Media Center, there are way more media-capable PCs out there and not many remotes among them.

Adesso, who makes a variety of inexpensive but good quality input devices has stepped up to with the Vista Remote to provide an inexpensive solution.

Netbooks are the hottest portable computers today, so if you have one then you probably need a protective bag.  Most Netbooks are low cost and so have few accessories included.  Most of the bags and protective sleeves I have seen on the market are pretty basic.  At my local office supply store, I found one protective sleeve for a 10” Netbook that was only a simple neoprene sleeve with a metal zipper.  Simple and a little over priced at $29.99.

The Ultra Portable Netbook SlipSuit from Mobile Edge stands out from the crowd.  First off, it is still a soft, durable, and water-resistant neoprene sleeve, but with a few nice extra like a zippered pouch on the outside for your mobile phone, MP3 player, or power supply.  The zippers, on the outside pouch and main compartment, are nylon and each zipper even has a nice rubber tabbed, corded zipper-pull which is easy and comfortable to use.

For this article I will be focusing on the 3G set-up and my initial thoughts about the HP Mini 1000.

Stalking the HP Mini 1000

I have been watching the netbook market with some varied interest over the past year.  I had only a few criteria for purchasing a netbook; it had to comfortably run Windows OS software, weigh less than 2 1/2 pounds, have internal 3G, and a semi competent keyboard.

The HP Mini 1000 seemed to fit all of my needs out of the box. After watching the HP site for the last couple of months I decided to take advantage of their $100 3G upgrade offer and order a custom unit. To the basic configuration I added Bluetooth, the 3G upgrade offer, 1 GB ram upgrade offer. This brought me to just under $550 shipped with a coupon.

With my order placed my next question was how to get the 3G activated. The HP site said I could use Verizon or AT&T. OK, great except they never asked me which one I wanted; in the past I would have had to pick one or the other. I saw no place to select an EVDO 3G card or a HSDPA/UMTS 3G card on my order. I kept expecting HP to call or email me asking what card to install into the HP Mini 1000. About a week and half later a curiously small box arrived from Asia; the HP Mini 1000 had arrived.

Imagine a world where you can watch your DVD movie, play a video game, or enjoy your Apple iPod without disturbing anyone, having someone see what you are watching or bothering you, and all in your own private world.  The Vuzix iWear AV920 Video Eyewear allows you see a virtual 62” big screen while wearing the AV920 like a pair of big eyeglasses.  The AV920 is compatible to almost any type of audio/video device such as an Apple iPod, DVD Player, or Video Game Console and using a built-in lithium ion battery, which provide for up to five hours of use, the AV920 can be completely portable.

If you are like me, there are many times where a personal video screen can be very useful.  There are times when I want to play a video game, but my wife does not want to see or hear the game.  There are the occasional nights where she wants to sleep undisturbed and I want to watch a movie.  I have even used the AV920 to watch a movie on an airplane when there was nothing good to watch on the in-flight system.  And each time, I was able to privately enjoy the simulated 62” big screen.  Using two high-resolution displays, the AV920 creates the feeling of viewing video on a big screen display “floating” in front of you.  The AV920 can even display 3D movies and games giving you a true 3D experience, although there are only a handful of 3D movies on DVD and 3D games available.

Read our full review of iWear AV920 Video Eyewear

The Addesso Z12 to try out is a nice looking tablet that seems very sturdy and well made. At an MSRP of $149, the Z12 is $50 less expensive than Wacom’s comparable large Bamboo Fun tablet, so it invites a little side-by-side comparison of the two.

The Z12 is larger than the Bamboo Fun, with a 6x10 inch active surface, compared to the Bamboo Fun’s 8.5x8.3. The Z12 also sports 1024 levels of pressure for inking, twice that of the Bamboo Fun, however, the Bamboo Fun has higher resolution, with 2,540 lines of resolution compared to the Z12’s 2000.  The result is that the Z12 gives very good performance and the bigger active area makes it a bit easier to use, especially if you have a widescreen monitor.  I actually liked the Z12 better for handwriting and found it was easier to get good handwriting recognition in Windows Vista.

Read our Review: Adesso Cyber Tablet Z12

Whether you have a keyboard or touchpad that is not working, want something better, or just need a desktop keyboard or mouse when working in the office, there are a wide range of choices available to the notebook computer user.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Even though most people prefer the common mouse for working with their computer, I have always preferred a trackball.  I find them easier to use, take up less workspace, and are great when traveling on a plane where there is almost no space to use a mouse.  My favorite has always been the Kensington Orbit Trackball

The original Orbit was a mechanical trackball that always needed cleaning due to dust, lint, and oil building up on the ball and transferring to the rollers inside.  The new Orbit Optical Trackball has eliminated that problem with an efficient optical design.  The Orbit features Left and Right mouse buttons and a small, comfortable ball.  The Orbit connects to the notebook via USB.  The top of the Orbit is covered in a black coating that makes it more comfortable and your hand is less likely to slide off the trackball.

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 7 - Keyboard and Mouse

As with any computer, the real enemy is heat.  My notebook does get really hot, especially at the hard drive which is right under the space for the left palm.  A really bad design on the part of Acer engineering.  The cooler you can keep your notebook, the longer it will last.  Other than making sure there is unrestricted airflow around you notebook, there are a number of products you can use to improve the notebooks’ cooling efficiency.

The Lapinator is a passive cooling device design to give your notebook good air circulation and improved comfort.  It is available in two versions: the 11 oz., 13"x12"x1” Lapinator and, its large brother, the 15 oz., 18"x12"x1” Lapinator Plus for larger notebooks.  Both use 3M Thinsulate sheets to block 95% of the heat from reaching your legs or desktop.  By improving the air circulation, the Lapinator helps the notebooks’ internal cooling system run more efficiently.  So the Lapinator helps to improve heat dissipation, comfort, and ergonomics.  It’s also thin enough to fit in most notebook bags.

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 6 - Cooling

If you have any older notebook, there is the possibility that sooner or later your power supply will die.  In fact, there is a good chance that it will fail before your notebook does.  So whether you need a replacement power supply, an extra one for the office so you do not always have to plug and carry one with you, or you need a more flexible alternative when you travel, check out some of the power supply choices on the market today.

The Targus Mobile 70 Universal AC/DC Adapter is a good replacement power supply for any notebook.  With a set of included power tips for most notebooks, and other tips available from Targus, this power supply will work with almost any notebook.  Check the Targus web site for compatible tips for your notebook.  With 70 watts of continuous power and up to 90 watts of peak power, this power supply can handle the needs of any power hungry notebook.

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 5 - Power

If you have a notebook computer, sooner or later, you will be taking on the road with you.  Or at least moving it from one place to another.  When this happens, what you really need is a good, protective bag or case to protect your investment. And don’t forget to use a security device to keep your valuable property from taking a walk without you.

This is a great bag for overnight travel and features many zippered pockets and compartments.  The back is contoured for comfort against your leg when carrying the bag by the two part handle.  The handle design is made of two part that are connected to the bag separately and fit together to give a comfortable grip and balances the weight of the bag.  A mesh pouch for a water bottle is attached to the left side and Velcro down to store it when not in use.

The rear side of the bag can be unzipped to reveal 2 large pouches and 2 smaller zippered pouches.  The top of the bag contains a zippered compartment for the telescoping handle, a zippered compartment for the top-loading notebook sleeve which can be unzipped and removed from the bag.  The notebook protection of this bag is good, but not designed for heavy abuse.  So don’t let the bag take too many bumps and tumbles. 

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 4 - Protection

Good audio is one thing that most notebook computers lack.  With only 2 tiny little speakers, the average notebook cannot generate the type of sound that most people have been accustomed to from their music, movies, and games.  Of course there are a few notebooks such as the old Toshiba 5105 line that have good sound due to small Harmon-Kardon speakers and a built-in subwoofer, but even most expensive, high-performance notebooks do not have great sound.

Since there is no way to change or upgrade the internal speakers on a notebook, the best alternative is to use a set of external speakers when you are in your home / office or a set of headphone.  Headphones, especially ones with microphones, can serve a dual purpose by giving you better sound in and out for Skype, gaming, or internet chatting.  Most notebooks have built-in microphones that are about as good as their internal speakers.

Logitech, being one of the biggest companies in the accessory market, has a wide range of speaker and headphone products.  So for this profile, we would like to introduce you to a couple of our favorites.

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 3 - Audio

Notebooks operating on Windows XP or Vista require large amounts of RAM memory and hard drive space.  And every time you install a new program to your computer, the need for both increases.  If you are looking to upgrade the performance of your older notebook, there are two things that are absolute must do’s.  The first is adding more RAM memory since the more memory you have available to the operating system, the faster the system will run.  The second is replacing or adding a new hard drive.  With the increased storage capacity, your operating system will run more efficiently, there is room to increase the cache area to simulate for memory, and you will have more room for programs, media, and data backup.

If you are already using the Vista operating system, then you must be aware of the Microsoft Experience Index.  This is Microsoft’s way of rating the overall ability of your computer so that software publishers have an easier way of informing the customer of the resource and performance needs of the software.  So as new software become available and more performance is required, you will be able to easily determine if your computer can run the software efficiently.  Memory and Hard drive space have the most significant impact on the E.I.

Read: Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 2 - Memory and Storage

Recently I started to think about buying a new notebook computer.  As I looked at all the choices at my local computer store, I wondered about all the other things I wanted to buy and thought to myself: “Can I get another year out of my old notebook?”  Thus began my quest to find products that would help to extend and protect the life of my notebook while also keeping it current with today’s models.

For this “experiment”, I decided to use an Acer Ferrari 3400 notebook.  A flashy little notebook which was very fast, feature filled, and top-of-the-line when it was released 2-3 years ago.  But now the basic model with its AMD Athlon64 3000 CPU, 512MB of RAM, 80GB 4800rpm hard drive, etc. is starting to show its age.  Even though its features still compare pretty well against most current notebooks, it is no longer considered “top of the line”.  So how could I “upgrade” this notebook?

Read more of Extend the life of older notebooks: Part 1

I think most everyone has a love/hate relationship with business cards.  They represent a quick and easy way to trade contact information, to make a good impression and to show off your style and taste.  They also are small and easy to lose, a pain to organize and convert to electronic contacts, and take up a surprising amount of space. The obvious answer is a simple method of scanning and automatically recognizing the information in the cards, and a number of companies have made hardware/software solutions.  I recently had the opportunity to try out one solution, the CardScan 800c.

Inside of the deceptively large box you’ll find a folder with the software, packaged cards for cleaning and calibrating the device, some advertising materials, a generously long USB cable, and the scanner.  The scanner itself is small enough to pack anywhere a paperback would fit or to fit on even the most cluttered desk.  It’s styled to look good on your desk; the CardScan has no buttons or switches to ruin the smooth lines, just a triangle-shaped blue light to show it’s on and to indicate where to insert cards.

Read our full review of the Cardscan Executive 800c…

Paper scanners are great peripherals for the modern computer.  They let us bring papers, documents, and photos from the real, physical world into the virtual, digital one.  However they are usually big, bulky devices that require a lot of space or, in the case of most portable models, time to set up.  And the typical scanner still needs a computer or notebook to operate.  So what if you could have a portable scanner that did not need a computer, could be easily carried anywhere, and can make a scan of any document, photo, magazine, or book.  Well now you can with the Planon DocuPen RC800.

The RC800 is a full color, 24-bit scanner in a compact, lightweight form that provides a convenient way to scan full page documents on-the-go.  With the included 128 MB memory card, the RC800 can store many pages into memory with each page only taking a few seconds to scan.  Using the on-board controls, you can select B&W/Color/24-Bit Color and 100 / 400 dpi resolution. 

Read our full review of the Planon DocuPen Portable Color Scanner

This nifty little rechargeable, cordless, Bluetooth mouse is a great accessory for laptop users that have to have a mouse.  The mouse has a right, left, and scroll button.  It is pretty basic, but not without its benefits. The mouse features up to a 10 meter range and offers 800pdi resolution. The rechargeable AAA batteries are of the 700mA Ni-MH variety.

Pricing: It is priced competitively with other mice of similar functionality.

Pros: This thing is small.  It comes with a carry bag for the mouse and its accessories.  It is super easy to hook up.  Aside from setting up Bluetooth software, there is no other software, no messy drivers and the like.  It comes with two AAA rechargeable Ni-MH batteries so you don’t have to fuss with swapping them out all the time.  This mouse uses a cable to charge its self through USB and will function as a cored mouse while in charging mode. The mouse does have a power off switch to improve battery life for those times during long storage.

Read our full review of the Bluetake BT500+ Bluetooth Rechargeable Super Mini Mouse