Mar 11th, 2010
Photo courtesy of Jeff Wilcox
Current Hard Drives are using the same basic technology that drives used beck in the 1950s. Sure, size, speeds and interfaces have changed but its still a platter spinning with a read/write head hovering over it like a needle on a record.
Solid State Drives (SSDs) are the next wave in Hard Drive technology. With no mechanical parts, no noise, less power requirements and less susceptibility to damage, its a no brainer that they’re better. However, SSD technology is still very much on the cutting edge and not all perform equally well.
Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know about SSDs in order to purchase one that works well for you.
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Mar 8th, 2010
Photo courtesy of Re-ality
In your digital media journey you’ve probably encountered music files called FLAC, Ogg Vorbis or Shorten. Getting them to play on your Mac is pretty easy but playing them on an iPod or other MP3 player isn’t an easy task for the average person.
Instead of doing things the hard way – messing around with unsupported and warranty breaking alternate firmware, go the easy way and convert your FLACs, Oggs, and Shortens to MP3 and get on with your life.
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Mar 4th, 2010
Photo courtesy of Takomabibelot
Once your computer gets old and its upgrade time, what do you do with your old machine? You definitely don’t want it sitting in your basement for the next 30 years. Tossing it in a dumpster is out, its an environmental hazard and illegal in many states. You need to get rid of it, but how?
What do you do with your old e-junk that you can’t throw away?
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Mar 1st, 2010
Photo courtesy of Ski Challenge 2010
Gaming is expensive. New console games for Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 are usually priced over $50 each. Online multiplayer service costs can also add up to hundreds yearly. On the Mac / PC side, its not much cheaper. Game costs, hardware costs and online service costs are similar. Piracy is rampant, ever invasive protection schemes are defeated within weeks, stopping only the paying customers.
An interesting way to take some of the cost away from gaming, and the piracy element without ruining the developer’s bottom line is to use an ad-supported model, like radio and television. But does it work?
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Feb 25th, 2010
Photo courtesy of NightRPStar
Whats worse than watching a good Netflix Movie that’s getting to a really suspenseful part and suddenly the screen stops.. The beach-ball appears.. Then DVD Player quits and says the disc is scratched or unreadable. You re-insert the movie and scan to the part, only to find out you’re going to miss about 5 minutes of the scene, if you’re lucky. Sometimes the disc is so bad, you just need to send it back.
Thats great with Netflix but what happens if the movie is one of yours? What if its so bad, OS X won’t even give it the time of day, ejecting it after a minute of spinning? What if its a CD you burned years ago? Or some software you bought? How do you fix the CD or DVD so that OS X will read it again?
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