debcook

Do you toss your loose coins into a dish on the dresser? I keep mine in a plastic bag. I’ve even seen people use a peanut can with a slot in the lid.

My husband hates to carry or spend pennies. I tell him that they spend just like larger coin – it just takes more of them. Will you stop and pick up a penny on the street? More than once I have dreamed the same recurrent dream. As I walk along street near my home I look down and find piles of coins. From one corner to the nest I find dollars worth of coins.

When I find coins lying around the house I feel the same as I do in my dream. But, dropping them into a dish, bag or can I do not feel the impact of how it all adds up.

Do you have one of those jars that have a counter as a lid? Each time you punch a coin down through the slot a digital readout tracts how much money is in the jar.

That is great but I wonder – what if you remove some coins? As far as I can tell there is not a subtract button. I guess that is the best way to get you to save.

Since buying my iPhone 3G I have not worn a wristwatch. It just seems so unnecessary now. But there is a new watch in my life.

The Explorer Carabiner Watch was a gift that I will definitely not be re-gifting next year. It will replace the clip on my purse that holds my car keys. Not only can I see the time at a glance, there is an LED light at high noon. If it sprinkles or snows there is no worry since it is water resistant. Bumping against immoveable objects is not a problem because it is constructed of a Zinc-Alloy.

Often I am still on the go after dark. The Luminescent numbers and hands help me stay on time as I get in and out of my car.

I am sure that this watch is meant for campers, hikers and other outdoor type people. Those are not words that describe me but I do appreciate a handy gadget that is tough, rugged and accurate – not to mention that it looks good too.

Each day I like to learn something new and to try something I have not tried before. Sometimes the ideas run thin but it seems like most of them appears from thin air. Today’s idea turned out to be something that should have been easy. It is something that I’ve done many times before. The difference between then and now – before I used a PDA cell phone to attach a photo to my email and today I tried it on my iPhone 3G.

I needed to add a photo to one of my blog posts. Not wanting to boot up my laptop in order to use my SD card from my digital camera I decided to take the photo with my iPhone and then email it to myself. My desktop is already up and going so I just wanted to keep things simple.

First of all I took the photo. Then I opened an email and that is where my idea hit a snag. There was no way to attach a photo. What did I do? I asked Google.

Sure enough there is a way to attach a photo to an email on an iPhone 3G.

· Open the photo app on the iPhone
· Snap a digital photo
· Touch the little double square in the lower left hand corner which opens the screen showing all of your photos
· Touch the photo you want to send
· Touch the little square with an arrow in it in the lower left hand corner
· Choose the “Email Photo” option – give it a second and the email will open with the photo in it. (The photo will end up as an attachment to the recipient)
· Touch the “To” space and enter the email address
· Touch the “Subject” space and enter the subject of your email
· Touch the screen above the photo and type what you want to say
· Touch the “Send” button

Even though attaching a photo to an email on my iPhone 3G is not earth shattering it was important to me. After working hard all day I just wanted to get the task done. I have now fulfilled my daily goal of trying something new so I will end it here. What have you tried today?

Unfortunately speakers are not typically the best features of laptops, netbooks and even desktop computers. When you are at home is not a big deal to attach a set of external speakers to improve the sound but if you are out and about it gets a bit more complicated.

Fortunately external speakers are abundant and most work pretty well. They are not meant to blast sound to the next nearby town – they are meant to improve your personal listening pleasure. If the noise around you overwhelms the internal speakers of your laptop an external speaker will probably correct most of the problem.

One of the simplest designs I have seen is the B-Flex USB Laptop Speakers. The speaker sets atop a flexible cable and a USB at the other end plugs into an open USB port. The flexible cable is stiff yet bendable for the optimum speaker placement. Another nice feature is the color choices. Since laptops now come in a variety of colors so does the B-Flex Speakers. Choose between black, white, red, pink, and silver to suit your personality.

Who would be most likely to use external speakers? Students, business people, computer gamers, and individuals that are constantly on the go could find multiple reasons to use the B-Flex speakers.

Sometimes even I am amazed at the gadgets available to us. Sometimes they come in small packages and are something that we have never even dreamed of. Once we see it we think, “why didn’t I think of that”?

I admit to being a television junkie and I love shopping online while products are pitched. I just ordered one of those products. If this gadget is as good as it looks it will be absolutely amazing.

Being “girlie” is not requirement for me – but I don’t shun “girlie” either. If a gadget promises to make my life easier and it doesn’t break my budget I am willing to try it.

Motor Eyes (by Prescriptives) – is a mascara brush that uses a tiny motor to get more mascara on your eyelashes. When you open the mascara tube the brush begins to vibrate. That allows the bristles to separate the lashes clear down to their roots which should reduce clumping.

Who would have ever thought that motorized technology would make my eyes look better? If it works – I’ll take two!

It is about time. Small laptops/netbooks need bags too. Most every computer bag on the market is too large – most fitting a 14 to 17 inch laptop. The wiggle room in one of the larger bags is too much for a 9 to 11 inch laptop.

You may think that the extra space would be handy for carrying accessories but it is not. The extra space is always at the top of the bag where nothing else can be placed. Why hasn’t one of the bag makers realized that room beside the laptop is better than above it? Many purses are longer than they are tall – I suspect for the same reason.

The Netbook Mini Messenger Bag by Check Fast has come close. It is designed to carry a small laptop/netbook– 11 inches and smaller. The design is pretty good but I do not like the divided accessory pocket that sits in front of the laptop/netbook-designated pocket. I realize that the design is necessary to get it approved by TSA (Transportation Security Administration) but I would like to have had a little input.

My laptop accessories have never fit well into a bag with this design. By the time I stuff the AC adapter and the cords into the accessory pocket the bulk overwhelms the zipper or latch. What am I suppose to do with my external hard drive and accessories for my cell phone and digital camera?

Yes, it would cost more to add a zipper to the accessory pocket but it would allow it to expand if need be. A wider design of the bag would allow for reconfiguration of the contents once out of the airport. Check Fast, you are almost there (and I will probably buy one of your bags) but please worry less with the low price and sell us a netbook bag that we want to carry.

I am still finding new features on my iPhone. Some of those discoveries have come from suspected issues but some just happen by accident.

The little button on the side that turns the ringer on and off was a discovery that I searched for and was glad to find. Apparently some readers of the blog found my discovery helpful as well.

Just a few days ago I was using the calculator function. Nothing to special – I was just doing ordinary adding and subtracting. Someone spoke to me and I was distracted for a second or two. I looked over and while talking my hand had leaned over just a little – just enough to tilt my iPhone. I realized that when the iPhone is turned sideways while in the calculator mode the calculator becomes a scientific calculator.

This function is great for those that need a scientific calculator but I would gladly trade it for the “cut/copy/paste” function.

I am finally working from my Dell Mini 9 netbook. It is up and running with only a minor glitch but considering the major upgrades to 2GB Ram and 64GB SSD - not bad.

Overall I like it. The keyboard is a bit smaller than I am use to but it is nothing that I cannot deal with. My Sony Vaio is only 11.1 inches so the keyboard is pretty similar to this one. My hands are small so I actually like that I can rest my palms on the edge of the netbook while tying. I am sitting on a cushy couch with a pillow on my lap and the netbook is balanced nicely.

Drivers are continuing to be an issue. Although device manager assures me that all drivers are installed and working correctly – they try to reload each time I boot up. I cannot see that anything is missing and everything is working fine so I am leaving well enough alone for the next few days.

I expected more peppy performance overall. Some programs take a little longer to load than I expected them to. Boot up is not too bad but I guess I expected or should I say wished for nearly instant on.

In any case I will know more about the performance after using it for a longer period of time. This is only the second blog post that I have written on this netbook and I am still learning its idiosyncrasies.

Garmin and TomTom are the names most repeated in conversations about GPS devices. Both companies sell stellar products and people all over the world are willing to pay a premium to them. The prices range widely and for the highest-level features expect pay hundreds of dollars.

Navigon is another name that is surfacing in the GPS world. Typically the over all prices are lower than expected while the features rise to the level those offered by the more popular brands. Lane Assist and Real-Time Traffic Reports are good examples. If I were to buy a GPS device today it would have to offer Lane Assist.

It is common to hear turn-by-turn directions and it is becoming common to hear the names of the streets. For a price it is possible to receive real time traffic reports. Both features are great on their own – but if you are in the wrong lane you will miss your turn regardless. A local highway that I travel regularly has left-side and split lane exits that are confusing even to the most experienced. Lane Assist stands great on its own but it also enhances other features as well.

The Navigon GPS goes above and beyond to offer top features at lower costs and it offers one that is especially unique. 3D maps are not unusual but a 3D view of landscape is. It is helpful to have a visual sense of an unfamiliar area.

Before making a final buying decision I suggest checking out a Navigon GPS. Unknown to many, Navigon has built GPS devices for other name brands for years, so it is not surprising that they would know the right features to offer. The surprise is that they can offer them at such reasonable prices.

Yesterday was the first day that I actually used my Dell Mini 9 netbook. It had sat in the box for a couple of weeks waiting for me to scrounge enough time to upgrade the Ram and the SSD. After removing the battery I began the upgrade process. It was really very easy.

There are only two very small screws holding the back panel on. Once I removed the two very small screws and after a couple of scary snaps I was able to pry the panel out of its position.

Two small clips hold the Ram stick in place. With a fingertip on each clip I gently spread them apart which allowed the Ram stick to lift up slightly. I grasped the stick from the back edge (using both hands) and pulled it loose from its slot. The new 2GB Ram stick went in just as the other came out. Held at an angle I was able to firmly push the new Ram stick into the slot. Once I was sure that it was seated properly I pushed down on the stick and the two side clips snapped into place.

With the Ram upgrade complete I moved onto the new 64GB SSD. The original 16GB SSD is held into its slot by 2 small screws. Once the screws are removed the free end of the SSD lifts up. As I did before, I gently grasped the SSD and pulled it out of its slot. The new 64GB SSD went in just as the old one came out. I replaced the screws and was ready to close. I snapped the back cover back into place, replaced the two screws and replaced the battery.

The Dell Mini 9 does not have an internal CD/DVD drive so I used my external drive. After turning on the netbook I was prompted as to which boot process I wanted to use. I chose USB.

Check back tomorrow and I will give you my review and first impressions of my new and improved Dell Mini 9 netbook.