Windows 7 Ultimate– Our Review November 24, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , 2comments
Windows 7 is here, and boy is it awesome
Ok, we know it’s a little late, but without further ado, here it is, our review of Windows 7.
So in a couple of words how are we liking the new Microsoft OS after using it in it’s final form for over a month? We love it, and just keeping it short—it’s a thousand times better than Vista (yes that much better).
Want some more details on why we like it so much and what things about it we don’t like? Read on.
Dropbox – Free Storage, Anywhere November 2, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , add a comment
The coolest box ever.
There are a few apps on my computer that get the honor of running full time – things like iTunes, Tweetie…. and Dropbox. As the name somewhat implies, Dropbox is free online storage– 2 GB, to be exact. After a brief sign up on the site, you now own your personal Dropbox which you can upload to and download from via the Web, as well as add and delete files.
But perhaps the coolest part is their desktop app. Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, it’s basically a folder as well as a mini-app which syncs all info when opened. Simple, really. And, being a folder, it acts like a folder – easy to use.
This synchronization is the highlight purpose of Dropbox. Personally, I use it to keep certain files available to me everywhere – a few of my favorite songs, a couple important school notes, some of my pictures – the stuff I want to have at my fingertips at all times. Dropbox shines in this regard – because of the whole folder system. Add an mp3 to my Dropbox on my Mac, and I can get it from my Window’s netbook on the go. Need to go over those notes on my way to school? There’s an iPhone/iTouch app, so you’re covered there too. At school, and need that important essay you wrote? Just use the website. It’s pretty awesome. Also, there’s the ability to make a file Public – so you can pass a download link to your friends if they need a file from you. And again, it’s all free.
You start with 2 GB and can upgrade that to up to 3 GB by referring people. The Desktop apps are free, iPhone app’s free – its pretty sweet, and highly recommended.
Now, those of you who DESPERATELY need more then the 2-3 GB? You can upgrade to 50 or 100 GB at $10 or $20 a month respectively – if, say, you need to have your whole computer with you everywhere.
So – interested? Check out Dropbox here. (iPhone App here [Note - iTunes Link])
Five Different Versions of Windows 7–Which Is Right for You October 25, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , 1 comment so far
So let’s begin our Windows 7 coverage with trying to simplify the many different versions of the OS. Unlike with Apple’s Snow Leopard, where it’s more of a one-size fits-all approach, with Windows 7 you got a nice selection of editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Happy-Go-Lucky… Ok, fine, we just made up the happy go lucky part, but as you can see, there are a whole lot of different versions, and so let’s try to simplify that into what you should looking for when getting a Windows 7 upgrade or when looking for a new PC, and what you should be looking for specs wise to make sure whatever version of 7 you get works well.
Windows 7 Out Now! October 22, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , add a comment
Today is October 22nd, and you know what that means: Windows 7 is out! This is the day anyone using Vista has been waiting for. Microsoft has officially made Windows 7 available for purchase. In the coming days we’ll be doing a ton of coverage of Microsoft’s awesome new OS (it is truly awesome– I’ve been using it on a couple different PC’s for a few months now, and am really loving it. It’s just so fast and easy, and not Vista) and how it relates to you.
In the meantime however, go on and check out our first thoughts that we posted a few months back, and if anyone out there already got 7 and wants to share their thoughts on the OS, or if anyone has any questions about 7, feel free to post them in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them in the coming days.
You can get Windows 7 now from your local Best Buy, Walmart, or other local computer store now, or order it online from Amazon and Microsoft‘s own sites among many other online retailers.
Live From IDF: Hands on with the Archos 9 Windows 7 Tablet September 30, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, IDF , add a comment
The Archos 9 Windows 7 Tablet
For what seems like forever, there’s been talk of Apple making an all touchscreen tablet for the Mac. Now see, if you’re a Windows user (even though now there is talk of Microsoft making their own tablet…. but we’ll cover that another time), you can pretty much point and laugh at every Apple “fanboy” who freaks out with each Apple event and rumor hoping for said inevitable tablet—as thanks to Archos, you got a real, and really nice looking Windows tablet that’s ready to make full use of the upcoming Windows 7′s improved touch features.
Playing Hearts with your fingers!
At IDF, we made sure to stop by Archos’s booth and check out the Archos 9 for ourselves, and we came away pretty impressed. The Archos 9 tablet looks great and is insanely thin and light that taking it around wherever you go should be a breeze.
Archos did though do a couple things interesting with the tablet—for one, it doesn’t use a capacitive, more finger friendly touchscreen like those on the iPhone and iPod touch, instead going with a surprisingly very responsive resistive touchscreen (usually with resistive screens they only work well if you use a stylus or pen like object to tap the screen– but if we hadn’t known before that this was resistive we would have definitely thought it was a capacitive screen. That’s how good it is with just using your fingers! Though that lack of a capacitive screen also means no gestures like “pinch to zoom” etc). It also has a lot of the netbook type specs like 9 inch touchscreen, 1 GB RAM, 1.2 GHZ Intel Atom processor, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, 60-120 GB hard drive…, but all this isn’t a terrible thing, as Archos is planning to sell this at a very solid price of $499 when it launches with Windows 7 on October 22nd.
Oh, and if your worried about using an all touchscreen device like this to write long reports or take notes in school, don’t be. Archos plans to be selling a very thin wireless Bluetooth keyboard along with the Archos, which also is pretty solid and will definitely make things a whole lot easier.
For more info on the Archos 9, see Archos’s site here.
DigitalPersona's Personal Fingerprint Reader – Review July 2, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , add a comment
DigitalPersona’s Personal Fingerprint Reader (And yes, it does glow with a cool blue light when you use it).
Alright, after that mouthful of a title, here’s the post. Recently, I had the chance to try out DigitalPersona’s Personal Fingerprint Reader, and in short, it’s pretty awesome. Personally, I think fingerprint reading tech is one of the coolest things out there, and this is no exception.
Instead of on some laptops, where there is a little strip that is a slide reader where you slide your finger, this is a full fledged finger print pad, and the difference is noticeable – throughout all my time testing, I never ran into one misread, which is impressive. Accuracy is also good – the reader was able to recognize my prints, but rejected my twin brother’s, which says a lot of how accurate it is. There are several features built into the software that it comes with, that all work pretty seamlessly with Windows (sorry, no Mac support)– logging into Windows, protecting folders, and Internet logins are some of the specific areas where the program works. Logging in is simple– you set up the password, and when the reader is plugged in, when you log in, it’ll give you the option to just scan a finger, and presto – it logs in. Websites work similarly– when you visit a site with a login box on it (like say your email or a site like Twitter or Facebook), a fingerprint icon will appear in the corner of the browser, asking you if you’d like to register an account. It all works simply and efficiently, just as you’d expect. File encryption also works in the same way– select a file, encrypt it, and it can only be accessed by your finger alone.
However, it is a little pricey – costing $90. A cheaper version of the software and reader is available, although I have not tested it, and is instead being a swipe style reader (similar to those found on laptops), and does not include the file encryption software.
Overall, the Personal Fingerprint reader is a cool, interesting way to use fingerprint technology on the web and on your PC. If it’s something you’ve just wanted to try, it might be a little expensive, but for those who like fingerprint security, this is an excellent implementation of it. We are going to give it a very good rating of 4 out of 5, losing points only for the somewhat high price.
We give the Personal Fingerprint Reader a Very Good 4 out of 5
You can order the Personal Fingerprint Reader from DigitalPersona’s site here.
Pre-Order Windows 7– NOW June 26, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , add a comment
As you can see from some over our previous posts (such as this first look of the new OS), we are really loving using Windows 7, and we mean REALLY lovin it. It is 1000x better than Vista (possibly more, I wanna be a little nice to Vista’s failed efforts) and is an actually usable and fast OS. It’s so good that we’re pretty certain that all or a lot of you readers out there with Windows computer (for sure ones with Vista), will probably upgrade to 7 when it comes out later this year (October 22nd as we previously wrote, is the launch date), and as we saw with Vista’s upgrade from XP, buying the new software from Microsoft is not the cheapest thing.
So that’s why we got this post for you today. Microsoft is actually charging you A LOT less if you pre-order the OS now, instead of waiting till October to upgrade. How big of a savings we talkin here? Well, the list price for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade (the one most of you we assume will upgrade to, and just a sorta for your information, the upgrade means that it is used to install over a previous version of Windows like Vista or XP. If you want to install a full fresh copy there is also a non-upgrade version if you wanna install on a PC without a prior version of Windows, but that costs a lot more) is priced for regular retail at $119.99. Amazon, who is one of the retailers taking pre-orders now, is only charging you $49.99 (yes, $49.99 or a $70 or 58% discount off the cover price), if you pre-order it between now and July 11th. There are similar deals in place as well for the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade (a higher end version of the Home Premium with added features for business users such as being able to run XP as a free download inside 7– using similar tech that is used for running Windows and Mac side by side– something called Virtual PC. Professional is listed at retail for $199.99, but you can snag now for $99.99, or an $100 or 50% discount), and we hope this will go out to other versions like 7 Ultimate (with a couple more features than Professional such as more language support– 35 more– and better Hard Drive encryption using something call BitLocker– things you prob won’t need basically, and which currently is priced at a very expensive $219.99 for both pre-order and retail). The deal runs from now till July 11th or while supplies last, so you better hurry as a lot of people EVERYWHERE are gonna want in on this.
In my opinion, this is looking to be a steal of a deal (albeit not quite the steal Apple is charging for Snow Leopard, the next version of their very good Leopard OS. The price on that by the way is $29 when it drops in September, you can learn more on Snow Leopard in our WWDC wrap up), and we’re really hoping Microsoft just dumps the higher prices and keeps them at these discounted prices for good (as a sorta “sorry for Vista” thing).
Amazon is also not only doing this, but offering FREE release date delivery for Amazon Prime users, and free “Super Saver” shipping for those who don’t have Amazon Prime (info on Amazon Prime here). If for some reason you needed to buy Vista right now in either the Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate flavors, you could upgrade to the 7 version for only $10 when it comes out. There is though a 3 per customer limit we feel we should mention, but how many of you actually plan on buying more than 1-2 copies max?
This is an awesome deal, and you can check it all out at Amazon’s site here (where they even have some solid info on what the difference is between the versions of 7 and help for upgrading). REMEMBER: THIS DEAL ONLY RUNS TILL JULY 11TH.
Oh, and if your looking for a new computer now or sometime before 7 drops in October: like with Vista, computer makers like HP, are already beginning to roll out free upgrades to 7 with purchases, so when buying a new PC make sure to get that.
Safari 4 – Review June 18, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Apple, Computers, First Look/Reviews , add a comment
The New Top Sites Interface of Safari 4
About a week ago, in the midst of the Apple announcements at WWDC (which we covered here), something that may have slipped in through the cracks between all the hype around new MacBook Pro’s, Snow Leopard, and a little something called the iPhone 3G S, was the release of the final version of Safari 4. I had been using the beta version of Safari 4 for a while, and now spent the last few weeks using the final build.
So, should this be your go to browser on both Windows and Mac? Read on for the answer.