ThinkPad’s Quad-Core Laptop Line Makes Digital Content Creators Smile

If you work in graphics or digital photography you may be a little more excited than most about ThinkPad’s new Quad Core laptops. With solid graphics and data crunching capabilities, the notebook includes the ThinkPad W500, and offers three optional hard drives, boasting capacities of 320G bytes apiece, plug into different slots to bring the storage capacity close to 1T byte.
The W700 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core mobile processor that runs at a frequency of 2.53GHz and includes 12M bytes of L2 cache. It supports up to 8G bytes of RAM.

The laptop comes with a 17-inch screen that displays video at a 1920-by-1200 pixel resolution, higher than a high-definition display of 1920 by 1080 pixels and comes with an Nvidia Quadro FX graphics card. An optional digitizer and color calibrator is also available and is useful in photo optimizing for printing.

Prices start at US$2,980

I Spy with My Eye-Fi

It is like out of a James Bond movie, a wireless SD card that sends your pictures to your computer at home! It’s much faster than emailing pictures from your cell phone. All Eye-Fi Cards come with everything needed to set up and connect to your home Wi-Fi network, then insert the card into your digital camera and start capturing memories. It stores pictures like a regular SD card and as soon as you come into your wireless network your camera automatically downloads your pictures onto your computer at home.

Eye-Fi Card works with 802.11g, 802.11b and backwards-compatible 802.11n wireless networks
Eye-Fi software works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X (10.4 and 10.5)
Eye-Fi software works with Internet Explorer 6 and 7 (Windows only), Firefox 2.0 (Windows and OS X) and Safari 3 ( OS X 10.4 -10.5)
Eye-Fi card requires an Internet connection for setup and a wireless router with DHCP enabled for wireless transfers
Eye-Fi Card works with virtually all digital cameras that accept SD memory cards.

Here is a list of compatible >cameras

Easy download is not the only feature, it also has crime fighting features! A lady who was vacationing in Florida was devastated when her camera bag was stolen from a restaurant when she accidentally left it behind. When she got home she not only received her vacation pictures but also the pictures of the thieves who actually worked at the restaurant!
While the SD cards run about $100.00 a piece, as a photographer myself I can appreciate being able to download my pictures from a shoot location to my computer at home. It could mean not carrying extra SD cards, providing unlimited picture taking. Not to mention that if stolen my camera could eventually find its way back home.

New Eco Friendly Intel Xeon Chips Are Due for Release on September 15th

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has announced the release of its four new halogen-free Xeon processors. The energy-efficient technology achieved through new Xeon quad-core processors having as high a speed as 3.4GHz and the low-voltage version using only 50 watts of power. The chips cost will be between $562 and $1493 in lots of 1,000.

Hologen is part of the packaging that they used to use for fire proofing. This type of chemical made recycling difficult as it releases toxin when incenerated

With the power saving energy and the less Ozone dmaging packaging it is good to know that Intel is doing their part to take care of our planet

Reigning King of Search Engines Joins in Browser Wars

Millions of people use the Google search engine every day. They search the web for recipes, musicians, actors and even the migration pattern of the Alaskan Caribou; but now the web world’s favorite search engine is launching a new web browser.

The Google Chrome Web Browser is now available for beta download and promises a list of special features such as special tabs that if the browser stalls on one tab it doesn’t affect the other tabs that are open. There is also auto completion for your favorite topics and high ranked suggested pages.

An incognito feature keeps your login and computer information private. Other features include an updated list of harmful websites and a special default home page that keeps your favorite subjects and most frequently visited websites within reach.

I have had Google as my home page for years because I am always looking stuff up and I was thrilled when IGoogle came out and I could customize by setting up gadgets pertaining to my interests. Now I can have a browser that has all my favorite features on IGoogle plus?! I was really excited so I downloaded it and it set up with ease but during the set up I had to save my options twice, which could have been user error, but as I set up my gadgets on my homepage the blogger dashboard (which is a gadget created by Google) it crashed the browser twice. Well, every new program has a few bugs… right?

Over all I am excited that we have a new browser in the running, and if Google gets all the little bugs worked out, then I think Explorer might have some real competition. But hey give Chrome a try and let me know what you think, and enjoy a new experience in shopping, banking, paying bills and even checking in on the Caribou.

LCD Display Technology - The ins-and-outs

Do you ever look at the spec sheet or the side of an LCD box you are looking to purchase and see nothing but a bunch of gibberish? We take a look at the LCD Technology and show you what's important, what's nothing but hype, and what exactly all those specs and numbers on the box mean.

From Color Gamut, Color Depth, and blacklights, to LCD Inputs, Contrast Ratios, and HDCP, we explain to you all the important peripherals of the LCD technology.

Stop Wasting Time With Inadequate Tech Support

We've all been there, your brand new laptop starts running slow or stops working, your computer equipment begins to have problems and you need to fix it fast. You call Tech "Support" that's anything but. You waste hours and hours of time on the phone going through a tedious process that was designed to keep the labor cost down of a giant company rather than to help you solve your technical problem.

Its time to stop wasting your time with outsourced off-shore call centers and script reading technicians that know little to nothing about your problems. Wouldn't it be great if you could get support from real technical professionals right here in the United States? Skip the hassle and get real tech support service from local computer service professionals and not from somebody who looks up solutions as you sit and wait.

The next time you need Computer Service be sure to contact us. We guarantee local technicians and installers who are qualified in their profession and provide top notch service.

Colorado Computer Service Testimonial

Here is a quick testimonial from our Colorado computer service now web page.

"In the business warehousing world most people think that everything moves slowly and that a lot of work does not get done but in reality it is exactly opposite of that. All of the work that we do is scheduled and it is known exactly when it needs to be done. We have a lot of servers that are involved in our operations but there are always a few that have non warranty related issues. If we can not handle the problem we call the Tech Special Forces. They are more knowledgeable than we are and know how to fix it. It makes it easy and convenient to be able to contact them and get help with whatever we need." -James Nguyen

You can contact us at:
Phone: 877-422-1907
Fax: 800-440-1662
or email: sales@csn1.com

Windows Mojave Experiment

Many of you have probably already heard of Windows Mojave experiment, but for you guys who have not here is some info to catch you up.

What is Windows Mojave
"For those new to the Mojave Experiment, it's a focus group effort we initiated a few weeks ago. We interviewed and polled 120 participants in San Francisco, in hopes of better understanding everyday users' perceptions of Windows Vista and seeing whether there really is a gap between perception and reality. We wanted to see how people reacted to Windows Vista when they were not aware they were seeing Windows Vista. We recorded our discussions, and today you can see them for yourself."

The experiment though seems to be a quick way to grab the public's attention. They could of not picked a better group of people to interview for Windows Mojave. I do not know if you actually looked at any of the people they interviewed, but to me none of them looked like they new a single thing about computer. You could of handed them a shiny toy that said Mojave on it and that lady in the commercial would of wrote a 10 on the paper.

The fact is the experiment was a 10 minute demo on Microsoft's computer's, not their own personal computer's. The demo had a sales rep right next to them showing them all the flashy apps and the new looking theme. They did not run any real tests to see how Mojave works with their daily lives. They did not take Mojave home and actually try and install it on their old computers. Better yet Microsoft hand picked the 120 people for the survey. Now if you do not believe what i am saying go ahead and look at Vista's Blog itself and read the comments.

Technician Sales Tips and Techniques

I would guarantee that everyone in the sales and service business has had this happen to them. You spend hours with your client, going over their business, their current infrastructure, their immediate needs and their future needs.

You spend hours preparing a comprehensive estimate listing each piece of hardware, each piece of software, what it will take to install it and the benefits they will receive with your solution. You diligently follow up with them and they give you the standard “We’re considering your proposal” stall tactic.

Then several days later, out of the blue you get the call “WHEN CAN YOU INSTALL THIS EQUIPMENT? WE BOUGHT IT ONLINE, IT WAS CHEAPER THAN WHAT YOU QUOTED”

Here is what I have learned after 19 years in the industry:

* The goal of a proper estimate is to provide a well detailed and documented solution for the customer, without giving them the ability to easily shop it on the internet.
* Never use a part number on a quote unless it is your internal part number and then make sure it is not even close to the manufacturer part number.
* Never use the exact product description in your estimate, change it up a little.
* Combine several individual items into one item with one cost on your estimate.
* Follow up, follow up, follow up. Email is great, but a phone call or a face to face visit along with email will provide better results for you than email only. Companies do business with people they trust, you can convey your knowledge, skill and trustworthiness better with oral conversation than written conversation.

Another thing I have learned, this one from my Dad. You are never too old, or too smart to learn something new. So if anyone has different ideas or suggestions on how to quote with out killing your sale, post them on our Tech-Army Forums!

How to improve your laptops battery life

Calibrate It
You should always calibrate your battery at the very least once every three months. If you are someone who never fully drains your battery before plugging in the AC adapter you should calibrate it once a month.



Calibrating your laptops battery is very simple and just takes three steps.
1. Charge your battery to 100% full
2. Drain your battery completely till your computer automatically shuts off.
3. Fill up your battery again to 100% full
That’s it your done, pretty much what you did was empty your battery completely to get rid of bad recharge cells and completely fill it up all the way again so its like brand new, well almost.

Another easy way to save your battery is to not even use it. If you are someone who has their laptop just sitting on their desk everyday and always has it plugged in to the AC adapter then just remove the battery.

Dial down the brightness when running off of a battery. This is one of the easiest ways to extend your battery life and you can see an extended battery life of up to 15 to 30 minutes.

Use Hibernate mode over Standby mode. Standby keeps the notebook’s state in memory and uses some power, while hibernate stores the machine’s state to disk and uses almost no power.

Turn off your Wi-Fi or your Bluetooth when you are not using them. When you are not online be sure to toggle off your Wi-Fi and your Bluetooth. These items are constantly sending out signals that are using a considerable amount of battery usage. When these are off you will notice a significant difference in battery life.

Do not download large files while on your battery. You can download that movie onto your computer some other time and do not allow those pesky windows updates to download while you are working either. Almost all updates to programs can wait till you get back on the AC adapter.

If you combine all of these you can expect to see a large difference in your battery life, but do not expect your battery to last forever. No battery lasts forever and eventually you will have to replace it just like your car battery. Just make sure to store you battery properly also. Never keep it in a car on a hot day, or out in the snow. Obviously you would not do either of those, but pretty much just try to keep it around 68 degrees to 77 degrees with a 30 to 50 percent charge.