tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-346407642024-03-13T08:09:50.818-04:00Sean CaldwellSean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-57611179259586604042013-12-02T17:23:00.000-05:002013-12-02T20:07:58.841-05:00Holiday 2013 electronic gift ideas<br />
Looking for some technology gifts for your family and friends this season? Here are some great ideas ranging from stocking stuffers to a couple hundred dollars. I've used and recommend them all.<br />
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Every smartphone user wants to keep their gadgets juiced up, and not all chargers are created equal. These first two chargers (under $15) provide plenty of juice to recharge and tablet and phone at the same time.<br />
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31PERplNwkL._SL110_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31PERplNwkL._SL110_.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EE4A9SQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EE4A9SQ&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">24W USB Car Charger - The World's Most Powerful Dual-Port Charger for iPhone, iPads, Androids.</a> ($12)<br />
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41yL9-tGXZL._SL110_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41yL9-tGXZL._SL110_.jpg" /></a><br />
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And for the home:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091XIUKY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0091XIUKY&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">PowerGen Dual USB 3.1A 15w Travel Wall Charger</a> ($15)<br />
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Need loads of power for a long plane or road trip? Here's one of the best power bricks that will keep you going for hours and recharge your smartphone up to 5 times before needing to be recharged.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CEZBKTO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00CEZBKTO&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Anker Astro3 12000mAh Portable Charger Backup External Battery</a> ($50)<br />
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/312w5jAxqkL._SL110_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/312w5jAxqkL._SL110_.jpg" /></a></div>
Need a small portable charger that will juice up your phone and still fit in your pocket or purse? <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EETOTWS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EETOTWS&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Mini 3000mAh Portable Lipstick-Sized External Battery Backup Charger</a> ($20)<br />
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Google's Chromecast gives an easy way to 'cast' your browser, youtube, netflix, and others right to your tv. Plus it's a steal at $35. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DR0PDNE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00DR0PDNE&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player</a><br />
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The Roku 3 is one of the best internet streaming boxes you can hook up to your big (or small) tv.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGGDVOO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BGGDVOO&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Roku 3 Streaming Media Player</a> ($100)<br />
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Reading on a Kindle is much better on your eyes than using a tablet or phone. This model gets great reviews. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWH595M/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AWH595M&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Kindle Paperwhite</a> ($119)<br />
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Solid State Hard Drives (SSD) are one of the best upgrades you can make to a laptop or desktop computer. The Samsung 840 EVO is one of the best available.<br />
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Don't know what size to get? 250 gig will be a great drive for the operating system and many files.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00E3W1726&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD Drive</a> ($150)<br />
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Like the idea of controlling your thermostat from your smartphone from anywhere? Me too. I've installed a few of these and they work fantastic. It saves money by automatically going into away mode when you leave the house and auto programs by learning what temperature you like the house. Plus it looks super cool.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GDHYPQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009GDHYPQ&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Nest Learning Thermostat</a> ($250, currently with free $40 amazon gift card offer)<br />
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Time for a new router to pump out more wifi around the house or office? Here are a couple of the best. Either should give full coverage to your house and give great speeds to the newest devices.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QB1RPY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006QB1RPY&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router</a> ($125) or the bigger brother,<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ABOJKS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008ABOJKS&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router</a> ($179)<br />
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The 7 inch tablet market is on fire. My two top choices are the iPad mini and the Google Nexus 7 (2013 version). Both provide a great experience.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DVFLJDS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00DVFLJDS&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Google Nexus 7 Tablet</a> ($199)<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00746W3HG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00746W3HG&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Apple iPad Mini</a> ($324)<br />
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Need one non-electronic idea? This game has brought more laughs to adults in the last year than anything I can think of. Warning...it's not for kids or people easily offended.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S8F7QM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004S8F7QM&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Cards Against Humanity</a> ($25)<br />
Consider the "expansion pack" <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JFNE8G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005JFNE8G&linkCode=as2&tag=scvo-20" id="static_txt_preview" style="background-color: white; color: #996633; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Cards Against Humanity: First Expansion</a> ($10)<br />
<br />Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-56378855782507653802013-01-11T12:45:00.000-05:002013-04-14T18:06:19.124-04:00Easiest upgrade to your current PC? An SSD drive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The single easiest upgrade you can make to your current desktop? Adding an SSD drive. Nothing will help your computer speed up than putting in a drive that is usually 5 times faster than what is in your machine right now.<br />
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The strategy I like to use is to put in a 128GB drive in for the operating system, partition it 50 gig for the operating system, and the remainder for files. If you need more space and have a desktop, pop in a 2 or more terabyte hard drive in the machine for storing your data (audio, video, pictures, etc.)
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Samsung is a great brand. The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NHAF06/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009NHAF06&linkCode=as2&tag=seancaldwell-20" target="_blank">Samsung 840</a> (or older 830) are excellent choices.<br />
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Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-90516643289194647562012-09-04T17:20:00.000-04:002013-04-14T18:05:14.074-04:00Back to School Computer ideas 2012Back to school time is when many parents consider buying a new laptop or tablet for their kids. In my experience, it makes sense to look at laptops that are in the $400 range, have good battery life, are durable, and are sized right for a students backpack.<br />
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First, there are no suggestions for the class of computers often called "netbooks." Netbooks were quite popular a few years ago when a normal laptop often cost over $600. The Netbooks came along priced in the $350 range. They offered a tiny screen (11-12 inch screen) and great battery life. Where they often were not great were processing power and keyboard. Tablets have replaced most of the sector.<br />
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First, if money is not a constraining factor, consider an ultrabook for PC's (like the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31a) or look at the MacBook Air if you're considering Mac.<br />
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Here are a few other choices that should be plenty for any student from middle school through college.<br />
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Toshiba Satellite P845, $600<br />
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 $550<br />
Dell Inspiron 13z, $500<br />
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Update: IF your school is cool with it, a new type of laptop that works well for many students is the Google Chromebook. If your student will have wifi on campus, this laptop is light, has good battery life, and is great at avoiding viruses and issues. In exchange for those benefits, you won't have the ability to run windows programs (like microsoft office)...but online replacements are easy to use (google drive / docs for example).<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009LL9VDG/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009LL9VDG&linkCode=as2&tag=seancaldwell-20">Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=seancaldwell-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B009LL9VDG" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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After you get it, I suggest getting all the windows updates done, then using an imaging program (acronis true image for example) and make an image backup of the hard drive. That way, when (not if!) the computer gets a virus or corrupted, you can restore it back to exactly how it was the day you imaged it. Other suggestions include replacing internet explorer with Google's Chrome browser (safer, faster, updates without prompting).<br />
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Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-8829700991623424072012-02-06T09:03:00.000-05:002013-04-14T17:21:17.155-04:00Memory prices currently low<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jfw7E9HeNkk/TkWWF9hva1I/AAAAAAAAEgo/RT8nm_Hn1Ok/s1600/gskill-ripjaw.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640079137511009106" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jfw7E9HeNkk/TkWWF9hva1I/AAAAAAAAEgo/RT8nm_Hn1Ok/s200/gskill-ripjaw.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 200px;" /></a>
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In May we built a new workstation for audio/video editing and paid $100 for 8 gigs of memory. Today the same memory is 50 cheaper. That's quite a swing in under six months.
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Need 4 gig sticks of DDR3 memory? Here's a good start:
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<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231313">G.Skill Ripjaw</a> has worked well in many machines that we've put it in. Currently $30 with a $5 rebate at Newegg.
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<br />Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-27714143214491405592011-08-10T16:20:00.003-04:002011-08-12T16:45:17.254-04:00Back to school computer ideas 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v3jDcqGvN38/TkWPu2gtXCI/AAAAAAAAEgQ/HD2tYncz0Z8/s1600/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X120e.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 155px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v3jDcqGvN38/TkWPu2gtXCI/AAAAAAAAEgQ/HD2tYncz0Z8/s200/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X120e.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640072143420873762" border="0" /></a>
<br />Face it, back to school time is one of the best times to buy a new computer. Whether for a middle schooler, high schooler, or a college student, here are my suggestions for computers as of August 2011.
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<br />Netbooks often suffer from poor keyboards, 10" screens, and slooooow processors. The Lenovo <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246103&Tpk=05962RU">ThinkPad X120e</a> is faster than most netbooks (it uses a new AMD dual-core processor that beats the intel atom), has a slightly larger screen (11 inches) and a nice keyboard. You'll pay between $450 and $500 for it.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R9akqjWbPoM/TkWQunMEJrI/AAAAAAAAEgg/KOuCfKZr98A/s1600/samsung-nf310-1.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 174px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R9akqjWbPoM/TkWQunMEJrI/AAAAAAAAEgg/KOuCfKZr98A/s200/samsung-nf310-1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640073238819382962" border="0" /></a>
<br />Need something cheaper? The <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131089&Tpk=nf310">Samsung NF310</a> is a good choice. It's under $400 and features an Intel atom 1.5ghz N550 processor and 250 gig hard drive.
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<br />Want a full size laptop? The <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230097">Asus A53 </a>series is nice. 15" screen, 4 gigs of memory, and 320gb hard drive. Under $400.
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<br />These recommendations should be good through December, 2011.
<br />Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-18179279461279026242011-08-02T09:33:00.003-04:002013-04-14T17:58:12.381-04:00Add some NAS to your home network<a href="http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DS211-web-right45.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DS211-web-right45.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 152px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 152px;" /></a>
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We take a lot of pictures and have other digital assets that we want to be able to access on any computer in the house or home office.
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Putting some network attached storage on the network solves many problems. Which one to buy? One of my favorite is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008U68UHG/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008U68UHG&linkCode=as2&tag=seancaldwell-20" target="_blank">Synology DS series</a>. Two hard drives so you have redundancy, and it's fast. Buy it for $300 and then add two hard drives. I'd suggest the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245">Samsung F4 2tb</a>. It's fast, cool, and quiet.
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<a href="http://cdn4.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/samsung-F4EG.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://cdn4.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/samsung-F4EG.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 124px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 136px;" /></a>
Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-50491642355258746742011-07-11T11:54:00.002-04:002013-04-14T18:01:30.622-04:00Best pocket camera 2011<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihB6I8Ms0Xk/TkWP8vB19uI/AAAAAAAAEgY/SWMzIxGxSJc/s1600/canon-s95-620px-dos.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640072381930534626" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihB6I8Ms0Xk/TkWP8vB19uI/AAAAAAAAEgY/SWMzIxGxSJc/s200/canon-s95-620px-dos.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 176px;" /></a>
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<a href="http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_7d">DSLR users</a> have a dilemma when planning to go out to an event where you want good pictures, but you don't want to bring the big bag with a DSLR and a lens or two that weighs in a 5+ pounds.
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<br />
2011 brought a new pocket camera that I can honestly say is a significant advancement in many areas. Most pocket cameras take decent pictures in daylight or bright light. Most of them stink indoors when you have low light and moving subjects.
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<br />
The <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120455">Canon S95</a> is a game changer. It's low light shows are fantastic. Colors are great too. It's light weight, fits in a pocket, and comes much closer to the quality you get from a DSLR than any other pocket camera in the past. Pick it up for $400 or less as of July 2011.
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Update: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009B0MYSQ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009B0MYSQ&linkCode=as2&tag=seancaldwell-20" target="_blank">Here's the Canon S110</a> for 2013 for around $340.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=seancaldwell-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B009B0MYSQ&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-78234742932284451792011-07-06T13:34:00.001-04:002011-08-12T17:26:00.283-04:00Tiny computer builds<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O9OaP9SFFAA/TkWXMCskenI/AAAAAAAAEgw/SQPjKa1uDsU/s1600/bk644.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O9OaP9SFFAA/TkWXMCskenI/AAAAAAAAEgw/SQPjKa1uDsU/s200/bk644.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640080341489449586" border="0" /></a>
<br />I love building computers. Last year it was a small micro atx box that could serve as a backup for audio editing.
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<br />I used the in-win BK644 case paired up with an ASRock motherboard. The case worked well; but it seems to be out of stock as of July 2011.
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<br />Someone asked if I considered building a mini-ITX. Not yet, but when I do, here's one case that I'm looking at. The <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129095">Antec ISK 100</a>. It comes with a power supply and is ready for it's tiny slice of your desk.
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KNkHqngrwTk/TkWXmNVMBLI/AAAAAAAAEg4/oQhdaMFKILY/s1600/Antec_ISK100_q.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KNkHqngrwTk/TkWXmNVMBLI/AAAAAAAAEg4/oQhdaMFKILY/s200/Antec_ISK100_q.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640080791020766386" border="0" /></a>
<br />Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-4284912278738382632008-11-28T14:37:00.007-05:002008-12-24T05:57:52.489-05:00Sandisk Cruzer Speed Test: 16gb vs 8gb<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V8KU1dT-Um4/STBMTp92kMI/AAAAAAAABl8/sp4qKICxhuQ/s1600-h/sandisk-cruzer-8gb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 147px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V8KU1dT-Um4/STBMTp92kMI/AAAAAAAABl8/sp4qKICxhuQ/s200/sandisk-cruzer-8gb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273799064217358530" border="0" /></a>Black Friday 2008 brought a great deal on the Sandisk 16gb Cruzer drive. I wondered how it would perform next to the older 8gb model I had. The 16gb does not say it is ready boost compatible, you can see why. Here are the results:<br /><br />In Windows Vista:<br />16gb<br />write speed: 5.3 mb/s<br />read speed: 23 mb/s<br /><br />8gb<br />write speed: 7.4 mb/s<br />read speed: 27 mb/s<br /><br />So, the read speed is relatively close (the 8gb is still faster). The write speed is about 40% slower on the newer 16 gig memory stick. That's a step backwards.<br /><br />Here are some results inside XP Pro:<br />Using a 454 megabyte directory of files:<br /><br />16gb wrote it in 1:41. Read it in 21 seconds.<br />8gb wrote it in 1:12. Read it in 20 seconds.<br /><br />Summary: Great increase in space, it's slower than the older model...especially the write speed.<br /><br />Want to read a really intense comparison between 20+ flash drives 12/2008? <a href="http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/usb-flash-memory/usb-flash-drive-comparison-21-tested-and-compared/">Click here.</a>Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-34899543872574363172008-11-27T22:48:00.006-05:002011-07-29T14:46:29.325-04:00Best pocket cameras Q4 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pma-show.com/news_images/00355_sony-cybershot-dsc-w120.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 466px; height: 304px;" src="http://www.pma-show.com/news_images/00355_sony-cybershot-dsc-w120.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />DP Review is where I like to go for camera reviews and active forums. I shoot with a 40d and a couple nice lenses most times. For out on the town with a tiny camera needs, two cameras came out on top of their latest review:<br /><br />The Sony W120 ($130) and the Panasonic LZ8 ($110). You can read their conclusion here and click through to the whole detailed article too.<br /><a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408budgetgroup/page15.asp"><br />DP Review review link.</a><br /><br />Update: In 2011, the best pocked camera for under $400 is the Canon S95. I have it and it is fantastic. A huge improvement over cameras from a few years ago.Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-34519516950138332862008-05-15T10:54:00.010-04:002008-07-02T17:41:38.536-04:00To archive to DVD or hard drive or both?My backup needs at work and home may be a little more than the average computer use. Each day I generate a few hundred megabytes of digital audio & video files. My wife is a photography nut (currently shooting a <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos40d/">Canon 40d</a>).<br /><br />Previously the backup strategy was to burn the material to recordable dvd's and store them in a safe. Even though the speed of dvd burners is now 18x+, it still takes quite a while to archive onto 3 or 4 dvd's every couple months. Then I thought, with the prices of hard drives being so low, wouldn't it just make sense to backup everything to a $130 500 gig external drive? That's how I mirror my main audio/video work station. I was using an <a href="http://www.icydock.com/home.htm">Icy Dock</a> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198003">MB559 </a>eSATA external enclosure ($60) with a Samsung 500 gig drive ($100). It works great and is just as fast as an on board sata hard drive. The only issue is you have to buy caddies for each hard drive you want to use ($20).<br /><img alt="The image “http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2006/10/25/icydocks_mb559_happily_marries_esata_and_usb2-0/icy-dock-mb559-bay-open.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors." src="http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2006/10/25/icydocks_mb559_happily_marries_esata_and_usb2-0/icy-dock-mb559-bay-open.jpg" /><br /><br />That's great for day to day, but what about permanent archiving? Is a hard drive fine? Well, an event last month made me reconsider moving entirely to a hard drive based archive system. One of the drives I was using to backup my wife's pictures died. It was a western digital mybook 300 gig drive. It just stopped working and would lock up any machine I connected it to. Thankfully my strategy also included burning dvd's with the same content. The hard drive is so much faster to write and read from than a dvd...but hard drives fail. Yes, dvd's can fail too, especially if they're not handled carefully.<br /><br />Going forward I plan to still use an external drive for quick access to archived stuff as well as burning irreplaceable things (family pictures, etc.) to recordable dvd's. A new product from Thermaltake has made it even easier.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V8KU1dT-Um4/SGv0yUvbTgI/AAAAAAAAAx0/jzEC-qPDer0/s1600-h/thermaltake-blackx.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V8KU1dT-Um4/SGv0yUvbTgI/AAAAAAAAAx0/jzEC-qPDer0/s400/thermaltake-blackx.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218533738637118978" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, instead of having to put a hard drive inside an enclosure to access old archived stuff, I can just pop the hard drive inside the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066&Tpk=blacx">Blacx</a> (roughly $35 to $45). The original version is USB 2.0 speed (model N0028USU) and in use it operates as fast as the fastest external usb drives. They have another version with eSATA connection (<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153071&Tpk=ST0005U">Newegg</a> and <a href="http://www.buy.com/prod/thermaltake-blacx-2-5-3-5-sata-hard-drive-esata-usb-docking-station/q/loc/101/207926142.html">Buy.com</a> have it in stock, model # ST0005U). I bought one of each and have found the eSATA to be roughly twice as fast using the same hard drive.<br /><br />My test data: Moving a 1.067 gig file from the main computer to the external drive:<br />USB 2.0 took 45 seconds.<br />Utilizing eSATA took 20 seconds.<br /><br />For the important audio & video, I plan to have two hard drive backups of material. I fill up about 500 gigs in a year, so buying an extra drive each year to help keep things safe will only set me back $120 or so.<br /><br />Years ago I had a system hard drive fail. It took me two to three days to get my system set up the way I had it before. Over the past five years I've been using Acronis True Image to make a system backup a couple times a month to a separate hard drive. Now if my system drive fails, it should take me under an hour to install a new drive, use the image to re-install windows and be back on my way. Sure a lot better than having to reinstall windows & all the software that makes my studio run.<br /><br />So that's my backup strategy, what's yours?Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-45080404153008972582008-03-19T09:45:00.007-04:002008-03-19T09:59:16.235-04:00Recording audio on the roadPeople often ask how to record high quality audio on the road...this could also work in a normal studio. <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">I use the Sound Devices USB Pre in my studio & on the road.<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style=""><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style="'width:258.75pt;height:121.5pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\COMPUT~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png" href="cid:image001.png@01C889A0.4082DD70"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://www.sounddevices.com/images/products/usbpre_large.jpg" alt="USBPre Microphone Interface for Computer Audio" class="imagepseudofloatright" height="162" width="345" /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Link here:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://www.sounddevices.com/products/usbpremaster.htm">http://www.sounddevices.com/products/usbpremaster.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p><br />the biggest plus is it has an awesome mic pre-amp…really high quality. It will also take ¼” inputs, digital inputs, etc. It’s very well built, and it costs $550 or so. I just bought one on ebay for $350 so I can keep it in my road bag, so you can sometimes find them used, but not often. I’ve been looking for six months.<br /><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">Another one that might make sense would be this one:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro-main.html">http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro-main.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">$225 or so. One benefit would be the ‘insert channel’ so you could run a tiny compressor or something similar to make sure the sound was already compressed a little on the way in to the computer. If you want a really good compressor that is tiny and cheap, this one is the best there is for under $500:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://www.fmraudio.com/RNC1773.HTM">http://www.fmraudio.com/RNC1773.HTM</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">looks like junk, sounds really good. It’s $199. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">If you wanted to go as cheap as possible on the sound card, the one that would still sound 90% as good would be this one (it doesn’t have the insert patch for an outboard compressor):<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><a href="http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html">http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;">it’s about $150.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:12;">If you want to get a great mic that is good at rejecting side noise and stuff, one mic I use often is the Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun. You can sometimes find them on ebay for $750 used, they’re $1000 new. Just make sure you get the P48 version (phantom power). It should be black, not the silver one.<o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><img alt="http://www.coffeysound.com/images/P/sennheiser%20mkh416%20med.jpg" src="http://www.coffeysound.com/images/P/sennheiser%20mkh416%20med.jpg" /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><span style="font-size:12;">I usually get the best prices and cheap shipping from a guy at <b>Full Compass</b>. Call Martin Vire at 800-356-5844 x1179. He’s also really good with advice and is usually dead on with his suggestions. Feel free to drop my name to him.<o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"><o:p>Sean</o:p></span></p>Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34640764.post-1158614413240264432006-09-18T17:18:00.001-04:002008-03-19T09:56:45.784-04:00Found a couple cool tech sitesgreat free software links:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm">http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm</a><br />enjoy...Sean Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11463648576996431247noreply@blogger.com0