Digital Lifestyle

Backing Up An Entire Flickr Account [Windows] — While it’s true the Desktop Flickr Organizer for Linux can’t be beat as far as backing up your Flickr account is concerned, I was searching for a way to do the same in Windows and yes, I found a way. The app is called Downloadr. It is very basic but it does the job it’s supposed to do and furthermore doesn’t crash like flickredit does. The way to back up your entire Flickr account (meaning all photos including private ones) is to do this: In your preferred web browser, login to your Flickr account first. Launch Downloadr. Click Extras then... [Tags: crash, digital lifestyle, flickr, geek, job]

Web Browsers Put To The Test — When it comes to browsers, you have many options (listing a few): Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera and now Chrome. While the browser you prefer is simply that, personal perference, it is interesting to read reviews of how well they perform when compared to each other. ExtremeTech recently ran an article which tests these browsers called ‘Which Web Browser is King?‘. While the article is an interesting read, if you want to cut to the results here they are (note, the point system is explained in the article): Based on our arbitrary score assignments, Google Chrome is the speed king: Google... [Tags: digital lifestyle, extremetech, firefox, geek, google]

Gmail Comes As a Desktop Gadget — For some time now, we’ve been able to access our Gmail accounts freely over POP3 or IMAP, so we can play with our email all day long from our favorite email clients. Google apparently didn’t think that was enough and they decided to release a gadget for Google Desktop to allow you to manage your Gmail account. The gadget brings some of the web-based features to the desktop, such as keyboard shortcuts and ability to search your contacts. All in all, it is a cutsie little way to handle your Gmail account if you happen to use Google Desktop. Another... [Tags: convenience, cool thing, digital lifestyle, email clients, gadget]

The $8000 Nikon You Can’t Afford — Pictured: The very recently introduced Nikon D3X. Compared to other high-end DSLR cameras, this one is all photo and no video (something I personally agree with - pro photo cameras should just do photos). So how many megapixels do you get with this one? 24.5 to be exact. And it’s big, as in literally big - and it does the full frame FX format. Camera fans know what that means (and yes it’s important). And yes, this beast is 8000 US dollars. It is the flagship model, after all. For that kind of cash, it should not only take... [Tags: beast, best photos, camera fans, digital lifestyle, fish]

The Sounds Dying Hard Drives Make — Hard drives can die at any time, but typically you get some kind of warning from sounds they make. Usually any sound that a hard drive makes, other than a spinning noise of course, is bad. Here is an interesting page from a data recovery company which gives various sounds from different brands of hard drives which are dying. Some (obvious) advice from their web site: These are some typical sounds we hear in our data recovery lab. If your hard drive makes noises like these and you are still able to access your files - backup immediately. One other... [Tags: data recovery, digital lifestyle, drive music, files backup, geek]

Day 2: Creating Your Web Presence — We continue laying out your Internet strategy. In this video, I am going to talk about blogging. If you want to build up an online presence, you need a blog - even if you don’t know it yet. I’ll walk you through the reasons why and give you some tips to get started. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.... [Tags: blog, blogging, digital lifestyle, geek, gold silver]

Browser is OS - Good Idea Or Not? — From DesktopLinux.com: "gOS Cloud can boot in seconds, into a barebones browser-based environment not unlike the locked-down "kiosk" set-ups at libraries and cafes everywhere. Yet, here, the browser has taken on OS-like features, such as the familiar Mac OS X-like application dock shown in the screenshot below." You’ve used several locked-down forced environment (i.e. "kiosk") systems and probably didn’t even realize it. A few examples: Automated Teller Machines (a.k.a. the "ATM") Video game consoles Cell phones The menu system for DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon, etc. All that stuff is kiosk-style. The good With a proprietary OS environment, operation and apps... [Tags: automated teller machines, barebones, cafes, digital lifestyle, dish network]

Take Control Of Windows Startup Processes — Most power users know about the ‘msconfig’ utility which ships with Windows and allows you to configure many of the system level parameters. One of the more well known functions it performs is the enabling and disabling of startup programs. For more advanced control of the startup programs and processes, take a look at a couple of freeware programs: Startup Control Panel - Identifies where startup programs originate and allows you optionally configure  (or delete the entry altogether) whether or not they startup when your computer does. StartupMonitor - A small program which runs in the background and notifies you... [Tags: digital lifestyle, freeware programs, geek, level parameters, nasties]

The Simpsons Take on Apple Fanboys — Some things are just so well done that you have to take your hat off and bow to the almighty comedy writers. In this case, The Simpsons took their usual sarcasm and targeted Apple. They pretty much took on every stereotype you’ve ever seen as regards Apple fans. They made fun of the prices. They made fun of Steve Jobs. The store designs. Everything. Here’s the video: Oh, and that’s not all. The documentary “Welcome to Macintosh” is available for pre-order. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.... [Tags: apple fans, comedy writers, digital lifestyle, geek, macintosh]

Migrating Domain-Based E-Mail — It’s easy enough to forward one e-mail address to another. However it’s a different story when it comes to migrating a domain-based e-mail address. You have a domain, www.example.com. You have a hosted e-mail address, you@example.com. You want to keep your domain host where it is, but host your e-mail elsewhere (such as Google Apps or Windows Live Admin Center). The biggest problem when doing this is that you don’t want to lose any mail after the migration has taken place. During the transition some mail will be delivered to your old mail host and some to the new. There... [Tags: different story, digital lifestyle, domain host, domain www, e mail address]

Why Buy Boxed Software When You Can Download? — When it comes to buying most software, you typically have the option of either going to a brick and mortal store and purchasing it or ordering it online. Obviously, going to the store gives you immediate gratification over ordering online, however more and more popular software titles are being offered online with the buy and download option. When you buy and download, you get even more immediate gratification as you don’t have to go to the store, you just start a download. Not only does this save you time and gas, but often times the price is lower. This makes... [Tags: brick, digital lifestyle, distributing software, geek, immediate gratification]

Preparing Windows To Deploy On Additional Machines — While this tip will only scratch the surface if you are planning to deploy a common Windows ‘image’ to multiple machines, a tool which is absolutely essential is Microsoft Sysprep. In a nutshell, this program converts the current Windows installation (in this case XP) to a generic/template state. After running Sysprep, when the machine reboots you will get a brief wizard which walks you through the process of assigning your computer a name and setting up the Windows Administrator account password. I recently had to rebuild 15 training machines and instead of manually setting up each one, I simply built... [Tags: account password, administrator account, digital lifestyle, geek, generic template]

Don't forget the HP Magic Giveaway is live — It's a holiday weekend here in the US but don't forget to be checking and entering all of the active HP Magic Giveaway contests!  Here's the schedule in case you forgot because you can enter the contest of every single site participating (5 so far): URL Contest Launch Award Announcement Bleeping Computer 28-Nov 04-Dec Gear Live Windows Connected Morningside Mom 29-Nov 05-Dec Thoughts on poetics & tech MediaBlab 30-Nov 06-Dec Neowin BostonPocketPC HackCollege 01-Dec 07-Dec The Gadgeteer 02-Dec 08-Dec Gotta Be Mobile I Started Something Down-to-Earth Mama 03-Dec 09-Dec moosh in indy. La Bitácora de Erwin Ried Carlos Alberto... [Tags: 11 dec, award announcement, carlos alberto, college success, dec digital]

Make Sure You Have A Good Chair — If you work on a computer for a significant portion of the day, having a good chair is a must. It is best not to sit in a folding chair or anything else which is not designed for office use. For some general advice on picking out a chair, this brief article offers some tips but most of the points are fairly obvious. Back support is extremely important in a chair where you are going to be sitting for extended periods of time, so be sure to put this high on your list. Additionally, as with anything you purchase, cheap... [Tags: aeron chair, chair line, digital lifestyle, folding chair, geek]

Get Quick System Info With CPU-Z — CPU-Z is a freeware application for Windows that is as easy as it gets when it comes to getting quick - and useful - system information about your computer. Let’s take a look (see screenshot below): Above is a screen shot taken from my older Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. On the first tab, CPU, you’re told what kind of processor you have, it’s socket type, supported instruction sets and a whole lot more. Above is the Mainboard tab. This will tell you who made your motherboard, the model, chipset and so on. Above is the Memory tab. You’re told what... [Tags: dell inspiron, dell inspiron 6000, dell inspiron 6000 laptop, digital lifestyle, freeware application]

Save Your Backups To A Flash Drive — When you backup your data (if you are not currently, you should be) you should always place the backup files on a drive other than the source. The reason is simple, if your source drive fails you need to restore the files from another drive. While you can use an external hard drive or dump the files to a server (if you have one set up), the method I prefer is just storing them on a flash drive. Flash drives are rediculously cheap and have more than enough space to hold your backups. I use (tooting my own horn here)... [Tags: backup files, backup script, backups, digital lifestyle, enough space]

The HP Magic Giveaway at Digital Inspiration —   The HP Magic Giveaway is an exciting program, sponsored by HP and Microsoft, where you have a solid chance to win $6000 worth of gadgets for free here on Digital Inspiration and 49 other blogs. The whole package includes an HP Touchsmart PC, HP Mini netbook, HP Photosmart wireless printer, two HP laptops, HP MediaSmart Connect and loads of cool software. So please keep watching this space for further details on how you can participate to win this $6000 gadget hamper from HP and Microsoft. Or subscribe to the feed for automatic notifications. Following is complete list of 50... [Tags: automatic notifications, carlos alberto, chris pirillo, computer planet, cool software]

“Instant” Indexing Search Tool — Windows ships with a very functional search tool, but to take advantage of its full functionality and speed you have to have the notorious “Indexing Service” running in the background. As you may know, this service can be a beast in terms of resource consumption. While disabling this service doesn’t break the Windows search functionality, it does severely cripple it. For an alternative, check out voidtools’ Everything. Pointing out the biggest advantage from their FAQ: How long will it take to index my files? “Everything” only uses file and folder names and generally takes a few seconds to build it’s... [Tags: attractive features, beast, digital lifestyle, folder names, functional search]

Day 2: Creating A Product To Sell Online — Today, we start Day 2 of our “3 Day Money” series. I have a series of FIVE videos for Day 2 (keep in mind that these videos will be released later as part of another project). These FIVE videos, together, outline a broad strategy for setting up an online business, bringing in traffic to your online business, and converting that traffic into money in your pocket. The theories in these videos form the basis of what pretty much any other product on this subject. All “make money online” and internet marketing products are based, in one form or another, on... [Tags: digital lifestyle, geek, gold silver, internet marketing products, money in your pocket]

Migrating Gmail To Hotmail Or Hotmail To Gmail — Situation: You have a Gmail account and want to switch over to a Hotmail account - or - you want to do the exact reverse and switch from Hotmail to Gmail - and you want to keep all your existing mail. This article will show you in detail how to do this - and you will be able to import all your existing mail with timestamps, sent mail and so on. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.... [Tags: digital lifestyle, geek, gmail account, gold silver, hotmail account]