What to look for in a TV

If you don't need the very latest features, buy last year's model as soon as the current year's model comes out. There are two benefits to this strategy. You can see a year's worth of reviews before you buy, and you can get a better price.

Now, on to size. The size of your TV depends on the size of your room and how far you'll be sitting from the TV. Tech site CNET.com recommends buying at least a 32-inch TV for a bedroom and at least 40 inches for a living room or main TV. Another rule of thumb, CNET reviewer David Katzmaier writes, is to place your seating no closer to the TV than 1.5 times the screen's diagonal measurement and no farther than twice that measurement.

So for a viewing distance of 5 to 7 feet, you'd want to consider a 40-inch TV; 6 to 8 feet, you'd look for a 50-inch TV; and 7.5 to 10 feet, you'd pick a 60-inch TV.

When you're talking flat screens, the main two types of monitors are LED/LCD and plasma. Shaw thinks the current plasma sets have the best and most natural picture quality. They have also gotten more energy efficient, and most are Energy-Star rated. If you have a room that might have light reflecting off your set, LED would be the better choice. But in a controlled light environment, he would pick plasma.

By the way, as TVs have gotten thinner, their audio has gotten poorer. You might want to make room in your budget for a sound bar, if not a speaker system, Shaw said.

Once you get your TV home, the first thing you should do is to adjust your picture settings. Most TVs have been tuned up to overcome the harsh store lighting that manufacturers know the sets will be displayed in, and yours must be adjusted for your home.

"It makes a huge difference, which is actually greater than any difference you would find between good quality brands if all settings were equal," Shaw said.

If you purchased your TV from an A/V specialty dealer, they will typically do this for you, he said. If not, there are several set-up discs that will walk you through the process. The best-selling on Amazon.com is Disney WOW: World of Wonder, sold in versions for Blu-ray and regular DVD players for about $26.

Now for content. While connectivity within your TV is important to some degree, more important is the content box that you're connecting it to. As technology progresses, it's easy and relatively cheap to switch out your box.

For the most choices in streaming content, you'll want to consider Roku, says Jeremy Behrens, an IT consultant in Audubon, N.J. This little box allows you to stream channels including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video and Pandora.

He recommends the most expensive $100 version for its USB port, which would allow you to stream music, video or photos to your TV from your local network, and for its dual-band wireless N connection, which should allow you a better signal quality for the data. Other versions are $60 and $80.

Another option is the Apple TV, which retails for $99 but doesn't have as many streaming choices as Roku, Shaw said. "For someone looking to cut the cable cord, Roku is the best choice," he agreed.

Most mainstream TVs also have a Web browser built in for accessing content, along with things like Netflix and Hulu, but the interface is not as good as Roku's, he said.

One final note. The best thing Behrens can recommend to anyone who wants to cut the cord on cable TV completely is to invest in a wired network connection to your new TV or streaming device. This means running a cable directly from your router to the box.

"Streaming video consumes a lot of bandwidth, and there is sometimes just too much information in an HD video stream to push out over Wi-Fi," he said.

However, if you must use wireless to connect your streaming device to your network, he recommends that you make sure that the device and your router support the latest 802.11n ("wireless N") technology.

Tips For Buying Digital Cameras

You have decided to upgrade to a digital camera and this is fine. But you'll be well advised not to act in haste. Better spend some time gathering valuable information on digital cameras and getting answers of some relevant questions. This would ensure that you don't end up buying a camera you simply did not need. Considering some basic factors would help you find the right camera for yourself.

Spell Your Needs

Determine your needs before deciding on a digital camera. Do you want to buy a camera just for fun or you plan to get into professional photography. There are many who purchase digital cameras just for capturing pictures and sharing them with family and friends. At the same time there are people whose interest goes further. Knowing your specific requirements before you buy a camera would help.


Specify Your Budget
Before buying a digital camera or any other costly equipment, you must first answer a simple question - "How much money am I ready to shell out?" This must be an amount that you are comfortable with spending on a digital camera. The unfortunate rule of thumb with cameras is that the more money you spend, the better the quality of images. However, your photography skills also have a role to play here. So you first decide your budget and then proceed further.

Megapixel Mystery
Megapixel has a big role to play in the clarity of a picture. The higher the megapixel of a camera, the clearer the pictures will be that you will be able to get with your camera. I know you would ask what megapixel would be suitable for you. If you plan to use your camera to pursue your hobby and sharing pictures with your friends, family and relatives for fun, a 2 mega pixel camera should be ideal for you. However, for professional purposes buy a digital camera with at least 4-5 megapixel resolution.

Optical Zoom Feature
The optical Zoom function of a camera uses the lens to pull the image closer. Camera optics is used to bring the image forward much the same way as binoculars and other such instruments. When using optical zoom, full resolution of the camera can be used on the zoomed image. Different levels of optical zoom can be achieved by altering the distances between the lenses. The motion of the front lens moving outwards on a camera makes it achieve a greater level of zoom. High quality cameras have a high level of optical zoom.

Using Digital Zoom
When using Digital Zoom feature, the image itself doesn't actually come any closer. It just takes a portion of the image and stretches that image to the full size of the image. What happens in Digital Zoom is that the section of image that you are looking at becomes larger. Although the image looks closer because it has been expanded, its quality gets reduced. You might need to use this feature only occasionally.

Compatibility Factor
When buying a digital camera, ensure that it is compatible with your personal computer. You are going to use it along with your computer, so this operation is imperative. Go through the camera manual to read the specifications and minimum requirements for compatibility. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask the sales person.

How to Buy a Laptop

The Specs Explained

Before shopping for a laptop, consider how you'll be using it. If your primary goal is to get some word processing or spreadsheet work done while staying on top of e-mail, a netbook (priced at less than $500) will meet your needs. But a netbook does entail some sacrifices: a smaller processor, about 1GB of RAM, not much in the way of hard drive space, no optical drive, and (at biggest) a 10.2-inch screen. On the surface not much separates the netbooks from sexy lightweight notebooks, but the specs under the hood (and a big screen inside it) can inflate an ultraportable's price to as much as $2000 more than a typical netbook.
Remember that most vendors let you custom-build and -price your own laptop by picking from a mind-boggling array of features, which gives you a lot of control over the final product. You may be able to afford a faster notebook by accepting a smaller, less-expensive hard drive or DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, instead of a BD-ROM.
Unlike those on desktop PCs, only some of the components (such as memory and the hard drive) are upgradable; others (such as the graphics board) are permanent once they're installed at the factory. That's slowly changing, as some manufacturers begin to incorporate upgradable graphics. But take your time and pick only what you need. Following is a rough breakout of some configuration options.
Important consideration: Installed memory. The more installed memory your laptop has, the more applications you can run at once, and the better your machine will perform. Ease of access aside, upgrading memory in a notebook is a bit trickier than with a desktop, so buy as much memory preinstalled as you can afford. Laptops with 2GB of RAM are optimal. If you're running Windows Vista on a laptop, consider upgrading to 3GB of RAM (or more if your notebook uses a 64-bit version of the OS).
Important consideration: Processor. The CPU determines how quickly a notebook runs applications and performs on-screen tasks. Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors are good choices for speedy processing. Atom processors appear only in budget-friendly netbooks, so plan according to your needs
Important consideration: Screen size. The specified size of a laptop's LCD screen represents a diagonal measurement. The larger the screen, the higher the maximum resolution and the more information you can view at once. At this point, most notebooks are wide-screen models; if you want a laptop with a standard-aspect screen you'll have to search a bit, but they are still available. The aspect ratio seen on some newer 16-inch laptop screens offers the ideal resolution for viewing high-definition movies on the go.
Important consideration: Screen coating. A laptop's LCD panel is only as good as it looks when you look into it. Can you see text and images clearly when you're viewing them in broad daylight? Many notebooks that look sharp on store shelves (thanks to their extra-glossy coatings) may be tough to work with outdoors or in a coffee shop. So keep in mind not only how you plan to use your notebook, but where you want to use it.
Somewhat important: Hard drive. The larger the hard drive, the more data you can keep on your laptop. Most cheap netbooks offer 80GB drives at this point, so why not give yourself a little room to grow? If you plan to work with databases, spreadsheets, or digital photo or video files, opt for a large drive. Be sure to find out the hard drive's speed, too. Older, slower drives run at 4200 rpm, and most current drives clock in at 5400 rpm; but a 7200-rpm model will offer better speed in data-read-intensive tasks.
Somewhat important: Expansion bays. The more expansion baysyour laptop has, the more options you'll have for switching in new optical drives or other storage drives. But switching drives takes time, and modular components aren't as common as they used to be. As laptops gravitate toward flush form factors and unibody designs, may find that your only practical option is to lug around external drives that plug in through USB ports.
Somewhat important: Optical drives. Most manufacturers offer laptops with rewritable DVD drives, which give you the most flexibility. Alternatively, you could purchase a notebook with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, to save money.

Fact

On June 17,1980 Atari's 'Asteroids' and 'Lunar Lander' were the first two video games to ever be registered in the Copy right office.

Sony DSC-W530/B Cyber-shot Digital Camera, Black

Combining a variety of intelligent, easy-to-use features, the DSC-W530 Cyber-shot digital camera makes it a breeze to shoot life as it happens. Capture landscapes with one touch using sweep panorama mode and snap that perfect portrait with Smile Shutter technology. Powerful and pocket-sized, the W530 also features 14.1 megapixels and a 26mm wide angle lens with 4x optical zoom. In addition to SteadyShot image stabilization which compensates for camera shake, this camera also has Intelligent Auto (iAuto) mode that thinks for you by recognizing scenes, lighting conditions and faces, then automatically adjusts settings for clear images with less blur.

Fact

In 2003, a 14-year old Romanian boy collapsed and was hospitalised because he had been playing Counter Strike for nine days in a row.

Fact

Sony introduced the 3.5 inch floppy in 1981.

LG Blu-Ray Writer SATA Black

Read and write Blu-ray discs at 10x with the WH10LS30 Blu-ray rewriter that allows you record up to 50GB of files, photos, or business documents onto a single dual layer BD-R Blu-ray disc. Play HD content from BD Video discs or record up to nine hours of high definition video. SATA interface technology allows for easier integration and ultimately faster performance while LightScribe gives you the added feature of etching customized labels onto a special coated LightScribe disc. Get into the Blu with the WH10LS30 by LG.

Fact

The GNU license was around since 1976, the GNU Emacs were the first machines to be released with this license.