GazGuzla

A new breed of Laptop, known as the “Ultra Portable” takes a bold leap in technology. Perhaps out of the necessity of its smaller size, Ultra Portables are manufactured to use “Solid State” Drives (SSD), replacing the conventional spinning disk. This may be the beginning of the long awaited SSD revolution.

The Acer Aspire One weighs just 2.7lbs, Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz) processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB SSD, 8.9″ Acer CrystalBrite Display. Acer CrystalEye webcam, Wireless b/g, and a 95% full size keyboard with Touch Pad

The MacBook Air weighs 3lbs, 13.3″ Display, 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor custom-built for MacBook Air, 2GB of integrated RAM, 80GB spinning Disk, or optional 64GB SSD, Wireless b/g, “iSight” camera.

The Asus Eee PC 1000 weighs 2.8 lbs, 10″ Display, Intel Atom Processor, 2GB Ram, 40GB SSD, Wireless n, 1.3mp camera.

If you ask somebody in Massachusetts about Skype, they will likely have no idea what your talking about. After reading about the millions of overseas users making cheap phone calls, I decided to try it. I spent $250 on a Netgear SPH200D, signed up for SkypeIn and SkypeOut. Shortly after installation, my cell phone rang. It was the first sign things were not going well initially. No ring, garbled voice, static, you name it I had it. Two tears later, I have become a big Skype fan. Two things that changed my feelings - the introduction of a $3 a month Skype Pro package, and learning how to optimize the voice quality.

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There are many different options out there for a Local Email GUI, and most of them have one thing in common. You can’t determine which mail came from which account with a causal glance. Inbox, Sent Items, Drafts, and Trash folders are combined, leaving you to figure out which account they came from. If you have multiple pop mail accounts, Windows Live Mail Desktop may be a good choice. Each mail account added will have a separate Inbox, Drafts, Sent, and Trash Folder, with the unread contents of each folder marked with a (#). There are combined “Unread e-mail”, “Unread from contacts”, and “Unread feeds” views, if you only want to see unread email or feeds from all accounts in one view. Once email is marked as “read”, the email is now listed in the separate account inbox. That’s really good for automatic sorting by account. Replies automatically change to that account. If you get a @live.com email account, you can share contacts between the local GUI and web email at work.

Windows Live Mail Desktop can be installed using the Windows Live Installer. Be sure to uncheck the options you don’t want prior to downloading the executable, or you’ll get other apps you don’t want or need. Updates are bundled into standard Microsoft Update.

A Dual Mode Cordless Skype enabled phone allows you to make both VoIP and traditional landline calls through the same handset. The Base Station connects to your router’s Ethernet port, which transmits the European DECT signal, a lower frequency that the traditional 2.4Ghz and the newer 5.8 Ghz cordless phones to the cordless handset.

The advantages of the lower frequency:

• Longer range
• No interference with Wireless Routers (2.4Ghz)
• Better digital signal quality

Below is a ranking of the top 4 Dual Mode Skype enabled cordless phones, based on research and actual tests including voice quality, reliability, and reported problems at the Skype Forum:

1. Netgear SPH200D
2. Linksys CIT400
3. GE 28310EE1
4. Philips VOIP841