As computer companies flood the market in an attempt take control of the computer technology industry, it can be difficult to choose a laptop that fits your unique needs. When computers first hit the market they were terribly cost prohibitive, so technology was only available to the elite few who could afford it. Contrary to popular belief, you no longer need to pay large amount for a high performance computer. Thanks to innovations and more efficient production techniques, you can get a really good computer under the 600-dollar mark.

If you’re looking for a piece of hardware to perform your basic computing needs, such as internet browsing, email correspondence, and other basic computer applications, one good brand on the market is the Acer Aspire 5315. It’s designed as an economical choice for a student budget. It possesses Windows-compatible software, such as Word, and “even if you’re not a student, this is a great product for someone looking to create spreadsheets, balance budgets, or just surf online.,” said Ben Stein from LaptopReviews.com.

The Aspire has a 15.4-inch screen, which is great for watching movies or browsing through photos. It weighs about 6 pounds with three USB ports and a large keyboard. This computer does the trick for anyone who wants the freedom of a laptop without the hefty price.

The Dell Vostro V13 is a .65 inch-thick, aluminum-shelled piece of premium hardware for anyone who wants a workhorse of a machine that meets a wide variety of computing needs. This laptop only has two USB ports to the Aspire’s three, but balances out at around three and a half pounds, which is almost half the weight of the Aspire. The Vostro laptop it great for those working professionals, students, or travelers with an on-the-go lifestyle. It has a 13.3-inch, and is a compact model that would be easy to carry anywhere. This economical choice can be purchased for about 550 dollars.

The oddly named Gateway NV5387u is one the most powerful laptops on the market for the price. This computer has a duel-core processor, 4GB RAM, and if that isn’t enough, this little piece of hardware has a massive 320GB hard drive. It has a 15.6 display screen that provides superior graphics for your viewing needs. You will be amazed at the estimated three hours of battery life.

Perhaps you’re looking for a computer for your child before they leave for college or you’re just shopping around for yourself, and you may be concerned whether or not you’re getting the right computer for your needs and desired quality. Research reviews or consumer reports website for consumer opinions or you can also check out other comparable laptops online for other great prices until you find a laptop that will work the best for your lifestyle.

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How-to install the Mac OS X operating system on a thumb drive and then boot from most Intel-based computers. In other words: a thumbdrive Hackintosh.

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“Creativity Machines is a free weekly email.   Our promise: Creative apps, tutorials, and gizmos. No spam.”

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Each chapter of The Awesome Foundation has 10 members. Chapters are organized geographically or by topic. Every month chapters pony up a $1,000 grant to one crazy brilliant idea.  No strings attached. The foundation doesn’t own the idea or wish repayment.

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The National Parks Infinite Photo page at NationalGeographic.com says:

Zoom in on a spectacular national park photo to reveal hundreds more photos making up the original. Then zoom again at each level for an endless array of images, each submitted by users to My Shot.

This description actually misrepresents the thing a little — as do my screenshots of it below.

It starts with an image from a National Park.  Click on a section of it to zoom in.  Now that zoomed section is comprised of a mosaic of many, many tiny photos similar in color to the area you zoomed in on. Click again and the tiny photos get larger. Once more and it zooms even further to show 16 regular photos.  Click on a single photo and you’re back to doing the whole process again.

It is an endless mosaic similar to Apple’s thing that turns an iPhoto library into a Mosaic Screensaver — but with National Park photos.

Here’s a Livestream I’m sort of be helping out with. Hopefully streaming will be done live on this channel, not this weekend but next.

This embed is also to test the stream on a different blog and on Macs because it skips and stutters a little at youserved.com/livestream on two different Macs.

BumpTop — a Mac program that converts your drab desktop from 2D into 3D —  looks interesting enough to try.

Tech Startups brings a “hands-on” review and opines.

Even though the Google Voice app was rejected by Apple, Google went ahead and put out Google Voice through the web, via mobile Safari, at google.com/voice. I haven’t had much time to test it out, but did make a test call using Google voice from my iPhone’s Safari browser.

All my voice mails and SMS text messages showed up too, but I archived them so you can’t see them on this screen grab.

Looks like every feature available to Google Voice users from the regular web is available from the iPhone now.  You just have to access it through Safari on the device.

UPDATE:  I’ve been told what I have here has been up since March.  What else could Google possibly do to improve upon this shy of making a stand alone app or making it more presentable in Safari?  This whole thing stems from a Mashable post.

UPDATE 2 (1/26/10): Now Google Voice for iPhone is even more legit.  Look like this now:

iPhone rumor roundup and the likeliness of each rumor

I’ll be following — from my computer — the Apple keynote address from the Worldwide Developer’s Conference, Monday, June 8, at noon CDT where a new iPhone is expected to be announced.

Here are a few sources covering the event live and a direct link to the coverage:

• Engadget
• Ars Technica
• Gizmodo
• MacRumorsLive
• TechCrunch (Usually live blogs.  Couldn’t find a direct link yet, but it will usually be near the top of their main page.)

I haven’t decided which site I’ll be using yet.  I’ve tried all of them — except Ars Technica — for past Apple events and all seem pretty good.  I usually just stick with one because there is so much info that develops so quickly, it’s hard to keep up.  Plus most of coverage won’t differ much from source to source.

Google Latitude, a web and mobile phone service that shows where your friends are on a map, has gone live.  However, it seems to have a few kinks left in it as the above iPhone screen grab shows.  Right now it doesn’t seem to work at all on my iPhone.  And, even after I installed Google Gears on my iMac, Google Latitude would not detect my location automatically despite the numerous wi-fi networks around to grab my location.  I had to set it manually.

Read more about how the service should work on the Official Google Blog.

Funny stuff.  The Asian characters below are what I get when I try dragging links from Firefox into Open Office (where they look normal) then into Word Press.  And I even tried saving as a Word document then using the “Paste from Word” button in Word Press.

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Update: The Asian characters show up in the WYSIWYG Word Press editor, but, when published, show up as mostly question marks.  Either I’m doing something wrong, or Word Press or Open Office (or both) need a fix.  This is all on a iMac BTW.

Update: http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin is the link to sign up for the Mac Beta, right now.

It’s about time. Crunch Gear says Netflix will enable its “Watch Instantly” feature for Intel Macs by year’s end by utilizing Silverlight.  Looks like Netflix will still use DRM, but at least those Netflix subscribers with a Mac can soon watch a variety of movies instantly.

For a while I was putting a slip of paper, an Anti-DRM mini-letter, into each DVD I mailed back to Netflix.  It reads:

Dear Netflix,

I am unable to use your streaming video service. The Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) you impose would force me to give up control of my computer, which is an unacceptable compromise of my liberty. I have said no to DRM on music, and now I’m saying no to DRM on video.

Netflix should lead the way in providing a streaming video service that is DRM-free.

Sincerely,
DRM Elimination Crew Member
www.defectivebydesign.org

It’s a shame, but I guess I’ll acquiesce and quit sending in these mini-letters with my DVDs since I’ll soon be able to actually use my Mac to stream movies from Netflix.