Some great items for back-to-school that come in under $100 include (From BestBuy):

• Sony wireless headphone for the transit rider ($99.00)

Sony’s Walkman Wearable MP3 player fuses headphones with a 2GB MP3 player into one sleek device that’s perfect for cruisin’ on the bus or skytrain or riding the new Canada Line. Its lightweight design and exceptional sound quality is perfect for walking or riding to and from school or campus. Listening to the latest tunes will help pass the time. A bonus for the busy student is the quick-charge charger which gives a 90-minute charge in just 3 minutes!

• Motorola Bluetooth Headset ($49.99)

The ideal blend of clarity and comfort for conversations on the go. Whether you’re racing across campus or riding the 99 B-line, the H560 automatically reduces background noise and adjusts volume, improving call clarity on both sides of the conversation. TrueComfort design helps ensure a snug and secure fit. Life on the go just took a major step forward.

• Olympus FE-25 Digital Camera – $99.99

If you’re a first-time photographer, the Olympus FE-25 is a no-fuss camera. With 10MP and 3x optical zoom, face detection and 16 different shooting modes, which optimize the camera’s settings for just about any situation.

• SimpleTech SimpleDrive 500GB 3.5″ External Hard Drive – $94.99

A high-performance external hard drive that gives you 500GB of storage capacity for all your essays and project backups with loads of room leftover to include music, videos, photos and more. You can never be too careful backing up your school works.

Kensington PocketMouse Mini Wireless Mouse – $29.99
A mini wireless mouse can make classroom life so much easier

Duracell Capless 8GB USB Flash Drive – $39.99 These inexpensive flash drives are great for just about anything. Back up school work, share music, movies and photos.

Flip Ultra HD – http://ca.theflip.com/products_flip_ultra.shtml#scene=sceneUltraHD ($250) camcorder – 2 hours of HD recording, great for taping a lecture. All you need is a Flip camera and a little tripod (ie. GorillaPod http://joby.com/gorillapod/ )
- the Flip Ultra comes with rechargeable battery and HDMI output so you can playback your recordings straight onto a HD TV!
- the Flip can also be a webcam for your laptop. Just attach it via USB to your computer, set it as your video recording source and start broadcasting live over the internet!

Netbooks

If you’re looking for a cheap laptop for the school year and don’t require all the features and high-power performances of a full computer, then consider purchasing a Netbook. These small, low-cost, low-power systems have become very popular over the past year and here are some of my suggestions.

The Basics: Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 16GB or larger SSD drive, and Windows XP, wifi and/or Bluetooth as a preferred option for tethering a smart phone for mobile broadband access.

Extras: SD card reader slots, extra USB ports, expansion slots for ExpressCards, onboard stereo speakers, touch screen.

Top choices:
HP Mini 5101 – http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mini1000/index.html#/XPPhotoGallery/ ($529cdn) excellent keyboard and touch pad; sturdy and durable; includes accelerometer. 160GB SSD, 10.1″ display, 802.11n wifi, Bluetooth, Windows Vista Home edition.

Asus Eee PC – http://eeepc.asus.com/ca/products.html?n=0 ($450cdn) longer battery life (6.5 hours), 160GB HDD, 10.1″ display, 802.11n wifi, bluetooth, Windows XP Home, SRS Premium Sound speakers (5.1 surround sound).

Acer Aspire One - http://www.acer.com/aspireone/aspireone_8_9/ ($399cdn) lower price, 10.1″ 160GB HDD, Windows XP Home, 802.11g wifi, bluetooth. The Aspire One has a slower processor and weaker battery life (3 hours).

Special:
Asus Eee PC T91 – http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=2851&l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0 ($599) incorporates a touch screen which can transform into a tablet. 8.9″ display, up to 5 hours battery life, 802.11n wifi, Bluetooth, Windows XP Home. The computer only has 16GB SSD, with expandable 16GB SD. Also has a slower processor than the new Netbooks.

Key Point in Choosing a Laptop for Back to School

Information sourced from; reviews.cnet.com, www.notebookreview.com, and www.futureshop.ca.

Students may want various features when looking for a new laptop. These may include:

• Wi-Fi & Bluetooth capabilities
• Preferred OS platform
• Speed and performance while running office productivity and content creation application
• Display and screen quality
• Hardware and multimedia features
• Speakers
• Battery life
• Weight and Portability
• Price
• Tech Support

http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/E105

Toshiba E105-S1602

Specifications:

Price                                 $799.99

Processor:                         Intel Core 2 Duo (2 GHz)

RAM installed:                   4 GB DDR2 SDRAM

Hard drive                          size: 500 GB

The good:

Sturdy construction and pleasing overall design; comfortable keyboard and touch pad; backlit keys; lengthy battery life without bulky battery; a twice-as-nice two-year warranty.

The bad:

Uses integrated graphics while other laptops at this price feature dedicated graphics; poor speakers, even for integrated standards.

The bottom line:

Toshiba improves on last year’s excellent Best Buy Blue Label laptop by slashing the price while serving up a nearly identical machine. Long battery life, a lengthy warranty, and a backlit keyboard highlight Toshiba’s winning Satellite E105-S1602.

Was given a rating of 3.5 / 5 stars (Cnet.com)

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-3945119-3983196.html

HP Pavilion DV3-2100

Price                                 $729.99

Processor                          Intel Core 2 Duo (2.1 GHz) ;

RAM installed:                   4 GB DDR2 SDRAM ;

Hard drive                          size: 500 GB ;

The good

Nearly day-long battery life; compact design; includes small Media Center remote control; imprint finish helps it stand out from the laptop crowd.

The Bad

Massive nine-cell battery is awkward and uncomfortable; lacks 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet; glossy touch pad is uncomfortable.

The bottom line: Its massive battery extends awkwardly from the bottom of the laptop, but the HP Pavilion dv3-2155mx is an otherwise compact thin-and-light laptop that should get students to class and back on a single charge

The HP Pavilion dv3-2155mx comes with a 13.3 “ screen with movie and HD friendly 16:9 aspect ratio. It also sports a large nine-cell battery. It’s not much lighter than 14” models.

The nine-cell battery juts out of the bottom of the laptop by 0.75 inch, and its rounded shape makes a convenient handle when carrying about the laptop with the lid closed. However, the battery doesn’t run the whole length (only about three-quarters) of the laptop, so when the laptop is resting on your thighs, it lists to the right.

Rated 3 ½ / 5 stars (CNet)

http://www1.ca.dell.com/ca/en/home/Laptops/laptop-studio-1555/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-1555&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1

Dell Studio

Specifications:

Price                                 $799.00 (Dell Canada)

Processor:                         Intel Core 2 Duo (2.53 GHz) ;

RAM installed:                   8GB DDR2 SDRAM ;

Hard drive size:                 320 GB

Weight                              5.3lbs

The good: Compact, lightweight design; great battery life; full version of Microsoft Office and 15 months of Norton Internet Security; wonderfully roomy keyboard; GeForce graphics provide some 3D power; decent audio output from integrated speakers; useful selection of ports.

The bad: No optical drive.

The bottom line: The Dell Studio S1440-022B has a ton of features and a slick design that should make it a frontrunner for any student doing their back-to-school shopping. Just one thing, you’d have to give up on a DVD burner.

The display measures 14.1 inches and features an extra-wide 16:9 aspect ratio that matches that of movies and HD video. It also features a glossy coating to create a fine balance of enhancing the view of movies and games, while keeping glare and reflections to a minimum.

Rated 4/5 stars (CNet)

Mac Laptops – If you’re a college student or a faculty or staff member at any grade level and you buy a new Mac through September 8, you can get a rebate coupon for a free iPod touch
Prices have really come down – and have special student prices.

Student Prices:   13″ MacBook $1099 -  2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor – 2GB memory – 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive – NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor                                      13″ MacBook Pro $1299, 2.26GHz, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB or 4GB memory, 160GB or 250GB 5400-rpm hard drive, NVIDIA 9400M graphics                           13″ MacBook Air $1629, 1.86GHz, 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor,2GB memory,120GB 4200-rpm hard drive or 128GB solid-state drive NVIDIA 9400M

Cell Phones
iPhone – students thinking of tethering their phone to their computer to have internet access anywhere (Beware the DATA plan charges)
Rogers is still the only carrier of the iPhone

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Summer is often about fixing things around the apartment, house, or cottage.

Here are some great sites to help you learn how to do just about anything.

http://www.wikihow.com/Cool-Yourself-Without-Air-Conditioning
You can participate and actually edit the Wiki entries

“One tried and true method is to wet your wrists and other pulse points with cold water, and then keep those spots cool by holding an ice cube wrapped in a face cloth against them. The relief is immediate, and this method will cool down the entire body—by as much as three degrees Fahrenheit—for upwards of an hour.”

http://answers.yahoo.com/ – lots of great information

You can read articles at places like http://www.howtodothings.com/

Find out :

* how to treat a mosquito bite
* how to block your cell phone number
* how to sew on a button

http://www.about.com/
http://www.ihowd.com/

are also good places for how-to articles

Or, if you learn better through videos – there are lots of choices.

http://www.5min.com/

- videos that will show you how to do almost anything in 5 minutes or less

* learn to restring a guitar
* make your own mosquito repellant
* money management tips

There are categories on the left hand side for everything from Arts, Business and Fashion to Sports and Video Games

You can even upload your own videos – what are you an expert at?

http://www.howcast.com/ – more obscure/cheekie how-tos – like how to use twitter, dating tips, there’s even a contest where you can win $ for sending in your own videos.

lifehacker.com is for the tech geeks in your life – here you’ll find all sorts of amazing information about the latest and greatest gadget hacks
howstuffworks.com – is a great resource for adults and kids alike.

For Home Improvement – check out
http://www.doityourself.com/
http://www.hometime.com/home.html

And don’t forget the most popular video site – Youtube – just type in your subject of choice

E.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQIoPyfQzM – how to solve a rubik’s cube

You can even get parenting tips – like to how to get your kids to love reading at http://www.tipz.com/
There’s even how-to for your blackberry http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/blackberry101/

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But, on to the big news – Google announced their latest innovation – Wave – today. Techcrunch has a great write up on it. If it’s half as good as they say it is – I can’t wait. It sounds like it’ll be taking the best of the Instant Messaging and Email worlds and enhances them with an interesting interface. Can’t wait.

And with Bing – Microsoft is trying to get back in the search game. There is lots of room to improve in the search world – so, I wouldn’t count them out yet.

Enjoy your day.

P

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I don’t think I was the only one who was surprised when Joey took a job at Microsoft after b5. I finally had a chance to catch up with Joey at the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup.and chat about life at the Evil Empire. Joey was here in Vancouver to speak at Microsoft Tech Days about how to use .Net and ASP more efficiently:

“Microsoft achieved their goal of getting a computer on every desktop, so…what to do for an encore?” he said. Microsoft’s new approach of emphasizing software and services, along with the heterogenous nature of the software and hardware landscape and the ascent of Ray Ozzie to head the company’s technology has resulted in a sea change for Microsoft, DeVilla said, to the point where he felt it was the logical next place to practice evangelism.

[From Joey Devilla spreads the gospel at Microsoft Tech Days - Techvibes Blog]

Joey always makes a great evangelist regardless of product? Why? Joey is a geek’s geek. He’s passionate, tuned in, and always willing to give something a shot, at least a couple times. I’m looking forward to getting a chance to hear him talk in the future. Might even be convinced to try ASP…maybe.

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Yeah, not good. Yes, by this time the people who wanted Windows 7 have it, and the feedback I’ve read has been generally positive, but what does this mean in the greater scheme of things? Gina Trapani penned a good opinion piece on how MSFT generally doesn’t measure up when it comes to handling short-term download spikes:

But for a company that’s pushing cloud computing and web services and trying so hard to prove that they’re ready to move off the desktop and onto the web, today’s Win7 borkfest proves Microsoft is still too clueless about how to do stuff online to be taken seriously.

[From Opinion: In 2009, Microsoft Still Underestimates the Web]

This isn’t the first time of course. Remember the first Vista service pack? Yeah, same thing. If you wanted it when it came out, you were kind hooped. We know that MSFT has more money than God and could almost as easily buy an Akamai as pay for their services, so why don’t they?

Will we be able to trust a company with cloud computing that can’t plan ahead for massive downloads? Come on, even when I was at Qumana with only a half dozen people and a pretty small app we set up with Akamai to distribute our app and site around the world. We knew when we thought we’d have download spikes and instead of just shrugging it off we planned ahead.

Yes, all the big companies have this problem once and a while, but it seems that MSFT is the worst and most frequent offender of not planning for massive download requests.

Am I missing something here or does MSFT just still not “get” the web?

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