I got my eyes set on a iPod mini, as it looked good for quite some reasons: it’s small enough to put inside a pant’s pocket, it has a lot of accessories to choose from and it obviously has enough hype you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about.

But you really have to see the cons of it and cut all the hype. It looked good from the start; it’s small and simple, easy to use and has that nice Apple logo. But quickly the downsides surfaced, and they sure are annoying.

Firstly, the headphones are horrible: they are so uncomfortable they are totally unusable, and also they do not sound good at all. Well, any other $5 headphone will do, so that’s not that bad. (It’s also not advisable to use them, as the white color alerts any potential muggers you have an easy sellable item.)

The interface seems a good idea, with the scroll being able to be controlled with a circular motion. For scrolling fast it’s great, but for selecting carefully one item, it’s difficult. Also, for ‘marking’ a song for how many stars, it sometimes works, sometimes you spend a full minute twiddling it to get it right. Any other player with a sensible scroller works much better.

I was excited to know it had games to play, so when I’m bored waiting in line or on a bus, it could be a great way to pass the time; but even the breakout rip-off is only entertaining for about 5 minutes.

I even thought that maybe I could upload some text files to read some e-book, but the screen is not big enough for that, and reading is so cramped it’s just not worth it.

The biggest gripe is that you cannot change the volume, unless you are on the ‘Now Playing’ menu! Any other player has dedicated buttons for this basic function, but in its decidedly minimalist point of view, it’s a pain to go search for that specific menu just to adjust for a small change in a song. It supposedly was thought out carefully, but I see a lot of problems in the interface.

Also, there seems to be a big problem with the duration of its internal, non-replaceable battery. After 2 months of use, I did notice, it does not hold a charge for long now. After two house of continuous play, it just shuts down. Other reports on the web also say the battery fails, and has to be replaced.

I have also read on the web that the headphone connector is badly soldered and you eventually have to open it up and resolder it again.

I wouldn’t buy it again. The iriver or the Creative seem to be a lot better options.

For more reviews, news and updates on the latest and best mp3 players, go to http://www.mp3playerguide.info

Demand for laptop computers is soaring at the moment. The battery shortage problem is not going to help the circumstances either. Its actually incredible that financial problems and all haven’t hindered this demand for laptop computers either. New devices are sprouting up all the time that litterally create new niches in the laptop computer business.

I’ve witnessed an increasing amount of customers asking for gaming laptops. You can actually get a good spec for your cash these days because even the up market technology is slipping into the mass market area very quickly. With the advancement of dual core cpus, laptop computers are ready for gaming. Even more suprising these days In my opinion is how slim the cases are becoming especially when you think about much performance is in them. Gaming speed between laptop computers and desktop computers should always be in favour of desktops though, simply because desktops are always going to be bigger and more faster. Gaming laptops are the gauge of speed for the laptop computer market and it will be good to see how the approaching technology performs.

Custom built laptops have been around for a great length of time now and despite well known brands peddling pre-built laptops through stores it looks like there will forever be system builders out there ready to assemble something specific to your needs. I think the parts are more established and operate more reliably. By being able to eliminate some additional things from the spec you can truly save cash on parts you will not use. The vast majority the notebooks found in retail shops are aimed to grab the maximum market share and not the smaller niche sectors. You can get a far suitable notebook by getting one custom built. I like that fact that there are plenty of smaller companies offering great service for custom laptops. Yet a further great reason.

It’s intriguing to see more powerful laptop computers coming out every 12 months. Laptops purely for using the www etc are coming to the market one after the other. Vast amounts of equivalent products have already been launched at a fast pace. Buyers require laptops that are light as a feather yet additionally big enough to be workable and user friendly. I’m sure that manufacturers already have their designs made up. Manufacturers are packing greater performance into laptop computers and it looks like gaming laptops will become thinner and lighter. There’s no telling what laptops we’ll see but surely there will be plenty.

The Gaming Laptops at Rizeon are considered to be very good.

Out of the 60 million inkjet cartridges and 44
million toner cartridges used each year in the UK alone,
less than 8% are recylced leaving over 95 million
of them being thrown away and ending up in landfill sites.

Landfill sites contain over £100 million worth in raw
materials from discarded printer cartridges alone. These
cartridges contain precious oil resources (it can take up to 6
pints (almost 3.5 litres) of oil to make just one printer
cartridge), as well as cartridge ink, both worth a fortune to
replace as new.

In less than one year, recycling cartridges in Europe could
save more oil than the 11,000,000 gallons spilled by the Exxon
Valdez oil tanker into Prince William Sound in Alaska in
1989.

So how can you help?

* Refill and reuse your existing cartridges

Refilling your existing cartridges not only saves you money but
the amount of natural resources that will be spared is amazing.
Do you throw away your car when it’s petrol tank needs
refilled?

* Buy remanufactured inkjet and toner cartridges

Buying Remanufactured cartridges saves on the enviromental and
purchase cost of buying new. With todays standard of
remanufactured cartridges so high, it is almost impossible to
distinguish the quality brands such as Printrite from the
original manufacturers own.

* Recycle your used inkjet cartridges and laser toners

Collect and return your used inkjet cartridges to be recycled -
with every returned cartridge a donation is made to charity -
so you not only help the environment but also worthy
causes!

So what benefits does recycling my cartridge have?

* Slows down the depletion of the earths non renewable
resources.

Oil is a non renewable natural resource and refilling your
cartridges makes a significant contribution to its
conservation. Other materials in cartridges include aluminium
and steel.

* Less non-biodegradable plastic and other material is
disposed of.

The majority of discarded laser printer cartridges are disposed
of in land fills. This amounts to about 10,000 tonnes of
material a year in the UK and takes over 1000 years to
degrade.

* You save money!

Purchasing a refill kit or remanufactured cartridge costs a
fraction of the original manufacturers selling price. Also, by
sending cartridges to landfill, a landfill tax is incurred
which is passed on to you, the consumer, through Council Tax
or companies waste collection costs.

The future….

The pressure for the reduction of the amount of waste disposed
of in landfill and increasing emphasis on manufacturers
responsibility to consider and plan for the whole life of a
product, including its eventual disposal, are both current
issues in Britain and Europe. The WEEE (Waste Electrical and
Electronic) directive is coming into force in January 2006 and
it creates obligations on the supply chain in respect of the
disposal of end of life equipment.

The reuse of inkjet and laser printer cartridges by all
different means is likely to grow.

Refill kits and remanufactured cartridges -
www.everythingink.co.uk

WEEE -
Waste Electrical and Electronic

Written July 2005 by


Neil Craig

neil@everythingink.co.uk

Printing
Consumables


Inkjet Cartridges, Laser Toners, Refill Kits, Photo Paper and
all Printing Consumables

http://www.everythingink.co.uk

Union City, California (BUZZFON) July 8, 2004 - A small but emerging Filipino VoIP company, Bonusfon, answers to the clamor of the market today by launching, BuzzfonP2P , a free, compact and convenient soft phone that allow users makes clear pc to pc calls possible without the choppiness, echoes or the static noises; just crystal-clear voice even in low bandwidth environments.

VoIP?

VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol. It may sound alien to you now, but this is tomorrow’s technology here today, VoIP is the hottest growth area and one of the most debated topic on the world wide web today!

It’s major advantage is to be able to make free or low cost digital calls using the internet thereby lowering communications costs and improving relations whether for personal, business or network use.

At one time or another, you may have already tried it using free popular chat clients like Yahoo or MSN, though free, these applications does have it’s disadvantages, like crackling sounds, choppiness, echoes and etc… This is whereVoIP softclients or webphones comes in.

VoIP Softclients or VoIP softphones are software that runs on your computer, it converts your voice into digital formats, converts it to IP and uses the internet as medium to transfer data calls from one PC to another, worldwide. Using the latest communication protocols for transmission, Session Initiated Protocols (SIP) secure voice communications are possible and call set-up is much more precise. Using the latest in compression and decompression technologies (codec) calls are much clearer, no breaking up of voices and sometimes the quality is better than traditional telephones.

Buzzfonp2p, a beta voip solution developed by US Based Filipino company, Buzzfon will enable you to make free and crystal clear calls from your pc to another pc. Buzzfon will be releasing their pc to phone version shortly providing the best quality international voice calls at the lowest cost. The VoIP market is presently dominated by US based broadband communications services such as net2phone, Vonage, and Yahoo.

BUZZFONP2P

You can download it for free at http://www.buzzfon.com. It’s so easy to use, no configuration necessary, Buzzfon p2p will traverse NATs and firewalls. All you need is a headset with a microphone. Moreover, it promises to uphold the “no spyware installed” regulation. Bonusfon, a broadband VoIP service provider just launched “BuzzfonP2P ” through Buzzfon.com, along side with Skype who has listed 11 million downloads and 170,000 concurrent users, Tamerlane Sanchez says “Our products and services are better than any VoIP product and service provider in the market today. ” Tough words for the competition. Buzzfon says that the market is clamoring for a better VoIP softphone able to make high quality calls even in low bandwidth environments, thus the emergence of Buzzfon.com

FROM PINOYS TO THE WORLD

Buzzfon is set to release a next generation voip solution by October 2004.

The new release will have premium features enabling users to make crystal-clear pc to pc, pc to phone, phone to pc, and phone to phone calls worldwide on the lowest rates. Rumors have been going around that users from anywhere in the world will be able to call the US for only 1 cent per minute, just hold on till you see the rest of their international calling rates.

Buzzfon is poised to redefine telephony as we know of it today, from 24×7 Customer Service, crystal-clear voice calls, premium services like Addressbook, Call Redial, Do not disturb, Speed Dial, Call Waiting, Call Mute, Call Hold, Music on Hold, Call Hunting, NAT Traversal, Stun Firewall implementation, Silence Suppression, Comfort Noise; IPBX services and probably the most exciting of all is its most aggressive pricing for international voice calls. They made it clear that one of it’s biggest markets will be the Philippines, with special focus on the millions of overseas Filipino workers and their relatives.

This is indeed another mark made by Filipinos globally making the world a smaller place to live in through advanced technology.

Kaya tawag na!

Buzzfon is copyrighted and distributed by Bonusfon.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Maida M. Barrientos
Buzzfon.com
1 866 263 0710 Toll Free
(63) 920-2570992 Philippines Direct
Buzz# : 818801062
http://www.buzzfon.com

About the Author

Maida Martillano is an ezine publisher, of TalkingProfits under the name of The Guidant, a web designer, an Emarketing Director for Bictel, a songwriter and artist, but first and foremost, a mom. To find out more about her and about her consultancy service, please go to http://www.maidamb.com

London, UK 15th June 2005- MOTHER TONGUE COMMUNICATIONS LTD ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF ‘WORDFLOW’, AN ON-LINE METHODOLOGY FOR MANAGING COORDINATED, MULTILINGUAL, MULTINATIONAL MARKETING MATERIAL.

For any company operating in international markets, the production of unified multilingual marketing collateral - whether it’s a local flier or a global product launch - can be a challenging task. Mother Tongue Communications’ WordFlow is a clear-thinking and robust methodology for managing coordinated, multilingual, multinational marketing material.

WordFlow is an on-line system that integrates text in any language and at the same time seamlessly accommodates the subtle variations required for local, regional and global markets. The result is faster time-to-market, improved quality of communications and significantly reduced cost.

WordFlow is a translation management system that takes your marketing collateral from original agreed concept through all stages of production to distribution of the finished article. WordFlow can be accessed in real time, at any time, by all authorised parties in the process -your head office, your agency, accredited translators, global, regional and local operations in any country, the studio and the printers.

The system’s key USP is its ability to automatically integrate text in any language, without manual intervention, into the master artwork which then passes through an on-line check, amend and approval process, to final make-up and then to print.

The whole trail is fully traceable and audited, and incorporates automatic prompts to ensure that specific tasks are completed to agreed deadlines. Control of the budget, as well as the process, resides centrally. In-territory teams are no longer independently preparing their own collateral or implementing centrally-mastered material.

WordFlow enables remarkable time-lines and awesome economies of scale. With its built-in checks and prompts, and facility for instant on-line amendment and checking, it is possible to produce multi-language items, from mastered concept to final print, in just 35 days.

Mark Dilks of Mother Tongue adds “The most costly elements of printing - down time and set-up - often up to 40% of the print costs, can be completely avoided using WordFlow. We estimate savings of up to 30% in the first year alone”. The WordFlow concept has been rigorously tried and tested in a tough multinational market. The system’s efficacy and substantial benefits are well proven.

With its just-in-time production and delivery capability, WordFlow can dramatically reduce print inventory costs, too. It also has the facility to store digitally a vast amount of collateral artwork, to be called off and speedily amended as and when required.

Prior to establishing Mother Tongue Communications, its principal was a senior European Marketing Manager for a top 3 company in the Fortune 500 league, responsible for a wide range of above-, below- and through-the-line marketing collateral deployed in numerous countries across the continent.

He rapidly identified a number of damaging inconsistencies in the company’s activities. The combined spend on the below-the-line activities was in excess of $5 million per annum.

The company then developed and implemented a process, similar to that of Mother Tongue Communications’ WordFlow, with the following results.

• Total consistency of branding, message, corporate image and identity
• Strict centralised control
• Multilingual flexibility
• Total accountability and traceability
• Elimination of duplicated resources
• Faster production times
• More efficient use of manpower,
particularly at national level
• Substantial economies of scale in
printing
• Increased speed to market - enabling in-territory staff to focus on implementation in the field

Within three years the new streamlined system had saved the company $6.6 million with further savings accruing as the system was rolled-out globally.

Mother Tongue Communications LTD can be contacted at the following:
Email:info@mothertonguecommunications.com
Website:www.mothertonguecommunications.com
Telephone/Fax:- Tel +44 (0) 1908 269872

About the Author

Independent pr and marketing consultant, specialising in IT, sport and music, based near Milton Keynes, UK.

New styles of inkjet cartridges are entering the market all the time, faster than anybody can keep up with. It takes time for the remanufacturers to collect empties and tool up to refill them. Sometimes it could take many months for remanufactured or generic cartridges to hit the market. Bulk inks need to be developed or reverse engineered. For this reason we don’t always have refill kits or bulk ink or cartridges right away for new printers.

What’s a person to do? You ask, “Can my new cartridge be refilled while I’m waiting for the after market to catch up?”. Thankfully the answer is a resounding YES! If the manufacturer got ink inside that bugger you can bet you can too. “What about the inks?”, you ask.

Many new cartridges are just re-hashes of the old ones with minor variations. While you’re waiting you can experiment with your old
cartridges and try to refill them with the ink you already have. There are some guidelines to follow here though because I don’t condone a one ink fits all solution.

Generally Lexmark and HP inks are interchangeable. Likewise, Canon and Epson can be interchanged. There might be some color variations
but you should be able to compensate in the driver set up. Pigmented ink should not be used in a dye based cartridge, however, dye based ink can be used in a pigmented cartridge. An Example is the Canon BCI-3e black cartridge which uses pigmented ink and BCI-6 which uses dye based ink. You can use the BCI-6 black in the BCI-3 but not visa-versa.

Finding the right place to drill a cartridge may take some trial and error. If you proceed logically you should get it the first time. For instance if a cartridge has two chambers, one with a sponge and one without, drill in the reservoir side, not the sponge side. In a multi-chamber cartridge with several colors drill over the place where you suspect the first color is and use a toothpick to sample the color. The chambers will usually have some kind of dimple or air hole directly over each chamber.

Start by injecting a small amount as a test, like 2cc or 3cc for color cartridges and 8cc - 10cc for black cartridges. You can add more if the
test is successful. Try to avoid overfilling the cartridge to avoid cross chamber contamination.

Take notes in case you kill the cartridge somehow. Your next attempt won’t be possible until you buy another set of cartridges and use them up. If you’re like me I won’t remember what I did in a few weeks. (or days for that matter, that’s scary!)

About the Author

Barry Shultz is the author of Atlascopy News, and President of Atlascopy, Inc. Atlascopy specialized in affordable alternatives to the high cost of printer supplies. Sign up for the Atlascopy Newsletter and get 10% coupons every week in your email. http://atlascopy.com/signup_new.htm
Go to Atlascopy to save a bundle on your printer and refilling supplies.
http://atlascopy.com

As more and more people are becoming comfortable using their computers at school, home or in the office it’s only a matter of time before they encounter a computer virus. Here are our top 10 steps to protect you from computer viruses.

Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.

Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.

Keep your antivirus programs up to date. Most programs come with a yearly subscription make sure you take advantage of the updates. More advanced programs allow you to schedule updates or full system scans for “off hours” like 2AM when you aren’t likely to be using your computer.

Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Make sure you check periodically to make sure you are running stable up to date versions of your software.

Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the “My documents” folder. This makes it easy to back up all of your important documents. Make weekly or monthly copies to CD or USB drives.

If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab, Kinko’s, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.

Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you weren’t expecting. Also be careful of attachments from people you know but weren’t expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.

Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. If you use text based email the only way to get a virus is by opening an attachment.

Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.

Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know and never click a link from someone you don’t trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.

© Computers.6ln.com, All Rights Reserved.

This article was written by Jim Faller of computers.6ln.com a website with information about viruses, spyware, adware, backups, data recovery and computer security.

Brochures are a great form of advertisement and a great way of
selling products and services. They have been proven effective
for promoting products and steering customers toward purchasing
a particular product or availing of a particular service. Let’s
say you own a hotel in a highly urban area with competitors in
just about every corner of the city. Since competition is stiff
you have to think of ways to advertise your hotel in a way that
will make it stand out among your competitors. Of course, you
can do it by giving discounts, special offers or offering free
breakfast to visitors.

But some hotel owners especially small hotels think that they do
not need to advertise as it will cost them thousands of dollars
just to print a few copies of brochures. This should not be the
case. Hotels should be advertised as hotels sell something to
the public. They are public necessities and every day there are
a lot of travelers looking for such service. And good
advertising will show where this service can be availed. Aside
from good service and affordable prices, one of the best ways to
increase patronage is through promotional materials. A good
brochure can tell a lot about the hotel. It can effectively tell
the story about the good accommodation and moderate prices to a
lot of people likely to avail of them.

If you are a winter resort hotel then organizing and printing
your brochures at the beginning of the season can ensure that
they reach your prospects in time for the winter holidays.
Creating an advertising material for a hotel is easy. You can
include the location, accessibility, service, management, rates,
scenery and other details in pleasing and colorful promotional
materials. But most hotel owners are concerned about the price
of printing these materials. But the introduction of the
Internet offered a lot of options to business owners today.
There are thousands of printing companies online that can print
your materials quickly and in low prices. Since most regular
printing companies are looking for longer runs, they generally
do not take up smaller print jobs because there is no profit in
using larger machines to run small quantities. But most online
shops accepts smaller print jobs so when you need only a few
copies of brochures you can explore your opportunities with
these virtual shops.

Thus, if you want to seriously increase your profits, then it is
time you seriously think of increasing your guests. Set up
brochures that can effectively market your services. And do
careful planning and research to avail of printing services at
affordable prices.

For comments and suggestions kindly visit Brochures Printing in Full Color

Cell phones were created with the purpose of facilitating communication on the go. With the advancement of technology, cell phones matured into devices that are able to send text messages, surf the internet and even play games. Today, cell phones are one of the most important items an individual could own. We bring our cell phones with us everywhere, and they have essentially become an extension of our own self and a way to express our own unique individuality.

Think about it. Your friends most likely all have cell phones. Each cell phone has a different background image, a unique ringtone and even a cute animated screensaver. No two cell phones are ever the same. Your friends have downloaded different games than you and purchased trendy faceplates to reflect their own personality.

The sales of mobile content and mobile accessories have sky-rocketed over the last few years and they are still expected to increase drastically. More and more cell phones are being purchased, and consumers are continually changing the look and feel of their own cell phone. This is definitely a market area of interest for savvy investors.

Opening a mobile content delivery store is the new thing. Successful business entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this new opportunity fast and making a name for themselves in the world of mobile media. “It’s easy”, says Larry Lehoux CEO of the Data Corp a leading developer in mobile delivery software. “We’ve taken a very complicated process and made it simple. Mobiletoolbox, provides all the tools needed to sell mobile media- including content conversion, mobile delivery and sales management.”

If you are interested in opening your own online mobile multimedia store where you can sell mobile media such as ringtones, wallpaper, screensavers and games- please visit Mobiletoolbox’s website at www.mobiletoolbox.com.

About the Author

None

Music lovers have been carrying around radios and other
bulky music devices in order to take their tunes along with
them as they go from place to place. With the iPod - a
portable unit that’s manufactured by Apple - the music
experience offers a higher quality in a much more compact
size.

The iPod will allow your personal music selection to be
played for up to 12 hours at a time, and offers the
additional perks of games and the ability to store files.
Up to 5,000 songs can be stored within a standard iPod,
providing instant access from wherever you happen to be at
the moment. Whether you’re in the office, going for a
stroll, in the car or around the house, iPod is the
solution for your contemporary music needs.

Among the features of the iPod are the ability to choose a
specific play list, shuffle through songs and much more -
all with the click of a button. Users even have the option
of importing their favorite songs from CDs, and music can
be transferred in a variety of formats, such as MP3 or AAC.
If you opt for the FireWire and USB 2.0 support, you can
transfer music from a CD in less than five seconds.

The capability of the iPod also includes that of
calendaring, contact lists, notes and a musical alarm clock
variation that will wake you up to your favorite song in
the morning. With the ability to carry up to 30GB of
storage (in some models), this little unit can be used for
far more than just music. Think of it as an electronic
briefcase of sort. Files can be taken anywhere at any
time; memos can be used as reminders to yourself; even
interviews can be accomplished when using the microphone
option, with the ability to then utilize those audio files
in a documentary format.

For those who have the need of menu items in another
language, the iPod accommodates settings for English,
Italian, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Norwegian,
Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Korean, Traditional
Chinese and Simplified Chinese. In fact, there are a
number of iPod models, such as iPod mini, iPod, iPod
Special Edition and iPod Photo. Depending upon its
capabilities, each comes with a designated amount of
memory, beginning with the 4GB mini iPod to the 30GB iPod
Photo.

In addition to the device itself, the iPod offers a
complete line of accessories, including a dock kit, camera
connector, power adapter, car cassette adapter, auto
charger, FM transmitter, travel pack, car holder, media
reader, in-ear headphones, voice recorder, cabling and
more.

All in all, if your day isn’t complete without music - and
you could also use the ability to transfer files, check
your calendar, keep a contact list and do other
office-related functions in a portable capacity - then the
iPod would be a good investment for you. Prices may vary,
depending upon the retailer and model type, but these can
easily be purchased via the internet for those who don’t
mind a brief search engine task.

About the Author

*******
(c) 2005 Simon Canfield - All Rights Reserved

Simon Canfield is a hi-tech enthusiast and freelance author.

AllAboutHeadPhones.com
BigScreenTVsecrets.com
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