Big PC Geek Tech Blog

Just wanted to take some time to say the HP CM1017 Multifunction Color Laser printer is a really great choice for small businesses and homes. This printer is not for someone who needs amazing photo prints and is not for someone who needs microscopic scanning but it is a really affordable workhorse for any small office. I’m not going to go into the details like print speed but rather point out a few facts that is essential for my office:

• Built in ethernet port, this machine is network ready so all computers in the office can print to it.
• Color Printing.
• Built in scanner and copier.
• Memory card reader.
• 250 sheet paper tray

One thing that is missing is a fax machine but in my case, I would rather not receive spam faxes all day. You should also know the scanning bed is only for 8.5 x 11″ scanning.

I purchased my printer on March 14, 2008 and the toner cartridges are about 75% full after going through a ream of paper. This printer is made for a small business or home, not for a big business, and not where you will be printing over 100 pages a day.

All you need is $250, a one time fee for the equipment, and you have free phone service for the rest of you life, that is if the company stays in business that long. Ooma is a pretty revolutionary device that uses your internet connection to make regular phone calls. The amazing difference that Ooma has over many of the other VoIP phone systems is that it is built to use the infrastructure in your house. The only important thing you must have in order for Ooma to work well is a decent high speed internet connection.

The installation is easy, you put the Ooma main device between your internet modem and your router or computer and also between a telephone jack and your phone. The connection from the Ooma hub to you phone jack is only necessary if you want to use the other phones in your house with Ooma. That’s right, you can  use any of your other phones in your house with Ooma. A little device called the Ooma scout is required but for every other phone jack that you want a phone on. Ooma will work with your existing phone number or you can eliminate the monthly bill from the phone company and port your number to Ooma. I have high hopes of Ooma to survive because they have a great business model with tons of extra features they call Ooma Premier and you get them for free for 60 days with your purchase.

Here is what you get with basic plan:

• Ooma Hub and Scout.

• Unlimited U.S. calling.

• Caller ID, call waiting, and voicemail.

• Low cost international rates.

• Hear voicemail not only from the unit but also from a web site.

• More little features here and there

Here is what you get with the Premier plan:

• Everything above.
• Instant second line, yes you can be on the phone and someone else can pick up a phone and make a call.
• Three way conferencing
• Message screening (works just like a traditional answering machine).
• Send to voicemail.
• Voicemail forwarding to email so you can listen to messages from email.
• Do not disturb
• Personalize a second number on all Ooma devices or one specific one.
• Private voicemail.
• Customer rings for callers.

I have been very happy with my purchase of the Ooma phone system. It was very easy to setup and configure. I got mine on Amazon.

Given some recent events, I decided to get a camera system. For the low price of $700 found at Costco.com (at the time of this writing), I feel I have had good enough results with the Q-see QSD6209 9 channel DVR System. As far as functionality, this thing is far from professional but is good enough for a one day project for any DIY’er.

First the good:

• Price – $700 for a 9 camera DVR system is a great price
• Bigger Hard Drive – I called Q-see to see if I could upgrade the standard 250GB drive and they said yes. I popped open the box and swapped the SATA drive with a 500GB with no problem. Once the system booted, it formatted the drive and I was ready to go. The person from Q-see did tell me the max was 500GB so I am not sure about anything higher.
• Long 60 foot cables (I actually had to pick up 3 50 foot extensions which was easy and cheap.
• VGA, BNC, RCA USB, or web for viewing the video.
• Home alarm system hook up.
• Availability to upgrade to motion sensors.
• Night Vision camera.
• Color cameras

Now the bad:

• The web interface is horrible and most people wont use it. Their software is not signed by Microsoft so it wont install from the web interface unless you turn off your Active X security controls. Just take care of that Q-See!
• Did seem to freeze or at the remote was not responsive at one time

Honestly, it is a great price to deter theft and catch some punks doing pranks in the act. Other people might want to consult a professional but for the DIY person, this kit is perfect.

You can pick up yours at Costco.com

I hate messy cables everywhere when it comes to electronics or anything else that required cables to be strung about everywhere. There seems to be no solution because you take so much time and effort to put your cables in order only to have to do it over when adding more gadgets and devices.

One solution is the Signum cable management system from Ikea. The idea is to screw a shelf like device underneath your desk where you can weave your cables through. Considdering the price, this is the best cable management system I have used. I bought two because I have a large desk but all is holding up fine and my cables are out of the way.

If you are looking at a quick, easy, and cheap solution to managing your cables, Check out Ikea’s Signum cable management system. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50035115

When I first saw Macally’s G-S350SU, I had to have one! I am certainly not a Mac lover but I will admit, Apple is amazing when it comes to hardware design, it looks and feels like an Apple product. This little enclosure is the perfect addition for anyone’s computer but especially if you have a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. The brushed aluminum case matches a Mac Pro perfectly and even has a cool blue led power button.

With that said, I still have good and bad to point out about the features of this drive enclosure! Not only does this drive plug in to your computer via USB, it also has an eSATA plug which will give you speeds as fast as having an internal hard drive. Seriously, if you have a computer with eSATA and transfer a lot of files, use it because the data transfer is much faster than USB. Ok now the bad… I would like a little internal fan. This drive enclosure gets a "+" because there are air holes for air flow, but a "-" because there is no fan to cool down the drive. Given the fact that most external hard drive enclosures are sealed with no air holes and no fan, this drive enclosure is still better than most. Heat is the number one reason for hard drive failure. By the way, if the eSATA part did not give it away, this drive enclosure is for SATA drives only. Overall, I feel this external hard drive enclosure is superior to most, in fact, I liked it so much I bought two. The base price for this guy is $50 but amazon.com lists it here under 3.5" Sata Case for $35 with free shipping.

I have tried many GPS trackers over time and have finally found one I will use permanently because of a mixture of ease of use and affordability. Easytrack GPS is the way to go.

First, lets take a look at the costs. $230 makes it one of the most affordable units but it gets better… You get the first year free and it only costs $20-$35 a year.

-You get unlimited updated tracking every 2, 5, 15, or 30 minutes for free and get notified by email or text message.

-You get an amazing web site to access 24/7 which utilizes Microsoft’s latest mapping software allowing for a physical birds eye view of the area or a 3D map where available.

-You can set up Geo fences which allows you to set up a virtual barrier that will notify you in the event your vehicle goes out of it’s fence. This will cost a track unit which I will explain later.

-Web based vehicle starter disable/enable is included for free if you know how to install. You will need some technical knowledge if you want to do this but should you not want to, the unit will function perfect without it.

-On demand locating in real time, costs a track unit.

When you sign up, you get 500 track units which should be more than enough unless you utilize the virtual fence feature or want to track immediately in real time. Note that tracking updated as low as two minutes is included and does not cost tracking units. Did I mention no monthly fee whatsoever!

The instructions that came with the unit were more than enough for me to figure out full installation including the starter disable function but free technical support is available if needed. This system uses a combination of GPS and Cell phone technology which both are required for the system to work. Coordinates are figured via a GPS antenna, a small box does the work and then communicates via the web site of your car’s location. The cell phone part uses AT&T so if you don’t have AT&T coverage, you will not be able to communicate with your vehicle. Note that you will probably not be able to use real time tracking or starter disable if you don’t have AT&T coverage in your area.

If you would like to try this amazing system go here: http://easytrackgps.net/fleet.html If you do get a unit from them, please know that I have no relation with them and they have no idea who I am but I would like you to tell them where you received your information.

Of coarse be sure to read the date when you read this because all 500GB hard drives might be this price by then but $69.99 for a 500 GB Seagate is phenomenal. This is the cheapest price for a hard drive I have ever seen. Go to ZipZoomFly.com As usual, Seagate helps us out by driving the base cost of gigs per dollar down in hard drives.

I can’t believe it is here but we are seeing 1 TB hard drives sold for under $200! This price may be a limited time offer but since it is out there, I would not buy any 1 TB hard drive for any more than $200.

The link for this one is the "eco" friendly drive that has variable speeds from 5400-7200 rpm.

Some advice about high capacity drives: At first I was not sure about the investment in a drive that would operate at 5400 rpm because of slower speeds but I have heard from some people that this may actually be better for drives with really high capacities. It seems that because the densities in these drives are so compact, little movements from case fans or even the fast 7200 rpm cause the drive to error and it spends more time correcting errors than an average drive does. So although these new 1 TB drives may run slower than regular drives, a 5400 drive may be quicker than a 7200 rpm.

Ever been to a hotel where the television is sub-par? Ever wanted to watch the TV schedule you are used to or watch your recorded TV from your DVR? With a little device called SlingBox from Sling Media, you can watch your TV, cable connection, or DVR. I cant tell you how many times I have been in hotels with crappy TV and wanted to watch the cable that was at my house! All is required, is a pretty good Internet connection at your house and where you are and you are set. The device is very easy to setup and there are no monthly or annual fees for SlingBox. The only cost is the cost for the device. Check it out here.

Just got my KPC Shuttle mini PC and within 30 minutes I had it running. This PC is perfect for many purposes or when you need a small PC. I bought a barebones K45 KPC for $100, installed a P4, some ram, and some hard drive I had laying around and I was ready to go. The biggest problem anyone is going to have with this PC is the power supply, it is green but only has 1  sata and 1 standard 12v connector for your hard drives. There are plenty of ports on the back: VGA, Parallel, serial, Ethernet USB… You can look this up for yourself!

Here is the hidden gem I found! Everywhere I looked, there was no mention of a CD-Rom drive bay in the front online or in any documentation. I have amazing  news to report! Inside the KPC there is two slots for standard hard drives and one slot at the top for a laptop Rom drive. Unfortunately, you will have to take off the beautiful Plexiglas bezel that houses those pretty pictures in the front but with a little DIY fun, you can make your own.

Take a look at the pics.