Big PC Geek Tech Blog

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

I came across the web site wordtracker.com today and it had an article with a few tips from a book about Search Engine Optimization. Some of the quotes from the auther Peter Kent seem to agree with so much that I have been saying for so long. When talking about SEO companies Kent says, “Over the last few years as I speak to more clients and hear their stories, it has led me to believe that 80% of the business is scam.”

Some other things I read like using forums, blogs, and adding links all make me think this is a really good book to look at. If you want to optimize your web site

 on search engines like Google, you have to do the work yourself. Don’t waste your money with companies that just do stuff that is already offered for free. For the full story, check out wordtracker.com/acadamy/peter-kent If you want to purchase the book, you can buy it below from Amazon.com for usually much cheaper than Barnes and Noble or Borders.

 

Many people don’t realize how easy it is to block porn and other negative things from the Internet on your computer. A little service called Open DNS will do this not only for free but also with amazing functionality. I am not going to take the time to explain how to set it up because it is well documented on opendns.org but I would like people to know what you can do.

First, this system is a group system where thousands of people can vote or request certain web sites to be banned or put in a particular category. When you pay for a service that actively blocks all porn web sites, they are bound to miss a few but with a community, it makes it much harder. Porn, nudity, file sharing, movie downloading, instant messaging, and many more are all categories of sites you can automatically block by the click of a button. If you need to get to a certain web site in a category, you can enable that site instead of allowing that category of sites through or you can just block sites you want.

Second, you set it up in your router so it makes it pretty hard for your kids to figure it out. Don’t give them the password!

Third, you can look at stats and see where people try to go. This is a really nice function but you are unable to tell what computer did it. Also when you go to a site that is blocked, you get a web page that says the site is blocked and tells you why.

Finally, a really cool shortcut feature allows you to program web site shortcuts. For example, if you go to a web site with a really long URL frequently, you can make it be a name or even letter! Whatever you want. So if you go to areallylongurl.com you can make it so you type "a" in the address bar hit enter and it will take you to that site.

I really recommend Open DNS. Given the recent dns spoofing flaw, I decided to try it. I am really amazed. I would even pay for a service like this. Open DNS says they get their money by adds on searches or on the page that says you are being blocked from a restricted site. The adds are not annoying and I only notice them when testing bad web sites. Open DNS is used by many big businesses to keep their employees off of numerous types of web sites.

I decided to over-clock my new Q9450 Core 2 Quad processor from its native 2.6 GHZ to 3.0 GHZ and the result of running prime95 to check my temperature scared the pants off me. With the stock cooler my CPU went up to an average of 74 degrees Celsius using Speedfan, CoreTemp, and RealTemp. I understand that no program I use will cause my CPU to get to that temperature but I would rather keep it cooler so I purchased a Zalman UltraQuite CNPS9700 LED CPU cooler. The immediate result after running prime95 for 2 minutes  was around 65 degrees Celsius. Currently at idle speeds I am around 51 degrees Celsius. Although I would like to be much cooler, this is below the threshold of 70 degrees so I am happy.

Assuming I applied the thermal compound correctly, I guess this is as low as I am going to get without going to water cooling. I would love to do water cooling but out of the two systems I have owned, the both sprung a leak and one resulted in the total destruction of a motherboard.

A couple of cool things about this CPU cooler is it comes with a variable speed control switch and a blue led in the fan. Also included is thermal compound which comes with a "nail polish like" bottle with a brush applicator making it pretty hard to screw up applying the compound.

The temperatures I gave were an average of all 4 cores and for some reason, the first core was hotter by roughly 10 degrees than the rest always. I do have a case airflow issue and am upgrading the case to something with better circulation. If anyone has any ideas as to cooling my computer down more, please let have your suggestions. Also note, Zalman says it may take about 200 operating hours before best cooling is achieved.

Recently after two really cheap electric shavers broke, I decided to invest a little more money in a better quality system. The Braun 8585 self-cleaning electric shaver was my solution.

I must say, this is the best electric shaver I have ever owned. The unit comes with a harness that serves as the washing machine to clean your razor while it also charges it. Yes, of coarse it is cordless too! The cord comes is detachable and the shaver comes with a case so you can take it with you while you travel. When you travel, you leave the docking station home because you will definitely spill out the cleaning fluid. The shaver has something like 20 different angled groves to capture hair and an adjustable trimmer for sideburns.

If you are interested, as usual, I got mine at amazon.com

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.

Per user request: More pictures of the KPC K45 CD-Rom mod.

 

Before the suspected new iPhone comes out (check the date), I need to sell my old one while it still has value so I decided to buy a cheap phone to hold me by. I decided to go with the Nokia 2610 from AT&T. Why did I choose this phone? The total cost for a refurbished 2610 for a prepaid account was only $10. Yes only $10 given you get a prepaid account. Well actually you don’t have to keep the prepaid account or even pay any money to start it up. I actually did pay for a prepaid account because I needed the SIM card for a GPS tracker I am using.

Not much to say about this phone. This Nokia is the same Nokia you could buy 4 years ago. I did not notice anything new or special about the phone but for $10, I am more than happy. This model does have speaker phone and it does live up to Nokia’s reputation for great reception. This is a great way to get a phone when you need one for something temporary. The next time you kid decides to kill their phone buy getting it wet, make them use this $10 phone as punishment. Oh, and one more thing! I’m pretty sure you can only get this deal online.

Been busy lately! I wiill be writing about some product reviews and showing off some cool projects soon. Stay tuned…