CyberNet » MyFive

MyFive: Top iPhone Competitors

Ashley — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:19:49 +0000

Ever since the iPhone launched, different mobile phone manufacturers have done what they could to come up with phones that look and operate similar to the iPhone. Today we’re taking a look at some of the top iPhone competitors out there. Our list includes five, but could be much longer because there are so many out there! Take a look…

#1 - HTC Touch

The HTC Touch uses TouchFLO touchscreen technology that was developed by HTC. It runs Windows Mobile 6 and a rotating “cube” shows you icons for your contacts, music, and more. Unfortunately there’s no Wi-Fi which is one of the down-sides to this phone, but it is fairly affordable at $250 from Sprint after instant savings and a mail-in rebate.

#2 - LG Voyager

The LG Voyager is priced at about $299.99 from Verizon Wireless with a 2-year contract. Of course it’s touchscreen like the iPhone but also includes a physical keyboard that pops-out. Overall it does look pretty sleek and includes Ev-DO support, but doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

#3 - Samsung Instinct

Samsung’s Instinct hasn’t reached the stores yet, but from the looks if it, it’ll be a great competitor to the iPhone. Gizmodo says that it may be the best stab at the iPhone yet! As far as size goes, in dimension and weight, it’s about the same as the iPhone. Even with battery life, it’s right up there with with 5.75 hours of talk-time. Sprint will be the one to carry this one for an estimated $200-$250.

#4 - Garmin Nuvifone

Sometime this year in the 3rd quarter we’ll be seeing the Garmin Nuvifone hit the market. The phone will be big on GPS and helping you navigate, and will feature an on-screen keyboard like the iPhone. Just a few days ago, rumor started floating around that it will be sold to AT&T subscribers for a whopping $500! While it may be pricey, that GPS could be worth it!

#5 - Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Yet another phone that is expected later this year is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. It’ll have a full QWERTY keyboard, and will run on the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. What will be unique with this phone is a “paneled” interface and an “optical” joystick for easy web scrolling. The price is expected to be over $400, so it’ll definitely be on the higher-end of the pricing spectrum.

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MyFive: Computers We’ve Owned…

Ashley — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:22:10 +0000

For Today’s MyFive, we’re taking a look at the computers that we (meaning Ryan and I) have owned over the last several years. We’re also interested in hearing what computers you’ve owned over time and which you have found to be the best. The one thing you’ll notice with our computers is that for our “1st generation,” Ryan and I each had a different model, and that’s because they were bought before we got married. Ever since we got married and Ryan sucked me in to technology, we’ve always bought two of the same computer at the same time. Prior to meeting him, I never would have thought I could get so excited about getting a new computer, but I have to admit, I do.

Our list below briefly includes the specifications and a picture. The pictures you see are real images of the computers that we had and were taken before selling them on eBay (it’s amazing we still had them). Anyhow, on we go with our five “generations” of computers…

1st Generation

The first generation of computers includes Ryan’s first laptop and my first laptop. They were bought before we got married, so they’re the only computers that aren’t the same. Ryan received his for Christmas as a gift, and I bought mine during my 2nd year at college.

2002-2005 - Ryan’s Compaq Evo N800c

80GB hard drive
1GB RAM
Intel Pentium 4 Mobile at 1.60GHz
Windows XP Professional

2003-2005 - Ashley’s Compaq 910US

30GB hard drive
256MB RAM
AMD Athlon XP 1.33 GHz Processor
Windows XP Home

2nd Generation

The “2nd Generation” was the first and only Tablet PC we’ve ever purchased, it was also the first time we bought two laptops at the same time. Being college students, we didn’t have a whole lot of money to spend so we were looking for a great deal. These Tablet PC’s definitely were a great deal, but boy did we have problems getting ones that worked! It took about three tries for each of us before we ended up with a working computer. Averatec did eventually discontinue their line of Tablet PC’s shortly after we purchased ours. Over-heating seemed to be the cause of most of the issues we had which resulted in terrible battery life, unexpected shutdowns, and super-slow performance.

Oh, and these were the only computers we’ve had where they sold for more on eBay than what we paid for them in the first place, even after stating the issues!

2005-2006 Averatec C3500 Tablet PC

60GB hard drive
512MB RAM
AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+ with PowerNow Technology 1.66GHz
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

3rd Generation

After having quite the experience with the Averatec computers, we decided to go with a more well-known company for our “3rd generation” of computers, Dell. Of course Dell isn’t known for using quality parts, but we never had any issues. All in all, these were great computers and it was so nice to not have to worry about the computer over-heating and turning off unexpectedly.

2006-2007 Dell XPS M140

60GB hard drive
1.5GB RAM
Intel Pentium M/Centrino 1.73GHz
Windows XP Professional

4th Generation

Because we never had any issues with our Dell XPS M140 laptops, we decided that we would stick with Dell, but upgrade to a computer with better specs. This is what we ended up with last year:

2007-Present Dell Inspiron 6400

160GB hard drive
2GB RAM
Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 1.60GHz
Windows Vista Ultimate

5th Generation

It’s about that time of year again where we upgrade our machines. We carefully looked at different models and manufacturers to see what would be the best option for us, and over the last two months we’ve been reading all kinds of reviews so that we could make a good decision. We’ll fill ya in within the next week or two on which computer we decided to go with. Stay tuned…

Question: To wrap it up, what computers have you owned and which have you found to be the best in quality and performance?

Update: Some people are wondering how we’re able to upgrade laptops so frequently. This comment helps explain that and how we spend very little to do it.

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MyFive: Weird iPod/iPhone Accessories

Ashley — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:09:14 +0000

When the iPod came out, a whole new industry to sell iPod accessories was born. Now there are hundreds of different accessories that consumers can purchase. Some are useful and on the practical side while others are just plain weird and there for fun. Today we’re taking a look at five different “weird” iPod/iPhone accessories.

iCarta iPod Toilet Paper Holder
The image of this one does all of the talking. For $69.95 you can “enhance your experience in any room” with the iCarta iPod Toilet Paper Holder. Features include:
- charges your iPod while playing music
- audio selector allows you to play your iPod shuffle or other Audio device
- integrated bath tissue holder than can be easily folded as a stereo clock

Source
iFish
iFish is a “music-loving interactive speaker. Simply play iFish some of your favorite tunes and prepare to be amazed as it comes to life, swishing its segmented tail and flashing its LED ‘mood’lights. Thanks to a couple of wheels in its belly, iFish can even spin around and “swim” on your desk. It can be yours for $39.95. To see a video of iFish in action, click here.
R2D2 Projector
The R2D2 Projector features a projector to project movies or games on an 80-inch screen. It’s got a whole slew of other features and among them is an iPod dock. Crazy! You can find this at The Sharper Image for $2,500.
iPhone Mobile Phone Telescope
The iPhone Mobile Phone Telescope will help you get a closer view using the built-in camera. It’ll also help you take better pictures by allowing you to zoom in and out with 6x optical lens.
KNG iPod DJ Dock
For $89.99 you can purchase the KNG FunKit DJ Animated iPod speaker system. It’ll dance and scratch to your music, and lights will flash in preprogrammed sequences for a complete disco effect.

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MyFive: New Tech Trends in Automobiles

Ashley — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:27:45 +0000

Forbes Autos recently put together a list of five different technology trends that we’re starting to see regularly in cars. Each of the trends will really change automobiles in a big way! Let’s take a look…

In-car computers
Knowing our audience, plenty of you would love to have a computer built-in to your car. According to the list, this is one of those features that is becoming a trend and we’ll start to see it more and more in vehicles in the future. Some cars already offer such a feature (Ford with their F series trucks offers an in-dash system) and typically the computer can only be used while the car is in park for obvious safety reasons. For those who work out of their cars and make frequent on-site calls to customers, this would be a great feature to have. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to have my entire library of music available in my car, without needing an iPod connected. A built-in computer could make this happen.
Connect Your MP3 Player
Okay, this one is no surprise. Instead of needing a cassette tape adapter to listen to music off of your MP3 player, many cars come with the connection. This means sound quality is much better. They say 2008 is the year in which this feature will be standard on all luxury cars, and it’ll start becoming more common among non-luxury cars as well. Some cars even take this feature a little further by fully integrating the player into the car’s audio controls.
Bluetooth
Just how Bluetooth is starting to become a standard with computers, it’s also starting to become standard in cars. When Bluetooth is integrated into the car, it means that drivers can easily talk on their phone without an ear piece. They say, “you’ll find it (Bluetooth) in your car stereo, your visor, or on top of your dashboard, so that if your phone is connected, you can simply speak aloud and place a call.”
Improved Navigation
Several years ago, the only cars that offered a built-in GPS system were luxury cars. Now more and more non-luxury cars come with them or at least offer a GPS as an option. The navigation systems themselves are improving quite a bit too as far as details and image quality goes. Instead of simply saying “turn left in 0.3 miles” they now say “turn left onto Main Street in 0.3 miles.” The text-to-speech technology has improved quite a bit.
Then of course there’s the fact that the stand-alone GPS devices are quite affordable. They were one of the hottest selling products during the holiday season in 2007!
Less Buttons
While all of the technology continues to get more complex, thankfully they’re not adding more buttons to control the technology in automobiles. The latest trend is to control everything on a sleek touch-screen including temperature and music.

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MyFive: Reasons I Love Windows Vista Media Center

Ryan — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:42:55 +0000

I’ve had a Vista machine setup for over a year whose sole purpose is to record my television shows, and I have to say that I’ve fallen deeply in love with it. Prior to owning the Vista Media Center computer I was using a ReplayTV unit to do the recording, and I didn’t think that it got much better than that. The model that I had included a commercial detection feature so that it would automatically skip past commercials as it came across them. I loved it!

When I got the Vista Media Center the ReplayTV was put on the back burner because it was leaps and bounds better than the ReplayTV. For that reason it is actually very easy for me to pinpoint five reasons why Vista Media Center is so great:

Appearance
Vista Media Center looks really amazing, and I give the designers mad props for making it everything flow so nicely together. I especially love browsing movies that are on TV because it shows the box art for each of them.
WebGuide [Homepage] [Review]
This is a free add-on created by a developer who was hired by Microsoft after the add-on really started to take off. With WebGuide you’re able to remotely access your Media Center computer through a website. You can remotely schedule shows, browse the television guide, or even stream content to your computer.
DVRMSToolbox [Homepage] [Review]
As I mentioned earlier being able to skip commercials has become an important part of my television watching experience. This free software will let you do just that, and it is extremely configurable which is something power users will love.
Tuner Extender [Homepage] [Review]
I recently bought a dual-tuner to add to the single HD tuner that I already have installed in my computer. Vista Media Center will support up to two tuners by default, but it is actually capable of handling many more. The only problem is that you won’t be able to add more than two tuners without using this special application. The fact that I can have three tuners simultaneously recording shows is awesome, even if it does take a little tweaking!
Xbox 360
A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted access to my television shows in another room, and I was trying to figure out the best way of doing that. I decided on purchasing an Xbox 360 because it serves as Media Center Extender, and with that I’m able to access content from any Media Center machine that is on the same network as the Xbox. I have to say that Microsoft did a great job with the Media Center Extender technology, and I’m extremely happy that the commercial skipping still works even on the extenders. Oh, and I get to play Halo 3.

If there’s one thing in Vista that I really want to applaud Microsoft for it would be the Media Center aspect. It has never really crashed on me, is very extensible, and there is quite a large community surrounding it. I can’t wait to see where Microsoft takes this in the next release of Windows.

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MyFive: "Oldies but Goodies" from March 2007

Ashley — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:03:53 +0000

The month of March has just started and we thought it was the perfect time to bring back some “oldies but goodies” - some of our favorite articles from March of 2007. Today’s MyFive takes you back a year ago and highlights what was going on. If you enjoy reading some of the older content, remember that you can subscribe to the CyberNet Classics RSS feeds. There are two to choose from and we explain and link to them below:

Main Archive - three classic CyberNet articles each day brought to you via RSS (Click to Subscribe)
CyberNotes Only - one CyberNotes article (one of our daily features) brought to you via RSS each day (Click to Subscribe)

MyFive Favorite Articles - March 2007

Microsoft Rebrands Hotmail
March 2007 was when Microsoft finished rebranding Hotmail. As most of you know, it’s now Windows Live Hotmail. This new name was meant to satisfy both the old and the new users and give their mail service a whole new look.
Read: Microsoft Rebranding Complete for Windows Live Hotmail - March 30th, 2007
Speed Dial Introduced to Opera
It’s hard to believe that Speed Dial has been around for about a year, but it has. It was actually one of the features that drew me into Opera in the first place because it makes it easy to keep track of my favorite sites. It came when Opera 9.2 Beta was released.
Read: Opera 9.2 Beta Available - Includes New Speed Dial Feature - March 28th, 2007
Create a Feed for Sites Without Syndication
Because RSS feeds have become so popular, it can get frustrating when you come across a site without syndication. There are several ways to create a feed for these sites and in March, 2007 we explained how you could do this using a service called Feedity. The comments are also a great resource because readers included additional services that do the same thing.
Read: How to Create a Feed for Sites Without Syndication - March 17th, 2007
Replace Your Windows Taskbar
If you ever wanted to replace the Windows Taskbar, you’ll certainly find this article pretty interesting. Ryan explained how to use RocketDock to replace your Windows Taskbar. He even included screencasts that help explain everything in detail. RocketDock is free and has a lot of great features.
Read: Using RocketDock to Replace the Windows Taskbar - March 20, 2007
Setup an FTP Server…Quick!
“I frequently get asked how people can setup their own FTP. Some of the current programs available always seem intimidating with the extensive list of configuration options when most people only want to access their own documents when they’re away from their PC.” Using Quick n’ Easy FTP Server Lite, you can setup an FTP in less than 30 seconds and this article explains how.
Read: Setup an FTP Server in less than 30 Seconds - March 27th, 2007

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MyFive: Highlights from Toy Fair 08′

Ashley — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:45:34 +0000

This past week from Sunday February 17th until Wednesday February 20th, the Toy Industry Association was holding its annual Toy Fair. This is the place where every kid and wanna-be kid would love to be. Today’s MyFive includes a few pretty nifty toys that were on display there. Be sure to click the image to enlarge it, and follow the link to the Make Blog if you want more details.

High Powered Telescope Access from your computer (link)
While not exactly a toy, Blue Storm Productions is selling cards with a given number of minutes on them so that you can access a telescope from your computer and remotely control observatory sites.
Thirty-Sided Dice (link)
Can you think of any uses for a thirty-sided dice? The company that makes the dice is called Koplow and they have over 1,200 different types of dice.
Matchitecture - models made from matchsticks (link)
This model kit isn’t typical because you’re using little wood match-like sticks to create models.
Vex mini Robots and Vex Wi-Fi Robots (link)
About the mini robot: “The VEX RCR Mini, like the Vex Robotics Design System, is an open-ended robotics platform that includes all the parts and accessories inventors need to design and construct a radio-controlled robot.”
About the Vex Wi-Fi Robot: “In addition to the VEX Mini, Innovation First extends its leadership in robot control systems with the introduction of a first-of-its kind, revolutionary new control system built on the Wi-Fi 802.11 standard. The patent for the new Control System is pending and the technology will offer a secure, affordable option for education and competition robotics users. The Wi-Fi controller will let users program their VEX robot wirelessly through any computer, including OLPC, running Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems”
Marble Transportation System Made from Wood (link)
This all wood marble transportation system uses gravity to move a marble all throughout the sculpture. Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

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MyFive: Don’t Upgrade to XP!

Ryan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:31:07 +0000

No, you didn’t read the title of the article wrong. With all of the Vista bashing going on we thought it would be fun to take a step back and see what the initial consensus was of XP when it launched back in October 2001. Since so much time has passed it is easy to forget the messages that were filling the forums and reviews.

I’ve never recommended that anyone go out and drop a few hundred dollars to upgrade their computer to Vista, but at the same time I’ve never told anyone to downgrade a newly purchased machine to XP. When Windows 7 is released in 2009/2010 the same thing is going to happen, and a new wave of “Windows 7 sucks, I’ll stick with Vista” messages will undoubtedly be sprawled across the Internet. Isn’t it obvious that with time comes maturity?

Here’s our recap on Windows XP’s first year of existence:

[09/08/2001] This forum post happened one month before the release of XP, and it was in response to someone wondering whether an XP upgrade is worthwhile. Guess XP wasn’t really considered a major upgrade…

I don’t see as a really big upgrade personally. It does contain some more integrated features, like CD Burning and a firewall along with some more networking options, but I don’t see it as much of an upgrade over 2k. Win9x, however, is a different story.
[05/16/2002] We’ve quoted this CNet article before, but it is a really good representation of the issues people faced 6-months after the release of XP. Sound familiar?

Microsoft’s latest operating system just turned six months old, and most would say that it’s neither a failure nor a raging success. While XP promised the latest and greatest multimedia, security, and ease-of-use features available, many users have not yet upgraded, fearing the hefty system requirements and potential compatibility disasters inherent in a major OS upgrade.
[09/09/2002] Almost a year after the release of Vista this UK site primarily covered the performance of the operating system, but also had this to say about software compatibility:

Having a PC that is up to the task of running Windows XP isn’t the only issue that has rankled with PC users. Perhaps even more of a bugbear has been compatibility. The truth is that XP just doesn’t work well with a lot of older software and hardware.
[09/12/2002] It’s been about a year since the release of Vista, and I still think it’s astonishing the people who criticize Vista without having tried it. This forum is a shining example of the same thing happening to XP:

dont goto XP … ive heard bad stuff about it 2 … more than the others
[Sometime in 2002] I’m not sure exactly when this was written, but it was sometime in 2002. It’s essentially a guide of what to expect when upgrading to XP, and they mention the same thing about the minimum requirements that I tell people who want to upgrade to Vista:

Face the facts. If you’re running the minimum 233-MHz Intel or AMD compatible processor, 64-MB RAM, 1.5 GB of free disk space, Super VGA (800×600) video adapter and monitor, and Microsoft-compatible keyboard and pointing device, you aren’t going to be happy with Windows XP. Nor will you be able to enjoy all the features that XP offers. It would be like driving a Ferrari with a Ford Pinto motor.

You might be saying to yourself that there wasn’t as much XP bashing as there is with Vista, but you also have to consider how many more opportunities people have to be vocal about their experiences. There weren’t many blogs back in 2001, forum activity was generally light, and sites like MySpace and Facebook didn’t exist. You didn’t have the opportunity to create a “XP sucks” Facebook group to see how many thousands of people you could get to join.

Another thing you need to realize is that some of the Vista opinions are based on experiences people had with pre-release versions. Microsoft decided this time around to open up Vista Beta testing to the public early on so that they could get feedback, and users didn’t have to pay a dime to test it out. I remember when I wanted to test XP I had to fork out $10 just to download the Release Candidate, and boy was that a driver nightmare at the time. Millions of people tested out Vista, and I know several people who haven’t tried it since then… therefore skewing their perception of the final operating system.

The reason I defend Vista is because it’s been a great operating system for me as a consumer. I think it looks better than XP, performs better in most areas, and hardly ever nags me (ex. Vista installs necessary device drivers in the background automatically instead of popping up with a window). So don’t rush out to buy the operating system, but if you get a new computer I don’t see any reason as to why you shouldn’t get the latest version of Windows.

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MyFive: Must-Have Gadgets and Features for Cars

Ashley — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:05:20 +0000

This past weekend we took advantage of living back in the Chicago area and headed down to the Chicago Auto Show. Apparently we still have cars on our minds because we are focusing today’s MyFive feature on gadget-equipped cars which there were plenty of at the show! Today’s MyFive is a list of different gadgets that you can find in cars on the market today that may (or may not)become standard in vehicles over time.

Rear Parking Assistance

Everybody has been able to back-up without assistance over the last however many years just fine, yet the rear-parking assistance feature is becoming a “must-have” feature. One such car that offers this is the Lexus ES 350. It’s called “Intuitive Parking Assist” and uses sensors to detect how close the vehicles are to surrounding objects. Other cars like the Chevy Tahoe and the Toyota Sienna also offer a similar feature.
Real-Time Traffic Information

Car-maker Acura sells cars that come with AcuraLink. That is the name of the system that they use to display real-time traffic info on the navigation screen. Only certain cities are included, but if you live in one of the covered cities, it could sure come in handy! I’m just waiting for the time when they incorporate the navigation system with the traffic information to guide you on the fastest route possible based upon traffic conditions that day.
Heated/Cooled Cup holders

This year Cadillac will be introducing the 2009 Escalade Platinum that will include all kinds of gadgets that any geek would sure love like LCD screens for the back seat passengers and a flip-down screen in the ceiling. Another feature is that the cup holders offer the option to heat or cool your drink. Want your coffee to stay nice at hot in the mornings? No problem! Want the icy cold drink to stay cold on a hot Summer day? No Problem!
Remote Start

While Remote Start systems have been around for quite a while, they’re still one of those features that not everybody realizes is available. From Chevy to Toyota, a remote start system is a feature that most car-makers offer their customers.
Bluetooth

How many of you use a Bluetooth headset? Probably quite a few because Bluetooth is becoming pretty popular. Many automakers out there like Toyota and Chrysler offer the option to have a Bluetooth system installed in which you can make and receive calls without ever holding a phone. Users can place a call simply by verbally saying the name of a contact that they have previously stored in the system.

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MyFive: Don’t Get Caught Dead With…

Ashley — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:36:40 +0000

There are certain gadgets out there that while they may be considered “geeky,” they’re still cool to be seen with. Other things, well, you wouldn’t even want to get caught dead with! Today’s MyFive is a list of some of those things you’d want to think twice about buying for the sake of your reputation…

Geekiest Tattoo Ever
I really hope I don’t have to explain this one - it’s HTML, get it? How many times do you think he has to explain his tattoo to “non-geeky” friends?

Source
LapDome
From LapDome’s website: “This laptop computer carry case transforms into a sheltered, darkened work environment. It offers privacy, security, and protection from the elements, but most of all, computer screen visibility outdoors in the daytime.”

Source
USB Eye Massager
“For the computer operator, who could relax the eye pressure because of long time sitting before the computer.” Just plug it in to your USB port and you’re ready to go! Hmm… you could bring it along on your vacation to use with your LapDome! Ultimate relaxation…

Source
Wi-Fi Detector Shirt
Yes, it really can detect Wi-Fi hot spots around you and shows a signal each time it detects one. You’ll even know the strength based upon how many bars on the shirt are lit!

Source
Driving LED Emoticon
Place this gadget on the back of your car. It can display five different messages, and you can change them using the wireless remote! You may want to be careful when you decide to use the “Back Off” or “Idiot” message — you could end up dealing with some serious road-raged drivers!

Source

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MyFive: Important Tech Acquisitions of 2007

Ashley — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:11:34 +0000

The new year has just begun and if 2008 is anything like 2007, we should expect a bunch of acquisitions in the tech world. As I heard someone say recently, acquisitions should be considered the lottery for geeks, except the odds of “winning” are much higher than the actual lottery. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others have been swiping up start-up after start-up faster than we can keep track! Today’s MyFive looks at some of the most significant acquisitions of 2007.

Last.fm acquired by CBS
Last.fm was acquired by CBS for $280 million back in May of 2007. CBS acquired them as part of their plan to attract a “younger crowd.” Last.fm is a site that provides users with a personalize radio streaming experience. It has a social aspect to it which helps to draw users in.
Photobucket acquired by Fox Interactive
Photobucket was acquired by Fox Interactive Media for $250 million back in May of 2007. This came after Photobucket and Fox owned MySpace couldn’t stop feuding.
FeedBurner acquired by Google
It’s hard to believe that Feedburner was acquired by Google in 2007 because it seemed as though it had happened long before. The price for this startup was $100 million and was official at the beginning of June. Given the popularity of FeedBurner and number of sites that use the service, we thought that the $100 million price was a little on the low side. Shortly after the acquisition came the option for all users to “Go Pro for Free.” Gotta love when Google makes an acquisition!
StumbleUpon acquired by eBay
One of the more surprising acquisitions occurred on May 30th when it was announced that eBay was acquiring StumbleUpon for $45 million. They didn’t exactly seem like a match made in heaven, but so far it’s worked out. eBay didn’t come in and make drastic changes to the popular discovery site which meant all of the users have remained happy (read).
MyBlogLog acquired by Yahoo
The MyBlogLog acquisition was one of the very first of 2007! Yahoo came in and swiped them up for $10 million which was quite the pay-off for a site that had only been available to the public for 3-4 months. While the popularity of the service seems to have faded over the last several months, it still plays an important role in the blogosphere (read).

If you’d like to view more of the acquisitions of 2007 that happened in the tech world, this site has a great list worth checking out.

Is there an acquisition that you think we overlooked or one that you feel should be added to the list? Hit us up in the comments below…

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MyFive: Things to do Before Upgrading to Vista

Ashley — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:23:43 +0000

Windows Vista is coming up on its one year anniversary since it officially launched, and some of you are just now getting around to determining if you should make the upgrade. Today we thought we’d share five different things you’ll want to do before joining the bandwagon and making the upgrade to Vista so that in the end, you’ll be satisfied with the experience you had.

Determine if Vista is right for you…
If you’re content with XP, is there a reason to switch right now? This is the first thing you need to determine before you even begin the process of upgrading to Vista. CyberNet’s Windows Vista Review with Screenshots may be helpful in this first step.
Use Vista Upgrade Advisor
The Vista upgrade advisor can be found here and will prove to be beneficial in determining if your computer is ready for Windows Vista. The Vista Upgrade Advisor will run on your computer and scan for devices and program compatibility issues.
Manually Check Hardware Compatibility
Want to know if your webcam or video card will work? You’ll want to visit this site that Microsoft has put together. Everything is broken down into a variety of different categories. Once you select a category, you can break it down further into company. There are literally thousands of devices listed that are certified for Vista.
Determine which version is right for you
Microsoft has been teased for releasing so many different versions of Vista. How is one to know which one is right for them? Luckily it’s easy. For a quick overview, checkout a site that Microsoft has put together. It’ll briefly explain each version and give you an idea of what might be good for you. For more in-depth information, check out CyberNet’s “Windows Vista Feature Comparison” chart that we put together.
Shop around for pricing
This is important, especially if you’re a student or teacher. There are discounted versions out there that you might be eligible for. Checkout Academic Superstore, because this is one place where you can get the discount. Additionally, you’ll want to determine if you’re eligible for upgrade pricing. If you have XP Professional, Home, Media Center, Tablet PC, XP Professional x64, or Windows 2000, you’re eligible for upgrade pricing. Check for that information here.

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MyFive: Favorite Technology Quotes

Ashley — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:37:25 +0000

I’ve always loved quotes, and I have found that often times, they make you stop for a minute to think about what was really said. I tend to enjoy humorous quotes most, but there are a few serious ones out there that are interesting. Today’s “MyFive” is simply a collection of some of my favorite quotes that relate to computers and technology. If you have a favorite, feel free to share…

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” –Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

To think that there are households out there with more than five computers! It’s amazing to think that the chairman of IBM once thought there wasn’t really going to be a market for computers. Can you imagine a world with only five computers? I can’t.
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” –Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
The fact that this was fairly recent is amusing, simply because at this point, I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t want a computer in your home.
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.” Rich Cook
No explanation needed.
“UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity.” Dennis Ritchie
Any of you agree that you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity of UNIX?
“The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” -Steve Ballmer
I agree 100% with Ballmer here. Technology is amazing and has allowed so many people to learn more than they ever thought was possible. There’s a whole new aspect of creativity that has come about because of it, and it’s really changed the way we learn and what we do.

Sources: here and here

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MyFive: Must-Have Gadgets for the Holidays

Ashley — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:22:38 +0000

The holidays are right around the corner and and sitting at the top of many die-hard geek’s wish lists are techy type gadgets. Instead of pointing out the obvious “must-have’s” like the iPhone, an iPod, a Wii or a Playstation, we’ll take a look at five of the not so obvious gifts.

Vudu
Vudu is a new product that brings movies right to your living room without the need of a computer. It means no trips to the movie store, no waiting for movies in the mail. All that’s required is a TV, a Vudu unit, and a broadband Internet connection. Priced at $399, the Vudu could turn out to be the next “big thing” in movies. Especially with all of the HD content they offer.
Sling Media Slingbox
This is the device you’ll need if you want to watch your TiVo’d shows anywhere that you have a Wi-Fi connection. The Sling Media Slingbox streams live TV or anything you may have on your DVR device to a laptop or a desktop. Priced at $249, it’s a great gift for the TV junky.
Swarovski USB Memory Key
For $178 you can carry around a Swarovski Crystal 1GB USB Drive
Palm Centro
The Palm Centro is Palm’s smallest smartphone with a rather small price tag - just $99 with a new contract from Spring. It’s got a full keyboard and al kinds of features that make it a “must-have” gadget.
LG Electronics Dual Format DVD Player
This DVD player settles the war between Blu-Ray and HD DVD by supporting both! It’s $1200 bucks but could be worth it…

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MyFive: Where to Go When You’re Bored

Ashley — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:17:17 +0000

After you’ve read all of the news on CyberNet and you find yourself bored with nothing to do, what to you do? Play a game, surf the net, chat? Today I’m sharing five places where you can go on the web when you’re bored (that aren’t social networks).

Kongregate - with over 2,500 games there’s bound to be at least a handful of games that might interest you. Their top five games include:
- Desktop Tower Defense 1.5
- Dolphin Olympics 2
- Boxhead: 2Play Rooms
- Portal: The Flash Version
- The Fancy Pants Adventures
StumbleVideo - brought to you by StumbleUpon except you don’t need to install an add-on or extension to use it. Simply go to http://video.stumbleupon.com and click the “Stumble” button. It’ll pull up all kinds of random movies and you can determine if you like it or not. Based upon rating, they’ll try to display videos similar to the ones you liked. They also have “channels” like humor (my favorite channel) which you can select which provides endless hours of entertainment!
Fat Wallet/SlickDeals Forums - this is where we’ve found tons of deals! When you dig through the forums and read through the threads and find deals before they become popular or “hot”, you can be one of the first to get your hands on something. This ensures you actually get it before the deal becomes “dead.” Visit FatWallet forums and the SlickDeals forums.
10 Paper Air Planes - who says only kids can make paper airplanes when they’re bored? This site has animated images that guide you through making 10 different paper airplanes like “The Stealth” or “The Moth.” If you’re not into paper air planes, try Paper Toys. It’s a site that offers all kinds of print out paper toys for kids and grown-ups alike. All you have to do is print, cut, fold and glue. Anybody want a paper Mercedes 320 SL?
How Stuff Works - How Stuff Works is great for those times when you have a few minutes to spare and there’s not enough time to start a game or do something else. It takes just a minute and you can learn how something works like circuit breakers or a computer monitor! They have all kinds of explanations in different categories so you can learn new facts that are actually interesting to you. Visiting this site will ensure that you learn something new everyday like that saying goes.

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MyFive: Most Popular Searches on eBay

Ashley — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:22:18 +0000

Ever wondered what people search for most on eBay? Thanks to eBay pulse, you can find out! eBay Pulse is a daily snapshot of current trends on eBay. You can view the overall most popular, or you can select a specific category. Today we’ll look at both the most popular all around and then we’ll take a look at some of the categories that might interest you like computers, cameras, and more.

Overall Most Popular Searches

iPhone
iPod
Wii
Car insurance (huh? people search for car insurance on eBay?)
Xbox 360

MyFive: Top 5 Most Wanted Products This Week!

Ashley — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:22:51 +0000

With all of the popular products available this holiday season, I was wondering what the five most wanted were. Any guesses? My guesses included the Wii, the iPhone, and maybe an iPod. I just came across CNET users’ weekly top 20 most products which gives us an idea of what people have on their wish lists. So here’s the top 5 most wanted gadgets for the week of November 18th. A couple may surprise you!

Microsoft’s Zune
2nd generation, 80GB in black
Sony PlayStation 3
60 GB
Nintendo Wii
Apple iPhone
8GB
LG Voyager - VX10000

What’s on your “wish-list” this holiday season?

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MyFive: Amazing Paintings Created in Photoshop

Ashley — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:46:53 +0000

It’s truly amazing what kind of art that digital artists are able to create. I’m talking about the sketches and paintings that look like they were drawn by hand or taken with a camera, except they were created using a program like Photoshop or Microsoft’s Paint. Earlier this year we showed you some of the best paintings created using solely Microsoft Paint, so today I thought I’d share with you five amazing paintings created in Photoshop. The first three paintings come from an artist named Bert Monroy who considers himself a digital photo-realist artist. His work is so detailed, and so amazing. I’d say his work is the best I’ve seen, but there are others who have created great work as well, so I’ve included two paintings from other artists.

Damen - a painting of a Chicago scene first unveiled at Photoshop World in March of 2006. Using Adobe Illustrator to create some of the basic shapes, digital photo artist Bert Monroy using Photoshop to create the rest. The flattened file weights 1.7 Gigabytes and took over 2,000 hours to create.
Lunch in Tiburon - another great painting from Bert Monroy created in Photoshop.
Oyster Bar- by Bert Monroy. The detail is amazing!
Daniel Hammonds used only a mouse and Photoshop 6.0 to create “Me and Loui’s Sister” from scratch. He even put together a step by step guide on how he did it.
Snow Angel - created in Photoshop 6 with a mouse. (Source)

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MyFive: Open Source for Dummies

Ashley — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:11:51 +0000

If you haven’t seen of, or at least heard of the “Dummies” books, I don’t know where you’ve been living! Ever since the first “For Dummies” book hit the shelves back in 1991, they’ve been a huge success. At this point they cover nearly any topic possible, focusing on ones that are complex, confusing, or intimidating. Seeing as the entire topic of computers, hardware, software, and the Internet can be a bit intimidating, there’s a whole line of books that fall under each of these topics. Today I thought we’d take a look at some of those books, but more specifically, the ones geared towards Open Source Software.

You’ll notice that there’s a link to the dummies homepage for each book. These books can be found for much less at sites like Amazon, but one of the benefits of linking to the homepage is that there’s an excerpt from the book as well as the table of contents so that you can see what all you’re getting and what it covers. If it interests you, go read an excerpt, and take a look at the table of contents before going to another site to buy it. Here’s CyberNet’s list of Open Source books for Dummies that may be worth taking a look at.

Linux for Dummies, 8th Edition
If you’re wanting to dive into Linux but you’re just not sure where to start, Linux for Dummies will get you pointed in the right direction. It focuses on Fedora Core 6 but also includes information on other distributions like SuSE, Mandriva, Linspire, Knoppix, and Ubuntu.
Link
OpenOffice.org for Dummies
This book was published in December 2003 so it’s definitely due for an update. If you’re at all interested in using OpenOffice.org, it might be a good idea to stop at a book store and take a peak at it just so you can get an idea of what it’s all about. It covers a wide variety of different topics and includes into about templates and styles, creating spreadsheets, and more.
Link
Ubuntu Linux for Dummies
We talk quite a bit about Ubuntu Linux here at CyberNet because it is one of the most popular distributions. Published just this year, Ubuntu Linux for Dummies will teach you how to tap into multimedia, graphics and other applications using Ubuntu, generate and mange web pages, print service, and troubleshoot problems you may be having. They’ll also explain how to run Ubuntu right from a CD-ROM and how to install it on your PC or a network server.
Link
Firefox for Dummies
Given the number of readers who use Firefox, and the fact that Learn Firefox can teach you just about anything you’d want to know about it, this book probably won’t come in handy for yourself. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t recommend it to a friend that’s not so tech savvy to teach them all about what they’re missing out on! Firefox for Dummies is written by Blake Ross (creator of Firefox), it’ll be just enough to get your Friends who have been using Internet Explorer for way to long thinking about making a switch. It’s full of history, and the sometimes forgotten details that make Firefox a browser to love.
Link
Free Software for Dummies
While this book isn’t completely dedicated to Open Source software, it covers a lot of it from OpenOffice.org to Thunderbird, GIMP (the image editor) and even Blender. They point out how to locate the best free software out there that will work with Windows, Mac, or Linux. Sure you can spend lots of money on software, but why do it when you can get a lot of it for free that works just as well?
Link

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MyFive: Top iPhone Competitors

#1 - HTC Touch

#2 - LG Voyager

#3 - Samsung Instinct

#4 - Garmin Nuvifone

#5 - Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

MyFive: Computers We’ve Owned…

1st Generation

2nd Generation

3rd Generation

4th Generation

5th Generation

MyFive: Weird iPod/iPhone Accessories

MyFive: New Tech Trends in Automobiles

MyFive: Reasons I Love Windows Vista Media Center

MyFive: "Oldies but Goodies" from March 2007

MyFive Favorite Articles - March 2007

MyFive: Highlights from Toy Fair 08′

MyFive: Don’t Upgrade to XP!

MyFive: Must-Have Gadgets and Features for Cars

Rear Parking Assistance

Real-Time Traffic Information

Heated/Cooled Cup holders

Remote Start

Bluetooth

MyFive: Don’t Get Caught Dead With…

MyFive: Important Tech Acquisitions of 2007

MyFive: Things to do Before Upgrading to Vista

MyFive: Favorite Technology Quotes

MyFive: Must-Have Gadgets for the Holidays

MyFive: Where to Go When You’re Bored

MyFive: Most Popular Searches on eBay

Overall Most Popular Searches

Most Popular Searches in Computers and Networking

Most Popular Searches in Cell Phones & PDAs

Most Popular Searches in Cameras & Photo

Most Popular Searches in Consumer Electronics

MyFive: Top 5 Most Wanted Products This Week!

MyFive: Amazing Paintings Created in Photoshop

MyFive: Open Source for Dummies