CyberNet » MyFive

MyFive: Sources for Identifying Unknown Callers

Ashley — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:41:21 +0000

This past week, I experienced several days where the phone rang multiple times throughout the day with a caller claiming I took an online survey about continuing my education. The caller claimed that they wanted to help me find courses to take. Knowing I hadn’t filled out any such survey about my education, I was curious and asked for the URL of the website. The caller simply ignored the question, thanked me for my time, and hung up. The first time it happened it was no big deal because stuff like that happens. Once the same number appeared, but with a different caller, multiple times throughout the day, and I experienced the same scenario I was annoyed.

Eventually I decided to perform a Google search for the phone number, and to my surprise, found multiple sites available where people were complaining about the same number, and the same situation. It was great to see others were having the same types of conversations, like I did, asking for the URL from the caller and getting no response. Thankfully after a couple of days of receiving about five phone calls a day from these people, the calls stopped.

Today’s MyFive is a collection of sites that allow you to lookup an unknown caller by their telephone number. Once you enter a number and they find a match, you can read comments from other people and contribute your own. Everybody, even those on the “Do Not Call” list, will still get unwanted calls on occassion. These sites will help you identify the callers and get more information on who they are and what they want when they call.

1. Who Called Us – www.whocalled.us

2. WhoCallsMe – http://whocallsme.com

3. 800Notes – http://800notes.com

4. Caller Complaints – http://callercomplaints.com

5. CallFerret – www.callferret.com

Related Posts:

MyFive: Things the iPhone Does Better Than Other Phones…

Ashley — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:28:35 +0000

About a week ago we wrote a MyFive including five things we wished the iPhone 3G had. Among them were more than a 2 megapixel camera, a flash for the camera and video recording, multimedia messaging service, a replaceable battery, and a 32GB option. In the comments, Pieter pointed out that to be fair, we should write another article about five things that the iPhone can do better than other phones. We thought it was a great idea because as iPhone owners, there is a lot we do enjoy about the phones. Today’s MyFive will include things the iPhone does better than other phones out there.

1. Battery Life

The iPhone 3G offers up to 5 hours of talk time on 3G, 10 hours of talk time on 2G, 5 hours of Internet use on 3G, 6 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback, and 300 hours of standby time. Enough said.

2. Browser

When we had Internet capability on previous phones, we really didn’t use it much. Why? Well, because it was a pain in the butt to use! Apple did an amazing job with Safari for the iPhone which makes surfing the web hassle-free.

Studies have shown that iPhone users are more likely to browse the web on their device, more-so than other phones, simply because it’s easy to do. The device is what we like to call “Internet-centric” — it’s centered around the Internet and thus, people actually use it.

3. 3rd Party Applications

If you take the time to go through the applications that are available, you can find some really nice ones that will help increase productivity, and others that will give you a few minutes of fun. Not all are what we’d consider “quality” apps, but there are some great ones out there. For original iPhone owners, these 3rd party applications almost don’t make it a necessity to upgrade to the iPhone 3G.

4. Usability

The iPhone has a lot of features that other phones offer, but the ease of use is what stands out with the iPhone. Simple features that most phones have like a clock or calculator, are presented in front of you instead of buried with-in menus. And the clock is more than just a clock, it’s a stop-watch and a timer, and has an amazing alarm clock system. This alarm clock system has replaced my stand-alone alarm clock.

The camera is another great example. We’ve had camera phones in the past but this camera (despite the fact it’s 2MP) is easier to use than most cameras on other phones not to mention the fact that sharing those photos with others is great with the nice big touch-screen.

Apple definitely made a phone that their users will want to use, because of the ease-of-use.

5. Overall Experience

The overall experience of the iPhone is amazing. Sure, the new firmware has a few kinks, but the overall experience is what makes the iPhone worth all of the hype and the money. Great battery life, an awesome browser, a selection of quality 3rd party applications, and the ease of use provide the user with an overall experience that is hard to beat.

Related Posts:

MyFive: Things We Wished the iPhone 3G Had

Ashley — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:42:10 +0000

As we’ve mentioned, CyberNet’s iPhone 3G review will be coming within the next week or so. We decided not to post it right away so we could have ample time to test out all of the new features. In the mean time, we thought we’d fill ya in on five things we wished the iPhone 3G had. It sure is a nice device, but it isn’t perfect. Here’s what we’d like to see on a 3rd generation iPhone. Apple, are you listening?

1. More Than a 2 Megapixel Camera

The original iPhone came with a 2 megapixel camera so it would have been nice to see Apple upgrade the camera to say, a 5 megapixel camera. Their goal is to have you use one device instead of many (phone, iPod, GPS, camera, all in one), but we’re still not ready to ditch our camera in favor of a 2 Megapixel camera on our iPhone 3G. This leads us to #2…

2. A Flash for the Camera and Video Recording

Another big thing missing from the iPhone 3G is a flash for the camera and the capability to record video. Sometimes it’s impossible to take great pictures without a flash and video recording is slowly becoming a standard. Remember all of those rumors that the iPhone was going to have a camera on the front as well for video-conferencing? That would have been nice too.

3. Multimedia Messaging Service

Lots of phones out there have the capability to send and receive multimedia messages, but not the iPhone 3G. For those who were used to such a service and used it regularly to send media on other phones, switching to the iPhone 3G where there isn’t an option will probably be a let-down.

4. A Replaceable Battery

A replaceable battery was one of the biggest complaints we heard with the original iPhone and now it’s a big complaint again with the iPhone 3G. People like to have control over replacing something like the battery, and some people like to carry around an extra for those times when they won’t have an outlet available to them for charging. This is something that isn’t possible because Apple does not allow users to replace the battery themselves. Maybe the 3rd generation will finally include a replaceable battery?

5. 32GB Option

It seems funny to think that just a year ago, Apple introduced a 4GB iPhone. 4GB? That’s it? 4GB hardly seems like anything these days. And while 4GB isn’t much, 8GB and even 16GB doesn’t seem like a whole lot. They’ve got a 32GB iPod Touch, so why not a 32GB iPhone 3G? We’re thinking they’ve already thought of this and like last year, they’ll quickly discontinue the 8GB model and introduce the 32GB model.

We know many of you have rather large collections of music and photos, so storage on any device is a must!

Related Posts:

MyFive: Services Google Should Introduce

Ashley — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:49:02 +0000

With Google’s latest project called Lively being released this week, we thought we’d take a look at some of the services that they should introduce. Google seems to want to cover every topic out there, and we’re sure eventually they will.

Music – why music you ask? It just sounds like something Google would get into. And besides, there’s already been traces of Google working on a music service in China!
Travel – if they introduced some type of travel site, they’d be able to incorporate Google Maps and all that it offers. If users were to search for vacation information on a certain city, Google could direct them to use Google Street View to get a better idea of what the place looked like.
Automotive – we wrote about a site called RepairPal a few weeks ago as a place where you could get honest auto repair information. It’s a great site, but they don’t have information on some of the auto repair shops out there. Google might be able to better tackle the job of providing honest auto repair information.
Social Search – there are hundreds of search engines out there and it might be nice if Google offered a Social Search. Users could enter in all of their social network credentials and then be able to search them all right from Google. Maybe something like FriendFeed.
Food – a centralized place to search for recipes around the web would be great for those that are into cooking. They could also offer their own rating system for these recipes like what they already offer for restaurants.

Any services you’d like Google to introduce?

Related Posts:

MyFive: Firefox 3 Chrome URL’s

Ryan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:11:03 +0000

Firefox’s interface is cleverly designed using JavaScript and XUL, and using what’s referred to as chrome URL’s you can actually open specific windows in a tab or the sidebar. This includes things like the management windows for bookmarks, saved passwords, downloads, extensions, and more. They can even be bookmarked for quick one-click access to them in the future.

Below we’ve got our top 5 chrome URL’s that can be used in Firefox 3, and all you have to do is copy the URL into the address bar to see what each of them do. Don’t forget to bookmark the ones that you’ll use frequently, and here are some instructions if you want them to open in the sidebar.

Note: The URL’s will obviously only work in Firefox.

1) Bookmarks Management

Used for: Managing bookmarks, tags, and history.
URL: chrome://browser/content/places/places.xul

(more…)

Related Posts:

MyFive: Google Spreadsheet Functions You Won’t Find in Microsoft Office

Ashley — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:04:32 +0000

Today we’re taking a look at Google Spreadsheet Functions you won’t find in Microsoft Office. If you haven’t played around with Google Docs before, you probably haven’t realized the long list of functions that are available. We’ll be covering the following functions: Import Feed, Google Finance, Google Look-up, Import HTML, and Data Sort.

Before we get started, we wanted to mention that there aren’t really functions that can do things like this in Microsoft Office, but that’s not to say that it’s impossible to do. These functions are nice because all it takes is a simple formula and very little effort to get the results that you want.

If you have a favorite function in Google Spreadsheets, let us know in the comments below…

1. Import Feed

We’re not going to get into this one at great lengths because Digital Inspiration wrote a great article about how to turn Google Docs into an RSS reader and feed aggregator. It’s actually fairly simple to do. This function might be useful if you want to embed feeds from another site into yours. And because the spreadsheets are so customizable, you have quite a bit of control over the layout and how everything will look.

More info here

2. Google Finance

Another great function allows you to monitor your portfolio right from a spreadsheet in Google Docs. If you decide you’ll want to use the Google Finance function, you’ll probably want to take a look at the help page where Google explains how to do it. Essentially what you’ll need to do is enter the following in a cell on your spreadsheet:

=GoogleFinance("symbol","attribute");

So for example, if I wanted to follow the price of Microsoft stock, it would look like this:

=GoogleFinance("MSFT","price")

Different attributes that you could choose from include price, volume, etc.

3. Google Look-up

You’re probably familiar with Google Lookup as a way to quickly get information when you’re performing a search. You can also use Google look-up in a spreadsheet with the Google Lookup function. There are two parts to the formula that you’ll need – the entity and the attribute. If I wanted to know the population of Chicago and keep that information in a spreadsheet, the entity would be “Chicago” and the attribute would be “population”. I’d enter the following into a cell on the spreadsheet:

=GoogleLookup("chicago","population")

Once I entered the above information, the cell displayed that the population of Chicago was 2,871,499 and then had 2005 in parentheses so that I knew when the data was from.

The population of cities is always changing, and my spreadsheet would update when necessary, with the new information.

One last note, when you hover over a cell that has used the Google Look-up function, you will be able to see the source that Google used. Just note that you can’t use this function more than 250 times in one spreadsheet.

More info here

4. Import HTML

The Import HTML function is nice because it allows you to perform you own calculations on data you find on the web. It takes a little effort to do, but it could be worth it. Examples of data that you could import include a list or a table.

Maybe you find a table full of information on Wikipedia that you’d like to run calculations on or format differently. All you have to do is provide the URL to where the data is, know whether it’s a table or a list ( provide the tag), and then examine the source code (or just play around with the formula until you get the desired results) to see how many times the tag appears on the page before it’s used for the data you want.

Here’s an example. I found a table over at Wikipedia that displays weather averages for Chicago. It’s in table form (they used the table tag

), and then I looked at the source code to find that it’s the 4th table on the page. To get this information into my spreadsheet, I’d enter the following into a cell:

=ImportHtml("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago","table",4)

I included the URL for the location of my table, the structure (the fact it’s a table and not a list), and then the index of 4 which tells Google to look for the 4th table html tag, and it worked.

More info here

5. Data Sort

Last but not least is Data Sort. This is useful because instead of manually having to sort your data, you can set-up a function so that whenever your data changes and you add new information, Google Docs will resort it for you.

Imagine having three columns of data (located in columns A, B, and C respectively): in the first column is the person’s first name, the second column is the person’s last name, and the third column is the person’s phone number. Off to the side of the data (or on a new sheet) you could enter:

=SORT(A:C,2,TRUE,1,TRUE)

That says to sort the data in columns A through C, with the 2nd column (last name) being the primary sort option. By specifying the “TRUE” immediately after the “2″ it says to sort that column in ascending order, whereas “FALSE” means to sort in descending. Any columns that you don’t specify in the “SORT” function will be left unsorted, which in this example is what happened to the 3rd column (phone number).

Since this sorting function leaves the original data untouched you don’t have to worry about it changing things around on you. Ryan used this feature extensively in a spreadsheet he shares with our family that contains the addresses and contact information of everyone. Instead of explaining to people how they can manually sort the data on the spreadsheet, he just created a few different sheets (a.k.a. tabs) that each have the list of contacts sorted in different orders. If they want everyone sorted by last name they just have to flip to one sheet, or if they want to view the list by first name they open up a different sheet. To them it looks like he copied and pasted the information into several different sheets, but in reality he just uses this sort function to duplicate the contact information. Clever, huh?

More info here

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
MyFive: Google Spreadsheet Functions You Won’t Find in Microsoft Office

Related Posts:

MyFive: Package Tracking Widgets

Ryan — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:10:23 +0000

I don’t know about you, but these days I find myself buying more and more stuff online rather than going to the store. Most things are cheaper on the Internet if you spend the time looking for a bargain, and nowadays many places will ship things for free. The problem is trying to keep up with all of the packages you’re supposed to be receiving.

That’s why we had previously covered some of the best sites for tracking packages. As you can imagine having to go to a website is not necessarily the best way to do this, and that’s why we also wanted to highlight five widgets/gadgets that will bring the information to you. Each of the widgets listed below run on a different widget platform, and so there’s really something for everyone.

1. Delivery Status for Mac Dashboard [Homepage]

Supported carriers: Canada Post, DHL/AirBorne, FedEx, Japan Post, Royal Mail, Posten, Purolator, UPS, USPS, and more

This is one of the most advanced tracking widgets I’ve ever seen. Not only does it let you enter in your tracking number, but it also accepts order information for stores such as Apple, Amazon, and more. Plus if you use Growl you can enable desktop notifications.

(more…)

Related Posts:

MyFive: Where to Find Answers…

Ashley — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:54:59 +0000

Often times, the Internet is used for answering questions. A user goes to their search engine of choice, types in a question, and receives links that may direct them to the answer. Using this method doesn’t always work though, and so where is someone to go when they need an answer to a question? It doesn’t always take a professional expert to get an answer that you’re looking for, and so turning to a dedicated “answers” site is a often times a good solution. There are several answers sites out there, and most of them work by users submitting their questions and other users answering them. Today we’re taking a look at five different places you can go to find answers to your questions.

Yahoo Answers (link)

The first answer site that came to mind is Yahoo, because it’s actually my answer site of choice. I’ve never been one to ask or answer a question there, but I do browse through the topics that have been submitted and the answers that users have offered. You’d be amazed by how much you can learn. They originally started in 2005 and now they currently have over 500 million different answers available on the site. There’s a wealth of information that can be learned there!

Askville (link)

Before writing this, I hadn’t heard of Askville which was started by Amazon.com and opened to the public in late 2006. Just like Yahoo, it’s a place where the public can go to ask questions, answer, or discover. To help out with credibility, users can either gain or lose “experience points.” People are able to rate the answers that have been given, and eventually one answer is officially rated as “the best” based upon a five-star system.

Google Answers (link)

If Yahoo has an answers service, of course Google has to have one, right? Actually, Google came out with theirs first and Yahoo followed, but Yahoo’s has been much more successful. Google answers originally launched in 2002, but by November of 2006, Google had decided to permanently shut it down. It was quite a bit different from Yahoo in that whoever was asking the question would pay someone to get the answer or perform a search. The person asking the question would offer a price to get the job done and Google Answers Researchers found answers. While new questions can’t be submitted, they still make the archive of questions that had been asked and answered available to the public. Rumor has it that Google is even planning on bringing it back, but perhaps with a different business model.

Answers.com (link)

While I wouldn’t say Answers.com is the easiest site to navigate, they do have millions of topics available. Yahoo is the most popular answer service out there, but Answers.com comes in a close second. What’s nice with Answers.com is that if you go to ask a question, you will be directed to WikiAnswers (owned by Answers.com). If the question you submit has been asked before, you will be directed to the page that has a list of questions that have been asked previously that are related and you can see if there’s one that answers your question. Overall, Answers.com tends to be for the more practical questions.

WikiAnswers (link)

WikiAnswers is owned by Answers.com and provides a place where you can enter in your own question and have people respond. Those who respond aren’t experts, per say, they’re just people who want to contribute. As their logo says, it’s Q&A the Wiki way! Did you know that WikiAnswers used to be FAQ Farm until it was acquired in 2006? The mission of the site is “to enable anyone, anywhere, to ask a question on any topic in their own words and get a cooperatively written human answer.”

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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] [Mirror] [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.

Related Posts:

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

Related Posts:

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?

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

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

Related Posts:

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…

Related Posts:

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.

Related Posts:

CyberNet » MyFive

MyFive: Sources for Identifying Unknown Callers

MyFive: Things the iPhone Does Better Than Other Phones…

1. Battery Life

2. Browser

3. 3rd Party Applications

4. Usability

5. Overall Experience

MyFive: Things We Wished the iPhone 3G Had

1. More Than a 2 Megapixel Camera

2. A Flash for the Camera and Video Recording

3. Multimedia Messaging Service

4. A Replaceable Battery

5. 32GB Option

MyFive: Services Google Should Introduce

MyFive: Firefox 3 Chrome URL’s

1) Bookmarks Management

MyFive: Google Spreadsheet Functions You Won’t Find in Microsoft Office

1. Import Feed

2. Google Finance

3. Google Look-up

4. Import HTML

5. Data Sort

MyFive: Package Tracking Widgets

1. Delivery Status for Mac Dashboard [Homepage]

MyFive: Where to Find Answers…

Yahoo Answers (link)

Askville (link)

Google Answers (link)

Answers.com (link)

WikiAnswers (link)

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