smart computer use?

What is the difference?

I recently browsed the isles of a local HDTV dealer. There were walls that were many, many feet in length. Expansive isles of HDTV’s. There were many options. Many price differences. I saw many situations where two very similar HDTV’s were sitting next to each other, but each was priced on a wildly different level.

The difference? It’s the resolution of the HDTV’s that is different. The main point to recap this whole comparison is that if you don’t have an HDTV that is bigger than 50 inches you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between 720p vs 1080p.

Why the choice?

1080p is the top level spec to shoot for. 720p will suffice for now, and looks great, but will not be a great long term option.

1080p will probably be a better bet long term option for power savvy folk.

First and foremost, some people just want what’s considered the best spec on a TV. If you’re one of those people, spend the extra dough, you’ll feel better in the long run. Secondly, if you’re thinking of going big, really big (a 55-inch or larger screen), or you like to sit really close (closer than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement), the extra resolution may make it worth the difference–as long as you have a pristine, 1080i or 1080p HD source to feed into the set. And finally, it’s a good idea to go with 1080p if you plan to use your TV a lot as a big computer monitor.

720p is the most cost-effective option, and not necessarily the worst option.

If none of those factors jump out at you as true priorities–and you are working on a tight budget and want to save some dough–a 720p set is going to do you just fine. HD will still look great on your set, I swear. In fact, our current highest-scoring HDTV, the Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD, is a 720p, er–768p, model.

Read the entire source article here.

del.icio.us Digg Reddit blogmarks Help

Have you been a big fan of saving and organizing your emails into folders? Have you ever pondered this question? If not, you maybe should. Organizing emails into folders has long been a standard. There is now finally something that will allow us to break from that folder-use standard, and it is provided courtesy of Gmail.

Introducing Labels.

(cue the audience cheer track)

From Gmail Tips - The Complete Collection:

Labels. Gmail lets you assign a Label to a message and then view all messages assigned to that Label. Sounds a lot like the typical “Folder”, right? Well, almost. Unlike Folders, you can assign multiple Labels to a message letting the message span multiple categories. To better understand how Labels differ from Folders, consider the the real-world counterparts, and it should become clear.

Read the rest of the article to get a better explanation and tips on how to use the labels. It’s a fascinating yet kinda obvious concept. One of those things that just makes you wish it’d been available widely before. Before you got the folder system etched into your habits.

If this is a new concept to you, and your excited, wait til you see this: Colored labels. Look at that screen shot. A brilliant way of organizing email. Good stuff.

del.icio.us Digg Reddit blogmarks Help

You don’t need to buy an external hard drive. You might be able to build one for cheaper. You might be able to use existing hardware you have laying around to get off to a cheap start in building your own external hard drive.

It’s nearly 2008, and nearly all PCs are multimedia these days. Though not everyone’s PC harbors hundreds of downloaded movies, even the most workaholic business traveler has a few tunes for the road on his laptop. And if it’s not Hollywood movies and music taking up room on your system, then it’s personal photos and videos that are multiplying faster than bees around your picnic lunch. No longer constrained by the limitations of film, the average vacationer takes hundreds of snapshots or hours of video without thinking about where it will all be stored. Eventually, inevitably, you will run out of space and be faced with two options: Delete your precious memories and purchased content or upgrade your storage options. One quick and relatively easy way to get more room is to build an external hard drive. It is a great time to build one because hard drive memory is really cheap right now.

Read the rest here.

del.icio.us Digg Reddit blogmarks Help

Seth Godin makes a great a great point in his post about Data vs Software, claiming that we’re finally on the cusp of seeing web-aware software and applications that live on the web.

I’d love to see that. It’s gonna happen sooner or later. Now is as good of a time as ever. I would love to have applications that reference the vast amounts of data available on the web to make use of the application much easier.

Just think of all the times you’ve been using an application and you’ve had to hop onto the web to download and manually retrieve information or add-ons to the app. Most apps could benefit from a little bit of data retrieval from the web, making use of the app easier. ThinkGeneology.com has a great related article about the convergence of web software and desktop software, touching on the topic of Rich Internet Applications. Good stuff.

Back to Seth’s post, if you’re looking for a good source for seeing what’s available for Firefox add-ons, he’s got a great link in that post as well. Check it out.

del.icio.us Digg Reddit blogmarks Help

There are certain video games that are addicting. Some call for video gamers anonymous. There are computer programs that are addicting.

There are also arguments that video games aren’t addicting.

There are also websites that are addicting. Facebook can become an addiction. Any interactive type of website can become an addiction at some point, if it provides users with enough features and games to sit and be addicted to it for hours on end.

The real idea is to just use everything in moderation. But, sometimes you gotta quit something to remove it’s burden.

Maybe your affinity for Facebook began with a simple desire to keep in touch with your friends, or make new ones online. Or perhaps you were just bored. But now Facebook is the thorn in your side, and possibly a bona fide addiction. If you’re finding it difficult to spend an hour of your waking life without checking or thinking about Facebook, you may be looking for a way out. This is it.

Read the article at wikiHow.

del.icio.us Digg Reddit blogmarks Help