Finally, there’s a laptop customized for kids: the Peewee PC.  Before the Peewee PC, parents were concerned about their child’s security online along with the well-being of the laptop.  Another parental concern was how long will the laptop last since Kids have been known to throw around laptops.  Also, regular laptops needed to be customized to keep childrens’ attention spans - quicker boot times, easy-to-click desktop links to Dora the Explorer or The Wiggles.  

Now, the Peewee PC is the ultimate kid-friendly laptop.  This netbook only costs $600 and includes a multitude of customizable specs:

• Kids Windows XP theme (Disney, Sports, etc.)
• Custom-built for your child’s age, name, and interests
• Waterproof keyboard and can withstand drops and accidents
• The small 8.9″ LCD is a pivot, tablet, touch screen for little fingers to navigate
• Under 3 lbs and has a 5 hour battery life for the mobile kids
• Anti-virus and anti-spyware
• Age-Targeted software

The reviews thus far have been stellar.  Parents love how there children are improving their vocabulary, hand-eye coordination.  The company says the laptop is intended for 2-year olds and up.  However, we’d recommend more like 4 or 5-year olds as a minimum since a 2 year-old might just want to throw it around and watch the smoke appear.  Keep this in mind for the young ones since this netbook sure beats buying a regular computer at the same cost or more, and spending tons of computer tech time to tweak it to be kid-friendly.

Blackberries are extremely easy to use for e-mailing, Internet browsing, and phone calling.  But, you’ll want to liven it up a bit by installing 3 must-have applications:

1. Opera mini - This quick browser allows you to open up sites with javascript - the default Blackberry browser doesn’t.
2. Viigo - A great news feed that allows you to check out news, sports, weather, and breaking news
3. Google Sync - If you use Gmail, you’ll love this.  It will take your gmail contacts and sync them to your Blackberry so you can automatically click on your contact to e-mail.  Your calendar will be synced to.

There are many cool apps you can run on your Blackberry.  You don’t have to be a computer tech to know how to do it.  Just make sure you don’t get overloaded or else your phone will run slowly.  If you find yourself running out of space, you can install a microSD card for more space. 

Windows 7 is still in development, but has promising advantages over Vista.  It boots up faster, is more stable, and best of all will be able to run Windows XP applications.  The biggest problem with Vista was the inability to run older applications or hardware that was only compatible with XP or previous versions.  Windows 7 surpasses this issue by including a virtualization that allow Windows XP programs to be run within version 7.

That means if you have Quickbooks, Microsoft Office, or a printer only intended for Windows XP, you can still use them allo.  So, you won’t have to buy new software or hardware to run within Windows XP.  By the way, Vista products will also be able to run in version 7.

This virtualization will be available for the Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7.  As of now, it will not be rolled out in the operating system CD, but will be included in a Windows update download.  This is a huge breakthrough for those die-hard Windows XP fans that can’t stand Vista or beyond.  This means they can easily use their current software and peripherals without having to shell out the cash to upgrade.

This virtualization, or ability to be compatible with previous operating system versions, is a huge plus and should make for an easy computer upgrade to Windows 7 even for those non tech computer guys.

If you just upgraded to Vista, and have an old printer to connect, you might be hitting a wall right now.  Typically, older legacy printer, a.k.a. not compatible with Vista, are not able to work with Windows Vista.  These are printers that you bought with Windows XP.

If you install a non-Vista printer on a Vista computer, you’ll get an incompatible message like “PCL6 driver was not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer.”  This message basically means you can throw out your old printer.  But, before you throw out your printer, there’s actually a fix.

Here are the steps to take to install your old printer on your Windows Vista computer:

1. Click on Start and type in: gpedit.msc and hit Enter
2. In the Group Policy Object Editor, go under the Computer Configuration section and select Administrative Templates, and the select Printers
3. On the right side, select Disallow Installation of Printers Using Kernel-mode Drivers.  Set the status to Disabled.
4. Close the window and restart your computer.

By disabling this policy, you are essentially alowing kernel-mode drivers.  Translation: you can use non-Vista printers on a Vista computer!  Before buying a new printer, you can try the above steps to continue using your old computer.

Lots of spyware infultrate computers nowadays.  Spyware can slow down your computer, throw pop-ups on your computer, or at the worst steal your information.  It’s not easy manually removing these malicious infections.  There are many different types of software that are supposed to remove spyware, but one of the top anti-spyware software packages is SuperAntiSpyware.

Yes, this software name sounds like it might be some hoax that will get  you to install it, possibly leading to more spyware infections.  But, SuperAntiSpyware gets ride of trojans, adware, viruses, website redirectors, and other infections.  It has a free version that works well.  The paid version constantly monitors for spyware and gets rid of malicious items instantly.  This is definitely a good tech software to keep in your toolchest.

It’s not easy staying up with the top digital cameras available on the market.  The key nowadays is buying a portable digital camera that you can tuck away easily while still having a sharp picture.  We tested many portable cameras that are lightweight, but miss the spot when it comes to clear, unfuzzy, and non-red-eyed pics.  Many cameras have the easy auto-focus button, but several cameras don’t have a long enough zoom or can’t overcome action shots.

The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS meets all of the above.  It’s portable, can see far at 12x zoom, has crisp shots at 12 megapixels, and most importantly has auto-correction for red eyes and blurryness.  Most cameras can zoom from 3x - 5x.  This camera has a remarkable 12x zoom lense.  We put the camera to the test and was actually able to see the dibits and crevices of the moon on a clear night.  It has the standard Li-ion battery that charges up from an outlet.  A memory card may be thrown in for picture and video taking. 

Another feature this Canon has is a bright flash.  We put this flash to the test on a pitch black night, and was still able to see all 10 friends’ faces with a dark background.  The flash is a separate component that rises up from the top for extra light.

This camera is truly one of a kind at $350.  It is like a professional digital camera, but in a portable fashion.  And best of all, you don’t have to be a tech consultant guru to know how to set up the machinery.

It is very time consuming to organize your Outlook e-mail contacts.  Every time you receive an e-mail, you have to decide if you’ve updated the contact info already, and then manually type the text into your Outlook contacts.  This may only take a few minutes to perform, but it takes your focus away from your task at hand, and adds up in tedious time lost with all of your data entry.

Gwabbit looks to solve this manual data entry boredom.  Gwabbit is an Outlook plug-in that instantly adds a new contact with associated info.  Here’s how it works.  Gwabbit is a software that is installed.  After the software installation, itresides at the top of your Outlook toolbar next to send/receive and other buttons.  When a new e-mail comes in, Gwabbit automatically adds the contact, e-mail, address, phone number, etc. to your Outlook contacts list.  If the contact is already in your list, it will look for any new info/updates and add accordingly.  You can also decide if you want to manually change or approve edits.

The cool factor is how Gwabbit works.  It uses algorithms to glean the information within the e-mail, producing efficient results.  For instance, it will check the e-mail signature and info within the text of the e-mail to uncover the contact info, and then associate the text within the correct fields of Outlook.

The drawback is that you can only use Gwabbit for new e-mails.  It won’t automatically grab all of your current / old e-mails.  You can go back to grab old contacts, but only on an e-mail by e-mail selection.  Further, if your anti-virus stamps every e-mail at the bottom of each incoming e-mail, this could fool Gwabbit into thinking this is your contact’s signature.

You may try a 14-day trial which allows up to 20 contacts, or splurge $20 for the full version.   It is an easy program to install and does not take a tech guru to operate it.

The white macbook is a great mac.  However, there is a limitation with the macbook that came out in 2007 - specifically the macbook 3,1 with a core processor, 512MB - 1GB RAM, and was installed with Tiger 10.4.  You may have this model come with up to 120GB of hard drive storage.

The issue with this macbook is that if your hard drive fails, then your hard drive upgrade can only upgrade up to a maximum of 250GB storage.  The firmware on this mac doesn’t allow it to be upgraded past 250GB of storage.  So, if you try to install a 320GB SATA Hard drive, it won’t work.  You can try to slave it to another mac to ensure it’s FAT or HTFS+ format, or try to boot via target mode, or try to rig it with the disk utility function.  The fact of the matter is that the firmware of the mac is not able to handle higher than a 250GB hard drive.  So, don’t waste your time!  Grab a 250GB hard drive and a coke and have a nice day.

You can call this one of Apple’s encouragement motives to ensure mac users cannot keep upgrading their current 2-3 year old laptop, and not buy a new mac.

Microsoft Exchange 2010 is going to be released at the end of 2009.  Exchange is used for business e-mail.  Specifically, it is hosted on a company server so users may share and collaborate contacts, calendars, e-mails, and public folders.  It is a great way to administer company e-mail accounts.

The new Exchange will have the same features as the previous Exchange versions, but adds some new, courteous add-ons.  These convenient, courtesy functions, include being able to “mute” conversations.  For instance, if you’re included on an internal e-mail with many others, you may take yourself off future emails or replies from this conversation.

Also, the new Exchange 2010 will prevent you from making mistakes through its “MailTips” feature.  If you’re sending an e-mail without a subject or body, it will tell you.  Or if you’re sending to a large distribution list which might trigger spam filters, it will ask if you’re sure about this.  A good feature is being able to view your archived e-mail folders from multiple computers.  This is a good thing if you have too many e-mails counting towards your size limit.  Then, you can create a separate email folder that is still accessible to other computers or users by Exchange 2010.

Exchange 2010 is a worthy upgrade due to the last feature of having a secondary personal folder that is still accessible by other computers.

The Windows 7 beta version is a very good version of Windows.  If you haven’t heard, Windows 7 is the next version of Windows coming out.  Microsoft that this version will better the Vista debacle.  Although Vista is pretty stable right now, it has had trouble regaining the confidence of computer users.  So, Microsoft is trying to push out the latest release of Windows 7 as fast as possible.

The beta version of Windows 7 was available for release months ago.  It is no longer available on the Microsoft site.  For those lucky ones who use the Windows 7 beta version, apparently Microsoft released that there is not an easy way to upgrade from the Windows beta 7 version to Windows 7 full version.  There are several complicated steps to follow to perform the upgrade.  Further, Microsoft recommends to avoid performing the upgrade from the beta version if possible and just use Vista for now.

We haven’t performed the upgrade as of yet since the full Windows 7 version is not available, but if Microsoft says it will be a troublesome upgrade, we’ll take their word for it.  Try to skip this computer upgrade and just install a clean Windows install of version 7 when it comes out.  Avoid this tech issue if you can.