Bing is yet another search engine, i.e. Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, MSN, AOL, etc.  This is Microsoft’s new search that is supposed to rule the search engine world.  Will it really?

Bing cames out at the end of May 2009 as the replacement for Live Search.  It’s notable features are:

• Search suggestions in real-time while typing in your search
• Related search offerings on the left-side of the screen
• Ability to save and share search histories
• Daily background image changes of high resolution worldly places
• Video thumbnails play in preview just by hovering over video with cursor
• Instant answers to questions - sports score, stock quote, plane departure time
• Local info is displayed like Google Maps

Overall, Bing has it all.  Lots of functionality.  And the background displays are really quite a site, pun and misspelling intended.  It’s worth giving it a shot and your technical support brain will not need to navigate far in being able to get the info you need.

It’s nice to know how many calories you burn while you work out.  Or to know how many miles you run.  Yes, you can calculate this on the treadmill or stairmaster, but now you can calculate lots of workout numbers while working on multiple machines and activities.

The Nike + iPod Sport Kit turns your iPod, iPod Touch, or iPhone into your personal fitness trainer.  This kit hooks up a wireless sensor under your Nike sneaker sole and your iPod or iPhone acts as the receiver or brains.  Then, you can track your fitness performance real-time during your workout. 

The Nike Sport Kit tracks the following:

1. calories
2. distance
3. time
4. pace
5. milestones achieved

The cool factor arises after the workout when you can sync all of your real-time data to your Mac or PC.  As you get deeper into your workouts, you’ll be able to measure how your results fared against your goals.

The tech support difficulty is nill, and best of all, for only $29, you truly have technology working for your own personal health goals.

The new iPhone showcases what is probably the most in-depth video of any phone.  Not only does it take crystal-clear video, but it can also edit photos on the fly.

If you’d rather set your photo in a classic look, don’t worry - change the color pic to a black and white one.  If you want to give a posterized look, no prob - go for it.  This edit on the fly ability allows for not only quick, impromtu photos, but quick edits for sharing without requiring a computer.  This advanced editing mode truly allows the iPhone user to be fully functional with e-mailing polished pic.

The video is extremely clear and may hold as much as he iPhone’s memory can handle, typically up to 1 hour of video.   Your current iPhone may be updated to utilize the cool photo features.  However, only the new iPhone 3GS will provide the new video feature.  And you don’t have to be a mac genius to work the video!

Microsoft Silverlight is a software that usually gets installed after its randomly advertised through another Microsoft product.  If you install the new Microsoft Office 2007 suite, chances are a pop-up will advertise also installing Microsoft Silverlight.

What is Microsoft Silverlight?  It’s a flash player.  Just like Adobe has the Adobe Flash Player, Silverlight is Microsoft’s competing software.  Is it a worthy software to install?  Heck, no!  the only time you are forced to install Silverlight is when using NetFlix for instant viewing of movies.  Other than that, stick with Adobe’s software - it’s quicker and seems to work fine.  Maybe Silverlight is slower because it has some security software package built into it.  Silverlight is not needed, but if you feel like exploring, go for it.

It’s a free software like Adobe’s Flash Player.  But, free doesn’t mean it’s good.  There’s not anything in particular we dislike about it except for Microsoft again playing second fiddle to a software that already worked perfectly fine before.

The iPhone has improved upon its battery life with the new 3G release.  However, once you start watching a movie; listening to an album; or play a few games, you start to realize that you’re almost running on battery fumes.  The Mophie juice pack air has resolved the dreaded power issue of the iPhone.  After charging it up, it gives you double the battery juice of your current iPhone battery. 

Here are the cool factors with this rechargeable battery case:

• It charges via USB and doesn’t require the iPhone during charging.
• The device is slim and fits around your iPhone like a glove, acting like a protective layer
• Provides 4 indicator lights to see when you’re running low
• You can double your current battery life while using your iPhone
• Mophie will first use its battery to deplete, so you can still have a fully charged iPhone afterwards
• Did we mention it’s purple?!  Or the classic white and black.

 The InCase Power Slider was the first type of extra battery power that was produced for the iPhone.  We feel the Mophie is far more superior for the following reasons:

• Mophie has longer battery life.
• InCase Power Slider gets very hot to the touch.
• Power Slider has a complicated sync process when connected.  The mophie doesn’t need as much tech support.
• Power Slider is a little bigger and heavier.

The one advantage the Power Slider has is that it physically protects more of the iPhone casing than the Mophie.  But, this product is meant for giving more of a battery charge, not for scratch-protection.

It’s tough to shop for Dad on his big Father’s Day.  Another tie or pair of pants just doesn’t cut it.  How about simplifying his computer world by getting him a snazzy Gadget4All all-in-one mouse pad?!  The snazzy factor is that it includes 4 USB ports, 2 sounds ports, and may play your iPod or other mp3 player via its audio connection.

This is a great gift since it reduces cable clutter and adds 4 more accessible USB ports.  We say accessible because usually USB ports are hard to reach since they’re in the back of your computer.  With the USB ports on top of your desk within your mouse pad, you can easily connect and disconnect without reaching far under your desk. 

At $22, this tech gadget is definitely a worthy purchase.  By the way, this mouse pad also rolls up easily if you want to use it for your laptop on the go.  As a final thought, there is no tech setup.  You just plug the mouse pad into one of your computer USB ports, and it’s ready to go!

Taking notes while on the go is not easy.  It’s tough to find a pen and piece of paper all the time.  And after you jot down the note, its easy to misplace where you put it.  Microsoft had a post-it note program that worked well for a while where you would simply hit a shortcut key and then you can write the post-it note.  Then, it would appear on a yellow sticky note square on your screen or you can minimize it.  Now, with so many mobile devices and work and home computers, the electronic post-it note seemed to lose its luster due its inability to be available at all times.

Now, Evernote has transcended the electronic post-it note by allowing e-notes to be available to all electronic devices, such as PCs, macs, iPhones, and Blackberries.  All you do is jot down your note; then it syncs your info across your computers and phones for you to look at later.  You can try Evernote for free for up to 40MB per month or pay only $5 per month for up to 500MB.  A cool feature is being able to take pictures from your phone and then later having Evernote decode it for text in instances of business cards or magazine pages.  Best of all, you don’t have to be a computer support specialist to know how to work it.

We have wireless routers, hotspots, national and international broadband, and now we have the MiFi!  The Verizon MiFi 2200 has catapulted 2009 as the year where computer users will experience a whole new convenience with the Internet.  This little contraption is the size of a credit card and instantly give you a wireless hotspot wherever you are.  All you have to do is power it on and you can connect up to 5 devices, including: Macs, PCs, iPhones, Blackberries, and other systems that may use WiFi (wireless). 

Essentially, the MiFi 2200 acts as a wireless router by providing 5 connections, and it doubles as a modem or broadband connection by passing along an Internet connection.  The best advantage of this network device is that you don’t have to physically connect it like you would a broadband card.  It is a stand-alone device that may be connected to by simply finding its network, punching it the encrypted password found on the back of it, and voila, you’re on the Internet.  No software or advanced tech support experience is needed.

This pocketable device is truly wireless.  When you connect to it, there are absolutely no wires or power cables.  It has up to 4 hours usage for 1 device and 40 hours standby.  It takes 2.5 hours to charge the device by power outlet or 8 hours to charge via USB cable.  The only downfall is this device has not fully reached today’s wireless potential since it only provides wireless G speeds and not the faster wireless N speed we have today.

After a $50 rebate, you pay $99.99 for the equipment and may pay either $39.99/month for 250MB or $59.99/month for 5GB.  Or you may pay $269.99 for the equipment and just pay $15 for “day passes.” 

Overall, the MiFi 2200 gets 2 thumbs up for innovation, portability, and meeting our overall wireless demands.  It can, however, be improved upon by increasing its speed to wireless N and increasing its battery usage.

It is difficult to pick a good backup software for Windows.  Why?  Because there are so many of them!  The key is find a good backup software that will first back up all of your files, and then automatically back up any changes made to your files over time.  Also, you’ll need another computer or preferably an external hard drive to copy you files over to.  This backup process allows your files to be recovered in advance in case your computer crashes.  This is a much better alternative than paying for possibly costly data recovery services.

The top backup software for Windows is Second Copy.  This software does exactly what you’d want.  It backs up your files and also backs up any changes.  The cool factor is it allows you to set up the schedule you’d like for it to look to back up changes.  So, if you’re a Windows user that doesn’t use the computer so often, you can decide to back up any changes every week or month.  If you’re an avid computer user, then you may set it up to back up nightly. 

The back up process happens in the background so once you set up the automated back up schedule, you can forget about it!  Second Copy only costs $30 and works on all Windows workstations.  It can be backed up from a computer or across the network.  It is very robust and is a steal for its low price.

Ubuntu, the anti-Windows and anti-mac operating system, will offer automatic file syncing between computers in its new release, Ubuntu 9.04, a.k.a Jaunty Jackalope.  For those computers users looking for an easy way to share files from computers, or to just be at the same updated levels in terms of information, this file synchronization feature is a huge step.

Basically, when you make changes to any of the files stored in a folder, the modifications are automatically uploaded to a web service and then back to the other computers in your computer network or home network.  You can get up to 2GB for free or pay $10 / month for 10GB.  In the future, Ubuntu might also offer syncing for application data and preferences and software.  For now, the file saving feature to other computers is just for files. 

This feature has not yet been offered in other operating systems which makes the free Ubuntu operating system a more appealing option.  But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  PCs and Macs are still more robust and just more comfortable to use at this time.  We feel Ubuntu will have to allow Mac and PC software to be compatible with its system before computer users start pushing the trend more to Ubuntu.