Cheap Laptops, Computer Keyboards, and Technology
Archive for June, 2010
How to Build Your Own 3D Laser Scanner
Jun 30th
A 3D laser scanner is a relatively recent innovation that takes advantage of simple hardware to create stunning three-dimensional scans of objects and people. Surprisingly obtaining a 3D laser scanner is not as difficult or expensive as it would seem. Once setup, a 3D laser scanner can make remarkable life-like three-dimensional scans of an item for export into a 3D graphics program
What You Need To Build A 3D Laser Scanner
The materials needed for a person to setup their own laser scanner are relatively simple. A backdrop composed of boards, a web cam, a line laser, and specialty software is all that’s required. Two approaches can be taken to assembling a 3D scanner. For the do it yourself type the hardware can be sourced and assembled at home. With this approach the only specialty item needed will be the software.
For those that prefer a less hands on approach kits are available that contain everything required and only require assembly. Regardless of the approach taken the results are three-dimensional images, which can then be used in 3D graphics program. The image can then be further manipulated. These images created in this fashion can be of great use to 3D artists and save hours of tedious recreation of objects. The generation of 3D scanned objects also allows for a world of manipulation possibilities once imported into a 3D graphics program. The imagination is now the artist’s only limit.
With a small investment in funds and time any 3D artist can have a 3D laser scanner of their own. The equipment and software are actually now so affordable that anyone can justify getting a setup of their very own, even if 3D art is only a hobby. For hobby or professional use 3D art will never be the same since this technology is so readily available and can be used for so many different and exciting uses.
Indoor Solar Lights: A New Technology?
Jun 16th
It should be no surprise that technology keeps evolving. A few years ago there was a huge trend on solar outdoor lighting because it had a few major advantages compared to conventional low voltage lighting. You are saving money, it’s easier to install and you also do some good to the environment. A few years later there are companies offering the first indoor solar lights for your convenience, but are solar lights for indoor use really a good idea?
How Does Solar Lighting Work?
Actually an indoor solar light is not that different from any other solar lamp that you use outdoors. Most designs are made so you can use them both indoors and outdoors but actually that is true for almost any lamp. The problems lays in the fact that you will still need direct sunlight in order to charge the batteries of the indoor lamp.
For this you should at least have some big windows catching a lot of sunlight. If your windows are not catching any sunlight than you can not use these lamps. But even if your house does receive a lot of sunlight than you are still limited to the use of these lamps because you have to place the solar collectors somewhere where there is sun and in most homes this is the window opening.
Yet another disadvantage is the fact that you are working with wires again. The solar collector needs to be connected to the indoor lamp and it is with a wire. The major advantage of outdoor solar lighting was that you could easily install them without any wiring and this advantage is lost when you use them indoors.
So although they are indeed available and they are indeed good for the environment, they are not yet evolved enough so we can use them on a large scale and replace our conventional lamps.
How to Get a Free PS3
Jun 14th
The Play Station 3 is one of the most popular game consoles. It boasts of superior graphics, audio, motion sensor controllers, capabilities in networking, and wide array of games. Since its release in the United States and other parts of the world, it has gained thousands, even millions of positive reviews from retailers, gaming enthusiasts and regular consumers alike.
Why Would You Want a PS3?
Among all the other gaming consoles available in the market today, the Play Station 3 has the most number of games that can be played. These games include games suitable for children, for families, for teens and adults, as well as games for the hardcore gamers. There is no doubt that the PS3 tops in the list when it come
s to the overall gaming experience.
PS3 Features
The PS3 is equipped with accessories such as the motion sensor controllers, a memory card adapter, and HDMI or High Definition Multimedia Interface cable and a Blu-Ray remote control. Other than play games, the PS3 can also play high definition videos from a Blu-Ray disc, CD’s, and DVD’s because it has a built in Blu-Ray high definition disc player.
How to Win a Free PlayStation 3 Online
Along with the demand come the opportunities to win or get a free PS3 console and games online. For some people, this is a scam. However, there are several legitimate websites that give you the chance to win this one of a kind game console.
The most common way to get your freebie is to sign up and answer survey questions online. These websites often require you to register and answer various surveys. Big companies now resort to conducting online surveys to do their market research. While some of them pay in cash, there are companies and websites that give freebies instead. One of the most popular freebies is the PS3 because of the high demand for the product.
Another popular way of getting a free Playstation 3 is to sign up on a company’s website and try out their products. Some products are sold for a low price but most are free. This is also part of a company’s advertising scheme and you just have to accumulate points in order to qualify you for the free gifts. Referral systems are also very popular. As soon as you register and answer questions or try out offers, you can refer your friends and family members. Every referral will earn you points and the more you refer, the faster you get your free gifts.
As with every product and gimmicks online, you should also be vigilant in joining any websites. While there are many legitimate websites, the internet has also become a haven for scammers. Be wary of websites who makes you pay for registration or collects any kind of fees so you can answer surveys and try sample products. Legitimate companies never ask for registration fees or any other fees of this nature. The only payment you should be making is when you are making a purchase for a product. Most of all, legitimate companies do not ask for your social security numbers and credit card and bank information. If you find one, stay away from that site because that is likely to be a scam.
High-Speed Trading Demands High-Speed Networks
Jun 14th
As high frequency algorithmic trading becomes increasingly prevalent across the world’s stock markets, demand has been constantly growing for faster connectivity between the major financial centers.
In a bid to satisfy some of this demand, the UK firm Exponential-e recently upgraded its international network so that round-trip latency times between Frankfurt, London, New York and Chicago have been cut considerably. For example, it is now possible to send financial messages from London to New York and back again in just 67.8 milliseconds (that’s thousandths of a second), a figure that was previously unheard of.
Why is this important? Well, for a high frequency trader, it is all about speed of execution. If you can send an order to an exchange and receive your execution back faster than your competitors, you stand a much better chance of profiting from that transaction.
Exponential-e, based in the city of London, has optimized its network specifically for high frequency traders, with connections to all the major exchanges, trading venues and financial data centers, in all four locations mentioned previously.
The firm is not alone in its provision of such services however. There are a number of other providers seeking to capitalize on the growth of high
frequency trading by offering similar network services. Firms such as Atrium Network, Savvis and Radianz are also bringing their round-trip latency figures down between the major financial centers.
The Future of High Speed, High Frequency Trading
Although it is a competitive market for these next-generation network providers, the demand for such services doesn’t look like it is going away any time soon. High frequency trading now accounts for 70% of all US equities volume according to some estimates, and the volumes are growing rapidly in Europe and Asia too. In fact, just last week, Singapore Exchange announced a $250 million upgrade to its trading systems and supporting infrastructure.
High speed trading demands high speed technology and there is no shortage of high-tech firms competing with each other to supply that.
How To Find The Best Blogging Host
Jun 13th
Blogging is becoming very popular these days, and people are using fewer and fewer e-mails to stay in contact with their friends and family. An easy way to tell people about your everyday life is instead of a long distance phone call, starting your blog allows you to write on a regular basis. This alone will help you save money, because being on the phone for long hours can be expensive, and a blog is really interactive, with comments allowed from your friends and family.
If you are serious about blogging, you shouldn’t look for the free hosts. Free web hosting services offer severely limited features, often use annoying advertisements, and can limit your possibilities almost as much as a text message would. Instead, get your own hosting account and a domain name and you are free to do whatever you want – it doesn’t even cost much these days.
Features of Good Web Hosting Providers
The biggest problem is to find the best blogging host that doesn’t come with a too large price tag, but is also reliable and comes packed with all the features that you want and need. The first thing that you need to look at is the type of hosting that they offer – you are most likely going to be well off starting with a shared hosting account, but you want to be sure that the same host offers reseller accounts, and VPS accounts as well so you can upgrade if your blog hits it big.
Also, if a hosting company only gives out shared accounts, they most likely aren’t in control of their servers and in case any problems should emerge, the customer service is going to take long time to get it fixed, as they will have to contact someone else to do it for them.
Best Blogging Platforms
What you also need to make sure is that they come with an easy way of installing WordPress or Joomla – the two biggest blogging platforms on the web. Having the Fantastico Control Panel is another thing that is a sign of a good web host. With these two under control, you are going to have a hosting account that you can use for years to come.
Cost of Blogging Hosts
Normally you don’t want to pay anything more than $10 per month, but there are reliable hosting companies that offer high quality unlimited hosting plans for less than $6. Unlimited means that you will have unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disc space, and you can add unlimited new domains to the same account. By paying more months in advance you can usually use a coupon code to save some real money in long term.
Outdoor Motion Sensor Alarms for Home and Apartment Safety
Jun 11th
One of the most useful home security devices gaining popularity is the outdoor motion sensor alarm. These days you will not be able to leave your home in peace with locked doors and valuables inside. Traditional alarms are easily overridden by experienced burglars, and even key-entry alarm systems are a pain to continually set, so homeowners often leave the alarm system off, rendering it completely useless in the event of an actual burglary.
Why Motion Sensor Alarms?
To ensure safety you can install outdoor motion sensor alarms, which will alert owners of any potential intruders into the house. These automated sensors are able to automatically watch and raise alarm whenever any motion is detected where there should be no motion.
They also function effectively during the dark when human eye will not be able to detect movements. Thieves are experienced at moving about almost completely silently, but even they have to move, which a motion detector can sense.
Greatest Targets for Theft
Most often burglars look for easy prey, and they especially like to work on houses where there are no people. They look out for houses that with occupants away on vacation, with quick entry and exit options. Expert thieves are extremely quick – often, they are in and out of a house with all the valuables in tow, in under ten minutes.
If the house has a tight security system and heavy locks they will likely move on, looking for easier targets. They do not wish to spend their time and take the risk with a good alarm system.
They also like to go to houses where the people may not be able to react easily. For example, they may target houses where there are only old people or patients who may have less mobility. In such cases, you need to have these motion sensors to protect your home and valuables in the event where the inhabitants won’t be able to protect themselves even if they see the intruders.
By installing an apartment alarm system or house alarm system, you will have the following advantages: you don’t have to manually keep watching for trespassers. Motion detectors are excellent at detecting only human movement – bad weather will not set off the alarm. And even if nobody is at home, the alarm will terrify the intruder and cause him to discard his intentions. Unlike humans the outdoor motion sensor alarm will function for 24 hours without break which means this is a non-stop security all the time.
Canon Pixma Printer Review
Jun 11th
The latest addition to the Pixma series of Canon is the ip4600, a color inkjet printer that is both cheap and functional. Although it lacks additional features and can be very slow in printing documents, it is considered as a good buy for those who are in a budget, especially given its price tag of under $100.
The Canon Pixma IP4600 prints well on plain paper. Although the text printing can take quite some time – about 7 pages in one minute – there is no question that the text look crisp and black on all types of fonts. While the photos printed from this model look pale and grainy, they are still better than those printed from other units. It is a good thing that Canon has improved its photo paper allowing photos printed from the ip4600 to look better with more realistic tones and better details. The printer also delivers about 2 pages of full color photos in under a minute.
Despite the fairly good printing output of the printer, the printing costs are quite inexpensive. A monochrome page is printed at a cost of 4 cents, while full colored photos are printed at about 12 cents. The main drawback of the Canon Pixma IP4600 printer, however, is the lack of luxurious add-ons like memory card slots and LCD screen. Fortunately, Canon made up for the lack of a LCD screen by flashing error messages and printing status on the computer screen. This should be able to help users since the unit only have two buttons to work on the front panel of the printer.
While these are luxuries that any computer user would love to have, the ip4600 is considered a good deal for its simple yet highly reliable printing. The replacement ink cartridges are also a lot cheaper than those of other models, so those who don’t have the money to spend can settle for this one.
How to Make Simple PC Repairs
Jun 7th
Running your own PC repairs is something which everybody should feel confident about trying. If your source patches and advice from the correct sources then it should be possible to repair most issues for yourself. This article looks at some best practices in PC repairs along with PC repair software.
When issues do arise it is important to approach any PC repairs in a logical manner.
- The first critical task is to establish if you have your personal/system data backed up. If your computer was to completely stop working would you lose all your work? If the PC is still running and it is possible to back up your system then do this straight away.
- Do not rush into a resolution. Research the symptoms of the fault on reputable online sites (Microsoft, support sites for the faulty application, etcetera). Invariably, other users have experienced the same issues and there should be a paper trail of workarounds attempted and patch fixes.
- Consider any computer changes that were made prior to the fault occurring. If you had installed new software it is possible that it corrupted the registry or impacted other applications. In which case, removing the installed application may remedy the issue.
- If the root cause is a mystery then run an anti-virus scan. A computer virus can adversely impact other applications and internet connectivity so should always be considered a possible cause of faults.
- If your research brought up some patches/workarounds then attempt these PC repairs while keeping track of the changes you make.
Options for Automated PC Repair
If you wish to automate the process then there is a growing trend in PC repair software for fixing file system and registry issues. Of the current batch, the free tool CCleaner is widely used for cleaning registry files of redundant/orphaned registry keys. Commercial tools like Registry Easy take this one step further by repairing and optimizing the registry (the focal point of many software and operating system faults). Other tools like the Reimage PC repair service scan the registry and file system for faults that it can repair using online repository of healthy/up-to-date files.
After a manual fix has been tried, and PC repair software used, the last resort is to call upon a PC technician to further analyze the fault to your computer.
Choosing a Fixed Projector Screen
Jun 6th
If you are setting up your home theater with a projector, you will need to make decision on not only the type of projector to buy but also what type of screen would best suit your needs. Many people opt for the affordable fixed projector screen, especially if their home theater is separate from their main living areas and a screen would not look out of place on the wall. Others opt for a retractable screen, especially if it is in a room that is used for other purposes aside from viewing.
Fixed projector screens are mounted on the wall, usually surrounded by a light weight screen made of aluminum. This is probably the cheapest style of screen you can buy, as there are no motorized or extra parts that would add to the expense.
Deciding on a Projector’s Screen Size
One of the first decisions you will need to make once you have decided on the type of screen to buy is how large the screen should be. There are many factors to take into consideration, including the type of projector you will use, the size of the room, and the general seating arrangement of the room.
With so many variables, there are no hard and fast rules therefore it is probably in your best interest to avail yourself of the help of professionals who have made calculators available online for this very purpose. Most of the online calculators are very easy to use, all you have to do is type in your specifications and they will give you suggested options for the size of screen best suiting your particular needs.
As a general rule of thumb, home theaters usually do best with a screen size of anywhere from 84″ to 92″ in width. If you go wider than that the quality of the picture will deteriorate unless you have a very high end projector. Large screens also use up your projector lamp more rapidly, and these are fairly expensive to replace.
If you are in the process of buying a fixed projector screen, I highly recommend you do your research and also use the handy online calculators to determine what the best size is for you.
Motorstorm PS3 Game Review
Jun 6th
Motorstorm PS3 is a racing type of video game developed by Evolution Studios. Its aim is to win a series of off-road races and to emerge as the overall winner of the festival.
How Motorstorm for PS3 Works
The players control the different types of vehicles during the race. These vehicles are usually seven in number and you take control of any of them. Some of these vehicles are rally cars, big rigs, dirt bikes, ATVs, racing trucks, buggies and mudpluggers. You choose the vehicle that you feel you can race well with against other racers.
Each of these vehicles has its strength and weakness. There are those that can move at high speed while others can easily go past the obstacles and limited spaces. The big rigs can sustain speed and are more durable though they have poor acceleration and handling.
The events happen in real time. Some of these events include mud, tire marks, car crash, and lose of control. There are obstacles such as bumps, jumps, cliffs, ledges, mudpits, and other cars on the race track. You are always in the middle of vehicles trying to push your way through and employing tricks that can help you survive the race. You should have excellent control, acceleration and braking skills that will play a major role in the winning of the race against other racers. Taking chances of the available ways to keep other racers behind you such as blocking them without risking crashing can also be used as a tactic of staying ahead.
The different versions are available as demos which are availed to the public. They can also be downloaded from the websites and played on the computer at home with friends and relatives. The downloaded version has a smoother frame rate and extra visual details than the original version. Some of these versions can be played online to enable you get the skills before you decide to compete with friends. You can also get the game in a PS3 bundle.