Tech Tips

We've started to see lots of set top boxes arriving on the market lately that stream content from the Internet to your television. The Roku player gives you over 50,000 viewing choices by working with a Netflix subscription. It lets you watch anything in their catalogue at no additional cost to a normal Netflix subscription. The device also works with Amazon video-on-demand service if you want to purchase a movie for one-time viewing. Engadget named the Roku player, "Home Entertainment Device of the Year". Setup looks pretty simple: just hook up the player to your television and wireless network and you're good to go.

Click here to visit the Roku website.

We've seen companies promise smartphones that will rival the iPhone before, but Motorola's Droid does seem to give it a run for its money. This it the most powerful Google Android powered device to date, and the first to run Google's newest Android 2.0. The device has everything you need in a smartphone (email, web browsing, apps, touch-screen, slide-out keyboard, etc.). This is also the first phone to offer Google Maps Navigation, a free turn-by-turn GPS powered by Google Maps. "The Droid" totally eclipses previous Android powered devices and its sales have been strong so far. This device is easily Verizon's best smartphone available.

Click here to read PC Magazine's Full Review of the Motorola Droid

1. Microsoft Security Essentials - Great Antivirus
Well who would've guessed that Microsoft's free antivirus and antispyware/malware solution would actually be any good? AV-Comparatives (a widely known anti-malware testing group) found that MSE was one of only three products that did well at both finding and removing malware, including the leftovers. It was also the only free product to grab their "Advanced+" rating - the top honor for an anti malware solution. Apparently Microsoft Security Essentials isn't a resource hog either! This is great news considering how many security suites, like Norton or McAffee, use tons of resources, slowing down your computer immensely. This is a great security alternative for any home computer.
Click here to learn more and download Microsoft Security Essentials.

2. Paint.NET - Excellent Free Photoshop Alternative
If you need to do the occasional image tweaking or heavy image editing but don't want to spend a lot of cash on Photoshop, Paint.NET is well worth the download. It may not be able to do everything Photoshop does, but it can do everything most users need. Paint.NET handles most of the basics you'd expect from advanced image editors, and the newest update has added new effects (including new blurs and distortions), better performance (though Paint.NET has always been really light and fast), and a complete refresh of the user interface (enhanced for Aero/glass). It's a giant leap above Microsoft Paint, and a serious alternative to bigger, bloated (for most users, at least) image editors like Photoshop.

Click here to check out Paint.NET for yourself.

3. Shop Shield - For the Paranoid Online Shopper
Well it's that time of year again (the holidays) when online shopping is at an all-time high. The great thing about shopping online is that you can usually find great deals. Unfortunately, some deals could be too good to be true or just outright scams. For the paranoid online shopper, Shop Shield, provides a most excellent online shopper protection service. Open up an account with them and you are able to provide online merchants with a one time credit card number only for that purchase (even for recurring payments). They also provide services for one-time use email addresses. Emails get forwarded to you if that merchant sends you anything ...if they send you spam, you can shut them off). They even go as far as to offer one-time use billing addresses; anything actually mailed to the fake address will be sent to your real address. The service is free for purchases greater than $25 and you are restricted from using their services on non-shopping sites. The company guarantees the protection of your personal data, offering up to $10,000 in reimbursements if your data is compromised.

Click here to visit Shop Shield's website.

Windows 7 vs. XP vs. Vista
Well, Windows 7 has been out for a couple of weeks now and things seem to be going well for Microsoft. There haven't been any bad reviews of the new operating system and Windows 7 outsold Windows Vista by a long shot. So here we are, now with three versions of Windows "in the wild"; all being supported by software vendors, hardware manufacturers, and Microsoft. The average consumer probably doesn't really know what the big differences are between the three operating systems. Rather than write a long article to compare all the new features of Windows 7 and going through extensive performance benchmarks to see what the real difference is between the three OS's; here's a link to Maximum PC who have put together an amazing article comparing the three operating systems. It's quite interesting and should help give you a grasp on the differences between the three.

Click here to read the full article.