http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/182113 This Web-based Office add-in provides seamless integration between Office Live Workspace and Microsoft Office. Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:30:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/181083 A41202813 asked the Answer Line forum why his once quick PC is slowing down Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:23:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/181329 No-cost apps and Web services help you set up your Windows 7 computer just the way you want it. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:45:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/300 Nothing beats kicking back in a cushy recliner for taking in last night’s episode of Sons of Anarchy, South Park or even all three hours of The Godfather. But with the rise of digital video, home theaters have moved out of the living room to just about anywhere you might care to catch a show: the bedroom, your hotel room on vacation, even the car. And with sites like Hulu, YouTube and Joost, enjoying video digitally no longer entails a lengthy process of DVD ripping or piracy. Video is truly everywhere now, and enjoying it is truly simple. Here’s how to get started.On the ComputerWith crisp high-definition laptop screens that now span up 18.4 inches...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/298 Taking your music with you used to be as easy as popping the cassette out of your home tape player and into your car, boombox, or Walkman. Not so any more. Though the rise of the MP3 has made it possible to download albums in seconds, share them with your friends, and fit millions of songs in a single box, the actual process of getting it from off a desktop hard drive and playing it somewhere else has taken a step backward in simplicity. But that's quickly changing, as a plethora of services and gadgets have sprung up to fill the void. Leave Bon Jovi at home no more. Let's take a look at some of the ways you can get your music off your desktop.Living RoomUnless you home computer happens t...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/171269 Web-based computers let you work on your files from any device without having to carry anything with you. Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:45:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/135 The Macintosh faithful are all abuzz with the debut of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple's latest and greatest operating system for Macintosh computers. However, unlike its “big cat” predecessors (like Leopard, Tiger, and Panther) Snow Leopard isn't awash in splashy new features or new ideological paradigms meant to advance the computing experience – and knock Redmond back on its heels. Instead, Apple took a breath with Snow Leopard and focused on refining its Mac OS X operating system, taking the time to get lots of details right, improve performance, and make a bunch of under-the-hood changes that will benefit Macintosh users in the long run. Improvements to t...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/134 The iPod. The iPhone. The iMac. The Macintosh. The LaserWriter. The Macbook. Mac OS X. The list goes on. Apple, the multinational corporation that began life in the mid-seventies in a garage trumpeting “Think Different” as its mantra, has concocted and released some of the most imaginative, groundbreaking, and iconic products of the digital age. It has continually set the tone for style and ease of use, and has harmonized the relationship between man and computer more efficiently than any other company on the planet.But amongst all the smooth user interfaces, the slick innovations, the slicker marketing, and the rabid brand loyalty, this Apple does have its worms. Not everything Steve Jobs and company touched...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/170015 Larry Howlett wants to know why e-mail he downloads on one PC doesn't show up on the other Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:12:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/132 We were supposed to get our "paperless office" over a decade ago. The prolifieration of Internet access and the birth of new file formats for distributing documents over the Web promised to finally banish paper from the desk once and for all. But look around a modern-day office and you'll still find desks plastered in pulp. The problem: computer monitors suck for reading. They flicker and flash, look blurry compared to paper, and suck down loads of power just to display the same simple text.Then came electronic paper.As the name suggests, it displays a steady image like paper, looks as smooth and readable as paper, and requires almost zero energy. But unlike the real thing, it changes in the b...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/125 It’s finally here. Nearly three years after Microsoft unleashed Windows Vista unto the world, crippling otherwise competent computers with obscene system requirements and feature bloat, Microsoft has returned for redemption with Windows 7, otherwise known as “what Vista should have been.” Though not as revolutionary in appearance as its predecessor, Microsoft has promised a slew of long-awaited refinements, including better performance, a powerful universal search, and better driver and hardware compatibility. We popped our freshly minted RTM copy of Windows 7 into the favorite office testbed – HP’s Firebird – and put the new OS through its paces to see whether Redmond can deliver on its promises when...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/315 It may seem like a funny question to ask in the age of nanotechnology, but here goes anyway: Can a gadget be too small?Most of you are probably saying “no, the smaller the better” reflexively – and I can’t say I rightly blame you, given that in most cases, it’s the wisest default answer. But I’m getting a little fed up with the notion that, as a rule of thumb, smaller is always better in the technology industry. It’s a trend that seems to be widely accepted, but in many cases requires sacrificing functionality for looks and portability. Don’t get me wrong: I love that you can now buy computers with multiple terabyte hard drives or 50+ inch televisions that are light enough...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/287 We discussed the importance of backing up the data stored on your computer’s hard drive in a previous story. But what happens if your computer is lost or stolen? Notebooks are particularly vulnerable. A thoroughly executed back-up plan will alleviate data loss, but do you want strangers perusing the highly personal information you’ve stored on that machine? We didn’t think so; that’s why we put together this guide to keeping your electronic data secure.First, we’ll take you through the process of encrypting the data on your hard drive, so that you can use passwords...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/314 On smartphones, Apple was late to the market, but if there is another vendor doing a better job of currently defining what a smartphone is, I don’t know who they are. With smartbooks, a new class of product based on smartphone technology that looks like a netbook computer, the market hasn’t even really launched, and already Apple appears to be moving to define it.Word is they are rushing to try to have a product into the market in the fourth quarter. Were this anyone else, I’d say they had a snowball’s chance in hell of making it, but this is Apple, which likely has a patent on hell snowballs, so let&r...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/286 There are two ways of making your PC run faster: You can spend money upgrading to new components (buying a faster videocard, more memory, or maybe even a more advanced CPU), or you can follow our guidance and invest a little of your time instead of your greenbacks and tune up your computer for free.Besides, spending money on an old machine isn’t always a good investment. Plugging a spendy new videocard into a system with an aging CPU, for instance, is akin to bolting a supercharger to the engine of an old Chevy Chevette: It won’t matter how fast the card is if the rest of an outdated system leaves it starving for data.Purge the MalwareThe term malware –...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/282 Here’s an unpleasant fact of life: Your computer’s hard drive will eventually fail, taking all your precious digital photos, meticulously ripped music and movies, crucial banking records, email archive, and every other bit of your digital life with it. Looking at the bright side, recovering from such a disaster can be a breeze—provided you have a back-up strategy.We’ll explore several back-up alternatives, but before we dive into that discussion, we’ll show you a couple of easy ways to monitor your hard drive’s health so a drive failure won’t catch you by surprise. That way, you can move the drive’s contents to another drive before it goes belly up. PC hard drives have this...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/123 Serving as a window to your online world, the web browser has become one of -- if not -- the most important pieces of computer software used on a daily basis.Not only are browsers used to access websites for information and e-commerce, but for many, it's a conduit to entertainment (such as streaming videos or online games), communication (including web mail sites) and social networking with friends (be it Facebook, MySpace and Twitter).At this point in time, there are five major browsers to choose from: Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome and the self-titled browser from Opera...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/279 Your new home office has fresh drywall from floor to ceiling, a fragrant new patch of short-nap carpet, and a window that looks out on the backyard garden. Now you just a need a spot to put that computer. And the printer. And all those papers. And the phone.Maybe it’s time for some furniture.But before you make a trip to the local office store and come back with a minivan full of flat-packed particleboard, it’s worth doing a little research and planning. We’ve broken down the key elements to any office, explained some of the key factors you should weight when picking them out, and given a few of our favorites....Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/272 The old axiom that you can’t upgrade a laptop has never been less true. Sure, your nay-saying, desktop-bound friends who repeat it have a basic kernel of truth in their favor – the core guts of a mobile machine are pretty much set in stone. But if you’re not looking to completely revamp a computer (which can hardly be called an upgrade anyway), aftermarket manufacturers have found plenty of clever ways to skirt the issue of expandability, and slap new parts onto your aging laptop, giving it new functionality that may not have even been possible when it was built. So if your $2,000 wonder machine from three years ago doesn’t seem quite so wondrous any more, but another two grand for a new model isn’t in the b...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/306 This decade has largely been defined largely by Apple products in the consumer space. The first part was all about the iPod, and the last part, the iPhone. This is where the lines and excitement were. In the 90s, it was about Windows and PCs, with Windows 95 as the likely high point. Before that, it was largely about Atari or VCRs, depending where you were in that decade. We are now fast approaching 2010, and starting to wonder what that decade will be focused on.There are a lot of contenders: 3D TV, smartbooks, plug computers, eBooks, personal transportation (someone will get something like the Segwa...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/166479 Depending on your needs, you can use fewer displays, input devices, or even PC systems, and still get the benefit of multiple computers. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:44:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/267 We’ve experimented with any number of home media servers that will stream YouTube, play movies across a home network, and stream music from a library of connected home storage appliance. And they’re nice if that’s all you ever want to do. But for ultimate flexibility, nothing beats a true home theater PC. Using a fully functional PC, you throw away all the limitations of a traditional set top box, building up a box that does exactly what you want it to, the way you want it to.With that in mind, blowing $1,000 on a custom-built computer just for the task seems like a waste. In the big scale of computing tasks, playing video isn’t a particularly taxing task, and computers have been able to do it for...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/165551 Adobe's Acrobat.com online apps store and create text documents, presentations, and other files from any 'net-connected computer. Wed, 27 May 2009 20:38:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/256 After three years together, things just aren’t the same between you and your PC. While friends play new games on their shiny new all-in-one machines, videoconference on Skype with their built-in webcams, and run the swank Aero edition of Windows Vista, your clunky old machine won’t handle any of it.We’ve already addressed some simple software tricks for speeding up your computer before you go and start buying new parts, but the last resort – upgrading – deserves a guide in its own right. So here it is: a beginner’s guide to upgrading your PC that explains what’s out there, what it wil...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Thu, 21 May 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/164491 On May 16, 2009, learn more about Scratch, the free programming tool for kids. Thu, 07 May 2009 07:10:00 -0400