http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/154348 Kathy Anton wants access to faster, eSATA external hard drives. But her PC, like most of them, lacks an eSATA port. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:23:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/157 With processor, graphics and storage technologies rushing ahead at breakneck speed, this year’s holiday shoppers will have more tech on tap for less money than they could have dreamed a year ago. Ultra-premium hardware that used to be reserved for dream systems, like solid-state drives, has plummeted in price, and computers that started as inexpensive toys, like netbooks, have sprouted more and more features, turning into real, viable PCs. Here are a few unique systems to make sure to check out on store shelves. Asus G50Vt, $1,100...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/23997/ Like many people, I've really gotten addicted to having a big music collection. Recently, though, I've gotten into other things, like video podcasts and recording LiveTV on my Mac. My pitiful 120GB external drive, unfortunately, just wasn't packing the kinda space I needed. So, I began the journey of finding the right drive for my system. Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:18:16 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/269 When Verizon first announced their FiOS service, I was naturally convinced that it would be the next evolutionary step in Internet and home connectivity. Being the early adopter that I am, I quickly signed up for the service, expecting faster speeds and an enhanced viewing experience. Just one problem: I’ve regretted it ever sense.Let me get this out of the way up-front: The FiOS service itself is amazing. High-speed transfers deliver as advertised, there are plenty of HD channels to choose from with amazing clarity, video-on-demand service works with an ever-increasing catalog of movies and more and more shows are becoming readily available. Granted, the DVR could use more storage and the menu system sometimes slo...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/150578 Add external storage to your TiVo, beef up your Xbox 360, rip DVDs to your media player, play your iTunes purchases on any device, and use your standard cable remote to skip commercials. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/23724/ The Sprint HTC Touch Diamond is almost here!!! Here are the facts! - Coming to Sprint in September - SRP $549.99 - Net Cost $299.99 Re-defining the perception of advanced mobile phones… the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond signals a giant leap forward in combining hi-tech prowess with intuitive usability and exhilarating design. Featuring a sharp 2.8-inch touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed metal and flawless faceted edges, the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond is as beautiful to behold as it is to use. With HTC’s vibrant touch-responsive user interface, TouchFLO 3D, and ultra-fast HSDPA internet connectivity… the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond offers a rich online experience to rival a notebook computer, allowing you to interact with Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia as freely as you would with a broadband connection. Your contacts, favourite music, videos and photos are no longer an uninspired line of text. With TouchFLO 3D, album artwork, video stills and snapshots of your friends’ and family’s faces are brought to life for you to interact, play and launch at your fingertips. A 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera will help you capture the perfect moment in style and with a massive 4GB of internal storage you can keep... Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:00:07 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/146367 If a natural disaster wipes out your hard drive, it will probably destroy your local backups, too. Here's a backup plan that will get you through even the worst-case scenario. Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/146197 Your Windows PC comes with with same great features as Apple's heralded Time Machine. We show you how to unlock the powerful backup features that are built into Vista and XP. Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/144258 Tips to help if your drive bails on you, plus fabulous and weird time wasters. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/144319 An Internet tablet saves the day in Italy, a tourist avoids looking touristy, and a traveler instantly shares pictures with folks back home--all thanks to their portable gear. Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:45:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/144256 In which our fearless columnist learns the hard way that you should always verify your backups. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:20:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/237 The looming arrival of solid-state hard drives (SSD) for notebooks seems like a rather exciting development at first blush. Unlike their mechanical counterparts, which have spindle motors, rotating platters and read/write heads, solid-state drives typically consist of flash memory chips and have no moving parts whatsoever. The benefits that these drivers offer compared to a mechanical drive are numerous, and include lower power consumption, improved performance, increased durability, less chance of data loss (no heads to crash into the platters), no noise and no heat output.That all sounds remarkable, and it seems quite clear that solid-state drives represent the future of data storage - at least in notebooks. Since hard drives... Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/142425 Remove drives safely, speed up thumb drives, and force Windows to recognize troublesome disks. Our expert answers your most pressing USB storage questions. Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/142515 With a USB keychain drive and a little forethought, you can carry a personalized computer everywhere and leave your laptop at home. Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/142146 This week: A better WinPatrol, a perfect hard drive destroyer, and an easy way to pick a lock. Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/141821 Buying tech products abroad could void their warranties. Also, Yahoo could drop your e-mail account or message board without notice or explanation. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/141702 How can you make Vista less annoying? Or back up your data easily? Or preserve your pricey new HDTV's picture? We've got solutions for these and 22 other common tech conundrums. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20259/ Ask any teenager what the "must have" gift on their list this holiday season is, and you will undoubtedly have the majority suggesting the MP3 player. The Sony Walkman of today, MP3 players offer the convenience of portable music in a very small package. A Little Background At the heart of the MP3 player is a music file. Similar in some ways to a compact disc, which stores digital music in a disc format, the MP3 also stores digital music. The one big difference is that MP3 files are compressed to a much smaller size, which enables the player to store more files. The wonder of the whole operation is that the quality of the music does not suffer as a result. What makes an MP3 player different than the Walkman of the past is the fact there are no storage devices that need be inserted (such as a CD or tape) into the unit to play music. The player is essentially a mini computer that stores a digital file. When called upon, the file will play music. In addition, the player is much smaller, with most flash players similar in dimensions to a credit card. The components of a... Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:00:15 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/139609 Drop USB for eSATA, swap your notebook hard drive for flash, and try a super recovery utility. Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/139821 So you've ignored our advice about backing up your data, and now you're in trouble. Steve's got tips that can help. Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/139456 Take better banquet photos, recover deleted photos, improve your action shots, and more. Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19445/ Your monstrous collection of compact discs has gotten a little out of hand. Billions upon billions of them are scattered throughout your home. They used to be the top-of-the-line in sound quality. Times have changed. MP3s have taken over. And now you have no idea where to put all your CDs or what to do with them. So what do you do? Well, there are about as many options as CDs in your titanic accumulation. But let’s take some time to cover the most popular—and arguably most effective—ways to do this. CD Changer One option, which was popular a few years ago (and still holds its own), is to purchase a large capacity CD changer. I actually bought a fifty-one CD changer back in the day (mid-1990s) as a means to better organize my moderate mass of compact discs. The stereo system was state of the art back then, and I was on top of the world. Today you can purchase gargantuan 500+ disc CD changers for fairly reasonable rates, allowing you to keep your CDs well-organized and niftily consolidated. However, you'll still have to keep track of your CDs somehow. Pros: Provides storage for CDs Keeps CDs well-organized and ... Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:30:05 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/137733 Take advantage of the portability and increased capacity of flash drives by storing applications on them. Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/136414/article.html A guide for small businesses choosing among NAS options for current and future needs. Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/pcw/howto/136414 A guide for small businesses choosing among NAS options for current and future needs. Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:00:00 -0400