Why Use DECT 6.0 Cordless phones vs. 5.8 GigHz?

We wanted to upgrade our cordless phones, but we have a long house and most phones to not reach, plus needing a 2 line cordless limits our selection. Our local Fry's store had a real deal on a 5.8 Gighz, so I started asking around. Which did I want to invest in 5.8 Gighz or the newer DECT 6.0? I asked Joe Melfi, of D-Link to comment of what he would recommend. He stated that you definately would want DECT 6.0 as it was more secure, had a longer range and there were not other wireless/baby monitors/microwaves that would interfere with this channel.

So the 5.8 GHz phone I had purchased at Fry's (and not opened), I did return. The Consumer Electronics Show was coming up and I thought I would ask there.

I ran into a very nice fellow from VTech at CES and he explained that Vtech had acquired Lucent's consumer phone business and licensed the AT&T brand on wireline telephones and accessories in the United States and Canada in 2000, so they knew quite a bit about phones. He emphasied that you do want DECT 6.0 over the 5.8GHz for the same reasons mentioned above. But when I mentioned I was having problems finding the right phone, he stated that since DECT 6.0 was a GLOBAL standard there were a lot more phones available from vendors, who could sell a Global phone, not just a differnet phone for the US. This will lead to quite a few more phones being available, since the vendors would market the same phone worldwide. There will more extended range 2-line DECT 6.0 AT&T phones out in the Fall, he stated.

So stay tuned!

Sanyo HD 1010 High Def Video Camera- GREAT

This is the newest version of the Sanyo HD 1000 that we reviewed at NetSurferNews - it is now the HD 1010 version which will take 16 GB SDHC cards.

From Amazon:
Records in HD 1080p or 1080i high-def digital video; takes 4 megapixel still images
Playback recordings on a 2.7-inch LCD display
Includes 10x optical zoom, plus video and still image stabilization
Features sequential shooting (7 FPS), plus face detection technology for video and photos (up to 12 faces)
Comes with web cam functionality; USB 2.0 and S-Video output; SDHC flash memory compatible, plus 40 MB internal memory

Craigslist Search tools

Many of you have found Craigslist.com as a way to buy and sell our various and sundry items.

How to make it work for you in searching more than one cities in Craigslist is the point of this blog! Here are two websites that let you search multiple cities at once on Craigslist.

Check out several sites:
Craigshelper- http://www.craigshelper.com/ you can search multiple cities/ states. You may want to use the single-frame results mode (check the options on the toolbar to the right), if you are only searching a few cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County. You can use Internet Explorer.

CrazedList- http://crazedlist.org/ - you have to use Firefox (it does not work in InternetExplorer) but this is a powerful search- all from the first page (selecting the cities and search term, with/without pictures, etc.) . According to Crazedlist, "Crazedlist allows you to search multiple craigslist.org sites at once. However in order to do so you must disable referrers in your web browser. Doing so prevents craigslist from knowing that you have come from this site and prevents them from blocking your results. " Therefore it requires Firefox.

Happy Craiglist-ing!

Windows XP: The Long Goodbye

After the successful launch and establishment of Windows Vista, Microsoft officially discontinued the sale of Windows XP on June 30, 2008. To continue to meet the needs of the huge number of users currently relying on Windows XP, Microsoft will be providing support for the operating system until 2014. To help ease the transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista, Microsoft posted Windows XP: The Facts about the Future, answering common questions, providing links to XP resources, and helping users compare features in Windows XP and Windows Vista. (from Microsoft)

SanDisk Ultra® II SD Plus SD card with USB Built-in

SanDisk Ultra® II SD™ Plus USB 2GB

This is an awesome SD card- it has the USB connector built right into the SD card. It comes in a very nice keychain holder and when you need to take the pictures off, you just bend it and the USB connector appears. And the speed of the card itself is fast (Write/Read performance: 9MB/sec, 10MB/sec ) so no more waiting for those downloads. It is USB 2.0. I woul dhighly recommend it for us road warriors - no need to carry a USB reader anymore.

And how much do you say? Current prices are about $30-$55 when you can find it- it is a very hot item.

Analog Cell Phone Service Discontinuing

Back in 2002, the Federal Government started allowing cell phone providers to start dropping the Analog cell phone signals. The end date for analog service is Feb. 18, 2008.

According to news reports, only about 1 million people still have analog phones which can be easily switched out.

Now most people have switched over to digital cell phone service, but one group of people who will be in a lurch are the people with OnTrack in their cars who use that service to provide emergency road assistance. General Motors started changing some of the cars in 2002 to digital service but as late as 2005 some cars still had the old analog system. Some of the cars can be upgraded but many cannot be. Check with your GM dealer.

Another potential problem is wireless alarm companies who did not switch their clients systems.

We made the switch long ago. In fact, from most cell phone providers, you can no longer get dual band (analog and digital) phones. As they pack new features into phone such as MP3 and video, that feature got left behind. And with good reason. Digital signal is more secure.

Bye Bye Analog...

AOL Kills the Netscape Browser

AOL just announced that their support of the Netscape browser will end. There will be no updates after Feb. 1, 2008. They are urging the Netscape users to migrate over to Firefox.

Netscape was orginally started in 1994 as the original browser. Then Microsoft came along with Internet Explorer in late 1995 and gained a huge market share. Netscape was the focus of a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

Since AOL is now focusing on ad-supported web business, any support for Netscape takes away from their core business, so it was decided to let Netscape die.

There is a link on our blog to download Firefox as a replacement.