Back In Action

I’ve been stuck without a working PC for way too long now.  I’m back.

I was relying on a cheap ($120.00) tablet or My smart phone for email an such, but My Polaroid T7 internet tablet sucked so bad for typing because of the incapability of its insensitive touch screen that the attempt was pointless.  And although I managed some email with My DroidX, I do not recommend counting on a smartphone (of any type) for managing your digital life.  They can enhance your mobile life, but to rely on them as a digital answer is going well beyond what they are capable of doing.

I would like to grab an Asus Prime Transformer to replace My broken netbook PC, but at least I have my Sony Full HD Laptop working again.  The power supply (the AC converter) went out on it and now I am using a 3 prong version from Batteries Plus while I await My order for the Sony stock replacement (which isn’t the one that it came with, as My computer has become obsolete).

But at least I can blog again.  And I will in the future.  Let Me tell you, cheap tablet touchscreens suck and tiny smartphone touchscreens are better, but they are still so tiny that they are too much of a chore to use.

I have lots of Android apps and hardware to recommend in the future, and I’ll be reviewing the Polaroid T7 as well as the Pandigital Planet (that I had been stuck with for 3 months), some android accessories that I think are cool and lots of cool apps, games and even some apps that need their creator(s) scolded.

I’ll be writing again, soon!

Glad to be back.

Crap, WordPress has changed.  This will take a great deal of getting used to.  I hate advertising.  I’ll look for a non-spammy alternative.  Maybe Tumblr…

DroidX Adventures – New Blog Posts

Over the past couple days I’ve been posting about my adventures with my DroidX, android apps, and the evil genius at Microsoft.

Getting the DroidX:

Finally, I have an Android!

…Got a comment from an Android development Guru, there!

Getting a Deal on a DroidX

…How we finessed a discount and why it wasn’t better than it was.

App Reviews:

What’s the Very Best Password Safe?

…This is a great app from Kuffs.

Need to Squirrel Away a Contact’s Info in your Droid Quickly and Easily?

…A review of the CamCard Business Card Reader, a great app that works well and is extremely convenient.

I also started a new blog about business application software:

Welcome to BApps, for Business Applications of All Kinds, on Any Platform

…Offers an intro and why I decided to write it.

And then we discover the evil genius in marketing behind Win 7 and the Office 2010 packages…

Windows 7 Mail Issues, Outlook and Office 2010 Purchase Woes

…which is more on my adventures in computing.  😉

All of those blogs are on Google’s Blogspot.  I only customized a few of the templates there, but I purposely kept them skinny.  Because in today’s age, even though we are viewing web pages on widescreen Hi-Def monitor resolutions of 720P scan lines, we rarely use all of that space when browsing the web and now more and more people are browsing the web on handheld devices there are just now getting to be 640 or 800 pixels wide (max).

Obviously, I have been influenced by my DroidX recently in my creative thinking and design.  Though I will sometimes push the envelope and experiment with Hi-Def widescreen web designs, unless we have at least another page for small device presentations, we really should be alert when we form singlular minded resolution designs.

Fortunately, This blog at WordPress.com is served up differently when accessed by a mobile device, so I don’t have to change this big ol’ honk’n template.  😉  But the Blogster blogs are served up using the exact same web page design template for mobile devices.  Plus, I honestly think that not all of the players have arrived in the hand held market yet because the small device phenomena is set to explode.  But, that’s just me.  Of course, when I said that “Everyone who wants one will have a computer.”, back when the hottest piece of business technology was an electric typewriter (1968 or 1970, about), my father and brother laughed at me then, too.  Then they ran around joking about it and teasing me.  Oh yeah, they don’t remember that, now.  LOL.

Oh, yeah…

For quite some time now I’ve been working on a new project and I can’t wait to show every one.  But it’s just not quite ready to be revealed just yet.  In a few days, maybe.  🙂

-Doug

Adventures in Computing

I’m trying to upgrade a website logo to the new version (it is incorporated into the layout).

As I’m getting ready to upgrade the logo, I had to get the old Photoshop master image files off my old desktop.  Since I started having video card issues with this old PC, I hadn’t used it in a while. Of course, Norton AntiVirus 360 is now expired and Windows wants to update.  All I want is a few image files.

For some reason the laptop (which I am using now due to the video card woes) and the old desktop won’t network together as they used to (the very last time I used the PC).  Oh no!… The normal broadband connection won’t work.  So, I grab the USB wireless modem from the laptop and use it on the desktop.

While I am downloading a free antivirus solution from Avast, Windows is updating.  I install Avast Free and sometime after, things start misbehaving.  If I click on the start button, my mouse will only show the menu if I hold the left mouse button down.  I am anxious to reboot once Windows is updated and Avast is installed.  Then, I notice that not one of the browsers work (Not IE, FF, Safari, or O).  I’m a bit worried.

I managed to copy the files to a 4GB flash jump drive, but the laptop can’t see the files.  Huh?  Yeah, it’s like looking at a whole different drive, with different files and directories!

Upon rebooting the old desktop machine, I am presented with the video card issue at login.  Lovely.  Will I make it in to copy those files?  The keyboard won’t work.  Oh, wrong one.  I make it in and it was like the malicious hacker security fix that Windows downloaded worked because all systems are fine again.  Except Norton seems to have trashed my networking setup and I still can’t connect via wired broadband.  Avast doesn’t see the PPOE connection with my modem, so I can’t register, but the start menu works and I can actually use all my browsers.  I copy a mess of files over to a new 8GB flash jump drive in case this is the last time I can access this old workhorse of a system.

But as I am doing this file copying, I am switching between the HDMI connections of the laptop and desktop on my monitor (actually, it’s a TV).  I notice that my favorite wireless mouse is opening files on one computer as I am using it on another computer.  That is strange, since the wireless receiver that the Microsoft mouse and keyboard use is plugged into the laptop.  But, the mouse is actually functioning on the desktop, too!  And there is no wireless receiver on the desktop.  The mouse must be burrowing a hole through the old network connection between the two computers, that has since somehow disappeared?  So now I have to be careful what I am doing on one computer, because the same mouse actions are being repeated on the other computer.

I put this mouse aside after starting a system scan using Avast on the desktop.  I grab another smaller notebook wireless Microsoft mouse that I use when I am on the road.  It works when I plug it into the laptop and doesn’t seem to control the desktop mouse.  Whew!

I insert the 8GB flash jump drive and Windows wants to scan it, says there may be a problem with it.  Did I take it out too soon and corrupt the file structure?  The scan takes forever, but the drive is OK and I can finally see and copy over those image files.  Heck, I put that directory in 2 places on my laptop’s hard drive, just in case.

Get this, my work night has just started!  I wonder what will happen next.  I bet Avast needs to be updated before it can really find anything, but doesn’t see my PPOE modem based internet connection.  And I still have to straighten out the networking issue.  But once it is done with this scan, I’ll just power the PC down.  I have to get that logo updated tonight, afterall!  😉

Windows Laptop(s) & Windows Notebook(s) Info Sites Online

I have just setup a few domains that I think should do pretty well…

Windows Laptop TM logo

I liked how the letters flowed together (once I worked at it a while).

WindowsLaptops.com logo

This one above was based on the colors of the WordPress design theme/template.

WindowsNotebook.com logo

I like how the checkmark reflects the angles of the W and the dot of the i turned out to be the icing on the cake that completed the illusion.  In this case I am actually experimenting with keeping the text as large as possible and incorporating the checkmark to appease the web media image optimization cops.

Windows Notebooks logo

It probably doesn’t seem like I spent a lot of time on the logos for the plural versions of these domains.  But I was specifically matching them up to the colors of the WordPress design theme/template that I want to use for those two, so I didn’t want them to not look alike and if you visit the articles blog/site, I think you’ll agree that they match-up pretty well there.

I also wanted the plural versions to seem more like a conglomerate or at least a partnership between the two sites.

I did want the singular (non-plural) version domain name logos to offer their own unique identity, as they offer great value in a premium domain name.

I plan to get these posted online elsewhere, in my profile (Doug-Peters.com), and featured at Premium Brand Name, but I have a birthday party to go to for my 70 year-old uncle Gordon (great guy, by the way).  So I am just throwing out these images and thoughts as quick as I can so that all this will get posted somewhere.

I really like these sites and there are already some great reviews and tips and tricks posted.  I will be obviously be posting more articles, as well.  I will definitely be looking to post some laptop/notebook mods and hacks on the plural version domains.  The singular version names will probably be a bit more conventional.

I added about 3 pages to the WD&D group at Google Groups.  One was a resource links page.  I’m thinking that when I get it further along, I might just post it here.

Anyways, I have been extremely busy trying to clean-up my portfolio, working on my resume and doing just about everything I can think of in order to get my next web designer, online marketer, SEO, ad writer, copy writer, graphic designer, brand expert, illustrator and/or webmaster position.  Let me know if you have anything for me.  😉  This looking for a job is worse than a full time job.

I am getting tired of it.  I am ready to move to either coast, Chicago, or anything.  But if I don’t get something soon I may wind-up as an auto salesman.  Which wouldn’t be bad, but I wouldn’t be as creatively challenged.  Which is simply when I am the most excited and happiest.  😉

The Perfect Laptop Case

I can’t even buy a decent case for my laptop, they are all way too small.

If I would design one, it would have a padded sleeve that protects the notebook with a white foam mousepad wearing my logo on one side that would fold around it and be replicated on the other.  It would fold out to be a mousepad for people who wanted to use it on the right or leftside and detach using velcro.

I’ll try and get some drawings or eventually photos together.  Afterall, I have to make my own anyway.  Always another project left undone.

Of course, it doesn’t even work right.  I have to send it back or drop it off, or something.  It’s a Sony, which is too bad, as I wanted to make my first Blu-ray disc and now I won’t even have it a while.

Damn, that’s such a bummer, I have to send it back.  I had a Sony TV.  I have a Sony camera.  I might buy a Sony HDTV tomorow, it might be a Toshiba.

I have to send back the battery they sent me before I raise too big of a stink, though.  Both only charge to 80%.

The configuration of the keyboard of my Sony, which I call HDLaptop, is absolutely heaven for me.  But I can’t find a decent Bluetooth keyboard and mouse set at all.  They don’t even seem to sell the new PC Express cards for it.

Anyway, I need to design a better laptop case for it.  I have it all backed-up now and can send it in.  But I have to send in that dang battery first.  I want to get the high capacity battery, but.  It only charges to 80%?

I have a vaio sleeve and accessory case for it, but that is all.

-Doug