And, I sat down and recorded a quick video from my desk…

To answer a question that is bound to come up here… yes, Rich is still with PCMech. He’s still authoring the weekly newsletter as well as a couple of articles for the members-only PCMech Insider each week.

So, the question from the video is…

What would YOU like to see here at PCMech.com?

Please post your answer below in the comments. And, I look forward to chatting with you down there.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

A Message From The Founder of PCMech.com [Your Input Is Requested]

For those of you who don’t know already, Apple’s announced the next product in their iPad line…but it’s a little smaller than you might expect. Apple showcased, for the first time, the iPad Mini; a tablet PC designed to fill in the gap between the iPhone and the standard model of their iPad, and to compete with the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7. Essentially, Apple’s using the iPad Mini to address a corner of the mobile market that they’ve not yet conquered.

Here’s what we know about the product so far.

The Price

The iPad Mini’s 16 GB Wi-Fi model debuts at $329 USD (a rather steep price, considering how much other, similar products are being sold for). The cost is what has everybody most concerned about the product, particularly given that the 64 GB model is priced at almost $700.00 in the U.S: a huge price hike over its competitors, and considerably higher than the $249-$299 prices that everyone was predicting for it. Pre-orders will be available on Friday, October 26, and the Mini will begin shipping a week later.

The Dimensions

The iPad Mini is, well…mini. It’s got a 7.9 inch screen and weighs in at .68 lbs, with a thickness of 7.2 mm (23% thinner and 53% lighter than the standard iPad.)

The Specs

The iPad Mini is available with either straight Wi-Fi, or with Wi-Fi and cellular service. As with virtually every other tablet on the market, it’s available with a hard drive size of 16, 32, or 64 GB. It’s packed with a dual-core A5 procsesor, a Facetime 1.2 MP HD camera capable of 720p video, a 5MP iSight camera, and 1080p video recording and the battery offers about 10 hours of battery life. You can read the full list of technical specifications here.

Software

The iPad Mini comes prepackaged with iOS 6, and a suite of all the standard apps which you’d expect to ship with a tablet.

Related Products

In addition to the iPad Mini, Apple also announced a super-thin iMac along with a redesigned Macbook Pro.

Image Credits: [Salon]

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Five Things you should Know about the iPad Mini

• How to Land A Job In An Online World
• 3 Ways To Find Stuff Faster When Using Online Maps
• The Modern Guide to Securely Destroying Old Documents
• How to find out what the going rate is for ANYTHING

Thanks to everybody.

You can see the outline of this and all past issues right here.

And, if you’re not yet an Insider, click here to learn about what we’re doing and, of course, join us.

You’ll have access to all back issues when you join, as well.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Inside The Insider #7 – How To Find A Job Online

• Can the iPad 3 Replace A Laptop?
• Resource to control WHEN email is sent using Gmail
• 5 Ways To Keep Your Humanity In An Otherwise Connected World
• A great option for backing up your system both locally and online.
• Are the Glory Days of Getting Deals Online Over? Rich opines.
• How to unsubscribe from multiple spam senders in your inbox… with a single click

Thanks to everybody.

And, if you’re not yet an Insider, click here to learn about what we’re doing and, of course, join us.

You’ll have access to all back issues when you join, as well.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Inside The Insider #6 – Can The iPad 3 Replace A Laptop?

• Cutting The Cord: Getting rid of cable TV and still having access to your favorite shows. Services and hardware needed.
• 5 Things You Have to Unlearn With Linux
• Tips on Running The “Classic Theme” on Windows
• A Linux option designed to look like Windows 7

Thanks to everybody.

And, if you’re not yet an Insider, click here to learn about what we’re doing and, of course, join us.

You’ll have access to all back issues when you join, as well.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Inside The Insider #5 – Cutting The Cord

• Creative Uses For Dropbox, some non-obvious ways to use the Dropbox service.
• Getting a virtual desktop… in the cloud.
• Minimizing the annoyance of CAPTCHA
• How to automate your Dropbox account
• Basic, Better and Best Options For Pre-Paid Cell Phones (VIDEO)
• VLC 2.0 Release
• Easily Recording Skype Conversations

Thanks to everybody.

And, if you’re not yet an Insider, click here to learn about what we’re doing and, of course, join us.

You can join for as little as $4.99/month – but this pricing is going to be changing shortly. As in, this coming Thursday at noon Eastern. So, lock in your subscription right away.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Inside The Insider #4 – Dropbox Edition

• How to get started using Evernote (a lot of people are confused how to integrate it into their lives. We’ll help.)
• Fixing Java on your Computer
• A resource to turn your Gmail account into a full-blown task manager
• How to use “old school” Outlook Express 6
• Using the Internet to “automate” regular household tasks

Thanks to everybody.

And, if you’re not yet an Insider, click here to learn about what we’re doing and, of course, join us.

You can join for as little as $5/month – but this pricing is going to be changing shortly.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Inside The Insider #3 – Evernote Edition

This is going to be a lot more than a re-design. While the entire scope of the project is a bit large, it is actually going to be a shift in how the site conducts itself. There will be editorial changes as well. Mind you, the PCMech that our long-time readers have known will remain, however we’re adding to it through some new directions in our content.

But, for now, let me show you a few things with the new design we’re working on. First, here is a chunk of our new header, complete with a new version of our logo…

Another issue we found with the site was that we had TONS of great stuff back in our article archives that people just don’t see unless they happen into it from the search engines. So, we’re devising a way to re-feature some of our past stuff and let you guys check it out again. Here is what that will look like:

Our premium membership program is going to be getting the 5-star treatment as well. Here is a partial shot of our new feature list for our members of PCMech Premium:

To go along with the new site, the forums will also be following suit. We are going to switch to a fixed-width layout, but one that makes much better use of space and should prove a welcome change to our members. Here’s a partial shot:

As I said, we’re in the final stretch on this. Still got some things to finish before we can start to implement this new design. Even once we begin, it will be a process. There is no instant-switch we can push to flip a site this big over to a new layout, so it will come in stages, with some follow-up fixes and content re-formatting to be done after the fact.

But, when it is complete, it’ll be nice.

In the meantime, I invite you to connect with PCMech by commenting on our posts, subscribing to our newsletter, and getting involved in some conversations in our huge forum community.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Fresh Look At The Coming Changes to PCMech.com

It started out as a small collection of hobby articles I wrote and posted on the 5 MB of free web hosting space provided by my ISP. It then evolved to Geocities (now defunct). Then, to Pair Networks (my current host). Over the years, it has undergone more facelifts than I can even remember.

One of these days I’ll need to go through the archives and screenshot some of the old designs this site has had.

Well, we’re about to do it again. Only this time, the changes go beyond skin deep. However, let me show you a small sneak peak at what we’re working on right now for PCMech.

We’re still working on some things, but I’m really itching to launch this new layout.

As I said, however, the changes I am working on are beyond skin deep. It goes right to the heart of making PCMech a better and more relevant tech destination for YOU.

We’re also going to be making some editorial changes to the site. Some of it will be “behind the scenes”, but you will notice it by way of more content, higher quality articles, and stuff you can go and USE right away. You’re going to meet some new authors, too.

And for those of you who hang out in our forums a lot, yes, these changes will be coming to the forums, too. Look for it.

I will be announcing a “launch date” as soon as I can iron one down. Me and my designer are juggling 1’s and 0’s around right now to get this thing done.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

A “New” PCMech [Sneak Preview]

However, we still have some stuff left to get rid of – almost all of it being our two Ubuntu training DVDs.

The terms of this sale are as follows:

• All shipping costs are normal and will be billed as they have always been billed.
• All sales are final.
• Due to the increased sales volume that is expected as we clear the inventory, my assistant might have to work herself to the bone to ship all these items. So, your patience will be needed as shipping might not exactly be instantaneous.

So, help us get rid of this stuff. If you’ve ever wanted to figure out how to do stuff with Ubuntu Linux, this is a good opportunity for you. We will never again offer this training on DVD.

If you want to get in on this, don’t waste time. We obviously have very little inventory left. Tomorrow, I’ll be announcing this to the PCMech mailing list, which is surely going to put an end to this offer because of the demand. So, if you want to beat the rush, act now.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Ubuntu DVDs On Clearance From PCMech