NewEgg now offers free Windows 7 coupons with certain Vista license purchases.

The cost now? $109.99. With free shipping. This is something that wasn’t available last week, but now it is.

This is $90 less than buying Windows 7 Home Premium which starts at $200.

You wanted a better price? You got it.

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

Defined:

Microsoft Hohm is a free web based application (running on the Windows Azure platform) that enables consumers to better understand their energy usage by utilizing advanced analytics licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy to provide home owners with personalized energy-saving recommendations.

See this video for a better explanation (warning: it’s 23 minutes long but worth the watch).

This is good stuff, especially if you’re looking to cut energy costs.

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

This software is only available to people running a legal copy of Windows. This is fine. My copies of XP are all legal as is my Windows 7.

After jumping thru several hoops trying to download this thing, I sign in with my Windows Live ID (required), fill out a registration form (required), validate my email address (required), and THEN…

The red box says:

The invitation you are using belongs to another registered account. If you believe you received this message in error, please try using another Windows Live ID/Passport account or contact mchelp@microsoft.com for additional assistance.

What?

Geez, thanks Microsoft. Now I can’t even try your software.

So if you want to try out Microsoft Essentials, if you can get past the registration process, you did better than me.

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

According to this article, this will be introduced in the fall and set you back $399.

To be honest, I’m left scratching my head wondering how this product could be useful to anybody. I mean, yeah, browsing the internet on the printer itself, finding what you want to print, then printing it sounds cool.. but I think this printer is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.

Is HP trying to say you don’t need a computer, just your printer? Well, that obviously won’t work. People aren’t going to throw out their PCs in favor of a 4.33-inch touch screen with limited capabilities.

I do not see a legitimate home use for this, but I could see this for use in public places like libraries, coffee shops, airport terminals and so on. In environments such as those, yes this printer would serve itself well. If one of these were outfitted with a small meter where you could drop coins in (say $1.00 for 5 minutes), in public service this would work great. It would be like having a super-small FedEx Kinko’s or UPS Store all in a neat little box. After all, it not only prints, but faxes, copies and scans too.

But in the home? I just can’t see anybody going for it. That is unless I’m totally missing the point of what this printer is about?

Would you buy this thing for use in the home? And if so, why? Or why not? I’ve love to know.

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

The Xcore86 is an amazing little board because the entire computer is embedded within it. And one of the best features it’s that since it only uses 1.2 watts, it can run without fans.

Even better is that a netbook with this board can be configured to run on 8 AA NiMH batteries for a full 4 hours! And no power brick, just a cord! Amazing? You bet.

And I thought Mini ITX and Nano ITX was cool.. ha! This is better.

See video for yourself. It’s rather amazing. Make sure to watch it all the way thru - it’s totally worth your time.

After checking out the video, does this interest you? Would you buy one?

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

Today is the day where analog television transmissions cease and they’re all supposed to be available via your DTV box now. (In case you don’t have a box, one can be purchased from your local department store such as Wal-Mart.)

I use a DTV box and rescanned the channels to see if more were available. Sure enough, there were. I now have all the major affiliates. Previously I only had ABC and CBS but now I have those plus NBC, FOX and a few others.

I also plan on rescanning the channels again as some TV stations were literally waiting until the last minute to convert over.

For information, tips and tricks about DTV, see this blog search. There are tons of pages on the subject that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about it.

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

In answer to the question of whether having facebook.com/your-user-name actually matters or not, the answer is no because if people truly want to find you on that system, they will search you by real name which the system requires.

I could understand the value of Facebook usernames if the system didn’t require real names, but being your profile is identified by your given name already, it just makes no sense whatsoever.

However I will give Facebook kudos in the way usernames will be given out.

You can’t have a username less than 5 characters long

I agree with this because it does add better security.

Users who register after May 31 won’t be able to get a username until later

This is a very cool maneuver because it kills off the vast majority of name squatters.

Facebook will honor copyrights for trademarked names

They have a form set up for that already. So if you try to register "Microsoft", "Chevrolet" or the like as a username, you’ll get flat out denied. Or if you do get it, it won’t last long.

Facebook appears to be taking the threat of name squatters very seriously.

Is Facebook "pulling a MySpace"?

For those that remember, MySpace did not originally give out usernames either; they added that later. And it did nothing to improve the system whatsoever.

Even though Facebook is taking care to promote an even playing field for username selection, this still may end up in disaster - particularly with Facebook "pages".

I guess we’ll watch how this pans out to see the results.

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

This is as old-school as you can get concerning modems. Bear in mind this is pre-Hayes era.

In the demo below, the modem is connected, dialed and uses the Lynx text browser to surf the internet. It’s slow-slow-slow, but totally amazing considering it is FORTY-FIVE YEARS OLD.

Do you have anything tech that’s forty-five years old and still works? Probably not.

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

I had two initial thoughts when I saw this thing on Engadget.

First, there’s going to be a lot of strained necks. This is absolutely not ergo-friendly whatsoever. Cool, yes, but not ergonomically sound.

Second, I immediately thought, "Hey, this is reminiscent of the old Commodore 64!" Several comment posters on the link above said the exact same thing.

This computer is not available for purchase yet, but most likely soon will be. Yes, it will have XP on it.

I find it interesting that when it comes to computers, history repeats itself often. The Commodore 64 to this day is the best-selling computer of all time. The Eee Keyboard essentially goes back to that winning formula Commodore had, that being a small, low-priced, feature-rich, easy-to-use computer.

Will the Eee Keyboard sell as much as the Commodore did? I doubt it.

But I do admit I’d really like to own one. More so than a traditional laptop.

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

And some people just don’t want Street Views of their town, period. As one of the more memorable attempts to stop Google Street Views, a group of villagers sprang into action and formed a human chain to stop one of the Google Street View cars with its 360° camera. And wouldn’t you know it? It worked - for now.

When the local village mob tells you, "GET OUT", you listen.

As Street Views gains more coverage across the world, people are now literally watching for these cars in order to stop them.

It would probably be a good idea for Street View car drivers to start wearing crash helmets. Y’know.. just in case.

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