It’s a fact of life that the more you use your PC the more bloated and inefficient it becomes until eventually it gets to the point where you just can’t put up with it any longer. Sure there are lots of things you can do to hold back the eventual slowing up and general sluggishness of your trusty PC. Obviously you should have a good anti-virus program...

I asked for this app review because I have a really hard time staying organized. This isn’t a great trait for someone who wants to write professionally – or for anyone else with deadlines, multi-step tasks, projects, ingredient lists, or any other number of things integral to GTD – Getting Things Done. My friends have often said it’s...

Looking for a last minute gift for the geek in your family? Look no further. This is a useful “toy” that every geek will love.A few months back, I was looking for a NAS (Network Attached Storage) for my home network to replace an aging unit that had begun experiencing problems. After researching several options, I chose the Synology Disk Station...

Amazon.com created the idea of the ebook reader back in 2007. They called it Kindle. Since 2007, things have really taken off. The popularity of the original Kindle has spawned competition from several fairly unknown brands, but also some known ones like Sony and Barnes & Noble (with the Nook). Amazon, for it’s part, has released the Kindle DX, the...

My FujiFilm A820 was getting a bit long in the tooth (the lens mechanism was starting to make weird noises indicating it may have a rather nasty mechanical failure in the future), so it was time to replace it. I needed another inexpensive point-and-shoot digital camera and the Olympus FE-26 fit the bill nicely. The Olympus FE-26 is one of the most inexpensive...

Tablets can be a cool addition to your input/output for your computer. It will allow you to hand-write into your computer (useful for signatures, etc) or draw into an image-editing program. Adesso and Wacom are two companies in this space. Adesso sent us their entry-level Cybertablet 6400 to check out. Adesso’s CyberTablet comes provided with the tablet...

Not long ago, a book came in the mail for me to check out. It was Microsoft Windows 7 Unleashed, by Paul McFedries. So, I checked it out. First of all, let me make one thing clear. If you are a typical end user of Windows 7, you don’t need this book. In other words, if you use Windows like most people use Windows, then this book will seem too technical for...

Note: There is a video at the bottom of this post of my 10v, so be sure to check that out. As I had been saying many times since 2009 started, my plan was to get a netbook as my next laptop. So I bought a refurbished Dell Inspiron Mini 10v. My overall opinion of the unit is that it’s a decent solid build and is definitely the right size. However the one...

Last Friday I went to configure my father’s new PC, a Dell Inspiron 531 mini-tower. This is Dell’s lowest-priced offering and it’s as basic as basic can get. A box with Windows XP, mouse, keyboard, power cable and not much else. This box comes provided with a 1.6GHz single core AMD Athlon 2560e 512K, your option of Vista or XP (the chosen OS...

I have been a long time user of the Flip Video, starting with the Flip Ultra then moving into the Flip Mino. When I heard that they had come out with the Flip Mino HD, it immediately went onto my list of items I wanted to review here on PCMech. Pure Digital was nice enough to, yet again, provide PCMech with a review unit [thanks to them]. So, we’re talking...

It’s been two weeks since I received my Saitek Eclipse keyboard (original article here), and if there was anything that could have gone wrong it would have happened by now. With that said, here’s how it’s fared out so far. First I’ll note that I do a ton of writing (obviously) so I have put the keyboard thru its paces and no, I’m...

Pictured: The Saitek Eclipse computer keyboard (click image for full-size view). I just bought two of these on a Black Friday special from NewEgg. They were $29.99 a piece including shipping. It was a deal I couldn’t pass up for this keyboard because of specific features. My original reason for wanting this keyboard was not for me but rather for my father....

Here at PCMech, I have given full reviews to both the Flip Video Ultra and the Flip Video Mino. I’m a big fan of this little camera and, as a blogger, I use my Mino several times per week for videos that I do for this site as well as for David Risley dot com. I gave my Ultra to my wife and she has been using it to make videos for her own blog. She decided...

I don’t know about you, but when I wake up in the morning to the sound of my phone ringing, I’m not a happy guy. And when the called ID shows some toll free number or an “unavailable”, it is worse. That’s because it is a 95% chance of being a telemarketing call. It is the equivalent of phone spam. I never subscribed to receive...

A few days ago I acquired a new GPS unit, the Garmin nüvi 270. Since my StreetPilot c580 is now a discontinued model I figured it was time for an upgrade to one of the newer and (much) thinner nüvi models. A few notes before continuing: There are only very slight differences between nüvi models 200, 250, 260 and 270, and they are (for United States...

While this subject has already been discussed on PCMech.com, I saw a recent article which completely breaks down laptops. Before saying anything more, I want to make sure this post doesn’t turn into a ‘hatefest’ for either machine. This tip is intended for those who may be wanting to purchase a new laptop and are looking for objective...

SkyDrive is a free online storage service offered by Microsoft. If you have a "Windows Live ID" (i.e. a Hotmail, MSN or Live account) you can try this out right now if you like. This service gives you 5GB of online storage and it works for most that need a quick solution to store stuff online. It also allows for easy ability to share files out as...

One of the most exciting things you will ever read in the world of technology is a keyboard review. I was, however, super interested because my Microsoft keyboard failed – yet again. What to replace it with? And this time, no Microsoft crap.My last several keyboards have all been Microsoft keyboards. All failed, some much sooner than others. This time...

Many people have heard of the Samsung Instinct being called the “iPhone killer”, but I do not believe that to be so. The Instinct is on the Sprint network and costs $129.99 after a $220 instant savings then a $100 mail-in rebate, and Sprint offers their Simply Everything Plan with unlimited everything for $99.99.The instinct is the first Sprint phone to...

The folks at Yahoo recently released a new email client which works on Windows, Mac or Linux. It is called Zimbra Desktop. Yahoo continues to hold sizable market share when it comes to online email accounts. Yahoo bought Zimbra in 2007. It was a good union because you could see Zimbra entering into the foray with Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Calendar to create a really...