Five Great Shopping Websites for Electronics

Remember the days of driving from store to store all over town to find the best price on that computer or television that you've had your eye on? It wasn't long ago that we spent the afternoon burning gas (it was so cheap!) and talking to sleazy salesmen (they were so sleazy!) to find the perfect model and to save a buck. Now you can just boot up your computer, go to one of the many popular shopping websites, add that item to your cart, and wait for it to show up at your doorstep in a few short (or long, depending on how exciting the item is) days. You could even do it in your underwear...or so I'm told. The problem is that there are quite a few more shopping websites than there are Best Buys, Circuit Cities (R.I.P. stores), and Costcos in the immediate area. So how do you know where to shop? Here's a list of my five favorite sites to shop for electronics and why I like them.

1) Crucial.com: Crucial is crucial (ha!) when upgrading the RAM (Random Access Memory) on your computer. If your computer is running slow but you still have plenty of hard drive space and the rest of the hardware is still relatively recent, a memory upgrade may be all you need. You tell Crucial the make and model of your computer, and it will tell you how much memory it came with and what possible upgrades you can make. You buy your memory upgrade directly from Crucial, which offers affordable options and products which are generally of great quality. There are even videos and tutorials on how to install the memory yourself if you are daring enough to poke around inside your computer. If you want to shop around for your RAM, or if you maybe want to go ahead and just get a whole new computer, I would recommend looking at...

2) Newegg.com: While it sells all kinds of electronics, Newegg is probably best known for selling computers and computer parts and accessories. This website gives the user the ability to narrow down exactly what they are looking for and offers intelligent, comprehensive user reviews to help in the decision process. The prices are always fair, and there are often special daily deals to be had on great products. If all that isn't enough for you, I've heard story after story about how great their customer service is and how quickly they ship things out.

3) Amazon.com: If you haven't heard of or used Amazon.com then you must have been living under a rock (and one without wi-fi, to make matters worse). I probably don't need to sell you on Amazon, but perhaps I can turn you onto the Amazon Marketplace. When you find a product on Amazon that you like you may notice that there are a number of new or used ones found toward the top of the page. This is where other people or businesses can sell that product for whatever price they choose. I have found that this is an excellent place to shop for a lot of things, including books, DVDs, and especially CABLES. For whatever reason, cables are one of the most overpriced pieces of technology, but they do not have to be. Most cables can be found on Amazon for under $0.50, while products that deliver the same EXACT quality can be found for $50 at Best Buy (I'm looking at you, HDMI cables). Amazon also has great customer service, so if you have a problem with a seller (which I have encountered maybe once in the last five years) it can be dealt with swiftly. Of course, if you're keen on buying new and used products from other people there's always...

4) eBay.com: Again, you probably already know all about eBay, but some people forget that it isn't just about selling your "I Love Lucy" novelty plates or NASCAR bobbleheads. While I wouldn't START my shopping on eBay, if you are not too worried about receiving a used product or one that wasn't shipped directly from the safety of a warehouse, it's worth checking out. Some of the best deals on just about any product, including computer parts, TVs, Blu Ray players, cell phones, and other electronics can be found on eBay if you are willing to participate in the bidding process and you read the description carefully.

5) Google Product Search: What kind of blog post would this be if we didn't mention Google? Google Product Search (formerly known as Froogle) is a bit different from the previous four websites mentioned. This is more of a shopping aggregator, collecting the prices and reviews of the same product from multiple stores. If you know what product you are looking for you can search it here and compare prices to find the best deal and read reviews from around the web, all on one page. 

While online shopping is an invaluable tool, one must admit that there is nothing like going into the store and getting your hands on the actual product. Many people prefer to shop this way, but it is important to think about the resources you have online which could save you a considerable amount of time and money. These sites can also be used with store-shopping, as research done online can help you pick out which item to buy in the store. Last night actually, my family was about to buy a small TV for the kitchen from Amazon when I looked on Google Product Search to find more reviews. I saw that the reviews were very positive, but then I noticed that Wal Mart was selling the same TV in stores for the same price. Now we have the TV set up on the counter and we didn't have to pay and wait for shipping. While online shopping doesn't need to totally replace stores, you can still use these sites listed above as tools to help you shop smarter.

Five Different Uses for Google Searches

Recently on the Google Search blog, Daniel Russell made an entry on creative ways to search Google. I found one of his examples very interesting. He said that, since we are now able to meet so many people from around the world online, we are sometimes presented with a name we have never heard before. Since you might not know the gender of Nikhil or Xiaomei and do not want to address them incorrectly, the solution he proposes is to search the name on Google Images and see if men or women come up. This is a quick, elegant solution that might save some embarrassment.

This post got me thinking about the different ways that I search and that many people might not realize that Google is great for more than just finding websites or pictures. There are many lesser-known search features built into Google which can make your life easier if you know how to use them. Here we list five of the most useful ones.

1) Dictionary: Two of the main functions of a dictionary are to learn how to spell words and to find definitions. Luckily for us, Google can help with both. Often, if you spell a word incorrectly in a search, you will get the familiar "Did you mean: ____________?"prompt at the top of your results. Usually it has a pretty good idea of what you meant, so an educated guess about how to spell the word will lead you to the correct spelling. Sometimes you don't even need to perform the search, as popular searches will pop up based on what you have typed so far, giving you an indication as to whether the "i before e" rule applies in this case or not.

As I mentioned before, Google can also be used to define words. By typing "define" and then a word you wish to search, the first result will be a dictionary style entry for the desired word or term. There will also be several links to dictionary websites if you want more information.

2) Calculator: Rather than digging out your calculator from one of your desk drawers, let Google do the math! Type out the formula you would like to solve ( "/" means divide and "*" means multiply) and Google will instantly return the solution. Easy as pi!

3) Unit Conversion: Sometimes we need to know something like how many cups are in two liters, and rather than taking the time to look at a chart and performing the conversion in our heads, we can be lazy and just Google it. Google makes it very easy to convert between just about any units if you are in a rush or if you do not know the conversion rates offhand. It's also great for currency conversion, as well!

4) Sports Scores: If the big game (or any game, for that matter) is going on right now but is not on TV, Google has an easy way to see what's happening. Instead of exploring the depths of mlb.com or nfl.com to find your team or wading through all of the news and ads on your team's website, just search the team's name on Google. If they are playing right now, the top of the screen will have the score and basic stats from the game. If they are not playing, it will show their current record, the score of the most recent game, and the time of the next game. You will have to go to the team's website for more detailed information, but Google is great if you only need a quick update.

5) Weather: Wondering if you'll melt when you go outside this morning? Google "weather" and the name of your city or your zip code to find the current conditions and the weather for the next few days. Links to a few weather websites are also provided for more detailed forecasts and information.

Now that you know a few of the less obvious ways to search with Google, you can spend less time scouring the internet for information. Happy Googling!

Five Reasons to Switch to Gmail

It's no secret that 127TECH loves Google.  How could we not?  The company is always improving its old features while innovating new ones.  It's one of the most popular search engines, mapping services, online calendars, mobile options...you name it, they do it (very well and most likely, for free).  Perhaps one of the most useful weapons in Google's arsenal is their mail service, Gmail. Gmail has all of the features that you would expect from an email client and then some. They are also constantly making improvements so that your email experience is more organized and efficient.

Haven't made the switch yet, or wondering what Gmail could possibly provide that your current email client doesn't? Here's a rundown on some of the most useful features that should entice you into  thinking about your new email address.

1) Conversation View: Rather than have each reply to a message come in as a new email, clogging up your inbox, Google has created a conversation view. This is very similar to a message board, in which one person starts a topic, and every replay is displayed below the previous one in chronological order. It is very helpful in back-and-forth conversations so that you don't need to go digging through your emails to find that one reply with the important address. Just find the conversation you had with the particular person or people, and scroll down until you find what you are looking for.

2) Google Chat: Off to the bottom left hand corner of your Gmail screen you will find a list of people you have contacted. This can be useful as a quick contacts list, but it serves an even cooler purpose. It's also a list of people you can instantly chat with. If someone you know also uses Gmail (or a compatible instant messaging service) and they are currently online, you can strike up a conversation or ask a quick question right from your email window. You can even use Google Chat to talk with video or voice. While it lacks some of the specialized features of Skype, it's still a quick and easy way to get a hold of someone without logging into a completely different program.

3) Labels and Filters: In Gmail you can add a label to a message in your inbox as both a visual cue and a way to organize your messages. For instance, you can make a bright blue label that says "WORK" so that you can spot your work emails quickly. This also makes a sub-folder in your inbox so that you can look at all of your work emails in one place. Labels can be added to each message manually, or you can use filters. When setting up a filter you instruct Gmail to automatically label any email from "__________@place_you_work.com" or any message containing the text "TPS Report." The more filters you set up, the more organized your inbox is without even getting your hands dirty.

4) Priority Inbox: Another self-organizing feature included in Gmail is the Priority Inbox. This relatively new feature keeps track of the emails you read and the emails you respond to, and assigns a priority to emails as they come in. It will see if there's a newsletter you hardly ever open and will give it a lower priority than, for example, an email from your wife who you always eagerly reply to (right?). If Gmail gets it wrong, all you have to do is tell it that this is more or less of a priority than it thought. This is a great feature if you only have a minute to look at dozens of new emails and you want to cut straight to the important ones.

5) Google Docs: This is a big one. Google has a whole suite of office programs (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, etc.) available to use online for free. The interesting part about Google Docs (besides being free) is that it allows you to share documents with certain contacts that you choose. It allows you to write a draft which your partner (or partners) can look over and make whatever edits they like. A revision history is kept so that you can go back to a previous version, and it even lets you save your document to your computer in a format compatible with your office program of your choice. You don't need Gmail to use Google Docs, but having a Gmail account greatly simplifies the process.

These are just five neat features that you will find when you start using Gmail. I haven't even mentioned its spam filtering, quick search feature, mobile accessibly, large storage space, Google Labs additions...I could go on. If you do decide to make the switch Google has some excellent features which let you import old contact lists and emails from your previous email client. Gmail can even retrieve new emails as they come to your old email address in case you don't want to completely shut it down yet.

Let us know if you need help switching over, and we hope you enjoy Gmail!

The Top 5 Electronics That You Need to Recycle

Electronics continue to get cheaper to purchase.  Would you have even thought that you could purchase a 32" LCD for $299 five years ago?  I remember being excited about a 32" TV that was only $1299 back then!

As electronics get cheaper, it becomes less viable to repair them.  Let's face it, you use a repair need as an excuse to purchase a new gadget, too.  What happens to your old cell phones, TVs, and even iPads when you are "finished" with them?  Most sit unused somewhere in your home or office. Here are the top 5 "old" items that sit around, unused and unloved.

1) Cell Phones - It seems as if everyone has an old cell phone somewhere.  Why are you saving it?  Can you really use your 2001 phone today anyway?  I'm sure that the battery is dead by now.  

2) TVs - Behemoth tube televisions litter garages and spare bedrooms across the country.  Once digital video transissions bebame the norm, many TVs sit around unwatched.  Maybe that's not a bad thing!

3)Telephones - What happened to your old cordless phones once the battery stopped working?  Are they in the attic?  Did you throw it out?

4)VCRs and DVD Players - As VCRs broke down, they were quickly replaced with DVD players.  DVD players were replaced by Blu-Ray with equal speed.  Ironic, isn't it?

5) iPads - Yes, iPads!  I am sure that they aren't sitting around unused, but many iPad 1 owners have already upgraded to iPad 2's.  Where is that old iPad, anyway? 

What can you do with your old stuff?  Please don't throw it away.  Electronics have hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs). 

1) Local Recycle - Most local municipalities hold "Recycling Days" and you can drop off your old gadgets in order to have them taken care of.  There is sometimes a fee. 

2) Donate - Does your church need a TV for the nursury? There are many charitable organizations which will use your old cell phone, too!

3) Business Recycle - There are many great recycling companies out there.  Some will even come to your place of business to pick up your gadgets!  Computer Recycling of VA also has local drop off locations. 

4) Reuse - Find a place that will purchase your old gadgets.  Gazelle will do that for you.  Also, 127TECH is now in the business of purchasing your old Apple devices, laptops, monitors and desktops! 

If you have old gadgets, just send us an email and we'll provide a quote right away! 

Ten Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are designed to save time by making simple tasks more efficient. Rather than highlighting a word, navigating your cursor to the top of the window, clicking "Edit," finding "Copy," and then clicking "Copy," you could just highlight the word and press CTRL+C. Cut, copy, and paste (CTRL+X, CTRL+C, and CTRL+V respectively), print (CTRL+P), and new document/page (CTRL+N) are some of the most common shortcuts that are available in most programs. However, there are a ton of shortcuts built into Windows 7 that are less well-known. We will list ten of the coolest and most useful ones here.

[Note: For those who are new to keyboard shortcuts, let me give you a quick tutorial on how they're done. When you see a command like CTRL+N it means that you hold the CTRL button (located at the bottom of your keyboard to the left or right of the space bar) and then tap the N key. If you did this correctly, a new window should have opened up. Close it, and come back to this blog! The same applies for commands with the WINDOWS key, but instead you hold down the key with the Windows logo on it.]

Now for the list:

1) WINDOWS+LEFT (or RIGHT) : This shortcut shrinks the current window to the left (or right) half of the screen. This is very useful when you need to compare two pages or need to keep switching between windows but are tired of clicking back and forth. This can also be done by dragging the window all the way to the left or right edge of the screen.

2) WINDOWS+UP (or DOWN) : Pressing WINDOWS+UP will maximize the window. From here, pressing WINDOWS+DOWN will restore the window to its previous size, and pressing WINDOWS+DOWN again minimizes it.

3) WINDOWS+SPACE: By pressing this combination you can preview your desktop to see if the file you're looking for is there without having to close or minimize all of the windows you have open. Keep holding down WINDOWS to keep looking at your desktop.

4) WINDOWS+HOME: This will minimize all windows BUT the one you are currently working in. Using this shortcut again will bring the rest of the windows back up like you had them.

5) CTRL+SHIFT+N: If you are on your desktop or are navigating through folders (in Documents, for example) and you would like to make a new folder you could right click in the window, hover over "New," then go over to "Folder," and click. Or, you could save time by using this shortcut.

6) WINDOWS+F: Say you need to pull up  that expense report from 2009 or find the pictures of your kids on the beach from last summer. Instead of wasting time by hunting through a labyrinth of folders you can use this shortcut and then just start typing for the name of what you want. Windows will search through names of folders and documents, and even in the text of the documents to find what you're looking for.

7) WINDOWS+L: Use this shortcut when you're getting up from your computer in the office or at school and you don't want people going through your computer. This will lock your computer until you come back to put in your password.

8) CTRL+SHIFT+ESC: We tweeted about this recently, but I felt that it was important enough to use it again. CTRL+ALT+DELETE is the classic way to bring up the Task Manager so that you can end programs that are locked up. For some reason, Microsoft decided to change this particular shortcut with Windows Vista and put an extra step between you and your Task Manager. To bypass this screen, use CTRL+SHIFT+ESC instead.

9) WINDOWS+TAB: This is definitely the coolest shortcut out of the ten, visually speaking. When you have multiple windows open and you need to switch between them, use this shortcut to bring up a kind of 3D Rolodex of all of your windows called Aero Flip 3D. For this shortcut you hold the WINDOWS key and tap the TAB key however many times you need to switch to the option you want. Release WINDOWS when you have arrived at the window of your choice. This is basically the slower but "cooler" version of...

10) ALT+TAB: This is the classic. This feature is by no means new to Windows 7, but any geek would be remiss at leaving it out. The technique is very much the same as the previous shortcut (hold ALT and keep pressing TAB until you highlight the window you want), but this shortcut is cleaner and more efficient. If you take one shortcut from this list make it this one. It WILL save you time.

A Google search for "Windows 7 shortcuts" will show that there are plenty of other shortcuts out there (some useful, some not so useful) but I feel that these are the best, most time-saving ones available to Windows 7 users. Until you get the hang of them you might want to make a little cheat sheet with your favorites next to your computer. Before long you'll be impressing your family and co-workers by how quickly you switch between windows or how infrequently you use your mouse. Enjoy!

Five Freeware Alternatives

The average computer user has a handful of tasks that they regularly perform, such as surfing the web, creating documents, and editing photos. Unfortunatly, some of the programs most commonly used to carry out these tasks have problems. They can be bloated, slow down your computer, or just be too expensive. This is why it is important to know that you have many free software, or freeware, options at your disposal. Try some of these programs if you become frustrated with your current choices.


1) Web Browser: Windows computers come equiped with Internet Explorer as the default browser, which is ok for brief surfing sessions but leaves a lot to be desired in the long run. The newest version, IE9, has actually made improvments on previous versions, but still does not match the speed, safety, and customization available with its chief competitors, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. All three browsers take you to the same internet, but Firefox and Chrome generally offer a more pleasing user experience and offer a slew of add-ons which let you customize the appearance of the browser and perform specialized tasks, like downloading YouTube videos or blocking advertisements, just to name two. Once you become acquainted with these browsers it's hard to go back to Internet Explorer.

2) PDF Reader: Like Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader comes pre-packaged on new computers and is designed to be the default program used to read PDF documents. As many people who use PDFs will attest, Adobe Reader often takes a long time to start up and needs to perform large updates on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be this way. Foxit Reader and PDF-XChange Reader are two excellent alternatives to Adobe's bloated reader which allow annotations, bookmarking, and a ton of other features. They also use up fewer system resources. If you're concerned about hard drive space these are also great: for example Adobe Reader X takes up 470MB on my hard drive, while Foxit Reader is using only 25MB for the same purposes.

3) Antivirus: There are a few good subscription-based antivirus programs on the market like Norton and Kaspersky, but you also should be aware that there are quite a few free antivirus programs that will also keep you safe. Avast and AVG have free versions that are very good and are quite popular. However, we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials to our customers. It will not slow your computer down, and who better to take care of your Windows computer than Microsoft? Security Essentials is relatively new to the antivirus market, but it continues to get excellent reviews and is a great alternative to the paid programs.

4) Office Suite: Microsoft Office seems to have cornered the market on office suites, but having to purchase a license for each computer that uses it can get pricey. A solution to this problem can be found with Open Office. Open Office allows the user to make word processing documents, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, and more, and can read from and write to documents created with Microsoft Office and other similar programs. It has many of the same features as Office, so those who have had experience with Microsoft's programs will not be totally overwhelmed.

5) Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop is so popular that it has become a verb. "There's no way you met Stephen Colbert -- you photoshopped that picture!" Not everyone has $699 (the price of the full home version of Photoshop CS5) to spend touching up photos, though. For casual users, GIMP is a much more reasonable alternative. It offers many of the same basic and advanced touch-up and drawing features of Photoshop for a much better price: free. GIMP's website even offers tutorials so that you can brush up on your brushes without using the eraser tool on your bank account.

These great freeware programs are all excellent programs by themselves, but the fact that you can use them all free of cost makes it even better. Does anyone have any other free programs that they like to use which were not mentioned? Tell us about it in the comments: maybe we'll use it in a future submission!

Five Common Computer Mistakes

Computers are complicated.  If you don’t keep up with all of the latest trends in technology it’s easy to fall behind the curve.  There are, however, a few telling signs that a user is closer to the novice end of the scale than the expert one.  These tips may not have you “hacking into the mainframe” or creating the next Facebook, but at the very least it will give you a brief education and could keep your kids from laughing at you behind your back when you try to explain how “the lights on the PC box won’t turn on.”  This might be review for some people, but these issues can come up surprisingly often in the tech field. Knowing these common pitfalls will help you explain exactly what it is that is happening to your computer so that you can get the right help quickly.

1)  Parts of the Computer:  The keyboard and mouse are easy. The confusion happens more often regarding the monitor and the computer.  When you try to explain to someone who isn’t with you in the room that your computer won’t turn on, it’s important that you’re using the correct lingo.  The computer is the box that holds your hard drive, motherboard, disc drives, and all of the guts that let you do what you want to do. The monitor is merely the screen that you’re reading this from.

2)  Microsoft Office is not your operating system:  Often when we ask someone which operating system (OS) they’re using we get the reply “2010” or “2007.”  Conversely, when we ask which version of Office they have, they tell us “Windows 7” or “XP.” This kind of confusion can be avoided by understanding the difference between the two questions.  An operating system is the “master” program that runs when you first turn on your computer. It tells all of your other programs how to run.  Examples of an OS are Windows XP, Vista, or 7.  Microsoft Office is just a group of related programs (such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) that allow you to make documents and spreadsheets.  The latest versions of Microsoft Office are 2003, 2007, and 2010.

3)  Browsers vs. “The Internet” :  This one might sound nitpicky, but it’s another helpful bit of terminology to learn before telling someone you can’t find the internet when really it’s the browser that you’re having trouble with.  Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and AOL are all examples of web browsers.  These are basically just programs which let you access the World Wide Web. The internet is the actual network that lets people connect with each other and their favorite websites.

4)  Toolbars, Toolbars Toolbars:  Every once and a while we see that someone has (probably accidentally) installed a dozen unnecessary search toolbars to their web browser. One or two should be plenty, and any more that that will slow down your computer and take up valuable real estate on your monitor (remember this one?).  Usually there is a right click option to remove the toolbar, but if this doesn’t work try Googling “remove _________ toolbar,” filling in the blank with the unwanted search engine.

Don't let this happen to you!

5)  Memory vs. Hard Drive:  This one is a bit more technical.  Memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory), is the temporary storage used by your computer when it is on. Your operating system (more review words!) and applications will store data in memory that it might need to retrieve again soon.  The hard drive is where you save your pictures and documents so that you can pull them up tomorrow or in two years. If you aren’t able to store any more documents on your computer, you probably need more hard drive space, not more memory. If your computer is running really slowly, you might need more memory.