Got My Nook
Got my Nook 3 weeks ago, I wanted to use it for a bit before making a review, so far I must say that I love my Nook, aside from a couple of things I will detail in just seconds, everything just works as expected, this thing feels nice on your hand, not too heavy not too light, it feels just like holding a book.
There are thousands of free eBooks on the internet, including the latest bestsellers! so it is nice to be able to obtain all those books I have been thinking about buying for a while and just having them ready at no cost for reading at my own pace, there are literally hundreds of sites where you can find free eBooks.
One thing I have noticed is that the Nook (and I think eReaders in general) manage to bring us back to the habit of reading books, with the advancement of the internet and so many connected devices these days, it is easy to spend hours looking at a computer, laptop, notebook iphone etc screen entertaining ourselves with new information, eReaders make it easy for us to satisfy our hunger for new information without the eyestrain that comes along with those other methods, the Nook is a great device, in my opinion the best eReader out there,
Just to make it better Barnes & Noble pushed Software 1.3 to the device a few weeks ago, this upgrade fixed a few things that were not working very nicely, besides stability improvements the update added a few new features such as in-store-reading, games and a web browser.
Some people have complained about long boot up times, that’s true ONLY if you totally turn off your nook, by default it has a sleep mode where it can go to sleep or wakeup in just half a second.
The only things I would like to see improved is the fact that you cannot yet go directly to a specific page on your documents, (Though you can bookmark any page for quick access) but I’m sure that will soon be added, it’s not that hard to implement, I would also like to see ways to zoom in or out in .pdf documents.
Oh don’t forget to download and install the Calibre eBook Manager to sync and manage content on your Nook!"
The Whole House FM Transmitter, My Quest For a Good FM Transmitter
Hey everybody, I’m still alive! For the last month I have been looking for a good FM Transmitter for my car; because seriously who wants to be creating CDs to listen to music anymore? my car does not have an AUX audio input, so a Modulator is not an option, the only way for me to go was wireless, so I went on a quest for a good FM Transmitter, to my frustration none of them worked as they should, with all honesty they ALL sucked big time, but I will go into details about that later… I made some research and came across The Whole House FM Transmitter, I was hesitant at first because – I’m sorry to say – their website does not look very professional at all, first impressions are always important to me, still I decided to research even farther and came up with some really nice reviews about this product on the internet, so I was like what the heck, let’s give it a try and went ahead and ordered this baby, oh boy… to my surprise it worked just as expected, this little device works exactly as advertised, The Whole House FM Transmitter claims that it broadcasts whatever audio source you want up to 150 feet in all directions. This means it can cover more than 70,000 square feet, I have verified and I can bear witness that it does indeed do what they claim.
As an universal FM transmitter, it can broadcast any audio source to every FM radio. The audio sources include TV, Satellite TV Receivers, DVRs (eg. TiVo), Home Stereo Systems, DVD Players, VCRs, iPod, Microsoft Zune, Creative Zen, SanDisk Sansa MP3 Player, Other MP3 Players, Stereo Systems, Satellite Radios, CD Players, Tape Players, Palm Pilots, and Computer Audio (Internet Radio, Streaming Audio, Audio Files & Audio Downloads).
You don’t need FCC license to operate Whole House FM Transmitter. You can power up the transmitter unit via wall outlet, car adapter, USB or 3 x AA batteries. It just takes 10 minutes or less for set up, The Whole House FM Transmitter Gold Edition comes with an FM transmitter unit, 1/8? (3.5 mm) Stereo Headphone Jack, Stereo RCA Jack with Volume Control, 110/220 V AC Power Supply, 12/24 V DC Automobile Adapter, and USB Power Cable.
You create your own FM radio station to broadcast around your house and even outside your house with any FM transmitter. But many FM transmitters don’t work because they are not powerful in broadcasting signal as you will see from my experiences below, and from the experiences of many other reviewers out there, check out the Bestbuy reviews and you will see what I mean.
Before finding The Whole House FM Transmitter I started with the Griffin iTrip Universal; the idea behind that transmitter is great, it is a wireless device that charges through the USB of any computer and does not need to be connected to your car’s lighter charger to work, the charge lasts enough for a decent trip and it also works good at home to listen to your computer tunes through the house on any stereo system, however the problem with this transmitter breaks the whole point of an FM Transmitter, it is not powerful enough, I constantly heard static through my little trips throughout town while I tested it, so I went back to the store and this time I got the none wireless Griffin iTrip Universal, this one proved to be much better, but I still struggled to get a good signal, I kept hearing a lot of noise and static through my speakers, then went back to Bestbuy and got myself The Microsoft – Premium Car Pack for All Zune MP3 Players, I love Microsoft products but come on Microsoft, this? really…..? I don’t want to even get started with this one, even though it was the most expensive of all and that I have a Zune player (I would expected it to be %100 compatible) it was horrible, I could not get a single frequency with a clear signal in the whole FM spectrum with this device, so I returned it in just 2 days.
I was about to give up on FM Transmitters, when I decided to give the Belkin Tunecast Auto FM Transmitter model F8Z439 a try; this one proved to be a lot better than the previous ones, however after trying it out for two weeks I knew already that it was also sucky, the belkin managed to keep a solid signal most of the time while making trips around town and while going to work etc, however as soon as I got into the freeway, the story changed, I could drive more than two miles without having to change the frequency, that aside from annoying it’s very dangerous if you are driving, yet I had already made my mind to keep it since all my previous experiences were worse and it seemed to me that price made no difference either, I decided to keep the lesser of the 4 evils, it looks like the FCCs regulations along with companies not really caring much to make a good product is killing the quality of probably all the assortment in this category in the market these days.
So I kept my Belkin for a couple of weeks but deep inside I could not believe there was nothing out there that would actually work as intended, and that’s when – Praise be To God Almighty- lol, I decided to research and came across the The Whole House FM Transmitter, If you are looking for a transmitter that actually works, be that you want it for your car, home, office, or business, then do not waste your time trying out all the worthless crap out there, make yourself a favor and go order one of these babies, you will not regret it, what’s even better, the company has just came up with version 2.0 of their product and this one seems to have been improved over its predecessor, I will be ordering a second one to use as my personal home radio station soon, that way I can stream my tunes all around the house and keep my original one for my car.
One thing I STRONGLY recommend with this device is that you attached the provided extended antenna that comes along with your order inside the package, your experience will be even greater if you do.
How To Achieve True Happiness
Many people go through life pursuing happiness, some get involved in politics and go to great lengths in achieving change in many areas of how their country or community stands to their citizens, others choose to enjoy the most out of life by living a lifestyle of self enjoyment, sex and instant gratification, while others turn to religion and its more extreme faces of fanatism and fundamentalism.
nevertheless the vast majority of the above examples turn out to be the best exponents of unhappiness; how then can human beings be happy? how can we enjoy life without hurting ourselves, the ones around us, those we love? there are things you can do to obtain true happiness.
Being optimistic, never thinking that the future is dark and hopeless, even though you might be walking barefoot through rough terrains there’s always better times at the turn of the road, avoid reading or watching too much negative news, do not talk too much with people that are very negative or pessimistic, everything passes in life, nothing is eternal, eventually you will get out of that hole you are in, a brighter future awaits you, keep that on your mind and truly believe it, if you do so, you will find yourself less frustrated and less depressed.
Take notice, yes, literally write down every good thing that happens to you every week, even those small details; people who realize their blessings are definitely happier, perhaps great things will not happen to you every week there’s however always positive aspects of every situation, remember things can go wrong, but they could have gone even worse and they didn’t, it doesn’t matter if you fall, what’s important is to stand up and keep walking.
Search for and be aware of what your advantages as an individual are, then use them in new ways, for example, perhaps you know you are good joker, why not start with the practice of cracking a few jokes everyday at work? your co-workers will laugh and feel a connection with you because you made their day’s work easier, and you yourself will find out the day went by sooner, you will feel great when you make others laugh, you know you are good at something, we are all good at things others are not, take it from there and shine among others, try new ways to use your own inner resources.
Be grateful to others, yes you might think everyday that someone is very nice to you, and be very appreciative of what they have done in your life, but have you ever told them? do they know you hold such a great level of appreciation for their good did? telling others how much you value their good works to you will give you a sense of inner fulfilling and will increase your internal peace.
Have fun, take a walk in the park, see children playing, go to the beach at sunset, watch with attention how the waves break against the sand or against your feet, practice a new dance, learn a new language, play a game, buy a camera and take pictures of things you like during your boring day, as the hours progress you would have turned it into a not so boring day after all, how about reading a holy book? bring spirituality into your life.
Get involved in acts of kindness, it turns out that helping others also helps ourselves, donating time and money to charities or people in need, assist others with whatever it is you can do for them, doing this and the above examples continuously will bring improvements in your own happiness, stop waiting for happiness to arrive, like a car waiting for the road to move, go and bring it into your life, a lasting increase in happiness depends on you and how you relate to and appreciate others, that’s the secret to a happy life that’s hidden in plain site, now you know it.
Updating Your TomTom XL 340S GP system WITH THE LATEST MAPS
Ok, a GPS was one of those things I have been after for a while, but I refused to pay a lot for it, since I really don’t need it too much, except those few times I go out of town and addresses can be a pain to find, so my local RadioShack had the TomTom XL 340s on sale for just $159, since they were still closed because it was very early in the morning and the Sears next to them was already open I asked the sales person if they would match the prices and he said yes without delay, he asked where I had seen that price and after telling him online, he asked how much they had it on sale for, I said I wasn’t sure if it was $150 or $159, he went ahead and checked RadioShack’s site and it was actually $159, however guess what… he matched the price to $150, so that’s what I ended up paying plus taxes, (A friend tells me the sales person wasn’t just nice, it’s because Sears actually has a price match + $9.00 USD policy) either way I think I got a good deal because all other retail stores had it at anything from $229 to $249.
This is the first real GPS I have ever had (Previously used my Phone’s) and so far so good, It works great and guides me everywhere I have asked it to without issue, even in those far from the city areas, It is packed with features you only find in expensive models, TomTom needs to get their act together in what has to do with the software/firmware updates though, they definitely have issues with that, the vast majority of negative reviews I have seen about the XL 340s is about people getting frustrated with the software and maps updates, that’s why I gave it a 4 in ease of use at my Bestbuy review of this item, the actual GPSs graphical interface is very user friendly though .
The main problem I see is that the new software they attempt to put in does not fit in the first upgrade attempt, then on second attempt the old firmware will update first thus being able to detect the problem and remove the old stuff first then it all goes smoothly, but most people never make it to the second try it seems because the error messages are not clear enough, just disconnect the device totally from your PC and retry the updates, old stuff has to go first then the new maps will fit, If you have issues updating your device just follow the following simple steps and you should be good to go:
netgear’s WNDR3700 paradise vs linksys’s wrt610n hell
NetGear’s WNDR3700 what an excellent router it is! got mine a few days ago and I couldn’t be happier with it because of its great speed, long range, and the ease with which I was able to just hook up my FreeAngent USB drive, thus making my media and files available to me in my entire home network and worldwide via FTP and HTTP, overall it was so easy to setup, I love the ability to create a guest network for home visitors etc, this is an awesome machine, loving it, not one single crash or disconnection in any device throughout the house, oh and finally my Zune finds my home network! The person who gave this router a 1 at bestbuy.com must have some serious cabling or interference issues or simply doesn’t know how to set up a router.
The only downside I noticed is that the setup wizard CD that comes with it is not compatible with Windows 7, given the fact that Win 7 is around the corner NetGear should have taken care of that, however the router can easily be setup manually by going to http://192.168.1.1/index.htm with your browser.
A month ago I had a big storm in my area and all my equipment got bricked, modem, NIC card, external dialup modem (which I only use with Phonetray) and yes my router, I had been a Linksys loyal user for years, but when this happened and my WRT54GX2 gave up the ghost, I had no choice but to start looking for a new router, first I tried the Linksys WRT400N but it turns out that this one did not have Gigabit ports and on top of that the router was crashing whenever I attempted to stream videos to my PS3 with it, so I went for their top of line product the WRT610N which cost me a nice $199 USD, but I was totally disappointed with it, this product could have been one of their best ever, its concept and set of features is magnificent, it did look really feature complete to me, so I went ahead shelled out that amount of money and bought it home, days after using I realized it must be one of the worst products Linksys has ever put out on the market and the certainly one of the worst I have got myself.
I did not pay attention to the reviews, but boy that was a mistake! I had horrible connectivity issues in all my devices, PS3 kept getting disconnected and whenever I tried to access files or videos the Router would crash and reset my internet connection in all my devices on the network, the storage feature (one of the main reasons I bought it for) is a mess, it wouldn’t recognize my created users, I couldn’t change passwords, and while attempting to connect from the internet with an ftp client it always complained that the user/pass was wrong, but IT WAS NOT! the software that comes with the router DOES NOT work and crashes, sometimes it won’t even start! and for the record YES I DID upgrade the firmware to their latest version, Linksys should fire or demote whoever watched over product quality when developing this product, I can’t believe they are charging $200 for it, it’s not worthy $20, get it out of the stores, recall it, it’s giving you a bad name Linksys! I wish I could get v2 but there’s no tell until you open the box, and who knows if it will be same?
I’m now a happy camper with my storm’s nightmare behind me, I only paid $159 for a product far superior and that actually does what it promises, keep up the good work NetGear.
Phoenix fast boot
I came across this a few days ago, and I was really impressed, it seems to me like waiting 30, 40, sometimes up to a minute or even more for your computer to boot up will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to Phoenix, the company that makes the BIOS (basic input/output system) of many computers today.
According to the company this new Instant Boot BIOS cuts down the boot time to less than one second, then Windows 7 itself takes approximately another second, so that’s roughly two seconds for a machine with this new technology be able to present a ready usable desktop, can’t wait for more news on this. check out my video for more details:
New blog theme
Finally got around designing my own WordPress theme, and well you can see the results yourself lol, I’m still playing around with it, not totally satisfied with colors etc, so I most definitely will tweak it in the upcoming days, but it was already time for a change, my previous theme was over a year old and besides nothing being wrong with it however, it was boring already. If you usually visit my site from a mobile phone, you will not see any changes because the mobile theme has not changed at all, it’s only the main site look that was modified for now.
I still need to update some areas of my blog such as the current look of my desktop etc, heck I don’t even use Windows Vista any more lol, anyway I hope my visitors enjoy the new look and if you have any suggestions please let me know, once again thanks for reading me.
Windows 7 RTM released to Manufacturing!
Windows 7 finally made it to the Manufacturers, today Microsoft announced it’s availability with a post on the Windows 7 blog by Brandon LeBlanc.
After downloading it for hours with one failed attempt, I installed it on my computer and I must say that I’m impressed by it, it feels so snappy, light on resources and all my software works on it, even certain programs that gave me issues with the RC build are now working like a charm, I only had issues with Phonetray, a program I use to block telemarketers calls, but after applying certain settings with the compatibility feature it also worked good; I honestly think and I’m sure many will agree with me on this one; that Win7 is the simply the best OS to ever come out of Redmond, XP users will finally have a good reason to move on and be up to date with the times.
The only thing I dislike about this version of Windows is the fact that Microsoft updated half the icons and left the other half with the Vista look, why they did this is beyond me; with such a great OS why made it look to the regular user like the previous version of Windows that many disliked? I’m not complaining though, 7 is great, it’s better to have a good under the hood operating system that just works as it should, and where today’s hardware and even some old programs still work than having lots of nice eye candy that’s good just for the eye, but I was really expecting at least a new theme and icons for a change.
If you can’t wait to try it, install a torrent client and Download Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385 For x64 Systems or you can also Download Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385 For x86 Systems to see a higher quality screenshot of my desktop above Click Here
One Hundred Years Of Solitude
Yes; so late, I finished reading this treasure, “Cien años de soledad” as it is known in its original language, and I must say that it is for sure one of the best novels ever written, and must definitely the best work in modern Spanish literature; and I don’t say: “so late” because it was at a late hour of the day that I finished reading it, but because it was so late in life I decided to read it, I should have done it years ago; this book can certainly change one’s way to look at many things once you’ve read it.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez work is studied in universities across the world and is no surprise to me as its "magical realism" (as his style is commonly known) involves you from the start to the very end of this book, it is highly original, imaginative, and unprecedented. One of the most charming qualities of this book is that you can pick it up and allow it to fall open at any random page, read that one page only, and still enjoy it for the imagery, the sheer beauty with which everything is described and narrated.
The novel acquires so much momentum and strength at the very end with its monumental and surprising ending! Gabriel Garcia Marques certainly took his time writing the last pages of his work to create a masterpiece finish really fitting his great novel; there’s so much I could say; I could write pages about the quality and literary value of this work but you must see for yourself, If you like reading do not, I repeat DO NOT die without reading it. (that’s the advice a friend gave me about the book and I really must thank him because he could not be more right)
Create HD Videos For YouTube With Your Quickcam Pro 9000
I have seen people in YouTube uploading videos created with this camera and wondering why theor videos don’t show up in HD once uploaded to YouTube and other video sharing sites; I have created a tutorial on how to record and crop videos with your Logitech Pro 9000 Quickcam and make them compatible with YouTube HD.
Super Software website: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html









