- Ultra Thin
- Anti-glare
- Guarantee To Preserve Original Color Tones
- Heat, Water Resistance, Against Scratches and Shields Damage
- Not Interfere with Touch screen Technology
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Lexerd - RIM Blackberry Curve 8900 Javelin TrueVue Anti-glare PDA Screen Protector (Dual Pack Bundle
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
APC PTEL2R 0.20-0.25kA Dataline Protector
- RJ11/45
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Sony VAIO VGN-UX380N Intel Core Solo U1500 1.33GHz 1GB 40GB WebCam BT Fingerprint 4.5" WSVGA Wvb VGN
- Sony VAIO Core Solo 1.33 GHz 4.5-inch Micro PC General Features: Ultra portable
- Microsoft Windows Vista Business pre-installed w/COA
- Intel Core Solo Processor U1500 Ultra Low Voltage 1.33 GHz speed Intel Centrino mobile technology
- 1 GB DDR2 RAM (1GB maximum) 40 GB hard drive Intel Media Graphics Accelerator 950
- Integrated audio w/built-in speakers
I bought my Sony Vaio UX380N back in the beginning of 2008, and I haven't regretted it one bit. Even now, after having it and using it all this time, i still keep finding newer and more exciting ways to use my UX380N. Sony had a real winner on their hands with this model, but they were quite outrageous on the prices of them. If they would have lowered their prices to a more reasonable amount, and maybe have upgraded the RAM to 2Gb instead of just giving up on the UX model idea, they would and could have probably sold them like hot cakes. Everyone that I have talked to and showed my UX380N to really loved it, and they really were interested in purchasing one. But the Sony price of them, along with Sony's decision to discontinue the model rather than make a few upgrades to it and lower the price of it, drove them away from buying one. Sony could have made a killing profit with this model, but their poor business and tech practices, once again, put a damper on their sales.
Personally, I don't know or understand why Sony thinks so much of their cumputers that they raise their prices wayyyy above everyone else that builds computers with the same or better quality, and sells them cheaper, but Sony needs to come down to reality and notice and see that their brand name doesn't have the quality or known-ness as it once had. Sony just needs to come down to reality period. Until then, not too may people will pay their outrageous prices for things that they can just go to other manufacturers and get the same quality mwith a much more reasonable price tag. But still, that doesn't take away the wonderful computer that the UX380N is. If you can find a UX model UMPC at a reasonable price (Maybe @ $799 or less), then I highly recommend that you buy it. You will not regret it. Thanks for reading!!Bought my UX380N back in 2007, this is an excellent micro-laptop if you travel much. I usually bring two laptops when I travel a bigger 13" or 16" laptop to do serious work and this guy is my entertainment laptop to play video, light games and serve as my BACKUP laptop just in case anything happens to my main machine. In this regard it is perfect I could fit both laptops on my back pack and barely know the UX is there.
To fully appreciate this laptop, you MUST upgrade it to Windows 7 Vista Business is WAY too SLOW. Once you put Windows 7 it is a totally different machine snappy, performs well and is a joy to use. The 1G RAM is sufficient for Windows 7 but not Vista Business. Oh, I did a clean install as well for Windows 7 and loaded all Sony drivers, everything works perfectly, actually much better than under Vista.
The screen is small indeed, the keyboard tiny, but what do you expect it is a micro-laptop, it is supposed to be small. The quality of components is superb the screen is crystal clear, the keyboard slide action is great, can't expect better built quality than this. Never tried out the EDGE modem, but it is too slow to be of any use anyways.
By the way get the extended battery. It makes it slightly heavier but much more practical. I could get 5 hours of light use out of the UX. With the standard battery, it is slightly smaller and lighter, but not practical with only 2.5 hours of juice.
I wish Sony would continue production it is sad to see it discontinued....I've had a UX-380 for 3+ years, and it hasn't been used much the past year because of newer toys. But the first thing I did when I bought it was to rip out Vista and put in XPpro. Machine surprisingly fast, and is a REAL PC running all my desktop/laptop apps.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Bluetooth USB 2.0 Micro Adapter Dongle
The dongle ships in a plastic pack with a mini CDROM. The mini CDROM has software (Bluesoleil 2.6.0.8) that enables Blue Tooth features that go beyond the basic Windows XP Blue Tooth capabilities, including A2DP (stereo music).
The dongle is tiny. I have an Acer Aspire One netbook and the dongle barely juts out from the side of the netbook a clear improvement over my Targus Blue Tooth USB dongle, which is 1 1/2 inches long. This improvement, however, was the only improvement to be found.
When using this USB dongle in a Windows XP environment, you really have two choices:
1) Plug it in and let XP detect and install a generic Blue Tooth driver for the device
2) Install the Bluesoleil software
If you go with the XP drivers, you are going to be able to use a decent and stable set of features, such as a reliable Blue Tooth mouse connection.
If you go with the Bluesoleil software, it opens up the functionality of the device and provides additional features that the XP drivers don't support, such as stereo music.
The problem is, the Bluesoleil software is not good. The user interface is ugly and non-intuitive. You'll just have to install it to see for yourself. Additionally, the software is, by design, crippled. Per the help menu, patches and upgrades will cost you. You can purchase a full version that, among other things, removes the data transfer speed-cap so that you can listen to MP3s without hiccups.
Setting aside the fairly annoying and yet not deal-breaking aspects of the software is the fact that the software doesn't play well with the audio drivers of my Acer Aspire One netbook. If I try to open an audio gateway to my Motorola BT stereo headphones, the Aspire RealTek soundchip drivers crash and crash again. And that is if I can even get the software to agree to create an audio gateway; it doesn't seem to be able to do so reliably.
I searched for information regarding the Bluesoleil software and the majority of the search results returned ways to work around the issues and many results even outlined how to reconfigure competitive software packages to work with the dongle in order to circumnavigate the Bluesoleil software altogether. I tried every trick that was described. I found some success in working with different software hacks but the time I spent was not well spent.
Back to my old Targus BT dongle, it was about 25 bucks. I installed the included software (WIDCOMM) and it just works. Five minutes of fiddling and it all works. It's silver and pokes way out and is pretty lame looking, but it gives me no grief.
In the end, I guess if your time is worth nothing than the cheapo BT dongle is for you. However, if you want the BT dongle to just work out of the box with no issues for every application that you expect it to work for, do some research and pay for what you expect to receive.
I have to caveat that this dongle and the included software may be just fine for you. For me however, it did not meet my requirements which are: BT mouse, BT stereo headphones and BT cellphone connections. All at once. Without any issues. The Targus dongle does this and I guess I'll just live with its unfortunate form factor.First unit received had a manufacturing defect that prevented the dongle from being attached to the usb port.
The replacement could not pair with other devices using Microsoft's bluetooth driver on XP(sp3) clean install. It also did not work with Microsoft's bluetooth driver on Vista x64. Also tried ubuntu linux 9.04 and also did not work.
After troubleshooting in ubuntu, the system log revealed that the device shuts down and restarts each time the bluetooth radio is used. And that was the apparent cause of pairing failures.
update: the device doesn't appear to use the Broadcom 2045 Chipset as stated in the detailed description. I installed the WIDCOMM bluetooth driver from Broadcom and it doesn't recognize the device.
Buy Bluetooth USB 2.0 Micro Adapter Dongle Now
Based on the couple other reviews, I thought that I would take a gamble on it. I needed something to connect my cell phone bluetooth headset to my computer for a VoIP setup needed for work. With little information and having never used bluetooth, I gambled and I won.The dongle has a small foot print. The software is excellent. I was able to connect all my cell phones and the wireless headsets to the computer with out any problem. Further, I was able to integrate my wireless headsets to my VoIP application (Avaya IP Agent, in case anyone is wondering). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the device packaging says that it is VoIP capable. The software is easy to use.
Over all, I am very pleased with the device. For less than $10 and the small footprint, you can't go wrong using this device.
I recommend it to anyone looking for bluetooth USB adapter.
Read Best Reviews of Bluetooth USB 2.0 Micro Adapter Dongle Here
I know you're tempted by a bargain (I was!), but put the money towards a better adapter.This might work for some, but on a 64-bit Windows 7 machine, the default drivers from Windows Update don't work (can't get through the pairing process). The version of BlueSoleil shipped with the product is obsolete and also doesn't work. BlueSoleil does have a nice working version on their website, but to get a full version without the shady data transfer limit, you'll need to shell out another $20 or so, at which point it's no longer worth it. Lastly either the dongle is NOT based on a Broadcom chipset, or Broadcom didn't write any 64-bit drivers, but their Bluetooth setup utility cannot detect the device either.
I feel like maybe if I keep digging around the web I'll eventually figure it out, but at this point I'm ready to throw in the towel. At least it's only a couple bucks down the drain.The dongle just fried when I plugged it into the usb port and ceased to work except as a fingertip warmer.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Blue - Cruzer Lite S-line TPU Case - For the New Ipad (Apple Ipad 3)
- Keep your Ipad 3 safe and protected in style.
- TPU is more cut and tear resistant than rubber. It is abrasion resistant, and has a high degree of transparency. This skin is more stiff than silicone skins, but remains flexible.
- Applicaton and removal are easy.
- Shock absorbent, shatterproof, and anti-scratch material
Buy Blue - Cruzer Lite S-line TPU Case - For the New Ipad (Apple Ipad 3) Now
This case will help protect against bumps, scrapes and light drops. TPU material is design to withstand and absorb impacts. So while this case is thin, it will protect against average everyday usage. The fit is nice a snug leaving no wiggle room. My two year old girl uses the iPad often and while she takes good care of the iPad, she still has accidents here and there.
Rabbit trail here...hoping to give some assurance that you don't necessarily have to go buy a bulky $80+ case to protect the iPad from a kid's use. This case has done well. Now if my lil girl slammed the device around I might give a second thought about what kind of case I have installed. But then again if the iPad is getting slammed around, that activity would be cut off anyways and she would not be using it.
Back to business. This case is simple and protective. There are cutouts for all ports and buttons. The only complaint I have for this case is that when I use my HDMI adapter to connect to my TV I have to take the iPad out of the case because the cutout is not big enough for the adapter to fit in the charger port. Other than that one thing this case does the job and looks good. I like thin profile cases that do not take away from the design of the device. I like the slim feel of the iPad and the Cruzerlite TPU case is a nice fit.
pics and videos available about Cruzerlite products at Bane-Tech dot com
Read Best Reviews of Blue - Cruzer Lite S-line TPU Case - For the New Ipad (Apple Ipad 3) Here
i chose those covers because it is mentionned it is taugher than silicone covers and therefore can be adjusted and cut.it is possible to cut the side of the plastic with a sharp cutter at the level of the magnet of the cover. i did superpose the smart cover with it and drew the zone to be cut with a pen. it takes a bit of time to be precise. i processed it in small steps not to cut too much. do not cut while placed on the ipad for final adjustment or you ll do like me and cut into the machine!
i have not triggered tearing initialisation of the plastic on the 90 degrees cuts but one never knows if it will happen later.
my girlfriend was overall satisfied by the final look, thaugh not perfect, it is unnoticeable it has been cut. The plastic is not too thick and still allows the apple smart cover to fold backwards freely.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
BoxWave mini Capacitive Stylus for Apple iPad, iPad 2, and Amazon Kindle Fire (Jet Black)
- Works on all capacitive touch screens
- Conveniently designed to attach to your iPad via the 3.5mm headset jack
- Perfect for cold days when you don't want to remove your gloves
- Available in: Jet Black, Metallic Silver, Crimson Red, or Lunar Blue color
Buy BoxWave mini Capacitive Stylus for Apple iPad, iPad 2, and Amazon Kindle Fire (Jet Black) Now
The rubber tip started to split horizontally in the first day of use. Boxwave wouldn't replace it since it was fulfilled by Amazon (even though they are still the seller) so I am returning it to Amazon for full refund. Only $8.50 but since it is poorly made, it is the principle.This little stylus has made texting a breeze on my HTC Evo. It stores and fits perfectly in the audio port. I don't know what I would do without it.Necesitaba un stylus porque aveces usaba mi teléfono con las manos sucias o con grasa y la pantalla quedaba sucia. Se acopla al puerto de audio y para usarlo simplemente lo jalas.I bought this to use with my iPod Touch. ( I have two of them.) I already have the larger device for my iPad & Kindle Fire, and I would absolutely be at a loss without this pointer.Responds easily and as expected, does not leave a mark on my device screen. I also use this device for my Garmin GPS when I am travelling. Much easier to point and
touch than try to "thumb" my way through the navigation screens!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Tropics Design Protective Skin Decal Sticker for Palm Pixi (Sprint) Cell Phone
- Tropics art-quality design.
- Covers the front and back surfaces of your Palm Pixi cell phone.
- Removable and won't harm your device!
- Thin enough to retain compatibility with most cases and accessories.
- Great way to personalized your Palm Pixi!
Saturday, May 17, 2014
GTMax Hot Pink Premium Leather Multi-Angle Rotating Folio Cover Case with Built-in Stand + LCD Scree
Sunday, April 20, 2014
rooCase SportsFan Football Case Cover with Landscape/Portrait for The new iPad (RC-IPD2-SFS-FTB)
- rooCASE Sports Fan Series Cover for The new iPad 3
- Look and Feel of a Real Football with 3D Graphics
- 9-Ways to Fold Front Cover into Landscape and Portrait Stand
- Low-Profile Shell Case Adds Only 9.1 oz and Provides Front and Rear Protection for the New iPad 3
- Magnetic Front Cover Support Auto Sleep and Wake The new iPad 3
- Access to All Ports and Controls
- iPad Not Included
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Nokia Lumia920 Leather Case - Vertical Pouch Type (NO Belt Clip) (Black) by PDair
It also is so thick that it made my phone unbelievably bulky.
I wouldn't recommend this pouch for those who care about slimness, look and feel, and finally smell.I was surprised by the material quality and finish of the pouch. The contrasting white stitching looks great on the black leather. Fits my Nokia Lumia 920 beautifully. Could have been a little thin though.. the phone with the pouch looks a bit bulky. But, the exquisite quality compensates more than required.
Buy Nokia Lumia920 Leather Case - Vertical Pouch Type (NO Belt Clip) (Black) by PDair Now
Fits the Lumia 920 perfectly and holds securely. It's not terribly bulky, but obviously makes the phone thicker in your pocket or bag. Still fits in my pocket, however, and I don't need to use a case on the phone itself. The 920 is a nice phone, so did't want to cover up the body and add thickness when using the device, so this is the perfect solution to protect it while carrying it around but have it naked when in use.Durability TBD, but looks to be well made and solid. A little more pricey than a cheap case, but worth it to me.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Black 360° Leather Case Cover Stand For Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus 7.0 P6200 P6210
- Compatible with:Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus 7.0 P6200 P6210
- Internal is Hard plastic , External is PU Leather
- 100% Brand New Premium Quality Leather Case with 360 degree Rotate
- Easy access to all buttons and ports
- Color: Black
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Belkin - Handheld stylus - (pack of 3 )
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
HandStands XL Jelly Sticky Pad in Black
- Designed to prevent slipping and sliding
- Secure all handheld electronic devices to the Kindle Sticky Pad XL including cell phones, ipods and even larger objects on virtually any unpainted dashboard using patented sticky technology, leaving no trace of residue
- Simple to use and easy to clean
- Compatible with all vehicles, the Kindle Sticky Pad XL not only provides easy access to automotive essentials, but also promotes safe driving
- 5 7/8 inches x 7 ½ inches x 1/32 inches
Buy HandStands XL Jelly Sticky Pad in Black Now
Good sticky pad. Doesn't curl up on the edges and works perfectly. Bought another one for my wife and she loves it.Read Best Reviews of HandStands XL Jelly Sticky Pad in Black Here
I have all my remotes sitting on this since my tv dinner table tray is @ a slant & they have been staying in place just fine.Bought this to replace my original sticky pad that had been on my center console for years. I like this larger size, and it is truly sticky, took the logo right off the back of my BlackBerry (don't make fun of me, I still use one)Saturday, January 11, 2014
BoxWave Magellan Maestro 4250 ClearTouch Crystal Screen Protector (Single Pack)
- Amazing Glass-like Clarity!
- 99% Visual Transparency
- Ultra-high Transparency Produces Vibrant Colors
- Protects Sensitive Touchscreen Against Scratches
- Washable and Reusable
Buy BoxWave Magellan Maestro 4250 ClearTouch Crystal Screen Protector (Single Pack) Now
Super product...just don't use it on any recent purchase of Magellans 4350 GPS...Magellan does not back their product unless you are willing to pay them for fixing their product which is under warranty. I know, Magellan beat me up twice and it cost me a whole lot of money and hours & hours of wasted time.It took me over 2 months to get my refund colrrected. But having my early summer travel plans RUINED by magellan ...well, thats PRICELESS! I am told Amazon is "investigating" my and other peoples COMPLAINTS AGAINST MAGELLAN. I am anxious to learn the results. I WILL NEVER, EVER buy a Magellan product again.Its too bad that the GOOD VENDORS, likethe folks at BoxWave who sell the Cleartouch Screen Protector had to take flak from me when I tried, in vail, to get magellan to solve my issues, and the one time Amazon kind of let me down also. I wrote a negative review against "Magellan Maestro 4250: without noting it was the ClearTouch Crystal I stumbled on. Some how it appeared I was negative on BoxWave. BoxWave, perhaps, would be better served if they promoted their fine products name BEFORE connecting it to Magellan or anyother GPS mfg co.
I communicated to and fro with BoxWaves very "on the ball" customer service rep and she worked WITH me to clear up the confusion. magellan could learn a lot about customer service from BoxWave, in my opinion...meanwhile, I would suggest that the heirs of Ferdinand to seriously consider redress against whomever has besmercted the navigation skills of their famous ancestor!.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
BoxWave Motorola Droid X mini Capacitive Stylus (Sparkle Edition) - Small Portable Droid X Stylus w/
- Works with all capacitive touch screens
- Helps avoid fingerprints and smudges
- Pocket-sized for added convenience
- Durable and responsive tip
- Adorned with shiny, diamond-like decorations
Axim X30 FlexiSkin
------------------
I have used for FlexiSkin for 2 years and it has done a great job in protecting my Axim X30 from bumps and scratches. It provides a very snug fit and has accurate cutouts for phone jack and jog dial. The front and back surfaces of the skin is molded with impressions of every button, protrusion, and indentation. The quality is absolutely top-notch.
ClearTouch Crystal
------------------
The screen protector gets scratched very easily with the stylus. My screen protector is full of scratches and looks very unsightly. I have also tried the matted version of the screen protector. Any scratches on it is less visible.
Boxwave sells another bundle, the FlexiSkin with ClearTouch Anti-Glare. This one comes with a screen protector that's matted. I would recommend this one instead.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Boxwave MiniSync Retractable Sync and Charge Cable for Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra
Saturday, October 5, 2013
NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (4-bay, diskless) Network Attached Storage, latest generation RNDU4000
- Blazing fast performances for bleeding-edge applications
- Best software partnerships to provide best store and serve user experiences
- First TiVo compatible DVR network archiving and storage device storage device
- Continuous backups from PC/Mac with Memeo Premium Backup
- Built in iTunes Server
MY ENVIRONMENT
I am a Computer Engineer been in the field for 35 years, so I'm fussy about my hardware. I have a house hardwired with CAT5 plus a WiFi router. The main machines are Macs, but there are some Windows computers too. This unit supports Time Machine and the support works perfectly and painlessly. I also have a couple of DLNA media devices, so that is an important feature. The ReadyNAS also lets you plugin USB drives and they instantly become available on the network as well so all my old external USB drives are not useless with this upgrade.
THE GOOD (Great, actually)
* This device is as close to plug and play as I've seen in a long time. There is a somewhat lengthy setup but we're dealing with Terabytes of disk space that has to get organized and set up properly for the X-RAID striping.
* You can plug in new drives to expand capacity as needed.
* Works seamlessly on a mixed Mac/Windows/DLNA media environment
* Redundant storage keeps going even after a single disk failure. I feel all my photos and videos are now safe (although I still keep an extra off-site backup, just in case.)
* Fast almost as fast as a directly connected USB, but now available to all the computers in the house.
* Can install extra software to securely access your data from the web anywhere.
THE LESS THAN GOOD
* There is a setting on the Network Interfaces called MTU. The default setting didn't work quite right for Macs changing it to 1492 fixed things. But a call to NETGEAR's support actually solved the issue, so I'd rate their support very good.
* Not cheap but I've spent years generating all my video, photos, and music and I think the easy interface to this all is worth the price.
* The concept of 'Shares' is not really explained as well as I would have liked.
WHICH UNIT TO GET?
I decided I would spend a bit more for this unit it is the latest technology over the older NETGEAR units. I decided the 4 disk unit and single core unit would probably have the best cost/benefit ration. With this unit, using Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS (they seem to work flawlessly so far even though the aren't yet on the compatibility list for this unit), you can get up to 6TB of redundant storage (recovers from a single drive failure). I'd guess they will eventually support 3 to 4 TB drives.I'm a network engineer and I chose the diskless because I wanted to control my drive specs.
In general avoid power-saving, "green" drives. There have been a lot of issues and power-savings translates into slowdowns managed by the drive's internals. Similar to how CPUs lower power consumption and heat by slowing down. If you want speed, green is not a "go".
I bought 2 x 2tb 64mb cache drives. I have a third, same spec at home, which I need to migrate data off first.
I plugged the Netgear into the Verizon FIOS wireless router(six 100Mb LAN ports) and my laptop was plugged into this. I transferred 500 Gb of data to the netgear and it sustained just about 80 mbps network transfer rate across the network. That's about what you can hope for on 100MB. Depending upon switch & pc hardware and transfer protocol I have seen higher, but often highspeed transfers max out at the 80% mark. Once I bring a gig switch to the house I'll see if I can push further. At some point I will max out read or write. Just not sure when and whose limits.
The Apple streaming support is there. I-Tunes found my 20,000 song library on the netgears. My shares automatically showed up on Macs. Windows mapped without issues. None of the playlists work anymore though. And information is missing or wrong. DLNA worked, but I don't have a good DLNA client. I think my blueray player may have some capability there. I'll update once I get it wired up to the network. I don't have a TIVO to test out Tivo support as well.
Unlike complaints of the lower end model, the admin interface on the Ultra is quick and responsive. I showed the unit to an earlier model ReadyNAS owner and they see a big difference. I'll be buying a second one to have them sync and backup eachother across the internet later this month.
A week after I got the unit NetGear emailed me that a new code is available. The update was easy and worked as expected. The ReadyNas sends me alerts via email for changes and problems.
Completely happy with the purchase. More money than many would spend on the shell, but in minutes I had services running without knowing Linux or compiling or installing or anything. By the time I buy the hardware and spent the time building researching, trying different software... this saved tremendous time.
2013 Update
I now own two of these units. My two regrets are that sometimes I wish I had bought the 6-bay unit as I have extra 2TB drives I could be using. My second regret was that when running plex transcode definitely taxed the CPU. I thought ultra was the best CPU in the line, but I read something that there was a box with a beefier CPU. However, I doubt whether any NAS-cpu would be beefy enough to handles big transcodes.
My setup is that I have one NAS and one backup NAS. Each night the NAS runs RSYNC-based backups of the files to the BACKUP unit. When I travelled around the country, my NAS came with me and my full backup was safe at home.
Using a GIG network I was able to push over 500 mbps to the NAS (4 drives). This translated to 70-75 Megabytes of file data per second. Pulling files was higher. The speed is absolutely dependent upon your choice of drives. Cheap, mismatched drives may perform to the slowness of the least performer.
I added the Netgear Remote to the backup so I could VPN in and access shares on a mac or windows. But I found large files were prone to failure. I turned up the FTP server on the unit and use that for resumable FTP downloads of large files. Also, on the Mac the Remote (VPN) client only works if you install tuntap. The only way you find that out it from a forum post buried in antiquity. The Mac client hasn't been updated in ... years.
I have added and swapped drives repeatedly. At first adding 2TB (4x2TB) drives, then replacing two with 3TB (2x2TB,2x3TB), then replaced the 3Tb with 4 TB(2x2TB,2x4TB). Adding/replacing drives is easy. The resync of the volumes always takes the longest. I think my longest time was about 14-18 hours. When expanding with new space you will be told in the logs to reboot the unit to take advantage of new space. I've found the disk maintenance to be pretty flawless, even though it is stressful due to risk. I've had the unit powered off by blackout during disk maintenance and when it powered up it picked up where it left off. I do FSC Checks and Parity scrubs once a week. The other night I was in a store and I got an email from the backup NAS. A disk has growing SMART errors. Hardware failure is likely. I love it.
A warning about bare disks. When you buy a bare disk, immediately go to the manufacturers website and validate the warranty. Website stores are selling OEM recovered disks. Vendors do not warranty these at all. The store that sold you it, is the only warranty. Don't get caught in these scams. I just checked all eight drives. And yes, the failing drive was an OEM bought from an Amazon Seller. I bought two identical drives from the same seller. One was an illegal OEM, the second had only a 1.5 year warranty--which means it was old and sold through some other shady means.
So, the Add-Ons were a draw, but I must say that some are half-hearted developments that were one-offs by someone years ago. There are a few good ones, but they didn't provide as much value as I had hoped. The good thing is there are still people out there bulding stuff so the platform is still active.
I turned up the I-Tunes streaming server, which is actually a FireFly server. However, Firefly development stopped in 2008. So while it works, and they've had to patch it to deal with breaks from I-Tunes development, I find it not fully functional. I can't get smartlists to function properly, and at last play with the configs--they vanished completely. It shows Ratings on songs--but they aren't my ratings. I have rated over 10,000 songs in my library and this is important to how I use I-tunes. Consequently, the i-Tunes streaming is a "look what it can do" rather than an actually USED feature.
I enabled SSH root access ad I've found that helpful with other projects, like setting the NAS as a syslog server for home to debug problems on other systems. It is also extremely fast to move files between shares at command line rather through a remote OS. Remote OSes pull the files off one share and transmit to the other. By doing it at command line, it is disk table change, size of the file is unimportant.
I added Plex to the NAS and that was a great addition. Plex is a media server that provides a content-rich front end with pictures and info about any movies or TV shows you've ripped from your DVDs. It also does transcodes, which means it will step the resolution of the video down to get it to lower bandwidth devices -such as when you are away from home or even viewing on an Android phone, itouch, iphone or ipad or android tablet. Outside of the tablets, watching tv on a phone is a moment of desperate boredom. (Note Android/iOS clients aren't free,$5, everything else IS free) Plex works very well on the ReadyNAS. However, transcodes require CPU and the performance fell apart on any substantial conversions. Eventually I moved Plex to a mini-pc (Dell Zino HD). Once I did that the stutters and stalls vanished. The ReadyNAS CPU isn't up to that kind of task. Now for local content Plex on the NAS can still do DirectPlay, which means it hands your device the original file. Each device must be capable of handling whatever format. For that functionality it worked perfectly. Plex on the NAS immediately became a real-use product. I even enabled internet access so I could watch my movies or TV shows when away from home.My initial installation went smooth, but then the unit got really slow and I was unable to use the NetGear RAIDar utility. After an endless email exchange with support, they asked me to call them for help. I did. Things went down hill from there.
NetGear's support is the worst I have ever encountered. I was willing to pay for support to resolve my issue. However, since I purchased this particular product and did not fully populate it with drives, the support team refused to assist me after spending almost 1 hour on the phone answering their ridiculous questions and being pitched to purchase longer support contracts.
The money is not the issue here. The refusal to help me is. I'm sure whatever my issue is can be resolved by a competent support person. And I was happy to pay for it. But after being passed around to multiple techs whose English was poor, phone connection faint, and I was put on hold for at least 50% of my conversation, they finally refused to help me.
I thought I bought a premium product. NetGear has my money and I have a dead end product. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU STEER CLEAR OF THIS PRODUCT AND NETGEAR.Received this unit two weeks ago, and it worked great on one drive. When adding a second drive, the sync process would go through, and then would lock the NAS unit up losing shares, etc.
Thought I troubleshot the initial issue down to one bad drive, and had Amazon cross ship me a new drive as I sent the other back to them. I got my new drive, popped it into the ReadyNAS. The NAS recognized the new drive, and went through the sync. Came back several hours later to find that all the shares are unreachable again, just like the last time with the original suspected bad drive. I could get into the web console and restart the unit. When the unit came up, it said that the volume scan failed, and could not see any of my shares or data. Was on latest firmware, etc...
I ""TRIED"" to work with Netgear support with this issue. Went through the phone tree 5 separate times being careful to press the write numbers to get to the right division for my ReadyNas Ulta 4. First person I talk to tells me I am in the wrong department, and this is where the fun begins. I get bounced around to literally 6 different people each telling me I am in the wrong department. Three times, I thought I was making progress, but always got hung up on. The other two times I get transferred to some area that had a really crappy phone connection (static, garbled, etc...).
I am returning the thing, and getting a different brand. I have to say that Netgear has the worst support that I have ever seen. Reading tech reviews, some of the Synology units sound to be good.I've had the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 for over a year and it has operated flawlessly. Started w/ 2 drives and once they were full popped in a third unformatted disk and it was automatically formatted and data re-striped without incident. Last week my 3 drives reached capacity and I popped in a 4th which was automatically formatted and all 4 drives again re-striped without incident. With the current firmware, you can now plop 4 3TB drives in this box (12TB total raw capacity). With conventional mirroring, that would give you 6 TB of fully redundant capacity. With Netgear's XRAID striping technology you actually would get around 8.25TB of fully redundant capacity.
The NAS allows you to configure an email address and it will automatically send you an email when appropriate (e.g. h/w problem, reboot, firmware updates available, nearing full capacity, etc.). I have applied several firmware updates as they have come available and experienced no update issues.
Finally, the ReadyNAS forums are extremely helpful and full of very sharp people that have been very helpful in answering technical questions.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Empire RLI-005-2 3.7V Rechargeable Li-ion Wireless Mouse Battery to Replace Logitech L-LB2
- Remote Control Battery
- Remote Control Batteries
Buy Empire RLI-005-2 3.7V Rechargeable Li-ion Wireless Mouse Battery to Replace Logitech L-LB2 Now
Battery works perfectly with mouse. I have had no issues with it, and it is going on months of use. Fully charges, and takes the same amount of time to discharge as the battery which was original to the mouse.Recommended!Great replacement battery. I has the proper connector so there is no need to solder or rig a connection. It took under 10 minutes to replace the original. super easy. Battery charge lasts over a week. The battery came fully charged, which was nice.Not as good as original but much cheaper than buying a new mouse or charging it daily. Of course there's better mice out there nowadays and I probably should get one but somehow I feel obligated to use this mouse til death do us part.Great product. Delivered in 3 weeks. My Logitech mouse lasting more that a week before need to re-charge. Will recommended to my friends.
thanks.
Friday, August 23, 2013
PalmOne V Travel Kit
- Recharge and synchronize with 2 computers
- Includes AC charger and HotSync cable
- Includes adapters for UK, Europe, and Australia
- Macintosh serial adapter sold separately
- Compatible with Palm V and Palm Vx handhelds
i find this kit very useful... more so than my cradle since this is more flexible in usage; i wish they would also sell the sync cable by itself. my biggest complaint (and yes, i agree it is more expensive than it should be) is that the sync cable connector (the piece that is inserted into the Palm) is exposed and does not come with a sleeve/protector.This kit is worth the money. It is compact and stores easily in the bag included with the kit. In turn, the bag stores easily in a laptop briefcase. The instruction booklet leaves a little to be desired. But the product itself is much smaller than the cradle, and much easier to store. It is easy to use. The charger comes in handy, and the multiple adapters need be carried only for the countries in which one travels. Definitely worth the investment.I recently went to Australia and completely forgot that I would have to charge my Palm. The voltage there is 220 and the plugs are definitely different. Sure enough, one of those little pieces that I kept in the bottom of the handy drawstring bag fit perfectly. Just when I was about to panic, I had all I needed. The power supply doesn't require that you get a *transformer* as well as a converter. So that's a big plus.I made a lot of short trips and all I need is the HotSync cable (I am back before running out of battery). The recharger unit is just doubling the cost for me. If I need both, then I would rather have the cradle with charger.

