GuruNews, Volume 9 Number 46, 12-17-09

[Kevin-PC Gurus]

Welcome to GuruNews



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Vol. 9, No. 46                           

12-17-09

 

1 Week 3 of gadget tips: The stocking stuffers  

2 Merry Christmas!

3 Checkless, Dron3d, Google delivery, Hubble pics

4 Stronger Ad-Aware

5 Driver updates

 

Every year it seems the stocking stuffers are just reruns.  The facts are the small things needed to run or enhance your gifts are pretty static.

 

Batteries have been a must have for decades, ever since the first motorized Tinker Toys and ever-popular Lite Brites.  Today’s gadgets are much more complex and powerful but the ancient fact remains that electronic gizmos need power.

 

Get a good mix of AAA, AA, C and 9 Volt to match your gifts as well as work in devices the giftee already owns.  You might even talk with other family and friends to see what they bought and help with their power needs.

 

Memory devices are another standard that’s been around for a while, what with cameras and flash drives all over the place, but this year you can toss in mobile phones.

 

Many of today’s mobile phones use the same memory cards as digital cameras, such as SD, mini-SD or micro-SD.  If your road warrior carries a camera phone that also serves as an MP3 player an additional memory card would be most welcome.

 

Same as the cameras, you just need to find out what type of cards the devices take prior to purchase.

 

Flash drives have become ubiquitous and also quite large, probably due to the advent of the solid state drives in many netbooks.  The largest I’ve seen is 64 GB but I’m certain they’ll get much larger in the near future.

 

More mainstream models are 4-8 GB and are pretty inexpensive.  So much so that you can often find three-packs for under $40.  I carry four of these things in my pockets and use them all on a daily basis, so my motto is you can never have too many.

 

Other little gifts are tools.  Many computer and gadget users are likely to tinker a bit and will often do less damage with the proper tool.

 

Precision screwdrivers, often called jewelers screwdrivers, are a must.  Go with a good brand, like Craftsman or Snap-On and get a set.  Both companies also make full size ratchet screwdrivers with multiple bit which are high quality, but the Snap-Ons tend to be a bit pricey.

 

Other small tools like spring hooks, forceps (with teeth) and spudgers are great for clearing paper jams or working with plastic cases on things such as laptops.

 

Regardless of what you purchase I’m certain your giftee will love it.  And often it’s the thought that counts and makes someone feel special, which is what we are all here for this time of year.

 

We here at the Gurus wish each and every one of you a safe and loving Christmas and New Year holiday break.  Enjoy yourselves, enjoy your families and each other and know that next year will bring more wonder and adventure to all.

 

We’ll see you on January 7th 

 

Kevin Mefford, Editor

microdome at thepcgurus.con

 

 



 

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

 

 

Tech News of the Week
 

The United Kingdom has announced a plan to phase out the use of paper checks in 2018, as by then they plan to have everyone moved over to electronic means of payments:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8414341.stm

Iraqi militants have used software that is available off the shelf software for $26 online to monitor US  drones that are deployed in Iraq, and have captured the video feeds coming from those drones:

http://tinyurl.com/ybgxt8h 

A father-to-be delivered his son with no more help than just running "how to deliver a baby" through Google and following a tutorial there:

http://tinyurl.com/y8uuo7e

Since I'm a space nut, and I believe that some of the most beautiful pictures out there are ones we'll never be able to behold with our naked eyes, I was delighted to see this gallery of pictures the Hubble Telescope has taken over its years of service:

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/

Keep us in the loop on the best of the web!

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

 

 

Download of the Week
 

The newest version of Ad-Aware Free improves on an already solid product, notably by expanding its protection.  It's simple to use, does an excellent job of detecting and killing spyware, and stays out of your way as much as possible. The fact that it's free for personal home use doesn't hurt, either.

 

There are some strong improvements under the hood of this latest version.  Ad-Aware now has rootkit detection and several types of heuristic detection to ferret-out malware behavior patterns.  It is available here: http://tinyurl.com/pcguru12-17 

 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com

 

 

Email Question of the Week
 

Q:  Hi, I am looking for a free software that will scan your computer and give you downloads for your drivers. I have upgraded to Windows 7 and would like an easy way to update drivers. It takes time to go to every manufacture website to do this, gateway updated driver utility does not help very much. Both of my laptop and desktop are Gateway.

 

A:  Don't know if this question got answered or not, was going through some of my e-mail, and found this one still without a reply.

 

Just so happens in the past few days I've run across something that will scan for drivers and look for updates.  The tool is called Device Doctor, and you can read a full write-up complete with a download link at the end here: http://tinyurl.com/yfvruqq.  A couple of caveats it mentions in the article; first do make sure the drivers it suggests are for the device you are wanting to use, second, Windows 7 support is still being worked on for some drivers, so time may tell with being able to get drivers for some pieces of hardware.

 

Hope this helps, and e-mail back with any questions!


Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

 

 

Contact info and legal stuff
 

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