Toshiba's 1st consumer-oriented notebook in the U.S., the Toshiba mini NB205 , assures to be among the hottest notebooks of 2009. Like most of the affordable companion PCs acquirable in stores, the mini NB205 services you continue connected with a simple laptop that easily fits in a handbag or backpack. This notebook surely offers a good deal with a nearly full-sized keyboard and touchpad and all-day battery life, merely is it the best $400 notebook on the market? Let's get a closer look. OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 10.1" WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED-backlit display CPU: Intel Atom N280 (1.66GHz, 533MHz FSB) Graphics: Intel GMA 950 LAN onboard 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controller Wireless: 802.11b/g and Bluetooth V2.1 Memory 1GB (DDR2 533MHz) Storage: 160GB hard drive (5400rpm) and SD/SDHC media card reader Webcam: 0.3 Megapixel Dimensions 10.4 x 8.3 x 1.0/1.27 inches (W x D x H) Weight 2.93lbs with 6-cell battery Battery: 6-cell Lithium-Ion Warranty: 1-Year Parts and Labor, 1-Year Battery Price as configured: $399.99 USD Build and Design The Toshiba mini NB205 is the 1st notebook (low-price, low-performance, ultraportable laptop) from Toshiba, but the innovation is surely one of the most appealing we have seen in the notebook class. Toshiba bids the NB205 in multiple colors, simply the silver and "Sable Brown" color combination in our inspection social unit looks rather precise. The screen lid is built from slim textured plastic with the Toshiba logo frontmost and core in silver metalic plastic. Toshiba engineers built the fascinating alternative by placing the power button in the midst of the screen hinge where it's exposed even once the notebook is closed. At first I was afraid this could not be the hottest position since it signifies the power button could be by chance triggered inside a rucksack or laptop case, but the button is disenabled if the screen lid is shut. Build quality was less than amazing in spite of the attractive outside of the NB205. The thin plastics applied in the construction of the frame is prone to bend and the plastics make bothersome "creaky" noises if you squeeze the notebook between your fingers. The full-size keyboard looks phenomenal, just as soon as you enforce typing pressure with your fingers you start to experience the keyboard flex and resile as you type. Alas, the only area of the mini NB205 that feels good and firm is the tenseness on the screen hinges The bottom of the notebook chassis shows an copiousness of air vents to assist with cooling and a couple of tardily access panels for the RAM and disk drive. We are happy to see increasingly more notebooks with easy access to the internals for upgrading the computer memory or computer storage, and Toshiba pulls through very simple to complete these upgrades subsequently removing 3 screws. Screen and Speakers The Toshiba NB205 applies a gracious and bright 10.1-inch widescreen LED-backlit presentation panel with an 1024 x 600 native resolution. I wish Toshiba tendered the mini NB205 with a higher resolution screen such as the ones available from Dell, HP, and Sony, but regarding the $400 price we can't complain a great deal. Vertical viewing angles are normal, with visible color inversion when looking from below and some over-exposed colors once viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are very good with colors only starting to shift at extreme wide viewing angles. The built-in speaker performance on the mini NB205 is acceptable for listening to system sounds or very short online video clips, but overall the speaker quality is sub-par for a netbook. The built-in speaker is located on bottom front edge and can't produce enough distortion-free volume to push sound up toward the user. If you want to use this netbook as a mobile entertainment portal then you need to invest in some good headphones. On the bright side, the audio output from the headphone jack is good when paired with earphones or a good set of external speakers.

Backup tapes are a very important part of any business operation to ensure the information relevant to your business is safeguarded. While of course you can find services to assist you in the recovery of data, the more preferred option is to ensure you do all that you can to protect backup tapes. If you follow some basic rules and guidelines you can increase your chances of eliminating the need for the use of data recovery services.
There are various aspects, mostly relating to common sense that can assist you in the process of backup tape protection and continued long use.

Basic Tips:

* Follow manufacturer guidelines. This step is relatively easy but often overlooked as it requires that you actually read the guidelines provided and the recommended uses as specified by the backup tape manufacturer. While many tapes will be similar, there can be specific differences and following this simple step can assist in the overall protection of your backup tapes.

* Make sure you follow recommended instructions for number of uses of a tape. Many people do not take into account the recommended tape usage instructions and over use their tapes. Sticking to the guidelines can greatly reduce the chances of having to obtain the services of a data recovery specialist. For the low cost of additional tapes in comparison with a possible total loss of data it is imperative that you do not over use your tapes.

* Storage and handling of your back up tapes. Again, read the instructional material with the backup tapes themselves regarding storage, handling and transportation, if required, of your backup tapes. Manufacturer instructions in relation to this aspect can improve the life of your tapes and reduce chances of possible damage.

1. If you are required to move tapes, even just within your own office, ensure that you use tape transportation cases.

2. For transport over long distances use a direct carrier to ensure tapes are quickly transported therefore reducing any problems with temperature or humidity.

3. All packaging must be clean and strong enough to withstand impact and sealed to reduce any contamination of the backup tapes.

4. When sending more than one tape make sure that the tapes are cushioned within the packaging process to ensure tapes can not impact on each other and cause damage.

* Put in place a program for your tapes where you carry out test Tape Data Recovery. If you have not attempted test restores from your backup tapes then you are unable to confirm whether the tapes are performing the task you require. A test tape data recovery program can assist to ensure information is both stored and able to be restored.

* Do not use your tapes if you find that they are dirty or are damaged in any way. If you do find a backup tape that appears to have external dirt this could in fact mean that there is an internal problem and that the tape mechanism itself is not operating correctly. This internal damage may in fact mean the tape will not work correctly within the drive.

* Labeling of your tapes should only be as per the manufacturers instructions. Do not affix labels incorrectly as you can find that labels may come off inside the drive itself and cause damage.

* Loose labels on any tapes must be removed and replaced before you attempt to use the tapes. Any loose labels can cause damage to the drive. As well as this damage if the labels are missing from the tapes it may be a lengthy process to find out which tape you have.

* Do not haphazardly stack your tape cartridges. Ensure that you have a properly designed storage rack. Do not stack your tapes in a place that they can easily be knocked over as any impact of your backup tapes can cause damage.

* Never touch any portion of the tape itself. The non-recording surface comes in contact with the recording surface during usage and any contaminants from fingers such as dirt or oil can cause damage. This damage is not always immediate but can develop over time.

* Avoid lifting the flap on the cartridges and exposing the tape itself. If you are required to check for damage then perhaps this checking is best left to data recovery specialists as many cartridges get damaged when the flap is being closed.

* If a cartridge is dropped there could be damage inside, even if it is not possible to see any damage. If you are able to make a new backup of your data you should do so, and no longer use that dropped cartridge. If you are unable to make a new backup then you should seek the assistance of a data recovery specialist to recover the data within the dropped cartridge. If you attempt to use the cartridge it is highly likely that you will cause more damage and may perhaps hinder the data recovery process.

Following this very basic information you can find that you increase the life of your data recovery tapes as well as reducing the likelihood for the need of data recovery professionals when something does go wrong. These steps are all very simple and as stated they are predominantly common sense. It is of course reassuring to know there are data recovery specialists who can assist you however avoiding the problem and therefore requirement for any professional services is always a benefit to any business.



About the Author
Michiel Van Kets provides article services for Mark Sear who manages Altirium, a provider of Data Recovery, Tape Data Recovery, Data Conversion and Computer Forensic services to individuals, small to medium sized businesses, and major corporations.

Skype must be one of the most widely used programs nowadays, probably there is no computer user who does not know about it. People use it in so many different ways: free voice and video calling between computers, chatting, calling phones at very low rates. But do we really make the best use of Skype? According to me, we do not. The reason is very simple, we cannot carry a computer with us all the time. Even if one has a laptop, WiFi internet connection is still quite scarce, besides laptop is not a handy phone which one could carry in his pocket.
What if one could use Skype on mobile phones? That would really make it possible to make cheap calls everywhere (I mean not only local calls, which are anyway cheap with many mobile network providers, but also international phone calls). Most of us probably didn't even think about such a possibility. Some of the Skype users however know about a version for mobile phones but how many models support it? According to what is written on the web site, Skype mobile is available for all smartphones and pocket PCs running Windows Mobile as well as for i-Phone and a couple of Nokia phones. However, unfortunately it does not work on most smartphones and pocket PCs for a very simple reason - their processor speed is not sufficient for Skype to function properly. So, even if it is supported by the phone's operating system, it may not work because of the low processor speed. In fact, smartphone users have found that Skype works well on the phones having a 400 MHz processor or faster. There are not so many phones having such a fast processor. Some examples are Palm Treo Pro and all i-Mate Ultimate models. If you have one of those you do not need to continue reading this article, just install Skype Mobile on your phone and enjoy it. But some high-end smartphones, although fast enough, do not support Skype Mobile because they work on an operating system other than Windows Mobile (like Samsung Jet Speed with a 800 MHz processor, which runs a Samsung version of Symbian OS). And most of us do not have a high-end smartphone.

If Skype could be used on cheap and simple regular phones that would be really great. Will you say that it is not possible? Well, fortunately it is. To be more precise, Skype itself will not work on regular phones but there are some third party programs which can work on virtually any phone. Such programs connect to the Skype service and make it possible to make Skype calls from the phone they are installed on. There are quite a few programs of that kind, for example fring, Talkonaut, IM+ Mobile Messenger. The most popular one is fring because it provides good sound quality and does not incur any extra charges. Installing fring is simple. One can register on their web site and receive an SMS with an installation link. More advanced users, who know how to connect their phone to computer, can download and install fring via PC. Once fring is installed, one just needs to enter Skype user name and password to start making cheap calls from mobile phone. Besides, fring allows for free calls and chatting between the phones it is installed on.

What are the requirements for a mobile phone to be able to run fring? One basic requirement is that the phone should be able to connect to the Internet. Connection can be established either via WiFi or via GPRS or 3G. WiFi is preferable (if it is available in your phone) not only because it is fast but also because it is free. Connecting via GPRS or 3G may result in extra charges for the data transfer by the mobile service provider (however, if you have an unlimited data plan, you don't need to worry about that). Notice that WiFi connection remains free regardless of where you are. Even if you use your phone in international roaming, you will still be able to make the same cheap calls via WiFi! Another essential requirement is that fring works on mobile phones running Windows Mobile or Symbian OS operating systems as well as on i-Phone. That includes a lot of models because most Nokia and Sony Ericsson and some other phones work on Symbian OS.

What about the sound quality? It depends on the phone. The best sound quality is achieved on Symbian OS phones which must be due to the lower bandwidth used by fring under Symbian OS. However, even on Windows Mobile phones the sound is quite good. It may be not as good as for Skype on computer (which is by the way better than the quality of sound in conventional landline and mobile phones) but it is still quite good. For better audibility I would recommend to use headphones. That is especially essential for Windows Mobile phones because, due to an inherent property of Windows Mobile, the sound is routed to the speakerphone, no matter which program is used - Skype, fring or any other. These programs cannot use the internal phone speaker on Windows Mobile devices. Speakerphone's sound is generally not so good, besides everybody around will hear your conversation. That is why using headphones is recommended.

So, as a conclusion, my suggestion is, don't wait. Just install fring on your phone and try it. And you will enjoy making cheap calls on the go, wherever you are.

Windows 7 has some nice windows resizing tricks. It also retains some of the tricks introduced in Vista, that you may not know about, even if you are a regular Vista user.
New to Windows 7 are title bar mouse gestures.

You can maximize a window just by dragging it off the top of the screen, which is great. You can restore the window by dragging the title bar down, which is even better.

If you want to move the window, you can start from a maximized window and just drag it to where you want it. Before you had to restore it first, then move it. With Windows 7, when you drag the window down, it restores, then you just keep dragging it to where you want it.

Drag a window off the edge of the screen, and the window resized to half the screen. Drag another window off the other side of the screen, and you now have two documents arranged neatly side by side.

There is another nice full height trick. Drag the top edge of a window beyond the top of the screen, and it automatically resizes to the full height of the screen, without changing the width. You can also drag the bottom of the window down if you prefer.

Right-clicking the taskbar gives you more windows arrangement features which were also available in Vista. You can arrange up to three windows side by side, or stacked one above the other. More than that and the arrangement is less neat, but you still may find it useful.

You may not have been aware of this feature even in Vista. Previous versions of Windows had something similar, but it worked with all running applications. Since Vista, it works with only open windows, so you can minimize all the windows you don't want to arrange, then work with the rest, making these functions actually useful.



About the Author
My goal is to provide you with as much information about Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system as possible.

Visit http://www.mywindows7tutorial.com/ to claim your free copy of the Windows 7 Report and sign up for free Windows 7 training videos.

Also visit my blog at http://www.windows7journal.com/

Windows 7 offers some new ways to work with windows - opening, closing, moving them etc.
Microsoft has also removes some ways of working with windows, which I'm a bit disappointed with, but there you have it - they can't make it too easy to work with their new operating system now, can they?

Let's start with the good things they've added.

You can now do a lot by just grabbing the title bar with the mouse and dragging it. Depending on where you drag the window, you can do some pretty nifty things with it.

The biggest change is that you can drag a maximized window and work with it that way. You used to have to restore it to taking up part of the screen before you could do anything with it.

Now you can click the title bar and drag the window anywhere you want. This simultaneously restores the window size, and moves it to where you want it.

If you just drag the title bar down a few pixels, it will do nothing more than restore the window. Keep dragging it around if you want to move it.

To maximize the window, just drag it up past the top of the screen.

If you drag it off the left or right side of the screen, the window re sizes to the full height of the screen, and half the width. This makes it easy to put two windows side-by-side for easy comparison.

Another change is how the taskbar works. When you hover over an icon on the taskbar, you get a thumbnail of all applications associated with that icon.

Now you can close a window by hovering over its thumbnail, then clicking the close button at the top right of the thumbnail.

Microsoft has removed the ability to restore and maximize windows from the taskbar, which is annoying. You can minimize tasks, and return them to their previous state - either restored or maximized. But you can't go from maximized to minimized to restored (for example) or restored to maximized.

On the whole, Windows 7 makes it easier to work with windows, but it would have been better to keep previous taskbar functionality.



About the Author
My goal is to provide you with as much information about Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system as possible.

Visit http://www.mywindows7tutorial.com/ to claim your free copy of the Windows 7 Report and sign up for free Windows 7 training videos.

Also visit my blog at http://www.windows7journal.com/

Do you own an Apple iPod? I do own my 4th iPod now and just purchased another one and did an upgrade of Apple iTunes to version. What then happened is a very disappointing experience as there is a bug that Apple Inc. has not fixed in over 12 months at the time of this writing.


Another iPod died on me after giving me company while running for a long time. Sweat, rain, heat, shocks - I guess it was too much for the poor little iPod Shuffle. This time I decided to get an iPod Nano instead of a Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle is great in regards to weight and sturdiness, however it is limited in regards to playlists and functionality. The iPod Nano just a notch more heavy in weight compared to the Shuffle and little bigger in overall size, but twice as thin as the Shuffle.



After purchasing the Nano at the local Apple Store I had to install iTunes on my laptop to put my music on this new device. I did not have to use iTunes to program my Shuffle due as I was using a little application (downloadable from SourceForge) that allowed to re-program the database every time when adding or removing songs from the Apple iPod Shuffle (copy and paste). However, this application does not work with the Nano and so I installed iTunes 8 - not knowing what kind of disaster would turn out to be. I started iTunes and let it index my database which took forever, but when I finally had it all in place I hooked up the new Nano iPod.



I started creating playlists and sort my music library, but iTunes was extremely slow. I figured it might still be indexing songs and stuff in the background, but it did not get better. So, I started a Google Search for the slowness with iTunes and apparently this started in summer of 2008 when Apple updated iTunes to version 8. I was shocked to read that now, exact one year later the same problem still persist for users of iTunes 8 on a Windows based computer. Some Apple Computer users reported the same problem, but they were in the minority. All the people who reported this problem were using Windows XP or Windows Vista - just like myself. iTunes acted extremely slow and rendered the device useless in many cases.



More research however showed that 3rd party software allows to bypass the problem and still get the same functionality out of the iPod. I tried a few tools and found that an application called "Songbird" combined with the iPod plug-in is the best way to manage playlists and songs on an iPod. Now I really love my new iPod Nano due to the fact that I do not have to use the bloat ware that Apple iTunes has become.



Conclusion: If you are considering the purchase of an Apple iPod and want to use iTunes 8 on your Windows OS based computer to load music to the device you might join the ranks of many frustrated users who are experiencing this very problem. Apple has not provided a solution since September 2008 from what I can tell which is not a good way to promote products.



About the Author
Chris Puetz writes many product reviews about consumer technology related products or gagdets. Read more reviews about Solar Atomic Watches or the Downtown Denver Hotels for comparison