Blackberry Playbook is unofficially dead now..

I had an earlier post about the Blackberry Playbook, an alternative to the iPad.  It was just released and initially seemed promising, until RIM made the mistake of not integrating a way to add your email, social contacts and calendar into the device.  A big strike against it.  Now a couple of more that might sink it completely before it gets started.  Verizon has not decided whether or not it wants to distribute the Playbook at all in it's stores.  The final strike is that for some unknown reason, Hulu has decided against allowing video streaming to the device.  With no email support, 4G network availability and no high quality video streaming capabilities, what's the point in this tablet.  Everything potentially good about it is missing.

Do not ever, ever listen to an infomercial!

In general, all infomercials are not helpful to your wallet.  They are fun to watch, but please do not fall for them, especially those that are computer related.  I just saw another one called cleanmypc dot com (I am not listing the official website because I do not want to encourage you going there or the search engines scrubbing my site and giving them Google juice).  Another one is finallyfast dot com.  All of these infomercials claim to clean up and speed up your machine.  Not true, they just collect your money.  Save your time and money.  If you want to speed or clean up your system, follow some of the advice in the maintenance section of this website.  If you want to learn more about the slimy side of infomercials, check out www.informercial-hell.com or www.infomercialscams.info. 

Another saved laptop!

Just got done replacing another motherboard, this time on a Dell Inspiron 4150.  It was the same problem as most laptop repairs, a broken power adapter.  Reminder, take care when plugging and unplugging your laptop cord.  They seem to break so easily when disconnected carelessly.  Most repairs entail replacing the whole motherboard.  In many cases you can replace the adapter by soldering a new one in, but since I am no soldering expert, the only other recourse is to replace the board.  The only headache is that I always keeping track of all the screws when disassembling and reassembling.  Nevertheless, it is always an......interesting repair.

Finally, Kindle e-book borrowing..

Amazon has finally relented and will allow the Kindle to download e-books from your local library.  Sony and Barnes & Noble have allowed this feature on their E-Readers for some time now.  Amazon has not explained why they have held out for so long, but they have finally come around.  The American Library Association has noted that 72% of American libraries offer e-books for loan (including Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh).  While only 5% of the public own an ereader, that number is expected to climb.  The advantage of the ebook borrowing is that you do not have to go to the library anymore to get a book, you can download it over the Internet.  I must admit I was slow on this one.  My wife owns a Nook, so I guess I should investigate what books are available to borrow.

Microsoft Safety Scanner

Microsoft has debuted a new tool to fight malware on your computer.  If you think you may have malware, you can go to their website and download the free tool that will scan your computer with the latest software to detect any malware infection.  It is always up to date because the download expires in 10 days.  After 10 days, you have to re-download the scanner and run again.  This ensures that you are scanning with the latest updated scanner.  It is free for all versions of Windows, including XP.  Try it out.

Blackberry Playbook tablet now available with one problem....

Some blame it on the rush to compete with the iphone, others say mere incompetence, but the new Blackberry Playbook has shipped missing one big function.  The ability to sync with Blackberry phones.  You would think that a Blackberry tablet syncing with a Blackberry phone would be a native feature, but no.  Much of the usability of the tablet is dependent on a connection with a Blackberry.  This being the case, it seems foolish to release a product before it is complete, especially if it is your first product in a line.  AT& T and RIM both indicate that they are working on the Blackberry Bridge app that would allow the syncing between the devices.  When that will be available, who knows.  For those who bought the promising tablet, it is essentially a paper weight for now.  Apple must be smiling...