jonlee.ca

If you’re anything like me, you love to get your hands on new gadgets even though the old one works perfectly fine.  Take a very relevant example: the iPhone 4.  I have a perfectly functional iPhone 2G, but the iPhone 4 looks so gorgeous (reception issue aside), that I’m definitely going to pick one up once it comes to Canada.

But what do I do with the 2G? For a phone that is no longer really in demand, it may not be easy to sell on eBay or craigslist — at least not for a price that can justify going through the trouble of dealing with buyers or even scammers.

What is Tech Twurl?
Tech Twurl offers a service for those that have gadgets at home they want to get rid of to sell electronics.  The concept is simple, you send them your old gadget, and they’ll send you cash as payment.  Although prices are generally a bit lower than the best price you could get trying to sell the item yourself, the convenience is unparalleled.

The Prices
Obviously, the newer and more in-demand your electronic is, the higher price Tech Twurl will offer.  The price also depends on the quality of the product and the accessories (including things like original packaging).  Take for example if you bought the latest 32gb iPhone 4 but you are annoyed by the reception issues and have lost your receipt so you can’t return it to an Apple store.  Tech Twurl will offer you $585 for it (at the time of this posting).  That’s about double the subsidized price you would’ve paid for it.

For an older phone that I’ve used like the Samsung SGH-U900, Tech Twurl’s offer is $68, just a few dollars under the current market value on auction sites.  Again, that difference more than pays for the convenience.

How to sell your electronics
The steps to selling your electronics on TechTwurl is easy.  First, look up the electronic in question (as well as answer a few questions about the physical and working condition) and they’ll give you a price.  No bargaining required.

Next, if you agree to the price, Tech Twurl will send you the necessary shipping equipment, entirely prepaid.  Print out the shipping information, package it up in the provided box and drop it in the mail.  Immediately once they receive your package, you’ll see the payment in your Paypal or a check in the mail. Easy as pie.

Types of Electronics
Currently, Tech Twurl takes the following categories:

• Cellphones
• Cameras
• MP3 Players
• PDAs
• GPS
• Camcorders
• and even calculators.

If you don’t find your item on their site, don’t worry, they’re constantly adding more listings.

And coming soon… Textbooks! For all those University books you kept as reference but end up just sitting on your shelf collecting dust.

Conclusion
Definitely check it out, it doesn’t cost anything or even a sign-up to look up your old electronics. There’s really no easy way of getting rid of your old stuff for cash!

Popularity: 3% [?]

BitTorrent is a great protocol that allows for distributed (legal) file sharing.  Since its inception in 2001, it has grown substantially and currently accounts for more than half of all internet traffic by some accounts.  Part of this enormous traffic growth can be attributed to the recent popularization of HD content.  Unfortunately, Internet speeds have not grown along with the demand for larger and higher quality media files.  Furthermore, many Internet Service Providers have been instilling bandwidth limitations in order to remain profitable (or to become more profitable).

In a country and age where bandwidth is at a premium, it is very important none of it goes to waste.  You don’t want to have to download gigabytes of data only to find out later it was the wrong file, a fake file, or worse: an infected file.

All this preamble was simply to introduce the best BitTorrent search engine I’ve used thus far, VerTor.  What sets VerTor apart from other engines and trackers is that it verifies the content of every torrent file (hence the name).

How does it verify torrent files you ask? Here are some of the ways:

• Lists all individual files contained within a torrent file
• Scans all contained files for viruses (using Clam Win)
• Captures and displays a preview of actual screenshots of video
• Splits a sample of audio files for preview
• Checks to make sure files are not password protected
• Checks for DRM protection on files

Can’t find a torrent you want on their site? You can download the torrent file on another site and upload it to VerTor for verification without taking the plunge yourself.

The site is also very friendly for users new to the whole concept of BitTorrent.  Torrent files can even be opened using the web-based BitLet software so you don’t have to install or configure a client on your own computer.  One disadvantage is that it takes a while for VerTor to verify torrents so it takes a little while for new content to be verified and listed on the site.  A small price to pay for peace of mind in my opinion.

All in all, VerTor is a great site and an excellent example of the type of services the web is capable of these days.

Just remember, make sure what you’re downloading is legal and not copyrighted!

Popularity: 2% [?]

The newest OS X from Apple, Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6 was just released and boasts some pretty nifty features.  One of the more interesting ones is that it claims to take up a lot less space than Leopard.  Upon installation, you can actually RECOVER up to 6 gigabytes of space.

However, it was also recently revealed that Snow Leopard reports free space differently than most other operating systems.  Instead of reporting a kilobyte as 1024 bytes, Snow Leopard reports a kilobyte as 1000 bytes.  Likewise for megabytes, gigabytes, and I would assume, terabyte.

As a result, that 8gb USB stick will actually be reported as 8gb as opposed to 7.4gb.  I would assume that this move is an attempt to alleviate consumer confusion about “missing space” though I can see it potentially increasing confusion instead!

So does Snow Leopard actually recover 6 gigabytes of space or is it just reported as such?  The truth is, it does recover close to 6gb of actual space in addition to any “gains” from the change of disk space calculation.

It should be noted that technically, both definitions are correct and are often used interchangably so Snow Leopard isn’t doing anything wrong.  Apple just isn’t following the convention that previous operating systems have always adhered to.

Popularity: 2% [?]

I recently built a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) to drive my new LCD TV.  The benefit of using a HTPC is that it can replace many components of a traditional home theatre system while adding the benefits of having a full fledged computer system in your living room.

I plan on keeping this system running 24/7 so it makes sense to make it as energy efficient as possible.

Here’s a quick list of the components used:

• Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250
• Motherboard: Gigabyte MA-785GMT-UD2H
• Memory: Corsair XMS3 2x2GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kit
• Hard drive: 1TB Seagate Baracuda 7200.12
• Heatsink: Scythe Ninja Mini Rev. B with Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste
• Optical drive: Samsung DVD-RW
• Case: Antec NSK2480
• Speakers: Logitech Z-Cinema Advanced Surround Sound System w/Media Center remote

Motherboard
You might notice that I don’t have a graphics card listed, which may seem strange for a PC that’s built for high definition video playback.  The reason is because I’m using AMD’s new 785g chipset that was just released earlier this month.  This features an integrated Radeon HD 4200 GPU which is capable of smoothly decoding 1080p video.  This 785G chipset really has everything you need for a HTPC and is highly recommended in reviews by TomsHardware and AnandTech.

CPU
The AMD Athlon II X2 250 is one of the best value CPUs out there.  One can be had for about $70-$80 while providing two cores at 3.0ghz.  The best thing about it is that it is rated at 65w, making it one of the more energy efficient CPUs.  I could have opted for the 5050e which is only rated at 45w but I figure the extra processing power may come in handy for 1080p decoding.

Case and Heatsink
For the rest of the system, I decided to keep it as quiet as possible, opting for a passive heatsink cooled only by the case fans on the NSK2480 chassis.  The Antec NSK2480 case was designed by Antec in conjunction with SilentPCReview to give it the best airflow.  You can read a full review of the case here but let me just say, it is just beautiful and the attention to detail really sets it apart from other cases.  It’s also fairly inexpensive at around $100.

The case comes with a 380W power supply that’s 80+ certified meaning high energy efficiency.  Although the PSU isn’t that large, the low energy footprint of the individual components means 380W is already plenty.

Problems
The RAM that I got came with their own heatsinks which adds to the size of the modules.  This increased size coupled with the fairly large Scythe Mini Ninja CPU heatsink meant that the first two DIMM slots were not usable.  Luckily, Gigabyte arranged the DIMM slots so that the dual channel pairs were together.  As a result, I could put my two sticks of RAM into the 3rd and 4th DIMM slot while maintaining dual channel capability.  This means no more memory expansion though unless I get a smaller heat sink or memory modules without heat spreaders.

I’m also still missing a TV tuner to receive Over-The-Air HD transmissions.  I’m waiting for a nice one to go on sale.

Windows 7
For my operating system, I’m using a release candidate of Windows 7 which is simply amazing for a HTPC setup.  The Windows 7 media center is probably the best Microsoft product I’ve used so far and I haven’t found anything that really compares.  It’s highly moddable and coupled with the media center remote from the Logitech speakers, it makes for a very nice HTPC experience.  I recommend using the free media browser extension for extra eye candy and features.

Total Cost
I already had some of the parts so I only had to spend about $500 on this system.  Yes you can build a quad core system for $500, but you can’t get this type of HTPC experience whilst staying green!  All the components together, I’d estimate the final cost to be around $700.  If you wait for deals and bargains, you might be able to get it for less but many of these components are already fairly competitively priced.

Do you have an HTPC setup? What components did you end up using? Let me know in the comments!

Popularity: 3% [?]

GFI Languard isn’t your run of the mill security scanner.  This is a full featured enterprise-level software package that can test over 15,000 security vulnerabilities on your network.  With the number of vulnerabilities being discovered on a daily basis, it is hard enough to track and deploy patches while testing for security holes on a single computer, let alone an entire network of computers.

For many network administrators, this daunting task calls for a well-packaged network security scanner and GFI Languard delivers this in baskets.

Features
The feature list for GFI Languard version 9 is huge, but here are some of the more innovative/important features:

• Vulnerability scanning – scans over 15,000 security vunerabilities across all platforms (Windows, Mac OS and Linux).
• Support for virtual machines (running an operating system on an virtual machine doesn’t make it completely secure!).
• Immediately offers detailed analysis of vulnerabilites and offers remedial action.
• Able to script custom vulnerability checks – if your network is running special software you can easily write Python and Visual basic scripts to check non-standard vulnerabilities.
• Tests third party applications (anti-virus/anti-fireware) for adequate protection.
• Patch management – easily install or roll-back Windows patches that may be causing problems.
• Automatically deploy network-wide software installs, patches or service packs.  New Windows service pack? No worries!
• Remote desktop connection support for scanned computers – so you can take the driver seat on vulnerabilites that can’t be fixed automatically.
• Hardware auditing across networks – find out what computers are running what hardware
• Silent installation – deploy GFI Languard across the network without affecting end-users

User Interface
The UI is clean and straight forward.  Given the number of features, it is surprisingly simple.  Take a look at the screenshots on their site and you’ll get a good idea of the quality of software you’re dealing with.

My Results
I consider myself quite computer savvy and like to think that I keep my computer secure and free of vulnerabilities.  I ran GFI Languard on my own system and was happy to see that it only found one vulnerability — having Guest log-in enabled.  I promptly disabled it, ran the scan again and received a clean bill of health.  I don’t have a local network setup to test its networks features on but I’ve heard from some people I’ve talked to that it works as advertised.

Price – Free!
The nice people at GFI understand the importance of security for the everyday personal home user.  As a result, GFI Languard is freeware for personal use (up to 5 IP addresses).  The huge majority of home users and even small businesses won’t have any more than 5 computers so the fully featured freeware offer from GFI deserves a big round of applause.

For large companies with a huge network, pricing starts at $32 per IP address for 10-24 IPs and incrementally goes down to $4 per IP address for over 3000 IPs.

My Gripes
One gripe I have about the software though is that you need to provide it with the administrator username and password for your system.  This is necessary for it to perform some of the required tests but I had to do a small background check to make sure it was legitimate and they weren’t collecting this data for malicious purposes.  And of course, I found that GFI is a well known company having won many awards with many retail products available — otherwise I wouldn’t have installed the program to test it in the first place!

Another thing is that upon starting the program, you get a nag screen asking you to purchase the full version of the software.  It appears that after 10 days, the trial period ends and the software reverts to freeware mode unless you enter a license key.  So you can still use the fully functional software if you close the nag window by pressing the X in the top right hand corner but none of the obvious buttons give an option to continue using the software in freeware mode.

Conclusion
This software is the best network security scanners I’ve ever seen.  Any network administrator would be much better off using it.  Given the awesome price of free, home owners would be doing themselves a favor by running it at least once to patch up any security holes in their system!

Popularity: 3% [?]