Time to Replace G4 Apple Computer?

Your G4 processor Apple computer has served you well but:

• You cannot play movies from the Internet from NetFlix.
• You are unable to read ebooks using the Kindle eBook Reader Application.
• You cannot upgrade your version of Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 to the current version (2011).
• You are unable to upgrade to the newest version of the Apple Operating System (Snow Leopard 10.6).
• You cannot have more than 2 gigabytes of memory (RAM) installed on your system to make it run faster or to support memory intensive applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

Time for a new Apple computer. Apple just announced there new offerings. Here is a link to an article that describes their new computers.
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/right_cue_apple_introduces_new_macbook_pro_models

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Upgrade to New Blackberry OS v6.0?

Verizon finally released v6.0 of the Blackberry Operating System to 

some of their "newer" older Blackberry SmartPhones. 

What do you need to know before your upgrade?

• Make sure your Blackberry is backed up. Use Blackberry Desktop Manager to do this.
• Your cellphone should be sync'ing your contacts, memos and tasks successfully.
• You have a backup of your SD media card. Use Blackberry Desktop Manager or copy the contents of the card to your computer when your Blackberry is connected to your computer. The SD card should be displayed as a  removable media drive in Windows Explorer.
• Document all the applications you have downloaded from the web. This list must be detailed enough for you to re-download these applications. If you used Blackberry App World to download and install your apps, this application will be all you need to re-install your applications.

When you connect your Blackberry to your computer and the Blackberry Desktop Manager starts, the Desktop Manager should detect that a new upgrade is available for your phone. Follow the steps and in approximately 1 and 1/2 hours your Blackberry will be running the newest release of the Blackberry Operating System.

All applications you downloaded from the Internet will need to be re-installed. If you installed them via Blackberry App World, open the application and re-install all the applications listed.

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Ensuring Your Low Cost Computer Will Perform

Computer memory (or RAM) is a key component of ensuring your computer can perform fast. 

One way to lessen the cost of a computer is my limiting how much memory comes with it out of the box and how much memory the computer can be upgraded to later. Make sure the computer you have in mind has the following minimums or can be upgraded later before buying it:

Windows XP- at least 1 megabyte (more is better)
Vista -             2 megabytes (4 megabytes is better)
Windows 7 -   2 megabytes (4 megabytes is better)

To determine how much memory your computer can be upgraded to go to:
www.kingston.com  and enter the vendor and model number into the memory search screen on the right.

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Using Two Monitors to Increase Your Productivity

Investing in another flat screen monitor can increase your productivity:

• You can have more than one window open full sized at the same time because you have double the amount of desktop space to spread things out. This makes previewing a document and editing the document a snap.
• Imagine being able to editor photos by having one monitor displaying the before and the other monitor displaying the after editing result.
• You can multi-task by monitoring your email and surfing the web.

What hardware do you need besides the additional monitor? You need a video card that can send your display to two monitor.

• If you have a laptop, does your laptop have an additional video monitor connection. Consult your users' manual. If it doesn't, you cannot display to more than one monitor.
• If you have a desktop, trace where your current monitor plugs into your computer. Is there an additional connection? Usually, if your video card supports displaying to more than one monitor, there will be the familiar VGA plug and a DVI plug. Most older monitors used a VGA plug. If the second monitor you want to connect has a VGA plug, you can buy a adapter to convert the VGA plug into a DVI allowing you to use both video monitor connections.
• If you only have one VGA connection on your video card, you can buy for $50 another video card that will have both connections on it.

Click on this link for a step by step description of connecting two monitors:  
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/organization/twomonitors.aspx

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