Author Archive | Steve Bass

Lexmark's Smart and Economical Printer

Posted by Steve Bass on May 15, 2010 at 10:11 am

I think we’ve got the razor-blade method of marketing printers figured out: Sell the printer for a couple of bucks, then gouge and exploit us on cartridges. I hate it.

Lexmark makes its money the old-fashioned way. It sells printers at higher-than-competitor’s printers, but then sells the ink cartridges at reasonable prices.

I tried the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 multifunction printer for over a month (I won’t review something unless I have decent hands-on time, despite howling from the PR people).

Amazon discounts the Lexmark Prestige Pro805 for $200, which is about what others discount it for. The Pro85 uses four single-ink cartridges. When purchasing directly from Lexmark, you’ll pay $5 for black and $10 for color. Shipping is free and Lexmark’s recycling program gives you two free cartridges for every five you buy and return empty in a year.

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Calibrating Your HDTV and PC Monitor

Posted by Steve Bass on May 8, 2010 at 12:23 am

I bought a 50-inch Samsung HDTV monitor a few years ago. It’s in our living room and it didn’t take long to adjust to it: Watching movies is a truly magnificent experience.

It got even better once I calibrated the beast. If you have a HDTV, and haven’t taken the time to calibrate it, do it.

I have a few ways to do the deed; you choose the one that fits your attention span and checkbook.

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Seven Handy Firefox Add-Ins and Tweaks

Posted by Steve Bass on May 2, 2010 at 10:27 am

I know many of you still stubbornly use Internet Explorer (hello, Carl). I used to, as well. But Firefox, with all its lovely add-ons and tweaks, is just more fun to use.

Let’s start with a something you might not know about: Firefox’s hidden visual tab switching tweak. Right now, you can use Ctrl-Tab to cycle through Firefox’s tabs. But if you’re using Firefox 3.6, the current revision, this tweak will give you a visual look at the tabs, just like using Alt-Tab in Windows.

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Three Neat New Windows Tools (and Free Coffee)

Posted by Steve Bass on April 14, 2010 at 10:20 am

Bring a reusable travel mug into your local Starbucks on April 15th, and you’ll get a free brewed coffee. Two things I’ll guarantee: The lines will be long and the baristas won’t be perky. And I’ll bet they’ll try to pawn off a cup of their insipid Pike Place brew on you. (Me, I still prefer Peets…) [Thanks, Tom.]

Shaky Videos? Here’s a Free Fix

We’ve all done it (or at least I have): Clicked the video button on the digital camera hoping for a quick, 60-second oooh and ahhhh video. What we end up with is something shaky, jiggly, and not-so-terrific.

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Ten Unusually Useful Web Sites

Posted by Steve Bass on April 10, 2010 at 5:27 pm

I spend lots of time patrolling the Net for sites that can help me with my life. Some are pinpointed to something I might need right away, like a way to get the phone number of a company. Others are spots I know I’ll need someday, such as instructions for recovering a ring from a drainpipe or how to wrap an extension cord like a pro.

I’ve got a stack of these places for you; some may hit your nail on the head, so to speak; others won’t do a thing for you.

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Test (and Fix) Your Broadband Connection

Posted by Steve Bass on March 24, 2010 at 8:05 pm

There’s been a big kerfuffle since the FCC recently proposed to give broadband a goose.

If the National Broadband Plan goes as it should (and no, I’m not counting on it, either), almost everyone in the U.S. will get high-speed Internet access (the goal is 90% coverage); average speeds will increase by 20%; and everyone will get malware and viruses lots more quickly.

As it is, the U.S. is near the bottom of the broadband pile, with speeds averaging 2.5- to 10-megabits per second (Mbps); Japan, France, and Korea lead the pack at warp speeds ranging from 160 to 100-Mbps. Read BusinessWeek’s World’s Fastest Broadband; check some numbers from 2007; and if you’re a hard-core techie, dive into some OECD specs from 2009.

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Cleaning Gunky, Dirty Keyboards

Posted by Steve Bass on March 18, 2010 at 6:49 am

My keyboard’s always catching junk–dust, bread crumbs, and unidentifiable schmutz. I know for a fact that a clean keyboard lets me type faster and more intelligently, and more important, lets me finish this newsletter more quickly.

My method is simple: I use a tissue and rubbing alcohol to remove the grime that builds up on the keys. To get rid of all the loose gunk, I take the keyboard outside and blast it with a can of air. It’s one of those low-cost ways to feel like you’ve accomplished something important.

On those rare occasions when I’m feeling ambitious, I remove the four screws at the bottom of my way too expensive Avant Stellar keyboard, detach the keyboard from the case, and use the air can there, too. Try it if you have the courage — and the handyman skills.

And if you tip a bottle of beer onto the keyboard, some people recommend you try popping it into the dishwasher.

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Eight CES Hits and Misses

Posted by Steve Bass on February 3, 2010 at 4:41 pm

I have four more blurbs about cool products I found at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show.

In the Drink

The day will come when you drop your digital camera into the pool–or if you use your phone in the bathroom, it’ll land in some odd place. Here are products to dry them out. Pour the ingredients of Dry All into an airtight container with your wet gadget and wait for 48 hours. The other method is to slip your device into a Bheestie bag and hang loose for up to 72 hours. Neither product will help unless it’s used immediately. Crossing your fingers might add to the drying process. Both products cost $20 and–pardon my LOL–no, I haven’t tested either.

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TechBite: CES Finds, a Personal Radar Gun, Epson’s All-in-One, and a Better Download Manager

Posted by Steve Bass on January 13, 2010 at 5:23 pm

CES: Winners and Losers

I spent three days at the not-as-big-as-before Consumer Electronics Show. I ignored the behemoth booths — Microsoft, Panasonic, Casio — and focused on the smaller, more interesting companies along the edge of the exhibit floor. I spotted some innovative products:

  • A smartphone app that turns off e-mail and texting features if the speed of your vehicle exceeds five miles per hour.
  • Lexmark’s multifunction printer that has something very appealing: Lexmark ink cartridges for under $5.
  • Fashionable 3D eyeglasses for when you can afford a 3D plasma screen.
  • Something to bring your electronic gadget back to life if you drop it in water.
  • A video camera the size of a flash drive with two hours of recording time.

I have lots more, including a report on Terk’s Hi-Def internal and external antennas and a new-style rechargeable battery. Below is my first blurb about a portable radar device; more next week.
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Five Free Tools to Tickle Your PC’s Fancy

Posted by Steve Bass on October 23, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Steve Bass's TechBiteI know you like new tools to try (I do too), so here are a stack for Windows. Play with them, see if they fit your working style, and maybe you’ll find a couple of keepers.

Geek Alert: Tune Up Your LCD

Listen, you know why the subtitle is geek alert? It’s because you need to like to take computing risks and you need some semblance of knowledge about LCDs. So before you read about Nicomsoft’s free Display Tuner, I want you to know that you can’t write me to complain the tool turned your LCD into one side of a 21-inch bookstand. (Or formatted your drive, or caused your spouse to leave you, for that matter.) Monitors are weird and even the program’s author has a stern warning for you. Got it? Okay, cool, carry on.

I never seem to get either of my ViewSonic LCDs tuned just right. And I really don’t like fiddling with those silly, hard-to-use buttons on the front of the monitor. Display Tuner lets you do those adjustments — such as geometry, color, and brightness — from within Windows. You can also set profiles for different viewing situations, say, watching videos, or reading text. That’s terrific. There are two limitations: If you have a dual monitor display, Display Tuner will support just one monitor and ignore the second one. And the tool works only with monitors that can be managed by software (they must support DDC commands). That leaves my ViewSonic LCDs out in the cold.

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