Have a Computer Question? Ask Chippy...
 From time to time we receive computer questions from parents that we know a lot of you are mulling over as well. We're starting a new column aimed at answering such questions -- from how to troubleshoot a device that's stopped working to pricing new equipment, no query is too small! Our very own tech guru Chippy will aim to get you the answers you need as soon as possible. To ask your own, please contact us at info@genuineclass.com.
- iPods: Jog that memory
Dear Chippy: I've been interested in getting an iPod, which uses a hard disk to store music. Will the hard disk get damaged if I jog with it?
- Yes, the iPod has a hard disk inside. It's amazing how small these disks have become. Chippy remembers when hard disks were about the size of a Swanson's frozen dinner, maybe even the Hungry Man variety. Now, many are about the size of half a deck of cards or even smaller. Companies are working on hard disks that are about the size of a coin.
As such, you can expect hard disks to work their way into more and more products. One of Chippy's favorites (at least in theory) is the RoadMate 700 GPS device by Magellan Systems. The RoadMate, which uses a 5 GB hard disk similar to the one in the first iPods, dispenses with the complicated process of downloading maps to a PC, and holds as much data as DVD-based systems offered on many high-end automobiles. However, since it's portable, you can use it in any car. You can also travel with it around the country, plop it into a car and have access to local street maps. That's the kind of convenience Chippy appreciates when he's driving around distracted by 30 other clowns in his tiny car.
Hard disks are still relatively delicate devices with moving parts, but they are still the best value in storage. Smart companies like Apple design their products to also have a fair amount of memory in them to minimize risk to the hard disk. The way it works is that the iPod reads about a half-hour of music and then plays that half-hour without accessing the drive. So, simply by the laws of chance, you're far less likely to damage the hard disk because it's moving only about 3% of the time. Therefore, feel free to jog away and look forward to more tiny hard disks in your future.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- "Legacy-free" PCs
Dear Chippy: My new laptop doesn't work with my old printer, Palm Pilot, or mouse. Why?
-
Last time, we talked about USB and how it has replaced many of the older connectors on a PC. Usually, this isn't a problem on desktop computers that have plenty of room for connections on the back. However, especially in inexpensive PCs and on space-constrained laptops, PC companies have been phasing out some of the old commections for things like mice, keyboards and older printers, which required a big fat parallel cable thicker than many of today's wafer-thin notebook computers. For these types of peripherals, you have to use USB.
There are a number of adapters that allow these "legacy-free PCs" to work with older types of peripherals, such as these connectors:
- Parallel (for older printers)
- Serial (for older PDAs like the Palm Pilot and some early digital cameras)
- PS/2 (for keyboards and mice)
The problem, though, is that for many of these products, the cost of the adapter can be as much as the device itself. If you have a specialty printer that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars, the adapter is probably worth it, but for keyboards and mice, it almost certainly is not. If you're looking to save money or space with a legacy-free PC, understand that there may be some cost in terms of time or space to get inexpensive or older products working with it.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Uncovering USB 2.0
Dear Chippy: What is USB 2.0? Will it make my computer go faster?
-
In the mid-'90s, a number of companies led by Intel, which makes the
chips inside most PCs, came out with a great standard called USB. The idea
was to do away with the separate connections for things like keyboards and
mice, printers, and modems. Instead, there would be one connector that could
handle just about anything, that's why the "U" in USB stood for "Universal".
Furthermore, USB would be fast, and didn't require a lot of the
configuration of previous technologies.
How did companies react to this great innovation? They ignored it. Why?
Because when USB was introduced, it was yet another port that had few
products available for it while the other ports worked as well as they
always had. There weren't any unique products that required the new
technology. So, there was kind of a "chicken and egg" problem that went on
for several years. Ironically, Apple, which had been using its own set of
different connectors for things, broke the cycle by making USB just about
the only way to connect devices to the iMac, and soon there were a lot of
scanners, printers, digital cameras, and other products that could use USB.
Keyboards and mice supported the standard as well.
While USB was fast for its time, though, it wasn't up to the task of
transferring digital video or supporting fast hard drives. For that, the
better choice was FireWire. So, the USB folks finally released USB 2.0 or
"Hi-Speed" USB. While the original USB could theoretically transfer 12
Mb/sec., the new standard could theoretically transfer at 480 MBit/sec.
Most tests show, however, that USB is slower than FireWire, even though
FireWire is rated at only 400 MBit/sec. Still, the new version of USB was
much faster, and had the added bonus of being able to work with all the old
USB products. Now, however, things have gotten more confusing. The USB folks
say that just because something says it supports USB 2.0 doesn't mean it
supports fast transfer.
http://www.usb.org/info/usb_nomenclature
Almost all companies that ship fast USB products say that they support "USB
2.0" rather than "high-speed USB" so there will be some confusion for a
while as companies relabel everything to say what they *really* mean is
Hi-Speed USB. Also, some products, such as keyboards and mice, can't take
advantage of the faster speed, so don't worry about products supporting
them. If you're buying a new PC, it will almost certainly support "Hi-Speed"
USB, even if it doesn't use the right name yet.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Saving and Playing Music Tracks with Your PC
Dear Chippy: I'd like to use my PC to record and play music but have no idea how to get started. Please help!
-
Chippy will admit it. Sometimes he gets a little tired of the carnival music they play under the Big Top and wants to expand his musical horizons. Fortunately, PCs and the Internet can open up an incredible world of music as well as allow you to explore new kinds of music.
First, practically every PC with the exception of some very slim notebook computers include some kind of CD drive. Some can also play DVDs or "burn" or record on recordable CDs (CD-Rs) or rewriteable CDs (CD-RWs). CD-Rs can be recorded once while CD-RWs can be erased again and again. However, CD-Rs are so inexpensive (they are sometimes offered free after rebate), that most people record on them. Regardless of what kind of optical drive your PC has, though, it can always play CDs.
Not only can you play CDs on your PC, but you can copy music on it to your hard disk through a process called "ripping". Once music files are on your hard disk, you can play them without having to have the CD in the drive. Programs such as Windows Media Player and Apple's iTunes can do this as well as help organize your digital music collection. Both programs also have built-in "radio" programs that play music through the Internet. This works much better with a broadband connection. Like FM radio, you can often choose the genre but not the specific songs.
Speaking of radio, satellite radio company XM, better known for its in-car service, recently released a computer peripheral that lets you hear its channels on your PC. XM costs $9.95 per month; you can find out more at http://www.xmradio.com/.
Of course, the Web provides many oipportunities for you to sample and buy new CDs through Web sites such as Amazon, which offers sample of songs, and Half.com, which is part of eBay. In addition, new premium services allow you to listen to specific songs or albums on demand through the Internet. Some of these services also let you copy or "burn" songs to a CD. However, most of these services charge $5 to $20 per month, and some charge extra for downloads. Also, some only offer downloads that stop working if you stop subscribing to the service.
Apple's new iTunes Music Store charges 99 cents per song and requires no subscription. The songs can be burned to CDs or Apple's excellent if pricey iPod portable music player. The service works only on Macs for now but should be available for Windows before the end of the year.
Even your old LPs don't have to be left out of the digital music revolution. Most PCs even have the ability to record music from another source, such as a cassette player or record player. Microsoft recently released its Digital Media Plus Pack that allows you to do this through its Windows Media Player. However, we'd recommend a free program called MusicMatch, which has support for a more popular format called MP3.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Film and Digital Cameras: Bridging the Gap
Dear Chippy: I'd like to start uploading my photos to the Internet to share with my family and friends. How can I do that?
-
Digital photography has really taken off in the past few years, so much so that the number of digital cameras sold is beginning to outpace the number of film cameras. There are a lot of good reasons for this. Unlike film, digital cameras allow you to easily share your phoos via email, and the little screens on them let you pick which pictures you want before saving them. In the early days of digital cameras, picture quality was far below that of film, but the quality of the pictures has gotten so high in the past few years that it even impresses the stilt-walkers around here.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Film and Digital Cameras: Bridging the Gap
Dear Chippy: I'd like to start uploading my photos to the Internet to share with my family and friends. How can I do that?
-
Digital photography has really taken off in the past few years, so much so that the number of digital cameras sold is beginning to outpace the number of film cameras. There are a lot of good reasons for this. Unlike film, digital cameras allow you to easily share your phoos via email, and the little screens on them let you pick which pictures you want before saving them. In the early days of digital cameras, picture quality was far below that of film, but the quality of the pictures has gotten so high in the past few years that it even impresses the stilt-walkers around here.
While film can get expensive over time, it does offer one nice advantage.
Pictures developed on film can be shared without a computer around.
Developed pictures also fit nicely into photo albums where they can be
organized and archived. Fortunately, there are a few free Web sites out
there that can help you do a lot more with your digital pictures.
Ofoto, Snapfish, and Shutterfly are all pretty similar. You can send them your film and they'll send you back prints as well as posting your photos on the Web. Or, if your pictures are already digital, you can transfer them to the service. Be aware, though, that if you have a lot of large digital photos, this can take a while even on a fast cable modem or DSL connection. Once you get your pictures to these services, you can organize your
pictures into albums and share them with your friends without e-mailing big files or setting up your own Web site, all for free.
How can they do this? Because the services make money whenever anyone
orders prints from the pictures online. It also saves you the expense and
hassle of making duplicates for everyone who was at last week's circus.
They also let you send a framed picture or poster-sized print, which is
great when you want to set up your Clown Hall of Fame on your bedroom wall.
Some of the services also allow you to create all kinds of novelty gifts
from your photos, such as T-shirts or mugs, but unfortunately not Size 31
shoes.
There are a couple of other ways to bridge the gap between digital and
prints at the place where you have probably always gone to get film
developed, the local drugstore. Most major drugstores around now offer the
option to have photos saved on a CD when you develop film. This used to
take weeks but now Walgreen's, for instance, can do it at the store. You
also may have noticed those "photo kiosks" near the film development group.
These self-service booths let you your existing photos to make them
digital, or let you insert any number of those little memory cards that
digital cameras use.
Of course, Windows has some very nice picture organizing features and there
are a few programs out there from Corel and Adobe that specialize in making
photo albums. Mac users running Mac OS X can use iPhoto, which not only can
organize lots of pictures, but even produce coffee table books from them.
There's always the option to print out photos yourself using a high-quality
inkjet printer and high-quality paper. Just be aware that such
"consumables" can get expensive after a while. It may be we've substituted
buying ink and paper for buying film.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Buying a Color Printer
Dear Chippy: I'm thinking of buying a color printer. What are the important factors?
-
Whether it's the red of his nose, the green of his hair, or the yellow, blue and purple polka dots of his attire, Chippy knows from color. Today even the most inexpensive color inkjet printers can provide quality color output, but there are a number of factors to consider when purchasing a printer:
- Resolution. Today, almost all color printers can produce at least 720 dots per inch, or DPI; that's more than twice the detail of the first laser printers. The higher the DPI, the finer the detail will generally be. Look for a printer that can do at least 1440 DPI, some models can climb even higher. Be aware, though, that the more dots that a printer produces, the more each print can cost, and the longer each print may take, which brings us to our second point.
- Speed. Just because you're producing a masterpiece doesn't mean you want to take as long as Michelangelo did to paint the Sistine Chapel. Quality is important for final output, but sometimes you just want to make something "quick and dirty". Most color printers are good enough that you won't have to worry about the "dirty", but not all are very quick about it. Check out a printer's "page per minute" specification. It will be different for color vs. black and white.
- "Photo" printers. Mimicking the process used by professional imagesetters, color inkjets typically use four basic colors—cyan, yellow, magenta, and black—to produce their output. "Photo" printers typically up the ink count to six to produce better continuous tones. Unquestionably, photo printers do a better job on pictures, but don't dismiss a "regular" printer if your needs aren't that specialized. They can produce some very nice photos.
- Memory cards and LCDs. Nowadays, your computer may not be the only thing on your desk with its own screen. Many printers have slots that can handle different types of memory cards such as SD (Secure Digital) cards and Memory Stick. If you're planning to print digital photos without using your PC as an intermediary, make sure that the printer supports the same memory type as your camera. Higher-end printers even have small LCD screens that allow you to preview your prints before printing. This is very convenient. Canon also has at least one printer that can print directly from a Canon camera, saving you the step of removing the memory card.
- Archival inks. Your photos may look great when they enter the output tray, but what about when they enter the distant past? Early color printers had problems with fading. Now manufacturers have developed "archival" inks and papers that can be expected to last longer than you. Personally, Chippy believes this feature is a bit overrated seeing as how you can always print another copy. And it's pretty fair to say that 50 years from now, printing will have come a long way.
- Cartridges. The founders of Gilette were not clowning around when they discovered the business formula of "giving away the razor and selling the blades." In the case of color printers, the "blades" are the color cartridges, and they can get expensive. In fact, if you've gotten a rock-bottom printer at one of those after-Thanksgiving sales, you may find out that your first replacement cartridge cost more than the printer itself! Do some research into how long cartridges last, how much they cost, and how easy it is to get replacements. To maximize availability, stick to the "big four" of HP, Epson, Canon, and Lexmark. Some printers offer each color in a separate cartridge, which can save on replacement costs since you don't throw out the good ink with the bad.
- Other features. Color inkjet printers are the heart of most of the "multifunction" printers on the market today. These devices can almost always print, scan, and copy, and more expensive units can send and receive faxes as well. Also, some specialty photo printers, such as the tiny HP PhotoSmart 130, can print only on 4" X 6" photo paper for realistic "prints". While limiting, this saves you the problem of cutting the paper to fit standard frames.
Of course, stats can always be deceiving so be sure to check out some sample prints before you buy. Be careful to observe if the colors overlap each other (bleeding) or if you can detect bars of shading in certain areas (banding). Color inkjets offer great quality at dirt-cheap prices. Using one makes sense, and more than just "on paper".
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Creating a Home Network
Dear Chippy: We just bought a new family computer. What are my options for connecting it with my old machine?
- So, perhaps the holidays saw you get a new PC for your Big Top and you're looking to pawn off your old computer to the little clown in your family? If you'd like them to be able to share files or a broadband connection, you'll need to set up a network. Don't fret, though. In this column, we'll talk about the main ways you can connect computers.
Ethernet is a system of cables that's used in most offices. It looks a bit like phone wire, but the jacks are fatter than normal phone cords. Most new computers have Ethernet included. If yours does not, though, you can add it via a card or adapter. Ethernet is fast and inexpensive, but it requires you to string cable around your home. You'll also need a hub that all the cables connect to if you're connecting more than two computers.
HomePNA allows you to use your home's phone wiring to connect computers; you can still make and receive calls when the network is working. HomePNA hasn't been a popular standard on new computers, but, like Ethernet, it can be added. HomePNA costs a bit more than Ethernet, but you don't need a hub.
Wireless, also known as 802.11b or WiFi, is the most expensive way to network computers, but it also offers the most flexibility, especially for laptops. In fact, many laptops these days have wireless networking built in. An added bonus to WiFi is that many Starbucks shops, hotels, and airports allow you to access the Internet using a WiFi connection. There is often a charge for this service, though. However, WiFi does have some security issues that can allow hackers to access your computer.
(While it hasn't been as popular, you can also use your home's electrical outlets to connect your computers using products such as Phonex's NeverWire 14 system.)
Many companies offer products that will work on all these different kinds of networks. Some of the most popular ones are Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, and SMC. If you want to share your Internet connection among multiple computers, you can purchase a product called a "broadband router". It sounds complicated, but all it really does is connect your home network to the global network of the Internet. These products are available for under $100 and are available for all three kinds of home networks.
In our next column, we'll talk about three exciting new PC technologies from Microsoft and whether they have a better shot of winding up under your tree next year.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Upgrading to Broadband Services
Dear Chippy: My Internet connection at home is so slooooooowwwww. I'd like to upgrade to a high-speed connection, but don't understand all the different options. Help!
- If your Internet connections are slower than a circus elephant, there are several ways to speed up your online access. These ways of accessing the Net are known as broadband because they use a wider path for information than a plain modem can.
If you access the Internet through a dial-up connection, the digital information your computer sends and receives must be changed to travel over phone lines that were designed for voice conversations. That pipe is slow. It's like trying to fit my big clown feet into a normal shoe. Broadband services use a connection that is designed for digital information, so there's plenty of room, just like in my clown shoes. There are a number of benefits to broadband:
- The connection is much faster, up to 40 times faster than dial-up connections.
- The access is always on, so you don't have to go through a "connection" process every time you want to access email or use instant messaging. Also, you won't get disconnected.
- You can use your phone while you're still online.
- With extra equipment, you can share your connection with other computers in the house, even wirelessly!
There are, however, a few drawbacks.
- Broadband service is usually more expensive than dialup, although not much more expensive than using a dial-up service provider and adding a second line.
- There are fewer providers from which to choose.
- You may have to change your e-mail address.
Broadband service usually costs between $40/mo and $50/mo. There are two main ways to get it. Cable modems as offered by Time Warner Cable or Cablevision in Long Island use the same cables that deliver TV to your house. Phone companies, such as Verizon, offer DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).
While these services are available through most of the tri-state area, there are some regions where they are not available. For those areas, you can get high-speed access via satellite. These services are not as fast or cost-effective as cable or DSL, but sometimes they are the only option. The two leading satellite Internet providers are StarBand and DirecWay from DirecTV. Some of these services also require a phone connection because they can only deliver information from the Internet, not send it back from your computer.
To use broadband, your PC or Mac will need either an Ethernet port or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. USB in particular has been broadly available on any new computer purchased in the past three years. Older computers can often get one of these ports through an add-in card.
Some ISPs offer broadband services to their customers that work over a cable modem or DSL connection. For instance, while TimeWarner Cable offers its own service called Road Runner, you can also use AOL or EarthLink as your service provider. For most other ISPs, though, you will likely have to change your email address or essentially pay for two ISPs!
You can make the most of your broadband connection by sharing it with other computers. We'll talk about home networking in a future column.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
- Buying a Digital Camera
Dear Chippy: I'd like to buy a digital camera, getting the best quality without spending more than between $200 and $300. What kind would you recommend?
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Answer: In your price range, most of the cameras are 2 MP with 3x optical zoom, which is a very nice mainstream camera, particularly for its intended usage. The only 3MP camera I saw in that range is the Kodak DX4330 (for pricing information, click here).
Most Kodak cameras use Compact Flash cards, but some, like this one, use SD cards. The camera also has 16MB of internal memory, which is a nice backup if your card is full. SD cards are gaining more acceptance, though, and are starting to show up more in Palm and PocketPC devices. Memory Stick stuff, of course, tends to work mostly with Sony products.
In the 2MP category, you can get something a little smaller and sleeker,
such as the Nikon Coolpix 2500 and the
...and the Canon PowerShot S330.
Here's more pricing on the PowerShot.
Nikon also has a Coolpix 2000 that costs a bit less while shaving some features and Canon has the PoweShot A40 which has similar specs but is a bit bigger. The Nikons don't have a viewfinder, in case that's a deal-breaker for you.
Hope this helps!
Chippy
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