Internet Fax Machines for the SOHO User

If you work in a small office/home office environment (often referred to as a "SOHO" environment) then you can appreciate "convergence" products that allow one device to do the work of many other devices.

The PC has become one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, and indeed the PC has done more for revolutionizing the way we do business than any other single innovation in the past one hundred years. Not since the printing press has one single innovation made such an impact on the business world.

One of the features that makes PCs so useful and indispensable is the ability for the device to "wear many hats" and serve as a multifunction device that different employees and technicians can use for different purposes.

For the all around office machine, fax software should be included on the list of applications that all office PCs should have to make them as useful as possible and to lessen the amount of hardware that needs to be purchased in order to have an office working at peak efficiency.

When equipped with faxing software or utilizing the services of an online internet faxing site, you not only add functionality to you initial PC investment but you also save money by not having to outfit the office with cumbersome hardware that is difficult to use. Additionally, when you use your PC to accomplish faxing tasks, you have the same ability to have a digital "paper trail" (like the type enabled by email and other internet based textual communication). Records can be kept by the software or service and allow for lightning-quick search and verify actions to be done when necessary. No more wondering if your secretary sent the fax you asked to have sent by lunch. Individuals with an interest in the faxed communiqu? can be notified via email upon reception of the fax and can follow up on messages as they are received.

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LCD TV - The Latest In Viewing

Liquid Crystal Display is all about flat panel television technology. The technology of liquid crystal display has penetrated our everyday life in everyday things like wristwatches, mobile phones, calculators, computer monitors and high definition television. The use is growing rapidly and sales of LCD TV are expected to exceed 4 million in America alone.

There are some distinct advantages of LCD panels over other kinds of display technologies. They are slimmer and hardly go beyond 3.5`` in depth. These are lighter also and best of all they draw less power - only about 60% of the power consumed by plasma displays. LCD televisions do not spew electromagnetic waves that are harmful.

There are drawbacks of course - viewing angle is restricted, contrast ratio is limited and time of display response may cause concern. The biggest frown of all is caused by the price. Although it is falling but still it is considerably higher than its plasma counterpart.

LCD displays comprises mainly of sheets of polarized glass sheets - two in number. A liquid crystal solution is sandwiched between these. These liquid crystals are very specific that causes them to act as shutters that open or shut out entry of light as the need arises depending upon flow of electric current. This current passing through the liquid crystals is regulated by voltage that is applied between the glass sheets through the electrodes that are transparent. These form a network having rows on one direction of the panel and columns on the other side representing the pixels or picture elements.

What are these liquid crystals? Matter can be found in three states - solid, liquid and gas. Nevertheless there are substances that exist in a state that is neither liquid nor solid at any one point of time. The behaviour of these molecules is also peculiar. They keep to their orientation like those in a solid and yet they shuffle around taking up various positions like the molecules of a liquid. Thus these liquid crystals can be termed neither solid nor liquid though they have more of an affinity for the latter - that is the liquid state.

There are various types of liquid crystals with each having its distinct properties. Those used in LCD panels are termed nematic-phase liquid crystals. The molecules are arranged in a particular fashion having distinctive pattern.

LCD display systems are of two types - passive and active matrix. The former is more complicated, produces the best pictures and consequently the price also goes up. During the manufacturing stage bad-pixels pose a serious problem. Innumerable controlling transistors are required on the glass substrata to control each sub-pixel. A typical wide screen panel will require 3.1 million transistors. Any one faulty transistor cannot be replaced and are known as dead or stuck pixels. If one is permanently off then a black spot will show and if it is on then a white spot will show. If it crosses a certain number the whole unit will have to be discarded.

It was during the early 2000`s that LCD flat panels took over the television market from the typical CRT`s. The basis of the technology is founded on the characteristics of polarized light. The thin semi liquid crystal gel trapped between two slim polarized sheets is divided into pixels.

There is hectic activity to overcome the technological difficulties to make the set affordable. So the LCD TV has to be made affordable to hit the headlines of success.

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The Honda is Making World’s Best Power Generation Appliances

Power generator of Honda is the most popular item of its kind throughout the world. A wide selection of power generators is available for specific commercial and consumer applications. They are known for its quiet performance, which makes it ideal for recreation or emergencies. Commonly used for camping and at construction sites, and are both durable and reliable.

Today, portable generators are at work around the world. Over thirty years of power equipment development by Honda engineers have given rise to a varied line of hard-working generators that are ready to provide power for any situation.

The latest models are smaller, lighter and quieter than ever before and many Honda generators produce voltage which is smoother and more consistent than commercially available power sources. So whether your needs are modest and recreational, or highly demanding and job-oriented, there's a Honda generator with the right features.

Honda is produced in different sizes and with diverse specifications to respond to particular market and user needs. There are small, portable generators, and also those that can be pushed or pulled around on their own wheels or by using a small trailer. There are also huge generators which need to be housed in custom-built containers. Smaller diesel generators are capable of producing a few hundred watts of power, while larger units can produces thousands of watts or even tens of thousands. Special generator models are popular for RV or boat needs.

Depending on how you will use your Honda, there are different categories to meet your needs. This can include recreation, home standby and construction. Honda also offers inverter power tools. Inverter generators are smaller and lighter as power is created electronically and not through a conventional alternator. Inverter power offers the cleanest power output, ideal for sensitive electronic devices.

Honda models provide smooth, clean power for recreation, construction, rental, emergency and home use. All Generators made by Honda meet or exceed all EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and CARB (California Air Resource Board) standards. Honda has developed a wide range of generators, and since your needs vary, there is surely an intelligent instrument built specifically for you in mind! Imagine being able to create a constant supply of electricity exactly when needed. All you need is a Honda generator to provide the reassurance of a power plant at your finger tips, and then you won't be left in the dark when an alternative energy source is needed.

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Essential Spring Break Gadget Guide

As the Beatles said “…it’s been a long cold lonely winter..,” but now here comes the sun and off you go. Whether you're taking the kids to Disneyland or taking a break from college to go to Florida you’ll probably end up taking along a suitcase full of gadgets.

To help you find the best gadgets to use on your break, Retrevo analyzes reviews and ratings for thousands of consumer electronics products like GPS , Laptops, Camcorders, Digital Cameras from manufacturers like Garmin, Toshiba, Sony, and Canon. Here are some recommendations to make your adventures more fun and memorable.

High Definition Camcorders

If you’re thinking about buying a new camcorder you might as well go high definition or at least wide screen. You can get camcorders that record to good old tape, DVDs, flash memory, or hard drives. If you’re planning on doing serious video editing, tape may still be the way to go since applications like Premiere and Final Cut have been slow to embrace AVCHD the replacement format to miniDV.

The Canon HV-20 at $700 is still an all around good value. Canon recently announced its successor, the Canon HV-30 which offers a few minor enhancements including an improved LCD screen.

If you can afford $1400 you can get the latest and greatest camcorder from Sony, the Sony HDR-SR12 1080p which has a big 3.2 inch LCD screen and stores AVCHD video to a 120GB hard drive it should be available in March.

The new Panasonic HDC-SD9 stores 1080p AVCHD formatted video to an SD flash memory card. It offers image stabilization and face detection technology which makes it harder to take a bad shot. It will also be available in March and should sell for around $1100.

For portability you can’t beat one of the new super compact handheld HD camcorders like the Sanyo Xacti HD1000, which shoots 4MP pictures or 1080p video. Users say image quality is very good but the grip is a bit bulky. It sells for around $650. Sanyo also has a waterproof variation that stores non-HD NSTC video or 6 MP stills. It costs a little over $400. Aiptek has a 720p, 5 MP pistol grip handheld, the Aiptek A-HD that sells for a very reasonable $150.

If you prefer to wait a few months the Samsung SC-HMX20C is due out in June. It has a 2.7 inch touchsrceen and records 1080p, on 8 GB of flash memory. It also has an SDHC memory card slot for additional storage.

Very Cool Helmet Camera

In case you want to capture the action from a closer point of view, you should consider this helmet mounted camera that stores video to memory. It’s weather proof and ruggedized so you can use it in the snow or rain. It's an impressive piece of engineering and sells for around $325.
You don’t have to live in Colorado to use Garmin’s new handheld GPS . The Colorado 300 is a handheld unit with a color display and lots of extra travel-friendly features like an MP3 player and book reader. Garmin announced new products at CES including the Garmin nuvi 260 and the Garmin nuvi 850 but last years models like the Garmin nuvi 360 or the Mio C520 can offer some very good values at prices under $300.

Universal Chargers

There are many products you can buy to charge your gadgets. We like the Solio hybrid solar chargers that have a built-in storage cell that can be recharged from the wall or the sun and then makes that power available to many different devices. The Solio Portable Hybrid Solar Charger and the new Solio Hybrid 1000 can both be purchased for under $100.

Lenmar sells a universal power pack the PPU1700W that can recharge devices like iPods through a USB connector. It’s great for keeping an iPod going for an entire long plane ride and can be purchased for around $30.

If you're still carrying around that 1 MP camera or you just never made the switch to digital there are some good values in digital cameras. If you want a professional SLR camera Retrevo recommends the Nikon D300 as the best overall value in digital cameras. It’s a 12 MP SLR that gets very high expert ratings and great user reviews. The Canon Powershot A560 can be purchased for around $130. It’s a 7.1 MP compact camera with a 4x optical zoom and face technology but no image stabilization. A step up from the Powershot A560 would be the Nikon Coolpix 5100. It has optical image stabilization and gets very good reviews but is a bit on the pricey side at $300.

iPod Boom Box

There’s a good chance most travelers will be carrying an iPod or other MP3 player wherever they go. To get a party going wherever you may be, an iPod Boom Box might be a good idea. The Griffin Technology Journi is a good candidate. You can buy it for under $100. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts for 8 – 10 hours on a charge it can also be powered by a USB port and gets good user reviews. Altec Lansing has the inMotion iM600 for around $100. It gets very good user reviews, uses some engineering tricks to make the speakers seem further apart, and even has an FM radio built in.

Book Readers

Two popular readers using electronic paper are Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader. The Sony Reader PRS 505 can be purchased for around $300. The Kindle which includes high speed 3G internet access for downloading books and browsing the web sells for $399. The Kindle has received mixed reviews due to some ergonomic issues but gets many rave reviews as a groundbreaking product. Books cost more to purchase on the Sony reader and you have to go through a computer connected to the internet to download them but the Sony gets good marks for style and usability.

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Privacy Policy

Your privacy is very important to us. Accordingly, we have developed this Policy in order for you to understand how we collect, use, communicate and disclose and make use of personal information. The following outlines our privacy policy.

* Before or at the time of collecting personal information, we will identify the purposes for which information is being collected.
* We will collect and use of personal information solely with the objective of fulfilling those purposes specified by us and for other compatible purposes, unless we obtain the consent of the individual concerned or as required by law.
* We will only retain personal information as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
* We will collect personal information by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent of the individual concerned.
* Personal data should be relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used, and, to the extent necessary for those purposes, should be accurate, complete, and up-to-date.
* We will protect personal information by reasonable security safeguards against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.
* We will make readily available to customers information about our policies and practices relating to the management of personal information.
We are committed to conducting our business in accordance with these principles in order to ensure that the confidentiality of personal information is protected and maintained.

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The Magic of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing facilitates learning by allowing remote or distant learners to meet regardless of their location. Students can take classes at multiple universities. In essence classes that are not available at one location may be available at another through video conferencing. Video conferencing can also benefit non traditional students who are not able to attend classes during normal hours.

There are various types of videoconferencing; which is suitable for your application will depend upon the IT structure available and what it is that you actually want to achieve. Video conferencing has in the past been relatively expensive, but prices are coming down and it is possible for anyone with a fast enough internet connection to operate a video conference.

There are excellent quality video conferencing systems out there. Many of them are well worth the dollars that they cost. And, because technology continues to grow, you'll find that prices for video conferencing will become more competitive. It is the way of the future. Is your company in the future? Using video conferencing can help to insure that it is there.

Most video conferencing terminals also require what is called a codec or Compressor/Decompressor interface. This piece of equipment helps compress information being passed from audio to video to make transmission of materials feasible over the Net. Without this piece of equipment most files would be too large to send from one computer to another. The process of compression data using a codec machine is often referred to as decoding and encoding information.

Finally, a computer and reliable internet connection are also necessary to facilitate video conferencing. A high speed connection is recommended to make the video conferencing experience not only endurable but also enjoyable. The actual computer you have is not as important as the size of your display. Remember that when using video conferencing equipment, the larger your display the better your picture and the more easily a time you will have 'conferencing' with other people on the Web.

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