Disappearing Car Door

I need this installed on my car. More info.

Wishlistr

Wishlistr is a cool and easy way to create your wishlist. I love the simplicity, the design and the ajax goodness. Its a good way to keep track of what you want. Click on the MyWishlist button above to see mine. Feel free to buy me something ;)

American Express MyWishlist 2007

American Express Wishlist started today. They offer items that are like 75% off. The items change every couple of hours and some are really cool. You must have an American Express card in order to get any of the items. Its really fun trying to get stuff. I actually won the Restoration Hardware item today just to try it out. If you get through, you have to enter your American Express Card info within 2 minutes as there is a timer ticking down in real time on top of the page. Then you get another 2 minutes to fill out your billing address. Boy that was fun! So you better have your amex card in hand. Good Luck and let me know if you win anything.

UPDATE: 1/16/08
So I tried getting the 42 inch Panasonic HDTV 3 times that day. I clicked on the get it button about 1-2 seconds right before the available time and got a message saying that its already in other people's cart and that I can keep trying. So I kept clicking on that button for about 30 minutes before it finally said that it was all sold out. So in my experience, its really hard to get the good stuff on the AMEX wishlist. I guess because Im competing with thousands of other people who click on that same button all within the same second. At least AMEX handles it gracefully using Flash technology. I remember trying to get SF Giants playoff tickets online. I would get error messages or page time outs. Horrible user experience.

Black Friday 2007

Ready...set...shop!

1. Check out the Black Friday ad scans. Download the pdfs by right clicking and saving directly to your computer. I had problems opening up the pdf directly in my browser.

2. Some hardcore dude made this incredible excel sheet which all the Black Friday ads listed. Its awesome especially the use of the filters. Check out the forum for more info and the download link.

UPDATE:
11/22/07 Some Black Friday deals are already showing up online. You can use my site to track them. Good Luck!
www.fealdeals.com

Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card

I've told you before that I love anything wireless that makes life easier right? Well, here's a cool new product that will blow your mind. Okay, it might not blow your mind, but its still cool. I dont know why I never thought of it :) Currently, you download your pictures from your digital camera using a USB cable. Its not too hard, but does take time especially if you take a lot of pics. Anyways, if your digital camera uses an SD card, you're in luck. With the Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card, you can wirelessly transfer your pics to your computer. Of course you will need to have an existing wireless home network. But who doesnt? :) One thing that I try to do is use my wireless network for everything. Right now, I have my Tivo, Wii, and laptop connected. And later on Ill add on more wireless enabled electronics. Centralizing all of your wireless products to your computer home network makes things much easier. Not only can you control things via your computer, but it can also enable these products to be online which is really powerful. Whoa, how I digress. Anyways, back to the Eye-Fi. So from reading the reviews, it looks like it automatically syncs when the card is in range of your home network. Cool! In otherwords, you can transfer your pictures without even thinking about it. All you have to do is turn on your digital camera and be in range of your router. GENIUS!

More Info

Free Tech Support Question #1

Do you have questions about computers, software, networking, or the Internet?
Any problems or issues? Want some recommendations?

Let me see if I can help. Depending on how many responses I get, Ill choose one to answer.
You can ask a question by posting a comment to this posting. Try to be as SPECIFIC as possible. Ask away!

ANSWERED!
Since I only received 2 questions and they are quite similar I will answer them both.

Question #1:
John said...
How do I tell if any of my picture files has a virus in it? My computer is slow starting up but I didn't install programs to start immediately at boot-up. I notice that when I format my computer, it's fast again, but once I install the pictures it becomes slow.

Answer:
"How do I tell if any of my picture files has a virus in it?"
- Its hard to know if you've been infected with a virus unless something actually goes wrong with your computer. In otherwords, you could have a virus on your computer now and you wouldnt even know it. My suggestion is to install antivirus software and perform a scan. The scan will tell you whether or not you have been infected with a virus. I have listed 3 free and good antivirus software in a previous post - http://www.rogerchew.com/2007/04/my-favorite-free-software.htm

"My computer is slow starting up but I didn't install programs to start immediately at boot-up."
- Now let's not jump to conclusions about your computer being slow to boot up and having viruses. They could be totally separate issues. You might have thought that you didnt install programs to start immediately at startup, but think again. Many software programs have tiny little helper programs that run at start up. Quicktime, Real Player, iTunes, HP printer software are to name a few. I have some tips for getting rid of programs that run at startup but Ill save that for another post.

"I notice that when I format my computer, it's fast again, but once I install the pictures it becomes slow."
- Formatting your computer is of course last resort and probably will fix 99% of your problems. You dont install pictures. I think you meant that you download pictures on your computer hard drive. Having many pictures should not slow down your computer much. The only way it would slow it down is if you had so many pictures that it takes up most of the space on your hard drive. If you start getting warnings that you are running out of hard disk space, then you probably have too many pictures on the drive. The hard drive needs a good amount of free space. The more free space that you have, the better your hard drive will perform.

Question #2
Janine said...
My computer has picked up several viruses recently, and I've cleaned them off using various software programs. The pop-ups have stopped now, but how do I know that all the viruses are gone and not embedded somewhere else? Would you recommend that I reformat the entire hard drive to be safe?

Answer:
Let's not get confused between viruses and spyware. Usually, pop ups are most likely caused by spyware. Its much easier to get infected by spyware than viruses. For viruses, you pretty much have to do something intentional like open up some .exe attachment from your email. Spyware is a different story. You can get spyware from just visiting a bad web page. In some occasions, you can have both viruses and spyware. In otherwords, you can have viruses that install more spyware on your computer and vice versa. In any case, you should install the antivirus software to scan for viruses and install antispyware software to scan for spyware. I've listed recommendations of free software on both of these in my link above. I highly recommend Spy Sweeper for removing spyware as well as protecting your computer. Its not free (annual subscription fee), but if you are always having spyware issues, its well worth it. Again, reformatting your computer is the last resort. If you have thoroughly scanned your computers with all the software I recommended and nothing is found, then I wouldnt worry too much about it.

Fealdeals.com launches!

I just launched my new deals web page called fealdeals.com!

Why is the site named "fealdeals"? I wanted something catchy and that rhymed with "deal". I went through the entire alphabet to find a letter to precede 'eal' excluding the ones that weren't in the dictionary and not already registered as a domain name. (ie. realdeal, zealdeal, etc.) All that was left was "feal". According to dictionary.com, feal means Faithful; loyal. Usually bargain hunters like myself are very faithful and loyal to certain bargain sites because the sites (and the deals) have to be trustworthy, credible, and accurate. And the sites that I have chosen are exactly that. Check out the faq page for more information about the site.

Besides the new domain name, I added a new auto refresh feature. Since I've been using my deals page quite frequently, I would either refresh the page if I had it already opened or I would visit the page over and over again to see the latest deals. This is somewhat inefficient so I've added an auto refresh to the page. Therefore, I set the page to automatically refresh in 30 minutes. That way, you can just leave the deals page open all day and every time you look at it, you'll know thats its up to date. If you visit it more than once every 30 minutes, then get a life! J/K There's even a countdown counter on the bottom left of the browser telling you when the next refresh is.

In my pursuit for extreme efficiency, I took it even a step further. So now with the auto refresh feature in place, I would keep my browser window open all day long and view it whenever I have the chance. But did you know that you can set your desktop wallpaper to a live web page? So now I have my deals page as my desktop wallpaper background. So now I really dont have to do anything but view my desktop. Look ma...no hands! And the autorefresh still works!

Here are the instructions:

1. Right click on your desktop and select properties.


2. Select the "Desktop" tab.


3. Click on "Customize Desktop..."


4. Select the "Web" tab.


5. Click on "New..."


6. Add "http://www.fealdeals.com/"


7. Click OK


8. Make sure "Deals" is now checked and highlighted then press "Synchronize".


9. Then close all of the windows by clicking OK.

Click image to see full screenshot of my desktop:

In any case, enjoy the new site and more importantly let me know what you think!

UPDATE:
9-21-07 Hey guys! Since I launched the site a couple of days ago, I received 25 Google Ads clicks. In otherwords, some of you have been clicking on the Google Ads. That's great news! For those of you who haven't read the faq page, let me explain. Every time someone clicks on a Google Ad, I get paid. How much? The payment formula is very complex and I havent looked into much. But keep clicking on the Google ads and I will let you know. That way I can get more data to really see whats going on. Thank you for supporting the site!

Why Sony Sucks

That's it. I've had it with Sony. My handycam camcorder that I've had just over a year broke this week. The LCD screen wont turn on. The reviews were great when the camcorder came out, but a year and a half later people submitted bad reviews because the LCD would stop functioning after a year and a half. Out of the 13 reviews on this site, HALF of them mentioned the same exact problem I had. And guess how long the Sony warranty is? Yes...1 year. So now Im yet again stuck with a Sony camcorder that doesnt work and would cost $200 to fix. Oh, did I mention this is my second Sony camcorder? My first one broke too. I cant transfer any video from it to your computer. I bought lots of Sony stuff because of my Sony credit card. That's where they got me. I was addicted to racking up all those Sony points by purchasing with my Sony Card.

After buying and redeeming my Sony points for Sony products I learned a couple of things about Sony.

1. Quality stinks - How many of you have Sony products that broke or dont perform well? On the outside Sony products look really cool and sleek. But its very cheap on the inside.
   
   
2. Proprietary - Sony loves to have their own proprietary interfaces and equipment. They have the Sony memory stick which only their camcorders, cameras, and TVs use. They have an iLink cable, which is suppose to be just a firewire cable. They have Blueray discs that they are trying to promote. It's always Sony, Sony, Sony. But they do this on purpose, so that it forces you to buy more Sony products.
   
   
3. Sexy - I have to give it up to Sony, their products are sexy. They probably spend 90% on looks and marketing while the rest of the 10% goes into the actual product.



4. Screens - I decided that Im on a Sony boycott. I will never buy any Sony product again...unless it's an LCD TV :) Why the exception? The one thing that Sony has always done well is making TV's. Their laptop, computer, and LCD TV screens are the clearest, sharpest, and best in the market.
   

My final word of advice. Dont buy Sony unless you are buying a LCD TV, but be ready to shell out twice as much $$$.

Have you had a bad Sony experience? Feel free to comment (vent) on your experience.

Verizon Wireless - Transfer your contact list to your new phone for FREE!

I just got a new Motorola KRZR K1m phone. I wanted to transfer all of my contacts on my old phone (Chocolate) to my new KRZR. What's the cheapest and easiest way? I found a way that is free and you dont need any cables. At a Verizon Wireless store, they will charge you $10.

1. Go to verizonwireless.com and sign up for a my account.
   
   
2. On your existing phone, follow the 4 steps in the image above. It will prompt you to accept a $1.99 monthly charge. Go ahead and accept it, because if you created a Verizon Wireless my account (step 1), they will NOT charge you. I know its scary to accept it, but just check your monthly statement to make sure they are not charging you. That's it. So from now on, your contacts will be backed up daily.
   
   
3. On your new phone, follow the same 4 steps (in the above picture) and it will prompt you to download your backed up contacts.

Check out https://www.getbackupnow.com/ for more details.

My 3 Most Favorite Cars

Can you guess what they are?

A)



B)



C)