Stay Ahead of the Tech Curve

Most people these days have houses full of digital gadgets and machines. From computers and laptops to mp3 players, televisions and gaming systems, Americans have a penchant for staying on the front edge of personal technology.

However, technology continues to move at a dizzying pace making products faster, smaller, more integrated and more efficient. To stay ahead of the curve, take a look at these product ideas given to us from Personal Tech Experts at BluePhone:

Mini Laptop - With enough processing power for most any kind of everyday use, and a small enough form factor to fit in many purses, mini laptops with screens from about seven to ten inches are a great option for people on the go, or looking for an ultra-sleek laptop computer. ASUS has been making the EEE-PC for a few years now, but has been making improvements that make them more and more viable as a true computer. Dell makes the Inspiron Mini 9, which has about the same form-factor as the EEE-PC, but comes backed by the well known Dell name. Neither one will hit the wallet very hard – both are about $300.

Netflix / Blu-Ray Players – This January at the Consumer Electronics Show, there were several players introduced that will play Blu-Ray disks, as well as stream Netflix. This combination offers the latest and greatest of video technology with Blu-Ray, including full 1080p resolution and 7.1 surround sound. Combine that with a Netflix subscription for streaming movies, and that's the best combination of on-demand video availability and top quality video for home theater. Some, like the LG BD370, even include built-in Wi-Fi, YouTube support, and costs about $300.

WiFi Music Player – It used to be that people needed to download songs to their computer, connect their mp3 player, and upload the songs in order to listen to them. With one of these types of players, a song can be downloaded instantly to the device. These types of players work best with a subscription service like Rhapsody, where users can listen to a streaming radio station, hear a song that they like, and download it to listen to any time in the future.

Extra External Storage – For people who have multiple computers or just want to be able to take their data with them, external storage is getting more compact, and more powerful. Flash drives, sometimes called thumb drives or key chain drives can be found easily in up to a 64 gigabyte size. An entire hard drive could be backed up on one of these. Kingston is a great manufacturer of memory and produces these drives in 32 gigabytes and 64 gigabytes. Maxtor is producing small external hard drives about the size of a deck of cards, and ranges in size from 160 gigabytes to 500 gigabytes, with a price range of $100-200. They would do well to hold a whole lot of media files, or just about anything someone could think of.

A Better Printer – Recent Kodak commercials claim Americans wasted $5 billion on ink jet ink. For someone who feels they spend a lot of money on ink, they should take a look at Kodak's modestly priced printers starting at about $100. A full ink replacement costs a slim $25 ($10 for black and $15 for a full color packet). Kodak says most other printers would cost about double for ink replacement. Read more at www.printandprosper.com.

All of these technology gear updates are great unless there is difficulty getting them to integrate. Most are pretty simple plug and play devices, especially the Blu-ray player, but good advice is to always read the directions and if you don't feel comfortable setting up your new gear, ask someone to help. If professional help is what you need, certified online computer support experts such as BluePhone will make sure it works right practically out of the box.

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SOURCE BluePhone