Andy chats about the latest technology and interesting websites each week with Nerissa Pace on the "Talking back the night" radio show, heard across Australia.

 

Top 3 Websites

http://donatefornothing.com/

We're always being asked to donate money for worthy causes...even online there are plenty of websites that ask for donations for all sorts of perhaps no so worthy causes which are a front for someone trying to make a quick dollar...but this website doesn't pretend to be anything but an online piggy bank that anyone can drop a coin into. I'm not suggesting you give them anything...it's just another person hoping to make a dollar online...but at leaset they are honest about it.

www.babymamamaker.com
This is a promotional website for a comedy film called "Baby Mama" that's being released in the U.S this week, however there's a fun feature on the site that you just have to try out.
Simply take a photo of two people, upload them to the website and it will return an image of what a baby would look like by combining facial features from each person. It's pretty crazy and it's only supposed to be fun...so play around with different photos and see what you come up with.

www.shopbot.com.au

This is a handy website for anyone who likes to shop around for the best price...and of course becuase it's online you won't be wasting petrol going from store to store to find that bargain.

From computers and electrical items to whitegoods and beauty products, you simply type in what you're after and it will search online retailer's websites and return a list....starting with the best price.
Of course you'll need to factor in delivery costs and it helps if you know the retail price of what you're after...just so you know that you really are saving money!

Shopping for a new computer - tips

I've had 3 people come to me in the past week looking for advice on buying a notebook computer...so I thought it might share my tips with everyone.

Firstly....decide exactly what you need to do with this computer. If it's really just for home use, surfing the web, sending emails, perhaps watching movies or listening to music ...you can easily pick up a decent machine for under 1000 dollars. (and that's brand new with a warranty)

Secondly...decide how much you can spend and if you are flexible. Generallty I tell people to spend as much as they can afford when buying a computer...just so you don't end up with something that is full of technology that's already a few years old and may need to be replaced sooner...or is harder to find parts for.

Now some people have asked me if buying a second hand notebook computer is a good idea....I think perhaps if you really do have a tight budget...but i'd steer clear of buying a 2nd hand laptop from ebay where you can't actually see the computer working before you buy it. Plus with new notebooks starting around the 800 dollar mark, it would be harder to justify buying something a bit older and possibly slower for not much less money.

So a couple of good options...Toshiba's Satellite L300 notebook starts at $849 with a $150 cashback offer by redemption that takes the price down to $699!

Also Dell have the Inspiron 1525 notebook that starts from $749 dollars delivered - You have to go to their website to check that one out - but it's very similar to the Toshiba offering in terms of power and features....and if you do have a few extra dollars you can easily upgrade things like RAM, hard drive space or processor speed with a few mouse clicks when you order.

I"ll post links to those two suggestions for sub 1000 dollar notebooks on my website...but also check your local computer store as you can also pick up other brand new notebook computers for a decent price...especially if they are making way for new stock...or if you can wait...end of financial year.

Happy notebook shopping!

Back with more gadgets and websites next week thanks to AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security.

AVG is tough on threats - easy on you! Buy the AVG Internet Security 3 Pack that covers 3 computers for two years for just $123.95 at http://www.avg.com.au/

 

Top 3 websites

http://testyourbreath.ca/

This is a fun website that was created by a mouthwash manufacturer in the U.S - It claims to be able to analyse your breath and detect bad odours by having you breathe into your computer's microphone.

Of course it doesn't really work, but I bet if you send a link to the website to someone who has bad breath they will try it out!

http://www.snapfish.com.au

If you don't have the ability to print you own quality photos at home, then you probably use some sort of printing service.  The Snapfish website is run by Hewlett Packard and I thought it would be worth mentioning this week as they've just dropped the price on printing 6x4inch photos from 19cents to 15cents each. Here's a good tip for mother's day...try creating something special with your digital photos like a coffee cup, calendar or a custom photo book...you can do all that on the Snapfish website! 

http://www.wallettest.com

This website is the ultimate display and test of basic human honesty... The creator of the site dropped 100 wallets (not all a once) filmed them being 'found'.  Within each wallet there was clear information as to who owned them and a phone number.  On the site you can view the videos of each 'find' and find out exactly what happened to the wallet...whether it was handed it or never seen again. Becuase the was no more than a few dollars in each, it seems that honestly prevailed...but still a few were never seen again. 

Changes to eBay 

In the last week eBay released a statement notifying users that from June 17 they are changing the payment options when buying an item from a seller on the site. In the past you could either pay using cash if you were picking up an item personally, deposit money into their bank account and have the item posted to you, or use PayPal - an online payment system that is owned by eBay. The new system that will come into place from June 17 means that there will really only be two ways of paying for an item on ebay....by cash if you're collecing an item from a seller personally or by PayPal.   At the same time, eBay has increased the amount of buyer protection so that you can be covered for up to 20 thousand dollars if something goes wrong during a transaction. I think the whole idea is to weed out fraudulent sellers from using ebay by taking greater control of how the money flows from buyer to seller...however there are some issues for some sellers. You see while it doesn't cost anything extra for you to BUY an item using PayPal...if you're SELLING on ebay, then you also pay a commission to PayPal for handling the transaction....so along with listing and selling commision fees to eBay you get slugged again wen the buyer pays you.

 

So while this shouldn't bother the average person buying on ebay...plenty of sellers are fuming...and there have already been enough complains for the ACCC to look into the move.  So on that note I've had quite a few people ask for alternatives to eBay. There's nothing quite a big but i can suggest sites like 

www.oztion.com 

www.gumtree.com

www.lot123.com.au

www.sellmystuff.com.au/

www.greysonline.com.au

Back with more gadgets and websites next week thanks to AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security.

AVG is tough on threats - easy on you! Buy the AVG Internet Security 3 Pack that covers 3 computers for two years for just $123.95 at http://www.avg.com.au/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 3 Websites

http://dinnerinabottle.com

This is one of the more unusual product websites that i've come across lately...You might remember that flavoured water was a bit hit a few years ago and remains popular...well on this website you'll find MEAT flavoured water.

The "meat water" is apparently some sort of athlete / survival drink and the flavours include Cheeseburger, Dirty Hogdot and Texas BBQ....I think I’ll stick to the fruity flavours.

http://notalwaysright.com/

I think a while back I mentioned a website where people could vent their crimes about customer service at businesses around the globe...well this one is the opposite...in fact it just goes to show that the customer ISNT always right.

It's full of great stories posted by employees...or sometimes people who have just overheard awkward moments in stores when the customer clearly has no idea.

After spending some time sifting though the stories on this website that phrase "only in America" also springs to mind.

www.emailaustralia.com

Time to search through your email inbox for interesting, funny, embarrassing, romantic or just memorable emails. The powerhouse museum in Sydney and Windows Live Hotmail are putting together Australia's first email archive...and they need emails!

Because of the disposable nature of email, unlike books, it's easy to see how in 5, 10 or 20 years time the message we read to day will be long gone...so they want to preserve some of these messages to show how people in Australia communicated and how email was used.

It's easy to submit your email, read all the details on the email australia webite.

Mobile phones with style - some of the latest handsets that are just as much about fashion as technology

It wasn't that long ago that new mobile phones were all about the technology....after all we've come from phones that just made calls, to multimedia handsets that are almost capable of running our lives and keeping us online just about anywhere.

So we're now at a point where the latest mobiles pretty much have very similar functions...so then what will influence your decision when it comes time to buy?

Ok you still need to have a budget, however many handsets can be packaged up so there's little or no upfront cost...after that chances are that you will go for a phone that you like the look and feel of...and if you're fashion conscious...perhaps something that everyone else won't have.

That being said, Nokia has just launched their new premium range...of which i've been checking out the Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte...Now as the name suggests yes there is an actually sapphire stone on the handset, in fact it's being used as the centre menu key. The phone is also finished in leather and coffee tones...sort of a understated style.

Tech-wise there's a 3.2 megapixel camera in there, it's 3G compatible, has 1Gigabyte of built in memory and supposedly has an anti-fingerprint coating on glass and metal surfaces. I actually passed the Sapphire Arte phone around some of the ladies in the office yesterday and today...and it get's the thumps up in style...they even liked the fact that it was quite weighty and it felt solid...like it wouldn't fall apart.

Now, the price tag on a Nokia 8800 Sapphire Art is around 2 thousand dollars if you buy it outright...although I’ve seen it for 500 less online....plus you could pick it up on a payment plan at some mobile phone stores.

Check out www.nokia.com.au

Also...from Motorola...in the fashion catagory a handset that they are pushing for Mother's day...the Motorazr V8 Luxury edition. I've got to say that this is not like the understated Nokia Sapphire...it's very lavishly decordated with 18k Gold plated accents....so for starters the phone looks pricey. The rest of the phone is covered in a snake-skin like covering.

On the inside it's a quad band phone which means you can use it just about anywhere and it has a 2 megapixel camera which you can use for still pictures or video...most of the other features are pretty much standard stuff. Again another mobile that's built to look good...More info on The Motorazr V8 Luxury edition can be found at www.motorola.com.au - it retails for around 900 outright, but again, you can always pick it up on a plan from your mobile dealer.

Back with more gadgets and websites next week thanks to AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security.

AVG is tough on threats - easy on you! Buy the AVG Internet Security 3 Pack that covers 3 computers for two years for just $123.95 at http://www.avg.com.au/

 

Listen to this week's segment HERE

Top 3 websites

http://badgiftemporium.com/
What's the worst gift you've ever received? Has is been bad enough to let the world know about it? That's what this website is all about.
Owners of unfortunate gifts take photos of the item, add a story about it and post it on this website, in the hope that someone will make them an offer for their gift...or have it rated as the worst by visitors.

http://www.zazz.com.au/
This shopping website was recently awarded the title of “best online shopping site of 2007” by Netguide Magazine.
What sets this shopping site apart from others is that instead of being crammed with thousands of different items, you will only find 1 item for sale. (of course there's more than 1 in stock)
Of course each day a new item is placed on the site for sale, so you've got 24 hours to take advantage of the offer.

www.broadbandchoice.com.au
If you're looking at connecting to the Internet, or maybe thinking about trying to find a better deal or Internet service provider, then this independent website is the first place to go.
You can search for service providers who service your area, then by answering a few quick questions you can narrow down who might provide the best deal.
You'll also find a link to user forums where people discuss various Internet service provider issues.

Also this week – Free alternatives to Microsoft office

I know that most weeks I'm talking about what's new out there in terms of gadgets or software...but most of those will cost you money...so today I thought I'd talk about some good free alternatives to software that you would otherwise pay good money for.

Most people have used Microsoft office, or some component of it like Microsoft Word or Excel Spreadsheet maker. Even if you're a student that office suite will get you back a couple of hundred dollars...more if you're a normal user or business.

What you can quite happily replace most of the Microsoft Office functions with is a completely free program called Open Office.

Among other features you'll find Open Office Writer to create text documents that are Microsoft Word compatible...and you can open other people's documents also created in Microsoft Word. There's also a spreadsheet program that's very much like Excel and a presentation maker that will happily fulfill the role of Microsoft Power point.

As I mentioned, Open Office is completely free to download and use...and you can find it at http://www.openoffice.org/ .

Another alternative that I get a lot of use out of is Google Documents. Again, completely free to use Google Documents doesn't come in the form of a program that you download to your computer, but instead it's a web application that you can access online from any Internet connected computer. You can create documents and export them in a number of formats, including Microsoft Word compatible format plus any documents you create are saved online. Google Documents can also create spreadsheets, but that's not a feature that I personally make much use of.

To use Google Documents, head to http://docs.google.com/ and create a free account – which will also give you access to Gmail – a free web mail service from Google – which I use in preference to Hotmail or Yahoo mail.

I'll be back next week thanks to AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security.

AVG is tough on threats - easy on you! Buy the AVG Internet Security 3 Pack that covers 3 computers for two years for just $123.95 at http://www.avg.com.au/