Control Your Electronic Home Through the Internet

Through a web browser or a smart phone, you can water your plants or monitor your house through the security cameras even when you are not home. While this is more costly than a home automation system within the confines of the home, it definitely is very convenient. It saves you the trouble of having to tell your neighbor to check on your plants every other day or feed your pet or air the home when out on a trip.

End-User License Agreements And You: You Didn’t Read It!

End-User License Agreements or EULAs – the long block of text you have to click an “I agree” button on every time you install something on your computer, phone or whatever. We’ve all skipped them, we never read them. Anyone read a EULA for pleasure? Didn’t think so. In the process of getting my smartphone tooled up for some serious power usage with some neat little apps like GroceryIQ, I encountered a few and actually took the time to skim through them (I read very quickly) for a change as I’ve been doing for a little while. So what’s the story here?

Smartphones? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Smartphones!

I probably just demolished my geek cred by outing myself as a non-smartphone owner. To be honest with the peanut gallery, I just haven’t been able to justify the cost to myself for a while since we’re talking at least $200 for the phone itself then an additional $60+ a month for the more expensive plans. I guess the specter of my father (a man so cheap he makes Scrooge look like Donald Trump) is still hovering over my shoulder like some cantankerous guardian angel grousing “Shop at Walmart. Buy generic products. Live cheap.”

Clearing Out Your Server Room for an Upgrade?

What used server hardware is worth money, and what is junk? How do I find a company to help us remove our old servers and refresh our data center? If we can’t recover any money for our old equipment, can we recycle it and in an eco-friendly manner? How can we be assured that any confidential company information will be securely removed from our servers? If you have ever struggled with any of these questions, you are not alone. An 800 number with answers for these types of questions does not exist. Who can you trust to help you?

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Roku 2

So it’s been exactly 3 months since I finally snagged a Roku 2 XD box. For the uninitiated into the wonders of “set-top boxes” – Roku is one of the numerous offerings on tap for folks who want to be able to stream Netflix, Hulu or various other online media to their TV. I’m a bit late to the game since Roku has been out for a few years already along with Boxee and the like, but the second generation of Roku boxes came out in July ’11 and I snagged mine in August.