Laptops are cute, handy, trendy, and downright necessary for many people. But there’s more than meets the eye with a laptop. Therefore, before purchasing one, know the basics, so you can buy the appropriate one for your needs.

PCs and Macs

There are two different types of laptops – the PC and the Mac. Each, by default, comes with a specifically designed operating system (OS). An operating system is any program used to access the features of a computer. For example: Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. PCs come with either the Windows or Linux operating systems. By default, a Mac computer will come with the Mac OS. Unlike the Mac, which has one manufacturer, there are dozens of PC manufacturers. PCs come in a variety of models. They have an ongoing list of different parts used to build/re-build them. Ultimately, they are cheaper than Macs, often offer better performance, have more games/apps available, and have various computer processors of different quality.

Every PC laptop comes with a processor. A processor determines how fast your computer processes information. Here is a list of the most common processors, starting with the best:

Intel Core 2 Extreme
Intel Core 2 Quad
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Pentium Dual-Core
Intel Celeron
Intel ATOM

Memory controls how fast your computer will run, and hard drive capacity determines how many files you can store on your computer.

PC Laptops fall into three main categories: gaming, basic use, and business laptops.

Gaming Laptops

Gaming laptops are the most advanced laptops. They are used for gaming, music studios, and other demanding hobbies. They are specifically designed to hold more memory and run faster than any other laptops. They are very expensive, with one of the most popular being Dell’s Alienware M17X, which starts at $1,799. With its memory starting at 4GB, and its hard drive capacity starting at 250GB, it utilizes the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor. These laptops are very much in demand with gaming enthusiasts.

Basic Usage Laptops

Basic usage laptops are for moderate users, such as college students and others on a tight budget. These laptops are cheaper than sophisticated gaming laptops, but they do have a tendency to malfunction if not used carefully. Don’t go too wild with it (excessive downloading), because this laptop may not be able to handle the pressure. A perfect example is Acer’s Extensa 4230. It holds 1GB of memory, 160GB of hard drive space, and uses the Intel Celeron processor. Prices start at $450.

Work/Business Laptops

Work/business laptops are for frequent users who will constantly need to use a computer. These laptops fall into the median of gaming and home usage laptops as far as the specifications go. Highly recommended is Dell’s FastTrack Inspiron 15, which has a respectable 3GB of memory, 320 GB of hard drive capacity, and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor. With instant savings, you can expect to pay approximately $499.

If you prefer, you may go through the manufacturer and purchase at the prices listed above. Or you can take the alternative route, for example Ebay, and pay much less, though you may have to sacrifice the manufacturer’s extended warranty for these dirt-cheap prices.

Once you have settled on your laptop of choice, you will of course want Internet access, and if you have a website, you will of course want to select the right web hosting company for your site. Care for your laptop, as you would your beloved pet, because computer repairs can be costly!

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The New York Times social media editor is on the road today and he stopped in Boise, Idaho for a quick one-hour seminar on how to use Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, WordPress, blogging in general and other social media tools. I watched – listened mostly – through live video streaming. These tools are more and more important as affordable web hosting options have made it even more popular for individuals to blog and small business owners to maintain their own websites.

I learned one solid take-away item from the seminar that I will put into use immediately. Today I learned that you must name your graphics, video and images properly. That’s right! Your pictures and videos are every bit as important as your text! It’s all content and when those search engines come looking, they latch on to keywords wherever they find them. Please notice that I said name not tag because many content management systems already help you tag your images when you upload them.

These tips will help the blogger and small business owner alike:

1. Use the ALT attribute. Since many email clients and some browsers block pictures for their user’s security, the ALT attribute allows the viewer to see a text description of what was supposed to be there.

2. Use bold lettering. Search engine optimizers claim that the bolded names get listed first. In a quick random sample, that seemed to be true for me.

3. Use a proper name or descriptive name; i.e. Washington Monument instead of monument or St. Louis Forest Park instead of Forest Park.

4. Give the image a caption and place the caption next to the picture on the page.

5. Use keywords in the text that surround the picture.

6. Use keywords for the anchor or link text.

If your website consists mainly of graphics and boxes, especially if they are static images, then do confirm with your developer that they have properly named and tagged the images. It might even be good to include a no script tag so that browsers that have disabled scripts can display a message to let their viewer know what happened and so that search engines will find your website user friendly. Isn’t that what it’s all about? You want your website to be visible, available and present for all of the world to see.

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These days, who doesn’t want a website? There’s something very prolific about saying, “I have my own website.” The reaction is often, “Oh really? That’s nice. So, what do you do?” This can be enchanting music to the person looking to promote his business. But getting a website isn’t as simplistic as it sounds. There are crucial factors to consider. For your web page to be displayed on the Internet, it must be hosted. So the question is… Who will host your website?

There are tons of web hosting companies available. I myself would like to launch my own website one day soon, and in researching, I decided to do what many people do… Try a free one. Call me cheap, but the word “freebie” can be very attractive. Turns out, freebies can be costly. Now mind you, to arrive at my diagnosis I didn’t just try one free web hosting company, and for politeness sake, I will not mention any names.

If you want a web page, which is deluged with irritating pop-up ads and banners that have nothing to do with your business, then a free web hosting company is for you. Personally, I aim a little higher than that. For a professional appeal, I also wanted my own domain name, but what I got was a subdomain, which is a surefire way for your customers to know you are using one of those “cheap” web hosting services. There were a few that offered more disk space than others, but I quickly discovered that I would be sacrificing something important for this, such as no email address.

Then there’s the issue of customer support. Some free web hosting companies make it clear that when you go with the free package you will get almost no customer service. So, what do you do when your site has a grave issue? You wait until they have serviced their premier clients. Doesn’t do much for your self-esteem and productivity does it? I could see myself quickly growing frustrated with a free web hosting company. There is no uptime guarantee, which means your site could go offline unpredictably and frequently. They are also quite translucent about the fact that if you want all the features of a polished site, you will have to upgrade, for a fee of course.

So, if you want an adolescent site that you can experiment with, or if you need a basic personal website, then a free web hosting company may work for you. However, for me, it’s just not working out.

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I just returned home from an emergency trip to the Portland, Oregon area. I was amazed at the number of hotels, restaurants and coffee shops that offered free wi-fi to their customers. I was equally amazed that both Starbucks and the airport required me to purchase not only time, but also a subscription to their internet service. As I debated whether investing my $15 for an hour was worth it and silently fussed at myself for leaving my mobile broadband stick behind, I wondered what happened to the generous economic development offers that were going to make wi-fi clouds available in all city centers and major public locations? When did free internet access stop being a resource and begin being a product?

And that got me thinking, why do some businesses view wi-fi as a product while others view it as customer service? The simple answer is supply and demand and to me that is about the same as saying because they can. They can ask that you pay for the infrastructure that they have invested in. Your purchase makes it possible to provide service on their product should it be needed and it should ensure enough signal or bandwidth to allow you to use their service uninterrupted. I guess you might expect some privacy or security to come along with it as well. So in a nutshell you might say asking the customer to pay for their service is really only asking them to pay their own way.

Since I am pretty certain that most travelers really don’t need to get online while they wait for their plane to board, I doubt that the airport or individual airlines would lose that much money by giving away free wi-fi to the weary traveler. Likewise, I believe the coffee shop experience would be enhanced by free internet access and easy to use wi-fi and it would certainly add value to my five dollar cup of coffee. How about you? Would free internet access in public locations increase your productivity or is it so easy to connect with your mobile devices that the days of free hotspots have already come and gone?

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It was likened to a land grab. At 12:01 EST on June 13, people logged onto Facebook to claim their very own URL. They had the option to choose what was going to follow the final forward slash at http://www.facebook.com/. After all was said and done, the truth of the matter is less than 1% of all users bothered to make the transition.

Most who did choose a vanity URL made safe and standard choices. Personally, I chose “lindaj” to be the ending to my Facebook name because it seemed to be a no-brainer. After all, I want my friends to be able to find me. Yes, I would have preferred my full name, but it was already taken and to add dots or numbers to the mix would have only complicated the directions.

Some chose nicknames like “ladydi” or hobbies like “skier” or “cardplayer” instead of their names.

Others chose names that they could sell. While that does sound like an entrepreneurial tactic, it also seems somewhat disingenuous to me. After all, individuals don’t really “own” their page on Facebook; they merely maintain their page on the social networking portal.

Other than playing to one’s vanity, why does the URL matter? Your URL matters at Facebook and with your own domain because it is how search engines and your readers and customers see your website. Imagine if you are a business and you want your customers to find you. Which one is easier?
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/your-special-name/0515355512
• http://www.facebook.com/yourspecialname

What about the issue of trust? Celebrities, journalists and businesses with more than 1,000 fans had the opportunity to claim their names before the land grab started. Hopefully, if you click on someone who says they are Oprah, they are really Oprah. And this is where I’m going to give you my opinion and tell you that social networking tools are great; they are free and easy to use. However, they don’t protect your privacy. If you want security, you need to make a purchase. Invest in your own domain name. Invest in your own website. Your affordable web hosting company beats the free services hands down in privacy, security and trust.

You can trust your web hosting company to help authenticate that their clients are who they say they are, but really, it’s up to you – the reader, the buyer, and the consumer – to make the right choices. Don’t share anything personal on any website until you are comfortable with who will be able to see it, use it and share it.

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Is it finally here? Will our televisions finally convert to digital signals or HDTV this week? According to the delayed and delayed again timeline, the digital switch will take place this Friday, June 12. When we wake up on Saturday, June 13, all stations will be magically broadcasting a digital signal no longer available to those with rooftop or rabbit ear antennas.

For approximately nine months, the FCC and your local television channels have been running ubiquitous public service announcements to alert you to this switch. My question for today: are average American citizens so unplugged from reality that it took such a massive public relations campaign to pull this off?

The answer isn’t completely black and white. There are those of us who embrace technology and are ready and able to trade up to the next piece of new digital equipment that hits the market. We have to. It makes our productivity better; or so we think.

There are others of us who pay attention to technology, but wait for the kinks to be worked out and prices to come down just a bit before we bring home the next best thing. Then there are others still who aren’t willing to buy any new-fangled electronic gadget until their old one breaks. These were the people the government and television stations have been talking to. These are the people that had to be convinced.

Imagine if the switch to high-speed internet were so pervasive. It actually has been, but the advances have been off the average person’s radar screen. Federal grants help fund infrastructure in rural communities in hopes to lure companies to move there. Federal grants also are targeted for rural health initiatives so that medicine, technology and expertise are available no matter where you live as long as there are telephones and internet service. Completely behind the scenes, your web hosting company invests in equipment and puts servers online that will run these services so that they are available to all residents, not just hospitals and government agencies.

It is interesting to me that private enterprise continues to advance technology, but regulatory agencies remain slow to encourage the masses to embrace it.

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