I am presenting my solution to you so you can compare yourself how efficient and cost-effective your labeling system is and, in return, perhaps some of you may have a better solution out there that I may not be aware of.

In one word, the best system currently on my list is the Zebra LP 8244 + 4×6 labels. Here are the reasons:

1. Low cost labels. (under 2 cents, much lower than brand name labels or regular letter sized adhesive laser/inkjet labels that cost around 10 cents)
2. Cost-effective, durable, long-lasting direct thermal printer. (some of you may not agree but read further below)
3. Professional look with 4×6 labels.
4. Quick work flow.

You may at first think, “Wait… Zebra printers are too expensive and those 4×6 labels are big and aren’t they expensive, too?”

Yes, Zebra printers are expensive, but there are alternate suppliers that sell them used or refurbished at a reasonable cost. For example, eBay supplier Hippo Variety sells the Zebra LP 8244 refurbished at $127, a pretty good price for a 4″ direct thermal printer.

Also, 4×6 labels are probably the most common and mass produced ones and using the right source brings the label price down under 2 cents a label. Compare that price per label to the labels you use right now and multiply that to the amount you use per week, month and year and see the difference.

Some people still may think, “My laser/inkjet printer using regular paper and box tape will beat any label system.” Depending on your source of paper, printer, ink/toner/drum and tape, maybe, just maybe that’s true. But if you get your supplies from your local office store, you’re paying a lot more money per label than 2 cents. Laser printers use much more electricity and there is no time wasted on folding/cutting paper and applying tape. Oh, and it looks much better, too.

For your reference, I am preparing a table comparing a few label suppliers (to be uploaded soon). Feel free to comment/suggest any further suppliers for lower costs and comparison.

For those who are interested in buying a brand new Zebra LP 8244, my search results came out like this (prices include shipping):
$260.42 Nothingbutsoftware.com
$268.10 Barcodegiant.com

[Note: Zebra printers are Mac unfriendly and USPS.com does not support 4x6 label rolls.]

If you are looking for a USPS postage service to go with this printing system, I recommend a paid service from Endicia. Not only will Endicia save you trips and time spent in line at the post office, it will keep your postage lower than the post office and shipping process efficient. A 4×6 label will print your send/return address, postage, delivery confirmation number and even your customs declaration (for international shipments) all in one label, ready to pass on to your mailman or to drop off at the post office.

If you are a regular UPS or FedEx shipper, you may qualify for a low-cost rental printer and free labels so check that out, too.

If you haven’t tried this solution yet, give it a try and let me know how it worked out for you. I’m sure you’ll find it cost effective and also highly efficient.

The basic functions of a file server is to share files, and Synology keeps that core function very effectively. Sharing folders based on usernames and passwords are easily created and accessed in both Windows and Mac, just the way you would want a shared folder to appear in Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.

If that wasn’t enough, Synology file servers have its own web-based operating system that allows you to upload and download files freely using a web browser and can even open certain documents and audio/video files in the browser itself without downloading. This is an excellent alternative to ftp and better than most free or paid file sharing services and you are in control of your own data. You also utilize the bandwidth you already paid for to your internet service provider.

Synology has a line up for almost every file server configuration you would want. From a single drive system to multiple bays of RAIDed configurations that can hold terabytes of data. For home or small businesses, Synology products fit the sweet spot quite remarkably.

Here are the reasons why I like the Synology DiskStation.

1. Works Very Well with Both Windows and Mac OS

Once you create a folder and share it (either public to everyone or user based), you can access it easily in Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.

2. Convenient Web Access

You can access your files over the internet using the embedded web operating system named DiskStation Manager. By forwarding port 5000 (or 5001 for encrypted access) to your DiskStation, you can access it using any home or business based internet. (as long as you know the external IP address)

3. Large File Transfer Capability

Transferring large files over the internet is a pain. Once it goes over 2GBs, there are very few options available. If you have a DiskStation, along with Google Chrome (64-bit browser), you can easily upload and download files larger than 2GBs regardless of your operating system.

4. Quiet and Power Efficient

Synology DiskStations are quiet. If you’ve used other file server products, external RAID drives or other multi-disk USB drives, you’ve probably found it too noisy to keep it on top of your desk next to your computer or to even keep it on all day long. Synology DiskStations use a much quieter fan and goes into sleep mode when not used and wakes back up when you need it.

5. Price

When purchased with the main unit and disk drives separately, Synology DiskStations cost less than comparable products from even brand name manufacturers. Instead of buying a RAID external drive, the DiskStation has the same and even more functions available and is easy to use.

With these 5 reasons, I think the Synology Diskstation is a convenient and highly competitive product that you should definitely consider for your next file server purchase.

I’ve always liked the “RightLight” feature from Logitech webcams that brightens up when the ambient lighting is dark. Along with this and the 1280 x 720 resolution, the Logitech C260 works quite well as a relatively low-cost webcam and  seems to be a good purchase.

The colors aren’t as good as the higher-end C910 but it is just fine, especially considering the price, for Skype and other video chat uses. Feedback from family was quite good and were asking which one I got.

The one I purchased was at $16.99 through TigerDirect’s eBay page. Often prices are lower on eBay, but looking at it now, the price is back up to $19.99 (prices seem to change at times, a common practice). Still at $19.99 (and free shipping), this webcam is an excellent value and is money well spent. (oh, and this webcam normally sells at your favorite local electronics store for $24.99-$39.99 + tax)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-C260-Webcam-/320785562088 or

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-HD-Webcam-C260-Dark-Fleur-/320785221698

[update] TigerDirect’s eBay page keeps changing. As of today, this color model is the only one available at $19.99 but with free shipping. (buying another one for my mother-in-law)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-960-000695-C260-Webcam-/320789440269

Usage for the laptop was web surfing, e-mail and documents. Not a power demanding request but still at a price range up to $1,000, I felt a Core i5 processor would be preferable.

For general use laptops, I tend to recommend light-weight laptops as much as possible as there is really no need to lug around a heavy one. (Who likes heavy laptops anyways?) Unfortunately, many retailers market the 5 to 7lbs laptop as standard or sometimes even light. (They really do!) My standard of a light 13.3″ laptop is around 4lbs or under and there aren’t that many that meet my expectations.

Fortunately, I was able to find the ASUS U36SD. A 13.3″ notebook computer without a DVD drive which makes it very thin and quite light-weight.

The main specs for this laptop are:

Lightweight and thin was the first impression I received from my friend and I explained the 8 cell battery was a plus for long battery life.

The initial street price found for this laptop was $849 but was a no-brainer when I found an excellent price at $699 with free shipping from Tiger Direct. (note: TigerDirect shows currently unavailable, most Core i5s are priced above $1,000)

The slight downside of this laptop was the protruded battery (just thicker at the battery) and the rather large power adapter. No big deal at all.

Overall, the laptop was very satisfactory. Swapping out the HDD and replacing it with a SSD would definitely be icing on the cake.

Have you wondered how fast your internet connection really is? Do you want to know how fast you can transfer data or files using your internet or network connection?

While there are many conversion tools on the internet that you can punch in your data, I’ve created a chart with most popular speeds that gives you a pretty clear idea what your connection is capable of and should be helpful when transferring large files within a deadline.

 
Please note that this is the theoretical maximum speed and data transfer rate. Actual connection speeds vary depending on the quality of the connection and many other factors.

Transfers over Wi-Fi and uploads/downloads over the internet normally fall quite short from its maximum speed.

Searching through the internet to solve this problem gave me a lot of incorrect or complicated solutions. A few of these are:

- Using a large usb memory stick or external hard disk drive with NTFS, HFS or Ext2, Ext3 or Ext4 (Linux file formats) that supports large (4GB+) files.

- Transferring the file using FTP or SSH

- Installing a driver or software that enables you to read NTFS files on your Mac, or Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volumes on your PC

- Using a direct connection with a crossover LAN cable

All of these so-called solutions, most of which are methods to get around the NTFS/HFS+ file system incompatibility, are either time consuming or complicated and require some sort of paid software installed.

However, there are 2 relatively simple ways to solve this. (I believe #2 is easier.)

1. Memory Card or External Hard Drive Formatted with ExFAT
The first solution (thanks, Joe!) to transfer large files between Macs and PCs is to use a memory card or external drive formatted into exFAT, a file system created by Microsoft that is compatible on both Macs (Snow Leopard 10.6.5 and above) and PCs (Windows XP SP2 and above).

[ Note : You must install Windows update KB955704 to properly access exFAT drives in Windows XP ]

To create an exFAT drive, you need to select exFAT as the file system when formatting (or erasing on Mac) your drive. In Windows, you can easily do this by using “FORMAT x: /FS:exfat /q” in the command prompt (where x: is the external drive) or by selecting exFAT instead of NTFS using the new disk wizard.

[Additional Note : exFAT recognition between the Mac and PC isn't always consistent. If your Mac formatted exFAT drive is not recognized in Windows, you will probably have to assign a drive letter to it. (please ask if you need further instructions on this) Try #2 if you can't get the drive recognized properly]

2. Over a Network(LAN) Connection
When you don’t have a memory card or external drive ready, or if exFAT just doesn’t like you, you can still transfer files by sharing a folder on your PC (make it writable) and copy the file using Finder on your Mac. Instructions are as follows:

Create a shared folder on your Windows PC. Make sure you make it writable for everyone.

To connect to your shared PC folder from your Mac, open Finder and select Go -> Connect to Server in the menu and type in smb://[ipaddress of shared folder computer].

Connecting to Windows Shared Folder

Type in your Windows username and password to connect to your computer and start copying your file over. As you can see below, my Mac is happily copying a 7.25GB file over to my Windows shared folder.

This file transfer was performed using Wi-Fi but the fastest way would be to connect using a physical LAN line at 100Mbps or 1Gbps.

[Note: There is another way to share folders on your Mac to make it accessible on your PC (pretty much the other way around from the method above) but this one has less steps and is easier.]

Let me know how this works for you. If you have a better method, please do let me know!

Creating a bootable USB installation drive for Windows is really a pain, especially when it’s done manually, so I searched out for tools and passed by this one: Novicorp WinToFlash

If you can get pass the ads and uncomfortable design during the installation, this solution worked beautifully with both of these Windows 7 installations.

WinToFlash is built to create a bootable USB from a CD or DVD drive so if you have only an ISO file, use a ISO mounting utility to make the job quicker and easier!

While there are several freewares out there that do the job, I found Virtual Clone Drive from SlySoft to be very useful, compatible and easy to use.

Once installed, this program will connect (tie) your .iso extensions with the program and will mount it immediately when double-clicked (or you can right-click and open). Once mounted, it will be recognized either as a BD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

This is an excellent companion application for netbooks or slim notebooks that do not come with an optical drive. Just copy your ISO file onto a USB memory stick and you’ll have a drive ready for it. It’s also good to install .iso images straight from the file instead of burning it onto a CD or DVD.

My Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD

Instead of a lengthy document showing all the specs and multiple pages of benchmarks, I’ve decided to keep things simple and note only the key points I consider worth mentioning. If you need a fully blown review with specs, please visit a professional benchmark/review site separately.

The drive itself is pretty lightweight and with the sound of a rather thin steel covering, it has a basic (instead of a premium) feel to it in hand. The drive also came with a very simple 3.5″ adapter tray.

On paper, the Force 3 drive shines with its 6Gbps SATA 3 interface and up to 500+ MBs of read and write speed. Unfortunately, real-world performance falls short of these numbers and a bit off my expectations but still, it is a good performer and excellent value considering the price.

To back up my words, I am including 2 basic benchmark screenshots in both Windows and on a Mac.

1. ATTO Benchmark in Windows 7, Hitachi 1TB 7200rpm HDD (SATA 2, 3Gbps) vs Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD (SATA 3, 6Gbps)

This comparison clearly shows the transfer rate advantages of a SATA 3 SSD drive (380MB/s read, 460MB/s write) compared to a regular SATA 2 7200rpm HDD (120MB/s read, 120MB/s write) most people have in their desktop computers.

2. Xbench on the Mac OS (both on SATA 2), Toshiba 256GB SSD vs Corsair Force Series 3 SSD

While the Apple branded Toshiba 256GB SSD is a strong performer, the Corsair Force 3 drive still outperforms it even on the slower SATA 2 interface of the 2010 Macbook Pro. Since most Macbook Pro users have the standard 2.5″ HDD installed, it’s best to compare it with your own Xbench results to see the performance difference.

Installed on my desktop, I immediately recognized the speed enhancements of the SSD drive. Windows 7 startup and shut down times are a lot faster and applications just open upon clicking.

With prices at around $179 after rebate, this drive is an excellent value for the performance and I’m happy running this as my desktop’s main drive.

With the current heat of phone radiation issues and as a continuing concern with cell phones, I wanted to compare the human RF absorption rates of the top 2 hottest selling smart phones in the US and worldwide – the premium Apple iPhone 4 and multi-functional Samsung Galaxy-S. While I did find some data scattered around the web, none of them referred to direct sources which led me to do my own research and here, I have come up with the data and source links from the FCC.

Since there are various measurements during a SAR test, the most important seems to be the highest measurement detected for each service bandwidth. The following chart shows you the highest reported SAR value for each carrier’s service frequency range:

Highest SAR Value Comparison Chart for iPhone 4 and Galaxy-S

Quite obviously, the Samsung Galaxy-S is a clear winner in regards to RF absorption rates. The Galaxy-S also shows low absorption rates when compared to other Android phones as well. I hope future iPhones and other Android phones can be more competitive in this category.

One other thing I found amusing was that some iPhone users were highly noting that the SAR for the iPhone 4 was 50% lower than the 3G version when in fact the iPhone 4 measures roughly 200% higher than the Galaxy-S in most categories. With that said, I am not sure why some of the head SAR measurements can turn out lower than the body for certain tests.

But please note that both phones are well under the (IMO questionable) safety standards of the FCC (1.6W/kg).

Source:
FCC Database – Grant of Equipment Authorization
http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/

Verizon
FCC ID for Samsung Fascinate Galaxy-S : A3LSCHI500
FCC ID for Apple iPhone 4 : BCG-E2422A (note: include dash when performing search)

AT&T
FCC ID for Samsung Captivate Galaxy-S : A3LSGHI897
FCC ID for Apple iPhone 4 : BCG-E2380A (note: include dash when performing search)