There is a new category of computer user out there that I am discovering.  I have been well aware of the uber geek that accepts nothing more than maxing out their credit cards on the top of the line peripherals and equipment, and I have been versed in the practices of the novice as well.  New to me is what has been defined as "the normal person." Until recently, I haven't been lucky enough to meet many of these, but today I have... and they wanted a set of speakers for their computer that wouldn't break the bank but didn't sound like they were listening to music through a jar of peanut butter either. So, you are normal... or you know someone who is and they need speakers for their computer.  What do you get? Eagle thinks they have the answer. Read More...

Taipei, Taiwan, June 2010 - QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Video Players today announced a major update to the NAS management software embedded in their Turbo NAS products as firmware. The new V3.3 update provides many new features and enhancements for consumer and business users of both current and legacy Turbo NAS server models, helping users maximize their investment in a QNAP NAS by extending new features to owners completely free of charge. What’s new in the V3.3 update?

Ok, so my days of wandering through Microcenter's Apple area pondering whether to buy a NEW Mac Mini are over.  It was a short lived dream... or nightmare; I haven't figured that out yet.  Apple almost had me until Shuttle announced its XS35 at Computex this year.  Read More...

As you may have read, I am a fan of Microsoft Security Essentials.  Prior to MSE, I had been using Microsoft OneCare on almost all of my machines, and in case you didn't know; Microsoft is no longer supporting the product.  Instead, they released MSE to replace it.  With that said, my subscription was about to expire.  I figured it was time to uninstall OneCare on my HTPC and install MSE in its place.  In the immortal words of Biz Markie "I didn't realize I was in for such an event".  The event was an error... error code: 0x80070643 to be exact.  Unfortunately, I didn't find much help on the net but I did find a solution that worked for me. Read More...

Open mouth, insert foot! Ok, after years of being one to point out plenty of Mac problems and faults to everyone I know, I have finally found a reason to buy one.   I have been building and using HTPC's for years and it took some time to find the hardware and software I was comfortable with.  Setting things up like my iMon Remote proved to be fun, but useless.  The hardware, the OS, and all that stuff cost me nearly the same price as the new Mac.  So, what has changed? Read More...

On my daily rounds, I pick up all kinds of good lil' tidbits for article ideas.  Most of them are relating to Windows flaws or Anti Apple articles, but none of them really cut the mustard.  However, today I am going to pound my fist against the wall at those of US that thought we had less to worry about.  Yeah, we are Linux advocates, and we overlook security sometimes. Today I was introduced to a statement by UnrealIRCd detailing a trojan packaged with their IRCd (Internet Relay Chat deamon) for Linux.  This obviously represents one FATAL flaw with the Linux faithful; the blind trust we have for the most of the Linux community and the lack of attention we pay to what we are installing or downloading.  This time, it leads us to a backdoor that grants an evildoer the ability to run ANY command with the user's privileges running the daemon.  Read More...

I have a lot of friends that are becoming more and more aware of what is going on in the computing world.  As this development matures, I am confronted with more and more questions about the state of technology.  Sometimes, I can very easily explain the idea behind things, but the actual workings of it are somewhat foreign.  Recently, a friend of mine started building his own home server (WHS) and purchased a bunch of hard drives.  This normally wouldn't be cause for concern, but the website he was purchasing from delineated these drives as 4K Sector drives.  So... what does that mean? Read More...