Every so often one of our favourite hardware manufacturers sends us something really ‘stand-out excellent’ to review.  And this week, thanks to Don at Plantronics, the bar for PC gaming headsets has been reset once again.

Having suffered with a cheap headset for games and Skype over the last few months, the difference between the cheaper headset and the Plantronics GameCom 777 was absolutely mind-blowing.

While I must admit the GameCom 777 headset won’t win any awards from Vogue Magazine for styling, it looks right at home when you’re hard at work playing Halo.  Aesthetics aside, the headset is extremely comfortable with plenty of adjustment options.

The USB Dolby 7.1 adaptor adds an expansive sound-stage and the “big” feel is great for listening to those upbeat soundtracks or your MP3 collection.

While not the most inspired aesthetics, the GameCom 777 clearly demonstrates that there’s more to technology than good looks.  The grey military styling certainly matches the army feel some might be expecting from utilitarian head-gear – but it’s not everyone’s idea of cool.  But of course, the styling is where utilitarian stops and performance begins.

Just one look at the well-designed, big and well padded earcups rightly suggests that this headset is going to be comfortable to wear for extended gaming or video conferencing sessions.   A few hours in and the soft, comfortable cups and headband didn’t disappoint.

Audio from these open-air design headphones is nothing short of amazing with the Dolby function active.  It’s well suited to games, movies, and just about anything else you can throw at it.  As you’d expect for a headset with a bias towards games, there’s a mid-range focus and vocals are crisp and up-front.  Something the Dolby 7.1 dongle achieves nicely.  Skype takes a little getting used to if you’re used to a tinny little set of headphones – but you’ll soon start to enjoy conversations at a whole new level.  Actually, each Skype contact complimented the audio without me even mentioning the new headset.

Comparing the absolute Hi-Fi aspects of the headset against my studio ART reference headset, it was clear that the high-end and low-frequency sounds were a little cut-off compared to the reference – So the GameCom 777 certainly isn’t a “reference” – but it isn’t designed to be.  It’s the ultimate Gaming headset.  If you want a studio Hi-Fi headset, shelling out $1000 on an AudioTechnica ART set will certainly do the trick there – but won’t impress like the GameCom 777 for games.

The low-end bass sounds play well and don’t feel artificial – You may want to crank up the bass on the EQ if you’re looking for a real ‘bang’ though.  The headset’s open-air design means an airier feel.

The Plantronics GameCom 777 connects to your PC or Mac using regular 3.5mm jacks or the included USB Dolby dongle.   Connecting directly to the PC without the dongle made the headset sound like a regular good quality, and well-constructed headset – solid and effective with a 2m cable, utilitarian volume control on the cable, and with an impressive adjustable boom microphone that tucks into the headband when not needed - plus clear, crisp audio on the headphones and mic.

Adding the Dolby 7.1 dongle into the loop changes the whole experience.  The virtual surround sound is really something you need to experience to understand.  Despite the somewhat bulky feel of the package, the audio is simply breathtaking.   Excellent noise rejection, well-tuned frequency response tailored for games and a really expansive feel.

Congratulations to the team at Plantronics on an excellent headset.  While, I’d love to see a version with some slimmer styling and sexier colours (which of course would make it a general-purpose headset rather than a gaming headset), the Plantronics GameCom 777 is certainly the most impressive gaming headset I’ve come across.

Hi All,

Finally had some success with traffic building and it's taken this site from PR1 to PR3 pretty quickly as you can see!

We've been using this system!  Still got a LOT to learn but the material and videos have been excellent in understanding the reasons why we haven't ranked for so long.

Here's part of the sales pitch:

Nuclear Traffic Maximizer is designed to help website owner generate massive traffic  with the least resources required. Here're some powerful tips for you, if you're:

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Important Tips - If you have a strong on page optimization blog, build 80% of your backlinks to the homepage, when the rest of the blog post received enough link juice, they will rank on page 1 and receive traffic!

Affiliate Marketer - Cherry pick profitable and yet relatively easy to rank keywords, don't go after high competition keywords, there are tons of low competition keywords with decent searches, find them and see the traffic flooding to your web site in weeks if not days!
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Adsense Marketer - You can't have serious success with Adsense if you don't have enough traffic! You need to scale up your traffic with limited resources, I'll show you how to multiply your resources and scale up your traffic exponentially!

PPC Marketer - Are you tired of Google Slap and all kinds of unfair rules to PPC newbie?  What if I told you that anyone can easily get tons of targeted traffic to their website within a reasonable period of time, and these are targeted buyers who are ready to buy your products and services? Do you still want to pay for the traffic?

I'll reveal all the secrets to massive traffic in this strategy guide, and this is the most important and complete reference I ever did in 2010! I've nothing to hide, anyone can copy and scale up my strategy to explode the traffic of their website!

Using Nuclear Traffic Maximizer, you don't need tens of thousands of backlinks to rank for highly competitive keywords, you don't need to spend a huge budget and waiting for months to get massive targeted free traffic to your website! By following this simple strategy, you can literally get thousands of visitors/day in just 60 days!

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It's just $27 and a bit of this comes back to support the GadgetAccess team...
So go ahead and help yourself and the Gadgetaccess team!

If you are a lover of XBox 360 games then you will eventually see the dreaded situation when an xbox 360 repair will be needed.  The failure rates on these consoles are unfortunately predictably high and multipled significantly if you didn't purchase one of those optional cooling fans that plug onto the back of the console from day one. 

XBox 360 users will generally suffer from a range of heat-related crashes and relaibility issues before the big day - but most consoles suffer one or more of the known CPU / GPU cooling problems. These problems are simply due to an overheating console causing the system to freeze up. If things get really serious, for example and overheating dusty console, you'll wind up seeing the well known xbox 360 red ring of death.  Calling the service line, you'll be met with someone who will have told you that you would need to send your console back to the service agent (assuming it's less than 3 years old of course) for a costly repair.  If you've made it three years so far and the console has gone on the fritz, you'll be politely told to file the console under "R" and attend your favourite games store to buy a replacement.  But when you have help online, you can often avoid a trip to service-centre-land.

So.. If you have the tools, some patience and a strong cup of caffeine - and don't want to take a 3 week game-free holiday, take a look at services like THIS - download the instructions from their web site.

Learning to repair your xbox 360

So - if you need to  repair your xbox 360 console in a quick and efficient manner, it's surprisingly easy with some helpful instructions and a few standard tools - the repair guides certainly provide assistance to anyone wishing to DIY the repair rather than sending their consoles to the factory .

Forget about having your console lost in transit and calling around looking for a repair ETA... Most XBox 360 repairs are apparently an hours work..

Give them a go - and let us know how you go with a comment below.

Looking to optimise your PC's performance? GadgetAccess recommends 1-Click-Fix

Raising kids with their own laptops has been a new kind of challenge.  I have had to deal with the problem of them staying on the computer far too long and even getting up in the middle of the night to visit YouTube or IM their friends.  This is not a unique problem these days. With Facebook, the various new social media meet-up solutions turning up every day and so many online temptations, it is easy to see kids disappear into cyberspace and not come out for hours or days.

So one technique that I used that employed humor had to do with the "friends" the boy had developed entirely online.  These were individuals he chatted with from around the world but whom he had never seen other than in pictures. So I called them his "cartoon people" to put an emphasis on the fact that those relationships are not as good as relationships with real people in 3D and away from the computer screen.

The internet has taken over communications in more ways than just how teenagers socialize with each other.  It has become an integral part of how the business world works as well.  The time when you did all of your business with local customers working with friends and neighbors who all lived in your community is long gone. Because of internet commerce, businesses view their markets differently and city, state or even country borders have disappeared. 

Similarly, who your coworkers are is no longer a local question.  It is common to be called upon to organize or work on what is often called a "virtual team".  That means that you may have to organize a project with specialists who are located all over the map.  You may conduct a great deal of your communications digitally and in many cases, never see or hear the voices of important members of your team. Just as teenagers are very comfortable with socializing with "cartoon people", the time is ripe to learn how to work with cartoon people as well.  And those cartoon people are your virtual team.

New World - New Tools

A virtual team is just that - virtual.  Like my teenager's cartoon people, you may only have a small part of your team in your office space physically.  The great thing about a virtual team is that it opens up the world of cyberspace project development to such a huge pool of talent. You can include people with extensive subject matter expertise on your team who may be physically located a hundred or thousands of miles away.

The expenses of using a virtual team of talented team members are kept to the costs of their talents only because there is often no need for travel or other overhead.  In fact, you don’t even have to pay for their coffee or include them in department lunches because they handle those expenses themselves.

To become skilled at managing or working within a virtual team, you must learn to be very comfortable with the tools of a virtual communications business environment. Email is one such tool that has become a very common style of communication even for team members sitting in adjoining cubicles.  When you are interacting with members of your virtual team, emails take on a greater priority when they come in from those team members.

There are plenty of new tools that you can take advantage of to make the communications channels between you and other members of the virtual team.  Those tools include instant messaging, the use of blogs and file sharing so threads can be maintained about issues that need to be resolved.  Those online blog threads can become the dialog that pools the knowledge and wisdom of the team to strive toward the common goal of project success.

In addition to email and IM, webcams and social networks can be used to create a greater familiarity and ease of access between team members. Facebook is often thought of as a toy for teenagers.  But the ability to post photos and other details on Facebook can help a virtual team develop stronger ties to each other which improves communication with each other. But there are other social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn that are perfect for making virtual teams work better despite physical distances between each other.

Replacing Water Cooler Talk

Conference calling and frequent contact via voice communications is also central to your success with your virtual team.  Team meetings will have to be facilitated with a well designed conference calling technology.  It will take some skill to organize such meetings particularly if your virtual team is spread across vast time zones.  Even just organizing meetings between team members on the east and west coasts can take some patience and careful planning.  If some members of your virtual team are international, that goal becomes even more challenging.

Voice communications between team members one on one is just as important as what is accomplished in a formal meeting setting. It will be the job of management to make the tools available that such communications are easy to do and that employees know they can use that tool as much as they wish.  The arrival of VOID and Skype means that opening this form of communication up to virtual team members is no longer a cost issue.

Trust - Honesty - Dependability

The cornerstones of teamwork do not change just because you have a virtual team.  Those cornerstones are trust, honesty and dependability. For virtual team members to build and sustain a relationship with you, they have to know they can depend on you.  So when you make a commitment to one member of the team or to the team goals, keep that commitment. Be the one who always answers emails quickly and be always available through IM anytime you are working online so that your team members know how to connect with you at any time.

That accessibility replaces being able to drop in on your cubicle. You may even exchange some humor in your virtual communications to replace that casual talk at the water cooler that builds community and office friendships.  The basics of how communications between human beings remain the same and once you build a solid business relationship using online tools, that virtual partnership can be just as strong as any you have benefitted form in the world out side of cyberspace.  That means that people on your team can depend on you and that you can depend on them.  Even if they are cartoon people.

Looking to optimise your PC's performance? GadgetAccess recommends THIS

Anyone who has been on the interent for any length of time is aware of some of the dangers that lurk in cyberspace.  The kind of malicious software that gets the most attention are viruses and other destructive internet attacks.  These kinds of invasions over your internet modem can destroy your computer or seriously hinder your ability to use it. But there is another classification of online malicious software.  It is a kind that happens far more often than a devastating computer attack. It is a classification of online invasion called Spyware.

The name "spyware" is well chosen. This kind of computer program invades your system the same way a virus does.  You might get it from an attachment in an email or from something you download online.  But unlike a virus, spyware is not out to hurt your computer or damage your ability to use it.  It is there to reside in your computer and run behind the scenes doing its dirty work without you ever knowing it.

The kinds of unwanted things spyware might do are diverse.  One kind of spyware simply waits while you are enjoying the internet and pops up advertising.  That advertising isn't coming from the interent.  It is coming from inside your computer but you never know that.  Antler kind of spyware records your internet activity including your log on identification codes and passwords.  That is sent off to a crook that is waiting to use it to commit identity theft on you by breaking into your financial websites using your personal data as the key to the front door.  Other kinds of spyware may even hijack your computer to make long distance calls or to become part of a network that is used to spread a virus far and wide.

If you think that Spyware isn’t something you have to worry about then you need to think again. Even with precautions being taken, there is still a serious threat here. It seems that Spyware is the number one issue online these days, and it affects people on a global scale.

Some people think that Spyware only occurs with viruses from links.  However, you can also be exposed to it when you download various types of software. There are also concerns with different types of links that you click on. As you read information online you may click on a link unsuspectingly, and that is all it takes before you experience problems with Spyware.

Today you will find many applications online that you can conveniently download for free. Stop and ask yourself though what it is that they are gaining by offering it to you? These seem to be common locations where Spyware is hidden. While you consent to the download, you certainly didn’t consent to their Spyware being there behind the scenes.  It is smart to find good software that can detect spyware on your computer and then get rid of it.  But go with a reliable source for that software because there are even programs out there that advertise that they will cure spyware but in fact only put more spyware on your computer.

Not only does Spyware slow down your computer but many of them can corrupt files. Even with a pop up blocker you may start to get pop ups. This is often one of the first indicators that you will have about such a problem on your computer. Yet not all of the problems are that obvious.

There are many different classifications of Spyware and those categories depend on how they go about attacking your computer. Some of the words that you hear in conjunction with them include Adbot, modem hijacker, browser hijacker, and keyboard logger. All of them are forms of Spyware to be concerned about.

While most agree that something has to be done about Spyware, it is very tricky to take action against. Finding those that are responsible for such issues is very difficult. Regulating it is hard as those that put Spyware out there are very good at what they do. It is virtually impossible to trace it back to them.

With that in mind, you need to be an advocate for your own safety. Spyware is out there lurking so you need to be conscious of it. Don’t have the attitude that you are protected from it. Do all you can to prevent Spyware from your computer through antivirus and firewalls programs.

You also need to immediately take action if you think there may be some form of Spyware on your computer. Always make sure the protection you have on your computer is updated. Children should be taught to never click on free advertisements or those that say they have won various prizes as they are commonly associated with Spyware problems.

You can also find some great programs on the internet that have been recognized as the best software there is next to your internet security software for finding and getting rid of spyware.  And what is very surprising about these small number of reliable anti-spyware programs is that most of them are free.  One such program is called AdAware.  You can download it for free and it will fight advertising programs that create pop ups on your computer.  These forms of spyware are called Adbots and AdAware is great at getting rid of them.

One of the best anti-spyware programs in existence is called Spybot Search and Destroy and probably the third most popular spyware fighting software is called CrapCleaner 1.0. The great thing about these programs besides the fact that they are free is that they will contstanly update themselves from a central database so they are always up to date with the most recent evolutions in spyware so that they are never caught by surprise by a spyware attack.

Along with using some of the free tools to fight spyware that we have talked about, do not neglect to keep your interent security software up to date.  The good internet protections software like products sold by  Norton or McAfee can also catch spyware and get rid of it before it can do any real damage.  When you add to those precautions learning how to protect your computer through responsible online behavior, you have a good formula for keeping spyware off of your computer and keeping it that way.

When your computer starts acting up, it is something to worry about because you don't know if there is something fundamentally wrong with it or if it is something easy to fix.  What not many people know is that a computer that is acting up may not be showing any signs of a serious problem that could lead to a crash. It could be a problem with an internal part of how the computer works called the registry.

When your computer starts up, it knows what to do.  When you click on your profile, it knows what picture to use in the background, what icons to show on your desktop, what will be in your startup menu and even what screen saver you will use.  Have you ever wondered how your computer keeps all this information sorted out?  It does it with a small file of information that serves as the internal roadmap of how your computer operates.  That roadmap is called the registry.

Because things change so quickly in how your computer interacts online, the registry goes through a huge amount of modification each day and week. The result is that it can often get "cluttered up" with dead links, entries that are no longer valid or slots in the list of things for your computer to do that are blank which can cause the computer to freeze up. In a perfect world, the PC registry would take good care of itself and you would never have to worry about it.  But in reality, performing routine registry cleaning is necessary or your computer will begin to act like it is sick.  It isn't sick. You just need to run a good registry cleaner software.

Do it Yourself?

Microsoft gives users the tools to make changes to the registry.  There is a program that comes with windows called "regedit".  You can actually run it yourself and as soon as it starts up, you will be looking at the registry that runs every aspect of how your PC operates. Microsoft gives to us great instructions on how to use regedit here - http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/tools_regeditors.mspx?mfr=true

But there is one very simple guideline that you should regard with the greatest of priority when it comes to using regedit.  That guideline is simply put as….

DON'T!

Regedit is a very basic utility that will let you do anything you want to do to your registry.  There are no protections that would stop someone who doesn't understand the registry from doing some serious harm to their computer.  It is one of those utilities that was created by the very technically savvy programmers who created Windows to give them the ability to make adjustments to how the operating system runs while it is running.

You should never get into regedit if you are not fully trained on what to do and what not to do.  It is entirely possible to delete the wrong thing in regedit and bring your system down just as drastically as a hard disk crash.  Regedit is not a utility that is for users who are not technical experts in the inner workings of Windows to be fooling around with.  In fact, it is best if you completely disregard anything you learn on the link we gave to you above and never start regedit yourself at all.

Nonetheless, everyone who wants to operate a PC at its peak performance needs a way to clean up the registry when the computer begins to perform badly.  Instead of attempting this clean up yourself, there are good registry cleaning programs that you can get that can become part of your standard arsenal of computer tools that you use to keep your system working well. 

You can find a wide diversity of programs that will do the job for you by using a search engine with the phrase "registry cleaning software".  Of course, as is true of any product you might shop for on the internet, you will find good ones and you will find products that are fakes or that could harm your registry. That is why it is good to know some tips on….

How to Pick the Right Registry Cleaner Software

It is a good start when you set out to find good registry cleaning software to regard it with the same seriousness that you gave to buying your internet security software.  You do not want to turn over this vital task and give access to your registry to some software that may do more harm than good.  Keep in mind that the one part of your computer that hackers and people who would download spyware or virus software would love to get inside of is your registry because using it, they can learn anything they want about your computer and virtually take it over.

To be blunt, there is a lot of junk out there on the interent being sold or given away free under the title of being "registry cleaning software".  As a rule, it is wise to avoid free utilities that perform this function entirely.  While there may be a few free registry cleaning software packages in cyberspace that can do the job, there are far more that will be dangerous to your computer or that are fronts for spam, adware or other malicious software.  It pays to be skeptical and guard your computer before you set off a software program that will affect your registry.

Use the same wisdom you used when investing in your internet security software when buying registry cleaning software for your PC.  In fact, check your menus of the package you may be using for online security.  Often good programs like Norton or McAfee either come with registry cleaning utilities or there will be a link to upgrade your package to get a reliable registry cleaning utility from a company you already know and trust.

So.. Before you format your PC.. Try a few of the obvious registry optimisers...

Here's one we recommend: 1-Click-Fix 

There is one other guideline to go by when you do find good registry cleaning software and you buy it and get it installed.  That guideline is…

USE IT!

You should run your registry cleaning software routinely.  That routine can be once a month but it is still an important part of keeping your computer running well.  If the software comes with a scheduler, set it up to run every couple of weeks. You can always run it on an as needed basis as well.  The important thing is you put the time and the resources into finding registry cleaning software that you can trust.  So put that software to work keeping your registry working in tip-top shape.  You will be glad you did.

Try 1-Click-Fix Today

There is no way to ignore the tremendous popularity that the Apple iPad has achieved in a very short time on the market.  The week the iPad was launched, the excitement that people showed was equivalent to the coming of a rock star to town or the launch of a hugely anticipated new movie.  Of course, the good folks at Apple were pretty happy to see their marketing do so well. But it wasn’t just marketing that made the iPad a sensation.  It is a genuinely new approach to the mobile computing marketplace and clearly it either filled an existing need in the market or it created a new one.

Since the iPad has hit the market, reviewers and early users have begun to notice some of the shortcomings of the technology.  This is to be expected because all new technology goes through a time of evolution as something very good is refined and perfected until it is something great. One troubling drawback of the iPad that is just beginning to get noticed is how the light from it can be disturbing to users even more so than other digital devises that we are all used to using.

If you aren’t sleeping well it may be due to the artificial light that your iPad gives off. There are many experts out there that believe such strong lighting plays a role in affecting a person’s internal clock. In fact, it may be responsible for resetting it and that is why your sleep may be taking a hit.

If your ability to achieve a restful sleep is being disturbed in this way, you may begin to get sleepy during other times of the day when you need to be awake. If you are about to fall asleep during an important business meeting or when you are with clients then it can seriously affect your job too. Maybe even a greater concern is how this kind of technology may affect the sleep of young people who love their iPads.  If a child or teenager cannot get a good night's sleep because of how the light the iPad emits disturbs them, that can affect them at school and have a negative impact on their health.

The type of lighting that the Ipad offers is very different than when you read paperback books.  When you read a paper document, you are using the natural lighting of the room or from sunlight to illuminate the page. This is how the eyes are accustomed to working. But when you enjoy an ebook using your iPad, the lighting comes from the pad shining at your eyes directly.  It is like one of those lights the ophthalmologist uses to peer into your eyes except it is not as strong but it is continuous.  If you read something on your iPad for a while, that can affect your eyes and even how your brain patterns work.

While you may absolutely love your iPad and what it allows you to accomplish during the day, it could be keeping you awake at night. You can try your own experimentations with this to find out. Turn off your iPad as well as other devices that give off light once the sun goes down.  By sleeping in a perfectly dark room, you give your sleep cycles the change to work through properly and you will sleep more soundly.

Chances are you will find that you are able to go to sleep several hours sooner. You will also find that you are able to stay asleep longer and without interruptions. That is very important too because if you lie down for 8 hours but really only sleep for 6 of them then you can wake up sleep deprived.

In fact, you may find that other people notice positive changes in your behavior. You may be friendlier at the office or with getting your kids off to school. You may be more alert when it comes to making quick decisions. If you have a job that relies on creativity you may become an employee that has great ideas everyone else is talking about. Above all, you will be healthier, happier and more relaxed because you didn't let your iPad keep you up at night.

It might be a little trickier to get your youngster to power down their iPads at night.  Kids love to pull their technology into bed with them and stay up far too late talking on their cell phones or playing with digital toys online. But for the health of your kids, set up some rules that they must live by if they are going to enjoy their iPads and other digital equipment.  You may set the rule that all technology is shut completely off and put in a family closet that is not in their room when the lights go off to go to sleep.  There will be some resistance to these rules but if you buy the toys, you make the rules.  And you are doing it for their own good even if the kids don't see it that way.

Technology can be a great benefit to us, but not if it is depriving you of your basic needs. It is important to get a good night of rest for both your body and your mind. Your mood, your ability to concentrate, and even your weight can be affected by a lack of sleep. Studies show that even if you feel fine on little sleep or interrupted sleep your overall state of mind suffers.

There could be a link there regarding this lack of sleep and some mental health disorders. The fact that we continue to rely on more electronic gadgets than ever before could be a huge part of what causes those kinds of sleep disorders. Before you rush out the door to go shop for an iPad or other electronic item you need to fully evaluate your sleep situation.

If you feel that you really do need an Ipad, make some limitations with it as we have discussed. For example commit to shutting it and other electronics including your computer off by 8 pm. Then you have time to unwind before you go off to bed. If you are using such devices right up to the moment your head hits the pillow it could prevent you from sleeping well. By making human interaction with your family the last thing you do before sleeping, you will sleep better. And if you can have great sleep and still enjoy new technology within the rules, that is a good lifestyle to keep up.

The iPad Took the mobile computing market by storm in the last few months.  So it stands to reason that there are plenty of big internet and mobile communications companies that want a piece of the pie.  The announcement that Google and Verizon were working on their own version of a pad style technology should not take anyone by surprise.  The competition and emulation of creative ideas between the bit internet and communications giants is well known.  The problem that comes with creating an “iPad wannabe” is that the public will be spoiled by the groundbreaking technology that Apple brought to the table and it will be tough to capture that market now that Apple is carving most of it out for themselves.

Because the announcement of the partnership between Google and Verizon is making news only a few weeks after the arrival of the IPad, the deal has been in the works for some time.  At this point, the solidification of the partnership on the product is as far as the big media and internet giants have gotten.  The time frame for getting early versions of their product on the market are a year away.  No doubt those projections are optimistic.

A Win Win if it Works

Both Google and Verizon stand to win big if their entry in the pad technology market is a success.  For Verizon, they can reap an explosion of communications revenue because they can capitalize on the ability of Google to make their version of a pad technology so attractive to customers.  Google has already shown a talent for taking over markets from smaller competitors by either buying out smaller players or deploying their own competition in that market.  If Verizon can ride the wave of popularity of the pad technology combined with the leverage Google brings to the table, that could represent a very profitable venture for them.

Google has also been looking for ways to deploy their massive investment in internet products and services into the mobile marketplace.  By cashing in on the excitement of the Apple iPad product concept, Google could have found it's platform to take their phenomenal success in the internet environment and stage a similar coup on the mobile computing world.  For Verizon and Google, this is clearly a "Win Win" project.  But those big wins will only be realized if their gamble that they can take on the mighty Apple and AT&T partnership and win.  That is a big gamble.

Finding a Weakness to Exploit

There is no question that the strength that the Google and Verizon partnership can bring to the pad wars lies in Google’s huge inventory of internet products and services that could then be deployed to the mobile world. In order to beat the iPad in a market they now own, the Google and Verizon team will have to find and exploit weaknesses in the IPad product and demonstrate that they can provide a product that is not limited by those weaknesses.

Google has the financial clout to offer many apps on their version of the iPad as standard with the purchase of the software.  Already one of the complaints users of the iPad system have lodged is how they are called upon to purchase apps for some very basic functions early on. 

For example, the iPad does not come with a product similar to Microsoft Office that comes with the unit out of the box.  Google is putting a lot of effort into turning the Google Docs suite into a viable competition for that application area.  By offering those services without extra changes, Google and Verizon can woo customers with the idea that they don’t just more for their money with the new product, they get a lot more for their money.

Other weaknesses of the IPad technology are that the device does not allow users to run more than one application at a time and the screen itself could be easily be scratched or damaged.  By coming into the market with those issues addressed and showing up out of the box as a robust and feature rich system, the Google and Verizon pad technology could make the iPad offering look clumsy and poorly designed. In that way, if the shortcomings of the iPad get more publicity in the next 12 months, that will set the stage for a very successful product launch for Google and Verizon.

Or Too Little, Too Late

Google has had a lot of success taking on smaller competition and winning a niche of cyberspace and making it their own.  However, Apple and AT&T are not little players in the internet or the communications markets.  Apple in particular has shown a market savvy and an ability to compete and take on the big players in both the internet and the mobile worlds and win big.  So the strategies that Google has used to shut down the little guy may not stand up against these formidable internet and mobile computing giants.

In addition, the problem of being late to market has a lot of hidden dangers. Google and Verizon cannot count on Apple to just sit still and not improve the iPad technology to resolve the weaknesses of the system and to give the product all of the functionality that users expect long before Google and Verizon can get their product to market. 

In order to beat Apple at their own game, Google and Verizon must find ways to develop a new product offering that is better than the iPad as it is today and better than the iPad will be in a year to 18 months when the Google and Verizon product hits the market.  That means more than just fixing what is not working in the Apple product because Apple can do that.  It means fixing what is wrong with the iPad and then offering something that is new and innovative before Apple can do so.  Considering the ability of Steve Jobs and Apple to stay ahead of the game in technological innovation, that is not going to be an easy battle to win.

Protecting the data on any computer is extremely important. When you use the internet regularly, the diversity of malicious communications that can come your way is amazing.  Some online threats can come through emails in the form of attachments.  It is important to have tools in place to filter attachments in emails that could contain programs like as virus attacks, ad-bots, spy-bots or other nasty thigns that could infect your computer and make using it difficult if not impossible.

But email is not the only way that unwanted intruders can get into your computer.  They can come in through downloads that you get from the interent such as video or audio files that you want to enjoy.  There are even certain very crafty bugs that can access your computer even if you do nothing wrong. That is why you need a reliable and always present barrier between you and the internet to stop any intruder from taking over your computer and putting unwanted software on it or hurting your system in any way.

One way to do that is to invest in a powerful firewall. A firewall offers you the defense you need to keep hackers out. For some reason, evil people never tire of lurking in cyber space looking for unprotected computers. It doesn’t take them long at all to gain access to your computer and once they have your passwords and accounts, they have what they need to commit identity theft and cause you a world of heartache and problems. You never what to allow that to happen or to make to be easy for them to go after you.  If your system is protected, criminals will move on to victims that are no as well protected.

Sending jokes through emails is very common these days. Yet viruses can be lurking in them. They can also be found in files that you open or programs you decide to upload from the internet. There are a number of websites that will send you jokes or other types of files as an email and when you click on those emails, you are taken to a site that downloads the file they are handing out.  The problem is that a lot of malicious software is distributed that way. You don’t want to take chances that they can cause corruption to your files or cause your computer to run very slowly. There are many different forms of corruption that can occur and you want to protect yourself against all of them.

With a firewall in place you have the means of preventing such problems from being there.  A good firewall stops bad software from getting on your system with sophisticated tools that can detect things that seek to do you harm and isolating them before they can get through. In fact, a good firewall can even block programs that try to identify who you are and make you virtually "invisible" online.  That gives you the freedom to use the internet as you wish without the worry about bad things happening as you surf your favorite websites.

Most of us take for granted the freedom of accessibility that our computer offers us. Don’t let yourself become a victim of problems or lose valuable data from your computer due to the fact that you didn’t see the point in getting a good firewall in place from the very start.  Having a good firewall is just as important has installing a word processor, an internet connection and a spreadsheet.  It is simply a basic tool of the trade for anyone who uses the interent that you should not be without.

With quality antivirus software in place potential threats can be isolated and removed from your computer. That is going to prevent them from gaining access to your system. You want to have a two fold support in place from such software. First, your firewall software needs to be blocking such problems before they arise. Second, it needs to be able to heal any damages that have occurred. The combined efforts are your best overall methods of protection.

Along with these basic attributes of a good firewall software, you should invest in software that is made by a reliable internet security company that has been around a while and will be there in the future.  A firewall is not a static thing and it should be updated routinely so it is equipped to fight back against new types of threats that come up all the time. The software company that supports your firewall will download new tools and information to it so that when a fresh attack races through cyberspace, your computer is protected so that threat just passes you by.

Not all antivirus software that provides you a firewall are the same quality. That is very important or you could have a false sense of security in place. You need to be able to rely on your firewall to offer you the best protection. This is why a program that offers you free updates directly to your computer is worth looking into. That way you always have up to the date security in place.

There are plenty of software programs out there that off you antivirus protection though the use of the firewall. The goal is to make sure you have as many lines of defense in place as you can. That way you can continue to use your computer at work or home without threats. It can be extremely expensive as well as time consuming to get problems resolved once they occur.

The cost of an effective firewall protection for your computer isn’t out of your reach. In fact, many of the top systems that offer antivirus protection are very affordable. They are certainly less expensive than days of business lost due to computer problems. It is certainly more affordable than paying for help with identity theft on your personal computer. It is more affordable and time effective to take action now against it!

Some people feel that the PC is threatened in existence by smartphones. Therefore some people get stuck in the past and they don’t want to accept the phones as part of the advances in technology. On the other side of the coin are people who become such diehards for smartphone technology that they reject the PC as "old fashioned" and obsolete.  Both of these views on where technology is going are extreme and flawed.  There is no question that so many people conduct business on the go and that a smartphone allows them to access digital information in a convenient manner.

The vision that those responsible for the creation of smartphones had in mind when the technology was developed did not include taking over the work of PCs. Instead, they are seeing a future where the can be in balance with each other. The use of smartphones can enhance what a person is able to do on their PC. On the other side of it, the smartphone can be viewed as an extension of the PC.

It isn’t practical for a person to carry around their PC and a laptop can be a huge expense. Even a laptop can become too bulky to carry around when you need it. With a smartphone, though, the uses of the device when away from the PC have made people much more productive. Being able to use some online applications while on the go can help you get more done in the time you have available. It can also significantly reduce frustrations over not having computer access when you are at a specific location.

Regardless of if you are using a PC or a smartphone, very often there is one priority that people have in mind. That priority is to be able to access and use data in a particular way. Both the PC and the smartphone enable you to do accomplish that goal.  So it isn't productive to view these two technologies as an either/or situation. Instead, it should be seen as one more option that consumers have to consider.

The concept that the PC and the smartphone are complementary technologies is one that is echoed and even preached often by leaders in the technology industry.  Michael Dell, CEO of Dell computers, spoke on the issue in May of 2010 at a Citrix Synergy user conference in San Francisco. In his keynote speech, he was adamant that there is no reason to adapt the viewpoint that one technology is superior to the other or that the smartphone was designed to replace the PC or that it could ever do that.  He stated…

"What's converging is the data, not the device…. Some are better for carrying with you. Others are for consuming content, others are better for creating content… There is an application infrastructure growing up significantly around devices like the iPad. Does this create new uses, new demand, or does it replace something else? Seem to me it creates new uses."

This is not the first time in the history of the evolution of technology that it seemed that the new was going to supplant the old.  When motion pictures became widely available to the entire population, that was forecasted to be the end of radio.  Instead radio has thrived and evolved and it is still a vibrant form of communication in the new century.  Similarly, when television became a standard part of every home, the prophecies that TV would kill the movie business were echoed in the press and throughout the entertainment industry.  Instead, movies learned to appeal to people in ways that TV could not and the two industries thrived side by side often complimenting each other. 

The rise of online video seemed to threaten the dominance of television but TV is on its way back and very few people have put their TVs out in the trash so they can watch all of their entertainment online.  The PC will follow a similar evolution and it's usefulness as a desktop workstation in homes and in businesses will only continue to change to meet the new ways people like to access data.  The development of the "virtual desktop" concept means that the PC will have a role in a matrix of data access methods that people will be able to pick from to suit their needs and lifestyles.

Keep in mind that what smartphones offer can vary due to the different applications they have available. You will need to take your time to find the one that offers you the best overall results for your needs. That is the same as when you are shopping for applications to use on your PC. So many of the skills and that "internet savvy" that you have developed being a citizen of cyberspace on the PC are directly transferable to the smartphone world.  That ease of transition is one reason the smartphone approach to online activity has been such a success.

It is believed that smartphones are in their infancy, and they will continue to become more sophisticated more advanced over time. Bugs with them will be eliminated and more of the emerging needs of consumers will be added. Still, that doesn’t mean that the need for a PC will disappear entirely. In fact, it could mean that people rely on them even more.

The fact that users of both the PC and the smartphone can have that versatility back and forth from their PC and smartphone means that technology is on their side. It can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete projects. It can also help to reduce error rates pertaining to many different tasks a person may be responsible for completing.

The reality of it is that we live in an age of technology. The changes that will continue to take place aren’t always easy for people to accept. Yet it is possible that the world of PCs and smartphones can be friends and live in harmony. They can both be powerful tools that we use for business, information, and for convenience.