My Favorite Stuff: Hardware, Software, Websites

Here you’ll find of hardware, software, and websites that I like or that I find interesting. You may find some of this “Stuff” useful for your home or business.
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Software

Hardware

Palm Pre Phone

Okay, I don’t know why we even call these things phones because they’re really little computers that access the Internet, play podcasts and music, watch TV, do GPS, play games, and make phone calls. The Palm Pre is essentially Palm’s answer to Apple’s iPhone. It has a great design, handles nicely, and does its functions well. It is currently only available through Sprint, however it is expected to be available through Verizon early in 2010. My Palm Pre is probably the best technology purchase I’ve ever made. After a few problems importing some data and putting in some preferences it has worked fine. I can’t describe it well enough to do it justice. I suggest going to www.palm.com to watch some of the demos there.

Brother HL-5370DW

When I returned from my two week vacation, I discovered that my 15 year old Canon laser printer was just plain dead. After checking out some reviews online, I decided to replace it with the Brother HL-5730DW laser printer. This printer is a black and white printer which can automatically print on both sides of the paper. There are two paper inputs: a drawer and a tray. It is network capable, so mine is connected into my network with a network cable to my router and is independent of any PC. It can be connected wirelessly to a network as well or directly to a PC. I purchased it at Staples for about $220 which was $30 off the regular price and below the prices listed in the online reviews. A week later it went on sale for just $180.

Neat Receipts Scanner and Database Software

These are two scanners with accompanying software designed to help you file receipt and business card information. One of my clients purchased the Neat Receipts package which is designed for travel and costs about $200. The Neat Desk package costs about $400. The included database software stores receipt and business card information. Besides storing images, the software does a good job parsing out the data. Business card data is broken out into name, phone, address, and email fields. Receipt data is broken down line by line to make a nice database for expense reporting or other purposes. Visit www.neatco.com for additional information.

Outlook 2007

I especially like that calendar entries can be made right on the calendar and that appointments can be adjusted easily by stretching them or dragging them with the mouse. I am still able to dial directly from my contact information and can easily include contact info in the appointment data. Junk mail handling is pretty decent as well.  Click here for more info.

I previously had used Mozilla Thunderbird for my email and Anytime Organizer Deluxe for my calendar and contacts. These still may be very useful for many people.

Brother QL-570 Label Printer

This little printer prints individual labels of various sizes using special rolls of pre-cut or continuous label paper. It interfaces with office products. It retails for $100 but I got it with an instant $30 rebate plus an additional $30 rebate submission through Staples.  More info.

Second Copy

This program is a great way to backup your data. As the name suggests, it creates a second copy of your data on an external hard drive or other device. Rather than lumping all your files into a single compressed file, it creates  copies that you can easily move to any PC should the need arise due to hardware failure or human error. The program costs about $30 online. Go to www.download.com and search for “Second Copy” to download a free 30 day trial.

Windows 7

I enjoy using Windows 7 Home Premium on my PC. I’ve set up other folks with it as well. Additionally, I have set up Windows 7 Professional PCs for a business. Set up has gone smoothly and I like many of the features of Windows 7.

If your PC is 4 years old or older, consider getting a Windows 7 PC or a Mac depending on your needs.

Mac OS X

I’ve also converted folks to iMacs.  They are very nice systems as long as you don’t have need for certain software such as accounting programs. One unique feature of the Mac OS is the Time Machine backup software that lets you turn the Mac back in time to a previous state.