CheckDrive - Detect and repair hard drive errors

Before your hard drive gives a final death rattle (what do those sound like, anyway?), have this app scan it and (hopefully) repair any potential problems. From the developer:
"CheckDrive offers you an easy way to check your hard drives for errors. CheckDrive may detect and fix hard drive errors that might appear on system crashes or when switching off your PC without a proper Windows shutdown. If you ever had a system crash then CheckDrive is for you. CheckDrive is completely free! Download it today to check your system for hard drive errors."

Get CheckDrive

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HWiNFO32 - Comprehensive system info utility

What type of motherboard do you have? How much RAM? What's your chipset? Tell me about your GPU. What's your cache size? If you ever need this information on your system, do you know how to get it? No, don't grab your iPhone to call your geek friend. Here's a simple, free, yet comprehensive method. Developer description:

"HWiNFO™ and HWiNFO32™ are professional hardware information and diagnostic tools supporting latest components, industry technologies and standards. Both tools are designed to collect and present the maximum amount of information possible about computer's hardware which makes them suitable for users searching for driver updates, computer manufacturers, system integrators and technical experts as well. Retrieved information is presented in a logical and easily understandable form and can be exported into various types of reports."

Get HWiNFO32

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GPU-Z - A geat way to get the goods on your graphics card

I could have used this little gem a few weeks ago. I was helping a customer get his PC back to original factory conditions by running the built-in recovery utility. Problem is, he had installed a different graphics card along the way and had no memory of what kind it was or where he might have put the driver CD. To reinstall the driver I needed to find out what it was. This application could have done it in no time.

"GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU."

GPU-Z

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What's Next in the World of Computing?

Cordless power, zero-ink printing, flexible displays in the near-term, gigabit Internet and probe storage a few years further out. This is according to an informative and intriguing article on PCWorld.com. Can the flying cars be that far behind? Hey, forget about flying cars, will you?

Source article.

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Coolest Thing Since Pen & Paper: LiveScribe

Sometimes I just want to hug myself and say, Man, I am so glad to be alive in the knee of the curve! The curve I'm referring to is the one that represents accelerating technology. (See Singularity & The Price of Rice to read a 5-minute primer on the topic if you aren't familiar with it.)

What's got me so excited? It's a brand new invention that's highlighted in the New York Times.

Now Jim Marggraff, an entrepreneur with a long string of successful innovations, say he thinks he has figured out the secret of pen computing — and he has done it by playing with toys.

Mr. Marggraff, a longtime executive at the toy maker LeapFrog, is the inventor behind a string of talking books, smart pens and other educational toys that have made their way into millions of American homes.

His new company, Livescribe, which he plans to introduce today at the D: All Things Digital technology conference in Carlsbad, Calif., has taken some of those technologies several steps further. It has created an ambitious new type of pen-based computer system that, if successful, could bridge the gap between paper and the digital world and perhaps even change the way millions of people interact with the Internet.

This animation shows (in a kind of dorky way, I'll admit) what LiveScribe can do.

Instead of forcing users to write with a stylus on a computer’s slippery display, Livescribe put the computer inside a plump ballpoint pen that is used on paper imprinted with nearly invisible miniature dots. As a user writes, a tiny camera near the pen’s tip watches those dots go by, recording what is being written.

Mr. Marggraff said calling it pen computing is a misnomer. “We are creating paper-based computing,” he said.

In addition to the camera, the pen, which is about the size and weight of a fat Montblanc pen, has two microphones to record sound, a speaker for playback, a small display that Mr. Marggraff calls a pixel bar, and, of course, a hidden computer chip and other sophisticated electronics. It fits into a docking station, where it can upload or download programs and data files to and from a PC.

They say the pen will sell for less than $200 and will be available this fall. Count me in!

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Upgrade Your Keyboard & Mouse to Increase Your Productivity

In my experience, most people tend to stick with the keyboard and mouse that came with their computer. They've never tried anything else, so they don't realize how clunky and difficult to use those basic tools really are. I, on the other hand, when forced to use their stone-age appliances on the occasion when they've asked for my help with a computer issue, feel the difference acutely.

If you've never thought of upgrading, I encourage you to do so. Your productivity will increase dramatically when you can type faster and more comfortably with an ergonomic keyboard, and navigate more quickly and accurately with a laser mouse. Here are the two I use and heartily recommend:



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