You Get What You Pay For!

December 12, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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This is especially true when it comes to any type of electronics. This is the time of year that everybody and their brother comes up to me and asks “Which device should I buy for so and so”? As soon as I say if you are buying a computer buy a Mac, I always get I can’t afford that much money! Then I start to tell them about some other options. If someone is going to ask me what device to buy and they wanted the cheapest computer or tablet that I know about I just walk away from them.

I am not the richest person in the World, hell I am not the richest in my neighborhood. But I have learned one thing in my life time.  This is something that my dad stuck in my head after we bought our first house. I was working at putting in a new kitchen and when it came to selecting the sink and facet I told him that I found a great set for about $50.00! He responded that if I buy cheap I will just be replacing sooner.

You don’t have to buy a Mac but I have found them to last for a longer period of time then a PC. You should stay away from the cheap laptops anything under $500.00 is just not worth it. If this is something that you like to buy your kids each year then look for the ones around $200.00 or less. I am sure they will hate you for the gift after about 4 months if that long.

I know even after writing this and even after you reading this, you are going to head to the local discount store and buy the cheapest piece of crap that you can find. Maybe save your money and buy your kids some candy for their stockings instead.

Laptops

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Is Bigger Better?

December 11, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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As the years of my life have pasted by the one thing I have noticed ever since I was a young man. TV sets keep getting large and large. I can remember as far back as when my dad and I went out and bought a 19″ color TV. Before this we had a old black and white floor model. This was when color was first seen in the market and the home for that matter.

When the large 25″ TV was released my dad wanted to go out and get one. My mother however always said “We don’t have a large enough room for that size TV”. I never really knew what that meant until I became somewhat older and had my own living room. Men always was large TV sets, I don’t know why but we do. It is our women in our lives that keep us in check and sane.

Now we are the age of large I mean really large TV sets. We went to my sisters one day and she was sporting a new 50″ TV. I know in today’s market that is really becoming small. I have a friend that bought a 70″! My eye doctor told me once that we always want to go larger because we don’t want to wear our glasses all of the time? Maybe he is on to something.

The even more interesting thing I notice about TV’s are we went from small at one point 9″ to large as we talked about reaching 70″. Now I see a movement where our youth are viewing more shows on their IPhones and other smart phones. Or we see more people viewing their shows on their tablets.

So is bigger better? I have to say after writing this and seeing how time has played out and has brought us full circle. I would say what ever size fits you, because with TV sets one size does not fit all. And you really do need a TV that fits your viewing room. Check Google and see what the best viewing distance is from the set. Then be honest and check how far your easy chair is from your TV stand.

TV Set

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Wearable Computers

December 10, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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For years we have heard someone or even have seen in movies people wearing computers in one way or another. Do you think wearable computers are the thing of the future and do you think you would ever want to be wearing any form of a computer on your body?

Google has released or shall I say to a select few thousand or so people what they refer to as Google Glass. This is a pair of wearable glasses that contain a camera on the right side of your head over your right eye. You use a finger to activate the glass or you can simply say GLASS! Once you give the command you can ask glass to take a picture. Is this usable? Some people think that it is just because they want to be the cool kids on the block. I on the other hand find this to be useless to the point that I would never drop the asking price of this date of $1500.00.

Next we have Samsung who designed a wearable watch, what did I say? Yes I said a watch. What a really innovative idea right? Not really there have been watching out for years, even my grand dad wore a watch each day into the mines. Now I have to say my wife seen one of these at a local store and said this would be a really cool phone. I agree it could be a really cool phone if you didn’t did a phone to attach it to! She was blown away that a company would invent something that would require you to buy another product from them. It could even be better if this watch would connect via blue tooth to any phone not just the Note.

Now it has been rumored and I say rumored that Apple is also in the hunt for the red watch, remember hunt for red October? Okay any way they are said to be working on a watch also that you would be able to tweet from and maybe even catch the time?

My take on wearable computers is that it could be cool but on the other hand how many people do you know that say they try to get away from their computers. Is it not enough that most of Americans have a smart phone and now they are pulling them out of their pockets every time you turn around?

At the end of the day; I wish I knew what the next big thing will be but I don’t think it will be a wearable anything.

Google Glass

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Power Strips Oh My

December 9, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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We all use them, we need them to be able to operate just about everything we own any more. I am talking about power strips. We have a need to charge our cell phones, music players, even our digital e-readers that we talked a few weeks ago.

The one thing I do not like about power strips is that the plugs all run back to back to each others. You may still have speakers on your desk and if you look at the plug it is normally one of the wide plugs. It always seems these plug fit no where.

Well there is someone out there that has been paying attention. Now you can buy a bendable power strip. I have also seen what is called the octopus power strip which has multiple plugs hanging off the cord.

Can out Amazon for a bendable power strip and never have unused plugs again. Please remember if you buy anything from Amazon use my Affiliate link at: http://www.jackstechcorner.com.

Power Strip

 

 

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Photography Light Modifier

December 6, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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When you begin using flash to add to your photography knowledge or using it to increase your sells by allowing you to shoot anytime of the day or night. You will need to also look into light modifiers.

There are many types of modifiers on the market. I should know I have many of them because I always feel you should have the correct tools to perform the job. There are soft boxes which are suppose to be the king of all modifiers. And then there are umbrellas which to me they are the best for wrapping your subject in light. They are also nice to give you really two modifiers in one. You can shoot into or through it. This will give you a large light source or a softer little more direct source.

The main reason for this post is to save you money. BH Photo Video has a 7′ Westcott Umbrella on sale. It is normally $99.00 and now it is on sale for only $49.00. This is like they are giving them away. I normally do not advertise for anyone. But this will save you our reader some money then I say it is worth posting. Use this link and order yours today, I don’t think the sale will be around long. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/755552-REG/Westcott_4634_7_Parabolic_Umbrella_White_Black.html.

7' Westcott7' Westcott7' Westcott

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Do You Swipe?

December 5, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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In today’s modern World which started some years ago when the very fist person used a credit card. A lot of people would say this was the greatest invention on the 20th Century. I remember my dad saying that it was a great time to be alive when you can spend money that you didn’t even earn yet!

In reality we are all on the loosing end of this credit card movement. The banks are on the winning side with the interest we pay them. Even a little is more then using cash?

So why I am bothering you with this today? Because today we have debit cards and even more scary store cards. There is a book out called Big Data. The book digs and talks about how much data is collected from everyone who walks the earth.

Every time we swipe our cards we have not only how much you spent go to the bank; we also know that the store are putting data into their servers on not just how much you spent but what you bought. So the next time you reach for your card to swipe, you might want to pull out cash instead. But as long as we swipe we will continue to have targeted marketing with ads coming your way.

Cards

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Portable Computing The Easy Way

December 4, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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At one point I wanted to create a Christmas list of items that everyone would love to find under the tree. I still will reserve the right to create that list to help you to make some choices that are sure to make your loved ones smile.

This post covers the item that about a million or more people are asking for this year. The portable tablet computer. I have been in this field for so many years that I remember when the mini tower case was the portable computer. Computing devices are changing all the time. Bill Gates once said that he wanted a computer running Windows in every household. I also remember the same Bill Gates standing on a stage with a portable tablet in his hands saying “This will be the future of computing”! He was of course right, but like my self to many years early with his invention.

Today we see tablets all over the place. The number one of course is the IPad followed by about a thousand Android devices and then a few hundred Windows devices. To give the Windows devices their fair shake, I have tried them and they are really nice and easy to use.

Can a table replace your computer? In the way that many people use their computers more as a consumption device then I would say yes. You can also create on a tablet why do you think they make key boards for them?

My final thought on tablets and what you might be buying. If you family member ask for a IPad then buy them the IPad. If they ask you for a Kindle HD then buy them the Kindle HD. I know there are cheap knock offs out there and remember they are CHEAP for a reason. Happy Shopping!

Tablets

 

Posted in Andriod, Apple, IPad, IPad Mini, Surface, Technology, Thoughts. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Where Do You Get Your Music

December 3, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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Back not to long ago I used to listen to the radio. It seemed we had a radio in every room in the house; my parents even bought a radio with a toilet paper dispenser.  We also used to buy a ton of records; either LP’s or 45′s and had cases full sitting around the home stereo.

Then in the 80′s we started to see a move to the portable entreatment. It seemed everywhere you looked someone was carrying a large boom box on their shoulder. We had music everywhere you went.

Moving up to the later 90′s and early 2000 there was a little disk that showed up and everyone went crazy for them. The CD ROM. Now we could have our large scale LP’s cut down to something we could carry. It seemed that over night the boom box disappeared and the Walk Man became the craze of the day. We all had a walk man and head phones. If you were seen walking through the mall wearing head phones people thought you were just cool.

Then in the mid 2000′s a still very young CEO named Steve Jobs stood on a stage and showed us the IPod. Even though this was not the first MP3 device. It was the first to allow us to carry so much music. But what is did either for or to the music industry, by increasing their digital sells and lowering the number of tunes that were pirated. He made everyone money including Apple.

In today’s world kids don’t want to be tied down to what music they have. Seems these day’s everyone is streaming their music. I know my kids seem to listen to more music on You Tube and Pandora more then any other way.

I often sit around and wonder what will be the next big thing? I know for sure it will include or at least find a way into the very music we listen to.

Music Players

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Introducing Our Podcast

December 2, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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So what is a podcast anyway and why do we want to have one here for Jacks Tech Corner? A podcast is really a recorded radio show. I wanted to create this podcast to cover the week of the posts on this blog. I think it is a nice little touch. I may also add a little extra commentary as I record the shows.

A lot of people download podcasts using ITunes. You can find this podcast show on ITunes just search for Jacks Tech Corner. Or simply use this link and click on the subscribe button. You will need to have ITunes installed on your computer first.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jacks-tech-corner-podcast/id770207488

I hope that you will take a minute and subscribe to the shows. You can also add the FREE app on your smart phones for podcasts. And with the blue tooth in newer cars these days you can listen as you are driving down the road.

I am working on a LIVE venue to bring this show to you I will update everyone on the blog if I set into any place were we can get together.

If you have any questions please drop me an email to jackstechcorner@gmail.com or tweet me on Twitter @technoman. Thanks for reading this blog each day and please follow along with the new podcast.

Podcast

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Today’s Movie Media

November 29, 2013 — Jack Okorn
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Do you remember not to long ago there was a war over either BETA MAX or VHS and we know how that played out. I can’t even remember when I had my first VCR? I do however remember renting movies. We rented movies all of the time. It was the greatest thing in the World to be able to have the big screen movie in your home. And with family’s being able to stay home and save money from the movies.

Then there was a huge shift in the media. VCR’s have been disappearing over the years and the surface of DVD players slowly grew. Now that changing to Blue Ray videos.

In today’s World we can now STREAM videos using the Internet. The main issue there is that if you do not have high speed Internet then you are out of luck.

I am wondering what will be the next media to how will our movies and content be delivered to us in the next few years? If you have the answer to that question you could be set to be a very rich person.

Movies

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