Shopping for affordable logo designs.

For a lot of people, this recession offers an opportunity to test the waters of self-employment by staring their own business. And one of the first order of business for any new business so to speak, is to create a brand distinctive enough as to stand out in a crowd. But for most aspiring businessmen, resources can be scarce, forcing to do with less. With that in mind, the Wall Street Journal tested four different design companies to see which one would come with the best logo design for an imaginary company for less than $15o.
The companies involved in the test were LogoDesign Creation.com, The Logo Co.net, LogoDesignGuru.com and LogoLoft.com.
According to the test, the "Superior Logo Package" from LogoDesign Creation.com priced at $67, was the the best value. Though one potential source of problems could arise from the fact that the company is based in Malaysia and does not have a customer-service number even though its founder is quoted as saying that customer-service is available via Skype.
Both LogoDesignGuru.com and LogoLoft.com offer $99 packages that allow only one design or concept and one revision .
The fourth and last company tested, TheLogo Co has the most expensive package, at $149. It include six different initial concepts with six different designers responsible for each one of them. For that reason and many others, the WSJ deemed that option well worth it.

How to restart an Apple laptop with a sealed battery?

As a last resort, people wanting to restart a frozen laptop usually need to remove the battery for a while and then put it back in place. But that solution may not work with the new Apple's models whose batteries come sealed and therefore can't be removed. In such situations, there is two ways to go about the problem.
One consist of holding the power button continuously for 5 to 10 seconds, wait a few seconds and then press the power button again; doing so, should restart the laptop.
The second way to restart a frozen Mac laptop with a sealed battery, is to press Control and Command keys simultaneously with the power Button.

Solution for retrieving a particular file among a hundred contained in different folders.

For PC with Windows XP as operating system, there are various ready desktop search add-on products available on the market that can help solve the problem of quickly retrieving a file among hundreds located in many different folders. One of the best known are from Microsoft itself and Google with Windows search available for download at Microsoft.com .
On the other hand, Google product, called Google Desktop Search, is available at desktop.google.com.
For Windows Vista PCs, the desktop search tool comes as a built-in, but you still can use Google application for that. If you are interested in learning how to use Vista desktop search, here is a link to the tutorial section at Microsoft .com.

Cannon new voice-guided portable photo printer.

As if most of us did not have enough people to talk to, the newest invention from Canon is a talking color photo printer. The portable photo priter named Selphy ES40, use dye-sublimation technology instead of ink and that was one of the reasons the voice feature which is called Voice Guidance was added to walk people around the printing process which is different than what they are used to. Dye-sublimation printers use three separate colors and a clear protective coat and the paper passes through the printer that many times with each color printed separately. One of the goals of the Voice Guidance is to walk people through the process and hopefully keep them from snatching the paper from the printer after just the first pass.
According to the New York Times, "the ES40 printer has an intuitive interface and an easy to use scroll wheel that serves it well for viewing and editing photos on its 3.5-inch LCD displsy screen."
The printer uses a special kind of paper called the Easy Photo Pack which comes with the dye-sublimation material needed to print embeded in it and is offered in different sizes selling for various prices.
For instance, for the most common photo print size, the 4 by 6-inch, the pack of 100 costs $31.99
The Selphy ES40 Compact Photo Printer, will be available in October and will sell for $150.



For more, see NYTimes.com

Laplink Software allows automated upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7

With the so much anticipated release of Windows 7 on October 22nd, users of PCs running on the old and reliable Windows XP operating system who may feel overwhelmed at the prospect of the cumbersome steps required to accomplish the move, may be wishing there were an automated way to do so. Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, such solution is offered by a Seattle based software company named Laplink Software. The company usually offers a software utility called PCmover for transferring data from an old PC to a new one. The automated upgrade package will be a new version of the PCmover which according to the company, will be able to do the upgrade itself and all the files and programs preservation needed.
It has not been tested by the Wall Street Journal or anyone that we are aware of, but more details can be found at the company Web site at Laplink.com.

PC Decrapifier is a software solution for removing trial/craplet programs.

For average computer users, an easy solution for removing trial or craplet programs that come loaded on a new PC or laptop, can be found in a software product called "The PC Decrapifier."
According to the Wall Street Journal, this free software is good at removing those programs on PCs running on Windows XP or Vista.
It can be downloaded free at pcdecrapifier.com where a list of what exactly will be removed, can be found.

CourseSmart LLC offers e-texbooks free for subscribers, on iPod.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that CourseSmart LLC , an e-textbooks provider for college students with more than 7,ooo titles, is making its collection available on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, free for its subscribers.
Typically, students rent an e-book for 180 days and during that period, they will have full access to their textbooks, can consult their digital notes and do researches for a specific word or phrases right from their iPod or iPhone.
At the end of the subscription period, students will lose access to the titles. But at nearly 5o% savings per tittle for 18o days which is typically the length of a semester, that is not a bad trade off considered the short shelf life of a physical book and the hassle of figuring out what to do with it at the end of a term.