TekGems Blog

Welcome to Dream Cheeky Community • View topic - USB Missile Launcher firing problems

2008-07-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

There seems to be some potential issue with USB Missile Launcher misfiring. Again, not to surprising it is Made in China. We sell this product here: http://tekgems.com/Products/et-28722-too-usb-782.htm -- If you are buying it as a gift it would not hurt to buy multiples to ensure you get a good product, or buy it locally.

SLB: Actiontec MI424WR Failed Power Adapter with Wireless Light Only - FiOS

2008-06-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

SLB: Actiontec MI424WR Failed Power Adapter with Wireless Light Only - FiOS

This newer wireless router with VDSL2+ capability is apparently having some failed power adapter issues. Made in China. Quality control process is hard to gauge when a product comes out of China.

oos: HP Debranded Pentium 4 3.2GHz 1GB 160GB DVD¦RW

2008-04-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

oos: HP Debranded Pentium 4 3.2GHz 1GB 160GB DVD¦RW

Great little computer from HP. In case you need the drivers, you can download them here:

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Downloads/ProductsDetail_Download.aspx?detailid=817&DetailName=Driver&DetailDesc=&CategoryID=1&MenuID=6&LanID=0

I didn't like that the SATA is running through IDE channels which limits the throughput so I ended up installing my a PCI SATA card inside. Plan to run four drives inside and use it as a storage/backup server. I was able to fit three 3.5" SATA drives. I have one 5.25 bay left but can use a 3.5 drive using a drive bracket adapter. (One thing about running a parts store is that you never have to order anything to build computers!) :)

Google Stores Beta

2008-03-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Google Stores Beta could be the new eCommerce killer! Google Checkout adding a shopping cart function and possibly integrating with Google Sites could lead to a turnkey ecommerce solution. Who needs eBay or Amazon, when you can get all of this for free from Google? Sure you pay for payment processing, but you pay a percentage using any service. For anyone buying stuff online, I find signing up for a Google Checkout is easier than Paypal. You also are not encouraged to carry a Paypal balance which makes purchases & refunds much easier. There's no new procedures or policies to learn. What you've come to expect from your credit card company still applies to your Google Checkout purchases.

Getting started with the Google Checkout shopping cart - Google Checkout Developers Forum | Google Groups: "Google Checkout shopping cart - Getting Started

The Google Checkout shopping cart is a new Google Checkout feature that allows you to add a shopping cart to your website quickly and easily.

See the demo here: http://checkout.google.com/seller/gsc/beta/demo

This Getting Started document is intended to give you a quick outline of what is required to get up and running with the cart. For more information, please see the API Documentation as well as the Customizing the Cart Widget document."

Finding Health Insurance if You Are Self-Employed - New York Times

2008-03-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

First order of business if you want to start your own business is to get health insurance.

Finding Health Insurance if You Are Self-Employed - New York Times: "The unluckiest are those with chronic illnesses or the dreaded pre-existing condition that results in a denial of coverage. Many of these people abandon dreams of entrepreneurship altogether because they need jobs that come with a health plan and they cannot find a way to self-insure."

eBay plans to cut sellers fees on auction site (2008 Jan 24)

2008-01-24T01:38:00.000-08:00

Ending time for auction makes perfect sense, but as eBay listing format favors fixed priced listing, a different listing view makes more sense. This is where Best Match comes in. Since buyers can longer be given a balanced exposure of their listing, it makes sense for eBay to reduce their listing fee. This also increases listing volume, but Best Match on eBay.com with its relevance and desirability scores will be able to match buyer searches with what the general population wants. Even though listing volume will increase, I don't think relevancy will be an issue due to Best Match. If you don't believe me, do a search for ipod nano using ending time versus Best Match. You'll notice the glut of cases and chargers are not present with the Best Match view. Its not personalized search (that's Best Match 2.0) but its a good start. It also makes sense for eBay to increase FVF: 1) To compensate for for lower listing fees, 2) You are paying for performance like Amazon Marketplace.

How To Buy A Digital Music Player

2008-01-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

GrooveShark has an excellent post on how to buy a digital music player (aka mp3 player). Topics covered are Price, Size, Purpose, Capacity, Compatibility, and Player Design.

Once you know what you want to buy, you can visit our web store to buy MP3 Players here.

Build an External Hard Drive

2007-11-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

PC Magazine has a how-to guide on building an external hard drive.

* For portability and ease of use, a 2.5-inch external drive works great. I installed a 40GB SATA hard drive into an enclosure with USB 2.0. It is extremely light and portable. You only need one USB cable to both power and data.
* If you want performance, buy a 3.5-inch HDD with an eSATA connection. This will allow for the highest transfer rates. For those of you with Firewire 800 connection, that is excellent alternative as well.
* If you want storage (for videos, music, etc) the external connector type is no so important. I suggest buying a an internal 5400rpm IDE drive. The storage to price ratio is excellent and are more than sufficient for storing and playing back of video and music.

When buying an enclosure, review the power requirements. Some will only draw power from a free PS/2 port. If you have a free PS/2 port then great! But if your PS/2 ports are occupied, consider buying an enclosure powered via USB, or has an external power adapter.

ERUNT and NTREGOPT

2007-11-04T21:12:00.000-08:00

This is an invaluable automated registry backup & restore tool. In rare cases, where the computer loses power, blue screen appears, or have to force a hard shutdown - your registry can become corrupted. Worse case, you will not be able to access your computer, but often times you can start the computer with the registry partially corrupted. Some of your software, like Firefox web browser, will behave as if it was installed for the first time. In cases like this, restoring a recent registry will solve your issue. Automate the task by using AUTOBACK.EXE (review the readme.txt file). Create a batch file with the autoback.exe command line and add a daily scheduled tasks that points to the batch file.

ERUNT and NTREGOPT

AOCSolar SC1000 Solar Charger w/Battery

2007-11-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Green is the new "buzzword" around Silicon Valley these days. Sure, everybody wants a new hybrid vehicle, but its not necessarily within everyone's reach. If you want to go green, consider taking your portable electronics devices off "the grid". We are proud to carry the AOCSolar SC1000 Solar Charger w/Battery

This is a master unit battery store and a solar panel on the other side to charge the battery. You attach various adapter to it which in turn will charge your PDA, cell phone, or iPod. A journey of a thousand green miles begins with a single step.

Wi-Fi Digital Camera Revisited - You just need SD slot

2007-10-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of thing I've been looking for to transfer digital camera pictures to my website or computer automatically. I can literally take a picture of something and do very little to get it online. I only need to select what pictures I want to upload, and bam, I'm done. The tedious ask of removing the SD card from the camera and loading on to the computer is over.

FedEx to Raise Rate For Express by 4.9% in 2008

2007-10-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Surprise, surprise! FedEx is raising Express rates in 2008. Really, it should come as no surprise to anyone that with fuel costs and the always sensible profit motive, rates are raised. I'm sure UPS and DHL are not far behind in their announcement. Thankfully, the US Postal Service at least goes through rate changes less frequently.

Official Gmail Blog: Sync your inbox across devices with free IMAP

2007-10-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is excellent. Gmail is finally offering IMAP! From customer service point of view, this is an extremely easy and free way to distribute customer service loads and/or delegate tasks to others. If all your inbound come into your inbox, you can move specific messages (tasks) that you want to hand-off to someone else via IMAP. It could be your co-worker sitting at the desk next to you, or a virtual assistant in India or China. I find the process of delegation much easier with IMAP. It is possible with POP, but it is not 100% reliable as you can not see the message made to the desired inbox. Of course, the usability and details are always in the e-mail client you use and how Google implemented IMAP. Beggars can't be choosers - I'm just glad IMAP is offered. It is more resource intensive than POP3, but if anyone can offer it reliably - it is Google.

With TakeTV and Fanfare, SanDisk aims to bridge gap between PC video and TV | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

2007-10-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another PC-to-TV device from SanDisk called the Sansa TakeTV that attaches a 4GB flash drive to a slot that feeds to your TV. Includes a remote for the typical couch potato. At 4GB, you can squeeze one uncompressed DVD (VOB), or several AVI files compressed with XVID. But being a flash drive, how long is the flash drive going to last? Personally, I prefer the idea of a hard drive better. But something compact like this makes it portable and easy to share if you happen to go see a friend and want to watch something you ripped or downloaded off the Internet.

Return-O-Meter reduces returns and boosts click-throughs for Shoeline.com

2007-10-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Publishing return rates on specific SKUs can build consumer confidence, but also has an industry it may reduce sales of that specific SKUs if your web store or site has enough authority (visibility, web traffic, etc). InternetRetailer discusses one web store implementing "return-o-meter". We have been toying with the idea ourselves. We would just call it a bland "return rate". Returns may be high on products with poor quality control (e.g. Made in China), but products are also often returned due to poor design, poorly written manual, or difficulty in using. Return rates need to include meta-data (why the product was returned) to make it a useful statistic.

Another good read related to the computer industry is the return rate computation from one of our competitors, Directron: http://www.directron.com/rates.html

Watching video downloads on your TV

2007-10-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be cool if you could watch video files on your widescreen TV? There is so much free and legal online video online that you can watch in comfort instead in front of your computer. Broadband is very inexpensive now as is hardware that allows you to watch computer files on your computer. The Tvisto is like a giant 100-DVD video jukebox in a small enclosure.

The biggest concern for me is will the Tvisto be able to play all the different video files since they will be encoded with different codecs. I bought a DVD player from Circuit City with XVID capability, but it ended up not being able to play all the files I burned on to the DVD. XVID is the most popular codec for automatic play on newer DVD players, but there are some old video files that I also want to be able to view. Ideally, whatever I can view on my computer - I want to view with the Tvisto. The other concern is being able to get content to the Tvisto easily. Some media players are WIFI so they stream directly from the computer, but with this one, you would have to copy files on to it. For half the price of a network media player, I don't mind using my laptop as a proxy to transfer files from my trusty SAN drive (Netgear SC101) to the Tvisto via USB.

My third concern is being able to flip through video without having to get up, but the remote control is taking care of that. :)

Turn Vinyl into Digital

2007-10-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

PC Mag has a slideshow on how to convert your old vinyl into a digital MP3. Its easy enough to do if you have a turntable with a line-out. But most turntables have phono out which means you usually have to run the turntable through an amp before connecting it to your computer's line in.

Alternatively, ION has released a USB Turntable that makes conversion of vinyl extremely easy (see picture on left). The USB connection means you have a digital transfer from the turntable to your computer eliminating any "noise" that you would have had transferring from the turntable, to the amp, and any sound interference from the computer itself.

Once you have converted your vinyl to digital format (WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG, etc) you can the burn the MP3s to these nifty CD-Recordables. They have that same cool look at vinyl, they are CDs! :)

Here are the links to buy these items:

ION Portable USB Turntable - Record Vinyl to WAV/MP3
http://tekgems.com/Products/td-ion-iptusb.htm

e³works 52x 700MB 80-Min Vinyl CD-R Media 50-Piece
http://tekgems.com/Products/et-23611-med-52xcdre3.htm

The Essential Guide To PC Memory - The Essential Guide To PC Memory - Expert Help by PC Magazine

2007-10-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

PC Magazine has a great article explaining the difference between DDR, DDR2, and DDR3. They also explain memory timing (latency) in an easy way. PC Mag also has a great slide show on how install a memory chips on your desktop.Publish

Dell Dimension 8300 Socket 478 Heat Sink & Fan 3.4Ghz

2007-09-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is a review from one of our customers, rividh, who recently purchased a Heat Sink & Fan (HSF) for the Dell Dimension 8300:

Dell Dimension 8300 Socket 478 Heat Sink & Fan 3.4Ghz

==================================================
Pros: Just what I needed!
Cons: None!
2 photos: attached
Review:

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 that overheats because as it came from the factory, it only has a shroud fan, not a regular CPU heatsink-fan, and there was no way to mount a fan on the stock Dell heatsink. The shroud fan doesn't begin to move enough air into the case, let alone past the CPU, and both CPU and hard disk were overheating.

I looked all over for a HSF to fit Dell's weird proprietary CPU mount arrangement, and only Tekgems had one that looked like it might work. The price was right so I went ahead and bought it. And as happens, it fits correctly and works fine.

The heatsink is offset to one side, and how it fits is not immediately obvious. The offset portion seats over the top of the adjacent capacitors, not over the green release lever as one might think at first. If it doesn't want to go in, you've got it backwards. (see side photo)

The fan is a regular case fan so it is easy to replace at need (it is a fairly quiet fan, too). It was mounted blowing away from the HS; I reversed it so it blows *into* the HS for better cooling. This was easy to do, just remove the obvious screws, flip it over, screw it back down. Be sure that the little thermostat doodad (green bead on a wire) doesn't get pushed down into the path of the blade. (see top photo)

If you have one of these undercooled Dells, consider replacing the stock shroud-and-fan with this more-effective integrated heatsink/fan. Then attach the shroud fan to the rear of the case, blowing *in*, for better overall ventilation. (There is no proper fan mount, so you'll need to use either cable ties, or tap screws and small washers.)

My Dell runs a good 40 degrees cooler now!
============================================

Dell Dimension 8300 Socket 478 Heat Sink & Fan 3.4Ghz

Console modding: Right or wrong? | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

2007-08-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

"Console modding: Right or wrong?"

CNET News Blog discuss Xbox console modding and its consequences.

watermark picture

2007-07-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

We apply our transparent company logo on proprietary images. Currently we are using Smaller Animals ThumbNailer, but if you want to watermark your images fast, free, and easy, check out Picture Shark. We like the command line automation of ThumbNailer, but if you do not need complete automation, Picture Shark is a good alternative for you.

Taking the measure of the computer warranty scam | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

2007-07-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Taking the measure of the computer warranty scam

Longer warranties cost real dollars and cents that need to be covered in the retail price. In commodity industries such as computers and electronics, it would be very difficult to compete in price and offer long term warranty at the same time.

Conference Tracks | eBay Developers Conference 2007 Boston | June 11Ð13

2007-06-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some presentations from eBay Developer Conference 2007 that I thought were of note. They are not too technical related specifically to web merchants and those interested in marketing their site to search engines:

Data Mining: The Key to Affiliate Success
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/AlexSchultz_DataMiningTheAPIFINAL.pdf

Alex Schultz
Speaker Alex Schultz put himself through college as an affiliate and run the eBay UK affiliate program. That’s why you should come listen to him speak about the key to affiliate success: data mining. Hear real life examples of how data mining gives affiliates an advantage, how to optimize where you send your clicks, how to be truly certain you have a significant result from your optimization efforts, and more. Learn my secrets and make lots of money for very little work.

Lessons from eBay Buyer Research
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/Resnick_LessonsfromeBayBuyerResearchFINAL.pdf

Jeff Resnick
eBay's buyer research team conducts interviews and studies with regular eBay users, all over the country. For the first time, we are sharing some of the results of that research. Learn about the different kinds of buyers, and about what they really want. Affiliates will learn how to market applications to buyers, and sellers will learn how to create listings that appeal to buyers.

SEO
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/Schoemaker_SearchEngineOptimizationFINAL.pdf

Jeremy "Shoe Money" Schoemaker
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your web site to gain maximum visibility from internet search engines. Given the importance of search engine traffic for all web businesses, it makes sense to invest in SEO to ensure that potential visitors or customers can find your site. Jeremy "Shoemoney" Schoemaker is a leading expert in search engine marketing, and in this talk he leads you though what SEO is, and gives you practical advice on how to better market your business through search engines.

Building Effective Online Storefronts
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/AndersonDavey_Building_Effective_StorefrontFINAL.pdf

Eric Anderson, neoverve, Kurt Davey, neoverve
Want to get more work from your current client base? Want to broaden your possible client base through ECommerce? Eric Anderson from Neoverve discusses the basics of an online business (highlighting the similarities between online and offline business), finding shoppers not browsers, the basics of site usability, and increasing sales effectiveness using additional tools. This session is targeted at professionals wishing to build online stores for themself or for a small business, ECommerce consultants, web designers and developers, and marketing managers.

Other presentations are available for review here:
http://pages.ebay.com/devcon/tracks.html

Locating Steady Product Sources

2007-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

business - Locating Steady Product Sources

Locating a wholesale distributor who supplies what you want to sell isn't always easy, but Sun W. Kim, 30, founder of TekGems Inc. (eBay User ID: tekgems), found a novel way to do it. The San Francisco electronics entrepreneur did Google searches for the model numbers of products he wanted--searches that often led right to distributors' websites. "Pretty soon, I knew who the distributors were and whom to talk to," Kim says.

Need an external floppy drive for Mac OS X?

2007-06-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Do you need an external floppy drive for your Mac running OS X?

This item is perfect for you. While it will do read Mac proprietary SuperDrive diskettes (remember the 800K and 1600KB diskettes?), it will read any drive formatted to the 720KB or 1.44MB standard. Starting from Mac OS X 10.2 and up, the drivers are built into the operating system so it is literally plug-n-play. The drive is powered through the USB port so no AC adapter is needed. How cool is that?