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Can You Use A House Telephone On A Cell Network?
VMware Player vs. Virtualbox – Which Is Right For You?
Color Calibrate Your LCD Monitors For Cheap

Can You Use A House Telephone On A Cell Network?

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 03:30 AM PST

There are many people out there that do not have land-line phone service and opt to use their cell as their only phone. The only real drawback with this is that you don’t get the convenience of being able to have multiple handsets in the house.

But can you use a house telephone on a cell network, similar to the way Vonage allows you to use any house phone you want?

Yes.

What’s required to use a house phone on a cell network is a universal cell phone docking station.

One such product is PhoneLabs’ Dock-N-Talk. This unit is compatible with over 2,000 cell phone models where you simply dock the phone via cable (proprietary to the phone) and can then use a regular house phone connected to the dock to place and receive calls.

How much does it cost? The dock without Bluetooth is $150 and with Bluetooth is $200. If you think that’s a high price, it isn’t because regular land-line service easily goes over $200 in less than 6 months for most areas, meaning the dock will pay for itself in well less than a year.

Does it really work? To be honest, I don’t know because I haven’t tried it. I couldn’t tell you how good or bad the latency is between the dock and the connected house phone handset or how good the clarity of sound is – but it’s assumed there’s no difference in latency or quality between the cell phone itself or a connected handset through the dock.

On a final funny note, if I did have one of these I’d purposely connect a rotary phone, as in the kind with the real bell ringer, just to see if I could actually talk on a wireless network with one of those oldie-but-goodies. Hey, it’s all standard RJ-11, so it would get the job done, right? (If you were crazy enough to do that, you could probably receive calls but not dial because wireless phone networks to the best of my knowledge do not recognize pulse dialing.)

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Can You Use A House Telephone On A Cell Network?

VMware Player vs. Virtualbox – Which Is Right For You?

Posted: 17 Jan 2011 03:00 AM PST

The first question most people ask when it comes to computer virtualization is only one word: "Why?" The answer is because you probably have some stuff be it hardware or software that absolutely will not run on your current operating system, but will run on the prior edition of it. For most people this means the whatever-it-is works in XP but not in Vista or 7.

"I’ll just continue to use XP then", you may say. Well, that will only work for so long because eventually you’re going to get another computer, and it will have hardware that works with new Windows and not with XP, so you’ll be forced to use the new. At that point, you either have to run a second old computer to run the old stuff, or do it the more convenient way by running a virtual computer.

Today’s computer virtualization is easy compared to even as little as a few years ago. What you have to do is pick the right virtual platform for your needs. For that, the two best choices are the free VMware Player and Virtualbox.

Tenure

VMware has been around for over a decade while Virtualbox has only existed since 2007. Experience with virtualization counts and what this typically means is that VMware has less bugs than Virtualbox does due to experience.

This is not to say that Virtualbox is a buggy mess, because it isn’t – but tenure counts for some, and if that matters to you, VMware is the better choice.

OS Choices

VMware again wins this one because it supports a very large list of operating systems, from MS-DOS to Oracle Enterprise Linux to Windows 7 64-bit and everything in between. Virtualbox’s list is not as extensive.

Ease Of Use

For this one I give the nod to Virtualbox over VMware Player, because while VMware looks easier, it isn’t. The way in which machines are configured have somewhat buried menus while Virtualbox shows you everything right up front. In addition there are still times when you have to manually configure setup files by hand in a text editor in VMware – but not with Virtualbox.

Easiest Appliance Export

This is where the real differences between VMware and Virtualbox start to show. When you want to export a guest OS to a file you can distribute (or simply back up), that’s called exporting an ‘appliance’. VMware Player doesn’t do this. For proper export you need VMware Workstation – and it’s not free. (Note: There is a way to do ‘improper’ export of VMware virtual machines, but it doesn’t always work.)

Easiest Use Between Host Operating Systems

If you plan on using virtual machines on two different host operating systems, Windows 7 and Ubuntu for example, Virtualbox is easier to deal with because it looks, acts and performs exactly the same no matter the host OS. With VMware there are slight but noticeable differences (like file install size for one), some of which you may not like.

Which should you go with?

I suggest trying both if you feel you’ll need to virtualize a PC or Mac at some point in the future. Remember, both are free and if you’re in need of an operating system to test in either, just grab a copy of your favorite Linux distribution (like Ubuntu) and give it a go.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

VMware Player vs. Virtualbox – Which Is Right For You?

Color Calibrate Your LCD Monitors For Cheap

Posted: 16 Jan 2011 07:00 AM PST

Video and graphic enthusiasts looking for the best possible display you can get on your LCD monitor should consider color calibrating it (much like what is done with HD-TV’s). Rather than paying someone to handle this for you or purchasing an expensive device, consider renting a color calibration device from your local photo store:

I did a little research and found out my local [...] shop rents out calibrators(actually colorimeters) for less than $20. The software is very easy to use and you can have your monitors matched up and displaying perfect color in minutes. I calibrated my Macbook Pro Unibody and every other machine I could find in the house. Make sure you save your calibrated settings in case you need to recall them later[.]

For graphic artists, gamers and those who like to watch videos extensively on your PC, shelling out a small amount to get your color settings absolutely perfect may be a worthwhile investment. As the article points out, while you have the device, calibrate everything you can find with it.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Color Calibrate Your LCD Monitors For Cheap