Mobile Broadband Bliss!

With the continual evolution of technology, the latest trend is to get things smaller and more mobile. It is no more an option to carry around a cable with your laptop to go online (through dialup or dsl). Most users switched to WiFi but even for that you need an Access Point (AP) and that means limited coverage. Mobile GPRS internet was an option for most users who wanted to access the internet on the go, but it didn't reach the speeds other broadband options gave them (at the expense of being mobile). With the advent of 3G, users can now access broadband internet on the go through mobile broadband. All you need is a usb dongle modem which supports mobile broadband services and a service provider to help you connect to the internet provided your area has 3G mobile signals.

That means that you can access broadband internet anywhere you are and you won't be limited to being close to access points anymore. Most of the mobile broadband services in Europe and the UK pretty much cover entire countries. To compare your current internet connection with other mobile broadband services in your area, you can run a speed test which is provided through most services and websites to know if you are getting a better deal for your money or not. An example test can be viewed here where you can compare a normal internet connection with a mobile broadband internet connection.

Finding that perfect web host

So you've made a website eh? You want to put it online? I bet you will be overwhelmed by the number of options you get when deciding where to start! Fear not! By following this simple guide, you will have all the necessary pointers on where to head when you want to take over this important task.

Firstly, you have to find a web hosting service that is according to the type of website you have developed. If your website is plain static html/css, you do not need to look for a webhost that provdes mysql/php support at an additional cost. On the other hand, if your site is dynamic, then you have to find a provider with the right sort of server side technology which you are using on your website yourself. For example, if your site uses ASP.NET then look for a hosting service that supports ASP.NET otherwise your website will not run on that server.

After your website has grown in size and is becoming popular, then you can decide to invest a little more and buy a dedicated hosting service instead of a shared one. That has many more advantages like increased uptime and instant support from the hosting service. Invest in a dedicated service only when you have grown large enough. Buying such a service at the start of your business may not be a smart idea though. You can also look at web hosting reviews on the internet to reach the best hosting providers.

I hope these tips were useful.

Do you need to upgrade the RAM in your gaming rig?

These days gaming on the PC requires an immense amount of RAM and most people don't realize that especially if they are not very familiar with computers and have only recently started using PCs as a gaming machine. Your computer may be able to churn out any type of spreadsheet document thrown at it with let's say 1GB of RAM, but the same computer may be brought down to it's knees when playing the latest games like Crysis and Assassin's Creed. Many people would just say that hey the processor and 3D graphics card are the most important component in your PC for gaming, but the truth is that your computer's RAM plays an equally important role.

Even if you have a very powerful graphics card and a processor and your games still seem to lag, look for the most obvious reason of less RAM in your gaming rig, the hard disk LED light. If the hard disk LED light blinks when your game is lagging, chances are that it's not your graphics card, but actually your low RAM which is making the game write it's textures on to your hard drive using the Windows Virtuall Memory system. Adding Computer RAM is really not a big issue, all you have to make sure is to find which exact memory configuration your computer supports and you have to purchase the relevant memory which would run on your motherboard. The best place to look for an answer to that is your motherboard's instruction booklet. It will state the model and front side bus speed of the RAM your computer's motherboard supports. By the recent addition of Mac based computers to support Windows XP, now most Mac machines can also be used as gaming rigs.

You can easily add IMAC memory by purchasing it from a computer store and adding it to your system. Again, make sure that the memory you buy is supported by your system. Older systems like the AMD Athlon FX series of processors supported DDR 1 based memories like DDR PC 2700 Memory or the DDR PC 3200 Memory. Newer processors like the Core 2 Duo support DDR 2 based memories. Most modern games require a minimum of 2 Gigabytes of RAM and some high end games like Crysis may even require uptil 8 Gigabytes of RAM if you are running your graphics cards in dual configuration since they require more RAM to store the textures. So, upgrading your gaming rig's RAM is always a good idea if you want to play your games without lag. Combine a sufficient amount of memory with a decent graphics card and a good processor and you will have for yourself a stable gaming machine with zero lag providing you with the ultimate gaming experience.

Top Quality Website Templates

It is quite a daunting task to design a website and sometimes it is almost twice the amount of work and effort required than to write down the content the site provides. You need to first visualize the design on paper and then flesh out a design in tools like Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks. Your troubles may not exactly be over after this step because unless you have designed a whole lot of websites before this, it is most likely that you are going to end up with something that may not look as professional as some of the designs on the web.

Even if you have made a satisfying design, the task is not over yet as you have to  slice you design into smaller images which you can then import into software like Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression. Slicing is an art itself and you don't get it right the first time unless you have read about it a lot and done it a few times before. "Is there no end to this madness?" is the question you end up asking yourself. You will probably end up hiring a freelancer to design your site, but can you really trust some guy from a 3rd world country in a shabby apartment asking you 20 dollars to make the most "beautiful looking" design ever. You end up paying the guy and in return get a design that's probably really "gay looking" making you pull out more hair than you would probably lose to chemotherapy.

The last option you have is to buy website templates and try adding content to it. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of websites out there which provide you with dozens of templates each with different pricing structures. The more expensive ones usually have some good quality templates while the lower priced ones usually don't provide you with much great content. There are always exceptions however and by researching the available options thoroughly, chances are that you are going to find a good balance between a price/quality service. Also make sure that the website provides you with all the source files for your templates including the Flash, PSD and HTML files so that you can easily edit their content to your liking.

Remember not to by hasty in making decisions. Research thoroughly and give it an ample time before making a final conclusion and moving ahead with a template service. A good choice is going to save you a lot of time and money. Good hunting!

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3

Firefox 3 RC 3 has been launched and you can download and check it out from the following link. It is already hailed as the best browser available even at it's pre-release stage! The download link has versions for Linux, Windows and Mac.

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