This sounds like a no brainer right?  It's common sense, so why am I telling you?  Well it's because people don't realize how dangerous it can be to not delete everything off a hard drive.  It came to me after I bought a used Xbox 360 hard drive.  I went on it to start moving my files from my old hard drive to the new one.  And I noticed that there were two credit cards on it.  Now if I was some thief that would be like finding a gold mine.  But it's not only game console hard drives that you should worry about, but any type: external, cell phones, computers, even media players.  Sometimes we don't realize how personal our devices are and they can quickly be used in the wrong manner.  I know I don't want to see a surprising bill of $5000 dollars worth of games and music that I didn't purchase.  Also this a good time to rethink what we put in our portable devices.
          Have any questions or comments please leave them.  Thanks for reading.

          

          Are you one of those people who have an extremely large amount of media?  Is the iPod Classic's 160gb hard drive not big enough for you?  Or maybe you have a 5th generation video that you think is worthless. Well its time you took that baby out and upgraded it to become a large massive beast.  If you have a 5th generation 30gb iPod, then you can upgrade that hard drive to a 120gb for $139.  If you want to swap in a fresh battery as well, thats only $19 more.  If you have the 60gb or 80gb 5th gen (Not Classic) iPod video you can upgrade your hard drive to 240gb for $169 and your battery for $25 more.  With Apricorn's iPod hard drive and battery upgrade kit, you should be able to do the process safely and quickly.  It comes with a hard drive (if you ordered it), a battery (if you ordered it), a very thorough video manual, and case opening tools.  The hard drive and battery also come with a 1 year limited warranty.  They say that the process takes from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how comfortable you are with taking things apart.
          I would definitely do this with my 5 gen 30gb iPod, but I want a iPod Touch.  Hoping they come out with a 128gb soon.  Anyways, do you think that it's worth upgrading  your old iPod?  It'll have a new battery, so it will last as long as a brand new iPod.  If you are curious about how to take your iPod apart, check out this youtube video: iPod Upgrade video.  It is a lot easier than I thought it'd be.  Also here's the link to Apricorn's iPod upgrade page: Apricorn iPod Upgrade.  So how many of you will do this?   If you have any questions please feel free to leave them, thanks for reading.

          

          Creating my own website has been something i've always wanted to do.  And I have started but have had a lot of trouble because of my little experience with html coding.  While looking around for help on various websites, I stumbled upon W3Schools.  I was amazed on the helpful tips that were given, as well as all of the coding examples you can try for yourself.  It is a completely free site that teaches you HTML, XHTML, Javascript, DTD, and much much more.  It has helped me so much because I was having trouble with flash videos and after going to that site, the problem was solved.  

          You don't even need to use your own HTML code software with some of the tutorials.  There are numerous of "Try-it-yourself" examples that allow you to use their online text editor to test out things before putting it onto your website.  So if you put a little time into reading some information from the site you will be able to create your own website like a pro.  Now when you create an amazing website, don't forget to mention who told you about the site (just kidding).  

          So go on and design your personal web page.  You don't even need a fancy HTML code software, you can start it in a simple text editor.  For Windows users: Notepad and for Mac users: TextEdit.  Just save the file as .html and there you go.  Here's the link: W3Schools Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them.

        
          Recently I discovered this gadget site that offers information on all types of devices.  Computers, GPS systems, external hard drives and much more are found here.  You will find plenty of details and even help discussions on various gadgets.  You can either search for a certain thing or browse by different categories or companies.  Also, if you don't see your device listed you have the option to submit it to be added to the site.  That way you can get the help you need, hopefully quickly.  Check it out for yourself, I found it quite interesting.  Here's the link GDGT
          The site has user reviews which are great when your are looking to purchase a product, but know little about it.  Please leave comments on what you think of it and if you know of any sites like it, I'd love to know.  Thanks for reading and I hope you found this enjoying.

        

          Lately I've been interested in finding ways to stream music to/from portable devices and computers, I recently found Lala.  Lala is an online music store that allows you to buy web songs/albums.  Web songs are only 10 cents to buy and you can listen to the song as many times online (not a download) and a web album is the same, but range from around 50 cents to $1.50.  What is even better is that buying a web song or album, deducts that cost from the full download.  So if you wanted to listen to a new song or album online for awhile before making a full purchase, you won't have to worry about paying twice for something you already have.  I have actually found that most individual songs are either 79 cents or 89 cents, with very few 99 cent songs.  Even albums are occasionally cheaper than other music stores like iTunes and Amazon.
          Now what does all of this have to do about streaming your music?  Well every song or album you buy is put in your online library.  You can go on any computer, sign into your account and start playing a song.  So simple and nice because of the easy access.  However, the fun doesn't end there because you are also able to upload your music library from your computer.  With the free Lala Music Mover application, you just effortlessly select your music folder and it does the rest of the work.  So you can have access to your entire music library from any computer with internet (and flash).
          Since it uses flash you can not use Lala with a mobile device (at least not yet), but with Lala's merger with Apple there may be hope for an iPhone app soon.  So tell me what you think of it.  I'm definitely going to be using this site often for my music purchases.  Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful to you.  If you do want to sign up, please use this link: Sign Up 

        

          One of the biggest problems with portable gadgets is that their battery life never seems to last as long as we had wanted.  Which then you have to continue to plug in and recharge which can take hours.  Or if your not near a plug-in outlet you will have to bear without your device for the time being.  I'm sure you as hate it as much as I do, and luckily there are some solutions to fixing your short battery life misfortune.  Such as buying a battery case.  Now and days, more and more cases are having a battery extenders built in.  Such as Seido's Innocase Surface, which is a case for the Blackberry Tour 9630.  There are also a few different battery cases with the iPhone as well.  The Power Slider Case for the iPhone 3g and 3gs which contains 120% of your iPhones battery.  Giving you a chance to fully recharge and then a little more.  There are also battery cases made by Mophie that allows for a full charge and more.

          Additionally, there are separate battery packs that provide more compatibility between different devices.  Along with the option to charge more than just one device, separate battery packs normally contain a larger battery than in a battery case.  And maybe for the same price as a case that can charge your device one full time, you can get a battery pack that is able to charge it twice or more.  The Satechi iCel 4400 mAh Battery Pack can charge your iPhone at least twice, and it is able to charge other cell phones and media players.  Another major battery pack company is imaxpower.  Their IMP500 can charge your iPhone four times, the IMP880 can charge it six times, and IMP19500 can charge it 20 times!  Not saying that anyone needs to have that big of a battery with them, but its a great option for long trips or hikes.  The packs aren't limited to iPhones either, other media players, cell phones and laptops are covered too.  Check them out for yourself and please leave any comments if you've had any experience with the packs.  Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this.

                                 

Both are great pieces of software that work on Mac os x and Windows, they allow you to access files from one computer to another.  Simplify Media's applications allow you to share your music collection and photo collection to another computer and Orb allows you to share the same, plus any other file or document on your computer.  I like Orb especially because of the ability to share music, photos, and videos to a PS3 or Xbox 360,  but the application doesn't seem as secure as Simplify Music or Simplify Photo do.  Also both of them are available in the Apple App Store, but they are not free. I have had experience with Orb and I will most likely never pay for the software.  I like the idea of sharing any file you want over the internet, but the application and Orb's server just isn't stable.  I would recommend that you keep an eye on it though.  I mean problems can be fixed and who knows, maybe soon they will get better and downloaded onto everyones computers.  But right now I would stick with Simplify Media.  I can't fully back it up because I have not bought the iPhone app, but from the many reviews I've read it seems better off than Orb.  The interface looks more stable, but from personal reviews it has a problem with large libraries.  Why would you pay for something that wont work for everybody.  I know I wont be getting it anytime soon because I have many gigabytes of music I'd love to stream.  Also Simplify has three iPhone apps (but only 2 different types).  Two are Simplify Music (Original) and Simplify Music 2.  What really gets me mad is that users have to pay eight dollars for the updated version, when they could have given it as an update to the original.  So six dollars (Simplify Music Original) plus the updated version (eight dollars), and that doesn't even include the third app that cost four dollars to stream your photos.  So all that for some application that may not work well with large libraries.  I would definitely be mad at the company if I had paid for the original and then pay even more for the update.
          But just because things are bad now doesn't mean that won't get better.  I think that these apps are worth checking into, and I am surely going to keep my eye on them.  I would love if Simplify Media had a free or lite version of their app so it could be tested, like Orb does.  I tried Orb on my friends iPhone and it was slow loading media and skipped a few songs, giving me different errors.  Now what is interesting is that Orb is suppose to work via your Orb server (www.mycast.orb.com) with any computer, phone or internet device for free.  But they are making you pay to use it on the iPhone, one to access files (music, photos, documents) from your computer and the other Orb Live allows you to stream video feeds to your iPhone.  If you do go to the website (without using the app), you get a horrible interface that is very slow to load.  It doesn't separate multiple songs, so if you chose an album to play it would put all of the songs together.  Making one 32 minute or however long song.  If they just simply updated their mobile interface, it would be more enticing to users.
          Offering a nice clean interface for free would get them more attention then making people pay for it.  But again I would continue to see how they grow and watch out for other competing apps (maybe even free) that will try to get noticed.  Thanks for reading and here are links to the websites and iPhone apps.

Orb: Computer Application 
iPhone app: Orb Live, Orb Live Free, Orb Media

Simplify Media: Computer Application
iPhone App: Simplify Music, Simplify Music 2, Simplify Photo

It's been talked about a little hear and there, but in most cases it can be pretty expensive.  $60 per month for Verizons 3G Mifi router.  Which is pretty nice, knowing that you will mostly have a good connection and speed wherever you may go.  There is also Clear Internet's Clear Spot WiMax Router.  If you are lucky to live in a city with Clear internet available I would choose that.  Because unless you are going to be going out of the state a lot Clear's Home Internet and Mobile Internet plan is actually less than $60.  All you need is to buy or lease the 3"x5" WiMax router and the Clear USB Modem.  Its perfect for using it with an Ipod touch or any other portable device that uses wifi.  Use Skype or any other Voip service and you have a phone.

Check out Gizmodo's review on the device: Clear Spot
I am going to try this out hopefully someday, and if I do I will definitely tell you how it is.