Computer Shopper's Best Tech of 2006

I seldom read computer shopper - it's been a few years, but I had the opportunity recently and was impressed with the change in format.

Here were a few interesting things from the November 2006 issue:

1. www.dliveo.com is a media file e-mailing service designed to send large gigabyte e-mail messages to your friends / colleagues for free.
2. OpenDNS is a free DNS service that will blacklist known fishing addresses
   True high end gaming systems go for $5k and more - far too much for me to spend - what can I buy for $1800?
3. The ATI RAdeon x1950 xtx is the new single-chip leader in 3d graphics cards. $450. It will be outdated very soon - better to wait a few months.
4. Intel's Core 2 Duo beats the AMD dual core product. It's also better for laptops.
5. The Morpheus Photo Animation Suite is a very exciting photo morphing package $59.95 - imagine blending a friend's face with a cow's!
6. The best designed PC is the alienware area-51 7500 (base is $1,799).
7. The best processor is the Intel Core 2 Extreme x6800 at $999.00.
8. The best motherboard is the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe at $195.00.
9. The best PC Case is the Asus Vento 3600 at $159.00.
10. The best mainstream graphics card is the nVidia GeForce 7600 GT at $199.99.
11. The best gaming graphics card is the nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX at $499.99.
12. The best headphones are the Shure E4g at a wopping $319.00.
13. The best USB memory device is the Transcend JetFlash 210 - I really like this one - it has an embedded fingerprint reader that encrypts your data. 1 GB $49.60, 2 GB $75.40.
14. The best LCD HDTV is the37" Sharp LC-37D9ou at $3,499.
15. The best Plasma HDTV is the Pioneer PDP-5060HD, replaced by the Pioneer PDP-5070HD at $4,499.
16. The best antispyware software is spyware doctor 4 at $29.95.
17. The best RSS REader is FeedDemon 2.0 by newsgator at $29.95.
18. The best PC Game is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by Bethesda Softworks at $49.99.
19. The best on-line photo finisher is snapfish at $0.12 for a 4x6" photo. I believe costco rebrands snapfish for the costco photocenter and doesn't charge shipping - you might check there first.
20. The best free online service is pandora - a free music streaming service.
21. The best paid online service is audible - due to it's huge book library.
22. The best price comparison engine is Shopzilla. Consumer reports favored shopping.yahoo.com and shopping.com. Froogle did not fair well. Pricegrabber.com was number 2 for computer shopper.
23. The best blogging service is wordpress for free. I might check them out. I find blogger's unavailability and unreliability frustrating.
24. driverguide.com has more than 100,000 downloadable drivers. very handy if you're missing original hardware disks.
25. softwarepatch.com is a an archive of software updates - this can be very helpful.
26. software-blowouts.com and softwareoutlet.com are software bargain bins. They often have odler produts or from companies out of business. Slightly older games can be found here.

Have a great weekend,

makingourway