Author: admin

December 26, 2012

Building my PC: Introduction and Parts

It was time to build my own PC: tap into performance boosts with USB 3, 16GB RAM, solid state drive, bigger/faster media storage, and Windows 8. Keep everything affordable. And add a fun custom paint treatment on the case.

Here’s the spec sheet on parts – overall a good solid mid-range machine to be used for photo and video production, app development projects, as well as general productivity with Office, news, and email.

I also used PC Part Picker for pricing and sourcing. It’s a free site. Here’s a link to my buildâ€¦

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qwsJ

â€¦at the time of ordering, my final cost was just under $1500. I used a combination of Amazon and NewEgg for final sourcing. Prices change all the time in the hardware industry, and PC Part Picker is a good resource for staying on top of the ebb and flow of prices.

A few general thoughts â€¦

Building a PC is easier than most realize. Most of the time is spent reviewing specs to make sure everything fits together. Should be a de rigueur skill for any self-respecting IT Pro.
The hardware industry hasn’t quite caught up to USB 3.0 yet. It’s getting there, sourcing the right card reader with case adapter with motherboard with case turned out to be more time consuming than I expected.
The industry also isn’t there yet on touch screens for desktops. They’ve invested first in All-In-Ones SKUs. I found a few standalone touch screens in the $600 range, which was too pricey for me. I expect this will go down over the next 12-18 months. Meanwhile, I picked up the well rated 24″ Dell.
I went mid-range with the I5 chip and GeForce 560 graphics card, thinking I’m at the right price/performance value spot.
The Intel 256GB SSD is for the OS and various apps downloaded from Win8, including the latest version of Office. I’ll use the WD 2TB hard disk for everything else.

And here’s everything on the front porchâ€¦

Time to find the box cutter!

Before I get started with the build, I have to paint the case.

November 25, 2012

DIY car mount for Nokia Lumia 920

I wanted to try out the new Nokia Drive beta GPS program, and realized I didn’t have a car mount for the Lumia 920 yet. So I quicklyÂ taped together two old credit cards, added a fold and hole for the adapter, and put two hooks on the back for mounting on the drink holder. Took about 10 minutes to zap together. You can adjust ‘settings’ to other phones as well.

Tape two credit cards together with duct tape. Punch overlapping holes for the bottom cable, fold enough to hold the phone.

Add two plastic hooks on the back, tape securely. I grabbed these from some random packaging.

Seat the phone in the holder, secure top with an organic ‘Made in the USA’ rubber band (or close copy). Back hooks attach to cup holder. You can still add a cup or bottle to the holder.

The mount works securely in traffic. Need to adjust the rubber band so that it doesn’t block the top of the screen where text messages appear.

November 17, 2012

My Windows Phone 8 start screen

This is three screen shots stitched together…

Press POWER button and START button simultaneously to capture a screen. Each capture is stored as a PNG file in your albums.
I use a variety of apps and saved web pages on my screen. Most of them are self describing.
The empty black space aligns where my thumb hits the screen…I keep it empty for a visual break among the meadow of boxes and so I don’t inadvertently launch an app.
I have two tiles for me: one near the top is for social catch-up, the one on the bottom is for professional use where I can just Tap-and-Send contact info as a business card.
I try to group other like-minded things: email, Office, maps, games, weather and traffic.
Settings tile currently stays high as I’m using it to fine tune colors.
Best used app not many people know about: RAD Now! …a free app with weather radar weather imagery.
All real estate is subject to change at any moment, I must have rearranged tiles and sizes at least a dozen times over the past week.

Enjoy!