I was browsing the web for a new computer and stumbled along compusa.com. When Compusa filed for bankruptcy I figured that the whole company went down but not according to the website. The website states that compusa was bought out by Systemax and also joined by TigerDirect. I started to browse through Compusa and I was really surprised by their low prices. I have purchased many items from compusa.com and am really happy with their prices and customer service. The first item purchased was a 1GB USB thumb drive for $7.99 which was the lowest price I found on the Internet. The second item I bought from was a 28inch I-INC LCD Monitor for $299.99 which was also the lowest price on the Internet that I found.

I would recommend signing up to the email newsletter because compusa has great weekly specials. Compusa.com also has another great feature that you can buy packages of computer parts containing motherboard, CPU, hard drive, case, and ram memory in order to build your computer. If you are considering buying some new electronics check out compusa in your search for the best bargains.

The Apple iPhone also has camera and a downloadable application store where the user can download application and games for the iPhone. Some programs are free of charge while others have charges that vary from $0.99 to $9.99. The apple iPhone glides through the programs with ease and rarely freezes. The phone reception is good and rarely has times with no service.

Now the iPhone also has it’s drawback which includes having exclusive service with AT&T and no other carrier has the iPhone. Now all the iPhone addicts will right away say “the iPhone is unlock-able” which opens the iPhone to any carrier. The problem with unlocking the iPhone is the user can not register the phone nor update its software on the iPhone because it will immediately lock itself.

The Apple iPhone uses an email system to send or recieve picture messages, now drawback to this system is that it does not allow the user to send or receive picture messages which creates a problem for the user because not everyone has an email to send or receive the pictures.

Now the iPhone has a great web browser which surfs the Internet with ease and has great viewing space with its incredible touch screen. The Apple iPhone also has limited Battery Life. Overall I like the iPhone for its ease of use and great screen quality but its limited service to AT&T creates a problem for me. Now the Blackberry Curve which has service for T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint makes it available to anyone.

The Blackberry Curve which I own has service for T-Mobile. The Blackberry Curve has tons of features ranging from Camera, Web Browsing, Picture Messaging, Blackberry Messaging (Exclusive Service where Blackberry users can text message for free), BlackBerry AppStore (Down-loadable application Store prices Ranging from $0.99 to $34.99).

Now the blackberry Curve also has its drawback which includes constant phone freezing, and small screen for viewing web pages. I guess it all boils down to which phone fits your lifestyle? But neither phone is better that we can declare one a winner. So Enjoy using either phone.

I was searching the internet for firefox plugins when I came accross a website Gadget Advisor.  They have an article about Best Extentions for Firefox.  This list is massive and comes with a description of all the plugins, although some of these plugins I already knew about such as Adblock Plus and Download Status Bar, but then there are many that are useful that I didn’t know about such as IE View Lite, which allows the user to enter a website in firefox, but under IE mode, because some sites only work on IE, and vice versa, and this add-on makes it really easy to switch.  So I sticked around on the site to see other posts and read about the MSI x58 Eclipse Motherboard, and another post about the Blaze Media Pro review.  What I am trying to say is that how you can stumble upon to a great website by just searching for one small thing and find a great blog, I will definitely be adding Gadget Advisor to my RSS reader.

Premium WordPress themes are all the rage. After all, more people than ever before are using WordPress as their blogging platform of choice. That being said, you need to select a theme in order for your site to really take off: this is where One Theme comes into play. From the front page of the One Theme website you will see what the creators of this theme think:

“One Theme is not just a WordPress theme…It’s an enhancement, an “all in one” package that turns WordPress into the management tool you wish it was.” With so much already going for it, these are bold words. But after taking a closer look at what this theme has to offer, it is safe to say that you may agree with these accolades.

When it comes to features, there are too many to list them all. Of course, there are some that are better and more useful than others, and a small sampling of them include:

1. Custom control panel
2. Widget and AdSense ready
3. 100% valid xHTML and CSS
4. Custom control panel
5. Custom search result page
6. Five color schemes
7. Two homepage layouts
8. SEO optimized code
9. Numbered comments
10. Free support

As you can see, this WordPress theme does not lack features. While many themes claim to offer a lot, it is obvious by the partial feature list above that One Theme definitely delivers in this area.

Design

Of course, all of the features in the world are not going to make One Theme worth your while if the design has nothing to offer. Luckily, this is not something that you have to worry about. While the design may not be right up your alley, it does have quite a bit to offer.

In addition to being visually appealing, the homepage is nicely laid out which allows visitors to find what they are looking for without spending too much time jumping around from page to page. On the live demo, you will notice that the homepage offers a spot for a featured article as well as other top level content and “most recent” articles.

As you move to the two-column right sidebar, you will find that the layout is just as efficient and appealing as the main content. This includes an area for your RSS information, advertisements, and other widgets such as categories, pages, and tag clouds.
Backend Control Panel

Although you are sure to fall in love with the design of One Theme, the real fun starts when you begin to navigate the backend control panel. Just like any WordPress blog, you will access the backend via your username and password. But once you activate One Theme, you will have access to many other features that you would not find with other themes.

Even if you are new to WordPress, the One Theme control panel makes it easy for you to find your way around and to make changes to customize the look and feel of your site.

You can see a Live Demo of the One Theme, to see all its features.

If you are interested in monetizing your site with ads, One Theme offers a dedicated section for this task. Since the theme is preconfigured with AdSense, all you have to do is add your publisher ID and you are set to earn. Of course, if you do not want to run AdSense you do not have to. You can replace these blocks with other ads or content.

What else can you do via the backend control panel?

1. Adjust the appearance thanks to five color schemes.
2. Define the content that you want to use for the featured article, etc.
3. Upload a custom header if you are not satisfied with the packaged options.
4. Customize links for the top menu, sub menu, and footer.

By visiting the One Theme page and checking out the live demo and list of features, you are sure to agree that this is one of the top WordPress themes on the market today. To get started, you have three options. With the $99 Webmaster license you can use One Theme on one blog. For $199 you can use the theme on three blogs, and for $299 you have access to five licenses.

If you want to upgrade your blog but don’t have the money to pay for a custom design, One Theme may be right for you. Although the theme will set you back $99, once you take a closer look at the many options you will realize that it is well worth the money.

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It appears that Microsoft is once again talking to Yahoo about the possible acquisition of the company. That being said, there is a lot of confusion on exactly what the two parties are discussing. Some sources are reporting that Microsoft is attempting to resurrect the offer that they made for Yahoo a few weeks back. On the other side of things, some feel that Microsoft is only interested in purchasing Yahoo’s search business. Either way, most believe that the companies are definitely discussing some sort of deal.

TechCrunch, a popular tech news blog, reported that both sides are open to discussions about a full buyout. They also reported that Microsoft is offering less than the $33/share that was on the table when Yahoo walked away the first time. With quotes from multiple sources close to the situation, it is safe to say that there is some validity to the information reported by TechCrunch.

Other media sources are disputing the claims made by TechCrunch. They believe that Microsoft and Yahoo are once again discussing a deal, but only for the search business. In other words, neither party is interested in a full buyout at this point in time.

For now, it is difficult to say what is going on. With conflicting reports, it is difficult to say whether or not Microsoft is interested in resuming earlier negotiations for all of Yahoo’s operations, or if they simply want to purchase their search business. If Microsoft decides to move forward with an offer for the search business only, it is thought to be in the range of $1 billion.

Just when everybody thought that Microsoft and Yahoo had parted ways, it appears that both companies are not ready to move on just yet. Is a deal imminent or is this simply more talk?

Google may dominate the online world, but they are finding out the hard way that jumping into the mobile phone industry is a different story entirely.

In November, Google, along with more than 30 partners, announced that they would be offering handsets based off of their mobile software, Android. At the time, Google was confident that they would be able to have these phones on the market sometime during the early part of the second half of 2008. Of course, a project of this magnitude can change many times over and is based on thousands of factors. For this reason, Google has announced that the phones will not be made available to the public until sometime during the 4th quarter.

Although the project has been delayed by several months, many insiders are still reporting that many carriers are having a difficult time keeping up. The same holds true for companies that are working on programs for the Android operating system.

T-Mobile believes that they will be able to have an Android powered phone offered in the United States by the 4th quarter. That being said, since Google is working so closely with T-Mobile, it has pushed other carriers further behind. For instance, Sprint Nextel was hoping to also launch during the 4th quarter, but it now appears that they will have to wait until 2009 to move forward.

The United States mobile market is not the only one missing out due to these delays. China Mobile, a company with 400 million subscribers, had major plans to launch an Android powered phone during the 3rd quarter of 2008. This project is believed to have been put off until late this year, or early 2009.

It is safe to say that Google has a thing or two to learn about the cell phone industry. When the company’s phones finally arrive, they will be up against stiff competition from the likes of Apple as well as many others. The results are sure to attract a lot of attention!

As you probably know, Reddit is a news voting service that ranks only behind Digg in this particular niche. That being said, the company is looking for a way to take their name and presence to the next level. The latest move made by those at Reddit is the decision to make the site’s code open source. What does this mean? Well, in simple terms it means that anybody can now make their own site that will perform and operate in an identical manner to Reddit and other voting services. That being said, clones of these services have been around since day one; it did not take an open source project to make this imitation a popular one.

It is safe to say that a lot of webmasters and online entrepreneurs will be using what they find in the Reddit code for upcoming projects; some which may appear to be an identical clone. Unfortunately, it has never been about the technology when it comes to news voting services. Instead, the success or failure of a site like this has more to do with users. Simply put, the more people who begin to use a news voting site the more popular it will become. And when a site like this becomes popular, it also becomes more useful to the online world.

Although Reddit is holding steady, it is apparent that they have yet to dent Digg’s market share. Last month, Digg had approximately 20 times as many pageviews and United States based visitors than Reddit. Although these stats are totaled by comScore, it is safe to say that they are semi-accurate.

If you are interested in starting a news voting service you now have the platform for doing so. But don’t get caught thinking that your service will take off like Digg, or even Reddit for that matter. It takes a lot of users to be successful in this niche!

As you have probably heard by now, all communication between Yahoo and Microsoft has been broken off. Just a couple of months ago it appeared that the two companies would work out a deal in which Microsoft was to purchase Yahoo for tens of billions of dollars. But although Yahoo did not strike a deal with Microsoft, they are still in the news. This time around, it appears that the company is going to strike up a partnership with search engine giant, Google.

On the surface, the terms of the partnership are simple: Yahoo will now have the ability to display Google ads with some of their search results. This covers results on both Yahoo search as well as publisher networks in Canada and the United States.

At this time, it is believed that Yahoo will have full control over which pages the Google ads will appear. To go along with this, it is not known how the company will decide which pages to use and which ones to leave out. Sue Decker, Yahoo President said, “We wanted to make sure we’d have control in the advertiser segments we’re comparable with or superior in performance.”

The big question is: is Yahoo going to be able to make additional profits through this partnership? With their current business model struggling, Yahoo has not been able to make up any ground on Google. Luckily for them, it is thought that they will be able to generate up to $450 million in cash flow through this deal. Obviously, this is good for the company as they will hopefully be able to steady a ship that has been rocked when the Microsoft deal fell through.

Although many tech savvy web users are confused by this partnership, it is safe to say that things will clear up over the months to come. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if there are any other developments between the two biggest players in the search engine industry.

Are you interested in becoming employed by one of the big technology companies such as Yahoo, Google, or Microsoft? If so, it is safe to say that you are curious as to how much professionals at these companies earn. While you may find out soon enough if you land an interview, until then you will have to guess. Or will you?

Glassdoor.com is a career based community in which anybody can locate and share information on their salary. Of course, you can share this information anonymously so your boss does not find out. In addition to salary information, Glassdoor.com also features reviews on company benefits, work environment, management, and much more.

For example, if you are interested in comparing the salaries of software engineers at Google and Yahoo, you can easily do so. By the way, you will find that Google engineers earn an average of approximately $112,000 whereas those in the same position at Yahoo take home just about $106,000/year.

Generally speaking, this information is very helpful to job seekers who are hoping to land a career with a well paying technology firm. That being said, there are others who can also benefit from Glassdoor.com. They include both employers and recruiters. A small, up and coming firm may be interested in learning what the big boys pay software engineers. This way, they can become as competitive as possible and hopefully lure some high quality workers to their company.

Glassdoor.com was founded in 2007, and launched in June of 2008. Although the company has only been around for a few months, they are already making progress. With the help of $3 million from Benchmark Capital, Glassdoor.com should have the money they need to continue to move in the right direction.

To get started, all you have to do is head to Glassdoor.com. Information is free, and there are already hundreds of reviews and salary related details.

There used to be a time when a web startup was seen as something special. Even though this is still the case, the fact of the matter is that things have changed quite a bit. How so, you may ask? Simply put, the barrier to entry for new startups is lower than ever before. There are several reasons for this, some good and some not so good. But no matter what you think on this subject, if you put your mind to it, you may be the next one getting involved with an internet startup.

As more startups have success, more and more people are sure to follow in their footsteps. After all, they too want to get a piece of the action. Even though getting involved with an internet startup is big business that can take up a lot of time, most will agree that it is worth the risk. What do you think is better? Putting the time into a startup, or working in the corporate world from 9-5 everyday of your life?

One thing that a lot of people forget is that as startups become more common, the level of competition will increase. In the past, less competition was around which meant that your chances of succeeding were much better. While success is still possible, there is a good chance that you will have to get past a larger number of competitors.

Of course, most startups have the dream of being acquired by a big company such as Google. If you can make this happen, it is safe to say that a big payday is right around the corner. To go along with this, the increasing number of startups is changing the way that companies such as Google look at acquisitions. They have found that streamlining the process and making it as easy as possible is the way to go. The main goal of companies that acquire a lot of startups is to make this as easy as hiring a new employee.

Web startups are changing for the better. More and more people are taking the leap, and of course, this results in more and more success.

Paul Graham has more on this issue.

Believe it or not, Yahoo is adding some top of the line features to its search engine. The reason for this, you may ask? Well, first off they want to make things easier on users. And of course, they want to add these major features in order to be able to better compete with Google. This may sound like a tall task, but Yahoo is taking a shot!

So what features has Yahoo added in order to make for a better search experience? For one, videos and images are now available from the main results page. Yahoo did a great job by offering this benefit without cluttering the main page. The music that can be played from this page is available from Yahoo Music.

Moving on, try to search for a hotel or other establishment that is local to your area. By doing this, you will receive results direct from Yahoo Local. This includes reviews, user ratings, maps, links to important information, and much more.

Perhaps the most important upgrade is the assistance box that appears if you are struggling to find the appropriate keyword. This feature will give you suggestions based on the letters or words that you have already typed into the search box. If you type in “basketball” the smarter Yahoo search engine will suggest “NCAA basketball” and “fantasy basketball” among many others. For users who are not exactly sure of what they want, this is a great feature.

Yahoo is dead on with all of the new features that they added. The only possible downfall is that all these features are someway associated with the Yahoo network; such as Yahoo Music and Yahoo Local. But with that being said, the information made available from Yahoo has always been among the best.

Even though these features may not help Yahoo to beat out Google in the search engine department, they will definitely put them on the right track.

The biggest change Microsoft is claiming is that of relevant search results. In other words, the results that are returned after a query are said to be closer to what the searcher is looking for; this is where Google really excels. Additionally, the Live search engine has also been updated to better handle common misspellings and abbreviations.

Many people will be surprised to find out that Microsoft’s research shows that they have matched Google in the relevant search department. Of course, this is something that users will have to decide on for themselves. If this claim is true, it will go a long way in helping Live Search Engine to increase its user base.

Users will notice that search pages for particular products, such as electronic items, offer quality information about the particular item. This includes everything from pricing details to images to user reviews. The Live Search Engine is set to collect this data from a wide variety of sites in order to ensure effective and accurate information.

Believe it or not, Microsoft is not so concerned with attracting new users. Even though this would be nice, they hope that the Live Search Engine can enhance the overall experience for those who are already using the service.

Over the next few weeks it will be interesting to see the reactions to Microsoft’s Live Search Engine. If what the company is saying is true, it is safe to say that users will be more than pleased. Only time will tell if the Live Search Engine can compete head to head with Google and Yahoo.

In January, rumors started to surface that Google was working on a virtual world to be based on their ever popular Google Earth platform. While these rumors were never confirmed or denied, it seems that the public is getting closer to answer as each day goes by. There is word circulating around the tech industry that Google will be testing their virtual world on the campus of Arizona State University.

Google Operating System has released the following information: Arizona State University students will have the chance to test a new product that is set to be launched late in 2007 by a major internet company. Additionally, this new product is said to be related to video games as well as social networking. As you can see, it appears that Google is doing all it can to build the hype around this new product before it becomes available to the rest of the world.

Second Life is the main player in the virtual world at this time. It is hard to say if Google’s new product is going to be a true competitor. But one thing is for sure; Google definitely has the technology, power, and platform in place to make this happen.

Many feel that Google’s virtual world will be closer to IBM’s virtual world than to what Second Life has to offer.

Even though everything is still in the “rumor stage” at this time, there is no denying that Google is working on something big. After the students at Arizona State get their chance at the product, the rest of the world will be able to jump in on the action.

It is safe to say that Google has become quite comfortable with large product launches like this. There is no reason to think that this one will be anything less than a huge success!

Ars Technica has more about this and the name of is supposed to be “My World”

NBC has come to the conclusion that more and more people are less interested in watching television programs in the old fashion way. For this reason, they have announced a service in which viewers will be able to download programs for free to their personal computer or other electronic device.

After the show airs first on NBC television, it will then be available through this service for a week. Popular shows that are set to kick things off include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Heroes. For how popular these programs are on regular television, it will be interesting to see how many downloads this translates into.

Early on, NBC offered programs for download through a contracted deal with Amazon. But most recently they have decided that offering their own download service was the way to go. In fact, NBC executives feel very strongly that this new service should be able to square off face to face with iTunes by Apple in the near future.

A test period for the service, NBC Direct, is set to take place during the month of October. By November, the company feels that the service should be ready to move forward full steam ahead. Windows based personal computers will be able to download select NBC shows free of charge for seven days following its television release. After that, the show will expire and be removed from the system.

By sometime in 2008, NBC hopes to have this service operating similar to iTunes. That being with consumers paying the company directly for downloads. So if you are excited about watching shows for free right now, keep in mind that this may not last much longer.

All in all, NBC Direct is an interesting concept to keep an eye on. It is safe to say that a lot of people will begin to download television programs from day one. But just how much success this service will have is still up in the air.

Over the past couple of years, Web 2.0 companies have been collecting venture capital at a record pace. And during the first half of 2007 this trend held the same. In fact, approximately 6 percent more money was invested during these six months. But guess what? Most of this increase took place outside of the United States; particularly in Israel and Europe.

The most noticeable sign of a slowdown in the US is the pace at which venture capitalists are investing. For instance, take Benchmark Capital; the country’s top investor in 2006. Last year, this firm made 16 deals. Through the first half of this year, they have only backed three companies. To make this situation even more complex, only one was in the Silicon Valley area. Similar situations can be found with other large venture capital companies such as Storm Ventures, Omidyar Network, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers.

The question is: are venture capitalists starting to abandon Web 2.0 companies. While this may appear to be the case, to get the entire picture you need to look outside of the United States. A recent survey shows that investments by venture capitalists in Web 2.0 companies was pretty much unchanged during the first half of 2007 when compared with the first half of last year. There were approximately 67 deals that resulted in nearly $360 million in invested dollars.

It seems that venture capitalists are putting more money into Web 2.0 companies from other countries. The first half of 2007 saw seven deals completed in the United Kingdom for more than $20 million.

During the four year period from 2002 to 2006, just about 40 percent of deals involving venture capitalists and Web 2.0 companies took place in the Silicon Valley area of California. This number dipped to approximately 20 percent during the first half of 2007.

Is this venture capital trend going to continue? Nobody knows the answer to this question, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the second half of the year.

So what exactly does the title mean? At Google, a noogler is known as a new employee. The Reactor is what employees call the back end operations of the ever popular Google Reader.

Although the video has since been removed from the Google website, several sources did get a good look at it, and have made it well known what the video was all about. Here are some of the major points that are touched on. More…

1. The backend of the feed grows at an astonishing pace of approximately 4 percent per week. It contains data from just about eight million feeds.
2. More social features are bound to show up in the near future. The social team is working diligently on these projects, and once complete they are sure to increase the overall usability of this tool.
3. Soon enough Google Reader will be able to recommended new feeds. This will be based on Google activity as well as feeds that have been subscribed to in the past.
4. FeedBurner statistics confirm that Google Reader is the largest full content reader in the world. As far as headline readers are concerned Yahoo has the advantage. But with iGoogle increasing in popularity this may change very soon.

As you can imagine, this video was never supposed to get into the hands of the public. Even though it did not contain any top secret information, there were some useful tidbits (such as the ones above) that are quite interesting. If nothing else, this will give the public an idea of what direction Google is moving in.

The problem at this time is a group of approximately 750 people who have organized against Islam. Even though the group does not say anything too harmful, they have definitely made it well known what they are all about. The group says: “The Quran contains many lies and threats. Islam is false, no god exists, and someone should say that loud and clear.” To some people this may not be a huge deal, but as you can imagine, many others are taking great offense to this statement.

Although this group has only been around for just about a month, many reactions have taken place. In fact, as of recently, nearly 60,000 Facebook members had become part of a group with a simple mission. Either Facebook removes the anti-Islam group, or they are going to leave once and for all. While 60,000 members may not mean a lot to Facebook, it is safe to say that they do not want to be faced with problems like this. Not only does it mean a loss of members, but it also looks bad in the public eye.

Facebook has yet to comment on how they will handle this situation, but one day last week the group was disabled. The organizer of the group explained: “Facebook briefly deleted my account, and I assumed they did so because of the group, but they reinstated the account and told me that it was a mistake of some sort.”

The question of what action Facebook will take is still up in the air. They have a few options in front of them, and need to make the right decision after weighing all the facts and figures. Either way, it is obvious at this point that a large group of people are going to be quite angry.

Acer is getting serious about becoming a major player in the computer industry. They recently reached an agreement to purchase Gateway, Inc. for $710 million. Although Gateway had fallen off the map as of late, this acquisition is sure to move Acer up the computer industry ladder.

Gateway is the fourth largest PC manufacturer in the United States. Each year, they ship approximately 20 million units. But now, these numbers will all be credited to Acer. This will immediately send them to the number three spot as far as computer production is concerned.

“The acquisition of Gateway and its strong brand immediately completes Acer’s global footprint, by strengthening our US presence. This will be an excellent addition to Acer’s already strong positions in Europe and Asia. Upon acquiring Gateway, we will further solidify our position as number three PC vendor globally,” said Acer chairman J.T. Wang.

So what does this mean to consumers, you may ask? Simply put, it will give buyers more options when shopping for a notebook or desktop PC. It is too early to tell if Acer will be able to make a run at the front runners, Dell and Hewlett Packard, but it is safe to say that they will now have the resources to do so.

In addition to Gateway, Acer will also acquire eMachines; a company that Gateway purchased not too long ago. Even though eMachines does not have a huge following, their value based brand is sure to meet the needs of people from all over the world.

Adding Gateway to their portfolio will give Acer a much stronger presence in the North American market; an area where they have struggled to keep up as of late. At this time it is thought that the Gateway brand will stick around. In other words, Acer will not just produce units with their name on them.

It will be interesting to see how this move shapes the computer industry in the years to come. The details of this deal are set to be finalized by no later than December. This will give everybody a chance to see what Acer can do as 2008 gets underway.