Giving the Gift of Lo-Fi

So I know I just shared my favorite new website in the last post, but as an alternative to all things new-fangled, modern, and complicated, I bring you the extreme Lo-Fi electronic list for Christmas. Some of those famous past electronics are back and cooler than ever, or just still work well. Let's begin!

RadioShack AM/FM Portable Radio:

Be the envy of every office cubicle with this truly lo-fi portable am/fm stereo. It comes with such features as an antenna, a little dial for volume, a little dial for tuning, headphone jack, and a speaker. Truth is that there is no better item for picking up radio signals in the office and this well made blast from the past does its beautifully. Available at all your local RadioShack for only $14.99.

Cobra 75 WXST or MIDLAND 75-822 CB Radios:

Breaker, Breaker 19. Remember the the glory days of adjusting squelch and messing with truckers in your youth, well you can have it again with a couple of innovative cb radios from Cobra and Midland. The Cobra 75 WXST ($97) is a cool compact cb radio built into the mic. It has a minimal base setup and good reviews. Alternatively the Midland 75-822 Radio ($90) can be setup similar to the Cobra for the in car experience, but also can be transformed and roll out into a slick battery powered portable setup.

Ion Turntable to USB, Tape 2 PC, and VCR 2 PC:

Got tapes, records, or even old VCR tapes of the family? Well what is old is new again from a new company called Ion. All those memories that you have been sitting on for years can be uploaded and kept digitally with their long line of products. They even have a Slide to PC product. I could talk to you about it more but just go check it out for yourself at their website:

http://www.ionaudio.com/site/index.php

Happy Shopping!

Stop Buying Things #1: Computer Programs

So maybe your new to this blog, and are wondering if I am more than green speak, and maybe your still got the after Christmas blues. Well I have a gift or rather gifts for all of you to use. Or rather download that is.

This may be old news for some people but there are others that still don’t know. Nearly everything you need program wise on a computer now a days is probably available in open-source form. What is open-source, it means that the programming for a given program is open and free for all to evaluate and utilize. And if a program isn’t open source, it still may be freeware. Freeware is fully licensed free copies of a given program.

Now as I was saying nearly every program you currently use on your computer is available in a reliable, well-made freeware (and/or open-source) form and I intend to share a few of the best that I use everyday. So stop spending copious amounts of money on these types programs, and start spending it on other things. Or if you HAVE to keep buying programs, still get these and just donate some money to the programmers that have spent there time to give you FREE software.

So if you like Microsoft Office, try OpenOffice:

OpenOffice is a fully functioning office software suite that is complete with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, graphics/wire diagram maker, and database program. Very fun, easy to use, and every bit as reliable as Microsoft Office.


If you like Adobe Photoshop try Gimp:
Gimp is a photo manipulation, image composition, and image authoring software that is every bit as powerful as its costly counterpart.

Need Security:

Firewall: Comodo Firewall
PC Magazine’s editor choice award and Download.com’s 5 star rating, oh and it’s free. Check out all of the free security programs that they offer.

Antivirus: AVG Free and Avast Free Edition
Both good, good heuristics, and don’t take over your computer.

Anti-spyware: Windows Defender
Microsoft provides something free, well supported, amazing!

So merry belated Christmas, does anyone else have a good free program to share?