The bad: Photo menu could be reconfigured to be more intuitive; grayscale scan needs a bit of improvement.

The bottom line: With its wealth of office-oriented features, fast prints, and great print quality, the HP Officejet Pro L7680 is a very compelling all-in-one for small businesses or work groups. We wholeheartedly recommend it.

Specifications: Office Machine Functions: Copier, Printer, Scanner, Fax; Printer type: Multifunction printer; Printing Technology: Ink-jet;

– Source: reviews.cnet.com –

(Include some Homemade gift ideas)

Gifts for your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your father, your mother, your aunt, your uncle, your cousin, the teacher, babysitter, hockey coach, or for the hosts of your holiday parties, don’t have to be expensive. Here are 10 gift ideas in small packages:

1. Dark Chocolate. The recently publicized health benefits of cacao are all the rage and some confectioners have packaged their dark chocolate in bright colours to make an instant gift; just add a bow or ribbon.
2. Movie or Cinema Gift Certificates. The recipient can then choose a time and place that works for them, especially after the holiday rush.
3. Coffee. Either a pound of gourmet beans or a gift card to their favourite coffee house.
4. Tea. The growth of the speciality-tea culture has parallelled that of coffee, and certain teas have health benefits. A selection of teas can be presented in a gift bag or basket.

5. Wine or spirits. A bottle of wine makes a nice gift for your host or hostess on almost any occasion. There are many good-quality, inexpensive wines available. Do a little online research or ask some knowledgeable friends about selections.
6. Magazine Subscription. If you know their special interests, the right magazine can be a welcomed gift. Buy the current issue, wrap it and tell the recipient they will be receiving issues throughout the year.
7. Framed Picture. If you have a photo of the recipient’s child, spouse or pet, a framed picture makes a great gift.
8. Small Potted Herbs. To personalize a herb present, add a recipe that uses the herb and give it with your gift.
9. Home baking. This is one of the most inexpensive and easy Christmas gifts to give. Home baking is associated with the holiday season. By preparing early, you can have an assortment of baking ready in the freezer. This can be pulled out and given when a last-minute gift situation arises.
10. Charitable Donation. Make the donation to a charity that is supported by the recipient’s interests. For instance, an animal lover might appreciate a donation to the Humane Society; an art lover to a local gallery; and a musician to the local symphony.

Source: www.ismckenzie.com

If you got some car accident or some other problem and you need to solve it in Chicago, you should, first of all, make sure about who can be the best attorney, lawyer you should call. In this site, for example, you can compare details, credentials, profiles, prices, experience … There is a good directory list with Chicago Personal Injury — Plaintiff Attorney, Lawyer, Law Firm,

Source: lawyers.findlaw.com

Processor

Processor Class:
Intel Atom

Processor Speed:
1.6 GHz

Memory

Installed Memory:
1 GB

Maximum Memory:
1.5 GB

Memory Technology:
DDR2

System

Bus Speed:
533 MHz

Cache Size:
512 kB

Drive Controllers:
Serial ATA

Interface Connection:
Audio – Line In (1/8" Mini) | Audio – Line Out (1/8" Mini) | Ethernet – RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT) | USB – Universal Serial Bus 2.0 | Video – 15 pin High-Density D-shell (VGA)

Slots:
Memory Stick PRO | MultiMedia Card (MMC) | SD Card | SDHC Card | Sony Memory Stick | xD-Picture Card

Display

Display Size:
8.9 in

Aspect Ratio:
16:9

Display Type:
LCD Display w/ Glossy Screen

Max Resolution:
1024 x 600

Multimedia

Video Integration:
Motherboard

Max Shared Video Memory:
224 MB

Video Chipset:
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Video Bus:
PCI Express x16

General

normalized-Cache Size:
0.512

normalized-Display Size:
8.9

normalized-Installed Memory:
1000

Storage

Hard Drive Capacity:
160 GB

Number of Hard Drives Included:
1

Features

Input Devices:
Keyboard | Touchpad

Included Network Card:
Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) | Wireless Ethernet – 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b | Wireless Ethernet – 54 Mbps IEEE802.11g

Included Devices:
Built-In Microphone | Built-In Webcam

Battery Life:
5.5 hour(s)

Software

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Dimensions

Height:
1.1 in

Width:
9.8 in

Depth:
6.7 in

Weight: 
2.2 lbs

Warranty

Warranty Information:
1 Year Limited Warranty

With the ability to connect an external monitor via a VGA port on the left side, you can turn this little wonder into a desktop replacement for the office with minimal discomfort.
The charger port is on the side, which means you dont have be careful when tipping the unit back.
Once i installed AVG Free 8 Antivirus, and cleaned out as much as i could from the programs loading on startup i got my boot time down to about 65 seconds, which i find adequate.

Positive:

* Good Price
* Perfect for students or people on the run
* Excellent performance for its class
* Keyboard nice to use
* Nice and light

Negative:

* Battery life could be better (but 6-cell battery will help that)
* WLAN switch is a returning switch, would prefer an actual two state switch
* Battery takes a while to charge (about the same time as it takes to be exhausted – 1 – 1.5 hours)
* Would like the option to disable WLAN in BIOS, good for when on an aeroplane (what if i bumb the WLAN switch?)
* Mouse buttons on track pad are on each side of the track pad not below it.

Source: www.pcauthority.com.au

Q: Where is the farm where the Texas Chain Saw Massacre took place?

A: There was never a documented chainsaw massacre that took place in Texas or any other state. But the original 1974 movie of the same name was based loosely on the murders committed during the 1950s in Wisconsin by serial killer Ed Gein, who died from cancer in a mental hospital 24 years ago but whose spirit has reportedly been spotted lately floating near his grave and even walking about the site of the Midwestern farmhouse where he once lived.

With Halloween near, it’s time for me to pen the single column I dedicate each year solely to haunted properties and provide updates on the supposed hauntings that I’ve written about in years past.

Though “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is a fictional film, co-writer/director Tobe Hooper has said its scariest character, the horrifying “Leatherface,” is based on real-life killer Gein.

The farmhouse where Gein apparently performed most of his unspeakable acts burned to the ground after he was arrested. Inspectors believed the blaze was the work of vengeful neighbors, but no arson charges were filed.

Gein inspired the creation of not only the Leatherface character in “Texas Chain Saw,” but also the serial killer “Buffalo Bill” in “The Silence of the Lambs.” His life story was also the basis for the movie “Psycho.”

Q: Is it true that Harry Houdini’s former home is haunted?

A: Actually, many people have sworn that they’ve seen his spirit at both of his former homes — one in New York and the other in Hollywood, Calif.

The magician, escape artist and psychic investigator lived on both coasts at various times until he died on Halloween in 1926. His ghost has supposedly been sighted recently rambling about his old New York brownstone, which still stands at 278 W. 113th St. in Harlem.

Houdini’s Hollywood home burned down a few years after his death, but some of the ruins remain at 2398 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Barely two weeks ago, several Angelenos reported seeing what they believe was his shadowy spirit standing on the scorched staircase that survived the fire. Others reported seeing his figure in the home’s grotto.

The magician promised that if there was a way to return from the dead or communicate from the afterlife, he would find it. That’s why, every Halloween night, dozens of people gather at his grave site in New York, while others visit the site of his old Hollywood property in anticipation of his “re-visitation.”

No one has been able to provide scientific evidence that they have been directly contacted by Houdini’s spirit, but some believe the recent rash of supposed sightings could suggest that he may have finally found a way to pull off the greatest trick in history.

Q: Where do you get your information about haunted homes?

A: From a variety of sources — books, the Internet and follow-up interviews with readers who have sent me their personal accounts of an experience with ghosts or other spirits.

My favorite book about the supernatural is “Haunted Places: The National Directory,” by Dennis William Hauck. Hauck also publishes a free Web site (haunted-places.com) that gives frequent updates on everything from hauntings to UFO activity”

Source: www2.ljworld.com

The HTC T-Mobile G1 clearly has Apple’s iPhone in mind as its top competitor, so we’ve compiled a side-by-side comparison of their specifications. Behold (below the jump):

Here are some major differences you’ll notice: iPhone 3G has a multi-touch screen while the G1 just has a touch screen (meaning it can’t track multiple simultaneous gestures) although it does have a trackball and QWERTY keyboard; the G1 doesn’t have true video playback capabilities (although it does have video-streaming capabilities via YouTube) while the iPhone 3G does; Apple’s reported battery life for iPhone 3G on standby time is significantly longer than the G1’s; iPhone 3G has support for Microsoft Exchange, while G1 doesn’t.

So specifications-wise, the iPhone 3G appears to have the G1 beat. We’ll just have to see which one outperforms the other when we get our hands on the G1 soon. Google Android better be one hell of an operating system if HTC wishes to compete with the hugely successful iPhone accompanied by its prolific App Store.

Source: blog.wired.com

* Memo hints at iTunes activation with 3G iPhone
* AT&T teases with some 3G iPhone data plan pricing details
* AT&T remains sole iPhone carrier in US, revenue sharing axed (Updated)
* T-Mobile Germany announces (almost) free 3G iPhone offer

So, we know it’s coming, but what else? Here, we try to differentiate between what we know, what we don’t, and everything in between.
What we know

Apple has made no secret of the reasoning behind not going with a 3G chip in the original iPhone. On the day of the iPhone’s launch last June, Steve Jobs cited both the physical size of the chip and power consumption as the main reasons Apple favored EDGE upon launch. The company made it clear, however, that it would launch a 3G version once these issues had been worked out to Apple’s liking.

Since then, information on the 3G iPhone began rolling in. In September, Apple inked a deal with InterDigital, a relatively big name when it comes to licensing 3G technologies. In November 2007, a contact at O2 (the exclusive iPhone carrier in the UK) told Ars that Apple had told the company to expect a 3G iPhone “very late next year.” Later that same month, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson reinforced that anonymous comment with a more official one, saying that the 3G iPhone would come “next year.”

And that’s almost all that we know for sure. But before we get into the list of rumors and speculation, one more mention of 3G popped up this week when Apple released beta 3 of its iPhone SDK. Hackers found that the new firmware contains references to an updated chipset—namely, the SGOLD3H from Infineon. This chip adds support for 3G networking, including WCDMA, the 3G flavor used in Japan and Korea.
That gray area in the middle

“Experts” began weighing in on their own 3G speculations late last year, with CNBC’s Jim Goldman declaring last December that he expected May or June for a 3G iPhone launch. Others, like Citigroup’s Richard Gardner and Bank of America’s Scott Craig, have agreed on that time frame, with Craig going so far as to say he expects 3 million units to be available in May and another 8 million by the third quarter of the year. Even the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg made an observation last week that the iPhone would go 3G “within 60 days,” but he later clarified to Silicon Alley Insider that his statement was merely speculation and that he doesn’t know any more than the rest of us.

While we have been skeptical in the past of a 3G iPhone release so early in the year, a June release would not be entirely unheard of—especially considering that Apple’s WWDC 2008 will take place during the second week of the month.

But what about all the other little details? There are rumors to fill those gaps too. Apple resellers in Australia have allegedly gotten word that they will be able to sell 3G iPhones by the end of June, and with no carrier lock-in. (All but one of Australia’s cell networks use 3G.) The Australian rumor, plus an expected Asian iPhone launch sometime this year (where 3G is also predominant) make the June release somewhat plausible.

The most recent rumors on the topic of the 3G iPhone come by way of “industry sources,” who told TG Daily that the 3G iPhone will definitely launch this June at WWDC with some (but not many) changes from the original iPhone. These sources say that there will be at least two models—8GB and 16GB like the current EDGE-compatible iPhones. They will be priced the same as well, at $399 and $499, with the possibility of a 32GB $599 model. The OS will remain the same, although the casing will allegedly be about 2.5mm thinner than the current iPhone.
What we don’t know

What we don’t know about the 3G iPhone encompasses a lot, because there are still some details that not even the most prominent rumors have touched on. For example, the latest 3G rumors make no mention of whether the EDGE iPhone’s price will drop upon introduction of the 3G models. If they both operate on the same network and the 3G models will be the same price as the EDGE models currently are, then it would only make sense. Perhaps it will be at WWDC when we will finally see the long-rumored $100 price drop on EDGE-compatible iPhones.

We also merely assume (but do not know) that the 3G iPhone will necessarily be locked into AT&T like the EDGE iPhone is currently. Apple may be on a five-year contract with AT&T, but the terms of that contract are secret, so we do not know whether it addresses specific devices or anything Apple develops with the moniker “iPhone” through 2012.

One thing we are sure of is that the buzz shows no signs of slowing down between now and the 3G iPhone’s launch, so be prepared to be bombarded with news for the next couple of months. At least.

Source: arstechnica.com

This test was adapted from The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate by Gary Chapman.
Instructions: There will be two statements beside each number in the list below. Select the statement that best describes how you feel towards your spouse. When you are finished, click the button at the bottom labeled “Get your Love Test answer”

Do Test