So around 4pm today mine and Tiffany’s new laptops arrived. I have to admit that they are a little bigger than I expected, but that is only because i failed to realize, I don’t know how but I did, that these have 17 inch widescreen displays. Not that that is a bad thing, actually I rather like it and think it will make watching DVDs even more enjoyable. We both got a Dell Inspiron E1705 with the following specs:

• Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
• 60GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless (a, b, g compatible)
• 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
• Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

The only difference between the two is that mine has a dual layer DVD burner, and Tiffany’s has a combo DVD player CD burner. In addition we each got carrying cases, mine is a back pack and hers is an attache case. We are both happy to have them and I am sure we will spend some time setting them up completely over the next few days. Now I will have to begin the process of preparing the other computers for recycling.

Well Google finally got around to integrating their calendar service into the main Gmail interface as I was hoping for in a previous post. It is pretty sweet too. Gmail can automatically enter items into your calendar when a date is found within the body of an email if you so chose. In addition to this when sending an email that contains a date you have the option of entering it on your calendar which effectively makes the email an invitation, and as such when the recipient accepts that invitation Gmail and GCal can automatically keep track of attendees. This is pretty neat, however I am pretty sure that both people involved need to have Gmail in order for this feature to work, but still it is pretty neat.

Google has finally released Google Calendar! I have been waiting for this ever since I got my Google Mail account. From the calendar front page:

• Seeing the big picture
  With Google Calendar, you can see your friends’ and family’s schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that you find online.

• Sharing events and calendars
  You decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view. Planning an event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too.
• Staying on schedule
  You can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

Now all they need to do is better integrate it into my Gmail account and we will be all set. Now let’s just see if I actually use it enough to make my waiting worth while. Hrm…I guess I will need to actually start writing things on my calendar then…

Lately I have been trying really hard to learn Linux and become, if not proficient at it, at least self reliant with it. I have progressed by leaps and bounds with my work on this server and have not had to seek help other than general direction in a number of months now. Though I have not gotten to the point where I want to run Linux as my primary desktop, there have been times where I wanted to be able to boot into it on a more constant basis, well I may have found my answer. Today I ran across this article over at AltHack that describes the method to get Damn Small Linux (DSL) to boot from a USB thumb drive, assuming the machine you are on allows booting from a USB device that is. With the price of USB thumb drives dropping for larger and larger sizes, this may be something that I need to look into.

Having written a number of resumes and cover letters for various job positions since my graduation I have found myself increasingly curious about the ability to track changes within a Word document and to view supposedly removed information from these documents. In addition to my interest I can remember a few cases of this type of information popping up in news stories relating to the inadvertent leak of corporate information as well. So when I ran across this article over at USA Today Tech containing some good tips, I thought I would share it. I think anyone who uses Word to write any document that be supplied in an electronic format (such as resumes, propositions, or business proposals) should consider these precautions.

Having worked at a help desk dealing primarily with Email support, I found this article over at Onimoto.com very interesting. I remember having to trace Emails on a very regular basis at that job, and this would have come in handy then when training new employees.

With GMail well over the 2000 MB storage limit I found myself wondering what I would possibly need that much e-mail storage for. Admittedly I get a lot less (non-spam) e-mail then some people, but I am sure that I get more than others as well. But still, 2 Gig of email storage? I can not imagine myself having that much e-mail. So that brings me back to my original query, what can I do with all this [e-mail] space?

In a previous post I had mentioned using the account as a virtual drive and running Linux on it. I had thought about doing this myself, but considering I am already running Gentoo, I really have no need for another Linux box. However, I can always use more file storage space, especially one I can access anywhere.

With that in mind you can imagine how happy I was when I stumbled upon Gmail Hard Drive.com. This is a free site that allows you to log into your Gmail account and upload files to it and utilize the account as a 2+ Gig file storage. Though this is in not any where near as geek as running Linux, I think it is more practical.

Having lost data to a hard drive crash, and knowing people who have lost data to a hard drive crash, I have always wondered what went into recovering data. Tom’s Hardware Guide has a nice article on what goes into this process. They even provide information as provided to them from a data recovery company. The article gives a range of prices that this service can cost, and it is not cheap. However, if it is necessary to get your data back, it may be possible…for a price.