Camera Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

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Wow! My theory now is that Canon doesn't put this baby as their kit lens because many people would decide that they DONT NEED ANOTHER ONE! And many of them would be right!

Like others, I bought the Rebel XT and the 28-135 IS lens. The 28-135 is heavy and priced like a gold brick. I guess it does OK, and I do keep it mounted most of the time.

And like others, I stumbled on this lens somehow, read the raving reviews, and for the price figured, "What the heck?"

This lens in tack sharp. It shows the fire in the colors you photograph. The wide aperture means candles can be excellent lights for portraits. Its narrow field is great.

There are pitfalls though. I snapped a pic of my face at arm's length using autofocus a while back and (1) the focus locked on the tip of my nose and my face was already blurring (2) the lens was so sharp that I saw blackheads clearly on my nose tip I can't really see in the mirror (doh!). I've read that dSLR images are slightly soft to aid in later editing. I can only imagine what it would do on a film camera.

Yesterday while camping I slapped this lens on. Unlike the 28-135, this one is light enough that I didnt notice I was carrying a camera everywhere. At night I put the lens on the top of the car pointed at the sky, set the shutter for 15 secs, and hit the button. Much to my amazement, the lens not only showed hundreds of stars that were invisible to my eyes, but it also found a galaxy. That pic is on the customer image section of this page. You can see what I saw, but the smaller size doesnt do the lens justice.

One quirk of Amazon is that this page keeps alternating pictures of lenses. This lens does not have the distance focus scales on the outside of it.

Zoom is nice for many things. But where zoom isnt necessary, performance is very, very nice. Performance at $70 is almost too good to be true.

Let me close by repeating what has been said elsewhere and will continue to be said here....IF YOU OWN A SLR, STOP NOW AND GET THIS LENS!

UPDATE 12/06 I have owned this lens for about a year now. Over that time I have immersed myself in photography, workshops, books, tests, etc. I have since upgraded to the 30D and a couple of L lenses, and now have a portfolio strong enough that I am now getting dollar signs thrown at me that I didnt even see coming. I say all this to give you some perspective on what I will write afterward.

Now that Ive really learned the difference, I can agree with others that it is a tad soft wide open, but that is to be expected. I read a lens test recently that put the 1.8 against Canons heavweight L glass, and, not surprisingly, the L beat out the $70 plastic wonder in most categories. What might surprise you, however, is that when the lens was tested at F 8 it BEAT THE L GLASS in sharpness! As one that has felt the pain of trading large sums of money for L glass, that still amazes me.

My 28-135 has since joined my kit lens in the garage. The 1.8 is still in my case with my newer 30D.

With some experience under my belt I now would make the following recommendation. Right now, as you read this, you may have an idea if you've been bitten by the photog bug. You may know that this beast is going to morph into something more than a simple pasttime. If you look inside the depths of your aspirations and you know that you are going to be a serious amateur, bite the bullet and get the 50mm 1.4. Trust me on this one. Eventually you'll end up getting it anyway, so just apply the $70 to the 1.4 now.

If you're just exploring different areas of SLR photography, you cant go wrong with this lens. Case in point- as of this writing the baby in pink in the customer images section of this lens is one of the top-ten rated images of all pics uploaded on Amazon! This lens will allow you to dazzle friends and relatives used to snapshots from point & shoots. It will be the start of what you upgraded to a DSLR for in the first place. For you, the 1.8 is still, by far, the best value in photography!

Digital Camcorder Canon GL2 MiniDV w/20x Optical Zoom

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I own this camera, and it's my best friend. Well not really, but it's the most amazing camera I've ever had. You get what you pay for, and you get a lot from this camera.

This is however, NOT a camera that the general public should buy. It's far to expensive, and really wouldn't be worth it to someone who will be using this for filming say a birthday party. There are many features on this camera, which make it as wonderful as it is, but these features would likely be unused by someone new to video cameras. So if you are in this boat, save your money and get a different camera.

What's great about it? The image quality is better than anything I've seen before. With 3CCD, it's good. Unlike the XL-1S, the GL2 has a 2.5 inch color LCD. However, I rarely use this. It takes up more battery power, and you can't see it when there's sunlight. I love the audio controls, and how it's not only stereo microphone, but you can control the levels of your left and right audio, right there, on the camera. I love to convert analogue video into digitial video, and it's almost too easy using the GL2. It's great for getting your older stuff into a digital format, and being able to easily get it onto your computer.

What's bad about it? Really not a whole lot. The 1.7-megapixel photo mode is really uneeded. 1.7-megapixels really isn't that good. The included 8MB card for these pictures isn't enough. If you're going to want to take digital pictures, then get a digital still camera, and don't use the GL2 as a still camera.

But I can't stress enough that if you aren't going to use this for more professional projects, then you really shouldn't get this camera.

Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder

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Panasonic AG-HMC150

I shoot weddings and I have used The HMC150, the Canon AH1.

From the beginning let me first tell you where my opinion is coming from - price tag: $3500

First off, neither of these cameras are brilliant in low light. They have 1/3 imagers. I don't care if they are made of gold and there are ten of them.
1/3 imagers are too small to gather enough light, even if you attached the Hubbell telescope to them.

To put such tiny sensors in a $3500 is poor, cheap engineering especially when SLR have larger sensors, shoot HD and don't cost this much.

Who are these camera angled at?

Videographers and indie filmmakers.

As a videographer what are you most concerned with - Low light.
Why? Because you cannot control lights at weddings at parties, etc. So your camera has to be able to handle it.

As an Indie filmmaker what are you most concerned with - The ability to look like film. It does, with 24p and film gamma, it's about all you need. But you are paying a premium. But for me, equally important to film look as 24fps is lens choice. Here you get none. While 24fps is what is ingrained in the everyone's consciousness as what film should look like, they also don't realize that shallow depth of field and variety of lenses is too. With these camcorders you get no choice, a 13x zoom with extremely wide depth of field at most every focal distance, because it's a zoom and because the imagers are tiny.

Good news The AG-HMC150 can handle most lighting situations.
Bad news - AVCHD codec, is noisy in even bright sunlight afternoons. The image is made of blotch.

Measuring image integrity by zoom factor - at 100% AVCHD compression is clearly visible. 200% the image is a swarming, infected mess.
Although the Panny can holdup in low light. I shot in a dark club and there was still something to see.
It has a very weird auto iris mode, that brings in more light, even when you do exact settings in manual.
Don't know if there is a magic switch, didn't have it long enough to work everything out.

The Canon uses HDV and instead of compression codec noise, you get digital noise; unpleasant grain (not like film), and washed out video at 100%. At 200% it's like looking at a digital still from a 10 year old point and shoot. And trust me, once an image is washed out and grainy, there is very little you can do (Some gamma correction will bring the shadows back to life, but that noise is there to stay. And the drop down to SD doesn't do it any favors.

Bottom line the Canon sucks in low light, especially in anything other than auto mode. I shot in a low light room and the image was garbage. Despite some settings tweaking, which leads me to Canon's second biggest problem and a problem with these camcorders in general.

The LCD and the Viewfinder are too small to see how your image is holding up. Everything looked fabulous on the Canon's 2.7 LCD...and then when you get it back to edit. Noise city. So you can only use the LCD for just basic image checking.

The HMC150 has a 3.5 LCD, but the brilliant engineers made it a 4:3 ratio! You have black matting in the image! The camera can only shoot 16x9 and they put a 4x3 LCD on it...so in the end you only get about 2.7" of real estate and you see as much as on the Canon, unless you are in focus assist mode which zooms in and uses the whole LCD.

So you have to know your settings and be shutter/iris paranoid, hoping for the best image. What you see is not what you get, you have to know what you want, like with film and set the camera accordingly, knowing which settings will get you want in the END, not what you are looking at through the camera.

The HMC150 definitely benefits from the higher rez. The Canon is 1440x1080. You can see the difference.

The Canon is more professionally built. Both plastic, but the canon feels more professional, and weirdly the HMC feels like a Tonka Toy, hard textured plastic, but like a light and chunky toy. I can hear the optical stabilizer clunking around in it. The Canon aesthetically looks more professional.

Audio on the Canon is better, it has much better limiter, I don't even think the HMC's is useful, but if you plug one xlr mic into the Canon...the onboard becomes unusable. HMC lets you assign channels for the onboard. Bad news is the onboard mic on both sucks, the Canon sounds better because the HDV format has higher rez than the compressed AVCHD codec.

The HMC and it's tapeless/AVCHD codec does not save much time, the transcoding takes almost as long if not longer than real time (HDV tape) and sometimes there are errors, especially transferring from camera, the footage speeds up, the audio remains constant and you have shorter clips. Happened constantly. My guess, USB and it's non constant data rate. Another cheap short cut by Panasonic. The Canon has a firewire, which speed is constant, and they need it for the HDV tapes.

The HMC wins out with higher rez, native progressive imagers, resulting in two true progressive modes, 24fps, the other mode/rez are wrapped in pulldowns. The Canon's 24f, etc modes are fake and you can tell. Everything is interlaced on the Canon. I hate interlaced.

This review isn't structured very well, but I don't have the energy, since I'm so unenthusiastic about both, so they're not worth more time. But I thought I would let potential buyers know, the ones who think these two cameras are the Holy Grail. They aren't, and they aren't worth the high price tag, they are worth $2000 not a penny more. But the problem is, what else is there?

I returned the HMC, and I didn't the Canon wasn't mine, but would have returned it too.

I'm going to try the Canon SLR route. The closest thing you can get to film without shooting it.

Annoyingly these two manufacturers and Sony...are all sticking it to us. Instead of advancing things, they are taking baby steps, giving us one desired function at a time for a price.

If Canon can put a full frame sensor in their 5d II and can give it 1920x1080 30fps shooting, why can't they put that sensor in a camcorder, with a SLR interchangeable lens mount, with XLR inputs?

Because they want to sell camcorders AND slr cameras.

These camcorders are just big consumer cams. They don't have enough image improvement to warrant $2500+ more in cost. You are paying for features, limited manual adjustments, not image upgrade.

But of course I didn't have it for very long, two weeks.

I just couldn't get over the price versus video quality, and workflow.
They don't justify the price, especially when I think we are very close to getting some real breakthroughs in HD imaging.

Home Theater System Samsung HT-BD1250 Blu-ray

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After deciding on a Samsung HTIB system to integrate with my 2-year-old Samsung 46" HDTV, I came across this HT-BD1250 system at Best Buy with all the features I wanted (Bluray, surround sound with wireless to the rear speakers, Anynet+ integration, iPod integration), plus a few that I decided were "nice-to-have" (wireless network integration/Pandora/Netflix). Once I realized I would need to add the Samsung SWA-4000 wireless speaker amplifier and additional HDMI and optical cables for integration with my TV and HD/DVR cable box, the total package through Amazon was by far the best deal and way to go.

First quick note: You DO NOT need anything other than BASIC HDMI cables, which when purchased as a package here with Amazon are 80+% cheaper (even with the shipping charge from the third-party vendors) than if you buy them at Best Buy or other brick/mortar. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE on so-called "higher end" HDMI cables.

As for the HTIB system itself, I found that the documentation guided me through most of my installation/cabliing scenarios, and everything worked pretty much the first time once I powered everything up. I needed to make a few calls to Samsung tech support to get everything configured the way I wanted (I had some specific questions about the video/resolution modes switching between HD and non-HD inputs), but the support was English-speaking and reasonably competent. (I only got one "bum steer" from their tech support when I was making what turned out to be a user error on my part with the iPod integration, but the tech also didn't identify it correctly and wanted me to send the unit in for service at my own expense...not an acceptable option. I later walked away from it for a few hours and then returned back to it with a clear head, and figured out my error in using the setup menus, and it turned out all was well after all.)

I should probably mention my wiring/integration setup: I have a Samsung LN-4661F HD TV, a Motorola HD/DVR cable box from my cable company, and now my Samsung HT-BD1250 HTIB. Cabling is as follows: HDMI Out from the Motorola HD/DVR cable box to HDMI In 1 on the TV (CATV audio and video are integrated on the HDMI), HDMI Out from the HD-BD1250 HTIB to HDMI In 2 on the TV (for DVD/BD video), and Optical Audio Out 1 from the TV to Optical Audio In 1 on the HD-BD1250 (to feed the CATV audio back from the TV to be reproduced through the HTIB's sound amplifier).

I attempted to use a "standard" USB wireless network adapter to integrate with my home wireless network and found that it was unable to detect it; I suspect I could have made it work with some additional initial configuration first on my laptop, but I ended up scrapping that idea and I simply ordered the Samsung Wireless adapter for this unit, and it integrated perfectly with my home network in minutes. If you're really tech-savvy and think you can get a "standard" USB wireless adapter configured to work with this, I suppose you could try to do so and save $30 or $40, but for $79.99 the Samsung WIS09ABGN adapter works right out of the box and is a supported solution.

As for the wireless network/Internet integration itself, I've tested Pandora and it works well; haven't tested Netflix on demand yet. I also have yet to be able to figure out how to get integration with my PC via wireless to work as a source input (like to access music/multimedia I have on my PC), but it's an advertised feature of this system and I'm confident I can hack my way through and make that work eventually...not a priority for me, though, just another "nice to have".

The iPod integration works fairly well, but I'm a little disappointed that I was not able to figure out how to make "Shuffle" functionality work...I seem to be stuck playing my music in the order it's stored in my playlists. Not sure yet if this is a limitation or if I just haven't figured out how to do it yet.

The wireless speaker connection to the rear speakers with the SWA-4000 configured well pretty much the first time (I just had to play with the power cycling upon initial configuration) and the sound has been loud and clear. I did experience exactly one sound dropout on it the first day which immediately resolved and has not recurred, but it got my attention and I'm concerned about it based on reviews I read of other Samsung HTIB systems with wireless rear speaker connections. We shall see.

Configured out of the box, sound to the rear speakers only comes out if the input source provides it (like from a Dolby 5.1-enhanced DVD or BD), but I found that by cycling through the Dolby Effect Modes on the remote to the "Matrix" setting, I can hear sound through all 5 speakers all the time...exactly what I want, and the sound is great.

Another quick item to mention: I tested a couple of "standard" DVDs and the "1080p upscaling" feature of the BD player works well. As a result of this, I plan to only choose the added expense of Bluray discs in cases when I know there will be real value added, either feature-wise or sound/picture-wise (example, I purposely chose The Dark Knight as my first Bluray disc purchase). For my 45-year-old eyes and ears, upscaled DVD will be more than adequate in most cases.

Finally, I found that even with Anynet+ capability, I still needed to access all 3 of my remotes (TV, HTIB, and CATV) to control all needed functionality. Samsung support informed me that Anynet+ capability would allow integrated power on/off and basic volume/channel control, but it would not allow advanced function control on my TV such as P.SIZE, etc. Keep your expectations realistic on what Anynet+ will and won't provide. I solved this by also purchasing a Logitech Harmony One universal remote (which I have reviewed separately), and this product, while expensive, is a true one-remote solution for my new home theater setup, and one I would recommend highly.

Bottom line (for this reviewer): For me, the HT-BD1250 HTIB was not a true one-box solution. However, after adding the SWA-4000 wireless speaker amplifier, 2 inexpensive HDMI cables and 1 inexpensive optical audio cable, the Samsung WIS09ABGN adapter for wireless network/Internet integration, and the Logitech Harmony One universal remote, I am now extremely pleased with the result, and I look forward to using my new Home Theater every day after work. I feel like I'm finally fulfilling to potential of the HD TV that I purchased 2 years ago...and I now know that was certainly NOT the case with my old setup of just the TV and my HD/DVR box with a 5-way component cable providing the connection.

The Samsung HT-BD1250 HTIB is a good solution if you do your research and you set your expectation levels properly.

= = = = =

Review update from author:

I spoke to Samsung Level II tech support, and they informed me that (a) PC integration is not available - the placard included with the system is "not exactly true", and (b) Shuffle functionality on iPod is not available, despite the fact that Level I support told me I should be able to "use any feature that I can use conventionally on an iPod". Again, "not exactly true".

These are not showstoppers, but I am disappointed in those 2 shortcomings. Not enough to return the unit, but enough to hold my rating at only 4 stars instead of 5.

= = = = =

Review update #2 from author:

Signed up for a trial subscription of Netflix, and tried the Instant Queue/Streaming to my HTIB. It works well, but we definitely found that the picture quality was not nearly DVD quality (let alone BD quality). We watched National Treasure 2. I'm sure this has to do with the speed of my Internet connection (<3Mb/sec) and my 802.11g wireless network (I don't have 802.11n on my older router). Not enough to ruin the movie for us, but definitely a factor worth noting.

Still, having Netflix Streaming On Demand for a subset of their movie offerings is a nice entertainment option for us.

Review rating still stands at 4 stars out of 5 for me.

laptop Lenovo Ideapad U-450p 14-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

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So, I did extensive research on the ulv-class laptops from Asus, Acer, Toshiba, and Lenovo. My main goal was to buy a mid-range ($500-700) culv laptop with Windows 7 to tide me over until the release of the Asus UL80-JT (I3 CULV with automatic switchable graphic cards and 12 hours of battery life), which won't be released until later in the year.

What I got was exactly that. The reviews complained mostly about the Lenovo customer service, which I have not dealt with personally. However, I have heard that Lenovo's customer service isn't *that* bad and it is a smaller company than HP or Dell (you and your laptop will actually end up worse for the wear after dealing with their customer service). No one's customer service can ever compete with the quality Asus customer service, and I was sad that the price point on the Asus ul30 and ul80 moved back up to around $850 on Amazon and that they were sold out on most other websites, but so it goes.

So, onto the Lenovo, it has a sleek look and you will never have a fingerprint problem. The keyboard is the most ergonomically designed keyboard I have seen on a thin and light laptop and it has the greatest feel to it. The laptop does not feel flimsy at all and seems pretty sturdy all around. It comes with a CD/DVD drive, which is great, since most of the other thin and lights have eliminated an optical drive in favor of weight.

The veriface log-in is a cool added feature.

The screen has really good resolution and the laptop comes with a really decent graphics card. The one obvious drawback to this is that it takes a toll on the battery life. Now, I've moved from a normal laptop getting 2 hours of battery life at the most, so I am enjoying the added battery life. However, it is not as good as some of the other culv laptops. I get about 4 hours and 15 minutes on average depending on what I am doing. This is again, great compared to the regular lithium ion batteried-laptops, but it seems pretty average for the culv class laptops with Acer boasting 9 hours and Asus boasting 12 hours. (Asus doesn't get 12 hours but instead close to 9, but that still rates above the Lenovo). So, I ultimately find myself a bit annoyed when I have to plug the Lenovo in.

The laptop runs cool and quietly and with no real noticeable fan noise.

I think the only con on this laptop is the battery life AS COMPARED to other laptops in its class. Overall, however, I am happy with the purchase and would recommend it to people who are looking to get a less expensive culv laptop, because it ultimately has a better price point than its competitors.Lenovo Ideapad U-450p 14-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

Printer Polaroid CZA-10011B PoGo Instant Mobile (Black)

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I purchased the Polaroid PoGo today and have done a fair bit of "playing" with this compact little printer over the past couple of hours. In fact, I have already used the first package of 10 sheets of Zink (Zero Ink) paper that come with the printer. So my first recommendation is; if you are planning on buying a PoGo, I highly recommend getting extra paper so you can get through your "testing" phase without having to purchase more paper. However, don't go crazy and buy too much, there are expiration dates on the paper which may affect your picture quality if you take to long to "expose" (print) them.

Connectivity:
I have tested the Bluetooth capabilities with my Motorola Q, Laptop Computer (Bluetooth enabled), my desk-top Windows Vista computer (with Radio Shack "Bluespoon" Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor added) and my PictBridge capable Canon Powershot A 640 camera (directly connected to PoGo via USB cable) and the printer worked like a charm in all of the above tests!

Speed of Printing:
Print time is about 1 minute per photo. There was no noticeable change in print speed with any of the tests I performed. Using the Bluetooth (wireless) connection or plugging in your USB cable directly from your camera did not seem to make any difference as to how fast the image printed.

Image Quality:
Not great...but not the worst I have seen either...The pictures I printed from my camera (via USB connection) looked better than my pictures from my cell phone, but this was likely due to the higher megapixel image created by my camera versus the 1 megapixel image from my cell phone. However, the "white balance" of both my camera and cell phone images were a little "off". The whites were extremely white (almost washed-out) and the dark (shadow areas) were very dark. So if you stay away from printing bright "beach / snow" images or dark "night" photographs you will be OK. Photos with lots of color (flowers, for example) looked pretty good when printed with the PoGo.

Cool things to do:
The adhesive on the back of the photo paper is a nice feature of this product. This makes it possible to add pictures to your hand written journals. You can stick them to business card magnets and put photos all over your refrigerator. You can make photo luggage tags, cards and much, much more.

If you don't need the highest quality image, but want to do some fun, creative stuff with photographs I would definitely recommend the PoGo. If you are a photographer hoping that the PoGo would give you a quick "proof" of what your printed images will look like, then this printer is probably not for you, since the image quality is not as good as you could get with some standard ink jet printers.

Have fun...

Inkjet Printer HP Officejet 6500 Wireless All-in-One

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I looked and researched wireless printers and was going crazy. This one had all postive reviews so I decided to order it. I wanted an all in one printer/scanner/copy/ fax and wireless. At 149.00 dollars sale price I decided to go for it.
It came in a huge box and I thought what the heck did I order and when I took it out of the box it was bigger than my other all in one, but the double sided printing attachment adds some bulk (I have not tried this feature). It is noisier than my HP 4280 all in one, but that is not a big deal.
Set up was fairly easy, I just followed the instruction set up page. The software took a long time to install. I am familiar with printer set ups and installing software so no problem there just time consuming. It came with everything I needed including the USB cord (usually not included). The fax was easy to set up and send (I have not received a fax yet)It has speed dial too. The wireless works perfectly from my laptop. I'm familiar with HP software so the program is easy to use for scanning and it's easy to do copies too.
I am unfamiliar with printheads that you have to install yourself and I do not know if they have to be replaced periodically or not. The ink comes with a pop off top that was kind of scary but you just pop it off. Cartridges are very easy to install. It seems to have to go through a lot to get going including noise.
It took me over an hour but I wasn't in a big hurry.

The only problem I have encountered is with my new HP pavilion laptop 64bit running Vista. My desk top is a dell running XP, and I didn't have any software problems. The software installed on my laptop with no problems except it gives an error message when I shut down my laptop. My HP 4120 did the same thing, HP has not been able to give me a fix. It's a 64 bit problem.
I'm pretty impressed with all the features and I have printed out some 4 by 6 photos and had no problem using photo paper or 4 by 6 paper. The paper tray holds tons of paper which is nice when using wireless, in case I forget to check before printing.
I only gave it 4 stars because of the Vista 64 bit software glitch.
I am an intermediate to advanced computer user.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 5200 Black Desktop PC (Windows 7 Home Premium)

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CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 5200 Intel Core i7 870 2.93 Ghz LGA 1156 CPU, Intel P55 Chipset Motherboard, 4GB DDR3 1333 Memory, 1TB SATA II 3.0 Gb/s 7200rpm Hard Drive, ATI Radeon HD4890 Chipset 1GB PCI-Express Graphics, 24X DVDRW, NZXT Beta Gaming Case with 800W Power Supply and Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit (Retails). Customer Services Toll Free 888-937-5582

Li-Ion, Replacement Laptop Battery For Dell Inspiron 1501, Inspiron 6400, Inspiron E1505, Latitude 131L, Vostro 1000

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I bought this battery to replace the one in my Dell E1505. It arrived very, very fast. This seller actually cares about his customer and wants very much to make you happy.

The original battery that came with my Dell only lasted about 3 hours before it would go dead, then it died completely after 14 months. This battery fit my computer perfectly and I charged it exactly as the instructions that came with it said to do and I am happy to say that I am getting over 4 hours of life out it, which is even better than the original. Dell wanted almost $200 dollars for this replacement battery. I was very satisfied with the price that I paid for it with this seller. An amazingly low price and such great results.

I highly recommend this seller and this battery. I have no complaints at all.
Thanks!

Internet Security Kaspersky 2010 3-User

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I own a 3-year-old Dell XPS 410 with an Intel Core 2 6700 CPU @ 2.66GHz, equipped with a RAID 0 650 GB dual hard drive, 4 GB DDR2 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB "Direct X 10"-compatible graphics card; for the most part, I have been displeased with the performance of my computer ever since my initial purchase... and this disappointment extended to the performance of my chosen internet security suite, KIS 2007-2010.

After several years of using the miserably sluggish, sporadically buggy Vista Ultimate 32-bit OS, I have recently upgraded my computer to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit (all I can say is WHAT A DIFFERENCE... for those interested, upgrade ASAP). After a clean install, I reluctantly decided to reinstall KIS 2010 and see how well it would perform with my new OS. I wasn't too impressed with KIS 2010's overall performance when I ran it on Vista Ultimate 32-bit (although it was improved over KIS 2009), but running it on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit is another story altogether.

The Good:

A newly-streamlined interface makes it far more user friendly than previous editions;

There's lots of smart configuration tweaks for experienced users;

It uses a lot less system resources to run than the last few versions;

It works extremely well with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit (which I have just upgraded to), with no slowdown or start-up hangs;

Firewall, malware and virus protection is among the best of any current security suite;

The "safe run" sandbox virtual environment is a nice new feature;

The free software upgrades means you only have to continue renewing your subscription, as opposed to shelling out twice as much for annual software upgrades.

However, there are a few cons:

My experience with KIS 2010 on Vista Ultimate 32-bit was erratic, as most of the time it would work well, but on occasion would tremendously slow down my computer's start-up time, sometimes to the point where I would have no choice but to re-boot the computer;

The spam filter needs work;

The interface could still stand to become a bit more user-friendly for novices in the settings section;

There is an issue with KIS 2010 that blocks the "Windows Experience Index" from completing in Windows 7 (UPDATE: a recent patch finally seems to have corrected the issue);

Scanning is fairly slow with large hard drives.

Still, for the several weeks that I have been using KIS 2010 with Windows 7 64-bit, I must say I am quite pleased with the smooth, quick and reliable performance it has exhibited, as none of the issues that marred KIS 2009 and 2010 while using Vista Ultimate 32-bit are occurring with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

UPDATE, 5/29/10: It has now been well over seven months since I installed KIS 2010, and it is working better than ever.

Overall, my recommendation is if you are using Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit, I'd give Norton Internet Security 2010 a shot before KIS 2010. However, if you have a comparable (or superior) PC setup to mine and are using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Kaspersky 2010 Internet Security Suite does its job excellently and I would strongly encourage those in need to give it a try.

Drum Set DeRosa by Bridgecraft Child *BLUE - DRM 312 - For 3 to 5 yrs

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We got this set for our two year old and could not be happier. The quality of the drums are great for the price and I was actually surprised at how "professional" they were. Our son loves to bang away and this will be a suitable set for a few years, at least.

All drums include tuning keys so that the tightness and sound can be modified. There is a snare drum, a bass drum, a tom drum and a crash cymbal, along with a quality little stool.

Pros -
Quality "toy" (not really a toy, but an actual instrument)
Price

Cons -
As mentioned by others, the assembly instructions are TERRIBLE (we actually got instructions, but they were a photocopy and unreadable), but we figured it out in no time by looking at the picture online.

I have to say, if you are looking for a quality set that can be enjoyed for years to come and then passed along (not thrown away), this is it.

WinCleaner PC Maintenance One-Click (Up to 3 Users)

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WinCleaner OneClick does exactly what it says! I bought this product because my computer was really slow and was freezing up on me. I didn't want software that was too complicated, just something to get it running like it should. I found a goldmine in my first purchase!!! I'm not that computer saavy, but this product is easy to use and keeps my computer running fast and smooth. It installed within minutes (I was expecting at least half an hour) and I got back to using my computer in no time! My desktop comes up in no time when I turn my machine on and I am so happy with it - I tell all my friends and anyone with a computer that they should invest in this product. It's also a great gift idea!

I first found this software during my Win XP days, it was a great one, and this one I am using with Vista Ultimate.

Other then the fact that it removed my Printer Drivers on the reg cleaner portion, the rest worked great, and I was able to restore them with its UNDO feature.

It is still the best cleanup software.

AntiSpyware eTrust PestPatrol 2005 [LB]

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* The software removes spyware and adware, Remote Access Trojans, Keystroke Loggers and Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks
* PestPatrol gives you the option to select the level of protection that is right for you
* The management console and workstation agents are. NET compliant
* Active real-time protection does more than detect and remove spyware, it proactively protects you against it
* Installs in a snap -- no extra software required!

Antivirus Norton 2010 1 User/3 PC

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Norton AntiVirus 2010 defends your PC against viruses, spyware, bots, worms, and more without slowing you down or getting in your way. Intelligence-driven technology identifies and targets only files at risk, for faster, less frequent scans. Vulnerability Protection prevents threats from exploiting security holes in your PC's software. Pulse Updates every 5 to 15 minutes and real-time online security checks help ensure continuous, up-to-the-minute protection against the latest threats. Plus, unlike other antivirus solutions, Norton AntiVirus provides easy-to-understand threat explanations and information about CPU and memory resource usage to help you prevent future infections and keep your PC running fast.

Spy Sweeper Webroot 3-User

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With more than 20 million copies sold Webroot Spy Sweeper is the #1 best-selling antispyware protection available. Proven to catch spyware that other programs miss this award-winning software can be used alongside your antivirus security for maximum protection. Powerful Smart Shields block known and emerging threats as you browse before they ever reach your computer and personal information. If your PC is already infected advanced discovery methods will find and destroy even the most stubborn infections including rootkits Trojans and keyloggers. Webroot Spy Sweeper has won over 50 awards for security excellence and is highly recommended by experts worldwide.Promotional bullets: Free U.S.-based phone email and web support. Free upgrades during the life of subscription keep you protected from the latest threats. Windows 7 compatible. The #1 protection against spyware adware Trojans rootkits and keyloggers. Protects up to 3 PCs. Enhances your antivirus security for maximum protection. More than 20 million copies sold. Winner of over 50 awards for security excellence. Stops pop-ups fake alerts and browser hijackings. Prevents attacks on social networking sites. Cleans infections with a single click. Scans files to ensure safe downloading. 16 advanced Smart Shields.System Requirements: Windows 7 32 and 64 bit operating systems (all versions). Windows Vista 32 bit SP1 32 and 64 bit operating systems (all versions). Windows XP SP1 SP2 and SP3 operating systems (all versions). 300 MHz processor. 100 MB hard drive space. 256 MB RAM. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher or FireFox 2.0 or higher for connecting to the Webroot website. Format: WIN XPVISTAWIN 7 Genre: UTILITIES Age: 667208181148 UPC: 667208181148 Manufacturer No: 18114

iPod Apple touch 32 GB (2nd Generation)

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The iPod touch has always been an amazing iPod. And with its groundbreaking technologies--including a Multi-Touch screen, the accelerometer, and 3D graphics--and access to hundreds of games, iPod touch puts an amazing gaming experience in the palm of your hand. It comes in 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB models with new volume controls and a built-in speaker. Play hours of music. Create a Genius Playlist of songs that go great together. Watch a movie. Surf the web. View rich HTML email. Find your location and get directions with Google Maps. Browse YouTube videos. And shop the App Store for games and applications.

Desktop PC Dell Inspiron One 19 iO19-4834BGA 18.5-Inch Multi-Touch

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A beautiful all-in-one computer that looks just as good in the living room as it does the kitchen, the Dell Inspiron One 19 is ideal for the shared computing experience, especially in family areas where people can effortlessly view and move photos, manage music and review home work. Made with beautiful aluminum, glass and fabric that make a style statement, the Studio One 19 delivers a combination of rich features at an outstanding value.

Watch movies and videos or view pictures in ultra-sharp detail with the high-resolution 18.5-inch widescreen display, and the integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam allows you to chat face-to-face with family and friends. This Inspiron One 19 is powered by an Intel Pentium dual-core processor for easy multitasking and blazing through your everyday tasks.

Pre-installed with the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system (64-bit version), you'll be able to easily create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. Windows 7 is the easiest, fastest, and most engaging version of Windows yet. Better ways to find and manage files, like Jump Lists and improved taskbar previews, help you speed through everyday tasks. Windows 7 is designed for faster and more reliable performance, so your PC just works the way you want it to.

Apple Laptop MacBook MC207LL/A 13.3-Inch

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Amazon.com has certified this product is Frustration Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without hard plastic "clamshell" casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging during shipping. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box. Learn more about Frustration-Free Packaging.

Inheriting technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line, the new MacBook has been updated with a durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch trackpad and Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life. Measuring just 1.08 inches thin and weighing 4.7 pounds, the sleek new MacBook cuts a slim profile on any desk (or in any backpack or briefcase). And it comes with everything you need for email, calendar, contacts, browsing the Internet, and more--all a part of the pre-installed Mac OS X Snow Leopard operating system.

The MacBook's new seamless, more durable unibody enclosure with rounded contours makes it easy to pick up and slide into and out of your bag. And it's made of rugged polycarbonate that withstands the rough and tumble of everyday life--at school, at work, or while traveling. Even the bottom of the new MacBook feels different. Covering its entire surface is a nonslip material that keeps your MacBook right where you put it, whether on a desk, table, or airplane tray.

The LED-backlit 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display provides a spectacular viewing experience, helping to make documents, videos, photos, and games look incredibly sharp and detailed. The LED backlighting delivers stunning colors and instant full-screen brightness the moment you open the lid. And its 1280 x 800 pixel resolution offers an outstanding balance of luminous color and easy readability in a perfectly portable size.

It comes pre-loaded with Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system--an operating system custom-designed for the advanced technology inside--and it also comes with the iLife '09 suite of applications, including iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes.

Laptop Toshiba Satellite L505-GS5037 TruBrite 15.6-Inch (Black)

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Offering impressive everyday performance and affordability, the Satellite L505 laptop brings you the Toshiba quality you deserve for handling life’s essentials at home, school or work. This easy-to-use, all-purpose, eco-conscious laptop gives you ample processing power, memory and storage for surfing the Net, downloading video, checking email, managing household finances or studying for finals. It also offers wireless broadband connectivity to keep you plugged into what’s happening, along with ports for enjoying and sharing your media. A stunning diagonal 15.6” high-def display lends a whole new visual dimension to whatever you’re doing. New Toshiba productivity help you master your day. And beautiful styling design means you’ll not only be multitasking like mad, but traveling in style.

GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor Garmin Forerunner 305

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I like this thing quite a lot. I've had it for about three weeks, and have used it on 12 workouts so far. I use it primarily for running, with biking a secondary usage. The main reason I wanted it was for the instantaneous readout of distance, running pace and heart rate, the latter needed for the speed work I want to do this running season.

The core functionality (distance and heart rate monitoring) works perfectly. There's none of the signal drops I've had with other heart monitors. Once the satellites are initially acquired, I've only had one dropout when I was outside. The initial acquisition of the satellites can be quirky and can take some time. The accuracy (according to the readout) is +/- 25ft, depending on how many satellites can be found. I've compared the distance measurement on the GPS with a known, measured distance on one of the trails I run on (the Chicago lakefront path). The GPS always increments a mile when I'm within 5 or 10 feet of the mile marker sign on the path. Well, I guess that's the least I should expect from a $350 GPS unit! Of course it's bigger than a normal running stopwatch, but that hasn't bothered me at all. The heart rate strap is also very comfortable and well-designed.

The display is crisp and has one outstanding feature: The information presented on the various pages can be completely user-customized. The default screen layout is rather poor, but in just a few steps I could replace it with the information I wanted to see while I run. There are almost 40 different data fields you can choose from for display. Examples: current pace, average lap pace, average run pace, heartrate, distance.

The only disappointment is the point-in-time (instantaneous) pace measurement: It varies wildly during a run. I see swings as big as +/- 3 minutes/mile. I'm a marathoner and I know my pace is fairly consistent during a run. I just looked at my run today, and according to the data the first mile varied from 5:57/mile to 12:06 mile. I suspect the problem is either in the averaging algorithm (too short a distance?), or in the uncertainty that results from different satellites coming in and out of view. The variations seem to get worse under tree cover compared with an open area. Luckily there's a lap-average pace that can be presented, and at least that value is useful and more accurate. The bottom line is that you can't look at the watch and say "right now I'm running 9 mins/mile". There is the ability to specify a pace smoothing factor, but I have it maxed out and still see the variations. The elevation readout also seems inaccurate, but that isn't important to me.

Upload of workout data to the PC software (Training Center) is transparent. The PC software is very good for presenting time/distance/pace/heartrate/calorie data. However the maps it shows are very crude. I've worked a bit with one of the online, subscription services (MotionBased). That looks really good and provides some additional functionality beyond the included Training Center software, although I still haven't decided if it's worth the $$$ yet for long-term data storage. MotionBased allows export to Google Earth, and it's tremendously cool to see your running path superimposed on a satellite image. You can recharge the unit through the USB port on your computer, although it's slower than using the dedicated recharger.

I had hoped that owning this device would prove motivational for me, and indeed it has. I can't imagine running or biking without it. Updating my training log is trivial now: Plug this thing into my computer, and it's done. My hope is that a future software update will do something about the pace calculation (maybe a few additional levels of smoothing?). If so, the Forerunner 305 would earn 5 stars+++.


Positives:

Flawless heart rate sampling
Great distance measuring and lap-average pace calculation
Seamless integration with a PC
Fully-automatic training log update
User-customizable display


Negatives;

Wildly-varying pace readout.