I wonder why manufacturers have chosen to make the graphics cards on notebooks so hard to upgrade. I think it is a choice they have made to build them like that and that’s a shame too.  I know there are some specialty notebook makers out there that offer some kind up upgradeability for their notebooks graphics’ but  I think all notebooks should be upgradeable. What  I want to know is why can’t they set up their graphics cards in some sort of modular bay.  When you want to upgrade your graphics just go out and purchase a new graphics card, install it in the modular graphics tray and slide it in.  Lets say a  gamer goes out  and spends a few thousand on a gaming notebook to take to lan parties or maybe their a student with a small dorm room and only have space for a notebook but still want to be able to relax and play their graphics intensive game; so they go out and drop a few thousand on a good gaming notebook  with a high end dual core or quad core processor , lots of ram, and a good graphics card and they are happy.  Ok a year or two down the road and a new crop of games comes out  and they can still play them but their notebooks struggling. They check the recommended specs and see that  their processor is plenty strong enough and they have more then enough ram and uh oh their graphics  which were cutting edge just two years ago is now considered  a mid level graphics solution. So where does that leave them? Having to spend another few thousand on a new gaming notebook?  Paying someone a boatload of money to dismantle their notebook and install a new graphics card?  Perhaps  praying to the all powerful frame rate gods to  bless your  notebook with more power. With the graphics cards sitting in  easily accessible  modular bays  it would just be a matter of  purchasing a new graphics card or two and sliding them in.  I have to honestly say I don’t see a downside here. Notebook manufacturers will sell more notebooks because  people will be more willing to spend money on a product they know will have  longer usable lifespan. Graphics card manufacturers will have another market they can sell product to and consumers will get more for their money.  Now we just need a manufacturer to be the first one to do it. Gaming notebooks  wouldn’t be the only ones to benefit. Take my notebook a Compaq v5000series. It is a good notebook. A little older but still works well. Its only real downside  is the old ati mobility Radeon express 200. Now if I could upgrade  that to a newer card with its own dedicated memory that would make this old notebook seem new again.

Ok I have written before about free global wi-fi and I used the example of a mall with its many stores  and how it can take advantage of it, but now lets talk about  some different uses outside of shopping and malls.  What about a Wi-Fi 911? It just like dialing 911 on your phone but with extra benefits.  You make your call using VOIP  ( just like Vonage or Skype)  but this time they can pinpoint your location exactly  using  a  type or terrestrial GPS ( using triangulation based on what Wi-Fi  locations you are connected to and  satellite GPS)  This can greatly decrease the time it takes for help to get to you  when your not at home.  Missing children; as soon as a child goes missing  an Amber alert will have their face on every connected  device instantly as well as  a description of them and any information about the abductor.  If anyone sees them just clicking on the message  will instantly connect them to a hotline where their location will be recorded and they can tell them what they saw. That will significantly increase the chances the child will be found quickly and  hopefully unharmed. Lets say our cars are connected too and someone steals yours. You call up and reports it missing, the police type it in and your car shows up on a map giving its real time location. Whatever patrol unit is closest will make the stop and you will have your car back. My sons last school was using an automated phone dialing system that would call our home when any school event was coming up. I loved it.  With  everyone connected  a parent can subscribe to a school news feed  and always be up to date on what is happening in their children’s schools.  You could even subscribe to information feeds on different things like late breaking news, weather updates,  a gallery or museums coming displays or even local events.  Free Wi-Fi internet access is I believe critical to our connected future and I believe  the FCC’s decision on whitespaces  will be pivotal in that future. I also believe that a law should be passed requiring anyone with a wi-fi capable device be allowed free internet access.  Now I don’t think it would be right to make it cutting edge high speed but  no less then 500 Kbs.  That will be plenty fast enough for most things and still allow the current internet providers room to offer faster internet for those willing to pay for it.  I know I personally would like having access to a 500 kbs connection for free while I’m out but  have no problems paying for 5Mbs or better connection while home. I believe that will be a win win situation for everyone. People who can’t afford broadband will have access to it. Those that can will probably pay for faster access. Online business will have an even greater pool of people to sell too.  Brick and motors ( actual  physical stores) will have a new avenue to market their wares and new tool to attract customers. Cities will be able to more easily get the word out about coming event s  which can make them more profitable.  Schools can be more connected to parents. Emergency and public services will be more effective and I am sure  many more benefits will pop up because of it.  So come on FCC lets do the right thing for our future and open up those Whitespaces for everyone to use free of charge.

I have  written about  the Internet and how the time will come when it is an integrated part of our everyday lives. What I think we really need is better wireless  access. Now you can  use  WiFi hotspots and  they are good but  you only have access when you’re within range. Cell phone brandband cards are good , their speeds are improving  and you can get online anywhere you can get a cell signal, but they are a little pricey and most limit you to five gigs of data transfer a month.  You can use a service like Clearwire ,which is what I currently use, their speeds are  fast  and they  don’t  have a five gig cap but even with their pc  card  you still don’t have  connections everywhere.  I think it is time for a change in thinking. I feel that charging for Internet access is an outdated idea. I believe there needs to be free Wifi worldwide. I think there should be  free internet  access to anyone with WiFi capability. Now I’m not saying that all those who provide  interent access now needs to be put out of business. I just think that instead of them being internet providers they need to become content providers. People who choose to go through  them should have access to content  that they woudn’t be able to get through  the free access. Some examples might be  much faster access then the free WiFi can provide. Virtual worlds  that can only be accessed through  that provider. Exclusive or  easier access to high quality streaming audio and video. They just need to get creative and come up with content that will make people want to continue to pay them for access. I think it can really change the way we live  and the way businesses operate. Think about this for a moment you decide to head to the mall for a little shopping now you walk into the mall check out a few stores ,grab few flyers to see what's on sale  and toss them when your done, maybe you  check out the bulletin board to see if they have any events coming to the mall that you might want to come back and see. If your mall has a movie theatre you might head on over and see what's playing.  Now lets see what it could be. You decide to go into the mall. You  get ready , grab your pocket computer  with it’s mobile operating system, unplug your car from its charging station and off you go.  When you get to there the mall shows up as a local network and presents you with a little icon on your screen. Clicking on that shows you  a map of the mall; clicking on a store  tells you  what they have in stock, what's on sale, even if they have what you want in your size.  Going back to the mall map you click on events and see if anything is going on in the mall and what is coming. Clicking the movie theatre will show you what’s playing,  show times, ticket costs even what's available in the snack bar.  Business owners can take advantage of this connectivity as well.   What about  random hourly specials. One hour only special saving in our children’s clothing department. Things like that will have people coming back often to get a chance at hourly specials for things they want and need. The interesting thing about all this is it can happen now even without the free everywhere wifi.  We already have  devices like the Apple Ipod touch which has wi-fi built in. The stores inventory  are already  computerized. And it wouldn’t be difficult for businesses to  create local wi-fi networks for their stores .  That way when the free global Wi-Fi becomes a reality  we will all be able to roam freely from one network to another remaining connected  the whole time.

It is surprising how much we rely on the Internet. The other day I was asked if I knew the phone number to a certain business; which I didn’t so I looked it up; now did I open up the phone book and start searching though the pages? No. I  opened up my Firefox browser and did a Google search for it.  Now in all honesty living in a small city  the phone book might have been a little faster, but I still prefer to go online for that information. Why? Well because in addition to the phone number I can see  things like store hours, weekly specials,  current inventory and whether or not they have some  web only specials, and if it looks interesting to me but I don’t know how to get there then I just use  a mapping site like Google maps or Mapquest to  show me the way. If I am in the mood to watch an older TV show or a movie then I check out  free sites like  Hulu. I know that now even ABC , NBC , and CBS all offer clips and full episode on their sites as well. When I am in the mood for a little gaming I open up Steam and head  straight for my favorite game Team Fortress 2. Where I can easily knock off a few  hours on a good server.  If I want to find out if there is anything  new about Autism  that might be helpful to my  son It’s just a matter of typing a few words into a search engine and  if I want to listen to music most radio stations have an online broadcast as well and if I am I the mood for a certain type of music I can go to a site like Pandora and select my music from  Artist , Genre or many other options. I know many of you  are the same way, some  practically live their lives  online and through sites like Second Life and Utherverse they can pretty much do anything they can in real life and often times more.  The Internet has come along way since I first jumped on it using a dial up modem and windows  98 and I believe  there will come a time when the Internet is not just a fun and convenient thing to have access to, but an integrated part of our everyday lives. 

I was talking to  a gentleman the other day  who had an electric hub motor on his bicycle. I asked him if it had a decent range on a charge and he said it was great he could go on his regular bike ride and never have to pedal. Ok while I have nothing against electric assist systems I actually think they have  some good uses. I always thought of them as electric ASSIST systems designed to help out with your pedaling efforts, you know like helping you  up a long hill or helping to get you moving when you have a full load on your bike. Personally I think if you want  an electric only bike there are many fine examples such as  the  eGO vehicles.  I would like to have  a system like Bionix  you can set  your  level of assist wanted  or just turn it off when no assist is needed. It also has the option of regenerative braking. This I think is a great feature. More then a few times I have  found myself heading down a steep hill making generous use of my brakes to  keep my speed down below windburn speed. With  the regenerative braking  set it to a high level  and let it keep your speed in check without  a lot of extra wear and tear on your breaks. Sounds like  a  real good  solution if you have a cargo bike or are loaded up for touring. Now I know there are probably quite a few cyclist out there who  would look down on using an electric assist  system while touring , but you know I think the most important part of a bike tour is actually enjoying the tour; now some may enjoy telling stories of how they  made it up some long mountain pass  reaching the top with their legs burning and having to stop and throw up before continuing on. I personally have  no problem pushing myself up a long hill and have felt the burn more then a few times but if by employing an electric assist system I can avoid the puking at the top of the hill then I say that’s a good thing. A good place to get started on finding out about electric transportation is http://www.electric-bikes.com/ They have all sorts of good information there.

I am somewhat sad today. Today is the day I replaced my anti virus program from my long time favorite Avg anti virus . It was like having to say goodbye to an old friend. Why did I replace something that has proven itself to be dependable and reliable after all these years? It is because the latest version Version 8. Just isnt up to AVG's usual high standards. For starters the memory usage has increased dramatically. version 7.5 used to use about 2 megs while idle and version 8 uses over 30. Their new link scanner which seems like a good idea has caused slowdowns and browser crashes, and it has compatability issues with another favorite program I use called Threatfire from PCtools . A google search has revealed that I am not the only one having these problems. My search for a free replacement brought up many possibilities but the one that consistantly got good reviews was Avira free and I am pleased to say it has been working flawlessly. I must admit I miss my old friend and found comfort in seeing that AVG icon in the taskbar; ,so Avg please give us a nice lean new version of AVG free so I can once again welcome my old friend back into my system.

Ok lets talk about solar energy. I feel it is a resource that is far far underused. Think about this; if the roof of every house, apartment, and business was covered in solar panels I think it could change the world. You might be saying oh please how can that change the world, well curious readers let me tell you my thoughts on this. If every structure had solar panels on  it would reduce our energy needs ,true, but lets take it a step further. Say everyone of those buildings had their own battery storage array; now even when it is not very sunny they can have a reserve of power to make up the difference further reducing our energy needs and reliance on fossil fuels. Lets take another step;  say everyone was also tied into the energy grid and any energy they do not need gets transferred to the grid to get stored in big energy storage banks and shuffled around to those who have a need for it. Ok now that reduces our needs on fossil fuels even further, but we can take this another step further.Are you ready? say every house had an electric vehicle charging station and every apartment parking space had a charging station  and we all used electric vehicles for our day to day needs   nowthat would put a huge dent in our dependence on fossil fuels. Now what are some of the other benefits of such a system? It would spark a great deal of research and development into new solar panel and battery technologies making the panels more efficient and the batteries smaller and more powerful; which would also spark the development of new and better quick charging technologies. Which would give us vehicles which were more powerful and with a greatly increased range and the ability to charge them quickly from charging stations for improved practicality. Imagine this, school busses, city busses even the greyhound busses all with these high capacity  quick charging batteries  on board and high efficiency solar panels on their big flat roofs. Lets add to that the city utility vehicles, police and rescue vehicles even the postal service trucks all running on electric power. Now you might be saying surely you can't run all vehicles on  electric power what about those big diesel trucks? they have to be able to haul a lot of weight. Well electric engines have a lot of torque which is what those big rigs needs to get all that weight moving and hauling it uphill and most of the trailers have those long flat tops making the ideal spot for more solar panels and plenty of room underneath for energy storage.  "Ok ok I can see how that might work but what about trains? there is a lot of freight carried by trains." , you ask. Oh I wouldn't forget about trains. I love trains and would like to see a renewed interest in train travel.  Have you ever looked at train engines? Those big, wonderful, powerful diesel-ELECTRIC engines? why not make them electric only? Every car ( passenger and cargo) can have a energy storage array underneath and solar panels on top. When they are attached to the train they plug into the rest so the longer the train the more energy storage it has access to and the more panels for charging it can use. Lets not forget with all this new solar panel and battery technology being used there will also be a lot of research into making better electric motors. These will be smaller,lighter, more powerful and more efficient then anything we have today. The thought of a light weight two hundred horsepower electric motorcycle with a four hundred or more mile range just puts a smile on my face. We could be a country free of any dependencies on fossil fuels. We can have a greener future and most importantly our children can have a future where they don't have to worry about energy or global warming or even having to wear a mask just to be able to breathe when they go outside.

I love riding my bicycle. Is it because I have a fancy expensive bike? No, actually it has a few problems; not the least of which I only have about 4 gears that it will actually stay in, the front reflector tends to flop from side to side depending on which way the bike leans, and the back brake won't stop you at anything above walking pace, but you know what? I don't care. I love the free feeling I get when I am cruising down the road. No matter what problems arise in life I can get on my bike and ride and after awhile things don't seem to bad and I am pleased to see more people riding bikes these days. It may be just because the cost of gas is so high, it may be more people find it a great way to exercise, some may even have a car that is not working and that is their only means of transportation. Whatever the reason they are out there and that is good. Now I have started to wonder how to get the most everyday use out of biking; how to best do things like running errands, grocery shopping, taking in the recycling just everyday things. The best all around answer for most people I have seen seems to be a bike trailer. There are an amazing amount of trailers out there. One wheel and two. and most of them are really good quality, but what I am looking at is a day to day trailer. One I can leave hooked to my bike while I run into a store and know that everything will still be there when I get back. I have spoken with some riders who say they have never had a problem with things being taken off their trailers, but I am also reminded of something my dad once told me; locks keep and honest person honest. You put to much temptation in front of some people and they won't be able to resist; so I went looking for a good solid simple trailer that that is lockable and I came across BicycleR Evolution bike trailers they make a good simple design to which you can mount a lockable Rubbermaid action packer onto. I personally own a small action packer that I have carried around with me for years loaded up with books and magazines. I have used it as a stool, a seat, storage, a last minute ice chest and even a quick camping gear storage container strapped to the back of my scooter when a spur of the moment camping trip presented itself and it has always held solid, never complaining and to this day it is still in one piece and fully functional; so I know it will be great on a bike trailer. Now BicycleR trailers are not the only one out there who makes a good trailer but so far they seem to have the best design for a day to day trailer. There are other options out there but I will talk about those another time. Have a good day everyone.

well here again it has been a very long time since I wrote anything here. well to be honest I kinda forgot about this. I just came across this while doing a little research into social networking.  Well a little update I have been doing some web work for a friends store. it has been interesting. I went into it not really sure what all I was doing but I have been learning more and more and time goes on. Check out the stores and see what you think. If you are looking for musical instruments you should check out this one NCG1stopshop.net  if you want to find all sorts of good quality miscelaneous stuff at amazing prices you can go to this one NCG1stopshop.com  if you are looking for some unique collectables and one of a kind items you can even check out this shop Normas collectable gift  you have got to check out the grandfather clocks there. they are hand made one of a kind and i have seen them in person and the craftsmanship is amazing.  well thats what I have been up too lately. I will try to make the time to update this more often. I did enjoy writing here for the few that read it :-) . so peace to you and have a good day.