Don’t Get Screwed!: Atlantic Ave’s Pro Line Home Theater Sucks It

I’m a proponent of justice; swift, hard, unwavering justice. So when I encounter an out of control predator stalking the meek, the one avenue of control that I have (short of dressing like a bat and executing street vengeance), is to let my fingers and keyboard regulate. Consider it my small, but vital, contribution to society. Read more

Acer H213H Monitor: An Excellent TV Substitute

True movie buffs know that its paramount to view flicks on a suitable display; color saturation, resolution, and contrast are vital elements to a pleasurable viewing experience. That’s why when it came time to replace my aging 24-inch tube, I decided to make a move to a quality flat screen – - but I didn’t purchase a television. Read more

Monthly Mashup: March Edition

Spring has finally sprung.  Well, almost.  And to kick it off, we’ve once again picked out our favorite and most popular posts from LifeStyler and some other intriguing blogs and websites  ’round the web for our March Monthly Mashup.  Keep reading for a compilation of interesting shiz from the past month.

Also worth noting, we’ll be having a contest on the website soon.  So keep coming back for a chance to win a pretty freakin’ awesome prize.  We’ll be revealing it soon.

Are Young People Afraid to Invest? – Young people in recent history have shown a disproportionate lack of ability in managing their money.  We took a look into the issue to see if attitudes towards saving for retirement and frugality have changed due to the current economic climate.

Paparazzi iPhone App Turns You Into Julia Allison – Looking for that big break?  Want internet fame and fortune — or at least Facebook fame?  Check out the Paparazzi iPhone app game.  It brings a whole new meaning to the concept of popularity.

Think Networking Gets You Ahead? Not How You’re Doing It – Our friends over at Money Under 30 got it right.  Lots of young adults miss many of the crucial aspects of networking.  David explains what the Do’s and Dont’s of effective networking are and how to make sure you’re doing it right.

Cold Cash in the Name of Science? – Part-time jobs are ok, but quite a few people are looking into more unconventional ways to earn a buck or two.  One of those ways is by volunteering for medical research.  We spoke to a former medical research assistant to find out what’s involved with one of these studies, how much you can expect to make, and what to be prepared for.

The 5 Best Free iPhone and iPod Touch Apps: Part Deux – Our obsession with all things iPhone related continues with our second edition of the five best free iPhone apps.  We take a look at our second round of favorite applications that do everything from watching your stocks to browsing locales and planning your next vacation.

Wise Buys: Experts Share Tips for Saving on Clothes, Gadgets, and Groceries – The NY Daily News talks to NYC residents about how they save some green on everything from clothing, gadgets and groceries.  Because, really, who has the ins on ways to save in this great city of ours better than the villagers themselves?

Acer Aspire One: A Wallet-Friendly Netbook for the Budget Conscious – Thinking of downgrading that thousand dollar computer for a cheaper model?  We took a hard look at Acer’s new $350 netbook to find out if it’s worth ditching the full-size versions and taking advantage of the huge cost difference.  Read on for our thoughts on the tiny machine.

Neighborhood Watch: Astoria – The LifeStyler crew took to the streets of Astoria and spoke to long-time resident, Brian Heater to find out the inside scoop on his Queens hood.

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Photo credit: katmere

Acer Aspire One: A Wallet-Friendly Netbook For The Budget-Conscious

When I was just a young’un in the mid ‘80s, I was a precocious tyke. If there was trouble to be found, I had an extraordinary sense that enabled me to sniff it out, by either performing daredevil stunts (such as bus or train surfing) or total landing into it by accident (I’ve broken more than my fair share of windows playing baseball with the crew).

Oft times, my parental would give me a valuable life lesson in lieu of a good ol’ fashioned strapping, which would involve stimulating moral lessons that, even as a pre-teen, I somehow got. These lessons were often direct and to the point (Mama Wilson wasn’t one for fluff), but on odd occasions she provided examples of the appropriate course of action by demonstrating what not to do. Which is exactly what I’m to do here.

I cover the consumer electronics space in one of my other gigs, and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in the field. So when dear Mama Wilson, the sage of my childhood, performed a major, major purchasing blunder, I was shocked and appalled. This 50+ year old woman, who does nothing PC related other than checking her AOL Mail, bought a PC that cost over $2,500. $2,500 just to forward me photos of puppies frolicking in meadows. That just wasn’t right.

After a small chastisement, I realized that it wasn’t her fault entirely; she was probably a victim of an upsell by a blue shirt. Still, the idea of my mom owning a machine that video editors or hardcore gamers would drool over was more than a little bit hilarious—and quite a bit of overkill for her needs.

This rather long (but hopefully insightful) intro was crafted to demonstrate that blind purchases where one doesn’t analyze the usefulness of a product, and cost you big bucks. Mama Wilson could have made due with a netbook, a low-cost, lightweight mini-notebook designed for anywhere web access. We’ve touched upon netbooks in previous post, but never delved into their fruits. Consider that oversight rectified as we’re going to take a look at the new $349 10-inch Acer Aspire One. I know what you’re probably thinking—a PC under $400 has to be crap, right? Slow down, cowpoke. The Acer Aspire One is a kickin’ little netbook, and show we’ll show you why the vast majority of PC users in the hunt for a new computer need some of this slickness in their lives. The Acer Aspire One doesn’t have the mind-blowing specs of other computers, but chances are the “meager” specs are all that you need. Let’s break it down.

Design: For a computer that’s remarkably cheap, the Acer Aspire One is a pretty sharp looking device. It comes in four colors (black, white, red, blue), and features nice touches like a brushed metal palmrest, glossy bezel that surrounds the 10-inch display, and sweet-looking tear-drop shaped Acer logo built into the hinge. In other words it’s full of pimposity. The 10.1-inch display is very bright, and you even get a webcam for videochatting with buds. The touchpad is a bit small, but its no dealbreaker.

1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor: Without getting all uber-nerdy on you, I’ll say that the CPU powering the Acer Aspire One is more than sufficient for working in documents, checking out photos, and blaring tunes from your music folder without any lag our hiccups. Plus, with many applications living on the web instead of on your PC, all you need is a decent Wi-Fi connection to check out the YouTubes, the Gmails, and the Slackers. In short, you have enough horsepower in the engine to handle your typical day to day computing tasks.

1GB of RAM: The majority of new PCs run Windows Vists, which is a notorious resource hog, but the Acer Aspire One is powered by Windows XP, a far lighter operating system that can run smoothly on 1GB of RAM. You can expect smooth performance while working and playing.

160GB Hard Drive: Although the Acer Aspire One has a $349 price tag, it comes packed with chunky 160GB hard drive, which is more than enough real estate for photos, music, video, docs, and other files (that’s more storage than on my 60Gb Mac Mini desktop). Considering that most users won’t be editing HD clips or gaming on the device (it does, after all, have only a 10 inch display and a fairly pedestrian graphics card), you’ll have plenty of space for your goodies.

6-Cell Battery: Included with purchase is a 6-cell battery, which provided over 5 hours of juice with the power management settings positioned for maximum battery efficiency, and with the screen dimmed (with the screen at its brightest, we saw 4.5 hours of endurance).

So is the Acer Aspire One worth the coin? You betcha. It’s lightweight (2.8 pounds), attractive, and gives users access to the Web, which, in the modern PC age, is pretty much all that’s needed for a more than satisfying computing experience. It doesn’t feature a CD or DVD drive, but in the era of Amazon MP3, Hulu, and software downloads, you can get virtually anything you need as soon as you connect to the Web. In short, the Acer Aspire One is pound for pound one of the best bang for your buck netbooks on the planet.

Netbooks: $450 (or less!) Laptops

There was a time not very long ago when purchasing a new laptop meant pulling out the ol’ debit card and watching, bittersweetly, as $1,000 of your hard-earned cash vanished into the ether. Fortunately, electronics manufacturers have responded to the demand for cheaper systems, and thus the sub-$1000 “budget” notebook was born. Read more