So I know a lot of you guys might consider starting to Broadcast or start a podcast. But you don’t really know where to start with the equipment right? I know because I probably came from your position. And I had to figure it all out by myself without having success finding guidelines on the Internet although they are probably there but you are not in the mood for a deep web search right? Well then keep on reading this because I am explaining how to start a Basic Hardware setup that suits a Broadcast station or a podcast studio.

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I know it does sounds a little fruity but who cares. I love online shopping when it comes to hardware. And one of the reasons is that most of the stuff I buy just isn’t available in stores.

Be honest. Do you rather waste time searching for your stuff in stores. Or just find it in no time by web. At home, in your room.  And if you search online. Well 9 out of 10 times you will succeed finding your stuff. It has been proven that shopping on the web is twice as faster, cheaper, easier then when you shop “offline”.

Now you rather see your product in real life first before you buy something which I understand, heck I was like that. But I began to realize that the World Wide Web offers so much information about that what you was looking for. Even down to the quality of several web shops. Because a lot of them are allowing buyers to leave Feedback. And this is good for you so you are basically never the first to buy from a random web shop.

90% of the stuff I buy now are from the web. And not only Hardware but sometimes even shoes, Jewels etc. And don’t forget that the whole Online shopping is changing it’s way of sales. It is getting easier and safer everyday! The more people are starting to buy online. The more the web shops are putting time and effort to make there business better.

I must say that before you get into Online shopping you might want to learn more about Paying online. Yes, it’s easy to do. But you still have to take some time to learn it and to learn how to deal with it when something goes wrong. Trust me it isn’t that hard. When you never shopped online before, a few names and keywords you will see passing by are: PayPal, Credit card, Ideal, Shipping, Feedback, Stock, 24h shipping, Tax, Hacker Save and Verified.

If you are still a bit scared to do it. Buy a small almost costless item. Just to experience the ordering process… When you get used to it then try bigger items. And one piece of advice from me is to stick with one web shop at the time. Don’t nock your self out by visiting and ordering at different kinds of web shops. Because either way, every web shop has there one style of ordering items. Check the feedback from customers of that particular web shop.

And I guarantee that you will love it. Because it is all so easy and fast to do. One day, online shopping will close down the stores…..One day…….

Ayerthon Sadikrama

So I have been looking around the Internet for a good portable laptop device that could help me blogging on the go without any problems. Ever since I got Internet sharing installed on my HTC Herald I definitely needed some kind of a good portable device. And luckily it seems that a lot of companies are Introducing there portable devices. Companies like: Apple, they introduced the Mac Book Air. which is a nice small laptop. But not exactly wallet friendly or isn’t that small as the other 3 portables I am going to mention.

The first small wonder machine is from a company called Asus. They introduced and released the EEE PC. EEE stand for: Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play. They come in various editions like the 8,9 Inch version called EEE PC 900 which is the highest available, loaded with:

• Intel CPU Celeron M & chipset
• Supporting Linux and/or Windows XP
• Color: Pearl white / Galaxy Black
• Ethernet communication
• Wireless lan
• S.S.D. Storage (Solid-state Disk): 12GB under Windows XP and 20GB under Linux
• Build in camera
• Hi-Definition audio Stereo speaker, Microphone
• Battery 4 Cells, 2.8~3.5hrs*
• Weight is about 1 KG
• SD Card Reader

Als I mentioned this is the HIGHEST edition out there. So can you imagine the lower ones? With the 7Inch screen…I cannot imagine who wants to buy such a portable lower then the one mentioned in the featured list. The lower ones are called SURF edition and they really can’t do more then surfing. They don’t even have a Webcam or a good SSD. It go’s down to 2GB. So take your pick. The most expensive one cost about €350,- that is about 550 USD.

Overall The Asus is a good portable for a on-the-go blogger with a small budget. But if you are looking for a more powerful portable one that has more abilitys towards a traditional laptop. You should go for the HP mini a.k.a. HP 2133 Mini-Note. This is a much more powerful portable then the ASUS and it has a almost full sized Querty Keyboard. Unlike the little chicklet keys from the Asus. Although the HP also has a 8,9inch screen. Here are some of the specs:

• C7-M 1,6 Ghz with ULV Technology (Ultra Low Voltage)
• 2GB ram
• Standard 120GB 7200RPM Hard disk
• Windows Vista Business edition
• Ethernet, Wireless, Bluetooth
• Express Card and SD Card slots
• Multiple USB (1 of them is Powered)
• 3-6 Hours battery life

I must say that the HP wins this one I mean come on! whats better then a Plastic chasis versus a aluminium chassis +design from HP.
Most of all HP is a striped down Laptop but then again. Not that stripped. Unlike the Asus.

And I am also getting information about the new MSI Wind laptop they introduced a couple of days ago. I am certainly going to post the review here. And my conclusion and decision of which Portable blogging device I will purchase to serve for Tech2do.

If you have any question feel free to post your comment or just E-mail me at ayerthon(at)tech2do(dot)com

Ayerthon Sadikrama

Are we save!? The quick answers:

Windows platform: No
Mac platform: Mostly Yes
Linux platform: Kinda

If you are a windows user, have you ever asked yourself the same question? Am I save? Believe it or not. Most of us did not asked our self’s that question. But that’s exactly why I’m here for. To remind you to spend some time into security. Now normally I would say to go out and do research on different kinds of programs that can help you improving your security. But this time, I am going to give you information of one of the most successfully ways I used to keep my precious desktop, files save and clean

As I was doing my research and testing trials with different kinds of security programs I got some pretty good ones. Those are:
- Kaspersky Internet security
- mcAfee Internet security
- AVG Internet security
- And somewhere in the distance Norton…

Why Internet security? And not anti virus? Well you can see Internet security as a ALL-IN-ONE package.

Now I found that Kaspersky came out to be the best one because it did everything I wanted it to do. A few calls:
- Runs quietly in the background. You practically don’t even know it’s there. It doesn’t bother you at all.
- Does almost everything automatic (sometimes confirmation required)
- If you visit a dangerous website it sounds the alarm!
- It truly finds the right Trojans etc.
- It finds everything! When you scan the pc. It’s slow but it finds EVERYTHING. It is not leaving any viruses, Trojans behind! No mercy! haha
- It keeps itself up2date for the newest viruses etc.

The slogan for this program should be: “Let us handle it” And don’t be mistaken. mcAfee is getting close to all of this.

And I said I was going to tell you those successful tips that keeps my pc save. Well there you have it. Yes I mean it. Kaspersky does everything automatic! You might want to download CCleaner to do some manual cleanings yourself but that’s almost not necessary because Kaspersky doesn’t let anything bad entering your Computer. How ever I can give you the most important rule if you are planning to go for Kaspersky:

- Do a complete Fresh install and go and install Kaspersky right after that. Because then your computer is clean. And it will stay clean if you have Kaspersky installed. If you don’t want to do that. Then you will have to go for a Complete System scan with Kaspersky. Might take a while but it really cleans up.

So there you have it. That’s what I basically do to keep my pc save and clean. And I got to tell you. I didn’t had any problems so far. (1,5 years now)

With Kaspersky, You might be a step closer to be completely save. (windows)

Ayerthon Sadikrama

Having a website is great. You can do whatever you want, you decide what you will do with it. And you are most likely going to make it look good by tweaking the design all the time. But is it really that important?

For the past three years of web developing experiences I was always obsessed with the looks of my website. Which is normal because everybody want to have a good looking website, right? But let me explain something here. Let’s say you are looking up for a design company. And usually you would say:”The website design tells what they can produce” Which IS NOT true! If seen many companies and some of then has a ugly looking website design but the Portfolio was Amazing! So I fired a E-mail to those companies to ask why the website is not so good looking. And they respond:

Dear Ayerthon,

Thank you for your question.
It doesn’t matter how our website looks. As long as our work is better.

If you have anymore questions Please feel free to contact us again.

Best regards,
Timons

And that made me thinking. And it’s true. Think about it. Next time you see a great company look at the web design of that company. Most of the times you would not even notice how bad the site looks because your are focussed on what they produce!

The same thing counts for blogging. Many probloggers are passing on this rule:

Focus on your content and not the looks.

This also counts for those technical websites:

It’s about the function, not the looks

There you have it.

When should I start working on the looks? Well for bloggers:
- When you start thinking to monetize your blog
- Monetization requires good traffic and page rank.

Unless your website is nothing but an info site. Then you can go all out on the looks.

I hope this small post makes you understand that having a good looking site does not always equals good traffic, customers etc.

If you have any questions or feedback I would love to hear from you. Either post in this blog or E-mail me at: ayerthon (at) tech2do (dot) com

1. When you see a product that you think is good for your needs. Think Again.
2. The Internet is HUGE, Use it! Google it. Find out what kind background that company has.
3. Does the company offers more series of the product.
4. Look at those other series If available.
5. If not, Do way more research on that product.
6. See what other people think. Search up Reviews, Feedback etc.
7. If you are sure that it is a good product. Then it is up to Price hunting.
8. Go to review forums, best buy, Resell websites. DO RESEARCH! That’s important. Find the best prices. And always include TAX and shipping costs. If it turns out that it is way above your budget. Then search for OEM products. (usually there less expensive)
9. If your not familiar with payment methods. Go study! Mainly online shopping requires: Paypal, Ideal, Creditcard, Bank Transfer or just Pay at delivery. There I gave you the hints. Search the info’s on google.
10. If you double checked the previous 9 tips. Then find out what date it is going to be delivered so that you know when to stay home or what ever.

The above tips are based on my experiences. hophelly it helped. If you have any more questions. Just post your command or E-mail me at: Ayerthon@tech2do.com

Ayerthon Sadikrama

A lot of people around the internet are willing to put time in making there own media content for the web. Now I three years ago and I was one of them and I am going to be honest on this one. Do not pay for lessons online! Why? Because there are a lot of free tutorials and how-to’s on the Internet. Search for them I grantee that you wont be disappointed.

Now if been discussing this with several new photoshop and already advanced users around the globe and we sat down and talked about this. The people who are paying for there lesson claims to learn a lot more then if you go and follow tutorials all day. Well I can confirm that that is not true. How ever I must admit that it’s a heck lot faster to take lesson instead of following tutorials all day long.

But when I first started I didn’t had any money so I never thought about paying to get lessons for Photoshop. So I want on the Internet following tutorials all day long. Now what you do is you basically duplicating a content someone made and shared it with the rest of us. Now the paid users say that you can not learn the thing you learn when you get lessons. And I asked them: ”Like what?” And believe me they said all the techniques that I developed myself and sometimes even a bit further on by following tutorials! Because like I said before. When you follow tutorials you are basically duplicating a content that the author created earlier. Now the nice thing about it is that you sometimes already are creating something that’s so cool! And you don’t know a lot about the program. And believe me. Once you finished a tutorial you want to know more and you want to make more. So what you do is digging into the world of photoshop and trying to make tutorials and this time you experiment with the tool within the programs. This way you will learn the functions and usability of it. And you never forget it because you actually spend time and afford in it to discover it.

Now when you take lessons. Those things that you would normally do a lot of work for to discover are already there! So you are not putting in time and efforts which lead to a short period of knowledge. (When you decided to take a vacation or something)

So I just recommend to everybody who has time and who is out of a budget. Go go to the Internet and search Tutorials!

A few good tutorials sites are:
www.tutorialized.com
www.good-tutorials.com
www.tizag.com (Coding)
www.mycu2.nl (Coding)

And those are just a few of them. There are thousands of website that provides good tutorials to help you develop your own skills!

Good luck and happy designing, editing and coding.

Ayerthon Sadikrama

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