Technology Toolkit

Have you ever wondered to yourself is it better if I rent a vehicle versus out right purchasing or leasing one. Well, most of us have been in this situation.

Lets say you own a business and you need a 15 passenger van because you need to commute workers from the job site to the hotel. You have a multi million dollar project that is going to take months to complete. What should you do? Should the company rent, lease or just buy a vehicle for the duration of the project?

Here\’s another scenario, lets say you are into exotic cars. You have the appetite for a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 Spyder, or Ferrari F430 Spider. A great way to test drive one of these cars for a day or two would be to rent one. Of course there are different requirements for each rental company when you rent a luxury car but shop around, there are deals out there. You don\’t want to outright buy one these babies without test driving for a couple hours or so, I don\’t think a dealer is going to let us test drive for a few hours or a day or two

Here are some pros and cons of renting/leasing

1) When you rent a vehicle you will not have to worry about a monthly payments for the next 5 years or whatever terms the financing company offers.

2) Most rentals companies will have maintenance coverage for all or most of the maintenance you might encounter for the duration of the rental.

3) Insurance is a big factor. Most states require a minimum of liability coverage on any vehicle that a company or individual owns. Insurance coverage can add up after while. When you rent, a rental company in some cases must provide primary coverage on their rental vehicle. A company or individual will save on additional coverage if you have your own commercial or personal insurance coverage, in this case you may decline additional coverage such as collision damage waiver and supplemental liability coverage.

4) Ability to upgrade vehicle or downgrade to a smaller one. If you buy a vehicle you can not switch without going through the hassle of paper work. When you rent, it a simple call to the rental agency to make that switch.

5) You get a newer vehicle with perks like global positioning satellite or satellite radio to name a few.

6) No down payment required. In some cases there might be a deposit required to rent but this cost should be lower than the average down payment.

7) No penalties for returning the rental at anytime.

Here are some Disadvantages of renting

1) Weekly rental rates go on for as long as continue to rent without ownership

2) You can not customize the vehicle. If you do, you will be charged for modifications. So do not go pimping the ride like they do on MTV, that will cost you big

3) Finally you must maintain the vehicle in good condition, or you will have to pay excess wear-and-tear charges when you return it.

Of course these are some of the benefits and disadvantages of renting. Everyone will have to make that call to determine what factor works and does not work.

With the technological advancements in the last 20 years constantly changing, how to market products and services have also changed. Business owners used different methods of advertising, some of which are still being used today. Methods that are still common are newspaper, radio, billboard and television advertising to name a few.

New areas of advertising can be cost effective but does require a different approach, such as online marketing. Do you have to be tech savvy? Not really, but being familiar with the internet does help.

Lets look at pay per click advertising (PPC) for example. By definition it is an online marketing model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. To setup an online marketing account, you first need a website. When you build your website there should be keywords on the site which is relevant to what services you offer, search engines pickup on the keywords and in a nutshell a business owner can gain more exposure. Now, one major advantage of pay per click advertising is one does not need a store front location, business owners can market product and services from anywhere in the world.

So here are a few benefits of Online Marketing

1) Advertisers can setup a Pay Per Click account with one or a few of the search engines. You will have a number of different methods of monitoring the campaign such as choosing different keywords that are relevant to the products or services you are offering

2) You will have the ability to run different Ads simultaneously

3) Advertisers can set a daily limit

4) Set a monthly budget. Start small and monitor the campaign to make certain you are not spending too much

5) Target a specific State, zip code, or area

6) The ability to advertise alongside a competitor that is bigger in size and brand recognition. If a business starts an online campaign this can be huge so build your website with proper keywords and select the right keywords

7) The advertiser as you can see is in total control of how much exposure your business can achieve

One of the set backs of using online marketing technology such as Google AWords is if someone clicks on your site and doesn\’t contact you either by quote request or by phone you still have to pay for that click. This can add up quickly. Some search engines gives the advertiser the opportunity to select specific keywords like previously mentioned and target specific audiences. But, to go more in detail the search engine also gives the advertiser the opportunity to select broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Each of these selections make the keyword more or less responsive to someone looking for a specific service or product. By selecting broad match, phrase match, and exact match you tune the keyword responsiveness and curtail unwanted and wasteful clicks to your ad.

The good thing about this article is, it is based on personal experience. So, look into different and new ways of advertising, more exposure to your products or services equals potential bottom line increase.

Counter Strike, or CS as it is popularly called, has been a success since it was released. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is one of the newer versions of CS. CS: Condition Zero was brought to the market in 2004, making use of the Half-Life mechanism. Just like any other game, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero or CS: CZ has a multiplayer mode that allows players to choose from ten different character models, places, textures, etc. However, Condition Zero, on the other hand, also has a singe player mode. In this mode, the player would have to do missions, in order for him or her to unlock more maps and better bots. Aside from this, CS: CZ has better bots than other CS games. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero as of 2008, according to GameSpy, is one of the most played Half-Life games.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero’s gameplay is similar to that of any other CS game. It is a first-person shooter video game wherein player or players could team up. Groups or individual players could choose to be, either, a part of a terrorist or counter-terrorist group, or sometimes just be a spectator.

The objective or goal of the game is for groups to finish their missions by eliminating or finishing off the other team. The game would start with players located at their own bases, which are located at the opposite ends of the map. At the beginning of the game, gamers are given “freeze time,” wherein players are given a few seconds before the game begins. During this freeze times, players can buy their equipment, ammunition, etc. Once their freeze time is over, players could start hunting down their enemies and kill them. If they’re weapon looses ammunition, they could go back to their bases and buy it there or, they could buy some ammunition at some “neutral buy zones.” After the game, players who were not killed by the opposing team gets to keep the weapon he or she has used. But, for players who lost or died after the game, they start with the basic default weapon again. Monetary bonuses are given for each player if they are able to win a game, lose a game, kill an enemy, instruct hostages to follow them, or to even plant bombs or rescue hostages.

A scoreboard is also provided in the game, in which players could see their team scores and own statistics that includes their name, number of kills and deaths. The scoreboard is also able to recognize which player is dead, which player has the bomb or which player is on assassination maps. However, players could not see the opposing team’s player’s statistics until he or she is killed during the game.

Players who are killed in the game just become spectators for the rest of the game. Once a gamer becomes a spectator, he or she can view the game in different angles or views. However, some of these views prohibits players to give off tips to their team mates. Aside from this, players who are killed are not allowed to change their names until the next round starts again. Also, once players are killed, chat messages sent by the player, who’s character is dead, cannot send or receive messages from players’ characters’ that are still alive. Just like text messages, voice chat or messages cannot be received and sent to live players.

Maps made for Condition Zero are re-makes of other Counter-Strike games’ maps; they just add new effects and textures to it. As of 2008, some of the new maps created by Turtle Rock Studio were also added into the Xbox version of Counter-Strike.

Aside from all of this, players who are a part of a group, clan or community could create their own group name. Groups are a cluster of people that consists of less than 10 members, clans are bigger than groups that consist of mostly 10-50 members and communities, however, are bigger than clans because they have more than 50 members. These groups usually run their own servers that they could handle themselves.

Condition Zero also has another feature called, Deleted Scenes. This feature is actually a series of 18 unconnected single-player missions. It also shows some weapons from the “lost contents,” that could only be seen in the Deleted Scenes. These weapons that could only be seen in Deleted Scenes include the M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon and the M60 machine gun. However, there are some weapons that could only be used by terrorist bots, like the machete and the suicide belt. There are also some investigative weapons found in the game, these are the blowtorch, radio, Fiber optic camera and remote control bombs. In the Deleted Scenes, players are allowed to carry three grenades instead of one. Not only that, but the player’s Kevlar Armor’s protection power is also increased, thus, protecting the player better.

On the other hand, some weapons, such as the Colt M4A1, FAMAS and Galil are reanimated by using the “beta animations.” Aside from this, some weapons’ textures (eg. Colors) are changed. An example of this would be the Artic Warfare Magnum, in which its color used to be green but now its brown, the Steyr AUG and the Colt M4 Carbine which are now colored with a two-tone police black.

For those who have played CS for the longest time, they would appreciate the game’s original concept and the game’s added features. All of these have made the Counter-Strike gaming experience even better.

The Apple iPod was launched on October 23rd 2001 and has since changed the way we listened to music. You will of course notice that Apple also offers new and more advanced iPods constantly. Thanks to iPods we no longer have to deal with lugging stacks of albums, CDs, MP3s or tapes around in order to listen to our favorite sounds. Even if you are the biggest fan of music from yester-years, you can still have your sounds loaded onto your iPod without fuss, all you have to do is go online and get the information.

The technological journey of the Apple iPod

1. The iPod Classic

The very first iPod that was launched, was later known as the \”iPod Classic\” and was quite large and bulky, it was also capable of high capacity storage. This device was famous for its large color screen, and was also capable of video playback. The newest Apple iPod classic is known to have mammoth sized storage capabilities of 80 gigabytes (GB) or 160 gigabytes (GB) and a pretty good battery life to boot. The Apple iPod classic is also known to be much more bulky compared to other models because it uses a hard disk in order to provide huge storage capacities in a handy music device.

2. The iPod Shuffle

The iPod shuffle is basically the iPod without a screen and was designed for entertainment during exercise workouts, thanks to its weight. The 2nd generation iPod shuffle worked using flash memory and could conveniently store up to 500 songs. The 3rd generation iPod shuffle is a much smaller device, with a slim body and control buttons found on the wire of the headphones. Now Apple shuffle iPods can store more than a thousand songs and you would not even know that the device is in your pocket.

3. The iPod Nano

The device from Apple is not only capable of playing music; it can also be used for video playback and comes in a pretty neat, light weight and small body. It also provides storage capabilities of 8GB or 16GB and comes in very attractive colors with lots of interesting features.

4. The iPod Touch

This device is operated through a touch screen and is capable of the following;

• High storage capacity

• Music

• Games

• Television shows

• Full length movies

An iPod A Day Keeps the Boredom Away!

Thanks to the iPod, the way we listen to our favorite music on the go has totally changed. A couple of years ago, people who jogged to the beat of their favorite music would have to carry extra weight on them in order to listen to that motivational beat! The Apple iPod has helped users get rid of all sorts of external storage devices, such as CDs and tapes and has given them the wonderful convenience of loading all their favorite sounds directly onto an extremely portable device. There is certainly no doubt as to why the Apple iPod quickly gained tremendous popularity. Almost everyone listens to music on the go, or to combat boredom while doing the dishes, walking to work, waiting at the most boring reception on the face of the earth, traveling etc.

The iPod Convenience

From having the ability to quickly sync and play music to the great storage capacities, the Apple iPod provides a lot of exceptional conveniences and has reached technological advancement. iPods are available for various types of uses , for instance; the iPod shuffle is for those who need an exercise companion; Those who desire a high capacity travel companion should try the iPod Nano. You no longer have to worry about lugging around your collection of CDS, MP3s and tapes in order to listen to your favorite sounds. Even if you are a lover of old school sounds, you can have them stored on your iPod and listen to them at home, or on the go.

The Technological Journey of iPods

The first Apple iPod was launched on 23rd October 2001 and since then, iPods technological advancement has been waxing stronger – with fresh and much more advanced models being released on the market constantly. You need to understand that there are a few basic models of the Apple iPods, and the technological advancements that were made in them are greatly defined by their increasing generations. This is the reason that you may have heard of a first generation iPod Nano or a third generation iPod shuffle. You also need to understand that every growing generation of an iPod will indicate the technological advancement in the following;

• Looks

• Capacity

• Features

You must dispose of electronic waste properly. Tossing an unwanted radio or unused television into the dumpster may seem like a simple act, but the long-term dangers brought about by tossing broken electronic products into the trash are often irreversible.

Responsible adults understand that the pollution they contribute to this world now has harmful effects that future generations will be forced to handle. Here are some alternative options for disposing of electronic devices that will keep the pollution and chemicals out of the landfills – at least for now.

Donate Your Old Electronics to Charity

Some of the things we like to call garbage are not really broken. However, everything — especially electronics — eventually becomes obsolete and sometimes upgrading the equipment can cost as much or more as getting new equipment. The tendency in this situation is often to discard the old equipment and go buy something shiny and new. The old electronics are thrown into dumpsters even if they still function. What a waste.

Before you dispose of electronic waste consider if it can be used by someone else. If the computer you wish to replace is still working, you might want to donate it to a youth group or community center. These places are usually run on a very low on budget and don’t really have that much money to spend on technology. Help them out by donating some of your stuff. Old computers and televisions are always useful: even old cell phones could come in handy.

As the saying goes “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Hand Over the Old Electronics to the Proper Facility

Industries that are designed to dispose of electronic waste are called e-waste facilities. Their job is to make the hardware as safe as possible before dumping it into the landfill. This means doing things like taking the items apart and recycling usable parts like glass, rubber, and plastic. Damaged parts that cannot be recycled are sometimes burnt or shredded. Also, parts of computers and television sets, such as copper, tin, gold, and nickel, are taken apart and melted together in order to make new cords and pieces using the same ore.

Just be careful when handing in your equipment. Some uscrupulous companies only want to collect electronics for reusable parts that can be resold for high values. After scrapping the product for parts, they won’t make the effort to dispose of electronic waste. Instead these items get shipped overseas and still end up in a landfill.

Keeping E-waste Out of Landfills is Up to You.

Day by day more and more people are becoming aware about the harms posed by the improper disposal of electronic waste. However, just because the public understands that throwing electronic waste in with the trash is dangerous doesn’t mean that they have the right information regarding proper disposal of these products. If you’re not sure how to dispose of ewaste in your area, ask your city recycling department about available agencies that dispose of electronic waste properly.