Do you ever worry about losing all of your computer files like your pictures, music and videos? Or have you ever thought it’d be sweet to be in a position to access all of that data from any computing device on your private network?

Maybe you just purchased a new TV with net connectivity and now you understand how simple it might be to enjoy slideshows of your baby photos, vacation pictures or other neat stuff right on your big screen rather than that little picture frame viewer you were given for Christmas one or two years back.

Home network storage is the way to consolidate your vital data in one place so that all of your PCs, PCs, netbooks, even mobile devices and TV’s can access the information conveniently.

How many times have you wondered where a selected file was, searched around for a USB thumb drive to transfer it with once you find what computer it is on, and then wish it were simpler to move files between your PC and your Mac?

A home NAS (network attached storage) device is just the solution..

Not only can your home network storage server be the center of your network with all of your devices connecting to it to save and retrieve info, but your home NAS also helps protect your info in two ways.

First, a correctly configured network storage device will have multiple hard drives in it setup in such a manner that if one hard disk fails you’ve not yet lost any information. The NAS can then alert you that you need to fix the problem BEFORE any information is lost!

Second, should you sensibly select an online backup service to guard your data off site, having all the music libraries, photo albums, video and financial records stored centrally in one place makes is straightforward to configure the backup and reassuring that everything you actually care about is being protected.

Home network storage is a smart call, straightforward to implement and cost-effective too.

We have product reviews and useful articles to offer you the info you need to select the right home network storage device for your home or small office.

Network storage is what we do and have been doing it for a considerable time. Visit our website for answers to common NAS questions.

When we think of upgrading an operating system, many people don’t consider that this often means formatting. Some Windows upgrades allow you to forego this step, which wipes all the data on your drive, but only when you’re going from certain OS versions and to certain versions. So, any other cases are left with their own ways, or even using some third-party products like PCMover. Here Transfer Programs To New Computer you will learn more about how to transfer software from one PC to a new one.

To do such PC transfer without the help of any kind of products is also possible. Besides being more complicated, people will need some kind of hardware:

- A known option for home transfer is the USB thumb drive. It is simple of use and you can do a lot with it. What you have to remember is that you have to manually transfer all those files. It can make things complicated the moment you want to move files and folders part of a given program. Besides, those USB drives cost from a dollar…to some hundred ones; Expect to get what you will pay for. You should pay at least 10 to 15 dollars if you want a USB drive that will last for more than 1 week. Check here Transfering Software When Buying A New Computer to find the best program for moving to Windows 7.

- Another option is network transfer. It is far from being good. Anyone who has tried to use the Windows network to transfer more than a couple gigabytes of data knows that it will get up to about 90% and then fail, forcing you to start over. Here again, manual data transfer and this weak protocol makes such option a lot less desirable.

Here are some solutions solving the previous problems:

- Some old program that people can find around is: StepUp PC Migration. Expect no support for this program, while the compatibility is very volatile.

- Laplink PCMover is a robust option which copies not only personal files but also your programs and settings. Usually, such thing can’t be done manually without good knowledge of Windows. Applications rely on lots of components located in various places, and trying to save all of them on a USB drive is like impossible. This solution won’t delete nothing. Neither it will overwrite anything. So you can be 100% sure to find all like before in case of any problems.

Blizzard just announced, via fancy e-mail, that there will, indeed, be a collector’s edition of StarCraft II, whenever it comes out. (No, Blizzard has not announced a release date yet, but says it will “soon.”) Anyhow, the collector’s edition will come with a 176-page art book, a USB thumb drive loaded with the original StarCraft and its expansion pack Brood War, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a CD soundtrack, a comic book, and a World of Warcraft in-game pet, plus other bonus downloadable content (aesthetic stuff, not like mega-powerful guns or anything). Total cost: $99.

It should be noted that this collector’s edition will only be available at retail stores, so you’ll have to make a trip to GameStop or wherever to nab it.

The standard edition, which will cost $59.99, will be available at retail as well as though Blizzard’s digital download store. The downloadable version will be released “shortly after” the retail version. Hmm…

Both versions will be totally free to play online on Battle.net, and they’ll work with both Windows and Mac.

Today we have found some USB cool gadgets which we thought would be fun to share with all of you since we know you are tech passionate just like we are. One of the first USB cool gadgets worth mentioning is the Porn Detection Stick. Don’t laugh, as I think this gadget could be useful when you want to have better control on what kind of materials you children are downloading from the internet. This little gizmo looks just like a regular USB thumb drive except for the fact that when you connect it to a computer, it can scan you entire hard drive for pornographic material. The scanning takes a bit of time as it will take about one hour and 30 minutes to scan one 500 GB hard drive which contains about 70,000 images.

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The Porn Detection Stick uses a special type of image analyzing which identifies facial features, body part shapes, flesh tone colors and different other aspects. Just like any gadgets in the world, there is that 1% chance that the Porn Detection Stick will miss-detect an item but the rate is indeed quite small.



The Porn Stick will even detect files which are stored in Recycle Bin. This gadget is useful when you have kids which are in danger of being exposed to pornographic material, but I think that certain bosses may want one of these things to better keep an eye on their employees. Whatever the case may be, this little gizmo costs only $99.99r and you never know when you wish you had one of these gadgets.



Another super USB cool gadget is the George Foreman USB Grill. This grill can be connected to your computer using one of your USB ports. This gadget is absolutely amazing when it comes to robotic cooking intelligence. You have to download the desired recopies, then you must enter in the type of food, plus weight and this amazing gizmo can handle the rest. As your meal is being cooked, you will notice a glow from under the grill which will start to increase in brightness and it will pulse faster when your food is done. And all the iGrill needs to warm up is an internet connection. I’m thinking that this could be your new best friend no matter if you need it in the office or at home.



The last item on the USB cool gadgets list of the day is something that both men and women are going to love. This gizmo is going to literally warm those cold winter nights and it is ideal for those moments when you get “cold feet”. We present the USB heated slippers. These fluffy slippers are connected to your laptop or computer via one of the USB ports and they are heated by the laptop’s or PC’s power. The cable is 2 meters long so you don’t exactly have to keep your feet stuck to the unit. This is something I wish I had on those long winter night when I’m stuck working at home on my laptop until the morning light…

True story: I didn’t even know my Social Security Number until my freshman year of college, when it was used as my dorm building’s PIN. Type in the PIN, and the little gate would open. It seemed a little odd at the time, yes, and today’s news that, with a little elbow grease, someone can guess a person’s Social Security Number quite easily, well, that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence vis-à-vis “the system.”

It’s like this. A team of researchers, out of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, have figured out a way to guess a person’s Social Security Number knowing only basic info: a date of birth, a home town, etc. The first five numbers of one’s SSN can be correctly guessed 44 percent of the time, per 160,000 people born between 1989 and 2003. That’s in one attempt. In two attempts, you’re looking at 60 percent of people’s SSNs being guessed. In fewer than 1,000 attempts, which isn’t all that much when you consider you can merely write a small program to do all this work, the researchers could guess all nine numbers for 8.9 percent of the people in the data set.

In short, with a little bit of know-how, someone, if he were so inclined, could guess your social security number, provided he knew your date of birth and the location where you acquired your SSN. (SSNs are doled out based on date of birth and location, is the implication here.)

What does this mean for you in your everyday life? Probably not too much, but it does highlight the insanity of using your SSN as any type of identification number. As a matter of fact, the Social Security Administration has, since time immemorial, discouraged the use of the SSN as a personal identifier. But that doesn’t stop lazy companies from doing it, no sir.

Be sure to tune in next week for a silly contest: guess Peter Ha’s SSN, and win a USB thumb drive!

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Kudos to you, Kingston. The DataTraveler 200 is the world’s first 128GB USB thumb drive. It’s also available in 32GB and 64GB capacities, which are readily available. The 128GB DT200 is build-to-order only and retails for $546. Besides the memory capacity, the DT200 line comes with a five-year warranty and includes Password Traveler security software for Windows. The 32GB can be had for $120 while the 64GB retails for $213.

Kingston