How AOL is Remaking Themselves

AOL, for many years, was one of the largest ISPs in the United States and the world.  Providing dial-up services to a large amount of people.  Today, though, as the dial-up business is slowly dying off, AOL is taking up a new path: content. 

Yes, you heard me right.  AOL has been building themselves up over the past 2 years to become one of the largest content providers on the internet.  They're shifting themselves from your (hopefully) former ISP to where you get content.  They've been doing this by acquiring different news websites over the past 1-2 years.  Do the websites Engadget, TechCrunch or The Huffington Post ring a bell?  How about about.me - does that ring a bell?  They are all AOL properties.  AOL does still make most of their money on old dial-up subscribers but that business is slowly fading out the door, and once it's gone for good, AOL will still be with us as a content company.

I actually give props to AOL for doing this restructuring of their business, instead of trying to rely on dial-up, they are changing things around and gearing themselves up to be the next big content company.  This is a good direction for AOL, and this new business model will definitely last longer for them.  This reimaging AOL is going through assures that once their dial-up business is completely gone, they will still be with us for long to come, but with a new vision and a improved image.  Let's hope to see what they do next in 2012.

If you have any thoughts about this article, please feel free to comment.

The Ultimate Geek's Wishlist for 2011

Today, I'm sharing with you the 5 things I think are the ultimate things to give a geek for the holidays in 2011.

If you are a geek or you know one, this list points to some of the best gifts for geeks that I know of.  Most of the things on this list are products that I would personally reccomend to friends, family and all of the geeks I know.  Enjoy :)

5. Minecraft

Minecraft is a first-person game that you can build in and the goal is to build as much as possible without getting killed by the creepers during the night.  The 3D gameplay is superb, and is definitely a game I would reccomend to most any geek out there.

Minecraft works on Windows, Mac, and Linux and needs a minimum of 1 GB of ram to work properly.

If you know another geek who doesn't have this (or if you've been wanting to it), now is the time to get it.  If you already have an account, you can buy "giftcodes" on the website to give to others for them to redeem with their Minecraft accounts, or if you're buying it for yourself, you can make a Minecraft account and order it straight on the website.

$26.95 [Minecraft.net]

4. Angry Birds Plush

 The Angry Birds Plush is something that for any geek who is an Angry Birds fan will love.  The material that it is made out of is very high-quality, and it hasn't fallen apart on me yet.  Very good to use for a variety of purposes and is good to have around.  It even has a good smell to it!  This is a wonderful thing to give as a side-gift to a geek for Christmas this year or even someone who just likes Angry Birds.

You can pick these up at your local Walmart if you are in a hurry, or on Amazon.com.

$15.99 [Amazon.com]

3. Blue Snowball

The Blue Snowball is a USB microphone that is perfect for many things from making YouTube videos, to recording vocals for a song.  It has 3 modes, although the one I'd best reccomend if you are making YouTube videos or podcasting with it is the #2 mode (these modes can be switched between with a switch on the back of the microphone).  The sound it records is crisp and very rich.  Also with the included stand, it should sit perfectly on most desks and should work with most computers.  I'd definitely reccomend this if you or another geek you know are in the market for a USB Microphone.  With the included stand, it should sit perfectly on most desks and should work with most computers. 

This is a lovely gift for any geek who is making YouTube videos or is into podcasting.  As a geek myself, I would reccomend this microphone as for the price and its functionality, it is one of the best USB microphones you can get.

If you want a full review of the Blue Snowball, you can read my review of the Blue Snowball on Fancy Show Tech.

$60.00 [Amazon.com]

2. Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is a small, and powerful Mac.  This is good for a home theather computer or if you're switching from PC to Mac and want a inexpensive, small, and powerful Mac to start your journey into the Mac ecosystem.  It should work for a good amount of internet browsing and basic movie and photo editing flawlessly. The Mac Mini also works well for a home media server/storage server. Be aware that this computer doesn't come with a display or mouse and keyboard and you will have to provide your own. 

This is a great gift for a geek who is switching/planning on switching from PC to Mac or who wants a side computer.  I'd definitely reccomend the Mac Mini this Christmas.

$599-999 [Apple.com]

1. MacBook Air

The grand finale of this list is the MacBook Air.  This powerful laptop is great for anything from checking email, to editing HD Video and PhotoShop.  I use one everyday and would reccomend this to any geek in the market for a ultra-portable laptop that also has sufficent enough specs to do most everyday tasks with ease.  It also is surprisingly somewhat-durable due to the unit's lack of moving parts.  I have (by accident before) dropped the MacBook Air while it was on and I was able to use it right after picking it up without any damage to the system. 

This is the laptop I would reccomend to anyone in the market for a portable and powerful laptop that could go with them anywhere.

$999-1,599 [Apple.com]

These are my top 5 geeky gifts for 2011.  The products featured on this list are ones that are of top build quality and I would reccomend to anyone who asked me personally.  If you are buying gifts for another geek (or maybe for yourself), these are the things I would most reccomend getting for a geek this Christmas.  If you have anything I didn't cover, or any thoughts on my picks, leave them in the comments below.

-Carmen

Backdoor into the Spotify Website

Today, I'm going to show you a backdoor into the full US version of the site. Even though Spotify is starting to launch in the US, you still get a landing page and all the order links do is lead you to a closed in ordering page.  Maybe, you want to see what their full US website looks like right now.  Well, you can. Start by Googling the word "Spotify" (without the quotes).

After Googling Spotify, this should be the first result.  To get into the backdoor of the website, just click Mac OS X under the result as shown above.  You'll still have to get a invite to get into the free version of Spotify but this is how to get into the main website for Spotify.

Carmen (SuperPC)

Review of the MacBook Air

Today, I'm going to do a review of the MacBook Air. 

Firstly, I want to mention that the MacBook Air is great for travel.  It's extremely thin, light-weight and can fit into most laptop bags and backpacks.  You could probably even fit it into a binder and no one would know you had it with you.

The MacBook Air is one of the thinnest laptops in the world and yet it also packs a punch of processing power.  It includes a 1.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 120GB SSD, and a Nvidia GeForce 320M.

The surprising thing with this laptop is how much it can do with specs like it has.  It's very good for everything from web browsing to basic movie editing in iMovie.  It can usually multitask very well and is comparable to my "27 i7 iMac in a lot of cases.  I've also used it to make screencasts before for my YouTube channel and it works very well while doing that.  It also think it isn't too bad for importing or exporting video in iMovie but not nearly as fast as my iMac and don't recommend it for advanced editing. 

I also like the battery life.  The battery life isn't that great when the WiFi is turned on but when you turn off the Bluetooth and the WiFi it can last for usually about 2-3 hours on a full charge.

My Rating: 8/10

It's a great laptop but I wish it could have a better GPU.  Other than that, it's a great laptop!

What do you think?  Post it in the comments!

-Carmen (or SuperPC)

BitCoins: The New Internet Currency

Today, I'm going to tell you about a new Internet currency called BitCoin.

Basically, BitCoin is a new type of internet currency that is starting to get more and more popular online.  It's the first peer-to-peer currency.  That means people can transfer BitCoins without going through a middle-man, like the bank or PayPal and they endure no fees when transferring BitCoins.  Many people have started using BitCoin as it is a legal in the US(as of June 2011) and it's easy to transfer and use as money online.

The MyBitCoin.com Registration Page.  Photo Credit: N/A

Before you do anything else, you need to get a "online wallet" for your BitCoins.  You can do that at MyBitCoins.com.  There you can get a account to store your BitCoins in that is totally free.  Find a other list of services like MyBitCoins here if you want a alternative.  There is also the BitCoin software that you can download here.

Now you might be asking, how do people get bitcoins?  Well, you do a process called BitCoin mining.  BitCoin mining is when your computer solves a mathematical "proof-of-work" problem and once it solves that problem, you get some BitCoins.  The proof-of-work problem is based on current transactions in the BitCoin system and all of the past transactions.  To start mining, you can join a pool of miners (like BitCoinPlus.com) or download mining software and try to do it on your own.  The best way to start is using a pool as most home computers aren't powerful enough to mine BitCoins on their own.

The easiest to use mining pool(and the one I recommend) is BitCoinPlus.com.  On BitCoinPlus, you register a account and then you go to the "Generate" page and click "Start Generating".  After that, just let it run in the background until you've gotten 1 to 2 "payouts".  If you can, try to leave it running all day/night when you aren't home or you are asleep.  That way, you'll mine more BitCoins.  Just make sure to set your computer not to go to sleep go it keeps mining.  Once you've gotten enough, transfer them out of your account by going to the My Account page and selecting "Send Money".  On the Send Money page, type (well, copy and paste) your BitCoin Address(the same BitCoin address MyBitCoin will give you after you sign up), the amount you want to transfer out and then click on "Preview Transfer".  Then, send out the BitCoins.

After you have some BitCoins, you can spend them at different websites.  You can find a large list of websites that accept BitCoins here.  You can find a list of BitCoin exchanges here (the most popular one is MtGox).

What do you think?  Post it in the comments!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

SuperPC