The HiWired Blog

« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »

December 30, 2005

Just in time for New Years another nasty threat

Well we have yet another security flaw to worry about:

Microsoft said in a statement yesterday that it is investigating the vulnerability and plans to issue a software patch to fix the problem. The company could not say how soon that patch would be available.

This nasty has some fun features:

Unlike with previously revealed vulnerabilities, computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites or viewing an infected image in an e-mail through the preview pane in older versions of Microsoft Outlook (emphasis mine) , even if users did not click on anything or open any files. Operating system versions ranging from the current Windows XP to Windows 98 are affected.


What have I told you about preview panes?

Even worse Firefox and Mozilla may not save the day:


Because the vulnerability exists within a faulty Windows component, security experts warn that Windows users who eschew Internet Explorer in favor of alternative Web browsers, such as older versions of Firefox and Opera, can still get their PCs infected if they agree to download a file from a site taking advantage of the flaw.

When in doubt PLEASE don't download!

Posted by Peter at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

New Years Resolution

Well I'm going to be off tomorrow so I'll post this today.

Tomorrow remember this: It is a good thing to have a party and enjoy yourself on New Years Eve; it is a better thing to still be around New Years Day to remember it so BE RESPONSIBLE. You're the only you we've got.

And my resolution is to get the other guys to at least post ONCE a week.

Posted by Peter at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2005

No Dell hell for me!

I've been linking to quite a few items concerning service with Dell. I've also said I haven't had any issues myself other than some heat.

Well I've been trying to solve the problem of a PC for the wife and kids that:

1. I can afford (under $400)

2. Will play CIV IV

3. Is not a bare bones system

4. I don't have to add cards to (I know how and where everything goes I just hate to do it. Always have.)

Since Civ IV requires a P4 system , a 128 mg Graphics card and 512 ram to run at it's best the odds were not good, and since we've already established my cheapness it looked a lot like I would settle for something else. Circuit city had a model that wouldn't do the job for me but would do so for the wife.

Well my pal Paul reminded me of the Dell outlet. Basically they offer scratch and dent models, refurbs, and new systems returned unopened however they tend to go fast.

I was keeping an eye on it yesterday and didn't find what I wanted for less than $600 without monitor, but today I went back and checked. The items keep changing but in the middle of the day I found a gem. P4 system, 128 graphics card, 512 ram and DVD drive for just over $311 (scratch and dent). Well for $24 shipping and $29 to extend the warranty to a year I had my system for under $375! There's no monitor or speakers but i'll grab a monitor during the week and I have spare speakers so neither is an issue for me.

I can't speak to the other issues raised in the past but for the price you can't beat it.

The only problem is they will have a better system then me.

Posted by Peter at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 28, 2005

Laptop, Cellphone & Blog= News as it happens

One of the incredible things about modern technology is the things it allows you to do. Blogger Jeremy Hermanns was on Alaska flight #536 when it lost pressure and put up this report.

It is riviting reading and a great example of the information revolution.

Via Glenn

Posted by Peter at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)

Cell phone as modem surf slow, burn mins fast.

We have received a fair amount of calls from customers using their cell phones as modems for their laptops (and on rare occasions PC's) to connect to the net. I'm not a big fan of it myself, but if you decide to do this here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Remember this is a DIAL UP connection.

If you are paying big money for a cell phone and bigger money for a data plan you likely are surfing at home with either DSL or CABLE or something better. You are by this time used to getting pages downloaded quickly and surfing where you want fast. You will find this connection PAINFULLY slow. If you are trying to access any large file it will be even more painfully slow. So don't be surprised if you have to wait.


2. Remember this is a Cell Connection:

In addition to a dial up connection you are dealing with a wireless cell phone connection subject to all the normal problems of a cell phone from reception, to interference etc. Granted since you are not dealing with audio (unless playing an audio file from a download) so sound quality is not an issue but data integrity might be. Anything that interrupts a cell stream can interrupt a data stream.

3. You are paying for those minutes

Remember that you are using cell mins on this connection and any kind of charges and fees that you might have based on location would apply to these calls as well. So all those slow downloads are costing you more than just time.

4. Use a usb cable


With a cell phone you are making a wireless connection to your carrier. If you are using bluetooth then you are using two wireless connections, one for the phone call and one to connect the phone to the laptop. In addition to normal wireless issues, this is a very bad idea as it slows things down due to the Bluetooth data transfer rate. If you are going to do this at all get a small usb cable and connect the phone through the PC with it.

5. Hot spots, Hot spots, Hotspots!

With the rise of hotspots the need to connect using the cellphone in order to get the net is decreasing rapidly. A hotspot connection will almost always be faster and your wireless card in your laptop will find them with ease. Granted the connection is less secure and if you are on a train going to or from work it might not be possible to use one, but if the option is available grab it.

Some thoughts from Catherine Roseberry on this subject here and here.

Posted by Peter at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2005

Happy Kwanzza & Boxing Day

Today is the first day of Kwanzza, the holiday created by Maulana Karenga (aka Ron Everett) in December 1966.

From that small start this holiday is now celebrated by millions of Americans. We at HiWired wish you a happy Kwanzza. For more info on this newest of holidays see here and here.

If you are in England, Canada, Australia or New Zeland then Happy Boxing day is in order as well. For more info see here, here and here.

Posted by Peter at 01:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2005

Dell makes it all better

Looks like Dell almost took my advice, but it was good enough for Megan.

Update VI Dell has just called to offer me free expedited shipping and a 10% discount on a similar refurbished machine from their outlet. I've had very good experiences with their outlet machines . . . I'm typing this on one right now . . . so I'm very happy with that. In fact, all I wanted last night was for them to Fedex me an outlet machine, which I could see they had on hand, and pay for the expedited shipping. Mistakes do happen, and I don't blame Dell for the fact that things went awry. I was just angry that they weren't fixing the problem, which they've now done, and exceeded what I thought I was entitled to. So three cheers for Dell, after all.

I think people understand that stuff like that will happen once in a while. As long as you are straight with them they understand. In a world wide market where people have so many choices a business that doesn't learn this is toast.

Posted by Peter at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)

Merry Christmas; Happy Hanukkah

Today is Christmas Day a national holiday. Details on the day (or the 12 days of Christmas) are here and here.

It also is the first day of Hanukkah the festival of lights. Information here, here, and here.

We will be open today from 10 A.M. - 11 P.M. EST.

In whatever way you celebrate this day, religious, secular or just as a day off from work, we at HiWired wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a great December 25.

Posted by Peter at 02:54 AM | Comments (1)

December 23, 2005

IPOD playlist gossip

I like gossip as much as the next guy, but do we really care what the playlist is on the Vice President's IPOD shuffle?

I do find the fact that he uses the shuffle rather than the full blown pod interesting, must not like the small viewing area.

Posted by Peter at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2005

That's what I call an editor in chief

Wired adds an ironic touch to Wikipedia saga that we've covered before.
with this article:

Public edit logs reveal that Wales has changed his own Wikipedia bio 18 times, deleting phrases describing former Wikipedia employee Larry Sanger as a co-founder of the site.

When asked about editing the entry on himself the founder of Wikipedia said the following:

"People shouldn't do it, including me," he said. "I wish I hadn't done it. It's in poor taste.... People have a lot of information about themselves but staying objective is difficult. That's the trade-off in editing entries about yourself.... If you see a blatant error or misconception about yourself, you really want to set it straight."

All it takes is one angry person to make things look very interesting. You can quickly end up with editing wars. I don't think so. Sure you would. Well maybe not. and so on.....

Posted by Peter at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2005

Here's a Christmas visitor you don't want.

Well kids may like a visit from Santa, but not THIS Santa:

A new instant-messaging worm called IM.GiftCom.All is making the rounds this holiday season. Rated as a "medium" threat by IMlogic, the worm attempts to get users of the instant-messaging networks run by America Online, Yahoo, and Microsoft to visit a seemingly festive Web site featuring Santa Claus.

The message comes from someone already present on a user's "buddy list," said Art Gilliland, vice president of products for IMlogic. It contains a supposed link to a URL (uniform resource locator) starting with "santaclause.aol.com/a?|"

You really want to avoid clicking on stuff sent through IM.

Posted by Peter at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

Now it's Megan McArdle's turn

Via the Baseball Crank we see that Megan McArdle (aka Jane Galt) now has her own Dell hell story to tell....

Let us travel back through time to one month ago, November 15th, when my mother asked me to order a computer as a surprise Christmas gift from my grandmother to my Aunt Annie, who has taken over the job of running the house and paying the bills since my grandfather died. "I will order it from Dell right now," I told her, and forthwith did, finding a very nice deal on a Dimension 3000 that set us back a little over $850 including shipping and tax.

This is the start of the story, this is the middle:


Trusting in them, I let things slide until sometime around the 10th, at which point my mother begins to worry that the computer will not arrive in time for Christmas. Another call to Dell. Where is the computer? No one knows. But not to worry, they will order us another one and have it Fedexed when it is ready. It will arrive in plenty of time for Christmas.

This is today's posting, not a very happy ending:

Update III One of the major pitfalls of outsourcing to India, it seems to me, is that when I said "this is a Christmas present for my Aunt, who's been taking care of my frail little 91-year-old-grandmother all year", I was met with the same suave lack of interest as if I'd informed them that I planned to start writing a memoir of my years as the assistant sanitation chief for Dubuque as soon as I got the computer. That only added to my rage, which, to be fair, was already pretty considerable. They also displayed no motivation to even pretend that they were going to do anything except repeat that the Dell Dimension 3000 is no longer being manufactured, but--never fear!--they are graciously prepared to give me my money back.

Read the whole thing. How can a company like Dell afford to keep doing this to bloggers who actually have a fair amount of readers. If I was HP I'd call this lady and ship her something Fed EX. If I was DELL I'd Fed-Ex the next highest Model to the aunt before HP does.

UPDATE: Looks like they heard .

Posted by Peter at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)

And the Lion shall lie down with the Lamb...

Well maybe it's not a deal of biblical proportions but it was quite unexpected:

To be precise, it was a tiny orange icon. Microsoft worked out an arrangement to use the same symbol that Firefox does to alert people when a Web page makes extra streams of information available for subscription.

It doesn't seem like much but it is a big surprise:

But the mere idea that the two camps were talking caused a stir -- with some analysts wondering whether they might be capable of reaching consensus on more weighty matters, such as standards for the way Web pages are made and displayed.

It is also a good counter to the Evil Empire talk as well:

For Microsoft, announcing a collaboration with Mozilla was also "a good PR move," whether the company intended it that way or not, said Joe Wilcox, a Jupiter Research analyst. The unexpected alliance led to a wave of online stories and posts about the news last week.

With Firefox increasing market share this kind of thing makes sense. Standards are important as anyone who studies Railroad history can attest to. Anything that streamlines things will make stuff easier in the long run.

Posted by Peter at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2005

NPR knows HiWired

Marketplace weekend had a story called Happy Hi-Tech Holidays talking about various tech support choices. HiWired is mentioned. Our owner Michael is interviewed there. You can listen to the whole show here. Listen to our segment here. The podcast is available here for a fee.

Posted by Peter at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2005

Are you sure it isn't already the 26th?

Blogging will be a bit sporatic as I am a little sick and the calls keep coming in.

Posting will pick up ASAP. Meanwhile check out this Carnival of Digital Camera Posts at Prof Reynolds place.

Posted by Peter at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2005

Ask good questions get good answers

We had a customer write asking about what Laser printer to use for photos at her home. The reponse we gave is a good way to approach the situation: It all comes down to a single question:


Decide up front what your basic needs are:

The full details are below the fold:

Will this printer be used strictly for pictures or will pictures be a smaller part of the overall mix of the output? Pictures imply color and Laser usually implies volume. This will affect your overall costs as these days it is the ink and the toner that are the real moneymakers for printer makers (except on the high end models). Will this printer be used in a network environment or a stand alone environment? If you are looking at a home network and multiple users then a wireless printer might fit the bill, if you are using it off a single machine then you can go with a less expensive model.

What kind of volume do you expect to be seeing with this printer? If it is for strictly home use then you speed needs are likely lower, if you are planning it for home business use of a more generic model will likely not do.

Do you see your printing needs changing in the near future? Are your needs today going to be the same in 3 to 5 years? Do you want something more cutting edge so you won’t have to upgrade or will simple home print needs fill the bill?

What kind of service and support needs to you expect? This is where we at HiWired can help further. We can offer support via chat or phone to configure and troubleshoot your printer no mater what type of printer you go with or what environment you plan on using it in. We can even remotely control your PC (high speed internet connection preferred) to do the configurations for you. From initial setup, to network configuration to minor printing issues HiWired can do the job 7 days a week.

What about physical repair? HiWired focuses on optimizing the use and enjoyment of technology, we not service physical repairs at this time. If this is going to be a system were the loss of it for a few days will be critical, you might make your selection of brand dependent on the proximity of an authorized repair/replacement shop. With these questions answered the choice can be narrowed quite a bit, but these questions should be answered before any decision is made.


I would repeat that this type of Q & A is a good idea for ANY tech purchase of any type.

Posted by Peter at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)

IPOD video just call me Grinch

Back in October I gave this take on the IPOD video:

Now instead of pictures too small to see you have have videos too small to see.

Well Professor Reynolds put up this post asking how good the video IPOD is and the response has been in one direction:

As for the gadget itself, the screen is phenomenal. It's incredibly bright, clear, and crisp. It's also amazingly easy to watch a screen of that size, even for semi-extended periods of time.

And that is only one reaction the rest follow along those lines. After reading that stuff I'd almost go and buy one myself. If I wasn't so cheap, or maybe I'm just trying to follow Megan McArdle's advice.

Posted by Peter at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

The net keeps no secrets

The author of the Wikipedia article that caused so much fuss has been revealed:

In a confessional letter to Mr. Seigenthaler, Mr. Chase said he thought Wikipedia was a "gag" Web site and that he had written the assassination tale to shock a co-worker, who knew of the Seigenthaler family and its illustrious history in Nashville.

More interesting that the actual person is the way he was tracked down:

Mr. Chase also found that he was slowly being cornered in cyberspace, thanks to the sleuthing efforts of Daniel Brandt, 57, of San Antonio, who makes his living as a book indexer. Mr. Brandt has been a frequent critic of Wikipedia and started an anti-Wikipedia Web site (www.wikipedia-watch.org) in September after reading what he said was a false entry about himself.

Using information in Mr. Seigenthaler's article and some online tools, Mr. Brandt traced the computer used to make the Wikipedia entry

In my opinion there is no such thing as something secret once it has been connected to the net. Remember that the same tools used above can be used to track all kinds of things on the net. Keep this in mind as you use your PC and the net.

Posted by Peter at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

ITUNES and TV shows

After finally upgrading to ITUNES 6.0 (but keeping the install for my old version handy just in case) I went to the store to see what was what.

We've talked about the selling of TV shows online, ITUNES doen't carry a big batch right now, however one of my favorite shows MONK is available.

I always hesitate to purchase season series of shows (altough I did get some for the wife for Christmas no details in case she is reading). They tend to sit around the house. The only exceptions to my rule have been Hogan's Heroes and The Adventures of Robin Hood staring Richard Greene. The full seasons aren't available in US format.

I think the ability to buy single episode is very smart and will lead to greater sales. I am really debating picking up a just picked up particular episode that I enjoyed. I'm cheap but I know what I like. I suspect many other will do the same.

All of these large files are going to mean bigger harddrives needed. I think this more than anything else will take people off of their older machines just to store all this stuff.

I think in the future the idea of not having TV shows on your PC is going to be as odd as having to wait for reruns to watch shows, but for my purchase, the download was slow and the playback spotty even when I closed other applications. The episode itself is over 400 200 meg for a 46 min size. In fairness I had several windows open at the time of the download, it was over an older wireless B network as well. A wired connection over a newer desktop would do better. I don't know if the playback was due to an overworked system or a poor download.

The future is here and we'll all have to buy equipment for it.

Posted by Peter at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2005

Posting, Trackbacks and housekeeping

Some reminders about posting, trackbacks and the stuff you will find here:

COMMENTS: We have purposely not made any general restrictions on posting comments; however we reserve the right to edit comments for propriety. Disagreement and discussion are welcome and encouraged, however we would hope and expect that this take place within the norms of polite discourse. We reserve the right to edit and/or delete anything that falls outside of that area. We also reserve the right to ban the IP of any commentator who violates that policy. Likewise if a comment is a generic spam comment (The "I really like your blog, link to me") it will be deleted and the IP banned.

TRACKBACKS: As you might imagine it is not uncommon for sales sites or porn sites to try to plant trackbacks via spam. This will be deleted and the IP's banned as soon as we are aware of it. We delete them and ban them as soon as we are aware of them. Even with a legit trackback if your site is not work safe we will remove the link and convert it to a comment so your site will get credit for the link but we will not knowingly provide a direct link to a site that isn't work safe.

POSTS: The posts here are made by employees of HiWired. As a rule they are on technical subjects (hardware, software, the net, news about the net etc...) or link to stories relating to technical subjects. You will also see posts here on blogs and blogging and the occasional personal item. Reviews are the reviews of the individual poster. Our link to any article on any site is not an endorsement of every post on that site by Hiwired.


UPDATE: One more thing to mention. If you attempt to post a comment or trackback and find yourself unable to; drop us a line here. It is possible that your pc was hijacked to send out spam. Of course we can help you fix that too.

Posted by Peter at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2005

MIT grads welcome

Another blog up in the Best Tech Blog catagory in the 2005 Webblog Awards is Lifehacker. In this article they show that our customer base for our Network Setup Offering is larger than I thought.

Posted by Peter at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2005

Ratings and sales

Continuing our theme of linking to blogs nominated for Best Tech Blog in the 2005 Web Blogger Awards we check out this article from Joystiq concerning the difference between ratings reviews and actual sales of various games.

In their own words: “After going through multiple scenarios, we believe a game rating, in most cases, is not a reliable tool for predicting game sales…. The next time someone suggests that a game will shine or fade based on a rating, we encourage the reader to take it with a grain of salt.”

I've always figured that companies of all types put up their own "reviews" on sites like Amazon. Of course when people are working with something and think it is good then that isn't an issue but I've always been wary of buying something because some stranger liked it.

Posted by Peter at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2005

Three Cheers for shutting down as well

I'm going to have to link to Infoblog more often, they are with me on another of my pet peeves. SHUTTING DOWN!

For example a PC that spends most of its time idle will draw between 100W and 200W of power and could cost around £100 per year to run. If that same PC is running SETI@home or dare I say it the MARC21 conversion screen saver currently doing the rounds at Talis, the cost suddenly leaps to nearer £200.

My home town has one of the highest electric rates in the US so I make a point of shutting down everything at night, but not just the system:


And it's not just PCs. Think about all those peripherals, the printers, the scanners, and the monitors all of which consuming needless electricity.

There are other reasons for this as well, clearing ram on a reboot, keeping your system from being hijacked (can't hack a system that isn't powered etc. You'll not only save a buck but will help your system last longer.

PC Pro has more on this.

Posted by Peter at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

Ethernet Forever!

An old but interesting entry at infablog: Why wireless won't kill the Ethernet cable

I always find a wired connection is more reliable than a wireless one particularly when you consider possible hacking issues.

Even if you only use a wireless connection you should ALWAYS have an ethernet cable available just in case.

Note: If you can't see the pictures of the cable when you click on the links then try the thumbnails below.


Posted by Peter at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Podcast is word of the year.

Gadgetspy (a nominee for best tech blog in the 2005 Web Blog awards) points to this story:

the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected “podcast” as the Word of the Year for 2005. Podcast, defined as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player,”

Technology changes things, one of those things are apparently Dictionaries.

Posted by Peter at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

Wiki Roundup

Pajamas media rounds up the Wikipedia story we've covered here and here.

Glenn Reynolds puts it best:

My sense is that the wiki format works pretty well when issues are uncontroversial, but that it doesn't handle politics very well.


Brian Maloney
backs up that statement well.

I wonder if companies hire people to keep an eye on their entires? We don't.

UPDATE: Business week doesn't share Mr. Maloney's opinion.

Posted by Peter at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2005

IE exploit still unpatched

Two exploits in Internet Explorer reported back in May have trojans praying on unpatched victims which is pretty much all of us since Microsoft has not yet released a patch. These two exploits are known as Clunky-B and Delf-LT
For more information visit these links


http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28147
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39240189,00.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/911302.mspx

The current best thing to do to protect your self is atleast set the Active Scripting facility in Internet Explorer to prompt user for permission as a protective measure until Microsoft gets its act together.

setting up Active Scripting in Internet Explorer

1. In Internet Explorer, select Tools from the menu bar, then Internet Options
2. Select the Security tab and click on the Internet Zone to select it, then click the Custom Level button.
3. For the setting Active scripting under the Scripting section, check the radio button for Prompt.
4. Click OK and, to the "Are you sure you want to change the security settings?" prompt, choose Yes.

Posted by Hector at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2005

What a shock! Xbox 360 suit

Maybe it's just me but I don't think this is grounds for a suit:


The proposed class action claims that in Microsoft's bid to gain share in the $25 billion global video game market, the company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and Nintendo Co Ltd. that it sold a "defectively designed" product.

I'd just return it myself. Why the need for lawyers because a video game doesn't work?

Posted by Peter at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

That didn't take long

Well it only took one NY Times article, (or was it our post) but now Wikipedia is taking steps to increase responsibility:

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to contribute articles, is tightening its rules for submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implicating a man in the Kennedy assassinations.

Seigenthaler is not impressed:


Seigenthaler said he wasn't convinced the new registration requirement would stop the practice of vandals posting content that is slanderous or knowingly incorrect. Wikipedia will either have to fix the problem or will lose whatever credibility it still has, he said.

I negelected to link to his response in USA TODAY in our first entry. You can read it here.

Posted by Peter at 07:32 PM | Comments (0)

Wikipedia and the Moon Maidens

I don't usually link to Wikipedia for information on this blog. Although it can be a useful reference tool it has some issues as this article points out:

Mr. Seigenthaler recently read about himself on Wikipedia and was shocked to learn that he "was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John and his brother Bobby."

"Nothing was ever proven," the biography added.

Mr. Seigenthaler discovered that the false information had been on the site for several months and that an unknown number of people had read it, and possibly posted it on or linked it to other sites.

...The case triggered extensive debate on the Internet over the value and reliability of Wikipedia, and more broadly, over the nature of online information.

I have often been tempted to post to Wikapedia myself on my favorite subjects however much like Amazon reviews the polarized nature of debate these days can cause entries to be skewed. In fairness the entry for De Ruyter is first rate

The best advice I have is to remember the nature of the source you are using. Remember the Moon Maidens.

Posted by Peter at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

What if the Elves were Geeks?

It's holiday season again and everyone's out shopping. Being sort of a techno geek myself, I do a little bit of unusual shopping around the holidays. Like many technical people, I like gadgets. The geekier the better. Why get some ordinary gift when you can buy some gadget your friend or relative might never think to get for themselves?

But where, oh where, can we shop for the geek who has everything? The chain stores are so passé, and computer stores are often mundane when it comes to satisfying the inner child. How many screen savers and printed mousepads can you really have, anyway? Besides, most geeks build their own toys, so it makes shopping outside a hardware store a little bit of a challenge.

There are CD carousels that will hold 150 Cd's and manage them as a spanned library. And my personal favorites, the Robots.
No matter what the geek in your life might want this year, or if you just arent sure, these are some great places to start.
www.pricewatch.com
www.sharperimage.com
www.x-tremegeek.com

The toys are out there if you have an idea where to start looking. And wow, some neat toys there are... I've seen things like a Foreman grill that's powered by your USB port to keyboards where each key moves freely across the board and can be rearranged however you want. Personally I'd lose my E key and that would be the end of it.

Posted by Bernie at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2005

Now that we're older we get to stay up late (NOT)

HiWired turns one today!

Starting today we will be open till 1 A.M. EST.

There are a lot of things that go into making a business a success, but the most important thing is you!

So thanks to you all, Ronald, Shirlee, Eldonna, Doc, Ruth and all the rest of you (much too many to name)for your loyal support. We look forward to serving all of you for many years to come.

Update:
The 1 a.m. time has been nixed for the present. This is what happens when you post on your day off without reading your e-mail.

Posted by Peter at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)

© 2007 HiWired Inc. All rights reserved.

The information in this blog is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. This blog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of our employer (HiWired, Inc.). It is solely, the bloggers’ personal opinions. Inappropriate comments will be deleted at the authors discretion. All technical solutions are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.