This Lexmark all-in-One printer is one of the new Internet-connected printers. Not only does it print, scan, and copy, but you can get the weather, your personal calendar, or stock information on its screen. You can print photos directly from a memory card. You can automate tasks like emailing a scanned document to a certain group of people. You can even use the printer’s screen like a digital picture frame to show off your photos. It can be set to automatically print on both sides of the paper.

The printer has the best touch screen that I’ve seen on a printer. It also had very good print quality and performs all functions more than adequately. So what’s not to like?  Well — I spent several hours on the phone with Lexmark tech support to get the printer set up and wound up with the printer printing, but throwing up a Windows error every time it prints. The Internet connectivity which is accessed by mini programs that Lexmark calls Smart Solutions,  is difficult to set up and use. And not too many solutions are currently available.

However, I must give  Lexmark an A for effort. After I posted my review on Hardware Secrets, they contacted me to try to resolve the problem so that other users will not be confronted with the same errors. They have not yet notified me with the resolution, but I am sure it will be forthcoming.

Here is my summary:

The print quality and good solid print, scan, and copy functionality make this a good All-in-One. The wireless networking was easy to set up, but Lexmark obviously has some problems with their interconnectivity. While adding features and Internet connectivity is certainly admirable, the average consumer doesn’t want to spend hours on the phone with tech support to set up a new printer and certainly doesn’t want to use a printer that throws up errors every time it prints. I might have had more of a tendency to recommend this printer if their tech support could have solved our problems in a timely manner. This printer is a part of a brand new line for Lexmark and perhaps the problems that we had will be resolved, but there is no guarantee.

That said, the touch screen is superior. The interface is clear and easy. While the SmartSolutions might be a reason for a techie to purchase this printer, this technology is still in its infancy. There will have to be a lot more applications that are easier to use before the average person will want to make the leap.

While the S605’s quality and performance are excellent, the problems that came along with this printer make it difficult for me to recommend it.

Pros

• Excellent large touch screen
• Great easy-to-use interface
• Speedy printing
• Wireless networking  is easy to set up
• Customizable SmartSolution applications
• Good quality prints

Cons

• SmartSolutions difficult to configure
• Difficult to  close the touch screen
• Plagued by software/driver/connectivity problems

My full review including pictures can be found at Hardware Secrets.

Available at:

After using Windows 7 in the beta format for several months, I decided to install it on my every day work computer. After 2 weeks I can honestly say that I like it very much. As for my upgrade experience, overall, it was good. You can read all about it in my Windows 7 — Upgrade Experience article.

Let us know what you think about Windows 7. We are all ears!!

My Windows 7 party pack just arrived. The Windows 7 House Party is Microsoft’s attempt to create a viral marketing campaign by recruiting everyday people from around the world to host parties during the first week of the Windows 7 launch. Microsoft hired a web service called House Party to handle all the party details including sending out invitations. They even did a video of what they would like your party to look like. You may want to check out the video at the Windows 7 House Party website. This video caused a lot of feedback on the web because everyone thought it too stilted. In fact, if you search YouTube you will find about a million videos making fun of the Microsoft video. But then, I am not sure that Microsoft cares — they are getting plenty of attention off of this.

If you applied to host a party and were chosen, Microsoft promised a party kit, and mine just arrived.

Inside the blue and green box were  streamers, balloons, a deck of Windows 7 cards, a Windows 7 jigsaw puzzle, Windows 7 napkins, and 9 large grocery-type fabric bags. The bags were a nice touch, but they are quite large and the only things that we were sent to give out to the party-goers were cards with special offers.

The offers included things like 40% off Norton 2010 and buy Nero 9 at 20% off and get Nero BackItUP & Burn free. Really, the best offer was a free year of Kaspersky’s Internet Security 2010. Although last time I used Kaspersky (2 years ago), I found it too invasive to recommend to the casual user. Microsoft also included a Zune pass to try the Zune music for free. Only problem is that it is a 14-day pass and I wish it would be a little longer. 14-days is not really long enough to get into the Zune website and get used to all that it offers. ( It is a wonderful site for a music subscriptions).

Although it didn’t get in the picture, Microsoft also included a cardboard table decoration, which really wasn’t worth photographing. Also included was the best part, a copy of Window 7 Ultimate to put on a computer to show off at the party. It was autographed by Steve Ballmer.

I don’t think the party pack was to exciting, but I did like the idea of it all. I just wonder how many people will take the party pack and the free Windows 7 and not have a party at all.

Well, I am committed. We will have a party, show off Windows 7 (which I like) and have some fun. After all, it’s not a bad excuse to have a party. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Kodak knows a lot about cameras, photography, and paper, so it would seem likely that they would produce a good All-in-One printer. And this printer does excel at photo printing, however it does not do well in some other areas.

The Kodak ESP-7 is easy to set up and even goes on a wireless network quite easily. Printing photos on the ESP-7 is a near perfect experience. If you use Kodak paper, the printer automatically senses the type of paper and adjusts the printing accordingly. No fuss. No muss.

Kodak claims the cheapest ink costs in the industry. However, to take full advantage of this printer’s capabilities you have to buy Kodak photo paper, which is often more expensive. Then again, if you use the Kodak paper and the Kodak printer, I believe that you will have fewer mistakes saving on ink and paper.

Unfortunately, my printer needed an immediate fix. The print head needed replacement. Kodak tech support was excellent and a new print head was sent in 3 days. This is, however, problematic. Who wants to spend an hour with tech support on a brand new printer and then have to wait 3 days before you can use it?

With the new print head, printing, scanning, and copying was good. However, the slots for the media cards only read some of my cards and not others. So it was back to tech support. After another hour, I simply gave up and the problem was not solved. To be fair to Kodak, their tech support representative was willing to spend as much time as necessary to fix the problem, but I was not.

I am sure that there are people out there who are happy with their Kodak printers. However, my experience suggests that there are probably others who wish they had not purchased this printer.

Conclusions

I was honestly impressed by the quality of the prints and the ease of printing that this printer produced when printing on Kodak paper. It eliminated the stress of choosing the proper paper and the proper settings which ultimately eliminates mistakes and wasted paper and ink. I was equally impressed with the ease of use and the ease with which the printer attached to a wireless network.

Unfortunately, poor quality control and other problems plague this printer. I have also read complaints about paper jamming, but my printer did not exhibit any problems in this area.

While the photos are truly beautiful, I would also like to see a better quality color print on regular, non-Kodak paper which some other printers seem accomplish quite easily.

In fact, because of the problems I had, I cannot recommend this printer. Who wants to buy a new printer only to spend hours with technical support to get it working properly? Yet, I feel that Kodak is a printer manufacturer to watch very carefully. Kodak’s first digital cameras came up short, but after several generations, I found them to be greatly improved. If Kodak can work through their problems with these printers,  they could create exceptional printers.

Pros:

* Excellent prints on Kodak paper
* Very easy to print photos on Kodak paper
* Wireless connectivity easy to set up and use
* Separate photo paper tray
* Excellent fade resistance and photo longevity
* Multiple memory card slots
* Easy to navigate menus
* Good touch screen
* Automatically straightens and separates multiple photos during scan

Cons:

* Noisy
* Fairly slow network printing
* Colors on plain paper (non-Kodak) appear washed out
* Test printer needed new print head
* Not all media cards worked with test printer

Current retail is $199. My full review, including photos is at the Hardware Secrets website.

If you happened to see the commercial of the little boy who uses an Olympus Tough camera as a “throw and fetch” stick for his dog, you might wonder if a camera could be that durable. Well, I am here to tell you that it can. While I might not be as careless as that little boy, I put the Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 through some pretty rugged testing and it took everything I threw at it without blinking. It is waterproof, shockproof, and basically — very tough!

The most amazing feature, might well be the “tap” feature. When it is turned on you can tap the right side of the camera to adjust the flash mode. Tap the left side and the camera will cycle through the Macro modes. Tap on the screen  to switch to  the Playback mode and tap on the top to confirm the selections. Everything is pretty well thought out. You can even tap twice on the top to turn the tap feature on and off. This feature alone makes the camera great for working in cold conditions when you want to wear gloves, It is also great under water. The LDC screen is one of the best I’ve seen in bright sunlight.

The camera is small and will easily fit in your pocket. It has a 3.6x optical zoom and is a 10-megapixel camera. It takes good pictures with good color representation. For a retail price of $279, it does a lot. It’s a great camera for outdoor scenery in cold, wet, or bright conditions. It’s also perfect for harsh conditions and klutzy people.

Conclusions:

This is not the most expensive waterproof  and shockproof camera, but it performs admirable for the average outdoor enthusiast at a very reasonable price. Picture quality is good. The screen is fantastic in bright sunlight. And the waterproof and shockproof qualities live up to their hype. The tap function works quite well making the camera good for cold weather or underwater photography. The camera is good-looking and easily pocketable.

Pros:

• Well priced for the features
• Compact and very portable
• Good level of waterproof/toughness
• LCD screen is excellent in bright sunlight
• Good macro ability
• Distinctive tactile feel to half-press of the shutter
• Good dual image stabilization
• Great Tap Feature

Cons:

• Slow flash underwater
• Relatively slow to start
• Slightly slow shutter response

My more detailed review with pictures can be found at Hardware Secrets.

Click the link below to read some owner’s reviews and/or to buy the camera at Best Buy.
Olympus Stylus Tough 100-Megapixel Digital Camera – Orange

Those of you who are lucky enough to have someone in the family with a college address that ends in .edu will love this deal. You can order Wubdiws 7 Home Premuim or the Enterprise version for only $29.99. The special price is available now through January 3, 2010.

You can make the purchase at a special web page set up by Microsoft.The download is being handled by Digital River, a large, reputable company. The software will be available for download on October 22, the official Windows 7 launch date. You can also order a backup DVD.

If you have a .edu address, it a great deal!!

Although I usually talk about technology, those of you who follow my posts know that I love tea. I also believe that tea has many health benefits and that drinking red tea helps my rosacea. I’ve received email from others that have been helped by tea, so I continue to spread the word.

Teavana is the online tea store with the best selection of flavored red teas. You can try everything from chocolate to chai or vanilla to blueberry. Right now Teavana is offering Free Ground Shipping on every order.

You will not see this offer on the Teavana website, but you can just place the tea you want to try in your cart and then use Coupon Code FBFREE to get the discount. This is good only in the US  and ends on 9/30/2009. To read more about what I like about red tea, which is also called rooibos tea, check out my Tea Lovers area.

Broadband Internet service through DSL or cable companies has become the norm for many people in the United States. Yet there are still a few people using slow dial-up connections. So an in-depth investigation of broadband internet services can serve three different type of people:

1. Those still on dial-up who want to move to broadband.

2. Those who are already on broadband who want to see if they are getting the best price and service.

3. Those who want to investigate adding mobile broadband so they can access their broadband connection while they are on the move.

I’ve recently found an interesting website that can help you investigate the different companies that offer broadband access. Broadband Expert  has pricing and bandwidth information for DSL, cable, and mobile broadband. Just type in your zip code and you can see what is available in your area, how much it costs, and just what you get. Their coverage of mobile broadband plans is especially impressive. And if you have seen mobile broadband cards on television, but you really don’t understand what they do or how hard they are to set up, this website gives excellent information and instructions.

If you want more information on broadband Internet, check out Broadband Expert at: http://www.broadbandexpert.com/

As we all get more and more involved with using the Internet, it is not surprising that so many people have decided to start their own websites. Whether it is to promote a business, share family information, or just to have some fun, website creation is easier than ever before.

The first thing that you have decide when building a website is where you want to host your site. There are many hosing sites available, so this can be a daunting experience. Don’t worry, though, the Internet can help you make that decision!

The best place to start your search is at Web Hosting Geeks. This is a website that has a myriad of independent reviews of the best web hosting providers.They offer the best in a variety of different areas like best budget hosting, best blog hosting, best E-commerce hosting and many, many more.

If you are just starting out, you can find the best web hosting sites for under $10 a month. If you already have a website and need a dedicated server, this site will give you the best options. They also have listings for vps hosting. so that if you need a Virtual Dedicated Server, you can get a level of control similar to a dedicated server at a cheaper rate.

Each of the suggested web hosting services are reviewed by people who use them. Many have hundreds of reviews that you can read. The site uses the reviews to rate each service in things like technical support, customer support, software, and other important qualities. This allows you to get a lot of great information about many different web hosting sites at a glance and you can also read all of the reviews to get in-depth information.

Whether you are looking for a web hosting site for your first website or you are trying to find a new hosting service for your old website, Web Hosting Geeks is a great place to get the scoop on where you want to place your site.

I am just starting out on a new quest…..finding printers to review. Although I have reviewed many printers in the past, my new reviews will be more in-depth. I plan on looking at everything from the overall design of the printers to the print quality, software, ease-of-use, durability, and cost of use.

One thing that has recently bugged me is that fact that some printers now come with starter toner and/or ink cartridges. That means that you buy a new printer, expecting that your initial purchase will get you though at least a few months and you find yourself needing to purchase addition ink in as little as a week or two. So I will be sure to mention that in my reviews.

Come back later for my first printer reviews featuring all-in-one printers from Kodak and Lexmark.