LG CU320 Video and Music Cell Phone

We're sorry, but the LG CU320 is not currently available. What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

The LG CU320 is a candybar style slider phone that closes to a comfortable rounded unit with the keyboard in its stowed position. A large high resolution color display dominates the front of the phone. That big screen is a key element in the 3G capabilities of the CU320. One of the technology advancements is the ability to view streaming video clips or surf the Web at up to 384 Kbps. The communications capability supports Cingular's new UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and lower speed EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) high speed data networks.

Another use for a high resolution display is to view the still pictures and videos you take yourself using the 1.3 megapixel digital camera. In camcorder mode, you can capture up to 25 minutes of video at 15 frames per second in the 3GP format. Sometimes moving pictures tell the story so much better than snapshots.

Another part of the multimedia experience is music. The LG CU320 comes with a built-in MP3 player and stereo speakers so you can enjoy your tunes when you're out and about. While built-in memory totals 64 MB, there is also a slot that accepts expandable memory in the TransFlash memory card format.

Messaging is fully supported with SMS text messaging, plus multimedia messaging to send and receive pictures and videos. There is a POP3 Email client for standard email. You'll also get AOL, Yahoo! and ICQ instant messengers pre-loaded.

As small and easy as this phone is to hold, there are times when you need your hands free for safety reasons or convenience. You have the option to turn on the speakerphone, or clip a Bluetooth headset on your ear and put the phone in your pocket.

Other handy features include a voice memo function that lets you record up to 160 minutes, a 500 contact phone book with up to 5 entries per contact plus 2 email addresses. Talk time is up to 240 minutes or 4 hours.

OK, this sounds like a great deal but you've really got your heart set on a different model cell phone perhaps a different carrier. No problem. You'll find great deals on exactly what you are looking for at Cell Phone Plans Finder.

Sprint PPC 6700 Converged Smart Wireless Device

Sprint describes their new PPC 6700 as a "smart device." Indeed, it is. The 6700 is part of a new breed of handheld mobile devices that converge the functions of cell phone, digital camera, PDA, messaging device, and WiFi enabled pocket computer in one compact package.

You might call this trend revolutionary, in the same sense that the Palm PDA and BlackBerry upset the status-quo to establish new standards. The new elements that converge in this device are broadband communications via both WiFi and cellular EV-DO, the Windows Mobile operating system, PDA style touch screens, QWERTY Keyboard popular on messaging devices, and high resolution digital cameras and Bluetooth derived from the latest cell phone technology.

First of all, The PPC 6700 is indeed a Sprint PCS cellular phone with a speakerphone, voice memo, downloadable ringtones, and Bluetooth headset support. The Bluetooth feature comes in handy when it is unsafe or just inconvenient to be holding a phone up to your ear. Clip on a Bluetooth headset and put the 6700 in your pocket or bag.

The digital camera has a 1.3 Megapixel resolution for decent quality snapshots to view on the large screen of the PPC 6700, send to friends and colleagues via multimedia messaging, or to print and save. LED flash and digital zoom are included. You can also put the camera into camcorder mode and record up to 30 second video clips, with multiple video formats supported.

The PDA and messaging functions are supported by a 240 x 320 pixel color main display that offers both portrait and landscape modes. The touch screen includes Graphiti writing software. The full QWERTY keyboard slides out from the side of the device, where it is protected when not in use. Rotate your 6700 by 90 degrees and you have a pocket computer with large keyboard and rectangular display.

The platform is a 416 MHz Intel processor running Windows Mobile 5.0. Memory totals 128 MB of flash plus exapandable capacity using the miniSD card slot. Built-in software includes MS Pocket Outlook email with support for MS Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents. You also have MS Pocket Explorer for mobile Web browsing and Microsoft Messenger for instant messaging.

The Sprint PPC 6700 can access either of two high speed data networks. In WiFi hotspots or within the range of home or office wireless access points, you have 802.11 b/g WiFi communications. This is pretty much the built-in standard of all new notebook computers. But the 6700 can also connect to Sprints EV-DO cellular broadband network, which gives you high speed data on the go. Speeds are typically 700 Kbps with bursts up to 2 Mbps. Beyond the EV-DO network that is available in most larger population areas, the cellular data network falls back to the 1xRTT standard that gives you download speeds up to 130 Kbps.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Did You Really Erase That Data?

It's time to upgrade your computer. You've found an excellent deal on a new desktop or laptop and you're long overdue for a faster processor, more memory, a bigger hard drive and an updated operating system. Once the new computer is in place and running the way you want, what is going to happen to your old one? Does it stay in the office for backup? Go to the kids? Join the last five outcasts on the basement shelves? Or will it leave the building?

Most people and companies want to sell, donate or recycle their old computers once they realize they'll never go back to using them again. Setting them out with the trash isn't a good idea because of all the toxic chemicals on the circuit boards. Besides, it's just wasteful. Many schools are begging for recent model CPUs, monitors and accessories. Even older models can still be used for light duty tasks such as email or word processing. A non-working machine can be recycled to recover gold and other valuable materials. Or, the computer can be disassembled for it's working parts just like a junk car. Some unscrupulous people would love to put your unwanted disk drive to good use. That's good use for them, not necessarily for you.

The problem with hard drives is that they are chock full of valuable information, including bank accounts, family history, strategic business information, contact lists and email address books, etc. Your PC hard drive is a virtual diary of everything you've done in the last few years. All a clever business spy or identity thief needs to do is pick your hard drive out of a bin at the surplus store or recycling drum. Or simply buy the whole machine for a few dollars at a second hand store. Someone with ill intent can then plug your drive into their computer and spend many a productive hour exploring your personal data.

But you protest. There is no way anybody can get your data. Before you shut down the machine for the last time, you moved everything to the Recycle Bin and then emptied it. That erased everything, right? Not really. Did you know that you can buy programs that will restore data you accidentally deleted? There's no magic behind this process. When you tell a computer to erase something, it doesn't do it. All it does is take that file out of the index so you can't see it anymore. If your hard drive is absolutely full to limit, some data will be lost when it gets written over by new files. But how many 40, 80, or 160 Gigabyte hard drives are fully used up? You can't count on deleted file space being recycled on a drive that is only fractionally full.

Well, then. Reformatting the drive must get the job done, right? It seems logical because you lose the operating system and all your files when you reformat a drive. But, sadly, reformatting is more like deleting than erasing. The reformat process only erases and rewrites a small part of the disk. The rest of the existing data is ignored and left as-in. Repartitioning won't help either, for the same reasons.

The only sure way to get rid of data on a disk drive is to change it magnetically. That's easy for floppy disks and tape. You can buy a bulk eraser that imposes a high strength magnetic field on the magnetic medium and changes the orientation of the magnetic domains. Whatever was on that disk is gone for good. Disk drives are sealed and not so easy to access. A better way is to use what is called a wiper program to write random data to every sector of the disk. Entropy is your friend when it replaces your vulnerable information with gibberish.

WipeDrive is a low cost commercial software product designed to wipe hard disk drives clean. You pop a floppy disk or CD-ROM in your computer with the WipeDrive algorithm and it scrambles everything on your hard drive. It works by writing random characters with multiple overwrites and verifying that the overwriting has been accomplished. When you're done, you'll need to reinstall the operating system because there won't be a trace of it on your hard disk.

WipeDrive meets a U.S. Department of Defense standard for sanitizing disk drives. Not all of the products sold for this purpose are this rigorous. It works on all file formats for PCs, including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and Linux.

Before you donate your computer, sell it, or send it to the recycler, be sure that it won't be taking a record of your personal and business information with it that might be recovered even years later. Use a serious disk wiping program like WipeDrive for about $40 and you'll have peace of mind that your files won't be coming back to haunt you. For larger organizations, WipeDrive PRO will sanitize serial ATA drives plus SCSI and RAID servers.

Of course, if your disk drive has failed, this program won't help. Skilled identity thieves may still be able to access the platters in your drive and recover the data. Why take the chance? You can disassemble the drive case and smash the magnetic discs inside. I've also heard of people taking an electric drill and drilling holes through the case into the drive platters before tossing the drive into the trash.

Macintosh users will need a disk wiper designed especially for Macs, such as Jiva SuperScrubber.

Samsung A900 "Blade" Special Savings Offer

The Samsung A900 is one hot multimedia phone and a direct competitor to the popular Motorola RAZR.

Let's compare the A900 and the RAZR V3 Black. The innovation that made the Motorola RAZR such a phenomenon is its thin profile. Most cell phones are around an inch thick when closed. The Motorola RAZR measures 0.50 inches, about half as thick. It's square shell design also gives it a cool, commanding look. It's so cutting edge that it received the nickname "razor."

Now let's look at the Samsung A900. It also has a thin black shell with that cool squared-off look. Measure the thickness of the phone and you'll find it to be 0.57 inches, just slightly thicker than the RAZR. They look so similar that the A900 has been dubbed the "blade" to compete with the "razor."

So are these phones essentially equals? Not really. The A900 has a 1.3 megapixel camera versus the RAZR's lower resolution VGA camera. The camera has PictBridge capability so you can print pictures right from your camera with printers that support PictBridge technology.

The screen on the A900 is slightly larger and also has higher resolution. This makes the pictures you take look sharper, but is also included to support streaming video. You can watch on-demand TV or listen to music via Sprint TV or the Sprint Music Store. These services are made possible through the high speed data download capability of the Samsung A900. It connects to the Sprint EV-DO 3rd generation cellular broadband network.

As a bonus feature, the A900 includes an MP3 music player with dedicated front mounted buttons. A stereo headset is included with the phone. Take your favorite tunes with you instead of toting a separate music player.

Both the Samsung A900 and the Motorola RAZR have Bluetooth communications capability so you can use a hands-free headset for safety and convenience.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Lower Up Front Prices for Cingular Motorola RAZR Razor Phones

The Motorola RAZR V3 "Razor" is the cell phone that started the high tech revolution in mobile phones. Before the RAZR, you either bought a basic clamshell with few features or shelled out the big bucks for an advanced technology "mobile device" that was more computer than telephone. Motorola completely changed the rules with its razor edge RAZR technology platform.

First, the shell is completely different than other phones. It's die cast aircraft grade aluminum to give it the strength and rigidity that houses and protects the circuitry, in a package only a half-inch thick. Other cell phones are typically twice as thick using plastic housings.

Another advancement is the ultra thin precision crafted feather touch keyboard. It looks more like a an etched circuit board than a matrix of buttons. A light touch on its backlit surface is all that is needed to dial a number or access other functions.

Have a look at the color display. It's enormous at 2.2 inches. Compared to the average cell phone screen, this one looks more like a small television. In a way it is. The Motorola RAZR offers support for streaming multimedia in the MPEG 4 format. You also have a built-in digital camera with a self-timer and 4x digital zoom.

Another breakthrough in the RAZR family of phones is the inclusion of Bluetooth communications. Bluetooth lets you clip one of those little wireless headsets on your ear and put the phone back in your pocket. People may think you are talking to yourself, but you have the convenience of hands-free communications wherever you happen to be. That can be important when you're on the go or trying to do several things at once.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Cellular Broadband is Mobile and Reliable

Frustrated with DSL and Cable Internet outages? Can't quite bring yourself to pony up for a T1 line? And wouldn't it be nice to be able to take your Internet with you without having to hop from one WiFi hotspot to another? Have you considered cellular broadband lately? It's reliable, available and relatively cheap.

Hey, wait a second. Those Internet enabled phones are cool, but most of us need access to a full size laptop computer to run a serious business. Is there such a thing as a laptop cell phone?

In a strange sort of way there is. The Lenovo T60 is a laptop computer with built-in networking capability over the Verizon EV-DO broadband network. I wouldn't call it a cell phone. Even if it had voice capability, your arm would give out trying to hold it up to your ear. No, this is a cellular broadband enabled computer. You can use WiFi communications where available. Otherwise you can connect to the cellular network for Internet access.

There are other computers now coming with cellular broadband built-in, but the rest of us only need to install an adaptor card in the expansion slot of our computers and we're in business. You can even get this card free with your service.

Cellular broadband is available from most of the major carriers now, including Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and Cingular. Unbeknownst to many people is the fact that those cell towers you see everywhere are providing Internet access as well as phone calls. The two most popular cellular systems, GSM and CDMA, are completely digital to begin with. It's not too technically difficult to assign some of the available channels to send Internet data instead of voice.

Think about it. Wireless Internet service just about everywhere is a reality today and for not much more than you'll spend on consumer grade wired broadband services. If you need point of sale, electronic data transfer or Internet service to support a group of professionals who mostly work at their desks, then a T1 Line is probably your best option.

But what if it's just you as a individual or consultant and you want to take your Internet with you? What if you have a sales force that is mostly calling on clients? Perhaps a mobile solution makes more sense than something wired to the desktop.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

When Cheap Broadband Becomes Too Expensive

For over a week now, about half a million cable broadband subscribers have been intermittently or completely without service as Insight Communications re-engineers their network. What was originally billed as an overnight switchover has turned into a seemingly endless nightmare for users in Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Not only has the Internet connection been broken to PCs and routers, there has been no way to call for technical support. The support phone lines themselves are so jammed they won't connect. For those using VoIP phone, that hardly matters. Without broadband, they have no telephone service.

Anyone who's heavily involved with technology knows that Murphy's law usually rears its ugly head to make a mockery of your carefully planned installations and upgrades. Insight's debacle has unfortunately turned into a "Katrina" level disaster. Customers are going from upset to irate to livid as the company can't even give them a schedule when full service will be restored. It's a major lifestyle inconvenience for students, gamers, music downloaders, and casual web surfers. But beyond that there's a potential financial disaster looming not just for Insight, but for thousands of businesses that came to depend on a data connection that was never promised to be dependable.

What? You mean you pay your $35 or $45 a month for "always on" broadband service and it's not guaranteed to be on ALL the time? I afraid so. In most cases, DSL and Cable Internet are considered to be "information services" and not regulated telecommunications services. They are also called "best effort" services. That means that the company promises to make its best effort to provide you with a reasonable service level, but no guarantees. That means no guarantees as to bandwidth, which often varies from day to day and even during the day if there are many users.

It also means no guarantees as to availability. You may or may not be able to get installation. If you do, you may or may not have continuous service. In fact, it is highly likely there will be short outages for maintenance, especially between midnight and 6 AM. There may be other outages due to inadvertent breaks in the line or equipment failures either with your modem or servers back at the home office. When things go wrong the company will make its best effort with whatever resources they have available to get your service working again once you report the outage. But, if thousands or hundreds of thousands of people lose service at once... Well, best efforts are likely to seem like not much help at all.

The television and newspaper reports are filled with stories of people who run businesses out of their homes or small offices, including travel agents, technical professionals, consultants, sales representatives and so on. Some report hundreds or even thousands of dollars in lost business. Some may be able to limp along with dial-up connections. Others might be able to relocate with laptop computers and cell phones to WiFi hotspots. But many will be in the same fix as if the power went off. Nothing to do but watch the money run the down the drain while they wait for service restoration.

For those whose fast Internet connection means a flow of dollars as well as bits, this is a foreseeable and largely avoidable situation. Foreseeable because a data service without a service level agreement is like a warning sign flashing "your service will be lost when you least expect it." Sure, it's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when you experience hardly a glitch in a given month. It's also a reasonable risk to accept when you are bootstrapping yourself into business and an ISP bill larger than $50 a month means the difference between staying in business or searching the Want Ads for a job. But if your business is now generating hundreds or thousands of dollars a day in income that stops dead when the line breaks, it's really time to get beyond services intended for consumers and move up to professional grade.

The professional Internet service you want, regardless of whether your office is a spare bedroom or a storefront, is called T1 Internet or Dedicated Internet. It is provisioned as a T1 service on telephone cable and can be installed just about anywhere you can get regular phone service. It's also a regulated telecommunications service that comes with a service level agreement also called an SLA. That agreement spells out what happens when your line goes down and how you'll be compensated. No, it's not a hard and fast guarantee that you'll never lose service. But if that happens, you'll get almost immediate attention. Typically, T1 lines are restored in minutes or hours, not days or weeks.

Dedicated also means that you are the sole user of the T1 line. DSL and Cable services are shared among hundreds or thousands of users to spread the cost. Your T1 bandwidth remains at a steady 1.5 Mbps both upload and download. That may sound like less than the consumer providers are offering, but you have this 1.5 Mbps all to yourself. Unless you have some high bandwidth service that won't work without 3 to 12 Mbps, a T1 should be all you need. If your bandwidth needs increase as your business grows, you can always bond in more T1 lines to add bandwidth.

You probably expect that dedicated T1 Internet service is beyond your means. That's not necessarily so. T1 is priced by exact location, but a typical T1 service runs around $500 or so. In larger cities, prices are lower. Out in the boonies, the cost is higher. If you don't need so much bandwidth, fractional T1 lines are available for less. Even so, as someone who may have eaten a lot of hot dogs while building a business, that cheap residential broadband service still looks inviting. All I can say is to value the worth of a reliable T1 line based on the level of business it supports. If you lose even a day of cheap DSL or Cable Internet, that inexpensive $50 service may well have cost you more in lost business in a given month than you would pay for a $500 T1 line.

Don't become the next victim of seemingly cheap broadband service. Let us get you a quick quote for dedicated T1 Internet or integrated Internet and phone service. Just fill out the short form at T1 Rex and our friendly T1 consultant will be happy to share what services are available to you and how fast they can be installed. There's also a toll free number to call if you prefer.

Samsung ZX10 Offers Megapixel Camera and MP3 Player

We're sorry, but the Samsung ZX10 video phone is currently unavailable. What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Samsung's latest technology clamshell phone, the ZX10, gives you advanced mobile features that include a 1.3 Megapixel digital camera an MP3 player and UMTS cellular broadband for fast downloads and streaming multimedia.

Closed, this cell phone has about the same footprint as a business card. You might be tempted to think that all you'll get in such a package is basic communications and perhaps a VGA camera. Not any more. Technology advances are changing the rules on size vs performance.

Let's start with the camera. The Samsung ZX10 offers a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with up to 1280 x 1024 pixels per photo. This level of resolution captures pictures worth printing as well as sharing electronically. The camera is equipped with a flash and multi-shot capability. It can be set to camcorder mode to capture videos up to an hour long. You read that right. It's true that video capture is limited to 15 or 30 seconds on most camera phones. This one lets you "film" the entire office party to make sure you got the goods on ALL the executives. Just make sure to back up that video pronto. In fact, video capture is limited only by the amount of available memory.

Another cool feature is the built-in MP3 music player that stores playlists on the removable expansion card. While the camera has a generous 50 MB of built-in memory, you can pop a microSD/TransFlash expansion card in to get the music and video storage capacity you need.

The Samsung ZX10 is a phone for both today and tomorrow. It's high speed data capability offers the latest in cellular broadband service called UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), a third generation or 3G technology. You'll be able to download streaming or on-demand video at up to 384 Kbps. That's far beyond the EDGE technology built-into many advanced GSM phones which gives you up to 144 Kbps download. UMTS is fast enough to be the equal of many DSL services but without being tied to a phone line. You take your high speed data with you. The ZX10 has the capability of providing you with broadband Internet access, with a mobile Web browser and POP3 Email client already built-in.

Actually, you have several messaging modes with the Samsung ZX10. In addition to standard SMS text messaging with pre-created message templates, you can send or receive pictures or video messages with multimedia messaging. Instant messaging capability using AOL, Yahoo! and ICQ messengers is included.

All this multimedia capability deserves a decent color display and the ZX10 doesn't disappoint. The 176 x 220 pixel main display is capable of showing over 262,000 colors.

Other desirable features include a speakerphone, voice memo recorder, a phone book with up to 1,000 contacts, 3D gaming support for downloadable Java titles, quad band GSM coverage for worldwide cellular network compatibility, a currency converter, calculator, to-do list and calendar. By the way, this phone weighs just 3.7 ounces so it won't be weighing down your pocket or purse.

Want a great deal on a cell phone but have a completely different model phone in mind, or perhaps a different carrier? We've got a huge selection from the most basic everyday phones to advanced smartphones and digital assistants. Find exactly what you are looking for at Cell Phone Plans Finder.

T-Mobile MDA Messaging Machine

T-Mobile is calling their new wireless device the MDA, which I suspect stands for Mobile Digital Assistant much like PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant. Yes, it's a cell phone. But its real power is in messaging and Web access on the go.

Hold the T-Mobile MDA in your hand and it looks like one of the popular PDAs you see executives pulling out of their suit pockets. But how can you efficiently send any messages on a device with a touch screen but only a few buttons? Ah, there's a full QWERTY keyboard but it's safely stowed away to minimize the size of the unit while carrying or when using as a phone. Slide it out and the display view automatically rotates to a horizontal aspect ratio that complements the keyboard.

Standard text messaging is a breeze on this machine. You also have multimedia messaging, mobile Web browsing and email services at your fingertips. The T-Mobile MDA is based on the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system that gives you familiar views of Microsoft applications such as Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Instant messaging is provided by MSN messenger. Outlook has the attachment viewing for Word, Excel and PowerPoint built-in. MS Pocket Explorer gives you the ability to surf the Web with HTML support. Windows Media Player 10 gives you video and music on the go.

The MDA runs on the 200 MHZ Texas Instruments OMAP processor and comes with 128 MB of built-in memory. You can expand this memory capacity using the miniSD card format.

Another great feature of the T-Mobile MDA is the built-in 1.3 Megapixel digital camera with LED flash. It takes snapshots good enough to print as well as share electronically or post to web sites. The video capture mode lets you use the camera as a camcorder.

What really differentiates the T-Mobile MDA from the typical PDA is its connectivity. It has WiFi support for 802.11 b/g for high speed Internet access and corporate wireless communications. But in addition, the MDA will communicate at near broadband speeds over the T-Mobile Wireless network. That gives you nationwide wireless Internet service well away from the typical WiFi hotspots in airports, hotels, restaurants and some downtown metro areas. Go to the park. Stand on the street corner. Use your MDA from your car in the parking lot. You'll have high speed data through EDGE that runs up to 274 Kbps in the most populous areas and GPRS that runs at 30 to 80 Kbps where EDGE isn't available.

The T-Mobile MDA is also a cell phone with quad-band GSM network compatibility, a built-in speakerphone and Bluetooth communications. Clip a Bluetooth headset on your ear and put the MDA back in your pocket. Cell phone conversations are as convenient as you can get.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.