Simplicity. Google+’s users interface seems very user
friendly due to the overall simplistic nature of it. It is very easy to post
photos, videos and updates on one’s profile and stream. The site is very
streamlined and I think is very nicely organized. Except for a few small
details, everything is right at your fingertips.

Now I want to dive right into the things I don’t like about
Google+, and as I said before I understand G+ is still in beta so hopefully all
of the things I am about to mention will be fixed or addressed upon public
release. Before I get into the things I don’t like, let me say that overall I
think that Google+ is a great social network and I really, really like it as a
whole.

Notifications. Google has added a notification system
similar to the one in use on Facebook. It notifies you when someone has added
you in their circle, replied to a post you commented on, sent you an email,
commented on your photo etc.. While this is a nice feature, and certainly
helpful and usefull, they have decided to group all of the different types of notifications
in one spot. So, if someone emails you and someone else adds you to a circle,
both notifications show up in the same section of the notifications. Whereas on
Facebook, and even MySpace, each type of notification has its own spot. If
someone sends you a message, and someone else replies to a post on your wall,
each notification is separated into its own category. Although I wouldn’t
classify this as a “bug” I still hope this is something Google fixes.

Circle bug! I have noticed that on my profile, it doesn’t
actually list all of the people that have me in their circles! And speaking of
circles, I think that Google should first put into place a friends system, and
then allow you to add your friends to different circles and what not.

You can’t post on your friends pages! You can however tag
your friends (using the good ‘ol @ symbol or + symbol) but you can’t directly
post on their page or their “wall.” This is madness!

Birthdays. Google doesn’t give you the option to display or
not display your birthday on your profile.
Although you do enter your birthday information when you sign up, it is
nowhere to be found on your G+ profile! This may be small but it’s still nice
to have. I guess.

Posting to your stream while viewing your profile. You can
do this, but you have to click the “Share” button in the upper right hand
corner, whereas on FB , they simply provide a text box above your wall to post
status updates, photos, etc.. although like I said all you have to post to your
stream while viewing your profile is click the “share” button, it still would
be nice to simply just have the empty text box like there is on your homepage.

They have the +1 button, but where is my – or my -1 button?
Facebook users have been asking for YEARS for a dislike button, and we never
got it. If Google is serious about competing with Facebook and Twitter in the
social network field, they will give us a damn – or -1 button! (and seeing as
how the +1 button is Google’s version of the “like” button so the – or -1  would be their version of a “dislike” button)

Those are really my only gripes thus far with Google+, but
like I said it’s only in beta so hopefully some of these things will be
addressed before public release. Over all I think Google+ is a really solid
product and I think it really has the potential to take over and maybe even be
a Facebook killer (maybe it will do to FB what FB did to MySpace??) at least
until the next big social network comes along.

First off is the SanDisk Cruzer 8GB Jump Drive. Now when I first
bought this device I thought it was going to be the U3 version that a friend of
mind had bought a few years ago, that cam pre-installed with the U3 App Launcher,
which is basically like a start menu that you have installed on your jump drive
and then when it’s launched it sits in your system tray and when you click it,
it brings up a new start menu and has a list of all of your portable apps that
you have on your JD. Well I was disappointed to find out when I got it that it
was not the U3 version, as SanDisk no longer makes it. So what did I do? Can any
one say third party? Ha. Now, I will get into which third party portable app
launcher/start menu I use in a different post because it deserves its own, but
let me just say there is no shortage of them and they all work pretty well.

On to the device its self. First the design. The actual USB
male port can be retracted so when it’s not in use it makes it a little smaller
and easier to transport and you don’t have to worry about accidentally snapping
it off. This is a very nice feature one that I think should become an industry
standard on these kinds of devices. Now when you plug this bad boy in, it comes
pre-installed with an application called SanDisk Secure Access, which lets you
create vaults and encrypt them & password protect them so that you can
store sensitive data on it and don’t have to worry about anyone else gaining
access to it, this is a very cool, and very easy to use application and I love
it. Now I bought this device for I think 5 bucks off of Amazon.com, and like I said
it’s an 8GB model and for 5 bucks (free shipping too) I couldn’t be happier. Once
you install a portable app launcher and some portable apps, this thing really
becomes useful and if 8GBs of storage isn’t enough for you they have 16GB
versions all the way up to 32GB for relatively good prices.

Next up is my HP Mini Mouse. I LOVE this thing. First, take
a look at the picture below. Notice the cool design of it? One would think this
might feel uncomfortable when using it, but it doesn’t. It actually fits really
nice in my hand and it is a very nicely built piece of hardware. It’s got a
nice smooth sleek texture to the buttons yet still lets you maintain a pretty
good grip. Also another cool feature, and useful feature, is the lanyard. At first
I was really skeptical about buying a mouse with a lanyard, but once I actually
tried it, it is really nice. When I’m not using this bad boy, I just pull
gently from each end, it retracts and fits nicely in my laptop bag. This is one
of the best, if not the best, mice I’ve ever used and as far as it being a mini
mouse, no complaints there. I think now I actually prefer the miniature size
over a full size mouse.

So I have two really solid products that I would definitely recommend
to other people and to friends. If you don’t have a mini mouse, and/or a jump
drive, do yourself a favor and try one of or both of these devices. You won’t
be disappointed.

Also, since I mentioned it earlier, if you have never
shopped on amazon.com, I highly recommend it. It’s fast, easy and they let you
track all of your orders, and shipping is never really that much. In a lot of
cases they actually offer free shipping. I’ve bought five or six things from
them already and each one was delivered on time (most times earlier than
expected) and I’ve just had a really good customer experience with them all
around.

Compaq Presario cq56-219wm

Specs:

Intel Celeron 2.2ghz

2gb ddr2 Ram (pc6400)

250gb hdd

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (Upgraded to Win. 7 Pro. 64
bit for $29 via student discount from Microsoft)

15.6 inch lcd tft display

Dvd r/w

3 usb ports, mic and headphone jacks, vga & earthnet
cable ports, built in microphone

What I like:

First of all, the price. I bought this thing for just over
$300 bucks and for 300 bucks I think I got a decent machine. There are a few
things missing (which I will get to in a second) but for the price I paid I’m
not complaining.

The battery life is pretty decent, I get about 4 hours
without the ac adapter plugged in and this is on wi-fi, without wi-fi I’m not
really sure because I’ve never taken it off my home wi-fi for any significant
amount of time. But like I said for the price I got it at, getting a little
more than 4 hours without being plugged in and on wi-fi, I’m happy.

The built in microphone is nice. Although there is no built
in webcam, I was surprised to find out that it has a built in microphone which I
actually have put to use in the past few days with Facebook’s new video chat
feature. Although the people I talk to can’t see me, they can still hear me and
that’s fine with me. I haven’t had any complaints about the mic level and
everyone I’ve talked to so far using it has said it sounds great.

The dvd/cd drive. Although dvd burners are pretty much
standard these days on desktops and laptops, the one that is built into this
Compaq laptop is surprisingly fast. I’ve only burned 1 dvd so far and that was
when doing a system recovery (don’t you love editing the wrong registry files?)
I created a backup of all my files and what not and did it in under 5 minutes,
and that’s including a dvd rip I had on my hard drive.

The color. It’s black. But it’s the real black. Not the “black”
that’s actually a dark gray. Now this may be a small thing but, to me, it
counts.

The speed. For only having 2gb ddr ram and an Intel Celeron cpu,
this machine is surprisingly very fast. I have installed FL Studio 10 on it and
I am able to edit and create & arrange music just fine with no stuttering
or skipping or any other problems that I expected to run into. Web browsing is
lightning fast, performing tasks and opening files and folders is also fast.
The boot time for me is under 40 seconds, which is nice.

The 15.6 inch widescreen display is very nice, and bright. When
using FL Studio it is so much nicer doing so with a widescreen display.

The recovery partition. Trust me, it comes in handy.

What I don’t like:

No webcam. What? I thought that was a laptop standard these
days? I guess not for $314 it isn’t…

No backlit keyboard. This is probably my biggest complaint
about this machine. I had to buy a USB powered lamp which is ok and it works
and I can configure it so that it doesn’t intrude on my view of the screen, but
I mean come on. And what’s worse is there are no backlit replacement keyboards
available that I could buy either.

All the trial software. Even before I purchased the laptop I
knew I was going to have to uninstall some annoying trialware, and although
there really isn’t that much, it’s still annoying. Some if was kind of nice
such as the free 60 days of Norton, and after I did my system recovery, it gave
me a fresh 60 days of Norton, so I guess if I never want to pay for anti-virus
software all I’d have to do is re-do my system every 59 days….

No recovery disks.. you have to order then separately from
HP. Although it does have the recovery partition, it’d still be nice to have it
on a disk so I can wipe over that partition and use that space. (not that I’d
ever use the 250 gigs I have anyways but still…)

Other than that, it’s a pretty solid machine. I would recommend
this for anyone who is on a budget and needs a laptop like I was. I will be getting
my student loan refund check in a couple of months and I plan to upgrade but
for now I am very happy with this machine. I will also be doing a review on
some of the external products I bought along with it!