Superior Electronics Q&A

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 16, 2010.

Q: I want to use my computer anywhere in the house. I like the idea of no wires holding me down. I understand I would need to get a laptop in order to do that but is that all I need to use it anywhere in the house?

A: Well, it’s the main thing; you can use a laptop anywhere in your house, outside your house, or anywhere else for that matter. Just keep in mind that the battery only lasts for so long before you have to plug it in to charge, usually around 2-3 hours. If you are going to be on it for an extended period of time, an extra battery or a long life battery would be an ideal solution. If you are planning on browsing the web, then you are going to need some sort of internet connection. A wireless router or modem in your house, usually provided by your internet service provider, or if you really want to be free, then a mobile broadband card is the ideal solution. With a mobile broadband card, or air card, as it is commonly called, you can get online at pretty decent speeds anywhere you have a cell signal. This makes it perfect for people who do a lot of traveling and do not want to connect to public networks that may put their data at risk.

Q: My sister is trying to send me some pictures of my nephew and it does not seem to be working. She gets various errors on her computer and we can’t seem to figure it out. I almost feel that it’s time for her just to send me the pictures via snail mail.

A: Without the specific errors, it’s hard to say what is causing the problem. If I had to guess, I would say the pictures are too big. Some email services have a limit on the size a file can be. Your sister can try to break up the pictures and send just one at a time. If they are really high resolution images, then they probably need to be resized. Google has a software tool called Picasa (picasa.google.com) that is free and lets you easily edit photos to make them more email friendly. The program can also interface with Google’s online photo albums. If you use the online albums, then you won’t have to worry about email pictures ever again and albums can be shared with hundreds of people, so your whole family can have access making it much easier to share important and memorable pictures with very little work. Best of all, it’s free.

Do you have a question for Superior Electronics? Ask it here.

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