Page 1 of John Dow's writing

1. Podcasts on Your MP3 Player An often overlooked and great way to get some extra mileage out of that $250 plus MP3 player you drag around is loading it up with Podcasts. A Podcast is really just a name used for prerecorded information. Itunes has about 100,000 free ones... (posted by John 2 years 135 days ago.)

2. Desktop Computers Are Still Necessary In the past few years laptops have started to make a very serious dent in replacing desktop computers. There are a lot of good reasons, convenience and mobility being the most common. Prices have dropped considerably and power and features have... (posted by John 2 years 135 days ago.)

3. Best Way To Improve Car Audio One of the best ways to improve the quality of stereo sound in your car has nothing to do with your stereo. Many of the new car models have a real problem with road noise, that's noise coming from outside the vehicle. This noise makes it difficult... (posted by John 2 years 135 days ago.)

4. Food Processor Pasta We have a fall tradition that fills in the void between summer and winter holidays. We have a pasta party, or sometimes even two during September and October. The weather cools down and we can open up the house and invite friends over to make... (posted by John 2 years 137 days ago.)

5. Not All MP3s Are Created Equal Not all MP3 recordings are the same. There are some important factors to consider when creating an MP3 recording or converting from other formats. The MP3 (Mpeg layer 3) was invented to help reduce the file size of music or sound recordings with... (posted by John 2 years 137 days ago.)

6. Kids And Cameras Last summer we took our two grandkids (a 6 year old boy and 7 year old girl) to the beach for the afternoon for a picnic, fishing, swimming, and sea shell hunting trip. But on the way we stopped at a quick shop to get some ice and my grandson... (posted by John 2 years 137 days ago.)

7. Digital Photo Editing Software For Free Part of the fun of taking digital photos is editing the final version using software to get the exact final result you want. There several great free software programs from the simple to the advanced that can help any amateur photographer. Here's... (posted by John 2 years 137 days ago.)

8. Durable Dog Toys My dog is a chewer. He's a Border collie with unlimited energy and needs to be entertained much of the time. I often get him dog toys of all shapes and sizes. The first thing he goes after are the eyes if the toy has them. The next is the squeaker... (posted by John 2 years 137 days ago.)

9. Did Windows 7 Boom or Bust? It's been a few weeks now since the launch of the Windows 7 release by Microsoft. The launch in general was much lower key than past version launches, probably for a couple of reasons. The biggest being that Windows 7 was the solution to the Vista... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

10. Tough Dog Beds If you have a dog over 40 lbs and or an aggressive breed, you need a little more sturdy dog bed than people with smaller and more docile dogs. Or, your dog may be a chew hound, digger, or just rambunctious and be hard on anything. Tough dog beds... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

11. The Difference Between Stereo And Surround Sound I got my first surround sound system before Home Theater and surround sound were a common commodity. In fact I was looking for a new TV at the time and I liked of the Sony models and it had surround sound ability with the speakers and the whole... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

12. A College Students Best Friend, An MP3 Player That Records I have a nephew that is starting college this fall and I wanted to get him something to make college life a little easier. Thinking back to when I attended college, I remembered one of the biggest challenges I had was with the large lecture... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

13. Stereo Speakers Are Personal I have a good friend who's a phenomenal musician. He plays several instruments and will even sing backup sometimes in local bands. Me, I can't carry a tune or play a note, but I'm a great listener. I decided to break down and get some new stereo... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

14. Best Free Photo Editing Software Half of the fun of shooting digital pictures is to edit the photo using software to get the best result you want. There are many good software programs from simple to advanced that can help any amateur photographer for free. Here are my top... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

15. Printing Your Own Photos At Home The holidays are once again upon us. Which means that my wife is going to go crazy printing out photos she takes of all the events, parties, kids, and grandkids. We discuss this on every holiday, the difference in cost between getting prints done... (posted by John 2 years 138 days ago.)

16. Why Cats Are Different All cats are unique in many ways in the animal world. The entire species from big cats to the most docile of domestic cats have several common traits. It is believed that the cat species evolved from a weasel type of animal over 40 million years... (posted by John 2 years 139 days ago.)

17. Rescue A Dog Or Get A Puppy? Some people have this question answered for them due to circumstances. When you find a stray dog and end up falling for them, it's a simple decision. But when you are planning on getting a dog, for yourself or maybe your family (because the kids... (posted by John 2 years 139 days ago.)

18. PC Verses Mac Wars It's hard to pick a start to this war. Apple was first in providing a personal computer between the two. But the IBM was really the first model designed for business. The hardware was really not the driving force between either version of personal... (posted by John 2 years 139 days ago.)

19. Food Processing Adventures I like to cook, but I'm not that wild about cleaning up the mess, a common cooking dilemma that I imagine many people face. I finally took the plunge this summer and bought my first food processor. Well, actually I ended up buying two food... (posted by John 2 years 139 days ago.)

20. Care and Cleaning Tips for Down Jackets Down jackets and coats are warm and cozy in the harshest of winter climates. The natural ability of down to insulate and hold in your body temperature is well known. Most of the jackets are rated based on the ability to keep anyone warm at... (posted by John 2 years 142 days ago.)

21. Now Is The Time To Kick Your Website Marketing Into Gear For 2010 For those of us not in the retail industry or holiday type businesses, December can be a slow month. Most people go into the holiday mode right after Thanksgiving. This means less new projects, decisions, and ongoing business takes a backseat to... (posted by John 2 years 143 days ago.)

22. Registry Cleaners Can Cause More Problems Than They Fix There is no magic bullet when it comes to "cleaning" your registry. I've been in the desktop computer repair business for longer than I care to admit (or can remember). I get at least 5 to 8 calls a month from some poor individual that bought a... (posted by John 2 years 143 days ago.)

23. Windows 7 Chaos I absolutely dread the release of Windows 7. I do computer repair for a living and trust me when I say that any new Windows Operating System release is always an adventure. Every release since the first wide release of Windows 95 in 1995 has been... (posted by John 2 years 143 days ago.)

24. Fashion Changes for Winter I know a lot of people that love the Winter Season. Especially women if they are into the latest Winter Fashions. Spring and summer bring out the colors and show a lot of skin. But in the cold months of winter the options are unlimited and clothes... (posted by John 2 years 143 days ago.)

25. Why Men Are Fashion Blind Show me a man who dresses well and I'll show you a man who's wife, girlfriend, or mother buys his clothes. Now that may not apply to every guy, but I would bet that it's true 9 out of 10 times. Guys just don't get into fashion like the gals do and... (posted by John 2 years 147 days ago.)