accessDTV

The excitement around digital television (DTV) has been
growing steadily for several years. If you have been to any
of the major electronics stores recently, you have probably
noticed shelves filled with digital television sets.

At the same time, television stations have been quietly
launching their digital transmitters. The stations and the
networks have been outfitting their studios and trucks with
the equipment they need to shoot, record and edit with purely
digital signals. Almost all prime-time shows and sporting
events are now digital.

In most major cities, you can receive digital broadcasts. For
example, in San Jose, CA, you can receive about a dozen DTV
broadcasts. Even in a relatively small city like Raleigh, NC,
you can receive four stations. More than 100 million
Americans are able to receive at least one digital broadcast,
but far fewer than a million currently do. The main barrier
has been the price and complexity of home DTV equipment.

AccessDTV Features
The accessDTV card has a number of interesting features:

* It allows you to receive all of the DTV stations in
your area on your PC.
* It allows you to display the picture you receive in
a window on your computer monitor's screen, full on your
computer monitor's screen or externally on a DTV display.
* It provides personal video recording that allows you to
record DTV broadcasts onto your hard disk for later viewing.
* It provides a service that gives you a program guide,
listings for digital broadcasts in your area and links to
content-related Web sites.

DTV technology and programming is advancing quickly, and this
card lets you experience it all.

DTV

If you have read How Digital Television Works, then you are
familiar with the world of DTV. Here is a quick summary of
the important points:

* Broadcasters in your area have each been allocated
a new channel for their DTV broadcasts.

* The broadcasters each transmit a 19.39-Mbps stream of
digital data. This signal contains television programs
compressed using the MPEG-2 compression system.

* DTV shows can be broadcast at several different
resolutions:
o 480p - The picture is 704x480 scan lines sent at
60 complete frames per second.
o 720p - The picture is 1280x720 scan lines sent at
60 complete frames per second.
o 1080i - The picture is 1920x1080 scan lines sent
at 60 interlaced frames per second (30 complete frames per
second).

* Broadcasters can transmit either a single 1080i
high-definition channel that consumes the entire 19.39-Mbps
stream, or several different sub-channels by encoding
multiple programs at 480p resolution and lower bit rates.

For example, the DTV station 53 can have sub-channels
named 53.1, 53.2 and 53.3. accessDTV can record and play back
the sub-channels.

The accessDTV Digital­ Media Receiver Solution consists of
hardware and software. The hardware is a PCI card that you
install inside your PC. The software controls the card and
allows you to tune in and view DTV broadcasts in your area,
using either your computer monitor or an external HDTV
display.

AccessDTV Card Components

The following figure shows you a block diagram of the
components on the accessDTV PCI card:

The tuner receives the signal from the antenna and tunes in a
single channel. The demodulator retrieves the 19.39-Mbps
digital stream from the channel. The MPEG decoder
decompresses the MPEG encoding and separates subchannels. The
signal then goes to either the connectors on the board that
connect to a DTV monitor, or to the computer's video card
directly. MPEG signals and sound information can go through
the PCI bus to the hard disk and sound card, respectively.

The two most important components on the accessDTV card are:

* The digital tuner
* The MPEG-2 decoding system

By connecting a standard UHF/VHF antenna to the accessDTV
card, you can tune in any of the 69 DTV channels. (In
a typical city, there will be from three to 10 DTV channels
on the air.) The tuner pulls the 19.39-Mbps data stream off
the channel you choose.

The MPEG-2 decoder circuit decodes this data stream and
separates any sub-channels so that you can view them. This is
the most important part of the card because it offloads all
of the MPEG-2 decoding from your CPU.

The 19.39-Mbps stream is so complex that it would totally
consume a Pentium 4 processor running at 1.5 gigahertz (GHz).
The accessDTV card contains a custom processor specifically
tuned for MPEG-2 decoding. With the accessDTV card handling
decompression, only about 5 percent of your computer's CPU
power is spent displaying the digital image on the screen.
From your computer monitor, you can watch a DTV broadcast in
one window and do anything you want in other windows without
even knowing that the card is running.

The card also contains a cable-ready and NTSC
off-the-air-ready analog tuner. You can connect the coax from
your cable system or a standard TV antenna and receive analog
channels 2 through 83 as you would on any normal TV. You can
also view these channels in a window on your computer screen.

Connectors
The accessDTV card comes with a collection of connectors that
you use to accept video input and generate audio/video output.
This diagram shows you the connectors:

Here's what these connectors do:

* Analog in - This accepts analog video input. The input
can be an analog-TV antenna, a feed from the cable company,
or a channel-3 input from something like a VCR or DVD player.

* Digital in - This accepts digital video input.
Typically, this would be the Yagi antenna collecting the
digital broadcasts in your community, but it could also be
a cable from a digital satellite receiver.

* Dolby Digital Surround Sound (AC-3) output - This is
the output for digital sound. Typically, you would connect
this to your 5.1-channel home-theater sound system.

* PC Video passthru in

* Video output - This looks like a standard VGA
connector. You can use a cable to connect this to the
component video input of any supported digital display,
including DTV sets. In this case, the card acts as the
display's digital receiver.

There are two typical ways that you might connect the card in
your home: for computer-only viewing or for HDTV-display
viewing.

Viewing Methods

Computer-only Viewing
Let's say that you do not own an HDTV display right now, and
you simply want to watch HDTV broadcasts on your computer's
monitor. You would do the following:

1. Connect a standard UHF/VHF antenna to the digital video
input on the accessDTV card.
2. Connect the cable that comes with the accessDTV card
between the card and your normal video card.
3. Run the accessDTV application, choose your channel and
enjoy the broadcast. You can watch DTV in a window or
full-screen on your computer monitor.

HDTV-display Viewing
Let's say that you own an HDTV display and a home-theater
sound system, and you want to watch HDTV broadcasts on your
HDTV display. This means that you want to use your accessDTV
card as the digital receiver for your HDTV display. You would
do the following:

1. Connect a standard DTV antenna to the digital video
input on the accessDTV card.
2. Connect the cable that comes with the accessDTV card
between the card and your normal video card.
3. Connect the external HDTV display to the XVGA connector
on the accessDTV card using a standard XVGA-to-RGB cable.
4. Connect the home-theater sound system to the
serial-digital output on the accessDTV card.
5. Run the accessDTV application, choose your channel and
enjoy the broadcast. You can watch DTV on the external HDTV
display, or in a window or full screen on your computer
monitor.

GPS Phones

Imagine driving to a job interview and realizing that you're
lost. Your first impulse would probably be to call the
business that's interviewing you and ask for directions. But
if you're not sure where you are, getting directions can be
tricky.

But suppose you use your phone for another purpose -- to
figure out exactly where you are and to get turn-by-turn
directions to where you're going. New phones that include
global positioning system (GPS) receivers can do exactly that.
With the right software or service package, they can pinpoint
your location, give directions to your destination and
provide information about nearby businesses.

In this article, we'll review the basics of how cell phones
and GPS receivers work. Then, we'll explore how phones
combine these technologies.

Cell Phone Basics

A cell phone is basically a sophisticated two-way radio.
Towers and base stations, arranged into a network of cells,
send and receive radio signals. Cell phones contain low-power
transmitters that let them communicate with the nearest tower.

As you travel, you move from one cell to another, and the
base stations monitor the strength of your phone's signal. As
you move toward the edge of one cell, your signal strength
diminishes. At the same time, the base station in the cell
you are approaching notices the strength of your signal
increasing. As you move from cell to cell, the towers transfer
your signal from one to the next.

In remote locations, towers may be so far apart that they
can't provide a consistent signal. Even when towers are
plentiful, mountains and tall buildings can interrupt their
signals. Sometimes people have a hard time getting clear
signals inside buildings, especially in elevators.

Even without a GPS receiver, your cell phone can provide
information about your location. A computer can determine
your location based on measurements of your signal, such as:

* Its angle of approach to the cell towers
* How long it takes the signal to travel to multiple
towers
* The strength of your signal when it reaches the towers

Since obstacles like trees and buildings can affect how long
it takes your signal to travel to a tower, this method is
often less accurate than a GPS measurement.

GPS Receiver Basics

Like a cell phone, a GPS receiver relies on radio waves. But
instead of using towers on the ground, it communicates with
satellites that orbit the Earth. There are currently 27 GPS
satellites in orbit -- 24 are in active use and 3 act as
a backup in case another satellite fails.

In order to determine your location, a GPS receiver has to
determine:

* The locations of at least three satellites above you
* Where you are in relation to those satellites

The receiver then uses trilateration to determine your exact
location. Basically, it draws a sphere around each of three
satellites it can locate. These three spheres intersect in
two points -- one is in space, and one is on the ground. The
point on the ground at which the three spheres intersect is
your location.

A GPS receiver has to have a clear line of sight to the
satellite to operate, so dense tree cover and buildings can
keep it from getting a fix on your location.

GPS receivers and cell phones have a lot in common, and both
are very popular.

Nearly all new cell phones sold in America have some GPS
receiving capability built in. Those that don't can connect
to a server that uses techniques discussed in the last
section to analyze their signals and determine their location.
This allows the phones to transmit a person's location to
a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) after dialing 911. But
that's all a lot of phones can do with their GPS.

However, some phones have a complete GPS receiver located in
the phone or can connect to one with wires or through
a Bluetooth connection. These GPS-enabled phones can
understand programming languages like Java and can provide
turn-by-turn directions or information about nearby
businesses and attractions. Others can work like a tracking
device. To use any of these features, you must have:

* A GPS-enabled phone or a compatible GPS receiver
* A calling plan that supports transmission of maps and
GPS data
* A service plan or software that provides the actual
maps and directions or provides information about the phone's
location

Common uses for GPS phones include:

* Location Tracking: Some employers use GPS-enabled
phones to track their employees' locations, and some business
offer location tracking services for GPS-enabled phones. The
Wherifone locator phone provides GPS coordinates and can dial
emergency phone numbers. Parents and caregivers can track the
phone's location by phone or online and can receive
notification if it leaves a designated "safe area." Wearable
Environmental Information Networks of Japan has also
introduced the Dog @ Watch, a GPS watch phone for children.

* Turn-by-Turn Directions: GPS-enabled phones with view
screens can often display turn-by-turn directions as well as
announce them through the phone's speaker. In general,
companies that offer these services charge a monthly fee and
use a database of maps to provide the directions. The
services are only as good as their database -- outdated maps
can provide inaccurate directions. Some turn-by-turn
direction services include:

o TeleNav
o ViaMoto
o MapQuest Find Me
o smart2Go, which requires a separate Bluetooth GPS
receiver and a memory card
o Destinator SP, which is a software package for
smartphones

* Outdoor Location Services: Trimble Outdoors offers maps
and location-based services for hiking, mountain biking,
geocaching and other outdoor activities.

* Other Location-Based Services: Some companies hope to
deliver news, coupons, advertisements and other information
to cell phone users based on their location.

Some other GPS-enabled phones include:

* Mio A701 Smart Phone
* Several Motorola phones offered through Sprint/Nextel

Can my spoon taste my food for me?

It's been another long day at work, and the last thing you
want to do is go home and cook for your family. No matter how
hard you try, the peanut gallery will find some reason to
complain. "The soup is too salty," says one child. Another
child complains that his casserole is too runny. "This pie
crust could really use some citrus," reports your spouse, who
apparently moonlights as a food critic for the local
newspaper.

What you need is an intelligent spoon, a mixing spoon that
uses sensors to measure different food qualities, like
acidity, during the cooking process. This automated kitchen
utensil was developed by two students at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005. The students were
working in MIT's Counter Intelligence Lab, which tries to
create smart technology products that make our time in the
kitchen easier. Smart technology automates appliances and
devices with computers so that most of the work and the
required thought are eliminated from everyday tasks.

Some of the Counter Intelligence Lab's other cool innovations
for kitchens of the future include the "Talking Trivet,"
which will let you know if something needs to be rewarmed, if
it's too hot to touch or if it's ready to eat. Faucets will
let you know both the temperature of the water and also if
you're using too much of it. In the future, you could project
recipes directly onto a countertop so the cookbook doesn't
get dirty, and you could save electricity by never having to
open your fridge just to know what's inside. Instead, a small
camera and projection screen could let you know your fridge's
contents when you're thinking about what's for dinner.

But what about those intelligent spoons? How can they help
with dinner? How do they use smart technology to taste food?

Intelligent Spoon

Currently, the prototype intelligent spoon is made of clear
plastic so that you can see an array of wires running through
the inside. The smart spoon contains zinc, aluminum and gold
sensors. When the spoon touches food, the sensors measure the
concoction's temperature, acidity, salinity and viscosity.
When you connect the spoon to a computer with a cord, the
computer analyzes the information from the spoon and provides
feedback. Although the intelligent spoon is still in
development, we guess that it measures these factors and
creates suggestions based on a database of recipes stored in
the computer.

How might this play out in the kitchen? Say you're making
salad dressing from scratch. You find a recipe on the
computer and start following it. You accidentally add too
much salt, and you're worried the entire dressing is too
salty. Rather than tasting the dressing, figuring out how to
adjust it and tasting it again, the computer would tell you
to add a certain amount of sugar. The computer would tell you
how much vinegar or lime juice to add so that you had just
the right amount of acidity, as measured by the mix's pH
level. Is the dressing not holding together? The viscosity
sensor will alert the computer that you need more egg yolk.
It would be like having a GPS system for each recipe -- a
step-by-step instruction based on what's in the bowl.

Now, if you love to cook, this might seem a bit silly. Some
cooks would argue that your intuition and personal preference
are better guides for preparing food than any precise recipe.
It's the joy of tasting and tinkering that creates magic in
the kitchen, and mistakes are part of the process. You just
may stumble onto something better than what's in the
cookbook. Cooks may even point out that you can't always
follow a recipe word for word. For example, baking at higher
altitudes is much different than baking at sea level because
altitude affects moisture content. It's too early to tell
whether the intelligent spoon will provide this level of
assistance.

While cooking may become intuitive, the intelligent spoon
could really help new cooks or clumsy cooks get on the right
foot in the kitchen. They may eventually learn from their
intelligent spoon and feel more comfortable cooking on their
own. However, the intelligent spoon is not for sale yet, and
there are several unknowns, including cost and ease of use.
Smart appliances in general are not widely available in the
marketplace, in part because they're usually more expensive
than traditional appliances and because they can be more
complicated to use. Many people may not trust a smart
appliance when the regular one works just fine. In the case
of the smart spoon, not everyone will want to drag a laptop
into the kitchen for cooking advice.

Still, we may see the smart spoon in stores one day -- there
are already some sensor spoons for sale. These spoons, meant
to be used in the microwave, change color as the meal heats.
When you see that your spoon is a certain color, you'll know
it's time to eat. One variation is specifically for babies,
so that a caregiver will know if food is too hot for a baby's
gums.

Clover Coffee Maker

Next time you wait in line at the coffee shop, eavesdrop on
the other customers. You'll hear them calling out lots of
elaborate espresso orders, from nonfat vanilla lattes to
peppermint mochas with whipped cream. Accommodating baristas
bustle around pulling espresso shots, steaming milk, all so
you have your morning coffee exactly the way you like it.
Meanwhile, drip coffee sits forlornly in a pot in the back.
It could sit there for hours. It costs about a dollar. It's
functional, sure, and gets the job done when you need
a pick-me-up. But it's probably the least exciting thing in
the shop.

One machine aims to bring the glamour back to drip coffee:
the Clover coffee maker. It was developed in 2005 by the
Seattle-based Coffee Equipment Company. As opposed to a batch
brew that yields enough cups to get a business through the
morning rush, the Clover brews one cup of coffee at a time.
With a Clover, the barista and the customer can customize the
way the coffee tastes by tinkering with the water temperature
and the brewing time.

The result is not the kind of coffee you add milk or sugar
to, and it sure doesn't begin with anything instant. This
coffee maker has become a way to highlight coffee beans from
around the world, beans that may cost almost a hundred
dollars a pound. The Clover has coffee drinkers reaching into
a wine lover's vocabulary for words like earthy, citrusy and
spicy. Connoisseurs praise the floral undertones or deride
a grassy flavor, and café owners have found customers willing
to pay latte prices for drip coffees.

In 2006, the first year Clover was on the market, about 100
machines were sold to independent coffee shops, and sales
tripled the following year. Depending on where you live,
finding a Clover coffee maker might have been as difficult as
finding its four-leafed namesake. But you might be seeing
a lot more of them. In March 2008, Starbucks announced its
purchase of the Coffee Equipment Company. All future Clovers
will appear exclusively in Starbucks.

What does this mean for the coffee industry? Does the Clover
really produce better-tasting coffee, and even if it did,
would you pay five bucks for it? What can this machine do
that your coffee maker at home can't?

Clover Coffee: Building on French Presses and Vacuum Pots

The flavor of your coffee depends on two things -- how the
beans are roasted and how the drink is prepared. Roasting
packs the flavor potential into a coffee bean, while grinding
and brewing prepare the beans in a way that maximizes the
flavor. The Clover gives you control over the two brewing
factors that affect the flavor, which are the temperature of
the water and the dwell time, or the time in which the
grounds are in contact with the water.

The Clover uses a proportional integral derivative (PID)
controller to create the exact right temperature of water
every time. Even a change of a few degrees in water
temperature can make the difference between a cup of sludge
and a cup that highlights the flavor of the bean. If the
water is too hot, it will overextract the flavor of the beans,
resulting in a bitter taste, but if the water is not hot
enough, then you have underextraction and a weak cup of
coffee.

This coffee maker also lets you dial in the exact number of
seconds that the grounds are in contact with the water, and
the Clover's brewing process is designed to bring out the
best in the grounds. Let's look at how it compares with other
coffee-making methods.

Most people have an automatic drip coffee maker on their
kitchen counter -- it's fast, easy and gets them going in the
morning. Unfortunately, the drip coffee maker is not going to
win any awards for how the coffee tastes. These makers don't
heat the water enough or allow the grounds to interact with
the water for long enough to make the perfect cup of coffee.

T­o get the best-tasting coffee, coffee experts have long
agreed that you have to use a French press or a vacuum brewer.
Both of these methods allow for more control of the water
temperature and the brewing method than an automatic. To make
coffee in a French press, the grounds and almost-boiling water
steep for several minutes. The top of the French press has
a plunger that's attached to a mesh filter. When you push down
on the plunger, the screen separates the brewed coffee from
the grounds. The grounds are pushed to the bottom, and coffee
is poured out the top.

Vacuum pots are named for the air vacuum that's created
between its two connected globes to draw down the brewed
coffee. The bottom globe is placed on heat, which warms the
water within it. As the water heats and expands, the resulting
water vapor creates pressure that forces the rest of the water
into the top globe, where the ground coffee awaits. The vapor
also moves up, which heats the water and the coffee and
agitates it for a good brew. When the bottom globe is taken
off the heat, everything that rose up must now come down, so
the brewed coffee, minus the used grounds that are caught by
a filter, fills the bottom globe.

What does this have to do with how the Clover works? Well,
the Clover uses the best of both methods with its patented
VacuumPress Technology. The brewing happens in a steel brew
cylinder that sits atop a piston. When the brewing process
starts, the piston moves to its lowest position and a drain
valve at the bottom of the machine closes. After the coffee
steeps, an actuator forces the piston to rise with the used
grounds held by a perforated mesh screen, almost like a French
press in reverse. When it does this while the drain valve is
closed, a vacuum is created that draws down the brewed coffee.
The piston descends again, the drain valve opens and the
coffee enters the waiting cup.

Making Clover Coffee

You might have gotten the idea that the Clover is an
unattractive mix of pistons and valves, but it's a
sleek-looking machine that makes coffee brewing pretty fun to
watch. The Clover, despite the snazzy VacuumPress Technology
and PID controllers, still needs the help of a gifted barista.
Let's look at how Clover coffee is brewed, from start to
finish.

We're not starting with instant coffee with a Clover, as we
mentioned before. Likely, the café customer has a few whole
beans to choose from, and hopefully, a knowledgeable barista
to guide the choice. Let's say the customer picks some beans
from Kenya and would like an 8-ounce cup of coffee. The
barista will likely have a tip sheet, fine-tuned by Clover
and the coffee shop owners, which will contain the Clover
specifications that will produce the best cup of coffee with
this bean. On the front of the Clover is a knob that allows
the barista to change the settings, plugging in the cup size,
the time that the coffee should brew and the temperature of
the water.

The barista doses, or measures, the beans, and then grinds
them fresh. Human error or a faulty grinder could actually
screw up the perfect cup of coffee that the Clover promises.
The size of the grind affects how much flavor can be
extracted. It varies from bean to bean and is dependent on
how long the coffee will brew.

When the coffee is ground, it's poured into the brew chamber
at the top of the machine. As we mentioned in the last
section, this is basically a filter atop a piston. Behind the
brew chamber is a water boiler, and the water pours from
a spigot into the chamber. The barista stirs the mixture,
ensuring that the ­grounds are thoroughly moistened. This is
the other step where human interaction can affect the taste
of the coffee; debates rage on barista message boards about
the best way to stir the grounds. The stirring ensures that
the grounds are completely wet and helps to extract the
flavor from them.

Then the brewing begins. What someone can see from the
outside is the top of the bubbling coffee rising and falling,
but as we learned in the last section, pistons are rising and
falling, grounds are being pushed up and coffee is being sent
out through the valves. The whole thing is over before you
know it -- brewing takes about 40 seconds.
Up top, the grounds form a cake that can be easily wiped into
the waste bin at the top of the machine.

Quick brewing and easy cleanup are two of the selling points
of a Clover, especially in comparison to the more cumbersome
French presses and vacuum brewers. But even if you love your
French press or vacuum brewer, the Clover is set apart by
that ability to regulate so many different factors of the
brewing process. Once you figure out the temperature and time
that produce your favorite cup of coffee, you can replicate
that experience over and over. No more having to chalk a bad
cup of coffee up to accidentally overheating the water or
allowing it to steep too long. For every type of coffee bean
that exists, the Clover has specifications that bring out the
best in it, every single time.

We keep talking about Clover's ability to make the perfect
tasting cup of coffee, but what are you supposed to be
tasting? Why does it matter if you brew a coffee from Kenya
differently than you brew one from Sumatra?

How All-in-One Recycling Systems Work

When recycling took off in the United States in the early
1990s, the environmentally conscious were instructed to sort
their recyclables into separate bins. Paper went into one
bin, plastic in another, glass sorted by color into another
bin. By the end of the decade, however, technology that
allowed single-stream recycling was developed. At last, even
the laziest among us had no excuse to avoid recycling.

Under the single-stream recycling system, all recyclables go
into a single bin. At the recycling plant, recyclables are
loaded onto a conveyer belt and pushed off in response to
certain stimuli: Metals lift iron-based metals from the belt;
puffs of air blow paper from the line, and so on.

Single-stream recycling has made curbside recycling a cinch,
but getting your recyclables to the curb in the first place
can be a chore. When it's 10 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit
or otherwise), who wants to take an empty can to the
recycling bin? Trash is easy enough to handle; we have trash
cans in our kitchens to take care of that. Why don't we have
recycling cans? It's no problem to buy a plastic bin or to
use a bag to hold recyclables until you're ready to haul it
to the curb. Like all trash bins, though, these containers
can fill up pretty quickly.

Enter the all-in-one-recycling system. These bins accept
every recyclable imaginable into one several-gallon bin --
glass, paper, plastic, cans and more. Much of the recycled
material is crushed into a compact size, which keeps you from
having to run to the curb in your robe when it's cold out or
living in a kitchen overflowing with evidence of your
eco-friendliness.

Benefits of All-in-One Recycling Systems

You can make the case that any bin kept in your kitchen for
recyclables is an all-in-one recycling center. After all,
throwing paper, plastic and glass into the same container
constitutes an all-in-one mechanism, but there are slightly
more high-tech solutions on the market.

Why buy an all-in-one recycling system in the first place? It
turns out that there are plenty of benefits to having an
all-in-one recycling system in your kitchen. For one thing,
it's easy to use: Having a place to throw all of your waste
is nice enough; having a machine that cuts down on trips
outside to throw out that waste is a beautiful thing.

The all-in-one recycling system, created by American company
Mode Products, features a crusher that cuts recyclables down
to about one-third their size. Plastic bottles and cans are
no match for the mechanical crusher located in the front of
the recycling system's top. A press of a lever on the bottom
of the unit activates a crusher that compacts recyclables and
tosses them into the 8-gallon (30.3-liter) waste bin. Since
it's mechanical, the compactor doesn't require electricity to
function, which makes the unit all the more eco-friendly.

Be careful about what you put into the recycling bin. It's
a bad idea to compact absolutely everything. Why? Many
recycling centers outfitted with magnets and lasers to
separate recyclables have trouble turning a profit from
residual waste like pulverized broken glass, especially when
differently colored glass shards are mixed together.
Apparently, Mode Products picked up on this fact and designed
their system accordingly. The rear slot in the 30-inch tall
by 15-inch (38.1-centimeter) wide unit leads directly into
the eight-gallon bin, so glass bottles can be added to the
mix without breaking.

In the front of the unit is an awning slot that accepts paper
waste like junk mail and newspapers. This slot leads to
a separate, five-gallon bin for paper recyclables. So, you've
got two bins for a total of 13 gallons (49.2 liters) of
recyclable material. That's great, but what happens when you
forget to take the bin liners to the curb for pick-up? Mode
Products' all-in-one-recycling system includes an alarm that
can be set to alert its owner when recycling day nears. If
you're the type that likes insentient devices to remind you
of what a conscientious person you are, then this all-in-one
recycling system should be right up your alley. The same
digital display shows a running tally (in pounds) of all of
the recyclables you've fed into it over time.

If single-stream recycling and all-in-one recycling systems
offer any pattern for the future, then it shouldn't be long
before robots start taking our recyclables to the curb for us.
No robe necessary.

Top 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Your Broadband Internet Connection

Top 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Your Broadband Internet Connection

There are few things in life as frustrating as an "Address
Not Found" message in your Web browser. Timed-out
connections, a little red X in your network connection icon,
or an "Internet Explorer cannot display the Web page" error
screen all add up to the same dismal problem -- something's
wrong with your Internet connection.

Finding and fixing the problem is never easy, mainly because
there are so many places where something can go wrong. We're
going to walk you through five relatively easy steps that
will solve the majority of broadband Internet connection
problems, no matter what kind of Internet service you use.
We'll have you up and running, reading celebrity gossip and
updating your Facebook status in no time.

1. Check the Wires

It may seem obvious, but one of the easiest troubleshooting
steps you can take yourself is to check all the cables and
connections involved in your Internet connection. This is
true no matter what kind of connection you have. Even if
you're sure nothing has changed, it only takes a minute to
make sure.

Start where your Internet service enters your house. This
might be your cable company's line drop, a satellite dish
antenna or a phone line. Make sure the cable is connected
securely, and any cabling that runs outside the house hasn't
been damaged by weather or chewed on by birds, bugs or
squirrels. Just be careful if there are any electrical lines
around -- and if you see damaged lines of any kind, don't
touch them, just call the cable or phone company.

Next, follow the cables through your house, checking
connections at every appropriate point. If you use a router,
check those connections, too, and make sure the correct cable
is going to the correct place. If your router feeds several
different computers or gaming systems, it can get confusing
to keep track of which cable goes where.

If the cabling and connections seem OK, the next step is to
power cycle your modem.

2. Power Cycling

Power cycling might sound exciting, but it just means turning
your modem off, waiting a few seconds, then turning it on
again. This works regardless of your connection type, whether
you get your Internet via cable, DSL or satellite. The
easiest way to turn it off is to disconnect the power cord
where it plugs into the modem itself (they don't always have
on/off switches, but if yours does, that should work, too).
Wait about 30 seconds, and then plug it in again. Sometimes,
that's all it takes. Once the modem has cycled through its
usual boot-up sequence, you may find your connection works
again.

If this doesn't do the trick, a more elaborate power cycling
sequence might. You'll have to turn off every device on your
network, then power them on again in a particular order.

First, shut off your computer, then unplug the power cords
from your modem, router, access point and hub.When you turn
things on again, follow the signal from the modem toward the
computer. In other words, power up the modem first, then
power up your router or hub, then turn on your computer last.
As you turn on each device, wait for it go through its
boot-up sequence before powering up the next device in line.
You can determine the status by watching the lights on the
device itself.

Still no connection? If you use a satellite Internet service,
we'll troubleshoot your unique problems in the next.

3. Weathering Storms with Satellite Internet Connections

If you access the Internet with a satellite service, you have
your own set of issues to deal with. The first potential
issue is line of sight. Satellite Internet connections use
a special two-way dish, and the dish has to be pointed
directly at the satellite at a very particular angle. The
problems start when anything gets between your antenna and
the satellite.

Overgrown greenery, snow and ice or leaves and other debris
could be blocking your dish, so you'll have to get to the
dish to clear it off. This can be especially difficult if
it's mounted on the roof.

Odd as it may seem, weather hundreds of miles away can also
affect your satellite connection. Because the satellite is
over the equator, your dish points south (that is, if you're
in the Northern Hemisphere). The farther you are from the
equator, the less direct the line of sight is. Your dish has
to send and receive signals through a long stretch of
atmosphere to the south, so southerly storms many miles away
can still cause interference.

If there's nothing in the way, and the weather is clear from
your roof all the way to Guatemala, your dish might be
misaligned. If it isn't pointing in the proper direction,
your connection will fail. Satellite dish antennas require
much more precise adjustment than TV dish antennas do - it's
probably a good idea to call your Internet service provider
for help, rather than trying to adjust it yourself.

And on top of that, the problem might be beyond everyone's
control. Sunspots are massive flares on the surface of the
sun that send intense blasts of energy at the Earth. That
energy can severely disrupt satellite communications.

Next, we'll diagnose some common wireless problems.

4. Wireless Router Outages

If you use a wireless access point or wireless router to
access the Internet with a laptop, then the wireless
connection might be the cause of your problem. You may have
to use a wired connection to your network until the wireless
problem is solved. You'll also want to have a copy of your
wireless access point or router's user manual nearby.

There are two main potential issues with wireless
connections: configuration problems and security problems.
Consult the user manual to see how to access the wireless
device -- this is usually done by typing the device's IP
address into a Web browser. From there, you'll need to check
the manual to find the proper settings. You'll probably have
to call your Internet service provider (ISP) for assistance,
because the necessary configuration will vary tremendously
depending on the type of network you have and the type of
connection provided by your ISP.

The wireless device's security settings could also be causing
problems. You can access these settings the same way you
accessed the configuration. If you have a wireless security
protocol enabled, you won't be able to access the wireless
device without using the proper password. You can set and
reset the password the same way you can change the other
settings.

If none of these steps have solved your connection problem,
there are still a few last-ditch efforts you can attempt.

5. More Cable and Configuration Problems

Chances are, part of your home network involves cat5 or cat5e
Ethernet cables. If you're using the wrong kind of cable, it
could defeat your Internet connection efforts. Crossover
cable should only be used to connect two computers directly.
If you're connecting devices with a hub or router,
straight-through cables should be used. How can you tell the
difference? Sometimes crossover cables are labeled by the
manufacturer. If not, it's a bit technical to figure out (it
involves checking the pairs of wires at the connectors). If
possible, just try a different cable to see if that helps.

The problem might be with the computer you're trying to
connect to the Internet. Network configuration
troubleshooting depends on operating system, connection type
and other factors. If your computer has a network icon, it
might displays a red X or other error message if there's
a problem. If there's no error message and your connection
still won't work, some operating systems have the ability to
self-diagnose to determine if there's another issue.

If everything else seems to be working OK, then the problem
might be with your ISP. Contact its technical support line
and ask. If the ISP isn't suffering an outage (they do, from
time to time), technical support representatives might walk
you through some of the steps you already went though, and
they may even be able to test your connection or reset your
modem.

Mobile Ticketing

Your favorite band is in town for its final reunion tour. The
tickets are available online, but the concert is only two
days away! In the past, if you wanted to get the tickets on
time, you'd have to pay an exorbitant delivery fee, wait in
a long line at will call or put your fate in the hands of
a scalper.

Not any more. A new technology called mobile ticketing
delivers tickets right to your cell phone. You don't even
have to print them out. The tickets arrive as a text message
with a special barcode. When you show up at the event,
they'll scan the barcode, and you're in the door!

In this post, we'll run through the basics of how mobile
ticketing works and explain some of the features and
applications of this exciting new service.

Here's how to buy and use mobile tickets for an event:

1. Buy your ticket online and choose "mobile ticketing" as
your delivery option.

2. Enter your cell phone number, mobile carrier and cell
phone model.

3. After completing the transaction, you'll receive a text
message on your phone. If your phone is MMS or WAP enabled ,
the message includes an image with a barcode. If your phone
only accepts text messages, you'll receive a special
alphanumeric code that can be manually entered at the event.

4. Do not delete the text message. Save it or leave it in
your inbox. This message is now your ticket.

5. When you arrive at the event, open the text message and
hand your phone to the ticket collectors at the gate. Since
mobile ticketing is a relatively new technology, the venue
might require that you enter through a specific gate or door
that's equipped with the right barcode reader. If for some
reason the barcode is unreadable or your phone doesn't accept
images, they'll have to enter the barcode digits manually.

6. Some events will print out a paper ticket at the gate
while others forgo the paper version entirely.

Features and Applications of Mobile Ticketing

Mobile tickets have the potential to be used wherever regular
tickets are sold today. Many modern sports and concert
facilities already use barcode readers to process paper
tickets, so the technology is already in place. The reach of
mobile ticketing could extend to sporting events, concerts,
movie theaters, nightclubs, transportation, conferences and
more.

Guns N' Roses played the first official "ticketless" concert
in London in June 2006 and former Black Eyed Peas frontwoman
Fergie is selling absolutely no paper tickets to her 2007
Verizon VIP Tour.

Tickets.com has launched a new service called Tickets@Phone
to deliver tickets to cell phones. Two baseball teams -- the
Washington Nationals and the Oakland A's -- currently use the
Tickets@Phone service to offer mobile ticketing as one of
their delivery options.

The greatest advantage of mobile ticketing is convenience. If
you have a WAP-enabled phone, you can buy the tickets from
your phone, store them on your phone and swipe your phone at
the event. There's no waiting in line at the movies or the
game, not even to pick up your pre-ordered ticket at will
call. Just walk straight to the gate.

Mobile ticketing can also help increase revenue for concert
promoters and ticket vendors. They can sell tickets right up
to the minute that an event starts, because delivery to your
phone is instantaneous. They can even take advantage of
"no-shows," selling unclaimed tickets at the last second to
people who are waiting for seats.

Mobile ticketing reduces processing costs on both sides. The
vendor doesn't pay for printing and delivery fees, and
neither does the customer. Plus, less paper is better for the
environment.

Mobile tickets are harder to scalp than paper tickets, and
extra security measures can be added to make fraud or theft
nearly impossible. The ticket can be "locked" to the
customer's cell phone, so the message can't be forwarded. The
customer's name and even photo can be added to the ticket for
confirmation at the door.

Even if a mobile ticket is lost or the text message is
accidentally deleted, it's easy for the vendor to cancel the
old ticket and resend a replacement.

For now, mobile ticketing is just getting started, but it
promises to be an exciting new convenience for cell phone
users everywhere.

Connect Your Computer to Your TV

There's something painfully ironic about sitting on your
living room couch, just a few feet away from a beautiful
widescreen HDTV, watching a movie on your tiny laptop. Yet
this is what most of us do when we download movies or TV
shows onto our computers.

The same goes for showing off our latest digital photos to
friends. We all huddle around the 15-inch computer display
while the TV screen goes unused. And what about that
PowerPoint presentation you just gave at work? Wouldn't it
have looked 1,000 times better on the wall-mounted plasma
display in the conference room?

There are many compelling reasons why we want to connect our
computers to our televisions, especially now that HDTVs are
so popular. Everything from movies to photos to work
presentations were made for the big-screen experience.

The first personal computers used TVs for monitors, but
computer graphics technology quickly outpaced the image
quality on standard-definition TVs (SDTVs). The typical
modern computer monitor has the ability to display images at
a much higher resolution than a regular TV. A computer
monitor can display more individual pixels than an SDTV.

Even today, hooking a computer to an SDTV only makes sense if
you want to use your computer as a DVD player. If you try to
use an SDTV as a monitor, you'll have a hard time getting
your full desktop to fit on the screen.

But with the advent of high-resolution, high-definition TVs
like flat-panel LCDs, plasma, LCoS, and DLP displays,
televisions now make excellent computer monitors. In fact,
that's what the manufacturers of PC-based media centers are
trying to achieve. The tricky part is figuring out exactly
which TVs work with which computers and how to connect them
all together.

Screen Resolution and Aspect Ratio

Many people are familiar with the concept of screen
resolution. Resolution is a measurement of how many
individual pixels your TV or computer monitor can display at
once. The old cathode ray TV (CRT) in your basement can
display the equivalent of about 300,000 pixels. The latest
HDTVs can display more than 2 million pixels. With more
pixels, the image can be rendered in greater detail. It's the
difference between painting a portrait with a thick sponge
block or a small, delicate brush.

The standard way to classify TV resolution is with numbers
like 480i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The bigger the number, the
greater the screen resolution. The little "i" and "p" stand
for interlaced and progressive scan. This has to do with the
way in which the image is rendered on the screen. Refresh
rates on TVs and computer monitors are measured in hertz.
A refresh rate of 60 times per second translates to 60 hertz.
An interlaced-scan TV refreshes half of the screen image 60
times per second. It refreshes the odd-numbered horizontal
lines first and then the even-numbered lines. The result is
that the full screen refreshes 30 times a second.

On a progressive scan television, the entire screen refreshes
60 times a second. The result is that progressive scan TVs
have a noticeably smoother image when watching sports or
other video with fast-moving action. All computer monitors
are progressive scan [source: PCMag.com]. Some even have
refresh rates faster than 60 times a second. This is why
interlaced SDTVs make for lousy computer monitors. When you
scroll, the image can't refresh fast enough to keep things
smooth. As a result, you see that telltale flicker.

Resolution is important, but you must also take a screen's
aspect ratio into account. Your goal when hooking your TV up
as a monitor is to make the entire image fit within the
boundaries of the TV screen. SDTVs use a 4:3 aspect ratio --
the ratio of the screen's width to its height is 4 to 3.
HDTVs have a native 16:9 aspect ratio. While many computer
monitors share those aspect ratios, not all of them do, and
your computer may support many different screen resolutions
with different aspect ratios.

In fact, your computer's preferences are unlikely to tell you
the aspect ratio, and instead will tell you the resolution.
The horizontal x vertical measurement is also the most common
way to label computer monitor resolution. Some typical
monitor resolutions are 640 x 480, 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768.
If you don't know your monitor resolution, you can find out
by going to whatismyscreenresolution.com. If you aren't
connected to the Internet and you're using a Windows PC,
right-click on the desktop and choose Preferences. Then
choose the Settings tab. On a Mac, go to System Preferences
and click Displays.

The trick is to find the resolution that best fits the TV's
aspect ratio. This may not be as big a deal as it sounds,
though. Modern operating systems can usually match the
attached monitor's aspect ratio automatically. If your
computer doesn't, you can manually adjust the settings in
your computer's preferences to make it fit.

But there's more to hooking these two machines together than
resolution and aspect ratio. You still have to get the
information from the computer to the TV. In order to do that,
we've got to solve the cable conundrum.

Computer TV Cables

You know there is a baffling number of audio/video cables on
the market. You'll have to make some sense of the different
types of wiring necessary to connect your computer to your
TV. First you need to figure out what kinds of audio/video
outputs your computer has and what kinds of audio/video
inputs your TV has. If you're lucky, you'll find a match
right away. But depending on the type of equipment you own,
you may need to get creative.

First, let's talk about which cables you'd use to connect
a computer to a standard-definition TV. The most common video
inputs on an SDTV are composite, S-video and component video.
On computers, the most common video output is S-video. On
a desktop PC, you'll find the 9-pin S-video jack on your
graphics card next to where you connect your monitor.

Some Windows laptops also have S-video-out jacks, but most
have 15-pin VGA jacks for connecting to external monitors.
Luckily, it's easy to find adapters and special cables that
have VGA connectors on one end and S-video connectors on the
other. Apple also sells a wide variety of adapters to connect
Mac desktops and laptops to the S-video or composite jack on
SDTVs.

Even if you have an old TV that only accepts coaxial video
cable (the one-pin variety that's mostly used for cable TV
and satellite connections), you can use something called
an RF converter box that can convert S-video or VGA input
into coaxial output.

For connecting a computer to an HDTV, it's the same story.
The most common HDTV inputs are component video, DVI and
HDMI. If your graphics card doesn't have one of these
outputs, then you'll need to buy a special converter box or
adapter. For example, if your computer only has a VGA jack
and your HDTV only accepts HDMI, then you'll need to buy
a small box that will convert the signal for you.

If you're serious about playing high-definition content from
your computer on your HDTV, then you should upgrade to
a graphics card with a DVI or HDMI output. Most newer Apple
laptops come with a Mini DisplayPort video output that easily
connects with the DVI or HDMI inputs on an HDTV.

All of the cables that we've mentioned so far are video-only
cables, which means that you'll need separate cables to
handle your audio. The easiest solution is to connect some
computer speakers to your audio card's headphone or audio-out
jack. If you want to use your TV's built-in speakers, then
you'll need to buy a 1/8-inch stereo mini-plug-to-RCA cable.

For the best possible audio, you'll need to invest in
an audio card for your computer with either an optical or
digital coaxial audio output. These connections carry
high-bandwidth digital audio signals using cables that can be
plugged directly into your home theater receiver.

Even if you have the right cables and have done your homework
about resolutions, you still might have some problems
connecting your computer to your TV.

Computer to TV Troubleshooting

The biggest problem with connecting your computer to your TV
is that, generally speaking, computers and TVs don't display
at the same resolutions. For example, the closest thing to
the HDTV resolution 720p (1280 x 720) is a monitor display
mode called XGA (1280 x 960). Not quite the same. And the
closest thing to 1080p (1920 x 1080) is a monitor display
mode called WUXGA (1920 x 1200). Again, not quite the same.

The result, in most cases, is something called overscan,
where the full computer screen image doesn't fit on the TV
screen. Overscan is a bigger problem on SDTVs where the
native screen resolution is much smaller than your computer's
display. If you're going to use an SDTV as a monitor, plan on
lowering your screen resolution to 800 x 600.

HDTVs also have overscan problems, but usually only the very
edge of the computer image gets cropped. A bigger problem
with HDTVs is when the TV refuses to display a signal that
doesn't fit its native resolution.

Luckily, most HDTVs have the ability to scale incoming
signals to match their native screen resolution. This
involves either upconverting lower-resolution signals in the
attempt to bring the resolution up to high definition or
downconverting higher-resolution signals for lower-resolution
screens. It's not perfect, but for most casual viewers,
there's little to no noticeable loss in image quality.

In rare cases, the HDTV won't recognize the resolution of the
signal sent by your computer. When you connect an external
display to your computer, most graphics cards will
automatically try to find a good match for the display's
native resolution. If this doesn't work, you will probably
need to edit your resolution with third-party software.

Two programs are considered the best solutions for solving
connectivity problems between a computer and a TV: PowerStrip
for Windows and DisplayConfigX for Mac. Both of these
programs allow you to match your graphics card's resolution
precisely with the native resolution of your TV. If your HDTV
is 1080p, you can go into one of these programs and switch
your computer's resolution to 1920 x 1080, even if this
wasn't previously an option.

Avoid increasing the refresh rate on your graphics card,
unless you have a 120-hertz HDTV. If you send a signal with
a refresh rate over 60 hertz to a normal HDTV, you could
damage the TV.

Are PDAs a help or a hindrance?

Everyone said technology would make our lives easier.
Computers filled with vast amounts of memory would store
large files and tons of information. Telephones connected us
in ways we never could've imagined. Cell phones came along
and connected us even further, adding mobility and
multitasking to the equation. The Internet gave us news
sites, blogs and online libraries to make up-to-date stories
and reliable reference materials available at the click of
a mouse button.

While all of the above is generally true, sometimes we find
ourselves contemplating the downside to each of these
aspects. After a hefty memory upgrade, our computers can
still run as slowly as ever. Multitasking with a cell phone,
along with being difficult to do, can be potentially
dangerous if it's done in the car. A search on the Internet
for some decent information can lead to a bunch of junk Web
sites that are a decade too old.

One piece of technology that suffers from this pull between
pros and cons is the personal digital assistant, or PDA. When
PDAs were first introduced to the market in the mid-'90s,
their operating systems were simple, using programs that kept
calendar appointments, phone numbers and addresses, but
little more. Now, the increasing popularity of smartphones,
which are essentially sophisticated phones with PDA
capabilities, we now have personal, convenient handheld
devices that can perform the majority of our daily tasks and
provide us with entertainment along the way.

But are PDAs all they're cracked up to be? Do they improve
our lives, saving us time and effort? Or do they simply make
things more complicated and cause unwarranted frustration?

PDAs: A Benefit or an "Outsourcing"?

Some of us only need a pen and a piece of paper to remember
upcoming appointments, important dates and passwords.
A calendar hung up on the wall with notes, a few circles and
some X marks is the single material object necessary to
maintain an organized life.

For others, it isn't so easy, and that's where personal
digital assistants come in and offer their best and most
obvious benefit. At their most basic, PDAs are virtual
calendars, much like the ones found in Microsoft Outlook. Any
day, week or month of the calendar year can be accessed, and
a PDA owner can enter in text for reminders. When the
important event comes along, an alarm or vibration will
notify the user of its arrival, so things like dentist
appointments or incoming shipments won't be forgotten.

PDAs also can be used to store the phone numbers and
addresses of family, friends and work contacts. Newer models
also have wireless Internet and e-mail access, so if you're
on the run and happen to be in a Wi-Fi hot spot, you're just
a few clicks from the information you need. If you own
a smartphone, your PDA doubles as a cell phone, and you can
perform almost any task with ease. In general, PDAs are also
simple to navigate. All PDAs use touch screen LCDs (liquid
crystal displays) that either respond to a stylus or your
finger.

PDAs are generally geared toward businesses, where meetings,
appointments and deadlines are a part of the work life. The
ability to set up reminders before meetings and keep
a digital rolodex of important contacts can increase people's
productivity while keeping paper waste to a minimum. Many
companies will buy PDAs in bulk and provide employees with
them, to help employees communicate if they come with cell
phone capabilities -- quick text messages can save people
several precious minutes. PDAs have even proved helpful to
health care providers -- doctors, nurses and pharmacists use
them extensively to gather medical information and
communicate easier in order to save valuable time.

But what about complaints about PDA use? Some argue that all
this time-saving only creates more things for us to do --
instead of using that free time for leisure activities and
spending time with families and friends, we find ways to cram
even more tasks, either large or small, into our schedules.
Some PDA users are left juggling far too many parts of their
life on a tiny electronic device, and instead of saving time
they're just left stressing out.

The ease of storing information has also done a number on our
memories. For example, David Brooks for The New York Times
believes we've "outsourced" our memories to electronics like
GPS devices, cell phones and, yes, PDAs. According to Brooks,
we rely too often on storing personal data like phone
numbers, addresses and passwords into electronics. Before
PDAs and cell phones, people memorized many phone numbers
because they were forced to type them in manually -- now,
technology does the work for us, and our memories suffer.

5 Must-haves for a Home Office

So you get up on Monday morning, shower and head out to the
garage for the ubiquitous morning commute, right? Well, maybe
not. According to a 2007 benefits survey conducted by the
Society of Human Resources Management, 56 percent of U.S.
companies offer some type of telecommuting program. That
means that you may be headed down the hall to start your
workday, instead of down the interstate.

The widespread availability of computers and high-speed
Internet access may have contributed to your change in work
venue, or it could be the result, in part, to fallout from
the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, which started a national
dialogue about the strategic advantages of a less centralized
workforce. If the work you do allows you to dial in, e-mail,
teleconference or instant message your efforts to your
employer, you may be sitting in your fuzzy slippers right
now, eating a toaster pastry and wondering how long it's
going to take to slog through your inbox.

While you're waiting for your latest file attachment to load,
think about your workspace for a second. Do you have
everything you need? If you don't, what would you run out and
pick up if you could? Your work area may be a dedicated home
office or a TV tray in a corner of the dining room, but
wherever your virtual cubby happens to be, there are some
must-haves that will make it more functional, efficient and
comfortable.

1. Computer

If you have a home office, you might have a shredder,
probably have a printer and almost certainly have a computer.
You may love or hate it, but there's no doubt that having
access to a computer is one of the key reasons that people
are doing more work remotely.

Computers and their electronic brethren have opened up new
avenues of communication that make it immaterial whether the
person on the other end of a discussion is in the next room
or another hemisphere. Not only that, computers offer
a wealth of tools in the form of software that help us
create, collaborate, control, monitor and analyze.

In 1943, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM, said, "I think
there is a world market for maybe five computers." In the
intervening years, we've seen changes that would have
astonished Mr. Watson and still astonish a generation of
folks who thought that the invention of the television set
was a neat trick.

The world of computers and related peripherals is always
changing. Look at how quickly technology went from the floppy
to the thumb drive. Consider the popularity of online
software solutions or the potential for video communication.
Today, you probably work with a desktop, notebook or netbook,
but tomorrow, who knows?

2. Printer Hub

Although you may have dreamed about a paperless office at one
time or another, chances are you use your share of the white
stuff. U.S. businesses consume about four million tons of
copy paper every year. Creating all those reports, memos and
spreadsheets takes paper and plenty of ink, too. If you've
ever had to make a formal presentation, you probably know
that powering up the presses means turning on your trusty
printer and loading your spreadsheet or graphics handling
software.

Printers for the home office come in three main types:
inkjets, laser printers and all-in-ones. Printer costs have
been coming down steadily for the last decade in all
categories, but there are some tradeoffs you need to consider
when buying and using a printer.

Inkjets are usually the least expensive printers to buy but
one of the most expensive to use. That's because ink
cartridges are so pricey.

Laser printers, on the other hand, can be inexpensive to use,
but cost a lot to buy.

The third printer variety is affectionately called an
all-in-one, or sometimes a four-in-one. This is an ingenious
printer and scanner combination. It also has onboard controls
that allow you to use it without the computer, like a copy
machine. Most all-in-ones also have faxing capability.

3. The Right Chair

Your desk chair is important to your back and your
productivity. Don't fool yourself into thinking that getting
up frequently will solve the problem. Besides the lost
productivity, you'll still feel some of the adverse affects,
like stiffness, numbness, irritability and loss of
concentration.

Your ride, even if it's only a slight swivel and a couple of
wheelies around the desk, needs to fit your body and your
workspace. The term to remember here is ergonomic, or in the
words of the American Heritage Dictionary, "designs intended
to maximize productivity by minimizing operator fatigue and
discomfort."

When shopping for an ergonomic office chair, keep these
things in mind:

* The chair seat should be 16 to 21 inches (40.64 to
53.34 centimeters) high and preferably adjustable. When
you're sitting, you should be able to keep your feet
comfortably on the floor.
* When your back is touching the backrest, there should
be a two to four inch (5.08 to 10.16 centimeter) gap between
the front edge of the seat and the back of your knees.
* The chair should have lumbar support that molds to the
curve of your lower back.
* The armrest height should allow your shoulders to relax
without tension.
* Look for a chair that's upholstered with a breathable
mesh fabric. Mesh will help dissipate heat and wick moisture
away from your body.
* To reduce instances of neck strain, consider a chair
with a tilt adjustment.
* Choose a chair that sits on a five-wheel base. It will
be more stable and have a longer useful life.
* All-steel construction is a great feature, too.

4. Shredders - Keeping it Confidential

According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates, about
nine million Americans have their identities stolen every
year. When you work from home, it isn't just your personal
information you need to worry about either. Customer lists
and other proprietary materials may be exposed to prying eyes
if you don't take steps to keep them secure. If you have
nightmares about identity thieves rooting through your
garbage for personal information, a shredder can give you
some security and peace of mind.

Older style shredders separate paper into thin ribbons.
Although these strip-cut shredders are still on the market,
they aren't as secure as shredders that cross cut the strips
into confetti. Strip cuts can be pasted back together by
enterprising thieves. (Yes, some take the time to do just
that.)

When you shop for a shredder, have a general idea of how much
paper you'll be processing at one time. Shredders are rated
for a maximum capacity, and trying to feed 200 sheets through
an eight-page capacity shredder can be time consuming and
frustrating. If you can afford it, err on the high side. The
average office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper
a year, so you'll probably be using that shredder more than
you think.

5. Space - Carving Out a Workspace

Ah, the joys of having enough room to keep everything in
order. Although this is a dream for many, a little judicious
organization can make a small space seem larger. Even if your
home office is more like a home shoebox, making the most of
what you've got is the key to a more productive workday.

Try these tips for maximizing the space you have and
streamlining your workflow:

* Stack electronic equipment that doesn't vent through
the top.
* Label cords to help keep them sorted and easy to
identify.
* Invest in file storage.
* Keep track of the stuff you can pitch by tagging files,
brochures and reference materials with a colored expiration
sticker.
* Exploit the wall space.
* Organize your space to complement the way you work.

If you don't have a whole room to yourself, you can still
make your space feel like a distinct and separate spot by
creating a barrier between you and the rest of the room. You
can do this with plants, furniture or a screen. The goal here
is to define the space you do have. Once you've established
a boundary, it will be easier to treat the space as a home
office instead of a haphazard work area. Marking your
territory will also come in handy when you don't want to be
disturbed.