Apple TV MC572LL/A New Version

The sleek new Apple TV is small in size but big on entertainment. Rent from the largest selection of HD movies or rent TV shows in HD, commercial free. Stream directly from the huge catalog of Netflix titles. Watch your favorite YouTube videos. And enjoy music and photos from your home computer on your home theater system. All you need is a single HDMI cable to set it up.
With the Apple TV, you can rent thousands of commercial free, high-definition TV episodes for just 99¢ per episode. Once you rent an episode, you have 30 days to press Play, then it's yours for the next 48 hours. You can also rent over 7,000 movies with over 3,400 available in HD--and most new releases are available the same day they're released on DVD. The Apple TV also connects to your home computer (either Mac or Windows PC), and you'll be able to stream all your purchased music, TV shows, movies as well as podcasts and photo slideshows from your computer directly to your HDTV via the Apple TV.
Featuring ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (as well as a wired Ethernet connection) and an internal power supply, and the Apple TV offers silent, cool, very low power operation in an enclosure that's less than four inches square--80 percent smaller than the previous generation. Control the Apple TV using the included seven-button aluminum Apple Remote, or use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and the Remote app--a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Coming Soon: Airplay

With Airplay functionality, you'll be able to wirelessly stream music and video stored on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to your HDTV via the Apple TV. Airplay will be available to mobile devices running the iOS 4.2 (to be released soon).

Key Features

• All-new design that's small, quiet, and cool.
• Rent from the largest selection of HD movies.
• Rent commercial-free HD TV shows.
• Stream from the huge Netflix catalog of movies and TV shows (available to Netflix subscribers in the U.S.).
• Browse and play YouTube videos, watch HD podcasts, and listen to Internet radio.
• Access online Flickr photos and MobileMe galleries.
• Enjoy all the photos, music, and videos on your computer on the best TV and speakers in the house.
• Turn your photos into a stunning HD slideshow.
• Stream everything you watch over 802.11n Wi-Fi.
• Simple setup with a single HDMI cable for both audio and video.

Specifications

• System requirements:
  • AirPort Extreme, Wi-Fi 802.11b, g, or n wireless network (wireless video streaming requires 802.11g or 802.11n) or 10/100BASE-T Ethernet network
  • iTunes Store account for renting movies and TV shows
  • Netflix account for streaming Netflix content
  • For streaming media from a Mac or PC: iTunes 10 or later; iTunes Store account for Home Sharing 
  •  
• Video formats:
  • H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
  • MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
  • Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

Computer Crash -and How to Fix it

A computer crash happens when your computer suddenly stops responding or unexpectedly shuts down. It will bring your computer to a complete state of halt. You may encounter the "Blue Screen of Death" indicating an error in your system. This is a common complaint among computer users. 

No operating system is immune. A simple reboot would sometimes do the work but crashing is a telltale sign that something is wrong in your computer. It is important to know the causes so you can avoid this problem from happening in the future. Below are three suggested tips on how to fix computer crashes:

1.    Remove spyware and viruses. New viruses appear and infect computers every day. Your system may have been infected without you knowing. These viruses can cause computer crashes. Always run a scan and check for these malicious files hiding in your computer. Delete them from your hard drive. Make sure to keep your virus definitions updated and always download the latest security updates.

2.    Avoid overheating. Computer crashing can occur when the computer has been running for awhile. If your CPU becomes too hot because of prolonged usage, the hardware parts will overheat and fail. Place your computer in a well-ventilated room. Always see to it that air circulates well inside your computer, that the fan is working, and vents are not blocked.

3.    Fix Windows Registry. Registry errors are the most common cause for computer crash. The Windows Registry contains all vital information the computer references in order to operate. When your computer was brand new, the registry was in pristine condition. 

Over time, it gets disorganized because of new entries being added. Some entries become obsolete and no longer wanted. The registry therefore needs to be regularly cleaned. But manual cleaning is very difficult unless you are a computer expert. Removing the wrong registry entry can cause serious damage. For non experts, you need to have a registry cleaner installed. This software will fix all the registry errors it can find. It will locate invalid and useless entries and repair them.Having a good registry cleaner will restore your computer's original condition. You will be able to enjoy its speed and performance. More importantly, you can avoid computer crashes in the future.

TurboTax Deluxe Federal + E-file + State 2011 Review

Let me first say that I have always used Turbo Tax and will continue to do so. However, I bought the 2011 yesterday and installed it on my Mac, running Lion. The install was fine, BUT I was then asked if I wanted to install 3 updates (a never ending, but necessary function for tax software). I agreed and after being patient, as requested by the update, for over 30 minutes, I realized that the install had frozen my computer and I had to Force Quit my Mac. Thinking that this was just a fluke, I tried it again and the same thing happened during the install, including the Force Quit. I then decided to reinstall Turbo Tax and not agree to the update. It worked, but it couldn't find the Turbo Tax 2010 automatically and I had to find it myself for this function to work. Hopefully, for 2011, the ability to password protect my return will work since, for whatever reason, the password protect doesn't work on Mac - this was confirmed by Turbo Tax Support last year.

My conclusion- Intuit was in such a rush to get the product on the shelves for Black Friday and sell as many as they could as soon as possible, that they didn't really care about how good a product they were selling initially thinking they could always correct problems with updates- too bad they didn't think about how to correct an update problem which will prevent any corrections to take place.

I would wait a month or so until to buy Turbo Tax and let Intuit fix all the bugs rather than get frustrated. Tax returns are not a lot of fun, so why double the pain?