Portable Scanner

My husband is an artists and regularly consults with clients away from his studio. Sometimes something during the transaction will come up that makes him wish he was in his office with his scanner handy. Wouldn't it be great if he had a portable scanner?

The ScanShell 2000N (2000NR) portable scanner would be perfect for his needs. It is small enough, it is slightly less than a foot long (11.5 inches), only two inches in width, and weighs in at only 11.8 ounces. Weight is something to consider when you are lugging your laptop, portfolio and whatever else to a meeting. When you get past its cuteness, you will also realize that it is efficient for what it is designed to do. For a small unit, it scans pretty fast at 6 pages per minute. You can use the scanner to fax, email or just scan documents or photos by simply pushing one button. Speaking of photos, you can scan images, or any document for that matter, up to 600 dpi (dots per inch) resolution. That's pretty good for a portable unit. You can make pretty good quality prints from an scanned image at 600 dpi.

The scanner connects to your laptop via a USB interface and comes bundled with DocShell software which enables you to save your scanned images into the following formats: BMP, JPG, TIF, PSD, PCX, PNG or TGA. Once saved, you can use your scans in any application you have like the Microsoft Office Suite or Paint, or Photoshop. This scanner and software is also compatible with MicrosoftVista if you've already made the jump.

Santa bring me one of these plz

The girls had individual laptops on their Christmas list for the past several years and Santa hadn't seen fit to grant their wishes yet. Trying to keep Santa's options open, we've even visited France (well, ok virtually only) to check out their mini pc portable which is how they refer to laptops over yonder.

Whether you look at the site in English or French (might as well brush up that two years worth of French classes you took in school), the deals remain the same. For Dell computers, they are great in any language! Depending on the features you are looking for in your notebook, they have various models in different price ranges that will fit your need. If like mine, your kids are into online games and such, you may consider looking for one with higher memory and more storage space. While you may be tempted to go for the starter model, you will find that you outgrow those really fast. I would pick one that does slightly more than what I need right now so that you have some room to grow and you won't need to buy another laptop in a year's time.

Cell Phones & Kids

I used to say that kids should not have cell phones. I am not buying my kids cell phones. Heck, I don’t even have a cell phone! hehe! but that was because I just hate to talk on the phone.

As the girls got older, and were involved with more things at school that required them to stay later or go elsewhere, I soon realized how it would be most helpful if they had cell phones so they can call home if they need anything or so I can find them if I need to. So on their birthdays last spring, I decided to let them have phones. Nothing fancy though, god knows I can’t afford to have another $100/month calling plan to have us all on it. Instead, I decided we would try a prepaid calling plan. We all agreed that these phones will be for emergency only, not for use to chit chat with friends all day long. We also agreed that they will earn their own minutes.

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The Motorola RAZR Phone

It is hard to believe that there was a time not so long ago when cell phones were a thing of science fiction and not everyday life. Can any of us remember anymore when we lived without a cell phone?

I resisted for a long time before finally deciding to get the girls cell phones. Our life style nowadays is such that we feel it necessary to stay connected with each other through technology. One of the places to compare cell phones and plans is cell-phone-plans.net. They offer a variety of phones and calling plans all in one place online without you having to jump from one provider to another. You can save time and money in a one stop shop, so to speak.

User reviews are also available from the site so you can see what people who have tested out the phones and calling plans have to say about it, the good and the bad. One of the best phones on the site is the RAZR v3m.

The girls love the features that come with the RAZR v3m because it has everything they need and lots of what they want. The Motorola RAZR v3m in silver is especially attractive. It has a very sleek and stylish look that is pleasing to everyone but especially teenagers like mine. With this thin razor in their pocket, they can not only use the phone feature, they also have extras like a camera phone, a music player and all integrated with bluetooth technology (like they need to do anything else with their hands while they are talking on the phone, listening to music and taking goofy picture of themselves and their friends).

Speaking of pictures, the camera feature is a pretty decent 1.3 megapixel with a 4x digital zoom and video! My daughter is already thinking of all the possibilities that she can use a cam phone like this on. If you look online, you will see that others have submitted positive comments about the razor particularly the Motorola RAZR v3m in silver reviews. The best part about this phone? When you sign up for a Verizon Wireless Account, it's FREE! That's a $249.99 value that you immediately save!