Switching to DTV

Switching to Digital TV will bring better image quality, but it has its disadvantages, too. One thing I read was that if you have a letterbox TV, you will see black edges around the picture. You will have to zoom the image, but some parts of the image might not be seen. Thats because some channels will broadcast in widescreen mode only. So on widescreen TVs, you might have better luck. If you have a new TV or Widescreen TV, it may already have a built in converter box. Visit www.dtvanswers.com to learn more about the switch to DTV and learn about the converter boxes, and also get a free $40 coupon mailed to you. With this coupon, you may end up paying a lot less, or maybe nothing for a converter box, depending on the price of it.

Build Your Own No-Compromises $1,500 PC

Get April 2008's Volume 13, Number 4 Maximum PC magazine or look out for the next. All instructions are there. For this issue, you need: Videocard: XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Alpha Dog Edition-$350; Motherboard: MSI P35 Neo2-FR-$120; CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-$275; Memory: Patriot 4GB DDR2/800-$120; Case: Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01-UW-$120; Power Supply: PC Power & CoolingSilencer 610-$120; Operating System(OS): Windows XP Professional-$100; Hard Drive: Seagate 750GB Barracuda AS 7200.10-$184; Optical Drive: Optiarc AD-7190A-$25; Soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer-$80.

Rumor Mill: Vista Replacement in 2009?

"According to online sources, Microsoft is pushing up the release of Vista's follow-up, code-named Windows 7, from 2010 to late 2009. These sources claim to have erlay alpha versions of the nascent OS, leaked by OEMs. The official word from Redmond is "no comment," but we wouldn't be surprised if MS is putting pressure on its dev team to quickly roll out a follow-up to Vista."- Maximum PC

Breaking: iPhone Still Sucks!

"It's been nearly a year since Apple's blessed iPhone hit store shelves, and we're still scratching our heads. Hacked applications are a poor alternative for official support on Apple's side. Where's that promised SDK? It's hard for us to find answers using the iPhone's atrocious EDGE-based Internet connection. Hey, Apple, let us know when you're ready to make improvements that aren't related to the device's storage limits."- Maximum PC

eSATA Loses Its Power Cord

"Take that, extra cable. The Serial ATA International Organization recently announced that it's pursuing a new specification of the eSATA standard. In this version, eSATA will be joining its connection peers by offering power over the data cable itself. The new cabling will remain compatible with existing eSATA plugs and not suffer from any speed reductions"- Maximum PC.

Wired vs. Wireless

"With 802.11n Draft 2.0 routers and wireless network adapters becoming both ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive- and with 802.11n media center extenders finally reaching the market- you might be wondering if building an old-fashioned wired network is worth the trouble and expense"- Maximum PC. The thing is that wireless networks or routers are best for streaming audio and browsing the web, while wired networks or routers are best for streaming video and transferring/downloding/uploading files. So think first and make a wise choice.

Download Managers/Accelerators

If you are on connections of 56k or slower and wish to improve/increase speed performance, give up. There is nothing that can increase you internet speed. Download managers like DAP or Free Download Manager will not increase downloading speed at all. The good thing about those is that you can resume paused downloads if you pause one or if for some reason you get disconnected. Other ineternet boosting software will not increase speed either. Some websites will offer registry tweaks that will change modem speed a bit. Spme sites are http://www.johntp.com/2006/02/12/tweak-your-56k-dial-up-modem/ and http://www.mdgx.com/modem .