Every year, I get asked by a number of different people, what computer they should buy their loved one(s) for Christmas (or your end of year holiday of choice).  My answer is never what they expect and never what they think they need, as it starts with a question for them – "What do you/they want to do with the computer?" I almost always get the same response – "Hmmm.  I’m not sure."

Unfortunately, that’s one question you MUST know the answer to. If you don’t know what you (or your loved ones) want to do, buying the right PC for your/their needs is going to be harder than it might be if you knew what they wanted to do.  Good thing, though – unless you have a specific need that you need special hardware for (like a gaming PC), most people want to do the same things:

1. Surf the Internet (Facebook and its online games (farming…!)
2. Take, process and share family photos
3. Manage their music and off-line video collection
4. Send and receive e-mail/ Update social networking status

Other than the above, unless, as I said, you’re wanting to do something specific with your computer that requires specialized hardware, such as play processor and graphics adapter intensive games, buying the RIGHT PC is pretty easy; and for most (at least in this economy) price is usually the biggest driver. As such, I’ve pulled together the following holiday suggestions for desktops, note books and netbooks as well as tablets to help everyone out.  Let’s take a quick look and see what is available for everyone.

Check out the rest of part 1 of my 2010 Holiday Buyer’s Guide on iTechGear.org!

Perusing the news in the Los Angeles Times, I’m surprised [although I shouldn’t be] of the U.S. government wanting automakers to install back-up cameras in all new cars.  I can sure see this potentially boost certain parts of the economy, but at the same time, I can also see how this would raise the price of a car.  By how much?  I don’t know…but it took Apple an increase of $30 to the 8GB iPod Touch 4th gen to add in 2 cameras.  Cameras I guess are not too expensive.  Now, how much would LCD displays cost?  For Apple, the iPod Touch has to have an LCD so it reuses existing parts.  But what about a car?  Not too many cars I know would have an LCD display built in.  Granted, the price of the display has become more affordable as we can have GPS units that have LCD displays for anywhere between $100-$150 but that’s only for a very small size.  What size LCD display would be mandatory?  In addition, what ever happened to people looking behind their shoulder when backing up?  Are people so wreck less these days that they don’t look and just back up without turning their body and checking the rear?  Granted, yes, a camera would allow perhaps an even better view.  But let’s remember that majority of cars will not have such technology and it will take a while to phase out the older stuff….so if this gets passed, we should still always practice turning our heads…or perhaps we are being retrained so that we will be used to using that so much that we loose the basics of looking over our shoulders and turning our bodies to make sure that the path is clear.  Well, here’s to upcoming mobile technology…cameras on our wheels.

I saw an interesting article on the ACD Social website recently about iPad printing.  When I was deciding whether to jump and buy my iPad or not, printing was one of those features that it lacked which made me think long and hard.  With the recent release of iOS 4.2, that ability to print was added – however limited to only HP printers with ePrint.  A few days later however, computer geeks came up with methods to hack the system as originally AirPrint was designed to work for both Mac and PC.  For the Mac side, we have AirPrint Hacktivator which will allow you to print from your iPad from Safari, Pages, and other apps.  The directions seem simple enough.  Give it a try today!  I’m currently finding versions of AirPrint Hacktivation for Windows as well but so far I’ve only had limited luck in making my iPad see the printer – but it won’t actually print.  I’ll be sure to let you guys know when I figure it out (or find someone who has already figured it out).