My Tech Talk

Are you searching for a terrific gift idea for friends or family? Look no further than your collection of digital photos. Put that photo collection of family and friends to good use by creating memorable gifts.

Photos make great personalized gifts, especially when you can have them printed by Kodak onto memorable, enduring products.

As a long time Kodak Gallery customer, I can vouch for the quality of their products, their excellent customer service and the enjoyment giving such personal gifts will bring to the recipient. If I was not a satisfied customer, I would not be their affiliate nor recommending their products.

Why Photos Make Great Gifts

• Unique
• Long Lasting
  
• Affordable

Consider these creative gifts from the Kodak Gallery for your photos:

(Click a photo to visit Kodak Gallery for further product details)

Mouse Pads

Photo Coasters

Specialty Puzzle

Photo Playing Cards

Magnet Frames

Travel Mug

Hopefully this list will help you with your holiday shopping.

ONE IMPORTANT TIP:  Always look for coupon codes for your Kodak Gallery purchases. You can search on Google for “Kodak Gallery Coupon Codes” or visit the DealTaker web site to see their list of coupon codes, which displays a lot of them.

Comments and feedback are always appreciated.

Yahoo’s free widgets, over 4,000 and counting, allow users to display bits of information right on their desktop for PCs or Mac. Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS has built in widgets, but those of us still on Windows XP can “widget-ize” our desktops courtesy of Yahoo.

For more info and a widgets definition, go here: Yahoo’s Widgets click here.

My Favorite New Widget:

Inspiration by Martin Koistinen (click to view download page).

It cycles through inspirational quotes to help motivate and inspire you. However, my favorite part is that I can add my own quotes simply by editing a text file stored in ‘My Documents’ folder.

For example, I’ve added memorable quotes from my two boys so that I don’t forget the amusing things 3 year olds say. Those quotes cycle through along with ones from famous folks with wisdom to share.

Here’s a link to a list of other widgets created by Martin Koistinen for Yahoo! Widgets.

Widget of Honorable Mention:

Any widget that helps you enjoy digital photos by displaying to you a different photo on your hard drive every minute.

For example: One Photo Yahoo! Widget

What widgets do you use?

Do you need a Father’s Day gift idea for a techie Dad? Look no further!

Here are a few gift ideas that I’ve found online that are fun, useful and under $100.

Pictured Above: Hubman……Digital Photo Key Chain……IronKey Thumb Drive……Han Solo Thumb Drive.

Hubman:

• Listed price: $29.00
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Smiley face

Digital Photo Key Chain:

• Listed price: $50.00
• Holds 60 photos
• Rechargeable batteries
• 2 hour battery viewing time

IronKey Thumb Drive:

• Listed price: $78 (1 GB size)
• Military grade encryption, encased in metal.
• “10 incorrect password attempts, and the encryption chip self-destructs, making the contents of the flash drive totally unreadable.”
• Windows XP and Vista only

Han Solo Thumb Drive:

• Listed price: $49.95 (1 GB size)
• Other Star Wars Characters available, but c’mon, you know Han Solo is Dad’s favorite.

I’m sure any of these gifts will bring a smile to Dad’s face. If not, you can always consider an iPod.

Technorati : Father’s Day, Gifts, Technology

As a regular user of the Kodak Gallery (formerly Ofoto), I get periodic emails about their products and services. A recent email about a mobile Scan Van caught my attention.

Here’s the scoop: Kodak will send a high tech van to a shopping mall, school or other location. They’ll ask customers to schedule appointments with them. Their staff will then scan and upload 200 photos for $24.99 into a customer’s free account at the online Kodak Gallery.

Scanning by professionals with professional equipment for $24.99?

That’s quite a deal, especially for those who either aren’t comfortable using a computer scanner or don’t have the time to do it. A person could convert several photo albums worth of pictures into digital copies quickly and inexpensively.

With the pictures digitized, you can view them online, share them with friends and family and have an online backup of precious photos. It looks like a good idea from Kodak: Taking the hassle out of picture scanning and giving people all the benefits of digital photos.

Of course, the only downside I see at the moment is a BIG one:

At the time of this posting, the Kodak “Scan Van” is only scheduled for events in Atlanta and North Florida. Ouch. I’m not about to hop on a plane to take advantage of their service, but I’ll keep an eye out for any future events in Northern California.