Today I upgraded to the latest and greatest version of WP, so I’m all up to date. If you run WP and haven’t updated lately you probably should as there has been several security updates.

Today I downloaded the latest trial of WS_FTP which I used to do my backup and updates. In the past, I used this program exclusively, but stopped using it when the LE version wasn’t free anymore. I’ve been using various FTP clients since then, and none of them have been the same. Their home version costs 40 dollars, so I think I might actually purchase that once my trial is up. I’ll have to see what features are stripped out of the home version, But I’m guessing it’s nothing necessary.

Cheers.

If you’re looking for a privacy screen for your yard you are probably interested in fast growing trees such as I was. Most of the fast growing trees are Evergreens. Two of the most popular evergreen trees are the Leyland Cypress and Thuja Giant which are commonly sold and used for screens, with claims they can grow 3-5 ft a year.

Not too long ago I purchased my first home, and I’ve been interested in blocking some of the neighbors from being able to see directly in my yard. Unfortunately I can’t afford 14 foot trees to start off with, so I’ve started with smaller trees and will give them some time to grow. So far I’ve planted a combination of Leyland Cypress, Thuja Giant, and Italian Cypress.

If you have ever done a search online, there are many people that make a business out of selling these evergreen trees online. I was curious myself to see how good the trees are and decided to purchase a Thuja Giant Evergreen from the #1 search result on Google for the term "Fast Growing Trees".

They were recently advertising 7 ft Thuja Trees for $129.95 Each. On top of that, they charged $20.95 for shipping, for a grand total of $150.90. A little expensive in my opinion, but here is what I received:

The tree arrived in an extremely well packaged box, I was very impressed with the packing.

In addition to packing tape, they used staples which made the box very secure:

After getting all the staples off, I opened the box:

This tree came with a plastic pot to retain the dirt and to also retain moisture, although it was very dry when I opened the box.

Here are a few shots of it standing upright:

They also provided some good instructions, and included a fertilizer tablet to put at the bottom of the hole you dig.

Overall I’m satisfied with the purchase. I’ll see how it does once I finally get it in the ground. I wish it was a little less expensive, but their packaging and prompt delivery was superb.

If you look around your local stores, you might be able to find better deals. For example, I just bought four big Leyland Cypress trees from Home Depot for $119.00 each. Here is a photo of one:

These are very mature and are all over 7 ft. However, their supply is usually small and sporadic.

I know this was a little off topic, but definitely related to technology since I found and purchased the tree online. I love the Internet. :)

Cheers.

I came across this and thought it was pretty interesting. It’s Google’s Solar Panel Project where they cover almost all their rooftops with panels.

This was started in late 2006. I really love the idea of renewable energy and wish it could be more widely incorporated. It usually has higher installation costs initially, but pays off in the long run and helps the environment. There really needs to be an initiative to installing these types of devices for  lower amounts.

The pictures of the Google campus are beautiful.

More pictures and information here:

http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels/home

I thought I’d quickly write about one of my new toys, the HTC Mogul from Sprint.

This is a pretty sweet device. It does everything the iPhone does and more…

The Mogul runs Windows Mobile 6, and there are an infinite amount of applications made for it. The installation of most programs is a breeze, just clicking on a cab file and performing the installation.

I’ve already installed some cool apps such as Google Maps, iPhone themes (still love their interface), and plugins, such as the HTC Home plugin which is very slick.

Because this is a Sprint device is also has EVDO built in. So I’m able to browse and stream music very quick.

The only thing I’m unhappy about so far is the lack of picture messaging. Sprint has decided to block the ability for people to do this. =/

I’ve configured my Gmail account for IMAP, and have my Mogul check my email every 15 minutes. Now I can always be up to date with mail.

I’ve been a long time customer of Verizon, but finally made the switch over to Sprint for my main phone. I was previously a Sprint customer in my college days for nearly five years. However, I’ve still decided to keep my Verizon EVDO and also my work cell phone is Verizon so yes, Verizon I can still hear you. =)

I’m no stranger to the Windows Mobile platform. In the past I had a Palm Treo 700W which I didn’t really care for. I’ve also had PDA’s in the past which had Pocket PC on them such as the Dell Axim.

I’ve recently made another purchase which I’ll probably write about here in the next week or so.

Cheers!

I came across a pretty cool site today that reviews notebooks and provides a lot of information such as pictures and benchmarks.

One feature I really like is you can find all notebooks that have a certain brand / model video card. For example, I wanted to see all notebooks that have a NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600M GT card. I found this page which shows reviews with notebooks that have that particular card.

They have a lot of ads which is a little annoying, and you won’t always find a review on the same specs of your system, especially brands that provide a lot of customization such as Dell. For example, I was looking for a review on the Latitude D630 notebook that I have which has a dedicated Quadro NVS 135m video card, but they only had a review of a D630 with an integrated Intel graphics card.

http://www.notebookcheck.net

I ran across this device today and really like it. Sometime ago I built my own wire box to hold all my power devices, but this one is even better.

As you can see in the photo, it has two sections for both small and large plugs.

I think I’m going to pick one of these up and try it out.

It retails for $49.99, but I’ve seen it online for only $30.00.

Here is a link to it on Belkin’s site:

http://www.belkin.com/surgeprotection/concealed/