Home Electrics - Housewares DIY hints and tips

Many states are making it illegal to drive when using a cell phone unless you are wearing a hands free headset. As of right now, you can either get a wired headset, or a wireless Bluetooth headset. Each type has its own distinct advantages, but in this buying guide only wired headsets will be covered.

Compatibility: You want to make sure that the headset is compatible with your cell phone. Often times it will connect through your cell phones headphone or mini USB jack. Make sure that the headphone jack on your phone is the same size of the headsets input. For example, normal stereo headphone jacks are 3.5mm, but many cell phones use a 2.5mm headphone jack instead. If you get a headset that works with 3.5mm but your cell phone only takes 2.5mm, you wont be able to connect without getting an additional adapter.

Microphone: It might be of importance to you for the microphone to work well in noisy environments. Check to see if the headset

Ghostbuster Halloween Costumes

One of the most popular costumes at Halloween always seems to be the Ghostbusters costumes, if you are inspired by the classic Ghostbusters films from the 1980

In the past, video projectors were limited to high-end home theater installations that were very expensive, but today these same types of high definition projectors are available for less than $2,000.

Whether you plan on using a video projector for professional or personal use, a projector can provide you with many benefits. Depending on what you will be using the projector for, there are certain things you should look for before making a purchasing decision.

Below you will find a set of questions that our product specialists ask our customers before recommending a projector for them to buy.

How much light is in the room you plan on using the projector in? Generally, the more light that enters the room the more Lumens you will need a projector to have. The more Lumens a projector has, the brighter the picture will display, making it easier to see when in a room with a lot of light. Note that a projector with less than 1000 Lumens might require you to block out almost all of the external light in order to be able to see the picture clearly.

What aspect ratio do you want the projector to display in? The two main types of aspect ratios are either 4:3 (standard) or 16:9 (widescreen and HDTVs). Most people now are choosing projectors in the 16:9 format for their home theaters, while a few prefer the 4:3 format as many movies created before 1953 are in that format.

Do you plan on taking the projector around with you? If you want a projector that is easy to take around, from room to room or office to office, consider the size and weight of the unit. The lighter and smaller the projector, the more portable it will be.

Do you care about the contrast of colors in the picture displayed? If you want a good contrast in your colors, such as blacker blacks and whiter whites, then take a look at the contrast ratio of a given projector. The range of contrast ratios is anywhere between 500:1 and 5000:1 and more. The higher the contrast ratio is, the higher the amount of available colors. Therefore the higher the contrast ratio is the more life like images the projector can produce.

How do you plan on connecting to the projector? Make sure that the projector in question has all of the inputs you plan on using available. These include S-Video, Composite, Component, HDMI, as well as many others.

What type of accessories do you want with the projector? Projectors can come with many accessories, including the necessary cables to make a connection such as an s-video cable, HDMI cable, or something of the like. Make sure the projector has the necessary cables when purchasing a projector. Other accessories can include remotes, lasers, lens cap, etc.

Lumens: The unit of measure for the light output of a projector.

S-Video (Separated Video): An analog video signal that carries the video data as two separate signals.

Composite: A single video connector that combines all the color and brightness signals into one cable using a single RCA male connector. Often color-coded yellow, it is the most common type of analog video connection between older VCRs and TVs.

Component: Video signal in which the luminance and sync information are recorded separately from the color information. Component is superior to composite.

Definitions:

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface): HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio all on a single cable.

4:3 Standard Aspect Ratio: The shape of standard (non-widescreen) TVs, which simply means the picture “frame” is 4 units wide for every 3 units tall.

16:9 Widescreen Aspect Ratio: The shape of widescreen TV

Scanners allow you to turn a physical document or picture into its digital equivalent. With a scanner, you can archive all of your family photos and important documents digitally, where they will never fade or lose quality.

Below you will find a list of things our product specialists recommend our customers to look at when buying a scanner.

Type of Scanner: Though flatbed scanners dominate the market, there are other options available. There are scanners available that work with a document feeder, and even pen sized scanners that allow you to scan while on the go.

DPI Level: If you want a scanner that will accurately copy your documents or pictures, consider the DPI level. The higher the DPI level on a given scanner, the more accurate your scans will turnout.

Color Depth: If getting the most realistic colors from your pictures and documents is of major importance to you, then look for a scanner with a high color depth. The greater the color depth is, the more realistic the colors from your pictures and documents will appear. The color depth refers to the amount of colors that can be added to each pixel in an image.

Scan Area: If you plan on copying larger images or documents, you should consider the size of the scan area. Budget or base line scanners will usually come with a scan area of about 8×11, where some of the more expensive models come with scan areas of 8×14. Think about how large the documents you plan on using with the scanner are, and narrow your search accordingly based upon your needs.

Connection: You should consider how the scanner would connect to your computer. Most scanners available on the market today connect to your computer via USB. There are even some models that power off the USB connection itself, allowing you to take the scanner along with your laptop computer without the need of an extra power cable.

Document Feeder: Some scanners come with a document feeder, which makes scanning a large number of documents an almost automatic process. If you plan on using the scanner to scan a large amount of files on a regular basis, you should consider getting a scanner with a document feeder.

Controls: Consider the controls that are available on the scanner itself. These include buttons for things such as simply scanning an image to e-mailing a document. Having the right buttons on the scanner itself can make things a lot more efficient for you or your business.

Definitions:

Flatbed Scanner: A device that scans images in a manner similar to a photocopy machine; the original art is positioned face down on a glass plate.

Color Depth: Number of bits for each pixel in an image. The higher the bit depth, the greater number of colors there are. This is also sometimes referred to as bit depth.

DPI (Dots Per Inch): A measure of the resolution of a printer, scanner, monitor, or mouse. It refers to the number of dots that are fit into a one-inch line. The higher the DPI, the more accurate the image/information will be.

USB (Universal Serial Bus: Connection port on a computer that is universally compatible with many types of electronic devices.

Whether it is for business or personal use, almost everybody needs a printer at one point. There are many types of printers that are available on the market, from stand-alone inkjet printers to multifunction laser printers. With so many options available, it can be quite a challenge finding the right printer for you or your business.

Below is a list of things that our product specialists recommend our customers to look for when buying a printer.

Print Quality: Lets face it, if a printer doesn

MP3 players are great for taking your music wherever you go for private listening. But sometimes you might want to share your music outloud with others. This is where MP3 Player Speakers come in. Whether you

Memory cards/sticks let you store and share your media with many types of electronics. For example, they work with cell phones, cameras, camcorders, digital picture frames, mp3 players, GPS receivers, and much more. You can use one memory card for taking pictures on your digital camera in the morning, and view those pictures on the same memory card on your digital picture frame at night.

Memory cards are a great piece of technology but sometimes people accidentally buy the wrong kind or one that they don

Headphones can offer you many solutions to your audio world. They allow you to listen to your favorite music privately, without disturbing anybody. They let you watch TV late at night without keeping anybody awake. They can even reduce the amount of outside noise with select models. So obviously there are many reasons to own headphones. The problem is there are as many models available as there are reasons to get them. So when it comes down to making a purchasing decision, you must think about what you will be using the headphones for.

Below you

Many of the car manufacturers have caught on to the trend of MP3 players. They are now starting to create their vehicles with a built-in input so you can connect your iPod or MP3 player to the car

A computer