review

Bad review: 8Hands Social Networking Client Beta

by Sujoy on January 28, 2009

Unless I am extremely tormented and harassed by an application, I tend to remain on the good side of review. But this little application install has been a nightmare. Extremely dodgy, unfriendly and useless. I am talking about the latest beta release of the Social Networking Client-8hands for Windows. It supposedly claims to integrate all your social networking needs and bring Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogger, WordPress, et al under one giant umbrella, conveniently operating them from one client (at least what they claim). 

8hands

I got to know about this app, through DownloadSquad’s post on 8hands. First things first, the app needed some update of Microsoft .Net to be installed on my machine, and a reboot. Ok, no complaints. Once installed, the application required me to make an account to login, giving in my e-mail credentials. No activation link from email required. Ok, cool so-far. Setting up Twitter easy as it goes. Click the twitter icon, enter username and password. Done! 

Facebook next. Enter user-login (email address) and password. Doesn’t accept. Tried again, doesn’t accept. Signed out of Facebook from browser, and then tried login in 8hands, doesn’t work. Tried 3 more times, whilst I was updating my frustation on Twitter via 8hands (Get my twitter feed here) . If I cannot get my facebook set-up here, what’s the damn use?

Went to Start, Programs, 8hands— No uninstall exe. Went to Ctrl-Panel, Add-Remove Programs. Found 8hands. Removed. 

The other thing I noticed while I was updating Twitter through 8hands was that the messages were getting updated quite well on twitter, but there was no updates on the client itself. I could not wait for them to get updated, and hence hit the uninstall button. If anyone can set-up their Facebook account here, please let me know. Cheers and DONOT install. 

P.S. The image means , 8hands doesn’t require Refresh. Yeah right!

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Dell Vostro 1500 User Review

by Sujoy on April 10, 2008

Dell Vostro 1500

You must have noticed that my last post was on the 1st of April. And it has been 9 days since. Where was I? Was I locked in Sona? Was I stranded on an uninhabited island ala LOST? Naah! My previous laptop was a work laptop which had to go. And I was waiting for my Dell Vostro 1500 to arrive. I ordered it through a friend in the US and the configuration specs of my Black Mean Machine is as follows.* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
* Genuine Windows® XP Home
* 15.4 in Wide Screen XGA+LCD (1280×800) Display w/TrueLife™
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
* Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
* 250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
* 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
* High Definition Audio 2.0
* Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
* 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
* Dell Wireless 355 BlueTooth Module, (2.0+EDR), for WindowsXP
* 2.0 Megapixel Integrated Webcam

So here’s the deal. I added an extra 60$ for upgrading from the default processor of 1.4 GHz. Added the Bluetooth hardware for another 20$, and the Webcam for 30$. It costed me a total of 725$ inclusive of all taxes and free shipping to NY in the next 3-5 days. And now that I have my machine for quite a few days, here’s my review of my New Dell Vostro 1500.

First Impression-BUILD AND DESIGN:-

It is colored in IBM Black and that is a welcome change from the dirty grey Dell Inspiron . The build is sleek, smooth and rugged. It looks quite big compared to my previous Thinkpad T42, primarily because the screen size here is 15.4″ compared to the previous 14″. This weighs somewhat similar to the R-series of Thinkpad series . Enough with the first look, let’s open the lid.

Complaint 1: The Lid doesn’t close tight enough to make the Laptop feel like one piece. The monitor still has some space to move (however very small) even after the lid is closed. But leaving that aside, just another glance at the build, this one’s really a Black Beast. I can’t stop commenting on the color which makes it look as sleek as a Business end-user laptop and not as flashy as the VAIO shiny ornaments. The black matt surface on the back of the screen and the shiny silver buttons aren’t flashy at all, and add to the overall style statement. However the lower half of the laptop is the one which feels thick, and you know where the weight is coming from. [Continue Reading]

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