Omnis_audi - nothing wrong with your idea other than cost, which would be high. Normal cost of solar panels (already high), plus cost of roof, plus connection to grid. More expensive per square unit of power than rooftop cells. So likely that California would want to cover rooftops before it starts covering parking lots.

Any one have suggestions for reasonably priced microphone speaker video camera combination with echo cancellation?

This is for video conference sit with multiple people at the site. We need better than a low end home system, but not up in stratosphere of true professional system - ideally web camera, speakers, and microphone and echo cancellation should be under $500. I'm pretty sure the PC we hook this up to will be a windows PC.

Typo Boy - Omnis_audi - nothing wrong with your idea other than cost, which would be high. Normal cost of solar panels (already high), plus cost of roof, plus connection to grid. More expensive per square unit of power than rooftop cells. So likely that California would want to cover rooftops before it starts covering parking lots.

Actually, I don't think they'd need roofs. Solar panels are relatively light. They can be mounted easily on unistrut. So it could be as easy as planting some columns, then running lightweight truss beams out, then mount on the truss. Since most parking lots already have lights in them, I wonder if you could use those posts. Ah. Just thought of a problem. would have to run all new lighting for night time for shopping center ones. And they currently have those suckers on tall towers with super bright no-crime lights, so one light covers a large area. damn.

Actually, I don't think they'd need roofs. Solar panels are relatively light. They can be mounted easily on unistrut. So it could be as easy as planting some columns, then running lightweight truss beams out, then mount on the truss.

Which is still a at least a roofing frame. Also by the time you put all those panels on you are going to be concentrating rainwater and dumping at the edges of the panels - which would promote puddling. To avoid that you will need gutters to direct the rain where you want to. Since panels are available that double as roofing material, you would probably just build a roof out of solar panels. And there is also the lighting problem you mentioned.

When should I be looking to replace my laptop battery? It used to hold a charge for websurfing at nearly 3 hours. Now it's fallen to about an hour. My warranty is up in September. Should I go ahead and replace the battery on warranty before then?

Should I go ahead and replace the battery on warranty before then?

Definitely. It'll keep going downhill, and they're stupidly expensive to pay cash for if you can get one on warranty.

So, anyone know how I can save videos from photobucket? Someone kindly linked me to some concert footage that I'd like to keep for my very own, but I have no notion of how to save stuff from photobucket. Help?

Say I've picked an unlocked phone to buy, and I want to switch to T-Mobile. How are they about all that? I mean, if I go to their website I can't even see how much their internet access costs until I add one of their phones to my shopping basket.

Am I trying to pull a fast one on them? Should I get my smooth-talking game on?

I mean, if I go to their website I can't even see how much their internet access costs until I add one of their phones to my shopping basket.

I'm seeing Web and Apps at $5.99 a mo.

Say I've picked an unlocked phone to buy, and I want to switch to T-Mobile. How are they about all that?

They're fine. The webstore is kind of a pain about it, but go into a store and they'll be like "Oh, SIM card only? No problem." They'll still lock you into a 1-year contract, but they're nice about it, especially if you know what features you want.

What kind of phone did you go for? Some phones can use their T-Zones internet (my Treo 680 for example) for a mere $5.99 a month unlimited, if all you need is basic web browsing stuff (it works fine as a bluetooth modem for my laptop, too).

ETA: Also, once you're signed on, the MyTMobile page works great for adding and removing features, if you want to just get a plan upfront and add the internet and whatnot later.