We found a great calling card today while searching around, the IDT Gold Card, and this has lowered the cost of her calls to 7.67p/min, which is practically half price!

The card is practically perfect – you can register your home/mobile phone so you just have to enter their access number and it will recognize your account (Pinless Dialling), and it rounds up every minute too, so if you go a few seconds over a minute when calling, you don’t get charged for another 3 minutes like some cards.

Best of all there is no additional charge when you make a call (unless from a payphone), no maintenance fee, and having purchased the card it stays active for a whole year after the purchase date or the date that you recharged it.

I looked at their cards, and the rates are really good.  If you make any international phone calls, even just a few times a year, this ought to save you a fair amount of money.

They have a variety of rates and cards for calling from and to most countries in the world as far as I can see.

Hostgator Black Friday Discounts – One Day Only

CHECK  THIS – Hostgator are offering 80% OFF EVERYTHING From 5AM to 9AM CST WHILE SUPPLIES LAST (first come, first served; so definitely don’t miss out!)

From 9AM to 11:59PM CST OR after 80% OFF accounts have sold out, they will continue to offer 50% OFF EVERYTHING

This applies to ALL Accounts and ALL Term Lengths.  So if you are looking to change hosting companies, or to host your own domain for the first time, this is the perfect time, as you will have the opportunity to receive up to 80% off of up to 3 years worth of Hosting!  That could work out at only $35.64 for 3 FULL YEARS of web hosting!

The Black Friday offer includes Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, VPS Hosting AND even Dedicated Servers!

This promotion means that you can get hosting with Hostgator for as little as:

• Shared Hosting: $4.95/month AS LOW AS $0.99/month
• Reseller Hosting: $24.95/month AS LOW AS $4.99/month
• VPS Hosting: $19.95/month AS LOW AS $3.99 First Month
• Dedicated Servers: $174/month AS LOW AS $34.80 First Month

Remember this offer is only running for 1 DAY on Black Friday.  Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to host or change hosts.

Please be advised that this Black Friday promotion starts at 12:00 AM Friday November 26^th CST (-6 GMT) and will run until 11:59PM CST (-6 GMT) 11/26/2010.

 So if you live in the UK or Europe – the sale begins THIS EVENING

Hostgator Black Friday Discounts – One Day Only

Typical failures listed on the Wii support blogs include:

• Changing the router to mixed mode (b/g)
• Hard coding the IP Address on the Wii instead of using an automatic setting
• Hard coding the DNS Address on the Wii instead of using an automatic setting
• Making sure that the type of Network Key is correct (WEP, WEP2)
• Removing Game Cube Memory Cards before trying to connect

What I have not seen listed is another fix that I learned from a good friend and network guru a few years ago, and in my case this fix solved the network connection issues that I was having on my Wii.

Debbie just bought us a Wii a few days before Christmas, and her son set it up for us the night before we left for Florida, so I never got to even try it then, and since we returned from Florida we have been too busy until yesterday to even power it on.   Well typical for me, having let Debbie play it a bit, I set down to reading the manuals to make sure I knew enough about the setup and to see what features it had and what we could do on it.  Above all I was intrigued by the fact that it had an internet connection, and could not relax until I knew whether we could connect our Wii to our network or not.

The settings were easy to deal with, but despite my having entered the WEP Key correctly a number of times, it still would not connect to our network.

I remembered that some devices do not automatically convert the entered key characters to uppercase, so I set the Caps Lock key on the Wii keyboard on, and then typed the WEP key again.  I did not imagine that this was the cause of the connection problem, but was very relieved to find out that it then connected immediately.

I was rather disappointed at the Channels, especially the weather, few international locations compared with using internet sites, and very limited news feeds, but the potential to play against family and friends around the world really has me excited, especially playing against my daughters in Florida.

So, if you are having problems connecting your Wii to your wireless network, just try entering your WEP key in Upper Case, and hopefully this will work for you.

If this does not resolve your problems, I strongly recommend Liquid Ice’s Nintendo Wii Hacks, as this has great information to help you get your Wii working 100%.

This truly is great news for anyone who wants to buy a Nintendo Wii games system.

On 27th September, Nintendo made an announcement dropping the price for the Wii console from the original $249.99 to only $199.99 as from 1st October.

This means that for those of you who are struggling to afford one, now the Nintendo Wii is hopefully within the price range that you can afford.

I know it’s still not within mine, unless I get a job soon, but this is good news for anyone who would like a Nintendo Wii who has a birthday coming up (and what greater birthday present could you ask for!), and it’s also ideal for the perfect Christmas present as well.

One thing I am certain of is that there is going to be a mad rush to buy the Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and while I am sure that Nintendo has geared up their production for this, I wouldn’t want to find out that they are all sold out.

If you are seriously thinking of buying a Nintendo Wii, the link above gives you more information and reviews.

When it comes to disk space, while you may think that 250gb or even 500gb is more than enough, consider that with the resolution of Digital Cameras and Camcorders increasing all the time, plus the quality of ripped music and videos, the space needed to store these is continually increasing.  If buying a disk for backup, you ought to consider allowing enough space to allow for multiple backup copies of your files, rather than just a single copy.

Buy.com has a number of these devices, several of which are featured below.  Since models and prices change all the time, I left a general link to Buy.com at the bottom of this post, rather than to specific models.   A few months ago I purchased several 500gb USB Hard Drives for just over $100 each, however now for the same price you can get a 1TB (1,000 GB) drive, which is nothing short of amazing.

So Why Buy From Buy.Com?

• Buy.com has top quality products
• Buy.com has the same or lower products than other vendors
• Buy.com offers in many cases FREE SHIPPING
• Buy.com offers additional rebates not found elsewhere
• Buy.com has exceptional customer service and reliability
• I have used them a number of times – never been disappointed

Hang On – What Is A USB Hard Drive?

A USB Hard Drive is a hard drive, the same as you would find inside your laptop or desktop, however it comes in a case, complete with it’s own power supply, and you connect it to your computer using a cable that plugs into the USB port.   The great advantage is that it’s very portable, you can attach it and remove it at any time, you don’t need to open your computer to install it, you literally just plug and play – plug it in, turn it on, the drivers install and it’s ready for use in minutes.

These drives are fast to transfer data, reliable, and the perfect way to add to your existing disk storage, as well as to backup your data.

FD G-Force Hard Drive - GF1000EU

Fantom 1TB G-Force Hard Drive – Dual Interface (eSATA & USB 2.0), 7200RPM – External Hard Drive

Fantom Drives G-Force eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drives offer the most affordable storage solution for USB and eSATA enabled PCs and Macs. The USB 2.0 interface is capable of up to 60MB\sec transfer rates while the eSATA interface is capable of up to 300MB/sec transfer rates. This products features sturdy aluminum casing to provide maximum durability, fanless design for silent operation, and could be placed horizontally or stand vertically to allow maximum deskspace. From increasing storage space to providing a safe and flexible data backup solution, Fantom Drives G-Force eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drives are ideal for home and business users alike.

Features

Type: External Hard Disk Power Supply: 110/220 V (Universal Power Supply) Form Factor: External Unit Host Interface: eSATA\USB 2.0 Capacity: 1TB Access Time: 8.5ms Drive RPM: 7200 Bus Transfer Rate (Maximum): 60 MB/S (USB), 300MB/S (eSATA) OS Support: Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS 10.2 or higher Package Contents: eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drive, USB 2.0 Cable, Power Cord, User Manual Warranty Information: Warranty Terms: One-year limited Product Dimensions: 7.75″ x 4.5″ x 1.375″ Product Weight: 2.4 lbs Box Dimensions: 10.5″ x 9″ x 3 1/4″ Box Weight: 5 lbs UPC: 74965613530

Fantom GreenDrive - GD1000EU

1TB USB 2.0 and eSATA External Hard Drive – 2 Year Warranty!

G-Force GreenDrive line of external USB and eSATA disk drives feature the latest advances in power saving technology and ROHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) compliant materials and process. The G-Force Green Drive gives the consumer the ability to minimize his or her carbon footprint without sacrificing performance. Fantom Drives GreenDrive USB 2.0 Hard Drives are a power conscious step forward to provide maximum capacity and performance while reducing power consumption. The G-Force GreenDrive USB 2.0 Hard Drive family feature sturdy aluminum casing to provide maximum durability, fanless design for silent operation, and could be placed horizontally or stand vertically to allow maximum deskspace. Fantom Drives GreenDrives yield average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors’ drives while maintaining solid performance. That power savings equates to reducing CO2 emission by up to 60 kilograms per drive per year – the equivalent of taking your car off the road for 14 days each year, and saving up to $14 per year in electricity costs depending on the power-on-hours.

Features

Type: External Hard Disk Power Supply: 110/220 V (Universal Power Supply) Form Factor: External Unit Host Interface: eSATA\USB 2.0 Capacity: 1TB Bus Transfer Rate (Maximum): 60 MB/S (USB), 300MB/S (eSATA) OS Support: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS 10.2 or greater Package Contents: GreenDrive eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drive, USB 2.0 Cable, Power Cord, User Manual Warranty Information: Warranty Terms: 2-year limited Product Dimensions: 7.75″ x 4.5″ x 1.375″ Product Weight: 2.4 lbs Box Dimensions: 10.5″ x 9″ x 3 1/4″ Box Weight: 5 lbs UPC: 749656139666