Have any old or unused electronic devices lying around? Now you can trade them in for your dream Alienware computer system.

 All you have to do is gather up your unused electronics (including mp3 players, iPods, stereos, DVD players, and more) and trade them; upon doing so you will be given payment that can be used toward the purchase of any new Alienware product.

Here are the four steps in the exchange process.

1. Select the electronic devices you want to trade in.
2. An Alien Exchange quote is generated.
3. Choose your award type in the form of an Alienware gift card or a check in your name*.
4. Trade-in items are mailed in using a free shipping label that can be printed out.

If you already have an old Alienware system, you can trade that in too! You will get a quote on the value of your system, as well as a $200 bonus. Alienware wants to make sure you continue to be a customer of their cutting edge products.

For those of you who have always dreamed of owning an Alienware computer system, this is your chance. Trade in your old electronics now and purchase that liquid-cooling beast you have always wanted.

So you think you’re a fast typer?

Even if you type over 70 words per minute, you could be typing three times faster with a different keyboard. Most of us only know of one type of keyboard - the standard QWERTY - however I am sure of you did not know that this type of keyboard was not designed with ease of typing in mind. Instead it was designed to keep early typewriters from jamming. However, people got used to this layout and never thought about changing it. Little did they know there was a much faster, easier, efficient, and more comfortable alternative – the Dvorak keyboard. This keyboard is estimated to be 12-20 times faster than the traditional QWERTY keyboard. Many of the world’s fastest typists use this keyboard layout, one of whom clocked in at 212 WPM!

The basic difference in the Dvorak keyboard is that all the vowels are placed on one side of the keyboard and the consonants on the other. This makes it much easier to type words with two hands. On a QWERTY keyboard your left hand is said to do about 56% of the typing, while on Dvorak it is much more balanced, which allows you to type faster.

The arrangement of the letters on the Dvorak makes it very easy to learn (proven to be easier to learn than QWERTY). This arrangement also results in improved accuracy, as Dvorak keyboard users tend to make fewer mistakes when typing. Dvorak typist tends to make half as many mistakes as QWERTY typists.

So now your thinking, if Dvorak is so much more efficient, why isn’t it used often? The answer is simple, people do not like change. However, if you don’t mind learning how to type on a new keyboard, give it a shot. You are guaranteed to improve your typing speed.

For more information on the history of Dvorak and its features click here.

Custom Ink is a website where you can customize your own products including shirts, sweaters, hats, pens, mugs, and many others (Full Product List Here). If you own a website and have a logo you want to slap on a shirt or mug, or you just want to create an article of clothing with your favorite quote or picture, Custom Ink makes this a breeze. I used this site earlier this month to create a t-shirt for my site and was very impressed with both the quality of the website and the service I received.

The Custom Ink design lab is very fun and simple to use. You pick your product (such as a t-shirt) and the item pops up on your screen. If you want to add text, you click the text tab at the top of the page, type your desired content, and hit ‘ink-it’. The text will then appear on your item. You can then modify the text size, shape, style, and its position on the item. From here you can click add art (also at the top of the page), to add your company logo or chosen picture. You can set the dimensions and the location on the item.

A really neat feature of Custom Ink’s design lab is the ability to save your designs and view them later, either on another computer or at another time. All you have to do is hit the ‘save’ button at the bottom left of the page. It will ask you to name your item, and give your email (which is used to load the design the next time you wish to view it). This is a great feature if you decide you want to order more of the same item, or if you want to give it to a friend so that they can buy it as well.

Custom Ink has very good prices compared to other design sites. The cost of my Everybodyloveslen t-shirt came out to a mere $21 including free shipping.

The only downside of Custom Ink is that if you are only ordering one item, your choices are limited to t-shirts and sweaters. Items such as mugs and pens require you to order a very large quantity, ideal for large businesses.

If you are going to be designing one of the mentioned products in the near future, make sure you choose Custom Ink.

For those of you who use P2P music sharing software, you may want to reconsider. Yesterday a Kazaa user named Jammie Thomas was charged $222,000 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sharing music on the software. A RIAA representative was actually able to download music from Jammie’s computer, proving to be evidence enough.

Under US Federal Law, music sharers are charged based on the number of songs at issue, instead of the number of times they were downloaded. This may seem like a good compromise, however, it does not change the fact that you will be slapped with a ridiculously large fine if caught sharing music. The copyright law states that you can be charged between $750 and $30,000 per song! This means if you are caught sharing your music collection of say 2000 songs, you can face between $1.5 million and $60 million in fines. I don’t know about you, but that is a charge that would leave me in debt for the rest of my life. There have been numerous cases arguing that RIAA’s charges are excessive and unconstitutional, as statued under the US Bill of rights 8^th Amendment, courts are not to impose excessive fines.

For those of you who use P2P music sharing networks such as Kazaa, let this be an eye opener for you. If you are going to use these programs, do not share your music collection; unless of course, you are a multi-millionaire who gets off on paying $60 million fines.

Please click here if you would like to read the full article.

This year, EA Sports has created a game that looks so much like a real NHL game your going to think your watching the real thing. The main reason for this is the new skating engine and dynamic AI system.

In NHL 08, your players skates are controlled with the left joystick. If you want to go forward you move it forward, if you want turbo you move it all the way up, and to stop you move it down. If you leave the stick in its normal position your player will simply glide down the ice.

On the fly AI is something completely new to NHL 08, and will make the game a lot more challenging compared to the previous versions. If you stick to just one strategy on offense (such as trying to pop in one timers), the defense will recognize this and shut you down. You will need to be a lot smarter on offense this year. Vice versa, if you are one of those players who, on defense, likes to charge the offensive player with the puck and rock him with a big hit, you will get destroyed. You’re going to have to play more like defensemen in the NHL, by playing the passing lanes and using the poke check for instance.

Along with these two new game improvements comes the Dynasty mode, Create a player/team mode, Create a Play mode, and awesome Online play to name a few. I’m not going to go into detail about these areas because that would take a while; if you want a full fledged review of the game check out IGN.

In closing, I am going to provide you guys with a couple pointers that you can use when you get your copy of NHL 08. Firstly, when you are in create a play mode, try creating a play that moves all of your players to one side of the offensive zone. This will shift the defense’s attention to that side of the ice. Next, move the puck to the point (where your defense has possession) and skate towards the boards. At this time you sneak a forward behind the net, about five feet from the far post. To use this in a game, get your players in their positions and hit the created play button to trigger the play. Use a slap pass to send the puck to the net, and your forward will automatically deflect it and score.

Another tip for you fellow NHLers is to consider a players size and weight when choosing the stick flex setting in create a player mode. This is often something that not much thought is given to. Bigger, stronger players can shoot harder with a stiffer flex, whereas smaller players lack the strength to use a stiffer flex stick. Be sure to choose the right flex when creating your player.

EA has done a great job this year with its NHL franchise. If you do not own a copy already, you should seriously consider buying one. Until then, ill be playing online on my PS3 (PSN ID: Jackal09), see you on the ice.