If you know technology, you know Newegg.com. If you know Woot.com, as I mentioned in my previous article, you probably also know Newegg.com, because I would assume that a person who loves Woot.com also would love technology and therefore would know Newegg. Nevertheless, if you have no clue what I am talking about, allow me to fill you in.

Newegg.com is a great place to get your electronics because the prices are so low in comparison to other dealers. It was founded in 2001 by a guy in an industry-based city. His name is Fred Chang–a Taiwanese immigrant. Newegg was originally a smaller division of the company ABS Computer Technologies, Inc., a computer systems integrator. According to sources, Newegg was made after ABS executives realized that there was an increased need to offer services for the “do it yourself” customer. ABS did not decide to change their ways of business– which sold their customers great PCs but did not allow the customers to buy the parts separately in order to make small updates here and there in the PCs. ABS wanted the customers just to buy a new computer rather than replace the faulty and not as up-to-date parts. After realizing that some other system had to be developed, Newegg was formed.

Newegg.com was named one of the Internet’s Top 10 retailers by Internet Retailer Magazine in 2005 with their 2004 sales revenue of just under $1 billion. In 2005, Newegg.com grew an additional 30%–clearly a successful company! It has some other pretty impressive ratings as well. For instance, Reseller Ratins ranked Newegg as one of the highest rated online retailers– 9.73/10 for a six-month rating (30,054 lifetime reviews)! As of January 2008, this put it in the top ten of over 13,000 stores. Then, in 2009, Forbes added it as #234 on the Forbes America’s Largest Private Companies list.

So, clearly Newegg is making some moves. I always check Newegg first to see their prices for the items that I want, and let me just say, I usually buy everything from Newegg when it comes to buying electronics online.

Skype, Skype, Skype.  How many times have we heard about this company in the past few months?  Oprah always talks about it (so I have been told), and everywhere the company’s name is surfacing.

I am a new user to this phenomenon and wanted to share my experiences.  Currently, I am typing from Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.  My wife and family are back in the USA.  Since I like them all, I began to explore options to speak with them before I left and kept landing on Skype.

It is an online chat program much like Yahoo and MSN Messenger.  There is even video chat.  Nothing too ground-breaking there, until you add in the ability to call people on the phone very cheaply.  In fact, Skype-to-Skype calls are free.

In the time it took me to load the program on my computer and create a profile, my coffee had not even finished brewing.  Now, how is the quality?  The area I was in had a very weak Wi-Fi connection, and I still was able to chat with no problems at all.  My video and audio were extremely choppy.

I was able to bring up video and type even though the audio was non-existent.  Feeling defeated, I was ready to hit delete until I was told otherwise.  Many others sharing the desert scenery with me say the program works great when in a good area.  It will be great to put it to the test but getting to that area will be a small challenge for me in the very near future.

Summary: Skype, so far, has not had a fair chance to live up to its hype.  In time, I have faith it will be a great program given a good connection.  It worked outstandingly for me at home during my test runs.  However, the true test is if I can still talk to others when I am this far away with minimal to no problems.

Does anybody have any tips or testimonies to vouch for Skype?  Any other programs out there that are even better?

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The Sharper Image is a specialty retailer that focuses on cool chips and gadgets. Some Sharper Image products are from third-party manufacturers, but many are now created by the Company’s product development group, Sharper Image Design. Sharper Image operates more than 150 stores throughout the United States and mails millions of its Sharper Image catalogs each month. Sharper Image products may also be purchased on the Internet via its online store at sharperimage.com.