I recently purchased a Dell 24” LCD to replace my budget 22” Acer monitor. I’m very much enjoying my new Dell monitor, which handles colors way better than my Acer ever could, but I have noticed my Dell emits a ton of heat.

Sitting at my desk, I can actually feel the heat that the monitor puts off. I never had this problem with the Acer, but Acer was also smaller and not nearly as bright as the Dell. Luckily, I’ve found some ways to reduce the LCD heat.

Distance: Having this massive monitor means you can have a little space between your face and the screen. The old 17” CRT monitor is way gone and now you can give your face (and eyes) a rest. I’ve moved my monitor about 2-2 ½ feet away from where I’m sitting. So far this has helped reduce the heat, although after using the LCD for a couple hours straight I still notice the warmth.

Height: My desk has a heightened platform that I used to put my external hard drive on, but for the sake of room (and heat), I’ve put my monitor on top of it. Having the monitor higher has put most of the emitted heat over my head. I couldn’t have done this with my last monitor because of the poor viewing angle.

Brightness: Like a said before, the Dell is leaps and bounds brighter than the Acer. Having a brighter monitor makes pictures pop and makes text legible. The downside of having a brighter monitor is the heat. The brighter the monitor, the more heat it will give off. Looking at my monitor settings, my brightness is at 50/100, which seems low. I couldn’t imagine having the LCD at maximum brightness; I’d have a tan in a couple hours.

The easiest way to reduce LCD heat is to have constant air circulation by your workstation. If you’re not near an air vent, open a window. If you don’t have air conditioning or aren’t near a window, buy a cheap desk fan. Local office supply stores, like Staples, sell them for under $20.

One more thing, don’t put any misting devices near your monitor or computer. It may seem like a good idea, but it’s stupid. Now I’m not saying this to say it. I have actually seen (“cough” a family member “cough”) using a misting device at their computer. Enough water can ruin your monitor and short out your computer. Follow the tips above and you’ll be much cooler than you’re past monitor setup. I know I am.

eBay used to be the only place people went to sell anything online, but more often we’re seeing more eBay alternatives because Ebay has, unfortunately, lost what made them great. Selling or buying anything on eBay is more nerve-racking then it used to be. eBay offers little security and customer support; leaving eBay users open to scams and fraudulent transactions. If eBay won’t help it’s users, I will. Here are some tips when buying/selling on eBay:

Be weary of “Buy It Now.” I always considered eBay’s Buy It Now a great feature to add to your auction. If somebody wants what your selling badly enough they can avoid the auction and purchase the item for an often increased price. To put Buy It Now on your auction it’s about ~.25, which I felt was worth it.

After a couple of auctions I had started (iPod, Monitor, Games) I noticed that a few of the items I had auctioned would sell quickly. Quickly as in a couple hours after I posted the item. Looking at the buyers of the auction, a red flag poked me in the eye. Firstly, the mailing address was from somewhere in Nigeria. Secondly, the sender sent me a fake invoice, which could be considered real by unsuspecting eBay users. Trying to contact to scammer buyer was somewhat of a game. I told them that “I would consider this a scam until I received payment.” The next day I got an email from the buyer (this time the buyer was named Mary, the day before it was John) attacking me about the accusations I had put on them.

What I’m trying to say is, skip Buy It Now. After the auction, I still have my item, but I have lost $3.00 in listing fees and eBay hasn’t responded to any of the emails I have sent them. Just go through with the auction and let other users bid on your item.

Don’t do ANYTHING until the money is in your account. So you’ve just sold something on eBay and you’ve sent the buyer an invoice. Most often you’ll receive a PayPal notification alerting you that the buyer has sent you the money. Sometimes, though, the buyer will send you an email with instructions on getting your payment. RED FLAG! You, as the seller, should NEVER have to play any game to get your money. If this does happen, send the buyer an email, but don’t think about sending your item until you get the money in your account.

Make sure to check your account. The email you recieve could be a fake.

If it’s at all suspicious, walk away. If any part of your transaction on eBay (buying or selling) seems odd, walk away, it probably is. If the item you bought seems too good to be true, it probably is. Walk away with your item in hand or your wallet full. There will be another chance.

As I was writing this email I recieved an email from a fraudulent buyer who “bought” my iPod Touch a few days ago. This scammer is extremely good at what they do, but I found a couple of problems with the fake emails.

This is a fake PayPal payment notification email. Thankfully, Gmail knew it was fake.

Click to enlarge

…and what has Ebay to say about this? Absolutley nothing!

If you are having trouble with eBay or need help trying to figure out if an email is fraudulent, send me an email (mail[at]r3fresh.com) and I would be more than glad to help you. This kinda stuff should never happen, especially with a big company like eBay.

[UPDATE] Here is another fake PayPal email by my buyer. I’ve got to give it to him, he doesn’t give up easy.

Click to enlarge

Top Picture by Ella’s Dad

My Apple Macbook laptop is my first mac and has a very special place in my heart. I’ve used it for school, blogging, graphic design jobs, and even just to mess around. Without my Macbook I would have never started r3fresh.com or taught myself the Adobe Creative Suite. Tomorrow I will be receiving a brand new Macbook Pro and my old Macbook will be sold.

Anyone looking to switch to a mac should consider buying a Macbook. It’s one of the cheaper macs, but it will provide the computing power you need for most projects. I’ve had my Macbook for almost two years and it has just now starting to show it’s age especially with pro apps.

The Macbook is smaller than a standard laptop; making it easy to take on long trips or even just a trip to the coffee shop. When I had first gotten my Macbook, I had people asking me what it was and “How could it be so small?.” The white plastic outside was the biggest concern of mine because of fading and dirt, but after two years I’ve had no problems a little Windex can’t fix. The battery life is okay and will allow for a couple hours of online work or music listening.

The Macbook has been an amazing laptop, especially for a student like me. It’s relatively cheap, but has a lot of power inside the box. I’ve made a list below of my favorite and least favorite parts of the Macbook.

The Good:

• Bang for your buck
• Chiclet keyboard takes getting used to, but is better than the regular style
• Large trackpad
• Small size
• Very quick (non-pro apps)
• Easy to add external monitor
• Easy to change out memory
• Mag-safe
• Front Row (w/ remote) makes watching movies and listening to music a theater experience
• High quality overall

The Bad:

• Palm rests tend to get dirty quickly
• Integrated graphic card has trouble running games or flash
• Overheating
• Back-light is touchy, especially on battery power
• Speakers are weak, especially with music

Blogs are a dime dollar a dozen now and when I see a promising blog introduce itself to the internet only to lie deserted until the hosting plan isn’t renewed, I get irritated. I’m not going to name names, but I have concocted a (YES or NO) test for maybe bloggers.

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Creating a quality piece of artwork is tough. It takes time to create an original and powerful piece of work, but the finished product will reward you in so many ways. With the Internet at our fingertips many aspiring artist use other’s work to create their artwork. Leaving the artist and the audience with a bland taste in their mouth. It can be hard to be original, but with some inspiration it can be a little bit easier.

The web, use it the right way. 

Smashing Magazine and Behance are my two favorite places to go for ideas and techniques. I recently created a restaurant menu for a design class I was taking. The project was open-ended (just how I like it) and I was stuck at first. I kept thinking about Applebees and how boring their menu was, but when I stumbled across a couple of grungy collages (on Behance), the idea of a post WWII French restaurant came to mind. I had never seen a destroyed French restaurant, but the ideas I had taken from a Behance artist and a general understanding of WWII allowed me to create one of my favorite works. I still take a glance at the menu.

Smashing and Behance are my favorite places to go, but their are thousands of places to go for inspiration. Navigate Flickr, you’re bound to find an interesting idea or technique you could incorporate into your work.

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I just starting doing a little freelance graphic design and decided to create a business card to help publicize my services (sounds dirty). I’m calling my company ORNJ, the main colors are orange and an almost black. After creating a logo and business card, I have compiled a list of tips for designing a business card.

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Scrolling through my bookmarks and I realized my past blog favicon was a little dated. It had followed the style of my past blog theme, but not my current. A favicon is a small icon that appears next to your URL in a web browser. Readers can favorite your site and with many browsers it will also save the favicon. Having a favicon can bring old users back who may have forgotten about your blog or site. Making a favicon is easy; making one that people will remember is slightly more difficult.

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Being an avid TV watcher, I have honestly started to learn some things that I probably would have never learned through any other piece of media. Here is a list of 10 Things I’ve Learned from TV: The list is in no particular order

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