BobBuskirk.com » The Think Network

Headed to Vegas for CES 2012!

Bob Buskirk — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:00:05 +0000

As you are reading this I am most likely on a plane from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas (gotta love being able to schedule posts with WordPress). I am on my way to Vegas for this years Consumer Electronics Show or CES as we all call it. If I am counting this right this will be my 6th year at the show! I can’t believe 6 years ago I made the plunge and went to CES and Vegas for the first time ever. A lot has changed in those 6 years that is for sure! Luckily since I have been blogging since 2005 you can go back and see my blog posts about previous shows.

Obviously I am going to CES for ThinkComputers. We hope this year is going to be a huge year for us and we will be doing mostly video coverage. To give you an idea of what to expect check out the video below.

To follow all of the coverage on ThinkComputers you can bookmark this URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/tag/ces-2012/ or follow myself or ThinkComputers on the social networks below.

ThinkComputers
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/thinkcomps
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkComputers
Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/101097389100489939399/101097389100489939399/posts
Instagram: http://followgram.me/thinkcomputers

Bob Buskirk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/bobtv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobBuskirk
Google+: https://plus.google.com/103093986391371376749/posts
Instagram: http://followgram.me/bobtv

See everyone in Vegas!

It’s November, Time To HUSTLE!

Bob Buskirk — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:09 +0000

“Hustle is the most important word. Ever. And that’s what you need to do.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Well it is getting back in to that time of year again, the holidays. This time of year for me means a lot of work. With ThinkComputers we are reviewing computer hardware and companies are releasing many new products for the holiday season. So it always is a big rush to get reviews done before the holidays are over and especially before CES. This means I will be busting my ass for the next 2 months pushing out a ton of content for ThinkComputers.

This is going to be a large task since I am doing most of the reviews myself and since the launch of The ThinkComputers YouTube channel I am producing 3-4 videos a week. It’s pretty crazy, but I do enjoy being busy. It keeps my mind off all of the other bs that is going on.

I know I have been slacking on this blog, I really want to keep it personal and keep it updated frequently. So for November my goal is to break the double digit mark when it comes to posts, so 10 or more and I will be happy. Are you working like crazy the last 2 months of the year? Let me know about it in the comments!

ThinkComputers First YouTube Contest!

Bob Buskirk — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:02:04 +0000

As I mentioned ThinkComputers launched our official YouTube channel not that long ago. To really get it going we have a contest running with Thermaltake where you can win 3 of their cases! You can check it out on the video above to see how you can win. Here is an excerpt from the official contest page:

As you may know we launched our YouTube channel not that long ago! Since that time we have been bringing you unboxing videos, video reviews, gaming footage and much more! We want to give something back to our YouTube fans so we are having a contest! This contest is going to be very simple, before we get in to what you need to do to win here is what is up for grabs. We have partnered with Thermaltake to give you 3 great cases. Those cases are the Chaser MK-1 (our review), Commander and the Dokker.

So get your entry in fast, you have 5 more days to enter!

Launched the Official ThinkComputers YouTube Channel!

Bob Buskirk — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:00:31 +0000

ThinkComputers has really not done that much video, although we should! All of the videos on ThinkComputers prior to a month ago were mixed in with videos on my personal YouTube page. This was an issue for many reasons so I decided one to create a channel specifically for ThinkComputers and to produce more video content.

So the ThinkComputers YouTube Channel was launched! I have done a good job so far keeping it updated. I want to post at least 1 video a week if not more. Right now we are doing a lot of unboxing videos, but we also will be doing video reviews, game reviews, and event coverage!

Another great thing about having a separate YouTube channel for ThinkComputers is that I am able monetize the videos to start making money from them. This not only will put some extra money in my pocket, but keep me more motivated to keep on producing videos.

Check out the ThinkComputers YouTube channel and let me know what you think! If you like the channel make sure you subscribe!

My First GXL Experience

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:43:14 +0000

This past weekend I made my way out to Philly to check out one of the largest LAN parties on the east coast, theGXL. I have been going to LAN parties for quite some time, but for the past few years I really have not gamed that much therefor I did not attend many LAN parties. I have been wanting to get more people involved with ThinkComputers and what a better way to do that than set up a booth at a LAN party. We did it at the latest Pittco event and it went really well so we decided to do it at theGXL.

Our booth was setup with 3 of our test machines. This way we could show off some of the products we review and when people come over to the booth to check them out they can learn more about the site. The event was actually a dual event help by both theGXL and the TooManyGames 2011 Expo. The Expo was a really cool place where you could find all kinds of old video games, video game art and much more.

The event went really well and I met a lot of great people. If you are looking for a great LAN party to check out theGXL should be on your list! We will be at the next event!

How to Start a Tech Site Webinar

Bob Buskirk — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:48:12 +0000

I get this question all of the time, “How can I do what you do?”. That question is not always the easiest thing to answer. This Thursday I will be partnering with John Chow, Stephen Fung and Gary Ng to explain how you can start a tech / review blog or site. Many people think that you need to big one of the biggest sites out there to make money, but you really don’t need to be. I know I make a very comfortable living off of ThinkComputers. I assume that Stepehen and Gary do off their sites as well. John got his start on the internet with a tech site and actually showed me how to make money with ThinkComputers.

In this webinar we will be showing you how we started our sites, how we have been able to maintain them, and some tips and tricks we are using to keep the money coming in. After the presentation we will also have a Q&A session. Here is all the information you will need about the webinar…

Title: How To Start a Tech/Review Blog
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
RSVP: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/186093102

The webinar is 100% free to attend and we will not be pitching you anything and there will be nothing to buy at the end. If you ever were interested in starting a tech or review website / blog I highly recommend you attend!

It’s 2011 Where has Bob Been?

Bob Buskirk — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:38:18 +0000

I can’t believe it is 2011 already! It seems like 2010 went by so fast! As you may have noticed this is my first post in quite some time. I really do enjoy blogging, but a lot has happened in the past few month that has really kept me quite busy and at the end of the day all I really want to do is relax. So sorry for the lack of any updates lately! So what have I been up to over the past few months??

ThinkComputers – Well this is where most of my time has been going. A few of my writers have been really busy with family matters and other things so I have been doing most of the reviews. You may think that this is would be easy to tackle, but when you are the only person writing reviews, editing them, posting them to the site, contacting companies, answering e-mails, posting news, maintaining the forums, etc. it can get quite stressful and time consuming. This is one of the main reasons I have not really updated this blog at all. I think I have done a pretty good job with everything though, we are working with a lot more companies and I have been really enjoying reviewing a lot of the hardware. I think in 2011 though I need to get a few more people on my staff to take the load off.

I Hate My Roommate – This site started off as something fun to do, but it really did pickup after a while. Because of all the craziness with ThinkComputers I haven’t really been able to update it that much. I hope in 2011 I can maintain the site because it is fun and some of the submissions are incredibly hilarious!

Since I’m jumping on a plane in a few minutes for CES I’m not going to write a long post about 2010, but here are some of my favorite posts from 2010!

- My First Consol Energy Center Experience!
- Why Are You Not On Foursquare!
- A Look at the New Office
- Things I Love About Pittsburgh
- Is CES Slowly Going Away?

ThinkComputers and Thermaltake Giveaway!

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:41:03 +0000

Well over at ThinkComputers we are having another contest on our forums. Our friends at Thermaltake have provided 3 great prizes: Armor A90 PC Case,Toughpower XT 775W Power Supply, and a FRIO CPU Cooler! The contest is pretty easy, here is how you can enter…

1. Thermaltake would like you to “Like” their Facebook Page
2. You will need to “Like” the ThinkComputers Facebook Page
3. You need to be a member of our Forums with a minimum of 10 posts
4. You also need to reply to this forum post about the contest

So as you can see it is pretty easy to get qualified for the giveaway. For more details check out the Giveaway page over at ThinkComputers!

1 Day Left in the CyberPower and ThinkComputers System Giveaway!

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:00:40 +0000

I should have really announced this sooner on the blog, but I guess I just have been busy! As you all know I own and run ThinkComputers and we are holding one of the best Giveaways ever! We are giving away an entire gaming computer! That’s right a full computer! The good people over at CyberPower PC were nice enough to donate the system for the giveaway! Here are the specs…

System Specs
Intel 875K CPU
Intel SSD 40G
ASUS P7P55D-E PRO Motherboard.
CoolerMaster 690II Advance
4GB DDR3 1600 Kingston Hyper-X
1TB Hitachi Hard Drive.
Samsung 8X Blu Ray Combo Drive
GTS 250 1GB
800 Watt Power Supply
Windows 7 HP 64 bit
Card Readers, Keyboard and Mouse

It’s quite a beefy system! So how can you win it? Well head on over to the contest page at ThinkComputers and read the rules. All you have to do is submit a story about how you will use the system and the best story will win! We will be announcing the winner tomorrow afternoon so get your entries in!

A Look at the New Office

Bob Buskirk — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:36:25 +0000

[ad#right]Working from home running your own company is hard to do that job when you are not very comfortable sitting at your computer every day. If you didn’t know I am in Pittsburgh, PA and I run my websites out of my house. I have turned the extra bedroom into an office for. When I first moved in I had the room setup a completely different way than what it is now. Originally I had the 2 desks separated, one in each corner of the room. This really did not work at all, things just became too cramped and my desk was really cluttered. Mainly because I had my 4 external drives on the desk, which was not the best idea. Below is a photo of what my old desk looked like.

While this setup was nice it really did not leave that much room in the office and it sort of divided things, which I didn’t like. So a week ago or so I totally redesigned the office as well as cleaning it. I basically took everything out of the office, cleaned it, then put everything back. So here is what the office looks like now…

As you can see I have moved both the desks together to form 1 large desk and yes those are Ikea desks! On the side of the desk facing out we have our test systems, so this is where we do all of our hard drive, enclosure, display, power supply, etc testing. Before we go over to my desk on the other side of the room I have a table setup that I use to take product photos on and makes for a good assembly table for building systems.

I really try to keep my desk clean, like I said its hard to get work done when you are working on a messy desk! I have a dual-monitor setup, which I don’t think I could live without! It really helps with multitasking and makes it easy to keep track of everything. If you are wondering I use Logitech’s diNovo Edge wireless keyboard and their MX Revolution mouse. My tower actually sits beside the desk on an end table.

My current system is comprised of an Intel Core i7-920 processor, ASUS P6T motherboard, Sparkle Calibre P980X+ geForce 9800GTX+, 3GB of Kingston HyperX T1 Series DDR3 memory, Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Modular Power Supply, NZXT Panzerbox ATX Gaming Case and the NZXT Sentry LX Fan Controller. To keep clutter off my desk I have all 4 of my external drives sitting under the end table.

After all of the changes the office is a great place to work on new systems, install and test new products and of course write reviews. It streamlines everything as I build and take pictures one place, test products another place, then write everything in another. If you have any questions about the office please leave them in the comments below…