My Tech Talk

Here’s part of the email message I received from the folks at Yahoo! today:

“As a loyal Yahoo! Mail user, you’re one of the select few to receive our exclusive Power User rewards.”

What privileges does the title of “Power Mailer” bestow upon me?

• Sending messages up to 20MB in size
  • Never mind that standard Yahoo email accounts only accept 10MB size emails
• Premium Customer Care
  • Think of it as a Disneyland-esque virtual “Fast Pass” that puts me near the top of the waiting list for technical support help.
• Priority Notifications about important Yahoo! Mail developments
  • Every blogger’s wish….early info on new products and features for new blog posts!

I promise not to let this esteemed title go to my head….much.

In all seriousness though, it’s nice to know that a company appreciates my loyalty to their services and gives me a few free perks.

The “Power Mailer” features still do not equal those offered by the Yahoo! Mail Plus service, which costs a reasonable $19.99 per year.

Who knew that my 3,707 emails (and counting) in my inbox would earn me Power mailer status? Yes, I’m an email pack rat. But, what’s the harm in keeping emails? Yahoo gives me so much mailbox storage space that I’m disinclined to delete anything and its not like my wife or family has to deal with my virtual clutter.

Should Yahoo! reward its heavy users with perks even though the subscribed to service is free?

What do you think?

Technorati : Email, Yahoo Power Mailer

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’ S DAY!  If you’re looking for a wee bit o’ fun, try transforming yourself into one of Ireland’s beloved Leprechaun’s.

In the spirit, of ElfYourself and ScroogeYourself, this free web site should be called LeprechaunYourself.   Like the first two, this one is also sponsored by a corporation (Irish Spring, of course) and may be slow during periods of high Internet traffic.

Upload a photo to this web site and see how you’d look as a Leprechaun:

http://www.colgate.com/app/IrishSpring/US/EN/Bodywash/GetIrishNow/Microsite/Shenanigans/Turn-Irish-Now.cvsp

 P.S.  Just for today, feel free to add an O’ to the front of your name and enjoy your favorite green beverage.

With the 2008 Presidential primaries campaign in full swing and the Super Tuesday primary elections a few days away, many Americans are still deciding who to vote for this year. John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and other presidential hopefuls are zig zagging across the country to shake hands, kiss babies and stump for votes.

Remember to vote in the primaries and in the election next November. If you don’t participate, you shouldn’t complain about the results.

Here are some web sites to help you be an informed voter on the candidates and the issues for this 2008 campaign.

Candidates official web sites:

1. Mike Huckabee
2. John McCain
3. Ron Paul
4. Mitt Romney
5. Hillary Clinton
6. Barack Obama

Informational:

1. Project Vote Smart
2. News Coverage 2008 Candidates
3. Democratic Party Web Site
4. Republican Party Web Site
5. Rock the Vote
6. Who’s Donating Money? 2008 Campaign Contributions

Worth a Look:

1. QUIZ #1: Take a Quiz on the Issues to See Which Candidate You Should Vote For
2. QUIZ #2: Another Quiz to See Who You Should Vote For
3. QUIZ #3: The Glassbooth Quiz

Opinion (Humor, Blogs and Videos):

1. Vote Different YouTube Video: Hillary as Big Brother
2. YouTube Video: Actors Impersonate Obama and Hillary
3. MyMcCainBlog
4. Elect Romney Blog
5. Vote Hillary
6. Blog Obama ‘08
7. Huckabee for President Blog
8. Colbertocrat - Craig Colbert’s Political Humor

Who do you call for tech support?

To paraphrase the Beatles, we all get by with a little help from our friends.

For most of us, that’s quite true when it comes to computer problems and questions. Most of us don’t like to pay for it unless its absolutely necessary. Parents may get their tech-savvy kids to fix things. Girlfriends may call boyfriends or vice versa. Friends call in favors.

That’s great if your tech superhero lives nearby. What if they’re across town or across the country? Maybe you’re on a trip and want to retrieve some information on your home computer. Or, perhaps you want that tech superhero living in New York to be able to help you in California.

Just logmein, baby.

Logmein.com is a free web based service that allows a person to remotely access a computer over the Internet. Its like flying them across the country and having them sit right next to you to see the same screen at the same time. You no longer have to write down cryptic error messages or struggle to follow over-the-phone instructions from your tech superhero.

The basic premise is much the same as Microsoft Remote Desktop or PC Anywhere software. You can connect to a PC to view screen activity, retrieve a file or help a person. However, in my opinion, LogMeIn is much easier for the basic computer user to setup and use.

For instance, just the other day I was working in an office and had my laptop directly wired to a Comcast cable Internet modem. My colleague used my LogMeIn.com account to connect to my laptop to check the settings on the modem.

In my situation, I setup a free LogMeIn.com account and then shared my username and password with my colleague. The computer that will be accessed using the service needs to have free LogMeIn software downloaded and installed or else remote access isn’t possible.

The free account has limited features, but it works fine if you just need remote access. It’s quick and easy to setup and use. I created my account in less than 5 minutes. There are five different LogMeIn plans, each with different features and pricing. The LogMeIn IT Reach plan has the most whistles and bells.

Of course, there’s one problem your tech superhero can’t resolve using LogMeIn.com: a loss of Internet connectivity.

YouTube has a feature that allows bloggers to associate their blog with their YouTube account. WordPress is one of the blog services that works with this feature. Other services include Blogger (naturally, since both are Google owned sites), Friendster, LiveJournal, Pizco and FreeWebs.

By adding your blog to your account, you can quickly compose a blog entry about a video you’ve seen without leaving the YouTube site.

When you’re logged into your YouTube account and viewing a video, click on the SHARE icon beneath the video. You should see a link to “add a blog/site” to your account.

Once your blog is added, this is what you’ll see when you click the SHARE button:

Screenshot of YouTube

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

It’s easy to overlook the usefulness of YouTube amid the abundance of entertaining video clips posted by its users.

YouTube’s vast collection of how-to videos can help you with your computer repair questions.

For example, this video clip shows you how to replace a mother board in a Dell Optiplex small form factor PC.

Most folks start with Google or Yahoo to find their answers. YouTube’s videos don’t often find their way onto the search results.

Be sure to search the site itself if you don’t find what you need from one of the search engines.

eWeek.com provides us with their list of emerging tech disappointments for 2007.

Do you agree or disagree? Or do you have a list of your own?

I came across this article by Clint Boulton on eweek.com.

Google Adds Blogs to Universal Search

Happy Friday & Happy Holidays!

If you’d like a quick laugh, try turning yourself into an elf or a Scrooge by using ElfYourself or ScroogeYourself. These sites allow you to paste photos onto the bodies of singing and dancing elves or “Scrooges” who will then do an energetic little song and dance number for your amusement.

The service is free and sponsored by OfficeMax, so you can expect a pop up ad and a little branding too.

All in all, it is quick and easy to do and definitely fun. You just upload a photo, use the tools on the web site to resize your photo onto an elf’s body and you’re done! You can then copy a link and paste it into an email or a blog.

Here’s what I’d look like as a jolly little elf:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1217182128

The web site does get busy, so you may experience occasional problems accessing the site. It’s popular and it’s free so it may not load up during periods of high Internet traffic.

The catch phrase on their web site is “matching people and electronics.”  Retrevo.com compiles lots of useful information about a product in a matter of seconds. 

Need a product review before you buy? Retrevo has them.  I typed in iPod Touch and Retrevo listed expert reviews at ilounge.com, zdnet.com and playlistmag.com.

Need a manual for an electronics product?  Retrevo can help find them. I typed in HP Deskjet 5850 and the site found the manual for me.  True, I can go to HP.com to get it, but then it may take a few minutes to narrow my search and find the manual.  Retrevo got the link for me in less than 5 seconds.

Doing the math:  If time=money, then time saved=money saved.  Retrevo’s service will save you money!  Of course, that’s far-fetched claim that you won’t find anywhere on their site, but maybe it’ll help you find the best deal on that iPod Touch which could save you some real coin.

Want to shop for a Slingbox?  Retrevo will give you plenty of sites to browse.

Retrevo will also list blogs, forums and manufacturing info on a given product (when available).

Trust me, this site is worth a look and a bookmark in your favorites.

How does holiday budgeting find its way onto a blog about technology? Well, it just so happens that technology can help you setup a budget and stick to it. Not to mention, there are web sites and blogs out there with good advice on personal finance.

While November and December is the time for family, turkey, thankfulness, holiday lights and gift giving, January tends to be the time for credit card bills and financial shock and awe.

Hopefully, setting a holiday budget can help you get the best of both worlds: Happiness in November and December without the shock and awe of credit card bills.

With Thanksgiving upon us and Black Friday Ads enticing us to shop and save tomorrow, I’ve located a few tools and advice web sites for you to use.

• Use a spreadsheet to set up and stick to your budget. Too busy to set one up or don’t know how? Problem solved. The folks at SmartMoneyTips.com have created one for us and were kind enough to share. Click here to download a holiday budget spreadsheet.
• Read the article “5 Ways to Avoid Holiday Debt” from those SmartMoney folks.
• Are you a more visual person? Then this web site may be a better option to help you track your spending. Click here for a holiday spending calculator.
• Bankrate.com’s Dani Arthur offers up some advice in an article titled “Tips for Stretching Your Holiday Budget.”

Do you have any tips or tools that you can share regarding a budget? If you do, please share them.

Happy Holidays!

Hard drive or flask? I think this USB external hard drive has an identity crisis! Maybe I’m imagining it, but the Iomega eGo looks like a flask to me; especially if you pick the black or silver color.

If that’s not enough to make you smile, the name itself is funny. eGo? Or should I type ego?

If they’re targeting self-centered, narcissistic customers then they’ve named the device well. This reminds me of Chevy’s decision to sell the Chevy Nova in Spain without renaming it. After all, translated into Spanish, “nova” means “no go.” Of course, the eGo name doesn’t damage the product’s reputation, but I think Iomega’s marketing team have taken the “e” naming scheme (ebook, ecard, etc) a bit too far.

Jokes aside, it looks to me like Iomega’s external hard drive offers plenty of storage space and comes in a variety of snazzy colors. It can probably be considered a good option for data backups, just like the Western Digital Passport or Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drives.

No cord needed to charge your mobile phone? I haven’t seen anything quite like it, but yes, that’s the idea. By purchasing and attaching a compatible adapter onto your mobile phone, you can then simply place the phone onto the charging pad without connecting a cord.

You need two things to make it work: one a WildCharge adapter for your mobile device (mp3 player, iPod, mobile phone, PDA, etc) and the charging pad itself.

Here’s a link to their web site explaining how it works.

After looking at their web site, WildCharge, the manufacturer, has already made a charging adapter that snaps onto the back of the Motorola RAZR mobile phone.

They are working on an iPod Nano charging adapter as well as a Blackberry charging adapter, but neither can be purchased in their online store at this time.

It’s a novel idea, but may be limited by their ability to design and manufacture customized charging adapters for each type of device. Consumers may not want to purchase multiple charging adapters for their multitude of mobile devices either.

They’ve already received some good publicity and rewards for innovation, which you can read about in their Press Room.

Her blog will point you to a great site for keeping track of the latest and greatest web sites, software programs and other tech goodies.

SuperBibliodigital’s Killer Apps Post.

It looks like thousands of applications designed for the Palm OS platform will get new life on Nokia’s 700, N800 and N810 Internet Tablets.

I found this article today while browsing eweek.com.

 Read Henry Kingman’s article.

Create a free Wanted Poster online at GlassGiant.com.

You can customize the name, reward $$ and crime that they’re wanted for. Oh, and upload your own photo of course.

Lots of fun and easy to do! You can create one in minutes and save it as a photo file.

Enjoy!

“The world isn’t run by weapons anymore. Or energy. Or money.

It’s run by little ones and zeroes. Little bits of data. It’s all just electrons.”

- Sneakers (movie), 1992

And when you accidentally delete some of those little bits of data from your PC, what can you do to recover it?

If you empty your recycle bin, your data files are typically still recoverable….with a little software help.

File Scavenger 3.0 is a data recovery software tool that can help you recover files that have been accidentally deleted or that are no longer accessible due to hard drive damage, corruption or reformatting. Their web site claims that it can recover data from floppy disks, zip disks, usb memory drives and RAIDs.

If you’ve lost some data that is important to you, then the $49.00 for a personal version of this software is a small price to pay to recover it.

At the very least, bookmark their site for a rainy day. You’ll thank yourself later.

Are you worried about your kid’s unsupervised access on a computer in your home?

I know that I will be one day. At the moment, my two year olds are only savvy enough to open the CD-Rom tray and power off my PC (with a grin, of course).

In many homes, kids are the “tech” experts which makes controlling their PC access all the more difficult.

Here’s an easy question: How do you stop your teenager from driving your car?

Answer: Take away the keys.

While window shopping on ThinkGeek today, I saw an ad for a USB computer “key.”

No key, no computer. It’s literally that simple.

You have a key for your car, why not your computer?

If the USB key is in your pocket, you’ll know that your kids aren’t on your computer.

Here’s the web site for more information on the product: KidSafe.

Additional info:

Facts about online safety

Watch a quick video, get some quick facts

Here’s some links to the product in the news:

News article 1

News article 2

News article 3

Technorati : children, online safety, technology, usb
Del.icio.us : children, online safety, technology, usb

I’ve recently started using BlogDesk software to write and upload articles to my blog. I like the fact that I can write my post in a software program offline and either save it or upload it to my WordPress.com blog when I’m done.

The software feels more like Microsoft Word and I think its more user-friendly for writing and editing than the free online word processing tools offered by WordPress.

BlogDesk is totally free of charge and optimized for the blog systems WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, Serendipity and ExpressionEngine as well as the bloghosters Blogg.de and Twoday.net.

COOL FEATURES:

1. FREE (is always cool)
2. Work offline on your blog writing.
3. Edit existing blogs offline
4. Easier to insert images and edit text.
5. Good, user-friendly image editing tools.
6. ‘Manage Blogs’ feature allows you to import your existing blog posts and categories for editing.

NOTE: I did have a few problems getting the import feature to work for my WordPress blog, but its worth the trouble. You’ll need to get it working to be able to upload your finished work to your blog.

“Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s!”

Quote from article,”Green Your Holiday”, by Jaclyn Hope and Amy Gotliffe

The “Green Your Holiday” article was written by Jaclyn and Amy for ROAR Magazine; a quarterly publication for members of the Oakland Zoo. I found the article interesting and informative, so I wanted to create a post to share some of their suggestions.

This post will essentially paraphrase their article published in ROAR for Winter 2007, Issue 30.

Tips to Keep the Holiday Green:

1. Keep cut trees out of the landfill! Visit Earth 911 for ideas and info.

2. Buy LED Lights - they are 80% more efficient than regular lights.

3. Put holiday lights on a timer.

4. Consider gifts that won’t end up in a landfill, like tickets or a gift certificate for a massage.

5. Re-use greeting cards as colorful gift tags.

6. Travel Light by carpooling with friends or family.

Web Sites for Green Gift Ideas:

1. NorthStarToys

2. Worldwidechild

3. Realgoods

4. Globalexchange

5. Greenshopping

6. Ecomall

7. Laptops.org

Think local, fair trade, organic, sustainable, handmade and creative!

I’m finding some good blog posts today. I’d recommend reading Qiyas II’s entry about the Top 100 software tools for learning and productivity. It’s always interesting to see what tools and services are being created to help us learn in new ways.

Here’s a link to his blog.

I’m planning on testing out some of these tools. Who knows, I may find the topic for a future post myself!

I was blog surfing and came across a good post by Family Resource for you. It has to do with computer tips for the everday user. They link to a PC Magazine article that covers a lot of topics, including, upgrading hardware, software, passwords, undiscovered web sites, etc.

I’m sure you’ll learn something new by browsing the article.

Top 50 computing tips « Family Resource for You

Have you ever imagined, for just a moment, that Google and Yahoo didn’t exist? Blasphemy? Hardly, but it is an interesting thought.

I decided to step outside of my comfortable search engine routine to see what existed outside the Yahooniverse and the Land of Google.

My quest quickly led me to Charles Knight’s archived article from February 2007 on the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines.

Naturally, with a title like that, Charles has done most of the work for me. I simply cherry picked from his list a few of the alternative search engines that sounded interesting and tested them out for myself.

Here’s a list of 7 alternative search engines that I enjoyed:

LivePlasma.com - niche search engine for entertainment information on bands, movies, actors and directors Displays the info on a visually appealing map.

See a sample.

The goal is to help you find info on an artist and also show you other bands, artists, movies or actors with similar qualities that you may enjoy.
You can email your info maps to friends.

Pipl.com - a dedicated People search!

Google-esque in its simple look, Pipl asks you to type in a person’s name and location to find info about them. I searched for my friend’s name and it showed the address of each of his last two residences, his LinkedIn profile and a court case record from 1999 from the Superior Court of California for a speeding ticket! D’oh.

This engine may be a little too good.

Askvox.com - Would you like a talking avatar to read you answers?
Then this is the site for you! In addition to displaying search results, it will also try to locate an exact answer to your question. If it can find an answer, the avatar will read it to you.It’s more for fun than anything else, but it’s a fresh take on searching.

For Example:
I typed in a quote from the Tim Burton Batman movie, in which the Joker asks, “Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?”Well, Askvox.com had an answer for me which I found amusing. It doesn’t always have an answer though….but it doesn’t hurt to ask the question.

MsDewey.com -Would you like an attractive woman (not an avatar) with attitude to talk to you while you search?
This is quite possibly the most original search engine going right now.

Just try it.

You’ll be in for a treat.

IceRocket.com - a search engine dedicated to blogs!

Searchbot.net - create your own robot to help you search for answers!
It’s fun to build a robot, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue to use it once that novelty wears off.

With my quest complete, I’ll now return to reality and tell you about a nifty new search from Yahoo. This search engine of theirs allows you use a horizontal slider bar to re-prioritize search results based on either commercial (i.e. shopping) or research (i.e. info). I thought it was an innovative and effective enhancement to the search results page.

Try it for yourself! It’s called Mindset.

All in all, I had fun using these alternative search engines and will likely use several again in the future.

Do you have a favorite search engine?

I just noticed this feature in Google Maps. You can call up driving directions and then re-do your travel route right on the map.

I’m not sure how new it is, but Google is promoting it as such. Maybe it’s a few days new or a few weeks. Heck, maybe its old news. At any rate, it’s news to me so I thought I’d share it with you.

It’s quite simple…….just drag the blue line on the google map along the new route and drop it. The map will update and the turn by turn directions will too.

I found this feature quite helpful one day when Google’s directions chose to take me on a scenic route instead of taking the freeway.

Click here for a sample screenshot.

Which mapping site do you use most often?

You need to try Jing software by Techsmith. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and am very pleased with its ease of use.

What does it do, you ask?

Here’s a quick definition, courtesy of the JingProject.com web site:

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video from your computer to anywhere.

Why do I like it?

1. Easy to use.
2. Great for sharing.
3. Great for troubleshooting computer problems.
4. Great for demonstrations and training.
5. Great for blogs.
6. Easy to share recordings with others.
7. Free (for now). Hopefully, inexpensive when out of beta.

# 6 deserves additional explanation. Techsmith has integrated JING with its Screencast.com file hosting service. When you complete a recording, you can click a SHARE button and the recording is immediately uploaded to your account on the screencast.com web site. From there, you can share the recording as a URL.

I believe the Screencast.com web site is fee-based, but Techsmith offers a free account for those using JING in beta. I am not expecting the free Screencast.com account to last forever, but it is impressive to be able to quickly upload my recordings to their site and share them.

What don’t I like?

The one down side for me is the 5 minute time limit on your recording. Users cannot record longer than 5 minutes.

The program does a good job of tracking your time left with a clock during the recording process, so you shouldn’t be surprised when the recording stops. It would still be helpful to have the option to record a bit longer though.

Please keep in mind that this software is simplified screen recording. It also can capture screenshots in better quality than your “Print Screen” button. It is designed for the masses to capture and share these recordings. It doesn’t allow you to edit your recording after the fact. That said, if you don’t like your recording, then your only option is to delete it and re-record.

How to Use Jing

How many times have you written up instructions about a computer process for a family member, a friend or a colleague?  If you’re like me, the answer is a lot.  

With JING, you can now show someone how to do it. 

Best of all, you can record the steps quickly and send the person a link to view them.  It may not be a polished, presentation ready demonstration, but it is intended for an individual not a group.  Jing gets the job done quickly and that’s what counts.

Competing Products

Adobe Captivate 3 and Camtasia Studio 4. In basic terms, both of these products offer screen recording/capture. However, these two programs have much better editing tools and options for formatting and presenting these recordings. They also have a much higher price tag.

Final Thoughts

Try it. You’ll like it (sort of like green eggs and ham). Ideally, I think this type of technology should be included in future operating systems. The ability to quickly record my PC activity and share it with others is a great way to educate and train users on new products and features via email, blog or instant message.  It is also a great way for a person to show tech support exactly what steps they took to get an error.

The 5 minute time limit is a little short. However, realistically, most people have short attention spans and a 5 minute video may be enough to get your point across.

As an example, I used JING in an earlier blog post to demonstrate how to mail merge.

For details, FAQs and to download the software, please visit JING Project.

I’ve created an online video demonstration (with audio) to walk you through the steps of doing a mail merge to create mailing labels. I used MS Word 2003.

My video demo assumes that you have your data in an MS Excel spreadsheet.

No worries. The video is only 5 minutes long. You can sit through that, right?

In my opinion, mail merge has way too many steps. I can’t improve the process but hopefully this video will help you learn it because it is a useful function!

Learn How to Mail Merge Video

I’d appreciate your feedback on this demo. I’m using a new software program called Jing by Techsmith. I think it’s great for training (I’ll right a review on it soon) but would like your opinion too!

This topic has nothing to do with technology, but given the significance of today’s date and the events of 6 years ago I thought it best to talk about it.

Listening to Ronn Owen’s on KGO NewsTalk 810 this morning, he began his show with an hour’s discussion about 9/11.  In particular, he was concerned that networks were choosing not to show video footage of the terrorist attacks because they were worried it would upset viewers.

Callers to the show provided varying opinions on whether or not this footage should be shown.  One woman was concerned that her son’s school wasn’t discussing the terrorist attacks with the students and another caller said that his son (age 14) couldn’t recall seeing the actual video of airplanes crashing into buildings and killing hundreds of people.

I agree with Ronn.  We need to see the footage on the anniversary of the attack.  It is the Pearl Harbor of our time and we must not forget the shock, the grief or the savagery of these attacks.  There are people in the world who hate Americans with such fervor and vitriol that they killed civilians on our own soil.

9/11 happened. 

Remember the day.  Remember the victims.  Remember the grief.  Remember the courage. Remember the compassion.  Remember so our children and future generations do not forget.

Watch this tribute and remember:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDh_pvv1tUM

Computers are expensive. If you can find a free software program that works as well as one that costs you money, why not at least give it a try?

I’ve put together a Top 5 list of my favorite free software programs that I use right now.

1. Openoffice.org

The OpenOffice suite of programs will serve as a useful alternative to Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, Access and PowerPoint. You can even open existing Microsoft Office files in OpenOffice. The only software equivalent it lacks is one comparable to Outlook. There’s always Outlook Express which is free but doesn’t have as many features as Outlook.

2. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition by Grisoft

This little gem is a good, free Anti-Virus program. Keep in mind, it is only an Anti-Virus program. These days companies like McAfee and Symantec are selling all-in-one security suites. They pack their suites with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewalls, spam blockers, email scanning, anti-phishing and identity protection.

That’s overkill for me and the amount of computer resources (memory, CPU) these programs demand of a computer is ridiculous. It slows down the performance on many a PC.

I just want anti-Virus protection. Grisoft’s Anti-Virus scans for viruses and downloads periodic updates to keep my PC protected from the latest viruses.

NOTE: Those of you with children who use your computer would be wise to invest in a more comprehensive all-in-one security suite.

3. Picasa from Google

This is a great free software program to help you manage, edit and share your digital photographs. It is packed with features and is quite user friendly. It works well for basic photo editing, like reducing red eye, but won’t satisfy those of you looking for more sophisticated editing tools.

4. Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware SE Personal & SpyBot Search & Destroy

These are two separate programs for detecting and removing spyware. I chose to list them both because I think it’s a good idea to use two programs to detect and remove spyware. They’re free to use and regular updates are available. In my opinion, Ad-Aware is more user-friendly for the average PC user. If you only want one, go with Ad-Aware.

5. Google’s Web Accelerator

This software helps improve your web browsing experience by helping web pages load more quickly. In my B.C. years (Before Children), my wife and I could afford the luxury of cable internet service. However, diapers are expensive (especially when you’ve got twins) so we switched to the slower DSL service and saved some money.

I tried out the web accelerator and it helped. It won’t boost your DSL service to cable internet speeds, but it does seem to help. Maybe it is just psychological. It also keeps track of how much time it has saved you while web surfing, which is fun to see.

I‘d like to know what you think. Are there any free software programs that you find useful?

I look forward to your comments.

Got $5? 

If you do, then you can use it to pay BoardFirst.com to secure an “A” boarding pass on Southwest Airlines.  If they cannot secure an “A” boarding pass for you, there is no charge.

 That’s right.  For the price of 1 venti-double-raspberry mocha at Starbucks, you’ll eliminate the need to arrive extra early to secure that “A” boarding pass at the airport. Waiting is for people with too much time on their hands.

 With the holiday season coming up,  travellers flying Southwest Airlines should take advantage of this inexpensive service.  After all, passengers holding boarding pass “A” are highly unlikely to end up sitting in the middle seat on a 4 hour flight to Denver.

Here’s some additional info:

1. BoardFirst.com is not owned or operated by Southwest Airlines.
2. Boarding passes secured by BoardFirst.com can be printed from your computer or from an airport kiosk.
3. BoardFirst.com only works with Southwest Airlines flights.
4. The deadline for placing your order is 5pm Pacific Time two days before your departure date.

 You can find FAQ answers on their site.

When it comes to air travel, $5 is a small price to pay for a little piece of mind and the knowledge that you won’t be wedged in a middle seat for hours on end.

Customer relationships are the life blood of any business.  Businesses need to keep in touch with clients (existing or potential) to help develop and sustain these relationships. 

If you’re looking for a way to set up a marketing campaign with your clients via email, I’d suggest that you take a look at ConstantContact.com.   Better yet, you can try them for free for 60 days without providing any credit card information.

Here are some of the benefits that I see in their service:

1. Free 60 day trial…..try before you buy!
2. Professional HTML email newsletter templates save you time.
3. Reporting feature allows you to track who looked at your email and when.
4. Email Campaign Wizard will help you get started.
5. Import Data from a Text (txt), CSV or Excel (XLS) file.
6. Live Product Demos, Online Tutorials, Free Technical Support.

 If you have additional questions, you can look at their FAQ page or their detailed description of email marketing features.
With a 60 day free trial and monthly plans starting at $15,  it certainly looks like an affordable option for small business owners.

Governments and businesses are beginning to offer good options for consumers to wisely dispose of their old computer and electronics equipment.

The goal is to keep these items out of landfills because the components inside of these devices are often harmful or toxic if not disposed of properly.

The state of California seems to have taken the lead in promoting e-Waste recycling. As a result, Californians have a growing number of options available to them when it comes time to part with a computer, TV, VCR, etc.

I’ve compiled a brief list of recycling options to help folks understand the options available to them.

Recycling Programs sponsored by Businesses

ComputerTakeBack.com compiled a list titled, Which computer company will take back your old computer?

Computerworld.com has posted an article titled Sony to offer e-waste Recycling in the USA.

Earth911.org announced that Staple’s first major retailer to accept e-waste

General Recycling Info

eRecycle.org offers Californians the option to find an eWaste Recycling Center in California.

Recycleforbreastcancer.org is a local recycling option for San Francisco Bay Area as is RapidRecycle.net.

GreenPeace offers a Guide to Greener Electronics and reports on which companies are leading the way in improving their manufacturing processes.

EPA.gov offers basic information on recycling or donating computer equipment.

One reason why Google’s Gmail is better can be summed up in three words:

Free POP Settings.

Yahoo requires users to upgrade to the Yahoo! Mail plus service for an annual $19.99 in order to get to use POP Settings. 

For many, POP settings are important.  It is a fundamental feature that isn’t sexy or flashy, but it is useful. 

For the average computer user, the phrase POP Settings may not mean much.  It is an abbreviation for “Post Office Protocol.” These are email server settings that need to be configured into software programs like Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird and IncrediMail. Once configured,  a person can download their email into one of those programs to manage their email.

To be fair, POP settings have been considered a “premium” feature for free online email services for quite a while.  Google is just re-writing the rules and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Yahoo! and others follow suit in the future to keep their users happy.

If you’re looking for a new email service and want to be able to manage your email in a software program like Outlook, then I’d suggest looking at Gmail. 

After all, it’s hard to beat free.

Which email service do you prefer?

Synchronizing, transferring or backing up data can be a tricky process for the average computer user.  It is a topic that comes up often when I talk to clients because data loss is a person’s biggest nightmare. 

Some of my previous blog entries have talked about various products and services to help backup data.  (See Mozy - online data backup,  Western Digital Passport External Hard Drive and Supercopy.)   Well, I’m about to add another product to the list.

Allway Sync is a good, user-friendly software product for synchronizing or backing up data.  It is free for personal use while business users should purchase a license and upgrade to the pro version.

Using the software, data can be synchronized between a PC and an external hard drive or between two networked computers.  The software allows for two-way synchronization (both data locations receive the most current copy of each data file) or one-way synchronization, which is essentially copying your data from one location to another and creating a backup.

After the backup job is configured, Allway’s software will analyze the files to be backed up and report on any modifications or deletions.   The user can then review the report prior to synchronizing.

Allway’s web site offers a more comprehensive list of software features.

I think Allway Sync software will work well for:

1. Users who need to synchronize files between networked PCs.
2. Users who have an external hard drive but no software to help automate a regular backup process.

 Allway Sync is a well designed piece of software that also manages to be easy to use.  Other people think so too.  Take a look at quotes from other software users who like to use Allway Sync.

Download Allway Sync here.

Regardless of how you do it, just be sure you backup your data.  Computer hard drives will crash sooner or later and an ounce of prevention is much less expensive than a pound of cure.

In my earlier post about PingMe,  I casually suggested that combining the services of PingMe and Jott would be an excellent enhancement to both; kind of like combining chocolate and peanut butter.  Both products benefit. Mmmm. Peanut butter.

 Lo and behold,  Stephen Lombardo of Zetetic LLC was reading.  He and his software development consultancy created PingMe and they’ve now created a PingMe/Jott mashup that turned my suggestion into reality! The mash up allows someone to create a PingMe reminder by calling it in via Jott’s phone to email service!

 Stephen will give you all the mash-up details on the Zetetic site.  Read all about it!

 Thanks, Stephen!

I currently use a 120GB Western Digital Passport external drive to backup my data. It’s sleek, small and looks like a James Bond gadget.

I’ve used a Seagate FreeAgent external drive as well and I like the WD Passport device better.

Best Features of the WD Passport:

User-friendly software bundled on the drive, WD Sync by Dmailer, is great (much better than Seagate’s software, in my opinion).

1. It allows me to setup multiple computer profiles so I can sync data from different PCs onto one device.
2. I can password protect each profile.
3. I can use a Windows Explorer-esque interface to select the files and folders I want to back up.
4. I can review the files that I’ve backed up.
5. The software can backup IE or FireFox Favorites.
6. Emails and Contacts in Outlook or Outlook Express with a few clicks.
7. Email SETTINGS can also be backed up with a click or two.
8. Functions like “synchronize” and “copy to PC” are easily found on the main screen.

Worst Features

Based on the comments posted to this blog entry, I’d have to say the worst feature is a lack of user guides or online “how to” tutorials for customers.

Additional Limitations of the WD Sync software:

1. The software only SYNCS data. If you backup a folder from your hard drive to the Passport device, this doesn’t mean that you can then delete that folder from your hard drive. Why? The next time you sync the WD Sync software will remove that folder from the Passport device. It considers your hard drive the “master copy” of the data. Any changes that are made to the master copy will be applied to the data on the Passport device when the next time you sync. If you want to avoid this situation, don’t use the WD Sync software that comes with the device. Instead, use the Passport device as a very large flash drive. You can manually copy/paste files to the external drive without using the WD Sync software.
2. Given the issue in #1, I would suggest not using the “automatic synchronization” option in the WD Sync software. This features starts the sync process the moment after you enter in your profile password. Why not? Let’s say that you have a hard drive failure. Luckily, your data is synced to your Passport drive, right? Well, I’m concerned that if you get a new hard drive and connect the Passport device, the WD Sync software will notice that the new hard drive doesn’t have any of the files and folders from the last sync. When it runs automatic synchronization, you may then lose the backup copy of your data! I haven’t tested this theory out (don’t want to risk it), but it seems plausible. Instead, I’d uncheck the automatic synchronization option found on the OPTIONS menu.
3. I wish the WD Sync software was smart enough to automatically include any new sub-folders in the sync process. For example, I have a folder called “My Digital Photos”. Inside that folder, I have many sub-folders. Each time I transfer photos from my digital camera, a new sub-folder is created. Despite having the parent folder (My Digital Photos) checked as a folder to sync, the WD Sync software will not sync the new folders because those folders did not exist during the last synchronization. Instead, I must use the WD Sync software to locate those new folders and place a checkmark next to them. This will include them in the sync process.

The WD Passport comes in a variety of storage sizes, like 60GB, 80GB, 120GB, 250GB etc. I would recommend it to anyone looking to use an external USB hard drive because the user-friendly software really makes a big difference to me.

Pingme has designed an easy to use reminder service to help us remember what’s important to us. If you’re like me, you have too much to remember in your daily life. To keep track of it all, I resort to post-it notes stuck to computer monitors, messages scribbled on the back of scraps of paper or emails sent to myself with a “to-do” list.

Whether its a grocery list, an anniversary date or a reminder to pick someone up at the airport, Pingme can help.

With a free Pingme account, you can setup the service to send a reminder to your email address or your mobile phone as a text message. These reminders can be recurring (i.e. once a year to remember your anniversary) or a one time reminder to pickup your friends at the airport.

Pingme also has a “pester” option that allows me to send my reminder more frequently, say every hour, 30 minutes or 10 minutes.   I’d get irritated (at myself) quickly if I received a reminder every 10 minutes.  However, to each his/her own and that may be a valuable feature to you.

When I setup my account, I was asked to verify my email address and mobile phone number (via text message). After doing so, I logged in to create a new reminder for myself. You can add multipe emails and phone numbers too. You’ll be able to choose where to send the reminder (email, phone or both).

I think the folks at Jott and the folks at Pingme should join forces to create a stellar service.

Jott’s voice to email technology could be modified by PingMe to quickly create reminders when I’m driving in my car and not in front of my computer.

Take a look at Pingme and keep it in mind the next time you’re staring at your post-it covered computer monitor trying to remember what you forgot.