Ed's Tech Tips

Amazon has entered into the music download market this past year. Initially I had my doubts about it, because the video service they offered did not impress me too much, especially since it is not compatible with Macintosh computers. However, Amazon has made an extra effort to make the downloaded music transaction process easier for both Windows and Mac users.

The first real obstacle Amazon overcame was removing DRM from the music it sells. What this means is that the songs you buy from Amazon can be played anywhere on anything. While the iPod is my favorite music player, with Amazon you can easily use other music devices as well. Whereas, if I bought a song on iTunes I could only play it on a iPod. I did not have the option of easily converting it to an MP3 format. I could burn it to a CD and import it back in as a MP3, but wants to do that.

Amazon offers a MP3 downloader that automatically downloads your purchased songs and transfers them into iTunes or Windows Media Player. They made the smart choice not trying to reinvent iTunes. 

I installed the Amazon MP3 downloader and as part of the process they have you download a free track, which was seamless.

Individual songs go for 89-99 cents each and albums range from $7.99-$12.99, the average cost being $8.99, a little less than iTunes. The MP3s are encoded at 256kbps, twice the encoding level of Apple's regular AAC tracks that are sold on iTunes.  The shopping experience works very well, too. There is a broad range of music, you can listen to previews of the tracks, find related artists and read reviews and comments from other users. It is pretty much like shopping for anything else on Amazon, except you do not have to pay for shipping and wait for UPS to deliver your purchases. I think Amazon has a real alternative to iTunes as far as music goes and now that Amazon bought Audible, audiobooks are probably just around the corner.

I recently purchased a new camera for the Alumnae Association. Why does the Association need another camera? Let me explain. Rochelle, the Executive Director and travel guide, recently went on a Alumnae Association sponsored trip to the Peruvian Amazon (we have photos online). She took with her our super compact Sony DSC-W30 camera. It is very small, about the size of a deck of cards and easily fits in a pocket. You can easily carry it almost anywhere. It is 6 megapixels and has a 3x optical zoom, unfortunately it was inadequate for capturing the birds and monkys in the trees along the banks of the Amazon and Rochelle was frustrated.

The other camera we have is the Sony DSC-H1 5 megapixel 12X camera and it would have easily captured close-ups of those birds and primates. Unfortunately, it is a big two-handed camera. It is not something you would want to carry around with you for very long. We use it mostly for capturing campus events, such as, Reunion. 

We needed something in between. A compact camera with a big zoom lens and fortunately there are some very good cameras to choose from. The Digital Camera Resource Page has a a great database and in depth reviews. I search their database and found some options. Digital Photography Review is another excellent site for camera reviews, I mean really detailed and in-depth reviews. Check out the reviews of the Canon at dcresource.com and dpreview.com.

I discovered that I could get a 10x camera in a compact body, but I would have to sacrifice the viewfinder and depend on the LCD screen which is what most people use anyway when they use a digital camera to frame a photo. I narrowed my selections down to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 and the Canon SX100 IS. I also liked the Canon S5 IS, but it very similar to the Sony DSC-H1 in size and bulk.

I decided on the Canon for the following reasons:

• Canons are very popular and have a large following which translated into better support and familiarity with the camera. Many people do not know that Panasonic produces a line of cameras, despite the fact that they get great reviews.
• It uses standard AA batteries, as well as, rechargeable AA batteries which I have on hand for the Sony DSC-H1. I figured that a camera that is going overseas, it would be more practical to use standard batteries that can be bought almost anywhere if necessary.
• Image quality is a little bit better with the Canon. Digital Photography Review posted numerous side-by-side comparison images between the Canon and the Panasonic. 

Price was very comparable, as was the feature set. The camera cost $212 at Amazon. For a camera with this many features, I think that is very affordable, especially compared to what $200 bought just a few years ago. The face detection feature is pretty cool. I tested the camera on my one year old granddaughter, and the camera was able to track her face and focus the image for the most part. One year olds can move fast. The menus are easy to read and navigate. The print functions are pretty thorough. You can do a lot of editing directly on the camera itself and print directly to a compatible PictBridge printer so that a computer is not even required. 

One downside is that the flash can take a while to warm up between shots as was described in one of the reviews. But the zoom is excellent, as is the clarity of the pictures. Otherwise, I would recommend this camera for someone traveling and wants a smaller camera with some of the the features of larger models.

Webkit is the open source engine used by Safari, Dashboard, Mail and many other Mac OS X applications.  You can download nightly development builds of the project. The current version is the fastest browser avilable on the Mac. Even beating Firefox 3. Some tests indicate that it is two and a half times faster than the current version of Safari.

Keep in mind that this is a development build and may not be entirely stable. If that is a concern then wait for the official software update from Apple. But if you cannot wait then you can download it now. It looks and feels just like Safari, except it is called Webkit. It is available for Mac and Windows.

While it does not have the add-ons that Firefox offers it has the speed. So much so that if I do not need a Firefox extension or compatibility and just want to browse the web I turn to Safari/Webkit.

SingStar is a new video game from Sony for the PlayStation 2 and 3. There is even a new ceramic white SingStar version of the PlayStation 2 console that is still one of the most popular selling game consoles despite the success of the Wii and Xbox 360. 

SingStar games are distributed either as the software alone, or bundled with a pair of USB microphones - one red, one blue. The games are compatible with the EyeToy camera, allowing players to see themselves singing. 

The game is a competitive form of Karaoke where the better you sing or stay on pitch the more points you score. The microphones detect pitch using digital signal processing, which analyses the frequency of the incoming signal. The frequency is then compared to stored information to evaluate if the note is correct. Regular singing segments do not feature speech recognition, and so humming into the microphones at the correct pitch will also score points. Rap sections use a combination of speech recognition and rhythm detection.

My 17 year old niece got the Pop version for her birthday and it turned out to be a game that everyone (parents and kids ) could play together. It is much more tolerable than regular karaoke because you are listening to the original artist as well as the participants  while watching the original video, unless you have the Eyetoy accessory, in which case you can watch yourself.

The game featured songs that were familiar to both parents and teens and it may help some people be better singers. Unfortunately the tone deaf will probably continue to be tone deaf and sing off key and score poorly.I was able to beat my 8 year old nephew singing a song from the Clash which he did not know so well. He prefers Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.

Check out this video to see what the game is like: 

 

 

I just cannot afford it for her yet and that's my biggest complaint about the new slender notebook from Apple. Initially I had more complaints, such as, a battery that you cannot remove, a small hard drive, a lack of an optical drive and a shortage of external ports (there are only three: USB, headphone and video.) Many computer pundits shared my original point of view. I thought of the Air being suitable only as a secondary computer for the well off.

However, after some reflection and reading some other blogs on the subject I have since come to a different conclusion. While the MacBook Air may not be for me, a power user that dabbles in video editing, running multiple operating systems, programming, web development, running virtul machines, creating DVD's and the such. The Air is perfect for my wife.

Her main computer tasks are reading email, browsing the web, watching episodes of her favorite television shows when she misses them (Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives) and sometimes working from home via the Citrex remote Windows client for her office computer. She'd rather not sit at the desk preferring the sofa or bed. So wireless is a must and a backlit keyboard and reduced weight are nice options.

She does not need a large hard drive and she would never remove the battery. While the processor is the slowest in Apple's computer line-up it is still many times faster than Intel's Pentium processor which many people are still using for basic computing tasks. 

So, while the Air has it's detractors, my answer to them is that Air was not meant for you, just the way the iPod is lacking in features (FM radio, voice recorder, support for OGG, etc.) for some while the simplicity is more appealing to many others.

As another blogger put it, the Air is like a sporty convertible coupe. It is not practical for everyone, but for some it gets them from point A to point B in style and comfort. Now, when Apple lowers the price it will become even more popular, like the Mazda Miata. I suspect that the price is due in part to the processor that Apple had Intel custom build for them. 

I completed my Federal and State taxes last weekend online for a cost of $15. Instead of buying a copy of Quicken or TaxCut I did my entire reurn on online in my web browser using TaxAct which offers free Federal tax preparation and filing. Check out the video:

 

 

I have used TaxAct now for the last 3-4 years and have never had a problem. I am able to automatically import data from last year's return. They have a interview process similar to other tax prep software which automatically finds applicable deductions or alerts you if something is wrong or missing. I was able to get my state tax refund within a few days.

If you are not comfortable doing your taxes online, you can download their software as well. But if you bank onine, TaxAct uses the same type of secure encrypted connection. I first discovered them when I wanted to be able to file my taxes on a Linux computer and there are no tax programs for Linux that I am aware of. Also, I wanted an alternative to the pricey options from Intuit. I now use a Mac and had no problems.

TaxAct was very easy to use, yet very thorough and very reliable. I never had a dropped connection or errors online while completing my return. You have the option of printing and mailing your return if you want, but using e-file with direct deposit is probably the fastest way to get your money back from the government. 

The only negative I have about them is the additional large fee they charge you if you select the option to deduct the filing fee from your return. I think it is an extra $15. You are much better off paying the filing fee with your credit or debit card to avoid the fee.

TaxAct does not offer refund anticipation loans, but that is a good thing in my book. I think such loans are a waste of money. If you waited this long you can wait a little longer and save yourself some money.   

We have a G4 and a couple G5 PowerMac towers in use by the Quarterly and communications staff of the Alumnae Association. The Macs are still running strong. I recently upgraded them to Leopard and installed Microsoft Office 2008 without a hitch. Unfortunately , the offices are up on the third floor of Mary Woolley Hall where  they still have a 10 Mbps network. Because we are located in a College owned building and share the network with the Development offices the 10 Mbps switch or hub is beyond my control.

The cabling and switch were upgraded on the first and second floors when the offices were renovated last year. The networking department told me that they were going to upgrade the cabling and switch last summer along with the addition of some more outlets. However, that has not occurred yet. It is now February.

What was upgraded over the past year was the College's wireless network. There are now access points in every dorm and throughout the campus, except on the third floor of Mary Woolley but there is a signal that ranges between 20-40% in strength depending on where you are located.

With the wireless upgrades I thought the solution would be to install some Airport cards in the Power Macs and pull the computers off of the wired network, thinking that even with the reduced signal strength, going wireless would be faster.

 (More)

I have written previously about Google Docs in my posting regarding Microsoft Office Replacements. If you have not read it, check it out because there is a great video that explains the benefits of Google Docs and online collaboration. Google Docs inlcudes word processing, spreadsheet with graphing capabilities and presentation modules. Not only does Google Docs make the files more accessible, but it tracks revisions of the, too.

Google Apps is a collection of Google's online applications that include Google Docs, Talk, Gmail and Pages. However, in order to take full advantage of it you needed your own domain name that you were willing to dedicate to use with Google Apps. 

Now Google has a new version called Google Apps Team Edition that makes it even easier to work online more securely with your co-workers or classmates that have the same email domain address. Learn about Team Edition in two minutes with the following video:

 

 

If this is not cool enough, Google Docs integrates directly within Deki Wiki. Spreadsheets, graphs and charts can be embedded directly into wiki pages. In addition Google also offers a forms function that allows you to create a web form where the data is collected within a Google spreadsheet.

With the team edition you have to supply your own email service or use Gmail and access your work mail with it like I do. BTW, Gmail provides over 6 GB of space for your inbox and it is growing every day.

I've created a team edition account and will start introducing the service to other staff. I think it will offer a great way for staff, students, volunteers and faculty to work together online and when combined with Deki Wiki, it will be that much more of a powerful tool. 

One of the coolest features of Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 is Time Machine, the automatic file backup utility. This is the perfect tool for the person who does not regulary backp their system. You just need to purchase an extra drive and then set and forget Time Machine. By default it initially performs a full backup and then backs up your changed files every hour. Usually you do not notice that it is doing anything in he background unless you have a older Mac.

At work I use a dual core MacBook with an external Firewire drive and I only really notice that a backup is occuring when I am ready to leave and disconnect the drive. At home I have a single CPU 1.8 Ghz G5 Power Mac with 1 GB of RAM. I bought an extra sata 320 GB internal drive that I configured Time Machine to use. Even with a internal SATA drive I noticed when files were being backed up. It can be a drag on the system. I can imagine it would be much more noticeable on lesser systems.

I do not use my home computer as often and really do not need it backed up every hour, but Time Machine is so streamlined (som may say "dumbed down" that there are no options to adjust when a backup occurs, at least until now.

 

 

I found the Time Machine Scheduler. A free simple utility that allows you to schedule backups between one and 12 hours. It was easy to install and set up. I scheduled it to backup evey six hours which is a lot more  often than I use to and is a lot less painful. I still get my files backed up, although not as often, but there is less of a drag on my system which I appreciate. Even with the scheduler, Time Machin eis still the easiest means of backing up your files.

In a previous post I praised Deki Wiki, the awesome wiki application platform from Mindtouch, which we use for an Intranet here at the Alumnae Association. Now I have put my money where my mouth is and developed a web site of my own with Deki Wiki (Deki is Japanese for "smart" and Wiki is Hawiian for "fast" ). The site is called "You Know You Are From..." and is located at youknowyouarefrom.wik.is.

It is a wiki which celebrates the uniqueness of the different corners of the world or at least the United States of America, for now until additional countries are added.

In an age of franchises, fast food chains, big box mega stores, media conglomerates, look-alike shopping malls and the general omnipresent sameness there is still a lot that makes us stand apart from the rest of the crowd. The stuff that makes places special. Things like food, names, accents, pronunciations, attitudes, jokes, stores, restaurants, personalities and one of a kind landmarks. Unfortunately many of these  things only continue to exist in our memories, so the purpose of the site is to gather those memories and observations in a web based collective scrap book.

Take a look at the Maryland and Boston pages as examples. If you are from either of these places some of those items may have made you nostalgic or laugh out loud. If you are from somewhere else, you have similar memories or knowledge of unique characteristics of your hometown, city, state or even country.
 (More)