appleJAC Macintosh Users

CrashPlan: Backup for Home and Business

by Tom Piper

How many time have you been asked the question: “Have you backed up your hard drive?” Well, did you? Storage media is volatile and will fail, sooner or later. There are many ways to do this, but you must do it. In case of fire, flood, burglary or worse, offsite storage is vital.

I’ve been using CrashPlan for the past month to automatically backup key parts of my User Folder to the CrashPlan Central off-site location (a set of remote servers). It’s pretty easy and automatic with no buttons to push or CDs to burn. I simply installed CrashPlan, and it now quietly runs in the background protecting my files without slowing down my desktop activities.

And, best of all,it's free to back up my files to my own local and offsite destinations. These files are encrypted at my choice of multiple offsite destinations. I could backup to my old PC, a friend's desktop, an external hard drive, or whichever I want (see below). As indicated earlier, only offsite backup protects these files from theft, fire, and other local disasters. CrashPlan also insures my privacy by encrypting these files before they are sent, keeping personal files personal. I’m not limited to just one, but can select any or all local and remote backup destinations.

There are many ways to customize a backup by way of scheduling, frequency, destinations, exclusions, verifications, file size, old file deletion, status, alerts, and more. CrashPlan flags changes, has unlimited versioning (move backward in time), backup priorities (new vs. old, local vs. remote), data is compressed, and setup is quick. I would recommend that, if backup up over the Internet, pay close attention to limiting the sending rate to ensure that other access (like mail and browser activities) are not restricted (my initial settings shut out all other Internet access for everyone in the house because my backup was “filling the pipe”).

 

Did I say that CrashPlan is FREE? The initial basic license is immediately downloadable (www.crashplan.com) and can be up in running in five minutes. For more advanced features (continuous protection, free upgrades, priority support), you can get CrashPlan+ for up to 10 computers for $59.99. For an additional $49.80, you can buy a-one year subscription to 50 gigabytes of storage online (remote backup like what I’m using). You can even buy a combo package with CrashPlan+ and a 500GB LaCie hard drive for $119.98. There are even more variations on these concepts to choose from, for home and business.

I am also particularly impressed by their support which includes a special support wiki, frequently asked questions, email support, user forums, PRO service, and more. This system has worked well for me as an adjunct to Time Machine that I use for incremental local backups, and Carbon Copy Cloner that I use for bootable external drive backups. If your data is as important to you as mine is to me, having multiple local and remote backups is a good insurance plan.

ecamm BT-1: World’s First Bluetooth Webcam

by Tom Piper

The iSight video “tube” camera was a terrific FireWire-tethered tool to capture images, and the built-in iSight camera in new Mac laptops and monitors is an excellent resource, but both have limitations of distance and direction. Wouldn’t it be great to have a wireless A/V device you can use almost anywhere?

Announced at Macworld Expo 2009 as “Best of Show”, and released for purchase in June, the very new BT-1 from ecamm is the wireless solution for which we’ve been waiting. This Bluetooth Webcam includes a mini-tripod, USB charging cable and very simple instructions. With the download and installation of a small interface file (requires Mac OS X 10.5 or newer, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR or better), this webcam is immediately usable by iChat, Skype, QuickTime, Evocam, and virtually any other software that access a camera.

Like the iSight, the BT-1 is 640x480 H.264 video with 48 kHz stereo AAC audio and 4-hour battery  capacity, plus Bluetooth range of 10-30 feet, depending on age and type of Mac (extendable up to 200 feet line-of-sight with a Class 1 Bluetooth USB dongle, for about $10). Its really small at 2”x2.5”x0.6” in size, and very lightweight. It is rechargeable with the provided USB cable (it will work while charging too, about 2-hour charge time), and has a standard 3.5mm audio port for an external microphone. The tripod legs extend from 2.5” to 7.0”, making for a very stable platform (the legs on some tripods have been known to jam). Bluetooth pairing begins automatically with a simple “0000”, and controls on the BT-1 are extremely simple with an on/off button, a power light, and a charging indicator light, and a nice preferences icon in the top menu of your screen  . . . that’s it.

 So far, I’ve used this unit with Ustream to share an hour at the Coffee Zone, on iChat to conduct a video call with a local friend and another a thousand miles away, on QuickTime to record a walkabout inventory of the house, via Skype with my son from his laptop to mine, and with Evocam to monitor the activities of my grandson (on both my Mac and iPhone). I’m sure that there are many other creative ways to use it, particularly since it is compatible with any camera mount (C-clamps, photo bags, gorilla tripods, etc.). It has excellent screen quality, even in low light situations. Color rendition is amazingly good, focusing well from 10” to infinity at 15 frames per second, and sound reception was good even 20’ away (a powered microphone would work even better in the sound jack).

The ecamm BT-1 can be yours for only $149, plus shipping, at www.bt-1.com (and probably in your local stores soon). I fully endorse this innovative product as yet another in a long line of successful products that you can see at www.ecamm.com. The “ecamm network” also includes iUSBCam, iGlasses, Conference Recorder, Huckleberry, PhoneView and Call Recorder (all of which I have), as well as PowerBoost, DockStar and CardRaider (which I hope to get soon), and iMage USB Webcam (this is what got me interested in the webcam when a friend first showed it to me). For a pair of great interviews with co-founders Glen and Ken Aspeslagh, go to www.bt-1.com and click on the Media tab.

Easy simplicity, high quality, excellent reliability, thoughtful service, and competitive pricing make the ecamm BT-1 Webcam a great value for many of our video needs. I can’t wait to see what the Ecamm Network comes out with next!

President's Corner

by Tom Piper, aJMUG President

June is half over, school kids have gone home, we’re just a week from our next office move, and my new 3G S iPhone will arrive shortly . . . upgrades on computers were announced at the World Wide Developers Conference, but the long-awaited Apple netbook is still a dream. Meanwhile, the humidity has spiked, and we can tell that summer is fast approaching.

Building on the success of the MacBasics classes, George Kopp will be holding a special July 9 2-hour iPhoto MacClass at the Landwehr home (see registration info below):



The minimum of eight registrants has already been met, so be sure to get your registration in as soon as possible while there is still room. My iWork ’09 MacClasses will be at Lewis and Clark Middle School on September 10, 17 and 24 featuring Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

The “Made on a Mac” image enhancement competition has begun, with your entry (one per member up to 2 megabytes in size) due no later than August 4 to applejac@mac.com (see explanation below).



DVD copies of the videotaped (Steve Archer and Sharon Hanson) January, February, March, April, May and June meetings are available from our Library (see Bruce Heerboth to check any out, or get a copy). We are really busy with lots of membership benefits.

Next meeting we will enjoy the Annual appleJAC MacFixIt meeting. As in past years, if you have a need to upgrade to your machines RAM memory or possibly install a larger hard disk, appleJAC veteran members will be on hand to assist you. Please let us know in advance if this is the case so we can help you to get the parts and have tools available. We will again show you important maintenance steps to protect your Mac, and do a special presentation about setting up and using Time Machine, Apple’s own Leopard backup.

Last month, 45 appleJAC members, families and friends enjoyed the hospitality of Joe and Kathy Mertzlufft at their lakeside home. Due to the rain, the festivities were moved into their three-stall garage where everyone enjoyed terrific food (George and Mark again did a great job with burgers and dogs), warm commoradorie, and exciting weather. We even got one more member due to our great social and educational services.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the next appleJAC Macintosh Users Group meeting on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, at 7:00 pm. Bring family, friends and new members to get the most out of your Mac and other Apple products.

July 2009 Meeting Agenda

 

June 2009 User Group Offers

 Elgato Products: 40% Off

Elgato recently announced Video Capture, their new product that lets you transfer video from a VCR, DVR, set-top box, camcorder or any other analog video source to your Mac as an iTunes-ready file. One simple click allows you to sync with an iPod, iPhone and Apple TV, play it in QuickTime, or upload it directly to YouTube.

Elgato is offering very special pricing of $60 (US) to Apple user group members (the same as Apple resellers), a 40% discount. The products are not-for-resale (NFR) and are marked as such on the product/packaging.

Capture up your video life: http://www.elgato.com/appleteam
This US/Canada-only offer is valid until September 30, 2009.


Buy The Missing Sync, Get Fliq for Mac Free

The Missing Sync for iPhone lets you sync notes, tasks, documents and files between your iPhone and Mac, and archive notes, text messages and call logs to your Mac. Fliq for Mac is a powerful way for Mac users to send and receive photos, contacts, notes, tasks and documents with others over a network, and exchange notes and memos.

Regularly priced at $59.95 (US), user group members qualify for a reduced price of $39.95 (US) during this offer.

Order: http://tinyurl.com/UGPromo   

http://www.markspace.com/iphone

This worldwide offer is valid until September 30, 2009.


Voila Software: 38% Discount

Voila is a professional creativity tool for Mac OS X Leopard that lets you capture your screen, annotate, organize and share. Voila lets you capture any shape, multiple regions at the same time, menu, webpage or DOM elements, and even from iSight. Pick and add annotations, add effects and share instantly via Mail, Flickr, FTP or iPhoto.

Regularly priced at $39.95 (US), Voila is offered to Apple user group members for only $24.95 (US), which is 38% off! A full-featured trial version can be downloaded for a 30-day evaluation.

For more details, downloading and purchasing: http://www.globaldelight.com/store

This worldwide offer is valid through December 31, 2009.

iLightFarts iPhone/iPodTouch App: Unusual Game Combo

by Tom Piper

With over 35,000 Apps now available via iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the variety of selections is immense and widely varied. Recently I acquired a game that appeared to be a combination of iLighter (one of my favorites) and iFart (one of my wife’s favorites).

iLightFarts may be the most unusual, pseudo-smelliest, colorfully explodingest app on the App Store. With the screen showing 20 round-faced people around the screen releasing gaseous emissions, it is your job to save the environment. You must kill the smells by lighting all of these farts without running out of lighter fluid. The game has 10 levels, each with a different skill level, farts, lighters and speed. 

The trick is to try to light a “cluster” of farts to conserve the lighter . . . the lighter can be easily moved with touch-and-drag, then a tap to light it (care must be taken to not touch prematurely). I never got to level 10, and I wish that the lighter would last longer, but it was a lot of noisy funny (yes, the iPhone vibrate-only mode will turn the sound off).

This game from ModStylez does have funny sound bytes, fart sounds, realistic explosions and lighters. It is very inexpensive at only 99¢, and more entertaining than I had imagined.

iPhoto 09 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide: Effective Learning About Optimizing Your Pictures

by Tom Piper

Author: Adam C. Engst
Publisher: Peachpit Press (part of the Visual QuickStart Guide series)

First Edition: May 6, 2009 
Pages: 229
Series: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-321-60131-5

Publisher’s brief description: Readers can start from the beginning to get a tour of the applications, or look up specific tasks to learn just what they need to know. This task-based, visual guide uses step-by-step instructions and hundreds of full-color screenshots to teach beginning and intermediate users how to make the most out of their digital photos with iPhoto '09. Perfect for anyone who needs to learn the program inside out, this guide covers everything from importing, tagging, editing, and perfecting images to creating slideshows and photo albums to easy online Web publishing. Readers will learn about everything new in iPhoto '09, including: Faces, which allows you to organize your photos based on who’s in them; Places, which uses data from GPS-enabled cameras or your iPhone's camera to categorize photos by location with easily recognizable names; themed slideshows; online sharing via Facebook and Flickr with one click; enhanced photo editing tools; and more.

My first impressions of this ebook (PDF version) were very good with a great Bookmarks side panel, it enlarges well (for the "hard of seeing"), and is appealing to the eye with a two-column format and serif font (sans-serif headers). The titling is bold, the tips are frequent and helpful, the pictures and illustrations are colorful and illustrative, the instructions easy to follow, excellent use of white space and balance, great “boxed” special notes, innovative applications, and empathetic perspective. Adam (and his co-editor Tonya) guides you through the experience as a companion, not as a pupil, understanding that the concepts are important before detail, with a supportive style (see example below).

The volume is well-organized:

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Chapter 2: Importing and Managing Photos

Chapter 3: Organizing Photos

Chapter 4: Working with Faces

Chapter 5: Working with Places

Chapter 6: Editing Photos

Chapter 7: Making Slideshows 

Chapter 8: Publishing Photos on the Web

Chapter 9: Sharing Photos

Chapter 10: Printing Photos

Chapter 11: Troubleshooting

Appendix A: Deep Background

Appendix B: Taking Better Photos

Index

As Adam says at the beginning of the book, “Even though iPhoto ’09 is the best version of the program that Apple has released so far, it still doesn’t entirely demystify the process of importing a digital photograph, editing it, and presenting it on paper or on the computer screen. And iPhoto comes with no documentation beyond minimal and often incomplete online help.” So, this book should be read “. . . not just for the manual iPhoto lacks, but also for the help you need to take digital photos and make the most of them.” 

My reading of this PDF is done on both a MacBook Pro 17” (unibody), and a second generation iPhone (16GB). On my laptop using either Preview or Adobe Acrobat Reader, the “pinch” command allows me to quickly zoom in or out of text and illustrations, and to jump to anywhere in the book from the Table of Contents (TOB) or the Index (or the Sidebar) for quick reference. On the iPhone using DataCase, the dual columns are a blessing because the reading is very comfortable when zoomed in on one or the other, while a “pinch” or a “swipe” moves me effortlessly around the pages. I’m still looking for an iPhone PDF reader that will read active embedded “links” so it can jump from the TOB or Index, just like in Preview on the Mac.

This wonderful book retails for $24.95 ($17.99 for ebook alone), but can be found for $16.49 ($15.00 for ebook) or less at various internet locations. A complete Peachpit description with purchasing details are available at  http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321601319. The author-generated ebook version can best be purchased through the Take Control cart at: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/iphoto09-vqs.

Elgato Video Capture: Transfer VCR to Mac with Ease

by Tom Piper

I have many old VCR full-size video tapes from my son’s youth that I wanted to put on DVDs for posterity (and my grandson’s viewing). This used to be a very complicated process, but its been made much easier by an experienced and respected company in the video device field.

According to Elgato’s website, there is no easier or more convenient way to transfer home video to your Mac. Elgato Video Capture records from analog video sources in the H.264 or MPEG-4 formats that are native to iTunes. Your video is captured in real-time and no lengthy re-encoding is necessary; the video is immediately ready to sync with an iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV, to play in QuickTime, to edit in iMovie, or to upload directly to YouTube.

The era of VHS tapes is winding down, and after three decades there is a lot of video content to transfer for modern playback devices. What’s more, any video stored on magnetic tape (such as VHS, Video8 and Hi8) has a limited life span and deteriorates over time. Elgato Video Capture provides an easy way to bring those precious memories into iTunes, to edit them in iMovie, and to share on the Web.

Elgato Video Capture is very easy to use. The software Assistant guides you through every step, from connecting an analog video source to capturing video that is optimized for the way you want to use it. The software offers a simple tool to trim the beginning and end of the captured video. And, it takes just one click to add your video to iTunes to sync with an iPod®, iPhone™ or Apple TV®; to play in QuickTime®; to upload directly to YouTube™; or to open in iMovie ready for editing.

After installing the software provided on CD, the process really is as easy as Get Started > Connect Video > Connect Audio > Record > Trim > Finish Up. The final product can be recorded to DVD (like my VHS tapes), put on your iPod, played on your Mac, sent to friends or posted on your video account for public viewing.

To learn more, and even view the Mac screens that walk you through the process, go to: http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/Accessories/Video-Capture/. For $99.95, this is a very good product that can help you preserve your precious video memories. I believe this is a quality product, made even better by the offer below.

Elgato Products: 40% Off

Elgato recently announced their Video Capture product. You can transfer video from a VCR, DVR, set-top box, camcorder or any other analog video source to your Mac as an iTunes®-ready file. One simple click allows you to sync with an iPod®, iPhone™ and Apple TV®, plays it in QuickTime®, or uploads it directly to YouTube™.

Elgato is offering very special pricing of $60 (US) to Apple user group members (the same as Apple resellers), a 40% discount. The products are not-for-resale (NFR) and are marked as such on the product/packaging.

Capture up your video life: http://www.elgato.com/appleteam

This U.S./Canada-only offer is valid until September 30, 2009.

MacSpeech Dictate: Better, Stronger, Faster

a review by Tom Piper

In February 2009 I published a review of MacSpeech Dictate 1.0 with a speech recognition history and some glowing comments about Dictate like “persistance and patience have paid off in a great product.” To their credit, this program has gotten even better.

MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 is the first upgrade to their premier speech recognition solution for the Macintosh, introducing a new Vocabulary Editor, new English profile options, enhanced accuracy and much more. Users can add, delete, manage and train words in their profile's vocabulary using a new Vocabulary Editor which also lets people customize behaviors related to the included words, such as capitalization, pronunciation or the use of spacing surrounding the word.

The new MacSpeech Dictate v1.5.1 (a free maintenance upgrade) provides greater accuracy than ever before with up to 20% more accurate recognition than previous versions. From the initial profile accuracy rate, customers can continue to increase the accuracy rate of their MacSpeech Dictate profile up to 99%. 

There are also new compatibility enhancements for working with Microsoft Word which include an automatic execution of the "Cache Document" command any time a Word document is opened while MacSpeech Dictate is launched. Also available on demand, the "Cache Document" command allows MacSpeech Dictate to read a document's contents, in order to navigate the document, and to enter and edit text.

Other enhancements include the addition of the top 100 web sites to the "Jump To" command options, a new Save Profile menu item for capturing Phrase Training information prior to Quitting, a new User Manual, and other enhancements and refinements to the user interface for a more efficient, intuitive experience.

MacSpeech Dictate is now the only desktop speech recognition solution for the Macintosh which provides unprecedented speech recognition accuracy with minimal training and works with existing Mac applications. It delivers a true Mac user experience, and conforms to behaviors already familiar to Macintosh fans worldwide. Beyond dictation, MacSpeech Dictate lets people perform basic navigation of their Mac and control it with their voice to launch applications, open new windows, execute menu commands, and other controls.

For more information, visit www.macspeech.com, where Macspeech Dictate can be purchased for $199 (or upgrade for $54.95 from version 1.3 or earlier). The program requires an Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X 10.5.6 or greater ("Leopard"). An Internet connection is also required for product registration, plus a MacSpeech-certified noise-cancelling microphone (included in box). If you are looking for a quick and reliable way to convert speech-to-text, and/or verbally control many commands on your Mac, this is the product to buy.

Think it . . . speak it . . . create it . . . speech recognition at its best!

Third party tools for eBay

These sites and services are not affiliated with eBay. We can't provide technical support or assistance for these tools. If you have questions about these systems, visit their websites and contact their customer support directly. The prices noted may be outdated.

iSale
This is a bulk listing, listing designer, and tracking tool.
iSale can't revise active listings.
It's currently $39.99 for a single license or $59.99 for a double.
You might be able to try a demo version of the latest release.
Visit http://www.equinux.com/us/products/isale/download.html

eLister
This is an offline bulk listing creator.
eLister is the Mac version of  Turbo Lister.
It's $19.95 per month or $34.95 for 6 months.
It's only compatible with eBay (not any of our sister sites).
Visit http://www.blackmagik.com/elister.html

GarageSale
GarageSale is an all-in-one tool.
It's a lot like BlackThorne.
It's fully integrated with iPhoto and comes with over 70 built in listing templates.
It has a built-in image editor and built-in scheduler.
It's $24.99 for a single user license or $44.99 for a family license
(allows up to 5 computers in one household).
Visit http://www.iwascoding.com/GarageSale/

AuctionGenie
This is an all inclusive tool that helps with listing and bidding.
It has reporting, feedback, payment, and delivery features, a built-in
proxy bidder, and an item watcher.
It's $40 a year.
Visit http://www.luxcentral.com/auctiongenie/

appleJAC Offers iPhoto Class

 

End of July appleJAC Digest/Blog

President’s Corner

by Tom Piper, aJMUG President

May is nearly over, the legislature has gone home, we’re in the middle of packing for our next office move (at least I get to keep our Macs), and we are anxiously waiting to see what Apple will come out with next. Meanwhile, we are getting everything ready for our very first appleJAC June Picnic (moved from our previous August hotspots).

Membership is expanding now with over 70 members, well on our way to reaching the December goal of 100 appleJAC MUG members! The MacBasics classes with George Kopp have been a great success (with attendees calling for an encore session), and my iWork classes will commence in September. The “Made on a Mac” photo enhancement competition has started, and DVD copies of the videotaped (Steve Archer) January, February, March, April and May meetings are available from our Library (see Bruce Heerboth to check one out). We have a lot going on to enhance your enjoyment of our Mac user group.

Next meeting we will enjoy the Annual appleJAC MUG Picnic (that’s right, in warm June, NOT hot August). Friends and family are all invited to attend (bring a beverage, side disk and lawn chair) this opportunity to relax at the lakeside home of Kathy and Joe Mertzlufft, and enjoy food, fun and friends. RSVP is requested (if you haven’t already). Directions to their house (just north and east of Ashland) show that they are less than 20 minutes away from most of where our members live (see map below).

Last month, we enjoyed the third review of iLife ’09 with Music, specifically GarageBand. Tim Breuer (Greg’s son) provided a trip through how to setup music, listen to new creations, and export it to iPods and CDs. Winners of the May door prizes were as follows:

• Ann Lane    Apple water bottle
• Brenda Hancock    USB mouse
• Tom Vaughn    Green carabeaner
• Neal Hubbard    MacAlly USB minihub
• Ken Zindle    iPod acrylic case
• Sue Snell    Apple luggage charm
• Larry Garvin    iPhone 3G (book)
• Ros Moulton    iPhone Fully-Loaded (book)
• Bonnie Culley    Getting Started with Your MacBook (book)
• Ann Lane    iLife ’09 DVD (the iLife series grand prize)

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the next appleJAC meeting on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 6:00 pm. See you by the lake . . . bring family, friends and new members . . . share the fun! (carpools may wish to meet to save gas).

June 2009 Meeting Agenda

May 2009 New Vendor Discount Offers

Stellar Data Recovery: Free Diagnosis and 20% Discount

Stellar, a market leader in providing data recovery services, specializes in salvaging lost data with over 1,000,000 customers in 137 countries. Equipped with trained and specialized data recovery professionals and an excellent Class 100 clean room facility, Stellar can recover data from almost all operating systems and storage media.
Stellar announces FREE DIAGNOSIS and 20% OFF on laptop anddesktop data recovery.

Request a free quote: http://www.datarecoveryservices.biz/quote-request.php

VueScan: Universal Software Image Capture Tool

by Tom Piper

How do you capture text, photos and other images into your computer? New scanners often come with enabling image scanning software, and companies like Adobe provide excellent tools. But, with older or less popular digital scanners, matching these models with powerful software is sometimes a challenge. I’ve found a solution that solves many such problems.

VueScan is the world's most popular third-party scanning program. It has over 160,000 users and supports over 1200 different brands of scanners on three operating systems. Available only online, VueScan offers over 50 advanced scanning features, vast improvements in speed, and enables many of the older scanners to work. It can be downloaded and totally tested for free.

My long-time challenge has been to use an IRIScan very small (but high quality) portable USB scanner that I acquired at Macworld 2008 with something other than the software that came with it. So, I downloaded VueScan, cranked it up, and it couldn’t find my scanner . . . a cross-check with the owner of the company confirmed that this software doesn’t work with my scanner . . . a disappointment.

The overall listing of compatible scanners is impressive. As shown in the example below, the controls for scanning and adjusting are easy to find, and simple to use, while offering many options to customize your scan and output. The interface is logical and intuitive, and it also has some great editing options to automatically correct for color, saturation and resolution on old photos.

Learn more about VueScan, and download it for testing, from http://www.hamrick.com/. You can purchase the standard edition for $39.95, or the professional edition for $79.95. It is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. This is a dandy tool when you are challenged.

Evouni Cases: Soft Protection for Your Portable Treasures

by Tom Piper

How do you protect your precious iPhone, or iPod? You see cases of all sorts everywhere you go in plastic, cloth, rubber, metal and more (actually, I haven’t seen wood yet). More than that, do they also protect those tangled earbuds?

Have you considered a pouch? Evouni Corp. offers a series of very elegant slip-in soft synthetic leather pouches with microfiber lining. It includes an aluminum logo frame (to wrap the earphone cord around), soft-padded material front and back, lanyard slot at top (lanyard available separately), light weight, and custom fit for our treasures. A small version is available for the iPod nano, and a large version for the iPhone (first or second generation) or iPod Touch.

In my experience with both of these pouches, I found them to be comfortable, secure, attractive and useful in not only protecting these treasures, but also securing the earbuds very nicely under the spring-loaded aluminum frame. It was also easy to quickly extract my iPhone and nano, both of which came out cleaner than they went in due to the microfiber liner . . . very clever idea.

More information is available at www.evouni.com, which also shows their full range of products. The prices are moderate. These are very nice and useful protectors for your electronic investments.

Uniea: Soft Protection for Your Portable Devices

by Tom Piper

How do you protect your precious camera, 2.5” hard drive or PDA? You see cases of all sorts everywhere you go in plastic, cloth, rubber, metal and more. So what do you use?

Uniea has introduced its Omniverse Universal Sleeve measuring W 5.6” x H 4.3” x D 3.1” with some great features including:

oversized case accommodates digital cameras, small hard drives and other small devices;
Shock absorbent inner lining protects devices from bumps and drops;
Unique, stylish silk fiber material and inner cushions are very lightweight;
Large front pocket holds cables, batteries, removable media, and such;
Belt loop and aluminum, carabiner-style ring for great portability; and
Secure, quality stitching and reliable smooth zipper for maximum reliability.

This is a very versatile case for small devices (including iPhones and iPod Touches) that provides excellent protection in a sleek, quality case that should withstand years of wear and tear. I need to get several of these cases to protect a wider range of my small portable devices.

You can learn more about this (and other Uniea products) at www.uniea.com. This case is available for only $17.95, available in silk fiber, or nylon . . . other sizes and materials are available, up to the universal tote for 13” notebooks. These all seem like very good values to me . . . more great protection for your valuable investments.

The Twitter Book: Learning About the Newest Tweets

 
by Tom Piper

Author: Tim O'Reilly, Sarah Milstein
Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
First Edition: May 13, 2009  
Pages: 240 
Series: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-596-80281-3

Publisher’s brief description: This practical guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious--and effective--way to boost your business. Co-written by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein, widely followed and highly respected Twitterers, the practical information in The Twitter Book is presented in a fun, full-color format that's packed with helpful examples and clear explanations.

A quick flip through the pages of my ebook (PDF version) showed me great color, easy reading, descriptive “jargon”, surges of information, excellent illustrations, twitter tips, business opportunities and much more. The volume is well-organized:

Table of Contents
Introduction.
Chapter 1: Get Started
Chapter 2: Listen In
Chapter 3: Hold Great Conversations
Chapter 4: Share Information and Ideas
Chapter 5: Reveal Yourself
Chapter 6: Twitter for Business: Special Considerations and Ideas
Index.

As their website says, this practical guide can teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user. It includes information on the latest third-party applications, strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious—and effective—way to boost your business, as well as how to turn Twitter into your personal newspaper, tracking breaking news and learning what matters to you and your friends. This book can help you:

• Use Twitter to connect with colleagues, customers, family, and friends,
• Stand out on Twitter,
• Avoid common Twitter gaffes and pitfalls, and
• Build a critical professional communications channel with Twitter—and use the best third-party tools that help you manage it.

The practice of twittering is a relatively new communication tool that has emerged as a delightful and enthralling public discussion. There are many views of its effectiveness, opportunities and futures, as well as how to educate and train people in its most appropriate uses. This is a friendly, resourceful and knowledgeable book that introduces Twittering, explains its context, illustrates examples, reveals personal perspectives, and generally builds a delightful bridge to Twitter empowerment. A very good value for the money.

This handy book retails for $19.99 ($21.99 for print plus ebook, $15.99 for ebook alone), but can be found for $13.59 or less at Amazon and other internet locations. A complete O’Reilly description with purchasing details are available at: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596802813/

Recycle your old Computers

Mid-Missouri Recycling, Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Management District, Cole County Commission, and the City of Jefferson City are co-sponsoring an electronic waste collection event. This event is open to the residents of Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau and Osage Counties. No Businesses.

The event occurs on Saturday, June 6th from 9am till 1pm at the Cole County Public Works Department, 5055 Monticello Road.

A $5 fee will be charged for each television, computer monitor, copy machine and microwave. All other electronic items will be accepted FREE of charge. For more information, please call 573-874-7574 or visit www.mmswmd.org.

Electronic items that are accepted at these collections include: desktop PC’s (CPU’s); monitors, keyboards, mice, cords & cables (power, USB, etc.); modems; laptop PCs; main frames; hard drives; CD ROM/Zip/Tape drives; handheld electronic organizers and games; copy machines; printers (laser, ink jet); televisions; VCRs/DVD players; video game players; joysticks and game controls; cameras (film and digital); camcorders; speakers; radios; stereos; portable CD players; typewriters; word processors; fax machines; adding machines; scanners; postage machines; calculators; telephones; cellular phones; answering machines; pagers; CBs and two-way radios; and microwaves.