Bonetown System Requirements

Monthly Computer Chronicle

MCC NEWS

IN THIS ISSUE: NEWS AND VIEWS

1

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT OMNIPAGE PRO V.16

2

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF MULTIMEDIA

4

LEXMARK X7675 PROFESSIONAL

6

IROBOTLOOJ

7

BONETOWN

9

NETBOOKS AND CLOUD COMPUTING

10

BOYNG VASE SPEAKER

14

THE DEALS GUY

15

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VIEWS

By Chuck Hajdú As we enter 2009 the magic word seems to be: Change. Change in the year, change in the Presidency, change in the financial markets, change in the auto industry, etc. I’m writing this in mid-December and as of this date the changes the soon-to-be-President-elect (he won’t be President-elect until after the Electoral College meets in January and actually elects him) are making are invisible. We’re keeping the Secretary of Defense, we’re keeping the whole Clinton gang in power, keeping the bailouts and changing nothing but who lives in the White House. As I‘m writing this column an interesting thought came to mind. I’m sure all of our readers have noticed the same phenomenon that I’ve observed, the precipitous drop in the value of your investments. Very few people had the forethought to make their nest egg stock market proof.

For many years I’ve done something that I believe is very common. Every night I empty my pocket change into a large container in my home office. After a few years there’s usually a couple of hundred dollars in the container and I can splurge on something that I normally wouldn’t buy. The question I have for my readers is this: is the change in your spare change jar worth more than your investment portfolio? I’ve got a hunch more than one person can answer that with a resounding yes! Hopefully, this is one area that will change for the better in the next year. One of the things that has been keeping us busy of late is our preparation for CES 2009 in Vegas the first week of January. Usually by now we’re buried in invitations for press events and evening parties (oops, conferences). This year things have been much slower than in the past but we’ll still have a full dance card. Our February issue will be exclusively devoted to our CES reports. MCC

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TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT N UA N C E O M N I P A G E P R O F E S S I O N A L V E R S I O N 1 6 By Linda Webb Scanning paper information or acquiring an image and performing optical character recognition (OCR) has come of age, allowing you to retain much or all of the document's original formatting, which can be faster than retyping. Nuance OmniPage Pro 16 provides sophisticated software for converting paper information or electronic images to usable files in applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, HTML, and others. It has workflows and utilities for scanning paper or electronic images, digitizing their contents, and saving the output for editing or re-purposing. In the software, you can select from three screen views; Classic, Flexible (for adjusting the size of the work panels); and Quick Convert for simple document conversions.

A typical process workflow follows three steps; bringing paper or electronic pages into OmniPage, performing OCR, and saving or exporting files. Numerous editing and other options are available along the way.

Linda Webb, M.Ed. Emerging Technology Editor

To get started, I scanned a paper copy of a lease. OmniPage shaded the document as it scanned it. It then established zones, meaning that it drew boxes around spe-

cific areas on the image. (Zone types include various column and table options, forms, spreadsheet, legal pleading, custom, and template.) Once zoned, an editing dialog box opened to display items for potential correction, along with suggestions that I could accept or ignore -- and also add to a dictionary for later correction use. The software prompted me to save the results in a Windows folder, providing over thirty file formats and several formatting levels and options. I had a bit of review and correcting to do, but it beat retyping a ten-page document hands down. Your work can also be saved as a native .opd file for re-use in OmniPage if desired. Version 16 lets you easily work with and view multiple open documents, a nice time saver. It also adds seamless support for the new file formats found in Microsoft Office 2007 including DOCX and XLSX, and the new XPS “electronic paper” standard now supported for document sharing and archiving within Microsoft Windows. To convert a file directly through the Windows Explorer, a right mouse click launches a wizard to save it in one of six application formats. After conversion of a pleading to Word, the spell checker flagged fifteen possible issues for me to consider, although a comparison with the paper source proved that none were really errors. Some workflow processing (a series of saved steps and their settings for automated execution) is also available through the wizards. If you've ever wanted to capture text information while on the go, OmniPage has the potential to deliver, given your image is higher quality and you understand how to use zones. With a little practice, you can successfully recognize pictures of text from your digital camera (4 megapixels or better) uploaded into OmniPage. The software will make adjustments automatically for imperfections (skewing, waves and 3-D perspective), then auto-zone the image and perform OCR. After fiddling a bit, I opted for manual zoning on my picture of a laminated airline passenger safety card, removing all but the one desired zone (Continued on page 3)

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TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT (Continued from page 2)

with bulleted instructions. During conversion, the OCR proofreader flagged six issues for correction. Once saved to Word 2007 in text format in a single file, Word's spell check found seven additional issues for correction in a 241-word document. But given that my camera supports only 3 megapixels, that the card was laminated and therefore a bit glossy, and that there was no easy way to photocopy the text at the time I encountered it, OmniPage captured enough of the content reliably to make the feature worthwhile. I'd vote for future enhancements to this feature. Users in a law office environment will appreciate the fact that OmniPage will recognize legal documents by establishing zones around special formatting. I scanned three pages of a federal pleading for a court case in 2002, and the software correctly zoned the case caption, parties to the case, line numbers, footers and page numbers. You can then convert as zoned, or choose to remove the contents of zones you don't need. Also for the legal community, the software features marking and redacting capabilities -- blacking out confidential, sensitive or actionable information in a document. Through the "Find, Replace, and Mark Text" utility, OmniPage correctly applied strikeouts, marked selected words for redaction, or blacked them out completely in my test document. The enhanced workflow assistant in the software steps you through all of the manual screen options

you use on a repetitive basis, and saves them to create an automated set of tasks, not unlike how a macro works in word processing. My test workflow to recognize and correct a PDF file ran successfully, but required some manual intervention on its first run. With practice, you can probably eliminate most or all of the human interventions. The new File-It Assistant allows you to save and print a barcode cover sheet that contains your instructions about where and how to save documents. You then assign a workflow that occurs when you press the "Scan" button on your scanning device. A test bar code generated effortlessly for me. And when I placed the sheet of paper with the bar code at the front of a scanning job, the software saved the results correctly in the specified folder. If you're an implementer in a document processing center, once your barcode workflows are defined and pages printed, you could virtually eliminate training for operators. The form converter introduced in version 15 Professional has been enhanced to extract data from filled forms. Upon repeated tries, however, I could not make this option work, no matter whether I explicitly followed the printed user guide, the How-To Guides, or the slightly more detailed procedures in the software Help files. (I even had a programmer colleague try this; he encountered the same results that I did.) I hope Nuance rethinks the instructions for the feature; help desk support at a published per-call cost should not be required for basic results. New How-to-Guides in the software helped me get started by providing descriptions of basic terminology and product features. But the addition of multimedia tutorials such as those in Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking product could make even shorter work of the learning curve. And consider the pocketsized user guide as a decent overview; it covers the concepts and features at a basic level, but you'll need to dig into the online Help files often for more detailed procedures and additional technical information. OmniPage Professional 16 comes bundled with PaperPort 11, Nuance's robust desktop document management software that provides integration between newly converted files and all other files and folders on your desktop. PaperPort will open directly to the folder you are saving to so you can see your converted document as integrated with other documents. (Continued on page 17)

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SIGHTS

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MULTIMEDIA

MAPQUEST 4 MOBILE, AKVIS MAGNIFIER, VERBATIM LIGHTSCRIBE DISKS By George Harding MapQuest 4 Mobile

The map you use has not only your position, but also street names. These are helpful to keep track of your position as you proceed toward your destination.

All recent cell phones contain a GPS (globalpositioning chip) which can be used in many ways. One popular way is mapping your route from here to there. MapQuest 4 Mobile is a free (yes, really!) application that works on many cell phones, in particular, my Blackberry Curve. You must use the cell phone’s browser to get to the web page that has the download link, then download and install on your phone. Once installed, the application is ready for action. There are several functions available. The most useful is the mapping function. You choose to start at your present position, enter the destination address and get a map showing the beginning of the route. The screen on the Blackberry is one of the larger ones for a cell phone, but it is still small, compared to a desktop or laptop. Still, the map is quite readable. You show only a small part of the route, but you can pan and zoom to show more. As an alternative to a map, you can choose to see directions. These are turn-by-turn directions which keep you on the chosen route. If you’re driving, it can be hard to keep your eyes on the road and also check the screen for the information you need to keep on route.

There is also an aerial view of the area nearby, This makes it easy to orient yourself. You can use the search function to find a particular business or restaurant. The search can be by name (Tony’s Pizza, for example) or simply a category. There is also the ability to place a quick call to a business, so they’re ready when you get there! If you needed more to convince you, there is also a function to show traffic conditions. You can avoid heavy traffic areas, construction and the like with this feature. And last, but not least, is the Find Me function. Here, you select that function and your current position is shown on a map. Helpful if you’re lost or disoriented. What if you don’t have a Blackberry? M4M is available on 25 devices, over 8 carriers and in 2 countries! If you have a smart phone, it’s likely that you can have M4M on your very own device. See www. MapQuest.com/mq4m/phones for details. And the best part is that the service is free. No initial cost and no continuing cost. What a deal! www.mapquest.com Download at m.mq4m.com on your mobile’s browser (Continued on page 5)

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SIGHTS

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MULTIMEDIA

(Continued from page 4)

This product purports to help you easily increase resolution of various image types, such as jpg’s, gif’s and so on. The resolution can be increased without the loss of quality, according to the company.

There is a description window at the bottom right of the screen that explains each control. If the explanation is longer than can be displayed in the window, there is the usual scroll bar available. Unfortunately, the scroll bar cannot be reached, since the explanation only appears when you hover over the control itself.

I had a great deal of difficulty using the program at first. While the controls are clearly labeled, I could not see much (or any!) effect from using them on my test image.

This program can be a valuable addition to your image processing capabilities. Akvis Magnifier can increase resolution without distortion better than any other program I’ve encountered.

I tried the Help file, which did. There is a tutorial on using the controls, which allowed me to see how the program worked on my test image.

Akvis Magnifier www.akvis.com Price $129, either standalone or as plug-in Ten day free trial available

You can dramatically increase the size of an image, yet avoid the pixilation which would normally occur. The program has two windows, Before and After, which allow you to see the effects of the latest change you made.

Verbatim Color LightScribe Disks

Akvis Magnifier

Verbatim is trying a tried and true marketing method, providing color choices for their DVD Lightscribe disks. You can buy just about anything in a choice of colors, in contrast to the Ford Model T. Presumably, color choices make one more interested in buying. Lightscribe is a method of etching a label on the non-data side of a DVD disk. It is coated with a reactive dye that changes color when hit with the laser’s beam. As the disk rotates, the beam forms a monochromatic image, working from center to outside of the disk. The speed of etching depends on how big the image is, among other things. Verbatim’s colored disks join the color parade with the standard gold and adding red, orange, yellow, blue and green. Their packages of disks of 25 include 5 disks of each color.

There is no easy way (that I found) to compare the original image to the changed version, without again opening the original image. There is also no easy way (that I found) to undo the last set of changes. As you make changes in your image, you can save each step as an additional image. You can increase size up to 30,000 pixels in either direction. There are controls to Sharpen, Smooth and do other changes which improve the appearance of the resulting image. Changes can be made by either changing an index number for the particular control, or clicking on a slider for that control.

You will need a DVD drive with Lightscribe capability, the Lightscribe software (get it at www. lightscribe.com) and some of the Verbatim disks. Then you can make impressive labels for your DVDs, with no printer and no sticky labels. Verbatim LightScribe disks Price $10 for 10 disks online at various outlets www.verbatim.com

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SOHO SOLUTIONS X7675 PROFESSIONAL By Chuck Hajdú We have always been fans of All-In-One printers, especially Lexmark’s excellent ink-jet AIOs. The Lexmark X7675 Wireless All-InOne with Fax is the newest in their line and has every feature you could ask for. Many people still have stand-alone fax machines, color printers, photo printers and scanners cluttering up their desks and offices. Why have four or more devices taking up valuable space when you can have one device do all of those jobs? And how about adding built-in wireless networking so you can have multiple computers hooked up to that one device! That’s exactly what the Lexmark X7675 has to offer. It’s the ideal solution for every SOHO user. What’s in the box: • the Lexmark X7675 All-In-One • one 44XL and one 43XL High-Yield cartridges • Installation and User Guide CD-ROMs • a Quick setup sheet • Lexmark productivity software • a USB cable for wireless installation • power supply and phone cords Setup: Setup is a breeze, IF you follow the instructions!. The Quick Setup sheet is clear and concise. The instructions have a warning before step one, find your wireless network settings before you begin. You’ll need to know the name of your network and the type of security and passwords you use. Step one is: STOP! Do not attach anything to the printer or plug anything into a wall outlet until you run the installation CD! Step two is insert the CD and “follow the steps”. Lexmark stresses the need to allow the software to do all of the communicating during setup. We believed them and followed their advice to the letter. We popped the CD into a Gateway T-1628 laptop computer using MSFT WinV 6.0.6001 and followed the instructions as they came up. Every step is carefully detailed, including unpacking the AIO and throwing away the tape holding things together.

It’s necessary to connect the printer to your computer to get the setup done even though you’ll be using it wirelessly later on. Lexmark includes a USB cable so it was easy to connect. Once we had everything connected and the wireless configured, we moved the printer across the room and did some printing tests. We printed black and white documents and documents with color in them. We printed photos using photo paper from the laptop and from an SD card inserted in the built in card reader. Everything printed beautifully with no problems of any kind encountered. What did we like: • the printer came with high-yield cartridges! Many printers come with the lowest capacity, and therefore the cheapest, cartridges possible so you have to buy ink right away. • the built-in 802.11b/g wireless connectivity • the digital media card capability • the excellent quality of photos using photo paper What didn’t we like: • the size. It’s hard to make a printer with all of the capabilities built into the X7675 very compact and that’s why it’s the size it is. However, it’s still a lot smaller than a computer printer, photo printer, scanner and fax machine sitting side by side. Specifications: It would take several pages to list all of the specifications for the X7675. We suggest you go to the Lexmark web site and read them there. Recommendation: The Lexmark X7675 is highly recommended. Not just for someone looking for an AIO printer, but for anyone looking for an outstanding inkjet printer. MSRP is $199.99 www.lexmark.com MCC

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IROBOT

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LOOJ GUTTER CLEANING ROBOT OVERCLOCKING YOUR RAIN GUTTERS

By Jan Fagerholm, Gizmo Guru The Bullet Points: The iRobot Looj is a remote control gutter cleaning robot. It is battery powered, and fits residential rain gutters at least 3.25” wide and at least 2.25” vertical clearance of gutter straps. It travels both forward and back and spins its auger in both directions. The snap-off handle serves as the battery powered remote control. Looj comes in 3 models: the base model 120 ($99.99), the 130 ($129.99) which adds a belt-worn holster to the model 120, and the 150 ($169.99) which adds the holster, a spare battery and a spare auger to the model 120. The review unit is the model 150. What’s In The Box: (model 150) Looj robot with removable remote control handle, two 7.2V NiMH battery packs for robot power, battery charger, two AAA batteries for the remote unit, two removable augers, whip antenna, belt holster, 24 page instruction manual. The Review: OK, I’m a gadget freak, but this sounds over the top – a remote control rain gutter cleaner? What’s next, a remote control kitty litter box cleaner? Marketing people seem to think males will buy anything that has a remote control. All right, I’ll bite. I’ve seen stranger gimmicks. Open the box, and a first look at the manual is a reminder of how hazardous household chores are, and why they should be put off at all cost. The first pages are Important Safety Instructions: wear safety goggles while using, do not immerse in more than one foot of water, keep body parts away from Looj while operating, inspect your ladder before using it; you know, the same instructions that come with your toaster. After these admonitions, I’m thinking I should forget about this household maintenance stuff and go play a nice safe computer game where no one gets hurt except the Internet. The first step is to charge the batteries. Book says 15 hours each before use and to avoid more than 15 hours of charging. Examining the dinky charger brick reveals that it is a simple AC adapter with no brains to detect battery state, thus the warning about overcharging. Now, for a company that was started by two MIT robotisists, it seems to me that all that brainpower could have come up with a smart charger of

The pristine iRobot Looj: tidy before its toil the type that comes with your average battery powered can opener instead of making me watch the battery for 15 hours. Well, at least this gives me plenty of time to install the two AAA batteries in the detachable handle, which serves as the remote control, then straighten the whip antenna, which receives radio instructions from the remote, or maybe from my wireless router, I’m not sure. I take advantage of the spare time to study the remote, which contains buttons and sliders for power on/off, movement forward and aft, and the spin direction of the auger. LEDs on the remote and the Looj itself indicate various states of battery condition and command transmission. The auger contains three components to deal with gutter effluvia ominously named “sweepers”, “disrupters”, and “ejectors”. With names like these, the leaves don’t stand a chance. With the auger attached to its snout, the Looj looks like something sent down by space aliens back in the ‘fifties to destroy Earth. Maybe I should forget about cleaning the gutters in case activating this thing brings down the invasion fleet. OK, I can’t get out of this chore any longer, so I insert one of the battery packs into its waterproof compartment, attach the handle, put on the holster, and insert the Looj, western gunfighter style. It’s heavy – it does not wield nimbly like a light saber. (Continued on page 8)

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IROBOT (Continued from page 7)

After properly inspecting the ladder (as the book requires) I begin my ascent. The reason for the holster becomes apparent: hand-holding this thing while climbing the ladder might lead to inadvertent contact of the human with the ground. Arriving at the top, I don my crash helmet (okay, just safety goggles), single handedly lift the Looj from its holster and insert it into the gutter. A squeeze of the trigger and the handle slides off, leaving the remote control in my hand.

LOOJ to retrieve it. When Looj reaches the end of the gutter, a flip of the direction switch brings it trundling back to the starting point, doing a little extra cleaning along the way.

Full fury felt - note clean gutter behind Looj on left

Looj in working position - the journey begins Looj power switch on. Remote power switch on. Two green lights. checklist complete. Slide the movement switch in the forward direction. Hey, look at it move! But the auger is throwing the trash in the direction of the roof and under the tiles. It’s not supposed to fill the attic with leaves. A flick of the Auger Spin Direction switch corrects that. The Looj moves briskly at about a foot a second. The pace is zippy enough to keep you from getting too bored while standing at the top of the ladder. The auger, spinning at 500 RPM, gleefully slings stuff over the side of the gutter, creating a dense shower of dirt and debris that flutters to the ground below. I clearly should have posted warning signs for passing pedestrians. The Looj, undaunted, continues its work ejecting clutter from the gutter; it even sounds happy with its work. It’s not too long, though, before Looj’s rambunctiousness gets it into trouble: when thrashing over a small dried branch, it manages to turn itself on its side, tracks spinning uselessly in the air. Some experimentation with the auger’s and the Looj’s direction controls brings it upright again, thus avoiding the onerous task of climbing down and moving the ladder

The book says that a battery pack is worth 150 feet of gutter, both forward and back. In this first run, that worked for gutters on both sides of the test house with power to spare. The Looj looked like an abandoned earth mover when it was done, but the Looj is waterproof, so a good hosing brought back its dayglo green sheen. Mission accomplished, the battery was removed, recharged (the book says to do this before storage), and all placed back in its box awaiting another season of falling leaves. Maybe these maintenance chores can be domesticated by technology after all. Gutter clutter tamed, I headed for the Internet to see if iRobot makes that ‘bot to clean kitty litter boxes. . Product Information:

iRobot Looj 150 Web price $169.95 iRobot Corp. 8 Crosby Drive Bedford, MA 01730 Phone: 781.430.3000 www.irobot.com MCC

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BONETOWN By Chuck Hajdú Each month we receive press releases from every aspect of the electronics industry. Hardware, software, services, financials, anything and everything you can imagine. This month we received a press release that tweaked our interest more than most. D-Dub Software of Albuquerque, NM sent out a blurb announcing that “BoneTown Video Game Creates New Industry”. Wow! How impressive, a new industry. What’s this all about? Here’s what the new industry is according to the release: The Adult Video Game Industry is an answer to worldwide video game ratings boards, whose rating systems have banned adult games from the market. It is also a response to the maturing video game world, whose average consumer is now 33 years old but is still forced to play games aimed at someone much younger. I see, it’s a way of getting around the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) video game ratings system by creating a new distribution model. Makes sense to me. Why submit your work to a ratings board that you know will cut you out of your intended market. Look at the video market, for many, many years DVDs have been sold in their “unrated” versions after their run in theaters is over. The vast majority of buyers always choose the unrated DVD over the politically correct version that was shown in movie houses. Since PC games aren’t watched in movie houses then why are there such restrictions on them? I know why, because parents don’t monitor their children’s computer use and they need some quasi-government agency to do their job for them. If parents did their job then there would be no need for rating boards. We love companies that look for new ways to develop markets for their intellectual property. We contacted their PR rep and requested a review copy. We received a download link and registration code promptly and downloaded the software right away. It’s been some time since I personally reviewed any game software so I made a few installation mistakes that experienced gamers wouldn’t have made.

I know the first thing that all of our game reviewers do is to look at the system requirements before they try to install a game. Since the PC I normally test software on is adequate for everything I test I assumed it would be OK for this review. Boy, was I wrong! After I downloaded the self-expanding .EXE file and ran the extraction, a very long process that reminded of the good old days of DOS, I ran the install. Before the install was completed I was informed that my video card didn’t support PixelShader 2.0. Oh well, I’ll try another PC. Again, I got the same message. Finally, I checked the BoneTown web site for system requirements and found out what I needed for video resources. I should have done that in the first place! Problem number two popped up, I had used up both of my registrations! Kudos to D-Dub, they allow you to load the software on two computers. Only I had used mine up. A couple of emails to D-Dub and we got everything straightened out and they gave me a new code. Memo to self: check the system requirements in the future!! I finally got BoneTown running and started playing the game. Warning: this isn’t just sexually explicit, it’s everything explicit! Here’s how they describe it: In BoneTown we live by the Three F’s, F***ing, fighting, and getting f***ed up. Restraint is not a word often used here, and you leave your inhibitions all over the first chick you bone. In BoneTown, Sex on the Beach is more than just a drink, it’s what you’re about to do with that blonde in the short skirt, and all night drug binges, bar brawls, and partying until you drop are a way of life. So kick back, hang out, and enjoy, because this here’s BoneTown, and we ain’t following no laws. Unfortunately, I’m not much a gamer and always got beat up in the fights. Fortunately, I still was rewarded with sex and I appreciate that! Recommendation: if you enjoy gaming and sex (and what male over 21 doesn’t) then give BoneTown a try. MSRP is $49.99 in a box or $39.99 as a download www.bonetown.com

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NETBOOKS

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CLOUD COMPUTING

WORK AND PL AY WITHOUT BOUNDARIE S By Andy Marken

It’s “in.” So much more today than Chris Anderson’s Long Tail or Geoffrey Moore’s Chasm. MBA’s like the Hype Cycle because it lets them figure out what new idea they’re going to “develop” to make their gazillion dollars. VCs (also MBAs) use the cycle because it tells them where they should be throwing their investors’ dollars. Media folks like it because it gives them a hook for stories on what’s hot, what’s not and why companies fall on their faces. But wait…we forgot one ingredient? The consumer!

Hammer Repair – Netbooks and cloud computing are great for certain times, certain activities and they will be used by lots of people – young and old – who just want to stay in touch. But when it comes to working with important information/material nothing beats a higher performance, higher capacity, heavier notebook. Source – Universal Pictures

Fortunately the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) tracks that sort of thing and people simply do not overthrow known stuff for new stuff as quickly as we would like!

“Let's look at this thing from a... um, from a standpoint of status. What do we got on the spacecraft that's good?” – Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 (1995)

Want to be really hip? Mention Gartner’s newly minted Hype Cycle.

Figure 2 - Consumers vs Anticipation – All of today’s consumer technologies that are taken for granted took time – more than manufacturers would like – to go from early adopters to late majorities to laggards. The only technology that has come close to meeting the hype anticipation was DVD. You probably won’t see that rapid acceptance again in your lifetime. Source -- CEA

Figure 1 - Ups, Downs of Hype – Technologies follow a fairly predictable cycle from new idea to rousing interest to early acceptance to valleys of interest failure to widespread acceptance. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and effort to move technologies along the path to the point that it becomes widely accepted and commoditized. Source -Gartner

Take cloud computing for example: It’s hot. It’s not. It’s here. It’s coming. Depends! It’s not one solution fits all even though we’re trying (Continued on page 11)

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our darndest to make everyone fit into the cloud. First there is corporate and consumer. Then there is boomer and Gen X, Gen Y. Business Clouds It’s true that today’s workforce is mobile and needs to be connected anywhere, anytime. The C-level and IT folks are trying to make us as productive as possible. The line between our personal and professional lives have become so cloudy it is sometimes tough to figure out when your working day starts/begins and when your family/personal lifestyle takes over. We operate in a 24/7 economy. We’ve moved from a command and control hierarchy to a connect and collaborate global village business model. It’s a paradigm ready made for cloud computing. But we agree with Gene Kranz…“I don't care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do.” Cloud computing will take a llllloooonnngggg time to “arrive!” There are “little” things P/L folks worry about like security…compliance…availability… data integrity…where the data is located. True you already do a lot on Web 2.0 in the cloud. You’ve got a Gmail and Yahoo Mail account. Yes you got photos on Flickr. Yep you put how-to videos on YouTube. Sure you take part in communities, forums, discussion groups, more.

Figure 3 - You’re Already There – Working in the cloud isn’t a dramatic leap for most people. We already use YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and other online sites and activities. Teens and Tweens spend considerable time in the cloud working, communicating, entertaining. The new ingredient is a netbook slimmed down to leverage these activities. Source – Pew Interactive

But do you want to put your private business data up there? If you work in Germany do you think officials want you storing your business data in Canada…the US…Mexico…? You’re a DOD contractor. Think they would be happy to find you stored your documents, data in Shanghai…New Delhi…? As Pete Conrad said, “Jim, you think it's too late for him to abort?” It’s still a work in progress…helluva work in progress. There are some very reputable providers – IBM, ATT, HP, Amazon, SalesForce, Sun, Google – and a lot of dogs n cats. Some things make sense. Some don’t. If it’s non-mission-critical data or applications and it’s compromised or goes offline…no big deal. If it’s central or core to your business think it’s good for your career path to put it out there? Business/Personal Cloud We understand the power, reach, potential and benefits of the Internet. We understand a lot of its strengths and its weaknesses. There’s nothing magic or ethereal about the Internet. It exists because of an awful lot of private companies. Then came the applications companies followed by the Black Hatters and Doom 9ers. We’ve got a couple of different email addresses beyond our business one…just don’t know what they are because we never use them. (Continued on page 12)

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When we’re away from the office we want our content, our data, our information, our storage, our solutions.

Figure 4 - Relinquishing Value – While you do a lot in the cloud, how much of your content are you willing to turn over and make broadly available to almost anyone with creative zeal in the cloud? Losing some school papers may not cause much concern. But losing personal/family photos, videos, private data that you don’t want to lose or don’t want widely distributed is a greater concern. That stuff needs to stay “at home.” Source – Pew Interactive

We need that stuff available 99.99% of the time. When we need to access that information or do that work we don’t want to wonder out loud as Jack Swagert did…“Ken, there's an awful lot of condensation on these panels. What's the story of them shorting out?”

Younger Crowd But cloud computing for the consumer has gotten so much hype that system manufacturers have jumped on board to rake in huge sales.

Figure 5 - Computing Delta – While the worldwide potential for netbooks is overshadowed by notebook sales, it certainly hasn’t stopped every computer ODM and OEM to announce their flavor of the cloud-enabled computer. Unplug the netbook from the Internet and you’ve got a nice light scratchpad. Source -- Intel

While analysts are forecasting great things for netbooks in a few years, Acer is more modest in their projections – 10 million this year and 30 million next year. That made Asus, Lenovo, HP, Dell, you name it salivate so they’re all rolling out super solutions with long battery life, little internal storage and light weight. It may have slipped past your radar but Asus may have the best relationship approach. They signed a deal with DoCoMo (one of Japan’s leading mobile telco providers) to sell bundles to consumers. After all look at what you do online

SalesForce had a significant outage a few years ago. Amazon’s S3 service had its outage. So did Gmail. Let’s not even talk about Apple’s MobileMe! If you’re working in the cloud and it fails there’s no one to call. You don’t say as Swigert did, “So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.” Especially if you’re tracking your stock portfolio and need to do some trades! Sorry…we’ll stick with our cellphone and our notebook. (Continued on page 13)

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Figure 6 - So Much Connectivity – Teens and Tweens almost literally live on line. They send/receive messages, exchange photos/music/videos, share documents and work collaboratively. For them being connected and working/ playing in the cloud is almost the natural order of life. Source – Pew Interactive

All of that stuff is “meant” to give folks more time online and rack up more minute sales for mobile telcos. It’s what Gen Xers, Gen Yers do so well! Ask our son about the security issues and he just gives us this blank stare…“So?” It’s just not a big issue with people who were raised on the Internet. Storage Clouds Ask him if he’s worried about storing stuff in the cloud because there are times it can look less than friendly?

Figure 7 - The Real Cloud – We’re not really certain why when people refer to cloud computing they show images of nice fluffy things. Sure cloud computing can be as friendly as the clouds you see up above you. But they can also hide a universe of evil. There’s a ying and yang you need to watch close. Source – NASA

Again…“So?” He’s got photos, videos, music, stuff everywhere in the cloud because, well because the “free” service is there. It’s his. It’s there. It’s available.

Wrong! Actually he’s not really a bad kid because no one reads the user agreements. Facebook, Flickr, Google, YouTube, Linkup, all of the Web 2.0 cloud sites use very similar legal scapegoat wordage…“XYZ may delete or remove (without notice) any stuff at its sole discretion, for any reason or no reason.” We don’t want to go looking for something and have Dr. Chuck say, “Flight, we just lost Lovell!” We may use their storage from time to time but we’ll be darned if it will be our main or our archive storage…that will be at the office and at home! When we want our data, our content, our stuff…we want it! Netbooks look like nice toys. When they’re up and running and everything is connected they are cool. When the stars aren’t in alignment they’re cute boat anchors! We’ll stick with “some” cloud computing.

Figure 8 - Gentle Breezes – There’s a time to work in the clouds and there are times to have your feet (and information) firmly planted on terra firma. After all, the fastest way to get from point A to point B is often through the atmosphere. But if someone seeds the clouds with bad stuff, it’s time to bring your content home. Source – NY Times

But we’ll do it with a notebook so we can play DVDs, power game, edit photos/videos, work on ppts, write articles, do stuff we actually get paid for anywhere/ anytime. Last think we want to hear is Ken Mattingly telling us, “Umm... We'll just have to take that one at a time, Jack.’ MCC

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BOYNG VASE SPEAKER WHY SETTLE FOR BOXES? by Jan Fagerholm, SoundByter The Bullet Points: The Boynq Vase Speaker is a stylish computer speaker system for use where there is limited space. It is plug and play (no software drivers), and powered by the computer's USB port (no external power adapter). Output is 3Watts RMS, it has acoustical enhancements, features surround sound and has volume, bass and treble controls. It is cylindrical, 7.5” tall and 3” wide. What's In The Box: Vase speaker, 10-page multilingual instruction manual. The Review: All right, the name of this speaker system ought to tell you a lot about the product even before you open the box. This is a question of style more than substance. If your lifestyle includes limited living space, a laptop rather than a desktop computer (you're in the majority these days), and you don't particularly like hardware that looks so much like – hardware, the Boynq Vase may be just what you are looking for. Sound systems for computers are pretty plebian these days, so part of the Vase's thrust is toward market differentiation. Thus, there are “pour femme” and “pour homme” versions. (For you philistines, that's “for women” and “for men”.) There's no technical difference between the product lines; just the color selections. The unit reviewed here is “pour homme”, and no, that does not mean that it makes more bass than “pour femme”. I'm a techie, so of course there's going to be some technical evaluation. Despite marketspeak about such technical achievements as full range driver and acoustical enhancement, the Vase makes creditable treble clarity but not much bass. This is to be expected from a device that uses only 3 watts of power – it takes power to make bass, and you cannot get much power from the 500 milliamps of current available from USB ports. The decision to not have an external power supply or batteries was, I'm sure, to contribute to the device's convenience, but the price paid is low volume and not much bass response. The sound quality is similar to other portable com-

puter sound devices such as the Logitech mm28 portable speaker system and the Saitek My Spkr A-100. While both of these systems produce slightly more volume than the Boynq Vase, they do not produce any more bass and both have the disadvantage of requiring batteries, which the Boynq Vase does not. The volume, treble and bass controls produce noticeable changes in the volume and sound quality, though, frankly, I wound up setting the bass and treble at maximum settings to get what I think is the best sound quality. There is not much stereo separation, and the Surround Sound feature simply doesn't surround. The domed cap doubles as a power switch, pressing it to toggle the power on and off. There's no doubt about the power on state, as there is a prominent yellow light that come from the top aperture to let you know the power is on (and to enhance the device's visual coolness). In summary, the simplicity of the device is its greatest appeal, right up there with its cool looks. It has only a single USB cord that carries both the power and audio to the device. No drivers – plug it in to a USB port and it plays. I'm surprised that Boynq didn't provide an alternate input jack for MP3 players, but part of its simplicity seems to be that it is not intended and a universal sound solution but is clearly targeted at laptops. Along those lines, its shape and size limit its portability, so it will likely remain at your laptop's working station at work or home. At its price, you may decide to get a Boynq Vase for each location. It's an improvement over any laptop's builtin speakers, and improves its audio experience. If you are seeking a simple solution to improving you laptop's sound and not expecting home theater quality, you may like the Boynq Vase as a solution. Boynq Vase Speaker System MSRP $39.95 Innovative Office Products Donklaan 52 2254 AD, Voorschoten the Netherlands +31 71 4080 960 www.boynq.com MCC

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THE DEALS GUY by Bob (The Cheapskate) Click, Greater Orlando Computer Users Group My wife drives a 2003 GMC Sonoma pickup and while I could write a book about its shortcomings, she loves it. We bought an extended warranty on it, but for only five years or 50,000 miles because we didn’t think we would own it more than five years. We noticed oil leaks on the garage floor and took it to the dealer for diagnosis. The five-year warranty recently ended, but the truck only has 60,000 easy miles on it. The service advisor told us it had three leaks and explained that one was an oil pan leak, another is oil leaking from the timing chain cover and the other was the rear transmission seal leaking. I was surprised about so many leaks, but asked the price of repairs. He said that the oil pan could not be removed because of the front end cross member being too close so they must pull the engine for those repairs. The total bill for all the leaks would be a bit over $1,700. I was astounded because I felt that 60,000 miles was premature for so many oil leaks. I called GMC Customer Service, who has not been much help in the past with another ongoing problem, and explained the situation and disappointment with the reliability of the vehicle. The customer rep said he would take it up with the Zone Manager and get back with me. The dealership advisor said not to expect much these days. A few days later, the zone manager said they would be happy to help me and said they would pay for the gaskets and give me a 10% discount on the repair cost. I was stunned and told them where they could shove that help and that they had insulted my intelligence. After all, the gaskets would probably cost $20 and most dealerships give senior citizens a 10% discount, so there was no help there and they said OK, sorry, goodbye. I would have been happy with 50% or something like that. No wonder GM is going bankrupt with that kind of product reliability and customer relations attitude.

Bob Click The Deals Guy

My son used my GM discount to purchase a GMC Sierra pickup and has had his share of warranty problems with it. First was a problem with the brake rotors, which the dealer would not replace when they became warped at 2,500 miles. They resurfaced them and the problem came

back. Later, when the vehicle was just out of warranty, the diesel engine’s injector pump went out. Customer Service said they would repair it at no cost, but it took two weeks to get the parts and they would not pay for the rental vehicle (interestingly, a Toyota pickup) which had always been customary. There were other problems. The first GMC pickup before he purchased his present one had transmission problems that they couldn’t seem to repair and he had an attorney force GM to refund his money under the Lemon Law. This will be his last GMC, just like us, or probably even a GM product, for that matter, and that’s where my pension comes from. *New Product From Diskeeper

Ms. Teal Thompson, Director of Public Relations, sent me the specifications and pricing (below) for Diskeeper 2009 (just released). Diskeeper has always been a superb product. “New Features List: “Improved Trialware: Trialware will now take an analysis of the volume(s) “before” and “after” initial installation. A comparison report is then generated, demonstrating improve conditions. “Improved InvisiTasking: The new, more assertive InvisiTasking can now operate in competitive environments, in conjunction with other always-on/idletime tasks that run at lowest priority while still guaranteeing completely invisible, zero-overhead, operations. “IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6): Diskeeper 2009 now fully supports communication, such as remote management on native IPv6 networks. “Improved Free Space Consolidation: About 90% of the available free space will now be grouped into less than a dozen free space segments. This will increase file write performance.

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“About InvisiTasking “Instead of the operating system scheduler allocating the entire computer system to each process, one at a time, InvisiTasking empowers the system to allocate resources (CPU, memory, disk, and network) allowing overlapping usage of separate resources, not just reducing system overhead, but eliminating it altogether. “InvisiTasking is what makes Diskeeper defrag in real time with zero overhead. Systems simply run fast, operate at peak and are reliable, constantly. The drives are always optimally maintained.

Special pricing only applies on multiple purchases. Diskeeper 2009 Home: ESD $29.95 2-pack $44.95 3-pack $54.95 5-pack $89.95 Diskeeper 2009 Professional: ESD $59.95 2-pack $89.95 3-pack $149.95 5-pack $269.75 Order through their online store at . *Want A DVD Creator? DealsGuy Note: I have not actually tried this product.

“Diskeeper 2009 includes the new InvisiTasking 2.0! New functionality in InvisiTasking will allow it to be more assertive, while still guaranteeing completely invisible, zero-overhead, operations.” (Check their Web site for further information.) “Diskeeper 2009 with HyperFast™ SSD optimization: “The new Diskeeper 2009 is now available as a bundle with the new HyperFast SSD optimization product. “HyperFast™: Solid State drives (SSDs) promise users a faster and better experience than conventional hard disk drives (HDD). However, Microsoft® Windows® is not optimized for NAND Flash as a principal storage device, such as with SSDs. The result is that, over time, customers of systems with SSDs will experience a very noticeable and dramatic deterioration (up to 80%), to the degree that their computers operate much slower than they would with a hard disk. The new HyperFast feature bundled with Diskeeper 2009 is specifically designed to eliminate performance degradation, and restore performance to like-new conditions.”

ZC Software has released ZC DVD Creator Platinum V. 6.2.2, a new version of ZC DVD creator software that converts almost any video source to burn on a DVD directly without having to store it on a hard drive. ZC DVD Creator Platinum lets users customize their menu templates to match the user's style, giving the movie a polished look. The software will edit, author and burn all DVD formats ever known. With ZC DVD Creator Platinum, it is possible to easily create personal DVDs. ZC DVD Creator Platinum supports all known video source formats, such as AVI, DIVX, XVID, RM, RMVB, MPEG, MPG, VCD, SVCD, WMV, ASF, ASX, SWF, MOV/DAT, FLV (Flash Video), 3GP (3gpp, 3gp, 3gp2), MP4 (mp4, mpeg4), Nullsoft Video (NSV) ,AVS, Decrypted DVD File (VOB), MKV, DV video, mts, and m2ts. Also, the user has new menu template themes that can easily customize the new Hollywood-style DVD menus. It’s possible to trim and split-cut the videos, specify the DVD background Music and Images, edit the DVD Menu short description and playback preview the video file. The video encoder guarantees the best DVD picture quality within one hour. If Nero is installed, the software automatically selects Nero as the default burning engine. ZC DVD Creator Platinum supports wide screens (16:9) as well as the usual TV screens (4:3). It also supports both NTSC and PAL TV systems. The advanced Dolby Digital audio will strengthen the movie with theater quality sound. The (Continued on page 17)

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software includes automatic matching of a broad range of DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW burners. The user can burn a DVD Movie image file placed on a hard disc to a DVD Disk directly without storing them on a hard disc. ZC DVD Creator Platinum has a friendly and easy to use interface that allows the user to create a DVD movie just by one click. The new version of ZC DVD Creator Platinum has an upgraded video clip edit feature. Pricing and Availability ZC DVD Creator Platinum is compatible with all versions of Windows. Ordering the software on a CDROM is $15 USD extra for shipping. Special offers are: - ZC DVD Creator Platinum and ZC Video Converter at $60 USD; - ZC DVD Creator Platinum and QR Photo DVD Slideshow at $60 USD; - ZC DVD Ripper and ZC Video Converter at $65 USD; By purchasing ZC DVD Creator Platinum the user gets lifetime FREE Technical Support and FREE upgrades. For firsthand appraisal, a free trial version is available. The user has a 30-day money back guarantee. Product page: Download link: Company web-site:

Nuance's claims of accuracy and speed are basically beauty in the eye of the beholder. Absent the presence of timed "before and after" types of tests, if you find that the software features and functionality meet your needs, then it's probably not productive to be concerned with the statistics unless you're in a high-volume production shop. During this review, I encountered challenges with registration information, apparently due to docking station fingerprint issues using the product on a laptop, though Nuance provided patient support. And while using the software, the Help files locked up after repeated use; the "Repair" option could not correct the problem, forcing an uninstall and reinstall of the software. It's clear that the product generally does a good job recognizing text and images. It provides a host of processing options, and can save significant amounts of time that would be spent re-creating information electronically. If you work in an organization with a formal document processing operation and want to take advantage of workflows or advanced processing, consider having available IT support or access to a third party OmniPage consultant. If you run a small business or are a home user with a limited budget, for best results, plan to spend time and practice getting your hands around the software. MSRP is $499.99 for both physical shipment and download or $199.99 for an upgrade www.nuance.com.

That's it for this month. I’ll have some more new product announcements on my Web site that didn’t offer discounts. Meet me here again next month if your editor permits. This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers or freebies I have found or arranged, and my comments should not be interpreted to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of any products, no matter how enthused I might sound. Bob (The Cheapskate) Click . Visit my Web site at

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DISCLAIMERS: The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher, any municipal, county or state governing body, the Congress, Senate or Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, the Government of Hungary, the United Nations or the United Federation of Planets.

I call that bold talk from a four-eyed fat man.

LS/MFT

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Charles Hajdú Linda Webb Megan Ehrhard Bayle Emlein Tim Ehrhard Bob Click Jan Fagerholm George Harding Diana Meade Kate Meade Lee Schwab B. T. Woody

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