Netflix and iTunes

Hello again from Arizona. I am still here soaking up the nice weather while I can. Today, I am back in Yuma after having spent nearly a week in Tucson. Let me tell you...if you are thinking of becoming a snowbird, you should strongly consider going to Tucson. It may be slightly cooler than Yuma (but only just slightly), but it is a fabulous city, surrounded by mountains, with enough attractions to keep you very busy all winter long. I really enjoyed my time there and look forward to going back and seeing some of the things I missed.

But, now I am back in Yuma to visit my son Eric and watch the NFL playoffs at our favorite sports bar. I will be here just a few more days before flying back to the frozen north. And, just to make you a little more envious, I will be wearing my shorts today...and remind me sometime to tell you about my visit to the President Bush Memorial Porta-Potty.

But, for now, let's talk about technology. I read with interest some of the goings-on in San Francisco last week at the annual Apple show. One of the announcements that caught my attention was that you can now rent movies from i-Tunes for $2.99 to $3.99. For your hard earned dollars, you can download a movie and watch it anytime during a 30 day period. But, once you start watching it, it is only good for 24 hours. And, they announced, they have around 1,000 titles to choose from.

Now, I do use iTunes for downloading and listening to my favorite podcasts. I don't use it as a music player as it takes too long to load compared to Windows Media Player. But, it is still a good program. But, it is doubtful I will ever use their movie rental system.

When you compare the new iTunes movie download package to other options, it falls flat. For instance, if you are a Netflix subscriber, such as myself, you can watch movies on your computer for free any time. Netflix recently announced that subscribers can watch an unlimited number of movies and other videos as often as they choose with no time limits (prior to this announcement, you were able to watch videos on your computer for only a limited amount of time each month).

Now, you do have to be a Netflix subscriber, with prices starting at $8.99 per month. And as long-time readers know I have been one for several years. The service started out as a DVD rental service, and still is, with over 75,000 title to choose from. But a year or so ago they added the on-line video watching as an additional service for no extra charge.

Instead of the 1,000 videos offered by Apple, Netflix video option has over 6,000 videos to choose from and you can watch them free of any additional charges as often as you want. When I am home, my business and lifestyle does not allow me the time to watch movies on my computer. In truth, I barely have time these days to watch the DVD rentals that I get from Netflix on my TV at night.

But this trip has given me some extra time to try out their video services. First of all, you cannot use the Firefox browser for this service. You must use Internet Explorer, Version 5 or higher. And after you click on a movie to watch for the first time, you will undoubtedly be told that you will need to upgrade your computer with some special upgrades to make it work. Don't worry. It is automatically done for you, although it can be a little time consuming, depending on your connection speed.

After that is completed, you select the movie you want and away you go. For my first movie, I watched the classic film, "Witness for the Prosecution," starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marline Dietrich. What a great film! It played flawlessly and I was able to pause it at any time for the inevitable interruptions. I was also able to move it backward or forward at any time. FYI, I watched it on my laptop using Eric's wireless connection from his cable TV provider.

So, will Apple's new venture succeed? As another writer wrote in his review, the Apple movie download terms are not very much different than those of the '80's and '90's when we all went to a video store to rent VHS tapes. Today you can rent movies from Netflix or even Blockbuster stores with no late fees. I am not sure if Apple will succeed...only time will tell. Bet there are some great alternatives which will take a big bite out of the movie rental apple. Oops...did I just make a funny?

Secrets of Unlocked Cell Phones

Hello again from beautiful, warm, Yuma Arizona. Yes, I am down here again, just like so many other snowbirds from the Northern climates. It will be 75 today and I will be "forced" to put my shorts back on for today's adventures in the sun. I am here for the weekend to visit and watch football with my son Eric and his lovely wife Jill. I came into town on Monday after flying into San Diego. I spent 3 days up in Lake Havasu City (home of the London Bridge), which was a lot of fun and very informative. On Monday, I will leave for the Tucson area for six days before coming back here to watch more of the NFL Playoffs with Eric.

Had a fun day yesterday as I crossed the border to Algodones, Mexico. If you are not familiar with it, Algodones is one of the most interesting and bizarre places I have ever been. Unlike so many other border towns, it is relatively clean, safe, and crowded with snowbirds from America and Canada. What makes it so unique is that within a four block radius, there are probably more drug stores, liquor stores, dental offices and optometrists than anywhere in the world.

Algodones caters to mostly older Americans who come south for the cheap prices, especially for prescription drugs. And, I can tell you, they are very inexpensive and most don't need prescriptions. If you thought that Wal-Mart's $4 prices for generic drugs were cheap, let me tell you that the prices in Algodones were even cheaper. For example, one pill I take costs me $4 for 30 pills at Wal-Mart. In Algodones, it was $6 for 100 pills. All prices, by the way, are in American dollars, so don't worry about having to get pesos.

So, after walking around the town, I shopped for my pills, had a nice lunch, and headed back across the border...which was the hardest part. It took 45 minutes in line to get to the customs inspection, which went easily. Sometimes, I hear, it can take longer. I should mention that I walked across the border when I first arrived. There is a large parking lot run by the local native American tribe where you park ($5) and walk across. As I stood in the line to get back into America, I realized that at 62, I was one of the youngest of the hundreds of people in line. FYI, after 1/31/08, you will need a passport to get back into America.

If you are ever in the Yuma area, you should pay a visit to Algodones, especially if you need pills or a haircut ($2.50). I have also been told that dental work done there is cheap and very good.

On to today's topic...unlocked cell phones. These have become very hot products these days. For many years, cell phones were locked and you had to buy your cell phones from your carrier. This was fine when you were signing up as they were so cheap, but if you ever had a defective, out-of-warranty phone, you discovered that replacing them was not cheap. And locked phones meant that your phone only worked with the cellular service provider you signed up with. You were a captive audience and they made you pay for it.

With the advent of unlocked cell phones, you can purchase a new phone at a much cheaper price, if you know where to shop...then easily transfer your SIM card from your old phone to the new phone and you are back in business. Recently, I did just that. One of our cell phones died and was not in warranty. I went on eBay, found a new Motorola cell phone from a small company in Seattle for $50. When it arrived, I transferred my card to the new phone and it works just fine.

Now, there is a major caveat to this: Until recently, unlocked cell phones were only available if you used AT&T or T-Mobile as your cell phone provider, as they used what is known as GSM for their technology In December, Verizon announced it would make its services available for unlocked phones. Verizon, Sprint, and several others use a different technology called CDMA. Unlocked CDMA phones still may be in short supply right now, but that will change with Verizon's announcement. As of this writing, no other CDMA cell phone carriers permit the use of unlocked cell phones. Something to consider if you are thinking of changing cell carriers.

If you would like more in-depth information about unlocked cell phones, CNET recently published a very in-depth report that is most illuminating. The article is primarily for GSM users on AT&T and T-Mobile, but everyone may find it useful at some time or another.

The New Photoshop Elements - WOW!

I know…I know. I promised a couple of months ago that I was back and was going to write my blogs on a more regular basis. But, life has just not worked out the way I thought. I’ve been working on a few important personal projects that have taken up the time I normally spend writing and researching blogs. Plus, I have been on the road traveling and photographing…seven states in three weeks in November. And my photography business has been very busy, which is good.

On our most recent trip, we were able to see my son Eric in Yuma, AZ for a few days plus visit other friends and relatives in California and Idaho. We spent time at the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Las Vegas, Zion and Bryce. The camera was really clicking away and you can see some of the photos now on my website (http://www.corkrum.com). Just click on the button marked “Stock Photos.” I have many more to put up on-line…they just take time to process.

And, guess what…I am on the road again in a couple of days heading for Arizona once again, this time for 17 days. Am looking forward to seeing Eric again and watching the NFL Playoffs with him at the Buffalo Hot Wings sports bar in Yuma. By the way, don’t ever order their hottest wings or you will suffer for hours.

When I was visiting Eric, he took me down the Mexican border area just a couple of miles south of Yuma. I was up close and personal, standing with our troops and border patrol agents looking across the Colorado River into Mexico. I could actually see drug runners (with weapons) on the other side looking for possible places to cross that night. It was weird to look at them while they are looking at us. I have lots of other stories about that visit that I will save for another day.

Now, lets talk about something I know pretty well…photography software. As you know, I am a big fan of Adobe products, specifically Photoshop and Lightroom. Recently, I had a chance to try out the latest version of Photoshop Elements V.6, the so-called lightweight version of the more expensive Photoshop.

Trust me… Elements is not a lightweight. Most everything a dedicated amateur photographer could ever want to do can be done with Elements. And they have a neat, new feature that is not available in Photoshop. It is called “Photo Blending” and is designed to help you create perfect group photos.

As a professional photographer, I learned a long ago there is one immutable law…that the more people you have in a picture, the greater the odds that at least one person will have their eyes closed, or will be looking at something off-camera, or won’t be smiling. That is why I take several shots of the same group, looking for the one photo where everything is right.

With the latest version of Elements, you don’t have to hope you get one good shot. You can make your own perfect photo by easily moving the best heads from different photos into one new perfect picture (and they are attached to right bodies, also). I tried it out recently on some wedding photos where the bride didn’t like her expression in one shot, but everybody else in the photo was just fine. I had another similar group photo that she liked where she was right and almost everybody else was wrong.

I was amazed to discover how easy it was to make the change. I did it in just a few seconds, just by circling her good head shot. Elements then moved the head automatically on to her body in the other photograph and resized it so that it matched perfectly. It was amazing, and so easy to do. I shall be using this feature more often, I am sure.

Elements has some other great features (including photo organization) too numerous to go into here. If you would like to read more about it or even download a 30 day trial version, head over to the very complete Adobe Website. Also, for your information, Elements retails for $99.95, although Costco carries it for $79.95…and if you can wait until 1/21/08 to purchase it, Costco will have it on sale (with coupon) for $49.95. That is a very good deal.

As for other photo software, I really like the latest version of “Nikon Capture NX.” It is a terrific program if you shoot with a Nikon camera in RAW. In some ways it is better than Photoshop or Lightroom.

And speaking of Lightroom, Adobe keeps updating it since I purchased the first version and it keeps getting better. The program is for folks who do a lot of shooting and is designed to improve your work flow from capturing the image all the way to final printing or to sending up to a Website. If you look at some of my most recent pictures from the Southwest as mentioned above, those pages were created with Lightroom.

Now, if you are interested in some free photo software for your digital camera, a recent video on CNET might be of interest to you. Another recent article that covers the best of all photo software, free and paid, was done ConsumerSearch.com. It is well worth reading.

I hope to visit with you again sooner rather than later.