An eBay Revolt and Some Alternatives

There is an eBay revolt in progress, led by a large number of eBay Power Sellers. They are boycotting eBay because of a change in their recent policies including much higher seller's fees. These have been brought about by the new CEO of eBay, John Donahoe. One of his most controversial changes, besides fee increases, is the elimination of negative buyer feedback. The first boycott occurred in mid-February and eBay claims it had no effect on revenues. The second organized boycott began on May 1 and its effects are still unknown.

Obviously, the fees are the biggest gripe that Power Sellers have. They claim on their semi-official boycott Web site that a seller can lose anywhere from 30%-60% of their profits to eBay fees. I agree with them there as I have personally not used e-Bay lately because I thought their fees were way too high. It is hard to figure this out at first as eBay has very cryptic, multi-tiered fee schedules that are difficult to discern at first. But, if you take the time to figure it all out, you may be surprised at how high these fees add up to be.

It will be interesting to see what this will do to eBay's business. I don't think it will have much effect initially, but over time, buyers and sellers will become very aware of the high fees as sellers will have to raise their prices to try and stay more profitable. Eventually eBay's revenues will begin to shrink as more and more competitors come on line to fill in the void. Whenever you get away from the basic core concept of your business to increase revenues, you will eventually pay the price.

In the meantime, thanks to a great, fairly new Web site called AppScout (an offshoot of PC Magazine whose goal is to "search of the best software, sites, and Web apps") , here is a list of eBay alternatives that you might find of interest:

Amazon: As the Web's number-one retailer, Amazon is the obvious choice for disillusioned eBay sellers. Although the site doesn't offer an auction feature anymore, its Stores section is a terrific place for sellers to pawn new and used goods. Best of all, no listing fee.

Audiogon: This audio site features a place for members to buy and sell used hardware. One former eBay seller who has given his business almost entirely to this site and Amazon noted that Audiogon, whose tagline is "The High End Audio Community," offers listings for a flat fee of $8--unlike eBay, which takes a percentage off of the final sales price of products.

Craigslist: Next to Amazon, Craigslist seems to be the obvious choice for former eBay sellers, thanks to its huge built-in user base. Craiglist is localized, though, which may prove a mixed blessing for users, depending on the kind of wares they're hawking. Of course, as one seller pointed out, eBay has a stake in this popular classifieds site.

eCrater: You can't talk about this online auction site without noting the similarities its name shares with that other popular site in the same space. The biggest difference? eCrater refers to itself as "100-percent free," stating, "Your eCrater store is offered to you at no charge. It will remain free, which means sellers will always get a 100% of their sales. A step in the development of the site is the introduction of premium product positions. With that, charges will apply only to sellers that are willing to advertise their products so they appear in premium positions in the corresponding categories."

Etsy: Etsy is the go-to site for sellers of handmade arts and crafts. The site's homepage showcases a large cross-section of goods, including pottery, jewelry, glassware, and crochet, among others.

iOffer: "This is not an auction. It's better!" reads iOffer's front page. The site is a bit more like a flea market; it does away with auction end times and focuses more on haggling.

Neoloch: One seller who has been actively looking for good eBay alternatives pointed us to this site, saying, "Right now, my favorite one is Neoloch, just started by a Power Seller in response to this eBay nonsense. It's small, but growing." Perhaps attempting to contrast with big, bad eBay, Neoloch is touting itself as "The Friendly Auction Site."

Onlineauction.com: That's about as straightforward as Web site names get. Four users who contacted us have switched to the site. Users pay a flat $8 month to list auctions, as opposed to eBay's per-item fee. One user reported success after the switch, while another has yet to sell anything through the site.

Overstock Auctions: According to one former eBay seller, Overstock's auction arm is, the "most similar to eBay in structure." An offshoot of the popular retail bargain site, Overstock Auctions is also one of the best-looking sites on the list.

Trocadero: More of a storefront than an auction site, Trocadero is an outlet for antique and fine art sales. Says one seller, "A basic store with them is only $4 more a month than at eBay and they take no commission. A medium tier store is $45 monthly, again with no commission."

Wagglepop: Wagglepop's tagline is "Join the Revolution," and from the comments left on this post, early this morning, clearly a few people have headed the call. The site charges a flat rate of $9.95 a month for unlimited listings. Said one commenter, "they get indexed on Google and you get real help from real people who care about helping others sell. No back stabbing[...], no high fees, and Wagglepop will give you peace of mind because you are in control of your auctions and store."

Powersellers Unite, one of the centralized boycott sites, features even more alternative sites as part of its Auction Watch. It also offers its very own storefronts for disillusioned users.

eBid: This familiar-sounding auction site was created in the U.K. in 1998. Since then, eBid has gained a considerable amount of popularity and opened up shop in nine more countries, including the U.S. "It's improving all the time," one commenter told us, "but just needs a big boost in terms of sellers and buyers."

eCrater: Like eBid, eCrater offers free listings. On top of that, users get "free website hosting, a free subdomain and a powerful admin tool to manage their free online stores," according to the homepage. Said one Appscout reader: "I've been with eCrater for nearly two years... sales are slow compared to eBay but [I] ship several sales a month and adore the increased profitability on eCrater since the site is completely free to use."

Ewaey: As far as names are concerned, Ewaey is perhaps the most blantant eBay ripoff around--even its multicolored lowercase logo looks pretty familiar. But as one of our readers put it, "It is very easy to list on and the customer service is great. Check it out, could [really be a] competitor to eBay in the future." The first 5,000 users get free listings forever--not sure how many they're up to at present, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Google Base Beta: Google Base is a powerful and free service for getting your sale items listed in the country's most popular search engine. One reader put it this way: "That Google search box is some prime real estate, and it's free."

Hoobly: As evidenced by its blank About page, Hoobly still has a ways to go before it catches up with Google--and really, the site is more of an online classified site, comparable to, say, Craigslist. However, according to a PR rep who contacted us after the last eBay alternatives story, 500,000 people have already signed up for the site. So they must be doing something right. Right?

PlunderHere: Yaaaarrrr. Here be a pirate-themed auction site. The design leaves something to be desired, but still--pirates!

Ruby Lane: This site is geared toward users looking to sell things like antiques and jewelry. Items cost 30 cents to list, and the site doesn't take a commission on your sales.

Service Pack 3 for Windows XP Delayed

You may remember that in an April 21st blog, I told you that Microsoft was releasing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP in about a week. You may noticed that it hasn't arrived yet. The reason is that Microsoft has temporarily pulled it off the market while it fixes a problem. Microsoft is calling it a "compatibility issue." The problem has to do with something called "Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System." This is a special part of Windows used for retail chain management for small and midsize customers.

For us non-retail-chain-management folks, the bottom line is that Service Pack 3 is on indefinite hold...although it has shown up on some pirate Web sites. Service Pack 3 adds several networking and security improvements, and compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 security credential providers. It also incorporates features previously available individually as separate updates, such as Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC), Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0, and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2. A recent test in the labs shows that SP3 does make Windows XP run a bit faster also.

I guess we will just have to wait for Microsoft to do its job. One does have to commend them for not releasing software that wasn't quite ready.

In a related story, Microsoft has withdrawn its offer to buy Yahoo. Microsoft raised its offer from $31 per share to $33, but Yahoo held fast at $37. Microsoft then said bye-bye to Yahoo. Most experts think it is probably a good thing for Microsoft.

Have You Twittered Yet?

Recently, I joined a fun Web site that I'd previously heard about, but didn't sound all that interesting. Now, I am a full blown member and use it at least once a day. It's called Twitter and can be found at http://www.twitter.com.

The purpose of Twitter is very singular and simple...you just go on-line and answer the simple question, "What are you doing?" You have only 160 characters to answer. How simple is that? Of course, joining and using it is free...and you would be surprised how many famous and interesting people do it. For instance, in the tech world, guys like Leo LaPorte, John C. Dvorak, Kevin Rose, and many others are Twitterers. There are also some notable folks in the photography world.

Besides being able to write your own entries, you can choose to follow other people's twitters. When I click on the Web site, it takes me to my Twitter home page where I can write an entry and read the entries of people I follow. What is fun is to create your own Twitter group of family or friends and follow them and their entries.

If you have been to my Web site or my Rants and Raves blog site, you will see in the left column my latest Twitter entries (I will do it shortly for my Postcards blog, but have been too focused on just getting it up and running). I try to make my twitters about my business, photographic, or artistic endeavors. You will never see entries about what I had for dinner or other mundane information.

You can click on the link at the bottom of my entries to follow me on Twitter, but, of course, you need a free account first. I already have a few people following my exploits, but I will make you deal...if you click that link to follow me, I am notified by e-mail, so I will then click on you and add you to the people I follow.

If this sounds like fun, head over to the Twitter Web Site and read more, then join if you want. My Twitter name, by the way, is jcorkrum.

A New Blog

Just wanted you to know that I created a new blog called "Postcards" that is now up and running. It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I have included here the first entry for the blog to tell you what it is about. I would love to get your opinions on what I have done so far, so, if you have a minute, please click on the link and take a quick peek.

http://postcards.corkrum.com

If you would like to subscribe to it and get it in your e-mail postbox like many of you do now with "Rants and Raves," just drop me a quick e-mail at jcorkrum@corkrum.com and I will add you to the distribution list. Here is the first entry which tells you what the blog is about:

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With this entry, I begin a new blog called "Postcards." It is the blog I've wanted to do for some time. Simply put, it is a journal of my travels and my photographs. It is the story of where I am, where I have been, and, of course, where I am going....and it is about the pictures and images I create, which, of course, means its about me.

I call it Postcards because it will be like a postcard...a picture (or two) on one side, and a story on the back. Sometimes it will just be "The Picture of the Day", one of my pictures or paintings with a brief description or story about it. Other times, it will be what I call "Traveler's Tales"...more about the story than the pictures. For instance, an upcoming entry is entitled "Border Wars," and is about life right on top of the Arizona/Mexican border and the folks who try and stop the illegal aliens and drugs. It is the inside story as I experienced it, which you will never read in any newspaper of magazine.

I hope it will always be entertaining and informative. I think you will like the pictures...and I will try and give some insight into the mind of the artist who made them. Yes, I said made them, not take them. The true photographer/artist makes a picture...he doesn't take one.

Now, for those of you who read my tech blog, Rants and Raves, you know that I haven't written as much this year as years past...and you are probably asking yourself how I can possibly write a second blog. A good question...and, for that matter, one I continually ask myself. I am not sure I can do it, but it is something I must do. 2008 is a year of big changes for me and some things have been moved to the forefront while others got put on the back burner. Rants and Raves moved a little bit toward the back burner as these new changes unfold and take up more of my time. I will tell you more about them from time-to-time in Postcards.

I do love writing Rants and Raves and will keep it up as often as I can as I do spend a a good amount of time with computer technology and still follow it closely. It is still fun sharing my knowledge with you. Rants and Raves began about 10 years ago as a technology newsletter written to help promote my computer store business. It was and is very popular for many people. But, I have not had a computer business for 8 years.

Now I am a professional photographer and artist, a field that I actually started out in back in the 60's and drifted in and out for many year. For the last 10 years, it is back full time in my life and I think that it is what I was truly meant to do. So Postcards is really about my life now. I hope this makes sense. I want to share a part of my life with you, my interested readers, and with those members of my family and circle of friends, present and future, who may want to know a little more about me. Call it my memoirs.

Best of the MP3 Recorders

I recently took the plunge and purchased an Apple iPod Classic with an 80GB hard drive. I wanted something small that I could take with me on my trips that would carry all my music, books on tape, podcasts, and other recordings. In the near future, I will tell you more about my adventures with it and the Apple iTunes software. But for today, I just will focus on making MP3 recordings from my CD collection for storage on my computer and my iPod.

Music on commercially-produced cd's are recorded using a file format with no compression (other than that done in recording studio mixers). These files are quite large. MP3 is a method where much of the extraneous information contained in the standard CD audio file is taken out, leaving only the important musical information. Of course, the smaller you make it (meaning the greater the compression), the less fidelity you have from the original recording. The trick with MP3 is finding the happy medium where you really can't tell the difference between the MP3 version and the original file. Some audiophiles will tell you there is always a difference...and they may be right. But listener tests show that most people can't tell the difference between the original recording and an MP3 recorded at a bit rate of 192 or higher.

How small does this render the file size? Rather than give you numbers, let me just say that I have an 8 Volume complete CD collection of Schubert's String Quartets. Using a high quality MP3 recorder set at a bit rate of 225, which I will describe shortly, I can put 7 of those CD's on one blank MP3 CD-R. Of course, I need a way to play back MP3's which, of course is where the iPod comes in. There are also CD players (and even some DVD players) that can read MP3's recorded on a blank CD-R disk. I have two of those.

Interestingly, not all MP3 recorders are the same. There are many good free ones on the market, the best one being "Audiograbber," which is the one I use. All MP3 recording software use what is called a "Codex" to create an MP3 file from the original CD... and here is where some big differences come in. Not all codexes are created equal. Rather than talk about all of them, I will just tell you that in most experts opinions, the highest quality MP3 codex is named "LAME."

The problem is that LAME is not included by most free MP3 recorders, including AudioGrabber. But, AudioGrabber has the facility to let you use whatever codex you want. All you have to do is download LAME from their Web site, then move the LAME.DLL file into the AudioGrabber directory. Then, you just set up AudioGrabber to use the LAME codex. It is easier than it sounds.

Does LAME make a difference that you can hear? You betcha! I took one particular piece of music that I recorded three separate ways...using a standard MP3 codex, a LAME codex, and the Apple AAC codex (not MP3) that comes with iTunes. All were recorded at the same bit rate. LAME was definitely the best of the bunch and it was very audible to me, even with my aging ears.

Another tip I should pass along is when you set up your LAME recorder, set it at the second highest quality compression rate and use "Variable Bit Rate." It works just great.

More on using iPod, iTunes, and perhaps some other music software in the near future.

Best of the Free Windows Utilities Part 2

I've got more good free utility software for you today. Something I might recommend you do if you start getting some of these programs is to create a folder for your desktop called "Utilities" or something similar. As you start to download and install these applications, make sure you have each program install an icon on your desktop. Then, drag the icons into the folder. They will disappear off the desktop and into the folder. This does two thing: it helps keep your desktop clean AND puts a folder where you can see it for a reminder to run some of these utilities occasionally. Just a thought. Now...on with the show.

ZSoft Uninstaller

One of the things I've long suspected and have recently verified is that the Windows Uninstaller is not all that good. In fact, it leaves stuff behind that should be erased. To do it right, you need a better program such as ZSoft Uninstaller. This baby does it right. Besides uninstalling your current software, it will even go through and find leftover temp files from previous uninstalls that should have been removed a long time ago. I used it on my studio computer and it found almost 500Mb of stuff that it removed. This one is worth getting.

Glarysoft Registry Repair

A couple of years ago, I tried to find a good, free registry repair program and failed in the attempt. I wound up buying one that has served me well. However, I finally found a really good free one... Glarysoft Registry Repair software. It received rave reviews from tech writers and users alike. So I tried it and liked it a great deal. It will analyze your Windows Registry to find and get rid of outdated entries that no longer serve any purpose, making your computer start up faster when you turn it on. Just for the fun of it, the other day I first ran my paid registry repair program and it found 280 errors. After I ran it and did the cleanup, I ran the Glarysoft program. It found over 1,800 item that the other one missed! That's pretty good, I think.

EZBack-it-up

This may not be the best backup program ever invented but it works great for me. This program came out in 2004, but is no longer being upgraded or supported. It is a simple, no frills backup software that I use to backup my existing data on C: drive to my backup drive. It's simple, it works, and is fast. Why I liked it initially was that I just dragged and dropped the directories on the hard drive that I wanted back up. I gave it a name, told it where to back up the files, and away it went. The first backup took the longest, but after that, it only took a few seconds as it only backs up new files or those that were changed since the last backup. Piece of cake.

SyncBack

This is like a backup program, but is really a file synchronizer. It synchronizes the files in two different directories, usually on different drives, but not necessarily. For instance, I keep many of my photographs on my portable Western Digital Passport drive. I use Syncback to synchronize it with the pictures on my backup drive in the studio. I can also set it so that any old files I erase on my portable drive are not re-copied back to it, but do stay on the backup drive in the studio. It's pretty slick and fast. Be sure to look for the free version.

XPlorer2

I wrote about this one again a few days ago, so I won't go into any more detail. This is a replacement for the Windows Explorer file management program. Just get it. You can thank me later.

PCTools Firewall

I have written about this one before. It is a software firewall that I first used on my laptop, but is now used on all my computers. Even though I use a router with a built-in firewall at home and at the studio, I still use a software firewall. The reason is that malware can slip through the router's firewall and even a software firewall. But, if it tries to send information about me and my computer back out to the Internet before my anti-spyware catch or anti-virus program catch it and delete it, my software firewall will pick it up and notify me that something is going on and request me to authorize it. Now the PCTools firewall may not get the highest rating, but I like it because it doesn't drive me crazy with requests for permission. The best of the free firewalls supposedly is Komodo, but I used it for a while and it drove me crazy, constantly asking me for permissions even though I had already given it before. I finally deleted it and reinstalled PCTools version.

There are of course many other fine free software programs out there. If you would like to know one place that I check for some of the best freeware information, head over to the Tech Support Alert Web site.

Best of the Free Windows Utilities - Part 1

On and off during the course of this blog and its predecessor, the weekly newsletter, I've written about some excellent utilitarian software, many of which are free. In this blog, and the next one, I decided to focus on just the best free utility software programs available, at least to my way of thinking (and several other tech writers also). Some, I have written about before...others will be new for you. But I want to have all the good ones in one place for your benefit. I have also included the links where you can download them. I have used all of them and can readily recommend them for your use. So, in no particular order, let's get started.

Startup Inspector for Windows

I really have come to love this software. Over time, as you install new software, some companies seem to want to install their products in your startup files without your knowledge. After a while, unless you monitor it, your computer's memory could become clogged with many programs that are not needed and don't need to be running. Startup Inspector tells you at any moment what programs are in your startup menu, how much memory they consume and what they are really being used for. You can hit the "consult" button and get even more information, including recommendations about whether to keep it or dump it. If you don't want it, uncheck it, then hit the "Apply" button. The next time you restart your computer, these unwanted programs will not be installed into startup. But, you must keep up a continual vigil, as many of them try to sneak back in. Get this one.

FreeRAM XP Pro

Sometimes, when you are using a program, then exit from it, it leaves fragments of itself in your memory. After using your machine for a while, you will have a lot of your memory taken up by these little pieces of data. FreeRAM XP Pro, continually monitors your memory, automatically removing these unwanted particles, keeping your machine from running slower. And, you can always look down in the right corner of your screen and see how much memory is actually available to you. Sometimes I even double click on it to see if I can free up even more memory. It is a startup program that uses very little memory, but will help keep your machine going strong.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

I've written about this one before and it is definitely worth repeating. This is arguably the best disk defrager on the market today...and it's free. In case you don't know by now, the files on your computer's hard drive become fragmented over time, meaning different parts of any particular file wind up being spread all over your hard drive. After a while, this slows down your computer. A disk defrager puts your files back together again, thereby speeding up your computer. Defraging should be done about once a month. Folks normally don't like to defrag as it takes a while The Auslogics program is the fastest defrager available today and it does a terrific job.The company also make a fine registry defrager, also free.

CCleaner

Another program I've written about here previously. Before you defrag, you should probably clean up your hard drive so you don't defrag programs your going to get rid of anyway. Over time, your computer creates a lot of files that are useful for a short time, then never again. The problem is that they don't go away. CCleaner removes unused files from your system from programs like Internet Explorer (Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat); Firefox (Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history); Windows (Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files, and Log files) and others. One note of caution: you should carefully inspect the list of files that you want removed to make sure you don't erase something you use. The first time I used it, I lost my Firefox cookies files, which made me re-log in to several web sites that I use all the time. A bit of a pain. Still, I use this program before I defrag and at other times. I used it yesterday on my home computer and freed up over 4Gb of space, mainly from the Recycle Bin. It also cleans up other areas of your computer that are too numerous to mention here. Just get it and see for yourself.

WinRAR

An excellent file compressor and uncompressor software. You probably won't use it often, but it does a good job on ZIP files, RAR files, and several others. The program is free for the first 40 days, then it says you need to buy it. But guess what...you don't. Just click on it and it will work just fine.

More programs in the next edition.

PS: This just in...Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be available to the world on 4/29/08. Its long overdue.

Notebook Software - $$$ or Free?

In my last blog, I briefly mentioned a new category of software, aptly named Notebook. It would be more correct to call it super enhanced rather than new. Notebook software, which is designed to allow you to make notes and arrange them in categories, has been around for some time. The new enhanced versions go beyond that...they allow you clip web pages with a single button click on your browser and they are immediately copied into your notebook. You can also make your own notes using templates such as to-do lists, shopping lists, and more. Think of it as if you were a student. You could organize your notes taken in the classroom, categorize them by each individual course, then add research for term papers, either from notes you make from books or from pages on the Internet. Now, you can do this digitally instead of having loose paper notes stuck in a big folder.

And, trust me on this one, this is exactly what many college and high school students are now doing. Now, I can hear your next question...can't you bookmark pages in your browser? Yes you can, of course...but how many times have you clicked on a bookmark and found it has disappeared from the Web? With good notebook software, that won't happen. You may have also found interesting articles on the Web that you want to read sometime but don't have time at the moment you find them. Then, how often do forget all about it? That has definitely happened to me. Now, I click on a button on my browser menu and it is transferred immediately into my notebook. And, for some unknown reason, I find that I have read every article in my notebook.

After doing a lot of research on this subject, I found that there are two products that really standout in this field...Microsoft's OneNote and EverNote. OneNote costs anywhere from $60 on up as a stand-alone product or you can spend more and purchase a version of the Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 and it is included. OR...you can get EverNote for free. It is not as a choice as you might think. At least it wasn't for me.

On the positive side, OneNote has a fantastic interface...using main categories and two levels of sub-categories. It also uses tabs, just like a regular notebook. It is great eye candy and works exactly the way I would want my notebook to work. I just love the interface and would happily spend the money to purchase it...except it has one fatal flaw...something that pretty much kills it as a possible purchase. When you clip a Web page to OneNote, it doesn't render it exactly as you saw it on the web. In fact, it takes out all the spacing between paragraphs, pretty much running all text together...and making it very difficult to read. Graphic designers have known for years that white space in a document is just as important as text when it comes to making sure something is read. Of course, one can manually go in and put in the spaces, but that defeats the purpose of easy-to-use software.

In doing my research on the subject, I found many, many complaints from users on this subject...and I found that Microsoft has not addressed this issue at all, either in replies to complaining customers or in software updates. This is the second version of OneNote and it is not fixed yet.

One the other hand, when you clip a page to EverNote, it pretty much copies the page exactly as you saw it on the Web. You can clip the whole page or just the text you want (if the Web page has a lot of ads on it) and it will appear in your notebook perfectly. Now, why can't Microsoft do this? And...EverNote is a freebie! Amazing.

But, frankly speaking, EverNote's user interface is nowhere near as good as Microsoft's. You can create categories and sub-categories and they appear on the left side of your page, but sometimes they can be confusing. You can also use a list of articles that appear on the screen above the clippings themselves, but if you have too many articles or notes for one category, you have to scroll up and down to find the one you want. And EverNote runs all of it's clippings together, which can drive you crazy if you over-scroll.

Now, what I have just described to you is the current EverNote, version 2.2. They also have the new EverNote V.3 which is still in beta. But, it shows a great deal of promise. I like it very much, although it is still missing some of the better features of V2.2. But I am sure they will be eventually added.

The big change for V.3 is that it puts all your notes on the Web as well as your computer, making it easy to access anywhere there is an Internet connection...and to synchronize if you use more that one computer. It's interface is much easier to use, although I still wish it had tabs.

If you would like to read more about OneNote and even download a 60 day trial copy, just head over the Microsoft Web site. EverNote 2.2 is available on the EverNote Web site, although the site is very confusing right now as they start to make the transition over for V.3. There are some good tutorials for V2.2 on the site, but you have to hunt down the best ones by doing a search on the site.

As for V.3, you must get an invite from EverNote to be a tester. I did and I have the ability to invite 10 other people to become testers. If you are interested, drop me an e-mail and I will get you an invite. As I said, I think V.3 is going to be a very good product, but, damn, I want those tabs!

10 Best Windows Programs?

A few weeks ago, an excellent columnist over at ZDNet, Ed Bott, wrote an article about about his 10 favorite Windows applications. It was interesting, but was still just one man's opinion. I have my own opinions on the subject, but then again, so do you (unless, of course, you are a MAC fanatic). Well, a whole lot of people who also read Ed's column wrote to him about their favorite programs. Ed, being a good listener, compiled a list of everybody else's favorite and wrote a second article listing them. I must say, it was far more interesting to me because it gave a consensus of opinion of many folks rather than just one...and it introduced me to some programs I didn't know about.

So, I thought I would pass the article on to you and make a few comments as there are some good programs you might want to know about. Some are free and some are not. So here goes:

Microsoft OneNote - I had never heard of this program. Now, I am glad I have. It is part of a fairly new class of software known as "Notebook Software." OneNote is a good program that has one fatal flaw, at least for me. I am going to save any further discussion of OneNote and other Notebook-class software for my next blog, so stay tuned...it will be worth it.

Skype - I have never used this as we have a terrific Internet phone service, Packet8, where I can call anywhere in the US and Canada for free. But, many folks tell me that Skype is good...and free.

Xplorer2 - This is the by far the best file manager software available today. I have been using it for a couple of years. So should you. It is so much better than Windows Explorer...and it is also free.

WinRAR - An excellent utility software that handles different kinds of compressed files... another freebie.

Windows Live Writer - Another new Microsoft program that I had not heard of. But, unlike OneNote and most other Microsoft software, it is FREE! And you know what? Even folks who hate Microsoft grudgingly admit that this is a very good program. Live Writer is made for blogging. I loved it within minutes of trying it out. As a matter of fact, I am writing this blog on Live Writer. So if you blog, I strongly suggest you get this. You can write your blogs on your own computer rather than on-line...and when you are done, you can post it directly to your blog. What is even better is an enterprising young man named Scott Kingery recently created a way to make it portable so you can install it on a USB drive, which is where mine now resides.

IrfanView - I've written about this graphic software before, but still have not given it a try. The good new is that is is free and always being updated and improved.

I suggest you read the full article to learn about some of the other software that people like...and there is a link to Ed's original article that has more good information.

Portability - Part 4

When I started this series, I had only intended to do three episodes. But recently, I read an interesting article on portable USB hardware that I thought I should pass along. It concerns the speed of USB drives...which are the fastest, what size do you need, and which one you might consider buying. The article was written by Scott Dunn and appears on the Windows Secrets Web site.

If you don't wish to read it, let me do a quick recap for you and tell you a little about my experiences. As I mentioned in my first article, USB flash drives are not at fast as hard drives, which I find difficult to fathom as there are no moving parts. And as I continue to use my current flash drive, I've become more aware that speed is becoming an issue for me. Currently, I use a Lexar 2GB flash drive that I bought at Costco...and while I still have plenty of room on it right now, my use of the portable drive is getting more important all the time. So speed and size are something that I have been thinking about.

Something I didn't mention in my first article is that the bigger the drive, the slower the drive speed. Scott Dunn's article recommends using a 4GB drive that will give you a good balance between speed and storage capacity. Also, in reading this article and others, the same brands keep popping up as the fastest. One of the highest rated brands in all the articles I read is the Corsair Flash Voyager. Scott Dunn's article shows that an independent testing lab rates the Corsair 4 GB drive as having the fastest read speed at 33Mb per second.

So, using a testing program recommended in the same article, I decided to check out my Lexar drive. The test results show the Lexar read speed at only 16Mb per second. Now I really want a new drive. So, in doing a little research, I found the 4 Mb Corsair Flash Voyager on sale at NewEgg.com for only $19.99 with free shipping. Needless-to-say, I placed my order immediately. As a side note, I use NewEgg for many of my computer hardware purchases as they are reliable, fast, and usually offer some of the best pricing.

Another item covered in Scott Dunn's article which I didn't cover at all (but knew about) were USB drives that use U3 Smart Drive. In my research, I have seen a couple of portable software applications that require U3-equipped drives. If you wish to learn more about U3, you can go to Scott Dunn's article. But the bottom line is U3 should be a low priority in your choice of USB drives. I agree with him, which is why I didn't write about it earlier.

A second article by Mr. Dunn talks more in depth about software suites and applications designed for USB drives. I highly recommend you take a look at this one also. While I use the PortableApps Suite right now, I think I am going to try out the other application mentioned in his article called winPenPack. After all, I will shortly have an extra USB drive to play with. The article also has some good tips for safely using your USB drive on computers other than your own.

Portability - Part 3

As I began this series of blogs on portability, and, more importantly, started using portable software for my own benefit, I didn't realize the depth of the subject. There are hundreds, if not thousands of portable applications out there available to make your computing life easier and more productive. And the scope and sweep of this relatively new area in computing is getting bigger and bigger. In this issue, I plan to tell you about a few of the applications I have found to be pretty darn good at what they do. I also plan to cover some up and coming portable applications in future blog when they actually come to market...and there are some very interesting ones now in beta. But, let's begin with some applications that might be useful to you right now:

Avast! Portable

After the last blog, two readers inquired about the dangers of sticking your portable USB drive into computers other than your own. That is a very valid question, and, in fact, if you do that a lot, you will more than likely catch a virus. But there are solutions. In the PortableApps Suite that I wrote about last time, there is an anti-virus software included called "ClamWin." It is one that I had not heard of prior to discovering PortableApps Suite, and in doing my research, I found a few users who report that the software gave out some false positives when doing scans. For that reason, I deleted it from my USB drive. But, there is a great, free anti-viral software out there that I have used for years and now comes in a portable version. Avast! is a free program that has been around for some time and upgrades its virus definitions on a daily basis. It has done a good job for me and millions of other users for a long time and now is available for your portable drive. You can read more about it and download it from this Web site.

Debrief

To put it briefly (no pun intended), Debrief is a note-taking application that allows you make notes, or cut and paste useful info from web sites and e-mails. You then can organize them into categories that appear on the left side of your screen. I like this easy-to-use program a great deal, although I must admit I am starting to use a different program now that I will tell you about in an upcoming blog. But for simplicity and ease of use, this one is hard to beat. Read more about it and download it from their Web site. Again, the portable version is free, although there is a paid professional version that is also available.

EssentialPIM

If I wasn't so in love with Lotus Organizer, EssentialPIM is the program that I would use as a personal information manager. In fact, I did use it for a while until I broke down and purchased Organizer. The curious thing about the software is that you pay $29.95 for it if you want it installed on your computer, but the portable version is free. Go figure. Anyway this software package is similar in so many ways to Microsoft Outlook (without the e-mail). It has separate sections for your calendar/scheduler, to-do lists, address book, and a note taking section similar in layout to Debrief. In addition, there is a "Today" page that opens automatically when you access the program that gives you a complete overview of your schedule and to-do lists. The one thing I really like about this program that you just don't see in other programs is its color. You can create different colors for different categories and the colors are assigned to your schedule making it easy, useful, and more pleasurable to use. This program is definitely better than the Sunbird software that comes with PortableApps. Check it all out for yourself at their Web site.

PokerTH

OK...this one is for fun. If you have ever wondered if you are a good poker play, try this out and see. It is free and won't cost you anything to find out the truth about your skills. The game is Texas Hold 'em and you can set several parameters for the way you play the game. It is fun to try and play and it helped me figure out quickly that I should never play the game for real money. But I love to play it for a few minutes when I need to take a break from life. I look for a decent hand, then go all-in to see what happens. You can download it at the PortableApps Web site.

Pidgin Portable

Pidgin is probably the best software you can use if you are into instant messaging. As is usually the case, your circle of friends and family probably use different software that don't mix, such as AOL, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and Jabber. Pidgin allows you to use all of these under one program rather than having to install one of each. It to is available for free at the PortableApps Web site.

IrfanView and GIMP

These are free software products that do an excellent job for manipulating and improving your photographs. They are now available in portable versions. I have written about both of them before and for free, you just can't beat them. And, they are a whole lot cheaper than Photoshop!. You can download GIMP from the PortableApps Web site. IrfanView is available from the Softpedia Web Site.

As I said earlier, there is a ton of portable software available, many of them for free. Do a Google search and you will see what I mean. Check out Softpedia, Pendriveapps, Portablefreeware, and of course, the PortableApps Web site. And remember, any program you choose can be added to your PortableApps menu by installing it from your USB drive rather than your regular hard drive.

As I side note, I have been running the beta versions of new FireFox 3.0 on my USB drive. Doing it this way, one can try out the new version and not interfere with the installation of stable version 2.0 on my computer. It's pretty cool, by the way.

Portability - Part 2

In this edition, we take a look at some software to get you started on the road to portability. Just as a reminder, my definition of "portability" for these blogs is the ability to work on your most important data anytime, anywhere, on any computer...and to have all the computers looking at the most up-to-date versions of your work. The good news here is that all the software we are going to talk about today is FREE!!

Foldershare

I told you about this great software about 15 months ago. I continue to use it today on all my computers and it continues to be one of the most important parts of my portability scheme. There are two really good things about this program...first of all it is free...and second, it requires no additional hardware on your part. Foldershare is a Microsoft program that is easy to install and use. It runs continuously in the background, using the Internet to keep all your computers connected and sharing information. It's main job to keep your most important documents synchronized on the computers and files that you designate.

For instance, I installed my business accounting software on both my home and office computer. I use Foldershare to keep the accounting data in sync on both computers. So, I can work on my accounts at both my studio and home. As I save the data, Foldershare uses the Internet to keep the files in perfect synchronization. If the home computer is off, Foldershare will sync up any new data when the computer is turned back on. I also use it for all my spreadsheet and and word processing documents...but in this case I also have my laptop involved as I am always creating new data when on the road. I pick and choose what data is synched on what computer.

Another side benefit of Foldershare is that it acts as a backup of all your most important data. Lets say one of your computer's hard drives goes bad or your laptop is stolen. Your most important data is already backed up on one of your other computers. I also use it to continuously backup my wife's data from her computer to my external backup drive. It saves time and money as she does not have to worry about having a separate backup drive or remembering to back up her data on occasion. Foldershare can be downloaded for free from the Foldershare.com web site.

PortableApps

I discovered this incredible set of applications a few months ago and it has been an important part of my portability arsenal ever since. The PortableApps Suite includes several specially designed programs that are installed and run on your removable USB drive rather than your computer's hard drive. They include portable versions of Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail program, portable FireFox web browser, a calendar/address book software, Sodoku, a complete portable version of all the OpenOffice Suite programs, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program and several others...and a few other programs that you might find useful.

As I said, you install the program directly onto your portable USB drive so that the programs on it can be used on any Windows-based computer. I installed the programs on my own 2GB Lexar USB drive (about 1" long). After installation, I still have about 75% of my USB drive available for storage of the data created by these portable programs. I also store some other data on it that I use with software that is installed on all three of my computers. As an example, my Lotus Organizer software, which is my Personal Information Manager of choice, can't be installed on my portable drive, but the data can be and is. To make this work easily, I told each of my three computers to make my USB drive be recognized as Drive S:...and I told Organizer to access its data from drive S:. Very useful.

Regarding the software that comes as part of PortableApps, it is all good stuff. I think Thunderbird is a far better e-mail program than Outlook Express, and with its optional calendar
program, it even rivals Outlook itself. As far as the OpenOffice Suite goes, I have been using it for over a year on my laptop and I think it is fantastic. It is just as good as Microsoft's Office, it's free, and I can access and save data that was original created in Office. So having a portable version of OpenOffice is a real bonus.

I keep my USB drive in a certain pocket so I know where it is at all times when not plugged into one of my computers. So as I move from place to place, my major office-type programs are always with me. But, what if I lose my little USB drive? After all, it is only one inch in length. Fortunately, PortableApps comes with its own backup application, so I save my portable data to a backup hard drive every day so that if something happens, I can be up and running on another drive in no time. If I happen to travel someplace without my laptop, I can visit a cyber cafe and plug my USB drive into one of their computers and be up and running in a few seconds.

If all this sounds interesting, I suggest you head over to the PortableApps Web site to read more about it and maybe give it a try. You may discover that you like it a great deal. When you visit their site, you will see they carry several other free portable applications. In the next episode, I am going to talk about some of these other portable applications and a few others that are not listed.

Portability - Part 1

Over the years, my personal computer use has grown from one computer to three…one at home, one at my studio, and a laptop for use when I am on the road, which is very often over the course of a year. The dilemma I face, and that of every other person who uses more than one computer is which one stores the main files that you use?

For instance, which e-mail account do I use on one or the other? You can use one, but then you have your e-mail spread across two machines. For a while, I handled that by having three e-mail accounts…a solution that worked most of the time, but not always.

What about spreadsheets and word-processing documents? I always need access to them on all three machines, so what do I do when I have written a document on one machine, say my laptop, and I want to print it from my home computer. And what about my schedules…which of my three machines do I use for those?

Of course, I can make copies and have them on all three machines, but if I make a new entry on one, how to I get it to the other? My schedules have to match at all times if I am to be efficient and not miss a wedding or an art show.

So that is what this blog (and the next two) is about. I use the word “portability” here to describe the methodology whereby all my important work is available to me at all times on all three machines…and they are all current. No easy task…but it can be done and it is much easier than it use to be.

To achieve this portability, you need two basic things…the proper hardware and the proper software. No surprise here. So, in Part 1, I will focus on hardware, and then in Part 2, I will concentrate on software. Part 3 will cover more portable software that you can take with you anywhere.

Now, if you have only one computer then you don’t have to worry much about portability. But, stick around anyway because you just might find some neat tricks you will find useful now and in the future. But let’s take a look at two important pieces of hardware that lay at the heart of portability.

USB Memory

This is one of the slickest devices ever made to help you achieve portability. A USB memory device is sometimes called a memory stick, or a thumb drive, or a flash memory drive. They are very small, usually 1”-2” in length and feature a connector on one end that plugs into your computer’s USB port. They can hold anywhere from 256 MB all the way up to 8 GB of data. They are like a small portable hard drive, except there are no moving parts.

The downside is that they are actually slower than a hard drive, but none-the-less just as useful…and you can carry them in your pocket. Best of all, the prices have come down so low that anyone can afford one. I recently saw an 8 GB stick on sale for $28!

Primarily, they were used to copy or store one or more files so different computers can share them. But now, they can also hold so-called portable applications that can run all by themselves when plugged into your computers so you can carry not only your data but the programs that create and use the data. More on that in the next blog.

Portable External Hard Drives

These have been around for some time…except there is now a new breed of small hard drive that is extremely smaller than older drives and useful, especially in regards to portability. The best example of this new drive is the Western Digital Passport Drive. The drive is very small, measuring 5”x 3”x ½” in size. They run anywhere in drive capacity from 80GB up to 320GB and use a USB connector to plug into your computer. Prices? I paid $89 for my 160GB drive some months ago, and I saw just the other day that Costco had the 250GB drive for $129.

Besides being very small, the best part about these drives is you don’t need a separate power plug. The USB cable supplies enough power from the computer to allow the drive to work just fine. So one small cable provides both the power and data connection. Very handy, to say the least! (Be aware that some older computers cannot supply enough power to run these drives, but you can get a powered USB hub that will run them just fine).

If there is a drawback to these drives is that they only spin at 5400 RPM, while most standard hard drives run at 7200 RPM. But, quite frankly, I cannot see the difference in actual use. My large photo files seem to load just as fast off the portable drive as they do off my regular drive.

Now, many of you won’t need this extra external hard drive, but as a photographer, I found it most useful, especially when using Adobe Lightroom. This photo software works by keeping enhancements to a photo in a database rather than on the picture itself. I can now transport my photos (and their accompanying database) to any of my three computers without losing the changes made on a different computer. You can also use it to transport all your data, make backups, and even programs from computer to computer.

In part 2 of this series, I will explore some of the great software available to give you extended portability with your most important data.

DVD War Update

A couple of days ago, I told you the war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD was only a few days away from truly being over. As of today, it is officially over. Toshiba, inventors and makers of HD-DVD, officially announced it will make no more HD-DVD players. The world of high definition DVD players now belongs to Blu-Ray.

Some writers have dubbed this announcement by Toshiba as their "BetaMax Address," referring of course, to that day many years ago when Sony announced they would cease production of BetaMax video tape recorders. On that day, sales of VHS machines started to take off. Expect the same for Blu-Ray machine sales. It is ironic that Sony lost the BetaMax/VHS war, but won this one.

Another loser of this war, although probably only in the short term, is Microsoft. They supported HD-DVD as a plug-in to their X-Box game machine. As of right now, their sales have dropped below that of Sony's PlayStation for the first quarter of this year, putting them in last place in game box sales (Nintendo is still in first place). The PlayStation, of course, supports Blu-Ray.

Shortly after, the Toshiba announcement, Universal Studios announced their support for Blu-Ray, leaving only Paramount still officially supporting HD-DVD. Expect that to change very shortly.

Now that you know who won the war, you may be tempted to run right out and get a Blu-Ray player for your Hi Definition television. If so, you might be interested in this recent article on the CNET website, "5 Blu-Ray Players for Less than $500." As I said the other day, Blu-Ray players are still on the pricey side, but that will change as it inevitably does.

DVD Wars Nearing an End

Do you remember my blog some months ago about the the on-going war between the two types of next generation high definition DVD players? If you don't remember, the two types are Blu-Ray and HD-DVD...the former supported by Sony and the latter by Toshiba. For many month, it was unclear which format would win the battle for high definition supremacy as the lead switched back and forth a few times.

Most tech writers, including myself, advised consumers not to purchase either type of machine until there was a clear winner. We are only days away from having an absolute clear winner, but there is very little doubt now who it will be.

And the winner will be....Blu Ray!! Several events have occurred just recently that indicate that there is little or no doubt about the final outcome.

This was a strange war that hearkened back to the battle between BetaMax and VHS in the early days of video tape recorders. The big difference in this new war was that the major motion pictures studios chose to back one format or the other for their new releases, which I always found strange. Back in the early video tape wars, studios released their movies in both formats.

As for retailers, the majority have been carrying both types of DVD players, also waiting to see who will win. Now, that is all changing.

In the last few days, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy announced they will only carry Blu-Ray players and disks. Meanwhile, Netflix and Blockbuster, the two competing kings of video rentals, announced they will no longer carry HD-DVD titles...only Blu-Ray from here on in.

As for the major motion picture studios, Warner Brothers recently switched over to Blu-Ray, leaving only Universal and Paramount as the last two hold-outs for HD-DVD. Expect to see both those studios switch shortly because of retailer's decisions to carry only Blu-Ray. Sticking with HD-DVD will cost them millions of dollar of potential revenue. Interestingly, Paramount switched from Blu-Ray to HD-DVD just last year. You have to think that heads will roll over that decision.

If you have a high definition TV and you have been waiting to see which type would emerge victorious, you probably can run out now and get a Blu-Ray machine, although you will still pay a fat price for it. Like everything, prices will be dropping. If you didn't take my advice to wait and went out and bought an HD-DVD player, be on the lookout for some incredible sales on movies in that format as retailer will be dumping their inventory. I would buy as many as you can as they won't be available much longer.

Who did I think would win? Actually I predicted that Blu-Ray would win...not because I had any great insight or studied the market in depth. No, my reason was that Blu-Ray was a much cooler and sexier name than HD-DVD. It has a good ring to it. A cool name means a great deal.

Remember, Adolph Hitler's name by all rights should have been Adolf Schicklegruber. Can you see anyone running around in the 30's and 40's lifting their right arm in salute and saying "Heil Schicklegruber?" I don't think so. A cool name can make all the difference. And Blu-Ray is really cool.

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.

Hello Again...A Poor Artist Bearing Gifts

Hello again from beautiful downtown Ephrata. I know it has been a couple of months since you heard from me...and for that I apologize. But, as many regular readers know, Spring, Summer, and Autumn are busy times for me with art shows all over the Northwest. In addition, I've been doing a fair amount wedding, portrait, and event photography, so it has been a very busy 6 months. Finding time to write a blog is hard when one's head is in so many places.

But, the season is winding down (2 shows left as of this writing) and its time for me to get back into the blog mode...so let us see if I remember how to write. On this blog, I want to make some amends for all the months I have missed, so I will start out with two free gifts...outstanding free software...guaranteed.

The first is a program call Auslogics Disk Defragmenter. As the name implies, it is designed to defragment your hard drive so that your files are all in the same location on your drive...making it faster for your computer to load. Defragmenters have been around for years and you should use one at least twice a year. For several years I have used the one that comes with Norton Systemworks or the one that comes with Windows.

The problem with both of them is that they are so slow and it can take hours to do a complete defragmentation. The Auslogics Disk Defrag is much faster, according to reviewers and users who have written their own reviews. And after using it a few times, I agree. It is much faster than any defragmenter that I have ever used. Now, don't expect lightning speed. It still takes a while to run a defragmenting operation. But this one is the fastest I've used.

You can download this great, free program by clicking here.

My second free software gift is a program called "Xplorer2." The best way to describe it is that it is a replacement for Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer). I have never liked Windows Explorer and have been looking for a better file management software program for years. Along the way, I found a few that were good, but not great. Xplorer2 is great.

It works just like Windows Explorer, except that it gives you three columns instead of two, so you can work on two directories at the same time. When you start it, the program remembers where you were the last time you used it whereas Windows Explorer makes you start all over every time.

There are several other improvements that Xplorer2 offers that are too numerous to list here. If you would like to try it for yourself, you can download it here.

I promise more good blogs in the very near future and more good (free) software tips. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Best of the Free Firewalls

Greetings from beautiful downtown Kalispell, Montana. I am here for a 3 day art show called Arts-in-the-Park and have done well, so far. It was a long day getting here and I will head for home on Sunday night as soon as I take down the tent and load up the van. I have another big show in Richland on Friday and Saturday next week and need all the time I can have to get ready for it. Its warmer here than at home, but I am parked under a huge oak tree and am very comfortable.

On to the business at hand. As you know, I travel a lot these days, always with my laptop, and always on the lookout for free wireless connections. I usually find them in non-Starbucks coffee houses, like the one I am in right now (City Coffee here in Kalispell...highly recommended). I have been doing some thinking lately that I need to add a software firewall to my laptop, at least something better than the built-in firewall that comes with Windows.

Until now, I haven't made it a priority since my home and studio both have routers which act as firewalls. But, after reading a couple of articles on laptop safety while traveling, I decided to look for a free firewall that would help me out on the road and act as a second firewall when I am back on my home turf. In talking with the technician at my ISP, they recommend a software firewall on all my computers, even though they are behind router firewalls.

Of course I wanted a free one, if possible. I did my homework and found that there are three free firewalls that rank fairly high for the protection they provide. The first, and probably the best is Comodo, a very good firewall product that has won some Editor's Choice Awards and raves from several user's reviews that I have read.

The second is the free version of ZoneAlarm. It also has some decent reviews, but several users report that it has slowed down their computers. Other on-line reviewers have stopped recommending it because it just hasn't kept up with some of the newer firewalls that have come out.

The third is a new firewall that caught me offguard when I found it. It is made by PC Tools, the maker of my new favorite spyware detector, Spyware Doctor. It came in third in a couple of reviews I read, but because it has the familar interface of Spyware Doctor, this was the one I chose. It is a very good firewall, but not my first line of defense (at home, anyway), and it will do the job I wanted, both at home and on the road.

In working with it for a few days, I have found it easy to use and set up. And, as I said, the screen interface makes it so easy to use in my case. It takes up very little memory and system resources, which also makes me happy.

Like all firewalls, it has to be trained, meaning that every time something on your computer tries to access the Internet, the software asks you if it is OK. If it is something like your Web browser, you obviously want to permit it, but the software also lets you make this a permanent "yes" so the program won't ask you again.

So what is the big difference between the built-in Windows firewall and all of the ones I have listed above? And why do most computer security experts recommend you use a software firewall other than the Windows one?

The answer is simple. The Windows firewall is a one way firewall, meaning it only monitors and blocks any possible illegal access attempts coming in from the outside. It does nothing about attempts to get on the net from inside your computer. So, if you picked up some bad rootkit, or unknowingly have a spyware program inside your computer that wants to send your personal information out along the Net, the Windows firewall can't do anything for you.

On the other hand, these other firewalls I've mentioned here monitor both traffic directions and notify you when a program tries to access the net from inside your computer. That is why you have to train it so it will not block your regular programs. So, if spyware is trying to send personal information out, you are notified and can decline to let it access the Internet.

The one unfortunate thing about most firewalls, especially the free ones, is that they don't block any potential malware coming in from bad site. For that, you need a good spyware software like Spyware Doctor or CounterSpy.

I hope this is of help to you.

Free Fish Tank

If you have ever walked into a retail store that carries computers, you have probably seen the aquarium screen savers show different kinds of fish swimming lazily either an ocean or aquarium environment. With today's high resolution monitors and video cards, these screen savers look hauntingly realistic.

Psychologists have pointed out for years that having an aquarium is a good way to relax and lower stress if you just sit and watch the fish do their thing. My brother has had an aquarium for years, and while it is very relaxing to sit and watch the the little fishies swimming around, I found that your stress levels go back up because you have to feed them every day and clean up the tank on a regular basis. Thanks, but no thanks. All pets are high maintenance, which is why at this point in our lives, Susan and I live in a pet-free environment.

But, along with many other folks, I enjoy watching fish swim, either in an aquarium, or in their natural environment. Enter the aquarium screen savers. You get to watch fish swim without having to perform any maintenance. The problem has been that these screen savers, including the one from Microsoft, cost money. And while I enjoy watching fish swim, I was not moved to spend any money for it.

A few months ago, when I had some extra time to do some research, I looked for a free aquarium screen saver. No such luck...they all cost money.

But, the other day, I ran across a free one called "Sim Aquarium." It comes in a free version as well as more complex aquariums that do cost a few dollars. I downloaded the free one and enjoy it very much. It looks good on all my monitors, especially my 20" wide-screen monitor at home.

If you have always wanted a fish screen saver, give this one a try. It is available on the ZDNet web site. Enjoy.

Securing Firefox

Hello again from beautiful downtown Ephrata. I know it has been a couple of weeks since I've written anything, but, as longtime readers know, this is the busiest part of my art season, where I go from show-to-show displaying and selling my art works. And I am now beginning really busy time of the season. This weekend I will be in Gig Harbor, WA and next weekend in Kalispell, MT. After that I go directly to Richland, WA, followed by Coeur d Alene in the first weekend of August.

It is major crunch time for me as I have to come back to Ephrata after each show to restock my traveling van before heading out for the next one. Sometimes I only have 3 days to do that. So, I just don't have a lot of time to write these blogs, as much as I love doing it. I will make up for it in the winter months, I promise.

Susan and I did take 10 days off for both a vacation on the Olympic Peninsula and a family reunion in Seaside, OR. We had a great time, although I haven't had much time to even look at the photos I took on the trip. After the vacation, we headed to Tacoma where I had a very successful 3 day show.

So that sort of catches you up on my comings and goings. I will write a quick blog when I can, as I am still keeping up with the latest trends in technology on a nearly daily basis. I have several blogs planned and hope to find time to write them.

Today, I want to recommend and important article I just read about Firefox, my favorite Web browser. If you are a Firefox user you need read this article. It is entitled, "Securing Firefox: How to Avoid Hacker Attacks..." It is 11 pages long but most of it is illustrations showing how to set up your browser to be as secure as possible. Again, I strongly recommend that you read this article.

Almost as I write these words, a new security flaw has shown up in Firefox that you should also be aware of. This one is interesting (and weird) because it really isn't Firefox's fault. If you have both Internet Explorer and Firefox installed on your computer and you are browsing a malicious Web site using IE, Firefox can be attacked and used to hack your computer. I said it was weird.

If you browse the same bad site with Firefox, you can't be hacked as the site is geared to attack IE. So, the easiest solution is not to browse a malicious site with IE. As for me, I never use Internet Explorer, so I am safe. I also have set up my Firefox using the recommendations in the article mentioned above. Look for the folks at Mozilla to fix this flaw soon.

Happy computing and I will write when I can.