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Photo Editing On the Cheap

It’s spring time which means, the snow is gone the birds are out and the flowers are starting to bloom. This to me only means one thing, it’s time to take the camera out and start taking photos of everything. I don’t have a DSLR, I have a Samsung Digimax A503 it’s a 5 mega pixel camera. It’s a great little camera and takes very good photos. It just can’t get the detail that a DSLR could get when I take photos. I try to make up for this by editing the photos colors. I use 3 photo editing programs… well some times 4 photo editing programs and I would like to share them with you all.

The first program I use is Windows Live Photo Gallery. I use this to keep all my photos organized; import new photos form my camera and do quick edits to photos and to upload the photos to Flickr and Facebook. Gallery is a simple and straight forward. It’s nice for when you want to throw a quick slide show of your photos as well. Windows live gallery is part of the Windows live Essential suit that Microsoft offers at get.live.com and it is only for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 users only (sorry mac people).

Now, almost every time I take photos I normally have a few where I say to myself, “I bet I could do something with that.” That is when I fire up GIMP. GIMP is an advance photo editor it’s really for the people that want to get Photoshop but just don’t want to use it or can’t justify spending the cash for Photoshop. The only thing that worries me is I have not seen any kind of updates for GIMP in the last year or so. I’m worried that it is going to stand still and at some point I'm going to have go out and actually purchase Photoshop. Until that day comes, I have GIMP and it is more then I will ever need. As a word of warning if you already use Photoshop don’t use GIMP because most people that are used to Photoshop hate the UI of GIMP.

Maybe GIMP is too much for you. You want to do some edits but what you want to do isn’t in Windows Live Gallery, well you could always try Photoshop Express. This is an online application to edit your photos. You just have to go to photosho.com and make an account. It’s easy to use, you just have to upload the photo or photos you want to edit and hit edit to edit the photo. Give it a try the next time you are editing photos. You can share and organize your photos on there as well. With a free account you can keep up to 2 GB of photos but you can buy more storage as needed. There is a mobile app for this as well for the iPhone called Photoshop mobile. This has some nice filters and quick edits fetchers for when you take photos on your iPhone.

There is one thing I forgot to talk about in this, and that is the price off all these programs. You might be thinking $19.99, or maybe $9.99, I’m here to say everything I talked about in this is all free and with the exception of Windows Live Gallery these applications all work on Windows, Mac and also Linux. If you were thinking of getting Photoshop so you could fix some of the photos you took Mothers Day, save your money and try some of these free programs instead.

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Google IO Day 1 Keynote

    The first day Google IO keynote was today which starts off the two day Google developer conference. There was not a hole lot to talk about that would interest most people, like I said its a developer conference. If you would like to read about everything that was talked about in the key note you can go to the Official Google Blog which has all the details there.

    Now there was two things that pop out in my mind when I think back to it that really just made me say "WOW", those were the Chrome Web Store and the Sports Illustrated HTML 5 app. Before HTML 5 and the web 2.0 we used mostly client apps that ran on our computers like Microsoft Office. To get office you would have to go to a store and buy it and maybe wile you were at the store you might see another software that you might want as well. Now you would go home and install it on your computer. Right now there is no system like that for web apps. The mobile market found how to fix that with mobile stores like the iTunes app store and neat less to say Google is taking a play out of Apples book and doing the same with HTML 5 apps. They are doing this by making the Chrome App Store. How they showed it off in the demos it looks like that page that you get in Chrome now that shows you the most resent pages you've ben to and the tabs you recently closed. Well take that out put icons and you got this Chrome desktop. There's one icon that says Chrome App Store. When you click on it and it takes you to the app store it looks a lot like the Apple app store. You can buy and get apps with a quick click of the mouse and they are added to your home screen on Chrome in a flash. The coolest thing they showed was the games. They showed Plants VS Zombies and they also showed Lego Star wars, and it seemed to work grate. But this was just a demo so your mileage may vary.

    The other thing that was showen off was a HTML 5 app for Sports Illustrated. Which I really didn't think I would even care about since I really don't like any real sports. But I saw how magazines are going to change. There was a mix of photos text and video in this app. It all seemed practical too there was videos ware it was useful and made sense and not just any ware like you might think they would put it. They had vary good navigation tools as well ways to save video in the app so that you could read it later. What I really thought was cool was the fact you can recorgaize articles so you can put what you want to read at the front and the stuff maybe you don't care about to the back. I my self may not care about reading SI but I do see how other company's can do similar things to have a good magazine experience online.

    There was a lot more that was talked about today and from what they said there will be even more tomorrow. They even used the word surprise. Could this be a Chrome OS device announcement or maybe even a Android tablet I guess we will just have to wait and see tomorrow. In the the mean time you can go to the Google IO YouTube channel and watch the keynote if you want to do so by to youtube.com/googledevelopers.

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My Top iPod Touch Apps

I recently got a new iPod Touch as I stated in my last post. When I plugged it in the new iPod it asked me if I wanted to restore from an old back. I said no, so that I could maybe save some room on it and get rid of what I don't use. Well I also started thinking of what apps I use every day and well I thought I should share some of those apps with all of you.
TweetDeck:
The first app I cant live without is Tweet Deck for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It brings everything you love about the desktop app to the mobile space. Its great for if you have more then one account you need to keep track of. I love how I can make columns that are just my twitter lists, or columns that are saved searches in twitter. The only thing I can think of that bugs me about tweet deck for the iPod Touch is that when I turn it side ways when I go to make tweet. It doesn't sense the screen is sideways and doesn't go in to landscape mode, I have to hit a button for it to go into landscape mode. It's really a minor problem but it dose bug me and I wish they would fix that. Over all Tweet Deck I feel is one of the best Twitter apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Facebook:
    I'm not done yet, there are more apps I use everyday. The Facebook app is another app that I feel I can't live without. Being able to just take out my iPod and check my Facebook messages or IMing my friend/editor for this site Erick about things. The mobile Facebook app gives you access to your news feeds and all your friends so you can talk with them just like you would on your desktop. In my opinion, it works better then the regular site because you can't get side tracked with things like Farmville. Since there is no flash on the iPhone and iPod Touch. There is a negative to this app and that is you can't access Facebook messages offline. Now I know that dosen't really sound like a problem you might even think its quite stupid. I find more and more of my important info is being sent to my Facebook messages than my normal e-mail. The built in Mail app for the iPod Touch catches my e-mail I get through my many e-mail addresses I have setup to the device. Why can't I do that with my Facebook messages? It's probably just me that wants this. If that's not a problem for you and even if it is, you should still get the Facebook app for the iPod Touch if you live on Facebook like I do.

New York Times:
    If you want to get caught up on your daily news, the New York times app is great... for now. I'll exsplan the "for now," a little latter. For me this is one of the first apps I look at when I wake up in the morning. I will admit I don't always read it all but I scan it till I find a headline that catches my eye. I also love how it is customizable, because you can put shortcuts to the sections you want to look at. Now remember the New York Times is old media so their not in the business of giving away free news. With that said the app doesn't give you the full articles but gives you almost everything. To make it simple you can read what it is about. The other problem is not a problem, yet. I'm sure it will be soon and that is, that the NY Times will be adding a subscription fee for the web site and I'm sure this app as well by next year. Until then enjoy the free news.

Mashable:
    If you are into Twitter and Facebook then you probably are into the whole social media thing. I'm sure its no news to you that Mashable is the place to get social media news. Mashable had a crappy iPhone app that I felt was, well, half baked. Now, they have come out with a new Mashable app that is fully baked. Everything that is on the Mashable web site can be right on your iPhone or iPod Touch for you to read in full. When you open it, it will check for latest stores. It will also put the stories to your device so you can read them latter ( I should note it dose not save images or videos). There is notifications so that if you want to know about stories as they are posted, you can have that turned on. Which leads in to my problem with the app. The notifications are nice but I wish I just could filter them. For example, I wish I could say only notify me of stories about Facebook and Twitter. Then, when a story about Twitter or Facebook is posted it would only alert me about that and not every little thing like this:

    For now I have turned off notifications. If you are really into social media or just looking for something to read on the bus, I would say get this app and you can't go wrong.



LockBox:
Do you have information that you wish you had an easy way to keep secure and be with you when you need it? Well I did and this next app helped me out a lot. I had some information that I wanted to keep on my iPod awhile ago, but I needed to keep safe somehow. So I started looking up apps that could let me put a password or something on a note with important info on it. That's when I saw LockBox. This app lets you put info like passwords and bank info into this app and you can put a 4 digit code on it. Now I know 4 digit codes are not really all that secure but in this case I felt some security was better then none. There are problems with this app, the fact that you can only do 4 digit codes is one. The other is you can't copy and past info out of the app with out editing the info. I would just like it to do that and it would be perfect. But if that does not bother you then go get it on the app store.

Well these are just some of the apps I can't live without. I have more, but I will save those for another day. I hope you enjoy theses apps everyday just as much as I do.


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Pad or not to ipad

About a week ago, I was at my grandparents and they were watching Oprah on TV. Oprah was talking about her iPad and raving about how great it was and what not. My grandma asked me about it and I went on about it myself. I tried to give them use cases for the iPad. Then my grandma asked, "Would you like an iPad?" Normally this means, "Would you like us to buy you it?" It took me 2 minutes to reply and what I said was no. A lot went on in my head in that 2 minute delay between when she asked me. If I wanted one and me saying no. Below are the ideas that ran through my head that caused me to say no to an ipad.

I, myself, do not have an iPhone or any kind of smart phone but I feel my iPod Touch makes up for not having an iPhone. The iPod Touch can do almost anything the iPhone can do but make phone calls and take photos. For some people, not being able to take photos or videos with their device might be a problem, but for me I don't care about doing that. The other thing they may not like is that you have to carry around two devices, a phone and an iPod Touch. Once again that does not normally bother me at all. The iPod Touch can only use WIFI, yet again that does not bother me at all.

Now that you know some of the ups and downs of it, here is why I didn't want an iPad. At the time my grandparents asked me if I wanted an iPad, I had a first gen iPod Touch. The iPad is nice. The apps look better on it than an iPhone or iPod Touch. Watching movies or podcasts look better because it has a bigger screen. Reading on an iPad seems like it would be better on it then an iPhone or an iPod Touch. I think you get the point. Everything you might love about the iPhone or iPod Touch is better on an iPad cause of the bigger screen. There is one big problem with a bigger screen, and that is that it makes the device bigger. What I love about my iPod Touch is that I can use it and put it in my pocket. The ease of portability is what I love about the iPod Touch. You can't shove an iPad in your pocket, unless you have big pockets.

I also thought about what I can't do with my iPod Touch and what you can do with the iPad. The only thing I could think of was that I couldn't use the iBook store. But then I remembered in June (I think) Apple is coming out with iPhone OS 4.0, which will add the iBook store to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Though I don't really care about the iBook store. I don't like to read books, I just can't stand to sit in one place and read text for hours on end. So that does not internecine me to get an iPad, but the other things coming in iPhone OS 4.0 do. The problem being, I had a first gen iPod Touch and to get the full benefit of iPhone OS 4 you have to have a third gen iPod Touch. So would it not make more sense for me to get a third gen iPod Touch than a iPad that isn't as portable, and I would have to wait longer to get the update?

That is what made me say no to the iPad, but I did say that I would like a new iPod Touch. Now I have a new iPod Touch that will work with the update coming this summer to the iPhone and iPod Touch. It felt like forever thinking of it all, but this is what went on it my head in those 2 minutes and what I decided made sense to myself. You may have different wants, or different situations that make an iPad more suitable for you then it was for me. I am happy with my new iPod Touch and will be for many years now.

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F8 Keynote

Today was the Facebook developers conference F8. Ware Mark Zuckerberg showed use some of the new things that developers will be able to use to give there users a more social experience. The keynote was focused on three key things. The open graph, instant social, and making development simple. First off they announced as of 4/21/10 they have 400 million registered people on Facebook and 36 million use the site on a mobile device.
Mark talked a lot about this thing he called the Open Graph. The Open Graph is taking your Social Graph and opening it to other places. One one the examples they used was Yelp which you can see in this video below:

From the video you just saw you can get a bit of what the Open Graph is and how it can be used. New plug-ins where announced as well, these plug-ins will help to make sites more social by adding a news feed so people can see what others have said about a article on a site. There is a like button that you can add to your site and it shows the user if other people they know have liked whatever content is as well. The last one is a tool bar that adds all that and Facebook chat to a web site but just as a bar at the bottom of a web page. All this Mark says will work without a user logging in.
Another thing that was talked about was some changes for developers so that Facebook applications can see what you are doing in real time. So lets say you play Farmville plugged in to your account if you update your profile from being in relationship to being single, as soon as you change that Zinga knows. Now that doesn't really seem that bad since lets face it these apps know probably more about us then we do. But what I think this info is going to be use for is ads so apps can have more relevant ads.
Pretty much everything that was talked about in the keynote can be used today and some of it is already implemented in sites like CNN Money, Yelp, and Pandora. I have a few screen shots:

You will see more of this I'm sure in the coming weeks other sites will add all this to there sites. The hole idea is to make user feel less alone when they join a site and to make it essayer for them to find there friends if they too are a member already and what better way to do that with then Facebook.
Some people today might say today was the day Facebook became Google scary. I for one think these new feachers are good and that someone had to do it, and since there is no one with enough umf be hind them to do it Facebook is the only ones who can do it and keep it around.

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Google Apps Part 2 Reader and Calendar

Like I talked about in part one, Google started off with a search engine. Today, they offer much more then just searching. I talked about one of them already, Gmail. Now for me, no suit is complete without a calender and a RSS reader. Well, Google has you covered with Google Calender and Google Reader. I will admit that I don't use RSS readers that much anymore but it is something nice to still have in my arsenal.
    Google Reader is a RSS reader. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary. This makes it easy for people to subscribe to a web site or a blog like you would a newspaper. This can be useful, but the down side is you don't get the whole site. You would get something like this:

    If all you want is the article, then it works great. I find that Google Reader helps organize better then other readers do. When you first open up Google Reader, it takes you to a home page where it has the top stories of the sites you subscribe to right there. Then, over to the side at the bottom is all the sites you subscribe to. Above that is recommended RSS feeds that the reader thinks you might enjoy reading. Then there are statistic options and ways to share stories with your friends.

    Adding somthing to your reader is vary easy, just go to the site you want to add and look for the RSS icon in your browser.

    Then select, "Subscribe with Google" and it will be added in Google Reader. (This is used with the web browser, Firefox). Once you subscribe to their feed, you will receive updates to the site and you will be able to read it in your Google reader. Unlike a newspaper that you get once maybe twice a day, Google reader is not normally out of date unless something goes wrong with a sites feed.

    Google Reader is a nice thing google offers so that you can have one place that you can go that has all the news you want in one place. Another thing you might want to check in the morning might be your calender. Wouldn't it be nice if Google had a calender that you could check online too... oh wait they do, and its called "Google Calender."
    Google Calender is what won me over to use Google services. Google Calender is well what you think it is, it is a calender. Compared to other online calenders, I would say, Google calender is one of the best. Oh and like everything else, it is free. So let me share why Google Calender is so great.

    I don't really think I need to explain how to use it but I will share a lot of what it can do. I enjoy that you can set it to remind you via e-mail. This works for me because I'm in and out of my email all day long, so I can receive reminders that easily. If you have an iPhone, an iPod touch, or any phone that supports Microsoft Exchange then you can have the calender sync to your phone. This allows you to have access to your calender wherever you are, online or offline. To set it up just go to google.com/sync where there are instructions on how to set it up on your mobile device. Once you have it set up, you can add events to your calender on your mobile device or even get rid of events. Everything you do will effect your Google Calender online so your calender is always up to date.

    I believe just that alone makes Google Calender worth the little bit of time it takes to setup. It keeps me from forgetting inportant things. If you are a busy person and you want a calender that will just work and you don't have to mess around with it, then Google Calender is a good option for you. This ends part 2 stay tune for part 3.

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iPhone OS 4?

Apple will be showing a preview of iPhone OS 4 on April 8th this was reported by Mashable earlier you can read more about this over at Mashable. Now that you know that, I want to share a quick story. I was syncing my iPod and saw that the next time it was going to look for updates is going to be on 4/8/2010 the same day Apple is going to show off iPhone OS 4. I e-mail Apple asking about this but as of right I have not herd anything back just yet. What I think will happen is there will be a minor update that day. Not iPhone OS 4. I took a screen shot of what my iTunes said so you can see. If there is any updates I will keep you all posted.

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Google Apps Part 1

Google started off as a little search "engine that could," that has now become a huge company that offers a lot more then just searching for information. Most people go to Google and don't even know that there is more then just the "search" option. I feel it is about time that some of these gems become unhidden. Google has many services such as, Gmail, Google reader, Google Voice, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and many more. For now I'm just going to focus on the services that make things that used to be difficult, more efficient.
    I will start with Gmail since it is the birthday boy today (as I write this on April 1st). Gmail is Google's e-mail service. But it is really more then that, it is an e-mail web app with a grate contact system and calender. If you use Outlook to view your e-mail, and you are looking for a free version then Gmail is the free online equivalent to Outlook. Unlike Outlook, Gmail is a lot simpler. Its also nice that once you have a Gmail address its like you have a golden ticket, because now you can use other things like Google Calender and Google Documents which for me makes things like Outlook and Word useless to me.
    Some people have a problem with things like Gmail because they are online. So if you don't have an Internet connection you can't get to your e-mail. Well, Google thought of that and there is a Google solution and it is Gears. Gears is a browser plug in which lets you access your Gmail offline.

Just install Gears and restart your browser, go to Gmail and it will start syncing. Now you have your Gmail anywhere you go.

Gmail is a Google service that is not very well known. For most people, Gmail is good enough for them and has more than what they need. It is nice to have more than not enough when you need something. If there is anything Gmail does not have, well just remember it's free and you really cant complain. Part 2 will be up later in the week so stay tuned!

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How many apps is enough

The iPhone has 100,000 plus apps on the app store. There apps for almost anything you can think of on the app store. The apps are what really make the iPhone grate and stand out of the pack. Blackbary and Windows mobile have been out for longer then the iPhone but they just dont have the apps that the iPhone has, and ware are they now? People are not happy with there Blackbarrys like they use to be and windows mobile is being discontiued for the new Windows Phone searys 7.
What about googles android? Android dose not have the apps eather but unlike Blackbarry and Windows Mobile Android dose have alot of apps and is a good second place with the number of apps it has. Android is slowly becoming more and more popular. This makes the plateform more atractive to develpers.
Now I have a question, how many apps are enough? What makes a phone a deal braker for people? Ok that was two questions. For most people I think they want a good Twitter app and Facebook app. As far as the phone it self gose the phone has to have a media player and it has a good interface for text messages. Oh and it should also work as a phone too.

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Keeping your Computer running Like New

Many people buy computer and after a month they complain that there computer is slower then it was when they got it. They don’t know are under stand that there computer needs maintenance just like a car. Unlike a car computer maintenance is easy to do and cost nothing.

What you should do is set a day either once a week or every two weeks for computer clean up. For me I do this every Friday I do mine. The first thing I do is I open Microsoft update and check to make sure I have all the important updates downloaded and installed. Then I check for third party software updates like Skype and Firefox to make sure they are up to date. There is no point in clean up your computer if there are security flaws in that can be fixed.

The second thing I do is run clean disk this finds files that you just don’t need like temp files and deletes the files. When you start it up it will tell you how much room you are freeing up. You might find that you are freeing up a lot of space.

Another thing you can do is run a spyware scanner to look for spyware. Spyware if you have it can suck up resources which means your computer will run slow. I use Spybot Search and Destroy to look for spyware. There are others to look for it like adware which works just as well.

The last thing you should do is run a Viruses scan. You never know you might have a virus that is slowing your computer down. I personally think paid AV software like Norton are scams. I use a free one by Microsoft called Microsoft Security Essentials. It works and it never bugs me unless something happens. There are other free AV’s like AVG  is a good one that I used for along time.

These are simple things you can do to keep your computer running fast. Now I can say that it will run as fast as the day you got it, but it will run faster then if you didn’t do these things. I hope this helps.

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Tips for Staying more Secure On Face Book

Attacks on Facebook are on the rise and I thought this would be a good time to share some basic tips on how not to get your facebook account hacked. These tips are pretty basic and you should be doing them but hey everyone forgets the basics every now and then so let me remind you.

  1. Use a good password: Your password is you first defense when protecting you Facebook account. You shouldn't be using your pet names for your password for it. You should use something long and random. If you cant think of one there good places that generate good ones like Steve Gibson Perfect Passwords. Im sure your not going to remember it or even want to type it in when you log in to Facebook well that is solved with Last Pass I talked more about it in my post the other day.
  2. The Youtube is a lie: You might have herd of this happening to someone or it has happen to you. You get a message form one of your friends saying that they found a video on Youtube or they put one on Youtube with you on it doing something crazy. Then you click on the link to see the video and you see a page that looks just like Youtube but you get the you need to update your flash player error. So what do you do you click on the link to install the new flash. Well what you really just did was install malicious software that is key logging your every key stroke to get your Facebook password so they can then send that same message to someone else, then they can do the same thing. The tip here is if you get this and your 50% or more sure you didn't do anything dumb or crazy to be put on youtube lately then it is probably a phishing scam.
  3. Facebook apps: The apps are a grate way for someone to get your Facebook password. These apps already know so much about you all the info on your page (even hidden info) plus they have the same access to your friends info as well. How they get your password would something like this, you take a quiz on Facebook to see what Pokemon you are or somthing and you finish the quiz. Now you hit summit and it says oh you you have to log back in to Facebook, so what do you do you log in but the login page was not really the Facebook login page and now they have your password. Now Facebook dose try to get rid of these rouge apps but they can't get them all.
  4. Don't Share: If you do anything for the love of god don't share your password with your friends. They maybe your friends to day but you could piss them off and what would be grate way to get revenge but to spill your darkest deepest secrets as status updates on Facebook and change the password so you cant get in to get rid of it. I have seen this happen so many times before its just bad and so preventable.

I hope these tips keep you from getting your Facebook page hacked. There easy things to do and keep in mind when you using Facebook or any social networking site like it.  So have fun and be safe.

Just as note here is the address for Perfect passwords: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

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Staying MORE SUCURE

This year I vowed to be more secure by doing simple things that most of us probably don’t do but should. These little things are in the back of most of our minds, we know we should we just don’t do them. Thing like changing your passwords once a month or every two months, using strong passwords and not using password1234 for your password.

If you are like me your not going to remember long random passwords. You need something that will remember for you. Well I use two and I will tell you why latter. The two password management software I use are Keepass and Last Pass. These two work vary well for me to feel a little bit safer. Keepass has a nice simple UI, easy to use and makes it easier to organize your passwords so when you need them you can find them. Keepass also has a grate password generator, so if you cant think of a good password just hit generate and it will make one for you. Last Pass is a cloud service that I use to keep track of my passwords online so even if I'm some ware other then home and I need a password for a web site I can just go to the last pass site and get the password I need. Last Pass also has a Firefox extension as well.

So why do I use two? Well Keepass and Last Pass have both there positives and negatives. Keepass works well on the desktop and it is easy to setup and make new passwords on it but if I'm not home I cant get to my passwords. I know keepass can be installed on a flash drive (which I have it installed on right now) but if I lose that drive there all gone now. Also Keepass dose not sync with my other computers so I always have figure out what password is right and which on is old or in some cases not even there. Keepass is what I use for passwords that don’t change much like the password to local admin accounts on my computers or the network key to my WIFI. These things don’t normally change a lot. I use Last Pass to keep trace of things that change a lot like my bank password, Twitter,Facebook I think you get it. Last Pass is online so I don’t have to worrie about things not syncing up cause its all online it just works good with web sites. Last Pass just dose not work as well with things like Network passwords and local computer account passwords.

Before I finish I want to let you know things like Keepass and Last Pass all have one flaw you have to have a master password for them. This means you have to have one password that has  to guard all the good passwords and it should be something you remember. Just thought I would give you a heads up on that. Over all these two work grate for me and are easy to use and setup. So have fun being more secure.

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The Ipad

Today Apple announced what they called “Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”. Steve Job’s calls it iPad.Now I was not there everything I herd was from the stream that TWIT did from inside the show. Just so you know.

A lot of people have said that the iPad runs iPhone OS. This made me think that its just a big iPod Touch, and well that's what it is but it looks so much better then that. It kind of takes the iPod Touch witch I have always said was the Apple netbook. Now the iPad is not a netbook, its not a smart book, its a pad.  For Steve a pad is in between a smart phone and a computer. They did not want this to be seen as the Apple netbook. Steve basically he said netbooks are junk.

There it is the iPad. The iPad lets you brows the web, do e-mail, look at your photos, and allot of the things that the iPod Touch lets you do. The iPad enhances what the Touch dose by really using the screen real state. The screen is  9.7” it supposable gets 10 hours of battery life and a month of stand by battery life. It also has 802.11 N WIFI and Bluetooth 2.1.

Since the pad runs iPhone OS it works with all the apps in the app store right out of the box and up scales the app to work full size on the pad. There will also be apps made just for the pad as well when it comes out. The New York Times has an app for it and so dose EA Games will also have games ready for it when it comes out.

Also since it runs iPhone OS there is iPod functionality and Video witch looks grate on the pad. The big app for the iPad is really is going to be iBook the e-book reader app. When you open it you will see something just like a real book shelf with all the books you have bought. How will you get all these books you might ask, well from the built in book store of course. Yes there will be an iTunes book store ware you can get all your books for the iPad.

When the iPad comes out Apple is also porting there office suit iWork over to the pad. You will be able to get Keynote, Pages, and Number on the pad. You will be able to work on you documents on the go. The apps will cost $9.99 each.  (If I used iWork I would want that.)

The pad will sync with iTunes via USB just like the iPhone or any of the iPods (Mac or PC). The iPad will have 3G in some models and WIFI only models. The WIFI only ones will be available in 60 day’s the WIF+3G will be out in 90 days. At this point you must be asking how much will it cost. I for one thought it would be any ware form $700-$999 I was wrong the iPad will start at $499 for 16GB and WIFI only and the 3G one will start at $629 for 16GB plus the 3G. In the US the 3G will be form AT&T $14 a month for 250 MB of data, of you can pay $29.99 a month for unlimited data. You also get free WIFI at any place that is a AT&T hot spot.

 

Now of course there are things you can get with the iPad like a cover that turns into a stand so you can watch movies or TV shows. The really cool thing they showed off was a keyboard dock for the pad, so wile it is charging you can pound out an e-mail or something with with a real keyboard.

Over all I do think the iPad announcement lived up to its hype. I do think this pad will change the way we consume media from now on. Though I could be wrong this will not be out for another 60 days and then we will see. I do expect we will see lines forming in front of Apple stores days before it comes out it will be like the iPhone release all over. Maybe even worse. I for one can not wait. You can go to the iPad site and look at more info on it if you like.

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What We Might See Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day for Apple. Apple will reveal the god tablet to the world and it will either be a success or a flop. Personally I’m leaning trod it being a success, but who knows. Now there are other things we may also might see tomorrow other then the tablet. If anything the tablet will be the last thing they show. You will hear Steve say ”oh one more thing” and he will show the tablet.

Before the Tablet I do think we will see the following:

  1. iLife 2010: This is one of the things that will be announced tomorrow at the announcement. I think iLife will have some way to do your own iTunes LP and do your own extras with Movies (bye bye iDVD). Pretty much what I'm saying iLife will get more modern and let people do things that they really want to do.
  2. iPhone OS Update (3.? or 4.0): There are allot of people saying there might be a iPhone OS upgrade as well tomorrow, many of these people say it is iPhone OS 4.0. I for one do think there will be a iPhone OS update tomorrow but it will not be 4.0 I think it will be 3.2 is what we will see I don’t think they will do 4.0 tomorrow that will most likely be saved for the summer.
  3. New iPhone?: I don’t think there is going to be a new iPhone tomorrow but there at lot of sites that keep saying that there is going to be a new iPhone. I think this is no more than wishful thinking. If there is a new iPhone it wont be different form the last one other then this one will work on Verizon.
  4. The iPhone Free from AT&T: If there are any iPhone announcement tomorrow, it will be the iPhone will be freed from AT&T.
  5. iTunes Update: iTunes might see a little update to add a book store if the tablet has a e-reader in it.

Theses are just predictions there is no facts in here. We just will have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens (and to see what the tablet looks like and works). If you have any ideas what we might see tomorrow leave a comment.

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Google Voice On The iPhone

At some point this morning Google slipped out the Google Voice web app they said they would do for the iPhone. In case you didn’t know awhile ago Google made a Google Voice app for the iPhone and it was rejected. They went back and forth with Apple about why it was rejected Apple blamed AT&T , AT&T blamed Apple it was a hole mess. In that mess Google said that they would return and have a Google Voice app on the iPhone, but as a HTML 5 web app.

Today is that day, Google Voice for the iPhone is here and really it not just for the iPhone I'm sure works with any mobile browser that supports HTML 5. There are two things I find funny about all this. One I went to m.google.com/voice to see if they had done it yet and there was a version of it there it just was really ugly and unusable. Two I think it is really funny that they lunched it the eve of Apple’s big announcement.

Lets talk about the app a little bit. It is a vary simple look to it when you go there you see a key paid and two buttons that say call or text.

You can send and receive text messages just like on the web site your inbox, SMS, missed calls, Received calls, voice mail, and everything is there and can be used. For me this really makes Google Voice a lot more usable for me. I don’t have a iPhone I have a dumb phone or whatever you want to call normal phones. On a normal bases I'm in range of WIFI so this just makes it better now for me to switch over to using Google Voice as my phone number now.  Here are some other screen shots I took with my iPod Touch of Google Voice.

As you can see as you can put it on your home screen and it looks just like any other iPhone app it blends in just so well. I think this is Google's way of saying up yours to Apple and its app store. So enjoy this day other Google Voice users for today Google has one… but just not for long, with the tablet or whatever comes out tomorrow will end the talk of Google voice no one will be talking about this app sadly tomorrow.

 

*UPDATE: I just tried making a call form the iPod Touch and it wont work I don’t see why that is. It should not be using the device to make the call I want it send the call from my phone. Just thought you all should know.

**UPDATE: I contacted Google PR about the Issue I reported earlier and this was the response I got.

“You can access the web app on an iPod Touch by going to m.google.com/voice, however, you won't be able to place calls from your iPod Touch through the web app because Google Voice still uses your underlying phone service to complete calls.  

Google Voice does not replace your existing phone service, but rather is designed to work with your phones to give you more control and tools to manage your voice communications.”

Form what they are saying to me it sounds like its some how using the device to call you, but if I use it on the desktop website its not using my computer to call me when I make a call. If you have an answer please leave a comment.

    

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Wait AOL is Still around?

AOL has been around now for along time. I remember when I was little wanting to switch form our local ISP to AOL, just so I could hear it say “you got mail” when I got e-mail. Ater awhile I finally got my way and we moved to AOL I think this was the days of AOL 5.0. The hole thing was a mess I couldn't get on it when I wanted to, and when I did get on sites looked odd compared to IE or Netscape at the time.

I bring this up because today AOL has reinvented it self as a blog publisher. They have allot of good sites for almost anything you can think of. I think though most people still see the name AOL and think of its past. I be leave they should change there name to show what it is they do now. American Online just makes me think of there closed walled system and there crappy browser, I don’t think of blogs like Engaget or Wow insider.

Maybe it is just me that thinks they should change there name to something that shows what they do now. I know they are still an ISP but that dose not mean they could change there name. If you have any idea’s for a new name for AOL leave a comment cause I sure can’t think of a name I just think they need a new name.

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Is Apple The Man?

Once upon a time there was this young little company called Apple. Apple wanted to change the way people saw computers. They changed it a little bit with the Apple one and Apple two, but they still wanted a little bit more change. Then the little Apple came out with the Mac. This computer changed the way people thought of computers.

After the Mac came out Apple was very popular at that time until Windows 3.1 came along. I have seen the original super bowl ad for the Mac a few times on Youtube. It makes me think about is Apple today become what they were supposed to be agents? If you have not seen the ad for whatever reason the video is below.

 

Now after watching that dose that make you think too? The people all wearing the same thing the guy on the screen (that looks a lot like Steve Jobs today) dose that almost look like the seen at an Apple announcement. Today the company is all about control. I think the app store on iTunes is a perfect example of Apples control. I like it when shows poke fun at Apple’s cult like control. I’ve seen a lot of shows poke fun at Apple but I think that The Simpsons got it right.

 

Alright enough being mean to Apple time to be nicer now (so maybe I can get a review unit of the iSlate when they come out please Steve please). The control is not always a bad thing. For the most part that control is what makes the Apple experience so much better than getting a computer say from Dell or HP. When you get a computer form them there is just so much choice that most people would just be over whelmed and have a hard time finding the computer right for them. Wile when you go to an Apple Store there is not that many choices. The only choices are how big the screen is, how much RAM you want, and the size of the HHD.

The little Apple has grown up now and sells a lot more than just Mac’s. They have also changed the way we look at a lot of thing, not just computers. Is Apple the company that they once did not want to be that they showed in the Super Bowl Ad for the Mac, maybe? Really that is up for you to decide. Sometimes I read news stories and say yes they are other times I see things and say no there not. Personally I’m on the fens on this.

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It’s Apple Week!!!

Yesterday I started thinking “you know Apple is going to dominate the tech news this week so why shouldn’t I?” So that is what I'm going to do, I'am going to do at least one post a day about Apple this week. They will not all be about the tablet, but they will be about Apple. Don’t get me wrong I’m still going to cover other things other then Apple. I just want to do at least one Apple post a day for this week. Though Wednesday is going to be all Apple I'm afraid since there announcement is that day and everything. Today I will kick off Apple week with post latter on today and Apple is releasing there fiscal year first quarter results at round 5 PM EST, I will cover that and have a post when it is over. Enjoy Apple week everyone.

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Out of Loop Patch

Yesterday Microsoft came out with a patch to fix a long term problem with Internet Explorer. Though the same day Firefox 3.6 came out . So maybe that was also a hint for IE users to maybe switch to Firefox. Im not saying you should switch to Firefox but Im saying you should use almost any other browser Firefox, Chrome, or anything that is not IE. Though no matter what if you are running windows and even if you use IE once and wile you should get this update.

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Getting a New Computer Part Two:Mac or PC

When getting a new computer there is one thing you should keep in mind do you want a Apples OS X or do you want Microsoft Windows 7. As I said in part one this will broaden or shorten the list of where you can get your computer and what you can or cannot do with it.

You might be wondering now “which one is better?” well I can’t really answer that, but I can give you an idea what might be right for you. Let’s start with Windows 7. Windows 7 came out back in October; it was Microsoft’s way of getting people off of XP and trying to forget Vista. Since it is Windows it is compatible with just about everything. If you are using this computer as a work computer you can run Office, Adobe Acrobat, and all the other work like apps. If you are using it as a home computer Windows is grate for gaming. There is also good child proofing type software that comes with it, so if you don’t want little Johnny using a certain application you can block it or even limit their time on the computer. Windows has grate suit of apps called Windows live Essentials. This includes decent Photo management software, a desktop mail client, A slide show software, and a lot of other things.

 

There also a tone of places where you can get Windows based computers and laptops if you can name a place where you can buy computer it will most likely have Microsoft Windows on it.

Let’s say Microsoft is a little too gray for you, you see life more colorful then Microsoft does well there is a choice for you too and that is Apple’s OS X. OS x has gotten the reputation of being the operating system for more artistic people. People that are in to art, photography, music, and whatever else you can think of that is artistic. OS X comes right out of the box with the iLife suit witch has things like iPhoto, iMovie, and garage band. There is tone more you can see it all over at apples web site. There good way to start but more of the pro tools for movie making like Final Cut Studio pro are only for OS X. Things like Photoshop work better on the OS X because it is optimized for it.

There is one thing that might be seen as a problem for some, and that is the only way you can get a computer running OS X is by buying the computer from Apple.

The choice of OS X or Windows 7 is not a matter of what is better; it is a matter of witch on is better for me. If you have not gotten it yet most of the process of getting a new computer is asking yourself what I need. I hope this is helpful tomorrow will be part three and the final part witch will be OEM’s. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment.

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