the newsletter for sonoma county’s mac and windows ...tive) at checkout! this coupon code is an...

The Newsletter for Sonoma County’s Mac and Windows Users February 2008 Vol.1 No 2

User Group Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2February Mac Meeting Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Backing Up Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5How Often Do You Backup Your Data? . . . . . . 9BackUp Your Photos On The Road . . . . . . . 10Backup Your Address Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Thoughts on Time Capsule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13E-Books on Backing Up Data, Etc. . . . . . . . . 16Mac OS X Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Macworld Expo S.F. Experiences. . . . . . . . . . 1716 Superlative Macworld 2008 Products . . . . 23Pix for Mysterious Word 2008 Crash . . . . . . . 31

Table of Contents

Date: Saturday, 2/9/2008 Place: Sonoma Public Library Time: 9 am to 10:30 am 755 West Napa Street

MAC EDITION

HOW TO BACK UP YOUR DATA

Sonoma Valley Computer Group Newsletter 2 http://www.vom.com/svcg/index.html

Sonoma ValleyComputer Group

OFFICERS FOR 2007

President [email protected]

Secretary EleanorLaubly [email protected] JoanFabian

[email protected] KathyAanestad

[email protected] GeorgePick

[email protected] JeannetteWoods

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected] VedaLewis

[email protected] KathyAanestad

[email protected]

Board MeetingsUsually following General Meeting. Open to all members. Call 935-6690 for further information.

MeMBershipsS.V.C.G. Annual Membership: $20.S.V.C.G. Family membership: $30 (residing at same address). Membership renew-als are due and payable at the beginning of each year.

general MeetingsS.V.C.G. meets second Saturday of each month at Sonoma Public Library, 755 West Napa Street; hours: 10AM to 11:30AM unless otherwise notified. Meetings free; guests welcome.

aBout this puBlication

Sonoma Valley Computer Group Newsletter is pub-lished monthly by Sonoma Valley Computer Group. Desktoppublishingservicesdonatedby:KathyAanestad. Call: (707) 935-6690, email aanestad@

vom.com. © 2007, SVCG. All rights reserved. Sponsored by our local ISP, DataProfessionals, on

19480-8th St. East. Mailing address:

Sonoma Valley Computer GroupPO Box 649

El Verano, CA 95433

SVCG UG BeNefiTS &USer GroUP DiSCoUNTSO’ReillyMembers receive a 20% dis-count on O'Reilly books and conferences. Contact Kathy for the code. NEWRiDERSBOOKShttp://www.newriders.comBECOME A NEW RIDERS CLUB MEMBER. You can save up to 20% on all books every day at newriders.com simply by becoming a New Riders Club Member. Membership is

DoNaTiNG USeD ComPUTer eqUiPmeNTThe URL listed is for the Computer Recycling Center. All of the info needed (and then some) is listed on the site. http://www.crc.org/

Thanks to Wayne Till for that tip.

free and easy. All you have to do is answer a few, short questions in our ongoing, online survey, which you can access on any book page. Don't worry.

All of your information stays with us--we won't sell it or give it away to anyone. After you've filled out the profile, you'll save 20% automati-cally whenever you log on to http://www.newriders.com as a member. It's that easy!

Note that you may use your User Group Coupon Code ON TOP of your Club Member savings. Just remember to log in first when mak-ing a purchase and then enter the code at checkout as well! Contact Kathy for code.

PEAChPiTJOIN THE PEACHPIT CLUB You can save 30% on all books every day at peachpit.com simply by becoming a Peachpit Club Member. Membership is free and easy. All you have to do is answer a few, short questions in our ongoing, online sur-vey, which you can access on any book page. Don't worry, all of your information is confidential and stays with us--we won't sell it or give it away to anyone. After you've filled out the survey, you'll save 30% auto-matically whenever you log on to http://www.peachpit.com as a mem-ber. It's that easy!

USER GROUP COUPON CODE User group members should note that once you've become a Peachpit Club member, you may use your user group coupon code ON TOP of the permanent savings you earn as a member of the club. Just make sure you've logged onto the site before


SVCGPlugged into Technology( 9

you make a purchase to ensure this permanent discount will be in effect, then enter coupon code (case-sensi-tive) at checkout! This coupon code is an exclusive offer that may not be used in conjunction with any other coupon codes. Contact Kathy for code information.

FEBRUARYMEETiNGGreetings. Remember, the Sonoma Valley

Computer Group has two separate meetings. Mac users meet from 9am - 10:30am and Windows users meet from 10:30am - noon. Mac users, pleaseentertheLibrarythruthebackentrance.

This meeting will gear

around users' concerns, questions and input for

future meetings. Kathy Aanestad will spear-

head the meeting. Using an iBook connected

to the Library's projector everyone can follow

along as she attempts to answer your questions

with step-by-step demos. If you have a laptop,

bring it with you to follow along. The topic for

Saturday will be "hOWTOBACKUPYOUR

DATA".

SATURDAY 2/9/08 MEETING

9a.m.inthedeLongRoom,SonomaPublic

Library.

MEMBERShiPDUESYour membership for 2008 — it's time to renew!

Please mail your check (see pg. 4 for form) today or bring it with you to Saturday's meeting. Individual fee = $20, Family fee = $30.

ELECTiONS

February is the month you volunteer as a candidate for 2008 officer and the slate is presented to the membership. The slate is voted on in March when the new Board takes over. Please consider run-ning. The job is not difficult or time consuming.

c I give permission to use this info in the club roster which is for members only


Sonoma Valley Computer Group membership application/renewal form

NewApplicantc Renewalc

Name: _____________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________________________Home Phone: ________________________________Work Phone: ________________________________E-mail Address: ______________________________

. Send c $20 (individual) c $30 (family) check to:

Platform: c Mac cPC c W i n X P Operating System: c OS Tiger c Win c WinVIsta c OS Leopard c Linux c OS X c Win98

Computer Make/Model: __________________________

How did you hear about SVCG?

cclass c club member c newspaper c newsletter

User Level: c Novice c Intermediate c Advanced c Expert

Sonoma Valley Computer GroupPOB 649El Verano, CA 95433

The Board (which consists of officers and members-at-large) will meet quarterly. Meetings are either at the Library or someone's home and don't last much longer than an hour. Not only will you give back to your com-munity by volunteering, but you have FUN!!! :)

YoU maKe a DiffereNCe

BaCKiNG UP iSN'T harD To DoBy Jon Canfield

Whenisthelasttimeyoubackedupyourimportantcomputer files or images? Thought so. Most people have never done a backup of their files for a variety of reasons. Many users complain that backing up is too hard, too complicated, or too confusing until the day comes (and trust me, at some point it will come) when a hard drive fails. Would you like to start over from scratch after losing all your photos?

Backup used to be a royal pain. Floppy discs were slow and held very little, and tape drives were expensive and difficult to work with. Few people had CD/R drives, or, for that matter, a second hard drive. But today, there are a number of fast, easy, and affordable options available to keep a safe copy of your important work.Hard drives

The simplest option for backing up files is often an external hard drive. Available with USB 2.0 or FireWire connections, external hard drives have the advantage of huge capacity, speed, and convenience. Some, such as the Maxtor One Touch, can start a backup when you press a button on the external drive that starts a copy of files you've previously selected. The Maxtor One Touch is available in capacities of up to 300 GB and costs about $1.00 per GB, making it an affordable and cost-effective choice. The Maxtor drives come with a copy of Dantz Retrospect, which I think is one of the best backup pro-grams available. You can configure Retrospect to make copies of files, folders, or entire drives on a schedule that you determine, such as every night at 2:00 A.M. By pressing the button on the drive, you can start an imme-diate backup. And, as in most good backup utilities, you can choose to back up only the files that have changed and therefore greatly reduce the amount of time required to make subsequent backups.

There are CD and DVD writable drives. Most new computers include at least CD/RW, and many are now including DVD/RW. For effective backup you'll likely want the higher capacity of DVD (4 GB versus 700 MB on CD). Whichever disc type you choose, it's important to use good media. All discs aren't created equal and I wouldn't trust my critical backups to those discs that come in a 100 pack for $10. Delkin Archival Gold is the


absolute best CD media available, in my opinion, and is now available in DVD media as well. I also use the TDK Armor Plated DVD-R. These discs are very scratch-resistant and have a longer shelf life than standard DVD-R discs.

For backing up to CD or DVD, most software—such as Roxio EZ CD Creator and Nero Express—includes utilities to perform simple backups. I suggest investing in a dedicated program such as the Dantz Retrospect mentioned above. These programs make it much easier to copy only new and changed files to disc, and if the need arises to restore files, they make it easy to find the right disc out of many.

Conclusion

Don't wait any longer to back up your important—and in many cases irreplaceable—memories. It's easier than ever and more affordable than you might think.

BaCKiNG UP YoUr ComPUTer SYSTemFrom William T Lasley,

When your personal computer crashes, it can be a real pain to get everything back up and running again. But when your business computer crashes, it can become a major disaster! Since I've just spent several days recovering my own computer system, I made notes on what information you need to back-up in order to help you get things up and running again in the event that your hard drive bites the dust.

There are lots of ways to back-up data. There are online services, extra hard drives, tapes, CDRs and several other ways to save data. How you do it is

BACKING UP YOUR DATA


equipment to reinstall it after a crash. Keep all these disks together in a safe place! I once spent a week searching for an old cd that came with my camera to reinstall it. I finally found it in the box it came in buried under other boxes in my basement! I could have saved a lot of time by just keeping the cd with the printer and scanner cds in the same place!

Favorites/BookmarksIf you use the Internet for your business, you prob-ably have lots of bookmarks to Web sites saved. This can be to financial accounts, suppliers, sites to shows you attend and even forums. Most Web browser software makes it easy to back up your bookmarks. Do it on a regular basis and you'll be safe when the inevitable crash and burn happens to your computer.

DaTa BaCKUP iS The BeST DaTa ProTeCTioNFrom Susan Ward,

Part1:The3StepstoSuccessfulDataBackup

Data protection is crucial for pro-tecting your business's continuity. If your only data backup is on a computer, and the hard disk fails or is damaged by a power surge, your business data is gone. And having paper copies of business data isn't adequate data protection; what if your business premises burn to the ground or experience severe flooding? Once again the data you need to carry on your business could be irretrievably lost.

For adequate data protection, you need to establish a data backup system that follows these three steps:

* archive business data regularly; * create data backups on reliable media; * keep updated data backups in a secure, off-site location.

The basic rule for business data protection is that if losing the data will interfere with doing business, back it up.

You can reinstall software programs if you need to, but recovering the details of transactions or business correspondence is impossible if those files are lost or damaged beyond repair. The rest of this article out-

up to you. (I simply burn data onto blank CDs every month.) The point of this article is to teach you what information needs to be saved. How you do it, is up to you.

DataRemember things like customer receipts, pending show applications, inventory sheets and the data from all accounting software you use for your business.

(Oh, and don't forget to save all those digital pictures you have too! Nothing is sadder than losing all you pic-tures of your child’s first few years of life because you never took the time to save them to CD.)

iSPAccountSettingsKeep your user name and password, and ISP phone numbers in a handy place. If you do not have this infor-mation memorized, you will need to either contact your ISP or dig through your old paperwork to find it. One of the first things many businesses need after a crash is Internet access so be sure you can quickly reconfigure your new system to connect.

EmailAccountSettingsYou will need your user names, email addresses and server settings (incoming, outgoing mail) for each email account you have to get things set up again for email. You should also save your address book periodically by exporting the file onto a backup disk. If you have ever lost your entire contact list due to a crash, you know how frustrating it can be to find everyone's email address again!

ProgramsPrograms are easiest set up when you have the installa-tion disk, so keep those CDs in a safe place. If you pur-chase and download software online, keep the installer file as well as any product activation codes you receive for reinstallation of these programs. Some subscription-type sites will let you download the software again, so be sure to keep a hard copy of any login information you will need to get back to their site.

PasswordsIf you are like me, you probably use the built in features of your Web browser to automatically put in passwords to sites when you visit them. You should keep a copy of any login information you use so that you won't have to rack your brain trying to remember that credit card login information after you set up your new computer.

PeripheralsThis includes your printer, digital camera, scanner and anything else you use with your computer. Most of the time you will need the software that came with the

for creating physical backups.

What kind of physical data backup system is best for data protection? Continue on to page 2...

Part 2: Part 2: Which Data Backup Media is Best?

The second step of data protection is creating data backups - not just once, but on a regular schedule. But before you do this, you need to be aware of the different backup systems available and the limita-tions of some backup media.

2)CreatingPhysicalDataBackups

Physical data backups are necessary because of the possibility of computer failure or damage. Even a minor accident such as spilling a cup of coffee onto your laptop could destroy all your data, if that's the only place your data resides. You should create physical data backups of your business data at least once a week, or even more often if your business generates large amounts of new data daily. There are several methods of transferring your backup files to another media, but some data backup systems are more reliable than others.

Whichbackupmediashouldyouuse?

Using CD-Roms as data backupsUsing CD-Roms as data backups is popular.

Blank CDs are inexpensive, and copying data onto CDs is easy. However, this is the most unreliable method of all the data backup methods listed here. Who hasn't had the experience of putting a CD into a drive only to find that the data is unreadable and the disk "doesn't work"? CDs, like the floppy disks they've replaced, have a limited shelf life. I don’t recommend this method of data backup for any small business. If you are writing your data backup files onto CDs, make sure that you make (and keep) multiple copies over time.

Usingtapesasdatabackups

Tape backups are ten thousand times as reliable as CD-Roms, but tape drives and their associated media are much more expensive than CD-Rom writers and CDs. A good tape drive can still cost over $1000, and individual tapes for the drive can cost up to $40 each. If you can afford the equipment, however, tape backup is far and away the best backup method.

Usingexternalharddrivesfordatabackups


lines each of the steps listed above so you can establish a data backup system that will effectively protect your critical business data from disaster.

1) Archiving Critical Business Data

Archiving business data is more than a matter of good housekeeping; it could be a matter of your business's survival. There are two steps to archiving business data for successful data backup;

* identifying the critical data that needs to be archived * and using a data archiving method on a regular schedule.

What needs to be archived in a data backup? Executables, such as software programs, don’t need to be. You don’t create new versions of executable programs and, as I’ve said, if a software program was lost or corrupted, you could reinstall it fairly easily.

However, all of the files that you’ve created and/or modified should be regularly backed up. For many businesses, this includes everything from accounting files through email.

You can simplify your backup archiving by keeping all the files that will need to be archived on a single drive on your computer. For instance, suppose I need to back up accounting files, word-processing docu-ments, spreadsheets, photo and email. Putting Simply Accounting, Microsoft Office (including Outlook) and Paintshop Pro all on the D:/ drive makes it easier for me to archive all the files I’ve created or modifed using those programs. All I have to do is back up the drive. While I don’t have to back up executables, it doesn’t hurt them if I do.

Once you've selected the critical data to be archived, it's a simple matter to install and use a backup software program to archive your business data on a regular schedule.

I recommend backing up your data nightly. There are many backup software programs available that allow you to set a schedule that will archive your data automatically. Look for backup software that zips and encrypts files to save disk space and increase data security.

If possible, backup over your computer network, keep-ing your data backup files on a separate hard drive from the original files. If this isn't possible because you have a stand-alone computer, put your data backup files in a separate directory, and increase your schedule


For small businesses, buying and using an external hard drive for data backups is the method I recom-mend. External hard drives are cheap compared to tape drive systems ; you can get one for several hundred dollars. They’re also easy to use; in many cases, all you have to do is plug the hard drive into your computer’s USB port. And while hard drives do fail, their failure rate is much lower than that of backup media such as CDs.

UsingOnlinebackupservicesasdatabackups

There are many companies offering online backup services, but I can't recommend this method. Besides the potential of bandwidth problems, there are just too many security issues that have yet to be dealt with. Firstly, the method is only as reliable as the company offering the online backup service, and Internet service companies have been coming and going faster than the common cold lately. Secondly, if your business data is sensitive, (and whose isn't?), why would you want to put it on the 'Net?

3)Off-SiteDataBackup

The only businesses that should be keeping their data backups on-site are those with fire-proof, indestruc-tible safes. Investing in a tape drive or external hard

drive and meticulously adhering to a regular data backup schedule won't help if all your data backup copies are in one place and that place is struck by disaster. You must store copies of your backups off-site if your business data is to be truly secure.

Many businesses keep their data backup copies in security boxes at banks. (The fee for a security box is tax-deductible, if you need further incentive.) Some small business owners keep multiple data backup copies of their records at the homes of different friends or family members. It doesn't really matter where you choose to keep them, as long as the site you choose for off-site data backup is secure and you have regular access to it.

Don't run the risk of losing your business data. The best defense against such a disaster is proper data protection. By creating a backup system that includes archiving and backing up your business data regularly and properly, you'll ensure that your business will be able to weather whatever storm it faces and carry on.


hoW ofTeN Do YoU BaCKUP YoUr DaTa?In a poll that was conducted by Macworld magazine several months ago, the question was asked:

“How often do you back up those files that you consider 'very important’?”

One respondent said: “I do it yearly...but feel guilty about it. The "Macs never crash" option is also a good one...and fairly true. The operating system (OS) may not crash...but hardware does fail...as I found out when my iBook's hard drive froze up and died a few months ago. Backup is definately a must...even with a stable OS...because you may get the one in a thousand hard drive that dies.”

And one very experienced user reported: “I'm a writer. I hate losing text! So, I have several methods all running concurrently.

(1) I run Retrospect to DVD on an old Mac which back-ups five Macs and one Windows laptop. It runs daily.

(2) I use Deja Vu to backup my home account on my laptop to my iPod on demand. Usually I do this daily to weekly depending on my current project.

(3) I make snapshot CD images of my working directory when preparing for a trip. I give these to my parents who live 500 miles away.

(4) I have written a Perl script that runs hourly under cron. It visits my working directories and makes a 50-60 MB copy of those files which are Most Recently Touched. This MRT archive is then mirrored, using psync (installed by Deja Vu) onto my .Mac partition. The OS then mirrors this archive to the Apple Servers, and then back to the home machine running Retrospect. So even on the road, my home Retrospect backups are picking up any changes I make.

So at any given time, my current project will be mir-rored over several computers, off-site on Apple's serv-ers, manually burned to CDROM, backed up to DVD by Retrospect, and copied to my iPod.

The interesting thing is that I don't feel that this is at all excessive.”

Here’s from a person who backs up data weekly: “Great poll! I back up weekly.. I store all of my data in one folder, then just copy that one folder to a 160GB external

Firewire HDD every Sunday.

I used to use Disk Copy to create an image file of this folder (with "compressed" & "AES-128 encryp-tion" set) and use that file as my backup, but it took a long time to produce and recently crashes with error 999 (maybe cause the folder is 12GB in size), so now I just copy it over.

As with most people here, the data in my computer (Powerbook G4 12") is worth more than the com-puter itself, so I at least duplicate the data. Which reminds me.. I have to back up my Email, iTunes, and iPhoto also! I guess I'll copy over my home folder.. I'll do that monthly tho; I'm too lazy. :O)”

He backs up at different times: “Like many other people, I back up different files at different frequen-cies. This ranges from daily (working files) to never (system files). Working with a laptop in a semi-pub-lic location, I'm mostly paranoid about theft. I'd be much more depressed about the lost work than the lost hardware.

One other reason why things get backed up at differ-ent frequencies is that I'm never completely satisfied with my routine. I keep wishing that .mac Backup would act as a reliable option for simple, brainless offsite backups. But the darned thing won't ever, ever completely work as advertised. Get what you pay for, I guess. Unless you're a Retrospect Express user, in which case you are just hosed and have to start over from scratch. Grrrrr.”

Couple of smart people: “Every time I do anything important I back up the body of work. If you dont you will end up in a very bad situation. Address book etc I back up every month depending on how many new people I aquire. Ive seen the night mares this can cause in production so I choose not to have these problems.”

“Vital projects I'm working on get backed up constantly. Basically, any time I make significant changes to something, I back it up. While using Word I constantly hit the save icon; I've had it crash before, and even rewriting <b>one</b> really good paragraph sucks. Some things you just can rewrite, especially if you were in a certain mood when writ-ing it.

Other stuff probably gets backed up quarterly.”

Importance of ‘off-site backup’: “I have two hard drives in my Windows desktop. Each night, data is synced from one hard drive to the other (including a

bootable version of the OS). The theory was that if one drive died, I could boot and retrieve data from the second. This has served me well for many years. That is until I accidentally wiped (using DoD standards) BOTH drives on my desktop. Please, don't ask ;)

Fortunately, I had a backup on my PowerBook of most of the important files. Much of the "archival" data was already saved to DVD / CD. What really saved me was my "daily email" where I com-press/encrypt my super-important files each night and email them to myself. That email, combined with my other backups meant I did not lose very much.

Today, I still back up to my second hard drive and email my self each day. However, I have a brand new 250 GB FW800 drive attached to my PowerBook that backs up my XP/Linux/Mac machines at work and my XP/Linux/Mac at home. I used psync to backup my PowerBook and rsync via SSH to backup my XP and Linux machines (both at work and at home).

The psync and rsync commands are all scripted so I type one command 2-3 times a week and just sit back and watch. Access to remote hosts is possible via SSH public/private key authentication.

Once the backup is down, I dismount, disconnect and unplug the FW drive from my PowerBook to prevent any future "accidents" ;)

The question I ask people with regards to backups and off-site backups is imagine your home/office burns down to the ground. How much data will you lose? While I never said, "That will never happen to me", I did say, "I really should do some-thing else with my back-ups one of these days". Now I do ;)

All this is to say, regardless of what you backup scheme/frequency is, make sure you also back-up "off-site" in case of stupid accidents, random acts of nature or any other catastrophic event.”

BaCK UP PhoToS oN The roaDby Jeff Carlson, Glenn Fleishman

There’s no point in lugging along a laptop on your


vacation just so you can archive or organize your digital pictures. A laptop not only adds weight and heft, but is also vulnerable to theft and damage. Luckily, you have other options. Our recommen-dations will help ensure that all your photos come home safely with you.

Stockuponmemorycards

Prices of memory cards have dropped so much recently that it’s feasible to buy as many cards as you need. Since last year, for instance, the price of a 1GB CompactFlash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD) card has fallen from well over $50 to between $10 and $30 with rebates. Dealram frequently points to sales and specials.

So how many cards do you need? If you anticipate shooting 500 photographs with a 6-megapixel cam-era, you’ll need more than 1GB of storage (each picture is roughly 2MB). For flexibility, that would mean bringing at least two 1GB cards.

You’ll want even more storage space if you plan to shoot video with your digital camera too. Every minute of footage can fill 100MB or more of stor-age. To save space, you may want to edit video on the camera to remove the less interesting parts. This kind of feature is available on newer Canon, Olympus, and other cameras. It’s no iMovie, but it typically allows you to trim a series of frames from the beginning or end of a clip.

Createbackups

There’s a downside to relying solely on media cards for storage: if a problem develops with your card, you could lose all your photos. Flash-memory cards are susceptible to accidental erasure and even cor-ruption. They’re also small (especially SD cards), and therefore easy to misplace. That’s why it’s a good idea to back up images. Here are some options:

Transfer to an iPod Using the $29 Apple iPod Camera Connector, you can transfer images from a digital camera to a photo-capable iPod (except the iPod nano, alas) via your camera’s USB cable (see “Image Go-Between”). You can even preview images and view slide shows on either the iPod or a TV (using yet another optional adapter, the $99 iPod AV Connection Kit). Before you choose this route, make sure your camera is on Apple’s list of supported devices.

Buy a Photo Storage Drive Another option is a dedi-


cated photo storage device, such as SmartDisk’s 40GB FlashTrax XT ($400), Epson’s 80GB P-4000 ($700), or Digital Foci’s Media Buddy (40GB, $189; 60GB, $219; 80GB, $249). All three devices include memory-card slots for transferring photos and can run on batteries. The FlashTrax and P-4000 also have LCDs for preview-ing photos.

UseanOnlineService

Between the large number of Internet cafés and the increasing number of hotels that offer connected com-puters for guest use, transferring pictures to a photo- and video-hosting service has become a realistic option. These services offer several advantages. First, because you’re storing photos on a server in another location, you can’t lose them. Also, friends and family can view your pictures while you’re still enjoying your adven-ture.

Choosing a service comes down to whether you want to store and share images at their highest quality. Most services impose data-transfer or -storage limits; some even downsample images after you upload them. We like Yahoo’s Flickr best. For $25 a year, you can upload full-resolution images, up to 10MB each in size, and Flickr won’t downsample them. You can also upload 2GB per month, with no storage limits.

If you’re looking for straight-up file storage and you don’t care whether others can see your photos, try a net-work storage service such as Box.net (1GB, free; 5GB, $5 a month) or Xdrive.com (5GB, $10 a month).

If you plan on using an online service, we recommend packing a USB 2.0 memory-card reader. Or, if your camera uses SD cards, consider SanDisk’s Ultra II SD Plus cards. These clever devices fold in half so you can plug them straight into a USB slot, no adapter required. Prices range from $55 for 512MB to $135 for 2GB.

Afewtipsonusinginternetcafés: most places charge by time usage—and some, such as those in small towns, might not have a broadband connection. So think about limiting the amount of data you transfer. One option is to set your camera so it’s not shooting at the highest resolution. Or cull any unwanted photos before upload-ing your images.

Also, when using public computers, take precautions against possible keystroke-logging software or other spyware. Before you leave for your trip, change the passwords for those accounts to something you don’t use on any other accounts. Also, when logging out of an online photo service, empty the browser’s cache and then quit the browser program.

UseYourCellPhone

Depending on your location and hardware, you may be able to upload images to a cell phone. For instance, by inserting your camera’s SD card into the Palm Treo’s card slot, you can e-mail photos to yourself or to a special Flickr address that adds them to your online album. Just beware of international roaming rates for data. They can be crazy—some-times $20 per megabyte and up—so call your carrier and get the details. Cingular, for instance, offers an affordable global plan that includes 100MB of data transfer.

BurnandMail

If transferring photos over the Internet isn’t practi-cal, consider using optical media to archive images. Even if you’re not sure you’ll use them, it can’t hurt to pack some blank CDs or DVDs.

Of course, this option requires a computer with a built-in disc burner. Many Internet cafés have sys-tems with CD and DVD burners, and practically any-one you visit who has a computer should have at least a CD burner. Another option is to visit a photo store or self-serve photo kiosk. Besides printing out your pictures, many of them can burn images to disc.

If you plan on erasing your memory card, burn two copies. Keep one with you and send the other home or to a photo service such as Shutterfly, which will transfer your images to its servers at no charge.If disaster strikes

ifDisasterStrikes

So what happens if the data on your card becomes corrupted or you inadvertently press Erase All on your camera? Don’t panic. Memory-card recovery software such as DataRescue’s $29 PhotoRescue can reconstruct lost bits by reading the card’s data directly rather than relying on its file catalog, which is the part that’s probably corrupted. (See “Master Your Memory Card” for more on the different types of erase functions.) If you plan to use PhotoRescue when you get home, don’t shoot any more pictures on the troubled card until you’ve run the software ( click here for details on using PhotoRescue).Master your memory card

MasterYourMemoryCard

At some point, you’ll have to erase pictures from your memory card—but what’s the best way? Here are the different delete commands and advice on


[from an online friend]

“One thing to consider is redundancy while travel-ing. Sometimes "stuff" happens.

My wife and I were in Spain, and I had transferred my photos to the iPod the night before we went to Valencia. In the process, to free up space, I wiped the CF card after the transfer. In Valencia, I left my iPod in the car's glove box while we spent a number of hours in the "City of Arts and Science" complex. When we returned, we found that a thief had bro-ken into the car with a screwdriver in the lock, and had stolen my iPod from the glove box. Since I had wiped the card in the camera and been shooting on it that day, our old pictures were basically gone. Had I used the iPod as a "backup device", I wouldn't have had this problem.

My point here is, treat your pictures like youridentification and credit cards: have redundant copies in different locations. Losing pictures is the worst!”

“Using the 5G ipod, the drain on the battery isn't any worse than watching a movie, and in fact is a wee-bit better, since the screen isn't on. (One should note that the battery indicator will almost immediately jump to 50%, regardless that it's good for several more hours...) OTOH, it's a slow process: 4 gigs of photos takes almost an hour to transfer.

I'm not positive about this, but I believe the 5g iPod will take photos from just about -any- camera, whether or not the camera is on Apples 'approved' list; the issue is whether or not you can view them on the iPod screen. I use my iPod to back up the 25 meg (each) raw files from my Fuji S3 Pro.... although, frankly, it's a last resort: I simply carry spare memory cards with me...”

when to use each.

EraseAll

This command deletes all images from the file index, much like moving a document into the Trash and emp-tying it.

Format

This erases the directory and storage structure markers, effectively eliminating recovery. It’s a good idea to use Format instead of Erase All periodically to guard against directory corruption.

Low-LevelFormat

Necessary for recalcitrant memory cards, this command writes zeros onto every bit of the card and creates a map of unusable bits. There’s no way to recover images after performing a low-level format—not without involving the NSA.

[ Jeff Carlson is the managing editor of TidBits and the author of iMovie HD 6 and iDVD 6 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press, 2006). Glenn Fleishman writes for the Economist , the New York Times , and Popular Science.]

Image Go-Between: Apple’s iPod Camera Connector lets you move pictures from your digital camera to your iPod.

Two in One: SanDisk’s Ultra II SD Plus cards fold back to reveal a USB connector.

aDViCe reGarDiNG BaCKiNG UP PhoToS oN The roaD


BaCKUP YoUr aDDreSS BooKThere are few things more annoying than losing your entire Address Book that you have carefully created over the past year or two. One way to backup your entire Address Book is to select everyone in the Name column (or just select the important names), then drag that block of names to the Desktop. This creates a vCard file that you can then store on another disk for safekeeping. You can also send this vCard to someone else on a Mac; she double-clicks on it and the addresses get automatically entered in her Address Book.

ThoUGhTS oN Time CaPSULeBy Ryan, [email protected]

Apple does it again for backups! When Leopard and Time Machine were released, I was dazzled by the thought that finally the average consumer would be more enticed to backup his/her data and avoid the inevitable tears that ensue by losing it! Upon installing Leopard it was originally my assumption that Time Machine would work wirelessly with a hard drive attached to an Airport Extreme to backup my data. Unfortunately, this was not the case due to technical reasons.

The new Time Capsule wireless base station/backup hard drive is fantastic in my opinion. Offering the func-tionality of the airport extreme combined with a 500GB hard drive for $299 it is the most convenient way to back up.

WhatisTimeMachine?

Time Machine is the breakthrough automatic backup that’s built right into Mac OS X. It keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac — digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, and documents. Now, if you ever have the need, you can easily go back in time to recover anything.

AppleSaysSetit,thenforgetit.

To start using Time Machine, all you have to do is con-nect an external drive (sold separately) to your Mac. You’re asked if you want it to be your backup drive, and if you say yes, Time Machine takes care of everything else. Automatically. In the background. You’ll never have to worry about backing up again.

Backupeverything.

Time Machine backs up your system files, applica-tions, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine dif-ferent from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on a given day — so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.

Gobackintime.

Enter the Time Machine browser in search of your long-lost files and you see exactly how your computer looked on the dates you’re browsing. Select a specific date, let Time Machine find your most recent changes, or do a Spotlight search to find exactly what you’re looking for. Use Quick Look to verify the file’s contents if you wish. Then click Restore and Time Machine brings it back to the present. Time Machine restores individual files, complete folders, iPhoto libraries, and Address Book contacts. You can even use Time Machine to restore your entire computer if need be.How Time Machine works.

Beneath the hood, Time Machine is every bit as remarkable as it is on the outside. It’s based on stable and secure Mac OS X core technologies (like the HFS+ file system), automatically tracks file changes, and is aware of file system permissions and user access privileges. Bottom line: It’s working with more information than other backup utilities and doesn’t need to bother you for input.


Say Time Machine is in the middle of a backup and you want to shut down your Mac or put it to sleep. Who wins? Like you have to ask. Time Machine simply stops the backup process and remembers where it is. It automatically resumes when your Mac is active again.

Backuponlywhatyouneed.

By default, Time Machine backs up everything on your Mac. If you want to exclude certain files, just go to Time Machine preferences, click Options, then select the folders you wish to skip. Time Machine backup win-dow Want to delete all instanc-es of a file or folder p r e v i o u s -ly backed up? Easy e n o u g h . L a u n c h T i m e M a c h i n e , select the item to be deleted, then choose "Delete from all backups" from the action menu in the Finder toolbar.

Backinguptoafulldisk.

One day, no matter how large your backup drive is, it will run out of space. And Time Machine has an action plan. It alerts you that it will start deleting previous backups, oldest first. Before it deletes any backup, Time Machine copies files that might be needed to fully restore your disk for every remain-ing backup. (Moral of the story: The larger the drive, the far-ther back in time you can back up.)M i g r a t i o n with style.

To make setting up a new Mac even simpler, Time Machine shares its data with other Mac utilities. Use Migration Assistant to copy portions of any Time Time Machine finder iconMachine backup to a new

Pickadisk.Anydisk.

You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices.

Time Machine hard drive iconBack up the whole family.

The moment you choose a Time Machine drive, a single folder is created on the drive. Inside this folder is a subfold-er for each Mac being backed up. (Yes, multiple Mac sys-tems can share the same backup drive.) And within each subfolder is another list

of folders — one for every backup performed on that Mac. Time Machine uses a standard file system to store all of its information. Nothing hidden anywhere.

Anatomyofabackup.

For the initial backup, Time Machine copies the entire contents of the computer to your backup drive. It copies every file exactly (without compression), skipping cach-es and other files that aren’t required to restore your Mac to its original state. Following the initial backup, Time Machine makes only incremental backups — copy-ing just the files that have changed since the previous backup. Time Machine creates links to any unchanged files, so when you travel back in time you see the entire contents of your Mac on a given day.

Timingiseverything.

Every hour, every day, an incremental backup of your Mac is made auto-matically as long as your backup drive is attached to your Mac. Time Machine saves the Time Machine iconhourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily back-ups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month. Only files created and then deleted before the next hourly backup will not be included in the long term. Put another way: You’re well covered.

Workingonyourschedule.


Mac, or select “Restore System from Time Machine” in the Leopard DVD Utilities menu. Choose any date recorded in Time Machine to set up your new Mac exactly as your previous Mac was on that date.

Readywhenyouare.

When your mobile Mac is connected to your backup

drive, Time Machine works as you’d expect. When it isn’t connected, Time Machine also works as you’d expect. It keeps track of which files have changed since the last backup and backs them up to your backup drive the next time you connect. On any Mac, if Time Machine is unable to perform a backup, that’s duly noted in its preferences pane.


NeW LeoParD eBooKS heLP WiTh BaCKUPS, maiNTeNaNCe, aND moreLeopard has been out for three months now, giving us time to explore its quirks and figure out where Leopard users need help. Whether you want help with Time Machine, need to put your Mac on a regular maintenance schedule to avoid problems, or could use some guidance on how to use Leopard's marquee fea-tures, we have new ebooks for you.

"Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard"-----------------------------------------Written by Joe Kissell, author of the massively popular "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups," this concise ebook explains how to create a complete Leopard backup system with archives, a bootable duplicate, and offsite

backups - but without significant effort. If you'd like to know how buy and prepare a backup drive, if you want to make (and recover data from) reliable backups in Leopard, then this ebook is for you. "Take Control of Easy Backups in Leopard" covers the ins and outs of Time Machine, and it also looks at seven cases where Time Machine doesn't cut the mustard. (We're giving this ebook away for free to owners of the second edi-tion of "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups;" click that book's Check for Updates link to download your free copy.) $10, 83 pages.

< h t t p : / / w w w. t a k e c o n t r o l b o o k s . c o m / l e o p -ard-easy-backup.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0057-TCANNOUNCE>

"Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac"--------------------------------------The best way to avoid problems with your Mac is through regular mainte-nance, and we're not talk-ing a cursory clearing of the Desktop and swipe at the dust on your screen. In the

latest version of "Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac," best-selling author Joe Kissell has returned to the topic of how to keep your Mac - whether it's run-ning Tiger or Leopard - running at peak performance. All of his recommendations have now been updated to account for changes in Leopard and for the latest helpful utility software. Joe provides daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedules for how to best do preventative maintenance under Leopard or Tiger, helping you keep your Mac running smoothly and efficiently. The ebook also helps you monitor your Mac's health, find and remove unnecessary large files from your disk, keep your software updated, clear your caches, and much more. The update is free for the thousands of people who benefited from the original version; click the Check for Updates button to download it. $10, 87 pages.

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/maintaining-mac.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0032-TCANNOUNCE>

Want both of these ebooks? You can get them, together with "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups" and "Take Control of Troubleshooting Your Mac," for 25% off - check the left side of either book's Web page for a bundle link.

"Macworld Total Leopard Superguide"-----------------------------------This visually appealing new ebook from our friends at Macworld provides an over-view of a huge collection of new features in Leopard, teaching you how to be more


productive and have more fun along the way. You'll find a compendium of savvy information about get-ting the most out of what's new in Leopard, whether you want to navigate the the Finder faster, search Spotlight more effectively, automate your applica-tions with Automator, share screens with others, or use core applications like Safari, iChat, Mail, and iCal. Contributors include several Take Control authors: Glenn Fleishman, Ted Landau, Joe Kissell, and Kirk McElhearn, along with a who's-who of other well-known writers. $12.95, 92 pages.

<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/mw-total-leop-ard.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0059-TCANNOUNCE>

When you visit the "Macworld Total Leopard Superguide" Web page, be sure to check out the dis-counted bundles with "Take Control of Customizing Leopard" and "Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon."

Leopard has been out for three months now, giving us time to explore its quirks and figure out where Leopard users need help. Whether you want help with Time Machine, need to put your Mac on a regular maintenance schedule to avoid problems, or could use some guidance on how to use Leopard's marquee features, we have new ebooks for you.

GeT The LaST WorD oN maC oS X TermiNoLoGYAdam EngstTidBits

We Mac users sling technical jargon around every day, but if you've ever felt uncertain about what a term actually means, help is here in "Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon." The ebook is a mad romp through over 500 Macintosh- and Internet-related terms. You'll learn how to figure out if your optical drive can write to a double-layer DVD, why 404 and 501 are interesting numbers, how to work with the three main types of dashes that you can type on a Mac, and much more. We're not talking about some dry old dictionary here - these definitions are loaded with useful tips, practical advice, humor, and empa-thy. If you enjoy the serendipity of discovering use-

ful tips in unexpected places, you'll love this ebook.

< h t t p : / / w w w . t a k e c o n t r o l b o o k s . c o m /m a c - l e x i c o n . h t m l ? 1 4 ! p t = T R K - 0 0 5 3 -TCMUG&cp=CPN31208MUG>

Written by veteran Macintosh authors Andy Baird and Sharon Zardetto, the 191-page ebook extends the familiar Take Control design with handy alpha-betic navigation tabs on every page, oodles of cus-tom graphics, and over 2,000 internal links. Want to learn more about a particular entry? Margin icons link to hand-picked external Web sites, TidBITS articles, and other Take Control titles. Save 10% off the $15 list price right now with the MUG discount embedded in the link above.

Book Details:"Take Control: The Mac OS X Lexicon" by Andy Baird and Sharon Zardetto PDF format, 191 pages, free 39-page sample available Publication date: July

19, 2007 Ebook Price: $15

ForadownloadoftheFREELeopardSampler or TimeMachineSampler,goto:http://33thingsbooks.com/

PerSoNaL maCWorLD eXPo 2008 eXPerieNCeS[from an online friend]Well, we took Mary's advice and drove down to Judah area Wednesday,. parked and rode the metro to Montgomery station (3 blocks away from Moscone). Apart from traffic in Marin (which would have affected.buses too) and a bit of time looking for parking in the residential.area it was a great way to go. Left Penngrove a little after 8:00 AM.and were in the exhibits at 11:00. Had the ultimate in time.flexibility as well as choice of restaurants near where we parked for.dinner. $25 Cost for gas, toll and metro saved $7 over two folks on a.GG bus and $14 over parking near Moscone as well as the craziness of.driving in that area.

Next year i will spend some of that savings on the $2 to have my.badge sent. Even on the second day a half hour after the show opened.it was a crazy zoo. First going to South hall entrance and being told.


West hall was not connected, walking over to West hall, waiting in.line that was totally blocking access to other registration areas as.well as entrance to the west hall. What a mess. So much for "express.badge pick-up". Only to find there was a place in the south hall to.get badges after all.oh boy!

But the floor in both halls was packed. I didn't go last year (out of.town) and yes the last two years before that seemed like iPod expo..This year I saw more diversity than ever. Logitech, Grffin and Belkin.all moving into home electronics in addition to com-puter/ipod/ip[hone.accessories. Tons of iPod speak-ers and a few actually sounded good..Epson, Canon and HP all neatly lined up next to each other (Save 10%.at Epson store online through 1/20 with code 82JASTG) Everybody has.small photo only.printers now like Kodak (were they even there?.Nope). As always, greatly enjoyed the developers small booth and.didn't spend as much time as I should have there talking one on one.with the creators of amazing soft-ware.

Dealsgalore - show only, at the booth, at a reseller on the floor. (Unitech and Dr. Bott jammed, Best Buy employees entertaining each.other), order online from the booth, order online from home, oops no.website ordering yet cuz we are new but you can fax the order with my.hand written discount - hmmm) booth only but my credit card thingy.isn't working so can

I trust you to go online when you get home and.con-firm your purchase and I will give you the cd and codes now -.really! - And yes I did! Better make sure I don't get.charged twice)

Some items of note in no particular order:

BentobyFilemaker - the simplified DB that should be included in.iWork but is $49 At the end of each 30 min demo they gave away a.copy.- Bento alternating with FM Pro 9. FM is $499. Bento is $49..Shouldn't they be giving away 10 copies of Bento each demo? I tried.twice to win to no avail.MacJournal 5 by Mariner software. I bought this despite a botched one.on one demo. Now will I use it?

TheMacWorldNappingLounge - Front of West Hall - little pods you.could nest in listening to exclu-sive composed music that is reputed.to increase creativity, productivity, success and dynamism. They will.bring these things to your office (for a hefty fee I'm sure). The.company is pzizz. I could have stayed a while then I thought about.invasion of the Body Snatchers and hopped out!

EasyDraw - Mac draw or Claris draw on steroids (this is a good.thing?). Basically $95. More if you wanted a CD and more more of you.wanted a printed manual (350 page). Interesting 9 month demo for $20.after which you had another 2 months to apply the $20 to purchase..Creative options - maybe they

EASY DRAW-->


were in a pzizz pod before expo!

Capabilities

EazyDraw is a vector based drawing applica-tion for desk top publishing (DTP) with Apple's Macintosh OS X (Mac OS-X) operating system. It is an illustration or drawing software application that offers vector-based graphics editing and creation capabilities for creating simple not-photographic drawings, technical diagrams and illustrations such as logos, icons, buttons and stylized art. And...EazyDrawwasdesignedforyou

There are several specialized drawing applications available for the graphic arts, or architectural pro-fessional. We all know how much these cost and how hard they are to master. EazyDraw is drawing for the rest of us who want to have fun exploring the creative potential of this great new Macintosh technology. NowWithUserLibraries

EazyDraw is very configurable, customize drawing elements like arrows, gradients and dash patterns. Improve productivity with user configurable short-cut keys. Create your own drawing tools and custom tool palettes with User Libraries and their powerful "Tool" mode.

Applications

EazyDraw is a new design tool for use on the Mac OS X platform. Its uses range from simple techni-cal drawings, flow charts, business communications, commercial line art illustrations to graphic elements for application software and web design elements. Educators are also finding EazyDraw to be perfect for introducing new user to computer drawing.

Optimizedforintel:(4-5timesfaster)

With version 2.0, EazyDraw is provided as a Universal Binary. As you may know, some Macs are now powered by the new Intel Core Duo processor, while for the past several years Macs have been built with a PowerPC processor. EazyDraw has been made to run on both Intel- and PowerPC- based Mac Computers. Simply install as usual and EazyDraw will automatically run at peak performance for you Mac's architecture.

If you are lucky enough to have one of the new Intel Macs, it is even more fun to draw with EazyDraw on your Mac. The Intel processor is generally 4-5 times faster than a PowerPC processor. Now, for many applications you might not notice a big difference; it may be that the application is not that CPU inten-sive, or the application's core technology may be a carry over from OS 9 and therefore does not utilize the new CPU's capability. But for EazyDraw users working with vector based graphics CPU speed is


very important. EazyDraw is a new project, designed from the ground up exclusively for OS-X (a "Cocoa" app), with no design constraints from other operating systems (OS9, or Windows). AttheCrossRoadsofGraphicFileFormats

EazyDraw is true native OS X application. Graphic exchange with other modern OS X application is quite seamless with full vector quality support for PDF. Our title bar export short-cut icon provides customizable drag and drop export to other applications. But in todays world one must exchange creative content with numer-ous other technologies: other operating systems, older technology applications, archive graphic files, the world wide web, and electronic publishing work flows -- just to name a few. EazyDraw is the perfect solution for these interesting times.

EazyDraw provides a rich suite of supported graphic file formats for both import and export. This will allow you to use or provide high quality graphic images to or from other applications, other operating systems or the web. And, of course, full seamless support for PDF is "built in" since EazyDraw is a true native Mac OS X appli-cation. In most cases you should not need to involve a separate graphic converter application in your work flow. Our "ungroup" capability will let you edit PDF, EPS and PICT content.

File and desktop graphics exchange with older OS 9 technology applications that have been ported to OS X can be a problem for native OS X applications. Programs like Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel do not provide vector quality support for the PDF graph-ic information format, they also have limited support for transparency. EazyDraw provides file and desktop paste board support for the "Classic PICT" file format and a "Opaque Copy" option for use with these applications. These legacy file format options provide a method to include the older technology applications in your mod-ern OS X workflow.

For Web publishing EazyDraw provides export to sev-eral widely used graphic bitmap formats. These include the Windows formats of BMP, ICO and even favicon. Full support for transparency is provided with all graph-ic file formats that support transparency.

Electronic publishing is supported with vector PDF and EPS import and export. Color space management and conversion is provided with our professionally grade Export panel for these industry standard formats. Nearly all publishing or printing companies will accept the EPS vector format for graphics and typeset text. Professionals and perfectionist avoid font problems by converting type set text to Bezier paths before export-

ing to EPS, EazyDraw lets you do the same with a simple menu click.

EasytoUse-EasytoOwn

We'll have you downloaded, licensed, and drawing in no time with our 9 month license ($20) or single user license available at our secure online store .

Our $20 trial license is a very popular option. You get a full use license, no limits or constraints, with free updates for 9 months. You may apply the $20 license fee toward the purchase of EazyDraw (down-load or CD) anytime within the first 2 months.

The download version of EazyDraw is only $95. You simply place an order at our on-line store (Visa, Master Card, American Express or Discover) and we send you a license code. You enter the code and the demo restrictions are removed. This will all happen automatically, 24-7 anywhere on the planet, it only takes a few minutes and a credit card. If you burn the download disk image to a blank CD, you will have an installation disk that you may use to install EazyDraw on any CPU.

Or you can order a nice printed and boxed CD from us. This is $119.04 and includes free shipping any-where on the planet, priority post is used in the US and air mail post is the shipping method for other addresses. If you choose the CD, we'll still have you up and running instantly. A temporary license is provided 24-7 from our online fulfillment server, and you receive the CD in just a few days. FreeDemo

Don't let the 9 month trial license confuse you, we still provide the industry standard Free Demo . Our demo policy limits the number of individual graph-ics that you may create to about 20. But you can print and save all of your work, no hassle there.

Great to use as a "Free Reader" . In the unlicensed mode your colleagues may view, edit, and print any EazyDraw drawing no matter how large. This policy lets you send original high quality EazyDraw art-work to other Mac users, they just need to download the 16 Meg install image to view or collaborate with your EazyDraw drawing.

Or if you just have a small drawing project, go ahead and knock it out with no purchase. Something like a simple business card, or abbreviated restaurant menu can easily be completed in the demo mode.


Datapilot - Mac software to manage your cell phone contacts on your computer plus picture, music and movie downloading, ringtones,.wallpapers, photo uploading, transfer between new and old cell phone.via your mac. With cables or via bluetooth - $29.95 - 79.95

Safaribooksonlinebypeachpit - looks like searchable digital.library of many of their titles - too bad it is not also like.Audible.com but for technical books. Could i learn while I sleep? Cost?

reQall.com - just remember to go there. Call 1-888-973-7255 if you.need to remember something and can't write it down and they will text.it or email it to you - free! (for now) just remember!

my.vu - watch ipod (or portable DVD players) video (and listen) on a.pair of glasses..$299 - $499 depending on resolution (read image.size) but oh so cool - maybe more cool than the MB Air

MemoryMiner - digital storytelling that starts with your photos -.very neat - Best of Show last year so I guess it isn't new. Like.Digital Scrapbooks or storyboard.

futuro- very cool looking USB phones to use with skype - $50 - 95

iTornado - coming soon - instant file transfer micro computer. USB to.USB - no software or flash drive. Content of both computers show up.on both screens. Move data back and forth. Retractible cables PC to.mac, drag and drop. Not yet out - $79.95 msrp. datedrivethru.com or.thetornado.com

solio - not new but still cool and getting cheaper - solar power.storage units to charge cell phones, ipods,.etc. solio.comblurb.com - download their free bookmaking software and add photos.and or text with iphoto or lightroom integration. Pick your book -.soft or hard cover - 4 sizes and and they will print you bookstore.professional quality books starting at $12.95. As my friend said -.what a great way to pres-ent your book to a potential publisher.

matias foldingkeyboard for travel - if you want a fullsize keyboard.for your laptop on the road (I use metias tactile pro keyboard - like.the old Apple Extended II)

lapdome to use your LCD laptop in the sunlight (think miniature popup.tent for your macBook). Can I get a Celldome so i can use my phone in.the sun?

etchamac - custom laser engraving for you ipod, iphone or laptop

photostamps.com - design your own postage stamps with photo or.images, order online and they send you your stamps (by mail of course). PhotoStamps for Mac is a FREE download that makes it incredibly easy to turn digital images into PhotoStamps, right from your Mac!

PhotoStamps for Mac has extra options and flexibil-ity made just for Mac users.

* Integrates seamlessly with iPhoto * Turn photos into PhotoStamps in seconds flat * Choose from unlimited border color optionsGo to: www.photostamps.com to download your free software!


merax.com - one shot photo studio - studio quality light-ing kit with.two lamps, reversible background, camera stand and 22" lightbox that.collapses into a carrying case. Also software for maac and windows fo.editing adding watermark etc. Perfect to go with Garage Sale - mac.software to sell on eBay. $99 (reg $149)

And last and least (silliest product seen at expo) drum roll please

Boombags.com - Travel speakers are now obsolete.- actual speakers.for your ipod built into luggage - The Ultimate Ipod travel companion.seriously - doubles as a public address system - make real money.panhandling or audtioning for American Idol the street version.

So after 6 hours we were pooped, losing the battle of restraint with.the credit card but, as usual, left with a bag full of swag and demo.disks that will probably be unopened and unread 6 months from now and.still that sinking feeling that I was missing out on some great deal.and if I could only come another day

Ah, another rewarding MacWorld Expo. EB

FromanotherMacenthusiast:

Not that I have anything to journal but this one <http://preview.tinyurl.com/gvq7c> always seemed interesting too. Never could.decide between 'em; decided my life wasn't that interesting anyway.and talking to imaginary friends is weird. ; )

I bought Storyist, <http://www.storyist.com/> word pro-cessor/ scriptwriter/page layout/storyboarder for novels, screenplays,.research articles etc. Best feature is it com-bines word processing.with a virtual cork board of also virtual 3 x 5 cards for all your.importable bits of info--and you can move em around to arrange in the.order of appearance in your document. Great for working in the

quotes.and factoids. Screenwriting softwares include similar; this one was.just a restive interface and the guy used to work for Apple years.ago, obviously brilliant. $45 at show. S 205..Stupidly I didn't.check that it allowed custom 'paper' colors as white back-grounds in.Apple apps on Cinema displays are my pet peeve, (undoubtedly designed.by the same guy who put blue type on black in terminal).

Somewhat along that line, I checked up on (mis-listed) FrameForge 3D. Studio (really at the Dr. Bott booth), a storyboarding previsualization app that is greatly improved since the last time I.saw it. Lets you mock up various scenes in 3D, using lots of drag and.drop components and simple constructions, choose your lens(es) and.camera aspect ratio, set camera height and angle (multiple views run.across the top of the main window) then save the frame as a.storyboard frame whose printout includes all the camera data for.shoot-ing. Last version let you export the frames to Painter or other.for artis-tic fluffing, then back into program for printout. Has.camera moves but can't remember if it lets you do a Quicktime across.each frame then join those into a longer Quicktime to 'play' the.storyboard, kind of like an animation. Excellent tool for thinking.through a film project; my sister was a pro in that business for.years and the flyer actually got her to sit


up on the couch.

<http://www.frameforge3d.com/ff3d-in-10.php>

photostamps.com - design your own postage stamps with photo orimages, order online and they send you your stamps (by mail of.course).

Endicia is always a good one to remember if you mail a lot.

Perfect to go withGarageSale - mac software to sell on eBay.

Vectorworks Architect (or Designer version including also separately.available Landcape and Mechanical Design). Import your SketchUp. conceptual models and generate code construc-tion drawings for the.building dept. For all the architecture/con-tractor types on the list. — TX

ATXfollowup:

A small program called Stox at the ProSoft booth. Tracks your stocks obviously with configurable multiple tickers whose news items are clickable links. Each stock has an rss feed too so when news items come in the rss symbol is added next to their name. Has charting features and reports (which don't yet have colored type--I like to see those greens and reds!). Can't remember if there is an overall bottom line in the main screen. That's what I want to see without having to make a report. But it was cool.

This prompted a trip to the Quicken booth to see what they were up to as their interface is about 10 years out of date. Blithely commenting on Apple's "hard to ignore" market share (after they almost--did--can the program for Mac until Jobs talked them out of it) the guy showed a beta of Quicken 8. Redesigned from the bottom up, thank goodness for small mercies, it has cover flow

paging through docs. Another whizbang is a graphical representation in varying type sizes and colors of your spending 'tags' (no longer has categories). To me this was silly--randomly placed words like 'prescriptions' in various point sizes--the bigger the spend-ing the bigger the font--as if anyone but a graphic designer could figure out that 24-point means 57 % of spending and 22-point means 46%. And *randomly placed* type in the window too, not in a column of biggest type to smallest with attendant percentage or dollar figures next to the words. Takes visual representation into outer space, where there is no light.

But, the kicker when it comes out in the fall--no investment tracking in the release version. So hold onto your v 7 folks until they add in that minor feature. — TX

AnotherMacEnthusiast:

Oddly Stox isn't on their website as a prod-uct!http://www.prosoftengineering.com/prod-ucts/index.php

I saw it, but blanked out, it may be a replacement for my PowerTicker, which has not been updated lately.. Not as many features, apparently, either.. It was once known as myStock... It does appear under JoeSoft...

http://www.joesoft.com/products/stox.php —GM

16 SUPerLaTiVe maCWorLD eXPo Sf 2008 ProDUCTSby TidBITS Staff <[email protected]>article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/arti-cle/9423>

It's once again time for our annual roundup of all those things at Macworld Expo that caught our attention for one reason or another and deserve to be called out.


Contributions this year come from Adam Engst, Glenn Fleishman, Tonya Engst, and Rich Mogull.

**Most Welcome Fix for Glaring iCal Failing** -- BusyMac shipped their BusySync software a few months ago, but brought a new feature to Macworld Expo that's sure to help. BusySync is a tiny server prod-uct that runs in the background and lets multiple people share iCal calendars as if they were completely readable and writable over a local network or via the Internet. One computer acts as the calendar host, but other Macs with BusySync can have as much access to that calendar as the publisher chooses to offer. BusyMac's limitation is that it can't work over the Internet without the publishing computer for a given calendar having a publicly reach-able IP address.

<http://busymac.com/>

The latest version of BusySync - due to ship in February 2008 - skirts that problem by supporting Google Calendar. You might use Google Calendar already, but if not, you can adopt it as a sort of publishing relay to enable syn-chronizing between a Mac with a private IP address and computers elsewhere on the Internet. With Google Calendar support, you publish a calendar to Google, then other computers subscribe to that Google Calendar. It's a hack, but it's a nifty one, as Google Calendar is free. BusySync 1.5 currently costs $19.95 per computer, but the price will rise to $24.95 for version 2.0. Buying 1.5 now gets you a free upgrade (and thus $5 discount) for 2.0 when it ships in February. Discounts kick in for licenses purchased for five or more computers. [GF]

**Most Social Use of an iPod** -- iPods generally encourage anti-social behavior, but it doesn't have to be that way. With the new iNo from Sababa Toys, you can use your iPod's music collection as the basis of a four-person music trivia game. Plug your iPod into the iNo,

flip a card to pick what aspect of the song should be identified (artist name, album name, etc.), and press Play on the iNo. The first person with an answer presses her remote control button, which stops the music and lets her guess, checking against the iPod for the correct answer. Additional buttons help keep score. The game lists for $99.99 but is available from Amazon.com for $49.99. The plastics of the iNo seemed a little flimsy, but it looked like some-thing that could be a lot of fun with friends. [ACE]

<http://www.sababatoys.com/><http://www.sababatoys.com/admin/gallery/MEN11_SUB545_iNo3_lo.jpg><http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RNCNIC/?tag=tidbitselectro00>

**Most Welcome Brain Transplant** -- MacSpeech has been working with a good, but not world-beating speech-recognition system in their iListen product for years, before scoring the deal that they apparently wanted all along: a license to use the engine that drives Nuance Communications' Dragon NaturallySpeaking; Nuance's software is and has been available only for Windows. (David Pogue wrote up how this came to be in his New York Times column last week.) It's going to play extremely well, because many Mac users were running Windows sim-ply to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I saw a short but effective demo of the pre-release MacSpeech Dictate software at the Expo under extremely noisy conditions and was suitably impressed. The soft-ware is slated to ship in February 2008, with a lot of improvements to come within six months, including learning from corrections and specialized medical and legal dictionaries. MacSpeech Dictate will cost


$199 with a headset; upgrades from iListen 1.8 will cost either $79 (for purchases made in 2007) or $29 (for pur-chases in 2008). [GF]

<http://www.macspeech.com/pages.php?pID=53><http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/technology/personaltech/24pogue.html><http://www.macspeech.com/pages.php?pID=52>

**CoolestBooth**-- I always enjoy checking out the Crumpler booth, but this year it took me some time to realize the laptop bag company was indeed inhabiting a booth enclosed in black-and-white illustrated flexible walls (be sure to check out the closeup) that reminded me of some of Hieronymus Bosch's crazier work. [ACE]

<http://www.crumplerbags.com/><http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-01/Crumpler-booth.jpg><http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-01/Crumpler-closeup.jpg><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch>

**WorstDemoVideoofaProductThatAppearsUseful** -- Despite what appeared to be shrink-wrapped boxes in the Data Drive Thru booth, Mac switchers, consultants, and others who want simple, ad-hoc file transfers between Macs and PCs will have to wait until March 2008 to purchase iTornado, a $79.95 USB device that picked up a lot of buzz at Macworld Expo despite the company's hucksterish infomercial. From the small, round iTornado, you unspool two retractable USB cables, which you then plug into a Mac and a PC. Handily, you need install no software. Instead, the device mounts like a USB flash drive, and you run software on it to view the file structure of each computer in a dual-pane win-dow. To transfer files, simply drag them from one pane to the other. iTornado is based on The Tornado, a similar device meant to facilitate PC-to-PC file transfers. Both devices come with a separate copy of PC Eraser, Windows software that erases a PC's hard disk to U.S. Department of Defense standards, so if you wish to get rid of the PC after transferring your important files, you needn't worry about them being accessed by others. The only useful information I could find about iTornado on the company's Web site is a press release in PDF format. [TJE]

<http://thetornado.com/><http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-01/iTorna-do.jpg><http://www.datadrivethru.com/press/iTornado(01-08-08).pdf >


**Best New Enterprise Backup Server Option**-- Code42's CrashPlan Pro is an innovative backup pro-gram we've written about on a number of occasions, but it has always been aimed at the individual user and home office markets, emphasizing as it does how you can back up to another version of CrashPlan Pro running on a friend's Mac or PC. You could also back up to CrashPlan

Central for less than $1 per gigabyte per year, but Code42 has never encouraged use of CrashPlan Central because they felt it was simply better and cheaper to do mutual backups with a friend. However, the news from Macworld Expo is the release of CrashPlan PROServer, which is essentially the back-end software Code42 uses to run CrashPlan Central. That moves CrashPlan into the enterprise backup space by giving a system administra-tor control over which computers back up, how often they back up, where their backups are stored, and so on, all via a Web-based management console. CrashPlan PROServer is distributed as a VMware virtual appli-ance that works with the Mac, Windows, and Linux.

CrashPlan PROServer itself is free, and desktop agents are licensed on a per-seat basis with prices ranging from $38 to $48 depending on volume, with a yearly support license adding $12 per seat. [ACE]

<http://www.crashplan.com/business/frontpage.vtl>

**MostAppreciatedReturntotheMacindustry**-- Although CrashPlan PROServer offers a great deal of power and flexibility for organization-wide backups, long-time Retrospect users will be pleased to hear that EMC is once again putting significant effort into that product, rewriting it based on the code base of the Windows version and giving it a much-needed interface update. Retrospect X will support multiple simultaneous backups from sepa-rate sources, the capability to expire backup sessions when a drive starts to fill up, and more, but most important, it will retain key features such as being able to run Retrospect Client on versions of the Mac


OS back to Mac OS 9, support for tape drives, and the unusual capability to create bootable duplicates over a network. But don't go looking for a download today - EMC is expecting to release a public beta of Retrospect X in the third quarter of 2008. [ACE]

<http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/105537>EMC Retrospect delivers powerful yet easy-to-use data protection for your servers, 24x7 applications, desktops, and notebooks. It protects your p e r s o n a l information and busi-ness from data loss due to user error, com-puter failure, or site-wide d i s a s t e r s . Ret rospec t protects mil-lions of com-puters world-wide and consistently earns top awards and broad indus-try acclaim for its unique patented technology.Easy to set up and manage

Robust data protection doesn’t have to be com-plex. Retrospect’s intuitive wizards get you up and running quickly. Backup operations are automati-cally adjusted to ensure that all computers are pro-tected without requiring manual intervention. With Retrospect there is no need to write new backup scripts each day to keep backups running smoothly. And user-initiated restores enable end users to per-form fast onsite recovery of their data without put-ting a strain on IT resources.Avoid weekly full backups

Unlike other backup applications, Retrospect deliv-ers fast incremental backups while still providing accurate restores. Retrospect does this by creating a list of hard drive contents during each backup. Retrospect later uses this list to select the exact data necessary to perform an accurate restore to a prior point in time. With Retrospect you get a perfect restore every time. Other software doesn’t utilize such a list and therefore can only provide an accu-rate restore to the day a full backup was performed.

Simplifies management of backup media

Traditional backup software requires a complex strat-egy to protect against failure of backup media or a site-wide disaster. Multiple sets of tapes must be created, tracked, and rotated offsite in a rigid and unforgiving manual process. Retrospect eliminates complex tape rotation strategies. Simply create two sets of tapes. Keep one set onsite for backups and restores. Send the other offsite for safety. Rotating tape sets is easy

and fast.D i s k - t o -disk-to-tape backups

Ret rospec t p r o t e c t s more com-puters in less time when utilizing disk as a backup destination. For offsite protect ion, create syn-thetic full sets of tapes by rapidly s t r e a m i n g data from the backup disk,

eliminating the need to perform another backup over the network so applications and users remain unaf-fected. Establish a policy that retains a set number of backups and automatically removes older data to make room for newer backups. You never have to perform a full backup again. Highest level of secu-rity for backup media

Retrospect delivers the strongest possible security for your backup media using U.S. government-certi-fied 128-bit and 256-bit AES encryption. With AES encryption, unauthorized individuals cannot access information stored on backup media in the event that it is lost or stolen.

Other features include:

* Bare metal restore * Universal binary for Intel and PowerPC based Macs * Advanced backup to disk * Customized reporting * Email notifications

**MostExcitingNewUSBDevice**-- Yeah, it's cool that you can launch foam missiles via USB, but for you James Bond-wannabes, it's even cooler that you can password-protect your Mac with the Eikon fingerprint scanner. Made by Upek using the same technology that's been showing up in recent PC laptops, the Eikon lets you swipe your finger across the device's sensor when your Mac asks for your account password. You configure the device with any finger, and you can set your Mac to accept only your fingerprint, your fingerprint _or_ your password, or your fingerprint _and_ your password. I

was able to make it work easily during my demo and here at home with my own Eikon, and I hope to fol-low up with a thorough review. The Eikon is available for $49.99 at Amazon.com; the Mac software appears to work somewhat differently from the PC software described in the reader reviews at Amazon. The question is, what happened to the Sony Puppy fingerprint scan-ner we noted at Macworld San Francisco in 2003? (See "Macworld Expo San Francisco 2003 Superlatives, Part 2," 2003-01-27.) [TJE]

<http://upek.com/solutions/mac/><http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41I-ma5QGKL._SS400_.jpg>< h t t p : / / w w w . a m a z o n .c o m / d p / B 0 0 0 P E L L G S /?tag=tidbitselectro00><h t tp : / / db . t i db i t s . com/a r t i -cle/7050>

**MostProdigalofMacSons** -- It's arrived! The most awaited Macworld _2007_ product that never appeared during 2007 was the Axiotron Modbook, a tablet version of a MacBook that the


company munged together by connecting their parts to a partly disassembled Apple computer. A MacBook has its keyboard, trackpad, and display removed, and replaced with a tablet screen designed to work with a pressure-registering stylus.

<http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook>

At this year's show, Axiotron not only had dozens of units on the floor, all with the finish one would expect from a shipping item, but also partners of all sorts showing how a tablet Mac could be used for drawing, location finding, handwriting recognition, note-taking and markup, and other purposes.

< h t t p : / / w w w. a x i o t r o n . c o m / u p l o a d s / p i c s /ModBook0701-004_HeroPen-HEADER.png>

I spoke to the company's CEO and various develop-ers and partners at some length, tried drawing tools and handwriting recognition, and held a freestanding Modbook to test its heft. It feels heavy when held in one hand, despite weighing the same five pounds as what seems like a lighter MacBook. The Modbook has a resilient magnesium alloy that surrounds the scratch-resistant optical glass tablet screen.

The Modbook is for sale now via Other World Computing in the United States and Carbon Computing in Canada; other resellers will come online in Europe soon. At Other World Computing, the two available models cost $2,279 and $2,479, corresponding to the $1,099 (Combo Drive) and $1,299 (SuperDrive) MacBook models. [GF]

<http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ModBook><http://www.carbonation.com/modbook/><http: / /s tore.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/?node=home/shop_mac/family/macbook>

**StrangestMash-Upof1984and2008Technology**-- A castle in Transylvania. A thunderstorm. Rain pounds down as lightning strikes, and a developer from a tiny company called CodeFlare chortles as thousands of volts course through the corpse of HyperCard. Slowly, the application launches, lines of reverse-engineered HyperTalk compiled into Java code animating stack after stack, each encapsulated in a life-giving Web page. Yes, that's right, through the Web site at TileStack.com, CodeFlare has brought HyperCard back to life. TileStack.com can not only run existing stacks (as long as they don't use XCMDs), but it will also enable users to write new stacks - think of them as Web applications - using HyperTalk, the only programming language I've ever really liked. (There's an implementation of the Lights Out game in HyperTalk on the site for you to try.) Stacks store their data in an SQL database with custom exten-sions that enable it to mimic the way HyperCard could store data on each card of a stack, and the CodeFlare guys said it would even be possible to write new XCMDs to extend HyperTalk in different ways. TileStack.com isn't quite open yet, but if you visit today, you can sign up for the early access program. Once available, TileStack.com will be free; the CodeFlare guys were a bit fuzzy on the business model, although they muttered about how they hoped to have a desktop version available for sale toward the end of the year. Imagine using HyperTalk to create Web applications - the mind boggles! [ACE]

<http://www.tilestack.com/>

**Best Method to Handle a Large Array of iPods** -- University and K-12 system administrators who distrib-ute educational materials on iPods were likely drooling on the sturdy-looking multiple iPod Dock shown by Parat at Macworld Expo. The iPod Dock, which holds as many as 15 to 30 iPods, can charge and sync all the iPods to the same iTunes Library. It's also integrated into a rolling suitcase, so it can be closed and locked for easy transport and storage. Parat was also showing a mobile classroom unit - called the Paradict Mobile IT Lab - that charges, networks, and transports multiple laptop computers. Parat has been making similar products for

Windows laptops for a while, but they only recently began making cases aimed at Apple products, a fact that likely explains the vagueness of their press release, Web page, and online product literature with regard to the exact name of their iPod Dock (there may even be more than one) and exactly how many iPods it can charge. [TJE]

<http://www.paratsolutions.com/apple.html><http://www.paratsolutions.com/sitebuilder/images/iPod-dock-179x121.jpg>

**MostWelcomeMethodtoChargeMultipleiDe-vices**-- Griffin Technology's PowerDock could let us dump several cables while keeping our iPods and iPhones more reliably charged. The two- and four-slot models come with adapters or work with Apple-supplied ones for their universal dock con-nector ($59.99 and $69.99, respectively). It's due in March 2008, and with all due respect to our friends at Griffin - a firm notable for showing products with optimistic shipping dates - we're anxious to see the PowerDock in the metallic flesh. [GF]

<http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/pow-erdock><http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-01/PowerDock.png>

**Best Accessory Deal on the Expo Floor** -- Wandering Macworld Expo with a credit card is a dangerous proposition. Mixing consumer products with enterprise tools, you never know when you'll turn the corner and run into a booth with that iAcces-sory you just have to have. On sale, of course. While many vendors offered 15 to 20 percent off their products, high-end earphone manufacturer Etymotic Research offered over 50 percent off most products, and substantial discounts on the rest. Etymotic is known for their in-ear noise-blocking headphones that use technology originally developed for hearing aids. Unlike active noise canceling headphones that cancel out background noise by countering them with opposite sound waves, in-ear designs block outside noise just like earplugs. The Etymotic ER series are so small they barely stick out of your ears, and offer up to 36dB of noise reduction - more than enough to block out those crying babies on the plane. For those with iPhones, Etymotic offers the hf2 Headset + Earphones, combining their in-ear design with an iPhone-compatible microphone in the cord. I succumbed to the temptation and walked away with a pair of ER6isolators for $69 (normally $149). Those of you who prefer over-the-ear noise cancel-


ing designs should check out the Creative Aurvana X-Fi Noise Canceling Headphones. Though priced at $299, they offer impressive sound quality by combining active noise canceling with Creative's X-Fi technology for enhancing compressed music. [RM]

<http://www.etymotic.com/><http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/hf2.aspx><http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx><http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=437&subcategory=439&product=16975>

**ThinnestProtectionfor iPodsandiPhones** -- If you find yourself wandering around Macworld Expo with a brand new iPhone that mysteriously appeared in your pocket that morning, one of your best protection options is a set of BodyGuardz for the Apple iPhone. These thin, durable films are made from the same mate-rial that's used to protect the fronts of cars, and they completely wrap around your device, protecting it while still allowing you to use the touchscreen. They're thin enough that you can also use a case of your choice, while still protecting your device for those times when you just want to drop it in your pocket with a set of keys. The film is easy enough to apply that I was able to do so in a small San Francisco hotel room. For those of you who like a little choice, you can also look at InvisibleShield, made from the same film that covers helicopter blades. In either case, if you regularly subject your beloved iPhone or iPod to the same stresses as the front of a car or a helicopter blade, you might want to re-think some of your life choices. [RM]

<http://www.bodyguardz.com/BodyGuardz_for_Apple_iPhone_p/nl-baip-0407.htm><http://www.shieldzone.com/>

**MostShockingFormofNetworking** -- Powerline networking lets you pass data over an electrical network without any additional wiring. It's a great alternative and complement to Wi-Fi, especially now that current pow-erline gear from several different firms and standards groups has hit 200 Mbps of raw throughput (for more

details, see "Trading In-Home Wi-Fi for Powerline Networking," 2007-07-09). But Mac users have been left out of one aspect of powerline network-ing: encryption. I think encryption is overkill for this networking method, because to tap into it, a sniffer would need the same gear and access to your

local electrical system - meaning access to your home or a device plugged into an outside outlet! If someone has that kind of access, you might have other things to worry about. (Don't go into the basement.)

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9050>

Nonetheless, NetGear's Powerline HD Plus Ethernet adapters - supposedly shipping in February 2008 for about $160 each - have a nifty way around the software issue. Each adapter has a button on front.

Plug both into electrical outlets, press the button on one, then the other, and they perform a secure key exchange (via Diffie-Hellman, for those who like those details), securing the network without any additional effort. This revised unit also sports a pass-through plug in the front so you don't lose the power outlet. [GF]

< h t t p : / / w w w . n e t g e a r . c o m / P r o d u c t s /PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters/HDXB111.aspx>


**BestExcusetoWatchMoreTelevision** -- Elgato Systems just doesn't stop adding features to its televi-sion-tuning products for Macs. The new EyeTV 3 soft-ware adds a long list of new capabilities, including better previewing through a Cover Flow-like option; better searching; series recording; and improved streaming support for viewing programs over the local network or the Internet to an iPhone or iPod touch, Mac OS X, and Windows, much like Slingbox. (The company bills this feature as Wi-Fi Access, but any device with Safari, Camino, or Firefox can view content over any fast-enough network connection.)

<http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/software/EyeTV/EyeTV3.en.html>

Both the company's HDTV/analog TV tuners - the EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus - have been upgraded to handle Clear QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) from digital cable providers. Clear QAM is the unscrambled content that is used for what an EyeTV employee at their booth said is quite a lot of regular cable programming. HBO may be encrypted, but it sounds like Home and Garden is not. [GF] <http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products.en.html>


fiX for mYSTerioUS WorD 2008 CraShby Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9437>

Here's a tip for any of you early installers of Office 2008 for Mac: If you're experiencing a crash on launching Word 2008, try throwing out its settings file. Look in your home directory for Microsoft's preferences folder at ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft. Move the Word Settings (10) file to the Desktop and relaunch Word 2008. That did the trick (with some help from Microsoft tech support) for me under Leopard on an older PowerBook G4. If moving Word Settings (10) out of the way solves your problem, trash the file.

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