An End of Year Suggestion

I realize that this is a very busy time of the year; nevertheless I have a suggestion that might save you countless hours of work and frustration. It will only take a few minutes and hopefully you will never need the product of your work.

With more and more of us using our computers and other digital devices for tasks once the province of paper and ink, we accumulate a tremendous amount of digital stuff. There are the electronic pay check stubs, tax reports, bank statements, electronic bills and bill payment documentation and let’s not forget all those names and addresses. Pictures from Johnny’s piano recital or Suzie’s soccer match are stored somewhere on your computer rather than in the shoe box on the top shelf of the closet.

It is great to have all these things available at the click of a mouse. It is disastrous when that doesn’t work…when your data storage fails.

The solution is to pay attention to the old saw “never put all your eggs in one basket.” Make sure you have more than one basket and make sure that all the “eggs” are in each. In other words, back up your data!

There are many ways to do this. There are services that literally back up everything you do by connecting your computer via the Internet to a secure, redundant data storage site. Most of these charge for the service and your computer has to be online. Rather than to try to cover all the features here you can go to PC Magazine’s web site, it has a good summary of these services at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288745,00.asp

There are other simpler and less expensive options. The easiest is to make copies of the important files on inexpensive CDs or DVDs. Most computers have drives that will “burn” CDs. Since they are so inexpensive I suggest making two copies and making sure that you don’t store them in the same place.

You can also use Flash Drives. These little devices plug into the USB port and can hold a tremendous amount of data. They do, however, have a finite number of read/write cycles (in the thousands).

You may wish to consider the purchase of a USB external hard drive. The prices of these devices have plummeted to a point that you can get a 1 terabyte drive for about $100. Unless you have lots of videos to save, a 1 terabyte drive will handle all your “digital stuff.” Remember that these are mechanical devices and as such can fail. So it is still a good idea to have the most important files also backed up in some more robust format like a CD or DVD.

Again, you may never need these back ups. I hope you don’t. If you do need them you will be happy you spent the time.

A Holiday Lament

Deck the halls with things electric
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Sony, Apple, Panasonic,
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Now they have some neat new features.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
But directions come from alien creatures.
Fa La La La La, La La La La

Why are “E” things still not easy?
Fa La La La La, La La La La
All the problems make me wheezy.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Call the hot line with your issue.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Someone in India can talk to you.
Fa La La La La, La La La La

So when the season comes a knocking.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Put some coal in Sony’s Stocking.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
Toss the batteries and the hard drive.
Fa La La La La, La La La La
No phone, no iPod you’ll survive.
Fa La La La La, La La La La

Stocking Stuffers of the High Tech Kind

For the last two weeks I have provided some suggestions for some high tech gift giving. This week I will continue, but will offer all suggestions under $15 making them great stocking stuffers.

Anyone who uses a computer or MP3 player will appreciate having extra storage for all those video, music or picture files. Consider buying a few SD cards or “Flash” drives. These small storage devices can plug into various digital devices and expand the amount of storage capacity. Flash drives require a USB port and as such are used primarily with computers while SD cards can be used with a variety of devices from small mobile phones to large flat screen TVs. SD cards come in several “sizes” from 1 gig to as large as 8 gig or more of capacity. (Figure that an average of 600 pictures or songs will fit on a 1 gig device) For MP3 players and mobile phones, you may need a “micro SD card.” These are about the size of the finger nail on your pinky finger. Locally Staples has a great selection.

Do you have someone that travels a lot with a laptop computer? Here is a neat addition to that road warrior’s armaments. Give them a laptop lamp. This small gooseneck plugs in the USB port of the laptop and casts a soft light on the keyboard. These are great for working in low light situations like planes or conference rooms during Power Point presentations. You can find them on-line and at many local computer stores.

Another cool device for someone who uses an MP3 music player is an FM transmitter that allows the car radio to serve as the speakers. It plugs into the MP3 player and car power port (nee cigarette lighter.) You can find them on line and at Best Buy.

For those who may have given up the desk top computer for a laptop, one of the things you will miss when doing financial stuff is a good numeric pad. How about a USB numeric keypad? It is about the size of a mouse and allows you to enter numbers just like you did with your desktop keyboard. You can find this on line for about $8.

Gift cards are also great. For the younger set a gift card for some iTunes will always be appreciated. You’ll find them where ever gift cards are sold.

Have a Merry Christmas!

More High Tech Gift Ideas

Last week I gave some suggestions for some high tech gift giving. This week and next we will continue to look at some items that are available from local retailers or on line. I am trying to cover a variety of items, and in keeping with the economic situation, I’ll concentrate on staying away from the budget breaking 70” flat screen TVs. The good news is that prices continue to be very affordable for most home electronics and there are some very cool products that have entered the market this year.

I know I have suggested a Flip video camera before (I am not getting a kick back) but the product just seems to get better and better and is a perfect item for those who want to capture video of family events or vacations without the hassles of bulky hard to use video cameras. The camera is about the size of a large pack of cigarettes and now comes in a high definition model.

The beauty of the Flip is that is has only a few control buttons and anyone can make very good, clear videos. You press one button to start recording and press the same button to stop. Videos are stored in the camera and can be easily transferred to a computer or emailed to a friend. It comes with a cable to connect to a TV so you can immediately play your videos right from the camera. You don’t need a VCR or a computer

It is self contained and fits in your pocket. Even better, it fits in your budget. I have seen Flips selling for about $150 on line and less the $200 in stores. You can by a standard definition model for as little as $89.00. If you get one, be sure to open it first on Christmas morning.

The TV commercials are filled with iPods and iPhones. For sure Apple has some very well designed products, but they remain pricey. For far less money there are some very good MP3 players. You may wish to look at the SanDisk Sansa Clip. This tiny player measures about 2” x 1.5”, can hold hundreds of songs and recordings and can easily be connected to a computer to transfer music from the Internet.

The Sansa Clip and a similar model, Sansa c250, have a very good FM radio receiver built in and allow you to listen live or record from the radio. Both also have a built in microphone for recording although the quality of the recordings is marginal at best. One other down side is that it is so small you can easily misplace it.

This is a perfect gift for a jogger or walker. The prices are right as well. Both the Sansa Clip and the Sansa c250 can be found for between $30 and $40 at most any local discount or electronics retailer. You can get even better deals at Amazon.com.

More “stocking stuffer” ideas next week.

High Tech Gift Ideas

For the next three weeks I am going to provide some ideas for gift giving. I will try to give some suggestions for items that are available from local stores or on line. Also, I will try to cover a variety of items and be sure to offer a few suggestions that are inexpensive. The good news is that prices continue to be very affordable for home electronics and there are some very cool products that have entered the market this year.

Let’s start with an item that will be appreciated by your grandparents or your favorite aunt or uncle who may live far away. How about giving them an electronic picture frame? These frames come in various sizes from as small as 3” x 5” to as large as 11” x 17”. Essentially they consist of an LCD screen and an internal electronics that can store hundreds of digital pictures. These pictures can be displayed in several ways. You can set the frame to change the display of a different picture each minute or each day. Many will play short videos as well. Most look like traditional frames and can blend in with most any decor.

Rather than just sending the frame, take the time to load some of your family pictures that you shot over the past year. That way when it is plugged in, it will already be a very special gift. After all, your grandparents really don’t want the picture frame; they want to see pictures of your family. Each day, for years to come the frame will continue to keep giving. Most use small SD cards to store the photos. During the year you can mail some inexpensive SD cards already filled with Johnny’s Tee Ball Game and they can enjoy keeping up to date on what’s happening.

These frames are available starting at about $30 for a small frame and can be found in discount stores, electronics stores and online.

Here is another gift for the older set, but I have to admit it is an item that most everyone will love. Consider giving a GIANT remote control. That’s right; there are several universal remotes that can control your TV, cable box, stereo, DVD and most any other device found in your family room. When I say GIANT, I do mean big. These remotes can measure 12” x 4” and have labeled buttons the size of postage stamps. You don’t need glasses to see if you are changing channels or changing CDs. Many light up when you use them and all can be programmed to operate most any model TV or other device.

I have seen these for sale in many big box electronics stores and discount retailers. They cost about $15. I suggest that you read the label on the box and see how hard it is to “program” the remote before you buy it. The best ones use an “autosensing” circuit that will find the right codes for your devices rather than you needing to look them up. If you are going to give one to an older person you may wish to send a teenager along to set it up the first time.

More ideas next week.

Help for Hearing Impaired

You may have seen the commercials on local TV recently offering telephones that display in text form the other end of a phone conversation so that those with profound hearing loss can make and receive phone calls. The ads indicate that the phones can be free. This is only one of several similar offers aimed at older adults and just like the free cell phones and free scooters, the offer is true but the description may be a bit incomplete.

In this case, a company called CapTel markets a hard wired telephone that has a small LCD display. The phone uses the same wires and systems as any wired telephone and requires no additional fees to the telephone company. The phone is purchased from CapTel for about $100. The phone is only half of the required system. In order to display the captions, the incoming caller’s voice needs to be digitized for display on the phone. The CapTel phone does not do this.

What the advertisements don’t tell you is that when someone wants to call you and have their voice displayed on your phone in text, they need to go though a third party. Many states, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky included, have “relay” systems that provide this service. A person calling you dials a 800 number first and then, when prompted, enters your telephone number. The systems connects with your phone and displays the callers voice as text.

In most states, the service is free. It is in the case of our three neighboring states. Some individuals, depending on their income may be eligible for assistance in purchasing the phones as well. Information can be obtained in Ohio at (800) 973-4560 and in Indiana at (317) 334-1413.

This system should not be confused with the TTY services that have been around for years where special equipment on BOTH sides of the line allow two hearing impaired people to “talk” using text only.

The CapTel systems work well but they are not as hassle free as the smiling elderly man on the TV commercial might indicate. You do need to let your friends and relatives know that they need to go though the 800 number if their conversation is to be translated into text. For those with significant hearing loss it is worth looking into.

Next week I will begin the much anticipated, ever-popular two part Holiday Electronic Gizmo Shopping Guide.

Wireless Recharging

Wireless phones, wireless drills, wireless headphones - it seems that everything is going wireless. If that is the case, why do we have so many wires when it comes to keeping all these wireless devices powered up and ready to perform their marvelous tasks? Look around the kitchen counter. I bet there are more than a few chargers for the cell phones, iPods or Bluetooth headsets. How many more are squirreled away in the junk drawer no longer compatible with the new gizmos? Forget about any standardization allowing you to use the same charger for many different devices. While several European countries have agreed to develop a universal charger for all cell phones, in the US we are not even close to such an idea. Even if we adopt the same charger for all models of cell phones, we still will need to do the same for the myriad other devices.

Enter the “new kid on the block”: wireless battery charging. A few manufacturers now have products that can recharge all those electronic devices with no wires (or to tell the truth, only one wire). The system uses magnetic induction to transfer electricity. You can ask your high school Physics teacher to explain how this works, but you have to admit it sounds high tech.

One device is called a Power Mat. It is a thin pad that resembles a rubber door mat. You plug the mat into a standard AC power outlet and it is ready to charge most any battery powered rechargeable device. To be used with the Power Mat, each device must either be compatible with wireless charger technology or you need to add an adapter to each device. Once so modified you can forget about all those chargers. Instead of plugging in chargers for each device, you just place each device on the Power Mat. The charging is done wirelessly.

You can keep each device on the mat for as long as you wish as it will sense when each device is fully charged and stop charging. While there is a modest savings in electricity by using one Power Mat rather than two or three separate charges, the amount that is saved is miniscule. The convenience of having a single place to store all these devices when you are at home is a real plus. Many people will place a Power Mat on a table or counter near the door. When you walk in, you place your cell phone or MP3 player on the mat and when you leave again it will be charged.

Power Mat is available at most electronics retailers and will cost about $150 once you figure in the special adapters you will need for each of your devices. While this technology is somewhat new, look for other products that will use this wireless transfer of electricity. Oh yes, how cool will it be to tell your friends that you charge your cell phone with “magnetic induction transfer technology”?

CNN's Fall Disturbing...but that is not News?

The audience reports released a few weeks ago contained some interesting and, for me, disturbing trends. I was especially interested in the report that placed CNN as the fourth leading source of news on cable. That’s right, the same CNN that wrote the book on the 24 hour news service, the same CNN that garnered laughs and then dread from the broadcast networks news operations was behind Fox News, MSNBC and even CNN’s own progeny, Headline News in audiences.

While I really couldn’t care less who is first and who is second, I do care about the reasons many media pundits have given for CNN’s fall from the top spot. It seems that many feel CNN failed to take on enough of a “point of view” or “bias” in their news reporting.

Few would argue that Fox News and MSNBC have embraced a less than objective bent. Fox News leaning toward the Right and MSNBC toward the Left. While point of view and opinion and the freedom to express both are key to our democratic process, neither have any place in reporting the news of the day. It comes down to the difference between the Editorial or Opinion pages in print publications and the hard news sections.

I, for one, like the news given to me as a series of facts. Facts that have been researched, confirmed and presented in straight forward simple sentences. I can form my own opinion. For sure there is a place for opinion and debate but it is not and should not be presented as news.

Another trend in news reporting both in the cable and broadcast arena is the increase in soft news. Does the winner of American Idol or Who Wants To Be a Millionaire really belong in the same newscast as a report on the number of brave solders who lost their lives in some distant land?

There is nothing wrong with entertainment. There is nothing wrong with expressing opinions. We need both, but we also need our news reporting to be neither entertainment nor opinion.

You Can Cut The Cord

The proliferation of mobile phones is nothing short of mind boggling. I don’t consider myself old, but I can remember growing up in a house with one phone line and one phone. That phone was a “party line.” For those who may not know what a “party line” was, ask someone over 55. The phone was black and the phone company’s rules prevented anyone tampering with or adding a non-Bell extension phone under pain of Federal prosecution. Have things changed!

Today, that regular telephone and phone line are disappearing as many of us have decided that we only need our mobile phone. I bet you know of several people who use only a mobile phone and have dropped their Cincinnati Bell land line. For sure with many mobile plans offering features such as call waiting, three way calling, free long distance and integrated voice mail as part of the standard package, why pay for each of these features twice with both a land line and mobile line?

There are downsides of using a mobile phone as your only line when you are at home. Many of us drop the phone on the kitchen counter when we come home. We have our charger there, and if we remember, we charge it occasionally so our conversations will continue uninterrupted the next day. When the mobile phone rings we have to run to the kitchen. Déjà View from the 1960s. Also, long conversations using the small mobile phone are often uncomfortable and who wants to walk around the house all the time with a Bluetooth thing-a-ma-jig stuck in your ear?

There are devices available that makes using a mobile phone at home as your sole connection to the outside world much more convenient. The devices allow you to use all the existing telephones in your home as you do now. The difference is they connect to your mobile phone instead of your land line. The “brains” of the device is a docking station to which you connect your mobile phone. The docking station connects to the existing telephone wires in your home making all the telephones “extensions” to the mobile phone. You no longer need the land line. All the features that you have on your mobile phone are now available on the extensions. The docking station also serves as a charger for your mobile phone.

You can find these devices at some electronics stores, Amazon.com and other online retailers. The XLink ITC-BTTN is available from intellitouch. Another company, PhoneLabs, offers the Dock-N-Talk. Both cost about $150. You will find other models from RCA and Motorola on line.
Most connect with your phone either with a cable (sold separately) or via Bluetooth. Once connected it is hard to tell the difference between a regular line and a the mobile line. One thing to remember though, is that the docking station requires AC power, so when the power is out you can only use the mobile phone without any of the extensions.

If you are considering dumping your home phone land line, you should take a look at adding one of these docking stations.

Broadband Access Critical

A recent development in Europe caught my attention this week. The government of Finland is requiring all telecommunications companies serving that country to offer a minimum of 1 megabit per second (mb/s) Internet access to all citizens no matter if they live in cities or in isolated rural locations. By 2015 the government plans for this minimum to be expanded to 100 mb/s. For perspective, the 1 mb/s is about what you get from a standard Cincinnati Bell DSL line - if that service is available to you, and in rural areas it is not.

Finland is not alone in adopting these “broadband as a right” mandates. The United Nations is promoting this concept heavily as it sees the new communications available via broadband to be as important to countries as good roads, electricity and clean water.

Over the past two years I have mentioned several times in this column that the US continues to fall behind many countries of the world in the availability of new telecommunications technologies for ALL its citizens. I have also opined about the high cost of the services we do have.

Among the countries of the world, the United States is the only industrialized nation without a national policy to promote high speed broadband. This may be one of the reasons that the US is 23rd in the world with 60% of us having high speed service. South Korea still leads the world with 95% penetration.
There seems to be some movement to address this situation. In February, the Federal Communications Commission is slated to submit a national plan to Congress. It will not be inexpensive. The FCC reports that expanding the service will require subsidies and investments of as much as $350 billion. With so many critical initiatives facing the nation, such as health care reform and education improvement, it is unlikely that such an investment will get much traction in Congress. I, for one, hope that it does get the attention it deserves.
Daily, each of us experiences more and more uses of a robust broadband connected economy. The ATM where you get your cash and the gas pump where you fill your car rely on this network. Increasingly, the news you read and the instruction your kids get in school will require greater and greater capacities of our broadband networks. For these networks not to be available to all citizens no matter their geographic location sets up a “have” vs “have not” society. Such a situation will not serve the US well as we compete in a worldwide interconnected economy.
In the past our government has developed policies to expand the electric power grid to unserved rural areas, phone service to isolated communities and a network of interstate highways to connect communities large and small. The expansion of the broadband network needs to follow these same Federal initiatives.

Thin TV Requires a Thick Wallet

Last week I discussed the use of LED (light emitting diodes) in home lighting and how these energy efficient replacements for Mr. Edison’s bright idea were beginning to become available and affordable. I thought that this week we could look at another application of LED technology that is receiving a lot of buzz in the consumer electronics arena of late.

Joining the LCD, Liquid Plasma, and DLP TV screen options is LED based display technology. These TVs have only recently been showing up in any great numbers in retail stores but as prices fall they very well might become the standard for TVs.

Most LED TVs on the market do not use LEDs to actually render the picture. Rather, they use LEDs to backlight the traditional LCD screen. Older LCD models used fluorescent lights or other older technology light sources for this task. LEDs, because of their very low energy consumption and very long life, are a better fit. Also they can be more precisely controlled to turn on and off, allowing deeper “blacks” and more vivid colors.

So is the picture really that much better? It depends on the eye of the beholder and whether the TV set has been set up correctly when fist installed. My opinion is that there really is not much of a difference in the actual picture quality between a traditional LCD set and an LED set.

For sure there will be a significant reduction in power consumption and the LEDs should remain bright much longer than the fluorescent LCD models. Even with this better efficiency it is unlikely that most consumers will be able to save enough on their Duke bill to pay the difference in price of the LED set over the standard LCD or Plasma models.

One of the “Wow” features of LED TVs is the thin profile. A large 50” screen can look like a picture frame with a depth of less than one inch. While that is great for your “know- it-all,” “have-it-all” neighbor to regale you with at the next Super Bowl party, in reality, who cares. Remember that “thin” profile comes with the need for a “thick” wallet. LED TVs are very expensive right now.

With manufacturing capacity increasing, look for LED sets to drop in price as to be competitive with other models. Right now, unless you are one of those “gotta have the newest and greatest” kind of people, wait to buy.

LED Home Lighting Not Far Off

Energy conservation, carbon footprints and all things green have taken on a higher priority recently. Many of us are aware of the need to change our behavior to assure future generations a sustainable environment, but the rapid changes in technologies often leave us confused and uncertain how to respond. One of the areas that has been getting a lot of attention is lighting. Lighting for homes, offices and businesses accounts for a substantial amount of our electrical generating capacity and thus our use of natural resources and, in many cases, increased carbon emissions.

With all the attention being given to this problem, it is no surprise that there has been a steep rise in the acceptance of compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) over Edison’s incandescent bulb. Perhaps you received some discount coupons in the mail from Duke Energy offering steep discounts for CFLs. They have been around for several years and do save energy. Some down sides are the light output seems harsh to many and they take a minute or two to reach full brightness when first switched on. Perhaps more disturbing is that each bulb has a tiny amount of mercury. This makes the disposal of CFLs problematic. Don’t just put them out for the Rumpke guy to take away.

There is a whole new generation of lighting now becoming available based on LED technology. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. LEDs were first developed in the 1920s, but their use as a lighting source only became popular in the 1960s when they began to be used as indicator lights on stereos and other electronic devices. Beginning in the 1990s we saw applications such as automobile tail lights and even Christmas tree lights. They were slow to be developed into practical and affordable products for home and office lighting. That is changing quickly.

There are several companies who have introduced replacement lamps for home use in lamps, ceiling fixtures and other applications based on LED technology. The benefits are outstanding. LEDs use a fraction of energy than used by even the best CFL, they have no mercury and they will last years. The bad news is that they are still very expensive with a LED equivalent of a 60 watt incandescent bulb priced at about $40.

When CFLs first hit the market, they were pricey but as consumer acceptance increased the price dropped. Expect the same to happen with LEDs. It may well not be practical for many of us to run out and replace all our home lighting with LEDs right now, but I think it is a safe bet to expect that within five years LEDs will be an affordable and environmentally prudent choice.

A Whole New Type of Radio

Many radio stations, both commercial and non-commercial, stream their broadcasts on the Internet. Thousands of stations “broadcasting” from Cincinnati to Katmandu, can be received anywhere a high speed Internet connection can be established. Most people listen to these stations using their computer. You can walk through many offices and hear most any type of music or entertainment running on the same computers that are being used for word processing or data entry. Much of this listening is discouraged by employers, since if enough people are streaming audio programming it can bog down the company’s network. But that’s another column.

There are options to using a standard computer to listen. There is a whole new breed of “radios” now available that can receive any Internet radio station without using a computer. They are called “Internet” or “WiFi” radios. These devices in reality are special purpose computers designed to look and feel like any AM or FM radio. The big difference is they use the Internet to receive the programming.

Instead of the tedious array of steps needed to listen to an Internet station using a regular computer …turn it on, let it boot up, run your browser, find your station etc., the Internet radio has an on/off switch and a selector that can quickly go to any “station” you have preset. It looks, feels and operates like the radios you now have. It also uses less energy than the standard computer.

The current selection of radios is still limited and those that are available are a bit pricey as is usually the case with new electronic gizmos. I found a few models at Best Buy for between $130 and $250. Several Internet sites like Amazon.com also have a selection. If they do take hold however, they can significantly change the radio landscape since geographic coverage and audience for any station is no longer predicated on the power of the traditional transmitter. In essence, a radio station operating from your basement can have the same potential coverage as a behemoth like WLW.

When high speed WiFi service is a standard feature in cars, we may see an explosion in this technology as it could quickly make the satellite radio services obsolete. Already the selection of programming is almost overwhelming. A quick Google search found not only the traditional WGUC and WLW stations but very targeted services like “ All Sherlock Holmes, All The Time.”

If you, like many of us, are tiring of the bombastic commercial radio airwaves and you can’t find what you are looking for on non-commercial radio, Internet radio might fill the bill.

Not Magic But It Works

It may not be “magic” since you do need to use the phone ”jack.” Nevertheless for some the “magicJack” could be something that can save you money on your monthly phone service and long distance calling. Perhaps you have seen the advertisements about this product which has been around for about three years. It is a small device that plugs into your home computer and allows you to make virtually free phone calls to and from anywhere in the US and Canada.

magicJack is one of several products that use VOIP technology. (Voice Over Internet Protocol) The first year will cost you about $40 and each year thereafter about $20. So it can be a great deal. There are a few things that you need to understand however.

First of all the low cost is somewhat overstated since you do need to have high speed Internet access in your home. So to really compare your savings over a traditional telephone line from Cincinnati Bell you need to factor in the monthly charge you are paying for Road Runner or Cincinnati Bell’s DSL service.

Another potential downside, especially in our area that has way more than our share of power outages, is that if you loose power, your phone will not work. In the dark ages before mobile phones, this could have been a real issue. Now, since many of us have one or more cell phones, losing the landline is much less of an issue.

While they promise that you will be able to use your current telephone number with magicJack service, it is still not possible so you will get an new 10 digit number. Anyone calling you will need to use this new number; some friends may be confused as it looks like a long distance number even though they are next door. I don’t see this as a big issue since we seem to be getting used to the fact that the area code, once an indicator of your geographic location, is no longer a telltale place marker with the proliferation of mobile phones.

Like many VOIP services, you will need to register your address and phone number with the 911 service. This is very important and the user’s guide will take you through this process.

The package comes with free directory assistance, free call waiting and free voice mail. While I have not installed the software myself, others indicate that it was mostly painless. You can plug in multiple phones as well as the base station for your cordless phones.

One major downside I see is that you must have your computer on 24/7. This seems to fly in the face of our need to conserve energy.

Who Wouldathunk?

A week or so ago, Frank Batten, a media icon died.. You may not have seen the obituary but for sure you have seen his progeny. The network he launched is seen in most every home in the nation and has become a staple of our everyday lives. No, it isn’t one of the “big four” broadcast networks. Not PBS nor any of the all news channels. HBO or Showtime it is not. Mr. Batten launched The Weather Channel.

The Weather Channel, now taken for granted as a respected and vital source of information, was the source of ridicule and jokes in the early 1980s when it signed on from modest digs in Atlanta. Late night commedians joked that his next channel would be the “Time” channel.
The early years of the operation proved less than profitable and there were several times that cash flow almost made the service go dark. The problem was that the cable systems needed to provide carriage of this and other niche services were just getting off the ground so viewers and sponsors were as scarce as a Typhoon on the Ohio river.

Today The Weather Channel is seen by millions every day and is the second most viewed cable service right behind TBS. In fact, before his death Batten sold the company for more than $1 billion and most recently the channel changed hands again for the tidy sum of $3.5 billion paid by General Electric, owner of NBC. Now you know why they want you to “Wake up with Al.”
Many of us start our day looking at the channel on TV or online. Should I start the grill or is that yellow blip on the radar going to wash out our party? I bet I can get nine holes in, the rain is still near Indianapolis. Either of these sound familiar?

The growth of the Weather Channel is indicative of the sweeping changes in television and other electronic media. It gave rise to a plethora of other targeted services like DIY, The Food Channel, HGTV and any of a dozen “history” channels. It led the way for TV channels to move from targeting general audiences to offering content to an audience with a specific need and interest.

So perhaps Bob Dylan was wrong when he sang, “You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.”

Any Movie, Any TV Program, Anytime!

How quickly consumer electronics technologies and devices change and become obsolete. Look at Compact Discs (CD audio discs.) When introduced, they were heralded as the perfect way to store and play music. They were small, easy to manufacture, and the players inexpensive. CD sales ballooned and they quickly made vinyl records a curiosity found now mostly in museums and attics around the world. That was the in 1980s. Over the past few years the sale of music on CD’s has plummeted. The new “kid on the block” of course is the ability to get music online in the form of streaming or the downloading of actual computer files containing the music. Why have a library of CDs gathering dust on a shelf when you can have your entire library in your pocket in your iPod or any one of a myriad other digital devices?

In the video arena the same is happening, perhaps at a somewhat slower pace, but nevertheless it is moving in the same direction as the Compact Disc. Going back to the dark ages of VHS and Beta VCRs, the digital replacement was the DVD. Just like its cousin, the Compact Disc, these small discs were cheap and the players soon became as available as calculators at the check out counter. More recently they were improved to embrace the High Definition TV landscape. How long will DVDs be around? Perhaps they will have a shorter life than Compact Discs.

As more and more of us get better connections to the Internet and the Internet “pipes” get more robust, the concept of actually having a movie or TV program on a tape or disc will seem quaint. A look at what is available on line now gives us a good idea of what is to come.

NetFlix (http://www.netflix.com/) is a great example. The company built a multi-billion dollar industry by offering DVDs of movies without the hassle of going to a video store. You go on line and set up a list of movie titles that you would like to have. Those titles are sent to you via US Mail. You keep them for as long as you wish and when you return a movie another from your list is sent. No late fees. Of course there is a monthly charge depending on how many movies or programs you receive during that month. It is a simple, successful strategy that millions of people use every day.

Netflix is not sitting back and counting their money; they understand that this DVD based system may have a very short life span and they are quickly changing their business to offer movies and programs on line. While the list of titles available on line to be downloaded is much smaller than the DVD based library, it is expanding quickly. In most cases the negotiation for digital rights is the stumbling block.

For sure, just like most technologies, this ability to watch anything at any time will not totally make obsolete preceding technologies or services. The shared experience of watching a movie in a movie theater will continue to be viable. Collectors will still want to have a CD or DVD that they can touch and put on a shelf. Increasingly so, most of our viewing will be on line via the Internet.

I Don't UsenThem & I Don't Want Them!

I Don’t Use Them and I Don’t Want Them

I know I have written about this before but it happened again. Just like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano or the proverbial bad penny, it is back. It was delivered to my front door again this week. I didn’t order it. I won’t use it. I don’t want it. Nevertheless, wrapped in a bright yellow plastic bag was another phone book. This one, according to the cover was the “County Edition.”

If you are like me, you most likely get several iterations of these phone directories every year. There are the White Pages, The Yellow Pages, The Yellow Book, The Pink Pages, the SEI Regional Directory (white and yellow what a concept.) And let’s not forget the Harrison, West Harrison and Bright telephone book. I am sure I forgot several others.

How many trees do we need to cut down? It is my understanding that the FCC still requires phone companies to publish “a” directory. Note that “directory” is singular. . Also it is my understanding that the phone company needs to “offer” the directory and we as consumers can decline the offer. So why do we have all these others books?

Well, I have been on the other side of the telemarketing calls and have heard the sales pitches for inclusion in the directories. I really feel bad for local merchants and service providers who feel forced to spend money to place a listing and ad in many, if not all, of these directories for fear that their competitor will be “in” and they will be “out.” When there was one Yellow Pages Directory, it may have been a monopoly, but at least it was not bordering on extortion.

With so many of us using computers and Google to find everything from a good pizza to a good haircut, it seems to me that these books are at best redundant and at worst a waste. I can not remember the last time I used the Yellow Pages. OK, I lied, I used it to level a step ladder leg. I do remember that the last time I used the White Pages, the number I was looking for was not there. I was able to find the listing on Whitepages.com.

So the next time I see someone passing out another directory I plan to ask them to keep it. Talk about reducing our carbon foot print … cut down to one optional directory and there is no need for the paper, or ink, or energy for printing and binding and no gasoline burned delivering the book. Sure, I feel sorry for the people who get paid to deliver the books. Perhaps the phone company can hire them to pick up and recycle all the old books.

Free Cell Phone Offer Legit.

If you have been watching TV lately you may have seen advertisements about SafeLink, a company offering free cell phones to individuals who may qualify under a special government program. The spot shows a distraught woman, in the background is her car, hood up and engine smoking, and she is heard lamenting the fact that she can’t call home. At first I thought that this may be a public service announcement, but the number of spots and the placement in some very expensive air time slots soon convinced me it might be otherwise. Since the offer seemed too good to be true, I thought I would investigate. It had to be a scam.

After some investigation I found that it is indeed a legitimate offer. The phones and limited monthly service are free and are being provided by TracFone, a major pay-as-you-go mobile phone provider. The company has contracted with the government to provide this subsidized service. The specific calling plans are controlled by each state, but, generally if your income is less than 150% of the US poverty level, you could qualify for the unique program. The program is available to those living in Ohio. Kentucky is to adopt the program soon. Currently SafeLink is not available in Indiana and I could find no information on plans to offer it soon.

The genesis of the program goes back several years when the federal government set up a “Life Line” program. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/lllu.html This program was designed to assure that low income citizens could have access to basic telephone service. The first phase only covered land line phone service. With the mobile phones quickly becoming much more than a convenience, the program was expanded to include them as well.

The SafeLink program www.safelink.com in Ohio will provide a free phone and up to 68 minutes of use per month. If the user wishes to have more minutes they can purchase them from TracPhone at a hefty 20 cents per minute.

I am sure there will be those who disagree with me but I think that this program can provide some much needed security for a segment of our population that needs it and the hour of talk time should be more then adequate. I do feel that the program should be a bit more restrictive. As it is now, the user can buy additional minutes and text services as well as many other add-ons. These of course would be charged to the user. My fear is that they will end up paying inflated fees. The 20 cents per minute for time over 68 minutes a month is excessive.

For more information about the SafeLink Service and to review the eligibility requirements you can go to www.safelinkwireless.com or call 1-800-977-3768.

Online Banking ...What Are You Waiting For?

The other day I was talking to a friend about how much I like online electronic banking and how it saves me so much time. My friend commented that she would not like online banking since she still wants to have control over her money. I pressed her a bit to find that she was equating electronic banking with automatic bill payment.

Contrary to what my friend thinks, not only does online banking give you more control over your money, it allows you to take full advantage of billing cycles without worry that Uncle Sam’s mail truck will get a flat tire causing penalties from the credit card company.

You don’t need to use automatic bill payment at all. In fact, the beauty of the service is that you can tell the bank when to transfer the funds down to the day and it can be different each month. So if your BP Oil bill is due on August 26th, you can tell the bank to make the payment on August 25th. Since it is an electronic payment there is no time delay and BP has your money on the 25th. The next month if the bill is due on the 27th, you can pay it on the 26th. In the olden days you needed to make sure that you mailed the check several days before the due date since there was no telling how long snail mail would take.

Most banks offer electronic statements as well as access to an archive of many months or years of your records. This is invaluable when doing your taxes. Having these statements stored off site in some bank’s computer beats the shoe box in the front hall closet.

Almost every bank now offers some level of electronic banking. They do this because it saves them money, too. After all, when you go into a bank the teller is essentially entering information into the same system that you use on line. If they can get you to do the work, they save money. Not mailing out paper statements is also a cost savings.

Security can be an issue, but if you use common sense most pitfalls can be avoided. For sure, keep your passwords safe and don’t use your kid’s name or your phone number as a password. Also, you should be cautious doing any online banking using a public wifi hotspot or a computer that is not yours. There are some nefarious people who can gather your passwords by electronically eavesdropping at the library or Starbucks. Do your banking at home or at the office on a computer that your know is secure.

If you have not already tried it, go for it. You can still write your paper checks when you want. Perhaps you can start by just setting up an account and using it for some of your bills. Once you are comfortable, you will never go back.

Smaller & Simple Might Be Better

On occasion in this column I have discussed the propensity of engineers and designers to add power and features to various electronic appliances far in excess of what most users will ever use. We joke about it, but it is very true that the computing power in the iPhone, iPod and many mobile phones is more robust than what is found in the aging computer systems assisting air traffic controllers keeping us safe in the sky. That is another column perhaps…

There is a whole new category of computers that may reverse the trend of giving us things we don’t need, don’t want and will never learn to use. Called “netbooks,” these computers, smaller than lap tops but larger than cell phones on steroids, are designed and engineered to do very specific tasks.

While smaller than a regular lap top, the keyboard is very close to full size. The screens are somewhat smaller, but can display a page of text or email. Perhaps the biggest difference is in what they do not have. You will not find a large capacity hard drive, there is no DVD or CD drive, the processor will not compute the trajectory of a spacecraft heading for Mars.

These “netbooks” are meant to be connected to the Internet either by direct connection, i.e. a wire, built-in WiFi or a "3g" mobile network card. In other words, the power of this machine is derived from the Internet, not from its innards.

Both Google and, more recently, Microsoft have developed free word processing and spreadsheet software that you can use. Instead of the software being resident on “netbook,” it remains on the remote location and is accessed only when needed via the Internet. In so doing you don’t need all that hard drive space for large software programs.

The cost of these new scaled-down machines is comparably low starting at about $300. Of course if you want the leather seats and sun roof you can pay much more. Most of the bog box retailers have a wide selection as do Dell and HP on the web.

My advice is to make sure that you try the model you are buying. You should make sure that you like the keyboard and can live with the sometimes non-standard layout. Also, while I usually suggest not buying a service contract on electronic devices, in this case it is a good idea. By the very nature of how you are going to use this device, it is going to get knocked around.

If you want to edit video and play games on line, a “netbook” is not for you. If your computing activity is basically email, web surfing and modest word processing, a “netbook” is worth considering.

Google Voice Worth A Look

So how many telephone numbers do you have? Not too long ago that would seem like a strange question. Today, it is very common for many of us to have multiple telephone lines and numbers and multiple voicemail boxes. Many of us have a home phone and a phone at work as well as a mobile phone. It is not uncommon for families to have mobile phones for both parents and each of the kids.

So what number do you give to family, friends and business colleagues? With the blurring of “work time” and “home time” that decision is not always easy. The issue is even more complex, since many of us, myself included, try to keep our mobile number somewhat protected from the telemarketers and other electronic miscreants who call at the most inopportune times.

The folks at Google, the Internet search engine behemoth, will soon roll out a new free service that addresses this issue. Called “Google Voice,” the service has been in testing for sometime, and according to Google sources, will be available to the general public in a month or so. I have set up an account and I have to say I am impressed.

Google Voice provides the user with a new telephone number. The subscriber gives that number to individuals instead of any of the “real” numbers assigned to your home, office or mobile phones. When you set up the system, you decide where you want the various incoming calls to go. For instance, if you give the number to a business associate, when he or she calls, the call will be routed only to the office line. If you give the number to a neighbor, you can program it to ring only the home or mobile lines. For your spouse or other important persons, you can direct the system to ring all the lines simultaneously if they should call. For those you don’t want to talk to at all, the calls can go directly to voice mail.

Another great feature is a single voicemail box. Instead of checking the office voicemail, the home answering machine and your mobile voicemail, all messages are stored in one place. Google will even allow the voice messages to be available in text format for reading and saving via a special web page or sent to you via email or to your phone as a text message, or all of the above.

There are several other features within Google Voice such as screening spam callers or telemarketers and automated dialers. You can even record incoming or outgoing messages. Perhaps the best part is that is FREE!

Google Voice is an expansion of a service called “Grand Central” that has been available for sometime and should be ready for general use very soon. You can put your name on a list for notification at www.google.com/voice

What Internet Speed Do I really Need?

Once the Internet was used for writing short notes to friends or an occasional search for an address or phone number. Some of the more daring among us may have booked some travel plans or even purchased a book or two. Now more and more of us are using the Internet for banking, stock trading, downloading music, sharing photos and videos with our family and friends and even watching network TV programs. An increasing number of us use our home computers to tie into our network at the office. In short, just like the highway systems have been overloaded with automobiles, Internet “traffic” is growing almost exponentially.

It was not long ago that most of us used a standard telephone line to connect out home computer to the Internet. When our main use was an occasional email or two, this was more than sufficient. Over time though, higher speed connections have been the rule. In our neck of the woods there are essentially two options of high speed Internet; DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) service provided by Cincinnati Bell or another phone company and a cable based service provided by Time Warner or other cable provider.

When you get right down to it, either will provide a level of service adequate for most home Internet users. There are some differences in how each works.

The cable based system uses the Cable TV network to connect you to the Internet. It is sort of like a water system. There are large pipes that connect to the source of the water and as the system spreads out the pipes get smaller and smaller with all water users sharing in the supply. If everyone on the system decides to take a shower and water the lawn the system slows to a trickle. Since this almost never happens, it is not a problem.

The DSL configuration is different. Just like your phone, Cincinnati Bell provides a dedicated wire from your house to the phone company office. This line is only used by you. So if everyone in the neighborhood is on the phone or computer, your speed does not change.

In most cases the speed provided by the cable modem is slightly faster than the DSL service. If you want to check your speed there are several Internet sites you can use. One of the easiest is CNET. You type in your zip code and type of service and it will show you what speed you are now getting and compare it with the various options in your area. To use the test go to http://reviews.cnet.com/ and you will see the “test button” in the box in the upper right hand corner of the page.

My rule of thumb for most home users is to go with price as both options are adequate.

Some Audio Problems Can Be Fixed

One of the questions I often get now that we are finally and totally converted to digital broadcasting has to do with the increased frequency of audio problems on TV programs? The most prevalent and irritating problems are the increased instances of lip sync errors. We have all experienced it. The person speaking and the audio track are not in sync. Sometimes it is so pronounced and distracting that it makes the program unwatchable. Watching a drummer hit the drum or guitarist strum a chord only to hear the lick 2 seconds later is not pretty.

In the old days, before digital broadcasting, most often lip sync problems were caused by the circuitous path the video program traveled from its source to your living room. For example, news reports coming from Europe or Asia, because they were being transmitted using two or more satellite hops, had many incidents of audio delay and audio / video separation.

Today’s problems seem to be more pronounced and harder to fix. In the analog days the audio and video for a TV program were transmitter separately to your TV. They were joined inside the TV set. With digital, from the very beginning, the audio and video are all part of one stream of “1”s and “0”s and once joined they can’t easily be pulled apart. So if the audio is out of sync at the source there is virtually nothing you can do to fix it.

There are some instances where the problem is in your TV set or cable set top box. I have noticed that with some Time Warner set top cable boxes when a program has a lip sync problem you can fix it by powering down the cable box for a few seconds and then turning it back on. I am betting that this is a bug in the box where by its buffer gets filled. Turning it off clears the buffer. I am not sure, but my fix does work. I have tried this on some digital TVs as well with mixed success.

Another audio issue is the varying audio level or loudness. This is often experienced when a station switches from the network to a local source. The most pronounced is on Channel 12’s second channel The CW. When they go to the 10 PM news the audio level jumps almost 50%. Why? Because someone is not paying attention at the station.

Here is hoping that stations and networks will begin to pay as much attention to what we hear as they do to what we see.

You Can't Easily Turn the Internet Off

Recent news reports from various parts of the world have spotlighted the ubiquitous Internet and how it is shaping the fabric of society. Its impact is reminiscent of the old song “How You Gonna Keep’em Down On the Farm after They’ve Seen Paree.” In reality, the Internet is much more powerful than any communications tool that has gone before it. Governments, especially those that are closed and restrictive, are finding this out the hard way.

Other communications technologies were much easier to control by those in power. Radio and TV programming can be censored and even rogue stations can be jammed if the people in charge disagree with the message.

Recently in Iran, during the short-lived but pervasive unrest, the Internet was used by dissidents to communicate both internally with the protesters as well as to release to the world what was happening in the streets even after traditional media were barred from reporting.

The dilemma facing the Iranian government was how to control the Internet. In days gone by, you could just shut it down, pull the plug. That is no longer a viable option. The same Internet that allows the free flow of information and the same Internet that makes embarrassing YouTube videos available to the world, also is the backbone for commerce, banking, the power grid, the airline system and most anything else that a modern society relies on. To have the water pump and the sanitation system operate in most case requires the control and interconnection provide by the Internet.

The vital role of the Internet in modern society is not lost on those who would seek to do us harm. Just a week or so ago, cyber attacks were launched against the US and South Korea seeking to slow down or even to cripple the Internet and the computer connected to it. While the government and academia are hard at work to prevent such a catastrophic event, right now we have a lot of eggs in this basket and much more than a big omelet will result if that basket ever breaks.

Europeans Can Teach Us A Few Things

OK, look in that junk drawer in the kitchen. Mixed in among the dead AA batteries, a 1998 calendar and several pens …all of which will not write more than two words without skipping … I bet you will find more than one cell phone charger that is no longer compatible with your current phone. You are not alone.

Not only do models from the same manufacturer use different chargers, essentially no common charger and interconnecting plug design is available for any two phones from different manufacturers. In light of the fact that most phones, no matter the style or maker use the same basic innards and operate on the same voltages, this is crazy. In fact, most any cell phone charger in your drawer would work if only the plug was compatible.

Well, the people across the pond are doing something about it. Beginning in 2010 several major mobile manufacturers in Europe, including Nokia, Apple and Research in Motion, have signed up for the universal charger initiative. The goal of this decision is to adopt the use of the Micro USB plug as the charging standard for all cell phones by 2012. Some of the major brands are getting a head start and have agreed to implement Micro USB in their phones next year.
What a great idea! As a rule, even chargers in your drawer can last ten or more years. They are simple devices. The only problem is they don’t fit your new phone. Planned obsolescence.

According to an industry press release, it is estimated that in Europe alone the universal charger initiative will cut down on the energy and materials required to produce chargers by 51,000 tons annually, reducing the overall amount of chargers produced by 50 percent. This would also decrease the amount of waste created by discarded, useless cell phone chargers.

When will this great idea come to our shores? Who knows? The last time I bought a new phone the sales person mentioned that they were thinking about it. That was almost two years ago.

Of course it is not just cell phones that have non-compatible chargers. In any home today there are most likely five or more little chargers plugged in and energizing that iPod, GPS, portable radio, flashlight, camera, etc, etc, etc. Since most of these devices require different battery voltage and amperage, a universal charger is a bit more of a problem to design. Not so with the cell phone. So, let’s get on with it. I don’t know about you, but my drawer is getting too full already.

Libraries More Than a Collection of Books

Recently there has been much reported about the potential funding cuts that will be experienced by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. With more than 50 % of the state funding in jeopardy, the library may have to radically scale back services and programs. This funding situation has fostered many citizens to express opinions and ideas in letters to the local newspapers, calls to radio stations and on blogs.

While some of these ideas are well thought out, there have been several that have expressed dismay that the library provides access to the internet. The gist of the argument is that libraries should stick to the “core business,” that is, traditional books.

This argument really gets to some very basic definitions of the role of institutions like libraries. Is the role of a library the conservation of and distribution of books and periodicals or to provide access to information and the collective knowledge and ideas of our society? For sure I would come down on the side of the latter.

Seems to me that to make the definition of the library contingent on its collection of printed books would be like defining a carpenter as someone who builds things but only with a hand saw and wooden pegs. Few of us would agree with that as we understand the need and desirability to use whatever tools we can develop to do things better and more efficiently.

I am all for books. I like to pick up a book with pages and black printed text and read. Most days I read two newspapers and many trade periodicals. Most of these are printed on paper. So I don’t see this as an “either/or” argument.

The fact is that with the amount of information generated each year increasing almost exponentially, it is neither possible nor desirable to have all of this information stored on paper and in many individual locations. In many cases with some science and research information, by the time the material is printed in a book and distributed, it is already out of date. The electronic storage and retrieval of information via the Internet and other electronic distribution is the only practical way we can provide this important library function.

Seems to me that not only should the library offer access to the Internet, we should expect that such access will someday be the prime function of this institution. We should demand it and make sure that the funds are available to staff them with individuals who can help us identify how to search for information and to critically evaluate what we find. For sure there is a lot of misinformation distributed via the Internet, but I bet if we looked hard enough we might find some less than factual paper books on the shelves of libraries, too. Now, where is that book on alchemy?

DTV Reception Help.

Now that the digital dust has settled a bit and all local TV stations have abandoned their analog channels for the new fangled digital replacement channels, there are still many people who are having problems receiving the transmissions over-the-air using an antenna. After reading and listening to all the expert opinions and recommendations, it is no wonder that many people are confused and, in some cases, frustrated. I thought I would add to the dialog and provide some information that may help you if you are having problems getting all the local channels using an antenna. Cable and satellite subscribers can stop reading right now.

While digital and analog over-the-air TV transmissions use essentially the same technology, digital signals are more prone to problems than the analog. Problems with analog TV reception appeared on your TV as “snow” or “ghosting.” Problems with digital signals are much more evident. They result in no picture or sound at all.

No matter if you have a new digital TV or are using a set top converter box, the key to good reception is the antenna. Depending on where you live, you may either be able to use a standard “rabbit ears” antenna or you will need something more sensitive. If you get good reception on all the channels, great. If you don’t, here are some tips.

Make sure that your antenna is designed to receive both UHF and VHF signals. While most digital broadcasting is done in the UHF band, in Cincinnati channels 9 and 12 use VHF. If your antenna has both a round loop and two telescoping rods, it is a UHF/VHF model for sure. But there are many new designs so read the box if you are buying a new one.

Try an amplified set top antenna. This often will do the trick for people living in our area, i.e., about 25 miles from most of the TV transmitters. Keep in mind, though, that amplified antennas and digital signals are strange bedfellows. This might seem counterintuitive, but if you are having problems and already are using an amplified antenna, turn it off. Strange as it is, too much signal is as bad as too little signal. The amplifier almost always helped analog signals but not so digital signals. Always start with no amplifier and then add it if you are not getting the channels.

A better antenna can also help. While there is no such thing as an HDTV antenna, there are many new designs for antennas that make them more sensitive and therefore better for digital broadcast applications. Some of them look nothing like the ones we used in our youth….you know, we attached aluminum foil to them in order to get “Bonanza” to come in clearly. Manufactures like Terk have a wide selection of both indoor and outdoor models.

Speaking of outdoor models... For sure, a good outdoor antenna pointed toward downtown Cincinnati will be your best option. You can get unbiased suggestions for the right antenna for your location at www.antennweb.org. Just type in your zip code and it will give you good advice.

Finally, there are some locations that no amount of amplification or antenna design or height will overcome. I hope you are not in one of these areas but, if you are, cable or satellite are your only options.

bing.com, No Challenge to Goggle

It is always hard to try to unseat an incumbent be it in the political arena or in business. This is especially the case when the product or service has become part of the lexicon. A great example of this is found in Mircosoft’s renewed campaign to unseat Google as the leading online search engine. Using TV and print advertising, the computer giant is touting bing.com as everyman’s search engine.

There are and have been many challengers to Google over the years. Microsoft and others have invested millions in R&D and advertising only to throw in the towel and change the name a few times. Others survive but barely. Remember “AskJeves.com” now just “Ask.com?”

I did some searching on Google and bing to see what differences I would find. What I found is that there are two big differences and I don’t like either.

When you first sign on to bing.com you are greeted with a very colorful screen with a beautiful picture and fancy buttons. For me that is nice, but just as I really don’t care what my hammer looks like when I am pounding nails, I don’t need eye candy when I am doing a search. Save the beautiful pictures for Facebook..

The second “feature” that I find irritating is Mircosoft’s continued insistence on “helping” me do things. Using some set of arcane algorithms, many Microsoft programs decide what you want to do and then “help” you do it. While you can turn these features off, I still find myself working on a document in MS Word fighting the programs format functions. I don’t need help and if I see that cute animated paper clip one more time I am going to go nuts. I found the same “helps” in bing.

As for actual searching, bing does OK. I found some strange results but essentially the same results came back for searches in Google and bing. The difference was that bing tried to figure out what you really wanted and listed the results accordingly.

I for one will stay with Google. While “bing” is indeed part of the lexicon, I think it will stay that way because of the song “White Christmas” and not for its ability to look up the meaning of “white” or “Christmas.”

My Radar Is Bigger Than Your Radar

I try my best not to use this weekly forum to express my personal opinions but rather try to offer facts and information to help you cut through the jargon and hype so prevalent with the home electronics industry. With a request for your indulgence I am going to depart from the norm.

A few weekends ago, a series of storms rolled through parts of the Cincinnati / Dayton area. For many of us it was a non event as, other then a few clouds and distant thunder, we were spared the rain and wind. I turned on the TV that evening to see again the “Crying Wolf” world of local TV weather reporting. Each of the local stations was on the air live tracking every drop of rain, every breeze and every glimmer of lighting using enough radar and graphics systems to make NASA envious.

This spring so far has been quite benign as it relates to severe weather. We have had very few storms and not much wind. Perhaps the relatively minor storm of May 30th was indeed “news” because we have had so few.

Perhaps the most telling comment was an exchange on camera between two weather persons. The ‘Chief Meteorologist’ asked the ‘Assistant Chief Meteorologist’ to check with the police department in a suburb and see what damage the storm had caused. He seemed genuinely crestfallen when the answer came back …”none!”

The local TV stations have invested so much money in purchasing these high tech tools, that just like a kid at Christmas who just has to ride that new bike in three feet of snow; they are giddy to use and show off the cool features. “My radar is better than your radar…nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!”

It is not only the weather reporters at the local level. You can see it on the national 24/7 news channels like CNN and Fox. I am sure that the water main break in Fargo is a great inconvenience for our fellow Americans in North Dakota, but does it really belong as a story on the national news with a reporter decked out in waders and raincoat providing commentary. I think not.

With so much information flooding our lives each day, we have to be selective in what we pay attention to. If every time that the sky darkens and rain falls becomes a “Noahesque” calamity, when a real storm hits we are all going to be oblivious to it . Let me know when storms are possible. I have enough sense to get out of the rain, thank you!

Real Books Anytime and Anywhere

The digital era is replete with promises that never quite get fulfilled. Remember the predictions that every home would one day have a library of CD Rom discs that would provide information from how to cook a pot roast to how to fix a leaking faucet? Never happened. How about the vision of a small army robots cleaning the bathroom or cutting the lawn? Still waiting? There are some recent developments that may make the prediction of radical changes in what we read and how we read it come true. I am not referring to electronic readers like Kindle™ that I wrote about a few weeks ago. This new technology provides a much more attractive reading experience.

A New York based company, On Demand Books LLC., has been developing a system that allows books to be printed on-demand. Founded in 2003, the company has developed and patented a machine that can print and bind a single book in a matter of minutes. The machine that looks like a standard office copier, albeit a bit larger, is connected via the internet to a database of millions of titles.

While having books available on line is nothing new, the reading experience of holding a bulky viewer or, worse, trying to read long passages on a small PDA or cell phone screen has kept the numbers of users of electronic readers quite limited. Like it or not the bound paper book is indeed very efficient and comfortable.

It is estimated that there are some 23,000 locations in the US that sell books; about 6,000 are book stores. For all of these stores, and even the behemoth online provider, Amazon.com, one of the big issues is “inventory.” What to stock and what not to have on hand. With thousands of titles coming available each year the problem gets more and more pronounced. A dozen copies of a book on the shelf gathering dust does not money make!

This new technology allows the placement of a kiosk with the Espresso Book Machine™ almost anywhere. A customer, in the space of a few minutes, can be provided with a printed copy of just about any book. The price of the on-demand book is very close to the price of a book printed in the traditional manner.

Right now there are only about a dozen of these machines in operation. Priced at over $100,000, they are not inexpensive. The company is still negotiating with publishers and authors for rights to offer various books. Authors and publishers should like this technology as it helps them protect their copyrights.

So some day soon when you are going to the beach and are looking for a good book, your choices at the local drug store might be a lot broader.

"Getting There' Fun with a GPS

Summer is quickly approaching. Kids will be out of school, and with any luck, the folks at Exxon will show a bit of restraint with gas prices. For many, after a year’s hiatus, the summer road trip may be in the cards. In days gone by, loading up Fido and the kids, after making sure that the old “Chev” is working properly, used to be about all you needed to do in order to be ready for that trip to Aunt Esmeralda and Uncle Otto’s house at the lake. Oh, you may have stopped by the local filling station to pick up one of those free road maps. Yes I said “free.”

Finding that “free” road map may be harder than finding gas for less than $2.50 per gallon. Instead many of us will rely on a GPS unit to get us to our summer fun spots.
GPS or Global Positioning Satellite technology has been with us for many years. Once a pricey option for high end automobiles, the units have become much more functional and compact. Some connect to a lap top while others can fit in your pocket. Of course you can still get them installed as a factory option in about any model of car.

Over the years I have owned two GPS units. The first one was a very early model with a postage stamp sized back and white screen displaying very simple graphics. Most recently, my wife gave me a new pocket size model that has a large color screen, and enough navigation features to guide an aircraft carrier. The model I have even “talks”, giving directions as we drive. (Since you can choose the type of voice and language, I selected a woman’s voice with a British accent. It makes me feel a bit continental as I drive to Columbus.)

Portable models start at about $100 and go up from there. You will be surprised at the features that are incorporated into even the most inexpensive models. Here are a few things to consider when buying a GPS unit:

Make sure that it can be updated. Most have a USB connection that allows you to periodically connect with the manufacturer’s web site to download updated information. Since roads, new businesses and attractions are stored in the GPS, you want to make sure you have the most current ones. You don’t want to find out that the gas station you were counting on, and the GPS indicated was just over the next mountain, is no longer there.

If you are going to use the GPS on a bike or while walking, make sure that it has settings for that use. The scale and sensitivity is different for use in slow moving vehicles or walking than it is while driving on an expressway.

If you are going to use the GPS on a bike or while walking make sure that the internal battery has adequate life.

Go with one of the major manufactures like Garmin® or TomTom®. They both put out very good products and have good customer support.

Finally, if you do get a GPS, play with it while walking or in your own backyard. When you first get it and use it in your car you will be tempted to watch that little screen more than the road. Better to look at that semi slowing down in front of you than the neat graphic on the GPS.

Get Rid of that Old TV Safely

We have often discussed in this space the importance of disposing of obsolete or unwanted electronic appliances in a responsible manner. Since many of these devices are made up of components containing some very bad things for the environment and our collective health, pitching out that old Sony with yesterday’s dinner scraps for the Rumpke guy to haul away is not a very good idea.

For those of us who live in Hamilton County, there is now an new option. The Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District opened the 2009 Computer and TV Recycling Drop-Off service on May 1st. The program will run Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm through the end of the year. Hamilton Country residents who are unable to come during the week will be able to drop off computers and TVs on a few select Saturdays this year (June 13, August 8, and October 10 from 9am to 2pm).

The drop-off site this year is 11093 Kenwood Road, Building #7, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242.

Residents can drop off all computer equipment for no charge. Residents dropping off TVs, however, will be charged $10 for TVs weighing under 60 lbs and $20 for over 60 lbs. If you have a Sony, Zenith, LG, or Goldstar TV, these will be accepted for no charge through the Sony’s funded “take back” program.

Now, this particular program is open only to Hamilton County residents. You need to bring proof of residency such as a driver’s license or utility bill. More information about the program is available at their website at http://www.hcdoes.org/SWMD/Residents/CompElec.html.

There are other options available in the area. Best Buy has a program that will allow you to recycle certain appliances for a nominal charge. They have some restrictions on the screen size and number of items that will be accepted. Before lugging that TV or computer to the store you may wish to call or go to the Best Buy website, http://www.bestbuy.com/. Search for “recycling.”

For sure, getting rid of these items is becoming a bit of a hassle. The importance of doing it right and safely more than outweighs any inconvenience or modest cost.

Kindle Could Be The Newspaper's Best Friend

While it seems that many niche print publications and community newspapers like The Harrison Press are doing OK in this digital hurricane, it is no secret that many daily newspapers, even some of the icons like the Boston Globe or Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, are not successfully navigating these troubled waters. The shrinking size of our local Enquirer is testament to this trend. There is certainly no lack of interest in the news. The issue is how we get our news.

Fewer and fewer of us wake up in the morning and trudge to the driveway to find out what happened in the world while we were asleep. Instead we switch on the TV to view newscasts which span the 24 hour clock, or, as more often the case, we go online. The irony is that we go online to read many of the very newspapers that are having trouble surviving.

Very few print publications adopted a “pay for service” model in the early days of the web. Now they are finding that once you give something away free it is very hard to begin to charge for it. With fewer and fewer people paying for the paper and ink copy and more and more reading the material free online, it does not take an economist to figure out that this model is no longer sustainable.

The recent announcement of a new model of the “Kindle” may have given some hope to this struggling industry. The “Kindle” is an electronic reader that has been around a few years. Unlike a PDA or Laptop, the “Kindle” is designed for one purpose. That purpose is to display, in an easy to use and easy to see device, printed words as close to the experience of reading a book or newspaper as possible. The new “Kindle” has a larger screen than the first model and uses a special display that is easily read in bright sunlight.

Of course the big advantage is that it can retrieve and store more newspapers, magazines and books than a small bookstore. And since it is electronically tethered to the online world, these materials can be updated quickly and inexpensively. Rather than waiting for the next edition of the newspaper for updates, in reality you could be reading the beginning of a story before the end was finished. Once a book is released, there is no waiting for it to be shipped from Amazon or to wind up in the library

Even the textbook companies are getting into the game. Some prestigious institutions like Case Western University in Cleveland are going to try “selling” texts to students in this electronic form.

There are other companies like Sony that have developed similar readers. More and more publications are experimenting with subscription plans. How people will adapt to reading on a “electronic” screen rather than on a piece of paper is still unknown. For sure if the “Kindle” and other readers are successful, we will accomplish at least two good things: we will keep the diversity of news reporting healthy and we will save more than a few trees.

When All Else Fails, READ the Directions

I have written often about the increased complexity of new consumer electronic devices. From cell phones to televisions, manufactures continue to incorporate more and more features into the devices. As a result they can be vexing for those of us without advanced degrees in electrical engineering. While some are better than others, the printed manuals are often not clear. Don’t get me started on the customer support hot lines.

Over the past few weeks my colleagues at CET and I have been taking more and more calls and emails asking for help with digital television questions. It is surprising to me how many individuals seem to have the same issues. I thought I would share some of them with you since it may help you or someone you know.

For fifty years or more, we American consumers were accustomed to selecting a TV. We brought it home and plugged it in and sat down and enjoyed our program. In the early days we may have had to adjust a few dials to keep the picture from rolling or move the rabbit ears a few inches to the right to clear up the picture. All in all it was painless.

Today’s digital TVs, while they may look on the outside like their ancient cousins, are not as easy to set up. I have talked to more than 20 people over the last month about problems they were having with their new digital TV set only to discover that they had never set it up correctly when they took it out of the box.

Most new sets can’t just be plugged in and turned on. There is an initial set up that allows the set to scan for available channels, set up proper screen size and shape, display captioning and program information, and even the amount of time it will stay turned on before it decides to turn itself off.

All of these features, if not set up correctly at first, will cause frustration. For example many I have talked to paid a high price for a large plasma high definition TV but, since they did not set it up correctly, have never actually been watching digital high definition programming. When we “talk” them through the set up and the picture switches to HD, they react like little kids at Christmas.

Then there are the people who call to ask why the TV works only for three hours and then goes dark? There is nothing wrong with the TV. The energy saving function is set for a certain time after which, if a channel has not been changed or some other action performed, it turns off. This is an “Energy Star” feature. Again, you need to set up the time the set stays on when you first set up the TV.

My advice, as bad as the manuals may be and as eager as you might be to enjoy your new TV, take the time to sit down and read through the manual … or get that electrical engineering degree.

Some TV Options When The Lights Go Out.

I continue to get asked about the availability of battery powered digital TV sets. With the storm season on us and the inevitable Duke power outages almost a sure thing, many rely on small battery powered TV sets to get news and weather reports. With the analog broadcasting cut off just around the corner for the local commercial station on June 12, and the public TV stations already broadcasting only in digital, your trusty old analog portable will soon be useless.

When I last wrote about this a year or so ago, there were only two portable DTV sets available and they were very expensive. Things are beginning to change. While I will discuss some options, I still feel that unless you absolutely can’t live without TV during a power outage you may wish to wait a bit longer for sets with more features and lower prices to emerge.

You have two options for receiving local over-the-air DTV broadcasts. You can purchase a tuner that plugs into a lap top computer and uses the computer screen to display the program or you can select from a number of small battery powered TV sets with digital tuners. The Hauppauge Company offers a USB option. You connect an antenna to the “Stick” with is about the size of a memory stick. It uses a small remote control to operate the TV features. This model can also be connected to cable service but that won’t help much during a power outage. I have not tested this model although I have an earlier model from Hauppauge that works quite well.

There are several makers of similar tuners all of which retail at about $100. The key to optimum performance is a good antenna. Most of these come with cheap telescoping antennas that will not provide good reception. Use your regular “rabbit ears” antenna or better yet connect it to an outdoor antenna.

If you don’t want the hassle of using your lap top as a TV there are now some small LCD TVs that have digital tuners. They retail from about $99 to $150 and work like any portable TV. All have built in rechargeable batteries. While it might seem convenient, if you are without power for an extended period of time, it is nice to be able to pop in a few regular AAA batteries rather than sitting in your car charging your TV battery from your car’s power plug. Most of these small 7”models only get about 2 hours of use on a single charge.

You can find several models on Amazon.com. I have not seen any at the local electronic stores yet. I am sure they will be there soon. I expect to see better models at lower prices in a year or so. If you can wait, it is a good idea.

CET Pulls Analog Plug May 1st

I have been writing about the end of analog broadcasting for more then three years. The first deadline for conversion to 100% digital broadcasting came and went last February because Congress felt the country was not ready for the change. They set the final deadline for June, but allowed stations to terminate analog service earlier. On April 15th the KET network, covering all public TV stations in Kentucky, went all digital and on this coming Friday, May 1 at 12:01 AM, all local Public Stations - CET 48, ThinkTV 14 in Cincinnati and ThinkTV16 in Dayton - will go all digital.

So are you ready? As I have written so many times, if you are a cable subscriber or get your TV from a satellite provider, this is a non issue for you. If you have a new digital set and use an antenna (set-top rabbit ears or outdoor roof-top) you already are getting the digital signals. For those who want to keep using their trusty old 1985 Sony, you can use a DTV converter.

Here are a few updates to help you get ready:

You can still obtain up to 2 coupons per household from the Federal Government. Each coupon is worth $40 toward the purchase of a DTV converter. The converters are available in most electronics stores and cost about $60. So with the coupon you can buy one for about $20. To get a coupon call 808-388-2009 or go online to www.dtv2009.gov.

Locally Channel 64 is already broadcasting only in digital and the other commercial stations will cease analog broadcasting in mid June.

Most people will get good over-the-air reception with a set top UHF/VHF antenna. Some who live in valleys might need an outdoor antenna. Don’t automatically go for an amplified antenna since with digital broadcasting, too much signal can be as bad as too little.

All the local TV stations are already broadcasting at full power so what you get now is what you will get after all the analog stations go away. There is no reason to wait.

Don’t forget, when you wake up Friday morning public TV in the Cincinnati / Dayton area will be digital only.

Change Only Getting Faster

With your indulgence, I thought I might depart from my more traditional “nuts and bolts…what’s in it for you” remarks and share some observations about the impact of the changes in technology on our daily lives. Part of this is a reaction to some comments I get from readers. Many express a frustration on how quickly things are changing and how hard it is to keep up with even the simple things in life like watching TV. This got me to thinking and looking a bit more deeply into the topic.

Simply put, like it or not, our advanced technology has forced us and the rest of the world into a rate of change that is nothing short of exponential. We may not like it, we may not want it, but it is here and only going to get even more pronounced.

There are several examples. It took radio about 40 years to get to 50 million regular users. Television took just 14 years to reach this same level. The Internet went from 0 to 50 million users in just 4 years. In 1984 there were about 1000 devices connected to the Internet. In 2008 it is estimated that more than 1 billion devices were Internet based. This one must put a smile on Steve Jobs’ face: the iPod™ reached 50 million in just 2 years.Enough about sales of products and services. What does this mean for other parts of our society? While I should leave education to the pros at the Board of Education, I did come across some factoids that would surely keep me up at night if I was in a teacher's shoes. I read recently that one of the challenges facing educators is that they are charged with educating kids for jobs and careers that don’t yet exist using technology that has not yet been invented to solve problems that we haven’t yet identified.

Another education guru wrote that for college students in four year technical programs, 50% of what they learn as freshmen will be out of date by graduation.So what are we to do? Living in a society where 2 weeks of articles in the New York Times contains more information than a well educated 18th century scholar would know in a lifetime, can we ever hope to keep up?

Well, it seems to me that coupled with helping students and employees to embrace change, we need to make sure that they can think critically. There is a big difference between knowing the “innards” of a specific technology and knowing the appropriate application. The latter requires thinking skills beyond computational facility. This is not just a challenge to schools but workplace training as well. Just my observations…

Everyone is all a "Twitter!"

Spring is in the air, flowers and trees are blooming, the days are growing longer, but the “tweeting” may not be coming only from the birds.

Since it first was introduced in 2006, “Twitter,” a free social networking and micro-blogging service, has gained fans and noteriety worldwide. The list of those who post on Twitter seems to grow exponetially each month. Many of our elected officials regulary Tweet or should I say their staffs Tweet for them. You can follow the daily routine of our President and the First Lady on Twitter. Each of them tweets about what is happening in the White House. Well again, I imagine both have minions doing the writing and posting and they may not tell us everything that goes on in the Oval Office.

If you look closely at the first paragraph of this column, you will note that it has exactly 140 characters (letters and spaces included). This is the maximum length of a single Tweet or message that you can post on Twitter. If you are going to be successful using Twitter you need to write concisely.

The messages you write as a Sender are displayed on your Twitter Home Page and are delivered to other users who have subscribed to read them. These readers are called Followers. As a Sender you can share your comments with anyone who has a Twitter account or you can restrict your messages to only your friends, colleagues or family.

The messages can be distributed and read in a variety of ways. You can use a regular computer and an Internet connection, a portable device like a “Blackberry” or any mobile phone with text message capability. While Twitter is free, some of the message retieval may not be. Be sure to check with your mobile phone carrier before you have Twitter configured to send the Tweets to your phone. If you follow only a few of the more prolific users, you can get hundreds of messages in a single day. At 10 cents per message you may be tweeting a different song at the end of the month.

You can get a Twitter account by going to www.twitter.com and signing up. It is free and once you sign up you can search from millions of subscribers and choose which ones you want to follow. It is not only individuals using Twitter. Companies, organizations, TV and radio stations all use Twitter to stay in touch with employees, members, viewers and listeners.

Twitter is not for everyone. Some find the steady stream of information, from the ridiculous to the sublime, like drinking from a fire hydrant. Too much stuff. Others find Twitter a great way to stay in touch with friends and family separated by geography or hectic schedules. It is worth a look.

Keeping Important Stuff For Future Generations

You may have seen on the local news recently that the Cincinnati Museum Center is installing a new Time Capsule. Celebrating their anniversary recently, the Time Capsules that were installed when the iconic Union Terminal was built in 1931, were opened and contents displayed to the public. I found it fascinating what items the new capsule would contain. The local newspaper reported that it would contain “newspapers, letters from local dignitaries, local sports memorabilia and pieces of popular culture, such as boxes for the Nintendo Wii and Apple iPod and the packaging for the DVD of the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Note, the packaging for the DVD was included not the DVD itself.

This got me to think about the challenges that we face as we try to keep up with the exploding volume of information and preserve it for generations to come. In 320 BC scholars at the Library of Alexandria were collecting written information and preserving it. It is interesting to note that if you were to find a papyrus sheet, the media of choice from that era, the information contained on that sheet could still be read. Jumping ahead 2000 plus years…you most likely have media in your home today acquired less than 20 years ago that you can no longer access. Do you still have a “record” player or an 8 Track Tape Deck? I bet you have some MS-Dos computer programs or games.

The problems facing regular folks like you and me pale in comparison to the professional archivists at the Library of Congress or National Archives. It is one thing to want to preserve a picture of little Suzie’s first grade class stage production of the “Velveteen Rabbit.” It is another thing to be charged with keeping records and information of science, medicine and geopolitical commerce.

An unintended consequence of the digital age is the lack of permanence of our “products” and information. Today methods of storage, retrieval and presentation change in a matter months rather than in the centuries or even millennia which has been the case for most of mankind’s existence on earth. A good example that I mentioned last year in this column is the disappearance of the VHS machine. Many of us still have a library of home movies recorded on VHS. A trip to the electronics store will demonstrate that players for VHS machines are as hard to find as dial telephones. Even today’s CD and DVD formats are changing. The DVD of yesterday is the Blu-Ray™ of today. There is great debate over the physical longevity of the CD and DVD discs. Will they suffer from degradation like audio and videotape? With this happen in a decade, 50 years, a century?

A long term solution has not yet been developed. An interim approach is to continuously move the content from one media to the newer one. The good news is that once a document, picture or video is digitized, unlike in the analog world, the copy is indeed a clone with no degradation.

For sure the problem is not going away soon. Stay tuned and don’t throw away that shoe box full of family photographs even if they are stored on your computer.