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Hewie's Views and Reviews
By Hewie Poplock, Windows SIG Chair, Vice Pres, Past President, The Central Florida Computer Society (CFCS)
www.cfcs.org
hewie (at) ymail.com

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).

Welcome to this issue of Hewie's Views & Reviews. Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/ . 

++++  My iPhone choice
++++ When a Special isn’t and really is or My Homer Simpson Moment
++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites 

September, 2008

++++  My iPhone choice

Recently the new iPhone 3G was released.  Since I have one of the original units, I watched with anticipation for news about the new units and services.  With the release, the faster web speeds was enticing, but spending more for the same service just didn’t pass the justification test.

I have decided to keep using my iPhone 2G. (I don’t know if that is an accurate description.) There are several reasons for my decision.  With the new phones, came an updated operating system, which is a free upgrade for my unit.  Even though there were some Apple system-wide down times, I was able to upgrade my unit from version 1.1.4 to 2.0.0 on the release day. I did get some errors and had to try a second time, but it upgraded successfully.

With the upgrade, I have much of the same functionality of the new 3G phones. I can download and install any of the third party programs that are now available.  The new 3G is not needed to use them.  I will discuss some of those programs in a future column.

I don’t have the increased connection speed of the 3G network, but much of Florida is not covered anyway.  The I-4 corridor from Daytona to Tampa has 3G coverage, but if I get a few miles off of the Interstate, I will not be able to take advantage of the new speed.

The older unit cannot do GPS, but does access Google maps and I have a separate GPS unit, anyway. Other than it being newer, the iPhone 3G holds no advantages for me to pay an extra $10 for the same service. If I want to keep the 200 per month text messages there is an additional $5, plus the $199 or $299 for the phone. I will keep using my original iPhone.        

++++ When a Special isn’t and really is or My Homer Simpson Moment

Last month I talked about the 2 Logitech USB optical mice that I bought from 1saleaday for about $5 each plus $5 each for shipping.  One of the mice worked great and the other was DOA (dead on arrival). When I e-mailed the seller, they offered to credit my account if I returned the bad one.  That’s nice of them, except the shipping would equal the refund, so I kept the useless unit. 

At a tech meeting that I attended (The Tech SIG of CFCS), I talked about the situation and mentioned that the good mouse didn’t have a battery and wondered how it worked.  Everyone said that it must have a battery.  I searched Google for the model to see if I could find a manual.  The mice were shipped in plastic zip-locked bags with no documentation or product information.

I not only couldn’t find any info, but found that the model was a Canadian unit, and not available in the US. When the good mouse died, I decided to open one of them.  I pushed and pulled all of the buttons and cracks and a cover came off.  Inside, there was a battery.  I replaced the battery and the mouse again was working.

I then retrieved the other mouse from the throw-away box and opened it up.  There was no battery inside and inserted the one AA needed.  When I connected it to my laptop, the DOA mouse worked! “Duh” was my reaction.  

I want to publicly apologize to 1saleaday.com ( http://www.1saleaday.com ). They were generous in offering me a refund and I was being a Homer Simpson by not realizing there should be a battery inside and to check it. I guess that’s why tech support always asks if the computer is plugged in before trying to solve a problem. 

++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites
There are more new sites this issue, because we skipped a month.

USA.gov
http://www.usa.gov/
U.S. Government's Official Web Portal for all government transactions, services, and information. It provides direct online access to federal, state, local, and tribal governments.

HP Smart Web Printing
http://h20247.www2.hp.com/hho/cache/482779-0-0-225-121.html
Software to print usable web pages without cut off edges and blank pages

by-expression
http://by-expression.com/content/resources.aspx
Expression Web forum and tutorials

Spam Return
http://www.spamreturn.com/
Protect your privacy and avoid spam. Use Spam Return where no registration is required No Sign-up

Elance
http://www.elance.com/p/landing/buyer.html
Outsourcing to freelance programmers, web & logo designers, copywriters, illustrators and consultants

timeanddate.com
http://timeanddate.com/
Info that is time and date related, such as yearly and monthly calendars,countdown counters and world clock which shows current time in cities all over the world.

jooce.com
http://www.jooce.com/#
Private online desktop with public sharing capabilities. View listen or share files photos music & video

zamzar
http://www.zamzar.com/
Convert files. Zamzar supports conversion between a wide variety of different file formats

Wordle
http://wordle.net/
Generate “word clouds” from text that you provide to use however you like. 

PlanningWiz Online Room Planner
http://v3.planningwiz.com/
Software for Furniture Retailers and Manufacturers, Building Contractors, Realtors and more

bobble yourself
http://www.xmbaseball.com/
Create a bobble head of you

Volition®
http://www.volition.com/index.html
Oldest Free Stuff site on the Internet. Includes Coupons & mystery shopping info

Password Chart
http://www.passwordchart.com/
Convert an easy to remember password. It works anywhere on any computer or offline & done in your browser

JOLT - Journal of Online Learning and Teaching
http://jolt.merlot.org/index.html
JOLT is a peer reviewed online journal that addresses the scholarly use of multimedia resources in education.

Audiko
http://audiko.net/
audiko is a simple service which helps you to make a ringtone of your favorite song

JotForm
http://jotform.com/
Web Based WYSIWYG Form Builder. Create and publish web forms using your browser

Mygazines
http://www.mygazines.com/
Free to browse, share, archive and customize unlimited magazine articles uploaded by the Mygazines community. 

Florida Computer Crime Center
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Fc3/index.html
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Computer Crime Center

Picnik
http://www.picnik.com/
Edit photos the easy way - online in your browser

Starting in Second Life
http://www.thinkerer.org/SLintChan/SLintroch.htm
What you need to know to get started in Second Life.  Lots of good help.

Buzzillions
http://www.buzzillions.com/
Product reviews from Verified Buyers about Digital Cameras, Sporting Goods, Appliances, Mens and Womens Shoes, Toys and Video Games, and more.

ZabaSearch
http://www.zabasearch.com/
Free People Search and Public Information Search Engine - Telephone Numbers and Addresses Revealed Free. No Registration Required. Instant Results

YouMail
http://www.youmail.com/home/index.do
YouMail is a free online voicemail replacement with personal greetings