missybonline

Seems everything these days has to have a cushy place to rest and electronics are not excluded! My husband has now requested a new chair for his Droid Eris (however he didn’t want to pay $14.99 or even $9.99 for one). So with a little research and a few online photos I came up with a pattern and made a cell phone bean bag chair. It sure didn’t take long to put together and the end result I am quite pleased with (as well as the price tag).

Now some of you who know me may be thinking “who the heck is Natasha?”.

Natasha is the name that I have given my Nook (the Barnes & Noble E-Reader).  So far she has been a formidable companion.  Our first day together was spent charging and setting up her wi-fi compatibilities as well as upgrading her software to the new version 1.3.0.  Once this was done we were off and searching for books by the dozens! With over 90,000 free e-books to choose from I have enough choices to last me for years without ever having to actually buy a book  (which is perfect because I am a major tight wad!).  I was also directed to a great site especially for free downloads which touted the 30 Best sites for downloading free ebooks. For days I had my face buried in my nook. Almost to the point my family wondered if I may ever put it down.

Then I got the bug to figure out how to download my music files to her. Tunes and a good book, what could be better? Unfortunately there is not much in for out there on how to get the files from your pc to your nook. I did however finally  figure out that I could transfer my mp4’s from iTunes directly to my nook via the USB that comes with the unit (also called “side loading”). All I had to do was Select the songs I wanted in iTunes and drag them to the My Music folder on my nook. What could be easier? Now I can work while listening to music that my customers can’t hear (via the headphone jack).  Life is almost complete!

Now jump forward a few days. I get an email spouting the “get mom  a nook for mother’s day”. Low and behold the nook they show has a new wallpaper that I didn’t have in my factory setting. Thus started my journey to find the lovely picture they had shown in their advertising. Though I searched high and low, sadly this picture was not to be found. The good news is that I did stumble across a great site called www.nook-look.com that had a bunch of FREE down loadable wallpapers and screen savers. This wonderful site also had very easy to follow direction on how to create your own.  Now my Natasha can put on a new face when ever she likes! You can see my creations here.

I love the new companionship I have gained through my nook; however she does have a few quirks. With the 1.3.0 upgrade you now have the ability to browse the web. Now it’s not super fast or flash compatible but it is functional. That is until you want to send a complete email. You can read your mail, delete your mail, start an email and send it with just a recipient and title but it will NOT let you type text into the body of the email.  I’m not sure if this is just a beta release issue that they plan to fix in the future or if they just plan on keeping it as a browser only type set up.  Facebook reacts the same way. You can browse your page to death but you can not update your status or respond to others comments.  I hope that this will be fixed in the future as it was part of my decision to but the nook and I’d like to be able to fully access my online accounts through it. I would also like to see more games added to the new “games” section. Chess and Suduku are nice for some but I much prefer word games.  JMHO

To note a few great things about Natasha. The battery life is fantastic if you remember to turn off the wi-fi when you aren’t using it. In the 2 weeks that she has been here I have only had to charge her 3 times. The factory installed wallpapers and screen savers are quite nice. The touch screen navigation is great for people with fingers of all sizes with very few miss taps. I do enjoy the Daily reads by Grin & Tonic as they are dry humor at it’s best.  Did I mention the over 90,000 FREE books?!

Today I decided to give in to making wallpapers for my Nook . Here are a few of my first collaborations!

Microsoft is allowing netbook users to download Windows 7, its new operating system, onto a bootable USB or burn it onto a DVD, in yet another move by Redmond to disseminate the operating system to as many users as possible. Although Microsoft reported yet another quarter of declining revenues, executives remain hopeful that Windows 7, rising PC sales and a sunnier economic outlook will translate into a more profitable 2010.

Microsoft has developed a solution for porting Windows 7 onto netbooks that lack a DVD drive: a USB memory stick. The feature was announced during the Windows 7 launch event in New York City on Oct. 22.

Specifically, netbook users can use Microsoft’s newly revamped online store to download Windows 7 for Netbooks onto a bootable USB, or burn it onto a DVD.

“For netbook users without DVD drives, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool [WUDT] will take an ISO image and create a bootable USB device that can be used to install Windows 7,” Microsoft spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc wrote in an Oct. 22 entry on The Windows Blog. “The WUDT can also create a Windows 7 installation DVD from the ISO file as well.”

The WUDT will work with PCs already running Windows XP or Vista. However, there are also some caveats for netbook users looking to take the USB route.

“Please note that in order to boot off of a USB device (or external DVD player), you will need to configure your BIOS to boot off of that device,” LeBlanc added in his blog post. “If you’re not comfortable making this type of BIOS change I recommend you seek assistance from your favorite ‘tech geek.’”

The WUDT plays into Microsoft’s strategy to port Windows 7 onto as many devices as possible. Now that the operating system has been released, Redmond needs it to be a sizable hit among both consumers and the enterprise in order to help reverse a declining revenue trend.

Despite the popularity of netbooks, PC sales have been slumping due to the recession, and weighing down Microsoft’s revenues in the process. On Oct. 23, Microsoft released earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 that showed a 14 percent decline year-over-year from the same quarter in 2008, with revenues of $12.92 billion.

During that period, Microsoft’s operating income, net income and diluting earnings per share for the quarter declined 25 percent, 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Microsoft is hopeful, though, that its new collection of products plus a corporate culture increasingly devoted to streamlining will ultimately translate into positive earnings in 2010.

“Windows division revenue will be in line with overall PC growth,” Chris Liddell, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said during an Oct. 23 earnings call. “Our strategies will position us to take advantage of the economic recovery.”

Liddell expressed hope in what he termed “good” feedback from corporations with regard to adopting Windows 7. Although 80 percent of all commercial PCs continue to run Windows XP, according to a recent report from research firm Forrester, the support for XP’s Service Packs 2 and 3 will end in April 2014.

Long before that point, of course, Microsoft is hoping that people will have made the leap to Windows 7—even if they need a USB device to make that happen.

Source from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/Microsoft-Offers-Windows-7-on-USB-Drives-for-Netbooks-225258/

Google Inc. wants to answer your mobile phone calls when you can’t or just don’t want to talk.

In its latest bid to become a bigger player in telecommunications, the Internet search leader is giving people a chance to have its free voice mail service answer calls to their cell phones. The offering was introduced Tuesday.

The voice mail feature is part of Google Voice, a fledging service striving to become a hub for phone calls to people’s mobile, home and office numbers.

Taking advantage of all of its tools requires getting a new number from Google Voice, a leap that many people aren’t ready to make.

So Google has come up with a way to tie existing mobile phone numbers to its voice mail service. The process requires requesting an invitation from Google and then following a few steps outlined at http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html. Invitations also are available from Google Voice’s current users.

“We see this as a perfect step for getting familiar with Google Voice without a lot of change,” said Vincent Paquet, a senior product manager.

The caveat: People choosing to stick with their existing phone numbers won’t be able to take advantage of all Google Voice features, such as directing calls to a home or office number.

But the voice mail option will provide more bells and whistles than what most major mobile phone carriers offer in their standard packages.

Among other things, Google’s voice mail service automatically transcribes messages and lets users customize greetings for frequent callers.

As part of its expansion efforts, Google developed a voice application for the iPhone that didn’t get approved by Apple Inc. The snub triggered a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into whether Apple and the iPhone’s U.S. carrier, AT&T Inc., might have been trying to stifle a potential competitor.

Source from: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091027/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_google_voice

LONDON (Reuters) – Tweeters are being invited to submit questions for the spirits of departed celebrities including Michael Jackson and William Shakespeare as part of the world’s first Twitter seance.

A psychic medium will then try to contact the stars — who were chosen along with actor River Phoenix and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain from nominations sent in by the public — at the London-based seance on Friday, the day before Halloween.

Other prominent dead figures nominated by tweeters keen to pose questions during the “tweance” included John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Abraham Lincoln and Houdini.

Twitter users will be able to follow the seance live on the micro-blogging site, which psychic Jayne Wallace will use to relay any responses she receives from the spirits

Source from:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091027/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_twitter

Hot on the heels of its knockout earnings report from last night, Apple is seizing more attention today with a significant upgrade to its consumer PC lines, specifically the entry-level MacBook, the iMac, and the Mac Mini.

Here’s the rundown:

The MacBook has been redesigned with a new polycarbonate shell, which has a unibody design similar to that of the Aluminum unibody found on the MacBook Pro. It has a new look, with rounded edges, has a seven-hour battery that’s built in, just like on the MacBook Pro. It also has an LED screen, which gives the entire Apple notebook line backlit LED-based displays, which I think is new. Its microprocessor is an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.26 GHz and hard drive space starts at 250GB. Price: Still $999.

The iMac is getting a major face lift. It too has LED-based displays of sizes of 21.5 inches and an impressive 27-inches. In fact the only non-LED based display in Apple’s line-up is the 30-inch LCD screen still offered. Apple VP Phil Schiller told me last night that getting an LED screen of that size is no small feat, so don’t expect an LED replacement right away.

The 21.5-inch model is a classic consumer design, sporting chips from Intel running at 3.06 GHz and 3.33 GHz. It will sport Intel Core 2 Duos at speeds of 3.06 GHZ and 3.33 GHz. Graphics options include the Nvidia GeForce 9400M or the ATI Radeon 4670. There’s support for up to 16 GB of RAM, and up to 2 terabytes of hard drive capacity. The starting price ranges: $1,199 to $1,499.

The 27-inch model is something else entirely. It’s aimed at the professional who might otherwise buy a Mac Pro, but who wants an iMac, because they look better. I saw the screen on this monster last night and it’s really impressive in person. It starts at $1,699, but there’s another model that has a quad-core Intel Core i5 chip, that starts at $1,999, and which won’t ship until November.

The entire iMac line will ship with a new mouse, dubbed Magic Mouse that replicates the multi-touch surface found on Apple notebooks, and which supports the same two-finger gesture movements for scrolling up and down and for moving back and forth between Web pages. Both iMac models will also have slots for SD cards, typically used in digital cameras. I generally wasn’t crazy on the whole multi-touch touchpad thing on notebooks, that is until I bought a MacBook Pro over the summer.

While I still tend to use a traditional two-button mouse more often than not, I like the touchpad a lot more than I ever expected to and use it more often than before. So if you like that touchpad, and even if you like a two-button mouse, then you’re going to love the Magic Mouse, because it gives you the best aspects of both. You can make the same two-finger gestures for scrolling and snapping back and forth between pages, but also, you can configure the mouse to recognize the “right click” found on a traditional mouse, as the click toward the right side of the mouse. Yes it looks a little weird when you first see it — its very thin and smooth — but I think it’s going to be very popular. Also, both the Magic Mouse, and the default keyboard that ship with the iMac are wireless.

Finally, the Mac Mini, much loved, but always rumored to be due for retirement, got some love today too. The new entry-level Mini still sells for $599 and sports a new 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, an Nvidia Geforce 9400M graphics card and a 160-gigabyte hard drive. A second model priced at $799 boosts the performance on the Intel chip to 2.53 GHz and the hard drive space to 320 GB.

As many probably already know, it turns out that many Mac Mini owners use their machines as inexpensive servers. Seeing an opportunity — Apple’s Xserve professional server line starts at $2,999 – Apple has launched a Mac Mini server for $999. The target Schiller says is small businesses for whom an XServe would be too expensive, as well as enthusiast consumers looking for an inexpensive, small-footprint media server server to share files around the house. The server has the same dimensions as the traditional Mac Mini, and supports storage capacity as high as One terabyte, but lacks an optical drive. It ships with a server version of Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system.

Source from: http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/15846.1259612849

Google Wave, the search engine giant’s real-time collaboration platform, began rolling out to 100,000 new users Sept. 30 as an extended preview. The platform combines e-mail, instant messaging and wiki-like document and file sharing with social networking features. Many of those new users included luminary bloggers such as Robert Scoble, and the early reports are rolling in. It’s too early to judge Wave yet, but it’s clear that the HTML 5-based platform has a number of issues that need to be addressed, from missing features to concerns about Wave’s infrastructure. But perhaps the biggest challenges are the learning curves associated with using Wave—it’s quite chaotic—as well as the potential for crashing users’ productivity parties.

10-Don’t Believe the Hype
Wave is not the new killer Internet application. It is not a replacement for Twitter, FriendFeed or Facebook. It’s instant messaging and distributed editing in real time—collaboration on steroids, perhaps, but not the new Twitter.

9-It’s Total Chaos!
If you’ve used Wave, then this is just preaching to the choir. Imagine being able to see what multiple writings at the same time looks like—several cursors zipping across the screen. Instead of the one-to-one communications mode of IM, Wave is many-to-many.

8-Learning Curve
Because Wave is so confusing, it will take some time for people to learn how to use it. This isn’t like Twitter, where you can pick up and just run with it. Reading, grokking and working in Waves will take time. Users will have to exhibit patience.

7-Socially Inept
The “social” features in Wave are lacking. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn and other social sites, you can’t see profile biographies or real names, or even manage Wave users and group them. It’s one, big free-for-all. This wouldn’t work for a project management effort.

6-Chaos Breeds Confusion
While we’re learning how to Wave, we’re all going to be really unproductive. Scoble was spot on. This chaos can lead to serious productivity breakdowns. Moreover, unlike e-mail, new Wave content can appear deep down in the in-box.

5-What?! No Draft Mode?
Welcome to Wave’s Wild West, where everyone is typing at the same time. Wave needs a draft mode so you can type without people seeing you. This will eliminate the distracting cursor pulses.

4-You Don’t Need Permission
Anybody can become a Wave contact without permission. In other words, if someone has your user IDs, they can add you to Wave. That needs to change. There need to be permissions.

3-Where’s the Sheriff?
Not only are there no permissions, but once a Wave is released to the wild, there is no control over it, no one to manage it. Wave might benefit from some Wikipedia-type editorship.

2-Document Format Is XML, Not HTML
Some geeks take issue with the fact that the document format in Wave is based on XML, not HTML so everyone can display it. This will make it more challenging for developers to build other presentation layers on top of the Wave platform.

1-Greed Is Not Good
People are actually bidding on eBay over Wave invites. That’s right. When asked why, eWEEK was informed that it’s a developer thing. The first programmers to learn about Wave can win the race to build the most useful apps on it. Unhealthy competition?

Source from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Top-10-Complaints-About-Google-Wave-502278/

CUPERTINO, Calif. –

Apple Inc. is updating its iMac desktop computer line and introducing a mouse that responds to the touch of fingers instead of using buttons or scroll wheels.

The updated iMacs have bigger screens — 21.5 inches and 27 inches, compared with existing models’ 20 inches and 24 inches. They also have speedier processors and better graphics. The least expensive model costs $1,199, the same as the past generation, but the top-of-the-line iMac is now $200 cheaper, at $1,999.

The wireless Magic Mouse, as Apple calls it, will come included. It lets people manipulate what they see on the screen by pinching, swiping and using other gestures. It’s similar to the control mechanism made popular on the screen of the iPhone.

source fro:  http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091020/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_apple_new_macs

Microsoft’s Windows 7 launch is just three weeks away. It might seem like a long time to some, but for the rest of us, the time has come to prepare for the new operating system. Part of that preparation involves determining what software we should install to augment the experience. Everything from security software to fun, photo-editing tools should make that list. But picking them can be difficult. How do we know which music application to choose? Which video-editing application is ideal for the new Windows 7? Answering those questions might be more difficult than we think. That’s precisely why the staff at eWEEK have compiled their own list. They want to help you make those tough choices.

So without further ado, join eWEEK as they point out 10 applications that you’ll definitely want to install when Windows 7 hits store shelves on Oct. 22.

iTunes
It might just be a music app to some, but Apple’s free iTunes software is a digital hub providing a gateway to music, movies, television shows, mobile applications, podcasts, and more. It’s a must-have for anyone (especially iPhone and iPod owners) deploying Windows 7 on launch day.

Microsoft Security Essentials
Microsoft’s free security package for home users is a must-have for any consumer or small business. According to the majority of security experts, the software does a fine job of detecting malware. It compares nicely to other free anti-malware programs from AVG and Avast. Anyone looking to secure their Windows 7 installations will want this software.

Office 2007
Office 2007 might have a different design when compared to the old versions of the software, but if users want to get work done, Microsoft’s productivity suite should be installed on day one. That said, most users won’t need anything more than Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so they can save a few bucks and aim for just those packages.

Photoshop Elements 8
Since snapping photos has become such a key part of the tech industry, it’s probably useful to have photo-editing software ready to go on the first day Windows 7 is available. But instead of spending hundreds of dollars on PhotoShop, most users can get by with Adobe’s PhotoShop Elements 8, which costs just $99.

Premiere Elements 8
If users are looking to edit photos, they should also consider video-editing software. Although there are quite a few packages out there, Adobe’s Premiere Elements 8 tends to provide the best bang for the buck. It combines many of the useful features found in Adobe’s expensive Premiere program with the cost-effectiveness of competing software. It costs $99.

AVG Anti-Virus
Since Microsoft’s Security Essentials won’t be enough to keep a Windows 7 installation safe, it’s probably a good bet for users to also install AVG’s Anti-Virus. It’s not guaranteed to keep users safe, but combining forces with Security Essentials should make for a more reliable computing experience.

Tweak-7
For those users who aren’t so happy with the way Windows 7 looks, Tweak-7 is a great software package to have. With the help of Tweak-7, Windows 7 owners will be able to optimize Windows 7 by increasing efficiency and cutting down on wasteful programs. It’s not a bad deal for $38.82.

Google Chrome
Google’s free Chrome browser is one of the faster browsers on the Web. And thanks to some crafty design work, Chrome also sports more security than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Whether or not Chrome is better than Firefox, another Internet Explorer alternative, is up for debate. But considering speed is so tough to come by, Chrome should probably top the list of browsers to download on Oct. 22.

Google Desktop
Microsoft’s Windows desktop search is notorious for providing a lackluster experience. And although the software giant has promised better things from Windows 7’s search, it’s doubtful that it will be able to beat Google’s free Desktop search. That application is highly regarded in the desktop-search space. It does a much better job than Windows at finding files and folders on the user’s hard drive.

TrueCrypt
Security is important, but keeping data away from malicious hackers is just as important. That’s where TrueCrypt comes in. The free software creates a virtual encrypted disk on a Windows installation and mounts that as an encrypted drive. It can encrypt an entire hard drive or a partition using several well-respected encryption algorithms, including AES-256, Serpent and TwoFish.

Source from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/10-MustHave-Applications-on-Windows-7-Launch-Day-357111/