On Friday's I take a break from Santa Barbara Real Estate and talk about my Casa Articles. They're fun looks at the latest little techy gadgets. Well this time they're still about Real Estate, just not here. There's a cool new feature you can get on your Cell Phone that has celebrities talking you through some of the most interesting cities in America. For more please read, And On Your Right!!!
I don’t spend all my time thinking about Santa Barbara Real Estate. Occasionally I just wander around the Internet looking for interesting things to tell you about. My Casa column this week highlights some of the very most interesting sites that I found in some of my treks. These sites cover topics all over the map. So without further ado please spend a moment checking out Websites Ya’ Gotta’ See!!
Today's Casa Article is all about getting better sounds out of our little electronic travling companions. PDAs and laptops usually have little tiny speakers as do most MP3 players. This means you're forced to listen to either horrible, harsh sounds or you have to plug in some cheap ear buds, which aren't much better. Even if you plug in some pretty good headphones into these devices the sound isn't great. So, what to do.....?
For more on this please read "I Can't Hear You!"
Today's Casa Article is all about the different ways that you can get information from Google. There are Google Alerts in which anytime something hits the Internet that interests you receive an Email and a link.
Then there are Instant Messages which will IM you any time something comes up. Anyway, you get the idea. For more please read Google is Everywhere!
Getting a new cell phone is always a mixed blessing. Sure, it's new and it's got a bunch of cool new features but then there's the re-loading all your phone numbers into it. That's a lot of staring and poking and there's always the possibility that you'll mess one or more up and you'll have to go in and edit them again.
So, with that in mind today's Casa Article is all about transferring your phone numbers quickly and easily. For more, please read Good News, Bad News!
If you've ever had the occasion to dial Information (411) from your cell phone you'll notice that the phone number you needed could cost you about $1.25 on your next bill. As an alternative there are a couple of new short message service (SMS) programs that are offering free searches using text messaging with a text reply to provide address and phone number listings.
The king of search engines has launched the most extensive SMS 411 service called Google SMS. It provides addresses, phone numbers and restaurant listings. Simple send a query, such as "pizza (your zip code)," to 46645 (GOOGL on most phones) and Google SMS will reply with all the pizza parlors in that Zip Code. Furthermore, shoppers can use the service to find out product prices, wordsmiths can look up definitions, and diners can calculate tips.
If all you want is such things as addresses, phone numbers, directions and traffic updates a company called Synfonic offers its own free 411SMS service. Send the state and business name to 650-430-7183, and Synfonic returns a text message with the address and phone number. It can also suggest similar businesses nearby.
If all of this is still too much for you and putting in dial-pad letter sequences on your telephone keyboard is a giant bother just go to www.synfonic.com and set up your own shortcuts, such as S for Starbucks. That should speed up dramatically your finding the information you want.
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
Today's Casa Article is all about a way of making business meetings a lot easier on travel weary road warriors.
WebEx is a company that provides global teleconferencing for a very reasonable rate. The post internet bubble limits on travel have made a lot of companies aware of the advantages of teleconferencing. WebEx's advantage is a global proprietary, IP-based multimedia network of switches, running parallel to the Internet called the MediaTone Network.
WebEx uses SSL encryption and firewalls to keep meetings secure. The company offers versions of its service designed for providing product support, training, Web seminars, and more, but its Meeting Center is the central service.
A basic subscription to Meeting Centers costs $100 per user per month, though volume discounts are available. You can launch a Meeting Center session in several ways. You can send a link to all meeting participants by e-mail, and they can click on the link to join the session or navigate from WebEx's Website to a page set up for joining meetings.
Microsoft Outlook and Office users who frequently join WebEx meetings can use a toolbar icon to join meetings. Outlook users can also use a toolbar to schedule WebEx meetings on their calendars.
Meeting Center also offers full-duplex Voice over IP so several people can speak concurrently during a VoIP conversation. A key difference between these meetings and a phone conference is that you can show people things, whether it's a product or a presentation.
If your company spends a lot of money flying people to meetings you need to check out WebEx.
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
This week's Casa Article is all about moving stuff efficiently from one computer to another.
A lot of us are using the little USB Thumb Drives to cart around our data. They're small, inexpensive, easy to use and they carry a lot of information. The problem comes if you're moving files back and forth from your home to your office and you occasionally forget which file is the most recent. To solve this dilemma Microsoft has had a free utility hanging around in Windows for a long time and it's called the Briefcase.
The Briefcase allows you to always have the most recent version of a file where ever you are. To create a Briefcase on your Thumb Drive place your Drive into a USB port and find it with Windows Explorer by right mouse clicking on Start and then left clicking on Explore. When you find your thumb drive in the list of devices in Explorer double click on it to open it. Now right click on the blank area of the drive listing and choose New then Briefcase. Double Click on the Briefcase you just created to open it and drag the files and folders you want to track into the folder. Now to synchronize your data at the beginning and end of every workday right click on the briefcase you created and choose Update All. Windows will copy any new or modified files to the Briefcase and give you a chance to review the changes first before overwriting. Now get back to work!!
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
Today's Casa Article is all about finding the stuff you want on the Internet
Internet Search Engines are definitely cool, but sometimes they don't give us what we're looking for. If you'd like to narrow down your search for something you can use various modifiers to find your way to search heaven. For instance, if you put quotation marks around what you're searching for you'll eliminate any pages that don't contain exactly what you want. This can be helpful if your search is actually a phrase like "Milky Way." Putting it in quotes eliminates any pages that contain just milky or only way. Another example is if you were searching for the Shakespeare quote "to be or not to be." Without the quotes you get a real odd collection of answers, with the quotes the bard pops to the top of the list.
Another modifier is to insert a minus sign. To use our example of "Milky Way" again if you entered "Milky Way" - chocolate - candy you'd only get the terrestrial answer not the confectionary one.
A third thought is to use "wildcards" like the asterisk symbol in your search. For example if you couldn't remember what animal Mary was famous for you could search "Mary had a little *."
If all else fails most search engines have an Advanced Search function. To use this feature look for a link on the opening page that will let you specify things like date ranges, specific state domains and a number of other possibilities.
Happy Searching!
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
This week's Casa Article is all about what has come to be called Malware. The biggest growth of what has been called Malware or Malicious Software is in the area called Spyware. Microsoft's Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was really all about security but they have now come out with something called AntiSpyware which is now in Beta Testing and also something called a Malicious Software Removal Tool.
You can download a beta version of the company's new AntiSpyware software for free at www.microsoft.com/spyware. This program targets slow PC performance, pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of private information. Microsoft also brought out a Malicious Software Removal Tool which can be downloaded free at www.microsoft.com/malwareremove. The programs are an amalgamation of several of the company's Malware-removal solutions which go after common dangerous viruses.
Both tools will be updated on the second Tuesday of each month, as are all of Microsoft's monthly security updates. Automatic Update users will receive enhancements along with regular updates.
Although the new tools go beyond the many security provisions found in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, they're not intended to compete with products such as Norton Anti-Virus or the various Spyware-removal solutions.
The Malicious Software Removal Tool uses methods developed after scanning millions of PCs and identifying what kinds of bad code are common. It is based on technology that Microsoft acquired from GeCAD software in 2003.
Running Microsoft's tool and the fee-based tools together may make the most sense for protecting your system.
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
Gary Woods is the Computer Trainer for the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors and a Broker/Associate at Home Realty & Investments, Inc.
Today's Casa Article is all about a piece of hardware that can allow you to record AM or FM Broadcasts off the air onto your computer.
Griffin Technology's RadioShark ($70, http://www.griffintechnology.com) is a USB-based radio that not only feeds audio into your Mac or PC but also allows you to time-shift, pause and record live broadcasts. The RadioShark, shaped like a fin, is 7 inches tall and when you plug it into your USB port, three blue lights in the shape of gills are illuminated.
The main RadioShark application interface is a metallic window with a slider along the top that lets you change frequencies and a second slider that lets you adjust the volume. Buttons allow you to switch bands and find the next strong signal. Then, if you click on the Record button, the RadioShark starts recording what you're listening to. To schedule a recording you just click on the Schedule button. Once you've set a recording time, you can give your scheduled recording a name, choose which station RadioShark should record, and select what audio format you'd like to have your recording saved in, either AIFF or AAC.
Clicking on the TS button slides out a drawer below the main window, containing "time-shifting" playback features that let you pause and rewind the live broadcast in case you need to step away from your computer or want to listen to something a second time.
RadioShark is actually two different applications: the interface application and a background application. That means you can quit the RadioShark program and it will still grab our scheduled recordings.
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
Today's Casa Article is pointed at those of you who travel but would like to have the coolness of Wireless Internet on the road with you.
If you travel much and take your laptop with you, you've probably encountered Broadband Internet connections in the room. What I've usually seen is a bulky gray Ethernet cable that you have to drag half way across the room to get close to the place you actually want to work. This cable is attached to a big hunk of metal that I guess is to keep you from wandering off with their precious little cable.
To make your computing experience a whole lot cooler Apple has come up with the Apple AirPort Express, a new $129 802.11g mobile Wi-Fi base station that offers what may be the most efficient design yet for roaming wirelessly.
The AirPort Express, for the Mac and the PC, weighs 6.7 ounces. It plugs directly into the wall, eliminating the need to tote a power brick, which other mobile Wi-Fi routers require.
Although Apple initially positioned the AirPort Express as "the world's first 802.11g mobile base station," DLink and APC have offered similar small routers. But Apple's base station is an all-in-one design.
The company's non-mobile version of the AirPort is noted for easy setup for a wireless network; the new mobile version comes with the same software. "This is the first time with AirPort that we've offered PC setup software that's exactly the same as the Mac setup software," says Apple VP Greg Jozwiak.
Today's Casa Article is all about a free piece of software that helps you organize your photographs. Picasa www.picasa.com has always been a great way to organize your digital photo library but now that Google has purchased the company they've made it free. With the new 2.0 release it's even easier to use for organizing, editing and sharing your photos. Without leaving the application, you can move photos across your Microsoft Windows file tree, add captions to your pictures, pan and zoom, and use 12 new lighting and color effects. You can also save photos to an external drive, burn them to a disc, or upload them to popular photo-sharing websites.
When you install the app, it immediately scans your system for photos and collects them into a single library. The app collects not only JPEGs and GIFs, but all sorts of other image formats – even video files. You can organize photos into virtual albums and still retain the ability to use the same photo across multiple albums. As you organize your pictures, Picasa also lets you change filenames, key in captions and add ratings to mark your favorites.
The coolest part is the ability to adjust highlights, shadows, fill lights, and color temperature. You can add all sorts of effects, including sepia, black and white and soft focus. Plus you can also crop, straighten, remove red-eye and more. With this feature set Picasa is basically on a par with Adobe's Photoshop Album, and unlike ACD-See, it's intuitive enough for most novice Digital Photographers. All for FREE!!
My Casa Article this week about a program that helps you decide which movies to watch. My Tuesday morning ritual is to wander through the stacks at Blockbuster and try to figure out what pictures would make my wife smile come Friday and Saturday nights. Ideally when I'm cruising Blockbuster I'd have Leonard Maltin at my side saying, "get that one," or "definitely don't get that one!" Well since Leonard seems to be busy on Tuesday morning the closest I can come to having him with me is Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide on my Palm OS Device. There's no desktop component for the program and it takes up about 3 megabytes of memory for a full install.
This is the perfect PDA program for movie lovers, whether you're just a casual viewer, a fanatical movie addict or an industry insider. Every Maltin review has icons that show a film's screen format, MPAA rating, if it's out on DVD, and his rating from "bomb" to four stars. Made-for-TV films are rated with different criteria.
Another screen of the program shows lists of the most popular films, by decades or by genres, going back to the 1930s, and ranked top lists of popular movies as voted by over 100,000 regular movie goers.
For the latest releases there's an Events screen that lets you connect to the Web and download weekly updates of new DVD releases, upcoming film premieres, and film festival dates and locations. You can get Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide from www.landware.com for only $19.95.
Today's Casa Article is all about turning your PDA into a Remote Control for the TV and a lot of other electronic devices.
As everybody knows the person who controls the TV Remote Control, (the clicker) controls the world. If your remote goes bad, you know how hard they are to repair and costly to replace. Or, maybe you've bought one of those "universal" remotes, some of them quite expensive, and found they weren't quite as universal as they were advertised.
Well there is an alternative, and it's called the NoviiRemote Blaster. If you have one of five PalmOne models the current Blaster supports you just pop it into your Palm's SD card slot, install its software and your Palm transforms into the closest thing to a truly universal remote control, with a very elegant, logical and colorful backlit interface.
Initial setup takes a few minutes per device. You just pick your component type and brand from a list, and then use the setup screen's test button. If the Blaster powers on the device, you've got it. There are many "codebases" for each brand and type of device. If one doesn't work, try another. Failing that, the Blaster has an auto search mode which automatically steps through the codebases as you point your Palm at your hardware. When your device powers on, stop the search and lock that codebase to it.
The NoviiRemote Blaster comes with an excellent manual, and their Web site is remarkably complete, attractive, and packed with support information. You can get the blaster direct from Novi at www.novi.tv/blaster/ for $55.99.
If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910
Today's Casa Article is all about the Video Phone. The video phone has been around since about 1964 when it was debuted at the New York World's Fair. But that attempt and every other in the following four decades never really took off, mostly because of poor video quality. The emergence of broadband and other technologies could finally change all that. Faster, more reliable connections, as well as improved video compression technologies have given this latest generation of phone the ability to deliver near-television-quality video. Cost is still an issue for the hardware, anywhere from $250 to $800 for the phone but monthly rates have come down to about $15 to $30 per month.
The coolest one I saw as the 8X8 Packet8 phone which delivers stunning video and audio quality over a higher-speed broadband connection. You'll need about 256 Kbps of bi-directional bandwidth for the best quality. Designed to replace your existing phone and voice service completely, it comes with all the bells and whistles, and a calling plan of $29.95 per month that includes long distance and international voice and video. The service includes conference calls, call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, and of course, video service.
The Packet8 attaches to you existing cable or DSL broadband connection via its Ethernet jack. At 256 Kbps the quality is great with crisp video and no pixilation and good motion handling. Voice quality is very good, akin to other high-quality VoIP (Voice Over IP) services.
Today's Casa Article is all about something you know you gotta' do. Everybody nags at you, and there's this amazing guilt that builds up because sooner or later you know you're going to lose everything.
So what is today's article about, Back Up Your Hard Drive! For more please check out No More Excuses!
The hottest device out there these days is Apple's iPod. They have several different configurations and sizes but the one that caught my eye is the new iPod Photo. If you like to carry around your photos and tunes this device deserves a look.
For more please check out What Are you Looking at???
This week's Casa Article is all about swapping stories and other things around the electronic fire. In olden times we would gather by the fireside to share stories and experiences. Today with great distances separating us it can be more difficult, but recently I stumbled across a piece of free software called Grouper at http://www.grouper.com that allows you to do that same sharing of information on your own private file sharing network via the Internet.
With a few mouse clicks you and up to 29 buddies can instantly share most any file from machine to machine, including photos, videos, songs and documents. To get your personal network started you simply download a small client from the Grouper Website, sign up for an account, and when prompted, type in the name of your first network, or "group." You then key in e-mail addresses for a few friends, and they'll soon receive links where they too can download the Group client and seamlessly join your new group.
Once your network is up and running, sharing files is a snap. An Explorer-like interface lets you instantly move files from your Windows file tree to your Shared folder, a repository that's exposed to the entire group. Anyone who wishes to retrieve a file can simply navigate to this folder, find the file, and double-click on it.
When it comes to photo sharing, this app doesn't offer quite as many tools as dedicated services such as OurPictures or ShareALot, but Grouper does much more than mere photo sharing, and it's free.
Today's Casa Article is all about all the Cool stuff computers can do around the house. For instance the Samsung HomePAD refrigerator displays a list of items stored inside and tells you when food is about to go bad. You can also check your e-mail and watch TV on the HomePAD, for only $4,999 direct.
For people like me who like vegging out in front of the TV there’s the iJoy Turbo 2 La-Z-Boy. This little puppy replicates a chiropractic massage. Unlike other chairs that make you feel like you are sitting on top of a washing machine, the iJoy replicates the feeling of having an actual masseuse working on you. All for only $799 from Sharper Image.
I know all of you already have your spiffy new Plasma Screen TVs out there, but wouldn't it be cool if the TV actually glowed? Well Ambient Orb changes color with the changes in the stock market, the weather and the pollen count. Also the Orb can detect when IM buddies are online. Ambient Orb is $149 www.ambientdevices.com.
Then there's the iRobot Roomba a self-propelled vacuum that scoots itself around home, cleaning floors and carpets as it goes. The vacuum maneuvers via an infra-red sensor, a bumper, and heuristics, all for only $249.
Finally there's the YourselfFitness an interactive fitness application for the Microsoft Xbox. Your personal trainer Maya software tracks your progress, heart rate, and effort, then changes your workouts accordingly. For just $35 from www.yourselffitness.com.
I've been looking at GPS Technology for quite a while. It's an amazing technology that allows you to figure out where you are. Now most of the time I know where I am, but there are those times where a device hooked up to a satellite would be very helpful.
If I were ready to plunk down my hard earned coin on one of these devices I think I've found the one. For more on my search please read "What Do The Drums Say?"
It's unclear when highways hit hard by storms will reopen
Heavy rains did a number on local roads, and drivers are paying the price.
Commutes that averaged 45 minutes are dragging on for six hours, and drivers accustomed to taking the easiest route are now forced to use whichever route is open.
Crews from Caltrans, Santa Barbara County and various cities affected by the recent storms are doing what they can to keep the traffic flowing, but with some road closures on the indefinite list, the only thing to do is leave a little early and keep your cool behind the wheel.
Mark Human typically spends less than a half-hour driving between Santa Barbara and Rancho San Marcos Golf Course, about 12 miles north on Highway 154, where he is the general manager. Since the rains damaged the San Marcos Pass, his drive has been extended up to 75 minutes, and the same goes for the dozen or so employees who live on the Santa Barbara side of the pass.
Today's Casa Article is all about getting better pictures with those Cellphone/Cameras you're all getting. It's a pretty cool feature, but the results are often not very good. There are definitely ways to improve the photos you get so for more please read Hello, Click, Hello, Ugh!!
Today's Casa Column is all about creating your own DVDs. There's a lot of new software out there just waiting to be explored so please take a few minutes and peruse my offering of Lights, Camera, Actions!!!
Today's Casa Article is all about the Saumsung Yep YP-T5. Hardly bigger than a lipstick case, the Samsung Yepp YP-T5 digital audio player has it all. It has a readable screen with up to 256 MB capacity, an FM radio tuner with a microphone for recording as well as line-in recording, and a number of sound-enhancement modes. It measures .9 by .9 by 2.1 inches and weighs only 1.3 ounces with the batter installed.
For more please click on Havint it All Here!
Today's Casa Article is all about little devices we can use to protect our homes. Security cameras have been around for a while but with the move to wireless networks it's become really easy to add a camera to your system. The first thing I found was that there's no widespread agreement on what a security camera should come with or even what it should do.
For more on Looking in on the Homefront please click here!
This week's Casa Article is all about finding "Hot Spots" so you can connect to the Internet on the go. If you spend a lot of traveling around with your Laptop or Wi-Fi equipped PDA it would be good to check into Hot Spot Providers.
For more on Is It Hot In Here click here!
This week's Casa Article is all about a phenomenon that has been around for a while, but I haven't writte about it so what the heck!!
For a lot of people a cool thing to do is invite some friends over and play cards or other games. The newer version of that is to invite a bunch of friends over bringing their laptop or desktop computers and have a LAN (Local Area Network) based gaming session.
For more on the Games Afoot click here.
Today's Casa article is all about the T-Mobile Sidekick. T-Mobiles original Sidekick was the first consumer oriented mobile device that combined PDA and phone features with e-mail and instant messaging. Now they have released the Sidekick II, manufactured by Sharp that adds a built-in camera while enhancing e-mail, IM, calendar, and phone capabilities.
For more on the new Sidekick please click here
It's been said that the movie doesn't start until the lights go down. So, wouldn't it be cool to just hit one button and have all your lights dim just as you start to roll the opening credits on your DVD?
The old faithful of home automation is the X10, which dates to the late 1970s; its products can be found at Radio Shack and www.x10.com. X10 technology sends power pulses from a switch over your household current to a device. Maybe 95 times out of 100 times, half a second after you press the button, you get the desired results. Besides wall plugs for lights (dimmable) and appliances (switchable) there are X10 wall switches and even drapery pulls, thermostats, and lawn-sprinkler switches.
For more on Home Automation click here
When you've got a pretty large music collection the problem becomes where are my tunes when I want them? Music Catalogue Master 4 helps you organize and maintain even the largest music collections by seamlessly integrating local and online resources.
For more on Music Catalogue Master 4 Click Here!
Today's Casa Article is all about how cool it is to have a Roady. Probably not the Roady you're thinking about but another one. When I played music a roady was definitely a cool thing to have. Well there's a new Roady that I may just have to get!
For more on Everybody Needs a Roady please click here!
Today's Casa Article is all about how you can secure your electronic gear inside your car. If you want to mount anything electronic in or on your car, truck, van, boat, motorcycle, forklift, helicopter or corporate jet, chances are that National Products, Inc. http://www.ram-mount.com will have it. Whether it's a GPS system, a PDA, a notebook computer, a sonar system, a video or digital camera, a scanner or a printer they've got it.
For more on Stick It Over There Click Here
Today's Casa Article is called "Just Keep Talking!!!" What could be better than making long distance phone calls for free? NOT MUCH!! Well the answer could be right in the palm of your hand. Using your Pocket PC PDA and PocketSkype, a Windows Mobile version of the Skype http://www.skype.com peer-to-peer phone service, you can talk to other Skype users from the comfort of your Wi-Fi equipped handheld. It looks and acts a lot like an instant-messaging client except that it facilitates voice calls instead of text chats.
For more on Let's Keep Talking!!! click here
Today's Casa Article is all about stuff that could make the Road Warrior's life a little easier.
If you travel a lot with your computer there's some stuff we need to talk about. For starters now that I've gone wireless at home it only seems logical that I should go wireless on the road. I found a wireless router by ASUS, the WL-330 WAP ($70 street) that weigh less than half a pound. This setup allows me to plug the hotel's broadband connection into the router so I can step out on the balcony and still cruise the net.
For more on the
Road Warrior Tool Kit please click here
Today's Casa Article is all about the Internet Boom Box. Over the next year, expect to see the Internet boom box arrive as a product category for mid to high-end music fans. Handfuls are already out, including products from Linksys and Philips.
For more on the Internet Boom Box please click here
I'm in Sequim Washington today just outside of Port Angeles. The trip from Santa Barbara went without a hitch. Last night we ate with about 16 of Rick's friends from around the country and it was a very special occassion.
The wedding will be at 4PM when Rick and his betrothed Tia will tie the knot. They've done a great job of landscaping the property and it should be a wonderful event.
Today's Casa Article has to do with Radio-frequency identity tags which are everywhere. We think of them mostly in terms of those annoying security tags that beep when they haven't been properly de-activated at the cash register, but they're invaluable in manufacturing and retailing cutting losses and managing inventory.
For more about Tag You're It click here
Security is the biggest word in computers today. To that end I found a piece of software that addresses a lot of those security concerns.
Steganos Security Suite is easy to learn and live with. The Suite's integrated tools help keep your data private. Steganos Safe is especially relevant for notebook users whose machine can get lost or stole when they travel. Safe creates up to four secure virtual drives holding a maximum of 128GB of data. Move or copy your files into one of these drives and Safe will automatically encrypt them. One password opens the drive and gives you access to its files and programs. However, if you do not enter the password, the virtual drive disappears from Windows Explorer until you use your password to retrieve it.
For more on the Digital Safe Click Here
Today is also a special day down in Orange County because it marks the Birthday of one James Jarvis. Jim and his wife Jennifer will be celebrating quietly at home this evening unless they have some incredibly cool plans we don't know about. So happy birthday to James.
With all the excitement about Fiesta I forgot to mention my Casa Column. It's all about Cell phone stuff you can stick in your ear. For those of us who are always chattering away on our cell phones it would be pretty cool just to stick it in our ear so we could go on with our day. That said, the folks at Plantronics have achieved what Jabra and Nokia could not. They have created a reliable, simple ear piece with great performance.
For more on Stick it in Your Ear please click here
Today's Casa Article is all about how to be popular at parties. When I was growing up one of the things I heard was if you learn the guitar you'll be popular at parties. I'm not so sure how popular I was at parties, but I did earn my living playing guitar for quite a few years. So for any of you looking for a career change I found a piece of software that could help.
For more please ready Be Popular at Parties!!
One of the most popular items to come out of Apple in a long time is the iPod. These devices are great for toting around your tunes. There are a number of products out there so if you'd like more please read Things To Make You iPod Cooler!
My new constant companion is my iPaq PocketPC. This little handheld device has a 400 mHz processor, 64 Meg of RAM and a 256 Meg Secure Digital memory card. The coolest part is that it makes it look like I'm working constantly. I stare intently at the screen making incredibly involved, life changing decisions! Or so it appears...
There are a lot of things you can do with a PDA other than keep your calendar and addressbook. For what some of those things are please read Work, work, work!
Today's Casa Article is all about PowerPoints On The Go. As someone who has been known to give a PowerPoint demonstration or two I've been looking at ways to stop schlepping around my laptop computer and still have the show go on. It turns out, all you really need is a VGA connector to attach your PDA to a projector or monitor, some software to convert the show, and away you go.
For more please read Power Points On The Go!
Today’s Casa Article is all about one of the conundrums of the Internet. How’d they get my Email Address? Well if you have a personal website that’s a big source of unwanted traffic. There is what is known as “harvesters” that wander around the Internet scooping up unsuspecting Addresses. For more on how to avoid this unwanted spam please read How’d They Get My Email Address??
Today's Casa Article is about a cool piece of software that runs on your PDA. With gas prices soaring here's a way to track what you're putting in your tank. It also can track the mainenance of your entire vehicle. So for more on Mileage Wizard please read Every Drop Counts!!!
Today's Casa Article is all about Digital Photography. Digital cameras are one of the coolest inventions ever. Unfortunately I see a lot of pretty awful pictures taken with these great devices so I thought I'd share with you some ways to make those pictures better.
If you'd like some tips on taking better pictures please read Pretty as a Picture!
Have you ever thought how cool it would be to take some of your photos and make a real work of art out of them? Well the folks at PhotoWow had the same idea and formed a company around that idea. All you do is send your photos to them and they will turn them into a modern-art masterpiece. You can choose from several styles such as Warhol-like pop art, slick collages, vintage hand tints and faux watercolors.
For more please click on It's a Real Wow
Today’s Casa Article has to do with a scam that’s going around lately. If you’re looking for a job on the Internet you definitely need to check this one out. It involves people being solicited to handle PayPal accounts for people outside of the country.
For more please read What a Pal???
The biggest word in computing these days is Security, so I thought it was a good idea to look at some of the things that you can do to keep people out of your stuff. From fingerprint recognition to scanning the retina of your eye this is some pretty cool stuff.
If you think it’s time to keep people from looking at your precious documents please give Keeping the Nasties Out!!!
Today's Casa Article is all about some cool electronics I found. The first one is a pair of DVD goggles on which you can view your favorite movies. The viewer sits just to the side of directly in front of your eye and you can choose a model according to which of your eyes is dominant.
The second device is a hand cranked generator that can extend the life of your cell phone battery. With two minutes of cranking you can get 5 to 6 minutes of talk time or a half hour of standby.
For more please read Stuff Ya' Gotta' Have!!
Today's Casa Article is all about the nost panicky phone call I get which is I've lost all my contacts out of Outlook. There's a very cool program I found which can help you back up those Outlook Contacts, as well as Appointments and Email. For more please read the Outlook is Cloudy But Clearing!!!
Today’s Casa Article has to do with carrying your movies, photos, music and anything digital with your wherever you go! There are whole new classes of devices out there that allow you to carry whole movies around in your handheld.
Something I never thought would catch on is watching a movie on a laptop computer, but it’s become very popular. So, the next logical step is movies on your handheld device. For more please read A Theatre in Your Pocket!!
Today's Casa Article is all about a very cool piece of software from Apple Computers called GarageBand. There are loops, and samples and enough tools to make a real fun sounding track.
If you've been itching to get back to your musical roots please give a look atIn The Beginning There Was the Garage!!!
Google has created a service called Google News Alerts that can be delivered to you daily or as the event occurs. To get the service setup just go to http://www.google/newsalerts and put in the words or phrase that you’re interested in. Next ,select how often you want this information sent to you. Then, put in your email address and click on “Create News Alert.”
For more on Google News Alerts please read Flash This Just In!!
Today's Casa Article is the second of a two part series all about what you can do before you call Tech Support. Since this article ran I've had some emails concerning other stuff you can do before you call so you may be seeing Part 3 some time in the future. In the mean time please read Stuff You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support Part 2
Today's Casa Article is a two parter. I've set out 10 steps to do before you call Tech Support. Sooner or later when you own a computer you'll be on the phone with Tech Support and there are definitely ways to make this experience briefer and more fruitful. If you're wondering What To Do Before You Call Tech Support please give the article a look.
Today's Casa Article is all about making a Pocket PC PDA work on the Mac. Yes, that's right with a product called Pocket Mac, now Pocket PCs aren't just for Windows Users anymore. If you're a Mac user and have been lusting after something a little cooler than your current Palm OS device, please read "Is That a Mac In Your Pocket."
Today's Casa Article is all about the amazing array of Memory Cards all of our digital devices have. From Compact Flash, to Secure Digitial, to Smart Media, to Memory Stick and more. There's got be an easier way to get the stuff that we want either on or off these Cards.
I found a device put out by SanDisk that reads 8 different formats and even transfers data from one card to another without having to first download it to the computer. Please read It's All in the Cards
Today's Casa Article is all about how to avoid those repetive stress disorders that plague us. If you spend a lot of time working at your computer it would be a good idea to check out Feeling Good!!
Today's Casa Article is about a piece of software that allows you to keep in touch with your computer back at your home or office from anywhere on the planet with internet access. GoToMyPC, a local company gives travelers and those who just need to be in touch a way get what they need right now. If you're one of those people who like to know what's going on back at the old homestead, or need to keep track of what's happening at the office please give a look at Reach Out and Touch Someone!!
Today's Casa Article I call Geek on the Go!!. It's all about the latest in wearing apparel for todays switched on technocrat. The article features a very cool vest with connections for batteries, ear buds, receivers and all manner of electronic gadgetry. Please give a look to Geek On the Go!!
Today's Casa Article is all about one of the really bad things that worms and viruses do which is leave a door open so bad folks can come on in. If you'd like to know how to make sure your doors are all locked please read "We'll Leave the Door Open For You!!"
Today's Casa Article is all about those cute little abbreviations that people use in Instant Messaging and on Emails. If you've ever wondered what the heck somebody was trying to tell you this is your chance to find out.
Please give a look at Say What????
Today's Casa Article has to do with tips to make your computing experience a little faster. I show you how you can print a number of documents or spreadsheets without having to load the program and individually select them and print them
Also I'll show you a way to quickly email someone with out opening your email program. Please give a look at Quick Tips to Click
One of the coolest things you can add to your PDA is a Global Positioning Card. With these devices you can see exactly where you are in the world. Of course what you do with that information is your business, but at least you'll know where you're starting from.
Please check out Where Am I?
I know that a lot of you bought new computers over the holidays so after you've gotten all your old stuff off of them it's time to figure out what to do with these old machines. I put together some ideas for you in an article I call "Out With the Old.."
So, if you're still scratching your head about what to do please give a look at "Out With the Old..."
One of the things about getting a new computer is figuring out how to move all your stuff from the old computer over to your new computer. This seemed like a pretty cool topic for a Casa Article so I wrote it.
Please give a look at Movin' Stuff Around!
Today's Casa Article is all about the latest breed of SmartPhones. These phones are powered by the Windows Mobile Operating system and have a very cool feature set. If you're still hunting around for a gift for someone this may be opportunity knocking on your door.
Please give a look at How Smart is Your Phone??
Todays Casa Article is all about the stuff you folks still haven't done for me. I gave you all a lot of hints last week, but so far nothin' I'm gonna give you all one more shot them I'm going to just have to move on.
Please read, So.... Where Are They????
One of the interesting features of Windows XP is the ability to make a screensaver out of your favorite photographs. So instead of staring at those winged toasters and constantly changing geometric figures now you can look at your dog, your kids, or whatever you like. Please give a look at Who's Looking Back At You???
Today's Casa Article is about a very cool little device that helps you find places that you can hookup to the net wirelessly. It's a hot spot finder and if you love cruising around like I do and still want to be connected to the Internet you need one of the gizmos.
Please give a look at How Hot is Hot???
Today’s Casa Article is all about getting all those business cards you pick up at various gatherings and conventions into your database so you can actually get some use out of them. I found this very cool little card scanner the other day and thought you’d like to know about it. Please give a look at Managing Your Contacts
It used to be that all over America you'd see somebody under a shade tree working on their car. As cars became more dependent computers it became much tougher to diagnose the problem and you ended up having to take your car to a garage with expensive diagnostic equipment.
Well as it happens there's a program that runs on your PDA called Auto Tap that will allow you to tap into your car's computer. So now you can get back to working on your car under the old shade tree. Please read The Shade Tree Mechanic Is Back
One of the coolest things to come down the pike in a while is the Google Tool Bar. With it you can search Google without even going to the site. You can even limit your search to just the site that you're currently on. But the best part is that it blocks most of those infernal Popup Ads that make browsing the Internet a less than satisfying experience. Please give a look at the Goo, Goo, Googley Toolbar
Today's Casa Article is all about all the different sources you have for getting Tech Support for your computer and software. There's actually an amazing array of opportunities out there than you can avail yourself of. Please give a look at Tech Support is Everywhere
Today's Casa Article is all about that amazing amount of unwated Email that continually comes through our door. Combine that with the recent attacks from Blaster and SoBig.f and I've been looking at some ways to cut down on all this traffic. The latest piece of software I found is called Ella ($29.95) and is distributed by Open Field Software. Ella is more than a mere spam blocker it attempts to organize all your email and seems to do a pretty good job.
Please give a look at Throwing Out The Trash
This week’s Casa Article is about the weirdest thing that every happened to me with computers. Gradually I was unable to access certain websites. First it was Overture, then another, and then another. Finally I couldn’t even search Yahoo and I knew the time had come to do something drastic. After some time with Microsoft Tech support they figured out what was going on. Please give a look at I Can’t Search Yahoo!!!!
Today's Casa Article has to do with a very cool program called ePocratesRX that allows you to have a constantly updated list of perscription drugs on your handheld computer. The program has been very popular with hospital workers because they can instantly check to see if a combination of drugs given to a patient could have a disastorous effect.
Please give a look at What Drugs Are You Taking?
Last week I got a very official looking critical update notice from Microsoft. Anyway as you have no doubt guessed it was a worm and instantly shut down my computer. I backup everything once a week so I was back and running in about 15 minutes. So I thought it would be a good time to go over Microsoft updates and what to do and definitely what not to do.
So before you start downloading that latest update from Microsoft or anybody else for that matter please read Dont' Download that Update
One of the most irritating aspects of printing things out that you see on the Internet is that often you don't get what you see. Too often things on the right side of the page are cut off. You end up trying to guess what those words are or what that picture was supposed to look like. I recently came across a free piece of software that will solve that problem. So please give a look at Why Won't it Fit on the Page??
Today's Casa Article is about the dual scourges of the Internet Spam Email and Viruses. There seems to have been forged an alliance between these two entities that could have some pretty scary consequences. Please give a look at the Twin Towers of Evil
With the attacks from Blaster and SoBig.f so much in the news for the past few weeks I thought it was a good time to look at some of the steps that you can take to keep people out of your stuff. There are a few pretty inexpensive solutions and even some that are free.
So before you leave the front door open for every hacker, worm, trojan horse and good old ordinary viruses, please give a look at Firewalls and You!!!
Today's Casa Article concerns what kind of computer and what features you should think about getting if you or your child is going off to college. There are lots of brands out there and your purchase doesn't have to be really expensive, but there are definitely some things you should watch out for. That said, please give a look at Back to School Computer Time
Today's Casa Article has to do with getting an AvantGo subscription on your PDA. There's an amazing amount free stuff out there waiting to be plucked and I tell you where to go to find it, and how to bring it down to your PDA. Here's the article for AvantGo.
This is your opportunity to get something on the planet to listen to you with about a 93% accuracy. Voice Recognition software has been around for a while, but I stumbled across one for a pretty reasonable price and still has about 93% accuracy. Please check out this week's Casa Article Talk To Me!!!!!
This week's Casa Article concerns moving on to a new computer. Most things about moving files is pretty straight forward, but moving your Outlook files can be a real problem. The first big problem is where the heck do those files hide out? Anyway, please give a look to Movin' On Time!
Today's Casa Article is all about Spy Bots. These insidious little devils get into your system in a number of different ways and they’re tough to get rid of once they’re there. Some of them can trigger those very irritating pop-up ads that everybody is complaining about and some of them are just like cookies on steroids that sit there and send information about you back to their masters.
There’s a free way to see whose lurking in your computer by going to http://security.kolla.de/index.php and downloading SpyBot Search and Destroy. In the meantime please give a look to my article all about SpyBots.
Today's Casa Article is all about help that is available to you and your business from people on the Internet. There's an amazing staff out there waiting to take care of your business needs whether they be or on a temporary basis on a more permananet arrangement.
Please give a look at You People Need Help!!!
This week's Casa Article concerns an email that I received recently from my ISP Earthlink. At least it looked like it was from Earthlink. They said my subscription was about ready to run out and that I should put in my credit card information and click submit.
Here's the full text of "Dont' Put in that Number."
This week's Casa Article is all about backing up your computer. It's one of those things that you know you should do, but you can't quite seem to get there. I back up every piece of data on all five of my machines every week and it probably takes me about an hour. If you were only working on one machine it would probably take you about 15 minutes.
The truth is, if you don't back up your computer sooner or later you're going to lose all the data on your machine. All those irreplaceable family photos, all those downloads, all those email addresses you've gathered over the years. All of it gone, gone, gone.
So, hopefully I've scared you enough to take some steps to back up that data. Here's the article.
After a week of fine tuning and trying different things this is the coming out message for Beautiful Santa Barbara Blog. Here's the article that I wrote for my Casa Magazine column http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com/casa/BLOGs.html
Here’s my latest column for Casa Magazine in Santa Barbara it’s about the scourge of the Internet, viruses. http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com/casa/virusalert.html I write these columns weekly so if you have anything you’d like to read bout please leave a comment or drop me an email at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com