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1. sma My Pictures folder and the fourth opens your default email program The fifth opens the My Music folder and the sixth opens your Live Messenger program if you have one Below this grouping are two separate buttons The first has a plus sign inside a magnifying glass the button is a toggle to increase or decrease the size of type in the document you are currently viewing It also works on a web page if that page supports in crease decrease functions some don t The last button Gadgets connects you to a web page that has several live information items that may be of interest to you This is a nice product one that you ll like if you have it but you may decide its features aren t worth the price probably would not buy this product but only because of the price Otherwise it is thoughtfully built and is pleasing to use Price from 80 to 100 depending on store www microsoft com MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 5 BLACKBERRY 8830 WORLD EDITION By B T Woody As a user and admirer of all that is Blackberry had the opportunity to review one of the latest models to come from Research in Motion the Blackberry 8830 World Edition A true marvel at innovation design and usability the 8830 offers the average user sim plicity while supplying the globe trotting executive productivity and universal capability The last review did on a Blackberry model was the 7130e a great phone with tremendous capabi
2. quite frankly it s all Greek Geek to me What want a camera to do is take good pictures without confusing me too much SAMSUNG at Most of the cameras I ve seen in use be fore never seem to take a picture of the whole room A lot of stuff is missing Every time there s a group picture everyone is told to scrunch up The L74 has a wide angle lens and it takes pictures that include all the stuff that other cameras miss really liked the fact that could fit everyone in a picture without having to worry about who was missing SAMSUNG The L74 Wide also does a good job of taking close up pictures My favorite subject is Snickers my puppy dog All of my pictures were very clear and the flash did a good job of lighting him A lot of cam eras don t take good pictures in low light but this one did If were going to buy a digital camera would buy this one MSRP is 349 99 www samsungcamera com You ve got to learn to dance before you learn to crawl Alex Woody MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 11 LINUX WORLD 2007 Two VIEWS FROM THE TRENCHES Penguins Seen Alive and Well at LinuxWorld By Bayle Emlein Penguins are not an endangered species Recently seen cavorting through Moscone Center in San Fran cisco Linux and its penguin flock showed every sign of a continued population expansion And like every population that becomes established in its environ ment Linux in the world a
3. Contributing Editor Contributing Editor Technical Editor Columnist Columnist Columnist Columnist Columnist Columnist Columnist Bayle Emlein Megan Ehrhard Tim Ehrhard Bob Click Jan Fagerholm George Harding Diana Meade Kate Meade Lee Schwab B T Woody ChuckHajdu MCCPubs net LWebb MCCPubs net BEmlein MCCPubs net MeganEhrhard aol com TEhrhard MCCPubs net bobclick bellsouth net jan f pacbell net GHarding MCCPubs net DMeade MCCPubs net KMeade MCCPubs net LSchwab MCCPubs net BTWoody MCCPubs net User group members SAVE 35 on all titles ENTER DISCOUNT CODE DSUG O REILLY Spreading the knowledge of innovators rey gee ol ae Dj i eT al i so ae ee ee e wes rni ae se e r a See ee eee gee Be Ae 43 fo te ed T B aa aa ie Ean i Fe a m Fai i a a C ee ey a a hae i TA Tai r Wan is F T m e ER ee AEN or kni ma a hil by A i ie a p ra i cn sgin Ebie ph at oreilly com GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND GoD BLESS AMERICA
4. Search Amaron bim Sign In What is your e imei ai My e mail address is Do you have an Amazon com password Ne Lam anew customer yes Ihave a password 1sssssss Where s My Stull Shipping amp Returns s Track your recent i See our yl a miera fy fetes s polos Forgot your password Chek PEPEE eT eT E EAA TER RoboForm disappear from the computer And if you happen to remove the drive while your browser is open RoboForm does its removal trick but politely leaves your browser intact for continued use Extra features are plentiful You can create and pass word protect identities files that hold extensive per sonal and financial information to fill online registra tion forms or complete order checkout pages Your passcards can easily be organized into folders And if you already own a RoboForm license for your main computer you can copy its existing passcards to your RoboForm2Go drive really liked safenotes little files where you can pro tect snippets of secret or sensitive data for quick re call And instead of the familiar passwords we tend to create that are all too easily hackable the pass word generator can create strong passwords and automatically enter them into password fields for you RoboForm2Go contains no adware or spyware and supports 28 languages It runs on Windows com puters with Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla and Firefox Responses to
5. AMD and Intel s tours were the same ven tally in character in my tee shirt and shorts could dors discuss configure and Make with gesticulating geeks and picked up several useful tips on Linux distros that dabble with Ubuntu was passing out disks like lollipops and Debian had a Web cam dis playing video of the passing crowd rendered in AS gt CII characters think ASCII art and the effect is very ubuntu amusing The software to accomplish this is in cluded in nearly every Linux distribution so of course had to try this when ran home LinuxWorld is a great place to get a glimpse of what Linux is all about It may come preinstalled on the next PC you buy it will likely come in the next elec tronic gadget that you buy and it will even be in the next car that you buy There are lots of hands on computers with people anxious to show it off and there is lots of bleeding edge technology on display LinuxWorld is worth a look even if you don t know Ububtu is the world s most popular Linux distribution anything about Linux You will find it much more in teresting after LinuxWorld Other major vendors not normally thought of as computer companies were also present Motorola NEC EMC and others They are using embedded Linux in many of their products and were hawking these wares Palm did brisk floor traffic showing off its new Foleo a Linux based screen and keyboard terminal for the Treo crowd who needs th
6. There is a 2 inch wristboard which makes typing quite comfortable The most noticeable part of the keyboard is the addi tional keys There are 4 keys at the very top for DVD manipulation followed by two buttons which increase volume and decrease volume To the right of these still at the very top are five numbered buttons each of which can be assigned to any file program or web site a pretty handy feature There is also a Show Favorites key a star which displays the current as signment of the numbered keys and a Change link for revising the assignment There are the Windows and right click menu keys that have become pretty standard these days for key boards But the big additions are the buttons on the far left and top right There are two buttons on the top right just above the numeric keypad The first is a one click button to bring up calculator The other brings up the Log Off Windows dialog which may be of use in a business environment but is of no use to me On the upper left are a pair of buttons labeled with left and right arrows They are used with web pages to go to previous and next pages without having to click on the Back and Forward browser buttons Next on the left comes a group of six buttons each of which is labeled fairly intuitively The first has a symbol reflecting a page which opens the My Docu ments folder The second has a house which opens a browser to your home page The third opens the
7. difference a truly bright clear display makes Before we finished up we tried our standard Xan dros Linux test Many hardware products we ve tested were not supposed to work with Linux but work beautifully with Xandros Unfortunately the DualHead2Go isn t one of them Our suggestion to Matrox is to catch the wave and support Linux Our overall impression of the DualHead2Go is that it can be a useful upgrade for users who want to switch to dual monitors but not dig into their PC and add a new video card It s also useful for laptop us ers who can t upgrade their internal video card As for the SOYO Go Video 19 Dual LCD Monitors if your video system supports dual monitors go buy a set of these beauties immediately Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition MSRP is 229 www matrox com SOYO Go Video 19 Dual LCD Monitors MSRP is 1 049 but they are available right now for only 479 www soyousa com I MCC SAMSUNG L74 WIDE By Alex Woody This is the first review I ve done for the Monthly Computer Chronicle and I d like to thank the Editor for giving me this opportunity Editor s note you re welcome don t have a lot of experience with cameras of any kind and the Samsung L74 Wide turned out to be a perfect camera for me to use The number of con trols are minimal and the instructions are clearly written and explained everything needed to know I m not going to go into a lot of technical stuff because
8. fused Last month included the article about that topic because know I m not the only person behind on new technology knowledge Lets Look At The Pluses reviewed Microsoft Money a few years ago and started actually using it when my favorite money pro gram Managing Your Money turned to providing software for banks have differences with some Mi crosoft policies such as Genuine Advantage and their product activation process but when it comes to MS Money that tech support is the best in the busi ness Each version have used came with three years of support via an 800 number They try hard to answer your questions and do not speak broken Eng lish So far I ve talked to tech support in Newfound land three times and they have resolved my ques tions followed by an e mail thanking me for using MS Money and saying that if the issue was still not re solved they are there to clear it Pe up The phone waiting time has i never been long What a great value for a product that costs so little There are things would like to see improved such as when back it up before closing the program it doesn t limit the number of backups on my exter lt nal USB flash drive but that s a _ minor problem Bob Click The Deals Guy Emergency ID And Medical Information What if you were traveling and became involved in an accident leaving you incapacitated How would an ambulance medic and ER facilit
9. individu eee als with large fingers having a difficult time This is really a non issue as with any new product that you are un familiar with it takes time and experience to master tried typing a paragraph as fast as could to see if the keyboard would interfere or cause a typo after 125 B T Woody words or so discovered only two corrections that needed to be made Not too bad The only com plaint on the silver model is the blue back lighted keyboard even under the best of conditions it can be difficult to read the alphanumeric characters on the keys The 8830 is also taller and slimmer than you may expect for a Blackberry with a 2 5 inch screen that is clear and easy to read with light sensing technol ogy that automatically adjusts the backlighting of the screen the keyboard and the trackball depending on whether you re indoors or outdoors The volume keys are located on the right side and are conven ient when using the phone Sound quality is clear while using the handset and there were no major issues with sound quality using the speakerphone either The 8830 is equipped with a programmable convenience key on the left side that is defaulted to voice dialing that does leave something to be de sired Unless you speak clear and concise in a noiseless room the 8830 has a difficult time dis cerning what contact or number you are requesting Additional features include a microSD slot located behind the batte
10. B 8830 alone and in the Otterbox 1933 Case The carrying case that came with the 8830 was one of it s worst features Fortunately we received an Ot terbox 1933 case as we were doing this review The Otterbox case provides additional bump scratch and drop protection as well as light rain protection Note this case is not waterproof and Otterbox stresses point strongly They include a belt clip that is very well designed and works better than the BB case The Otterbox case provides 3 layers of protection a thermal formed protective clear membrane pro tects the screen the case itself is hi impact polycar bonate and there is a silicone skin to absorb bump and shock For environmental protection Drop and Shock MIL STD 810F 36 to plywood on concrete Water Protection IPX2 protected against dripping water Dust Protection IP4X protected against solid ob jects greater than 1mm If you are willing to invest your time and money in an 8830 then you should protect your considerable in vestment with an Otterbox case MSRP is 49 95 www otterbox com MCC OTTO MODEL OT 9 By Diana Meade The OTTO Isolating Ear Buds have been a revela tion to me They aren t just light weight and comfort able to use they have wonderful audio perform ance normally dislike headsets of any kind but found these to be very comfortable they felt like the ear plugs use every night in bed to block out my husband s snoring T
11. Monthly Computer Chronicle IN THIS ISSUE NEWS AND VIEWS OCTOBER 2007 NEWS AND VIEWS TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT ROBOFORM2GO SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF MULTIMEDIA BLACKBERRY 8830 OTTERBOX 1933 CASE OTTO OT 9 EARBUDS US GLOBALSAT G SAT GV 370 LEXMARK C500N MATROX DUALHEAD2GO SOYO Go VIDEO 19 LCDS SAMSUNG L74 WIDE LINUX WORLD 2007 THE DEALS GUY 10 11 13 By Chuck Hajd Once again MSFT is creating an atmosphere of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt FUD This time it s for the release date of Service Pack 1 for WinV The latest rumor we ve heard is the second half of 2007 Let s see October 1st starts the second half of the second half of 2007 Yep that s MSFT Why is SP1 important Simple most experienced users always wait for the improved version of any MSFT OS Do you remember Win3 0 Win95 before OSR2 WinMe never SP d because it was so bad think you get the picture Once SP1 comes out many more corporate users will be willing to test the waters and start to upgrade their systems Once again the difference in phi losophy for MSFT and the Open Source community is glaringly ob vious Would you like to know the update schedule for all of the Ub untu versions and variations Just go to www ubuntu com and you ll find the schedule of updates Why does MSFT continue to use FUD as a weapon That s the eas Gop BLESS OUR TROOPS ies rhetorical quest
12. a close look at their refund policy and the dis count Regards Goncharuk Yuriy Chief Executive Officer yura anyplace control com Direct download link lt http www anyplace control com anyplace control data AnyplaceControllnstall exe gt 2 7 Mb A Freebie For Managing Your Downloads FreeDownloadManager org announced the release of a new version of their Free Download Manager The list of FDM features includes accelerating downloads up to 600 resuming broken downloads simultaneous downloading from several mirrors http https ftp bittorrent support flash video downloads support video conversion and more FDM 2 5 is released under the GPL license and is now open source software The new version of Free Download Manager stands out due to its expanded possibilities Now FDM works as an upload manager as well making it easy to share files with other people FDM now allows downloading files using Bittorrent protocol as well as downloading video from video sites such as YouTube Google Video MySpace videos etc The video can be saved in native flv format or converted to one of more of the popular video formats The FDM Team has also added more flexibility to the software providing an opportunity to control FDM remotely via the Internet Another new feature port able mode will be especially appreciated by users who want to always have the program close at hand They can easily create FDM portable version and en
13. any internet connected computer It took about a minute to copy the RoboForm2Go software to my USB test drive After opened Internet Explorer a window confirmed that RoboForm had launched and then the RoboForm toolbar appeared in Internet Explorer right under the address line An icon was also added to my Windows systray for easy access to all of RoboForm2Go s system options Next logged into a web site and the RoboForm AutoSave window appeared offering to store my login data in a passcard It created a suggested passcard name and then saved the website address plus all of the data needed to fill in the fields on the login form Once saved when you open your browser and select a passcard it launches the website fills in the login information and then submits it to log you into the site automatically Or if you visit a site for which you have an existing passcard you can either have RoboForm just fill in the p login fields or have it ii like both fill the fields and log you in automatically Passcards are easily ed table And you can set a master password to pro tect passcards containing sensitive personal or fi nancial information a comforting idea should your RoboForm2Go drive get lost or stolen eu When you remove the Linda Webb M Ed USB drive all traces of Emerging Technology Editor el E hipj aa ap e eapi he 1 ee Pii ka di lap 7 Su ank Ep rela Webb dir Generate w koam
14. at full sized screen and keyboard once in a while Notable for its absence was IBM who has spent about two billion dollars on its Linux business and is a major adopter There were no juicy rumors about why they weren t there Microsoft who has had an on off presence at LinuxWorld was not there this time but Windows IT Pro magazine had a small booth they know that IT professionals walk both sides of the OS fence MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 13 by Bob The Cheapskate Click Greater Orlando Computer Users Group Feedback heard from several readers who said they have been successfully traveling with only a special flash drive for some time hadn t seen a review on this or read about it as a meeting presentation last year if they were available read a lot especially the UG newsletters get only learned about the USB U3 drives last spring when purchased a San Disk Flash Drive that thought was a bargain When plugged it into the USB port just to take a look thought it was installing something on my HD was upset and wanted to know what was going on without my per mission Then read the enclosed folder about the software preinstalled on that U3 drive and other software available on their Web site for it was con fused and tried unsuccessfully to learn more about it Around the first of the year was the first read a re view but without understanding it was still con
15. cing the ink and toner Lexmark com offers the black high yield toner cartridge for 134 70 and the color cartridges are 119 70 each The C500 takes Cyan Magenta and Yellow as its color toners When price shopping on the internet found www superwarehouse com The prices for the Lexmark C500 black toner was 83 99 and the color toners were 91 99 That is over half the price of the toner cartridges on the Konica Mi nolta Color Laser printer did a review on over a year ago Soa word to the wise before purchasing your new color laser printer Know what the refill toners will cost you and comparatively shop the other brands The statistics about the Lexmark C500 are equally impressive The Lexmark C500 has a 200 MHz proc essor with 64 MB of memory The printing is 1200 x dpi and there is up to 31ppm mono and 8 ppm color From the time you click print on your screen it is 13 seconds or less for the black and white sheets to print and as fast as 19 seconds for the color The Lexmark is Ethernet network ready For several rea sons this printer is perfect for my home and family use It also provides for everything need to run my small at home business The Lexmark is considered space saving compared to other printers its type on the market still find it is slightly heavy and bulky It definitely requires its own spot for operation The Lexmark is very easy to op erate with its front loading toner cartridges It has a clear disp
16. cognized by the re ceiver the procedure is to reset both with the con nection button then re signal with the receiver That worked for me Both the keyboard and the mouse require two AA batteries which are provided in the product pack age The package also contains a Help manual which gives very little actual help There are 8 pages each of which has a picture and an instruc tion the English instruction is repeated in four other languages One further manual is included with 53 pages of warnings of various sorts and support con tact info all is repeated in four other languages The package also contains a CD ROM which in Stalls the drivers for mouse and keyboard as well as Help files for each These files are the real source for help on understanding the mouse and keyboard functions Physical installation is simple First the CD ROM to install drivers then connect the receiver to a USB port then install the batteries in keyboard and mouse Both units should now work It is not neces sary to disconnect your prior keyboard and mouse though you probably will Some BlOSes will object if Continued on page 4 MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 4 SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF MULTIMEDIA Continued from page 3 no keyboard is attached to the keyboard port The keyboard has a very nice quiet touch It is ergo nomic being slightly sloped away from you to keep your hands from bending upward when you have them on the keyboard
17. d then tweaking the screen alignment BTW the same stand is used for both the 17 and 19 units and the frame is clearly marked to let you know which holes to use To connect the DualHead2Go up to the LCDs all you need to do is with power turned OFF on the PC and LCDs plug the Matrox cable and USB cable into one side of DualHead2Go plug the other end of these cables into the PC plug the monitor cables into the other side of the unit and connect the cables to the LCDs Continued on page 10 MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 10 DUAL MONITORS Continued from page 9 Now you can turn on the PC and LCDs and you should see the green power light come on the Dual Head2Go doubt if any PC that has the required OS and video card won t have a powered USB port but if you do you ll need a powered USB adapter Next we got down the installing the software for the DualHead2Go When our PC first booted we had the number one left LCD working perfectly We ran the Matrox CD to install the required software and rebooted After the reboot we still had to do some system tweaking to get everything working properly To Ma trox s credit the user manual on the CD does a very good job of dealing with all of the normal problems and offering suggestions for each of the OSs they support Once we got the problems worked out we were able to enjoy the incredible clarity and brilliance of the SOYO LCDs It always amazes me how much
18. fused to stay sucked to the windshield or dashboard Fortunately we had an identical mount from a Magellan unit in our test vehicle and we just screwed the GV 370 cradle onto it In two weeks of testing it never came loose The GV 370 mount and the Magellan mount appear to be identi cal there was just something wrong with the clear plastic suction thingie on the GV 370 unit The second thing we didn t like was the use of old data provided by Navteq We ve tested several units lately that had much newer and more accurate map data The Navteq street level data is at least three years old and many streets that we use every day are missing Recommendation The G Sat GV 370 is an excellent auto GPS unit and we recommend it highly MSRP is 499 99 but right now it s available for 359 99 www usglobalsat com MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 8 LEXMARK C500N By Karen Harper My review this month is for the Lexmark C500n high impact color laser printer You will discover as have there are several reasons to purchase this product and only two objections have for not buying it The Lexmark C500 series offers quality color printing for an affordable price On average a new Lexmark C500n will run approximately 349 00 The big bo nus though is the toner is extremely below the aver age price for refills As many of you that own color laser printers know the cost for owning one isn t the price of the machine but in repla
19. ght button Right click default v Wheel button Instant viewer default v Left side button Back default AY Right side button Magnify default v Connected device Restore Defaults Wireless Laser Mouse 5000 i button Magnify is a better magnify than the one that ships with Win dows because you can increase or decrease the size of the magni fication window It s easy to use C Enable program specific settings and you can turn it off by clicking the upper right button again Q Microsoft IntelliPoint The back end of the mouse has a small triangular button used to communicate with the wireless receiver There is a similar button on the underside of the keyboard as well The re ceiver is an small oval block which is connected to a USB port on your computer To make both the keyboard and mouse work they must be prop _ erly connected wirelessly Mak 4 ing this connection was trouble some for me The connection George Harding Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000 buttons on keyboard and mouse are used to signal the receiver If the receiver doesn t recognize either one one problem may be that the devices are too far away or are physically blocked The Help manual points out that the maximum distance for the mouse is about 6 feet from the receiver but does not men tion a distance for the keyboard presumably it also is 6 feet When either device is not re
20. he OTTO 4 Model OT 9s come is a variety gt of colors silver black pink green blue and red had the silver ones and they looked very headset cable is good for most high tech The 45 long and that is MP3 players used them for the first time on a long road trip and they did a very effective job of blocking outside noise and allowing me to enjoy my music They were very comfortable even when had them in for several hours The OT 9s come with small medium and large ear pieces so you should have no problem finding a good fit There is also a nice case included that will hold your headphones and MPs player Technical specifications Speaker Type 8mm Driver Cable Length 45 inches 1 15m Net Weight 0 40z 11 34g Connector 3 5 mm stereo plug Impedance at 1KHz 16 Ohm Sensitivity at 1kHz 105dB SPL mW My only minor complaint is the 45 long cord It s ideal for portable players but is just a bit too short for desktop use It s OK for laptops but needed an other six inches of cord to use it comfortably with my desktop highly recommend the OTTO Isolating Earbuds they are better than any earbuds or headsets I ve ever used MSRP is 69 95 www hearotto com MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 7 US GLOBALSAT G SAT GV 370 By Chuck Hajd The US GlobalSat G sat GV 370 is a newer model auto GPS unit and it solves one of the ongoing problems with early models Early c
21. ion I ve ever asked myself To scare potential buyers away from competing prod ucts of course Over the years I ve been subjected to countless MSFT presentations showing their latest groundbreak ing software that will be available soon Of course the demo was all vaporware and the whole exer cise was designed to get them positive ink and cause potential buyers of superior competing prod ucts to delay while they waited for MSFT stuff The second part of the WinV SP1 rumor is that it s going to be enor mous I ve heard a lot of conflicting numbers but everyone agrees that it s not just a tweak it s more like a full 1 version of the OS The last bit of news I ve been fol lowing is the conflict between MSFT and the Open Source com munity on whether or not MSFT has to comply with the GPL be cause of the agreements they re making with Linux companies This will make it to the courts and pre dict another MSFT legal loss MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 2 TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT SIBER SYSTEMS ROBOFORM2GO By Linda Webb It s challenging enough to remember your web site login information when at home or at work But it can be especially difficult to recall that information when you use a computer elsewhere RoboForm2Go password manager and form filler software remembers everything for you on a portable USB drive You simply plug the drive with its special copy of RoboForm Professional into
22. is fairly quick it takes only a few seconds from power on to usability The start screen offers icons for Navigation Photo Music Setup and Movie The Photo View application scans memory cards for JPG images and displays them as thumbnails that can then be viewed full screen The Music icon opens an MP3 player that scans SD MMC cards for MP3 audio files that creates play lists that play the songs sequentially Movies must be encoded in MPG and DAT format to be played by the Movie player Naturally only one of these applications can run at a time so if you re using GPS navigation you can t also use the MP3 player What did we like The first thing we liked is the front mounted controls The speaker mute but ton Zoom in Zoom out and system menu buttons are right there where you can see them They were designed perfectly The second thing we liked was the clarity of the voice instructions We ve tested units that sounded like Cylon rejects but not this one The voice is clear distinct and with excellent volume Of course there were a few funny pronunciations The GV 370 had problem with Roseberry Street pronounced Rose berry and kept saying Ross a berry It also blew Limekiln Road into something unpronounce able We were also very impressed with the speed of re routing if we decided to use a route other than the one suggested What didn t we like Of all things the Windshield mount never worked right It just re
23. joy the software on every computer without another installation For more information on FDM visit the product web site lt http www freedownloadmanager org gt Download link lt http www freedownloadmanager org fdminst exe gt That s it for this month lIl have more new product announcements on my Web site most not offering a discount Meet me here again next month if your editor permits This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers or freebies have found or arranged and my comments should not be interpreted to encourage or discourage the purchase of any products no matter how enthused might sound http www dealsguy com gt MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 Monthly Computer Chronicle Editorial offices and testing lab 3907 Rhonda Court Clarksville TN 37040 7507 Contact us at Phone amp fax 270 423 3161 Email MCCEditor aol com http bellsouthpwp net h a hajduc DISCLAIMERS The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher any municipal county or state governing body the Congress Senate or Executive Branch of the U S Government the Government of Hungary the United Nations or the United Federation of Planets call that bold talk from a four eyed fat man LS MFT Editor PAGE 15 MCC Charles Hajdu Emerging Technology Linda Webb
24. lay screen on top of the system that is easy to read and alerts you to lack of paper or low toner The Lexmark runs very quietly and when in sleep mode it doesn t run at all and it never recycles itself with those annoying run up noises printers tend to make fee a is I In my opinion the Lexmark has two points of weak ness First the Lexmark arrived in a box with a ca ble program disk and a set up poster printed in several languages From the poster had no prob lem interpreting how to set up the system under stood how to load and install the program into my computer thanks to previous practice am however 95 of the time technologically challenged would have enjoyed several times in the past three months having had a manual to reference have no idea to this date what type of additional messages might receive on my screen on top of the printer don t know how to change my toners when the time comes and there is an extra Ethernet cable am pretty sure don t need but would like to still know what it does Call me old school but think a hard copy booklet or manual might be a nice extra touch of customer service that Lexmark could provide for their customers The second downfall is that have tried twice to print on legal paper and have been un successful There is no way to just put legal paper into the letter tray and there is no manual feed Both of these are features some printers
25. lities however would gladly trade the 7130e for an 8830 any day of the week The primary draw to the 8830 is its use worldwide as a cell phone and to receive and distribute e mails Using CDMA code division multiple access and GSM global system mobile technology users are afforded the capabilities they have only dreamed of to place and receive phone calls from 157 countries and e mail coverage throughout 62 countries rates your checkbook may not be able to handle Another draw to the 8830 is definitely the network Verizon was the initial com pany to offer the 8830 followed by Sprint and T Mobile however after having used the aforemen tioned companies it s the network slogan seems to ring true Verizon has been the only network that have had the least dropped calls or spotty coverage seriously expected the guy from the Verizon com mercials to be looking over my shoulder asking Can you hear me now Unfortunately was personally unable to test the 8830 s global capabilities The 8830 is the first Blackberry have used that is equipped with the trackball beneath the center dis play for navigation Compared to the side mounted track wheel the Trackball is a better and more func tional design The 8830 also offers a full QWERTY keyboard however the biggest complaint have read about has come from the keyboard There is virtually no spacing in be tween the keys and can understand certain
26. m there was im pressed that most of the blanks in the form could be expanded to a larger space by double clicking them to insert additional information such as additional doctors medications and other vital information It can be password protected if you desire but wouldn t want that The MSRP is 24 95 4 95 S amp H They are offering DealsGuy readers a 2 50 dis count but only if you call 1 866 955 0535 to order and mention the DealsGuy column Larger orders can get a better discount Ignoring the discount you can order it on their Web site lt http www identificationdevices net gt using your credit card think this product is a great value Continued on page 14 MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 14 Continued from page 13 Be Aware If you are interested in either of the products below be sure to do your homework and check their Web site for further information because edited a lot of information out of them to make them fit have not tried either product Hope My Wife Doesn t Use This Remote Control Stuff On Me Anyplace Control Software released version 4 0 of Anyplace Control an acknowledged remote monitor ing solution The new version extends the frontiers of remote control and now can bypass routers and fire walls as well as support PCs with dynamic IPs Anyplace Control displays the desktop of the remote computer letting you use your own keyboard and mouse to control it remotely A
27. moni tors and may be a solution Take note of the may in the previous paragraph The DualHead2Go only works with specific hardware and you should go to the Matrox web site to see if your system is compatible We downloaded the GXM Compatibility Tool and tested several systems in our lab to see if we had a system that we could test with Fortunately we had several systems that passed the test so we were good to go What s in the box the DualHead2Go Digital Edition connector box One 2 foot HD15 to HD15 analog monitor cable One USB cable The software CD ROM System requirements Single VGA output connector on a compatible sys tem WinXp Win2K WinV and Mac OS X v10 4 Display driver supporting 2048 x 768 or 2560 x 1024 resolution We chose our Gateway S 7200C Tablet PC as our test system It passed the compatibility test and seemed to be an ideal choice The next choice was monitors The SOYO Go Video 19 LCDs looked like they would be good choices We have always been im pressed with the quality of construction and perform ance of SOYO LCDs and we had a set of them available What s in the box Two 19 TFT LCD monitors a User Manual a dual monitor stand power cords DVI cables Audio cables Step one is putting the monitor stand together and attaching the two LCDs It s not complicated but you ll need a screwdriver and patience There are eight screws to put in an
28. my two questions were pro vided in the password protected online support site within only hours Price New License 39 95 Add to existing Robo Form License 19 95 RoboForm 2Go USB Drive 9 95 with license purchase Minimum requirements Windows 98 Me NT4 2000 2003 XP or Vista Internet Explorer 5 5 or later Rating 6 of 6 www roboform com MCC MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 3 SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF MULTIMEDIA MICROSOFT WIRELESS LASER DESKTOP 5000 By George Harding Wow what a collection of useful stuff This Microsoft product packages a keyboard and a mouse which intends to eliminate your regular keyboard and mouse The two are still separate but are connected to the computer not by wires but by a wireless con nection The mouse operates with a laser which replaces both the old ball type mouse and the newer optical mouse The mouse is ergonomically shaped to fit your hand with grooves on both sides There are two buttons on the upper left side and upper right side of the mouse buttons not usually present on a mouse The upper left and right buttons can be assigned to any function you wish The default assignment is Back as with a web page for the upper left button and Magnify for the upper right Mouse Properties 2 x Buttons Pointers Pointer Options Scrolling Hardware Activities Wireless To change a button assignment click a command in the list Left button Click default v Ri
29. nd LinuxWorld have changed The floor at the early August LinuxWorld seemed sedate and corporate to those of us who re member vendors in geek attire old tee shirt jeans or chinos flip flops pony tail sharing information with similarly dressed hordes Now AMD and Intel and APC have big booths Lots of companies have pro fessional presenters conducting sit down demos with soft chairs Unruly attendee hijacks vehicle display Palm chose this expo to set out a large pre release display of it s new Fol o device This is a gizmo clearly aimed at mobile professionals with discretion ary cash and time on their hands Embedded Linux was its excuse for being there The same for a vari ety of impressive Linux equipped vehicles settled into a cushy bean bag with my cup of java from Dice the techie version of CareerFinder and agreed with the person next to me that the show seemed less energetic than in years past He com mented that we ll Know Linux is truly mature when the LinuxWorld shows die altogether that is when Linux becomes so ubiquitous that it is taken for granted every where Possibly true but disappointing to con template for a show goer Then rounded a corner and found myself in the DotOrg section Some new names but the same start up energy that doesn t know what can t be done From Ark to Zenwalk these people are the ultimate Linux enthusiasts Linux may be tamed by corporate culture but the spiri
30. offer In stead discovered you have to actually purchase the Lexmark C500n Legal tray and on Lexmark com it runs 129 00 personally believe the trays should be included with the printer at the time of purchase In conclusion rank the Lexmark C500 Color Laser Printer an overall 8 out of a possible 10 recom mend it for those wanting a good reliable color laser printer for a decent price It is perfect for the home small business and anyone planning on printing a lot and having to replace their toners more often than not MSRP is 349 00 www lexmark com MCC PAGE 9 MCC OCTOBER 2007 MOVING TO DUAL MONITORS MATROX DUALHEAD2GO DIGITAL EDITION SOYO GO VIDEO 19 LCDs By Chuck Hajd Most multi tasking computer users have run into situations where they wish they had two monitors hooked up to their PC so they could work on multiple projects at once without having to minimize windows lm sure there isn t an editor on the planet that would n t love to have as many monitors as possible to help get their work done easier lve been using a Gate way E 4610D with dual 19 LCD monitors for several months now and couldn t live without them The Gateway s video card supports dual monitors so it was easy to set up and use But what if your video card doesn t support dual monitors Are you out of luck Not any more The Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition is a multi display adapter that connects to your PC and
31. onsumer GPS products didn t have enough built in memory to hold a lot of map data That meant users had to select sections of the country on their com puter to upload into the limited GPS unit s memory or load the data onto a memory card IF they unit accepted them The GV 370 comes with a 2GB SD card with pre loaded detailed maps of the US of A Puerto Rico the US Virgin Islands and Can ada preloaded Thank you What s in the box The G sat GV3 70 comes with the main unit a USB cable both 12v DC and 110v AC charger cables a windshield mount a cradle a DVD with user manual drivers and map data and the 2GB SD card we men tioned earlier It s actually more than most other units provide We do have one suggestion for US Global Sat They might want to consider one USB cable and plug adapters for power from AC and auto That could save them some money in manufacturing Specifications Processor Samsung S3C2410 266MHz OS WinCE NET 4 2 core ROM Memory 64MB NAND Flash Memory SDRAM Memory 64MB GPS Receiver SIRF Star III High sensitivity chip set 20 Channel Operation Time 2 75 hrs Charge Time 4 5 hrs Display Size H W 3 5 Diagonal Pixels H W 240 320 QVGA Display Type Color TFT Daylight LCD How does it work Thanks to the pre loaded maps using the GV 370 is a breeze If you want to do some pre trip setup just plug the AC power cord in insert the 2GB SD card and turn it on The boot time
32. ry cover and a sim slot on the top that adds additional memory for videos music or pictures Setup was simple The 8830 has an onscreen setup function for personal information contacts and the most important e mail Within minutes of typing in my e mail address and password was receiving my e mails from multiple accounts extremely easy for the non POP3 IP address knowing individual Of course RIM also offers different customizable themes allowing the user to place the more impor tant functions of the 8830 on the desktop and hide the ones you never use Bottom line for the 8830 it is a solid and reliable phone organizer and e mail client Verizon offers the 8830 with a 2 year contract for 199 99 that in cludes an online discount and a mail in rebate Rates for e mail SMS and calls are pretty standard inside the US For the casual user once again look ing for organization or for the world traveler sus pect that 8830 will provide reliable service and per formance RIM never fails to deliver a quality prod uct and it is no wonder that they continue to be the industry leader and standard bearer when it comes to e mail mobile web browsing and now global ca pability Continued on page 6 MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 6 OTTERBOX 1933 Continued from page 5 Otterbox 1933 case for Blackberry 8800 series i 7 w NO 7A n By Py Pai je WH othatl TEIL EIZIE att gt bad spaca Ver B
33. t ware makers Novell SUSE and Red Hat New to Continued on page 12 MCC OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 12 LINUX WORLD 2007 Continued from page 11 The greatest increased presence this year were LinuxWorld was Dell who has dabbled in Linux serv companies hawking embedded Linux It shows up in ers for a couple of years but now promotes several more phones and PDAs than ever and dominates desktop and laptop machines with Ubuntu Linux pre the industrial controller market machines that make installed This is big news to penguinistas and is a other machines work For example in the Euro strong sign of Linux acceptance from a company that pean Union Ericsson dominates the phone market has historically marched a narrow Wintel path HP and Linux dominates Ericsson phones has sold Linux servers for several years and was there to remind us of that A new wrinkle in partnering You may gather from all this that LinuxWorld has a was that AMD and Intel ran tours taking groups strong bizdroid flavor but there is still something around to the booths of their business partners and there for The Rest Of Us Off in its own section of pattering in front of each winding up where we the floor is the ORG Pavilion where all the open started with a reward for taking the tour The cynic in source stuff is The atmosphere is decidedly more me was amused that several of the booths included um open than the rest of the show Here was to in both
34. t any point in time and to any place in the world that has Internet connection you can monitor your PC and get data transferred to or from it The program can be used in a LAN and it doesn t need a Web connection Anyplace Control can connect to multiple computers at a time With Anyplace Control you will get the smoothest remote connection experience along with full control over the system without an external static IP address Another good thing is that the program can automatically by pass routers and firewalls that lie between the remote computer and your machine You no longer need to spend time sending files via e mail because it s easier to transfer them directly The program can transfer any kind of data and you can be sure that the information you send will be deliv ered immediately with no response delay Home us ers can use the program to get access to their office computers and work from home or check their own PC while away from home Anyplace Control runs under all versions of Microsoft Windows and costs 22 USD for a single user li cense Licensed customers are entitled to free tech nical support and upgrades More information on Anyplace Control as well as a free trial copy is avail able free of charge from lt http www anyplace control com gt I d like to offer your group a 10 discount Please contact me at info anyplace control com and name your group to get the discount DealsGuy comment take
35. t of Linux still lives here LinuxWorld may be showing its corporate pinstripes but like CES it s the place to go to see what s going to show up in your next electronic gadget I ll be there next year Tux isn t The Only One In A Suit by Jan Fagerholm PCC Penguinista LinuxWorld is a convention organized around Linux in the Real World Starting out at the San Jose Fair grounds in 1999 it has progressed to Moscone Center in San Francisco in recent years LinuxWorld is the show of the year for penguinistas and usu ally make it a point to attend As Linux has penetrated big business the flavor of the exhibitors has changed When began attending the show small entrepreneurial companies were the norm and the uniform was tee shirts and sandals This year wore my usual tee shirt and shorts an was decidedly singular in my fashion sense the crowd was predominantly the IT person s uniform of polo shirt and chinos and a dense population of suits I did get a lot of inquiries about my cool pur ple penguinista tee shirt sadly reported that it came from last year s LinuxWorld Like many computer conventions LinuxWorld has changed a lot As computers get commoditized the enthusiast audience is reduced The show and its audience looks a lot like any mainstream business convention if it wasn t for the corporate logos it s hard to tell it was a computer show AMD and Intel had a strong presence as did sof
36. y know how to correctly treat you if your medical condition was spe cial or you had preferences In my case I m dia betic and now take Coumadin blood thinner so it would be important for the medic to know that Iden tification Devices L L C offers a compact USB Flash drive to hold vital information that could help a medic make the right decisions Wear it around your neck or even put it on your key chain so a medic can see it the Medical logo is on one side when examining you and can then plug it into the USB port on their laptop Instantly it gives the default choice to open your information screen That in stantly brings to their computer screen a form with your necessary medical and other information along with your picture You simply type in all the neces sary information yourself no complicated instruction to follow just fill in the labeled blanks The company sent me one to try and was im pressed with how easy it was to use and type in the necessary data The data includes your personal information with emergency phone numbers for whomever you designate and your doctors drugs important medical warnings if necessary your in surance companies and also your attorney informa tion There is a spot for your picture in the upper corner and even a way to load PDF files for impor tant documents such as a living will power of attor ney your own personal instructions and other im portant documents if you want the

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