Connecting Skype and Your Life

Skype saved my relationship. I know that this is a bold statement to make, that internet software could actually save a personal relationship, but it did. I recently made the life changing decision to move to France for five months. I would leave behind a boyfriend, friends, and family to venture to the other side of the world. Without Skype, I would not have been able to communicate as effectively and easily as I otherwise would have. Skype enabled me to talk with loved ones on a daily basis without worrying about expensive international rates, and video chat allowed me to talk and connect with friends as if we were having a face-to-face conversation.

Downloading and subscribing to Skype is easy, fast, and free (skype.com). No equipment is needed for the online chat, however a headset is essential for voice chat and a webcam and headset are necessary for video chat. Today, a user friendly webcam can be bought for less then $40 and a headset can be purchased for as little as $10. Some of the most popular brands of webcams are Logitech, Microsoft, and Creative Labs; and some of the most popular brands of headsets are Plantronics and Logitech. Though Skype-to-Skype connections are free of charge, Skype does also offer users the ability to make local, long-distance, and international calls from a Skype account to a landline or cell phone. These calls can be placed for a fraction of the price that most telephone companies offer (international calls made from a Skype account cost about 2.1¢ per minute).

Though I used Skype for personal reasons, Skype could also work well in the business environment. Skype’s online chat could be used as Windows Live and AOL Instant Messenger are in the office. These chat tools allow employees to easily carry on continuous conversations with co-workers without ever having to leave their desks. Skype’s video chat could be used to conduct video conferences or presentations between employees in and out of the physical office space. Additionally, international businesses could economically benefit from the low long-distance or international rates that Skype offers.

Whether it's used for business or pleasure, Skype has really innovated online communication in the digital age. So go out there and try it, and see how Skype can work for you in your life.

Moving Into the Digital World… What Does This Really Mean?

Many people, myself included, have felt much confusion regarding the recent television campaign reminding us that the switch from analog to digital is soon approaching. Beginning February 17, 2009 all broadcast stations will no longer be broadcasting in both analog and digital, but will solely be broadcasting in digital (DTV). This does NOT mean that all broadcast stations will be transitioning to High Definition broadcasts, and HDTV will NOT be a requirement.

How do I know if this change will affect me?

To determine if this switch is going to affect you and your TV watching habits, ask your self these two simple questions:
1) Do I subscribe to digital cable or satellite TV service or do I utilize the free over-the-air television programming?

If you have a subscription to digital cable or satellite service this change should not affect you, however if you do utilize the free over-the-air television programming, ask yourself this second question:

2) Do I currently have a roof top antenna? Do I have a pair of “rabbit ears” sitting atop my television set?

If you answered “NO”, to both of these questions, again, you need not be worried about the switch; your TV set already has an internal digital-tuner. However, if you answered “Yes”, to one or both of these questions, then this change is going to effect you. So take note. Current users of analog televisions have the choice of either buying a new digital television set altogether (with its own internal digital tuner), or obtaining a digital-to-analog converter box to continue watching free over-the-air broadcast television on old analog televisions.

How much will this cost me?

If you have an analog television set you may already be thinking about getting a new television set altogether. Prices on new TVs can vary depending on the size, functionality, and quality of the set desired. However, in the ever advancing world of technology the prices of quality televisions with the functions you desire (whether LCD TV's or Plasma Displays) are becoming ever more affordable. The prices of televisions are only dropping as the next new advancement hits the market.

On the other hand, if you decide to obtain a digital-to-analog converter box the Government established the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program which began in January of 2008. Valid coupons are worth $40 each and the digital-to-analog converter box is estimated to sell from $40 to $70 each (meaning an overall cost to the consumer of about $0 to $30). For more information about this coupon program or about the overall digital switch visit the government’s digital television website at www.dtv2009.gov, or call 1-888-388-2009 (voice) or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY).

Backing Up Your Holiday Digital Photos

Four weeks into my so called Euro trip, while having dinner with a few friends in the South of France, my beloved digital camera failed me for the first time. Unexpectedly, while taking a few snap, my digital camera read “Error. Unlock Disk”. Immediately, I thought that this was going to be a minor issue with my photo card, but I was wrong. The error was huge and unrecoverable. After countless hours of fussing with my camera and consulting with peers and tech support, it was concluded that my pictures were forever lost. Just like that, a month of memories and travels captured on a single photo card disappeared and were never to be seen again. Though devastated by my loss, my misfortune taught me an important life lesson. Always, ALWAYS back up your photos.

This is an especially important tip to remember with the holiday season quickly approaching. Many of us will soon be taking countless snap shots to capture the memories of the season spent with family and friends. Because of the convenience digital cameras offers us (allowing us to take endless photos and immediately view the pictures after being taken) most of us will never get around to actually getting those pictures printed or even downloaded onto our computers in a timely fashion. This is a habit that needs to be broken.

If you are one those people who would answer, “family photos”, as being one of the top five things that you would save from a fire, it is important to realize that natural disaster is not the only type of disaster that could hit your photos. Technical disaster is the tragedy that could potentially hit any one of in this fast paced digital era. Photo cards mysteriously delete pictures, computers crash, a variety of scenarios can occur that could potentially erase every one of your priceless photos. For this reason, it is important to commit to actually taking a few minutes to download your pictures onto your computer and even take it one step further. With as little effort as a few click of the mouse you can save additional copies of your photos onto external hard drives, USB flash drives, or even CD’s and DVD’s.

How to Switch from a PC to Mac

So you finally decided to do it. Make the big plunge and take the advice of those obnoxiously trendy commercials. Smart move. Macs are actually fabulous computers that work very well. They’re not perfect (and nothing is), but they are very well designed from their hardware all the way up to their OSX operating system. The jump from PC to Mac can be daunting, though not as much as one may think. With a few tips, the jump from PC to Mac can be a lot less of a hassle.

Right about here is where you probably expect me to start listing tips and tricks, and we’ll get to that, but first I’m going to tell you something I wish someone had told me when I made the switch. There  are a TON of “How to Switch from PC to Apple” articles out there. But none of them tell you this, and it’s simple...

“Don’t listen to anything the Apple fanatics say.” Tell them to put a sock in it. You know who I’m talking about. It’s all those Apple users out there shouting, “It’s so Easy!” and “It just works!”

Forgive the following metaphor, but it really applies. Imagine a garage with a vintage Corvette and a brand new Honda Accord. The Corvette is your PC. It’s powerful as heck, it’s fun, and you’re really able to get in there and tinker with it. The Honda Accord is your Mac. You just get in and you drive. Sure you may need to take it in for servicing now and then just like the Corvette, but all in all, the AC is cold, it gets decent mileage and for day to day purposes the Honda Accord is just going to do its thing. If you’ve been driving your beloved Corvette your whole life, you might be surprised by how relaxed you are once you get into the Honda Accord and not have to think about it. Okay, with all that out of the way, let’s get into a few tips that’ll help get you started. Before you even turn your Mac on, you’ll probably notice a few obvious differences. Fear not, they can all be explained.

The Command Button – Down by your spacebar you’ll see a button with what looks like a mutated four-leaf clover on it. Beside the “clover” there’s also an apple. That is your command button. It functions much the same way the ctrl button functions in windows. Copy is “command + c” Paste is “command + v”.

Little history lesson, Windows copied this from Mac, not the other way around.

The Delete Button – This is actually the backspace key. If you’re on a keyboard that only has that button for removing text, the way to forward-delete is to hold down the “fn” button while you push delete.

Right Clicking – Aw, that pesky one button mouse. Ironically, it’s quite confusing compared to the six button mouse I have on my PC. How does one “right click” with a one button mouse? Easy. Hold down “ctrl” on your keyboard when you click. For touch/track pads, holding ctrl down works too, but there is a better way. In system preferences go to your keyboard and mouse settings. Click on the “trackpad” tab. In there you’ll see an option that makes it so when you have two fingers on your touch pad the one button counts as a “right click”. You can also make it so dragging two fingers on your touch pad scrolls like a wheel mouse.

How to Eject CD’s – The eject button for your CD drive is probably on your keyboard in the top right corner. You can also eject CD’s by right clicking” their icon on the desktop and selecting “eject”. Once you get your Mac turned on you’ll notice even more differences. Once again, these can all be explained.

Task Bar – On the Mac, this is the “Dock” at the bottom of the screen. It works differently though. Whereas the Windows taskbar only displays what programs are currently running, the dock shows this as well as the icons for your most popular programs. Any program currently running will have a symbol beneath it (either a black triangle or a white dot).

Start Button – Macs don’t have one. Instead, double-click on the hard drive icon. It’s probably labeled, “Macintosh”. This is your “finder window”. Once it’s opened, double click on “Applications”. That’s where all of your programs are. You can drag the ones you use the most down to your “dock”. You’ll also notice there’s a link to the finder window on your “dock” too.

Menu Bars – In Windows, every window has it’s own menu bar. On a Mac, there is only one menu bar. located at the top of the screen and it changes depending upon what program you’re currently using.

Searching – Click on the magnifying glass at the top right-hand corner of your screen. That is “Spotlight”, the Mac’s search function.

Control Panel – Click on the Apple at the top left-hand corner and click on “System Preferrences”.

Device Manager/Properties – Click on the Apple at the top left-hand corner and click on “About this Mac”.

Close, Minimize, & Zoom – Those are the red, yellow, green buttons respectively at the top left-hand corner of each window. Macs do not have a “maximize” button. The zoom button instead resizes the window to what the computer feels is best for that program.

Quitting Programs – Note that the red button in the top left-hand corner of each window “closes” the program, but it does not “quit” it. The program will keep running in the background. Fight the urge to be annoyed by this. Macs are A LOT less cluttered with multiple programs running than Windows based PC’s. If you have enough RAM you won’t notice any slowdown. And even better, programs will “open” much faster (instantly) since they’re already technically running.

Switching Programs – Keyboard shortcut users can push “command + tab” which acts like “alt + tab” in Windows, but there’s a better way. Go into system preferences. Click on “expose”. Make sure the expose tab is selected. You’ll see a picture of your Mac’s screen. Select one of the corners of the picture and set it to “all windows”. Now, whenever you bury your mouse cursor into that corner, your screen will display all programs currently running. Click on the one you want.

Spellcheck – Just a little heads up. Spelling and Grammar check are built into Apple’s operating system. This means that anything you type anywhere on the machine will be underlined if it’s misspelled. IM’s, emails, you name it. Not just in your word processor.

Installing Apps – Some installations will emulate a CD or a “Drive” on your desktop. Double click on the “drive” and drag the icon of the program your want to install into your applications folder. That’s it. When you’re done “right click” on the emulated CD or “drive” and “eject” it.

So there you have it.

With those tips and tricks in tow, you should be good for a much easier switch from Windows to Mac. Once you're up and running be sure to checkout How to Switch Email from a PC to a Mac and How to Switch Pictures and Music from a PC to a Mac. One more tip... check out Bootcamp. It will let you install Windows on your Mac for any PC programs you can’t live without.

Have fun, and good luck!

How to Switch Email from PC to Mac

So you finally did it. Made the big move and jumped from PC to Mac. Only problem is you have switched computers and all of your stuff is still on your PC...  Including your beloved email: your saved forwards, the love letters you’re saving so you can impress your wife the next time you do something really bad, and let’s not forget the immortal argument you won against your film-geek friend that George Lucas did indeed steal your childhood. So how can you move it, make the switch, and get all of your emails over to your Mac? Let’s take a look.

Delete Them – Before we start, ask yourself, and be honest, do you really need yourold emails? Are they really THAT important? When was the last time you went back to an old email? For a lot of us the answer is never.  In fact the only reason a lot of us HAVE archived email is because we’re simply too lazy to delete any of it. If your email isn’t that important then save yourself the hassle and don’t bother transferring it. If you’re holding onto your old PC then you have an even better reason to not bother. If you need an old email you can just boot up your old PC and find it.

The Cloud – The cloud is your friend. What is the cloud? It’s a doofy marketing term. Here, I’ll explain. Back when computers were new, a large office would have only one central computer. The screens and keyboards you’d see on everyone’s desk were actually only terminals connecting into that central computer.  Files, programs, everything was stored on that central machine.  History goes in circles and it’s in the process of coming around again. This time though “the central machine” is the internet (“the cloud”) and your full fledge computers we have are the “terminals”. Why do I bring this up? If your email is stored in the cloud (ie, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) then you don’t have to ever bother moving your mail as it’s already available to you from any computer (including your phone) that has an internet connection. Apple’s own cloud program is known as MobileMe and can be found at: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/
Alright, with those twosuggestions out of the way, let’s move on to actually transferring your mail. There are a few popular methods.

IMAP – “Internet Message Access Protocol” Alright, so what the heck does that mean? Basically, IMAP mail accounts act as your own personal cloud.  Depending on your internet service provider, any of your email accounts/addresses could be changed to an IMAP account, which means your emails are now stored on your internet service providers server instead of your computer. Cloud email services like Gmail can also use IMAP, but I don’t want to confuse you. Too late? Oh well. Apple.com has a great article on transferring your files over with IMAP that you can find here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1534

AOL – If you have AOL then your best option is to set up your AOL software to store the AOL mail messages on AOL’s servers instead of your own PC.  Then it’s just a matter of downloading AOL’s software on your Mac (or just viewing it through a web browser).

Thunderbird – If you already use Thunderbird, great! If not, it can be used as a handy bridge between getting your emails off of Outlook and onto your Mac. Unfortunately for Mac users, Outlook doesn’t let you just export a file over to your Mac. With Thunderbird though, you CAN; thus all you need to do is export your Outlook files to Thunderbird, then over to your Mac. Mahalo has a great guide on how to do this; check out step 3: http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_convert_from_pc_to_mac

Flash Drive/Burned CD –There is a middle ground between deleting your emails and transferring them. In a lot of cases, you know all of your emails are safe to delete, yet you still have that little voice in the back of your head whispering that there might be something you forgot.  What I suggest then is using Thunderbird to create an export file, then saving that file on either flash drive or CD. Just in case.No matter how “easy” people claim changing computers may be, there’s still going to be a learning curve. With these tips in tow though, you might be able to keep the hassle down to a minimum.

How to Switch Pictures and Music from PC to Mac

So they finally
convinced you. All of those hippie Apple friends of yours finally convinced you to go out and buy a Mac. And they were right, because Macs aren’t just for hippies and teachers anymore. Macs are great computers and pretty soon you’ll be glad you have one.  For now though, you’ve just realized the first of your hurdles. Your new Mac might be cool, but all of your STUFF is still sitting over there on your PC. So how do you move it over, especially you photos and music? Read on.

There are third party software packages out there written specifically for moving files from a PC to a Mac. Some even come with a “special” USB cable for doing the job. If you want to go that route you’re more than welcome, but you’ll have more control over the process if you do it yourself. The choice is yours.How to move your pictures:

The Cloud – The cloud is your friend. And what the heck is the cloud? It’s a fancy way of referring to the fully self contained web applications on the internet. The cloud will likely not be of much help with your music collection (unless you acquired every single song you own from a particular site that allows you to fully restore your collection). What the cloud is good for is pictures. Popular sites like Flickr, Picasa, and SmugMug are great sites for storing your pictures. Why is this so great when it comes to changing computers? Because if all of your pictures are stored on one of these services then you don’t have to move them. Any machine with an internet connection can already view them. Apple’s own cloud program is known as MobileMe and can be found at: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/

Recordable Medium – At the end of the day, pictures are ridiculously easy to move. They don’t have anti-piracy technology and any images a Windows machine can read, a Mac machine can read as well. What does this mean? It means all you have to do is copy your files onto some sort of recordable medium such as a flash drive, external hard drive, or burnable CD/DVD. Then, just plug that recordable medium file into your Mac and copy the files over to your Mac’s “Pictures” folder

Direct Transfer – If you want to get fancy you can also network your PC and Mac together then copy the files directly over.How to move your music:

Non-DRM Music –In other words, MP3’s (and any other music file that has no form of anti-piracy technology). Files like these are as easy to move as pictures, so the “recordable medium” and “direct transfer” suggestions above will apply here as well. There are, however, two heads up. Mac’s might need you to install a third party player for certain music files such as Ogg Vorbis.  Second, iTunes, which is the Mac’s default music player can play mp3’s without a problem. What it will do by default though is copy the MP3’s you play into it’s own library.  This is fine. It’s literally just copying your MP3 into a different directory on the machine. Once you’ve moved all of your MP3’s over, I would in fact recommend loading them all into iTunes so it can copy them, then deleting the original files you moved over.

Zune – You’repretty much out of luck. Microsoft currently doesn’t support Zune software for the Mac, unlike Apple which supports iTunes for Windows. The one work around is this. Burn your songs to a CD then rip that CD on your Mac. You will lose audio quality doing this, but currently it’s the only real solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

iTunes – You can manually move your files over the way you would your pictures and MP3’s. The only difference is you’ll have to authorize your computer to play your iTunes purchased songs. Look up at iTunes menu and click “Advanced”, the authorization tool should be there. Getting back to moving the files though, for a lot of us our iTunes collections consist of multiple playlists and ratings we don’t want to lose. If that’s the case then I recommend checking out Lifehacker.com’s guide to moving your iTunes library.

It can be found here:
http://lifehacker.com/software/itunes/geek-to-live--how-to-move-an-itunes-library-from-a-pc-to-mac-and-back-242468.php

Until you get your stuff moved over, a new computer can feel like a house without any furniture. Hopefully the tips above will help you with “moving in”. Good luck!

The History of the Computer: First PC's and the Future Computer Timeline

As time marches on, it becomes more and more difficult to recall our world before the invention of the computer. For those who tire over answering an infinite number of daily emails, imagining this world may seem like a pleasant dream. But for the rest of modern society, this is probably not something we'd like to imagine. Whether you are a technophile, or someone who simply requires a computer for your day-to-day activities, you've probably wondered at least once who is responsible for the modern computer.

The History of the Computer

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First, a necessary digression: Some will argue that the first computer was invented 5000 years ago when the Sumerians developed the abacus. But for those of you who can’t remember World History 101, the abacus was a man-made wooden calculating tool that allowed the user to formulate and keep track of easy math problems. The simple fact is that a distinction has now been drawn between these calculators and modern computers.

The First Electronic Computer

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So, let's move forward to the commonly accepted definition of the modern digital computer. A Nazi by the name of Konrad Zuse developed the first freely programmable computer. Zuse’s computer required three basic elements: a control, a memory, and a calculator for the arithmetic he needed to process. Zuse continued to build upon his work over the years by developing the first algorithmic programming language, and in 1941 he completed the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer. Following this progress, Zuse was unable to convince the Nazi government to support his work for a computer based on electronic valves because the cost to create such a machine would have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Nazi’s thought they were close to winning the war and felt no need to support further research.

Remarkably, the 1960’s were a decade known for a lot more than the invention of the microchip. However, this invention is arguably one of the most important in the history of modern man. At the time, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce (founder of Intel) were not partners, they actually didn’t even know each other, but as fate would have it they both invented almost identical integrated circuits (a.k.a. microchip) at nearly the same time. To put it simply, these integrated circuits allowed computers to run more with fewer parts. Most notably, it was the microchip that enabled man to fly into space and to land on the moon. Regardless of running more with less, in the days of vacuum tubes and the early microchip, a computer with less than a megabyte of memory would fill up 1/4 of a soccer field, and cost millions of dollars to produce. And it wasn’t until the 1970’s when the microchip allowed a computer to fit on the top of a desk instead of filling the entire house.

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Another important year for the computer was 1962. This was the year known for the Cuban Missile Crisis, but also the year the first computer game was invented. “Spacewar” was invented by a team of geeks from MIT, and was led by a young computer programmer by the name of Steve Russell. It took the team 200 hours to write the first version of Spacewar. What was significant about the game was that the operating system was the first to allow multiple users to share one computer simultaneously. But it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the computer moved outside of the expensive university and into the living room.

The First Personal Computer

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For the controversial price of $666.66 a piece, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built by hand the first 50 personal computers in 1976 (answers.com). It has now been over thirty years since that introduction of the first personal computers to the world market in 1977. And since their introduction --The Commodore PET, Apple II, and TRS-80-- the world has been forever changed. This is perhaps most notable in that, during the first three decades of availability of consumer computers, they have dramatically changed the way billions of people now conduct their daily lives. Additionally, we have witnessed the growth of what is now a global, multi-billion dollar industry. The rate at which the technology has grown and the increased availability of products over the years has had a dramatic impact on the affordability and subsequent distribution of personal computers at the consumer level.

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Initially, one of these computers, along with a printer and programs, would cost the consumer in the range of $2000-$3000 dollars. That might not sound like much, but when adjusted for inflation in 2008, that would be like spending $7,000 to $10,000 for a computer with four to 16 kb of RAM. Considering that the average family income in 1977 was in between $13,000 and $16,000, this was not a regular household item obviously. Therefore, if you were to purchase one of these machines in the year it was released, you would be spending more for a computer than the most popular new car at that time, the Ford Pinto, which sold for just under $2000.

Apple Makes Personal Computers Affordable

Skip ahead a couple of years. It’s 1984, and millions of Americans are watching the Raiders pummel the Redskins in Super Bowl XXIII. When during a commercial break in the third quarter, a one-minute ad is aired for Apple’s new personal computer. This Orwell-inspired advertisement helps Apple bolster sales for its $2500 Macintosh Computer to 50,000 units sold within the first two months on the market. This feat had never before been accomplished in the personal computing industry, and marked a turning point in the market for such devices. Regardless of the turning point in the market for Apple, the average computer cost was still too high for the average consumer. And personal computers were only in 7.9% of American Households, of which, the majority were households that made over $50,000. Adjusted for inflation in 2008, that would be households that made over $105,000 a year.

The First PC

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Within a matter of a decade, the percentage of households that owned personal computers would more than quadruple to 36.6%, thanks in large part to one computer company - Dell. Michael Dell began his company, while still in college in the mid-eighties, and by 1997 Dell, Inc. had become the largest seller of PCs and successfully shipped its 10 millionth system. Dell sought to build its business model around the practice of individually assembling each personal computer. Not only did this model set Dell apart from the competition, but so did the company’s consumer-oriented focus which allowed for customers to customize their computers during the ordering process. By the mid-nineties, competition within the industry had driven prices to a more affordable $1000 to $2000, and, as a result, more and more people from diverse backgrounds were able to purchase personal computers.

Fast-forward to today where technology has become affordable enough for 62% of the U.S. population to own computers. Therefore, within a twenty-year time frame, the availability of personal computers has increased to the point that nearly 190 million people in the U.S. now reap the technological benefits of computing. That means around 170 million people who couldn’t afford a personal computer twenty years ago now had the means to purchase one on their own. Anyone can look through a catalog in the Sunday newspaper and find PCs that are selling for as little as $300. Adjust that for the rate of inflation and that would be like spending $85 for a PC in 1977. Do the numbers and that comes out to being 95% less than the going rate when personal computing first emerged on the market, with exponentially greater computing power on top of that.

The Future Timeline of the Computer

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Why is this important? Everyone knows that technology is more expensive when it first comes out. When we compare the availability and cost of personal computers in 1977 to 2008, we can begin to see how much cheaper technology is available for today. And when we begin to understand this, revolutionary ideas like the $100 laptop come about.

Taking that even one step further, a team of MIT students have set out to make a very simple computer that would retail for just $12. It is loosely based on the old Apple II, with Nintendo-like controls to perform basic functions. It’s these ideas that begin to shape our world and make it a better place. This effort is to make technology available for all people, from all backgrounds, around the world. Because of the advances in the affordability of technology, it is now becoming a reality, even in the Third World. These revolutionary innovators who consistently push the envelope of what is thought to be possible, will continue to transform the way we go about our daily lives, and open new realms of opportunity across the globe.