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Book Review: Don’t spend a dime
We all want to save money at the moment, and computers can certainly get expensive. Hardware is always going to cost money (although netbooks are surprisingly cheap) but there’s a huge amount of software that costs nothing to use.
Don’t spend a dime takes a look at all how you can save money by using free software rather than expensive alternatives. There is a helpful guide to choosing a computer but the prices are all in dollars so specific advice is a little limited here.
Currency doesn’t matter when the software is free. The first software to come under attention is the office suite with separate chapters for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It’s no surprise to see Open Office and Google Docs. Personally I prefer Zoho but Google Docs is still a good choice. Google is also recommended for email and calendars.
I was pleased to see that the advice doesn’t stop there and other important, but maybe less exciting, topics are also covered including anti virus protection and backup. There’s even an alternative to the ever popular (and expensive) World of Warcraft.
This is a very useful introduction to the world of free software, and includes enough help to get you started with all of the recommendations. A longer list of alternatives would be good, especially for the blogging section, although there’s nothing wrong with the suggestions on offer. This book is a good investment when compared to the cost of the software that you could otherwise pay for.
Title: Don’t Spend a Dime – The path to Low-Cost Computing
Author: James Floyd Kelly
Publisher: Apress
Price: £20
ISBN: 978-1-4302-1863-0
Book review: Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes
I'm a fast reader, but 10 minutes to read over 200 pages is out of my reach. Still, this is a worthwhile guide to Basecamp, on online project management tool that you don't need to be a qualified Project Manager to use.
It is comprehensive and covers all of the different parts of Basecamp and clearly states which features are restricted to the paid for accounts.
The other useful explanation covers the project limits on accounts and how archiving projects lets you get on with another project without deleting all the details from the last.
Some understanding of the basic project management concepts is helpful but the book does explain all of these as they are covered. An example would be the description of project Milestones.
Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes is everything I look for in a pocket guide. It's small enough to fit in a bag or notebook case but doesn't leave out and important information.
Title: Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes
Author: Patrice-Anne Rutledge
Publisher: Sams
Price: £15
ISBN: 0672331039
AP Tuner
Getting an instrument in tune is often one of hardest things for beginners to learn. AP Tuner is a helpful program for beginners and experiences players alike.
It detects the note being played and shows how in tune it is. I’ve used it both with the microphone built into laptops or an instrument plugged directly into a device such as my Mobile Pre. The detection is fast and you can adjust how quickly it updates the needle.
The bar down the right-hand side of the window shows the instrument preset, in this case an ordinary six string guitar. There are other presets for a variety of other instruments including bass, violin, viola and cello. New presets can be created but the notes must be in pitch order, which is a minor irritation with instruments such as the ukulele.
Other tools include a harmonics graph and a basic recording facility.
AP Tuner is shareware, so although you can use it at no charge, the developer does ask that you pay for it. The cost is US$35, which seems a little expensive given that a dedicated electronic tuner can be bought for around £10 (the Qwik Tune QT11 from Dolphinmusic.co.uk for example) but it is certainly convenient.
Lindy XLR microphone to USB cable
The Lindy USB XLR Microphone cable may not have the EQ or pre-amp of my mixer, but it’s ideal for quick projects that only require a single mic, such as podcasts and screencasts.
Setup is laughably simple. Plug a microphone in one end (I used a Behringer Ultravoice XM8500) and plug the other end into a spare USB socket on the computer. Both Windows XP and Windows 7 on my test computers installed the drivers automatically and the microphone was ready to use. It should work with Macs as well.
The one limitation is that it cannot provide the phantom power (48v) required by some condenser microphones, though at this price it’s not an issue.
The sound quality was very good with little background noise.
The cable is 5 metres long and only costs £20, which should leave money left over to spend on a good microphone.
YouTube 4 You: Book review
YouTube. All you need to know is that links arrive in emails on a Friday afternoon with a hilarious video of someone falling over yes? Well, not quite. There’s a lot more to YouTube even if you only want to watch videos.
The book explains how to use the YouTube site with the various tools and other links that appear when watching a video. Signing up to YouTube is highly recommended, you can log in with a Google account if you already have one.
Once logged into YouTube it is then possible mark videos as favourites to share with other people and then to
One useful tip that was new to me was the QuickList feature. Video thumbnails have a small + symbol in the bottom left hand corner. Click on this to add the video to the Quicklist, which then appears as a link on the top row of the YouTube page. This list only lasts for that visit to YouTube so there’s no need to clutter the Favourites list with videos that might not be of any interest.
Creating content for YouTube is covered as well with tips on what software is available and the best settings to use to keep the best quality when the videos are converted by YouTube. Videos don’t have to look like they were made by a professional director; a webcam is quite acceptable for a video response.
Saving videos to watch offline is also explained, with some warnings that this can be a bit of a grey legal area. Still even big names like RealPlayer offer the ability to save YoutTuve videos although this particular program isn’t mentioned. Helpfully there are also links to programs that can convert videos from the flv format used by YouTube to something more suitable for mobile devices.
This is a good book if you want to get the most from YouTube. It’s reasonably priced and comprehensively covers what’s available from YouTube.
Title: YouTube 4 You
Author: Michael Miller
Publisher: Que
Price: £12
ISBN: 978-0-7897-3698-7
F-Secure Backup update clearly shows protected files
I reviewed F-Secure Online backup about a month ago (read it here) and found it to be both effective and unobtrusive. An update was installed that has had quite a dramatic effect on my Desktop as you can see on the right.
A coloured dot has appeared on most of the icons indicating whether or not the file has been backed up. I actually think this is quite a good idea because it can be hard to know whether files are protected when the backup software works quietly in the background.
Flight Sim X addon Commuter Xpress
The problem with non combat flight simulators is that it can be hard to maintain a sense of challenge and progression. Commuter Xpress 2 is a solution to this problem with a variety of airline commuter routes and the aircraft that serve them.
Unlike many Flight Simulator add-ons it adds more than mew aircraft. Commuter Xpress 2 has a small program that you start first instead of Flight Simulator. This has a series of drop down menus for choosing the airline, route and the aircraft to fly. A summary of the flight plan appears on the right. Clicking Fly Now starts Flight Simulator with the flight plan loaded and the aircraft ready at the departure airport. Given the possible combinations, it is a much better idea than using missions in Flight Simulator.
There are six aircraft on offer in Commuter Xpress 2: Bombardier CRJ-900, DeHavilland DHC-8-200 “Dash 8”, Dornier 328 Prop, Dornier 328 Jet, Embrarer ERJ-190 and the Saab 340B. With a mix of propeller and jet powered aircraft there should be enough to keep the most enthusiastic flight sim fan entertained for some time.
All of the aircraft are very well modelled with moving parts and the correct aircraft liveries, but most of the time playing the game is spent inside the cockpit and these are equally well designed. The Dornier Jet is probably my favourite airliner in Commuter express, thanks to its well designed cockpit with multifunction displays (known in the trade as a glass cockpit). It helps playing on a high resolution monitor, our test machine has a 1400 x 1050 widescreen display. There is a huge amount of information on the display on the left in the screenshot, which replaces the Head Up Display (HUD) found in military simulations. The lack of this is often frustrating in civilian aircraft because the information is then split between several instruments.
Commuter Xpress 2 also takes full advantage of the Air Traffic Control feature in Flight Simulator. Keeping on top of all directions and changing between different controllers adds an extra level of challenge to the game.
One area where a little more help could be given is setting up the instrument landing system (ILS) although the ATC directions make sure the aircraft is lined up for the correct runway the ILS offers guidance for the final descent to avoid overshooting or falling short. All the information was found in the Flight Simulator help files. The Flight Simulator map also includes all the required information of which frequencies to use for which runways.
While we’d always prefer a paper manual, the PDF manual is well written with plenty of background information on the aircraft. There is also a separate panel guide for each aircraft. Better maps of the airports would be also helpful. Even thought the information is available in Flight Simulator it would be good to have a printable version.
As useful as the flight planner is, it doesn’t really offer that much more than Flight Simulator does in the Free Flight planner. Despite this the knowledge that these are real flight plans makes for a much more enjoyable experience, as well as the challenge of meeting the flight time. I also found it motivated me to learn more about the autopilot and landing systems. If you’re not into combat flying and need something new for Flight Simulator, this is an worthwhile purchase.
The official website along with the option to buy as an instant download for £19.24 instead of £25 for the boxed version can be found here.
Save money with the DIY Dynamic Templates software
Enthusiastic for technology as I am, there are times when a paper based solution is hard to beat. My Filofax is still used for all kinds of important notes that I don’t want left at the mercy of batteries. The trouble is that buying new paper can get expensive. So I’m very grateful to the people behind the D*I*Y Planner for the DIY Dynamic Templates utility.
You can use it to create new pages for a variety of Filofax sizes, or even A4 if you want to use it in a ring binder. It doesn’t explain the exact size needed for different organisers but you don’t have to get a ruler out as there is a quick summary on the download page.
It has several templates for calendars and some for note taking pages, including the Cornell system.
There’s one small but essential preparatory step, which is to install the Blue Highway font because this is fixed for the templates. It’s a shame you can’t choose your own font, but it’s a very minor thing compared to how useful this program is.
The other disadvantage is that it can’t print directly. Instead it creates the page as a PDF that can be printed from software like Adobe Reader.
The iPhone Book (Third Edition)
The popularity of the iPhone shows no sign of abating and, given that they work with Windows as well as Mac, here is a good guide to getting started with your iPhone. It covers the original iPhone, the 3G and 3GS, and the iPod Touch.
The book has a clear layout with one tip on each page with an accompanying photo. There are some markings to highlight buttons but the simple interface means this is rarely required. The chapter introductions don’t really offer that much but it’s not a big problem because the tips themselves are well written.
All the important aspects of getting started with an iPhone are covered from email to voicemail. It won’t take long to read but is a worthwhile investment. Given the cost of an iPhone, you’ll want to get the absolute most from it.
Title: The iPhone Book (Third Edition)
Authors: Scott Kelby, Terry White
Publisher: Peachpit Press
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 978-0-321-64723-8
Windows Live Sync
Windows Live Sync is a useful utility for keeping files up to date between different computers. It needs a Windows Live account to work (sign up with this link) but it costs nothing to sign up.
Go to https://sync.live.com and log in with your account details. Click on the Go get it link to download the installer and then run it.
Live Sync doesn’t start automatically after installation so you’ll have to find it in the Start Menu. It appears as a pair of blue arrows in the Notification Area. Right-click on it and then left-click on website to set up the account.
You can set up private and public folders in case you want to share files with friends. This screen also shows which computers in your network are only. I’ve got one as you can see with the green button.
There is an activity window (also opened via the Notification icon) so you can keep an eye on the progress of downloads.
Settings are fairly straightforward and most people will never need to even look at them. Transfers are encrypted and remote access is disabled by default. Both of which are good decisions.
There is one important limitation with Live Sync that nearly caused me some grief. It only syncs the files in the folders between your computers. There is no central area in the Windows Live to store files when the computers are off. Given that a Windows Live account comes with 25Gb of online storage space, this seems a wasted opportunity. And renders Live Sync useless if you need to sync files between computers that are never on at the same time.
There are various alternatives to Live Sync but they do require more work. A USB key is one option, but then you have to remember to keep it with you at all times. The Briefcase in Windows should keep files up to date.
Hosting the files on some web hosting space is another alternative, but then you still need software to move the files between the computer and host. Security could be a problem here as well.
Having said that, your files on Live Sync (and SkyDrive) are only safe as your password is complicated, so make it a good one.
