Ed's Tech Tips

Japan is a nation of readers. Many workers who commute via bullet trains, buses and subways spend the travel time reading and it is not all light reading. A new translation of Dostoevsky's classic The Brothers Karamazov, released in July, has surprised its publisher by selling more than 300,000 copies already. However, a 142 page hardback book about a high-school romance written by a 21 year old first novelist has caused the bigger fuss. It has sold 400,000 copies and was composed on a cell phone.

"I typed it all on my mobile phone," Rin explains matter-of-factly over the same device. "I started writing novels on my mobile when I was in junior high school and I got really quick with my thumbs, so after a while it didn't take so long. I never planned to be a novelist, if that's what you'd call me, so I'm still quite shocked at how successful it's turned out."

So successful that one volume of her book, which began its life in a series of instalments uploaded to an internet site and sent out to the phones of thousands of young subscribers, has sold more than 420,000 copies since it was converted into hardcopy format in January.

Rin is a nursery school teacher from Kokura, in Japan's south and is not the only one writing a best selling novel on the commute to and from work. Book sales last year showed that five of the top ten sellers, in Japan, were mobile phone novels. Furthermore, the top three were all written by first-time novelists on this cellular format. Koizora (Love Sky) by Mika has sold more than 1.2 million copies since being released in book format last October.

Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Since Japan is usually ahead of the U.S. in terms of technology trends, cell phone novels may loom on the horizon for young American readers.  

Time Warner, the parent company of HBO,  announced that the premium cable company that produces hit iconic shows, such as, The Sopranos, Curb Your Ethusiasm and Deadwood is finally going to make it's shows available online for free. I was excited when I first heard the news. I thought I would finally be able to watch the rest of Deadwood (an awesome show if you like westerns) and the last season of The Sopranos. Unfortunately, there are a few obstacles in my way which quickly dimmed my excitement:

First, they are going to test the service in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The timetable for roll out to the rest of the nation has not yet been announced. You would think that steaming video technology had reached a point that a limited geographical test was not required. Look at all of the major networks, Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. However, HBO is doing things a little differently than anyone else. 

Although they say the service is "free", that's not exactly the case. You need to already be a subscriber to HBO and you can only access the broadband service through your local cable provider. For instance, if you use Comcast for your cable television service and are a HBO subscriber and use Comcast as your Internet service provider then you will be able to get HBO online. However, if you use another Internet service provider, such, as Verizon DSL you are out of luck. 

If that was not bad enough, HBO Broadband (the name of the new service) only works on Windows computers. Netflix is guilty of the same blunder. Come on guys, can't you figure out a way to make these videos available for Mac users, too?!? 

HBO should sell it's shows on iTunes. That way they would be available to everyone (Windows and Mac users, as well as, Linux users via Wine or Codeweavers CrossOver) and they could make a ton of money. I am not one to usually buy television shows, but I might make the exception for HBO's shows because they are really that good and I want to be able to watch them when I want to. 

Do you get tangled up in your headphone cable or pull your computer off the desk because you forgot that you are connected to it with your headphones? Some of my co-workers do and asked me about wireless headphones or headsets for use with Skype and music or streaming web audio.

Wireless headphones have until recently costs over a hundred dollars, whereas, a USB wired headset from Logitech costs $30. Mono Bluetooth headsets sold for use with cellphones might work, but they are mono and not so suitable for music.

Fortunately, Staples (which I cannot find now) was offering the Jabra BT620s Bluetooth stereo headset for $30. You can get it for $38 on Amazon. These headphones had cost over twice as much at $78 or so. Motorola sells comparable headphones for $99.

I ordered the Jabra headset and have tested it out with my MacBook. It was fairly easy to pair with the headset. It took a couple attempt, but once it was connected it worked very well. 

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The Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly is the printed magazine published four times a year by the Alumnae Association.  It has been offered online in PDF format for the past three years. I had the idea that it would be more interesting to offer the content of the magazine in a more ineractive format, such as a blog where readers could easily share their comments on each article and additional content that either was not included in the print version or could not be included, such as, video and audio. Emily, the editor, refers to it as a blogazine (blog+magazine). It is now in it's final format.

The blogazine is being kicked off formerly with the Winter 2008 issue. The print version is being mailed on January 25th, while the blog has been quietly online for the past couple months as we have uploaded the past three issues.

Some interesting features have been added:

• Audio versions of each article created via Talkr. Just click the link at the top of each article to have it read to you.
• LibraryThing book links to Amazon in the left hand column. Just click a cover to be taken directly to Amazon where you can purchase the book.
• Sociable bookmark links, share an article in del.ico.us, NewsVine, etc.
• Comments are secured with the Re-Captcha  anti-spam  tool.
• All images are viewable in the photo albums within a cool slideshow photo overlay.
• The full text of all articles are indexed and searchable.
• Where applicable additional photos or videos are been added.
• The blog can be subscribed to with a number of RSS news feeds.
• 100% CSS cross browser compatible layout.

If I must say so myself I am pretty proud of the blog and hope alumnae will be happy with, too. Thanks to J for the Flash masthead and input on the template and for Emily who has fully embraced the idea. Let's hope it takes off with others.

 

 

I was turned on to audiobooks by Leo Laporte who is a technology personality that hosts a variety of podcasts on his TWIT Network (TWIT stands for This Week In Technology). I listen to his weekly TWIT and Mac Break Weekly shows which are (or were) sponsored by Audible.com. To spotlight Audible, halfway through each show he gives them a plug and recommends an audiobook along with each of his co-hosts.

I was also inspired by my co-worker Emily Weir who started a new blog reviewing movies. I am listening to an audiobook that is a movie and I thought it deserved to be reviewed, because it is better than the movie. I am talking about A Scanner Darkly written by Philip K. Dick and read by Paul Giamatti of Sideways fame.

Dick died in 1982, but his fame continues to grow especially by his works that were adapted into film, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, Paycheck, Screamers and Minority Report. A Scanner Darkly stars Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey, Jr. It was created using rotoscoping. It is animation created overtop actual film footage. You have probably seen the effect used most recently in several Charles Schwab commercials. I've included a trailer from the movie below, but this is not a review of the movie but of the book.

I am listening to the book because I watched the movie and while I enjoyed the movie I felt I was missing something, the story felt incomplete. I often try to read a book before I see the movie because I like to compare the two and I do not want the ending of the book spoiled by the movie. Unfortunately, some movies deviate from the books upon which they are based and the results are usually less than satisfying. What were they thinking when they wrote the screen play for the Da Vinci Code?!? The book's ending was so much better. 

With A Scanner Darkly, the book has the advantage of being 9.5 hours long while the movie is only 100 minutes long. I agree 100% with Publishers Weekly review of the audio book:

This dark but devilishly entertaining audio—read by the terrific Giamatti (American Splendor, Sideways)—offers Dick fans the complete book...Giamatti is an inspired choice, managing to capture both the touching charm and the irritating obsessiveness of Dick's leading characters in a slightly futuristic version of Los Angeles: a drug addict named Bob and a narcotics cop called Fred—who might just be the same person, especially since they're both addicted to a drug called Substance D, which gradually splits the user's brain into two warring entities. Dick's book is not for the squeamish or those offended by strong language, but he and Giamatti make the degradation and despair of addiction poignant and often hilarious.

Giamatti does a great job of reading this story which tackles the drug culture, paranoia, self identity, addiction and betrayal. It is a rather complex story to capture on film, but reveals itself very well in written or audio form. 

In this instance I would recommend seeing the movie first before reading or listening to the book. It is very well cast and helps to visualize the various characters and the technology used in the not too far distant futuristic society (it was the 90's for Dick who wrote it in th early 70's).

 

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Taser International introduced a new line of compact consumer models available in a variety of colors including metalic pink and leopard skin print. Here is an overview from the Taser web site:

The TASER C2 is our newest product designed for personal protection. Utilizing the same technology as our proven law enforcement models, the C2 has incredible take down power.

The TASER C2 is a self-defense electronic control device. Electronic Control Devices (ECDs) use propelled wires or direct contact to conduct energy to affect the sensory and motor functions of the nervous system. The TASER C2 uses a replaceable cartridge, containing compressed nitrogen, to deploy two small probes that are attached to the TASER C2 by insulated conductive wires with a maximum length of 15 feet (4.5 meters). The TASER C2 transmits electrical pulses along the wires and into the body affecting the sensory and motor functions of the peripheral nervous system. The energy can penetrate up to two cumulative inches of clothing.

To make it easier to carry your new Taser there is a 1 GB MP3 player combo holster:

 

The leopard print model costs $380, while the solid color ones cost $350 each. The MP3 holster cost $80, while a standard holster costs $25. They are available in  matching colors. 

TASER devices are not considered firearms by the US Government. They can be legally carried (concealed or open) without permit required in 43 states. Prohibited citizen use in DC, HI, MA, MI, NJ, NY, RI, WI, certain cities and counties. CT and IL are legal with restrictions. So parents should not be buying them for their daughters while students on campus, but they might make a suitable graduation gift. I have mixed feelings about the devices. They are safer than a gun, but would it be as effective as a self defense course? Would it give a false sense of security? Is it sad that some people feel the need to contemplate having to carry such a device with them? It raises some interesting questions, but at least now you can defend yourself in high tech style.

 

Apple briefly stole the spotlight from CES (the international Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas) again this year, although not to the extent it did last year by announcing the iPhone. This time around the announcement was  about an update to the Mac Pro model which now features as standard equipment dual Intel Xeon quad core processors which adds up to 8  CPU cores.  This is a whopping  amount of power for a desktop tower computer. However, it is a large tower and you would need a large desktop. It is probably more suitable for the floor. Dual quad core processors have so far been regulated to servers for Windows PC's.

In addition to the increased CPU power you can now slide up to 4 terabytes of storage in four drive bays. There is also an option for the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of graphics memory for an additional $2,850 - slightly more than the recommended configuration of the Mac Pro. 

This is a machine designed to do some heavy computational lifting including high definition video rendering and encoding and is overkill for most folks.  

At the same time Apple updated the Xserve with the same dual quad core cpu's which is targeted to small and medium businesses, however for the small businesses of under 10 people in a office the new Xserve would be  overkill unless your small business involves decoding DNA, video broadcasting, digital animation or similar tasks. Many small business need a server than can store office documents, connect to a printer and maybe host a web site and act as a mail server.

So, instead of the Xserve or Mac Pro I suggest you consider the Mac Mini as a possible server. You'll have to add an external firewire drive or two, but over-wise it could handle the job and you would not even need to install server version of Mac OS X which cost $499 for the 10 user license. The standard version of Mac OS X can easily handle many of your basic server needs.

The Mini consumes very little of everything: space, power and the knowledge needed to run it. Would a Mac mini be reliable enough? It does not have redundant power supplies or hardware RAID, but then again it costs much less, so much less that you could by two Mac Minis, one as a back up of the other - a Mac Mini cluster. Some web hosting companies are offering co-location services using Mac Mini's, such as, Macminicolo which would attest to it's reliability. There are instructions for setting up your Mac Mini as a web/mail server. Another blog, Nerd Vittles, boast 50 projects centered around the Mac Mini. 

Here is a nice example of Mac Mini server setup on the top shelf of a closet in a home office:

 

 

For the external firewire drives I would consider the models from Newertech which are the same dimensions as the Mac Mini and feature additional Firewire and USB ports for daisy chaining additional drives or connecting other accessories.

 

 

 

I say "almost free" because as the old adage goes "time is money" and spending a little cash up front can save you a lot of time, at least in the case of converting audiobook CDs to a format that works on an iPod. As for the "free" audiobooks CDs I am talking about the ones you can borrow from your local library. There are other ways to borrow audiobooks on CD, such as Kitabe.com and SimplyAudiobooks.com, services that are similar to Netflix, but for audiobooks, however, they are not entirely free.

A note for the benefit of RIAA lawyers, and those looking to avoid same: These instructions will allow you to copy borrowed audio books from CD to your iPod, so you can listen to books you’ve checked out from the public library. That’s a fair use of the copying capability that is built into iTunes. When you’ve listened to the book, delete it. Keeping the book, or sharing it with others, would be illegal.

You may be asking yourself, "Can't I just import an audiobook CD just like a music CD?" The short answer is yes you could, but iTunes is optimized for importing music CDs and not audiobooks. The audio book CDs will be treated like music tracks and not like chapters in a book. iTunes and iPod treat audiobooks differently from other audio files in these ways:

• Audiobooks are automatically bookmarked: if you stop an audiobook in the middle and play something else, then go back to the audiobook, it will start playing where you left off — even after resynchronizing your iPod.
• There’s a special Audiobooks entry in the main menu.
• You can play audiobooks faster or slower than normal speed.
• Audiobooks can have chapter stops within them.
• Audiobooks are automatically skipped during shuffle.

Another advantage is that audiobooks can encoded at a lower bit rate because the spoken voice has a narrower range. Most music files are encoded at 128 kbps or greater. Audio books can be encoded at 32-64 kbps. The six CD set of State of Fear by Michael Crichton was reduced to a 192 MB audiobook file and sounded fine. So, as you see it is beneficial to treat audiobooks differently than audio CDs.

Now when you purchase audiobooks from iTunes or Audible.com you get all of these benefits, but I was talking about almost "free" audiobooks.  

You can import audio CDs without special software, but it is a tedious multi-step process which a couple web sites have painstakingly detailed. See them here and here. However, this takes a lot of time and time is something many us of find in short supply. Sometimes I barely have time to change the CDs in and out of the computer, much less follow 12 additional steps.

Fortunately, there is a simple inexpensive effective software solution. Take a look at Audiobook Builder, a universal Mac OS X application that takes the hassle out of converting audiobook CDs or MP3 files that do not fit the iTunes audiobook format. Just type the title, author and find a cover image from Amazon or Google. Then insert the CDs one by one and let the program import the CDs. Then specify if you want to join or separate the chapter tracks. Then the book is transferred to iTunes ready to be sent to your iPod. 

The software only costs $9.95 for a single license and $14.95 for a family license. It works as advertised. I successfully imported the Michael Chrichton book from CD's. That is over six hours of audio. I also converted A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, a 9 hour audio book that I had downloaded from the web in MP3 format. I could put numerous audio books on my little 2 GB iPod Nano.

So if you like audiobooks, check out the Audiobook Builder. The iPod is a great audiobook reader just as it is a great music player. Auidobooks are a great way to enjoy a book while doing other things, such as driving, walking, doing dishes or other mundane tasks. It really helps to pass the time. I just finished listening to my first full audiobook, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins which I highly recommend. It goes a long way in explaining how America has come to find itself in it's current negative global economic and political circumstances. 

 

 

 

I would like to welcome a new blog to Mount Blog called Film Forum: Words About Pictures by our very own Emily Weir who is the editor of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. How do you like the masthead? Emily found the image and I added the text and inserted it into the blog template. As you may have guessed, the blog is going to consist of movie reviews written by Emily which she used to do for a newspaper. It was not too long ago that Emily asked me what a blog was and why would you want one or something along those lines. Now she has her own blog and the Alumnae Quarterly magazine will soon be available in in blog format. She has her top ten movie list of 2007 posted online. I hope to see her reviews coming up soon because I have only seen three of the movies she has listed: Micheal Clayton, Children of Men and Sicko. All of which I recommend you see.

My mom recently asked me if I had an old copy of Microsoft Office she could put on her newer computer. I do, but it is very old, remember Office 95.  So I told that there were many free  Microsoft Office replacements available in either downloadable software or as an online service. I sent her an email with the following and thought I would share it with you with some additional information:

Most of these applications offer full compatibility or at leaset compatibility up to version 2003. Some items like macros may not translate, but the all ofthe data in the files should.

OpenOffice: a well supported open source extensive office suite. There are versions for Windows, Mac and Linux, however Mac users may want to explore NeoOffice which is built on OPenOffice, but offers better integration with the Aqua interface.

The Google Pack: Google bundles a lot of cool free software together (check out Google Earth) and automatically keeps it up to date. It includes the commercial version of OpenOffice called StarOffice. This is only available for Windows.

IBM Lotus Symphony: IBM has resurrected the old Lotus Symphony suite, but this time iti s built on top of OpenOffice. It uses a slighter older version but it has a nicer interface and features like Data Pilot in the spredsheet program which is similar to pivat tables in Excel. 

Google Docs: offers a free online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program that you can use with any internet connected computer. I personally use this for a variety of documents, including a monthly expense spreadsheet I share with my wife so that both of us can keep it up to date.

Here's a little video that explains the benefits of Google Docs:

 

 

 

ThinkFree - another free online alternative to MS Office. It is ad supported with an optional ad-free premium service. You can store up to 1 GB and open and export complex Office 2007 documents.

Zoho: This is an online service that lets you do just about anything, including word processing, web conferencing, project management, customer relationship managment, presentations, chatting , email and so on.  The interfaces are not always consistent and sometimes the performance is sluggish, but no other online site others the wide variety programs Zoho does. I use Zoho to maintain some online databases and project management applications I created with the Creator application which I can also embded in our intranet wiki. It is also a good tool to use to create complex interactive forms that you can embed into your web site and no one would know the difference. 

DabbleDB: This is not an office suite and it is not free, but if you need an onine database that you want to share with others then you need to check out this amazing web application. Check out this demo: