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ComputorEdge™ Online — 09/09/11

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A How-to for Reading E-Books

For some people free e-books are a new adventure. It helps to know how to get e-books and what's needed to read them.

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave
by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Copy Links to E-mails; Copying to DVD; Using Skype.

How to Download and Read Free E-Books
by Jack Dunning

What E-book Reading Device Makers Don't Want You to Know!

Jack explains that in most cases you are not limited to purchasing and downloading from only your e-reader's manufacturer. He shares how to add different free e-book formats to various devices.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm
by Wally Wang

The Versatility of the iPad

The Versatility of the iPad; Wasted Marketing; The Wonders of E-Books; Parallels 7 for Running Windows on a Mac; Scroll Reverser; Copying Apple (Except for the Salary); Turn a Flash Drive or iPod into a Bootable Device; Loading Programs Automatically.

Buck's Blue Sky Advice and Cheap Tricks
by Buck Fadness

Got Sound II: More on Connecting Your Computer to a Sound System.

Buck shares some output options for audio and video with PCs and laptops.

Linux Lessons: Tips and Tricks from Users
by ComputorEdge Staff

Calculating a Checksum

Tony shares a script that uses an algorithm to count the bits in a file.

Beyond Personal Computing
by Marilyn K. Martin

The Internet: Confusion, Consternation and Addiction

Marilyn shares some humorous anecdotes regarding Internet confusion.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers
by ComputorEdge Staff

Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.

"Special Characters," "CF Cards and Readers," "Complete Laptop Keyboard," "No More PCs"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.
Send mail to webmaster@computoredge.com with questions or comments about this Web site.
Copyright © 1997-2011 The Byte Buyer, Inc.

ComputorEdge Magazine, P.O. Box 83086, San Diego, CA 92138. (858) 484-1998

Click to Visit ComputorEdge™ Online on the Web!

Digital Dave

“Digital Dave answers your tech questions.”
by Digital Dave

Copy Links to E-mails; Copying to DVD; Using Skype.

Copy Links to E-mails

Dear Digital Dave,

I like sending links of Web pages by right-clicking on the link to copy it and pasting it along with the e-mail text. When I use Windows Explorer the recipient receives the blue link that leads to the Web page with a simple click. When I send it using Safari or Firefox, however, the link is not "clickable" and some people are not familiar with copying it and pasting it into a new browser page or tab address bar.

Is there something in the settings that can be changed? I can only use Explorer with Windows, but not on my new MacBook.

Thank you for the service you provide to the computer using community.

Lisa Marino
Cardiff by the Sea

Dear Lisa,

I tested this problem with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome (plus Safari on the Mac) and they all seemed to work fine—although the font changed depending upon which program was used. It is difficult to tell whether it's the browser, your e-mail program, or the recipient's e-mail program. There are definitely different interactions when you change the browser when doing a copy.

You should try sending the e-mails to yourself. If it works for you, then the problem must be in the e-mail program on the other end.

One thing you might try when copying a link is to select "Copy Link Location" in Firefox rather than merely "Copy." (In Internet Explorer it's called "Copy shortcut", in chrome "Copy link address.") Then the browser will make a point of copying the embedded URL rather than the entire HTML tag. That way when pasted into the e-mail in the appropriate spot the entire address will appear. This will make it easy for someone to highlight it and drag it into a browser address bar. (That's if the recipient e-mail program doesn't do a better job of turning an actual URL into a hot link.) It's possible that when you use "Copy" it's only saving the text without the link. (I also saw this vary depending upon the browser, although it was not consistent.)

I don't know of any specific settings which you can set to fix the problem. I checked all of the programs I used and the only setting I found that could affect the links was the "text only" mode in the recipient's e-mail program. If the recipient has his or her e-mail program set to "text only" then they would not get a hot link, regardless of how it was sent.

If you're using Web-based e-mail via your browser, then I would guess that there is a problem between the specific browser and the e-mail providers Web site. This could make sense since many sites are only compatible with Internet Explorer (or the inverse—only incompatible with Internet Explorer). In that case, use a computer based e-mail program such as Mozilla Thunderbird to access that account. (Thunderbird is free for both the PC and the Mac.) Most of today's e-mail clients can access Web-based solutions such as Google's Gmail.

Digital Dave

Copying to DVD

Dear Digital Dave,

How can I copy a file or pictures to a DVD from my computer with Windows XP? Also, how can I copy a DVD to another DVD?

I have a program to copy CDs. I tried copying a file from a DVD to paste to a blank DVD, it didn't work. I have done this on a CD and it worked.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Mary Tyer
Vista, CA

Dear Mary,

Before you can write to a blank DVD it needs to be prepared to accept the data files. The following link gives steps for using Windows XP features to burn DVDs. However, it seems that your program should do the job.

I suspect that there might be an incompatibility between your DVD writer and the discs that you're using. While most of today's DVD writers will support both DVD +R and DVD -R, the discs themselves are either plus (+) or minus (-). It is possible that the drive in your Windows XP computer only supports one format. If that is the case, then the DVD discs you use must be of the same format. Check to make sure that your drive will support the discs that you're using. (If your Windows XP PC is really old, then it is possible that you have a CD writer, but not a DVD writer.)

If that doesn't seem to be the problem, then you might try BurnOn. A free program with which I've had good success.

Digital Dave

Using Skype

Dear Digital Dave,

I am using Skype and like it very much. On my home page I was fooling around and added some mood messages that I cannot get rid of. Any suggestions? Skype says they cannot be removed. Does anyone else have this problem?

Marian
Aquebogue, New york

Dear Marian,

I may be missing something, but it looks like Skype => Profile => Edit => Edit Your Profile... will take you to the desired location. In the latest version I did not see the word "Mood", but the older mood message should appear the right of the picture location at the top (you will see "Add video or write a message here for your friends to see" when there is no message). You should be able to click in that area and delete the message, then click the check mark at the right.

It is possible that you're either using an older version of Skype or a paid version (which I don't have). If it is the former, then upgrade to the latest version. In the latter case, possibly another reader will have the answer.

I did find the following reference on the Web, but I couldn't correlate it with anything that I could see in Skype:

"Right click on the Mood Messages chat in Chat Drawer => Chat Notification Settings. Try checking the option 'Mark unread messages as read immediately.' "

There are some features which have been dropped in more recent versions such as public chats. I often find Skype quite confusing. Any help from others would be appreciated.

Digital Dave

How to Download and Read Free E-Books

“What E-book Reading Device Makers Don't Want You to Know!”
by Jack Dunning

Jack explains that in most cases you are not limited to purchasing and downloading from only your e-reader's manufacturer. He shares how to add different free e-book formats to various devices.

If you own an e-book reading device or have e-reading software on your computer, the e-book format is an excellent way to access digital books. The best e-readers are either the dedicated handheld e-book readers (Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, etc.) or tablet computers (iPad or an Android tablet). The e-reading devices are designed and geared toward you buying e-books directly from the device's manufacturer—as in the case of Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It is simple to add new books as long as you get them from e-reader's source. However, it is possible to add free e-books, such as issues of ComputorEdge and classics from Project Gutenberg, plus non-copyright protected e-books purchased from third-parties directly to your e-reading device, thus bypassing your primary account. It's important to know that in most cases you are not limited to purchasing and downloading from only your e-reader's manufacturer.

Tip: Even if you find classics available through your primary e-reader account (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.), they may not be free. It is worth the time to check out Project Gutenberg for older books. Many of the e-booksellers will charge a fee for some of these out-of-copyright digital volumes, while the e-books at Gutenberg are always free.

Tablet computers are also excellent e-book readers, although, since they are multipurpose devices, they depend upon the installed apps to read digital books. Most of the e-book reading apps for tablets are easy to use and comfortable. Plus, you can always get free e-reader apps for your device regardless of who your primary e-book source is (Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iTunes, etc). Yet, there are some tricks to adding e-books to your tablet. Number one is that unlike Kindle and Nook devices, you will need to install an e-reading app on your tablet before you can access e-books.

Protected E-books

This discussion of how to add e-books to your library only applies to e-book files without DRM (Digital Rights Management). If you purchase e-books with DRM protection, then you will be restricted in how you will be able to access those e-books. This is controlled by the bookseller (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iTunes, etc.) and you will need to check with them to see what is possible. Most free e-books do not include DRM which makes it possible to freely move them from one e-reading device to another.

Adding a Non-Amazon E-Books (MOBI) to Kindle

If you always get all your e-books from Amazon, then you won't need to worry about how to add an e-book from another source to your Kindle. However, on occasion you may want to include an e-book, such as ComputorEdge in your Kindle library for perusing while you are away from your computer. It is not a complicated procedure, but it is not quite as easy as downloading directly from Amazon to your Kindle. (ComputorEdge did look into providing the magazine via Amazon, but killed the idea as impractical. First, Amazon would charge the readers a small fee for the subscription, but more importantly, the required Amazon formatting would look so much worse than the current download version available directly from ComputorEdge that we decided not to pursue it. Plus, none of the links in the magazine would have been operational under Amazon rules.)

Important Kindle Note: The type of e-book which is compatible with the Amazon Kindle (and the Kindle programs on iPad, other tablets and computers) is MOBI. Amazon has settled on this mobile format, although now EPUB has become the standard for virtually every other e-reader. Therefore, if you're adding outside e-books to your Kindle, make sure that they are MOBI files (usually marked Kindle on download Web pages).

Once you have downloaded the file from a free e-book site (usually a click of the download link), the procedure for adding a MOBI e-book to Kindle requires two steps:

1. Plug the USB cable for your Kindle into a USB port on the computer where you downloaded the e-book.

2. Drag (or Copy, right-click and select Copy from the drop-down menu) the file from the download folder to the Documents folder for the Kindle. Kindle will appear as an additional device (drive) on your computer (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. When connected with the USB cable, the Kindle will appear as a separate device. All e-books are in the Documents folder.

When you disconnect the Kindle from the computer (on a Windows PC, right-click on Kindle and select "Eject" from the drop-down menu), the new e-book will appear in your library of e-books on the Kindle. Any conversion of the MOBI format required by the Kindle is done automatically.

Note: At this time, Kindle does not allow the direct downloading of e-books from third-party Web sites into the Kindle with the built-in Kindle Web browser.

Adding Free or Third-party E-books (EPUB) to Nook or Other Reading Devices

The technique for adding outside e-books (EPUB format) to Nook and other e-reading devices is very similar to the technique used with the Kindle. When the e-reader is connected to your computer via the USB port, it will appear as a separate device (drive). Select the drive and you should find the proper folder for loading your new e-book. Simply drag (or copy the e-book to that folder). When the e-reader is disconnected the e-book should be available. (This has not been tested on all devices. If you note something specific to your e-reader, please leave a comment for clarification.)

Adding Free or Third-party E-books (EPUB) to the iPad

The iPad is a special case, but needs attention since it is by far the most popular of all the tablet computers. While there are many e-reader apps for the iPad, there are only two that make it easy to add outside e-books. iBooks is the Apple iPad app which can be used for all your EPUB formatted e-books which you download from free non-copy-protected sources. The Kindle app will work with your Amazon account, plus it is the only app (that I've seen) which will allow the direct addition of those free e-books in the Amazon compatible MOBI format.

While there are a number of other e-reader apps available for the iPad (Nook, Google Books and others), they only seem to be able to access e-books which you have loaded with your associated account. There does not seem to be a way to add outside, free, or third-party non-copy-protected e-books directly to the respective iPad app.

The iBooks app and Kindle app must first be downloaded from iTunes and installed on your iPad before you can read EPUB (iBooks) and/or MOBI (Kindle) formatted e-books on your iPad. (If you have no reason to use the Kindle MOBI format, then you won't need the app on your iPad. However, everyone should download the free iBooks app from iTunes for their iPad or iPhone. It will read the print oriented PDF files, as well as, the common EPUB e-book format. iBooks is an excellent reader (see Figure 2) and will function with "enhanced" e-books which may include audio and/or video.)

Figure 2. The iBooks app on the iPad.

Once these apps are installed, the easiest way to load an e-book is to download it directly to the iPad from a Web e-book download link using the built-in Safari iPad Web browser. Figure 3 shows the EPUB and MOBI links for ComputorEdge E-books.

Figure 3. To download the e-book version of this magazine, click the appropriate link at the top of the Web page. If this is done from your iPad, and iBooks (EPUB) or the Kindle app (MOBI) is installed, the e-books should load directly into the correct library the iPad.

If you download an EPUB file, you will be asked if you would like to add it to iBooks (see Figure 3).

[I noticed in Wally's column this week that the e-book Web site he referenced would open the e-book source code rather than automatically download the file. This is a problem with the Web site or its link formatting and is not normal. You can get around this by right-clicking on the link and selecting the appropriate option for downloading the file—which will vary based upon the Web browser you're using. Wally gives instructions for saving the file on a Mac. Or, you can get around it by going to Project Gutenberg from where all those e-books appear to have been copied.]

Figure 4. Once iBooks is installed on your iPad, every time an EPUB e-book is downloaded from the Web this message will appear allowing it to be added directly to the iBooks library and then opened for reading.

After clicking Open in 'iBooks', the e-book will be added directly to the iBooks library, then load the app and open the e-book for reading. The procedure is the same for the Kindle app. Whenever a MOBI file is downloaded, you are given the opportunity to add it to the Kindle library (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Once the Kindle app is installed on the iPad, every time a MOBI e-book is downloaded from the Web this message will appear allowing it to be added directly to the Kindle library and then opened for reading.

Using Your Computer to Add E-books to Your iPad

The alternative method for adding free and third-party e-books to your iPad is through the iTunes program on your computer. After you have downloaded the e-book file to your computer, load iTunes and add it to your library. For EPUB e-books, select "Add File to Library..." from the iTunes File menu and browse for the EPUB file. The next time you sync your iPad with the computer, it will add the new e-book to the iBooks library on the iPad.

If you want to load a Kindle MOBI file into your installed iPad Kindle app, then there is a special capability in iTunes for the installed iPad Kindle app to import outside MOBI files. Open iTunes and connect your iPad to your computer with the USB cable. When the attached iPad appears in iTunes Devices, select it, then click "Apps" at the top of the device section. Scroll down to the File Sharing section and you will see the Kindle app (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. The Kindle app in iPad can import (and export) files with the File Sharing section of iTunes.

Select Kindle and click Add to browse and add new e-books to the Kindle library. Click Sync and the files will be loaded onto the iPad and into the Kindle library.

As far as I can determine, iBooks and the Kindle app are the only e-reader programs which will accept outside files directly into the iPad. If you are using Nook or another e-reader app, you may be limited to only those books that you get through your associated Nook (or other) account. You may be forced to use either iBooks of the Kindle app to read outside e-books on your iPad, although this does not seem to be a major inconvenience. (For example, you will be able to read all of your Barnes and Noble account books on your iPad with the Nook app, but you will not be able to add free e-books from Project Gutenberg to your iPad Nook app. You can still add those free e-books to the iBooks app.)

Adding E-books to Your Android Device

One of the most recommended e-reader apps for Android devices is the free FBReader. You can download e-books (EPUB) to FBReader directly from Project Gutenberg using your Android Web browser. I assume that it is also possible to sync files from your computer to your Android tablet, but I have not verified this since I don't own an Android tablet.

Reading E-books on Your Computer

Most of the software for reading e-books on desktop and laptop computers is not very good. Although iBooks is great on Apple's iPad, it's not available for the Mac. The best of the computer based e-readers are put out by the booksellers—Amazon's Kindle software, Barnes and Noble's Nook software, and others. Most of these applications will allow you to either directly add new e-books to the program's library with an "Add" button, or you can drag or copy the files directly into the associated folder.

Tip: At this time, I recommend Nook for PC and Nook for Mac for reading EPUB e-books on a computer. The interface is as clean and comfortable as any I've seen on a computer. Not only is it easy to add new e-books, but it's intuitive to use.

Note:

Since the Project Gutenberg e-books are also available in HTML, the standard Web language, you can download and read them directly on your computer with any Web browser.

Adding E-books (MOBI) to Kindle Software on the PC

The procedure for adding your free or third-party e-books to the Kindle software for the PC is almost the same as the technique use for the Kindle e-reader. (Kindle for Macis also similar.) The Folder for the Kindle e-books is called My Kindle Content, located in the My Documents folder (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. the Kindle PC software program locates e-books in My Kindle Content in the My Documents folder. Note that the Barnes and Noble folder is also located in the My Documents folder.

Adding E-books (EPUB) to Nook Software on the PC

With Nook for PC, e-books can either be added directly through the program or added to the associated folder—which shows up in Figure 6. After loading the program, select "my library" then "my stuff" from the left hand navigation menu. Click the "ADD NEW ITEM" button at the top. (On the Mac, Nook for Mac, the "Add File" icon is always available at the top of the window. You can also add files by dragging them into the program icon.)

Reading e-books much more closely matches the experience of reading a printed book than reading a Web page or PDF file. While still a little awkward on a desktop or a laptop computer, the e-reading devices and tablet computers can be a very pleasant experience. Once you become accustomed to downloading some of the thousands of free e-books available, it could become an integral part of your reading routine.

Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is www.computoredge.com. He can be reached at ceeditor@computoredge.com

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“The Versatility of the iPad”
by Wally Wang

The Versatility of the iPad; Wasted Marketing; The Wonders of E-Books; Parallels 7 for Running Windows on a Mac; Scroll Reverser; Copying Apple (Except for the Salary); Turn a Flash Drive or iPod into a Bootable Device; Loading Programs Automatically.

Instead of traveling with a traditional laptop, many people are just carrying an iPad. With the iPad, you can browse the Internet through an airport's Wi-Fi, read e-books through the iBooks app, listen to music, watch saved video clips, type a letter in a word processor, or play a game. A laptop could duplicate everything the iPad can do, but not as conveniently. Without a laptop or iPad, you would have to carry an armful of books, and playing a game would be nearly impossible with game pieces falling all over the place.

Anyone ever play chess or Scrabble in an airplane bouncing up and down from turbulence? To play both games, you'd need magnetic pieces and a human opponent. With an iPad, you can easily play Scrabble or chess without worrying about losing pieces or even finding a human opponent since you can play against the computer. In the limited space of an airplane, the iPad is much easier to pull out and use than even a netbook.

Figure 1. The iPad makes it possible to play a variety of games anywhere you go.

The key to the iPad is its small size, making it easy to carry and use practically anywhere. Baseball teams are the latest to use iPads to help distribute information about opposing teams to players. Instead of forcing players to read printed reports about an opposing player's strengths and weaknesses, teams can use the iPad to let them watch videos of their opponents.

"Now, you can watch for as long as you want, watching a guy swing and miss at a certain pitch," says Derek Lowe, one of just five active starting pitchers left whose career began in 1997 or earlier. "So now, when you get ready to throw that pitch in a game, you have that mental image of watching a certain guy swing and miss at a slider 20 times. It gives you an added boost of confidence, like, 'Hey, if I throw this guy this pitch, I know he can't hit it, because I just watched it for like 15 straight minutes on the video.'"

Figure 2. The iPad makes it easy to visually spot an opposing player's strengths and weaknesses.

Future doctors graduating from the Yale School of Medicine will now get iPads to use instead of printed textbooks. "It's portable, it's wireless, it's responsive, it's interactive and it will provide tremendous opportunities for our students to engage with the material," said Richard Belitsky, deputy dean of education at the medical school.

United Airlines is replacing the 38 pound weight of paper flight manuals with iPads. United expects the iPads to save 16 million sheets of paper where the weight savings can translate into saving 326,000 gallons of jet fuel per year. Even British Airways plans to use iPads for their flight attendants.

Rutgers University has made the iPad part of its Digital Mini-MBA program. Using the iPad 2, students can view the instructor's materials, participate in polling, evaluate the curriculum, and communicate with other program participants.

Even high schools are starting to issue iPads to students instead of bulky and outdated textbooks. The cost of iPads is roughly equal to the cost of new textbooks, but unlike textbooks, the iPad can be easily updated so it's more relevant for longer periods of time than a printed textbook.

The iPad has clearly proven useful in a variety of situations that ordinary laptop and desktop computers can't duplicate as easily. As more people get used to the iPad, they'll see less need to buy additional desktop or laptop PCs, further depressing the overall PC market.

PCs aren't going away, but with the iPad as an alternative, fewer people will need an additional PC when an iPad can meet most of their computing needs. Whatever the future brings, the Windows PC market will likely remain stagnant until Microsoft releases Windows 8, and even that may be too late to stem the momentum away from the iPad, the iPhone and the Macintosh.

Wasted Marketing

The purpose of advertising and marketing is to increase sales. Yet too many corporations pour millions into ineffective advertising campaigns without first asking themselves if they have a product worth promoting in the first place. Microsoft poured millions into those Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld commercials that are still universally derided as the most pointless commercials ever made. Did watching Bill Gates buying shoes with Jerry Seinfeld increase anyone's desire to buy Microsoft Vista?

Forbes reports that the advertising agency that created those Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld commercials, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, also created Burger King's commercials that "got a lot of attention, and plaudits from the advertising community. Unfortunately, however, advertising awards don't necessarily translate into sales." While McDonald's sales rose 3 percent, Burger King's sales declined 6 percent during that same quarter. Forbes reports that while Burger King was wasting money promoting their "creative advertising," McDonald's was focused on selling burgers, fries and coffee.

Before dropping their TouchPad tablet, Hewlett-Packard wasted money hiring comedian Russell Brand to promote the TouchPad. While Russell Brand's commercials are nowhere near as pointless as Microsoft's previous ads, it's obvious that the money Hewlett-Packard invested in advertising the TouchPad didn't translate into increased sales.

The problem is that if you don't have a product worth promoting, you should first improve that product and not expect "creative advertising" to sell mediocre products by magic. In the meantime, at least advertising agencies will always profit as long as corporations focus on "creative advertising" rather than developing products worth buying.

The Wonders of E-Books

Nearly everyone has heard of Tarzan, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, if you visit any of the few remaining bookstores in your area, you'll rarely find an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel on the shelves. Because of limited space, bookstores tend to stock only the latest books. Although Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote dozens of novels, bookstores rarely carry even one of them, which highlights the storage limitations of retail bookstores.

However, if you visit Arthur's Bookshelf, you can download nearly all of Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels in PDF, EPUB, or MOBI (Amazon's Kindle) format. Most of these books are now in the public domain so you won't be breaking any copyright laws to download them to your computer.

Figure 3. Arthur's Bookshelf provides most of Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels in e-book format.

To put these EPUB books on an iPad or iPhone, look for the book covers that represent EPUB format, then right-click on a book cover image on the Arthurs Bookshelf site. When a menu appears, choose Download Linked File to save the EPUB file in your Downloads folder on your Macintosh.

Open the Downloads file, click on the file you just downloaded, and press Return to highlight the file name, which will have a double file extension such as .epub.html. Delete the .html portion of the file name and press Return. When your Mac asks if you want to use the .html or .epub file extension, choose the .epub file extension.

Now drag your EPUB file over the Books category in iTunes. Connect your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch to your computer and synchronize your e-books to your mobile device. As long as you have the iBooks app installed, you'll be able to start reading Edgar Rice Burroughs's other novels that you'll likely never see in a bookstore.

Besides Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote several other book series such as his John Carter on Mars series where a Civil War veteran mysteriously finds himself transported from Earth to Mars. These stories aren't just standard sword and sorcery tales of fantasy and science fiction, but often satire as well.

In one of the Martian series of books, the hero encounters two rival religious sects that are constantly at war with each other. When the hero asks why, he's told that one religious sect uses the mantra "Tor is Tor" while the other one uses the mantra "Tor is Tor." When the hero asks what's the difference, he's told that the rival religious sect is saying the mantra backwards.

In his Venus series of books, Edgar Rice Burroughs tells a story about a man who builds a rocket ship to fly to Mars, but accidentally lands on Venus instead. There he encounters a fascist country run by Zanis (his parody of Nazis) who salute the Zani leader by standing on their heads. The woman who created this Zani head stand salute did so to highlight the silliness of saluting to any dictator, but the people are too stupid to catch the irony and continue doing it anyways.

The hero of these Venus series of books is constantly running into people who believe that their country is the best in the world because they are totally ignorant about any other countries on the planet. Because they believe their country is the best and totally right in every possible situation, they justify attacking, looting and enslaving people of other countries because the people of these other countries must obviously be inferior.

When the hero tries to tell these people about other countries he's discovered on Venus, they refuse to believe that any other country could possibly be better than their own. So rather than actually explore their planet and learn about other cultures, these people prefer to stay ignorant so they can continue believing their country is the best in the world by virtue of the fact that it's the only country they know anything about.

Because of the intense cloud cover on Venus, nobody can see the other planets in the solar system so everybody on Venus thinks that their world is flat. As a result, their navigation maps are always wrong and when the hero tries to point out their errors, the Venus people simply tell him that they can correct all inaccurate navigation calculations by multiplying the result by the square root of negative one. This still doesn't give them accurate calculations but they use this excuse to justify that their world must really be flat or else why would they be multiplying their calculations by the square root of negative one in the first place?

Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote a series of books about communist moon men who take over the Earth along with another series of books about a hollow Earth and a lost island where dinosaurs still exist. Between Edgar Rice Burroughs's flights of imagination and his satirical jabs at the illogical thinking process of people in general, his books are fun and entertaining with their combination of satirical barbs like Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" and the lunacy of "Alice in Wonderland."

Yet without e-books, the bulk of these novels would remain hidden from the reading public due to the cost of printing these books and trying to sell them to an audience that knows nothing about them. By reading e-books, you can access a far greater library than any building can possibly hold. While people complain about the decline of printed books, people should be equally excited about the possibilities of e-books to broaden your mind and expose your thinking to new ideas by giving you access to more books than ever before.

Parallels 7 for Running Windows on a Mac

Many people still need to run Windows programs, but they really want a Macintosh. Rather than buy a Windows PC and a Macintosh, you can just get a Macintosh and run a virtualization program that lets you run multiple operating systems within a separate Mac OS X. While you could try the free VirtualBox program, you might want to spend $79.99 to get the latest Parallels 7 program instead.

To create a virtual machine running Windows, you have three options. First, you can buy and install Windows directly from Parallels 7, although you'll pay full price compared to buying the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Windows, which is nearly always much cheaper.

Figure 4. Parallels provides three options for creating a Windows virtual machine.

The second option is to insert a DVD containing Windows, which can be handy if you want to install an older version of Windows such as Windows XP. The third option is to import Windows from a PC.

Figure 5. You have multiple ways to import Windows from an existing PC.

If you buy the special version of Parallels that comes with a cable, you can plug this cable into both your Windows PC and your Mac. You can also duplicate this process by plugging an Ethernet cable into both your PC and your Mac. A slightly clumsier process is to store your Windows PC on an external hard disk, plug this hard disk into your Mac, and then create a virtual machine off this external hard disk.

Figure 6. Parallels lets you run another operating system as a Mac OS X window.

Students heading back to school can use Parallels with Windows to make sure they can access any software needed by their classes while running within the safety of Mac OS X. If you've been using Quicken on a Mac, you may be reluctant to switch to another program and learn a new user interface all over again. To retain your Quicken data, consider running Quicken on Windows within Parallels. By using Parallels' Coherence feature that can hide the Windows interface but just show your particular Windows program, you can use Quicken for Windows instead of the much weaker Quicken Essentials for the Macintosh.

For the truly paranoid, Parallels 7 now offers the ability to run Mac OS X as a guest operating system, so you can do all your Internet browsing in a Mac OS X virtual machine, which isolates this information from your main Mac OS X files. In the rare event of a Mac OS X malware attack, the malware will be isolated within your virtual copy of Mac OS X and not infect the actual version of Mac OS X running your computer.

If you've switched to Lion, Parallels 7 lets you access Windows programs through Launch Pad. Unlike VMware's Fusion, which isn't completely compatible with Lion yet, Parallels 7 completely supports Lion's features such as Mission Control so you can manipulate your Windows programs just as easily as you can your Mac OS X programs.

Figure 7. Parallels 7 can display Windows programs in the Mission Control screen.

Parallels was already faster than VMware's Fusion in running Windows and Parallels 7 simply increases its speed to make using Windows (or any operating system) run nearly as fast as if it were the only operating system on your computer.

Combine the high cost of Windows ($199 and up) with the $79.99 price of Parallels and you could buy a low-cost Windows laptop instead. If you absolutely need to use Windows but would much rather use a Mac most of the time, then the most cost-effective solution is to use Parallels and import Windows from an existing Windows PC.

Parallels can not only run Windows but any operating system you want such as Linux or OpenBSD. With a Mac and Parallels 7, you can experiment with multiple operating systems and still enjoy all the benefits of Mac OS X so you can compare the benefits and drawbacks of each operating system on a single computer.

Scroll Reverser

Some people are still adjusting to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion's new way of scrolling in the direction that you slide your fingers on a trackpad or mouse. While you can change this scrolling behavior in the System Preferences window, you can also download a free program called Scroll Reverser.

Figure 8. Scroll Reverser lets you customize the behavior of your mouse and trackpad.

If you reverse scrolling in Lion, you affect both horizontal and vertical scrolling throughout your computer, which you may not want to do. Scroll Reverser simply gives you the option to change the scrolling behavior of your mouse and trackpad independently along with modifying both the vertical and horizontal scrolling behavior separately. Now you can customize scrolling so it behaves exactly as you expect.

Copying Apple (Except for the Salary)

It's obvious that Apple has influenced computer technology from their Apple II personal computer, the graphical user interface of the Macintosh, and the touch screen interface of the iPhone and iPad. While rivals like Microsoft copied the Macintosh user interface and other companies like Samsung and Research in Motion copy the iPhone and iPad, the one element that all companies refuse to copy from Apple is Steve Jobs's annual salary, which is $1 a year.

Why don't other companies pay their CEOs $1 a year as an incentive for them to make their money through actually leading the company and increasing the stock price through expanding market share? The answer seems obvious. Most CEOs (and most people, for that matter) don't want to be paid on their performance because that would require that they actually do something productive. After all, what's easier? To negotiate a high salary and then do as little as possible to earn it, or actually work?

While corporate executives scramble to mimic Steve Jobs, they might be better served if they simply followed his advice and rather than try to be another Steve Jobs, simply try to be themselves. At a commencement speech given at Stanford University, Steve Jobs told graduates "You've got to find what you love."

Go into any field just for the money and you're no better than a prostitute. Go into any field because you love it and you'll excel because you want to regardless of the monetary rewards. Given a choice between being happy doing what you love or making a lot of money doing something you don't really care about, too many people choose the illusion of money as a form of happiness, and wind up unhappy and marginally productive as a result.

When companies dangle multimillion dollar salaries, bonuses and perks to attract a CEO, they're already fishing for the wrong type of candidate. If someone only wants to work for the money, chances are good they won't work very well. However, if someone wants to work because they love what they're doing, then the money they receive is simply a bonus.

The secret of Steve Jobs isn't trying to be another Steve Jobs but in following your passion. Nobody doubts that Steve Jobs has a passion for making computing products elegant and useful. Anyone feel that Steve Ballmer (Microsoft's current CEO) is equally passionate about computers as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?

Cut the passion out of a CEO (or any person) and you get mediocrity. Instead of trying to mimic Steve Jobs, corporate executives should be trying to find their own passion and excel in that particular field. Then again, it seems easier for corporate executives to just to copy Apple products, collect a fat salary in a field they don't care about, and ignore their customers and workers alike.

Turn a Flash Drive or iPod into a Bootable Device

If you installed Lion over the Internet and your hard drive crashes, you may not be able to boot up your computer. You could buy Lion on a USB Flash drive, but if you need a portable bootable device, grab a free copy of the DasBoot program.

Figure 9. DasBoot lets you turn an external drive into a bootable device.

With DasBoot, you can make an external, USB Flash drive, or iPod into a bootable device for your Macintosh. Boot up with DasBoot and you can then safely examine your hard disk and try to repair it.

Casual users may not want to use DasBoot, but technically-oriented people will likely appreciate the ability to create bootable devices out of practically any external device. Then you can run your favorite diagnostic tools to repair and fix any crashed hard disk.

*                    *                    *

If you use a certain program all the time, such as Safari, you might want to load it automatically. Just click the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. When the System Preferences window appears, click the Users & Groups icon under the System category to display the Users & Groups window.

Figure 10. The Users & Groups window lets you select programs to load automatically.

Click the Lock icon and type in your password. Now click on your account, click the Login Items tab, and you'll see a list of programs that automatically load. To remove a program from loading automatically, click on it and then click the Minus icon. If you want to make a program load automatically, click the Plus icon and choose the program you want.

In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.

Wally is responsible for the following books:

My New Mac,

My New iPhone,

My New iPad,

Steal This Computer Book 4.0,

Microsoft Office 2010 for Dummies,

Beginning Programming for Dummies,

Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies,

Breaking Into Acting for Dummies with Larry Garrison,

Strategic Entrepreneurism with Jon Fisher and Gerald Fisher,

How to Live With a Cat (When You Really Don't Want To).

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

The 15-Minute Movie Method

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method" along with blogging about electronic publishing and how authors can take advantage of technology at his site "The Electronic Author." Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com.

Buck's Blue Sky Advice and Cheap Tricks

“Got Sound II: More on Connecting Your Computer to a Sound System.”
by Buck Fadness

Buck shares some output options for audio and video with PCs and laptops.

With the newer PCs and laptops you have several output options for audio and video. One that I'm very glad to see is HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). Many people who have dealt with newer computers and home theater systems have at least seen the term HDMI. Most mid to high priced systems have this interface as an optional, or the main, method of connecting audio and video devices. It is both convenient and efficient because it bundles video and audio in one cable with only one plug on either end.

On most low end computers the digital video out cable to new LCD or LED monitors is called DVI. It can only transmit video signals.

In some applications HDMI is capable of sending two way signals. Another plus is that the cable can carry both high definition and standard definition signals. Then it will be decoded accordingly by the device the signal is sent to. The cable can carry video and audio or just an audio signal alone, as in the case of a sound card or sound chip on your PC. I don't own a laptop with HDMI out, so I don't know if you can send audio only with an HDMI cable to your receiver. (I invite anyone with knowledge of this to send an e-mail and clear it up.) With this configuration for connecting to a sound system you can send any quality of sound to your receiver. Or to a TV, though some TVs require both audio and video signals in order to operate in HDMI mode. When the receiving unit gets the signal, it will process it. The sound that comes from the speakers, is dependent upon the settings you have made on the receiver.

I got hooked on component stereo receivers (a stand alone receiver with individual devices plugged into it via cables) in the 1970's because most of the all-in-one stereo systems were low quality and rarely had auxiliary inputs. I wanted the inputs so that I could connect additional devices to it. The component stereo allowed me to choose the peripherals I wanted to use. Also, I could upgrade one without scrapping the whole system. Modern component receivers have vastly improved the number of, and different types of connections available. The choices you now have for processing the sound output to the speakers has gone from simple volume and tone controls to a full graphic equalizer with built-in presets. Plus, the number (and quality) of speakers you can use has gone from two to seven or more.

Low end stereo systems will likely not have HDMI connections. Only mid priced and up A/V (Audio/Video) systems will have three or more of this type input and one or more HDMI outputs. Some plus points of an A/V receiver and satellite speakers are that many types and quality of peripherals with a wide range of price can be plugged into it with various types of cables. The output from these can then be sent to one or more sets of speakers and/or one or more video devices, such as, TVs, monitors or projectors. The volume and sound quality, and which input or output is being used, can then be controlled with a universal remote control.

Some of the minus points would be a higher initial dollar outlay, a more complicated initial setup, higher power consumption, and more space required to house the components of a home theater system or entertainment center. Although some apartment sized A/V receivers and components are not much larger than the all-in-one box A/V products These component systems produce good to excellent quality sound by using many different sizes and qualities of speakers.

With the above in mind, the only restrictions you have when sending audio and video from your PC to your sound system is the number and type of I/O (Input/Output) jacks you have on your PC and on your sound system. (Yes, you can send video from your PC or other A/V equipment to a TV if your receiver is capable of passing the video signal via a suitable cable.) I haven't found a modern flat panel, HDTV that has a video out jack available to record from. I guess that's because of fears you may record programs in HD quality without paying for it. Ha, I have a DVD recorder with an HDTV tuner built-in.

If all you have is an all-in-one stereo or boombox and it has a microphone jack, you may still be able to send audio to it via line out or the earphone jack on your laptop or desktop. Then, you could record audio onto your hard drive by using the stereo's earphone out or speaker jacks sent to the microphone jack—or other input jacks on your PC. Though it will take a lot of tweaking of output and input levels to get an acceptable quality from this setup. Instead, I believe it would be easier, and quality wise preferable, to pick up a used or inexpensive powered speaker system—either 2.1 or more speakers—then output an analog or digital signal to them from your PC. Then any recording of music is done on your PC (downloading from the Internet or ripping from CDs). You can also hook your boom box or all-in-one stereo to these speakers and improve the sound quality of both systems.

Buck Fadness is a Boomer, who has done editing and writing of business forms and text books in the past, but is new to tech writing on the Internet. He has been a computer user and has built or upgraded numerous PCs since he first got interested in computers around 1988. Buying, selling and trading computers, reading about them and trying out low cost hardware and free software on Windows XP and Windows 7 laptops and desktop computers are some of his hobbies. He says he's frugal, not cheap, but he can make Lincoln "EEEK" when applying Penny Pinching hardware and software fixes to computers.He can be reached by e-mail, buck-o@cox.net or by using the comments links in at the top or bottom of this column.

Linux Lessons: Tips and Tricks from Users

“Calculating a Checksum”
by ComputorEdge Staff

Tony shares a script that uses an algorithm to count the bits in a file.

Filename: <sum>

Use: <sum> computes a 16-bit checksum for each given file.

Have you ever gone to a Web site to download a file and next to the filename there is a note—something to the effect of "sum 20978 2930"?

<sum> is a utility that calculates a checksum—that is, uses an algorithm to count the bits in a file—in such a way that it is not possible to go into the file, make any kind of a modification, and have it print the same number as it did before you modified it.

<sum> is similar to <diff> in telling you if something has changed. One of the main differences is <diff> is fine if you have the original file and want to compare another version of the file to it. The original file is the "control" or "known good" copy and the one you compare it against is the "test" copy. You can easily see the changes that have been made.

But, what do you do when you don't have a known good copy to start out with? When you download a file from the Web, unless there is a "sum," you can't tell if it downloaded properly. True, today that isn't much of a problem, but in the olden days of file transfers, sometimes you'd download a file three times and when you did a <diff> againt them, you'd have three different results.

So, next time you download a file and it says something such as:

___"DOWNLOAD abcdefg NOW"___ (sum 12345 678)

when the download is finished, do a <sum abcdefg> and see what you get.

Now, one note of caution is that there are a couple of algorithms that are used. If you get an error, do a <man sum> and try adding one of the optional switches (-) such as <sum -r abcdefg> or <sum -s abcdefg> to see if that helps.

Exercise: Find a text file and copy it to, say, /tmp. Maybe go into the /var/log directory and do a <cp messages /tmp/abc>. When that's done, do a <cd /tmp>, then <cp abc def>. File "abc" and "def" should be identical. Now use your editor and make a change to "def" and see if you

can fool <sum>. You will not be able to.

Silly Signature Du Jour:

Tony J. Podrasky |       Seen on a sweatshirt:
|
|       I am a bomb technician.
| If you see me running, try to keep up.
|
-:-ETX-:-

ComputorEdge always wants to hear from you, our readers. If you have specific comments about one of our articles, please click the "Tell us what you think about this article!" link at the top or bottom of the specific article/column at ComputorEdge.com. Your comments will be attached to the column and may appear at a later time in the "Editor's Letters" section.If you want to submit a short "ComputorQuick Review", or yell at us, please e-mail us at ceeditor@computoredge.com.

Beyond Personal Computing

“The Internet: Confusion, Consternation and Addiction”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Marilyn shares some humorous anecdotes regarding Internet confusion.

It took awhile for most of us to understand exactly what the Internet is and isn't. And then we had to wrestle with understanding modems and service providers. Once we were "successfully surfing the Web," downloading something off the Internet frequently took a totally different thought process. No wonder so many of us are still Internet confused!

Computer Store Requests

"I'd like to buy the Internet. Do you know how much it is?"

"Do I have to bring in my computer to get connected to the Internet? Or will you pick up and deliver?"

"Can you copy the Internet for me on this disc?"

"How do I download the Internet?"

"Can I get the Internet through a word processor?"

"And you're sure that's the latest version of the Internet?"

"Is the Internet on a microchip?"

A woman lugged her 17" monitor to a computer store, and plunked it on the counter. "I would like you to set up the Internet on my computer." The clerk had to stifle a chuckle to politely explain that she needed to bring in the "other" part of her computer.

And I would have loved to have seen the face of the Clerk when a customer asked, "I don't have a computer at home. Is the Internet available in book form?"

So Who Owns That Sucker Anyhow?

"Hi. Is this the Internet?"

"Do you own the Internet?"

"Is this Internet the same as www, and do you own that stuff as well?"

Net to Home—Bypass Understanding

"You mean I have to pay for Internet access?"

"OK, if I sign up for this, do I need to be home so you can come out and install the Internet to my house?"

"We're still waiting for our Internet. Are you guys having any problems sending out your Internets?"

It's even been reported that some people actually send checks to their online service companies made payable to "The Internet."

A mother called up her Internet provider to report that her son had been on a British Internet site for an hour. "So how much do you charge for long distance?" The Tech explained, "It doesn't work like that. You can surf anywhere without long distance charges."

The woman had just one more question. "Do you charge extra for long distance e-mail?" The Tech said No. "Great!" replied the woman. "My oldest son works in Sweden, and he sends us e-mail. But I've been afraid to reply since I thought it would cost too much. So I've just been calling him up by phone instead."

Inevitable Calls to Tech Support

"I can't get online. Is the Internet closed for the night?"

"Will the Internet be open on Memorial Day?"

"The Internet is running too slow. Could you reboot it please?"

"We're going on vacation for three months. Can you suspend the Internet for us, please?"

"I lost my Internet! I turned it off last night, and when I turned it on this morning, it's gone. Can you send me another one?"

"I broke my Internet! Can you fix it for me?"

"I specifically asked you to not program my Internet with pornography! I want it removed immediately!"

Help Desks also report a fair number of customers who call up to complain that their dial-up is giving them a busy signal. The problem is usually solved when the Tech has the user make sure he isn't dialing his own phone number.

Another call to an Internet provider was the usual "I can't connect to the Internet." The Tech couldn't understand why their company's connection icon wasn't on the user's opening screen. "I see you do have an account with us. And you installed our software, correct?" the Tech verified. "Oh no," answered the user. "I went on the Internet and downloaded all the information on it. So then I took your software out."

Pity the Tech who got the call from a user who stated, "I just went out and bought the newest unit they have. And now I'm having trouble hooking up to the Internet." The Tech asked what kind of machine the user had. "A Nintendo!"

The Tech patiently explained that there was no way he could hook up to the Internet through his Nintendo, that he needed a computer and a modem. The customer replied, "Well, can I just buy that modem thing and stuff it inside my Nintendo somewhere?"

You Know You Are Addicted to the Internet when...

Your eyeglasses have a Web site burned on them.

You refuse to go on vacation where there is no electricity and Internet access.

You ask a plumber how much it would cost to replace the chair in front of your computer with a toilet.

You fly off to a vacation with your laptop in your lap, and your child in the overhead compartment.

You find yourself typing "com" after every period when using a word processor.com

All your friends have an @ in their names.

Your dog has its own home page.

You miss about five meals a week downloading the latest games.

Your spouse makes a new rule: "The computer cannot come to bed!"

You turn off your modem and get depressed, like you've just pulled the plug on a loved one.

"I've Got Mail!"

You turn on your intercom when leaving the room, so you can hear if new mail arrives.

You wake up at three AM to go to the bathroom, and check your e-mail on the way back to bed.

Your closest friends no longer send you e-mail, they just log on to your IRC channel.

Life Versus the Internet

A Tech walked into a small bistro with some public computers. As he walked closer, he saw a big sign blocking them off: "The Internet is down all over the world!" He figured that either the bistro didn't pay their provider bill, or the staff was tired of getting bogged down helping people navigate the Internet.

A high school yearbook announced that their Introductory Technology Class had "almost completed rebuilding the Internet." (That's one heck of an Intro Class!)

Sign in a public library's Computer Room: "Please don't waste our resources by trying to print out the whole Internet!"

12 Step Recovery Program for Web Addicts

1. I will have a cup of coffee in the morning, and read my paper newspaper.

2. I will eat breakfast with a knife and fork, and not with one hand typing.

3. I will get dressed before noon.

4. I will make an attempt to clean the house, wash clothes and plan dinner before heading to the computer and Internet.

5. I will sit down and write a letter to those unfortunate few friends and family who don't have e-mail.

6. I will call someone on the phone, who I cannot contact via the Internet.

7. I will read an old fashioned, bound paper book.

8. I will listen to those around me about their needs, and stop telling them to turn the TV down so I can hear my podcast music.

9. I will not be tempted during TV commercials to check for e-mail.

10. I will try and get out of the house at least once a week, if it is necessary or not.

11. I will remember that my bank is not forgiving if I forget to balance my checkbook because I was too busy on the Internet.

12. Lastly, I will remember that I must go to bed sometime, and that the Internet will always be there tomorrow!

TFGADKI. Too Far Gone and Doesn't Know It

1. Every link seems to be redirected to Wikileaks.

2. Repetition of the same banner ads: energy drinks, hacker conventions, fast food.

3. Instead of your company's site counting up visitors, it counts down to the Apocalypse.

4. Your favorite travel agency's site is featuring inter-planetary excursions, with One Way To Mars specials.

5. Your homepage says "Best Viewed From The Mothership."

6. Your personal Web site is frequently honored as the Serial Killers Fan Club's "Site of the Day."

7. You are frequently muttering about "The Prophet Steve Jobs" returning to rescue all of you True Believers.

8. You not only understand UNIX, but you insist you are one.

9. The Big "N" on your browser has been replaced by a spinning head of Charles Manson.

10. You watch episodes of "Criminal Minds" on your computer to get job leads.

(Many of these funny anecdotes can be found on multiple Internet joke sites. But special thanks to Rinkworks.com, Bitoffun.com and ComputerJokes.net)

Marilyn is a freelance writer and humorist with many interests. She has sold teen anti-drug articles, as well as had numerous esoteric articles published. She has almost seventy mini-articles on Helium.com, and is writing a humorous Young Adult Science Fiction series, Chronicles of Mathias. Volumes One and Two have received a "Gold Star for Excellence" from TeensReadToo.com, and are available from most on-line bookstores.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

“Computer and Internet tips, plus comments on the articles and columns.”
by ComputorEdge Staff

"Special Characters," "CF Cards and Readers," "Complete Laptop Keyboard," "No More PCs"

Special Characters

[Regarding the August 26 Beyond Personal Computing column:]

Quick but violent terms from the mainframe era:

. Dot (obviously)

# Pound* Splat! Bang

-Don Bishop, Lakewood, Colorado

Thanks, Don!

-Marilyn, Texas

CF Cards and Readers

[Regarding the August 26 Digital Dave column:]

My Advice to Pete:

Open Explorer (Win key +E), click on Computer in the left pane, and watch the list of drives in the right pane. Unplug the card reader, watching to see which drive letters disappear. Then plug it in again. If your reader has four slots, then your OS should add and subtract four drive letters as you do this. Since the CF card and the SD card differ greatly in size I'm betting that you have at least two slots in your reader. If the above doesn't happen, then, if you haven't done it yet, plug the reader into a different USB port on your computer.

"H" is not the letter assigned to the reader, the OS sees it as a USB generic reader device. Drive letters are assigned to the slots in the card reader. So now insert the CF card while watching the same pane as described above. If there is something on the card and you are using a USB 2.0 smart reader, you may see the name of the CF card or just "Compact." That will be the drive letter for your CF card. If it doesn't show up, then, like Dave said, get a more expensive card reader. If your computer is an older Windows XP box with only USB 1.2 ports, then you need to upgrade it, or at least get a USB 2.0 card plugging it into the motherboard.

-Buck's Blue Sky Advice and Cheap Tricks

As a last resort Pete could try plugging in the camera to the USB Port and download the pictures straight from the Camera. I have done this when my reader died. Hopefully this will help. A lot of new readers do not read all cards. One of my laptops has this problem. So I keep Several old readers handy to read older CF cards.

-Melba Kalaher, Denver, Colorado

If it helps, Pete, I will tell you that for several years and several computers, I have been using a shoe leather plus CF card "connection" to transfer data among them. I found several years ago that Sony has a very good accessory card reader/writer that I use currently on my Compaq desktop, that computer not having a built in reader at all. The reader is a 2006 year model, MRW62E. I used it on other computers prior to this one, and in all cases, I have never had a problem. I recall that about a year or so ago, the Sony card reader was priced around $20 at a national big box office supply store. That's perhaps expensive, but it always works!

-Cicero, Colorado Springs

Always first do Safe USB Removal. I have to repeatedly reformatted my PQI i221 8GB USB flash drive whenever not Safely Removed. Reformat using Dr.UFDv1.0.408 (updated from older Dr.UFDc.1.0.2.35). VistaWin7 user need Fixer1002(3).zip

Can release some pending USB transfers using Unlocker blocking safe removal.

In case tray loses Safe USB Removal icon, then create a new desktop icon to SafelyRemoveUSBHardware by adding %windir%/system32/RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll to run from desktop icon instead.

Cause: USB May Not Work After You Unplug a Downstream USB Hub from the Host Controller. Possible fix is Q810400_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe if MS XP-SP2 and unrecognized USB.

Cause: Windows XP SP1, PocketPC, USB2.0 hub turned off and on, or still have pending transfers, maybe not recognized. Update XP to SP3, or download windowsxp-kbB838989-X86-ENU.exe patch.

Can diagnose some unfinished USB transfers by using MS Process Explorer if Cannot Be Stopped Right Now.

Hope of some help.

-Jim Lipke

Complete Laptop Keyboard

[Regarding the August 26 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

Wally, I am sure you think people are out to prove you wrong and you are right 8-). I am not anti-Apple and want an iPad and iPhone, but cannot justify it. But to your point that "no laptop in the world offers a full size keyboard with a separate cursor keypad and numerical keypad" is incorrect. My wife has a Toshiba Satellite that has a full keyboard, separate cursor keys and a numeric keypad built in. The arrangement of these three is tighter with no wasted space between them. Check it out. We bought it a couple of years ago for $300. Here is one for under $400.

-Marcus, Alabama

Actually if you want to get technical, the Toshiba Satellite laptop keyboard does have a separate cursor and numeric keypad, but it is still not a full size keyboard that's exactly the same size as a regular desktop keyboard, so by the strict criteria that everything must exactly duplicate preceding technology, the Toshiba laptop must also be absolutely worthless. If this sounds silly, it's no more silly than the pointless criticism that the iPhone and iPad is absolutely useless because it lacks a physical keyboard and cannot play Flash videos.

The point is simply that everything has limitations (such as the smaller size of a physical keyboard on a laptop) so you need to consider what you're sacrificing vs. what you're getting in return. In some cases, these sacrifices are worth it, such as the portability of a laptop vs. a desktop and in some cases these sacrifices may not be worth it. It's all about objectively considering all your technology options and choosing the best one for you. It's never about blindly criticizing any technology simply because you don't like the company that makes it, the color of the item, the country where it was manufactured, or any other illogical thinking process.

-Wally Wang

No More PCs

[Regarding the August 26 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

I guess what Wally is saying is that all the PC makers are going to stop building computers because they can't afford to sell them at such a low price. Then everyone will be forced to buy Macs at the higher price. Humm.

On another topic: I dare say that even the top iPhone apps are dominated by relatively small number of products. I don't know the numbers, but I would guess that 90 percent of people writing iPhone apps don't make much money. Probably the key is to write apps for companies who want to offer the software free to their customers.

-Richard, Oceanside, CA

What I am saying is that profits on Windows PCs are so low that the bigger companies don't want to spend all that effort to make a little money when they could spend that effort making a lot of money outside of the PC market. One of the advantages of PCs was the choice of manufacturers from Sony and Toshiba to Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Eliminate the name brand companies like Hewlett-Packard and IBM, keep cutting prices, and pretty soon there will be fewer companies willing to continue selling PCs. To say that companies will simply stop selling PCs altogether and force people to buy higher priced Macs is comical, but certainly not accurate in interpreting what I am saying.

As far as the iPhone vs. Android market goes, Android has a larger market share, but the iPhone has a market more likely to purchase apps. Part of Android's appeal is its lower cost (free to customers in many cases) while the iPhone costs money. So you have a choice between trying to sell an app to a lot of people who only got an Android phone because of its lower price (one cent or free) or you could sell an app to a smaller market of people with lots of disposable income. Would you have more success selling a car to a million homeless people or 100 millionaires?

Toss in the fact that iPhone apps can run on the iPad or be easily modified to run on as a native iPad app and now you can sell your app to both the iPhone and iPad market while the Android tablet market still remains stagnant. As a developer, your odds are simply better with iOS (iPhone and iPad). Many popular iPhone apps migrate to Android (Angry Birds), but not as many apps start out on Android first and migrate to the iPhone. Perhaps developers know that the iPhone market is the primary market to tackle first with Android a close afterthought.

-Wally Wang

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