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ComputorEdge™ Online — 11/30/12

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Finally a Tablet Computer to Challenge the iPad!

Apple iPad dominates the tablet computer market. Now there is a new tablet which may seriously affect the sales of the iPad.

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Cleaning the Inside of My Computer; Internet Explorer Slowness; The Screen Goes Blank.

Apple iPad Faces a New Challenge

by Jack Dunning

The iPad May Have Met Its Match

Leading the tablet computer market since its introduction, the iPad faces a new entry which just may slaughter its position.

Incremental Backup to Protect Your Computer Work

by Jack Dunning

A System for Saving Changing Versions of Your Files

Many programs include incremental backup so you can recover earlier versions of your work. Now you can have that protection everywhere instantly with AutoHotkey.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

The Business of App Developing

The Business of App Developing; The Profitable Apple Stores; Nokia Maps; Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is Back; Shopping on Mobile Devices; Translation in a Browser; Dictation and Speech.

Beyond Personal Computing

by Marilyn K. Martin

Supercomputers: From Cray to Toadafritz, and Yes, Even a Coming Smartphone App

Amusing anecdotes about supercomputers.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

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

"Copied CD Music Files Are Gone," "Deleting Yahoo Mail Contacts," "Setting Time on TF700 Tablet," "RevoUninstaller," "Make a Mobile App with LiveCode"

Send mail to ceeditor@computoredge.com with questions about editorial content.

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

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Digital Dave

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

Cleaning the Inside of My Computer; Internet Explorer Slowness; The Screen Goes Blank.

Cleaning the Inside of My Computer

Dear Digital Dave,

I want to get rid of all the dust inside my desktop computer. Is this something I can do myself or should I take it to a computer expert?

Darryl

San Diego, CA

Dear Darryl,

If your computer is in a smoking environment, you have pets, or it has just been a long time, then you may need to periodically clean your computer. Dust build-up may disrupt the flow of cooling air which can cause the CPU and other components to overheat. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to clean the dust out of your computer yourself. However, there are a few precautions that you should take.

First, disconnect all power and cables from the computer. You do not want to be messing around inside the box when there is power. While you could just remove the power cord leaving most of the other cables connected while you clean the machine, disconnecting them all ensures that there won't be any random interactions or discharges. Better to be safe than sorry.

Generally, depending upon the design of your case, you can open it by either removing a side panel or removing the entire cover. Check your manual. This is the same thing you would need to do if you were adding or changing an expansion card.

You don't want to touch anything inside the computer with metal screw drivers or tools. Many people use compressed gas dusters in cans to blow out the dust. This is probably the best approach to cleaning a computer. It removes the dust without disturbing any of the electronics.

While you can use a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment or plastic extender, you need to be careful not to damage anything. Another alternative is to use a soft artist's paint brush, carefully brushing in and around all surfaces. It doesn't need to be a perfect job, as long as air flow will no longer be interrupted and the components are no longer insulated with dust.

Make sure to clean out the heat sinks as well. The heat sinks are attached to high heat generating components such as the CPU. They usually have metal fins to dissipate the generated heat. Get the dust out from between those fins.

Digital Dave

Internet Explorer Slowness

Dear Digital Dave,

I have finally settled on Mozilla Firefox as a default.

My Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, as well as, Google Chrome, take "forever" (if at all) to display any link displayed in Eudora e-mails. Firefox comes up immediately.

Is there any way for me to determine what is going on behind the scene after pressing a properly formed link? Are these programs busy collecting info about me?

Ed Finigan

Lynn, MA

Dear Ed,

It's unlikely that Internet Explorer and Google Chrome are collecting information about you when you click a link in an e-mail in Eudora. However, there are a number of reasons why one Web browser may be slower than another. In any case, you have not made a bad choice in making Mozilla Firefox your default.

When you click a Web link in another program such as Eudora and there is no Web browser already running as a process, the default program must first load before the Web page is displayed. (This is different from clicking a link within a running browser.) Therefore browser loading speed will affect performance. Google Chrome usually tests the fastest of the three for loading speed. Internet Explorer is the slowest.

It needs to be noted that every tab in the Chrome browser runs as a separate process. This is good for program integrity, but each time a new tab is loaded a new process starts up. With many tabs open, this will affect memory usage and speed.

Another possible drag on a particular Web browser is the running of add-ons or extensions which are browser specific. Certain extensions (i.e. spelling and grammar checkers) can dramatically reduce the speed of execution since they will return to a server to do their work. Turning off extensions will often help if a browser is running slow.

As always, you should pick the Web browser which works the best for you while keeping all of them available. I like Google Chrome for most of my work, but use Mozilla Firefox for certain extensions I like. I resort to Internet Explorer only when a Web site does not respond well to the other two. (Some Web sites were designed with IE in mind while ignoring functionality in the others.)

Jack Dunning recently wrote a column on Windows Resource Monitor. If you have Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8, you can observe the activity of various parts of the computer (CPU, memory, drives, network) while you are testing the links in various Web browsers. Windows XP has a more limited feature called Performance (Run => perfmon.exe).

Digital Dave

The Screen Goes Blank

Dear Digital Dave,

First I wish you and all who are important to you a very nice Thanksgiving. But don't overdo it.

I use Vista. I will be looking at an e-mail or Web site then, after a short while, the screen goes blank. If there is sound it continues, but no picture. I'm sure there is a way to overcome that.

Thanks,

David Niles

Phoenix, AZ

Dear David,

This is most likely a hardware problem. If you have a faulty monitor or video card, then the audio will not be affected when the picture goes out. Failing electronic components may display faults as they warm up. The problem is determining which device it is.

If you have a desktop computer, the first step is to plug the monitor into another computer and watch how it performs. If it continues to operate without going blank, then I would suspect that the video card is the problem.

If you are comfortable with replacing video cards then remove the problem card and take it to the local computer or electronics store. The reason for taking the card with you is to identify the exact type of video card before you buy a replacement. Depending upon the age of your computer, it can be difficult to find a compatible card with the same connector. The people at the store should be able to help you by looking at the card.

If the video is built into the desktop motherboard (no separate removable card), then you should be able to get new card for it which will fit into an expansion slot. However, you will still need to match a new card to the slot. The computer manual (or a motherboard manual) should help to identify the slots available.

If you're not comfortable with working inside your computer, or your computer is a laptop, then you may be better off taking it in to be serviced. Working with laptops is more problematic since the video is usually built into the system (as is the monitor). You can usually plug a separate monitor into a laptop, but that feature actually uses a separate video card. (I know someone who had the monitor/video go out in their laptop, so they plugged in a separate monitor and continued using the laptop with the other monitor. But, the laptop was no longer particularly portable since the other monitor didn't pack up well.)

It can't hurt to update video drivers. Also, it could be heat. It's amazing how often dusting helps (as mentioned in another letter in this column). I bet it's the monitor though. Next time the monitor goes out, but you can still hear sounds, plug another (functional) monitor in and see if it works.

It is possible that a software glitch (screen saver) or virus is causing the problem, although I do not consider that likely.

Digital Dave

Apple iPad Faces a New Challenge

“The iPad May Have Met Its Match”
by Jack Dunning

Leading the tablet computer market since its introduction, the iPad faces a new entry which just may slaughter its position.

The Apple iPad may have finally met its match. There is a new lighter, less expensive tablet on the market which will lure many away from their iPads. Just like the original iPad when first introduced, this new tablet was received with great fanfare quickly selling out at all locations. It could be the iPad killer. It's called the Apple iPad mini.

Attacking the smaller, less expensive tablet market running the Android operating system, Apple now offers the iPad mini—a smaller version of its hugely successful original. As usual I was intrigue with checking out the new tablet and ventured out to my local Apple store. I already own an iPad, so I didn't feel a need to buy one, but I wanted to see for myself what all the hoopla was about.

When I arrived at the Apple store, all of the iPad mini demo units were in use—mostly by kids playing games. I hung around until one kid was intimidated enough to offer me his. I thanked him and went about my business.

Owning an iPad myself, it was no problem for me to navigate the various apps. I took some photos and video of the people on the other side of the demo table with the built-in cameras. I surfed the Web and of course checked out the ComputorEdge Web site. Everything was the same as using a regular iPad with one exception—the iPad mini was so much lighter than the bulk of the iPad. It was easy to see that given the choice between the two, I would pick the mini. Not only is it cheaper, but it's a more convenient size.

Apparently, buyers agreed. While Apple has not released a breakdown between iPad and iPad mini sales, some surveys "showed that roughly nine out of every 10 customers was waiting for the iPad Mini rather than a full-sized iPad." This may not be what Apple had in mind. No doubt the iPad mini will impact the smaller size tablet market, but what will it cost in cannibalization of regular size iPad sales? Of course, if something is going to knock off the iPad, I'm sure Apple would prefer it be one of their own products.

Size Does Matter

I've always felt that the iPad was a little too heavy for one-handed computing. Through experimenting with paper clipboards and comparing them to the iPad, I had determined that one pound was probably the maximum weight for regular one-handed computing—carrying the tablet with one hand while operating it with the other. The iPad has never gotten below 1.33 pounds and is now back up to 1.44 pounds with the Retina model display. The iPad mini only weighs 0.68 pounds—well within the desirable weight for easy one-handed computing.

The smaller dimensions of the iPad make it easy to fit into a purse (or European carry-all). See Figure 1. This is a huge advantage since lugging around an iPad is awkward if you don't have a briefcase or computer bag. Holding up a regular iPad to take a picture just seems silly.

Figure 1. While the iPad (left) has a larger screen, the iPad mini (right) display surface area is only one-third smaller.

I've always felt that the shape of the screen on the iPad (either version) is optimal for a tablet computer. The other smaller tablets, including the Amazon Kindle Fire, lose by offering the wider (in landscape mode) or higher (in portrait mode) screen. While it may be better for viewing some videos, a short screen height or narrow screen width when rotated hinders the Web browsing experience.

On the downside, the navigating iPad mini may not be as suitable for people with fat fingers—although I didn't notice any particular problem. Plus, if you want to turn an iPad into a keyboard-less laptop, typing on the mini's virtual keyboard may be a little more problematic than using the larger iPad virtual keyboard.

I'm not a fan of trying to replace all computers with a tablet. While many people insist that you can do anything with an iPad that you can do with a laptop or desktop, I still don't understand the advantage. Sure you can do it, but is it worth the hassle? It's like painting the exterior of your house with an artist's brush when a paint roller would do the job much quicker. I want a tablet computer for the convenience it provides away from my computers, not as a replacement for all of them.

Almost as Good as the iPad with Retina Display

While the iPad with Retina display has twice the resolution of the mini, the mini easy beats the iPad II which shares the mini's 1024 by 768 resolution—although over a larger screen. In most other categories, the iPad mini is comparable with the iPad Retina.

Both the iPad Retina and iPad mini have the same two cameras. The front facing FaceTime HD camera for

1.2MP photos and 720p HD video. The rear facing iSight camera for 5MP photos.

All iPads come with Wi-Fi or you can add cellular service to the more expensive models. If you use cellular with your current iPad, it's important to note that the Micro-SIM in the iPad is not compatible with the Nano-SIM in the iPad mini. I don't know if you can make the Micro-SIM work by trimming it like you can with the iPhone 5.

Personally, I have never had the need for cellular service on a tablet computer. If I did a lot of traveling, I suppose that it would be handy, but for the way I use tablet computers, I rarely ever have trouble finding free Wi-Fi. While on the road, I've used Wi-Fi at MacDonald's to update the ComputorEdge Web site from an iPad.

The connector has switched from the older 30-pin connector to the Lightning connector. This hardly makes a difference to users since the Lightning connector is still a special Apple design—not compatible with anything else.

As you can see, other than the size of the tablet and the Retina display, the iPad mini is a just a smaller, more convenient iPad. Not only is the mini less expensive, it is much better for one-handed computing. Is it any wonder that the iPad mini is killing the iPad?

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. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Now at Amazon! Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Currently only at Amazon.com, Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Available from Amazon, Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8! Also available at Barnes and Noble and ComputorEdge E-Books.

Available exclusively from Amazon, Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Incremental Backup to Protect Your Computer Work

“A System for Saving Changing Versions of Your Files”
by Jack Dunning

Many programs include incremental backup so you can recover earlier versions of your work. Now you can have that protection everywhere instantly with AutoHotkey.

Last time, I discussed creating a temporary backup that can be used at any time to save text that you're writing whether in a Windows program on your computer or while working in a Web text editing field. I've added that to my list of AutoHotkey commands and find that I use it all the time—especially when working on the Web which has no automatic backup. Then, if there is a power outage or I just hit the wrong button (accidentally closing the browser window), I can go back to the text file created with the hotkeys and recover my work as of the last time I hit the combination.

However, as I pointed out, that temporary backup only uses one file which is replaced every time I hit the hotkeys. If I want to save more copies of different windows and/or incremental copies which include older backups, then I need to do a little bit more. The routine offered in this column does just that.

Note: If you're new to AutoHotkey see our Web page "Installing AutoHotkey and Writing Your First Script" for how to get started.

Incremental Backup for Various Windows

To do incremental backup you need a way to create unique file names. That way you will not accidentally overwrite an old backup file with a new one. In most cases, the easiest way to do that is to use a file or program name plus the current time. Since the time down to the second (or microsecond, if necessary) never repeats itself, as long as you do not backup two items in the same second, you can create unique file names for the backups. It's merely a matter of incorporating the current time into the file name (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The saved incremental file name is composed of the window title and the current time down to the second.

The AutoHotkey routine which is creating the file names in Figure 1 for the text saved in the associated file uses the title of the window plus the current time. These backup files were created while editing a text file in Notepad for the description for Amazon.com of the Windows 8 e-book. The backup file name includes the text file name (Win 8 Amazon.txt), the editing program (Notepad), plus the time the backup was made with the hotkey combination CTRL++ALT+B (B for Backup). The backup files are saved in the My Documents => Backup folder. If the Backup folder does not exist, the routine creates it.

The same AutoHotkey program was tested with an Apple Web page comparing iPad models, the Windows Calculator, ComputorEdge Web editing software, and two different Windows File Explorer listings—one of which is the Backup folder itself (see Figure 2). Each time the CTRL++ALT+B combination is hit, a new backup file is created.

Figure 2. Each time the routine is executed a new backup file is created.

The Windows Calculator backup was create by executing CTRL++ALT+B while the calculator was active (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. The AutoHotkey backup routine even works with Windows Calculator.

Open the associated Calculator backup text file (Calculator20121127154632.txt) and you will see the same value saved from the calculation (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. The value seen in the Windows Calculator is saved to a backup file.

If a "Documents - Backup" text file is opened, a list of the files contained in the Backup folder at the time the hotkey combination was used is opened (see Figure 5). For this to work, code to convert special characters such as the colon (:) and the backslash (\) to regular text is required as shown in Item E of Figure 6. If you don't plan to save file lists from Windows File Explorer, then you won't need this code.

Figure 5. The list of files in the Backup folder is saved to a backup text file. This requires code to deal with special characters found in the file path. See Item E in Figure 6.

This AutoHotkey routine is flexible and works with most active windows. However, while it works with Web pages such as the Apple page noted, the formatting of the text (tables and other HTML tags) will affect how it appears in the backup text file. It will not be a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) copy of the Web page. It only copies text (no images).

The IncrementalSaveText.ahk AutoHotkey Routine

While a little more involved that the AutoHotkey routine used last time for the temporarily backup file, once broken down, the IncrementalSaveText.ahk routine is easy to understand (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. The AutoHotkey code for incremental backup of active window text. A. The assigned hotkey combination (CTRL+WIN+ALT+B). B. Select text and copy to the Windows Clipboard. C. If Backup folder does not exist, create it. D. Assign the window title to variable WindowName. E. For saving file lists in Windows File Explorer, replace special characters found in file paths. F. Create incremental file with Windows Clipboard contents using the window title and current time. G. Deselect text and end AutoHotkey routine.

To use the IncrementalSaveText.ahk routine, cut-and-paste the following code to either a new AutoHotkey file or an existing one:

; Copying text to C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Documents\Backup\[incremental filename].txt for backup

^#!B::

Send, ^a

Sleep 100

Send, ^c

Sleep 100

IfNotExist, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Documents\Backup\

{

FileCreateDir, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Documents\Backup\

}

WinGetTitle, WindowName, A

StringReplace, WindowName, WindowName, `\, -, All

StringReplace, WindowName, WindowName, `:, -, All

FileAppend , %clipboard%, C:\Users\%A_UserName%\Documents\Backup\%WindowName%%A_Now%.txt

Click

return

How It Works

Both Items A and B in the code (see Figure 6) are essentially the same code used in the example from last time, except in this case the hotkey combination is ^+#!B (CTRL++ALT+B). The text in the active window or field is selected (Send, ^a) and copied to the Windows Clipboard (^c). The Sleep command is used to pause the routine in order to allow enough time for the completion of each step. It might be necessary to increase these sleep times if you're copying larger amounts of text such as the Apple Web page noted above.

The code shown in Item C is necessary only if the folder Documents/Backup does not already exist. The IfNotExist command checks for the existence of the folder. If it is not there the FileCreateDir command is used to create it. If you plan to create the folder yourself, then this code can be eliminated.

The line of code in Item D (WinGetTitle, WindowName, A) uses the WinGetTitle command to store the window's title of the active window (A) to the variable WindowName. This is used as the first part of the file name for the backup file.

In two lines of code in Item E the StringReplace command is used to remove the special characters (backslash and colon) which will prevent the routine from working for Windows File Explorer. Both are replaced with the hyphen (-) creating an innocuous file string to use in a file name. Note that the AutoHotkey escape character (`) precedes the special characters (\ and :). This is to ensure that they are treated as plain text and not their special character function.

The line of code in Item F uses the FileAppend command to create a unique file which contains the copied text in the Clipboard by combining the window's title WindowName with the current time A_Now and ".txt" for the file name. Note that the variables clipboard, A_UserName, WindowName, and A_Now need to be enclosed in percent signs (%) to return their value rather than the variable name itself.

The Click command in Item G deselects the text in the current active window. This protects against accidental deletion of the selected text when hitting another key. The Return command marks the end of the routine.

Many programs such as Notepad++ have internal settings for incremental backup (Verbose backup) which use a similar backup naming system of the current file name plus date and time. But it you want an alternative incremental backup which will work in any editor including Notepad, WordPad and on the Web, then this AutoHotkey routine will give you a little more flexibility—plus it also works in Notepad++.

*                    *                    *

Now available in e-book format from Amazon, Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Building Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, AutoHotkey is the most powerful, flexible, free Windows utility software available. Anyone can instantly add more of the functions that they want in all of their Windows programs, whether installed on their computer or while working on the Web. AutoHotkey has a universality not found in any other Windows utility—free or paid.

Based upon the series of articles in ComputorEdge, Jack takes you through his learning experience as he explores writing simple AutoHotkey scripts for adding repetitive text in any program or on the Web, running programs with special hotkeys or gadgets, manipulating the size and screen location of windows, making any window always-on-top, copying and moving files, and much more. Each chapter builds on the previous chapters.

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. Jack is now in the process of updating and compiling his hundreds of articles and columns into e-books. Currently available:

Now at Amazon! Jack's A Beginner's Guide to AutoHotkey, Absolutely the Best Free Windows Utility Software Ever!: Create Power Tools for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Our second compilation of stupid ComputorEdge cartoons from 2011 and 2012 is now available at Amazon! That Does Not Compute, Too! ComputorEdge Cartoons, Volume II: "Do You Like Windows 8 or Would You Prefer an Apple?"

Currently only at Amazon.com, Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Available from Amazon, Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8! Also available at Barnes and Noble and ComputorEdge E-Books.

Available exclusively from Amazon, Windows 7 Secrets Four-in-One E-Book Bundle,

Getting Started with Windows 7: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Using Windows 7,

Sticking with Windows XP—or Not? Why You Should or Why You Should Not Upgrade to Windows 7,

and That Does Not Compute!, brilliantly drawn cartoons by Jim Whiting for really stupid gags by Jack about computers and the people who use them.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

“The Business of App Developing”
by Wally Wang

The Business of App Developing; The Profitable Apple Stores; Nokia Maps; Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is Back; Shopping on Mobile Devices; Translation in a Browser; Dictation and Speech.

In the early days of computers, a single copy of a program like Lotus 1-2-3 might cost $495. Yet people kept writing programs for MS-DOS and Windows because that's where the market and money was at the time.

Fast forward to today and while you can still make money writing programs for Windows, the hot new market is mobile apps for either iOS or Android. Yet the early days of app developing is long gone where you could create a novelty app and sell thousands of copies immediately. Today, both the iOS and Android app stores are so crowded that it's easy to get overlooked.

That's why some developers pick smaller markets such as Windows Phone 7 or Blackberry OS. With less competition, their apps stand a greater chance of being seen. The drawback is that with less competition, your total market will also be much less. You can either get a small share of a large market or a larger share of a smaller market.

It's still possible to make money developing mobile apps, but you have to be smart about it. A couple in Maryland sold their cars and cashed in their 401(k) plan to finance their app developing company. Their apps bring in roughly $20 a day, which forced the husband to get a full-time job while his wife runs their app business. Just because you start an app business doesn't mean you can support yourself right away.

When creating apps, you probably won't make a million dollars with your first app and you probably won't make a million dollars after you create your 50th app either. If you think you can make a full-time income developing apps, you can, but it won't necessarily be easy. Starting an app developing company from scratch takes time. Rather than quit your job and start developing apps in hopes of striking it rich, it's better to develop apps in your spare time and gradually build up your app company while still having the security of a full-time job. Then if your app company takes off, you can choose to quit your job and devote full-time on creating more apps.

The key to selling apps isn't necessarily having the best technically written app on the market, but in marketing your app properly to the right audience. The best app that nobody knows about will always sell less than a mediocre app targeting the right audience, even if that audience may be small.

To learn about app marketing, read a book like iPhone & iPad Apps Marketing or The Business of iPhone and iPad App Marketing. Both books will show you there's a lot more to apps than just developing them and throwing them out in the market, hoping that people will magically find them and start buying them with no additional effort on your part.

Beyond the marketing aspect of selling apps, there's always the problem of creating apps in the first place. You could create iOS apps using Objective-C or Android apps using Java, but for a quicker solution, browse through Dr. Dobb's list of the best mobile app development tools to find one that will make it easier for you to convert raw ideas into a finished app.

Like any business, there's no easy path to riches. As long as you're willing to do the work, you can make money selling apps. If you're not willing to do the work but just want the money, you won't be successful at anything since the first obstacle you encounter will stop you dead in your tracks. Just fill a real need and whatever you do will likely bring in some income. The only question is how much?

The Profitable Apple Stores

Back in 2000, retail expert David A. Goldstein gave Business Week his opinion on Apple opening up their own retail stores: "I give them two years before they're turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake."

Twelve years later, Apple Stores are the number one most profitable retail stores in the world, earning $6050 per square foot while second place Tiffany's only earns $3017 per square foot. How does Apple keep selling more products through their own stores than every major retailer in the world?

Figure 1. Apple's retail stores earn twice as much as Tiffany per square foot.

One secret in plain view is that Apple sells products that people want to buy. It's not about marketing because even the best marketing can't cause customers to buy products over and over again if they're not happy with them. It's not about image because you can't get large numbers of people to spend money consistently on products that they think will boost their status. If Apple didn't sell products that people liked, people would stop buying them. It's that simple.

What makes Apple's stores unique is that they sell their own products. Walk into a Microsoft Store and it may look similar to an Apple Store, but Microsoft's stores not only sell their own Surface branded tablets, but computers from Acer, Hewlett-Packard, and Asus along with phones from Samsung and HTC as well. It's easy to stock the limited inventory of Apple's product line. It's nearly impossible to stock the entire inventory of a half dozen product lines from other companies.

Apple also sells premium products rather than compete in the low-end market. The idea is simple. If you wanted to make a lot of money, would you rather sell one great product for $999 or sell dozens of mediocre products for $399? You may find more people willing to pay $399, but people who shop based on price tend to be the most vocal and hardest customers to please, which simply drives up your expenses and frustration level trying to deal with them.

Noted marketing expert, Dan Kennedy, the author of No B.S. Marketing to the Affluent says that "Few things are intrinsically worth their price...Diamonds are, in essence, polished dirt." The difference between two nearly identical products may be nothing more than the value one company provides over another.

A MacBook Air or Microsoft Surface tablet may use many of the same internal parts as a Dell or Acer Windows PC, but the difference is the quality of the materials. Both a MacBook Air and Surface tablet not only look stylish, but feel solid. A $399 Windows laptop might use the same processor and memory chips, but the typical $399 Windows laptop is made of cheaper plastic and weighs more while looking as ugly as a Soviet-era air conditioner. Unless you can get the exact same item for a lower price, comparing the prices of two different products can deceive you into thinking that the lower cost item is equal to the higher priced item when it really isn't, much like believing that a $4,000 Yugo is equal (or even superior) to a $100,000 Lamborghini just because they're both cars.

There's a reason why Apple Stores are the most profitable retail stores in the world and it has everything to do with the products that they're selling and the service they provide to support them. Microsoft tries to mimic Apple's stores but until they can provide more products that people actually want (such as an Xbox), retail sales of Microsoft Stores and other retailers will continue to pale beside the massive profits generated by the Apple Stores.

On Black Friday, Piper Jaffray monitored foot traffic going into an Apple Store and a neighboring Microsoft Store at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Some of their findings include:

• There was 47% less foot traffic at the Microsoft Store than the Apple Store.

• Shoppers bought 17.2 items per hour at the Apple Store and only 3.5 items per hour at the Microsoft Store. All but two of the Microsoft purchases were Xbox games.

• Shoppers at the Apple Store bought an average of 11 iPads per hour. During the two hours Piper Jaffray tracked the Microsoft Store, nobody bought a Microsoft Surface tablet.

Piper Jaffray did notice that although foot traffic increased in the Apple Store over last year's Black Friday, Apple sold fewer iPads and Macintosh computers. If you live in an area where there's a Microsoft Store next to an Apple Store, just browse through both stores to see which is more crowded. Then stand around for a while to see how many people buy something in each store. Depending on your beliefs, you may or may not be surprised at the results.

Figure 2. Comparing Black Friday sales over the years at one Apple Store.

Nokia Maps

In case you don't like Apple's Maps app that comes with the iPhone and iPad, you can try Nokia's HERE Maps. Much as Apple has acquired mapping companies to create their own mapping app, so has Nokia acquired mapping companies to come up with their own map app for use in their own smartphones.

While the accuracy of Apple's Maps app has steadily improved since its introduction, it still lacks public transportation directions. If you need to find bus or street car routes, you'll have to rely on another map app like Nokia's HERE maps.

Figure 3. Nokia's HERE Map lets you choose different types of views for your map.

If you're driving, Nokia's HERE maps can also display traffic slow downs, accidents, and construction. Once you spot traffic congestion, you can look for alternate routes to get to your destination while everyone else gets stuck in a traffic jam.

Figure 4. Nokia's HERE maps can monitor traffic congestion in real-time.

Best of all, Nokia's HERE maps is free so you have nothing to lose by downloading and installing it on your iPhone or iPad today. Maybe with a more accurate mapping solution you can find your way around a strange city and not get lost trying to get there.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is Back

Usually when most companies introduce a new version of their operating system, they stop distributing any older versions. While many Macintosh users have upgraded to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, many older Macintosh computers can't run Mountain Lion. If users of older Macintosh computers want to run the most modern version of OS X possible, they can now buy OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for $19.99.

One reason why new Macintosh users might want to use Snow Leopard is because that's the last version that supports Rosetta, the program that makes it possible for PowerPC programs to run on Intel-based Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard doesn't include Rosetta, but you can download and install it if you want. If you use Lion or Mountain Lion, you can never install Rosetta no matter how much you may want it.

Shopping on Mobile Devices

According to IBM, there was a 17.4 percent increase in online shopping on Thanksgiving Day and 20.7 percent increase on Black Friday versus 2011. While it makes sense that more people are shopping online, IBM found that 24 percent of online shoppers used mobile devices, compared with 14.3 percent in 2011.

Out of these mobile shoppers, people shopping with a tablet used the iPad 88.3 percent of the time. The iPhone and iPad together were used in 18.5 percent of online shopping transactions.

Figure 5. iPad and iPhone users make up most of the online shoppers from mobile devices.

While iPad and iPhone users tend to shop online, Android devices combined (smartphone and tablets) lag behind the iPhone alone. So although Android dominates the smartphone market, those large numbers aren't translating into greater online shoppers. Why Android users don't shop online as much as iPhone users seems a bit odd.

One possible explanation is that Android smartphones target a wide range of users at all price levels. Apple, on the other hand, targets a more affluent market. When seen through this perspective, this could explain why iPhone users shop online more often than Android users, even though there are more Android users.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that iPhone and iPad users tend to shop online more often than Android users so if you're selling anything online, it pays to target people who use iPhones or iPads. If you're in a business or industry that could profit from this information, you might as well take advantage of this whether you like Apple or not. The question is really whether you like making money by using information regardless of whether it matches your belief system or not.

Translation in a Browser

If you're studying another language, download a copy of Tap-Translate for the iPhone and iPad. First, define a language that you want to see. Then as you browse the Internet and find an interesting word on a Web page, just tap it. The Tap-Translate app displays the translated word so you can gradually learn a foreign language just by browsing the Internet.

Figure 6. Tap-Translate lets you choose from a variety of different languages.

Figure 7. Tap on a word on a Web page and Tap-Translate shows you the translation.

Use Tap-Translate to visit news sites, technology sites, or anything you find interesting. By looking up the words you use most often in your hobby or career, you can use Tap-Translate to gradually teach you how to write those words in another language. Since the world is getting more global, you might as well start learning a foreign language now to maintain your skills for the future.

*                    *                    *

In the old days if you had an audio file and wanted to get it transcribed into text, you had to pay someone to do it. Nowadays you can just play that audio file directly into your Macintosh and let its dictation features try to transcribe audio into text.

Click the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. Then click the Dictation & Speech icon. From here you can turn on the dictation feature and also define where your Macintosh should receive audio.

Figure 8. Defining Dictation settings.

After defining Dictation settings, just open a word processor like Pages and choose Edit —> Start Dictation. Now you can play your audio file into your Macintosh and have it transcribe audio into text. It won't do a great job (depending on the quality of the audio file), but it can get much of the text correctly so you can clean up the rest manually.

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, Lion Edition

My New iPad 2

Steal This Computer Book

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 and Gerald Fisher

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

The Secrets of the Wall Street Stock Traders

Mac Programming For Absolute Beginners

Republican Fairy Tales (Children's Stories the 1% Tell About the Rest of Us)

The Zen of Effortless Selling with Moe Abdou

The 15-Minute Movie Method

Erotophobia (A novel)

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method." Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com.

Beyond Personal Computing

“Supercomputers: From Cray to Toadafritz, and Yes, Even a Coming Smartphone App”
by Marilyn K. Martin

Amusing anecdotes about supercomputers.

Supercomputers exist in a mystical computing universe all their own. It's a point of pride when a country announces that it now has the fastest supercomputer. It could be the size of Long Island, capable of reprogramming every functioning satellite overhead and even repurposing space junk, all in under the blink of an eye. They usually live in their own massive, super-secret rooms, hulking behemoths of wire and metal with pet names like Jaguar and Titan. Consider them the wrestling stars of the computing world, with masked identities and rippling muscles with "El Speedo! Numero Uno! Todo El Mundo!" on their chests.

Supercomputers have been around long enough now that some have dropped out of the rat race when their speed is only sniffingly referenced as "compared to" the newer supercomputers. Then they become more egalitarian, more accessible by the common man. But instead of the indignity of being stripped for parts, they are only decommissioned, as befits any beloved battleship. Then they are available to researchers and students, like the older supercomputers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Playstation Climatology

It's been a joke for years now at JunkScience.com that the barrage of "model output from worldwide supercomputers" always points to doom and gloom from that elusive little critter called climate change. They call it Playstation Climatology. And the fact that most of the models seem minimally related to anything beyond scientific theory—or even each other—never seems to give the PC guys pause.

Our Air Force's Idea of an Off-the-Shelf Supercomputer

Possibly inspired by JunkScience's references, or maybe looming defense cuts deep enough to send the Air Force back to "making paper airplane models for modeling," the Air Force's Research Lab in Rome, New York in 2011 actually constructed a working supercomputer based on the PlayStation3.

Made from 1,716 PlayStation3s linked together, it is used to process images from Air Force spy planes. The Air Force calls it Condor, and claims it is "among the 40 fastest supercomputers in the world," and the "DOD's Largest Interactive Supercomputer." Although it's unknown if the Airmen can play video games on Condor when it's not processing spy images.

Is a Supercomputer Really Super?

Then how come the bullets don't bounce off when someone shoots at it?

Although that new Cray supercomputer is so fast, it can execute an infinite loop in 6 seconds.

Supercomputers and Video Games

It may be compelling wishful thinking, but our psyches keep trying to link supercomputers to super video games. In 2008, it was announced that Microsoft had teamed with Cray to produce the first Personal Supercomputer, the Cray CX1, for comparative chump-change—starting at $25,000. The Cray CX1 was discontinued in early 2012 for unknown reasons. But that great everyman-platform of usually works inventions, YouTube, has at least one how-to video on building a Gaming Rig Supercomputer. Don't laugh—"Toadafritz" may be a respected supercomputer expert in another ten years.

The Military and a New Supercomputer

A large defense contractor finally built a supercomputer that could supposedly solve any strategic or tactical problem. Military leaders were assembled in front of it to great fanfare, and wanted to see a demonstration. So the supercomputer was fed a difficult tactical problem in a hypothetical situation, and then asked "Attack or Retreat?"

The supercomputer hummed and spun out its answer: "Yes"

The Generals frowned and then fed the supercomputer a second question: "Yes—what?"

The Supercomputer spit out the answer in a nano-second: "Yes, SIR!"

Top Supercomputers

A supercomputer site called Top500.org makes yearly lists of what they consider the most super of the current supercomputers. Topping their list in June 2012 was the Sequoia, a petascale BlueGene/Q supercomputer made by IBM and assigned to the Department of Energy and Lawrence Livermore. (It was delivered in 2011, and is supposed to be "fully deployed" this year, 2012. So "Fastest in World" supercomputer credentials can apparently be announced before anyone flips the On switch.)

You can scroll down through Memory Lane at the site, seeing which supercomputers held that lofty title of "Fastest in World" from year to year, starting with the Fujitsu Numerical Wind Tunnel that reigned supreme in supercomputer-land from June 1993 to June 1997. The photos are taken from odd angles to showcase the supercomputers, some enclosed and some not, to try to give a sense of their majestic enormity.

There is even interest now in supercomputer trivia and posters. A Top500 History Exhibit at the SC12 Conference in Salt Lake City in November 2012 featured posters of every supercomputer that has been (however briefly) "Fastest in World" for the past twenty years.

A New Supercomputer with Super Answers

The first day a new supercomputer went online, a skeptical official asked it: "Where is my father?"

The supercomputer spun and beeped out an answer: "Your father is fishing in Michigan."

"Ah HA!" crowed the skeptic. "I knew it! This supercomputer was a total waste of money. My father has actually been dead for twenty years."

"No," replied the supercomputer. "Your mother's husband has been dead for twenty years. Your father just landed a three-pound trout."

"Fastest in World" Title

Although Top500 lists the Sequoia as the current fastest computer, a late October 2012 article in National Geographic says the "Fastest in World" supercomputer is really the Titan, at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Although it's technically just a significant upgrade of their previous supercomputer, the Jaquar, rather than a totally new computer. The renamed Titan can handle 20,000 Trillion calculations per second, at a speed of 20 petaflops.

Titan is, however, definitely prettier than Sequoia, so visual graphics are now a "must" for competing supercomputers. Sort of the swimsuit event in the ongoing supercomputer global competition. Probably why it boasts "hybrid architecture which boosts the power of CPUs by marrying them to high-performance, energy-efficient graphical processing units (GPUs)—that propels and animates today's most popular video games."

Someday—Smartphone Supercomputers

In November 2012, Wired magazine reported that in five years, a smartphone could double as a supercomputer. Intel's experimental Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) project, is "researching potential mobile applications for the chip," to turn cell phones into supercomputers. Just think—maybe our cell phones could not only give us brain cancer, but could also diagnose it and zap it out with a tiny laser. It's called a Finite Medical Loop.

Supercomputers of the Future?

Fujitsu.com

asked people what they would like to see supercomputers be able to do in the future. From Malaysia came ideas ranging from using supercomputers to access wormholes for interstellar exploration, to a supercomputer that could instantly translate all languages in international video conferences. Several people in the UK wanted a supercomputer that could prove that Earth's lithosphere, surface and biomes are interlinked, or use it to prove the true authorship of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. Other great ideas are to figure out where fresh water supplies will develop over the next decades, to simulating evolution and finding cures for all diseases.

According to a 2012 article in MIT's Technology Review a High Performance Computing expert named Thomas Sterling has announced that the rate of growth in supercomputer power is about to plateau—meaning the end of Moore's Law (that computing power doubles about every 18 months). Or that we can't reach Exascale supercomputing using silicon, due to the basic physical restrictions of working with atoms. Future supercomputers, he and other experts insist, will have to be based on protein, DNA or optical devices instead of silicon. (No problem! Australia's already working on the world's first quantum supercomputer.)

(Most of these amusing anecdotes can be found at multiple internet joke sites. But special thanks to JokeBuddha.com, usmilitary.about.com, and angelfire.com.)

Marilyn is a freelance writer and humorist, with a special interest (besides computers and technology) in Science Fiction. A SF Horror story appeared in July 2011 in Deadman's Tome. And in January 2012 she had a SF Police Procedural appearing in Cosmic Crime magazine, and a SF Dystopian Romance appearing in the Strange Valentines anthology. She also has almost seventy articles on Helium.com, and is writing a humorous Young Adult SF 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.

ComputorEdge E-Books has converted many of Marilyn's computer humor columns into four e-books.

Now available in a four-book Kindle bundle from Amazon.com The Best Computer and Internet Humor, Anecdotes, and Jokes Found on the Web. Marilyn's collection of the funniest stories about our computing machines and how we use them at home, the office, and in cyber space. Save 25% off the individual book price!

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

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

"Copied CD Music Files Are Gone," "Deleting Yahoo Mail Contacts," "Setting Time on TF700 Tablet," "RevoUninstaller," "Make a Mobile App with LiveCode"

Copied CD Music Files Are Gone

[Regarding the November 16 Digital Dave column:]

Hey Dave,

Ref: Copied CD Music Files Are Gone; Any info for Windows XP and this problem? Or am I missing something?

-Bob, San Diego, CA

Bob, the only differences for Windows XP is that you need to open the Properties window with a right-click in Windows Media Player to see the file location in the File tab, plus "Folder Options..." can be found in the Tools menu of Windows Explorer.

Sorry for the oversight.

-Digital Dave , ComputorEdge

Deleting Yahoo Mail Contacts

[Regarding the November 16 Digital Dave column:]

In my Yahoo mail, there's a tab near the top (of four, What's New, Inbox, Contacts, Calendar) to view/manage your Contacts. Just click that and you can find/delete any contacts you like.

I didn't look, but most e-mail programs have a setting you can disable so it doesn't automatically save every e-mail address you send to. Maybe that would help Jim S. from getting all sorts of extra, strange, unwanted addresses in his contact list.

-Rich Ernst, San Diego, CA

Setting Time on TF700 Tablet

[Regarding the November 16 Digital Dave column:]

I have been a computer user for over 25 years and hate to admit to a dumb mistake, but I finally found the setting for time and time zone right where it should be—in the settings menu. Just needed to swipe the page in the right place.

-Ray, San Diego, CA

RevoUninstaller

[Regarding the November 16 Editors Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers column:]

Be aware that RevoUninstaller, in spite of the extra clean up options will not always clean 100% of certain application registry entries. One example I know of is Nero and even with the Nero clean tool registry entries will be keep preventing you from downloading a clean version. The only way I have been able to reload Nero is to reinstall my OS. I made a backup minus Nero and although somewhat cumbersome it does work. If you do not clean all the Nero registry entries you will get a message from Nero saying your 30 days is up and send us another $90 to keep using it. Also words saying obviously you are copying this to more than one computer. There may be other applications that won't clean completely and I suspect some Adobe programs such as Photoshop is one of them.

-Richard Manteufel, Lemon Grove, CA

Make a Mobile App with LiveCode

[Regarding the November 16 Wally Wangs Apple Farm column:]

This is a great article—thanks!

-Caroline Finlay, Edinburgh

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