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Burning CDs with Windows

There are legitimate reasons for copying music to CDs. It's remarkably easy to do in Windows.

Magazine Summary

List of ComputorEdge Sponsors

Digital Dave

by Digital Dave

Digital Dave answers your tech questions.

Backing Up Windows 8.1; Comodo and a Persistent Problem; Editing PDF files.

Burning a Mixed Music CD with Windows

by Jack Dunning

Windows Has All You Need to Copy Music and Make CDs

While there are legal obstacles to copying music from the Internet, there are still plenty of reasons to copy audio and save it to a CD-R.

Back to Counting Calories

by Jack Dunning

After Adding a Second Tab with a Food List, It's Time to Add a Right-Click Menu

GuiContextMenu is an AutoHotkey tool which makes it easy to add tailored menus to the CalorieCount ListViews.

Wally Wang's Apple Farm

by Wally Wang

The Metric System

The Metric System; Staying with MS-DOS; Turning Pictures into Comics; Learning to Develop iOS Apps; Firewall.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews

by Charles Carr, News and Reviews Editor

The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.

Monkey Selfies: Who Owns the Image?; Back to School: New Sickweather App is Like a Doppler Radar for Sickness; Mouse for Mobile Users; Octodad: Dadliest Catch for PC.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

by ComputorEdge Staff

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

"Full Faith and Credit," "The Money Fiction = The Tax Fiction," "Outlook with Dashes and Spaces," "Security Software," "Thanks re: Foxit"

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

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Digital Dave

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

Backing Up Windows 8.1; Comodo and a Persistent Problem; Editing PDF files.

Backing Up Windows 8.1

Dear Digital Dave,

I recently updated to 8.1 and wonder how does a person do a backup of their operating system? I'd like to put it on a flash drive, but how big a flash drive is needed? When the desktop was purchased the store did it, however this was the old OS. I'm a senior who isn't all that computer wise, therefore make it easy to understand. I don't want to use DVDs because it no doubt takes quite a few of them.

Thank you,

Alan

Denver, CO

Dear Alan,

The old Backup and Restore feature is now called File History in Windows 8.1. You can either search for "file history" (+W for Settings search) or open Control Panel => System and Security => File History. (If you do the search then be sure to pick "File History" and not "File History settings." The latter will put you into a minimalistic Modern interface app which is practically useless for your purposes.)

Windows 8 makes a Recovery partition for every installation which will appear as a separate hard drive—even though it is physically located on the same drive. This can be used to Refresh (Restore) the system when you run into problems. However, it is a good idea to have another Recovery disk which will restart the computer in case of a hard drive failure. This can be on a separate hard drive, but more likely a flash drive or discs.

Once in the File History windows, you have the option to make either a recovery disk or a system image backup. To make a recovery disk (probably the best bet for you), click the Recover link in the lower left-hand corner. In the next window, click "Create a recovery drive."

You will have an option to "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive", but you may want to uncheck this option. It will copy to the default backup drive (which may be an external hard drive) and wipe out everything else on it. If that box is not checked, then you will be given the option to use an alternative flash drive which will only need a minimum of 512MB.

If you decide to make a System Image Backup (also in the lower left-hand corner), then you will be given multiple options including flash drives and discs. A system image is usually made on an alternative hard drive since it often requires a great deal of space (everything on your active partition).

On my Windows 8.1 laptop I was given the opportunity to make system discs (one time only). It only took six DVD discs.

Digital Dave

Comodo and a Persistent Problem

Dear Digital Dave,

Several times over every Internet session I get a message from Comodo Firewall saying, "System is trying to receive a message from the Internet." I tracked the IP # with "Who Is" and it is usually some company like "—Electric" located near San Francisco and sometimes Kurdistan (I forget the full name). I Googled the name and it says it is a company that has something to do with worldwide networking. This occurs only on my Windows 7 PC, not on the other two Windows 8 PCs.

Anyway, I "Block" it each time it appears, but with the name "System." I know of no way to track which file is asking to connect to the Internet so I can get rid of it. Antivirus, etc. shows nothing amiss, but I'd like it to go away. Can you help me pierce the broad term of "System" to eliminate this or permanently block it automatically (since Comodo does not automatically give me this option)?

AJ Dalton

Bonsall, CA

Dear AJ,

When the term "System" is used, it generally refers to your computer. It sounds like an installed program or Web browser plug-in is trying to make an inquiry to an external resource—possibly to check for updates. But every time the request is made Comodo Firewall is blocking the answer.

If it only happens when you are browsing the Internet ("every Internet session"), then I would suspect that it is a browser add-on. Check your Web browser add-ons (plug-ins, extensions, etc.) and disable any that you think may be the culprit. Depending upon your browser, you may even be able to stop it from checking for plug-in updates. If you can't isolate the problem, then it could be an installed program causing the annoyance.

I don't know what is causing the request, but it is quite possible that you may be able to track it down through the Event Viewer (see Figure 1). Type "event" in the search field of the Start Menu and select Event Viewer from the list.

Figure 1. Event Viewer logs the computers activities.

There are a lot of logs to sift through, so look for those items which are most likely to be involved. Look for errors—especially around the time of the occurrence. This may give you more insight.

I feel sure that it is a response to a request made by your computer. If you can find the source of the request, then you can stop the responses.

Digital Dave

Editing PDF Files

Dear Digital Dave,

I've just started scanning docs and converting to PDFs. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. But I have a question. Is there a way to delete a particular page in a PDF file without having to rescan documents? I use Nitro3 and Foxit Reader (both being free), but I haven't found a delete ability yet. Is there a free PDF viewer that would allow me to do this? I'm retired and not involved with a business or anything so an outlay of hundreds of dollars for this "feature" is not practical.

Thanks. Long time reader.

Mark

San Diego, CA

Dear Mark,

One of the problems with generating PDFs from almost any other program is that the PDF formatting will often cause unusual issues. One of the most common is the addition of blank pages to the file. While these blank pages may come in handy for taking notes, they can be annoying and a waste of space—especially when printing. You need a PDF editor (not viewer) to remove pages.

As a rule PDF editors are not free. Programs such as Foxit Reader are not really editors. They allow marking up the text by adding comments and images, but actual deleting or adding pages is not supported. (Editing the text within a PDF document is even rarer.) However, I did find an online service which will allow basic editing such as deleting pages called CutePDF Editor—still no text editing. Since it was online (no program to download), it took a little time to upload and change a file, but it did make very basic changes.

Most of the PDF editors I found were free to try for a limited period of time before paying. I did see a couple of free PDF editors which claimed to edit text and images as well as delete pages, but I hesitated to download any since I couldn't verify their safety through a third party. (One of them was located in Montenegro.) If all you need is to delete an occasional page, then the online CutePDF Editor should do the job.

If I need to touch up a PDF, I use an old version of Adobe Acrobat which I bought years ago. I once wrote a program that would search and replace text in PDFs. The format is ridiculously complicated and fragile. One wrong move and the whole thing is corrupted. I don't understand how we got stuck with this format, but so be it.

Perhaps another reader is aware of a safe free PDF editor which will actually change text and images, not merely overlay new text and images.

Digital Dave

Burning a Mixed Music CD with Windows

“Windows Has All You Need to Copy Music and Make CDs”
by Jack Dunning

While there are legal obstacles to copying music from the Internet, there are still plenty of reasons to copy audio and save it to a CD-R.

In the old days people made mixed music tapes on cassettes from albums. That way they could listen to their favorite songs while on the road or walking down the boardwalk with a boom box on their shoulder. It was always a bit of a hassle to make the tape even if you had all the right equipment (cassette recorder with the proper cables) connected to your player. If you were lucky the cassette player in your car wouldn't eat the tape. The CD player ended all that.

Today, CD players are a standard feature in most cars. All you do is insert the music disc and the album starts playing. It's easy to skip to the next song (always a bit tricky with the old cassette tape) and there is no rewinding. One of the most common ways to while away the time on a road trip is listening to your favorite music on CDs. (Today many people have moved on to the next step by plugging their smartphone or MP3 player directly into the car's sound system.) The computer has made the problem of making a mixed CD incredibly simple. In fact it is so simple that piracy of music is now rampant.

Legally Copying Music

The Internet has promoted an individual attitude that everything should be free. There is so much information and media available at no charge that people tend to avoid anything that requires payment. I'm no different from anyone else. I always look for free software. I subscribe to the free version of Pandora. Wikipedia is a major source of information for me. If AutoHotkey wasn't free, I probably wouldn't promote it as much as I do. I may make an occasional contribution to a particular free program or Web site, but it likely doesn't correlate to the value that I've received in return. But that's the nature of the Web. Who would use Facebook if it wasn't free?

The abundance of free stuff on the Internet promotes the ideas that everything should be free—including copyrighted material. We have many ways to rationalize the use of someone else's work without payment—especially music. "If I can listen to a song anytime I like on YouTube, what's the problem with copying it for a mixed CD in the car?" "The recording company already has enough money." Or my favorite, "Everybody does it."

The music industry claims that it loses billions of dollars a years due to piracy. The reality is probably much less. The fact is that most people who copy music illegally would never have purchased the songs if they were not freely available. This is also true for software and other digital media. For example, I've notice that many of my books are available free at pirate Web sites. There isn't much that I can do about it. The sources are probably outside the United States. I console myself by the supposition that none of the people who are getting the free copy would have paid for it in the first place. Who knows? Maybe one of the "borrowers" will decide that there is some value is a book and head to the site to pay for it.

I don't put copy protection on the e-books because I figure that it is better that people share the books rather than have them sit unopened. It is easy for anyone who already owns one of the e-books to send a copy to a friend. Possibly, the increased circulation of the book will lead to more sales. (There is no way I can prove this theory, but it makes me feel better.) Besides, virtually all of the information in the books is freely available in the articles and columns I've written over the years—it just may be a little harder to find. So from one point of view, I do sympathize with the music industry, but they do benefit from the increased distribution in the same way free radio boosted record consumption—especially for those artists who were lucky enough to make the list.

So, what is legal? Under the Fair Use doctrine it is often stated that making a mixed CD from a privately owned collection is legal for personal use, but this is far from definitive. Anything further, including giving the CD to a friend could be considered piracy. Certainly copying music from YouTube violates copyright laws. The problem is that it's so easy to do, that people don't think twice about it.

Copying Music from the Internet

Music sites such as Pandora allow you to set up channels with specific types of music based upon genre or artist. The problem with copying this music is there is no way to target a specific song. Sure a particular tune is likely to play at some time, but no one knows when. That means a pirate is forced to copy everything in the list just to get one song.

It turns out that YouTube is a much better place to illegally copy music for a mixed CD to play in a car. While YouTube carries only videos, all that's needed is the audio track and people have discovered how easy it to copy the music from the video on almost any computer. The quality may not be the same as that from a purchased copy, but it is often plenty good enough for replaying in a usually noisy car—unless someone happens to own an incredibly good automobile sound system in an incredibly quiet car.

For the purpose of this article, let's assume that your "talented" granddaughter has posted a video on YouTube of her singing an original arrangement of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." You would like to copy the audio to make a mixed CD which you can play while driving to Montana. Since the copyright on the song expired over 100 years ago all you need is permission from your granddaughter to make a copy of her version. (Make sure that you get permission in writing—just in case.)

No special programs are required in Windows to start copying music from the Internet. It all starts with a little known simple one-button program called Sound Recorder (see Figure 1). You don't need to be a pirate to want to know how to operate Sound Recorder. It can be used for recording virtually any audio on your computer. Maybe you plan to save the audio from a Skype session with family. Or, possibly you want to make a recording of an audio message to send to someone else. I used it to record a message for an answering machine.

Figure 1. Sound Recorder can be used to record any audio on a Windows computer.

Once Sound Recorder is loaded, click the Start Recording button and it begins copying whatever it hears. Click the button again and the recording stops while opening a file save window. It's that simple.

You start the Sound Recorder, then start your granddaughter's YouTube video. When the song is over, you stop recording and save the file. You then double-click on the newly saved file to replay it. It sounds horrible!

By default Sound Recorder is usually set to record through the microphone (if available). While this is ideal for making voice recording, it is unsuitable for audio playing on the computer. It may record, but it's likely to be poor quality since it is copying the output from the speakers into the microphone. If the audio is playing on the computer, then that same quality audio can be captured with the proper settings in the Sound window.

The Sound window can be opened either through Control Panel => Sound or by clicking on the speaker icon in the System Tray and selecting Mixer from the pop-up. Next, click the Systems Sounds button under Applications (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The System Sounds window can be opened through the Volume Mixer found via the System Tray speaker icon.

Once the Sound window is open, select the Recording tab. Look for Stereo Mix and set that as default (see Figure 3). With this setting any sound playing through the computer is directly recorded—regardless of the source. In fact, if you have more than one audio source playing at the same time (e.g. Windows Media Player, YouTube, and/or the microphone) this setting will record it all. (Great for adding non-copyrighted background music for emotional impact to a speech.)

Figure 3. The Sound window can change the default recording device under the Recording tab in the Sound window.

On some Windows computers, the Stereo Mix option may be hidden. In that case, check out this 2009 column "Recording Played Audio."

Now the audio played by the YouTube video will be recorded directly without going through the microphone. Once you've captured your granddaughter's version of the song, you're ready to go to the next step: burning a CD.

Burning a Music CD in Windows

For many people Windows Media Player is not a favorite, but one thing that it does remarkably well is burn mixed CDs—and it comes with all versions of Windows. Whether you're making a road CD from your favorite albums or creating a series of inspirational quotes that you read into the computer's microphone, it is easy to add the audio files, sort them and burn them to an audio CD-R. (The term burn is commonly used for the process of writing data to an optical disc. This connotates an irreversible process of etching the disc similar to the act of burning a brand into a piece of wood.)

If you're planning to use the music album that you own, you will need to first load the album into Windows Media Player via the CD or DVD player and rip (copy) the songs you want to use. (Rip is another violent sounding word possibly associated with ripping off the music.) Once the audio files are available on the hard drive, they can be dragged directly from a Windows Explorer folder to the Burn tab of Windows Media Player (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Windows Media Player makes it remarkably easy to burn a mixed CD.

As files are added to the Burn list, the total length of each is shown and tracked. Once there are more than enough songs to fill a CD the Burn list will automatically start a second CD Burn list. You can drag the files to any order or delete one with a right-click. I found it very intuitive. Once you have all the proper files in the list, put a blank CD-R disc into the drive and click "Start burn." That's all there is to it.

The files don't even need to in the same format—as long as they can be played by Windows Media Player. The audio from our granddaughter's YouTube video can be mixed in with the other music ripped from your albums.

Windows Media Player has many other features and options, but quite frankly I haven't taken the time to explore them. I'm not big on listening to music, but I have thought of making a recording of my numerous profound thoughts. I could send the CDs to my grandkids on their twenty-first birthdays.

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:

Recently released is Jack's FREE AutoHotkey book, AutoHotkey Tricks You Ought to Do with Window, available exclusively at ComputorEdge E-Books in the EPUB for e-readers and tablets, MOBI for Kindle, and PDF for printing formats.

ComputorEdge E-books offering is his AutoHotkey Applications, an idea-generating intermediate level e-book about using the AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI) command to write practical pop-up apps for your Windows computer. (It's not as hard as it sounds.)

Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

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 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

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?"

Special Free Offer at ComputorEdge E-Books! Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8 (Seventh Edition)!

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.

Back to Counting Calories

“After Adding a Second Tab with a Food List, It's Time to Add a Right-Click Menu”
by Jack Dunning

GuiContextMenu is an AutoHotkey tool which makes it easy to add tailored menus to the CalorieCount ListViews.

Last week we temporarily suspended our discussion of the CalorieCount.ahk script and some of its coding techniques to look at the Dictionary script which has stopped functioning. What I wrote about the Dictionary app is not my last word on the topic and at some point will pick it up again—like whether AutoHotkey should be used at all.

This week I continue to work on the CalorieCount script. So far we had added a second tab to display a ListView food list from the history of past food consumed. Now, we want to add a right-click menu option which copies an item into the food editing fields on the Daily Calories tab. The Daily Calories ListView already displays such a right-click menu, but now with the second ListView there is added complication.

Adding a New Right-click Menu to the Food List

There are three steps involved in adding the new right-click menu to the Food List tab:

1. Create the menu.

2. Add the new menu to the right-click action which calls the GuiContextMenu label (subroutine) for displaying the menu. This requires differentiating between the two ListViews, MyListView (Daily Calories) and MyFoodView (Food List). ("GuiContextMenu for Creating Right-click Menus" was originally discussed in the ToDo List script and modified for every subsequent ListView script. It is a tremendously flexible built-in label useful for a variety of tasks.)

3. When the food is selected and Copy is clicked from the right-click menu, the food data is copied to the food editing fields and the view is automatically switched to the Daily Calories tab.

Each of these steps illustrates particular techniques which are useful in other AutoHotkey scripts.

Creating the new right-click menu is as simple a including the following line of code:

Menu, MyFoodMenu, Add, Copy, CopyFood

The menu MyFoodItem is created with only one item (Copy) which calls the label (subroutine) CopyFood. If I wanted to add more options to the menu I would merely add a similar line for each menu item.

The GuiContextMenu G-Label

I've discussed the built-in GuiContextMenu G-Label many times in the past—especially in relation to adding menus to a ListView control—particularly in the e-book AutoHotkey Applications. Generally, GuiContextMenu is a window event which automatically triggers when most GUI controls are right-clicked. However, there is much more that you can do with this window event. For additional possibilities such as when a row is activated, editing has started, there is a checkbox change, and many more events, the AltSubmit option needs to be included in the Gui, Add control line. If you have something special you want to do, it's worthwhile to explore the options for yourself.

The key now is to activate the menu when I right-click on a food row in the Food List ListView. This is done with the built-in label GuiContextMenu:. Built-in variables A_GuiControl and A_EventInfo contain the information needed to identify the correct ListView and activate the proper right-click menu:

GuiContextMenu:  ; Launched in response to a right-click or press of the Apps key.

If A_GuiControl = MyListView

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)    ;Gather column data in string EditText

EditText := ColText

Loop 5

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo, A_Index+1)

EditText := EditText . "|" . ColText

}

Menu, MyContextMenu, Show, %A_GuiX%, %A_GuiY%

}

If A_GuiControl = MyFoodView

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1)    ;Gather column data in string FoodText

FoodText := ColText

Loop 2

{

LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo, A_Index+1)

FoodText := FoodText . "|" . ColText

}

Menu, MyFoodMenu, Show, %A_GuiX%, %A_GuiY%

}

Return

The original GuiContextMenu is modified to differentiate between the two ListViews. The A_GuiControl variable contains the name of the ListView clicked. An IF conditional (If A_GuiControl = MyFoodView) is used to run the appropriate routine.

In the MyFoodView routine the LV_GetText(ColText, A_EventInfo,1) function is used to gather the data from the first column in the ListView row. Remember that A_EventInfo returns the right-clicked row number. A short Loop of two iterations is used to capture the remaining data for columns two and three (A_Index+1). The data is gathered into the FoodText variable (delimited with the "|" character) prior to displaying the menu because certain built-in variable lose their value once the GuiContextMenu label is exited.

Lastly, the right-click context menu is displayed (Menu, MyFoodMenu, Show, %A_GuiX%, %A_GuiY%) at the current mouse location as designated by A_GuiX and A_GuiY.

Adding the Data to the Food Editing Fields

MyFoodMenu only contains one item, Copy, which calls the label CopyFood:

CopyFood:          ;Move data from MyFoodView columns into edit fields

SelectedRow := 0

StringSplit, RowData, FoodText , |

GuiControl, ,Food2, % Rowdata1

GuiControl, ,Food3, % Rowdata2

GuiControl, ,Food4, % Rowdata3

GuiControl, ,Food5, 1

GuiControl, ,Food6, %Rowdata3%

Gui, ListView, MyListView

SendInput, ^{PgUp}

Return

The FoodText variable is parsed with the StringSplit command into its component parts—delimited by the "|" character placed there in the GuiContextMenu routine—and places the data into the variables RowData1, RowData2, and RowData3 (StringSplit, RowData, FoodText , |).

Next, the GuiControl command is used to place the correct data into the edit fields located on the first tab. Notice that it makes no difference that the data came from the ListView on the second tab while being placed directly into the editing fields in the first tab.

To save the time it takes to click the main tab, the active ListView is switched to the control in the Daily Calories tab. Then the tab is switched by sending the hotkey for changing tabs (SendInput, ^{PgUp}). While there are other ways to change tabs, I found using CTRL+PageUp the easiest method for this situation.

Scripts can be found at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey download site and if you're new to AutoHotkey? See our Introduction to AutoHotkey!

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:

Recently released is Jack's FREE AutoHotkey book, AutoHotkey Tricks You Ought to Do with Window, available exclusively at ComputorEdge E-Books in the EPUB for e-readers and tablets, MOBI for Kindle, and PDF for printing formats.

ComputorEdge E-books offering is his AutoHotkey Applications, an idea-generating intermediate level e-book about using the AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI) command to write practical pop-up apps for your Windows computer. (It's not as hard as it sounds.)

Hidden Windows Tools for Protecting, Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP Computers.

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 and Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey.

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?"

Special Free Offer at ComputorEdge E-Books! Jack's Favorite Free Windows Programs: What They Are, What They Do, and How to Get Started!.

Misunderstanding Windows 8: An Introduction, Orientation, and How-to for Windows 8 (Seventh Edition)!

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 Metric System”
by Wally Wang

The Metric System; Staying with MS-DOS; Turning Pictures into Comics; Learning to Develop iOS Apps; Firewall.

What do Liberia, Myanmar and the United States have in common? Liberia is a tiny West African country of 4 million people while Myanmar used to be called Burma and is currently ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship. In case you haven't made the connection between these three countries yet, they're the only three countries left in the world that don't use the metric system.

Rather than use a simpler system based on 10, these three countries still prefer the antiquated and confusing system of inches, pints, and acres. Why does the United States, one of the largest and most powerful nations in the world, still use a measurement system that the rest of the world no longer uses except for Liberia and Myanmar?

NASA reportedly lost the $125 million dollar Mars Climate Orbiter due to a confusion between pounds and Newtons. The main argument against switching to the metric system has always focused on the cost and problem of conversion, yet this problem will persist for eternity until the United States fully embraces the metric system. Clinging to a measurement system that the rest of the world no longer uses is short-sighted at best and sheer stubbornness at worst.

In the computer world, you can already see the similarities. Most people simply stick to what they know and avoid learning anything different. As long as what you're using works for you, then there's no reason to change. However, you won't know if something could actually be better for you unless you're willing to look at alternatives.

More people use Windows XP than Vista or Windows 8. The reason is that Windows XP still does what they need. Peek at the computers used in restaurants or airport terminals and chances are good you'll still see the Windows XP logo on the screen.

Will switching a restaurant cash register from Windows XP to Linux, OS X, or Windows 8 suddenly make that cash register more efficient? Probably not, so there's no reason to change.

Now look at a Windows XP PC in a business. For simple word processing, spreadsheet work, presentation slide shows, and Internet searching, Windows XP works well so there's still no reason to change. However, if you want to create iOS apps, Windows XP won't work anymore. You can actually create iOS apps on a Windows PC, but you'll still need a Macintosh to submit your apps and you'll still need a more powerful version of Windows just to create iOS apps as well. (Better yet, just get a Macintosh and run Windows as a virtual machine so you can use both Windows and OS X at the same time.)

What if you have a Windows XP PC as a cash register, but want to allow customers to sign their names to authorize credit card payments? You could force customers to walk to your Windows XP PC, swipe their credit card, and then sign their name using a stylus. Or you could just replace the Windows XP PC with an iPhone or iPad running Square, which is what many restaurants now use to make it easy for people to pay without leaving their table.

Figure 1. Square makes it easy to process credit cards on an iPhone or iPad.

People generally change only when confronted by the carrot or the stick. When people can do something they couldn't do easily before (the carrot), they'll willingly change. Restaurants are embracing Square with the iPhone or iPad for several reasons.

First, Square with an iPhone or iPad is cheaper than buying a Windows PC as a cash register with a credit card processing machine and a stylus to accept signatures. Second, a Windows PC isn't as easy for customers to use as an iPhone or iPad running Square. Therefore restaurants have an incentive to change from relying on a Windows PC to a mobile credit card processing computer like Square running on an iPhone or iPad.

Getting people to change because their current solution causes so much pain (the stick) is much harder. That's because people will tolerate an intense amount of pain because being comfortable with the pain they know is far more preferable than the risk of something different. Look at how many people initially resisted the switch from command-line interfaces (MS-DOS) to graphical user interfaces (Windows). Despite the clear advantages of Windows over MS-DOS in making computers easier to use, a stubborn minority angrily denounced graphical user interfaces as "toys" incapable of doing serious work.

Some of the arguments supporting command-line interfaces are that command-line interfaces give you more control, more power, and more speed than graphical user interfaces. Of course these advantages only occur once you get used to the command-line interface, which means you must become an expert in using the command-line interface before you can actually be productive with the computer.

Tech-savvy users invest so much time learning something that they resist change because their hard-fought skills no longer apply. An MS-DOS expert is useless once someone switches to Windows. Likewise, a Windows expert is useless once someone switches to Linux, OS X, Android, or iOS.

When people got tired of the pain from using MS-DOS and saw the advantages of Windows, they eagerly embraced Windows while tech-savvy users denounced graphical user interfaces as inferior. Now as people get tired of the pain from using Windows and see the advantages of using alternatives, tech-savvy users denounce these alternatives as well.

Once you take time to learn anything, no matter how difficult and clumsy it might be, you'll be more resistant to change to anything else no matter how easy and simple that alternative might be. Just look at how most of the world uses the metric system while Americans cling to their impractical, difficult, and illogical measurement system of yards, quarts, and ounces.

If the most powerful country in the world can resist the metric system, is it any surprise that so many people still resist computing alternatives that require them to learn something new even if that alternative will make it easier for them to be more productive? When you're heavily invested in the past, you'll be more likely to actively resist any form of progress that threatens to make your current skills and knowledge obsolete.

People willingly change the less invested they are to the past. Perhaps that explains why so many students have no problems using iOS, Android, and ChromeOS while so many older people (who grew comfortable using Windows for decades) are the most resistant to any alternatives to Windows.

If getting people to use the metric system in America can be so difficult, you can see how convincing people that their current computing solution might not be the best one for them is nearly an impossible task. Fortunately, people who fail to use reason and logic to make decisions usually suffer the consequences of their actions while everyone else moves on to better solutions in the future.

Staying with MS-DOS

Since you can work much faster with more control using a command-line interface like MS-DOS (once you get used to it), you might as well abandon graphical user interfaces, commit a few months to mastering command-line interfaces, and go back to running MS-DOS. After all, why bother using something designed to make computers easier to use when you can just force yourself to learn arcane commands that take a large amount of time to master instead?

To run DOS programs on a Windows or Macintosh computer, try a free copy of DOSBox. DOSBox emulates a complete PC and is optimized for running MS-DOS games. If you have a virtual machine program like VirtualBox, you can load FreeDOS, which is an MS-DOS clone. Because DOSBox, VirtualBox, and FreeDOS are free, you won't have to spend a penny to turn your computer back to an MS-DOS machine.

Best of all, there are plenty of MS-DOS programs available for free. If you want to play old MS-DOS games, visit the DOS Game Archive. Now you can play classic DOS games like King's Quest, Duke Nukem, and Doom.

If you want business software, you can find plenty of free MS-DOS programs like WordPerfect for DOS, Turbo Pascal 5.5, and Lotus Agenda.

By using MS-DOS programs for free, you can save even more money while using the faster command-line interface of MS-DOS. The next time you run into a Windows user, you can taunt them with their reliance on a more expensive operating system that restricts their power and control while requiring more memory and hard disk space to run than MS-DOS. Then you can point out how MS-DOS lets you do "real" work without the "toy" features of a graphical user interface.

Now you'll just have to fend off taunts from mainframe users who claim that MS-DOS is a "toy" operating system that can't do any real work like a mainframe because "real" computer users only rely on punch cards.

Turning Pictures into Comics

If you have an iPhone or iPad, chances are good you can easily capture pictures. Of course, looking at a series of pictures can be boring, so you can spice up your images by turning them into comic books. By using an app like Half Tone 2, you can take your ordinary pictures and put them in comic book panels. Then you can add captions, thought bubbles, and dialogue to turn your pictures into comic book pages.

Figure 2. Half Tone 2 lets you turn pictures into comic books on your iPhone/iPad.

Once you're done creating your comic book pages, you can export the pages as JPG or PDF files, or even as MP4 videos. You can also share your comic book creations through Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail.

Making your own comic books can be a fun way to spice up your images and give you something to do with your iPhone/iPad whenever you're stuck in an airport, doctor's office, or corporate meeting. Make comic books of your relatives or co-workers. Use a little imagination and take pictures of stuffed animals and toys, then tell stories about them as comic books.

If you can't draw but still like the idea of making your own comic books, now you can do that just by taking pictures. The next time you have an idea for a comic book and can't draw anything more interesting than a stick figure, don't let that limitation hold your imagination back. With an app like Half Tone 2, anyone can become a comic book artist with just a little bit of creativity and a camera in an iPhone/iPad.

Learning to Develop iOS Apps

If you're curious how to create iOS apps, you can download a free copy of Xcode and follow Apple's simple tutorial. This tutorial won't teach you everything you need to know about creating iOS apps, but it can help you get started learning the nuances of Xcode and writing Objective-C code.

Although this tutorial focuses on Objective-C, ignore it and focus on the details of using Xcode and designing iOS user interfaces. That's because Apple's Swift programming language represents the future and Objective-C is too complicated in comparison.

While Apple will likely support both Objective-C and Swift for the future since so many people have created programs using Objective-C, don't waste your time learning the complicated syntax of Objective-C. Wait for Xcode 6 to come out this fall and you can start using Swift to create iOS apps. In the meantime, learn as much as you can about Xcode and gloss over any Objective-C references.

Before you buy expensive books or sign up for programming courses, try learning on your own with Apple's free tutorial. If you don't have the motivation to learn on your own, chances are good you really aren't that interested in creating iOS apps by yourself so you might as well learn this for free before you risk spending any money.

*                    *                    *

Most operating systems come with a firewall to protect your computer from malware and hackers. In case you want to know what your Macintosh's firewall is letting through, click the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. When the About This Mac dialog box appears, click the More Info button.

This displays another About This Mac window, so click the System Report button. Now look under the Network category and click Firewall to see a list of programs that your firewall either blocks or allows through.

Figure 3. You can view which programs your firewall blocks or allows.

If you see a strange program name listed that you don't recognize, it could be malware that has slipped past your firewall, or it could be a program that you don't realize you use, but at least knowing this information can give you a chance to verify if it's valid or not.

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:

Microsoft Office 2013 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)

Math for the Zombie Apocalypse

How to Write a Great Script with Final Draft 9

How to Write a Great Script with Fade In

The Elements of a Great Script: Star Wars

The Elements of a Great Script: Die Hard

The Element of a Great Script: Back to the Future

The Elements of a Great Script: Rocky

The Elements of a Great Script: It's a Wonderful Life

In his spare time, Wally likes blogging about movies and writing screenplays at his site "The 15 Minute Movie Method," finding interesting news stories about cats at his site "Cat Daily News," giving advice to authors who want to self-publish e-books at his site "The Electronic Author," and providing the type of advice he wishes someone would have told him when he was much younger at his personal Web site. Wally can be reached at wally@computoredge.com or you can follow him on Twitter @wallacewang_com.

Worldwide News & Product Reviews

“The latest in tech news and hot product reviews.”
by Charles Carr, News and Reviews Editor

Monkey Selfies: Who Owns the Image?; Back to School: New Sickweather App is Like a Doppler Radar for Sickness; Mouse for Mobile Users; Octodad: Dadliest Catch for PC.

Monkey Selfies: Who Owns the Image?

Put monkeys in a room with a typewriter for long enough and eventually they'll rewrite all of Shakespeare. But will they hold copyright?

Not likely, say Morrison & Foerster's Susan McLean and Craig Whitney. They offer a snapshot of the relevant copyright law with a look at the ongoing dispute over a monkey selfie that went viral on the Web, in an article on MoFo's award-winning social media blog, Socially Aware:

"Monkey in the Middle of Selfie Copyright Dispute" can be found here.

The selfie was taken in 2011, when a female monkey commandeered the camera of British wildlife photographer David J. Slater in Indonesia. Among the hundreds of images captured by the shutter-happy macaque: one grinning monkey selfie.

The photo was published around the world and made its way to Wikimedia Commons, a collection of free public images. Slater asked Wikimedia to remove the image or pay for it. Wikimedia argued in its recent Transparency Report that no copyright exists.

McLean and Whitney take a look at copyright law in the applicable jurisdictions, and find it doesn't benefit the photographer's case: The UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the Compendium II of Copyright Office Practices in the US, and Indonesia's Copyright Act 2002 all clarify that only human beings or corporations can create copyrighted works.

But even if the monkey cannot create a copyright, that doesn't necessarily mean that Slater has a copyright in the photo, they write.

The photographer has reportedly claimed ownership because he set up the photograph, with the monkey acting as, in effect, an assistant.

McLean and Whitney write that "given that the snap in question appears to have been very much the key photo among hundreds of blurry and unusable images taken by the group of monkeys, it would seem difficult to demonstrate that anyone—human or monkey—'created' it. Rather one may argue that the photo was an entirely random and serendipitous event."

Applying the U.S. work-for-hire doctrine would allow a non-human (like a corporation) to be an "author," but "would require that, at a minimum, the monkey be Slater's employee or that they otherwise have some written agreement in place, and, let's face it, only a kangaroo court could reach such a conclusion here."

One potential path for Slater, the article notes, is arguing that the digital camera was functioning as a computer. Under UK law that might entitle him to copyright—unless the court rules that the work is animal-generated.

McLean and Whitney write that "Slater may have more success if he can show that the version of the photograph on Wikimedia is not the actual selfie taken by the monkey, but has been filtered, cropped or otherwise edited; as a separate copyright may attach to the edited picture, at least under the copyright laws of some countries."

Back to School: New Sickweather App is Like a Doppler Radar for Sickness

Graham Dodge, from sickweather.com, has info about a new iPhone app that can alert parents and teachers in real-time when they enter Sick Zones: areas where illnesses are reported on social media (or by other Sickweather users):

The latest version adds easy-to-read, animated radar maps, as demonstrated during Sickweather's recent Techstars Demo Day presentation [VIDEO].

When someone publicly posts "My kids have the flu" on Facebook or Twitter, Sickweather qualifies that report using a patent-pending process and then plots it on a map, which can be viewed at the local level as a single report, or now by intensity of groups of reports at the regional level, like a radar. When a Sickweather user travels near that report they will get a real-time alert on their iPhone warning them of their proximity to flu. Parents can use the alerts as prompts to proactively wash hands, refill prescriptions, or restock the medicine cabinet with their favorite remedies.

The Sickweather app is available in the App Store as a free download here.

For non-iPhone users, Sickweather provides a free limited feature Live Map and Forecast on their Web site at www.sickweather.com, as well as free e-mail alerts that can warn users on a daily basis when selected illnesses are trending in their area.

Sickweather is a Baltimore-based company, has been recognized among "100 Brilliant Companies" by Entrepreneur Magazine and featured on the Today Show for successfully identifying the early start of the 2012 Flu Season 6 weeks before the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

Mouse for Mobile Users

Product name: Ultrathin Touch Mouse t631

Manufacturer: Logitech

Web site: www.logitech.com

Price: $69.99

Computing has become more mobile than ever before thanks to reductions in hardware size and weight despite including useful new features. Notebook and ultrabook accessories likewise have become more mobile with useful new features, and a perfect example is Logitech's Ultrathin Touch Mouse (Figure 1).

Figure 1A.

Figure 1B. The Ultrathin Touch Mouse, unlike other pointing devices for the road, supports touch- and gesture-based control over the operating system's cursor. It is small and light for portability (although potentially too small for users with large hands; A), and has a pleasing design which consists of a white plastic upper side and aluminum fringe (B).

The Ultrathin Touch Mouse ships in an elegant clear-plastic package, roughly 5.5" wide by 4" tall by 1.75" deep. This package consists of two pieces held together by clear adhesive tape (Figure 2). The upper piece accommodates the mouse; the lower piece houses a cardboard insert with printed information (the company's and product's name on the front, a photo of the mouse and a description of its features on the back) in English and French, a plastic insert which securely holds the Ultrathin Touch Mouse, a printed setup guide with illustrated instructions in four languages (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese), an information pamphlet (safety, battery recycling, and warranty) in the same four languages, and a cardboard box that contains a flat micro-B USB recharging cable (~3.75 inches between the two connectors).

Figure 2. The Ultrathin Touch Mouse comes in an elegant package consisting of two pieces of clear, taped-together plastic. Its contents include a cardboard insert with printed product information, a teal molded-plastic insert that securely holds the mouse, a printed setup guide, a printed informational pamphlet, and a teal-colored cardboard box which contains a short micro-B USB charging cable. The mouse's aluminum and black plastic underside has an on-off toggle switch, a button to initiate Bluetooth pairing, a Bluetooth toggle switch to pair with up to two computers, the optical sensor, and a micro-B USB port.

This product's design aesthetic bears some resemblance to Apple's Magic Mouse. Its upper side is white plastic with the company's name and logo at the narrow end along with a tiny LED which flashes blue when connecting via Bluetooth 3.0, pulses green when recharging, stays green when recharging is complete, and blinks red when the battery needs recharging. Below the white plastic upper side is an aluminum band all the way around, and below it is another aluminum band surrounding the black plastic underside (Figure 2). The black plastic underside houses the following components: an on-off toggle switch, a button to initiate Bluetooth pairing, a Bluetooth toggle switch for pairing the Ultrathin Touch Mouse with up to two computers, the mouse's optical sensor, and a micro-B USB port for recharging the battery.

Unlike Apple's Magic Mouse, Logitech's mouse has a rounded trapezoid shape. It measures about 1.5" at its narrow end, 2.3" at its widest end, 3.4" long, and under ¾ inch tall. The Ultrathin Touch Mouse weighs in at just under 2.5 ounces.

Compatibility includes PCs running Windows 7 or 8 and Macs running OS X versions going back to the final release of Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Windows users are good to go without any additional software installation. Mac users get limited functionality (details below) out-of-the-box. For additional touch and gesture support, they would need to download and install Logitech's Preference Manager software, which is a System Preference for OS X. This is documented in a downloadable guide.

The Ultrathin Touch Mouse is powered by a proprietary, non-replaceable lithium polymer battery. According to the company's FAQ, the battery takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge after depletion. Each minute of charging delivers about one hour of usage (your mileage may vary). The company additionally says that the battery should last about 10 days before needing a recharge.

Charging this mouse's battery is mostly easy. Simply connect it to one of your computer's USB ports using the included micro-B USB charging cable. Because of the cable's shortness (~3.75 inches), however, the mouse must be positioned sufficiently close to the computer during charging. This was a little challenging for me during testing because of how my MacBook Pro sits on my physical desktop.

Bluetooth pairing during testing mostly was a piece of cake. As indicated in the setup guide and online FAQ, slide the mouse's power toggle-switch, press the Connect button, turn on the computer's Bluetooth, and follow the on-screen instructions. It worked on the first attempt and was subsequently reliable. One more thing…the aforementioned Easy-Switch™ feature supports simultaneous pairing with up to two computers. This could be a time-saving convenience for owners who want to use the mouse with both a portable computer and a desktop computer.

The Ultrathin Touch Mouse also somewhat resembles Apple's Magic Mouse with regard to functionality. Like the latter, the former's entire upper side is a button. Pressing the left side of the white plastic upper side produces a single click; pressing on the right side produces a control-click (i.e., displays a contextual menu on the computer's screen). Unlike the Magic Mouse, however, the Ultrathin Mouse also has a middle button functionality; I have OS X configured so that the middle button displays Dashboard on my Mavericks MacBook Pro. Pressing the Ultrathin Touch Mouse's upper side produces distinctive haptic feedback along with a sound. Swiping up, down, left, and right on the mouse's upper side results in scrolling in the expected direction. Regrettably, however, tapping, pinching, and spreading are not supported without the aforementioned Preference Manager software.

This product's noteworthy strengths include its aesthetically pleasing design and sturdy materials, portability (easily fits in a purse, pants pocket, or computer carrying case/bag/sleeve), built-in rechargeable battery that precludes needing to swap batteries in and out, support for simultaneous pairing with two Bluetooth 3.0 computers (Logitech's Easy-Switch™ feature), and the optical sensor's support for up to 1000 dpi (nonadjustable).

The Ultrathin Touch Mouse also has the following notable weaknesses. Perhaps the most impactful weakness is this product's size and shape. It is reminiscent of the so-called "hockey puck" mouse that Apple included with the original iMac, which was heavily criticized for being too small for users with large hands. During testing, this product's scrolling control was noticeably less precise than Apple's Magic Mouse, which led to wrist discomfort on almost each occasion of swiping the upper side. Another quibble is that the Bluetooth connect button and toggle buttons on the mouse's underside are relatively small; during testing, I more reliably manipulated them with a finger nail than an index finger's tip (your mileage again may vary). Lastly, since the built-in proprietary battery is not replaceable, the user must (properly) dispose of the Ultrathin Touch Mouse when its battery reaches end of life. I could not find the battery's expected lifespan in Logitech's printed or online documentation.

In summary, the Ultrathin Touch Mouse's design and touch/gesture support differentiate it from competitors and may appeal to notebook or ultrabook users who want an external pointing device to supplement their computer's internal trackpad while on the go. These features could be a proverbial double-edged sword, however, because of the possibility that they will lead to hand and/or wrist discomfort.

Review contributed by Barry Fass-Holmes

*                    *                    *

Octodad: Dadliest Catch for PC

Title: Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Developer and publisher: Young Horses

Web sites: octodadgame.com and store.steampowered.com/app/224480/

Price: $15 (Steam)

Rating: E for Everyone

If there was ever a time to give an indie game eight thumbs up, it would be right now.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch, from Young Horses Inc., is one of the first games I've ever played where I was having lots of fun while facing constant and genuine frustration. In the game, you play the role of a father who is trying to evade the hands of a killer chef, and all the while attempting to carry out the tasks that any good father would do for his family.

You go to the grocery store to get groceries for your wife, you cook burgers for your kids, and then you even get to take your whole family to the aquarium! Sounds pretty exciting right? Well if you aren't convinced, the father you take the role of is actually an octopus who mimics a human, and you must accomplish all the tasks every good father would normally do without drawing suspicion to the fact that you are actually a sea creature.

This is where the game gets interesting, because believe it or not, knocking over items or accidentally slapping someone tends to draw a lot of public attention to yourself.

Now this might sound pretty easy to avoid, but when all objectives must be completed by moving the octopuses' legs one at a time, or using a tentacle as a hand...well that's where the fun filled frustration sets in.

The whole game is controlled with the mouse, so it is very easy to get accustomed to the controls, however, it is near impossible to master them. Movement becomes a wacky mess when you try to get to one area by moving each gelatinous "leg" in a walking pattern, and simple arm movements quickly become a barrage of arm flails. The combination of this tied together with the games story line is a sure fire bet for some very hysterical moments.

As you play through the game, you live through the present as well as flashbacks to get an understanding of how the octopus became Octodad. From getting ready to walk down the aisle at your wedding, to taking your family to the aquarium and avoiding detection from marine biologists, Octodad: Dadliest Catch creates an absolutely unforgettable experience. It takes all the tasks of your everyday life and lets you go through them with tentacles instead of legs, and it brings a lot of hilarious memories along with it.

It's tough to go any further into the story without giving away the game, as a lot of the tasks and mini games are heavily tied into the plot. Overall, the game does lack in the story department, and although it is an extremely strange story that is told, the gameplay and overall ridiculousness of the concept creates a surefire winner of a game. If you are easily deterred from repeating tasks or constantly failing at simple objectives, then the frustration of this game is not worth your trouble.

If you're looking for a nice break from the blockbuster game world in the form of a good-humored, fun timewaster, then Octodad: Dadliest Catch is definitely something you are going to want to see. You can grab your copy from Steam for $15.

Review contributed by Jeremy Halligan

Multiple award-winning author Charles Carr has written more than two thousand newspaper articles, magazine stories, and columns for many publications including the San Diego Union Tribune, The Californian, The North County Times, Parent Magazine, ComputerScene, and ComputorEdge Magazine where he has been an editor for more than two decades. He is also a television producer/director with shows both currently airing and in production on Cox Cable and elsewhere.

In the 1990s, Charles wrote 3DHouse, a complete inside-and-out virtual reality tour of his family's log home in Southern California. One of the first virtual reality programs ever created, 3DHouse enjoyed tens of thousands of shareware downloads on all major portals. He also sold the rights to Radio Shack and Egghead Software. 3DHouse has since been featured in many books and articles about VR.

Carr has also been commissioned to write and/or directed many of his own stage plays. Several years ago, Carr and others looking for ways to help organizations struggling in difficult economic times, founded Art Animates Life (www.artanimateslife.org).

To date, Art Animates Life, a CA incorporated, federal non-profit, has raised tens-of-thousands of dollars for San Diego area disaster relief, an arts non-profit and municipal gallery, a community outreach center, and several struggling community theaters.

Several years ago Carr was commissioned to adapt and direct the beloved Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. The play, titled "Mr. Scrooge & Mr. Dickens," has sold out So Cal theaters for the past several years. Six shows will take place Dec. 2013 to benefit the San Marcos Historical Society.

Another original play, "All the Time in the World," has been performed many times and garnered broad acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Carr is working on a brand new adaptation of the classic Hitchcock thriller, "The Lady Vanished," to be performed spring 2014.

Carr has won many writing accolades, including San Diego Press Club awards for Best Column Writing, Best Consumer Writing, and Best Arts and Entertainment. He has repeatedly taken top honors in San Diego Songwriter's Guild competitions for his original musical compositions.

Carr is also a noted producer, director, and videographer. Several of his documentaries can currently be seen on So Cal's Cox Cable. Since its inception he has produced the Fallbrook International Film Festival's red carpet event and panel discussions.

Charles receives dozens of requests each year to appear on Southern California television and radio stations to talk about important tech events. He also speaks from time-to-time to high schools and organizations about his eclectic life in the arts.

Learn more at www.charlescarr.com.

Editor's Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers

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

"Full Faith and Credit," "The Money Fiction = The Tax Fiction," "Outlook with Dashes and Spaces," "Security Software," "Thanks re: Foxit"

Full Faith and Credit

[Regarding Jack Dunning's August 15 article, "The Real Future of Cryptocurrencies":]

Let's consider the inspiration for crypto-currencies in the first place. The link in the article provided a meaning for "Full faith and credit" as applied to government-created money: "It is generally accepted that the U.S. government will never default on its loan obligations." The problem with this is that the government only guarantees repayment in dollars, not value. The government can print all the money it wants, deflating the value of the dollar, and the repayment. Crypto-currencies are meant to avoid this problem by making it impossible to create an oversupply that would deflate its value.

-Ron Cerrato, San Diego, CA

The Money Fiction = The Tax Fiction

[Regarding Jack Dunning's August 15 article, "The Real Future of Cryptocurrencies":]

Your analogy of how widespread belief can make a legal fiction grease the wheels of government policy applies to many other accepted practices today. One could reel off all of the growing infringements against our inalienable rights, but those arguments are in the grey area of "interpretation".

A simple cut and dried example of belief trumping reality is the income tax. The IRS booklet plainly states that it is a "system of voluntary compliance." Of course, we believe that we must volunteer, or else!

From the beginning of the income tax in 1862, until 1942, only 8% of earners filed returns: Federal government employees and contractors. Everyone else realized that they did not earn "gross income," defined in the Internal Revenue Code as: "gains derived from the exercise of Federal privilege." That is why it is called a federal income tax; an excise on privileged activities which are measured by "gross income" derived.

When the "Victory Tax" was offered to all private earners in the form of a painless, voluntary withholding of 1%, few noticed or complained. Payers routinely testified in W-2s and 1099s that their payees were exercising Federal privileges by their labor. This caused the disinterested third party, Federal government, to become an interested second party to the earning transaction. This "evidence" created a legitimate claim on those funds and burdened the earner with a liability. The former non-taxpayer became a taxpayer.

Since the law provides relief, an opportunity to rebut the allegation has always been available. But you will find no mention of this avenue of relief in any law school textbook, news story or even in IRS publications. Thus began the belief that everyone is a taxpayer and all earnings are "income". Nonetheless, the income tax law remains unchanged, and Constitutional, for 152 years. No, the 16th Amendment did not create a new tax; that is part of the "belief system" as well.

A scholarly resource: losthorizons.com

-Pat Palmer, Sebastopol, CA

Pat, if in fact what you say is true, it is a barren truth. (Truth is often irrelevant.) The rulings of the courts have not supported this view and could put people in jail if they don't comply with the fiction.

-Jack Dunning , ComputorEdge

Outlook with Dashes and Spaces

[Regarding the August 15 Digital Dave column:]

Dave's line "This is my best guess" while good is only the first of an abundant of options offered. Most thorough. That's why we all read "Digital Dave."

-Gary Weinstein, California

Security Software

[Regarding the August 15 Digital Dave column:]

Dave…Thank you again. Your expertise and information are really appreciated.

-Gabby DeDonato, San Clemente, CA

Thanks re: Foxit

[Regarding the August 15 Editors Letters: Tips and Thoughts from Readers column:]

Thanks to Rich Ernst for his 8/15/14 letter comments with "Typewriter" info about Foxit Reader! A great tip—I had no idea that it could do that. (Insert text without the need for open data fields.)

In Foxit 6.2 I found it under Comment, not Tools.

-Rich U., Lakewood, CO

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