This and That Technology Tips Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, We do Macs, iPod Mania June 22, 2004 It's been such a long time! Over the last few weeks, we've been buried with machines which have been heavily infected with viruses, worms and trojans! For the most part, these machines haven't included you, since you've been following all the tips spelled out here on the newsletter. Can't recommend more highly - anti-virus, spyware and windows updates - they are the key to a clean running system!! We're talking about free Email, Macs and iPod Mania. The iPod and iPod mini are incredible products and the add-ons are voluminous. If you don't mind paying a premium price and you want the most elegant of all the players out there, they are definitely the players to get. The free music software, iTunes, which is currently only for Windows and Macs, is incredibly flexible and versatile. It's become my standard music player of choice, even though I don't use an iPod. My "wish list" for the next version of the iPod - "built-in radio," color display, ability to play MP3 files and a $50-$100 price decrease. There have been rumors of a video iPod - which Steve squashed like a bug last week. In our next issue, we will discuss the non-iPod world of music players. A lot has happened since our reviews in February's issue: http://www.itmcomputing.com/newsletter/2004-02-18.php Need to email me about this newsletter or anything else - please use my updated email address (which most of you have by now) or go to this form: http://www.itmcomputing.com/contact_computer.php Enjoy, Clyde *********************************************** Relieving your technology stress for computers that misbehave Our On-Site or Remote Computer Tune-Up Yes, it's true, we still come to your home or small business and whip your computer, your digital camera, your scanner, your printer, your wired or wireless network into shape. As Ben Franklin used to say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Let us come do all the preventative measures on this page and train you to keep your computer running in fine form. If you live beyond the SF Bay Area, join the growing number of out-of-state ITM clients who take advantage of our phone, email and remote desktop support. From our offices, we can fix almost any problem you're having.  Call us today - 408.732.8500 for your on-site tune-up. *********************************************** Yahoo! There's more storage! (Free Web-based email) Yahoo Mail http://mailplus.mail.yahoo.com/help Google Mail (or Gmail) http://www.gmail.com Before I begin discussing free e-mail accounts, did you know that if you're with one of the big service providers you get  7-10 email accounts for free? These accounts are more convenient in many ways (as they allow you to download email to your computer without having to access the webmail). The free SBC Yahoo DSL accounts now give you all the benefits of the Premium Yahoo! Mail Service, as described below, including 2 G storage (previously only 10 mb). As most of you know, I've been a HUGE fan of Google from the start. I even sent out an all google newsletter a couple of years back. So far, though, I feel they've been tripping over their own feet trying to get their free email service, Gmail, up and going. Google announced the service on 4/1/2004, offering free email with 1 G of storage which is enough room for 500,000 standard e-mails. Many thought it was an April Fool's joke - too good to be true! Well, 2.5 months later, Gmail is still in testing and Google has been battered over this service. One thing they'll be doing with new email service is scanning your emails and giving you text-related ads next to your emails, like they do with search engine results (although, this time, your email is the text being searched). Have an intimate conversation with your significant other and you may get lingerie, viagra, vacation, mortgage lending, or birth control pill ads. Google claims this scanning will be 100% automated and say other email providers do the same when showing you ads when surfing. You won't see me sending Gmail.com email - I feel they've crossed the "privacy" lines. On the bright side, last Tuesday, June 15, 2004, Yahoo bumped up the storage of it's free and paid-for email accounts. If you have (or want to get) a free Yahoo email account, you now get 100 MB of email storage (as opposed to old meager 3 mb). For only $19.95/year - you get tons of features, including 2 GB (2,000 MB) of email storage, a pop email account and no ads. I'd rather pay the $19.95/year - then getting my email snooped on for free. The Details: Gmail (unreleased - no clear release date) - Free - 1,000 mb (1 G) of email storage - Price: all email is scanned and ads are placed on email relevant to your email. Yahoo Mail - Free - 6/15/04 - bumped email storage from 3 mb to 100 mb - Price: ads on each email and on web page when reading email. Yahoo Mail - Premium - 6/15/04 -  $19.95/year - 2,000 mb (2 G) of email storage - no ads, pop email account (can read in Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora), plus more - check out site. (As mentioned earlier, if you have SBC DSL - you get this for free!) My recommendation - if  you want a web-based mail address - go with Yahoo! Mail Premium - it's a great bargain for less the $2/month!! (I have no financial relationship with Yahoo or Google.) *********************************************** ITM Software Center Get your essential software updates - any time - day/night http://itmcomputing.com/software/ As mentioned several months ago, we are offering a special download site where you can download and install all the products we normally install on a new computer. It's an "ITM Do-it-Yourself Kit." Our site  is In The Moment Computing Software Center and is located at www.ITMComputing.com/software . We will be updating this site on a consistent basis and sending out regular emails detailing the changes to the programs. We will feature a product of the month. Many of the past products of the months are in this newsletter are now located in this one convenient place. A sample of the recent additions to our set of free and low-cost software titles available for download: Convert Documents from any program to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Encrypt any file with a password. Right click on it and no one can view it. Cleanup temporary Internet files, recently viewed files, Internet history, and more! Track your grocery list on both your Palm and your PC. Create an HTML page of a group of photos thumbnails and original sizes behind them - with ease! Portable Music Player Guide - with updated pricing and features of all MP3 players out there. Games - fun free games - Solitaire, Pacman and More! Post-It Notes - a favorite among ITM Clients Our software center just keeps getting better!! We now have over 65 items. What's stopping you from subscribing today? Try it today: www.itmcomputing.com/software; click on "free trial" link in middle of page. *********************************************** How Macs and Windows Computers can play together. That Macintosh and Windows computers can't share the same network is a common misconception; they can coexist and even share many of the same network resources. The scope of this article is limited to computers running Windows 2000 or XP, and Apple computers running Mac OS X, aka Macintosh Operating System Ten. The operating system software, Mac OS or Windows is the software that enables the computer to run and be a Windows or Macintosh computer. It was once true that Macs and Windows computers had very little to say to each other, but Mac OS X has changed that forever. Previously if you wanted Macs and PCs to communicate it was necessary to add expensive proprietary software to the computer so it could speak the language of the other, Macs "speaking" AppleTalk and Windows "speaking" NetBUI. Once installed the software would enable the computer to use resources of the other platform. Suddenly Macs would be sharing files with Window computes, and Windows computers would share Mac printers exactly as if they were meant to! This is possible when computers "speak the same language", or use the same communication protocols. Today Mac OS X provides the technologies and features that enable Macs and PCs running Windows to work extremely well together. With Mac OS X, Macs and PCs can easily share files, share the same network and Internet connection and can even share the same peripherals, like printers, scanners and cameras. Written by our own Mac Guy - Tim Malm ***************************************************************** Q: I'm on a Windows PC - can I chat with my friend who's on a Mac? A: Yes, you can! Four of the most popular chat clients are listed below. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and ICQ can talk back and forth between Windows and Macs. Transferring files between Windows and Macs is not as easy. In a limited test, I was only able to send files to a Mac from a Windows machine - when Mac had iChat running and I used AOL IM to send files. There are some minor glitches when formatting text between the Windows/Mac world - but not enough to stop us all from chatting together! Special bonus - Yahoo! Messenger has UNIX version - so Linux folks can chat with Windows folks. The beauty of all these programs is that they're free and most ads can be suppressed. Common Messenger Clients: Yahoo! Messenger: http://messenger.yahoo.com/ MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com/ AOL Instant Messenger: http://www.aim.com/ ICQ: http://www.icq.com/ Combined Messaging Clients - These programs can handle user accounts from all the major Messenger clients at once! (Windows only - but can be used to chat with Mac folks). On Windows machine, no need to install all the individual programs. Miranda: http://www.miranda-im.org Trillian: http://www.trillian.cc/ Trillian is a paid-for product and a bit easier to use the Miranda. Miranda is an Open Source product which can be heavily added to and is free. *********************************************** Our Recommended Partners http://www.itmcomputing.com/partners.php We now feature products which we recommend for purchase. All products on this page are products we have thoroughly tested and are most likely used on a daily basis. In your daily life, there are lots of choices out there when you are purchasing products. We make it simple by having just 1 product in each category. You can buy a book full of coupons, print business cards, stop SPAM from infecting your mail box, find a great way to kick-start your marketing, rent DVDs, listen to books on hand-held devices and print stamps from your own computer. Featured Products of the Month Spam Solution Our featured spam product stops SPAM dead in its tracks. It allows mail from people you approve. All other folks get a "word" to type in - to verify they're a person - not a spammer (there definitely is a difference here). Your spam will go down to zero in a matter of a couple of days. Go to our site to check it out or click here. Remote Access for your Computers/ Use Computer while on Vacation / Use home computer while at work As many of our clients know, this is the tool we use to access client's desktops and solve their computer problems. It also doubles as a great product to use while away on business or when you want to access your home computer from work. Most offices these days won't let you check your Yahoo! or Hotmail accounts, but you can normally use this product. Go to our site to check out Remote Access Software, http://www.itmcomputing.com/partners.php or click here. Check out our full listing of partners: http://www.itmcomputing.com/partners.php *********************************************** iPod Mania I haven't seen an explosion of consumer interest and add-on products since the introduction of the Palm PDAs. Steve finally got this one right allowing others to make add-on products for his music player, the iPod. I detail many add-on products - most of which I have not tried, but after reading about them, can see their value. Approach each product with care - check return policies before buying. There's also some interesting news, facts and great tips on getting the most out of your iPod and iPod mini. Important Note: Almost all of the products listed her are for iPods - whether you run Windows or Mac OS - is not an issue. News about iPod and iTunes iPod: Leader, but Not Ruler Click here iTunes hits the European Shores - Huge Splash: June 15, 2004 http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=8911 On 1st birthday, iTunes unwraps new features http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5201598.html?tag=st_rn iTunes to be unleased on European Market this week, all is not well http://snipurl.com/77r2 Charge iPod with Notebook http://snipurl.com/7800 Apple Updates Apple - iPod - Update to work with iTunes 4.5 http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/ iTunes 4.6 for both Mac and PC http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/itunes.html New features of iTunes 4.5 - "iMix," which allows customers to publish their play lists for others to preview, rate and purchase; "Party Shuffle," which is designed to automatically choose songs from a customer's music collection, design and print jewel case inserts for CDs made using iTunes. Also, can load songs on 5 computers, as opposed to 3. Main drawback of version 4.5 (and now 4.6) is you can only burn CDs 7 times, instead of 10. This is easy to overcome by just changing play list by one song. Fun Things to do with your iPod Store your photos for your vacation on your iPod, thus freeing up space on your digital film card, change the color of your iPod with a new skin, turn your iPod into a voice recorder, play your iPod in your car radio, home stereo or hotel room radio - without wires! Belkin iPod CameraLink - Backup your digital photos to iPod (not mini) http://www.belkin.com/ipod/cameralink/ iPod Skins by SKIN EFX - change color of your iPod http://ipod-skins.com/catalog/ iSkin - protect and change color of iPod http://www.iskin.com/index.html iTalk - add-on voice recorder and mini-speaker http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/italk/ iTrip for iPod - play iPod through the radio http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/ Wireless remote for oIpod http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?Code=5137-NVPO More fun things to do with your iPod Connect a 2 headphone jack splitter, so you can share tunes with friends; get a car-dock to hold iPod in place while driving; get car adapter, cables to connect iPod to home stereo, wireless remote control, iPod purse with built-in speakers (very cool!), external high powered batteries, and lots more! Belkin - iPod Accessories - more then you could imagine http://snipurl.com/66tn Dr. Bott - Links for all iPods http://www.drbott.com/ iPod Corner - Cases - Mountings - Remote - Sound http://store.yahoo.com/semsons-inc/maccorner.html Cover your iPod Lilipods - The Perfect iPod Environment - Waterproof it http://www.lilipods.com/lilipods.html Marware - iPod cases and accessories http://www.marware.com/ Matias iPod Armor - More ipod cases http://halfkeyboard.com/ipodarmor/index.php Software and Tips to get most out of your iPod iPoding - great software - Outlook and Google conduits - tips http://www.ipoding.com/ iPodlounge - Reviews, Tips, Articles http://www.ipodlounge.com/ Make your own Pirate Radio Station with an iPod http://www.engadget.com/entry/3597373383872462/ Clean that iPod iCleaner - Cleaning solutions for Apple iPod and iBook http://www.ipodcleaner.com/ RadTech - Screen Cleaner for music device http://www.radtech.us/Products/Icecreme.aspx Speakers Two Portable Speakers for the iPod - Article about both http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07706 Monster® iSpeaker™ Portable AI SPKR-PT http://www.monstercable.com/computer/productPageComputer.asp?pin=2184 Sony SRS-T57 http://snipurl.com/77zp iPod Software - Hacks, Product Reviews, and Tips iPod Hacks :: The Latest and Greatest for Your iPod http://www.ipodhacks.com/ iPod It - transfer PIM, Stickies, Weather, iCal, Address Book, Newsheadlines  to iPod http://www.zapptek.com/ipod-it/ X-play - Use iPod like Windows Machine - using Windows file Manager (Use MP3 and WMA files on iPod) http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/ Happy Music Listening!! Need to email me about this newsletter or anything else - please use my updated email address or go to this form: http://www.itmcomputing.com/contact_computer.php ************************ Hope you enjoyed the ride.... Clyde Lerner, In The Moment Computing Phone: 408.732.8500 E-mail comments/feedback to: http://www.itmcomputing.com/contact_computer.php This newsletter is a service of In The Moment Computing and is Copyright 2005 Clyde Lerner. All worldwide rights reserved. If forwarding, please forward all of e-mail, not any portion therein. To see past issues of This and That Computer Tips newsletter, please visit the web at: http://www.itmcomputing.com/newsletter.php and click on "Archives." Please note: Unless requested, questions pertaining to this newsletter will be answered in a 3-4 week time frame. If you need a faster response, there will be a small consultation fee of $15 per e-mail response. You will receive a reply within 48 hours. "Complete Computer Help (Networks, New Computer Installs, Software Training) for Individuals and Small Businesses" "Designing your Perfect Website, at an Affordable Cost, in a Timely Manner" Eliminate and Destroy unwanted email: http://spamarrest.com/affl?1337207 Send a greeting card through the Internet so recipient gets card in their postal mailbox: www.sendoutcards.com/7197 - let me walk you through how to send a card - it's easy. ©2004 In The Moment (ITM) Computing. All rights reserved.