Microsoft mouse model 1054.

Microsoft mouse model 1054.

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This is an RF mouse, not Blue Tooth. It requires a USB dongle be inserted into the computer which I think is somewhat dangerous as it protrudes just over two inches. The specifications give this mouse a two foot range, I believe. I found that it was often times less than one foot. When playing World of Warcraft the mouse would loose contact causing numerous drop outs. I was embarrassed when I could not help other characters on quests and allowed a character to die because I could not get the mouse to respond in time. These momentary dropouts are not so much of a problem with text, database, spread sheets, and web design. For gaming the mouse was unsatisfactory in my opinion. I have a large hand and this mouse does not fill my grip. This mouse is intended for laptop use so the small size can not be argued with. The battery slide out chamber seems quite thinly made. When the AA battery is put inside, the mouse has a good weight to it. For the Macintosh computer, no driver is needed (another reason to buy a Mac). If I pull out the dongle from the laptop I do not get a “shame on you for removing a device” splash screen, which is quite nice.

Conclusion: For every day use that does not require complete uninterrupted use, this mouse is quite good. For gamers, because of the frequent drop outs, I feel this mouse is unsatisfactory

Overview of some web technology I use.

Overview of some web technology I use.

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I will attempt to outline some of the devices, and methods that are used to construct my web sites, of which there are four. Also I have included some recommendations, some training aids. Please keep in mind that I am a Macintosh person. “If you want to get it done, do it on a Mac”. Thus, the advice below will refer to Macintosh solutions.

Sites: There are five sites I am involved in as follows:

Site 1: This blog site you are currently viewing is probably the least expensive to run and operate. It requires no special software. I do not use Dreamweaver. The interface software is only a web browser and WordPress. WordPress comes free and is installed on the web host company server. I access this software from my home machine using any web browser. Well that is not exactly true. Safari falls apart for WordPress. Firefox is my browser of choice when connecting to WordPress because the WordPress menu shows up properly when using Firefox.

Site 2: This next site is a community group site that I am encouraged to begin to input stories into. The site creator had to back away from being involved for personal reasons. This is most unusual in that I did not create this web site but I have to step in and start to use it. I had to download the whole site into my laptop and then dissect it to figure out how it worked. This is very time consuming but instructional.

Site 3: This web site is unpublished. It has been in beta testing for close to one year. I am paying for the site name registration and web hosting all this time but have not made it public yet. It will be a cascading style sheet type web site.

Software used:
Web site construction is performed using Dreamweaver CS3. This program is very professional. Actually, I think it is awesome. It has a difficult learning curve associated with it but the payoff is worth it. Another very popular web site creation program is Microsoft’s Frontpage, which has a reputation of putting up messy html code. If your intent is to become more proficient at being a web master, do not choose Frontpage. If all you want to do is put up a quick web site, then Frontpage might work for you. Go Live by Adobe has a good reputation.

Tip: if anyone in your family goes to school, look into the possibility of obtaining an educational discount price. Some college bookstores do sell educational priced software at significant savings.

A neat little utility I use from time to time is Free Ruler. I use this to measure how many pixels to make a particular image or format text fields while measuring a web page. This is a free utility.
The Apple software comes with a utility that I seem to use a lot. It is called Grab and can be found in the “Utilities” folder. Any image that appears on my computer screen can be cut up and used with this program.

The photo blog software is part of the typical web-hosting package that comes “free” with the hosting subscription. Fantastico De Luxe found in the web site administrator’s control panel (C-Panel) offers a large number of open source programs. The photo blog uses two packages and one utility.

WordPress was chosen for the blog because it is free, easy to use and has a lot of features and very well thought out software package.

YAPB (Yet Another Photo Blog) is a WordPress plug in which improves the WordPress experience by making a lot of the difficult chores, simple. It too is free.

JView is not a C-Panel program but a free Internet utility offering, which I use to look at each photo image in a large format so I can write a good description for each image. I have Adobe Bridge and Aperture software programs but they utterly fall apart for this simple task. This utility is also free.

Hardware Used:

The computer is a Macintosh laptop, 2.5 GHz Intel Dual Core 2 Duo with 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and running version 10.5.4 software.

I use a Microsoft laptop mouse model 1054. It is ok for text and graphics but totally unacceptable for gaming.  I use the Microsoft mouse when out of my office.  For gaming and in office work, I use Logitech G9 Laser.

I have a couple of finger drives. My favorite is a 2-gig unit that lights up, made by Sandisk.

I have an external hard drive made by Siig, model FW800 + USB 2.0 HDD kit. The drive offers both Firewire (800 & 400) ports along with USB. An 800 Firewire port is only needed for video editing. This drive is used to back up my laptop using TimeMachine.

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station with Gigabit Ethernet is expensive but gives us added features such as flawless wireless, wireless hard drive storage (added this ourselves), and wireless printer capability (we added to the USB connector).

Cable TV, (Time Warner) Internet cable box interfaces with the above-mentioned Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. We had the AT&T two wire which was pretty bad, dropped connections frequently. A modem connection is ok if you are just starting at becoming involved in web development. If you do use a modem for web site connection to your host, bring your favorite newspaper or magazine or even a novel, as your upload times will be significant.

Web Hosting Service:

LinkSky was chosen as the web host after quite a bit of research. I searched for web host companies using the words “web host recommendations” and “best web host companies”. I soon found some web sites made recommendations that actual users found to be deficient. I suspected that some form of payment might be part of the equation for some companies getting good reviews from some popular web sites. I got lucky when one of the troop parents recommended his web hosting company, LinkSky. I went on to the Internet and did a reputation search. What I found out was that no one made any claim that LinkSky performed poorly. I had found a winner. I have been with LinkSky for a couple of years. I now have four sites with that company and they have not caused me any difficulty. When I have a problem, I get a quick and complete satisfactory response. The company is based in Northern California but I have been told that the Unix servers are in Texas. In case of a huge California earthquake the web site data should be safe. If there were any huge catastrophe in Texas, my laptop would be the backup.

If you are new to web site design let me offer you as much encouragement as possible. Web site design is a quite a large ocean of knowledge. Do not let its vastness dissuade you. It is very easy to build and put up a simple web site. The more you learn, the better and more professional the results. Please realize that there are good practices that you should search out to make a more pleasing site. Books and magazines are out there to make you aware of these practices. If you are on a tight budget and cannot afford the expense to buy a lot of books and magazines, use the Internet to learn.

Tip: Go to iTunes and peruse the free pod casts available. There are some pretty good video tutorials that take you step by step through using software.

Recommended Training:

Dreamweaver training an excellent start is to take a class at a junior college or an extension class at a local university. This is how I started to learn web design. A friend and I took the class and we each had our web sites blow up a couple of times caused by us not understanding how to make links work properly. By the end of the class we were humbled quite a bit and realized that this type of work was not going to be all that easy.

Dreamweaver CS3, The Missing Manual, Pogue Press O’Reilly, © 2007, by David Sawyer McFarland is intimidating in cost ($44.99), size (995 pages), and content. I have quite a large selection of Dreamweaver “how to” books so I think I do have some credentials for rating these types of books. I am not endorsing The Missing Manual series right now, just this particular book. It is an excellent book on the subject, in my humble opinion. It does an admirable job of explaining cascading style sheets, which is a difficult part of web design to understand.

A very recent “book” has come out called Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 with Garrick Chow. It is Peachpit Press video training book associated with lynda.com. The cost lists for $49.99 but I found that Borders Book Store had a 30% discount on all computer books. It requires that you use a computer to view the html lessons that are on a CD and have QuickTime loaded as an application so you can view the movies. What is neat about this “book” is it serves as your private classroom trainer, like being in college with a perfect teacher. The explanations are well laid out, dialog and screen presentation is always on target. When I discovered this “book” I thought only a few chapters would be interesting but I started at the beginning and went through each lesson in order. I was amazed at how much I had missed while self-teaching myself using books. I am really impressed with this video training method.

Tip: The disk for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 is mildly protected so you are required to insert the disk to view the lessons. I prefer not to work off a CD. I chose to make a disk image copy using a program called Toast into my computer so I could see all the files, even the hidden ones and copy them to a folder. I then dragged the file “dreamweavercs3.html” to my desktop or application dock so I could readily find it and launch the training. In this way, I could eject the disk and view the training using only the computer.

Is the Macintosh laptop really overheating or not?

Is the Macintosh laptop really overheating or not?

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Dear Members (SBMUG),

My friend has a G3, 12″ laptop which she feels is overheating. She heard
that the problem might be one of three things:
The Battery
The Fan
Dust inside the case.

Does anyone have experience with this? Are there members that can fix
this problem?

Off list replies are welcome. Thanks.

David

________________________________

David,

Have your friend get this Widget: iStat Pro. It will show the temperatures inside the computer and if the fans are running or not. It is a really neat Widget utility.

I have a 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 and I burn my bare legs every time I put the laptop on my legs in bed. So the first thing I purchased was a laptop cooling plate. The one I purchased is an aluminum plate that costs about $50, way over priced, but it should last longer than the laptop. The plate is tilted and the laptop sits on some spacers. Cool convection air flows below the computer to cool it or rather keep my legs from burning. Some day I want to flip the laptop over and try to cook an egg on it.

What I am getting to in a rather round about way is that the faster the processor speed, the more heat a computer will create and these recent year computers will get HOT. To make sure the laptop is not overheating would be shown by the iStat Pro software.

I do hope I am correct and there is no problem with the computer. A bad battery might cause more heat. I have noticed that my battery does get hot. If that is suspected, borrow some friend’s battery to see if it runs cooler.

Good luck,
McLaren

__________________________________

McLaren,

Thank you so much for your reply. An excellent suggestion I would never
have thought of even though I have that widget. Unfortunately she’s
running 10.3.9 so no widgets. That plate thing sounds good as well. If
we figure out that it’s not something wrong with the computer and it’s
just a hot box, she might go for that.

Thanks.

David

Claim Jumper and cooking ribs.

Claim Jumper and cooking ribs.

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Restaurant review Claim Jumper, 9/30/07

Sunday evening I asked my son and daughter if they wanted to go out to eat. My daughter was not hungry but my son wanted to go to the Brea Claim Jumper. He loves the nachos, a dish of French fries with a couple of cheeses melted into them with bacon bits I believe. I had fallen in love with their baby back ribs. I called the restaurant before leaving the house and was told they had a 20-minute wait. When we arrived we were seated right away. A large number of people were leaving when we arrived. We got a booth and my son and I broke out our lap top computers to do some web site learning. I did order the baby back ribs with a sweet potato. When the dish arrived I got asparagus and had the dish returned. In a few minutes I got what I ordered but the ribs were dry, tough and way off flavor. My son was happy with his usual dish. The waitress came over to find out if I liked the meal and I confessed that I was disappointed. She said she would call the manager over but I declined her offer. She did not listen to me and the manager did come over in a while to talk about the ribs. He immediately spotted that the ribs I had looked dry. I showed him how tough they were by trying to cut into them with a knife and I had a struggle. He offered to give me another rack and he would personally pick it out himself. He came back to tell me how they cook the rib. They slow cook them with seasoning only applied in an oven at 225 degrees for 6 hours. During this slow cooking process the fat drips off the ribs. They then put the ribs into cold storage until they are needed. The ribs are pulled out and cooked again but now with barbecue sauce and brought up to serving temperature. I am not sure I got this process accurate but I was very interested in the temperature they used and how long they cooked the ribs. The manager told me that some places raise the temperature up above 300 degrees and do not cook the ribs as long but they found that the lower temperature and longer cooking time worked out very well. I have the Big Green Egg at home and I think I will slow cook some ribs for 6 hours to see if I can duplicate Claim Jumper’s results of the meat practically falling off the bone. The Big Green Egg can easily be lowered to this temperature.

There are about 8 managers at this Claim Jumper.

Western Digital Passport Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive (160 Gb)

Western Digital Passport Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive (160 Gb)

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Product review
Date 9/30/07

Manufacturer: Western Digital
Model: WD Passport 160 GB/Go

Computer used for test: 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 Macintosh laptop running 10.4.10 system.

Review summary: Not recommended for computers that cannot support 500 ma or more of power on the USB bus.

As soon as I purchased this hard drive from COSTCO, I plugged this hard drive unit into my iMac laptop USB 2 connector and the hard drive would not mount. It made a clicking noise over and over every 4 seconds. I tried to plug the unit before booting the computer I applied power and after I applied power, still it would not mount. I ran the Macintosh Disk Utility program and the unit would not show up. I gave the hard drive to my son who also has a Macintosh laptop. His Mac is newer with dual core technology and can run Windows. The drive mounted right away.

I hooked the WD drive up to a Belkin USB hub (FSU234) and the hard drive showed up on my computer. The purpose of buying this hard drive is that it gains its power from the laptop so the user can go anywhere with this drive and be able to use it. I tried a no name powered 4 port USB 2.0 hub but the drive would not show. Oddly though the drive stopped clicking when connected through the cheap 4 port hub.

I hooked the drive up to the Belkin USB hub (FSU234) and erased the disk to the Mac format and then rebooted. The drive would not mount directly connected to the computer. This tells me that it possibly is a power problem and not a hard drive format problem.

It is my guess that the amount of power required to power this external hard drive might be too much for my laptop. Going into the specifications for the laptop under “About This Mac” I found that he USB power typically available is 500 mA. The specifications for the drive are 650 mA maximum draw. When a drive starts up, it naturally will draw more current. I was later to find out that the specifications showed 1000 mA draw during start up. I looked over the package that the drive came in and nowhere did it list the current draw of the Western Digital drive. It did state “A special cable is available for the few computers that limit output power”. What does that mean?

Sure enough, plowing into the Western Digital web site I found the following:

Problem:
The WD Passport drive either does not spin up or tries to spin but clicks when it is connected to a USB port.

Cause:
There may not be enough power currently supplied to the machine’s USB port. Some computer systems only supply 500mA of power through USB ports. The WD Passport hard drive requires a little over 1000mA of power at spin up.

One solution the web site put forth is as follows:
Title: USB 2.0 Power Booster Cable – WDCA029RNN (Silver or Black Passport™ drive)
The cable gains the power boost by using power from two USB ports on the system. Well, my Mac offers 500 mA per port so two ports should offer 1000mA. The cost is $9.99 which is pretty much the savings I achieved by going to COSTCO instead of any other store. Shipping will drive my cost even higher.

I am wondering why Western Digital failed to offer the Y cable in the package to ensure the user would find their product completely usable. On the front of the package it states, “No separate power supply needed”. Slightly misleading statement when one has to get a second USB power source from the laptop or from a USB hub device.

I called the local Apple Super Store and they do not offer the USB Y cable. I think this rather odd because it is their computer that is limiting the power output. To their credit, Apple did follow the specifications for USB power out being 500 ma.

Because there is NO way to apply external power to this Western Digital drive except by using a really good USB hub or buying the USB Y cable, this drive actually has a distinct disadvantage over a drive one can also plug into the wall when used with computers that fail to offer sufficient power. Ideally one should buy a drive that would self-power off of a computer and if that were to fail, some provision for external power should be provided. Also, because some customers must purchase another device to make the unit work, this detracts from obtaining a good score review.

I am sorry that I purchased this unit. I cannot recommend it for computers that cannot supply the required 1000 mA from a single USB port connection.

Kenwood TM D710A purchase.

Kenwood TM D710A purchase.

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Here is a copy of an e-mail I sent to a couple of ham radio friends concerning buying a car mobile ham radio rig:

Thank you, Jxxn, for telling me of your choice for dual band car radio, the Kenwood TM D700A. Your recommendation sent me on a rather long quest. I decided to wait as I heard that Kenwood was coming out with a newer version of your radio, which is now the Kenwood D710A. This new rig is EXPENSIVE but, as I get older, I figure that I have only one shot more at pampering myself. The HRO sales person told me that the model radio you have is being discounted. I asked him how long he expected Kenwood would support a rig that was being discontinued. He thought about two years. Here is how I decided to buy the radio, if you are interested read the rest of this story. My price comparison for this purchase is the local Ham Radio Outlet store in Anaheim, California.

HRO list cost and the published base cost was $599.95.
The HRO sales person would knock off $10; I was not impressed with his sacrifice. My new cost would be $589.95 if I walked in and bought at that store. If you add tax ($45.72) the total cost would be $635.67. OUCH!!!!!

I went on the Internet and found a vendor called Gigparts.com (http://www.gigaparts.com). I found they offered a 10% discount if the order was placed by 10/5/07, no shipping and NO TAX. But you need to use Pay Pal or Goggle. I did not know about either so I decided to try out Goggle.

Here is the cost:

$539.96 complete, total cost. I was not charged for shipping because I chose the no cost shipping option (3 to 7 days). I was not charged tax. I paid by Visa, which gives me some leverage over the vendor in case there is a dispute. I think my Visa card also offers extended warrantee coverage, not sure.

Before choosing Gigparts.com I did an Internet search and used the words “Gigparts.com reputation” and saw that they seem to have a good record, so I placed the order.

Now, if my calculation is correct, I saved $95.71 by using the Internet and shopping around and not going with the local HRO walk in store. The accessories for the radio were pretty close to what HRO is charging so I might go to that local store for less expensive accessory items.

When looking at the new discounted cost of the TM D700, now selling for $469.95 plus $36.42 tax would bring the cost up to $506.37. I am paying only $33.59 more for the D710A a much newer radio with more features, more power, than the D700A, and this is after the D700 was discounted as it will be flushed out of Kenwood product line. Not a bad deal.

Update, 10/2/07

Here is the tracking information from UPS: I placed the order with Gigparts September 29, Saturday, in the morning. I got a shipping notification by e-mail Monday, October 1. That did qualify as the next business day. That notification said the item should be received at my house by October 5th. The item was billed October 1. On the same day, October 1st, it was sent out. Now a lot of vendors take three days to get product out the door. It appears that Gigparts did their part extremely fast. The item showed as coming from Huntsville, Alabama to Vernon California. The UPS web site and the package tracking web site indicates that the item should arrive no later than 5 PM Friday. By the end of Saturday it has still not arrived. Well actually that is not true. It arrived in Vernon close to noon on Friday and sat in their facility until just before midnight! UPS states that to receive a delivery on a Saturday, one must pay more. Too bad that if they fail to deliver on the promised day, a Friday, they should activate a driver to make the delivery on a Saturday. But I guess that would be putting the customer’s needs first. Funny how corporate promises, public relations, and advertisements come to nothing when dealing with a company that cannot deliver successfully on their hype. I think I will give Gigaparts a call and ask that they consider another delivery company.

I have a friend who works for FedEx. He is a sales man who tries to get large businesses to sign up with FedEx as their shipping company. I hear his exploits of going to the shipping depots and working along side the warehouse people to get his shipments out on time for special events. His exploits contrast in my mind like white to black and my UPS experience. This is not to say that FedEx is any better than UPS as their are a lot of complaints on the Internet about both companies. I just wish that all shippers try a bit harder at getting it right.

A real interesting web site search is to look for “United Package Smashers”.