Article: Tech tips for wilderness survival

Cnet News.com published: Tech tips for wilderness survival

“The tragic death of CNET editor James Kim and the wilderness rescue of his wife and children last week have prompted many of us to wonder if we’re prepared enough for bad weather and other emergencies.”

“Stuff happens to people that’s totally beyond their imagination, and you end up stranded someplace.”

Basically, they fall under the categories of:

• Food, water, shelter
• Fire and light
• Communications
• Tracking
• Electricity
• Tools and medicine

“The general advice was to keep a full tank of gas and bring a few gallons of water and extra food, jackets and, in the winter, even sleeping bags. Drinking enough water can help prevent hypothermia and frostbite. Mittens and chemical hand-warmers are useful.

Check out the full article. It’s worth considering as we move into the winter months. It’s easy to forget that help may not be immediate if you find yourself stranded.

Hope you find it useful.
-Roland

How to buy a new notebook computer

For a personal productivity boost, perhaps it’s time you invest in a new computer. Notebooks are now very affordable, powerful and extremely convenient to use.

FYI… “Laptops” are now marketed as “notebooks” because they run so hot now that users often find them uncomfortable to keep on a lap for very long.

Ready? First you need to ask yourself some questions:

• What do I need a notebook computer for? (Portability?)
• Is this for my personal or professional use?
• What operating system am I comfortable using?
• What software do I have already or need to buy?
• How much am I willing to spend?

Only then can you narrow the field to a manufacturer or operating system. If your looking for gaming, you may be better off with a desktop computer that you can install premium video and sound cards.

I switched to Apple a year ago after more than a decade of using Windows and I am very happy. I’ve used the Apple iBook G4 and now the Apple Macbook.

My two year old Toshiba Satellite was a piece of garbage right out of the box. But I’ll admit that HP business-grade notebooks aren’t bad.

Good luck!
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

How to listen to your iPod/Zune/MP3 player in your car

Got an iPod, Zune or other MP3 player? Want to listen to music and podcasts in your car? Obviously you shouldn’t drive around with earbuds in your ears that might prevent you from hearing the sounds of drivers and environment around you.

Here’s some simple steps to get you hooked up to play your digital media through your car’s built-in speaker system.

1. Late model cars have started to ship with an auxillary input plug on the stereo or dashboard. All you need is a Mini-Stereo Audio Cable with two male ends to connect your MP3 player to the stereo’s Aux input. I recommend a short 3ft length rather than standard 6ft.
Audio quality: High
Cost: $6-10 USD

2. If car has a cassette deck, simply buy an old-style Cassette Adapter. The cassette has a wire to plug into your MP3 player. I’m using a 15 year old one that came with a Sony Car Discman I once owned.
Audio quality: Medium/High
Cost: $10-15 USD

3. A wireless FM transmitter, such as iTrip, can send output your songs/podcasts wirelessly. Simply select a lowband frequency on both the transmitter and the car’s stereo.
Audio quality: Low/Medium
Cost: $35-50

Note: Signal interference can occur while passing stronger radio signals or traveling in cities. Some transmitters exclusively use the MP3 player’s battery as sole power source, which will drain the battery quicker.

If you don’t like any of the above options, you can always burn your music to audio CDs, but your limited to roughly 70 minutes of playback.

Another option is get a car stereo that can play back MP3 and WMA files. That way you can burn a larger number of audio files on a data CD to listen to in the car.

Personally, I used the Griffin Technology iTrip Nano LCD/FM Transmitter for iPod Nano, Black for awhile. But I’ve switched back to using a simple Cassette Adapter or Mini-Stereo Audio Cable. It just works!

I hope you found this useful. Good luck and enjoy the ride!
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and NewMediaSandbox.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t screw up at the company Christmas/Holiday party

eWeek so kindly published a list of stupid things you should not do at your company’s Christmas holiday party: “10 Office Holiday Party Landmines to Avoid.” eWeek even put together a cute slide show to help illustrate their top ten list.

I can distill their essay into the following quick guidelines:

• Don’t be stupid
• Don’t say anything stupid
• Don’t dress stupid
• Don’t do anything stupid
• Don’t bring uninvited stupid people

Look, common sense should prevail. It’s not a time to get drunk and cut loose in front of your bosses and colleagues. Be smart, be sober, be polite. Let some other clown make a fool of herself/himself.

Have fun!

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Saving time, saving money while Christmas shopping

My wife and I no longer desire to visit brick and mortar retail stores, especially during the holiday buying season. In fact, my wife prides herself on completing nearly 100% of her Christmas shopping entirely online, without visits to the local mall.

In the past, it crossed my mind that this might seem a bit impersonal. After all, gift giving should not be about obligation. Each gift should be thoughtfully paired to it’s recipient. While I struggle, my wife excels at that.

With the breadth of eclectic products that can be purchased online, I’ve come to agree that online shopping truly can replace the tactile experience of in-store shopping. No more jambed parking lots, packed aisles and fuss. I can truly withdraw from society except for the occasional trips to the Post Office.

With that in mind I offer these last minute Christmas shopping tips:

• It’s not too late to still take advantage of free shipping to have your packages delivered before Christmas.
• When filling out online order forms, be sure to do a quick Google search on “promo codes” for the retailer. You’d be surprised how often you’ll find something (i.e. 5% off, $5 off, free shipping, etc.) to use at the online checkout.
• Signup and use Upromise.com. Login and click through to the online merchant to gain additional credits (i.e. 1-3%, etc.) towards your account.
• Check if the retailer is part of a family of brands that might offer a discount. For example, ThePopcornFactory.com is part of 1800flowers.com.
• Upromise users who also have a Citi Upromise MasterCard get 1% credit to their account on purchases made with participating merchants.
• Consider paying a few bucks extra to have the retailer ship the present to the recipient, especially if you are concerned you might not get it in time. That also saves you from having to wrap it. Your time is valuable, no sense adding more pressure on you the day before Christmas.

Point is, be a savvy shopper. Keep breathing. Try to relax. Enjoy the holidays.
Merry Christmas!

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Headset for VoIP, Skype, iChat, Gizmo Project and more

There are a number of good, free services to use for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls:

• Skype (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Gizmo project (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• iChat (Mac)

These services let you call user-to-user free when both are on line. Skype and Gizmo Project have options for conference calling, as well as free/low fee domestic and international calling.

To best take advantage of these services, you should invest in a good quality USB headset. That allows you to position a mike boom close to your mouth so your sound quality is consistent. Think of it… if you used a stationary microphone on your desk, you’d have to keep your head positioned close to the mic stand, which could create unnecessary stress on your back and neck. If you move about, your sound quality to the person on the other end of your connection will be choppy and inconsistent. A simple investment in a headset can solve this problem and create a positive user experience for all.

I purchased the Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 primarily to use for VoIP.

Benefits:

• Good quality construction
• Comfort is okay. Padded ear phones. Frame not too stiff.
• Noise canceling microphone seems to work.
• Long cord.
• Both Windows XP Home Edition and Mac OS X 10.4.7 recognize the USB hardware without difficulty.
• Audio quality is good.
• My recorded voice quality is fine.
• My voice quality while talking over Skype, etc., is okay (as decent as my connection can be).

Concerns:

• I expected the microphone recording volume could be louder. Might be solved with software that improves gain.
• As other consumer comments reported on Amazon.com, I had difficulty with the inline volume control. The mute button is very sensitive to touch. +/- volume control works fine. The blue mute status light stopped glowing after a week of use — less than 5 hours overall. (Mute still functions, but I no longer have visual indicator when mute is active.) But a few weeks later it started working again and has been working ever since.

Wanna be podcasters can use the Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 to get comfortable with recording. A digital USB connection is more favorable in terms of capturing higher quality audio than using an analog mic input. The headset worked fine in my tests capturing spoke word with Garageband and Audacity.

Overall, I think it’s a decent investment for the price range ($30-50). Hope you find this useful.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Cannon Elura 100 MiniDV Review

The Canon Elura 100 MiniDV Camcorderis my third camcorder. I got hooked on video recording with an early 1990’s era Sony analog followed by a circa 2003 JVC Digital that died after only 2 years. I spent considerable time researching what my next camcorder would be, considering my disappointment with the JVC. Ideally, I wanted a Panasonic PV-GS250 3CCD MiniDV or Panasonic PV-GS300 3CCD MiniDV, but that’s out of my price range for personal use and abuse.

Key features:

• 20x optical zoom
• Captures video in 16:9 or 4:3 ratios
• Smooth 10x zoom
• Widescreen 2.7-inch LCD
• Analog Line-in/Converter
• Twin LED lights for low light situations
• Lightweight at just 3 lbs.

Out of the box, the camera comes with everything you’d expect: camera, power supply, connection cables, wireless remote and software.

The Canon Elura 100 is full of the auto-focus features you’d expect in a consumer camcorder. You can also save video and still photos to an SD card. Keep in mind you are probably better off with a dedicated camera for quality still photography.

The on screen menu is fairly intuitive. Navigation by the new joystick isn’t hard to get used to.

Form factor is good. It’s light enough to be comfortable to hold yet not too light that my video gets shaky. I have a large hand, but I enjoy the compact size of this camera — I can easily slip it into a coat pocket.

Recording in true widescreen was new to me and takes a bit of thinking to adjust old habits of framing the person I’m recording. But the results look great, including the color and flesh tones.

The camera comes bundled with software, but I’d suggest starting with what you already have installed on your Mac or PC. Video transfer to my Mac (OS 10.4) and iMovie HD works fine with firewire. I wasn’t able to get iMovie to recognize the Elura when hooked up via USB cable provided. But the USB connection worked when hooked up to a Windows XP PC with Windows Movie Maker.

I love the built in lens cover. No more hassle with stupid lens caps dangling in front of the camera or getting lost.

Another feature important to me for archiving old video footage is the Analog Line-in/Converter. It lets me use the Canon Elura 100 as a signal converter, switching analog signals from a TV, VCR or analog camcorder to digital. I can record to MiniDV tape or pass through and record directly on my computer.

The instruction manual provided has enough details to answer the few questions I had.

Some consumer reviews I read on Amazon.com cited a motor noise being recorded when playing back their videos. I have not experienced any problem with motor noise in my own recordings.

My main complaint is the battery is mounted internally. You must open the view screen and remove a plastic cover to access the battery. Certainly not easy to do on the fly. Nor can you buy a bigger size battery with greater capacity like externally mounted batteries.

Keep in mind a few things when considering a new camcorder:

1. How much are you willing to invest? That includes buying SD card, spare battery, or any accessories you don’t already have like a new tripod or case. If you say your max budget is $500, then you can get decent video quality for a $400 camera and spend another $100 on the accessories.

2. Who will use it? In my household it is mainly me. But if you have to share with wife/kids, think about how the camera might get abused.

3. Where will you use it. Many early reviews on other sites said the Elura 100 doesn’t perform well in low light conditions. They are right. But if you are smart about where and when you use the camera, low light probably wont be an issue. Take advantage of natural light. Turn all the lights on in a room indoors, even during daytime. Pick well lit part of the room and try to steer your subjects there.

4. Do you want to digitize your old analog 8mm or VHS tapes? Those old memories are deteriorating and Do It Yourself digitization has never been easier. The Canon Elura 100 is one of the few cameras I could find that had A/V input along with decent performance features.

5. Even though this takes still pictures, you should invest in a separate good quality digital camera. The camcorder still camera feature wont provide as high a quality as you can get from a dedicated digital camera.

Hope this helps. Good luck!
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Article: MPAA kills anti-pretexting bill

Wired.com reports: Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill.

Pretexting is the use of false pretenses, including fraudulent statements and impersonation, to obtain an individual’s personal information, such as bank balances or phone records. This was made famous in recent months by the bad behavior of Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) Board of Directors.

Wired reports that a bill was effectively derailed by the intense lobbying efforts of the MPAA. The MPAA is less interested in protecting the privacy of consumers and more interested in being able to use fraudulent methods like pretexting to identify copyright violators. It all comes down to money in the pocket of the MPAA and to hell with consumer right to privacy.

According to Wired:
A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals from using deceptive “pretexting” ruses to steal private information about consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture industry, Wired News has learned.

The bill, SB1666, was written by state Sen. Debra Bowen, and would have barred investigators from making “false, fictitious or fraudulent” statements or representations to obtain private information about an individual, including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and financial information. Victims would have had the right to sue for damages.

The bill won approval in three committees and sailed through the state Senate with a 30-0 vote. Then, according to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the measure encountered unexpected, last-minute resistance from the Motion Picture Association of America.

“The MPAA has a tremendous amount of clout and they told legislators, ‘We need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading,’” Goldberg said.

Consequently, when the bill hit the assembly floor Aug. 23, it was voted down 33-27, just days before revelations about Hewlett-Packard’s use of pretexting to spy on journalists and board members put the practice in the national spotlight.

Legislature records confirm that the MPAA’s paid lobbyists worked on the measure. An aide to Bowen, who was forced out of the legislature by term limits and was elected Secretary of State, said the MPAA made its displeasure with the bill clear to lawmakers.

Groups like the MPAA and the Recording Industry Association of America hire investigators who use pretexting to identify violators.

Just another example of how common sense is swept aside by powerful lobby groups. And foolish legislators bow to their pressure and undoubtedly their campaign contributions.

Grrr.

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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