The Lake Gaston Computer Club

PO Box 1533 Littleton.NC

http//www.lakegastoncc.org

December 2008

'Tis the Season With Christmas and New Years day approaching at what seems an unseemly pace, it gets hard to keep up sometimes. Gifts to buy, family and friends for dinner, parties and entertainments to attend, it can be a whirl. Its kind of like the computer world, too many things happening at once. Next year we will see a new Internet Explorer Gus browser, and what to our wondering eyes will appear but the new Microsoft Operating System called Windows 7. Laptops will keep getting smaller and more powerful and desktops will just become part of your monitor. However since this is the time to be jolly, the best place to do it is at the Club's Christmas Party. It will be this Tuesday, the 9th of December at our old stomping ground, the Littleton Community Center. Festivities begin at 1:00pm. Don Baxter will show you how you can watch the program that is playing on your TV at home remotely on your laptop where ever you are; waiting for your turn at the bowling alley or getting the oil changed at Valvoline on 10th street. Angie Harrell will show us her little laptop, the tiny Asus EEE model. Paul Bernard will give us a peek at Apple's new MacBook laptop. And you wouldnt believe some of the door prizes that the Program Committee has put together. Seagate USB Back up drive All in One HP printer Memory Flash sticks FLIP Digital video camera

Gaston Computer Club

Nikon Digital Camera Laser mouse And much more. Before we give out the door prizes, we will enjoy some sweets and refreshments furnished by club members. We can also imbibe some of Don Frechs famous punch. He brings two varieties. You decide which flavor you prefer. See you there, Gus

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DIGITAL MUSIC FOLLOW UP

By Ed Trelinskie Time flies when you are having fun. That pretty well summarized my feeling after the November 11, 2008 LGCC presentation, Digital Music. Although much of what had been promised was covered, there were some items that had to be glossed over because of time constraints. I would like to cover these items in this article.
Digital Music, was announced as: "Digital Music: What music is available on the internet, what's free and what's not, how to download music to your PC, how to make CD's for the car and/or home stereo, things you need to know. What is MP3, MP4, AAC and digital rights management (DRM). Ed Trelinskie and Larry Burke will show and tell these items, very informative and useful." For those of you who were not in attendance for the presentation, a movie version of the presentation is available for download and viewing at: http://cidd48608324b6aa604.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Videos/LGCC%20Nov%20 Presentation.wmv The movie, LGCC Nov Presentation.wmv takes about 5 minutes to download and 15 minutes viewing time. After it has downloaded, click the filmstrip on the left to view the movie. Although this movie version presents the material a little differently than the live presentation the basic functions of Windows Media Player are covered. Both presentations identify several web sites that sell individual song titles as well as albums of music, such as; itunes.com, music download.com, fullmusicdownload.com, mp3musicnow.com, and netmusicsite.com. Neither of the presentations identified music available to download from the internet that is free. It was questioned at the live presentation: Did you do a search on GOOGLE?. My response was no, and I need to clarify that response. All the sites mentioned above are the results of GOOGLE searches. I did not however, search specifically for free music to download. Be that as

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it may, here is a site with potential for obtaining free music for download: http://music.download.com/free-mp3/. Most music download sites allow single song download. Downloading of an entire album generally requires file sharing software such as Bit Torrent Client. Because of this I prefer to RIP music from CDs to build my music library. It is quicker, cleaner and safer. Whether ripping songs from CDs, downloading music to your library, or syncing music from your library to a memory card or IPOD/MP3 player,
attention must be given to the amount of storage needed to accommodate the volume of songs to be transferred. The following chart provides a rough comparison of song volume to memory need. Now on to the definitions. Rather than providing an explanation of the acronyms (MP3, MP4, AAC, and DRM) I will direct you to sites that do just that, defines technical terminology. These sites also provide excellent answers for computer related questions such as how to and those that are frequently asked. MP3: http://www.tech-faq.com/mp3.shtml MP4: http://www.tech-faq.com/mp4.shtml AAC: http://www.tech-faq.com/aac.shtml DRM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
In concluding the November 11 presentation I made a request to LGCC Members for help in the coming year. This request was for comment from the membership on presentations made and for recommendations for presentation topics that are of interest to the membership. All membership comments and recommendations will be considered by the LGCC Board and its Presentation Committee. Address comments/recommendations to: Edathenrico@hotmail.com Good listening, Ed

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SURFING THE WEB
FROM STELES TO BILLBOARDS TO DIGITAL SIGNAGE Advertising has come a long way since that day in 2230 BC when this guy (Naram-Sin, 4th king of the Semite dynasty of Akkad) bragged he was
"King of the Hill" and had this sign (stele) made proclaiming as much for all to see. Notice, no words, just pictures, what's the point in having signs with words if people can't read? Between 2230 BC and 1447 AD there just werent many readers. Scribes were hired to write letters dictated by their masters and sent to the master's friends who had their scribes read them the letters aloud. When Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1447 he did it for an illiterate world with just a few exceptions; there were some priests who could read Latin, and some rabbis who could read Hebrew. The texts they read were written by hand on dried goatskin with quills made of goose feathers. There were no "No Vacancy" signs on the Via Appia, no Budweiser signs in Rome's Coliseum, not even a scoreboard declaring, "Christians 0, Lions 1." Merchants advertised by standing outside their shops hawking their wares. "Get your candles and lanterns here. I've got fresh bedding straw for the stables and your hired help's mattresses, also sealing wax for important documents and silver buckles for M'Ladies shoes. Buy them at the lowest prices (for, truth be told, I bought it all on credit and will be carted off to debtors' prison if they are not sold by daybreak)." Of course, things changed when Gutenberg's movable type contraption startL a k e G a s t o n C o m p u t e r C l u b

ed cranking out books and other printed forms. By 1729 old Benjamin Franklin had a newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazette that he later renamed The Saturday Evening Post. (Familiar ring?) He sold an ad or two but there still wasn't any outdoor advertising. No billboards along the roads. It wasn't until 1847 when Americans could see their first outdoor ad tacked to a bulletin board. It was a poster advertising a travelling circus that was
coming to town and was printed by one Jared Bell. Still no billboards though. Henry Ford changed that when he decided everybody should have an automobile. That started the ball rolling. Next thing you know there were Studebakers and Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs and roads and highways and traffic
and guess what. roadside advertising. Billboards. At first on buildings.
Then on structures of various kinds, including these.

And these.

But they are all old stuff now, stone age, pass, archaic. The in-thing these days is Digital Signage. Today's billboards are electronic, with LCD and plasma displays and animation. They are networked, computer controlled and changed with a flick of a mouse. It first occurred to me that something new was afoot when I was coming into Roanoke Rapids on Route 95 from the north not long ago. Just as I was approaching the river, on the left a billboard appeared, high over the south riverbank, that, for all the world, looked like a giant wide screen high definition TV, flashing different messages at me every few seconds
Then, nearing the off ramp, there was another.
I thought, "hey, you know what? Billboards they are a-changing. Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle, they never told me." It wasn't till then I realized we had one of the new computerized signs right here on the lake.
The industry calls it Digital Signage and it seems to be taking over big time. It is all over the web, Scroll down this site for some examples: http://www.signindustry.com/led/articles/2002-07-30-LBledBillboards.php3 You can read the write-up if interested. Whatever you do, however, don't miss this M&M sign in Times Square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGQ0KBcrxPk With regard to the historical accuracy of this story, be aware that I cling to the rule that says, Never let facts get in the way when you are meeting a deadline. However the digital signing stuff is for real. Signin' off for now, Keep surfin', Jerry *******

THE BEARS PAGE

By Larry Burke
Could It Be? - New Christmas: Packaging That Opens Easily
A number of retailers and manufacturers have a gift for holiday shoppers: product packaging that will not result in lacerations and stab wounds. The companies, including Amazon.com, Sony, Microsoft and Best Buy, have begun to create alternatives to the infuriating plastic clamshell packages and cruelly complex twist ties that make products like electronics and toys almost impossible for mere mortals to open without power tools. Impregnable packaging has incited such frustration among consumers that an industry term has been coined for it wrap rage. It has sent about 6,000 Americans each year to emergency rooms with injuries caused by trying to pry, stab and cut open their purchases, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I shouldnt have to start each Christmas morning with a needle nose pliers and wire cutters, said Jeffrey P. Bezos, the father of four young children and founder of Amazon.com. But that is what I do, I arm myself, and it still takes me 10 minutes to open each package. Earlier this month, Mr. Bezos pledged to lead the charge into a new era of non-hostile containers. In Amazons frustration-free packaging initiative with Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price, Microsoft and Transcend, an electronics maker, the companies will ship some of their best-selling products directly to Amazon in cardboard boxes that dont fight back. Mr. Bezos ultimately hopes to sell all of Amazons products in such environmentally benign, consumer-friendly
packaging a goal he said would take years to achieve. Everyone is excited about this project here, he said. Everyone had their own war stories. Such a campaign is relatively easy for Amazon, of course, because it does not need to worry about how products look dangling from pegs on store shelves, or whether items will disappear inside shoppers jacket pockets. But even offline companies that do have those concerns are joining the movement. Microsoft recently unveiled a unique container for the Explorer computer mice it sells at Best Buy. The mouse looks typically imprisoned in its package at first glance. But the container actually has a plastic zipper on each side inspired by the packaging of food items, Microsoft said with blue arrows that guide buyers into easily unlocking their purchase. Sony, meanwhile, has started an ambitious internal project it optimistically calls death of the clamshell. The electronics giant is developing three packaging prototypes it plans to test in the coming months at Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores. One uses an adhesive that is easy to pry open but makes a loud Velcro-like noise designed to deter thieves. Sony has even taken its anti-clamshell campaign to its rank and file. At its annual sales and marketing meeting in April, held in Palm Desert, Calif., the company showed 1,200 employees a humorous video of four consumers struggling to open Sony products. One of them resorted to a hacksaw, another used his teeth and a third cut his finger. None of us intentionally tried to make this a hassle for consumers, said Mike Fasulo, chief marketing officer for Sony. In fact, companies like Sony inadvertently resorted to hermetically-sealed packaging with the best of intentions. A decade ago, as toys and consumer electronics items grew more complex, retailers decided they needed to attract shoppers by showing off items on shelves in clear plastic, instead of opaque boxes. To do so while protecting the items, they decided to seal the hinges of containers with tough epoxy that would resist shoplifting, or what retailers call shrinkage. Most shoppers know what happened next. There are the injuries, of course. And tool makers found a thriving market for blade-bristling implements to defeat the clamshell, with names like the Plastic Surgeon and the Package Shark. For the last few years, Consumer Reports has published an annual Oyster Awards for the clamshell packages that are most frustrating to open. Last years winner: an Oral-B sonic toothbrush kit from Procter & Gamble and

the Bratz Sisterz dolls from MGA Entertainment, which took an adult tester eight-and-a-half minutes to open. For consumers like Lisa Martin, a mother of two from Chicago, such packaging means exhausting birthday mornings as her young children wonder impatiently why a cluster of adults are stabbing at their new presents with knives and scissors. I understand antitheft, but when you get home and it takes two days to get your purchase open, it kind of defeats the purpose. Are the days for fortress like packaging over? - probably not; but it is nice to know manufacturers and distributors are not deaf and are at least taking a step in the right direction, at least where consumer packaging is concerned.

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