Skylarking

Save on Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 with a subscription from Adobe

Robert Saunders — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:00:18 +0000

Adobe provide great tools for creating graphic images for print or for the web. They also provide great tools for touching up and enhancing your digital photos. If you’ve ever need to create a PDF, then Adobe Acrobat is the best choice — after all, they invented the format in the first place.

An excellent way to get all these tools is to buy Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard, but if you are on a tight or limited budget — perhaps you’re a student or considering a career change — then this package of software can be very pricey.

Fortunately, Adobe offers a subscription plan for this most useful software package. For only $65 per month you can have a completely up to date, and constantly updated versions of:

Photoshop® CS5 (699)
Illustrator® CS5 (599)
InDesign® CS5.5 (699)
Acrobat® X Pro (449)

Buying new copies of these programs would cost you a total of $2,446, but Adobe’s very affordable subscription program gives them to you for $65 per month (with a one year commitment).

Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard Subscription Edition (one-year)-Subscription

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Standard
Deliver high-impact print designs using industry-standard software for editing digital images, creating eye-catching vector graphics, and laying out stunning pages that incorporate elegant typography. Adobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 Design Standard software combines the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, InDesign®, Acrobat® Pro, and more. This comprehensive toolkit offers many features that let you freely express your wildest ideas without sacrificing quality, precision, or speed. Plus, now you can extend beyond print with dynamic presentations, beautifully designed eBooks, and immersive digital magazines* that marry the appeal of interactivity with the quality of traditional print.

*Adobe Digital Publishing Suite requires a separate license and payment of associated fees. Learn more.

Top Home Tech Picks from Buy.com

Robert Saunders — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:18:44 +0000

Hello out there! Just looking over some tech deals for your home or office on Buy.com, and I’ve found some great deals and upgrades for you! Take a look:

First, get a D-Link DIR-601 Wireless N 150 Home Router for $23.99 at Buy.com, a $26 Savings! Valid through 08/30/2011. With all the smartphones, iPads, netbooks, laptops, Xboxes we all have tapping into our home Internet connections, you’ll eventually experience speed shortages (lag) or interuptions in service. You might even find that you have difficulty getting or maintaining a connection in some areas fo your home. Time to consider an upgrade to Wireless N. With this router you’ll get faster speeds than wireless G, greater coverage in your home or office, and greater protection from outsiders trying to tap into your network — locally or remotely. And if you need a wired connection for a computer or other device, then you get 4 wired connections on this router, too.

Got school age kids? Do print a lot for school projects and papers? Then consider this Samsung ML-1865W Monochrome Laser Printer for $49.99 at Buy.com, a $122 Savings! Valid through 08/28/2011. It spits out a speedy 19 pages per minute, and since it uses toner, not ink, it will print longer than 3 or 4 ink cartridges. As a matter of fact, it is rated at 5,000 pages per month. It’s great for school projects that don’t require color, so that’s ideal for reports or daily homework assignments. All your text will be crisp and laser-sharp with 1200 x 1200 resolution.

These offers are good for the weekend. Come back to Skylarking early on Monday for more specials.

Happy Belated 20th Birthday World Wide Web!

Robert Saunders — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:46:10 +0000

Tim Berners-Lee

WWW! I’m sorry I missed your birthday this past Saturday, August 6. Hard to believe that you were born 20 years ago, in 1991, on a tiny NExT computer at the CERN facility in the Swiss Alps. And your closest friend, 36 year old physicist Tim Berners-Lee, was there at the keyboard.

1991. Of course, Tim and his colleagues were the only people who had access to you then, but they fully intended to get as many people onboard spreading information.

: WWW’s first home 1991

1993. About 6 months before your second birthday, WWW, the Mosaic browser came along and you started to run. By the time you were 2 years old, in 1993, you were becoming pretty well known on the university circuit. By the end of the year there were about 700 websites.

1994. I think that’s when you and I first met, WWW, back around 1994 when I was a returning college student at Queens College. In less than 2 years I was adding web sites to you for Queens College’s Division of Social Sciences. I even had my own site and domain staked out. By the end of 1994 there were over 10,000 websites; and your friend, Mosaic, changed their name to Netscape Navigator. What ever became of Netscape? Is it true he runs with Mozilla Firefox today?

Yes, yes, WWW, we’ve had some good times together. Looking forward to many more.

–What’s that, WWW? Yes, I know, a LOT of people think you’re the Internet. Isn’t that funny?! I mean, come on now, the Internet is 42 years old! You’re only 20, it’s obvious! You look fantastic.

–What?

Okay, WWW, you didn’t have to mention that I’m older than the Internet. Now, where’s that close button?

Is the Internet essential to daily life? (4)

End of Windows XP Support

Robert Saunders — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:32:20 +0000

In less than 1,000 days, on April 8, 2014, Microsoft will stop issuing security patches, updates, and hotfixes for all versions of Windows XP.

You may, or may not, be aware that Microsoft issues FREE updates to Windows and other Microsoft software products every Tuesday evening. Most computers will automatically retrieve them when the computer is connected to the Internet. (Although, some people, who don’t know about the service, choose not to install them. Is that you?)

On April 8, 2014, PCs running Windows XP will no longer find updates and fixes to download, so those computers will remain at risk to any new security threats that arise. Furthermore, many other companies (known as “third party” providers) will no offer service or support for their hardware or software applications on systems using Windows XP.

What about businesses using Windows XP? Business owners and managers may find this may generate more complexity, security risks, and ultimately, added management costs for IT departments.

Industry analysts say that it can take from 12 to 18 months for an organization to migrate, and a recent Gartner report stated that “more than 50% of organizations that do not start deploying Windows 7 by early 2012 will not complete their deployments before Windows XP support ends.” (Read “Creating a Timeline for Deploying Windows 7 and Eliminating Windows XP“)

Several other versions of Windows have had their service runs ended within the last year.

Previous End of Support Schedules for Other Windows Operating Systems

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) support ended on July 12, 2011. SP2 is still being supported.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2*) support ended on July 13, 2010. SP3 is the most recent and last service pack issued for XP systems.
Windows 2000 support ended on July 13, 2010.
Windows Vista Release to Manufacturing (RTM) support ended April 13, 2010.

Ready to Deploy Windows 7? Whether your a home user or a business user, I encourage you to consider making the move to Windows 7. If you feel your computer is still going strong on XP you may find it runs even better on Windows 7. Otherwise, if your budget allows, you may find it’s more cost effective to buy a new system.

Windows Easy Transfer

What about the files on my old system? Moving fromWindows 7 from Windows XP is easier than ever. Windows 7 comes with powerful tools to assist and guide you every step of the way. If you decide to get a new system, you can use Window Easy Transfer to move your files from one system to another using a network or USB flash drive.

Some of the world’s most prominent companies have made the move to Windows 7 like Boeing, InfoSys, Dell, Samsung, and BMW and getting benefit from the cost-savings, security, and productivity gains Windows 7 delivers.

On the homefront. I have helped several people upgrade their Windows XP computers to Windows 7, and they say their computer is faster than it was with Windows XP. I have been very impressed with Windows 7′s performance. It’s easy to install, and works great with every device I’ve connected to my computer — specially with devices that weren’t supported by Windows Vista (hiss).

Need help? If you have any questions you can send them to me at skylarkingblog @ gmail.com or with the contact page on this site. Or consult with your local computer service professional.

Windows 7 from The Microsoft Store. You can purchase Windows 7 on DVD from The Microsoft Store. If you have more than one computer in your home, or your family, then I recommend the orange package below. It will allow you to upgrade 3 computers for one low price. It’s my favorite package. Click the image below for more information.

Also, if you get the Home Premium version or the Professional version, you can always upgrade to a higher level for a reasonable price using the Windows Anytime Upgrade feature on your Windows 7 installation. I have used it to upgrade one Home Premium computer to a Professional system.

Google’s Malware Alert

Robert Saunders — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:07:02 +0000

Many news media outlets have been making it sound like Google was accidentally spreading malware. Even the Wall Street Journal said “One Million Google Users Hit with Malware”.

Actually, Google was just notifying people that it had detected malware on their computer. Google’s system wasn’t actually searching your system — which would be an invasion of privacy — but it was detecting a specific malware program that is known to redirect traffic to Google’s systems.

In other words, Google was detecting software, other than the users browser, which was communicating with Google’s servers.

I have yet to learn what the purpose of this malware was, but I have some thoughts on it. It may have been trying to burden Google’s servers with additional traffic. Or it may have been targeting Google’s ad network.

I suspect if they were targeting the ad network they might be trying to make fraudulent clicks on the pay-per-click Adsense and Adwords network. If you’ve seen “Ads from Google” on a web site, such as the ones you see on this blog, then you should know that Google pays the site owner every time someone clicks on an ad. This is usually just a few cents, but they can add up. The fraudulent clicks take money from the advertiser and Google.

Any software that can compromise Google’s Ad network would affect Google’s reliability and reputation. Since ads are Google’s big earner they can’t allow that to happen.

So while the Wall Street Journal reporters in the video above think Google could be come a first line of defense against malware, Google was just watching out for themselves and their advertisers.

Velocity Cruz Reader – One of the Worst Tablets Ever

Robert Saunders — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:30:58 +0000

When I don’t post in a long time, sometimes because I can’t think of something to blog about, and then I write a post like this, and think “This post has been staring me in the face for weeks, and I’ve only though of it today?”
I’ve been aware of the Velocity Cruz Reader for about 6 months. It’s a device which serves much the same function as the iPad, but it uses the Android OS instead of Apple’s iOS.
I think the Velocity Cruz Reader is one of the worst tablets to hit the market. I’ve told that to at least 70 people considering getting a tablet.
And now I’m finally blogging about it.
Velocity has two tablets on the market. The inexpensive $120 to $150 Cruz Reader and the $250 to $300 Cruz Tablet. The first and less expensive model is the one to avoid, while the second is actually worth the money.
Clarification: Cruz Reader under $150, BAD; Cruz Tablet over $250, GREAT!
Sorry, I’m rambling, I’ve been awake for less than 30 minutes.
Honestly, I am surprised they released the Cruz Reader onto the marketplace. Its touchscreen is its worst feature, as it requires repeated hammering to get a reponse. One average I had to strike an icon 5 times before anything happened.
Then the 256 MB of system memory can’t be considered anything less than anemic, in my opinion. There are smart phones with more memory than this. When I point this out people often say, “No, Rob, it has 4GB of memory.” Tehn I correct them by pointing out that the 4GB refers to an SD card for storing files, and not to system memory for running the device and its apps. 256 MB will run into speed and functionality problems quite quickly.
So if you are looking for a tablet: Stay away from the Cruz Reader — try it for the hell of it — then buy the Cruz Tablet instead.
Guess I’ll blog about the Cruz Tablet for breakfast tomorrow. Have a great day! Eat your breakfast!

Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader post expanded

Robert Saunders — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:50:09 +0000

I’ve expanded Monday’s post “Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader for $129 at Borders Books” with additional information on book formats, price and size comparisons, and some pictures, too.

Sony PRS-350SC Pocket Edition tech specs

Released: September 2010
Predecessor: PRS300
Languages Supported:
File Types Supported: ePUB, PDF, BBeB, TXT, RTF, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP

Overview. 5″ reader using the latest Pearl E Ink screen and featuring an IR based touch screen. Battery life is stated to be 2 full weeks of reading on a single charge. It is available in Silver or Pink. Features both right and left hand page advance and 6 font sizes. A handy search function lets you look up words in 2 English language dictionaries, including The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition and Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition and 10 built-in translation dictionaries.

Dimensions: 5 3/4 x 4 1/8 x 11/32 inches (H/W/D)
Weight: 5.47 oz
Text Formats: ePub (Adobe DRM protected), PDF (Adobe DRM protected), BBeB Book (PRS DRM protected), Text, RTF
Image : JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Memory Size : 2GB User available capacity: Approx. 1.4GB
AC Power : Built-in rechargeable battery: 3.7 V DC, 940 mAh
Battery Life (Approx) : Approx. 10,000 pages turns
Recharging Time : 3 hours with a USB connection, or about 2 hours by the optional AC adapter (PRSA-AC1)
Display: 5″ E Ink® Pearl 800 x 600 pixels 16-level gray scale
Touch screen: clear screen using IR
USB: 2.0

Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader for $129 at Borders Books

Robert Saunders — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:51:37 +0000

Borders Books started selling the Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader for $50 below its regular price of $179 today. It doesn’t have wireless (WiFi) but its a great price all the same.

The Sony Pocket Reader has a grayscale touch screen, holds over 1,200 books, and the battery holds a charge for 2 weeks. It’s very compact, too. You can see in the picture below that it’s a little bit smaller than a paperback novel, and it weighs about the same, too.

Sony Pocket Edition E-Reader (PRS 350)

So if you want to get yourself an e-reader but you don’t want to be locked in to Amazon or Barnes and Noble only, then run out and get a Sony Pocket Reader today. They’re not going to last at this price. It’s $20 less expensive than the basic Nook (Barnes & Noble), and $10 less than the cheapest Kindle.

Note: Amazon only sells digital eBooks for the Kindle. The Kindle reads Amazon’s proprietary “AZW” eBook format, but doesn’t read the EPUB format supported by most other modern eReaders. Consequently, most books available for the Kindle are only the ones Amazon has converted to be read on the Kindle. So when I went searching for some Isaac Asimov novels I wanted to read they couldn’t be found for the Kindle, but they were available on other eBook webstores such as BooksAMillion.com. (You probably haven’t heard of Books a Million, but they are rated as one of the top 5 book retailers in the US.) They were in the EPUB format, and EPUB formats cannot be read on a Kindle.

Size Comparison

What can you read? The Sony Pocket Edition Reader supports the standard EPUB and PDF formats supported by most other readers on the market.

Magazines and Newspapers. I was able to find newspapers and magazines that could be read on the Sony Pocket Reader, such as my local paper, Newsday; and there were a small variety of magazines available, but I suspect I’d find more with a little searching.

Save up to $200 on Corel products, a Skylarking special

Robert Saunders — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:08:21 +0000

You’ve got less than 2 weeks to take advantage of some great savings from Corel, a 2010 award winning leader in video, graphics, and photo editing tools. About a week ago an affiliate coordinator at Corel contacted me/Skylarking with New Year’s specials on Corel products. Savings start at $40 ($90 and more if you consider the value of the bonuses they include). These apply to their most popular software packages — several of which I have used or use regularly. Buy $80 in products and they ship for $1. It’s not free shipping, but at least they aren’t trying to make up the difference in savings with shipping and handling fees. Read on for the deals!

PaintShop Pro X3. ($99, $59): I started using PaintShop Pro about 16 years ago, and I still turn to it frequently. It’s an easy to use alternative to Adobe’s PhotoShop Elements. With it you’ll organize and edit your photos and graphics images with ease. It’ll handle digital and hi-def (HD) videos, too. Sharing on Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube is a click away with built-in tools— I don’t think Elements offers that functionality — and, let’s face it, most of us edit and touch up photos just for sharing them online.

Corel takes $40 off PaintShop Pro X3 for January, so it’s yours for $59.99. They’ll give you a free copy of VideoStudio Express ESD (a $50 value) so you can edit your videos with a professional look for sharing online or converting for iPod, iPhone, PSP, and smartphone playback. Total Savings: $89.99.

VideoStudio Pro X3. ($99) They told me this would be going for $59.99, but it looks like its actually selling for $49.99 and if you buy before Jan. 20 you’ll get FREE shipping. It gets better: (1) buy another Corel product and they’ll take off another $10, (2) save 60% if upgrading from Adobe Premiere Elements. VideoStudio Pro X3 has been my choice for video editing, DVD creation, and YouTube uploads for several years now. I use it both for my business video prsentations and for saving my family videos, too. VideoStudio Pro X3 creates standard and HD DVDs, plus Blu-ray formats, and they have tools for sharing online with YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook. PLUS you get a FREE download copy of Corel PaintShop Photo Express 2010 (a $50 value). Total Savings: $108.99.

Those were some of the highlights among their offerings for January 2011. Here’s the rest of the good news for getting your digital new year off to a great start.

Save $50 on Corel Photo & Video Pro Bundle. Only $99.99 Plus get KPT collection free ($100 Value).	Save $100—200 on Corel Painter 11. Only $199 full or $99 for the upgrade. Painter 11 Changing whats possible in Digital Art.	Get a free gift with the purchase of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5. Free Unleashed X5 training DVD ($80 Value).
	Save up to $120 on CorelDRAW Premium X5. From $239 for the upgrade. Premium design software for print, web design, and video editing.	Jumpstart your year and business with Corel WordPerfect Office. Now Only $249 + receive a set of business templates worth $155. (WordPerfect upgrade package is only $159.)

SONY VAIO Dual Core Notebook! Save $100!

Robert Saunders — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:09:49 +0000

The Sony VAIO VPCEE31FX/BJ Notebook PC is available for $499! That’s a $100 off its regular price at $600. Use coupon code QBM17377 at checkout to get this offer. Offer ends midnight Jan. 17, 2011.

This Sony VAIO Notebook is a fantastic package! I’m not usually that excited about Sony notebooks, but this is a great price for these features. First, it has a sizeable 15.5” widescreen, PLUS an integrated “full” numeric keypad — which is a rarity on laptops and notebooks, but common to a desktop keyboard. Add to that it’s fast AMD® Athlon™II Dual Core P340 processor (CPU), 3GB (gigabytes) of DDR3 RAM (memory) — more than some desktop computers — and amazing picture quality with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 Graphics — suitable for many high-end games.

The Sony VAIO VPCEE31FX/BJ Notebook PC comes pre-installed with:

Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD® Athlon™ II Dual Core P340 processor (2.20GHz)
3GB of pre-installed DDR3 system RAM (memory)
A large 320 GB hard drive (storage) for your documents, movies, photos, and music files
AMD® Vision ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4250 graphics card
15.5″ (1366×768) widescreen LED backlit display uses power-efficient LCD technology and delivers dazzling colors and picture clarity
Wired and the fastest Wireless-N Internet
Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD RW)
Media card reader for your digital cameras and smartphones
Built in Sony Motion Eye webcam
A trial version of Microsoft Office 2010 is included
HDMI connector for attaching to a HD TV

Amber Alert, now on Facebook

Robert Saunders — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:12:05 +0000

Amber Alert, the missing children notification service, has joined Facebook.

It’s nice to see that Facebook is becoming truly useful on the community level.

Yesterday, Facebook announced it is teaming up with local authorities nationwide to help find missing children. People can now find Amber Alerts on the popular social networking site. Now, with only a click of the mouse, or via an update on your phone, you can help find a missing child.

Amber Alert

Facebook users in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands can now sign up to receive the alerts. You can pick which states will send you alerts.

The Statistics. It’s reported that more than 2,000 children are reported missing every day in the United States. That’s an alarming number. Currently, many states have only been using electronic billboards, highway signs, radio, and TV to issue Amber Alerts. The addition of Facebook and SMS text alerts to your cellphone will be a tremendous help in helping reunite missing children with their families and caregivers. Hopefully, this will help more children faster than before.

False Alerts? This will be most helpful after a rash of false Amber Alerts were spread via Facebook in 2010. Every month from April through September of 2010, at least one false Amber Alert was circulated on Facebook.

The Real Amber Alerts. To get Amber Alerts from Facebook visit http://www.facebook.com/AMBERalert. For more about Amber Alerts visit http://www.amberalert.com.

Updated Posts: AntiVirus for Mac; Sneak Peek Sale

Robert Saunders — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:55:01 +0000

Back in Dec. 2008 I wrote a post titled Apple Encourages AntiVirus Use for Macs?! I updated the article today to include links to the latest AntiVirus and AntiSpyware applications for the Mac. If you still believe that Macs are invulnerable to viruses and spyware, then you may be interested in knowing that Apple has added anti-malware features to their latest Mac Snow Leopard operating system. See Dan Moren’s report at PCWorld on the Hidden Malware Features of Snow Leopard. I mentioned some risks to Mac users in recent weeks.

I also updated the links in my Jan. 2009 post about sale items on Buy.com. I’ve crossed out the items that are not available. I’ve updated the links and proces on the items that are available. It’s a useful link because many of the items have become very affordable.

Skylarking

Save on Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 with a subscription from Adobe

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